I was bored so I wanted to make a few comments on my suggestion for some more in depth pvp in STO.
First and foremost it will need its own new sector so that from the start entering the area is a deliberate decision so that those that dont like pvp dont have to be bothered by it. Overall this sector will be an area control pvp battle.
Each system inside the block should be a different pvp area that can be fought over, with the winner/loser being decided over a longer game than we currently see. The target time should be about 2 hours. However it should be designed so that people can enter and exit whenever not in combat, and use the new system where you get rewarded for time a pvp battle carries on to reward players that may only be there part of the time. These battles could be a mix of arena style and control maps, maybe with a very small amount of ground battles as well.
Once a system is won it should lock down for a period of time, 4-6 hours or so and control given to the winning side. Each system owned could give a small bonus to damage or hit points to anyone in the sector. Additional bonus could be given to whoever has more systems in each sector block. Whoever controls 2 our of 3 sector blocks (or more systems) should then have their empire given a bonus that either effects the whole empire, or at least some neighboring zones. Something small but noticeable like 5% damage increase. Maybe it could also goto pvp, maybe not.
The whole sector should also be open pvp. So if you are on your way to join a battle for an open system you can be ambushed by other players along the way. In this sector you cant Q for battles from hails, you need to be close enough to enter the currently contested systems.
In an STO with a vastly different crafting system, this area could also interact with that. Assigning uncommon/rare/epic materials to different systems. People that fight and win in each system could as part of the reward get a chance to receive some of the crafting materials they need for rare items. This could work with a redone memory Alpha area also I suppose, giving some sort of those items. But I think would be cooler with a different kind of crafting (but lets leave that for another thread)
Well that is at least part of my vision of how a pvp zone could work for STO. More details would need to be worked out such as is this a high end only zone, or have different battles for lowbies and many other details. But I personally think a pvp dedicated zone such as this where players can feel they are participating in the war(s) that are all around us would add a lot to the game.
So it sounds like you're talking about "open PvP" within a designated area, with temporary "persistence".
Hmmm... sounds like how PvP should have been implemented in the first place. I fully support this. After all, LOTRO has one of the most ridiculed PvP setups known as "monster play". Even they have this. STO has something far below this level of interaction and interest.
So many, many things that Cryptic needs to do to STO to "save" it. :mad: This is a very good suggestion for PvP that I've seen mentioned, but only in bits and pieces before (unless I missed a thread about it in the past?).
The persistence and ability for players to affect the world around them is in my opinion one of the most important aspects of an MMO and adds to the immersion factor a great deal. And a robust pvp area can add alot of end game potential for a significant portion of the community. It has always been my opinion that developing time for a quality pvp system adds a lot in terms of community hours played. People are usually more willing to redo pvp than a regular mission because the competitive human element adds re-playability that a static encounter cannot. (which is in no way saying pvp should take priority over any PVE content, just that the time invested is worth it in my opinion)
The persistence and ability for players to affect the world around them is in my opinion one of the most important aspects of an MMO and adds to the immersion factor a great deal.
Indeed. And we currently have none of that. STO feels far more like a single-player game, like the instance-limited DDO, than it does a real MMO. A real MMO would give players some sense of impact in a persistent world. Even with the current trend of zero persistence, crafting is supposed to fill in the gap to give players a sense of impact on the game.
But nope, we don't even have a worthwhile crafting system. So why am I still here? My impact is on my fleet, and all of our members of whom I'm very proud and honored to know. And the beauty of a "guild", our fleet, is that we can pick up our home and move it to another MMO. I don't have any intentions of doing that right now, but I'll tell you what... if STO doesn't improve after a year from launch, they're going to self-implode any ways with the 10% subscriber base (compared to launch) almost completely drop off to the point of only lifetime folk like me and many of our fleet members left around. And by that time, we'd probably be more active in another MMO.
But that's only if Cryptic doesn't do some serious changing to STO in the long run. And we're raising heck about it right now, so I hope the decision makers at Cryptic are listening and plan to do something to change the direction of STO in the near future. They claim to "listen", but that means jack squat if nothing changes.
They've beat me down into an enthusiast who can barely make a single post without ranting all throughout it.
I agree with all except the 2 hour thing. The pvp zone needs to be 24/7 live with planets, star bases, and key recources being fought over and then held by actual fleets by acruing and spending fleet merrit to supply npc defense forces and fortifications. Stats need to be tracked as well.
I agree with all except the 2 hour thing. The pvp zone needs to be 24/7 live with planets, star bases, and key recources being fought over and then held by actual fleets by acruing and spending fleet merrit to supply npc defense forces and fortifications. Stats need to be tracked as well.
