Feedback request from James Ohlen - Open World PvP

[Blazzen]

I voted guild vs. guild but I honestly would be okay with any of these as long as there's SOMETHING for world pvp and it it is implemented well. Ilum in all of its iterations thus far has been extremely poor.

[Arrys]

PvPVe - objective based with guild alliance system to facilitate coordination inside the factions.

 

some better automated communication when world PvP is occuring aka fleet anouncement that open fighting is breaking out in XYZ area.

[Felioats]

I mistakenly voted before reading the post (silly me), but I think PvPvE balanced is the fairest system.

 

And fairness translates to the heart-pounding, competitive, close matches we like the most. No one likes getting rolled, and doing the rolling becomes a grind.

[JeramieCrowe]

I'm actually shocked that more people are choosing PvPvE balance. That seems more appropriate for warzones or PvP "lakes" than true Open World PvP.

 

Interesting...

[Gaucho]

The CROSS-OVER by location of missions between republic and empire needs to increase 300%. I have 4 50s, and I rarely encountered my opposing faction while I play on a PVP server.

 

It was a huge let down.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Gaucho

[wyrmac]

I can see open world PVP working if you made the planets where it happens cross server, for example, if you went to Illum, you would encounter players from all servers, (players could group, but not trade) this would ensure that there were always players of each faction in the zone at any given time, it may be too big of a load to have every server go to the same planet, but the servers could be broken up into groups that all went to the same planet respectively. This is the only way that the balance issue can be addressed satisfactorily.

 

There should be quests to do and other things to bring players to the zone, for example, rich gathering nodes to fight over, special venders that are only available if a faction controls a certain area, and who require a currency that you get only from pvp/questing on the planet, not from warzones etc.

 

Also people should be able to form ops groups, mostly to aid in healing and coordination, but an individual who isn’t in said ops group or who is in another group, should still receive credit for participating in any conflict,( if you hit someone, or heal someone who is fighting you get credit regardless of being in a group with them, also just being in a group nets you nothing if you don’t participate in the fight) this would allow those who wanted to group to do so, and would also accommodate the more solo/small group preference players.

[JeramieCrowe]

I can see open world PVP working if you made the planets where it happens cross server, for example, if you went to Illum, you would encounter players from all servers, (players could group, but not trade) this would ensure that there were always players of each faction in the zone at any given time, it may be too big of a load to have every server go to the same planet, but the servers could be broken up into groups that all went to the same planet respectively. This is the only way that the balance issue can be addressed satisfactorily.

 

There should be quests to do and other things to bring players to the zone, for example, rich gathering nodes to fight over, special venders that are only available if a faction controls a certain area, and who require a currency that you get only from pvp/questing on the planet, not from warzones etc.

 

Also people should be able to form ops groups, mostly to aid in healing and coordination, but an individual who isn’t in said ops group or who is in another group, should still receive credit for participating in any conflict,( if you hit someone, or heal someone who is fighting you get credit regardless of being in a group with them, also just being in a group nets you nothing if you don’t participate in the fight) this would allow those who wanted to group to do so, and would also accommodate the more solo/small group preference players.

 

There are already so many people on Ilum that the world is sharding...bringing more people in won't help, only make it worse.

[Aydrien]

I'm actually shocked that more people are choosing PvPvE balance. That seems more appropriate for warzones or PvP "lakes" than true Open World PvP.

 

Interesting...

 

Me too! I can't even picture how this would work for open-world pvp unless everything was instanced and capped! I mean, if my buddy and I are questing and we run into a group of five Imps, are three guards going to appear? When? As soon as all seven of us are in proximity? In the instant one of us attacks the other? If the former, what about when I'm doing cross-faction RP or we're just passing by each other and there's no intent to fight? They spawn anyway? And if the second, the guards likely won't be spawned in soon enough to help me any. Assuming I even need help. How do you account for skill if you're trying to balance open world pvp? I've seen a person with not a shred of pvp gear take down two fully BM Sith. Is it really balancing if you spawn a guard for her and not the other two? How would the program even know which was the right way to balance?

