I got this idea from the battlegrounds posts, even though this is a PVP related issue I don’t feel it fits that topic, because it’s not a traditional instance battle grounds, it’s more a super optimal war zone.
My idea revolves around a specific non-instanced PVP war zone in the middle of the mountains between Wander’s Lost and The Burning Sanctum (map), (before everyone loses their minds, this would be a completely optional side activity, no gear rewards, no rating, no ladders, nothing competitive of that sort.). It’s basically an Alterac Valley from wow, but its open world and with no player limit.
For those that are unfamiliar with (the original version of) Alterac Valley, it’s a war zone where 2 sides fight each other, and the objective is to conquer the opposing side main Keep. To conquer the opposing sides the players need to work together, either fighting other players, collecting resources, helping fallen NPC troops, conquering minor fortress to weaken the main keep strength, or the best thing of all, summoning their “War God” a giant NPC that pushes the battle forwards (both sides have one, but it can take up to a full day or more of fighting to summon this monstrosity).
Now some adjustments to make it work with Pantheon.
This War zone is an entertainment created by bandit lords that live in the mountains, they pay you money for enlisting in the “War” and the winning side gets bonus money, maybe some gathering resources, and low XP, (these would not be great rewards compared to actually farming PP, or materials, or XP)
The 2 sides fighting each other would be the evil races vs the good races, (you can change your allegiance to play with friends by doing a rep grind with the respective faction
Again, no gear rewards, and since it’s not instanced there would also be no ladders or ratings.
Goes without mentioning, no XP loss, or gear loss.
This event happens 3-5 times a month and the battles last between 48-96 hours
I would however like to see title rewards.
This is just an extra feature, doesn’t need to be when the game launches, but I would love to see it implemented at some point, it’s a great deal of fun.
There comes the issue of balance. Adding something like this will cause people to start complaining about balance. Balancing PvE and PvP is next to impossible. I honestly wouldn't want to see this in Pantheon because it would lead down that road. VR is building the game for PvE only. PvP servers will exist but they will not be balancing the game for PvP. At least that what I have gotten from their talks about PvP.
I am of the opinion that introducing a core feature like this should not be done. Its completely counter to their missions and would just introduce problems. And this would be a core feature. Adding in attractive incentives for partisipation is telling people the devs WANT them to partisipate.
I think PvP is only good when it receivies the proper resources it needs. And PvP needs alot of resources to be good. For me at least, an RvR system like DAOC is the only real option. Anything less might as well be an instanced lobby game.
I don't really want my gaming gods to take valuable resources away from what is so far on paper and in the streams looking to be the best thing to hit gaming in years. For me at least. I am ok with a PvP rules server because that really doesn't take much to immplement. But to have some added on scenario like the above or a battleground thing like the other thread is something I give no support to what so ever. It will be a half baked thing that will never be great. And the standard they are trying to set for this game is great. In order for these other ideas to be great the game will be delayed at least a year and will cost more to make. If they want to add this stuff in in 2 or 3 years then fine lets see. But for now it won't make anyone happy.
You can't just tack on PvP and think it will be good enough. Every PvPer I have ever met is a balance freak that will be constantly complaining about PvP balance. That alone takes signifigant resources to deal with. No one should really want this if they think about it. Even if you want PvP like this you probably want it done well. I don't see them having the time or resources to do it well any time soon. I don't even see their desire to do it to be honest.
Well, he was framing it as a post launch feature, so dev resources now wouldn't matter. The main point is that, as VR has stated many times, this is not a PvP game. I don't think they have any intention of adding in any major PvP features like this.
PvP rule sets sure, that just making people attackable. An "arena" where you can battle roayl to the death for nothing more than giggles, sure again thats just making people attackable.
Adding in something on this scale would require balancing, else it would just be terrible. Its a cool idea for a PvP game, but Pantheon isn't that.
If there is a pvp server let's see any resources VR chooses to devote to pvp go there. Things like this may just reduce the population on the pvp server.
If there is no pvp server I have no problem with ideas like this as long as VR makes no attempts to balance the classes for pvp. VR can decide whether the resources needed to make a battleground or pvp zone are worth spending for whatever marketing benefit they may give (if any) and they do not need my opinion on that.
My son was very highly ranked and one of the top players so I saw Alterac valley and know it well. I played it with him a few times. So, I am truly familiar.
I love the idea of a fun side diversion to add variety to the game but, in this case, I vote with a resounding "NO".
This type of MOBA gaming completely changes the mentality and culture of the game and, like Alterac Valley, will become a haven for MOBA twitchers and has no part in a true immersive RPG where people LIVE virtual lives. The claim that "it wont detract from the real game" is not true - it creates an atmosphere and experience of playing a MOBA in Terminus and brings in those console players.
More importantly it wastes valuable Dev time that can/should be focused on the real game.
I personally don't like putting a "core" pvp system on a PVE server. If it happens all the time, or it gives consequential, unique rewards, then people will feel like they HAVE to do it, and do it well, in order to compete. This is where you see complaints about pvp imbalance, and classes unfortunately getting changed to fit all roles so that they can perform in pvp.
This is why I favor a system where you only rarely have lore related battles where they make sense. So before an expansion you have a pvp battle representing the territorial gains/losses of each faction when the expansion comes out. Or enough players from one race kill enough npcs from another race that GMs decide to trigger a small scale war in that area, for a limited time. These could offer rewards you could get just as easily eslewhere, like some gold in exchange for the ears of your enemies, or faction benefits. So long as you made it possible to not participate even if you are in the zone, I don't think it would cause any problems.
It'd be hard to implement, but no harder to implement than a guaranteed war zone. In addition, you would avoid making pvp any more than "something fun to do occasionally" (so you don't alienate people who main weak pvp classes).
Balancing PVP in an MMO is near impossible I'm not suggesting VR should try it, since this would be just a fun activitiy with no ladder mode, no gear rewards, and no competitive aspect, I don't see the problem with inbalance when these circunstances are meet, the important aspect is fun.
Also since VR is keeping PVE and PVE damage and healing formulas separate, balancing one would not affect the other.