Switch "Echo" zones to free for all zones

[Glacier Peak]

This is a suggestion, based on my opinion. I expect people to disagree or feel strongly about this suggestion, so I look forward to the discussion.

 

I love the look of these old zones and enjoyed them so much back on live just as much. It was surprised to see them tucked away in the back Ouro portal (or base porters) when I started playing on HC. Since they don't have contacts or system functions (tram to other zones, arena, AE, auction houses, etc.) they would be easy zones to switch with little time or resource investment. They could all be switched to Player versus Everything zones (including other players, like Warburg).

 

I'd say Echo: Galaxy City would be a great Level 1-15 zone. Echo: Faultline would work with Level 15-30 (imagine those huge drops off the sides of the tall cracks with a knockback!). Echo: Dark Astoria Level could be 30-49 ( imagine that awesome zone with the music and ambience!). I say cap at Level 49 to give a high level PvP zone without Incarnates.

 

PROS: 

• "New" Zones for PvP
• Gives players another reason to visit the zone besides gathering the exploration and history badges. 

 

CONS:

• ???

 

Let's hear it!

[Apparition]

On a personal level, no thank you.  I like to occasionally visit Echo: Galaxy City from time to time to just chill, as it was my starting point blue side from Issues 3 through 20, and I still miss it to this day.  That would come to an end if it became a PvP zone, as I have not entered a PvP zone in the game yet, and I never will.

[ShardWarrior]

No thank you.

[TraumaTrain]

I also no thanks. As it is, we have three PvP zones that don't get utilized much at all.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing all the Echo given co-op access though. 

[Glacier Peak]

38 minutes ago, Apparition said:

On a personal level, no thank you.  I like to occasionally visit Echo: Galaxy City from time to time to just chill, as it was my starting point blue side from Issues 3 through 20, and I still miss it to this day.  That would come to an end if it became a PvP zone, as I have not entered a PvP zone in the game yet, and I never will.

I love these zones as well. My suggestion my is aimed to promote more foot traffic in to said zones. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[Black Zot]

Oh HELL no.  Get your ganking fetish out of my chill time.

[Coyotedancer]

PvP isn't a particularly popular passtime on the Homecoming servers, so I doubt there'll be much widespread support for "adding" any more zones devoted to it. Especially not when those zones already contain things that PvE players may want to access. (Yes, there are already badges in the other, already-existing PvP zones, too... But not everyone is exactly thrilled about that as it is-) 

 

You would also kill off one of the things that keeps Atlas Park's local/broadcast chat from being over-run with "Can somebody drop me an Ouro portal?!" requests. 😝

[Apparition]

Just now, Glacier Peak said:

I love these zones as well. My suggestion my is aimed to promote more foot traffic in to said zones. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I understand and certainly appreciate that, but as of right now the people that mostly go into the zones are badgers.  Badgers and PvP generally don’t mix well.  On a personal level, it would mean that I lose access to those zones and The Atlas Medallion accolade on new characters (among a host of other badges).

[Glacier Peak]

8 minutes ago, TraumaTrain said:

I also no thanks. As it is, we have three PvP zones that don't get utilized much at all.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing all the Echo given co-op access though. 

We actually have four PvP zones, but you're right about their underutilization - though I would argue that is due to many reasons outside the scope of my suggestion. 

 

And I like your idea regarding making Echo zones co-op. Ultimately, I would support most anything which incentivized players to visit these zones more. 

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, Black Zot said:

Oh HELL no.  Get your ganking fetish out of my chill time.

Thanks for the reply. 

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

PvP isn't a particularly popular passtime on the Homecoming servers, so I doubt there'll be much widespread support for "adding" any more zones devoted to it. Especially not when those zones already contain things that PvE players may want to access. (Yes, there are already badges in the other, already-existing PvP zones, too... But not everyone is exactly thrilled about that as it is-) 

 

You would also kill off one of the things that keeps Atlas Park's local/broadcast chat from being over-run with "Can somebody drop me an Ouro portal?!" requests. 😝

While I agree that PvP isn't particularly popular in this game, the suggestion wasn't to add zones, it was to change existing and underutilized zones in to ones which supported and incentivized player visits. 

 

I believe there is a Level 11 cap for using the Ouro portal, (and Level 15 for the Ouro flashback content). That is in line with my suggestion of Echo: Galaxy City being a Level 15-30 zone. 

[Lines]

6 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

We actually have four PvP zones, but you're right about their underutilization - though I would argue that is due to many reasons outside the scope of my suggestion. 

I think those reasons would need to be resolved first before more ambient PvP is added.

[Glacier Peak]

6 minutes ago, Apparition said:

I understand and certainly appreciate that, but as of right now the people that mostly go into the zones are badgers.  Badgers and PvP generally don’t mix well.  On a personal level, it would mean that I lose access to those zones and The Atlas Medallion accolade on new characters (among a host of other badges).

I completely grasp the divide you mention between those two player bases, but I am an exception to that observation. I love badging and I love PvP. Both are really enjoyable to me in this game. I can see how my suggestion may alter how you and others play this fun game, so I would definitely support a compromise to give those dissenting players a voice and show of support.

[Coyotedancer]

It's not a matter of levels... It's a matter of not wanting to be blasted/stabbed/encased in stone/or what-the-hell-ever by some opportunistic PvPer looking for easy kills while you're just bouncing through Echo Galaxy to get to the tram station to exit to Ouro. (And yes. People do that before level 15. You can get the badge from level 1, though the portal power won't be active-)

 

You know as well as I do that it would only be a matter of time before someone started scouting ambush positions next to that tram station or the base teleport drop-point for EXACTLY that reason. 

