Add a fun RP/PvP Zone Event!

[PeregrineFalcon]

I've been doing a lot of thinking and I've finally come up with a brilliant idea that will spice the game up for everyone, and get a lot of players to come back to the game.

 

An RP/PvP zone event!

 

Here's how it would work. In a random zone, players would hear the warning siren, like they do when a Rikti invasion is about to start. About a minute later everyone still in the zone would get a big message "PvP has been ENABLED!" This would give players plenty of time to opt out by leaving the zone.

 

As an incentive to participate, they'll be a certain spot in the zone -like one of those banner events- with a bunch of Nemesis soldiers guarding a device. If the device is found and destroyed before the event ends then everyone gets a badge and a Super Pack as a reward.

 

The wording of the badge should explain that Nemesis was testing his prototype mass mind control device, which is why the heroes started fighting each other. So the event will not only be fun and rewarding, but also fit in with the lore and be great for role playing.

 

Ok, I know that some of you really don't like PvP, so to avoid that event you'd just have to stay out of that zone for 15 or 20 minutes.

[Alchemystic]

[Rudra]

If your idea had been a way to convince RP'ers and general PvE'ers to go into a PvP zone, other than the incentives the Live devs put in that only badgers go for and only long enough to get, I would have been interested and possibly even inclined to agree.

 

Instead your idea is to bring PvP into non-PvP zones. And the way to not be involved is to not be in the zone for 15-20 minutes. Even if the zone was the only one in the level range of the character the player is currently playing like Sharkhead if you're in the low 20s red side, Cap if you're in the upper teens red side, Brickstown if you're in the 30s blue side, etc. The player can log off and grab a different character for those 15-20 minutes? Then it becomes an issue of the player is not being allowed to play the character they want in the appropriate zone for the sake of PvP. Which again, is not in a PvP area.

 

Making PvE zones suddenly PvP is not likely going to get more players back. It may even get current PvE'ers to stop playing.

 

If you want to convince PvE'ers of any stripe to try PvP, you need a method other than effectively forcing it down their throats. Your intention does not seem to be to force PvP on others, however that is how it looks and feels. With the only options to avoid it being play a different character until event ends, leave game until event ends, or be lucky enough to be in a level range that has more than one zone available for playing in.

[El D]

How would the PvP effect work? Does the event just toggle on 'PvP Mode' when it starts, automatically flagging players and adjusting the powers of everyone who enters the zone? Does it level lock the zone in-question or is it an 'all levels allowed' free for all? Also, this is happening in a PvE zone - it'd have to tweak every NPC spawn on the map as well, in-addition to the Nemesis mobs that spawned in. Or does it not even make the PvP power adjustments in the first place, and leave all the number values at their PvE settings? How would teaming work while the event is running? What divisions, if any, would the alignment system cause - could heroes only team with vigilantes and rogues with villains? What about folks running missions/task forces (or heaven forbid, hunt missions) in that zone? Would team still remain together while the event was running, or would it force them to fight each other until they went into an instance map? After all, if it's a zone-wide confusion effect, why wouldn't it work like confuse already does?

 

There's a ton of hurdles to manage with this, in order to implement a mandatory PvP event that requires non-participants to leave a PvE content zone entirely. That's a heck of a jump from just going to a safe spot or rushing through, like you can do when wanting to skip the Rikti/Zombie invasions. Rikti ships and zombies can be obnoxious enough to dodge when just trying to focus on getting to missions - getting ganked by another player or one of your own teammates? That would be even worse.

 

All that said, I enjoy the story concept behind this. I just think it'd work a lot better as a big Arena RP-PvP event, rather than something that actually gets put into the overworld.

Edited May 27, 2022 by El D

[Coyotedancer]

Yeah... no.

 

The lack of "open world" PvP is one of the reasons I liked playing City.

... And having it pop up in random zones (via Rifting-) is a big part of why I eventually walked away from Aion. It wasn't fun. It was a pain in the ass.  

[Rudra]

2 minutes ago, El D said:

 it'd have to tweak every NPC spawn on the map as well, in-addition to the Nemesis mobs that spawned in.

