Game imbalance is not incentive

oops hee hee

 

I see what you're saying. Although, people have been complain about not enough people in multiplayer mode. So this is what they come up with for this release. If it didn't really work out, they could just revert it I guess.. But something gotta be done to encourage multiplayer without do any further awkward restriction.

Although, I agree that the solo game play needs more high end content, but I think that is a separate issue.

 

With all due respect, why?

If multiplayer doesn't work, for a few/ some/ many avatars, it just doesn't work for them. Similarly solo play or friends only, PVP or PVE. Why does there need to be 'incentives"/'force" applied to lead players to from any one valid game play mode to any other?

Certainly, it's the developers' choice, probably at least in part in response to voices from the community. Similarly their choice to have regs for some spells and not others, or non-solo'able content, to pick up on other current hotbutton issues.

Please note, I am NOT here to argue that PVP, PVE, multiplayer, friends, and/or solo play is better or worse than any of the others. Instead, I'd suggest that they all have their adherents, and all are someone's joy. I don't feel the need to participate in every mode in every game I play - I see no reason to here, either.

If the multiplayer mode is lacking people, find out why. What's keeping people out? I'd (again, respectfully!) suggest removing barriers rather than adding new ones.

 

Most of the adventure zones can't sustain more than 3-4 people who know what they're doing, so people end up going into friend only and single player online modes to hunt.

Anyway, it's not my idea, I just made a commentary based on the discussions regarding multiplayer over the past few months.

Like it or not, apparently appearance is everything. Some people on multiplayer mode cant enjoy the game unless they see people running around. Many online folks are/were UO players, so population is everything for them.

 

And for an MMO having a steady (if not growing) population is critical to its ongoing survival, I quite understand.

*shrug* I can see several of the sides of this question. I like playing friends-only, can be nicely restful even with the nasty pointy-toothed blazing-feathered locals getting all uppity. I like multiplayer with all the colorful characters out there, too. And I like solo where all the goodies are mine, Mine, MINE!!! (cue maniacal laughter)

Ahem.

 

I like the carrot approach. At least they are rewarding people to play the game as a mmo. Carrot is not a stick. Nobody forcing anybody. Everyone has a choice to take the carrot or not.

 

This touches on the real problem.
People have very real reasons for not going into multiplayer. They haven't fixed the reasons for this, and bribing/forcing players to play when they have reasons not to is not a good plan.

I can't speak for others, but I don't play multiplayer most of the day for a few specific reasons:
1. zones aren't big/spawned/populated enough to handle more than 2 players in a scene. And on the 4 that are, theyr'e not balanced enough and each contains a "good" spot vs a couple bad spots.
1a. Even for those that are big and populated enough for group hunting, there are only a small sample of zones that actually produce appropriate exp rates at the mid-end game level, and that is not enough to handle the game's current endgame population.
2. Performance is horrid. The frame stutter bug is still there, gets worse in multiplayer, and the entire system freezing every few secs for a sec is not conducive to fast paced pvp. I do not enter towns in multiplayer unless needing a trade.
3. Aiming still isn't fixed appropriately to make party healing/fighting conducive. Pvp in open zones with lots of monsters exacerbates this problem and heavily favors the AOE equipped. Even just someone running by can detract a spell's target.

Multiplayer (and by extension pvp) won't get more players to enjoy it by forcing them to play it without fixing their initial complaints.
Also, forcing people into pvp, when you've forced a friends list that shows your location at all times, is a bit rude imo. Not only does that invalidate the usefulness of one of the pledge items (fyo's tablet), but it means pvp is relatively easy, which is kinda a shame. I liked the hunt/asking around/chasing aspect of older style pvps.

At the point your carrot is so large that not taking it permanently disqualifies you from competing in the leaderboard, it's a stick and it's being forced in a rather rude way. Please see earlier discussion for more outlines. Currently that "carrot" is at 150% vs solo players, and that's intolerable.

