Suggestion - A Simple Way to Fix Ilum

[Psiwolf]

While Ilum is a big worry, a bigger problem I see with this game is the lag experienced when a bunch of players are grouped up in one area. I built a new rig a week before this game went live and I have plenty of RAM (16 gigs, ikr?!), a 6 core AMD Phenom II 1100T Black Edition, and a Radeon HD 6870 w/ 2gigs of GDDR5. I also changed my graphics to have the lowest setting possible, and I *STILL* experienced some pretty bad lag. I think this needs to be looked at even before looking at changes to try to fix Ilum, if Bioware wants to give players a world-pvp experience.

[Eeuul_Mithraa]

This is by far the best suggestion put forth to fix Ilum, and if I knew a way, I’d make sure it would be implemented immediately.

 

One thing I really like about this game is that the story, for the most part, makes you feel as if you matter to the galaxy. Like, if it wasn’t for your heroism, whichever side your allegiance lies would have been obliterated. Me personally, I would like to see that continue at 50, on Ilum. Any and all level 50 toons should at some point be on Ilum protecting their faction. I think it would be, later down the road, a great idea to somehow make the status of Ilum affect the current state of the contested zones in the galaxy. I read a great post from someone and the OP elaborated on it, that really hit home for me:

 

That is an excellent suggestion.

 

My proposed solution would be this: The longer you personally are in Ilum contributing to the war effort, you receive a stacking bonus up to a 2 hour limit (the time it takes the zone to reset if the full objective isn't completed). So for every 30 minutes you spend there, a scaling increase of Merc commendations will drop from whatever Objective or Person that you complete/kill.

 

The math would look something like:

 

30 Mins 1 Bonus = 2 per kill

1 hr = 2 Bonus = 4 per kill

1 hr 30 = 3 Bonus = 8 per kill

2 hr = 4 Bonus = 12 per kill

 

The Objective based rewards would go up incrementally by 5 per half hour.

 

This means that while the successful team will end up getting more, the losing team can still gain a bonus and if they constantly roam around capping objectives and killing randoms, they will still get rewarded.

 

Again - the main thing I am trying to accomplish is to make Ilum feel like a giant Warzone where everyone actually wants to be there and is given incentive to kill each other..

 

It wouldn't hurt if Bioware put some pvp Vendors in each base while they're at it...now would it?

 

Amazing. If there was some incentive for each faction to consistently get out there and pvp, this would work wonders. For example, having the state of Ilum depict other contested zones’ merc commendations and VPK (valor per kill) would be cool IMO. It would be kind of a teeter tottery effect, where depending on what areas you control/flip, have a direct impact on your VPK. That way there has to really be some form of pvp in all contested areas, with Ilum being the main focus. Imps zerg, but it would be pretty darn hard to keep ALL contested zones ALL the time. Once an area is flipped, this would cause some imps to have to break from Ilum, which in turn would decrease their population on Ilum, giving Reps a chance at capping nodes there, instead of just getting massacred on Ilum for 2 hours straight everyday (which WILL happen on my server due to imbalance).

 

Regardless, this needs to be forwarded up and implemented as soon as possible. Great post mate.

[ABQautoxer]

This sounds like the best way to get started...as it sits, Ilum is just a place to go briefly every day and leave as soon as you get your 30 kills.

 

Only thing I would add to the list is the tracking toggle of the control points on Ilum. When those nodes change ownership, the resulting display lags on each PC. If I choose to untrack it because it has this behavior, don't automatically turn the tracking back on.

[HuntinSikness]

This still works against faction imbalance. You've given 2 ways to obtain comms, 1 through capturing the base, and the other by getting kills. You've stated that you can't capture a base without holding the other nodes. So if Faction A goes for a base and Faction B goes for a node, then Faction A has to go destroy Faction B. If Faction B defends, then it ends up being the same kill trading. They stand at the entrance to the base and fish each other endlessly. Only now with BM bags purchasable, the route to full BM gear is directly related to how fast you trade. Edited February 14, 2012 by HuntinSikness

[Itukaaj]

I support this.

 

But more importantly I want your crappy servers to support more than 5 people in this zone and using AOE . You wanna be real? Make your Ilum server support 200 people simultaneously using AOE without any framerate drop.

 

Pretty pointless to get more people there if you can't see anything. Make the game experience suck less and being epic will follow.

[Tetrablade]

I think this is quite a good idea. But if lets say Empire outnumber Republic 3 to 1, wouldn't Empire always win Ilum? There is absolutely no chance that lets say 33 republic could win against a 100 Empire players NO WAY! - This would make warzones even more unbalanced when its Empire against Republic on some servers, as we've seen in threads before. Why? Well, since they could gain a lot more from the system you've come up with. Sure with some tweaking it may be great.

 

+ The current state of Ilum is so horrible this actually look promising.

 

On my server they already outnumber us so they have an easier time camping us in central. They either get credit for killing us or getting armaments. But this would actually make guerrilla tactics viable since capturing a point is far easier then trying to get 30 arms/kills. Thus it makes it easier to get the baseline gear and easier to put up an actual fight.

