Have an idea for a Warzone? Share it with a Dev!

[TUXs]

I think that we have a perception problem in regards to cross-server. Considering, we players are being difficult, and technically challenging, wouldnt merging servers enable the population to heal to full, so BW can continue to make me pay?

 

Absolutely! Merge em NOW...the population took a hit and they need to offer some form of life support to PvP servers.

[orangefishboy]

Devs, it would much appreciated if you stopped selectively responding to only the people posting literal new map suggestions, and also address the legitimate concerns posted by others about the state of PvP.

 

They're not answering those people because those people are not on the topic of this discussion, obviously.

[cashogy_reborn]

Devs, it would much appreciated if you stopped selectively responding to only the people posting literal new map suggestions, and also address the legitimate concerns posted by others about the state of PvP.

 

To be fair, that is not the topic of the thread. Do I think they should respond to those concerns? Yeah, but this thread is not intended to fulfill that role.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Wait...are people seriously suggesting we have WZs with NPCs to add PvE to them? People want to PvE in WZs when they are designed to be PvP content?

 

What in the nine *********** hells...Keep your damned PvE out of my PvP. I don't queue up for WZs to do any PvE but rather to PvP.

 

NOW you know how PvE people felt about the Gree Event ... Congratulations. You needed quite a long time to see this.

[cycao]

NOW you know how PvE people felt about the Gree Event ... Congratulations. You needed quite a long time to see this.

 

Lol the Gree event. That thing that takes place in what used to be the PvP part of Ilum which now has happened what, 3 times? And the majority of the so called "ganking" takes place in the [PvP] FFA area.

[AlexModny]

What if they did a warzone mode like the game Assassin or also known as Gotcha.

 

Each person has a single target they are after, only they can attack the target while their target has another player that only they can attack. If you kill your target you are now after whoever was their target until only one person remains.

 

It would have to be a big map with areas to hide. It wouldn't matter if a player is of whatever faction and would do well with 16 or more players.

 

Of course it would have a timer (15 minutes or so) and when the time runs out attacks start to do more damage as overtime ticks onward.

 

Ideally it would lead to alliances and double crosses to win the match. The longer you last the more comms, credits and XP you get.

 

This is an interesting idea! How would you promote people fighting each other instead of everyone waiting out of combat/sight for 15min alone to get max rewards? Could you attack anyone or just your assigned target? If you can attack anyone what prevents a player from killing other targets? What happens to players when they die?

[Joesixxpack]

Hopefully devs got some useful insights from the folks posting on topic.

 

If not they'll at least have enough fodder for a few new FPs and Op puzzles.

[Joesixxpack]

NOW you know how PvE people felt about the Gree Event ... Congratulations. You needed quite a long time to see this.

 

I did. Passive-aggressive posts always make me chuckle.

[JediMasterSLC]

To be fair, that is not the topic of the thread. Do I think they should respond to those concerns? Yeah, but this thread is not intended to fulfill that role.

 

I mean sure, they could say they're just not responding to posts that don't directly respond to the topic. But if they actually care about dialogue with the community.... besides these concerns never get addressed anywhere else. Oh except for this post: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=730402. I forgot, the answer to all our "off topic" questions are "no".

[AlexModny]

I'll share my warzone idea because I love this game and I feel happy to help with ideas for it to grow ^^

 

I would love to see more historical battles in the war between the republic and the empire. Arenas and Huttball are good but I think we are getting away from the real war between both factions.

 

Here's one example about what I have in mind, If you people liked my little drawings I will totally draw more lol:

 

The Package

 

THE MAP:

 

Map Drawing:

http://oi60.tinypic.com/i2veb6.jpg

 

The map (can be made two maps) focuses an Imperial/Republic Security Outpost, depending on who is the defending team (In case two maps are made which would be awsome).

Where one man who holds important intelligence form the Empire/Republic (again depending on the def. team). (In case we cant have two diferent maps at least change the textures so it looks as a different building)

The areas on the map could be:

• The Gate: Located at the south of the map, Composed by a Shielded Gate with its shield generator and a blocked Passage trough a mountain with a drill ready to break trough. Some plains, hills, some trees and rocks that can be used to lose your enemies while they are after you.
  
• The Entrance: A plaza with some stairs, barricades, banners and battle ready turrets protecting the entrance.
  
• The Outpost: A two floors building with a main hall with some big pilars, stairs and maybe some debris that would work to make tricky moves while fighting on the area.
  

(If you wonder why my drawing looks like Alderaan its because the main idea was to assault an important building of House Organa or House Thul in order to capture or neutralize an important member of the family, but I remembered we already have a Warzone on alderaan so the planet can be changed and the story could go as follows.)