 

Should people be playing friend/solo because the gains are better? Shouldn't the modes be balanced, one way or another?

 

I'm not really big on watching XP numbers... really, I only get interested in that min/max stuff when that annoying yellow warning about low XP pops up... but what I'm reading in this thread is saying that people that are flagged for PVP get better a XP bonus... and it only counts in multiplayer.

Is that right?

If that's what is happening then I gotta say... Hot damn! Whoo hoo!

incentive to PVP = yes
incentive to MMO = yes

I'm not picking up on the downside here.

 

Some of the posts in this thread have mentioned a leaderboard. Does a leaderboard exist now or is this something that is planned? I haven't seen a leaderboard or read that one is planned.

 

There's no leaderboard that I'm aware of planned or otherwise. There's a window that pops up when I go into a PVP scene that keeps track of my wins/losses but it's not a leaderboard - it basically just tracks my PVP encounters.

 

I see, thanks @Duke Avery.

 

Also, unless you or your group is alone in an MPO scene, it won't be worthwhile to farm XP there. 100% of the EXP in SPO is almost always better than < 100% + 20 % in MPO.

If there is just one other competent player in the same MPO scene as you, then you would get far more exp in SPO.

A larger % increase for MPO mode, or even a sliding scale based on how many people/groups were in the scene would make more sense.

You will also be collecting less resources in MPO and less kills means less loot.

Also, you will have downtime from PVPing, and if you are getting constantly killed, then you have more lost time because you have to switch modes or find another scene to hunt in.

 

I like compensating players for taking the risk of playing in PVP-multi. 25% does not seem excessive to me, although I can't see any other way to come up with the most balanced number other than testing in the real environment.

Potential problems:
-System needs to not apply to "always party-only" zones
-With current population, many zones are practically solo zones even in multi. The benefits of the system could potentially be gained without taking much risk at all, by visiting towns etc in friends-mode and only logging in to multi to do farming in the quiet zones. This affect I'm less worried about since the good zones to grind would naturally be busier and therefore have the intended risk as well.

 

The old, old problem of mmos resurfaces - if you can't make PvP attractive enough of itself to draw people in to playing it, no methods of bribery - be they xp boosts, special loot or any other thing - will work in the long run, all it does is discourage those without interest in pvp from playing the overall game, since they know they are 'missing out' on something purely because they find the PvP system on offer unattractive. Generate the interest in PvP by making it fun for people to do. Nothing else will work.....

Less and less is SotA looking like the promised 'new way forward' for mmos, we're just sliding back into the old, failed ways of doing things the industry seems unable to evolve past.

 

The way I see it, being alone provides benefits that are equal to if not greater than a 25% XP bonus. I figure I'm gathering at least 25% more nodes, and killing at least 25% more mobs than if I were with other players.
So, I'm cool with what they're doing. As for PVP - will never happen, regardless of incentive.

 

The time it takes to wait in line to kill some mobs or getting into skirmishes with other players may already negate this 25% bonus, but we shall see...

 

Some of the saddest things about this whole deal;

1. how wrong it is - wolf to the sheep / PvP incentives / . . . . things that they said they would never do they do in spades. As before I have received information saying I would NEVER have to want to go to a PvP zone for anything and now this . Not a PvP zone, it is the whole system they want me to be a part of. DO NO SAY I DO NOT HAVE TO DO IT, 25% experience bonus is a non starter.

2. snuck it in - no notes / no heads up / nothing just popped it in and ????

3. not one developer reply here to say it is something we are looking at, it is a mistake, anything the sound of crickets is deafening ???

 

Well.. it's just on the QA yesterday, wasn't it. So the release notes + instructions aren't there yet. If people actually log into the game to test it out and find it not really beneficial to the game, then they could still take it out and it may never get out of QA realm. There were already several occurrences of things that never got out to the live server due to QA feedback.

 

Anybody confirm yet if pvp death causes decay? When I was on last night there was no one to kill me.