As far as I know, mobs are not affected by PvP. So mobs would not be subject to power changes. Just players.

[El D]

8 minutes ago, Rudra said:

As far as I know, mobs are not affected by PvP. So mobs would not be subject to power changes. Just players.

 

... shoot, you're totally right. I completely forgot, but yeah, that's what makes fighting the signature characters in RV so obnoxious. xD

 

Thinking about it, if the PvP tweaks did actually apply to the enemy mobs it might make PvP content have a few less issues. Then again, that might also make the mob fighting parts of PvP too easy/not worth any reward as a result...

Edited May 27, 2022 by El D

[The_Warpact]

Actually I like this idea.

 

It could be that you get exemped down if its a lower level I suppose. PVP rules would apply so it would be pretty balanced.

 

I guess there could be a "countdown " period too just like pvp zones to give those a chance to leave if they wanted.

 

Its not necessarily a open world pvp zone just an event that incorporates pvp/pve. Hell the rewards at the end of the pve event make it enticing. Its not like it would cause "griefing " or whatever the kids are saying got them killed in a pvp situation. 

 

Hell, I'd do it and I don't even pvp anymore. The rewards and new event would be worth it. 

[Rudra]

Here is a counter-proposal loosely based on your idea:

 

Create a new PvP-specific faction. Have them use PvP versions of the powers. Or don't, it doesn't really matter. It just would be nice for the mobs to play by the same rules. Have that faction spawn as part of a PvP zone event. The faction would spawn at a higher level than the zone itself. Like the Malta Hercules Titans do in Warburg. (They're +5 to the zone? Sounds like a good benchmark for the new faction.) The faction would roam (in a very limited fashion) like Arachnos and Longbow do in Siren's Call. Since they are hostile to everything, they attack players and mobs alike. Because they don't actually roam that far, they won't clear the map. They would be flagged for location like the hot spots and bounties in Siren's Call.

 

Now for the kicker. If you defeat X number of this faction, you earn a Super Pack. Not more than once per event. They have set up a device, marked on the map or not, doesn't matter, as per your Nemesis part above. If the device is completed, which will happen at end of event timer unless destroyed, the device explodes as a Super Judgement power. Like Hamidon levels of damage and over a very large area. If the players do not destroy the device in time, they need to make sure they get out of its ridiculously large area of effect. If the players do destroy the device, they are rewarded with a Super Pack. This Super Pack does not count against the limit from defeating faction members. The event would be announced on all sides both as a warning it was going to happen and again when it actually starts. With a final notice when it ends.

 

Destruction of the device does not end the event, so players that still need/want to hunt faction members can still earn their Super Pack.

 

(Edit: Oh yeah, the new PvP faction would not be able to spawn outside of the designated event.)

 

Edit again: While this event would not disable players' ability to attack other players', it is hoped that the incentives are sufficient to get players to cooperate to some extent to deal with the event. Duplicity on both sides is still expected. Especially if the player in question is not concerned with getting a Super Pack or already has the 2 available.

 

Edit x3: May as well add a merit reward to the mix for successfully completing the event. Not to be awarded until after the event has timed out and not to be awarded if the device goes off. If you earned the merit award, you can leave the zone and still get the merits when the timer finishes.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Rudra

[battlewraith]

How is this an RP event?

 

Here's my counter proposal. You have some sort of scheduled event where you open packages or defeat minions or something. Doing so  gives you a tomato. You collect tomatoes. 

Then at the scheduled time, there is an actual tournament style RP competition with a gm moderator. At the end of each round, the loser is flagged to be susceptible to the tomatoes, which do light damage and maybe randomly detoggle powers. The loser then has to try to escape the zone before being tomatoed to death. If they make it out, they get a badge. If somebody's tomato defeats them, that person gets a badge. The overall winner of the event gets a special title or badge or something that appeals to people that like ingame rewards.

[Rudra]

How do you do an RP tournament? How would a moderator objectively judge such a thing?

