And releasing a free, open pvp, would open a can of worms, because the next step would be perma without the presence of a dm. Or have a script to count how many deaths you may have before your perma.
And players who only make pvp as an asian mmo and not a roleplay server, will make the whole experience of playing more horrible for most playerbase.
Subdual mode is not perfect. And I doubt that anyone who practices pvp openly uses it on purpose. This is probably not a good idea. For various technical reasons and how to deal with the playerbase.
A pvp with subdual without dm is allowed if two players agree and activate it. Just ask. And the combat be accepted by both parties oocly. Good education and respect oocly do not prevent characters from facing each other without npcs or dms, if both parties are mature and responsible.
Another reason for this is that many people would abuse the freedom of pvp without dm and npcs to hunt and kill characters that make Crafting, killing them without warning, poping out invisible and attack, while the player have no time to react and unload the bag of materials. Or characters that all hate icly or have some pendency oocly, and go there and kill the character.
I've played on servers, where 15, 20 players have hunted one they all hated. And believe me, it's not something cool to see. The target stops playing or lives by hiding all time, losing all game fun. And whoever hunt them, does more for personal reasons, using an icly excuse to do this. No one continue to play in this type of ambient.
Really, do not think this server is mature enough to handle this kind of situation without dms. Personal opinion.