Illum Armaments or PVP

[Vidsw]

Coming from the Imperial side, it's obvious that Illum is very one-sided. I rarely see any Republic stray away from their base for fear they'll be free farmed outside. So they hope that some unsuspecting Imperial will waltz just close enough to be pulled into the base. It's pretty much a stalemate. They won't come outside, and we dare not venture inside.

 

For the brave souls that do venture outside the safety of their own base, they are quickly gunned down in a timely fashion by the two operation groups that are currently on Illum at any given time (Rakata Mind Prison Server).

 

It can take anywhere from an hour to 5 hours actually trying to get the daily done. I can only imagine how bad it must be for the Republic.

 

Now in the center are re-spawning Armament Crates, where there's always about 10 Imperials just constantly running back and forth through the area searching for the crates that seem to have a rather long re-spawn time. Needless to say, trying to get 30 armaments out of this area, would probably take you 24 hours playtime.

 

To say nothing else about Illum, it's rather boring. I prefer the old way, at least we could actually get some pvp in if we wanted, but we also got the daily done in a lot less time. Let's face it, most of us just want the daily done at this point. The pvp is a bonus, but when it's clearly just one-sided and you get 1 kill every 10 minutes, it's just a complete waste of time. I can't imagine it's fun for either side at this point in the game.

 

TL;DR

I see more and more people leaving Illum because it's a huge waste of time, clearly things need to go back to the way they were, or something drastic needs to be changed.

[revial]

No, things don't need to go back to the way they were, with most of the playerbase just trading a node back and forth every ten seconds.

 

Things are not improved, as Ilum is still a completely ****** 'pvp planet'. But between the previous **** and the current ****, I'll keep the current ****, if only because people are no longer pretending they don't see any red names standing ten feet away from them at the center node.

 

To be frank, they need to just remove the Ilum pvp dailies/weeklies and spend some real time re-working the planet.

 

C'mon Bioware. Man up and admit the planet is completely *********** broken, remove the dailies/weeklies, and fire Gabe for being the most clueless pvp designer I have ever met. You could probably close your eyes and randomly hire one of your million+ subscribers and they'd end up designing something better.

Edited January 21, 2012 by revial

[Vube]

Bioware has borrowed many things from wow and other mmos. As is the case for mmos...

 

Lowering the population will mean 25 vs 25 in theory. But when the next one opens... it'll be 25 vs 1.

 

Is it just me or would wow tenacity be the easy fix.

[Mintawno]

Is it just me or would wow tenacity be the easy fix.

 

I always hated Wow's tenacity. It never dealt with the real problem in a zerg, the fact that you could be CC"d to death regardless of how much HP they gave you. Sure, you could 1v1 like Rambo, but the odds of you having Tenacity in a 1v1 fight is pretty low.

 

The only thing I'd have accepted is a reduction in my ability to be CC'd, since 1v5 I may be able to take someone down, but maybe not all of them.

[Ezzem]

double the rewards from daily/weekly warzones for a while, scrap ilum daily/weekly til you can come up with something cool and fair. and not afk in middle looking for armament together with 40 other imperials.

[Ethias]

So on an RP server I'm on, republic managed to get a group together and take central from 10 imperials.

 

However, those 10 imperials promptly left and didn't come back.

 

Now, those handful of Republic guys are riding furiously around in a cirlce trying to gather 20 armaments before those 10 imperials invite their 50 friends to come smash the republic.

 

On another note, Ilum is awful to get to. It takes far too long and for no reason at all. From the station to Ilum there are like 5 loading screens and a hell of a long speeder ride.

 

Ilum will never be a place that "works" until it is accessible to people. Either give ilum things that people would want to stick around for (such as mail box, auction house, bank) or make it much easier to get to the fighting!

[Hendriix]

Is there a point to destroying the turrets and those big AT looking things? I was in Ilum this morning, took me an hour to get the armaments (eh, thats a little long for my taste), and we went up to the Imperial base. We destroyed both the turrets then ran around and destroyed all the 'walkers'. Is the Valor bonus the only thing you get from all this?

[Evilspock]

On my server the PvP is in the form of same faction players fighting over and CAMPING the armament spawns. So forget running back and forth, people have taken to sitting and camping a single spawn. I am sure that's not what the designers wanted.