 

I like this idea, and I think would actually make what Bioware is going for which is a dynamic battlefield. Removes frustration, promotes people sticking around, and actually discourages zerging which is the only way to get things done right now.

[Phixler]

These changes would rock on an evenly balanced server.

 

Unfortunately there are many servers that aren't evenly balanced. On my server we can barely break 10 repubs vs 2-ops groups of imps.

[Fallensbane]

Pretty good idea I like it. I would also make it so that the lower population faction has to hold objectives for a shorter amount of time, maybe 25% less or whatever.

 

Mercenary coms should have always been drop.

 

Champion coms should have like a 1-5% chance to drop from Valor 50+ players

Battlemaster coms should have a 1% chance to drop from Valor 65+ players.

Edited February 15, 2012 by Fallensbane

[Eeuul_Mithraa]

Bumped to help the OP.

[Mertissielle]

I think this is a great suggestion, OP.

 

A couple of things I would tweak slightly - firstly the AFK issue. While AFKers in Warzones do indeed normally get zerged down, in something the size of Ilum with all it's little hiding places and mountains to climb up, it's a far safer bet that you can go AFK and get away with it without being found. Perhaps a solution would be something like this:

 

Valor will passively tick only when one or more of the following conditions are met:

 

- Has been in combat within past five minutes

- Has assaulted an objective within the past five minutes

- Is standing in the elevated (ie. not the tunnels or outskirts) area of a non-base objective and is not stealthed

 

May need further tweaking, but it's a starting point.

 

The other area to consider is disincentives for base trading or kill trading. While Merc token drops and tying those to Battlemaster bags is a good idea, it doesn't necessarily address those who are either full Champion but pre-Battlemaster or full Battlemaster as for those two groups Valor is the most important thing. I don't necessarily know the solution here (will think on it) but I wanted to flag it as an area for further consideration.

 

The final element I'd add, which you hinted at but didn't have a firm plan around, is a specific timer. I'd have it so the base objective thingy spawns once every two hours exactly, regardless of whethere it's capped or not. The reward and system for getting it is great, but let's give people a specific reason to engage in the battle all at once at specific times. You could even then track wins and adjust accordingly - for example if Empire have held Ilum for the past 5 times, the Republic could get a 5% buff during the next battle to help even the odds - each time it switches sides, any buff reverts to 0%.

 

As I say, best idea for Ilum I've seen on these forums, OP. Obviously welcome any comments on what I've written

[Yescek]

I swap my sub up to 1 year the day they do this...............

[Chewsnacka]

best idea i've seen

[svartalfimposter]

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I truly feel it would be VERY VERY easy for them to implement these changes with very little work.

 

I agree and /sign this. Obviously, over the longer term, I'd prefer a more epic and long-lasting campaign, but this would be a fantastic start, and the Mythic people would be like pigs in muck doing it, I'm sure.

[Machinezero]

Excellent Idea! This would be a great improvement over the current Ilum implementation and sounds fun too .

 

Some ideas for improvement and questions for clarification:

 

A faction MUST OWN ALL OBJECTIVES (N, S, Central) before they can enter the opposing factions base. My suggestion would be a shield surrounding each base that does not go down until all objectives are held.

 

If all 3 controlled-objectives are required to make a base assaultable, what happens if one controlled-objective is retaken when forces are already assaulting inside a base? Do the shields pop back up so no one else in the attacking faction can enter (those already inside make their last stand)? Does the assaulting faction that's already inside the base get auto-killed? Or are the objectives no longer able to be taken until the base falls/resets?

 

Place an item at the center of each base worth a large amount of valor (Equivalent to 1 Warzone win) that also rewards any players who were in the Base, assisting with its domination, with a certain number of Mercenary Commendations.

I think the reward for winning should apply to anyone on the winning team in the PvP area of Ilum. Example: If people stay behind to guard objectives while others are attacking the base, the people who stayed to guard should get the reward too; not just the people who attacked the base. Maybe make it that people within a certain radius of the objectives also get the reward?

 

 

 

Possible problems:

Due to the way the flight paths lead into the bases, I could see a problem with the assaulting faction in the base locking down any defending faction that's flying into the base. Maybe that's how it should be since the defending's faction base is under attack but seems like it could become a gankfest.

 

 

Repeatability! If a faction heavily outnumbers the other faction, at reset it could be very easy to open up the enemy base if they have people already sitting on the objectives. Example: Imps captures the Rep base, base and objectives reset. The Imps have people already sitting at the control points and capture them 1, 2, 3. Now the Rep base is open for attack again. Rinse and repeat.

 

Not sure how to address this without some kind of delay on capturing objectives after the base/objectives reset.

[LenrocNewDawn]

Bump, messa like it. Only one thing it's not clear to me. If a team needs all three objectives in order to be able to assault the base, they need to defend those objective against stealth classes while the main force pushes for the base. The players that defend those objectives will not receive any rewards for their team capturing the base, as you said one needs to be in the base to get rewarded, which is not fair.

