As of the last alpha pvp mostly happened in hot spots which covered about 20% of the map, so long as you did not go afk or go alone (best with 5 friends) in those zones you were safe from pvp (mobs still could spawn / wander into you if you were afk and kill you but that's another matter) If you were pk'ed you lost your gear. With the exception of metal plate armor or highly enchanted armor this loss was a minor setback. There was a 'sherif' presence in the game (good pvp'ers who could only pvp evil people) but not enough population in the server as a whole for a good idea how the ballance worked. Call outs in chat letting sheriffs know of a evil pvp group resulted in the evil players running away, or the sheriffs arriving and killing em, or no effect. (attributed to low server population IMHO) I played the vast majority of the time solo and was able to gather all materials and get to 100% knowledge on all mobs while only getting pk'ed 3 times in the 45 ish days I played. And always at known hotspots. TLDR- it is very doable at the moment but changes in population may affect that either way.