PVP Solution?

If they had insurance, I would participate in PVP. I want to use my best gear and do not want to pay ransom. I realize that insurance is a POOR solution. Got me thinking (and this is not fleshed out)...What if you could buy insurance on your gear at some fixed rate. The insurance would not go to the gold sink, but rather to a pool. That pool would be allocated to PVP activities, to include arena awards, faction awards, PVE activity ( larger loot drops). On first pass, I doubt there could be any award for PVP kills, as that is too easy to game. In my case, I would flag for PVP, insure my gear and take my chances in all zones. My reward would be gaining an added loot value in my PVE, being able to compete in PVP without disgusting ransom, and being able to use my best gear to improve my gathering effectiveness. In fact, I would join the PVP ranks in a second with a mechanic like this. Gankers would benefit, as their game would be enhanced and etc. This is just a suggestion, and like I say, it is not fleshed out. What do you all think?

Advantages, 1) more people would PVP, 2) rewards are equitable, 3) the more people you kill who have insurance, the larger the distribution pool, 4) there is a monetary reward for engaging in PVP contributed by the players and player activity itself.

 

cant you just pay the ransom?

 

Sure, but the idea here is that I would know going in what the insurance cost is and that cost would eventually be distributed to all PVP players as they play the game. I like the control this affords. I also like the fact that PVP then would support the additional loot values for all PVP flagged, drawing in more people to participate. Ganking would be less offensive because a person would know the risk gold wise going in and could make a judgement as to whether the additional PVE, gathering and organized PVP would more than make up for the losses. Low end PVP players would have a chance to participate in the additional loot and thus would be in a productive PVP environment as they hone their skills. They will not have to wait until they have all the skills to participate at the highest levels.

 

i think the ability to gear yourself with unlootable lowbie items is an advantage unto itself.

 

This is true, but is PVP centric. You want to draw in people who are mainly PVE if you want PVP to be really viable. I am just proposing something that would make PVP more appealing for the masses. The old arguments between the two groups have been going on forever and never get anywhere. This is a proposal to look at things a little differently with a goal of reducing the divide.

 

Additionally, it would be great if we could all confidently wear our favorite gear when flagged.

 

I think for most PVP, you will find that gear usually doesnt turn the tide against a skilled / experienced player. Plus you can dye a lot of the add on store gear and look cool, whereas most crafted armor isnt dyeable.

 

we had a lot of discssions about that - imho it's a dead horse until a lot of people join the game and catch up to 80+.
I am Level 70 and i wouldn´t have a chance against a serious PvP´er but i visit PvE/P Scenes nevertheless from time to time just to imvestigate.
And there isn´t that much worth it to risk it.
For me it´s just about RP, Lore and Immersion, because my character is a kind of a researcher.

I won´t unstack reagencies, i won´t wear crap, addon-store or pledge cloth, i´m a roleplayer - if i go to a Ruin or Shardfall, i have to take the risk to meet some playerkiller and pay a ransom.
The PvPérs seem to have fun while duelling and brawling at tourneys. Although i did it one time, it´s not what i really want as a roleplayer.

There are less incentives to do PvP but PvP itself. Or if you are after the 10% XP Bonus.
The whole system is... broken if you ask me.

They should find other things than looting and ransom to get people into PVP.
Factions, faction points, faction gear, titles for the PK Factoin and the Knights of Valor Faction.
Claimable PoI at Bloodbay for the Factions.

 

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with this if:

1. The amount of insurable items were limited.
2. There were high traffic PvP areas where item insurance didn't apply.
3. Chris' idea for 'recently acquired loot for pvp flagged players is at risk for a certain amount of time' was implemented.
4. POT owners could configure the looting rules in their town.

 

.. i mean...
the ransom system is basically exactly that - insurance.
You quite literally decide if you want to pay the ransom for your stuff back. And im yet to see a ransom that was even considered a *costly* amount.

The reality is that by the time your even going to make a dent in the current PVP setup.. your attunements/base resists are decently high, your skills are decently high, and your able to control the T5 mobs in each PVP zone quickly and easily. By the time your able to do this, GC is pretty much a non - issue anyways.

