Not sure if this has been asked: PvP on/off switch

[AlabasterKnight]

I'd sure love to go into the zone and turn off PvP, but still be able to PvE and collect badges and tool around to explore.

And since no PvP, no autoexemplar that overrides the team level. At that point mobs would gray out and no XP would be available anyway, right?

(And opposing factions would appear yellow and unattackable?)

That's it.

The option to disable PvP.

No big splash.

Apologies if this has been suggested before.

 

Thanks.

Edited March 17, 2022 by AlabasterKnight

[arcane]

Hell no

[Luminara]

30 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

I'd sure love to go into the zone and turn off PvP, but still be able to PvE and collect badges and tool around to explore.

And since no PvP, no autoexemplar that overrides the team level. At that point mobs would gray out and no XP would be available anyway, right?

 

Exploration badges are only one facet of PvP zones.  The mini-games which grant badges or extra powers, the 25% increase in XP for running PvE missions in the zone, the bonuses granted to your "side" when you complete those PvE missions, the purchasable powers, the critters which count for specific badges, all of these and more are encompassed within the basic concept of PvP zone.  If a PvP flag were added, permitting what you outline, players could waltz into Warburg and picking up nukes with absolutely no effort or risk, to make one example.  That's not balanced.  All of that additional content would have to be removed, disabled or otherwise made unavailable to players with the PvP flag set to "Off".  All of the badge-related critters, all of the mini-games, all of the PvE missions, essentially everything in PvP zones.  XP from open world critters is meaningless in comparison to the other things you can obtain in/from PvP zones.

 

Can that be done?  Yes, with the phasing code, the HC team could set your PvP Off flag and remove access to everything except the exploration badges.  But it's not likely to happen.  The HC team strives to maintain the core design philosophies and intentions of the previous development teams, and that includes expecting players to "risk" PvP if they want their exploration badges, to accept being exemplared to the zone's level and fighting PvE critters if they want their Shivan Shards and Warburg nukes, to put themselves to the hazard if they want Heavies and turrets in RV, etc.

 

If you want your exploration badges, you have to acquire them within the existing balance framework, just like you do for everything else in those zones.  With the population as low as it is (compared to the original servers), you're unlikely to encounter people very often.  And, per my personal experience, most players will leave you alone if you ask them nicely.  Some will even help you, despite being on "the other side".  Asking the HC team to go to the trouble of emptying the zone for you is unnecessary.

[Rudra]

The best you're going to get, as far as not having the PvP'ers out to murder you in the forums, is the recommendation to transfer to a server with little to no PvP presence, get your PvP zone tasks done, and then transfer back to your preferred server. Yeah, this discussion has been had before. In various forms. On multiple occasions.

[PeregrineFalcon]

I don't like it.

[AlabasterKnight]

What is the big deal about players wanting to turn off PVP???
Really?

Is everyone here being contrary, or being affected by it?

EDIT:
Seriously, you don't have to like it or even think about it if it's not your style, but all the 'reasons' above simply mean if you get to turn it off, you don't participate in that content.

Keep this simple. 

 

And "Arcane", if you have nothing to add...

Edited March 17, 2022 by AlabasterKnight

[Greycat]

42 minutes ago, Rudra said:

is the recommendation to transfer to a server with little to no PvP presence,

 

... wouldn't that be most of them?

 

Also, no. As silly as asking to have a "rikti off" switch for mosthership raids. It's the point of the zone. If you don't want to face the exceptionally miniscule risk of PVP, don't go in there.

[Rudra]

Yeah, I think it is. I think only one server has any real PvP presence. Could have sworn that was mentioned during my last being burned at the stake over PvP comments. 😏

[PeregrineFalcon]

31 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

What is the big deal about players wanting to turn off PVP???

Don't want to PvP? Ok. Don't go into the PvP zones.

 

If you want Shivans or Nukes or the PvP zone exploration badges then you have to take the risk of getting PvP'd. Don't want to get PvP'd? Don't go into the PvP zones.

 

32 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

And "Arcane", if you have nothing to add...

I don't understand this statement. If he has nothing to add then what? What are you going to do about it?

[Luminara]

31 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

Is everyone here being contrary

 

OP: "Gimme reward merits, nukes, Shivans, bonus XP, defeat badges, PvP badges and in-zone buffs for free!"
Everyone: "No."
OP: "ZOMG, I'm not asking for free shit, I'm just asking for free shit, why is everyone being contrary???"