[wyrmac]

There are already so many people on Ilum that the world is sharding...bringing more people in won't help, only make it worse.

 

unfortunately, on my main server, and from what I have read from payers elsewhere, there is rarely anyone on illum, or on most planets for that matter.

[Aeldon]

Open World PvP What I voted for.

 

Simply put, this is the only real option for "Open World PvP." The other options are either not open, not world, or a combination. (I will hit them individually).

 

Open World PvP suggests PvP with unrestrained population, which can happen anywhere that PvP is enabled. This is what PvP and RP-PvP servers are for, otherwise people roll on PvE and RP servers. Some of the best PvP I have ever encountered has not only been Open World PvP, but Large Scale Open World PvP, with hundreds of players on both sides. It's much better in RP-PvP settings, but as that's not the topic I wont continue with it. Large Scale Open World PvP is dynamic, it's complex, and requires tactics and strategy to succeed. Open World in general allows the individuals to go out, pick a fight, and within an hour, spark a war with a hundred people on each side.

 

That is, of course, except on this game. The game world can't support more than a few dozen people in the same area without completely breaking down. Fights with a hundred people, a hundred fifty people, the game becomes a slideshow on the best of machines. Slightly lower than best machines, and it's a disconnect. If this problem is not adressed, then the only World PvP you are encouraging is that with lower numbers. This is often the "ganker" type PvP, which isin't fun, especially if you can't immediately call in a hundred people and lay waste to the nearest enemy settlement in retribution. Fix the game engine, allow the worlds to support a few hundred more people without completely failing, or improve the sharding system, and the Open World PvP will be some of the best PvP in the MMO community (as can be had since DAoC, anyway).

 

There is also the problem that on most worlds, the two factions almost never run into each other while questing. It's been mentioned repeatedly, but it needs to be. Most World PvP starts simply, from 2 questers killing each other and calling in their friends to help. It's spontanious, and its fun. When I was levelling my main, from 1-50, from early access, I encountered 3 enemy players. All on the same world, all within a day of each other. One was about 10 levels above me, and the other two were questing together, but the fact those two are the only random interactions is pathetic. On a PvP server on an MMO, you should be fighting your enemy for what you need, not in your own little questing zone where you need to go out of your way to find them.

 

What we have now is a poorly implemented Open World Warzone on every world, without faction limits and without PvP rewards. The sharding is a good idea for a solo game. But, as an MMO, it should never have even been a consideration. We know why it was done, and its understandable, but that doesn't make it right, or good; it makes it a quick fix.

 

Give rewards for Open World PvP. Tokens for killing people, bonuses for killing people higher level than you, no reward for killing people that are grayed to you, etc. That would be nice, and encourage people to fight elsewhere than in Warzones, which after awhile, I just want to hit my head into a desk over.

 

PvPvE balanced

 

This is basically what Ilum -should- be. Say, for every enemy player, 2 NPC guards spawn and the turrets attack a little stronger, and the points take a little longer to cap. That would fix the current major issue with Ilum. This is good for fortress, objective-based PvP zones where there are actual rewards involved and being outnumbered 10-1 is a distinct possibility (whereas in Open World, you can just leave and fight elsewhere, split up the enemy, etc).

 

But this is not Open World PvP. Open World suggests out, in the world, open and free, to PvP as we wish. That means, sure, sometimes we will be outnumbered 2 to 1, or 3 to 1, but I have seen fights like that where the underdog -wins-, and it feels good to win in a situation like that.

 

I would like to see this implemented for Ilum, and any other specifically "PvP" zones with objectives in the future. It would make it fun, and a real battle. If theres a hundred of one side and 10 of the other side, they wont be completely smashed every time. The enemy would actually have to -work- a bit to win. There's plenty of opprotunity with this option.