 

THE STORY:

One of the factions captured an officer with classified information about the other faction. And is being hold on a security outpost while he awaits his extraction to the capital world where he'll be interrogated.

An assault team is dispatched with the orders to rescue or silence the hostage.

Once in the ground they have two options to break into the outpost:

A secret passage on west trough a mountain that can be opened by repairing a drill there.

And by shutting down the east shield generator which will bring down the gate's shields.

After entering the outpost's surroundings they have two new objectives to enter the building:

Deactivate the main entrance turrets with the panel on the west.

Or detonate a bomb on a secret passage on the east.

After entering the outpost they must proceed to secure or neutralize the package.

The inside features two floors, the 1st floor holds the office where the hostage is being held, along with a terminal to slice the door open and secure the hostage.

The second floor holds the main security wing where they can sabotage the office defenses and kill the hostage.

 

THE SPAWNS:

The spawns here can be changed depending on how the players progress trough the warzone.

For example, if the Drill was used to enter the outpost the spawn point must be on the drilled cave. If they disabled the shields the spawn point could be on a room near the main gate.

Same for the Stage two objectives. If they used the secret entrance the stage 3 spawn will be on the 1st floor passage. If they disabled the turrets they start on a room near the main entrance on the second floor.

PS: The turrets on stage 2 since they are protecting the defenders' spawn they must kill any attacker who gets near so we avoid spawn camping. They get disabled if the attackers use the turret controls to proceed to stage 3. If they use the package the turrets wont have further use so you can let them be or have them destroyed by some bombardment or stuff.

 

OTHER NOTES:

I was thinking of it like the Voidstar Warzone progression I guess, but what I think that makes this warzone special is that the two captureable objectives can change the way you solve the warzone making it a little different each time you play. You can start by deactivating the gate's shields, then taking the secret passage and killing the hostage. or using the drill, taking the passage and kill the hostage, or shields > turrets > kill hostage, shields > passage > secure, drill > passage > kill, drill > turrets > secure.

 

I really like the idea of an Assault/Defend map that isn't the same path every time, like a Voidstar+. While this will ramp up the learning curve it keeps the gameplay much more fresh for longer so I think the payoff is worth it. It would be up to the design to make sure players know where the action is at a given point so no one is wondering around looking for someone to attack. Thanks for the map too!

[buckman]

This is an interesting idea! How would you promote people fighting each other instead of everyone waiting out of combat/sight for 15min alone to get max rewards? Could you attack anyone or just your assigned target? If you can attack anyone what prevents a player from killing other targets? What happens to players when they die?

 

To stop people from hiding out I would make it so that the "target" player could "tag" targets (hit them with a 4m attack) that would count for some points, not as much as the Target player. Once the target player dies, then another one is randomly selected (but try not to have the same person be target in the same round).

[djcetra]

Sorry Bioware, Eric, Alex and the rest of you who ask for input and/or work on the PvP team. As much as I would like more warzones, warzone modes etc. and especially open world PvP.. This game is at the point where the only suggestion I can give to keep me and a lot of people subbed is to prioritize Cross-Server queues. There's simply not enough people in queue for normal or ranked warzones anymore and soon I fear it will be as hard to queue for PvP as it is to find someone open world to kill.

 

There's a lot that could still happen with this game but time is really running out. Capture the Flag modes.. Guild ships invading guild ships or even a mixture of the ground pvp game with GSF which would be amazing.. But by the time any new modes or maps come out it will be too late.. There's not enough people pvping now and it keeps getting worse so it's pointless to put more maps in if you're not going to do cross-server because nobody will get to play them.

 

All any of us want is Cross-Server queue, it's a huge answer to a huge problem in this game and should be extended to PvE pugs too so everyone wins.

 

I know it's not on your roadmap but it should be, I hate to say it and I don't want to leave but soon I'll be driving down another highway that isn't full of so many road-blocks.... Cross-Server queues guys, seriously as much as you're tired of hearing it stop and THINK, please. This or merge the servers until they're full, all pvp servers and pve servers to mega servers to the population is booming, this will also help world pvp and pve people too. MMOs will low population just doesn't work out.

 

SAVE YOUR GAME

Edited April 2, 2014 by djcetra

[cashogy_reborn]

How about a mini-version of the original Ilum? What was a pretty cool idea was ruined by a terrible community IMO.

This is going to borrow some other ideas from people in this thread:

 

Flavor text: Your faction is trying to gain the upperhand in the Battle of Ilum! You must secure landing zones to move up your forces and finally launch an attack on the enemy base!

