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Icewind Dale (IWD) PVP Faction Balance
nedruod
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 31
So, anyone who does Icewind Dale PVP may have noticed that Arcane Brotherhood wins almost all the time. It may seem somewhat mysterious as to why this is, but I have a simple explanation and a relatively simple fix.
The basic reason AB wins all the time is because Ten Towns has a more "good" storyline. The way that contracts are balanced out is based upon raw numbers of players holding contracts. But we know, some players PvP, and others don't, as well even among those that do, some do it a lot, and some very little.
Which type of player does it a lot? Typically, it's one who cares very little about the game story and will take every advantage he can find. That's useful to know, but the real cause here, is that the converse, the player who cares a great deal about the story, has a notably higher chance of not being interested in PvP, or only mildly interested.
So, if you take 100 of the story focused players, as any DM will tell you, the balance between "good" and "evil" will fall more on the "good" side. Take those same 100 and ask them to choose AB or TT and more will choose TT. In PvP terms, this adds dead weight to the TT side. Not trying to denigrate story players, just trying to explain the effect on PvP. It's a perfectly valid way to enjoy the game, and one I enjoy to a degree though not as extensively as others.
So, there's 200 players on, and 100 on each team, yet 80 of the TT team are story focused, and so maybe 40 don't PvP at all, yet for AB 40 at story focused so 20 don't PvP at all, then you've got 80 AB PvP participants, and 60 TT.
This starts the problem out, but what tips it over from imbalanced to broke is that the PvP power gaming players see this imbalance and decide to be on the winning team. If they have to wait for a contract, so be it, they'll wait. So now the balance in numbers have tilted a bit more, but more importantly, the balance in power (as expressed in GS, commitment to the match, and experience) has shifted a great deal.
The final nail in the coffin is eventually TT committed players, who do TT every day for story reasons, but were still PvPers of some sort, just quit doing IWD PvP, or maybe drop in the match to get minimal credit and then leave right after getting stomped by 10 AB players.
So, after this long explanation of the problem, here's the solution. On every account, track the number of IWD PVP events wins in for the last 7 days (other numbers might work.. like number of kills.. or number of events). When deciding whether AB or TT contracts are available, sum this counter for all players with an active contracts for each side. Compare that and if one side is 10% higher than the other, stuff off the higher side like you already do with the simple number check.
The basic reason AB wins all the time is because Ten Towns has a more "good" storyline. The way that contracts are balanced out is based upon raw numbers of players holding contracts. But we know, some players PvP, and others don't, as well even among those that do, some do it a lot, and some very little.
Which type of player does it a lot? Typically, it's one who cares very little about the game story and will take every advantage he can find. That's useful to know, but the real cause here, is that the converse, the player who cares a great deal about the story, has a notably higher chance of not being interested in PvP, or only mildly interested.
So, if you take 100 of the story focused players, as any DM will tell you, the balance between "good" and "evil" will fall more on the "good" side. Take those same 100 and ask them to choose AB or TT and more will choose TT. In PvP terms, this adds dead weight to the TT side. Not trying to denigrate story players, just trying to explain the effect on PvP. It's a perfectly valid way to enjoy the game, and one I enjoy to a degree though not as extensively as others.
So, there's 200 players on, and 100 on each team, yet 80 of the TT team are story focused, and so maybe 40 don't PvP at all, yet for AB 40 at story focused so 20 don't PvP at all, then you've got 80 AB PvP participants, and 60 TT.
This starts the problem out, but what tips it over from imbalanced to broke is that the PvP power gaming players see this imbalance and decide to be on the winning team. If they have to wait for a contract, so be it, they'll wait. So now the balance in numbers have tilted a bit more, but more importantly, the balance in power (as expressed in GS, commitment to the match, and experience) has shifted a great deal.
The final nail in the coffin is eventually TT committed players, who do TT every day for story reasons, but were still PvPers of some sort, just quit doing IWD PvP, or maybe drop in the match to get minimal credit and then leave right after getting stomped by 10 AB players.
So, after this long explanation of the problem, here's the solution. On every account, track the number of IWD PVP events wins in for the last 7 days (other numbers might work.. like number of kills.. or number of events). When deciding whether AB or TT contracts are available, sum this counter for all players with an active contracts for each side. Compare that and if one side is 10% higher than the other, stuff off the higher side like you already do with the simple number check.
Post edited by nedruod on
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Comments
Wait? You found a working domination? Kudos for that to start with.
The rest of it was long, so I skipped most of it after the first paragraph.
BTW your overly long explanation inst really the answer, the answer is much more simple.
Arcane Brotherhood = cool name.
Ten Towners = man that sounds like a old western, Ill go with the other one.
9 out of 10 people didn't read , care of bother with the dialogue.
From the start it has been pretty constant when I am online the big PVP guilds usually pick AB side. Most of the Casual PVP people dont want to neccesarily fight those guys all the time so they change to AB and now there is a huge imbalance on the numbers.
The obvious solution is significant bonuses to the underrepresented side, in direct proportion to how lopsided things are. If it were theoreticially possible to get a higher reward by being spanked on the underrepresented side, the imbalance would self-correct almost immediately.
Guys, you don't REALLY believe that is what is happening do you?
I think a simpler explanation is that the Ten Towner quest lighting the path blah blah blah is fugging annoying. Run ALL the way to other side of map... and get interrupted every few seconds while trying to light the stupid things. I did it on preview way back when, and decided to not do it again, and have been AB ever since.
The NON "PVP Power Gaming Players" just don't care, because they aren't in the arena at all, they're fighting Remo or Beholder.
Agreed - I haven't seen a working BI Dom or Mother Lode event since the first patch after Mod 3 came out.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Probably true in theory, but in practice you DO need to be on the winning side, else you're just getting curb-stomped by an AB mob.
Incentives matter. Provide incentive to be on the side that's underrepresented in pvp and the problem will fix itsself. Your proposed fix is just going to annoy players who want to play with their friends but get locked out.
This is true, the best way to get the high rewards is to be the first ones in BID, capture all 3 points and try to get at least 2 kills then either win or lose your chances of staying top or high on leaderbords is much better.
And im 100% sure that even if you lose but your high on leaderboards you still get the max reward.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Can't tell from a PVP stadpoint tbh, I get little competition on both sides usually. Area is mostly dead and on working BIDs, I lfg so many supporters that we can zerg down everything.
So my suggestion merely uses better data with the pre-existing rules to better achieve the intended result, balance.