Scenario Rework

[Gravord]

Current state of scenarios is rather atrocious. On one hand we have plenty entirely imbalanced match ups that can only lead to one possible outcome, on the other we have surrender vote spam even in a fair games just to avoid putting any effort into final result and both of those are topped up with constant warcamp guard hugging "gameplay", where either rdps gets free kills without ever taking any risk or tank knocks ppl to instant guard kills. All of that combine creates awfull player experience.
Its time to get it fixed in a few simple steps:

1. Matchmaking - similar to how it already works in ranked games. System will attempt to create equally balanced group setups for both factions, 2/2/2 parties if possible, 3/2/1 and eventually 4/1/1 as the final resort if balanced archetype setup cannot be achieved, the 4 being overload of dps classes ofc. System will withhold port to scenario untill enough tanks and healers on both sides confirms joining.

2. Remove option to choose scenarios - i know this one will be contentious to many, but its a necessary sacrifice to be able to add actual matchmaking. With option for players to q into 5-7 different sc at the same time getting enough players of correct archetypes to create working matchmaking wont be possible. Thats the reason previous attempt to add tank and healer requirement to sc tested few years ago failed.

3. Add barriers to all scenarios - unreasonable safety net of running back to warcamp causes bad mentality effect on the playerbase of always playing with less commitment than they could, always one leg turned towards warcamp ready to run to preserve precious kd while not maximum effort into actual fight. Real kiting skills were replaced with flee to warcamp and getting npcs to resolve supposed pvp combat while players underperform. That should have no place in pvp game mode ever. Players stepping into scenario should put their full effort into playing best to their abilities for their team to win, not look out for opportunity to run back and give a wc guard a warm hug.
Additionally, players leaving warcamp could receive 10s Immaculate Defence effect, to allow them rejoin fight without being instantly killed if winning side is camping them.
Players overstaying in wc safety behind the barrier receive warning after 1 min to get out and fight. After 90s total in spawn they get booted out with quitter.

4. Remove discordant scenario - with how its currently abused by premades stacks sneaking up in as bunch of duos with timed q it no longer serves its purpose and with functioning matchmaking it doesnt have any reason to exist anymore either. Standard balanced scenarios for all will suffice.

5. Replace weekly weekend event specific sc with just general play X sc, kill X players in sc, etc. Theres no point to go tru 10-20 or more same sc spam fatigue for the weekend event.
If there is ongoing bigger event specifically demanding certain scenario to be played it can have increased pop chance in the system, to 25% or 50% pop chance anytime new sc pop happens.

6. Delay surrender vote option - current 4 mins of ongoing sc is way too premature and with functioning matchmaking that option should rarely ever be needed. 7 or more mins into sc would be more appropriate to determine if it truly was so one sided and give players time to give it a fair try.


With all of that combined we should see shift in player mentality and quality of scenarios over time, into fun, challenging pvp encounters where both sides get the maximum combat enjoyment out of it, whether they q solo, in small groups or full parties.

[Aluviya]

I like all the ideas stated, specifically 3. - as already mentioned by Gravord there are in fact even premades queueing certain RDPS scenarios to play around the spawnpoint with punts into guards over and over. And 5. i believe the main idea of "weekly sc event" should be just having people play sc's, have fun, build groups than waiting for a specific scenario to pop (which is in some timezones impossible) and grind it endlessly (It's just a fact that some scenarios are not fun). Also I'd like to add here there are people who can't play on the weekends, hence I wonder why is the Orvr a weekly that you can do on any day while scenarios are limited to weekends? I can see the reasoning that one maybe wants to narrow the times when people queue for this content but overall it seems not fair to me that SC are a weekend thing exclusively. Finally considering Discordant, I do feel that this was a good idea in terms of offering a safeplace to learners but it doesn't seem to take certain variables into consideration such as certain classes playing in a duo (or hiddenly in duo +) can easily snowball every scenario. There is no protection for newbies against standing veterans who farm clueless players the whole day. Maybe Discordant should only be an exclusive thing for people who freshly hit lvl 40 and are somewhat in this big equipment gap state between annhilator and vanq.

[lemao]

Agree with all points, i like the 10s Immaculate Defence effect buff to give the players a chance to spread out and position themselves. And yeah i agree with changing the surrender vote aswell. Poeple surrender just to get their 4 crests even when the fight could have been fairly even in terms of kills. I still fear people will just quit queueing scenarios as most players chase farming renown/crests by not putting in any effort as it is right now (sadly).
If the scs are more balanced (archetype wise) there should be less surrender votes atleast in theory.

