Instanced PvP should be completely gear neutral.

[SuperStar]

Gw 2 did the sc perfect for me at least. There were many class many viable build free gear. Same lvl.

If they had the wh universe and not that i would olay with it.

Imo if the devs can make big variety of build for all class and balansec it and shake the meta every 1/2 month the same lvl gear is a great idea.

[Duukar]

People won't even play SCs if they're all fair fights or not required for a gear treadmill. Ranked being the exception where a gear treadmill would not help.

This is a traditional MMORPG... Meaning, gear increases your power. Matches will suck without gear. Getting gear means you won't have as many bad matches.

Every single game I've played that does gear neutralizing results in no one playing the gear neutral mode because it's too fair. People enjoy shitstomping bad players.

There are more modern games that do gear neutral well ie; Fortnite.

This is a private server of a game that very rigidly follows what made this game great. Gearing and having options for gearing is part of the reason why this game is/was so successful.

In my professional and hobby experience with developing games, players absolutely despise games that are too balanced and will quickly quit games where they have to improve their skill but have no capacity to do so, and games like Warhammer allow a player who is otherwise not as great to be carried at some capacity by their gear, while allowing geared, skilled players to still shine.

The issue stems with the rate of gear acquisition and not the gear itself, but that's a whole other can of worms.

What you say sounds good and true.

The only problem is DAoC in its purest most hardcore form required you to put in work to get a template and then allowed you to focus exclusively on PvP.

When they introduced TOA it literally killed the game for many many players who weren’t willing to do the massive grind and lead to a population dip that lead to server clusters and eventually the death of DAoC.

Phoenix was introduced to wild success and went strong for a few years.

What I propose is balanced gear neutral instances and the wild gear advantage in the lakes. The best of both worlds!

I’ve been on both sides of the gear stomp. I prefer competitive close matches.

[Omegus]

It’s a big F U to new players that these rewards you speak of are gated from new players. Even worse that the experience itself is so toxic and painful.

If gear were normalized then at least new players could bring skills and coordination from other games and stand a chance.

We don’t need work arounds. We need improvement and a fix.

Top tier crafting materials and talismans are not intended for new players.

[Duukar]

It’s a big F U to new players that these rewards you speak of are gated from new players. Even worse that the experience itself is so toxic and painful.

If gear were normalized then at least new players could bring skills and coordination from other games and stand a chance.

We don’t need work arounds. We need improvement and a fix.

Top tier crafting materials and talismans are not intended for new players.

My dude, you have a big problem. You either can’t, won’t, or don’t understand what I’m trying to achieve with this post.

YOU are part of the problem. Sustaining this absurd gear advantage is toxic and chasing new players away. Explain to me why things should be SOOO unfair in instances pvp content??

This just in!! SC events are not meant for new players. Sorry new players we designed ANOTHER system that chases you away.

[Aluviya]

Most games try to balance competitive modes with giving equal gear and buffs (meaning potions and liniments in this case) and I agree on this idea 100% and brought this up countless times concerning the solo ranked mode (while it was active). However Warhammer was created on a very oldschool MMO perspective. There are many aspects and content connected to gear and buff acquisition(auction house, PvE dungeons, PvE farming, RvR) it might be a lot of work and ideas involved to implement "fairness" while still keeping the mentioned content relevant.
There is undoubtedly a big "gap" that is already defined by experience in this game (some of us are playing this game more then 10 years). In addition, whether it is RR or/and gear there is another big gap for fresh player to overcome.

For instance - a fresh lvl 40 SW (Conq/Annhilator) vs a high RR/gear WE has simply none to very less chance to survive a stealth opened rotation. Even with all current RR points invested in FS and detaunting after the KD and even using Whirling Pin, due to 6 at best 6,5k HP on that gear level and 30 Ft hitting channeling ability of the WE, there is no chance of survival here. Same applies for many other examples.

I strongly believe that these kind of imbalances define what this game sadly will soon become (or is already): a dieing, veteran-elistist oriented game with less to none new player pool, disallowing new players to take roots due to harsh gaps in T4, especially after the "illusion" aka. upscaling in T2-T3.

[Secrets]

My dude, you have a big problem. You either can’t, won’t, or don’t understand what I’m trying to achieve with this post.

YOU are part of the problem. Sustaining this absurd gear advantage is toxic and chasing new players away. Explain to me why things should be SOOO unfair in instances pvp content??

This just in!! SC events are not meant for new players. Sorry new players we designed ANOTHER system that chases you away.

SC events should have an optional mode that allows for new players to participate. I've come around on that idea, though.

Be it RR segregation below RR59, or a single player queue for SC events, or both.

