Path of Love forces PvP combat?

Why does the Path of Love force players to enter a PvP zone? I thought the developers mentioned "Players will never be forced" to enter pvp?

 

it doesn't, there's another way to get to the vault than going through the ruins.

 

All quest lines that take you through an PvP+ scene have an alternate route that doesn't.
They're not usually an easy path, but they're there.

 

How does a new player find this information - without coming here on the forums ?

 

Always good to do a little homework on what you're trying to do.

 

How does a new player in any game find out information? But doing a bit of research, forums, other players, youtube. Back in the day, they sold guides to help.

 

it's been a while, but i believe they added a hint about alternate routes in the journal entry.

 

If they pay attention and read the conversations they will know that they can get to the Crypt of the Avatar through Necropolis and not have to bother with any pvp zones. But most new players rarely read the conversations. I think it might even be in the journal from the conversation from the entity at the end of Necropolis as well. Might even be in talk with the spirit talker as well

 

http://sotawiki.net/sota/Crypt_of_the_Avatar

Can also go through the Midmaer Passage too.

 

The entrance from the Necropolis WARNS the player that he/she is about to enter a PvP Zone.

 

that is not the only exit from the necropolis.

 

You will rarely find people in those zones. There are also several videos on YouTube that will show each step.

 

Yeah the pvp-free routes are definately easier

 

The miracle of exploration.

 

This topic comes up every few months, hopefully at some point this will simply be changed so that this topic stops coming up. Apparently, a lot of players don't want to be subjected to PvP griefing during the course of trying to get the main storyline quest done. Imagine that!

Technically, you don't ever "have to" step into a PvP zone - this gets quickly mentioned every time a new player reaches this particular frustration.

Of course, the actual quest marker, journal, and most obvious exit from Necropolis dump you straight in the middle of Midras ruins, where the gank-inclined know to lurk and wait for the satisfaction of 1-shotting unsuspecting new players.

There is of course a much longer, much more dangerous (monster level-wise) alternate route through (at least) two tier 5 scenes, half a dozen load screens, and either knowing about an underground dungeon connection or a mine located in some Tier 5 foothills you've likely never had to expore by this point...and more than likely would not survive / know the way as it involves non-obvious paths, secret walls, and so forth. The quest will not direct you to this at all, the actual journal entry is "Explore Midras Ruins (pvp scene)" and there's no real acknowledgement that this actually isn't necessary, that you need a crypt underneath the ruins and never actually have to step foot in them.

You'll run into this again (several times) in the Path of the Oracle, where you'll need to visit vaults beneath all the PvP scenes, and the PvP scene is the journaled, indicated, and most direct route, however, there are alternatives to go through places that no player of the level on that quest would ever actually be able to survive (like The Rise).

Fortunately, there are plenty of people who are willing to help guide / escort you past these hurdles.

That being said, going through the PvP scene is a LOT faster - for the path of Love section, going through the PvP scene takes about 15 seconds. Going around will take at least 30 minutes assuming you know the way and can fight the things, or possibly a couple hours if you don't/can't. Its probably better to just deal with the risk, fortunately the PvP scenes are usually empty - but Midras is one where because of the quest involvement people know there might be "prey."

My advice? if you go through the PvP scene, go straight to the crypt (its on the map) do not kill anything - there is an API that shows monster kills , item lootings in specific zones and PvPers apparently watch this to know where unsuspecting victims are that PvPers can use to harass questers. Don't dilly-dally. I'd only do the alternative route if you run into a PvP related problem as it takes considerably longer.

 

Nuff said.

 

Yeah, I don't think its that big a deal personally, but I do run into a lot of new folks for whom stepping foot into the PvP scene is a complete non-option, no matter how many times I say 'just run to the map marker, it will be fine, probably'. Had someone wait over a month to finish the Path of the Oracle simply because they refused to step foot in PvP and wanted to wait until someone was available to escort them through the long way, which requires hand-holding through the Rise and other places.

Some people are just violently opposed to the entire concept of it. I don't think there's any benefit in the game forcing pvp down these players' throats, players with this inclination are never going to be PvPers no matter if they get "exposed to it" or not, and an early bad experience of this nature is not great for player retention.

I guess I just don't see the reasoning behind this and judging by the fact that these threads keep cropping up for the last two years, I guess others don't see it either.

 

I am violently opposed (has a nice ring to it, will use this more often in the future ^^) to a lot of things in and outside of this or other games.
And nobody bats an eye.
I really, from the depth of my heart, think this whole topic is a non issue *shrugs* and this implied "all pvpers are griefers" is really making me tired.
All i can read here is:

- i don't want to go into a pvp zone
- but i don't want to ask in the forum or look for other clues as well
- and i don't want to explore to find my own solution

So...whatcha want? A teleport to quest goal button?
I really would like to see how those people handle the old school click and point adventures where you had to do freaksih things like useing the rubber chicken as grappling hook ^^

 

I don't disagree with you on any particular point. I'm just saying the fact that this keeps getting brought up both on the forums and frequently in-game (when such players do reach out to find alternatives) that perhaps the pvp-on-main-questline should be evaluated as to whether it is fit for whatever purpose. Not all PvPers are griefers, but there are a considerable number of them who want nothing more than to grief, killing uninterested, low level targets - in this and any game.

Consensual PvP is all well and fine, but shoehorning new folks into a PvP scene, while yes they technically "consent" they aren't there because they want to deal with PvP, they are there to get their quest done, and getting 1 shot upon entering the scene puts a bit of a wrench in that. I've never understood this need to inflict PvP on people who aren't interested. Surely there is better PvP to be had among people who are equipped/prepared for it and there'd be something resembling a fair fight, rather than just...killing noobs. I have never understood the satisfaction people get out of that or why they will fight so hard to retain the right to do so. Why is ruining someone else's time "fun" ?

I don't think its a matter of wanting a teleport to goal button or not wanting to put in effort, its not wanting to be harassed, which is a different thing entirely. Many players can and do take the significantly longer more difficult route to avoid such harassment.

Additional Thought: Perhaps if the long route was presented by the journal and the PvP route offered as a "significant shortcut" that would help change the perception? When I run people through the Path of the Oracle, we take the PvP route as its simply so much faster, and they have the perceived protection of "me" so are less skittish about being in there. Knowing that they could do it on their own without requiring help but taking a longer route would I think keep this from being brought up again and again.

 

Fair enough. It's not like PvP is alive and kicking in this game anyway if i want to be honest to myself. So maybe "fixing" this one "issue" is the way to go.
At least i wouldn't have to complain about complaints anymore ^^