[Gravord]

I like all the ideas stated, specifically 3. - as already mentioned by Gravord there are in fact even premades queueing certain RDPS scenarios to play around the spawnpoint with punts into guards over and over. And 5. i believe the main idea of "weekly sc event" should be just having people play sc's, have fun, build groups than waiting for a specific scenario to pop (which is in some timezones impossible) and grind it endlessly (It's just a fact that some scenarios are not fun). Also I'd like to add here there are people who can't play on the weekends, hence I wonder why is the Orvr a weekly that you can do on any day while scenarios are limited to weekends? I can see the reasoning that one maybe wants to narrow the times when people queue for this content but overall it seems not fair to me that SC are a weekend thing exclusively.

I believe the idea of weekend event sc is to siphon a bit of players out of rvr to reduce zergfest. And since weekends population online gets the highest it does makes sense and serves that purpose.

[Aluviya]

I like all the ideas stated, specifically 3. - as already mentioned by Gravord there are in fact even premades queueing certain RDPS scenarios to play around the spawnpoint with punts into guards over and over. And 5. i believe the main idea of "weekly sc event" should be just having people play sc's, have fun, build groups than waiting for a specific scenario to pop (which is in some timezones impossible) and grind it endlessly (It's just a fact that some scenarios are not fun). Also I'd like to add here there are people who can't play on the weekends, hence I wonder why is the Orvr a weekly that you can do on any day while scenarios are limited to weekends? I can see the reasoning that one maybe wants to narrow the times when people queue for this content but overall it seems not fair to me that SC are a weekend thing exclusively.

I believe the idea of weekend event sc is to siphon a bit of players out of rvr to reduce zergfest. And since weekends population online gets the highest it does makes sense and serves that purpose.

Yeah I do see a reasoning there thanks.

[Gravord]

I like all the ideas stated, specifically 3. - as already mentioned by Gravord there are in fact even premades queueing certain RDPS scenarios to play around the spawnpoint with punts into guards over and over. And 5. i believe the main idea of "weekly sc event" should be just having people play sc's, have fun, build groups than waiting for a specific scenario to pop (which is in some timezones impossible) and grind it endlessly (It's just a fact that some scenarios are not fun). Also I'd like to add here there are people who can't play on the weekends, hence I wonder why is the Orvr a weekly that you can do on any day while scenarios are limited to weekends? I can see the reasoning that one maybe wants to narrow the times when people queue for this content but overall it seems not fair to me that SC are a weekend thing exclusively.

I believe the idea of weekend event sc is to siphon a bit of players out of rvr to reduce zergfest. And since weekends population online gets the highest it does makes sense and serves that purpose.

Yeah I do see a reasoning there thanks.

But ofc it just aswell could be a full week event sc, similar to rvr weekly.

[Kendaric]

I'm all for more balanced scenarios, but removing discordant skirmish isn't the answer in my opinion. What should be done, is disallowing queuing as a duo.

[Gravord]

I'm all for more balanced scenarios, but removing discordant skirmish isn't the answer in my opinion. What should be done, is disallowing queuing as a duo.

Its necessary for the matchmaking to work in reasonable time frame. Separate discordant would made it slower for everyone. And with balanced scenarios in general theres no point keeping it at all. Imagine group of 5 q while all solos q discordant, that 5 never get fill up, they never get pop, it would be awfull.

[lemao]

I'm all for more balanced scenarios, but removing discordant skirmish isn't the answer in my opinion. What should be done, is disallowing queuing as a duo.

This won´t solve anything. People will still sync their queues and veterans will still farm more inexperienced players on cooldown.
Once you´re in a sc with other decent players and it ends and you queue again, you will get in the same sc again with the same players.

As mentioned above if scs are more balanced archetype wise, more balanced matches will occur.

[Gravord]

I'm all for more balanced scenarios, but removing discordant skirmish isn't the answer in my opinion. What should be done, is disallowing queuing as a duo.

This won´t solve anything. People will still sync their queues and veterans will still farm more inexperienced players on cooldown.
Once you´re in a sc with other decent players and it ends and you queue again, you will get in the same sc again with the same players.

As mentioned above if scs are more balanced archetype wise, more balanced matches will occur.

And with everyone in same type of q, rotation of team mates and opponents you get would be fair greater.