Imho, leaving factors as being willing to take part in PvP or not aside, although playstyles can also explain a few things, I think it is too bold to generalize: saying "Karavan players seem more PvP inclined" well, I'm usure about this, maybe since the Karavan population is larger, it does give the impression. Could it be said that the number of owned outposts is a simply direct consequence of population imbalance, and the simplistic (although not enforced) bipolar faction-based nature of the OPs (favoured by its release after EP2 and the contextual text around them). So rather than asking "why do Karavan own more OPs" ask "why do Karavan have more players". That said, the same thing could also happen at different scales too: if it was race based, then the race with more supporters could have an advantage, and if it was guild based, the biggest guilds would, *but* imho the smaller granularity would allow for better and more dynamic alliances.kheez wrote: Now maybe this post is in vain, and I'll just have to deal with it... but it seems that there is a huge imbalance. The karavan outnumber the kami greatly, and according to the OP list, the Kami own 6 of the 28 OP's. (according to the info I was given on which guilds are of what faction).
With the current setting, and going back to the faction imbalance, looking at chronicles and the steele of valor ( a failry accurate view of active population at that moment and faction allegiance) and personal subjective opinion, during EP2 things were more balanced, averaged, barred the factual imbalances over shorter periods of time due to timezone differences. I do think that browsing over player names, Kami have suffered from more departures (personal guesstimate, may be completely unfounded), and the reasons may be several. Whether this is a permanent trend, or it will get balanced with time is a good question, and one may ask why no measures to control population balance (if needed) have been taken. The same thing happens with Zoraï. Asking a player to stick with the underdog race or faction for later greater good is a possibility, but not easy.
Although leaving OPs aside and quitting game are not exactly the same thing, yes there are been losses due to OPs features, it's been discussed in the past and yes, although leaving OPs aside is a possiblity that denies some kind of "content" for those not willing to take part in it, it is still a possibility.So it would seem that whenever an OP battle takes place, the Karavan always win. Thus the stronger only get stronger, as the Kami get frustrated and leave, or chose not to fight due to the absurdity of the odds against them. I was told that many friends in game were lost due to this OP imbalance and the fighting that has ensued.
The current OP situation was (as with spires) an foreseeable consequence of this game feature, although I'm unsure if this has been thought of or not. (my comments about spires being a risk-minigame and the consequences of one side winning date to the first announcement).
As stated elsewhere, it is still unclear wheter the faction war (and we will see with OPs then) is supposed to last forever or not.
Although personally I think that picking a side in order to simply get hold of op goodies is imho not a good choice, and knowing that being in a faction does not automatically grant you op rewards (friendship, dedication, etc. does) it can be deceiving as well.New players discover this, and many want a sure footing in their new game, and go with the "big dog" karavan so they can benefit from the OP rewards. There may be few who side with the kami knowing about the OP situation, but as we can see, Karavan is only getting stronger.
This is assuming that the OPs are supposed to be an invariant, PvP-only passtime, with no foreseen faction war outcome, no other variants of OPs based on no-PvP activities and the lack of other means to get equivalent OP rewards. If other means (Ring?) are available to get them, what will happen? will OPs stagnate even more, leading to a steady, static situation? this has been discussed, suggesting more GvG settings, but it is not straightforward either.This imbalance has turned into a vicious cycle, where one side will only get stronger at the expense of the other side getting weaker. There is no honor in this. There is no challenge in this. The only solution is for more Kami to come back, or sign up, or more karavan leave, or side with Kami... but why would anyone do that?
It is unclear to me wether this is trend is stable or not. More and more players with the same number of Outposts also means less share for individuals, tensions, etc. Population also comes and goes, and newer addons (ring, kitin lair?) may provide alternative means to obtain them. How many players would forget about outposts if they could obtain the same things at roughly the same effort elsewhere?Anyway, I dont have a solution. I'm just a bit frustrated as an older player (still very new to the game though) and have to make a decison of leaving my homeland and people in order to benefit from the "new content" to the game, or just deal with not having or participating in those new benefits.
Relevant threads too:
http://www.ryzom.com/forum/showthread.p ... t=Outposts
http://www.ryzom.com/forum/showthread.p ... t=Outposts