 

Map: http://i.imgur.com/3glrfWx.png

 

Objectives: Your team needs to capture landing zones to secure the battlefield, and then destroy the two Anti-Aircraft turrets to allow for an airstrike to take out the base.

 

- Your team must control all 3 landing zones in order to attack the AA turrets.

- To eliminate the need for guarding, capturing landing zones will work like this:

• Landing Zones (LZs) can only be captured if
  1. The LZ in question is the closest unoccupied LZ to your faction's base
     
  2. The LZ in question is the closest enemy occupied LZ to your base
     
  3. Unoccupied LZs take precedent over enemy occupied LZs
     

  [*]LZs can be captured by:

  1. Destroying the 3 enemy vehicles present in the landing zone
     
  2. The vehicles do not do damage to players
     
  3. Players must use a Rocket Launcher (right click the vehicle to fire) to destroy each vehicle
     
  4. It takes 3 Rockets to destroy a vehicle. They cannot be repaired
     
  5. Each player can only fire one rocket every 30 seconds.
     
  6. Should no enemy vehicles be present (ie at the start of the game), a 'King of the Hill' style mechanic will capture the LZ (Must remain within the LZ for 30s, each player inside of the LZ causes the timer to decrease at a rate of .5s per second, ie if 6 players are within the LZ it will be captured in 10 seconds) . There must be no enemies within the LZ to begin this timer.
     

  [*]Once you have captured the LZ (either via timer or destroying enemy vehicles), 3 vehicles belonging to your faction will land in the LZ.

- Once your faction controls all 3 LZs, you will have to take out the AA turrets by:

1. Using a Rocket Launcher (activated by right clicking the turret) to inflict damage to the AA turret
   
2. It will take 5 Rockets to destroy the enemy AA turret.
   
3. Each player can only fire one rocket every 30 seconds
   
4. Turret damage cannot be repaired
   

- Once you have destroyed both AA turrets, your faction will commence a bombing run and you have won the WZ!

- The WZ will last 20 minutes. In the result that neither team destroys the opponent's base, determine winner via:

1. Number of LZs held at WZ end
   
2. If for some reason # of LZs held is tied, determine winner by the fewest deaths.
   
3. If for some reason fewest deaths is also tied, determine winner by highest team-total damage dealt
   

 

 

Firing the Rocket Launcher is a 3 second cast, which allows a team to disrupt their opponent from destroying their vehicles. Enforcing a 30s cooldown on using the rockets prevents one player from taking objectives all by themselves; you will need to use teamwork to win.

 

The AA turrets at the end should be place relatively close together, to focus the action. Again, the cooldown on the Rocket Launcher forces a team to work together to take down each turret, and also gives the opposition time to fight back.

 

 

 

 

This would use a lot of stuff that was already in the game (rocket launcher ability, the vehicles + animations of them being destroyed/landing, bombing run animations). If there is something I forgot to cover please tell me lol.

Edited April 2, 2014 by cashogy_reborn

[lhhgbh]

How about an Ettenmoors type of scenario where you have two keeps on either side of the map and you have one designated carrier of some relic while the rest of the team defends him as they travel from one side to the other.

 

I had some good times out at the moors, wish we had something like that here here.

[jphart]

I would like to see a clean, simple, and fast team death match map.

It should have:

A relatively small area platform with some low cover points, and some columns to break up LOS.

8 random spawn points around the edge to discourage spawn camping.

Surrounded by a bottomless pit to encourage moving into the center, where most of the fighting will take place.

Immediate respawn, no delaying force fields or long run backs.

First team to 20 kills wins.

 

This map should make some quick matches of continuous intense action. A nice break from the more strategic but boring node guarding.

 

Other thoughts on WZ's:

Voidstar is my favorite current WZ, I would like to see more like it, but not exactly like it.

Have you considered giving the doors a health rating and making them targetable/ guardable/ healable?

How about one where you divide your teams in half and run assault and defense at the same time?

 

If we could do 4v4 with companions it would have several advantages.

PVP ques would pop faster / need fewer players.

The choice of companions would balance some of the strange groups you get in solo ques.

4v4 with companions would work with all of the existing WZ's.

I am not suggesting all WZ's allow companions, just add it into the mix like arenas.

 

I wish we had some maps that allowed speeders: not sure why, just seems like it would be fun and different.

 

In GSF when you take and hold a node it spawns defense turrets. I would like to see this mechanic in a WZ.

It would make stealth cap harder, and make tanks more useful for assault.