I'd prefer all the RR59 and below players in their own bracket, personally. Yes, you can still twink, but it won't be nearly as bad only having access to Vanq/Opp.

[wargrimnir]

RR doesn't need to be a factor. I've pushed for an itemlevel cap. Let the RR80+ players in the lowbie bracket if they downgrade their gear. Makes a reason to keep mid-tier gear, and puts that juicy RR80+ meat into situations where the lowbie gang can feast.

Having completely neutral gear is right out though, some bolstering/balancing can be done without destroying the entire item system in the process. I see that kind of suggestion as a hardline bargaining tactic to start high and negotiate down. Not a reasonable suggestion from the start.

[Rydiak]

An itemlevel cap actually sounds fun. I like the idea of having a low(er) set of gear in order to participate, so that way Invader/Sovereign-level gear is excluded.

[Omegus]

It’s a big F U to new players that these rewards you speak of are gated from new players. Even worse that the experience itself is so toxic and painful.

If gear were normalized then at least new players could bring skills and coordination from other games and stand a chance.

We don’t need work arounds. We need improvement and a fix.

Top tier crafting materials and talismans are not intended for new players.

My dude, you have a big problem. You either can’t, won’t, or don’t understand what I’m trying to achieve with this post.

YOU are part of the problem. Sustaining this absurd gear advantage is toxic and chasing new players away. Explain to me why things should be SOOO unfair in instances pvp content??

This just in!! SC events are not meant for new players. Sorry new players we designed ANOTHER system that chases you away.

I completely understand what you want to achieve with your post - in game all about gear, progression and unified character advancement, you want to remove that from a significant aspect of the game. Why... because it's instanced? Scenarios have always been part of the main game, including the progression system. They offer a way to get a quick fight with equal numbers and that's it. 12 solo randoms in terrible gear vs 12 better geared players will have as much success in scenarios as if the fight happened in open RvR, as it is still part of the "realm vs realm" PvP. Scenarios are not level-playing-field e-sports arenas like Guild Wars 2, and originally in live winning scenarios (and PQs) actually contributed towards the campaign victory points as all of the content was integrated to match the unified progression.

You want less integration, I actually want more. I want winning scenarios to award supplies or something in ORvR, seeing as the scenarios are supposed to be taking place in or near ORvR areas. Bring back the system where the current list of scenarios matched the current open PvP zones, so Battle for Praag is active when Praag is active, Thunder Valley is active when Thunder Mountain is active, etc. Have wins in scenarios affect the campaign, even if it's just providing some resources for keeps, ammo for cannons, etc. Make it clear that the two different PvP systems are part of one larger system and sometimes you might not be geared enough to compete. It happens. Go do something else.

And yes, the weekend warfront is a bloodbath. It offers a huge renown boost and end-game crafting rewards, so of course newbies will struggle with it. A lot of the fun/wacky live event objectives seem to have been removed as well as they were skewing the gameplay too much. I have absolutely no issue with some content being locked off from new players until they are geared and levelled, as do you know what "new content" new players have? The entire game. It's all new to them.

If you want to talk about the stat gap between fresh 40s and BIS being too big? Fine, I'll agree with you and I believe it needs to be narrowed. Poor messenging about the weekend warfront appearing to a fun casual thing rather than the reality it actually is? I agree, RoR's in-game messenging is terrible and newbies should be warned it's a bloodbath in that event and they might want to do other scenarios instead. Change the live event to make it more casual friendly by removing the 50% RR bonus so it's pointless for vets to keep farming it once the influence bar is complete? I'll agree with that too. Complain about single-objective scenarios removing all chance of an under-geared team to win on objectives as once the stronger team has the only open objective then it basically turns into team deathmatch or spawn camp? I'll agree with that as well.

I just do not agree with making scenarios their own seperate thing. Give me more integration between the game's systems, not less.

And for what it's worth, this was my opinion on a R4x Zealot, a R5x Zealot, a R6x Zealot, a R7x Zealot, and a R8x Zealot. edit: probably not R4x... that period was painful

[bw10]

You want less integration, I actually want more. I want winning scenarios to award supplies or something in ORvR, seeing as the scenarios are supposed to be taking place in or near ORvR areas. Bring back the system where the current list of scenarios matched the current open PvP zones, so Battle for Praag is active when Praag is active, Thunder Valley is active when Thunder Mountain is active, etc. Have wins in scenarios affect the campaign, even if it's just providing some resources for keeps, ammo for cannons, etc. Make it clear that the two different PvP systems are part of one larger system and sometimes you might not be geared enough to compete. It happens. Go do something else.

damn