 

To be clear, what happens is that usually the center and most of the map is controlled by Imperials so there are no Repubs there to kill for the daily quest as any that pop up get zerged and killed in a 5 or 6:1 massacre as mentioned before. As a result the controlling faction winds up sitting and camping armament spawns thus fighting each other to complete the daily.

 

That = frustrating and irritating, NOT enjoyable.

[Krafen]

Ilum went from silly to mind-numbing. As someone pointed out the other day, the previous version of Ilum was the galaxy's best hope for peace as Republic and Empire cooperated and waved to one another.

 

The current version is incredibly boring for Imperial and essentially disabled for Republic. At this point, Bioware should just return to the previous version while the rethink Ilum. Leaving it in its current state while they attempt to come up with something workable is a horrible idea.

[SigEp]

I agree with the OP. I will just start getting my 1 battlemaster bag each day because the Ilum daily is a complete waste of time now. It is stupid to have to take 2 hours out of my day to try to get 30 armaments because the republic population is too low to get the quest done actually pvping. The kills/armaments need to be reduced to like 5 or they need to have armaments drop at all 3 assault points with a tripled spawn-rate. So not only is the quest a complete waste of time, but it's more than likely that you will not gain anything from your efforts anyways. By the time you hit valor rank 60, you should generally have the full champion set which makes the champion tokens a waste of time. On the whole, you do a quest that takes 2 hours because there is an entire server of Empire attempting to gather 10 spawns of armaments at one node for a POOR CHANCE to get a single battlemaster token...FANTASTIC INCENTIVES BIOWARE! At the very least, one should have more incentive to do this fail quest, or reduce the numbers of the daily to 5 and the weekly to 35.

[Andaman]

Ilum went from silly to mind-numbing. As someone pointed out the other day, the previous version of Ilum was the galaxy's best hope for peace as Republic and Empire cooperated and waved to one another.

 

The current version is incredibly boring for Imperial and essentially disabled for Republic. At this point, Bioware should just return to the previous version while the rethink Ilum. Leaving it in its current state while they attempt to come up with something workable is a horrible idea.

 

I find the previous incarnation of Ilum very cute, a peacezone where players from both sides chill out and chat.

[PostalTwinkie]

The entire Ilum situation is basically a "Choose the lesser of the two evils". Sine that is the situation that is being presented to us, as players, I would take the old Ilum. At least with the old Ilum there was, although somewhat forced, a sense of agreement and common goal between the two factions. With that we were still able to accomplish our end goal, even if it was trading. On top of this those that wanted to PvP could still do that on some level, instead of trading.

 

With the new Ilum neither side is accomplishing their goal, and PvP has come to a standstill, completely. The planet has become a dead zone because people are leaving, I left the second day. There is now zero reason to go to that planet, time is better spent in WZ's, or at least was until the now extremely small 50 bracket.

 

The truth is that PvP needs a massive overhaul in this game, not just Ilum, but the entire system. We are supposed to be massive waring factions that are supposed to destroy each other on sight. The problem is there isn't any incentive to do this on a grand scale, unless you are in a WZ. It is far more efficient to just go past the "other" guy in the open world. If I crush a Republic out in the open world, I should get something for that, and if I get crushed they should get something as well.

 

Bioware needs to justify to us as players, especially on PvP servers, why we should put off our quests and other objectives that actually benefit our progression to destroy that other faction! Right now open world PvP puts you at a disadvantage, as you don't progress as quickly compared to if you just went on questing.

Edited January 22, 2012 by PostalTwinkie

[Raencloud]

I'm on Rakata Mind Sphere, and what you describe is not very accurate. There has rarely been more than 1 operation group in the area for many days now, and frequently there are small groups of republic playing hide and go seek, taking objectives, and then trying to fend off the zerg. Most of the time they stand no chance, but they still get kills and valor and on at least one occasion they built up a force larger than the imperials for a brief time.

 

The biggest problem with Ilum PVP is that there aren't enough Republic faction players out there. The actual implementation is great. Ilum IS the best way to get valor, while obviously WFs are the best way to get commendations. Unfortunately, the faction imbalances will make Ilum less successful than it should be, and for that reason I believe the daily should be moved to Tatooine's open pvp zone.

 

The biggest problem with Ilum that is the daily can be extremely time consuming to complete. Many people are going to Ilum only because of the daily reward, especially Battlemasters that must do dailies to get the gear. Changing the PVP daily to Tatooine, or just allowing it to be completed in either location, would solve this major beef that people have.

