My thoughts on what Ryzom will become

[gcaldani]

In general, my opinion is that PvP should be always an end-game content.

In all PvP mmos around, the low-middle levels PvP is just ganking and Pk'ers that do the "let's kill the lowbies" sport.

Apart of duels and the Arena, i don't see any reason to do PvP before the end-game.

What I never understood is why in Ryzom devs decided to put different level OPs. In my opinion they should be only 250.

If you wanna give lower people a chance for OP PvP devs should have locked the levels in the specific range of OP.
But I don't like. A similar system exists in Anarchy Online with the Towers where only people in the range of the land (similar to the OP area pvp-enabled) can PvP, it works but if you don't want to lose your low level towers you must have chars always in the range, or be so active to recruit non-stop. This really limit the freedom of the game.

to Sxarlet: I don't think PvP in Ryzom is not good. I think the contrary. If you consider masters PvP, there is a fair balance where maybe a misclick or a -1 in a jewel/armor stat can do the difference and, maybe, also some smart action choice...
Sure, some improvements is needed, more stanzas, the bug fix...

Just consider it as an end game content.

This is an inherent problem in the system of levels though. I've yet to see one MMORPG where you have any real chance at defeating a character that's much higher level than you.

Well, surprisingly in VG my level 7 Blood Mage (7 is the level when you start being pvp enabled) got attacked by a level 13 melee (don't remember the class) and won. Don't ask me how I did it. I dunno, I just answered with my few spells at the attack and I was already prepared to respawn somewhere.... That's just to grins at myself generally you are right.

The only way to amend this problem is with a similar system as they have in CoH, that can make you 'pretend' you're a different level under certain conditions.

I agree that the CoX Arena is good. But that's just for the Arena. I think that is the only way to do good real low middle level PvP.
Still in CoX there are drawbacks, because if i go fighting against a level 25 raised artificially to 50 with my 50 or if my 50 lowers to 25, still the match is not balanced due to the different slotting of chars.
But I think that kind of Arena is a good way to have low level PvP.

One possibility to apply this in Ryzom: When in a level 0-50 zone, all skills are capped at level 50. Another possibility: When fighting for a level 250 outpost, a skill of your choice 'acts' like it's 250 for the duration of the battle.
Even then the one with the better gear is probably going to win, but it at least gives you a chance.

The idea of being capped at the region level is absolutely terrible!! Please don't suggest this at devs as i loved to travel in level 50 regions without the UI on screen!!
Ryzom is skill based. How you can raise artificially to 250 a skill? You give all the stanzas possible to obtain up to 250? And give the time to the player to build his actions or you just give some fixed action??
I don't see this possible to implement. It will not work.

The PvP only gets a little interesting if you have multiple skills at a level that makes them feasible to use (which usually means: multiple skills at 250). Then you can pick and choose which one is going to work best against what your opponent is currently using.

I don't think that PvP is more interesting with multiple masters, it can be but it's just a personal taste.

Ofcourse, the inherent problem with group-vs-group PvP is that no matter how well you do, significantly superior numbers always win.

About the numbers that always win, that's true in any MMO with free form PvP. But remember that PvP is not a single event. You can outnumber me today, but it's possible that tomorrow I'll outnumber you... Don't think so static!!

[sidusar]

The idea of being capped at the region level is absolutely terrible!! Please don't suggest this at devs as i loved to travel in level 50 regions without the UI on screen!!
Ryzom is skill based. How you can raise artificially to 250 a skill? You give all the stanzas possible to obtain up to 250? And give the time to the player to build his actions or you just give some fixed action??
I don't see this possible to implement. It will not work.

I'm not suggesting they implement anything. I'm merely saying that this kind of system is the only way to somewhat level the playing field between a level 150 and a level 250, and I gave some examples of how it could be implemented. You can replace "When in a level 0-50 zone" with "When fighting over a lvl 50 outposts" or "When entering a special lvl 50 PvP zone" or whatever you like.

As for how to artificially raise a skill to 250; do it the same way as in CoX. In CoX if you're level 25 and are artificially raised to 50, you don't get all the skills up to 50. Only the skills you already have act like you are 50. So no, in Ryzom, you don't get all the stanzas possible to obtain up to 250, but all the stanzas you already have act as if you're 250.

Like you say, in CoX the real level 50 still has the advantage because he has more skills to use and better gear (enhancements). But the level 25 has a lot more chance of winning if he's artificially raised to 50 then if he has to fight at level 25. It would be the same in Ryzom.

Ryzom actually already has a system in place to make skills 'act' like they're a different level. Just watch what happens to your skills if you carry too much weight. If you're so overweight that you can't even move, all your skills will be reduced to level 1 too. If you're down to 50% speed, your levels will be halved, etc. It shouldn't be too hard to use this same system to artificially reduce levels, or to turn it around and raise levels. It'd take some tweaking and some testing, but I think it could work.

About the numbers that always win, that's true in any MMO with free form PvP. But remember that PvP is not a single event. You can outnumber me today, but it's possible that tomorrow I'll outnumber you... Don't think so static!!

Right, just like in a duel, you may have better gear today but I may have better gear tomorrow. But I prefer not to think like that because it turns every moment you're playing the MMO into an obsessive "must become stronger for the next PvP fight!" arms race. Like how guilds recruit people just to get more numbers to win OP battles, blegh.

I think this only adds to hostility between the sides, this fact that the PvP is in effect always ongoing. Even when you're not in a battle, you're already working to better your odds at the next battle. Meanwhile that battle itself is going to be less interesting because it's largely already decided by the time its starts. If the PvP was just a single event, and nothing you did outside of that event could better your odds at winning inside, I think there'd be less hostility.

But, I know this is not the MMO way. Still I think that the more the outcome of the battle depends on what you do inside the battle, and the less it depends on what you do outside the battle, the better. It makes for more excitement inside the battles and less tension outside them.

[mikkii]

I just found out that an engine for an airbus cost 2.5 million euro each.

[kazaam31]

I just found out that an engine for an airbus cost 2.5 million euro each.

well what u except.. its german quality