[Memo-]

Didn't check the whole thread, obviously, but I thought I'd link this one age-old suggestion from the forums. (Not mine!)

 

www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5727229

[nitroyoshi]

ok heres #1 idea

name(subject to change) huttidge

objectivo

most points win

le map

http://i.imgur.com/0w3wxkW.png

ok so i stole a bit from harry potter

why le game is le best

its 3 huttballs in the center team with most points at the end wins

the reason theres >1 ball is to reduce le camping at le mid because well its a deadzone w/ the hazards and the walls

basically its huttball with 3 balls

[JediMasterSLC]

ok heres #1 idea

name(subject to change) huttidge

objectivo

most points win

le map

http://i.imgur.com/0w3wxkW.png

ok so i stole a bit from harry potter

why le game is le best

its 3 huttballs in the center team with most points at the end wins

the reason theres >1 ball is to reduce le camping at le mid because well its a deadzone w/ the hazards and the walls

basically its huttball with 3 balls

 

/slowclap

[MidichIorian]

I still think Capture the Flag, although it's very similar to Huttball, would be the best option. Why?

 

*It's basic, everyone understands that you need to grab the flag and bring it to your base. The biggest flaw with, for instance, AHG is that the average pug still havent figured out the point system. You have people getting farmed on the enemies node or people trying to run orbs when the game has reached a point where your team won't win unless you 2-cap. You'd never have these issues in CTF.

 

*In contrast to HB you'd have a reset mechanic where the other team has to prevent you from touching the flag within, lets say, ten seconds before it resets (for 1 flag CTF). It wouldnt just be that the other team gets the flag or that it instantly resets when you get kiled and drop it, or choose to drop it on purpose. You could also have neutral flag, where both teams can carry the flag back n forth on the field.

 

*CTF combines killing with a higher objective. I'm totally against straight up Team deathmatch because the average pug will never accomplish anything against a decent premade and there's still no matchmaking system in the game to prevent this from happening. TDM just makes everything easier for good premades because now they don't have to assign 1-2 people to objectives so the pug will have 8 people farming them instead of the 6 that already were highly capable of doing it.

 

*No one has to sit on node guard in CTF. You don't have to pick up the flag if you dont want to and you wont have anyone throw it at you, like people always do in HB, so you'll get killed 3 seconds later. You will however always be around or on your way to the flag, where the action is and it's less static than KOTH. KOTH is IMO just a glorified form of TDM.

[ByeToWoW]

I like the idea of player VIPs! How would the player be picked? Random? If so, how would you make teams fair so one side didn't get a tank and the other side got a squishy DPS with 20k health? How would you handle stealth classes when they are the VIP? Would the teams go at the same time or would it be like Voidstar where one team attacks/defends and then switches sides?

 

 

The easiest way to eliminate the randomness and/or trolling ability potential of selecting player VIPS would be to have the other team select the VIPs instead. The opposing team will ALWAYS try and pick the easiest target to kill.

 

How to pick the VIPs:

 

1) I saw one example of the first person to die on your team gets to be the VIP. Essentially they are chosen by the other team because the other team attacked them. I suppose if someone really wanted to be the VIP, they could run in naked and do nothing until killed, but your own team can prevent you from being killed. Plus, Bolster should prevent any super-easy kills via nakedness.

 

1a) Variation of this could be that once a player dies, they incur a stacking debuff that, upon 3?, 4? 5? deaths, they become the VIP.

 

2) Another option could be to give everyone in the match an item to use just for the match. Similar to how you get the option to throw a huttball via a special ability once zoning in. Let's say... we can call it "VIP Target Lock". This ability you use on the enemy player you want to be their VIP. Once there is a majority of choices selected to a single player (IE: each use of "VIP Target Lock" puts a debuff on said player), they are then designated. To encourage reminders that this ability exists, as a player gains VIP Target Lock debuffs, they gain in size and/or gain the "I have the Huttball" beacon. If there is an even amount of VIP Target Locks distributed, once no more selections can be made (all 8 VIP Target Locks have been used from your team), it becomes luck of the draw and randomness ensues for that particular situation.

 

Why choose a VIP and how to prevent stealth Trolling?

 

1) There could be a bonus given to any friendly players that are within Guard-range of the VIP to encourage protecting them.

 

2) There could be a bonus given to your team once you have used all 8 "VIP Target Locks" that encourages your team to use that ability as soon as they can. Bonuses to your team go away if the VIP is a stealther and uses stealth while under VIP status.