[Evilspock]

I imagine that the kind of server you are on plays a role. On a RP or PVE server there are likely to be fewer PVP oriented players. Maybe it works better for some because of the server type. All I know is that it doesn't work well on my server.

[Beef_Cake]

No, things don't need to go back to the way they were, with most of the playerbase just trading a node back and forth every ten seconds.

 

Things are not improved, as Ilum is still a completely ****** 'pvp planet'. But between the previous **** and the current ****, I'll keep the current ****, if only because people are no longer pretending they don't see any red names standing ten feet away from them at the center node.

 

To be frank, they need to just remove the Ilum pvp dailies/weeklies and spend some real time re-working the planet.

 

C'mon Bioware. Man up and admit the planet is completely *********** broken, remove the dailies/weeklies, and fire Gabe for being the most clueless pvp designer I have ever met. You could probably close your eyes and randomly hire one of your million+ subscribers and they'd end up designing something better.

 

Of course you want it to stay the way it is, its free PvP loot for you and the rest of the Empire players.

 

Make the Area a Instance where only 20 v 20 and leave it at that. Create a new instance once the first is full.

[MinganBetzalel]

Not to mention the atrocious lag that exists out there at any point in time where there are more then 10 people fighting.

[DemonThirsty]

PVP in this game clearly favors Empire which is horrible.. I'm on Uthar Wynn and there's almost never a chance to get the Ilum daily completed, and we're losing most of the warzones due to emps having a better gear or more people.. I'm actually thinking about quitting this game if things don't improve as in it's current state - PVP is clearly onesided Edited January 23, 2012 by DemonThirsty

[RG_jhanlec]

PVP in this game clearly favors Empire which is horrible.. I'm on Uthar Wynn and there's almost never a chance to get the Ilum daily completed, and we're losing most of the warzones due to emps having a better gear or more people.. I'm actually thinking about quitting this game if things don't improve as in it's current state - PVP is clearly onesided

 

Not true at all. Numbers favor Empire, but most Republic players have the defeatist attitude. I now have a 50 of both and I prefer to PvP with friends on Republic. When the base is being camped by 20-30 empire we fly out to north FP, then go cap their base, North, Central and then wait for Empire to roll in 2-5 at a time and our group of 4-6 which usually has 1 healer can usually wipe them. Get my daily done in moments, literally. My weekly was done in 35-45 minutes.

 

Then we log and get on our Empire characters and see 20-30 Republic in Base camping it out. So instead of that we go central grab armaments and kill the random stray person or two back capping. 5-6hrs later we finish weekly....

 

GROW A PAIR AND CHALLENGE EMPIRE! believe it or not, the number are often pretty even, and Republic often outnumber Empire in any given fight if you leave the dang base.

 

 

FYI, it causes no personal harm to you in real life if you die in the game.

[Miothan]

The problem with Ilum is that: Whenever you go there, it is always 1 side that is dominating the other totally due to either more players OR because they have more healers than you.

 

So when you go there, one side will end up leaving after about 20 minutes, resulting in no Valor, since...theres noone left to kill cause of the imbalance issues 10 vs. 16 etc.

 

They should just make it instanced whenever you enter the PvP part of the planet so that you get into a balanced team so you can duke it out on Ilum(16 vs. 16 etc), currently you can have about 20 mins of fun and then one side leavea.

[RG_jhanlec]

The problem with Ilum is that: Whenever you go there, it is always 1 side that is dominating the other totally due to either more players OR because they have more healers than you.

 

So when you go there, one side will end up leaving after about 20 minutes, resulting in no Valor, since...theres noone left to kill cause of the imbalance issues 10 vs. 16 etc.

 

They should just make it instanced whenever you enter the PvP part of the planet so that you get into a balanced team so you can duke it out on Ilum(16 vs. 16 etc), currently you can have about 20 mins of fun and then one side leavea.

 

Problem is that instanced means you lose open world PvP. So the idea to fix need to remain within the realm of open world.

 

Population cap was a good idea in theory, but in practice doesn't force the sides to balance. Best thing you can do is play with friends and actually use strategy to get what you need.

 

Its true you could still end up 10 vs 40...on either side! Although more likely republic outnumbered, it happens the other way often enough. When that happens, flip an objective or 2 and queue WZ with buff. When you get back it may be more even, etc....