 

Yeah...

 

38 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

if you get to turn it off, you don't participate in that content.

 

The PvP zones themselves are content.  The exploration badges in those zones are content.  The map geometry, the pretty trees and flowers, the hills and buildings, are content.  Your PvP Off flag already exists.  You turn it off by not going to the zones with that content, and you don't get that content if you turn it off, as you just noted.

 

43 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

Keep this simple.

 

If you want content which is available in PvP zones, go to PvP zones to access that content.  If you don't want to go to PvP zones, you don't get the content within them.  That's simple.  You're the one complicating it.

[TheZag]

One of my friends wont go into the pvp zones because he doesnt like pvp.  There is no requirement to go into a pvp zone but the solution is right there,  if you dont want the possibility for pvp then dont go.

 

I did run into a person once in recluses victory.  He waited till i was fighting the turrets and killed me.  He seemed to be only interested in fights he could win when i came back so i just left instead.

[aethereal]

If you're concerned with getting exploration badges specifically, it might be helpful to take a second build and get the Concealment pool to minimize the chances that anyone will see you while you're running around.  (Obviously, stealth is not perfect in PvP, but it's pretty helpful if you aren't even intending to attack.)

[Rudra]

21 minutes ago, aethereal said:

If you're concerned with getting exploration badges specifically, it might be helpful to take a second build and get the Concealment pool to minimize the chances that anyone will see you while you're running around.  (Obviously, stealth is not perfect in PvP, but it's pretty helpful if you aren't even intending to attack.)

Yeah... I gotta grant this... using Stealth (since Invisibility doesn't exist as a stand-alone power any more) + the stealth proc in your primary travel gives you a pretty good chance of avoiding PvP'ers. As long as you aren't doing any fighting. So that is an option for grabbing explores. Doesn't really help for grabbing zone available powers like Shivans, but it does for explores. Just have to be mindful of your surroundings and actively avoid other players.

 

Edit: And by 'grant this', I don't mean 'grant permission'. I mean 'granted, that argument makes a lot of sense'. Just to be clear.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Rudra

[aethereal]

Also, it turns out that if you do get massively unlucky and a PvPer does notice you and kill you -- and I've ventured into PvP zones before, and let me tell you it's much harder to find a PvPer to kill you than the reverse -- it turns out you don't scream, "I'M MELTING, I'M MELTING" and turn into a puddle of gross fluids on the floor near your computer.  You just, like...  go do something else for ten minutes and then try again.

[Rudra]

Mmm... this one? Not so much. I tend to do a fair bit of screaming when a PvP'er ganks me causing my neighbors to run over and bang on my door asking if I'm melting into a puddle of gross fluids....  😁

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Yeah... I gotta grant this... using Stealth (since Invisibility doesn't exist as a stand-alone power any more) + the stealth proc in your primary travel gives you a pretty good chance of avoiding PvP'ers.

Go to an empowerment station in a base and craft a two-hour Grant Invisibility temp power, then go off to the PvP zone and grab your exploration badges. No need to fool around with a second build. And they're cheap -- the low-tier Grant Invisibility requires an Ancient Amulet, a Simple Chemical, and a Heavy Water.

[MTeague]

I mean, I sort of get it.  I was deathly allergic to all things PvP after some experience with Diablo 2 Hardcore back in the late 90's.

 

In Diablo 2, a Hardcore character is a permadeath character. They die once, for any reason, including internet lag, pffft that's it, Dead is Dead, they stay dead. Also in Diablo 2, other players in the game could simply go hostile on you, for any reason, with very little warning. They had to be "in town" to do it, but they could have a town portal open, or catch you near a waypoint and be on you before you realized it.  And then that lvl 67 paladin, who you'd been working very diligently on for most of year, was just ganked and dead, because random internet stranger wanted to get their jollies griefing you. And they'd typically dance about your corpse for a bit after, talking trash and mocking you. 

 

You learned very fast to password protect your games if you played permadeath characters, and only join games with trusted friends. 

And anytime anyone new was invited in you were extremely careful around them for a LONG time. 

This did not endear me to PvP, lets just say. I was basically allergic to it for well over a decade.

 

But CoH PvP is pretty much as tame as it gets. 

You never die for real. You don't lose gold or loot. You don't lose XP. There's essentially zero consequences except a free teleport to the hospital.