 

Faction Population Cap

 

This is a Warzone, simply without a goal or rewards. This is -not- Open. This can be a good temporary fix for the sharding system until the game engine is fixed to allow more people to join on a single shard, but generally speaking, no. Maybe for zones like Ilum, -maybe-. But if I want to play strictly even numbers, I'll play warzones. I dont need Open World PvP to be as regulated as them too, thanks.

 

Guild Based

 

Fun for sandbox games, not these types of games, especially with this setting. This will almost kill RP in the game because, quite frankly, seeing organizations fighting each other on both sides makes no sense. Maybe on a specific server for this type of PvP, it could be fun, but in that case, as others have said, mechanics will need to be in place to make smaller guilds as competative as larger ones. Bonuses, alliances, etc.

[JeramieCrowe]

unfortunately, on my main server, and from what I have read from payers elsewhere, there is rarely anyone on illum, or on most planets for that matter.

 

Well, that's why server transfers is coming. It's a normal part of the launch-surge/cool-off of all MMOs.

[Shadow_Ordo]

I voted for Raw PvP focus, of course the concept for "PVPPVE" balance sounds all well and good... But I have concerns the Bioware PvP team can actually pull it off effectively. Not trying to be a jerk, just being totally honest from what I have seen from PvP in this game so far.

 

I believe before you even begin to combine PVP elements with PvE elements, you MUST first set a strong foundation and principle of what you consider "TOR World PvP" actually is. As it stands now, its essentially nothing, tabula rasa, a fresh slate. Yes we have/had Ilum pvp for a period of time, but it has since been scraped and is honestly barren of any real activity from what I have experienced.

 

James Ohlen, my advice to you on this issue is you MUST make world pvp something the player WANTS to participate in, not something he or she feel a need to. Ilum is of course a perfect example of this, the players as a whole felt a NEED to trek all the way to the Ilum pvp grounds, every day (or when they could), to get their Dailies and Weeklies done. This was all out of a simple and temporary urge to obtain not valor.... but those "prize boxes" we all refer to as Champion and Battlemaster Bags. TOR World PvP needs something more long term, something maybe more abstract and less instantaneous-reward-gratification based... Much like the Champion and Battlemaster Bags are.

 

Create a system where every individual has a sense of "pride" for their server and who actually feels they can be in "control" of it. Let this be by means of a server XP buff, a slight valor increase buff, etc. I would not go so far to say you want create a stat buff for the winning side, because in the end you do not want to give the winning side more of an edge in this conflict.... Balance is key for little things like this. Such a design can be done by a server wide pvp contested zones on not just one planet (like Ilum) but any planet Republic and Empire meet. Of course in a practical sense for the server wide buff or as some call it "Realm/Server Pride" you may want to follow a similar system that previous games such as LOTRO and DAOC have done where there are relics and fortress raids, this will lead to whoever controls the relics controls the server buff (or whatever benefits) and in essence, the server itself. Something like this will keep people constantly PvP'ing because they will have something worth fighting for. (keep in mind, while doing all this it has to be enjoyable and fun for every player... on both sides.)

 

Do not stop there though, another huge mistake that ended up becoming a byproduct of the Ilum system is PvP outside the designated PvP zone, which soon became worthless, with no incentive at all to even attempt it. The server I mainly play on (Shien) has had several scheduled RP-PvP events and all were in separate locations, non of which were ever Ilum. These events were planed with the purpose of fun PvP and RP but because there are no incentives to reward players for PvP'ing outside a designated zone, they happen maybe once a month and any time in between that you will rarely (if ever) get World PvP. There are several things I can imagine that would help increase the flow of random, unplanned, world pvp but I figure this post is long enough.... So I will recommended at least throw us a bone, that being .... Give us valor rewards for killing opposing players ANYWHERE in the open world of TOR.

 

So to recap:

 

• Focus on "Raw" PvP for TOR before even considering any PvE factors.
  

 

• Set a foundation and Principle of what YOU (developers) see as TOR's Open-World PvP.
  