[Glacier Peak]

2 minutes ago, Lines said:

I think those reasons would need to be resolved first before more ambient PvP is added.

I agree with this, but I made my suggestion knowing full well the shortfalls of the game mechanic. Perhaps increasing the player base interest in this game mechanic via my suggestion would lead to a higher priority of our awesome volunteer dev team and HC staff towards addressing these issues. 

 

Thanks for your reply!

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

It's not a matter of levels... It's a matter of not wanting to be blasted/stabbed/encased in stone/or what-the-hell-ever by some opportunistic PvPer looking for easy kills while you're just bouncing through Echo Galaxy to get to the tram station to exit to Ouro. (And yes. People do that before level 15. You can get the badge from level 1, though the portal power won't be active-)

 

You know as well as I do that it would only be a matter of time before someone started scouting ambush positions next to that tram station or the base teleport drop-point for EXACTLY that reason. 

I'm not arguing how players may or may not exercise gameplay mechanics, my suggestion is intended to promote an increase in foot traffic in to these zones. Your point does bring up valid concerns though about the layout of safe areas within the zone which leads me to believe it would need to be addressed for my suggestion to be successful. 

 

I had forgotten about the before Level 11 glitch to get in to Ouro after using the Echo zone base teleporter. I've used it myself for my badger when he was a lowly hero.

 

Thank you for the discussion!

[Coyotedancer]

So what this comes down to is wanting to provide PvPers with more soft targets, using things like the Echo zone badges and tram/Ouro access as bait...

 

There's more than enough of that in the existing PvP zones.

/jranger

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[Lines]

13 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

I agree with this, but I made my suggestion knowing full well the shortfalls of the game mechanic. Perhaps increasing the player base interest in this game mechanic via my suggestion would lead to a higher priority of our awesome volunteer dev team and HC staff towards addressing these issues. 

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

I'd say you're putting the cart before the horse a bit. The devs don't need to add more of a broken system in order to prioritise fixing it. I'm not against the idea in principle, but it would need PvP to be fun for everyone first, else the echo zones would get emptier before they get fuller. How on earth we get from where we are to there, I don't know.

[Glacier Peak]

1 minute ago, Coyotedancer said:

So what this comes down to is wanting to provide PvPers with more soft targets, using things the Echo zone badges and tram/Ouro access as bait...

 

There's more than enough of that in the existing PvP zones.

/jranger

 

 

My suggestion is intended to provide another reason to visit these underutilized zones. I visit them for badging and chill time, as others have mentioned in this thread. By adding another game mechanic to these zones, it could promote more unique visits by players.

 

Thank you for your post. 

[Doomguide2005]

Your suggestion I think doesn't account for the fact PvP is not only disliked by a significant portion of the player base, but a major reason for many to actively avoid those zones.  Basically your suggestion might lead to the exact opposite a decrease in traffic.

[Glacier Peak]

2 minutes ago, Lines said:

 

I'd say you're putting the cart before the horse a bit. The devs don't need to add more of a broken system in order to prioritise fixing it. I'm not against the idea in principle, but it would need PvP to be fun for everyone first, else the echo zones would get emptier before they get fuller. How on earth we get from where we are to there, I don't know.

Indeed. A difficult, but not insurmountable problem. I would agree that it is premature to put one before the other, but I can hope doing so would lead to change. 

 

Thanks

[Coyotedancer]

1 minute ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Your suggestion I think doesn't account for the fact PvP is not only disliked by a significant portion of the player base, but a major reason for many to actively avoid those zones.  Basically your suggestion might lead to the exact opposite a decrease in traffic.

The OP may think that the way to make PvP more popular in this game is to make it harder to avoid... "Hey, if people *HAVE* to go into PvP zones for Thing X then surely they'll come to love and embrace being stabbed by other players!"

 

I'm not sure that's ever worked, but hope seems to spring eternal. XD

[Glacier Peak]

2 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Your suggestion I think doesn't account for the fact PvP is not only disliked by a significant portion of the player base, but a major reason for many to actively avoid those zones.  Basically your suggestion might lead to the exact opposite a decrease in traffic.

This is a valid observation. As I mentioned in my OP, these zones do not serve any game play function besides players like myself badging there or going to chill. And I agree, I can't prove my suggestion wouldn't end up doing the opposite of what I intended. My hope is it doesn't though!

 

Thank you 

[Glacier Peak]

3 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

The OP may think that the way to make PvP more popular in this game is to make it harder to avoid... "Hey, if people *HAVE* to go into PvP zones for Thing X then surely they'll come to love and embrace being stabbed by other players!"

 

I'm not sure that's ever worked, but hope seems to spring eternal. XD

I'm not suggesting making PvP more popular or unpopular, though that may be a byproduct of my suggestion. My suggestion is intended to provide another reason to visit these underutilized zones. 

[Black Zot]

Just now, Glacier Peak said:

This is a valid observation. As I mentioned in my OP, these zones do not serve any game play function besides players like myself badging there or going to chill. And I agree, I can't prove my suggestion wouldn't end up doing the opposite of what I intended. My hope is it doesn't though!

 

Thank you 

 

The evidence is already there, in this or any other game you care to look at, that adding open PvP to a zone does not and cannot increase traffic in said zone.  Your hope is an illusion at best.