My thoughts on PVP

[Deniath]

Hello everyone,

 

I thought i'd take some time and post my thoughts on the problems of PvP as it is now and i'll try to be concise. Please remember that these are my opinions and not facts, while many might disagree i would ask you to make your argument as to why you do so in a respectful manner.

 

 

 

 

 

General:

 

There is too much hard CC in this game!

 

While i know this will most likely never be fixed i feel that this is one of the biggest problems with PvP today. It really breaks game flow and it seems like the only way you will be useful, whether you are in a WZ or outdoors, is if you have your CC breaker up. I feel this inhibits skillful play since there aren't really anything you can do if you get stunned.

And yes, there is also the resolve meter, but that was as far as i understood, implemented to counteract prolonged CC. Isn't it counterproductive then to give everyone and their mother atleast 1 or 2 hard CC's on top of slow, damage reduction and other abilities?

 

AoE is too strong!

 

This is mostly near the of the under represented sides base in Ilum or on the Voidstar. As soon as you see a choke point (entrance to base in Ilum or doors in the Voidstar) you see at least 3-5 people chain-spamming their aoe and completely devestating anything going near. This is a tactic that is extremely difficult to counter by most classes other then the classes that actually have said aoe, making some classes over represented aswell as turning some warzones and Ilum into a stalemate.

 

 

Ilum:

 

 

Zerg promoting!

 

Valor gains are given in full to everyone damaging a dying player and is not given in procentage according to how much the player contributed to bringing the player down. This promotes zerging and is one of the biggest reason Ilum is the way it is today.

And when i say contribute i do not solely mean damage. There should probably be a heal/assist pot for kills too, may hap smaller, but something to encourage teamwork and healing in PvP.

 

 

Ilum is too small!

 

This might be a bit controversial to some, as it would probably mean more lag. But in my opinion there needs to be more capture points, bigger map and more dailies (perhaps with rewards that give you some consumables or something) so both factions need to spread out more to cover the ground better.

 

 

Warzones:

 

 

Leavers!

 

Leavers leavers leavers. This is probably the biggest problem for warzones to this date.

It is very easy to get ahead when the enemy team is missing a person, the game is balanced enough to actually feel a huge difference if one side has an extra fighter in the battle. I doubt there are many who could take on a 2 vs 3 or 3 vs 4 fight and not lose the encounter.

 

The system as it is could also work in favor of the losing team, I have seen far too many premades leave in the last second when they are about to lose just to make sure the winners aren't given the recognition of the win to their daily quest.

 

The AFK debuff is too short aswell, all it takes is abit of bad timing and some lag (which most servers have in abundance) to get kicked out of the WZ.

 

 

Commendations!

 

I feel that commendations as they are only prevents teamwork in warzones. Too many run away from the door/turret/whatever only to get some more damage to get that next commendation, or go for the enemy with the lowest HP instead of the one that is capping the objective just to get the soldier award (or whatever x amount of kills award he is on)

 

More commendations should be awarded to people who pass the ball closer to the goal, defend the turret, plants a bomb and so forth, and not given to those who did the most damage.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the biggest problems of PvP in my opinion today and while alot of you might disagree with my suggestions to solve these problems i am sure most of you recognize the problems themselves.

These are only the problems from the top of my head, i am sure i could/will find more problems worth mentioning.

I'll try too bring out more problems when i find them/remember them.

 

But until then, remember: Han shot first.

 

/ Victus (Lord Calypho server)

 

 

 

 

 

TLDR; Well if you can't be arsed to read what i've written above then you'll probably not be arsed to read the TLDR either.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Deniath
title change and spelling checks.

[Killadrix]

I agree with the medal system being a little broken.

 

I remember all the people in WoW whining for something similar to this because they wanted to be rewarded for "good play" and not listening to the rest of us telling them it is a horrible mechanic for a multiplayer game.

[Psychode]

Leavers are also often annoying for the people who get put in in place of them.