The intention is that each solar system is open until the battle is won and then closes to allow the benefits to be held for a small time. But with multiple solar systems in each sector there would always be several open battlegrounds. The idea is for an empire to be able to hold a gain for a period long enough to give the victor th sense he affected the world.
The intention is that each solar system is open until the battle is won and then closes to allow the benefits to be held for a small time. But with multiple solar systems in each sector there would always be several open battlegrounds. The idea is for an empire to be able to hold a gain for a period long enough to give the victor th sense he affected the world.
there's always a wash time after ground is taken and the enemy is wiped. This time needs to be used to fortify the position for counterattack. If the battle is won and you just sit there complacently you're not really training good wartime habits. In other words, I believe that the ground being fought over should be subject to hostile action at any time to teach people to be on their toes and to quickly get defenses online and be prepared to hold the ground until the enemy is broken. This would keep any faction from being able to island hop and take the whole sector in an hour.. because they'd have to make sure they could keep ground held.
I think there needs be a lockdown for a time on each system in order to focus the pvp into the open areas. I dont want it looking like Planetside back in the day when the population was low and the 'game' turned into just having to chase people around to empty bases and very little combat actually took place as a result.
nice idea and yes there should be some kind of lockdown time.
Advantage of it would be that booth sides could get a decent force together to either defend or attack the position, else we would see lots of sneak attacks from small groups or solo players in tiimes where noone is on to defend it.
Different Systems could be open for pvp at different times to get all the timezones in or all the times could rotate daily (like SWG's base vulnerable timers if anyone remembers those)
A system Message stating "following system is now open bla bla..." (or a message in a special pvp chat) would also help to get more random players involved into the fight.
Another idea is to allow players the option to turn a pvp 'flag' on, meaning they are in a consensual pvp mode in which if 2 members of opposite factions meet that are both flagged it would turn into essentially a deep space encounter and open a pvp battle instance. Then an announcement could get made in the sector to other players that a battle has started and allow others to join. Maybe it can just be straight open pvp, or maybe some sort of rewards can get given similar to the current pvp battles depending on the size and scope of the eventual battle.
Here's what happens when there's a lockdown time.. experience from DAoC here.. Leet Pvp teams don't stay to defend because it's locked down.. they bum rush all control points to gain the whole sector as fast as they can and then they go back to fortify while it's still locked down... If they're not locked down.. we can counter that by retaking points right behind them to keep them from holding influence... and eventually both forces are forced to stand off...
I agree with wanting open PvP but disagree with closing instances or lock down. I would rather see, once one faction gains control ( after a min. or 2) their defense and NPC's are add in place of the old. you can stay in the Instance or move on to the next instance. I believe the sector need a lot of instances(like Planet systems with multiple planet in one system, space stations, mining sights, space docks,nebula's, and supply lines). you should have a chance to retake a system or instance. it would be nice to take weeks or months to take the whole sector. i personally do not like the ganking in sector space it is not needed. Because you can take care of it in the instances. But the flag idea is a compromise for the players that want it.
Reward, i say no reward. you do not need a reward to do every thing. it should be fun. but it you need a reward how about a service reward system. like medals you wear. Hero stat for a battle(list in a the sector Map or a crawlers at a space station) award that hang on you wall of you ship. things like that.
Fun alone is not enough to keep people at it... in any pvp system what keeps people coming back for more is a sense of accomplishment.. there has to be stat tracking and pvp rewards. I like the medal idea. That's spot on. But there has to be a title system and fleet prestige... competition is what drives a lasting system... if people don't like that they need to grow up and realize the world and human nature don't conform to their ideals but those of the masses.. and if they want their game to last.. it must retain a wide player base and capture a constant flow of activity...
all I am saying is if they use a reward system for open PvP that is something new. I do not need more weapons or equipment. i would rather be recognized for my time in open PvP.
Why not set it up so that there are planets to conquer/Defend/Rescue. Maybe even if you actually Capture a ship yard it will spawn NPC allies that will fight with you. If you rescue/conquer a specific Planet, you get a healing buff for all federation or klingon forces. Also, once everything has been decided, maybe after a timer say.. 30 minutes, who ever has rescued/conquered the most objectives the sector will unlock a special STF for only the faction that unlocked it. (Yes, I'm aware this is similar to Wintergrasp from WoW, but if it ain't broke why fix it? :P) You could even make it so that the only way to conquer/rescue planets is to make it a 2 part open PvP area where you have to actually beam down to the planet to conquer/rescue the planet.
That's my thoughts on this subject.
(Btw, Ker'rat is Open PVP..lame/buggy as it is :rolleyes:..)
