PVP defaults and other questions answered ? (Dev) Replied

Respect is a gift, freely given. It cannot be deserved any more than it can be demanded. You do not earn a gift.

 

I think the key there would be to include all forms of crime. The mafia is wealthy without excessive killing because it has other forms of revenue. Racketeering, selling illicit goods, prostitution, smuggling... essentially any thing that is forbidden by law can be done at a profit, if you can figure the angle. The reason many MMO's seem to reward the serial killer is that the only "illegal" actions available are kill and steal. Combining them gives maximum lawbreaking efficiency, using the combination on wealthy noobs gives a high profit yield for little risk.

If instead we had OTHER crimes that somehow didn't work so good if you killed constantly, combined with increased risk for being a murderer (undroppable PvP flag when law enforcement is after you?), then players who might otherwise have been detrimental psychopaths might be induced to participate in something that makes the game work MORE effectively. I have said it elsewhere and I'll say it here, I would love to see a fully fleshed system of crime. What good is a game about virtue if there is no option for vice?

 

What I'm seeing from LB's quotes is that you will be able to see MOST of the world, and the parts you won't be able to see without PvP, will be the PvP areas. A bit like not being able to tour PvP arenas, battlegrounds, or sieges without risking PvP. Technically, those are content.

 

Spu-douche

 

Max challenge isn't necessarily desirable. Technically, for MAX challenge, the devs should contract with your local mafia to kidnap your loved ones and set fire to your house while you are playing. Lets see you get a good kill record under those circumstances. Just making something harder doesn't make it BETTER. The point that Elvish_Dragon was making is that we can provide an equivalent level of challenge for the non PvP. The point ends there. It doesn't matter that you could then make the AI battlefield harder by adding PvPers. I could make the PvP battlefield harder by upping the AI's stats. Who cares? He was saying that they could be equivalent, thus allowing both groups to have earned similar rewards for facing similar risks.

 

You could not have said it better!!

 

So because you want nothing at all to do with PvP, everyone else should be on hold? Hilarious....also you upeople who pledged, and didn't look deeper into the game before hand I also find hilarious. What did you think? This would be a PVE only game, hurry and pledge up so you can get your plot and your house? What is so wrong for wanting to play a reality based world? Where there are role players, pvpers, murderers? It makes the game NEVER boring..... New experiences all the time! Let it be fun for everyone. A one way game becomes a boring game. That is fact

 

In case you didn't notice, the promise of this game is, among other things, that it will feel like a PvE-only online game for players that don't want to get involved with PvP. If you pledged thinking it would be full forced PvP UO 2.0, then it's you that didn't look deeper than the RG -> UO connection.

If you doubt it, look at this official update, done back while the game was still doing it's Kickstart:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=3955

In other words, no matter what, players will be able to just set their games to never meet anyone outside their friend lists. A bit hard to engage in PvP someone you can't even meet.

On top of that, PvP was announced to be by consent only since the start. This was mentioned almost every time the team talked about PvP. For an example, you might want to look at the start of the following live dev cam, which talked quite a bit about PvP close to the beginning:



That being said, the devs do want to make the game feel like a PvP game for those that opt for PvP. They want to do this by making sure PvP players and PvE players never meet, as explained at about 3m40s of the above video. In other words, you should be able to PvP all you want, just never against unwilling players, which you will not be able to even see (and, conversely, those players also won't be able to even see you).

 

My opinion is that its not good to separate the two. In my opinion, and i can be wrong, I think there will be less population and interaction because of that. I think PVP and PVP shards or servers should be the difference. Or is that pretty much the same concept? If i am wrong make me understand. And again correct me if I am wrong but, From the time of the kickstart, there will be many many changes. Afterall, The Devs do want to impliment ideas from what the people want also. Isn't that what a lot of this is all about?

 

It appears that you have no understanding of how the game will work. People who have no interest in PvP can play their game and never see PvPers. People flagged for PvP, far from being put on hold, play their game and never see the PvE players. Everyone gets the game they want. If the PvP world is fully populated with other players who are interested in PvP, to include role players, pvpers, and murderers, isn't that exactly what you are looking for?

