Ryzom

michielb wrote:After reading through the information about the upcoming global FvF several times I have to say it looks interesting. However after over two year of FvF(ish) in Anarchy Online I’ve had quite enough of endless simulated war. Further more after seeing the implementation of FvF in E3 I have grave doubts about E3….

My biggest concern is what the effect of the (I’ll say it again) strong focus on PvP will have on the community. Episode 2 already chased off many good players and the recent publication of the global FvF-details will probably cause even more people to unsubscribe.

When I signed up for beta it was the feature list that made me do so. More than a year after release non (!) of those features is in the game, even worse; it looks like they won’t be in the game for long, long time (if ever!) Despite that I kept on playing and paying and it was the community that made me do so. It was the community that made SoR worth while despite the total lack of progress…

A lot of the people that made this community so great have now left, are thinking about leaving or will unsubscribe in the very near future. Some (like me) have shortened the subscription period to one month and probably will unsubscribe if this haven’t improved by then. They left for three reasons one, they didn’t like the how PvP was forced down their throats two, the utter lack of responsiveness to player concerns who have been opposing PvP since it was first introduced, three the fact that not only were the concerns of non-PvP players not addressed properly their call for some non-PvP content was blatantly ignored!

While I may find the concept behind the Global FvF interesting and would like to see how it works out in practice I have no need for the excesses PvP always causes. Avid PvPers are for the most part not my kind of animals and I do not want them around. So if what is left of what used to be a great community leaves over the FvF issue I will do the same. I will not pay for a game that is populated by dimwitted badmouthing gank kids, there are cheaper ways of making myself feel bad.

As I said I find the concept of the global FvF interesting, it does however have some serious flaws. (I could try to find a way to put it more kindly but I’ve been kind to you for a long time and you repay me with a kick in the pants so I won’t bother) The most obvious one of course is that it splits up the game community into 3 factions that can only interact with each other through combat, that is if the neutrals have a way of capturing and defending territory which isn’t something neutrals tend to do and have the inclination to do so.

Making traveling harder by denying access to TP’s in enemy territories will mean people new to the game may never see what’s outside their own lands and will most likely not have access to other race’s spells and craft plans.

Unless some serious rebalancing is done the current dominance of Avatars of Destruction in PvP means anyone who isn’t level 250 in both magic and fight will be of little use in the FvF battles excluding a lot of lower level players from a lot of game content. Believing those players will stay with the game for very long would be, I think, foolish. This FvF concept will not only drive veterans away it will also prevent new players form staying, this is bad business.

While the TP restrictions make sense from a story perspective they provide bad game play and game play, like it or not, is what it all boils down to at the end of the day…

The current PvP system is, as said, a high level sport and seems to focus largely on the combatants leaving harvesters and crafters to “fuel the war machine” they appear to get very little out of both Episode 2 and Episode 3. If this is not the case then you should provide more info on this subject ASAP as you’ve already given people more then enough reasons to, here’s that nasty word again, UNSUBSCRIBE.

I don’t know how the spire guard NPC’s will work out in practice but they, again, seem to be focused mainly on the high level players which is not a good idea as it means that lower levels cannot participate in the storyline and are essentially left with less content than the was in the game at launch, this is a bad thing.

The fact that an Avatar of Destruction can kill a Refugee fresh from the newbie islands means it will happen and probably more often as we would like, this is not a good thing.

With 250 level in 2 combat trees there’s a huge difference in strength between players either forcing people into an unfair fight, power level to hit the cap or stay away from PvP altogether, this is not a good thing.

Speaking of the refugee islands their isolation has already been discussed sufficiently and nevrax has promised the address the issue yet; nothing further on that so far and with the current, here goes, strong focus on PvP it seems unlikely that any work on a more compelling newbie area will get done leaving it up to the players to instruct the newbies to leave islands as soon as possible. Unfortunately the players who are most inclined to so are, once more, UNSUBSCRIBING.

Currently the neutrals, or rather those that are not flagged for PvP cannot heal those that are regardless of faction. I don’t know if this is a bug or a feature but it is not good.

While on the subject of healing, explain to the newbie why you can’t ress him but have no trouble ressing the guy lying next to him. Some may understand and appreciate the “rich and compelling” (rich and compelling, bullocks. Nothing rich and compelling about being a WoW clone with better graphics) storyline that caused this others will not extend their subscription past their 7 day trial, this is not a good thing.
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The current, here we go again, strong focus on PvP means there probably won’t be much (I any) non-PvP content added to the game leaving all those who do not like PvP with (most likely) less content than there was at launch, this it not a good thing.

I understand that it is hard to make drastic changes when you are already this far in the development process but you have been forewarned and warned again, and again and decided to ignore it on and blindly move ahead as planned alienating more and more veteran players as you went leaving you at a point where it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to win back those you’ve lost and those you are about to lose but if you don’t at least make an effort I fear this game is doomed.

I’m sure there is much more to say on the subject but I’ve already wasted far too much time on this as I don’t expect to get any decent answers out of you lot let alone any concrete steps for improvement so I’ll just sit and wait till all goes to hell in a handbag.

kayak wrote:even that would screw up PR diggers. let ppl who have pvp flag off port anywhere they wish

rushin wrote:you know what the trouble is, they (Nevrax) try really hard to adapt and adopt to the needs of the market, and the players. For the past 6-8 months the forums have been full of people whinging that there is no high level content, nothing to do except grind, and when you reach the top its pointless because you cant use your skills in a normal fight.