I like the captured shipyard = pvp defenders for the zone. Things like that would help me lean towards it being open all teh time instead of locked down
what i am suggesting is all instance have NPC allies and defenses. it is what you defeat to control instances. once your faction gains control your allies and defense spawn. You can enter these maps to defend them or to try to take control of them. Either way there should be resistance from the other faction or NPC defenses. That way the instance can stay open. closed instance is like doing matches now. By having all instances open then it is more like a war zone. playing a zone for a longer period of time. content that changes the zone by players actions.
sense this is going to take a while to develop. i would like to see them create one instance map that we can play with( for control a territory with planets or bases; that will later be add to the larger sector map) to give our feedback on their ideas. And maybe then they can add a sector that slowly can be field with instances. i would rather we voice our opinions on a instance map( if we did not like it ) Then to say we did not like the whole sector control system after waiting a much longer time.
what i am suggesting is all instance have NPC allies and defenses. it is what you defeat to control instances. once your faction gains control your allies and defense spawn. You can enter these maps to defend them or to try to take control of them.
That is a time-tested and well implemented style for some faction-play MMOs. I certainly support that as it gets rid of the number-of-people-per-side issues.
Comments
Hmmm... sounds like how PvP should have been implemented in the first place.
So many, many things that Cryptic needs to do to STO to "save" it. :mad: This is a very good suggestion for PvP that I've seen mentioned, but only in bits and pieces before (unless I missed a thread about it in the past?).
Indeed. And we currently have none of that. STO feels far more like a single-player game, like the instance-limited DDO, than it does a real MMO. A real MMO would give players some sense of impact in a persistent world. Even with the current trend of zero persistence, crafting is supposed to fill in the gap to give players a sense of impact on the game.
But nope, we don't even have a worthwhile crafting system. So why am I still here? My impact is on my fleet, and all of our members of whom I'm very proud and honored to know. And the beauty of a "guild", our fleet, is that we can pick up our home and move it to another MMO. I don't have any intentions of doing that right now, but I'll tell you what... if STO doesn't improve after a year from launch, they're going to self-implode any ways with the 10% subscriber base (compared to launch) almost completely drop off to the point of only lifetime folk like me and many of our fleet members left around. And by that time, we'd probably be more active in another MMO.
But that's only if Cryptic doesn't do some serious changing to STO in the long run. And we're raising heck about it right now, so I hope the decision makers at Cryptic are listening and plan to do something to change the direction of STO in the near future. They claim to "listen", but that means jack squat if nothing changes.
They've beat me down into an enthusiast who can barely make a single post without ranting all throughout it.
The intention is that each solar system is open until the battle is won and then closes to allow the benefits to be held for a small time. But with multiple solar systems in each sector there would always be several open battlegrounds. The idea is for an empire to be able to hold a gain for a period long enough to give the victor th sense he affected the world.
there's always a wash time after ground is taken and the enemy is wiped. This time needs to be used to fortify the position for counterattack. If the battle is won and you just sit there complacently you're not really training good wartime habits. In other words, I believe that the ground being fought over should be subject to hostile action at any time to teach people to be on their toes and to quickly get defenses online and be prepared to hold the ground until the enemy is broken. This would keep any faction from being able to island hop and take the whole sector in an hour.. because they'd have to make sure they could keep ground held.
Advantage of it would be that booth sides could get a decent force together to either defend or attack the position, else we would see lots of sneak attacks from small groups or solo players in tiimes where noone is on to defend it.
Different Systems could be open for pvp at different times to get all the timezones in or all the times could rotate daily (like SWG's base vulnerable timers if anyone remembers those)
A system Message stating "following system is now open bla bla..." (or a message in a special pvp chat) would also help to get more random players involved into the fight.
Reward, i say no reward. you do not need a reward to do every thing. it should be fun. but it you need a reward how about a service reward system. like medals you wear. Hero stat for a battle(list in a the sector Map or a crawlers at a space station) award that hang on you wall of you ship. things like that.
But I get what you are saying.
That's my thoughts on this subject.
(Btw, Ker'rat is Open PVP..lame/buggy as it is :rolleyes:..)
sense this is going to take a while to develop. i would like to see them create one instance map that we can play with( for control a territory with planets or bases; that will later be add to the larger sector map) to give our feedback on their ideas. And maybe then they can add a sector that slowly can be field with instances. i would rather we voice our opinions on a instance map( if we did not like it ) Then to say we did not like the whole sector control system after waiting a much longer time.
That is a time-tested and well implemented style for some faction-play MMOs. I certainly support that as it gets rid of the number-of-people-per-side issues.