oRvR imbalance / fixing the problem

[sunfusion]

Surely this topic has been adressed many times, probably there is an open discussion about it somewhere on the forum. But there is so much stuff on the forum, so a new post.

Short introduction
I started to play about 6 weeks ago. I play about 95% of my time as destro. I play pretty hardcore; 12+ hours a day sometimes, so I know how numbers are in oRvR during the day. I play with a couple of friends. They have less time then me to play and they'd rather play order because we loose so much as destro. Some don't even want to do RvR, because they are constantly dying. I think a lot of people feel the same, so the problem is getting bigger instead of fixing itsellf. So as destro the game is not new player friendly in its current state.

The issues
I think in oRvR we are outnumbered most of the time in the fights in the lakes. Only in prime time we are about even and might be able to push some zones for 1-2 hours.
Sure, numbers on the server are about even; but destro is simply not in the lakes. Not sure what the reason is behind it, but AAO alone is not enough to get people in the lakes. Maybe they are just in warcamp demoralised, watching youtube or something. I think the fort scores says it all; it's very onesided and for order it is simply PvE. The times I played on order they even complain about there not being enough destro to have nice fights.


So what can we do to fix this?
I think next to the AAO renown/xp bonus, there should be a bolster to the underdog defense/offense. Maybe damage reduction/boost and healing boost to the underdog players, that builds up to a certain cap, depending on how long you've been playing in the zone. Same should go for the AAO bonus; if you haven't defended long in the zone, you don't get the full benefit of the AAO bonus. Maybe this helps against x-realming.

Another thing that might be interesting is giving the underdog NPC/players defending a keep/fort an entrenched bonus, depending how long they are defending the keep. So the longer you are able to delay the enemy, the more bonus you get. Maybe limit this bonus to 5% on the first gate, another 5% on the second gate and you get 1% for every 3 mins you defended that gate. Accumulation of this bonus stops as soon as the gate is broken. Bonus persists as long as the lord is alive; e.g. you loose the bonus as soon as the keep lord is dead or you leave the zone. This way you also have the bonus after a wipe, but you can try another push for the lord room. Entrenched timer starts when ram is placed at the door.
Hopfully this gets people into keeps for defense earlier, so they get the boost. Hopefully they organise the defense and make keep fights more interesting for both factions.

Sun

[Mvl130]

Yes the lack of fair fights in the game is transforming the pvp into some kind of weird pve, where people are just farming isolated players

From what I see the people running this server consider that there are other emergencies, such as adding new live events, new dyes, more rewards from the pve

I've already seen suggestions being made by people on this forum to try to find solutions to make the pvp fairer, - it never leads to anything concretly, and they always end up being mocked and insulted by a bunch of toxic and closed-minded forumers

[Lilim]

Hey,

Is this a discussion or a proposal?

[sunfusion]

Hey,

Is this a discussion or a proposal?

Proposal for a possible fix to hopefully get more balanced fights in RvR instead of 3-1 outnumbered fights.

I don't think we need to discuss if there is an issue. Just look at the fort scoring of the last 4-5 weeks or the amount of keeps won/defended between order and destro.

I'm sure there are many options to boost/help the underdog in a zone. That can be discussed further. I'm sure there are players out there that have played on this server a lot longer then me and have better idea's.

I Just think a zone tied boost to the underdog faction like AAO is the fastest/easiest to implement. The problem with that will be (grieving) WE/WH whose burst would also get boosted. But if we link this boost to time spent in zone we could also reset the bonus on stealth. This might be a bit punishing on the stealth classes, then again lots of them play solo or in small gank teams. Don't think they need a boosting. And if they want the bonus they shouldn't stealh.

[Aethilmar]

First of all welcome to the game.

Second everything you are proposing has been proposed before and indeed has been implemented partially or wholly. I can see you are already starting to work through some of the implications of your suggestions and why they ultimately don't yield the expected result.

Third you are making the assumption that the core reward mechanics are designed to promote a "fair" fight. They are not and almost never have been. For example, zone flips are based around keep takes which are predicated on achieving some kind of localized imbalance in forces. Forts have an enforced population imbalance.

Fourth you are making the assumption that people want fair fights. I can tell you from years of playing the game, they (generally speaking) don't. They are motivated by rewards per point three.

Fifth the pendulum swings. A lot of the population is driven by one or two guilds/warband leaders picking side A or side B to play (or not) for a while especially with the pop low like it is now. Sometimes this is due to perceived imbalances, sometimes this is due to real-life schedules and sometimes it is due to boredom.

Anyway, as you work through your proposal you will need to address these factors among many others for it to actually "fix" the population balance issues. Honestly the biggest factor is the guild/warband leader one so if you want to equalize destro in your particular time slots I would focus on just doing your best to a functioning warband or two in place.

Good luck.

[Detangler]

To the OP, population swings back and forth over the months and years. You've been here 6 weeks. Its been a long time that the Order population has dominated, but it will always come back. In a few months you'll complain that theres nothing to fight and all you do is PvDoor.

You could always queue scenarios and get fair fights!