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The grand solution for everyone
ianthewizard2012
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,142 Arc User
Preface
Have you been perplexed by the condition of PvP? Have you been getting more and more frustration from your daily PvP matches? Are you dissatisfied with how classes are balanced? Or are specific exploits or items in PvP almost driving you mad?
For so long, players have been struggling with various issues of PvP. Suggestions and criticisms have been made wishing to solve the headaches. However, module by module, the number of issues only seems to increase, and players are having more harsh words to say. Many cannot help but ask themselves if PvP has a future.
Cheer up. You are about to see a glimmer of hope.
The Problem
So what is the root of the problem? What has led to the state of affairs we are in today? To find the answer, we need to look back and inspect how classes were designed in the very beginning as well as how they have been evolving since then.
Among all the issues we are having, some of them have existed since day one. Perma-stealth is a known example. Of course, we know that stealth in D&D isn’t supposed to function like that. So there must be a reason that it was implemented like that.
Also, there are currently classes which have powers or abilities to gain control immunity easily. That doesn’t appear in the canonical D&D, too. So why exactly were those powers implemented like that?
Furthermore, some classes which are causing threatens to other classes were not anything like that back in the early days. What made their performance unideal in those old days?
After analyzing the aforementioned things deeply and thoroughly, it’s not hard to realize that the root of the problem is: ranged classes and melee class are being mixed together in PvP.
Yes. That’s exactly the cause. If we inspect all the issues which are happening in PvP carefully, we can find that all of them were resulted from the mix, directly or indirectly.
Why is stealth being perma-able? Because without being perma-able, rogues would be easily hunted down by folks who stand at a distance;
Why do a certain classes get easy control immunity? Because without easy control immunity, it’s just easy to get controlled by ranged folks;
And why did some players complain that their melee classes were underperformed? Because back in those days, their ranged opponents can manipulate the fights without getting close to them.
As time goes by, classes have undergone adjustments for the purpose of “class balance”. But was PvP saved by the “balance”? No, it didn’t, obviously.
That’s why we need to face the true problem. We need to face the fundamental fact that ranged classes and melee classes have too different natures. They are just too different. Ranged classes are at an advantage in attack range, but tend to be squisher in close combat; melee classes specialize in close combat, but are at a disadvantage when it comes to attack range and are usually less or non-magical.
Because of the significant difference in the natures of the two categories, the attempt of “balance” between them aren’t going to work, ultimately.
Perhaps it’s possible to make all ranged classes have similar performance, or to make all melee classes have similar performance. But it’s simply impossible to make the two different categories –– ranged classes and melee classes –– all have similar performance.
The only and also inappropriate way to make all classes have similar performance is altering all classes’ natures, giving them abilities which they aren’t supposed to have, and letting them do things which they aren’t supposed to do. That is exactly how PvP does the “balance” currently. However, being altered like that, some classes are gradually losing their identities and many of their abilities are not working in the ways they should be.
As we can see at the moment, control immunity folks are roaming around, ranged classes are trying to be tanky in close combat, “mundane shields” are blocking magical control effects, perma-stealthed attackers are running about unbridledly, “melee attacks” which are being ranged, immortal folks who just aren’t going down, some strikers are spamming controls as if they are controllers, some defenders are dealing high burst damage as if they are strikers, players are accusing each other's classes for being overpowered, …… etc. Unbelievable dramas like those things won’t cease to increase if ranged classes and melee classes keep being mixed together in PvP.
The Solution
So, is there a way to save PvP? Of course. As long as we know what the problem is, we could then take appropriate steps to solve it. That’s what we are going to talk about now.
If you pay attention to the analytic of the problem, you might already know the solution. Yes, the solution is: not mixing ranged classes and melee classes in PvP, by default.
It’s this simple, isn’t it? Because mixing ranged classes and melee classes is the ultimate cause of all issues, avoiding the mix would be the ultimate solution.
