[Poll] If there were substantial changes would you do it?

And that's the main reason I don't PVP in SOTA.

In other games, helping create that balance includes a Karma system. I'm doing QA for other games like Ashes of Creation. There is "Stain" added to the game where if you are enough of a punk and killing people all around for fun, eventually the Karma debt get's high enough that people will WANT to hunt you down and take you out.

In SOTA, there really isn't much incentive either way. Avatars can get away with pretty much whatever griefing they want.

Maybe at least create a bounty system. Make it worth while going after those who align with the dark side ;-)

 

There's quite a few PVP-only games to chose from out there. That would make much more sense than going into a consensual-PVP mostly-PVE game - **** that was sold and marketed with that core feature **** - and insist that it fundamentally change.

One person buys a season pass to Game of Thrones, but then come to find out that the entire series has been changed to Star Trek, despite having bought Game of Thrones.

Another person knowingly buys a season pass to Game of Thrones, and complains that it's Game of Thrones.

These two positions are not on equal standing.

 

Re: performance. It ran just fine for me in the big RP battles of this year. The previous year was a drag, so clearly performance is way up.

Re: instanced specific rule locations. It still needs to be a queue. No one wants to wait around for people to show up.

Re: anything design related, devs need to ask themselves "Would this be acceptable in other massively popular combat oriented games where you play a single charcter?" If the answer is no, then it needs to be redesigned.

Keyword "massively popular". Keywords not included "games from 20 years ago, no matter how nostalgic we are".

IE Fortnight qualifies (ugh, but it does), as do the other popular battle royals, WoW battlegrounds qualifies. Ultima Online doesn't, sorry.

Would our current rule set, features, or lack thereof fly in those games? No queue? Permanent loss of gear? Only one tier? Can't participate until you've played for 200 hours?

If the answer is yes then we're doing great, we are very popular! If the answer is no, figure out what works, and use that as the template.

@Greyfox might be right, that PvP should be ignored, but I would suggest at least fixing the queues (that could be used in PvE), getting bigger groups (that is needed for PvE), and making more than 1 tier for OT before giving up. Low hanging fruit.

 

I am not english mother language,consensual and forced are not what you're telling me.maybe i Will buy a vocabulary.

 

more gold for kill and more loot from risky location !!!
so I vote NO
I have 2 messages for all time so don't delete my vote

 

No, reason being time and time again the PvE and PvP crowd can never come to a compromise. I don't think it is possible to do a PvP system in this game that will make both sides happy. I would be happy to be proven wrong though.

 

Another thought.

The Shardfalls are PVP area's. They should be high in resources to be worth the risk of going in. I'm talking about more than just obsidian chips btw

 

Shardfalls would be interesting and fun if they weren't PvP areas.

 

I think you are right. Shardfalls should be PVE and further crafted around story. Move PVP to new more-0bjective-based-PVP scenes, rather than the scheme now to be a story line impediment.

 

There may have been a misunderstanding, at the moment you don't get more gold for kill and more loot from risky locations, so basically you're saying that "If there were substantial changes you would do pvp". As i already explained the punitive part is very subjective, for punitive i meant the fact that the risk vs rewards is not balanced at all, so attend the pvp areas is somehow punitive considering the subpar rates compared to safe zones and precisely you don't get more gold and more loot in risky locations.
I'm afraid you voted the wrong option.

PS: Your vote is counted anyway (regardless of the 10 messages requirement) in the main thread, for fairness both results are shown.
There is a general poll result and another counter where only users with more than 10 messages are considered. Both are visible and have value.

 

Personally I'm ok with them being PVP areas. My concern is there isn't much reason to go there.

 

Wait a moment. Shardfalls as PvP scenes are not a story line impediment but an integral part of the story line. These are some of the few scenes that actually have lore behind them. There's a storyline reason why these are open PvP (same as ruins). Please don't change the lore for the sake of convenience.

 

hi all, i'm a new player (1 month). In game my name is BookIn Air. i've played on Uo server for 10 years. I really appreciate this game. but i think in the MMo games the pvp system is essential for the success of the project. I am therefore certainly in favor of developing systems that increase pvp

 

That reminds me that back in the beginning the devs were thinking about castles you could conquer but I think that was more a guild related idea. So to say guild A as taken over a special scene that is offering special vendors or resources more or less just for the ruling guild or their allies and they have to defend it against other guilds.

