RE E3:I see two major problems ahead for warzones

[clearsighted]

I see two major problems ahead for warzones. Because this is Bioware we're talking about, we have to assume that this will be a complete shock to them, and they will not deal with it until a month or six after people first start complaining. (Most likely due to some unexplained, vague coding reason.)

 

I'm going to basically assume that either cross-server PvP is coming, or we will all have been moved onto a mega-server by the end of the year.

 

1) SWTOR is going F2P up to level 15, just like WoW, in July. This is going to flood 1-49 warzones with crappy low-levels. How much of a problem will this be? Hard to say. But it will turn games into utter trash. This might be remedied by having 10-19 bracket. Although, I can also see someone making an account and getting a perm-lvl 15 mercenary or sniper, and putting all purple gear on them. Which would be somewhat amusing.

 

2) SWTOR is going to raise the level cap. So let's say the level cap goes to...55. I can't see them managing to create more than 5 levels worth of storytime, and I don't think they could raise the level cap in increments of less than 5 (Warcraft has never done that, and so Bioware won't know it's possible. So we'll just safely assume the cap is going from 50 to 55). Well. Hell. There are lvl 50 PvPers in Augmented War Hero gear that is pretty much already the equivalent of lvl 55 purples. Especially taking Expertise into account. Are all these lvl 50s going to be dumped into the expertise-less 1-49 bracket? It seems like one fix is to make the new bracket 50+, (separating pre-expertise from post-expertise)...But that would probably make hitting 50 an even ruder awakening, when 55 lvl top gear (which is really lvl 60 equivalent) hits them.

 

So we see these two issues ahead. What is the worst, most confusing and illogical way for Bioware to handle it? That's probably going to be the way it is. I am personally forseeing a new 10-54 bracket with the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs all put together...Enjoy.

Edited June 5, 2012 by clearsighted

[rymah]

Without details of what exactly is going to happen to the brackets once the level cap goes up, speculation is all that we can go on and unfortunately it turns into a troll's paradise very quickly. ( easy to drum up the worst possible scenario and let it fester instead of getting solid facts together )

[cycao]

Well with absolutely no dates set I am not worried. Its E3 they announce content for games that will not be about until 2nd or 3rd quarter of next year.

[Spaj]

Without details of what exactly is going to happen to the brackets once the level cap goes up, speculation is all that we can go on and unfortunately it turns into a troll's paradise very quickly. ( easy to drum up the worst possible scenario and let it fester instead of getting solid facts together )

 

While not facts here some fairly basic logic: Either the 10-49 bracket will stay the same or it will change.

 

Simply black and white. One or the other.

If it remains, There are limits on whats in store for the 50+. i.e 50-54 breacket with new gear/tiers @ 55 bracket or one encompassing 50-55. I'm sure there are other possibilities aside from those two but guessing at how long the majoirty would stay 50-54 it doesnt make for any sort large group of people to have longevity as a bracket.

 

This scenario has large impacts on current gear progression and people availability.

 

If it changes we are in for some reasonably large changes. Given the 10-49 works ok with bolster it makes no sense to divide it up without the inclusion of lvl 50. i.e. no point in 10-19, 20-29 etc. If its 10-54 or even 10-50 the implications of mixed expertise with none are huge.

 

 

Overall, too many brackets = huge waits on queues. Mix 50 with >49 = expertise balance problems.

 

Agree OP. Disagree wholeheartedly with the 2nd post. History shows what happens when you wait and see what comes without discussing what could go wrong and it generally isnt what works well.

[HelinCarnate]

Both valid points. I can see taking 50-55 in one bracket at first but what happens when there are tons of lvl 55s. Do you put them in the same warzone as fresh 50s? Do you get a seperate 50-54 bracket?

 

And yes, I wonder what a lvl 15 twink could do. While they would not have all their powers, you could have them geard out in cheep augmented gear given to them by their actual accounts doing some crazy damage. Some of the best damage numbers I have put out in the 10-49 warzones have been in the lower levels with the best gear for that level.

[Motoeric]

oh good god all i hear is QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

 

no1 takes the lowby bracket serious anyway. its a learning ground for the nubs. get over it.

[thepilk]

theres no reason it wouldnt be a 50-55 bracket. the only reason 49 is cut off from 50 is PVP gear. Since a 50 character already has access to recruit/battlemaster/warhero and bolstering is still in effect to make up the 5 level difference theres no issue with just making the new bracket 50-55.

 

The only other thing would be that they are counting on the server transfers/mega server thing to have enough constant ques that they can have a more selective and sophisticated matching system to arrange players by general level or valor rank or something.

[Calitri]

I don't really see any additional issues for warzones coming up with a 5 level buff, all they need to do is split it between 2 brackets and change it to 3. But that issues a ways down the road, they still need to get 1.3 out the door and go from there. As far as the limited F2P, they'll probley convert some of these ghost town servers to trial servers like they did in Rift.