 

I understand how the game will work. I just do not know if splitting the two is a good idea due to population and interaction?

 

As I mentioned in another post of yours, there are 25,000 SotA contributors. Do you plan on interacting with them all?

During the Alpha/Beta test, we can see if the Selective Multiplayer mode works as advertised. Until then, I think your fears are premature.

 

I hope you are right my brother.

 

Basically, Praefectus, this goes back to the "or I won't do it" argument. IF this game forced everyone into one world, there are a LOT of people who wouldn't play it because of that fact. Those people will only be part of the total player population IF they can be seperated from the aspects of the game they don't like.

There are actually several groups that fall under this, they include the RP only faction, the Full Loot OPO faction, and the PvE only faction just to name a few. Each has no interest in being forced to play in one of the other's worlds. IF the game were designed and released tomorrow, and PvP were limited to some arenas, and there was NO function in which you could roam across the land attacking and being attacked by other players, you and thousands of other PvP fans would quit. The PvE community would NOT get to recruit you and bolster their raiding guilds. Likewise with the RP faction, you wouldn't want to start role playing a merchant, you want to PvP. The same reaction will shape each faction, if it is forced to play in an environment it finds objectionable.

Thus it doesn't matter if the PvP and non PvP areas of the game are sharded off, the players who WANT such a thing, the players who insist on not being in the PvP world will leave the game if the PvP world is all there is. They will INSIST on not being part of it. They would never have been part of the overall PvP world's population.

 

My interpretation of your issue, but it sounds like you are concerned that you won't have victims to exploit. See, a PvE player doesn't affect others, unless you consider conversation and crafted goods for sale. A PvP player affects others greatly whether they want it or not. Which is more detrimental to the game?

 

I don't think PvP is detrimental to game at all. you can ask any pvper that question and you will get the same answer. I believe PvP make the game more of a reality, and for most of us it makes it challenging and fun. I do understand if you are strictly pve, then of course being forced to be in a PvP environment would be "detrimental". But you can't say one is worse than the other, it is preference. And I do hope and think the way thebdevs are designing it, it should work. As Malak and Owain stated, its basically no different then my first idea with having Pve shards and PvP shards. the characters will never interact. also if the game is indeed a hit and I strongly believe it will be, that's why I invested in it, population will in no way be a problem. The info and chat is great guys and gals, thank you!

 

It still hasn't been fully explained how the system will work. I don't think that we'll be split, I think even though I'm not pvp I'll still see Pvp players, why? because they are on my friends list. So how do you handle that situation? If a player is in a full-time pvp guild and can only attack other players that are in a guild set to full-time pvp. The other places would be the quests and areas they have discussed would set you to pvp. Yes they have mentioned that certain events will set an area to a PVP area, where you will be warned before going in or possibly with a timer that you will soon be pvp eligible. That is how they draw in the normally not-pvp people into pvp... with quests and items.

Some believe we'll have the option of switching pvp on/off in certain areas/circumstances. I don't know if that is the case or not. I don't think I've heard them describe a system like that.

 

yeah that could be a tough one Mishri

 

I think that the only way to resolve this is by querying the player before placing them in an instance. For example, if you have players flagged for open PvP, and you are already in an OPO PvE instance, if your friend is logs in and is in the same geographic area, the game will query them, "Join PvE instance with Mishri? Y/N". If they agree, they will join your instance and will no longer be flagged for open PvP. Otherwise, they will host an Open PvP instance, or join an Open PvP instance in progress.

Conversely, if they are in an Open PvP instance and you log in, you will get the query, "Join Open PvP instance with Player-name? Y/N". If you agree, you will now be flagged for Open PvP.

 

But now all of those reality guys are screaming, "I broke my immersion!?" (I don't think they mean submerged in liquid).

the selective multi-player does make me wonder how they are going to pull it off... I have 2 friends in one hex but seperate instances so now I have to choose who I can see? atleast in MMOs as long as we were all on the same realm playing at the same time I'd be able to see them.... I'm still not thinking it can work that way... friends need to be able to see friends...

It's nice not choosing a realm, but Eve: Online already has that... I'd like it not to get in the way of how I play with my friends.