So i really don't think the *chance of loosing my items!* is even a good argument as to why people aren't PVPing. Ignoring the fact that people just carry 20 scrap daggers on them to bypass it, you can basically fund 10 deaths (and this is assuming you loose your best gear each death ) in about 1 hour of grinding a T5 ( which is what PVP zones are anyways ).
Really its just the PVP gameplan in SOTA is incomplete and bad.
Only thing i see attracting any new PVP'ers of any noticeable numebrs back in this game is if they dont botch the Guild Wars / Castle capturing/sieging mechanics that were promised. And they havn't exactly elaborated in any detail at all (which makes me think the mechanics behind it arn't even started)

 

the best all around pvp solution would be akin to the WoW battlegrounds. All gear is leveled to the bracket and all stats are leveled to the bracket. I know its not what everyone wants to hear but its the truth. Battlegrounds in wow are awesome. You take no gear loss or stat loss upon ending the match. You have no fear of loss so people actually join in and participate because of this. WoW still has open world pvp if you choose it. The casual can compete and have FUN in a battleground. Perhaps rewards or some kind of battleground point system can be a reward. But if you want people to have fun and feel like they have a chance at something then this is the best way IMO.

 

arena pvp in this setting is nothing for me, but if then the Riuns and Shardfalls arent PvP anymore i would support this idea.
There is nothing for my character to actively search for PvP, he´s no one who seek out for compete with other Outlanders or Avatars, he just want to explore the world.
I doubt Arena PvP will ever come, it´s not the style of LB or DS PvP,

 

this is not arena, it is battleground. What I am suggesting is largely proven to include larger pvp and pve groups to introduce people to pvp. You would still have your open world pvp and your possibly RpPvP if shroud ever gave us the tools to do this. WoW has proven that even timid pve people will try pvp if they do not experience any loss, and feel like they have a chance. On the shardfall theme. These could be the battlegrounds. Just have ques for the different levels. Let the battlegrounds have resources and be held by the victors for a certain amount of time.

 

Insurance / Ransom sorry but they are the same thing - you are paying to have your items returned? Best thing about Ransom is if for some reason all they get is Junk you can let them keep it.

 

Insurance/Ransom is the same thing but I prefer the idea of knowing how much gold I'm going to lose if I die more.

 

Insurance and ransom are not the same. With insurance at a set rate, perhaps 1200 gold would cover everything you want to insure BEFORE you flag. Get killed, you are assured to have everything intact. The person who killed you gets nothing you insured to keep. With ransom it is a crap shoot. You are forced to decide to pay ransom at some unknown amount, perhaps when you have no spare cash to do so. Yes, you could wear stuff that is worthless, but most cannot PVE, mine, gather, or even PVP in gear they are not accustomed to. Everyone does not have an unlimited pile of gold to pay ransoms after the fact, but could perhaps plan in advance their total loss and accept the risk based on that. Remember that the mindset of all those who avoid PVP is different than people who are presently participating. Without ransom or insurance, if I had to pay lets say 500 to 1000 gold every time I got killed to a global pool that funds added resources or loot value, I would be PVP all the time. As long as the return in my estimation would be greater than the resurrection cost. If that 500 to 1000 gold was simply a gold sink, then what would be the point? Paying the person who kills you is just a non-starter.

 

I agee. I think the termonology they use wrong. How can you ransom something after death as usually rasome is used to prevent death. Insurance is after death.

 

Example: you click on the insurance tab for your gloves (100), chestpiece (300), helm (100). These items are now insured. Get killed and the insurance pays out, you keep the gear. No ransom note afterwards for some arbitrary amount. In my scenario the insurance amounts are credited to the loot pool, for PVE, arena, king of mountain, and etc. If you want to use the gear again, simply re-insure and go back to PVP, PVE or whatever, and enjoy the added loot possibilities when flagged.

 

I liked the battle grounds, but this game needs to figure out which side is which (simple solution) name tag red or blue. Done now we have battle grounds with battle ground prizes (deco, superficial looking armor etc..) no one loses anything except pride, and it makes you thirst to find a good team!

 

@Stundorn

if i run in a PVP area i wear my elven armor (its my rp "Dark Elf") and it looks badass, if i lose something in battle it will be my weapons some regs etc.... so i still RP my dark elf and do PVP from time to time. I do not carry stuff with me i cannot replace, something i learned in UO when some weapons or armor cost millions of gold ( i would only wear those in non PVP persistant areas places where ganks didnt happen that often, before trammel came along (trammel = no pvp and safe side) something they added later on. When it comes to PVP pick and choose your battles wisely, i know who is an uber pvp and who is not, nothing wrong with running and saving that battle for another day!