 

• Create a fun, enjoyable, attractive, and compelling open-world system that does not simply give the player a basic need to participate in it, but a desire that they will want to every day of the week.
  

 

• Gives the players a sense of pride for their Server and the World-PvP they invest time into. Something that keeps players coming out to PvP every day, the goal is to not simply appeal to the PvP'er, but to the Rp'ers and PvE'ers out there who will have a stake in all of this.
  

 

• Do not limit the concept of World-PvP in TOR to strictly designated zones. If a Republic and Empire player are able to meet, face to face, give them a true reason to want to fight each other. Regardless if they are out in the sand dunes of Tatooine, the autumn forests of Voss, by the mountainous snow caps of Alderaan, or the ice fields of Ilum. Make it worthwhile.
  

[Feuerfeder]

Open World PVP

Something that I haven’t seen directly addressed in the other answers to this thread are large-scale open world pvp encounters, where you have upwards of a hundred, two hundred to a side. For some of us, that’s one of the main things we’re looking for in an MMO, and it’s definitely a staple of the RP-PVP server community.

 

Before you start considering how to change world pvp play mechanically, you really need to fix the servers and rendering problems that make even the players with the best gaming rigs get a slideshow as soon as you get more than a couple dozen people in a small area. Even in relatively smaller fights, where you’ve only got maybe two full ops groups to a side (yes, to me that’s a “smaller” fight), half the players are getting constantly DCed or lagged out to the point where the fight is nearly impossible and the greater portion of participants don’t actually get much participation.

 

Please, please, please, go talk to the folks at Tor-Talk.com about their Hoth event on Jung Ma a few weeks ago. After the event there was a lot of discussion about ways to work around the technical limitations that the game poses for putting together massive wpvp. I’m looking forward to seeing their solutions at their next event but the fact is, they shouldn’t have had to come up with work arounds for sharding and slideshowing. I am positive that they can give you a solid list of the limitations we’d all like to see resolved.

 

That size of fight occurring randomly (not pre-planned as an event) is common (on Jung Ma anyway). Had one a couple nights ago, with maybe 60 or so to a side. Probably will be at least one more before the week’s out, maybe more. We’ve got multi-guild organizations whose sole purpose is to organize large-scale pvp and to serve as a well of reinforcements for the small amount of random wpvp that the closed maps allow. Our organization on the Republic side has over a thousand members. It would not be out of the question for a pre-planned event to draw in as many as 200-300 to a side, if we weren’t forced onto separate shards and it wasn’t guaranteed to just D/C most of us.

 

Regarding sharding. If you absolutely cannot remove it, please make it max out at equal numbers. When you have 150 Imps show up in one spot, they take all the slots on the server right now so when the Pubs show up in force, half of us end up in the other shard. Now, I don’t mind the imbalance in a fight -- it’s half of what makes pvp fun because you never know what you’re going to face, and fights always go back and forth as each side calls in reinforcements. But if you’re wildly outnumbered and the game mechanics forbid you from calling in your friends to help because they’ll get shunted to another shard, well, that’s no fun at all. If 200 people is your max for a zone, it should be 100 Imps and 100 Pubs, not “the first 200 people to show up”. But those numbers are laughably low. If you want real wpvp, the zone needs to be able to accommodate a good 500 to 600 total people at a minimum. Most fights won’t ever get above 300 or so total but there will still be times we’ll hit the higher mark with pre-planned events as the community grows.

 

You also need more areas where the two factions run into each other randomly while questing. Make most of the map accessible to both sides (not all areas but most), even if it’s through crazy amounts of lvl 50 champions. People who don’t want that rolled on pve servers where they can unflag. People who rolled pvp want the opposite side to have access to most of the map (and expected it in the first place). While levelling, I ran into almost no Imps, and that was during the rush at the beginning while everyone was levelling so they should have been out in force. At this point, there’s not much difference between a pvp and a pve server. We rolled pvp for the fight. Don’t hide the fight away by closing off our access to each other.