 

Bottom line, stay out of bases, use speeders to get to points over map and grab objectives. Almost no OPS group sends more than 2-3 to recap because they assume its just 1 ninja grabber...

[chosen_silver]

...they need to have armaments drop at all 3 assault points...

 

this.

[DemonThirsty]

Not true at all. Numbers favor Empire, but most Republic players have the defeatist attitude. I now have a 50 of both and I prefer to PvP with friends on Republic. When the base is being camped by 20-30 empire we fly out to north FP, then go cap their base, North, Central and then wait for Empire to roll in 2-5 at a time and our group of 4-6 which usually has 1 healer can usually wipe them. Get my daily done in moments, literally. My weekly was done in 35-45 minutes.

 

Then we log and get on our Empire characters and see 20-30 Republic in Base camping it out. So instead of that we go central grab armaments and kill the random stray person or two back capping. 5-6hrs later we finish weekly....

 

GROW A PAIR AND CHALLENGE EMPIRE! believe it or not, the number are often pretty even, and Republic often outnumber Empire in any given fight if you leave the dang base.

 

 

FYI, it causes no personal harm to you in real life if you die in the game.

 

Yeah, and I'm lying here why exactly? I'm telling you the situation on the server where I play, so either listen or ****

[lllI]

Before reading all this, i was just playing the game as it was presented to me. I didnt played the beta of SWTOR, i just came here when the game was oficially realeased, due to the surprising element. I did not played WoW, cause it was WoW. Even if WoW was the mmo of the moment i wouldnt even care. But when i heard: "Star Wars as a MMO". Things changed. CAUSE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SW. Thats why im here, thats why i will take time to reply in this matter.

 

Now, allow me to share some additional feedbak/info:

 

When you first play SWTOR, and you see every element so meticulous thought through, that in some point, you get overwhelmed by the story, environment, characters, creatures, etc. Then you as a player/adventurer/dicoverer realize that you didnt made a wrong choice buying the game, cause in that point you dont think in this as a game anymore, you just call it "The Star Wars Universe". Can you guys see? its euphoric! epic! You just got drowned by this universe! magnificent! The objetive was achieved!

 

And therefore, good job to the team. Congrats; usually we players, forget how to give the proper recognition to the effort. (if my english is bad is due to my lack of experience. México here)

 

Ok, back to topic once you know the previous feedback:

 

When i was leveling tru and got my first companions, and ship, i took a look to the galaxy map. I was like: "oh, we got tatooine here, and.. oh.. wow.. wth.. Illum" and i saw the level required to go there, more than that, i was scared since the game itself was telling me something awful (in the good way) "unknown area".

 

In my head i was like: "Illum must be the most harsh environment ever". "i will not go there alone". Between those two phrases, there was these kind of ideas of what illum would be:

 

"A place not for the weak, a place where the enemies/creatures would be so dangerous so horribly strong that only in large groups you would be able to survive. Imperials, republics, all would mean nothing to illum itself, since no one dares to approach (at least not alone)".

 

-Illum was for me the most epic of trials to see!-

 

So, in order to fullfill this, of my imagination of what illum had, i leveled up with strong armor, weapons, cash, medic kits, etc. i also was willing to build a guild so we all (players) would face the Illum Unkowns. I still want to!

 

And also tought that illum would be a very large area to explore. That the expeditions would take days to fullfill areas. That the Creatures would all be the best of the best horrors ever seen. That when you see a republic team there alone you would stick with them instead of fighting them. Yes.. i know.. that.. i now know that illum is not what i imagined. But hey! story is not over yet! it is customizable! illum can be changed! illum would be true illum if we players share feed!

 

I will share an experience i had on tatooine (due to the good work of the BW team. I thank that) When i set a foot on tatooine desert, it was marvelous! the feeling! the horror and excitement of not knowing what you could find there! huge bones buried in the mid sand! Krayt bones! oh what a sight i said!- then the tought went to me more clearly: "this must be a playground compared to illum! and a sight of what it would look!".

 

Please bioware team, make my foolishness visions be true! Overwhelme again! with a nice illum terrain! I will not demand what to "fill" there. I will let you guys SURPRISE ME again! Do as you please.

 

All yours truly - A Star Wars fan.

Edited March 7, 2012 by lllI