[biostem]

I'm not big on circumstances that change/replace your character or powers without your say-so.  That being said, some sort of voluntary event, (a la a player-controlled monkey fight club), sounds like it'd be a lot of fun!

[battlewraith]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

How do you do an RP tournament? How would a moderator objectively judge such a thing?

 

You do not objectively judge such a thing. It's not a math competition. The judging of any artistic endeavor takes a number of criteria into account but ultimately it hinges on someone's subjective appraisal. The judge(s), prior to the actual competition, release a statement about the sorts of things they will be looking for in order to make the event less subjective. If the idea was a success, the event would be run multiple times with different judges to compensate for individual bias.

 

How do you run it? If the devs are interested in the suggestion, they form a committee of avid RPers to formalize the structure of the actual competition, discuss rewards, etc. It's a general idea, I'm not going to spell it out for you.

[Rudra]

27 minutes ago, biostem said:

I'm not big on circumstances that change/replace your character or powers without your say-so.  That being said, some sort of voluntary event, (a la a player-controlled monkey fight club), sounds like it'd be a lot of fun!

I think you responded to the wrong thread!😉

 

20 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

 

You do not objectively judge such a thing. It's not a math competition. The judging of any artistic endeavor takes a number of criteria into account but ultimately it hinges on someone's subjective appraisal. The judge(s), prior to the actual competition, release a statement about the sorts of things they will be looking for in order to make the event less subjective. If the idea was a success, the event would be run multiple times with different judges to compensate for individual bias.

 

How do you run it? If the devs are interested in the suggestion, they form a committee of avid RPers to formalize the structure of the actual competition, discuss rewards, etc. It's a general idea, I'm not going to spell it out for you.

Was wondering if the GM would spawn a glowie that all participants would click to register into a list. Then the GM might spawn a localized pop-up with the populated names for non-competing players to choose someone, and the GM announces the lowest vote getter.

 

All competitions have rules. I was asking what rules you were intending. Edit: Well, that and your proposal for how the tournament itself would work.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Rudra

[PeregrineFalcon]

First I want to thank you all for responding to my brilliant idea in such a constructive way. Sorry I didn't respond earlier, today has turned out to be busier than normal for a Friday.

 

Let me see if I can address some of the questions.

 

2 hours ago, Rudra said:

If you want to convince PvE'ers of any stripe to try PvP, you need a method other than effectively forcing it down their throats.

Remember, people don't have to stay in the zone. And, if they do, they don't actually have to PvP. They can just search for the spawn point of the Mental Control Transmitter and the Nemesis troops guarding it.

 

 

1 hour ago, The_Warpact said:

It could be that you get exemped down if its a lower level I suppose. PVP rules would apply so it would be pretty balanced.

Sure. Like you'd be exempted to level 10 if it was in Atlas Park, 25 in Steel Canyon, etc. Just like if you get a Safeguard mission from Agent Hassell.

 

 

53 minutes ago, battlewraith said:

How is this an RP event?

Because the badge text explains why it's happening in a way that's in keeping with established lore. Perhaps I should have said that it's a Lore Event, but it didn't occur to me. And I'm not sure that Lore Event's even a term.

 

 

And finally:

 

2 hours ago, Tyrannical said:

HOW DARE YOU!!!

 

[Rudra]

Here's a random thought follow up to @battlewraith's idea. The competition could be held in that one zone. Trying to remember its name... Echo Plaza or something like that? That would give people a reason to find and check out the zone.

[arcane]

 

I don’t think potentially having to leave a zone on rare occasion for 15 minutes would be a significant strain on me. The much more difficult question is whether or not this whole thread was completely or only partially for the lulz.

 

As a side note, the spontaneous nature of the suggestion might mitigate the hardcore community’s ability to organize on Discord, and that’s always a plus considering one of this game’s biggest PvP problems is its insular community’s absolute refusal to let certain formats be played casually away from a central voice chat server. Basically rendering team Arena a no-go zone, so it needs more of everything else.

[Glacier Peak]

6 hours ago, arcane said:

 

I don’t think potentially having to leave a zone on rare occasion for 15 minutes would be a significant strain on me. The much more difficult question is whether or not this whole thread was completely or only partially for the lulz.