Indeed a karma system might be another solution aside of factions. Thinking about it using the virtue system might be a possible way to handle it but to use it for PvP it is too…indistinct as you cannot see if another avatar has a high or low virtue (only if he is wearing the cloak). There has to be some kind of infallible and always visible indicator…e.g. the color of your name. But of course some possibilities to camouflage should be available…e.g. an artifact that is changing the displayed virtue to the opposite.
Also the virtue has currently no real influence on the ingame experience and that would have to change as there needs to be a reason why you should try to follow the virtue or the non-virtue side in PvP.
- One reason could be if at least some skills would change their effect depending on your virtue. E.g. a virtue Ring of Fire is lasting longer while a non-virtue Ring of Fire has a larger range.
- Another reason could be quests that are just for one or the other side. E.g. as a virtue avatar you help villagers to get rid of some bandits while as an non-virtue avatar you get the opposing quest of the bandits to steal the hidden savings of the villagers. If you are neutral you can choose which quest you would like to do.
- Also e.g. non-virtue vendors might be a possibility who are buying remains of killed virtue avatars and the higher the virtue of the killed avatar was the higher is the price they pay.

But I think these are just details that would help but we would also need some background story. E.g. if the obsidian order, the kobolds, the elves or the undead wouldn’t be just raiding groups and instead have their own infrastructure this would be a lot easier as you could chose to follow the virtue world we currently know in novia or you follow some of the other paths.
Maybe at lvl 80 or something we should get a quest to decide which path we would like to follow in "Endgame". Until completing this quest everyone has pretty much forced to follow the virtue side of the world but after completing this quest you can choose a different path. E.g. by transforming into an elf in an old obsidian laboratory or being killed in a ceremony to rise as an undead. There would be (nearly) no way back and you wouldn’t be any more able to visit all currently known towns but instead some additional cities would open up you cannot peaceful visit if you would be a “normal” avatar and between those choosable paths would be PvP war just as it is already in PvE.

 

@Beaumaris ; I agree on some of your points and disagree on others.

I agree all zones should be PVE but with an option. I believe an option should be set for each scene above level 2 or 3 to enter it in either a PVP or PVE option.

Enter as PVE and you have standard XP and resources/drop percentage. Enter in PVP mode and XP increases by 20 pct and resources/drop rate/gold double. Simplified solution for all. R/Boris/El Pirata

 

I agree. Basic game systems like Quests, Maps, dialogue, story and other PvE content is the heart of the game. PvP should be a consideration, however at this point it should be secondary, at least until the existing base game systems are in working, and impressive, order.

 

Eve Online is a bit similar to this as well...

I really like the concept you suggest here...

And I vote YES, as I would love to participate in PVP...

I would add that I hope there is some future plan to arrive at a place where kingdom building and alliances become a key feature of SOTA. Balance is always critical and all too often not achieved... Perhaps a "Player's Board" or focus group would be helpful in creating the straw man for balance for SOTA...so many experienced gamers play this game...

 

I agree that is the intent. And it sounds good. However, is that really working? And if not, how could it be better?

Judge based on metrics: How many have been in Shardfalls for the story and regularly encountered the designed PVP scenario? How many have read regular posts here about players running these stories zones and getting ganked? How many groups have we seen forming to escort players to safely complete the story in these PVP scenes? Very few. I might understand that if these were out of the way zones. But these PVP zones are core to the story. I've been in these many times solo and have never seen another player, let alone encountered PVP in a scene designed to use PVP to create more edge in the stories here.

Is the PVP nature of these scenes really giving a compelling edge to the story? If not, should PVP be dropped in these scenes as the design choice and replaced with something else that does it better? Build them out as stronger quest hubs with more stories about the ruins? Use these scenes to further convey the older history of Novia that is largely missing in game? Use these scenes to create aa better bridge between the Shroud of the Avatar novels and the game world as it is today? These scenes have more potential that their PVP design isn't delivering.

In other words, lets move past using PVP as a 'crutch' to build good story in these scenes.

 

The problem that developing things you noticed need a huge amount of devs time, - opposite, to make pvp good we just need to increase loot and XP in PVP zones compared with non-pvp zones, it can be done very fast.
Another point that quests maps story and dialogues are in so bad state that it's hard to help it without full rework of game.