[Smashbrother]

I see two major problems ahead for warzones. Because this is Bioware we're talking about, we have to assume that this will be a complete shock to them, and they will not deal with it until a month or six after people first start complaining. (Most likely due to some unexplained, vague coding reason.)

 

I'm going to basically assume that either cross-server PvP is coming, or we will all have been moved onto a mega-server by the end of the year.

 

1) SWTOR is going F2P up to level 15, just like WoW, in July. This is going to flood 1-49 warzones with crappy low-levels. How much of a problem will this be? Hard to say. But it will turn games into utter trash. This might be remedied by having 10-19 bracket. Although, I can also see someone making an account and getting a perm-lvl 15 mercenary or sniper, and putting all purple gear on them. Which would be somewhat amusing.

 

How will it be any different from now? Currently, at least half my teams are ****** lowbies already. The 10-49 pvp is pretty much trash already. Way too many idiots that don't know what to do, the F2P until level 15 isn't going to change much. I do support having 10-29 and 30-49 brackets though.

 

2) SWTOR is going to raise the level cap. So let's say the level cap goes to...55. I can't see them managing to create more than 5 levels worth of storytime, and I don't think they could raise the level cap in increments of less than 5 (Warcraft has never done that, and so Bioware won't know it's possible. So we'll just safely assume the cap is going from 50 to 55). Well. Hell. There are lvl 50 PvPers in Augmented War Hero gear that is pretty much already the equivalent of lvl 55 purples. Especially taking Expertise into account. Are all these lvl 50s going to be dumped into the expertise-less 1-49 bracket? It seems like one fix is to make the new bracket 50+, (separating pre-expertise from post-expertise)...But that would probably make hitting 50 an even ruder awakening, when 55 lvl top gear (which is really lvl 60 equivalent) hits them.

 

So we see these two issues ahead. What is the worst, most confusing and illogical way for Bioware to handle it? That's probably going to be the way it is. I am personally forseeing a new 10-54 bracket with the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs all put together...Enjoy.

 

The one thing BW has fully delivered on that people cannot rag on them for is their story. The class quests are all pretty good to *********** awesome. The planet storylines are also pretty good. Whatever faults TOR has, story is not one of them.

 

I'd imagine the new level cap and new gear to work like WoW. The green/blues from the new planet will be better than rakata, perhaps even campaign. This allows fresh players to be on equal footing with vets.

[lijahrobinson]

I see two major problems ahead for warzones. Because this is Bioware we're talking about, we have to assume that this will be a complete shock to them, and they will not deal with it until a month or six after people first start complaining. (Most likely due to some unexplained, vague coding reason.)

 

I'm going to basically assume that either cross-server PvP is coming, or we will all have been moved onto a mega-server by the end of the year.

 

1) SWTOR is going F2P up to level 15, just like WoW, in July. This is going to flood 1-49 warzones with crappy low-levels. How much of a problem will this be? Hard to say. But it will turn games into utter trash. This might be remedied by having 10-19 bracket. Although, I can also see someone making an account and getting a perm-lvl 15 mercenary or sniper, and putting all purple gear on them. Which would be somewhat amusing.

 

2) SWTOR is going to raise the level cap. So let's say the level cap goes to...55. I can't see them managing to create more than 5 levels worth of storytime, and I don't think they could raise the level cap in increments of less than 5 (Warcraft has never done that, and so Bioware won't know it's possible. So we'll just safely assume the cap is going from 50 to 55). Well. Hell. There are lvl 50 PvPers in Augmented War Hero gear that is pretty much already the equivalent of lvl 55 purples. Especially taking Expertise into account. Are all these lvl 50s going to be dumped into the expertise-less 1-49 bracket? It seems like one fix is to make the new bracket 50+, (separating pre-expertise from post-expertise)...But that would probably make hitting 50 an even ruder awakening, when 55 lvl top gear (which is really lvl 60 equivalent) hits them.

 

So we see these two issues ahead. What is the worst, most confusing and illogical way for Bioware to handle it? That's probably going to be the way it is. I am personally forseeing a new 10-54 bracket with the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs all put together...Enjoy.

 

I have played a couple games that switched to a free to play model and it can be a little bumpy at first but after a month or so it smooths out again. The increase in players and interest in the game makes up for the growing pains.

[Alericus]

The fact is the entire industry is going F2P...It can no longer be claimed that "superior" games are subscription model based. If it increases pop great, if not I dont think we'll really see a difference in quality of players. Time will tell if it helps pop or not but for me it seems to indicate Bioware knows they messed up so now they gotta try new stuff to get players back or bring in new ones. For pvp, it will be fun easy kills. And my credits will swell from GTN sales...and all you zerg guilds will have fun. Bring it on!