 

I love pvp. I hate warzones (as my under-geared-ness attests...). Give us equal rewards for killing players out in the world so that I don’t have to grind WZs with their random group composition (there’s always someone I end up putting on ignore or wanting to hit. I don’t mind bad pvpers. It’s the obnoxious rude louts that I can’t simply walk away from without ditching the WZ itself that make me hate WZs so much), inability to decide where I’m heading, boring guarantee of equal numbers, and just outright repetitiveness. We don’t need extra objectives in wpvp or complicated rewards. Just make them equal to the rewards for WZs, some valor, maybe some tokens of some kind to put toward gear.

 

Something that I think is already well done, and I’d like to see more of, is interesting terrain that allows more strategic battles than just “we all converge on an open plain”. We were fighting on Belsavis the other night and all the walls and the sniper perches and choke points and the possibilities for ambush I just really enjoyed. Not “objectives” set out by the game. Objectives and strategies that _we_ created on the spot.

 

Something that would promote world pvp is a faction-wide (not just zone-wide) pvp channel, and notifications in the channel when an area is being attacked by the opposite faction. One place to see this in action is the World Defense channel in WoW. I don’t entirely like the way Blizzard implemented it, but a prime way to call-out the opposing faction is to go to a spot and “ping” the world defense channel by attacking the npcs. I’d prefer to see it not spam the channel by listing every npc kill (maybe, no more than once every ten seconds on a notification for a particular location), but those notifications are what let the avid pvpers know what zone there’s a fight available in, and the greater the spam for the location the more likely it was that it was a big group. Making it its own default channel lets those who want to know, know, and those who don’t can turn it off.

 

PvPvE

PvPvE is a fine idea for a warzone or a spot like Ilum that’s meant to be somewhat equal, and it would let people complete their dailies even if no one from the other side is in the zone. But in areas where we might want to have large-scale fights, it’s going to lead to whichever side loses claiming it’s because the other side had npcs helping them, just like the way people already complain that the winner was too close to their spawn point or too close to their base (even when you’re nowhere near a spawn point or your guard npcs).

 

This could work, however, if control of the area changes based on completing objectives. In that case it would be a necessity to fill out whichever side has less. I would base it partly on gear and maybe WZ rating though. If you’ve got two war heroes in full BM, they’re probably a match for, say 4 or 5 people with no pvp gear at all so adding NPCs to their side is just overkill. Balancing is not a bad idea in itself, but you need to base it on something other than sheer numbers because the best pvpers can take on five or six people and have it still be an even fight.

 

And make sure the rewards for killing non-players are far less than players. Otherwise you’ll just get people farming the relatively easy npcs instead for the points. Maybe a daily would be “kill 5 players or 50 guards”. Then if there’s no one there from the opposite side you can still complete the quest but if there ARE other players there, there’s reason to seek them out.

 

 

Faction pop cap

I think if you’re going to have population caps and sharding at ALL, they should max out at equal numbers for each side. I’d rather see you fix the servers and graphic rendering so they can handle hundreds of people fighting at the same time in a small area and do away with sharding and pop caps entirely. See what I wrote above about population caps in large scale wpvp. And don’t ever, ever call it “world pvp”. It’s not. “World” means anyone and everyone out in the world can join in.

 

Sharding is a quick and dirty answer to the problem of more people being in the zone than your game engine can handle. I get that. And maybe some people would say it’s a better answer than crashing the whole server (been in fights that were so big they did that in other games...). But it betrays the fact that your focus on this game is still “A bunch of soloers who are moving through the same zone.” That mindset is the antithesis of “MMO Server Community” and it is not the reality of the way people play in an mmo.

 

This is basically “more warzones”. I really hate warzones. If you go this route, at least give us the option to take an ops group in that’s up to the max number of the WZ. And while being able to randomly queue is a great idea, sometimes I’d rather pick the WZ I’m heading into. I had planned to have a Company Huttball team, for instance, but since we can’t fill out more than half the team with our own people and can’t decide that we’re going into Huttball specifically, that kind of died on day 1.