 

As a side note, the spontaneous nature of the suggestion might mitigate the hardcore community’s ability to organize on Discord, and that’s always a plus considering one of this game’s biggest PvP problems is its insular community’s absolute refusal to let certain formats be played casually away from a central voice chat server. Basically rendering team Arena a no-go zone, so it needs more of everything else.

Absolutely love the use of this gif. My favorite song of all time. 

[Rudra]

7 hours ago, arcane said:

I don’t think potentially having to leave a zone on rare occasion for 15 minutes would be a significant strain on me.

Being required to leave the zone if there is an alternate zone of your current level that you can go to would not be terrible, no. If you are in one of those ranges where you only have access to 1 zone though? And you don't want to PvP? Now you're effectively being told not to play that character until the event is over. And sure, the PvE'er can try to get to the device and clear it out, but how likely is that when now other players are hunting the players in that zone? Especially if the location of the device is not known? (Edit: And reading the OP, destroying the device does not end the event. It simply awards a Super Pack. So even if the device were found and destroyed, the PvE zone would still be a PvP zone until the time was finished. And if it did end the event? I'd be willing to bet money PvP'ers would work to ensure no one touched the device until the timer was almost done.)

 

Regardless, I think you would still see a portion of the player base leaving the game if PvP suddenly became possible in PvE zones. Even if it was announced it was going to happen. Especially if they log on into the event with no advance knowledge and find themselves defeated by another player. In a PvE zone.

 

There is the understanding that if someone enters a PvP zone, whether they like it or not, they are in PvP. You really think that is going to translate well in a PvE zone?

Edited May 29, 2022 by Rudra

[srmalloy]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:57 AM, PeregrineFalcon said:

In a random zone, players would hear the warning siren, like they do when a Rikti invasion is about to start. About a minute later everyone still in the zone would get a big message "PvP has been ENABLED!" This would give players plenty of time to opt out by leaving the zone.

Aka "I'm not seeing enough PvP participation, so I want to change the game so that, instead of having the opportunity to actively choose to engage in PvP, players are randomly forced to actively choose not to engage in PvP". And the "they don't have to PvP, they can just find the transmitter and destroy it" claim ignores the fact that they will be subject to PvP while looking for and destroying it. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go with Tyrannical on this one.

[Ghost]

Imagine logging into Atlas with your brand new lvl 1 alt….. in the middle of this event

 

Yeah, that’s a big giant NO from me

[Bill Z Bubba]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:57 PM, PeregrineFalcon said:

In a random zone, players would hear the warning siren, like they do when a Rikti invasion is about to start. About a minute later everyone still in the zone would get a big message "PvP has been ENABLED!" This would give players plenty of time to opt out by leaving the zone.

 

Only posting in here because of the other thread by @The_Warpact

 

No. Hell no. Fark no. Absolutely not. Keep PvP in PvP zones and the arena where it belongs. Do not put that crap in PvE zones. Ever. Maybe when the world isn't eating itself and there's no longer RL PvP on every damn corner, I'll reconsider. Until then, NO.

[srmalloy]

14 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Keep PvP in PvP zones and the arena where it belongs. Do not put that crap in PvE zones. Ever.

This. Back when I started playing CoH on May 8, 2004, one of the things that attracted me to it was that it didn't have PvP. And I may be viewing it with jaundiced eye, but it seems as if every suggestion about 'improving' PvP boils down to "There aren't enough people doing PvP, so this change needs to be made to force more people into PvP so the ones that are already doing PvP have more victims opponents to play against". The mechanics of PvP are enough different from PvE that to be good in PvP requires different builds and different playstyles, and 'suggestions' that would make everyone else learn a different way to play because you're unhappy that they're not playing the way you want are never going to get my support.

Edited May 29, 2022 by srmalloy

[Black Zot]

- Fun

- PvP in a PvE zone

 

Pick only one.  Unless you're a griefer, in which case I don't want to know you.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Black Zot

[Omega Force]

I find nothing fun about contaminating a PVE zone with forced PVP.  Hard no.