[Bolognawan]

I suggest a 1-54 and a 50-55 bracket. Make the 50-55 bracket optional until you either ding 55 or reach a specific gear level. Make sure that once someone achieves the gear level that they never be allowed back in the lowbie bracket by stripping down temporarily.

 

No matter what they decide, it's another issue that cross server queues can only help.

[HelinCarnate]

oh good god all i hear is QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

 

no1 takes the lowby bracket serious anyway. its a learning ground for the nubs. get over it.

 

Somone brings up a point to consider and others speculate on what could happen. Yea thats a bunch of tears being shed there. So far, your post is the only one where I hear QQ. Get over yourself.

[Sanke]

1) SWTOR is going F2P up to level 15, just like WoW, in July. This is going to flood 1-49 warzones with crappy low-levels. How much of a problem will this be? Hard to say. But it will turn games into utter trash. This might be remedied by having 10-19 bracket. Although, I can also see someone making an account and getting a perm-lvl 15 mercenary or sniper, and putting all purple gear on them. Which would be somewhat amusing.

 

With respect to point 1, I really dont think this is valid. The time it takes to level 10-15 in pvp is limited. I would even suggest the time it takes to pvp from 10-15 is the same as it takes to level from 1-10. People tend not to stay long if there if nothing to achieve further, why waste you free time????

 

Letting poeple level to 15 should have a minimal impact, even if they stay at level 15 for 3 months to stay F2P, they will getter better at playing, even if they are not getting any more abilities.

[MobiusZero]

2) SWTOR is going to raise the level cap. So let's say the level cap goes to...55. I can't see them managing to create more than 5 levels worth of storytime, and I don't think they could raise the level cap in increments of less than 5 (Warcraft has never done that, and so Bioware won't know it's possible. So we'll just safely assume the cap is going from 50 to 55). Well. Hell. There are lvl 50 PvPers in Augmented War Hero gear that is pretty much already the equivalent of lvl 55 purples. Especially taking Expertise into account. Are all these lvl 50s going to be dumped into the expertise-less 1-49 bracket? It seems like one fix is to make the new bracket 50+, (separating pre-expertise from post-expertise)...But that would probably make hitting 50 an even ruder awakening, when 55 lvl top gear (which is really lvl 60 equivalent) hits them.

 

So we see these two issues ahead. What is the worst, most confusing and illogical way for Bioware to handle it? That's probably going to be the way it is. I am personally forseeing a new 10-54 bracket with the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs all put together...Enjoy.

 

The solution to this problem is simple. They can either make a 1-54 bracket, with boosted stats just as they do now, but include expertise (either by modifying or adding low level PvP gear with it, or by having it boosted.). Or they can make a 40-54 bracket, and add expertise to the level 40 armor.

 

Ideally, I think the best solution is to make all expertise on PvP gear standardized, and have a 1-54 bracket. In other words, have ALL PvP armor have exactly the same +expertise bonus, and be differentiated instead by other stats, which pre-55 would not matter so much, since those stats would be boosted if you weren't in top gear/level.

 

The whole purpose of expertise is to separate PvP gear from PvE gear. So I see no reason for needing to have greater expertise gains from better PvP gear - Why can't they all just have the same bonus? In other words, if WH gives you 1300 expertise, then have EVERY PvP set give 1300 expertise (Or even higher!). Then you can adjust the other stats of each armor, accordingly.

 

I dunno, just some thoughts. I'm sure there's other good ideas out there, too.

Edited June 5, 2012 by MobiusZero

[Superstaroo]

they have made content for levels 1-50, im sure they can do it from 50-55

[clearsighted]

they have made content for levels 1-50, im sure they can do it from 50-55

 

Some people seriously fail at reading comprehension.

 

I have no doubt that Bioware is capable of making story content. I just thought it inconceivable that they could have more than 5 levels of it finished. Nor do I think they'd raise the level cap in less than 5-level increments because Warcraft hasn't done that. And they seem to take their cues from WoW. Add in the fact that there is one new planet coming, and there you go.

Edited June 5, 2012 by clearsighted

[DaedalusV]

My main worry is whether or not people get more talent points. 5 extra points will be HUUUUGE for some ACs/specs and for some it's going to be relatively meh.

 

5 talent points may break what little class/spec balance we have

[mulzii]

I'd rather them add a new WZ that sets everyones lvl to 51, and has a special wz outfit with the same stats that all the players wear (with no expertise). Then let us duke it out.

[DarkDruidSS]

Maybe they will do 50-55 and use the bolster mechanic that everyone thinks is superior to expertise to even out the playing field?

[Narflar]

I see 2 other problems.

 

1. Lack of tangible information.

 

2. Amount of speculation based on marketing.