 

 

Guild v Guild

As the Guildleader of a very small guild I have to ask: Why do you hate me?

 

GvG would be great with, say, guild Capital ships. Yeah, I can see that being a lot of fun, where each member of the guild gets their own job on the ship but the rest of the ship is manned by npcs (so that small guilds aren’t just destroyed for having only half their guns active).

 

But just in general... this would totally screw over small guilds like mine, and probably even the mid-sized guilds. This could _only_ work if you allow some kind of allies mechanic where smaller guilds can band together and all gain the same benefits of control of whatever resource the fight is over.

 

The “Guild” is not some monolithic ideal. We’ve all got different ideas on what constitutes a guild, and for many, finding the largest zerg guild is not part of that ideal. But in strict gvg environments, this will make recruitment for a smaller guild even harder than it already is, and member retention almost impossible, as a good number of people, even those who would otherwise prefer a small guild, will feel the need to apply to whatever is the largest guild just so that they can stay “competitive.”

 

Having areas like the Outlaws Den that are “ops vs ops” is a much better idea than gvg for random open world combat. That lets smaller groups join forces and larger ones are forced down to a manageable number. It makes it difficult to do larger fights though and risks just becoming another warzone, albeit with more than two ops groups fighting each other.

 

I love it! This Guy is awesome!

If Bioware is not reacting to this then there is no use to play more of it! Thank you!

[_Vayne_]

I love it! This Guy is awesome!

If Bioware is not reacting to this then there is no use to play more of it! Thank you!

 

yes spoken as a true empirial would, I prefer Open world PVP as well, but as with ilum, the republic players will tire of being out numbers 6+ to 1. 2 to 1 are acceptable odds but on most servers it is 3 or 4 times that amount. So if you can't balance the numbers some... then no matter what BW does open world pvp will never exist. No one likes being farmed...

[hargrave]

this is why you need pvp bases on other planets to thin out the fights. The imps cant be everywhere at once if you have a lot of pvp bases on other planets the balance wouldnt be so bad.

 

The main problem with ilum was the reps had no where to go to. If they have other pvp bases elsewhere base camping will be for those who want to do it while the rest of us go elsewhere to see whats going on at other bases.

 

Having ilum be the sole open world pvp bases is the main problem besides the fact that bioware wont adress the balance issue head on lol

[JeramieCrowe]

this is why you need pvp bases on other planets to thin out the fights. The imps cant be everywhere at once if you have a lot of pvp bases on other planets the balance wouldnt be so bad.

 

The main problem with ilum was the reps had no where to go to. If they have other pvp bases elsewhere base camping will be for those who want to do it while the rest of us go elsewhere to see whats going on at other bases.

 

Having ilum be the sole open world pvp bases is the main problem besides the fact that bioware wont adress the balance issue head on lol

 

I don't even consider Ilum "Open-world". It's a PvP "lake", not true open-world...

[Angun]

Have multiple PVP/PVE Planets

 

Owning each planet would offer up bonuses to crafting, money, xp, damage.... what ever.

4-5 Guild Ownable battle stations scattered through out the PVP zones, you would have to capture all the battle stations to own the planet.....

 

Have PVE areas like DAOC had that offer bonus xp, items, money, crafting drops etc.... but you can be ganked by the enemy (need some risk)

 

Open world bosses that spawn when you own all planets, or opens up a faction only area like DAOC - Darkness Falls (that place was fun as hell !) Nice loot from farming critters for badges or something.

 

It may not be completely original, but it was a lot of fun in the ol'days of DAOC !

 

BW reallys needs to look at balancing servers by offering free or paid moves where population imbalances are to level things out. All these bonuses would suck not being able to do if you had a one sided server.