 

It's still frustrating to be pvp-targetted when you're not interested, of course.  But well, it's happened to me a grand total of TWICE, ever, since June of 2019.  And let's be fair, I knew I was going into a PvP zone. I was only interested in getting a Shivan, or some explore badges, but it's not like I wasn't warned or was unaware that I was willfully entering potentially hostile territory. 

 

I just don't see this as something that is such a common problem that code changes are warranted.

I would bet the problem is over 98% fear of being ganked, vs actually BEING ganked.

 

[GM Impervium]

This suggestion has popped up every now and again since the Live days. Ultimately, it's never acted upon, as the zones exist primarily for PvP. If you want the goodies the zone offers, you have to take the risk that you're going to be defeated. And, I get it: sometimes the anxiety of it POSSIBLY happening is worse than when it actually occurs, making the jaunts through these zones emotionally taxing and very unenjoyable (even when nothing bad happens).

That said, it's normally a very SMALL risk. With the exception of Recluse's Victory, there's almost never anyone to worry about in any of the PvP zones. I can't count the number of times I've gotten nukes and shivans without seeing another player in the zone. The number of times I ran into someone I've had to worry about could probably be counted on one hand. So, trust me, I'm sure you'll be okay going off to find badges and such.

[AlabasterKnight]

@GM Impervium, with all due respect, the request to turn off PvP isn't unreasonable for anyone. If there are goodies, who cares in a game that now has a P2W vendor? Ripe with Farms and farm builds? AH economy driven by farms <sic>? Billions of influence piling up putting some sets in IO way out of reach to the casual player? 

Maybe, just maybe, some people want to simply disable it and have a look around and have uninterrupted play, to which you're all saying, "no risk no reward". In a game that has such a miniscule PvP following to begin with, you're actually catering to present a possible target to those people that GET OFF on that style against other players in zones you already declare a 'minimal' risk.

If those people want to PvP, they can leave it ON and *they* know the risk - if they can find someone like minded to duel with, bravo!

The rest of us just don't have to worry about the thornpricks that do.

I have zero anxiety about PVP. I'll smoke the next guy like a pack of lucky strike and use their skull as an ashtray. Yet my wife detests it. We play together.

That said, I have friends who do avoid those specifically - nuff said. 

Like I said, if this doesn't affect the reader of this suggestion or change their choice to PVP, move along, nothing to see. Otherwise, why not stick a fork in the dead PvP intentions and give people an option to play a game that was not intended to have it in the first place?

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by AlabasterKnight

[AlabasterKnight]

5 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

 

Nevermind, enjoy your thrones.

Edited March 18, 2022 by AlabasterKnight

[Rudra]

You're beating your head against a reinforced concrete wall here, @AlabasterKnight. As someone who hates going into PvP zones and has learned to detest PvP players in general*, I feel for your wife and friends. Your proposition just isn't going to happen though.

 

24 minutes ago, AlabasterKnight said:

Otherwise, why not stick a fork in the dead PvP intentions and give people an option to play a game that was not intended to have it in the first place?

The devs declared early on that they had plans to incorporate PvP into the game. So you can't really claim that.

 

*- Disclaimer: 90+% of the PvP'ers I met were childish pricks and trolls. I met a few before shut down that started to change my opinion of PvP'ers, but for the most part, I hold decent people as PvP'ers to be the exception, not the rule. So I was honestly dismayed when not only were the PvP zones launched, but that badges were thrown in there as well.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Rudra
Edited to remove unnecessary wording.

[Ghost]

6 hours ago, Rudra said:

The best you're going to get, as far as not having the PvP'ers out to murder you in the forums

Let’s be honest - that’s like 5 people

[Rudra]

If'n I'm being murdered, it don't matter none to me if it be from 1 person or the entire Galactic Imperial Navy! 😆

[Cancrusher]

There's no actual cost to being defeated in PvP, is there?  I mean, outside of the debt accrual penalty, which is ultimately meaningless since you can recoup all of that in about 5 minutes on a +4 mission team.

 

On the other hand, I've never PvP'ed, so maybe there are additional death penalties that I'm not aware of?  🤔

[Rudra]

The last time I bothered with PvP'ers, being defeated by a player resulted in scaled debt. You accrued debt for damage you took from NPCs, but not from players. This was back on Live though. The largest gripe from PvE'ers in PvP zones is a holdover from Live where the PvP population was larger and you had to time going into the zones for badges during periods when the PvP population was at its lowest, or you would never get anywhere near the explore badges and lore plagues.