 

Had an Alderaan game once, we won quite overwhelmingly, shortly before the win, most of the enemy team left, and got replaced. Those people who came in were just on time to see us win, didnt have a chance to fight back, get commendations, anything.

 

Speaking of commendations, i assume that the mvp system is aprtly there to make up for commendations. However, unless you stand out, most people give their MVPs to top healer (what i do), or somebody who already has tons of commendations (which doesnt mean that person can't be the MVP). Or of course don't give an MVP at all

 

I actually work to stand out when i'm playing a warzone since being a tank and not always being able to guard due to others guarding or being away from others, i rely on MVP votes to make up for it. Pity it still doesn't always work, and if i replace a leaver, i can't get those votes.

[Kelticfury]

Leavers are also often annoying for the people who get put in in place of them.

 

Had an Alderaan game once, we won quite overwhelmingly, shortly before the win, most of the enemy team left, and got replaced. Those people who came in were just on time to see us win, didnt have a chance to fight back, get commendations, anything.

 

Speaking of commendations, i assume that the mvp system is aprtly there to make up for commendations. However, unless you stand out, most people give their MVPs to top healer (what i do), or somebody who already has tons of commendations (which doesnt mean that person can't be the MVP). Or of course don't give an MVP at all

 

I actually work to stand out when i'm playing a warzone since being a tank and not always being able to guard due to others guarding or being away from others, i rely on MVP votes to make up for it. Pity it still doesn't always work, and if i replace a leaver, i can't get those votes.

 

My vote goes to the highest objectives score. I don't give a damn about your damage or your heals. Help win and get the vote.

[Deniath]

My vote goes to the highest objectives score. I don't give a damn about your damage or your heals. Help win and get the vote.

 

I usually do the same, but i feel that the way you get objective score needs to be greatly improved.

[Psychode]

I usually do the same, but i feel that the way you get objective score needs to be greatly improved.

 

Aye, the reason i give to healers is because i jsut go "well, they keep people alive - more surviving, better chance of winning"

I'm not entirely sure how objective score is assigned, i've had games where i felt i wasn't very useful and had a high objective score, other games where i felt that i did a lot towards the objectives, and i had low score.

Not going to give MVP vote to people when i don't know what they did to deserve it.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Psychode

[Kelticfury]

I usually do the same, but i feel that the way you get objective score needs to be greatly improved.

 

I agree with you on that too.

[Humus_]

I was planning on starting my own thread on this, but the OP basically captures it, so I'll just add my 2 cents here :

 

- Warzone leavers.

Please, PLEASE put a hefty punishment on this. It really sucks to loose a warzone because people leave after the other team scored one point in Huttball. Sometimes your good players get skillfully avoided by the enemy team, which makes it look to the noobs that my team is being overrun, and 2-3 players leave while we tie up the score .... They do not get punished but I will loose the game because it's a 5 vs 8 fight for a few mins.

 

Same goes for joining halfway in ... every leaver gets replaced by somebody in the que and it is REALLY frustrating to join a game halfway. So either put a BIG penalty on leaving, or let me tick a box that lets me wait until a new warzone opens up. I do NOT want to be put in a warzone that has already been lost by the leavers.

 

- Rewards.

Currently you only get bags from wins. That means that when I'm pugging, I have a severely lower reward rate. This can't be the intention right ? Sure I can group up with the PvP guild (I'm a fairly skilled player, so they let me join when they need a 4th) But I actually like the challenge of fighting in a PuG vs a premade. And atm I get punished if I try to make the hutball games tense. If I join the premades, we roll over the enemy team 80% of the time... no fun but good rewards. If i PuG i win 20-30% of the time, not really fun and crappo rewards.

 

-Dropbags.

For the love of god, take away the random loot chance. I know why you do it ... the "maybe I 'll get my item i the next bag" syndrome triggers the dopamine receptors in the human brain very effectively. This is why people can get addicted to gambling, but ffs , it is unfair, and for those who know enough about human psychology and physiology it is just downright insulting that you thing your game needs a crutch like that to keep players from leaving.