[Satti]

Give expertise buff to underdog faction or a single walker they can mount. Stationary turrets and NPCs only promote camping at that location... like it happened on Ilum.

[hargrave]

Your right about that i agree lol i get caught up posting to get the open world going haha

I don't even consider Ilum "Open-world". It's a PvP "lake", not true open-world...

[Aydrien]

yes spoken as a true empirial would

 

*laughter* Ok, well, I dunno about the person you quoted but since the quote was entirely just saying s/he agreed with me I assume that's actually directed at me? I'll just point out that I'm not only not a "true Imperial," I'm Republic on the same server as you. So far Republic kicks butt in random open world pvp on Jung Ma, even when we're outnumbered (which we almost always are). Ilum's not wpvp. Ilum's just another type of warzone, right now a dead one. When you start talking who shows up out on random planets when someone calls in their friends, our numbers tend to be a lot closer, and if they're not, you call in more friends, til you hit the shard cap.

[Nee-Elder]

The CROSS-OVER by location of missions between republic and empire needs to increase 300%. I have 4 50s, and I rarely encountered my opposing faction while I play on a PVP server.

 

It was a huge let down.

 

QFE

 

Now i know i mainly play on a PVE server, but since Day 1 my toon is 'overt' 24/7 (i enjoy the "paranoa" lol ) and anyways 3 of the 5 most exciting most memorable experiences i had level'ing up to 50 were random World PvP encounters in 'shared quest zones'.

 

It's a very simple formula imo, to promote more "random World pvp" type scenarios to occur more often.

 

And as long as there are multiple options/routes in & out of said shared Locations, then no one can cry about not being able to progress in their storyline because of "forced pvp" (not to mention the fact that being 'overt' is a *choice* )

[va_wanderer]

PvPvE, as the pool is overwhelmingly supporting. Shoot, it's even been in my sig for weeks.

 

Content that is purely depending on PvP alone is wasted content when it could be useful even when players aren't or can't be around. PvP while dealing with something else in the game is the spice that flavors boring same-old-AI encounters. You want stuff that begs players to stick their nose in the other faction's business, so they in turn want to blow the stuffing out of each other. Call it "trolling for PvP".

 

When a group is on a dangerous mission that involves taking out a Sith Lord and his legion of guards. Yawn, trash mobs, clear em, kill the boss, loot teh purples.

 

Until that fricking trio of bounty hunters showed up and decided to SHORYUKEN your main healer into faceplantsville. Now your other healers are scrambling, the Sith Lord is torching your DPS and life just got REALLY interesting while you deal with the Empire players who are "Heroically" saving the life of a Sith VIP from you darn dirty Republic apes.

 

Oh yes. There will be blood and sweet, sweet revenge. Especially since you've been doing those PvP+E fights, your gear is +Expertise (since this is a PvP+E area, the NPC's are scaled accordingly and Expertise actually matters) and those Bounty Hunters are about to find out what a PvP-savvy group does to people like them. Even the one that manned that rocket turret and blew your Vanguard off the cliff and into the nearest medcenter before you blew it up and him with it.

 

You can't have that when you put all your special snowflake fights in instances. And in the case above, you'll have four satisfying kills if you win- the Sith Lord and the smoking corpses of those three BH's you just took down to get at him. Nobody else will have that same kind of fight. It's the same kind of stuff that made WoW city raids fun, and it means that even if there's nobody there, there's some kind of challenge.

 

PvPvE, heck yeah.

[Jadefoxx]

This is how I would like to see PvPvE implemented.

 

Take a planet like Ilum. Each side has a base. Add turrents(about 20) that can only be used by players. Give them about a 45m range. Have some that do a small AoE that hits about 3-5 people. Have a another kind that does higher single target damage. Also each base should have npcs to guard the faction base. Maybe about 4-6 champion level and about 10-12 elite level.