As mentioned previously, the difference between ranged classes and melee classes is too much. They are different by nature. Therefore it's meaningless to let them fight each other. And their matches just won’t be fair, no matter how you “balance” them. The “balance” between them would be an endless battle. So why not stop worrying about the meaningless “balance” between them and save everyone’s time?
Now you ask: “Then in what way can we not mix them, and what does ‘by default’ mean?” The way to prevent them from being mixed together is very simple. We just need a “filter” for them to filter out each other. And for each side, the filter is set to filter out the other side, by default. In the filter, all available classes could be listed with checkboxes before their names.
To illustrate how the filter would look like when there is no class being checked, let’s take a look at the following figure. Note that some potential future classes shown in the list are borrowed from 4th edition rulebooks in order to show how the filter would look like after we have more classes introduced in the future.
Figure 1. How the filter would look like when there is no class being checked.
By default, a ranged class’s filter may look like this:
Figure 2. How a ranged class’s filter may look like.
And by default, a melee class’s filter may look like this:
Figure 3. How a melee class’s filter may look like.
The default settings shown in figure 2 and 3 are just default. Players could still check or uncheck any class in the list freely.
The filter would work not only for instanced PvP, but also for open world PvP. In instanced PvP, players would never see any class which they aren’t checking in their filters appear in the enemy team; in open world PvP, players would never be attacked by any class which they aren’t checking in their filters.
With this filter, ranged classes and melee classes would no longer need to be forced to fight each other.
Benefits
There would be multiple benefits to introduce this filter. The biggest benefit would of course be fixing PvP by eliminating the ultimate cause of a broken PvP –– ranged class and melee classes being mixed together. Ranged classes fight ranged classes is a lot fairer. Melee classes fight melee classes is a lot fairer, too.
Aside from that, we also would have new classes introduced a lot faster. Why? Because there would be no need to waste a huge amount of time doing “class balance” anymore. Doing that kind of balance is the reason that new classes are introduced more and more slowly. The more classes we have, the more time it takes to do the balance for a new class. And that balance won’t even solve any issue ultimately. By throwing behind the balance, we would hug new classes a lot faster.
Also, because powers and abilities of classes, especially melee classes, would not need to undergo crippling altering, which are against their classes’ natures, to accommodate to PvP, classes could stick a lot more to their natures defined in D&D. So classes could finally show their true strength and true natures.
Besides, PvE would also benefit from the liberation of classes from the “class balance”. PvE would no longer be affected so heavily by PvP.
Summary
PvP’s various issues have been troubling its players for too long. In order to fix it, we need to remove the root of the problem that generated all issues.
By not forcing ranged classes and melee classes to mix together, we would not only prevent troubles from keeping happening, but also bring in many benefits and improve PvE and the entire game eventually. It’s the grand solution, for everyone.
Afterword
Mixing two categories of different-natured classes is unreasonable. Isn’t mixing them in the Leaderboard so, too? A more appropriate way to set the Leaderboard would be dividing it into sections, and each class has its own section. So a class would only compete with the same class and would not be encouraged to compete with different-natured classes pointlessly.
PvP forum could also have two new sub-forums –– one for ranged classes and another for melee classes –– so that players of the same-natured classes can focus on their similar affairs. And the current forum could remain and function as a lounge in which all players talk things which aren’t class-specific.
With these revolutions, the game would open a new era.
Post edited by ianthewizard2012 on
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Comments
you blame range Vs mele???
cowrdice ring over powered???
one guild boon is stronger then Sharandar, Dread ring and Icewind campaigns combined! and you can have many guild boons!!!
there was a discussion about CW that failed to control a TR... well i saw a one GWF wipe 8 ppl in siege PVP in less then a min.
(we couldn't even scratch him, the more we hit him the more he got healed)
players should be 2X stronger, mayebe 3X or even 4X stronger but not 150X times
Guild boon is part of the "power creep" issue magenubbie mentioned.
Ultimately I feel your proposal requires too much of a rework from the devs. I believe there are smaller steps that can take us in the right direction.