They look at the market, and see WoW with its silly subscriber numbers, put 2 and 2 together and spend all their time and energy implemented a PvP system. and whether u like it or not, this territory control concept sounds great.

so we now have a situation where every single bored high level player (who were all the ones complaining not so long ago) has got a lot of things to do, got what they asked for. And what happens.. its the wrong sort of content.

i feel sorry for Nevrax, all they get is sh1t from their playerbase, it seems to me whatever they do would not be right for some people. A post earlier asked for Nevrax to communicate better, well maybe they should ask us to, and try to remove the rabid ranting, name calling, threats and idiocy that fills these boards every day.

marct wrote:I don't believe this is right. If you are neutral (to be defined) you should almost be able to use either factions TP's. You should not get this just if your PvP flag is off.

There are some good posts on this stuff in the General forums as well. If you are Neutral... (The life of a true neutral is hard)
* you should maybe not gain the BUFFS either.
* you should have an increased penalty for being saved by the a higher power. (Not sure how to do this*
*...

Neutral should be very hard to do, Aligned with a Faction and PvP flag off is very different.

Neutral or faction allignment should not change instantaneously with your fame change. It should take time for you to be accepted. and Also give you that opportunity to remain in favor of both by being neutral.

The same needs to apply for the PvP flag. You can't go take part in a PvP attack, and then swtich your PvP flag OFF to protect yourself. Or on the other side you cannot be no PvP, be standing there watching and see if you jumped in it would make the difference and turn your PvP flag off. There could be a story tied into this as well where you have to visit some Sage or something and you get tutored on the errs in your ways...

The neutrality piece could be monitored by talking to NPC's. You could have to do missions to remain Neutral, etc. I think Neutral should have to work to maintain their status. In effect pleasing both sides equally, Kind of like your last actions multiplying in effectiveness over time. E.G. If you did something for the Karavan, and you have not done anything for the Kami recently, your Neutrality swings towards the Karavan side. You should get warnings, or praise from a faction as this is happening to alert you to your status. It could even be that within the Neutral Stance, there is room for not being able to use the other factions TPs. Try this on (all of this falling in Neutral:

+++Karavan -- Bridged to Karavan Aligned - Much work to return to Neutral
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++Karavan -- Still Neutral, however only Karavan TP's may be used. High
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+Karavan -- Still Neutral all TP's work for you.
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Neutral -- Still Neutral All TP's available
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+Kami -- Still Neutral all TP's work for you.
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++Kami Still Neutral however only Kami TP's are usable
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+++Kami Bridged to Kami Aligned

Using a TP from a certain faction should affect a Neutral, as should many other actions, selling items to players of certain faction alignment, trades, etc. I could see increased fees for TP's to the opposite faction as your fame goes more towards a faction. In addition, as your Netrality moves in one direction, it gains momentum in that direction and is a lot of work to rectify. The further out you are towards a Faction, the more work it should take to slow down your move to wards that side, and to rectify it back towards normal.

EDIT: Your level should affect this also. So it should be easier for a low level to stay neutral, and harder for a high level to stay neutral. This would allow "new players" to have access to everywhere while they keep themselves neutral. It will be the role of the others to try to convince them (RP) that a swing to one faction side or the other is necessary. I think to Join a Karavan guild, you shoul dhave to be Karavan aligned, etc. If you change to Kami you should get booted automatically. I am not sure where Neutral should fall in the guild issues.

I guess I am saying that a neutral should not just be 0, but be moving all the time, swaying wither way through ever action. This swaying has momentum and has Mass. The further you let it go, the more the momentum and the Mass increase. Different things you do should affect either or both of these factors. And it should be monitorable by treking (not Tping) to wise sages.

I really do not know how to impact this with in-game time and out-of game time as this need to be considered as well. I do not beileve it would be fair to flip someone to faction aligned because they were offline. However it should be a lot of work to quickly rectify it.

Liekwise, the jump from a faction to the Neurality World should not come without pains. I would expect special missions to prove worthiness to be Neutral, etc.

Changing your PvP flag or Neutrality should take In-Game days if not a full season. If you declare your self as anti-PvP you must prove it over time before you can be given that opportunity to be "free" from battle.

This was a brain dump, and changed as I went through posting it. I hope it adds value and can influence others to have good ideas.

Noin.

P.S. Nevrax Please Read ME!!!

rushin wrote:So we now have a situation where every single bored high level player (who were all the ones complaining not so long ago) has got a lot of things to do, got what they asked for. And what happens.. its the wrong sort of content.

iphdrunk wrote:* I'm scared of what the PvP *brings*. Do I have a reason to believe it won't be the case here? I soooo want to believe it won't happen..

iphdrunk wrote:* I'm sad to see players that give this community a special touch are not enjoying it at all. When I saw Drakfot Offlovak tales, the special love with which the Samsara roleplay as a mercenary guilds, the Evol folks spicing it up, A lovely trykerette that gives some of her time drawing awesome avatars. Those are the players that can make R2 a huge success.