 

Haven't read the entire thread so, if this was brought up before sorry and disregard.

 

P.S. I should have read the last post o\ fail.

 

Cheers, Lenroc!

Edited February 23, 2012 by LenrocNewDawn

[Montbrun]

This idea is definately on the right track. The OBJECTIVES need to be the main focus in OPvP, not the kills. The kill rewards should be a byproduct of obtaining the objectives.

[ThePoomz]

They also need incentives to spread people across the map. Fighting at Central over and over again is super boring. One time we wanted to meet the enemy at Southern Assault, they ended up heading towards central. We met in the middle at some ruins (which I never saw before) and it was easily the best fight I've had.

[Olympic]

They should just take all rewards out of the PvP zone other than a small amount of valor for killing other players.

 

That way people that PvP for the thrill of PvP will be there, the people that PvP for rewards wont be there. They can have the war zones.

 

No, I don't believe having rewards gives people incentive to PvP, it gives those people incentive to earn rewards.

 

The structure of having bases to take and defend however, is a good idea. get rid of the objectives as we know them now and spread them out into smaller "nodes" that have to be taken in order to advance. (Just think about a current Warhammer PvP zone and there you go...)

[Beehaappy]

Bottom line Ilum needs to be fixed SOON. I was dissapointed that the upcoming March patch there is no mention of any tweaks or changes to Ilum. I still don't understand what they were thinking. Does anyone that made the game play it? Do they play these warzones and try to do ops in Ilum?

 

Sticking to Ilum the entire concept is driving in circles! Literally! Driving in circles to collect armanants. In the afternoon on my server it can go an entire day that there is no action in Ilum. It's because it's boring waiting 30 minutes so a group half your size can attack once and give up. That goes for both repub and imp on the servor im on. There is no incentive to stay as a group and get smaller objectives cause there is no rewards. If there was a reward people would leave the center and go and attack them in smaller groups. Resulting in more pvp and more fun.

 

I am getting really frusterated by both wz designs and Ilum. I want to really like this game and I currently do but everyone can see that there is lots of messed up stuff going on in PVP. All I do is pvp so I can't speak for pve.

 

I'd like to keep this thread and other Ilum threads alive until some changes are made.

[adamastor]

Signed.

I doubt they implement something, but lets wait for the miracle:cool:

[Hecantonchire]

I absolutely require a buff so that the overwhelmed team has a chance at winning. It is pointlessly boring to be outnumbered in Ilum for 22 hours out of the day everyday.

 

I secondly want people to be forced into an ops group when entering the PvP part of Ilum. This might not be necessary if you remove the Warzone buff.

 

If those two things are added, this is a plan that I can absolutely support.

[Yescek]

If the OP doesn't mind, we should copy this entire thread into the suggestion box. Just as a, ya know, attempt at getting it some limelight.

[Viree]

(a very small amount, my suggestion would be 2 valor per objective every 5 minutes, so a maximum of 6 valor every 5 minutes)

 

I like the idea, but your quoted figure of 6 valor every 5 minutes seems obscenely low - especially if you're advocating the removal of the warzone buff in the meantime. Maybe my math is wrong... but this is how it looks to me;

 

Current max valor for a kill in Ilum with objectives held = 220 (AFAIK)

Your tickrate = 6 valor per 5 minutes (if all objectives are held)

 

That's 72 valor per hour.

72x3 = 216 : in 3 hours of this 'ticking valor' you will earn less valor than you do right now in a single kill. That is so small as to be completely irrelevant. You said yourself in 15 minutes an afker will only earn 18 valor before being booted. Forget 15 minutes. You could AFK permanently and you still wouldn't have any hope of ranking up.

 

I'm in my low 40s valor wise and I need close to 9,000 for a level up.

72 per hour x 100 = 7200. In a hundred hours you won't even earn a single valor rank, in your mid 40s (I hear it goes up a fair bit in the 50s)

Edited February 26, 2012 by Viree

[Piffer]

I would add that there should be a boss to kill like in wow in each base like a faction commander. This way taking the enemy base is mire fun. But the defending team would have to spawn somewhere else to give the attacking team time to take down the boss. Or once the attacking team reaches the boss they throw up a protective shield to give them time to dps the boss.

 

Put flags on the map to be able to see what faction controls what point at a glance without having to mouse over them all... All the time. This is a no Brainer and easy to implement.

 

If I think of anything else I will post but I like the idea. It remains to be seen if BW gives a shot a out Ilum enough to overhaul it. I personally think that pvp zones are the key to a long life in mmo,s so we will see if BW shares this opinion.

 

Cheers

 

Ghost

[Aethyrprime]

For a short term fix this would be better than what we have that's for sure. Right now what we have is really lacking for sure. I don't mind pvevp when it has to do with something like an entire zone like ilum. I just wish a full land control pvp system like the one you posted this link in that I put up would be. Edited February 27, 2012 by Aethyrprime