 

- Opening scenes in Voidstar.

All nice and all but PLEASE remove them. There are two minutes between the opening of a warzone and the actual start of a warzone. very often you'r not the actuall first pick for your slot. So someone else gets a pop-up and doesn't click it... you get the spot, but your loading in begins 1 minute before the game starts. On the defending side you get an unskippable fly around on a scooter, for about a minute ... subtract your loading time and taadaa ... you have missed the start, and can't leave the start area untill the stupid force field goes down for the second time. by this time a good enemy will already have bombed one door.

The worst game I've had in voidstar was a game where a 4 man premade had let their timer expire so half my team was spawning while the first bomb got placed. By the time I first got onto the fighting area the first doors where down and we had to run into the second room ..... Guess what, before I reached the secong doors, the bomb was planted! So you run after everybody to try and stop something at door nr 3 ... same thing . I got to see ONE opponent. Really not kidding here! ONE, the whole enemy team was so far ahead of my when I spawned that I never even caught up on them. All just because off that stupid scooter ride around the place.

 

Same goes in lesser extend to the attacker, but at least you can spacebar through that bit. Missing critical fighting time JUST because of a stupid opening cinematic that adds no value whatsoever other then your first run is completely bonkers in a competitive pvp environment.

 

TLDR:

 

- Implement a leaving penalty

- Give rewards for loosing

- The random chance in drop bags is insulting and annoying

- Voidstar opening cinematics need to go.

[Deniath]

 

- Rewards.

Currently you only get bags from wins. That means that when I'm pugging, I have a severely lower reward rate. This can't be the intention right ? Sure I can group up with the PvP guild (I'm a fairly skilled player, so they let me join when they need a 4th) But I actually like the challenge of fighting in a PuG vs a premade. And atm I get punished if I try to make the hutball games tense. If I join the premades, we roll over the enemy team 80% of the time... no fun but good rewards. If i PuG i win 20-30% of the time, not really fun and crappo rewards.

 

-Dropbags.

For the love of god, take away the random loot chance. I know why you do it ... the "maybe I 'll get my item i the next bag" syndrome triggers the dopamine receptors in the human brain very effectively. This is why people can get addicted to gambling, but ffs , it is unfair, and for those who know enough about human psychology and physiology it is just downright insulting that you thing your game needs a crutch like that to keep players from leaving.

 

- Opening scenes in Voidstar.

All nice and all but PLEASE remove them. There are two minutes between the opening of a warzone and the actual start of a warzone. very often you'r not the actuall first pick for your slot. So someone else gets a pop-up and doesn't click it... you get the spot, but your loading in begins 1 minute before the game starts. On the defending side you get an unskippable fly around on a scooter, for about a minute ... subtract your loading time and taadaa ... you have missed the start, and can't leave the start area untill the stupid force field goes down for the second time. by this time a good enemy will already have bombed one door.

The worst game I've had in voidstar was a game where a 4 man premade had let their timer expire so half my team was spawning while the first bomb got placed. By the time I first got onto the fighting area the first doors where down and we had to run into the second room ..... Guess what, before I reached the secong doors, the bomb was planted! So you run after everybody to try and stop something at door nr 3 ... same thing . I got to see ONE opponent. Really not kidding here! ONE, the whole enemy team was so far ahead of my when I spawned that I never even caught up on them. All just because off that stupid scooter ride around the place.

 

Same goes in lesser extend to the attacker, but at least you can spacebar through that bit. Missing critical fighting time JUST because of a stupid opening cinematic that adds no value whatsoever other then your first run is completely bonkers in a competitive pvp environment.

 

While most of these aren't game mechanics per-sé i agree with them and find them very annoying.

The fact that they even considered making reward bags into a random drop chance baffled me. How could they think that was a good idea, or even worth being a placeholder? It does nothing but make a lot of people angry.