Thoughts on PVP gear: The Two-Tier System Solution

[Z-ToXiN]

Yes, another thread with yet another solution to PVP gear in SWTOR...

 

First off, I'll say that I like the idea of an expertise stat and sepereate gear for PVP and PVE. As someone who doesnt do endgame PVE in this game, I would hate it if PVErs had a big advantage simply due to having better PVE gear - I dont wanna be forced to do endgame PVE I dont want to do simply to be competetive in terms of gear.

 

The change to give new 50s a free set of Recruit gear is a great idea by Bioware. No more excuses for people with 40-something greens in WZs.

 

The gear grind. I dont mind it so much on my first character. Full BM is quite easy to get, WH is a huge grind, but that was before Ranked WZs, which offer a quicker way to get ranked comms. Yet the problem is that teams want people who are already geared moreso than using Ranked WZs as an opportunity ot get people geared.

 

The problem with the gear grind really emerges on alts. On my 2nd and 3rd characters, I just dont want to spend ages grinding for gear again... Especially since Bioware encourages alts and making more characters with Legacy and class stories, it's frustrating. Yet I understand the purpose of the gear grind, its there to keep players and to have a goal and something to work towards - somthing that may be needed to keep people playing an MMO long-term.

 

There's a certain other MMO coming out with no gear grind whatsoever. The idea of having seperate pre-50 and 50 brackets and the real PVP starting at 50 is ok, I dont mind having to level a class to 50 to get to the serious PVP. But the thought of no PVP gera grind is almost liberating.

 

My idea of how PVP gear should be: The Two-Tier System

 

Have there be 2 tiers of endgame PVP gear. Lets call them Recruit and Battlemaster for now.

 

Tier 1 Recruit gear would be better than endgame PVE gear due to expertise. Players would get a free set of Recruit as they hit 50, as it is now. It would be unmoddable and would not have set bonuses; so it would pretty much be the way it is now.

 

Tier 2 Battlemaster gear would be moddable and customizable, have set bonuses, with these set bonuses being transferable. The amount of time it would take to get this Battlemaster set would be longer than the current Battlemaster set, but still much shorter than the current War Hero gear. The difference from Recruit to Battlemaster would be about the same as it is now.

 

Eliminate the 3rd tier of PVP gear entirely.

 

When new tiers of gear are introduced, the Recruit gear would be boosted to point of being slightly inferior to the the previous Battlemaster set and still would not have a set bonus. This way, people who worked hard to get the Battlemaster set would still have an advantage over people who get the new Recruit set.

 

 

The whole idea here is to keep some of the gear grind that is almost necessary in an MMO, thus rewarding dedicated PVPers with better gear, while greatly reducing the grind from what it is now and simplifying the PVP gear system, so it doesnt take too long for players to get the best PVP gear and get to the point where skill, not gear, is the more important factor. Since there are only 2 tiers, new 50s would also not be at as big of a disadvantage as they are now, making 50 PVP more friendly for new players and make skilled players on alts able to contribute more right away.

 

Thoughts? I know its kind of a compromise between what we have now and what I would consider an ideal system, but I think the idea is workable.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Z-ToXiN

[Meanerr]

Free BM token for a BM set @ level 50, done!

[Monterone]

Exactly! Free BM token instead of Recruit token at 50... remove recruit gear altogether.

 

Now people can actually play with each other and enjoy it and those of us who still think months of PvP deserve an edge -- we can grind for WH.

[IIIGinoIII]

/Signed

 

I want to PvP other characters without grinding them through each character. I want to drink milk one day and orange juice another day. I don't want to milk the cow or squeeze the oranges.

Edited July 14, 2012 by IIIGinoIII

[Razot]

Doing the BM grind on my 3rd alt and still working on the WH grind on my main.

I could actually support this, the grind to BM is not long or even bad, its more of an annoyance than anything else, you hit like a wet noodle and explode on contact and for the most part you rely on your team mates to carry you and i think everyone hates feeling like that.

Not to mention that you have to grind for different pieces for mods to optimize your gear anyway or even different sets if you change spec. So no matter what you do the grind is still there so why even bother with the recruit gear thing to begin with imo.