 

2a) A variation of this is that once having selected a VIP on the other team, YOUR team gains a statcking (1-stack per second) ability to see "VIP-Stealth", similar in scope to a Sniper/Gunslinger on live, that can only be used to see the enemy VIP while they are in stealth. In short, this allows a stealth to be a VIP, and be in stealth, but they only have 15 or so seconds before they will likely be seen. To allow stealth classes the usage of their class abilities, the buff will only start being applied once the enemy Stealth-VIP-Class has used their stealth (vanish?) ability. Length of time to reach maximum effectiveness of Seeing-VIP-Stealth should be tested and balanced on PTS.

 

3) Perhaps bonuses to your team are not bonuses, but are instead the removal of debuffs on your team. The normal debuff is "Your team takes 25% more damage unless you have selected a VIP on the opposing team". Once the selection has been made, your team will take 25% less damage, aka, things are back to normal.

 

3a) This could go in concert with the dieing=being VIP from above. Both "VIP Target Lock" AND Deaths will apply a stack of the debuff to aid the selection process. Basically ensures a VIP will be selected, one way or another.

 

 

I really REALLY like the VIP idea and hope it gets on your radar!

[nitroyoshi]

/slowclap

 

thank you friend

[ByeToWoW]

I am also throwing in my vote here for a 3-Team Warzone. If there are game limitations to 16 total, then make it 5v5v5.

 

-This is something unique (I think) to the MMO market.

-This addresses the "Premades are ruining PvP" comments that we see over and over.

-I know you all recall the original Starcraft and Warcraft. The depth of Starcraft, having 3 separate factions was immensely more intricate and just plain fun, compared to Warcraft.

-SWTOR has integrated a great Holy Trinity involving DPS, Healing, and viable Tanking in PvP. That is a 3-dimensional depth you've managed to develop. I know you can manage to develop and balance a way to do three separate teams at the same time.

-Lore-wise, the Hutt cartel is really the only viable way to include 3 teams into a 2-faction game.

[Orwyn]

Think it would be kind of cool to have a PVP WZ where its 8 v 8 man arena death match with one twist,,,Before the match someone gets the ability to cast an instant rez through out the fight with a cool down of like 15-20 seconds, and it makes the other team try to figure out who the rezer is and potentially takes some of the heat off of the healers. Kind of fun to mess around with the tactical standpoint of utilizing your guardians and healers.

 

Also think it would be fun to have a king of the hill type of WZ...Where once you cap it you can no longer respawn until the other team uncaps it.

[Sangrar]

I am also throwing in my vote here for a 3-Team Warzone. If there are game limitations to 16 total, then make it 5v5v5.

 

-This is something unique (I think) to the MMO market.

-This addresses the "Premades are ruining PvP" comments that we see over and over.

-I know you all recall the original Starcraft and Warcraft. The depth of Starcraft, having 3 separate factions was immensely more intricate and just plain fun, compared to Warcraft.

-SWTOR has integrated a great Holy Trinity involving DPS, Healing, and viable Tanking in PvP. That is a 3-dimensional depth you've managed to develop. I know you can manage to develop and balance a way to do three separate teams at the same time.

-Lore-wise, the Hutt cartel is really the only viable way to include 3 teams into a 2-faction game.

 

this is good, a three team warzone would be pretty interesting, having 3 teams all of whom are fighting against eachother would provide a unique experience, especially if they were fighting for a specifically designed objective map or some other kind of goal. And who knows, through the Cartel it would provide a gateway to do cross faction teams as well I mean it would work perfectly to that end if it took just the first few people to que regardless of faction. Well done sir.

[ByeToWoW]

this is good, a three team warzone would be pretty interesting, having 3 teams all of whom are fighting against eachother would provide a unique experience, especially if they were fighting for a specifically designed objective map or some other kind of goal. And who knows, through the Cartel it would provide a gateway to do cross faction teams as well I mean it would work perfectly to that end if it took just the first few people to que regardless of faction. Well done sir.

 

 

I added my own thoughts, but it wasn't my idea. I read it from someone else in this thread who mentioned a 3-team Huttball, which got me thinking.

 

Even though I like the depth and variety that this offers, the biggest perk this type of match will have for the game is it deals with the "Premades are ruining PvP" thoughts. If there is a premade, your team has another team playing alongside where you can hopefully be smart and take them out. There may even be two premades. If they wish, they could team up against the non-premade team, but then they still have to fight each other. It really offers lots of choices and allows people to play happily vs, "well I might as well get my daily done and just AFK while in a Warzone as I know I will be outgunned vs a pre-made."

Edited April 3, 2014 by ByeToWoW
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