 

Then have 5 smaller bases around the edges of the zone with one larger base in the middle. The smaller bases can be captured by a side by slicing a computer(about 30 sec-1 min) The side controlling the mini bases gets to use its turrents(about 5-10 turrents for a small base. A captured mini base also spawns a small npc patroll. 1 elite 2 hard and 3-5 normal. That patroll a path around the base.

 

Now a small buff can be added for the contolling faction for each base they own.

 

Now the reason to control the mini bases is to open the larger base in the middle. Ifa faction controls 2 or more bases they are allowed to pass though its force field and take it over. This way both sides can attack it at the same time. (I'll get to the reason for this later) The reason to want to control the center base can be many. You can add venders that sell cosmetic PvP gear and items. You can add instanced mine shafts with lock out timers(24-48hours) where there are nodes that crafters can gather rare mats from. Maybe add a non-instanced dungeon with a boss mob that drops PvE gear but when killed gives a temp PvP buff to that faction.

 

To balance the zone out so one faction does not always control everything. Set up a spawn timer based on how long one side is dominated. The timer, when it trips, will spawn a huge npc on losing side. Make it something along the lines of a At-At. This npc should be super strong but not unkillable(should take a steady effort of 40+ people to kill it). This npc should walk a path that takes it to 2 of the mini bases and then to the center base. Not sure yet on how long this mob should stay spawned.

 

Also here are some buffs that could be granted when capturing a base +5% to a stat. one base could grant willpower + end. Another mini base could grant a 10k hp static shield that lasts 5 min. This one could proc only when that peticular base is captured(leading to a good reason to defend it and to captures at an important time. Another bases could grant a + to expertise for 5 min like the static shield

 

A PvPvE zone has to have reasons to draw in both PvP and PvE people. I think my example could do it.

[hkelias]

Open world pvp anywhere with valor gain. The current system is horrible. This game is steering toward the Arena system and that is not what the community wants. I'd prefer FFA but open world pvp faction based would be acceptable.

[tombok]

I dont know if someone has already said it, but i'd like open world pvp planets that are a throw back to the old days days of mmo.

 

1. rare random mob spawns that drop rare unique loot and by rare, i mean u gotta kill place holders etc etc. i mean rare, and require a group or even ops. Random loot tables, hell sometimes rare spawn will drop crappy item (still good) or uber item or inbetween. Just make sure its rare and unique in stats, not a carbon copy of tiered stats. Heck, i miss racing to a rare spawn boss against another guild.

 

2. area is pvp, someone wants to start camping that mob, they are open to pvp. You have to fight trash to even get to rare spawn/placeholder. It shouldn't be easy to get there and will need coordinated group, (this also makes it so pvpers can't keep zerging group that is at the spawn point). Group that is already there will have some time before getting pvp'd.

 

3. loot is bop class specific/need before greed, rare and unique, can not be equipped on companions. However, if everyone in group passes cause they all have or can't use it... option comes up for loot to be BOE if everyone passes or agrees, it can be sold on GTN.

 

 

4. LOOT IS RARE, SPAWN IS RARE, AREA IS PVP to keep chinese gold farmers out. give some motivation for people to use their pvp gear outside of war zones.

 

 

loot ideas: rare schematics, crystal, unique items that has different stats than tiered items, armorings, mods, augments etc. of course, weapons, armor, implants, earpieces and relics. Heck how about armor skins for companions or even our own toons. Hair cuts, armor coloring who knows, get creative.

 

This will give ur hardcore base something to do after they get all their tiered gear, or inbetween raid days and pvp when they are geared as much as they want to be. It will give top guilds something to do when they are geared out. It will promote open world pvp. It will cause wives to divorce their husbands, and forum posts where someone is saying they need to quit cause its ruining their lives.

 

Please incorporate this, it will give ur level 50 finished with eveyrthing player something to do. They will need to pvp to ge tthe gear they need to be able to fight in this open world, and gear is so rare that they will be there awhile. It will add to progression of the game and make it so the best gear is difficult to obtain.

Edited March 30, 2012 by tombok