Rewards Need a Revamp

[dtjror]

This is just my opinion, so please don't ban me or issue me a warning for sharing it. It's not meant to be a direct criticism of anyone - just a statement about what I perceive to be a factual situation, and a potential suggestion for addressing it.

Now, that said, imho, the state of the game is not good - I mean from a standpoint of population and faction balance. The server barely hits 1k during EU times on the weekends, and NA evenings is sub-300 and almost always very lopsided (heavily Order or Destro). And that's understandable. Who wants to fight a hopeless battle, if there is even one to fight?

The root of this is, I believe, a lack of incentive to have even fights - better to steamroll and get quick bags, and crests from farming the outnumbered, than go back and forth for a more prolonged time ("return on investment" is poor). Forts seem to be a perfect example of this - generally lopsided from the beginning (beyond the 80% rule), and as soon as things start to go south for one side, they quit and it becomes PvDoor.

So, what can be done to incentivize a more even population distribution (which, it would seem, would also result in an increased population)? The only concrete things I can immediately think of are to greatly increase the chance of getting a high bag the more even a fight is (to the point where a lock with no AAO virtually guarantees a massive bag), and likewise greatly increase kill crest drops (number and/or percentage) as AAO approaches 0.

What's your perspective/perception, and ideas to address the issue (if you think there is one to be addressed)?

[Scottx125]

This has already been discussed to death and nobody seems to agree on a solution. So at this point IMO it's up to the devs to solve it.

[Fallenkezef]

You have to ask the question as to whether the game has a hit a plateau at this point. It's as close to live as is possible in many ways and we run into the reasons the original game failed.

Lack of end game and poor class balance.

To make a game like this work you need one of two things (idealy both) fun and engaging pve end game with interesting rewards. Decent PvP class balance. RoR as it stands, has neither.

The current pve content is basicly for gearing and unless you run with a guild you won't get a group and the pvp has so many balance issues it is a mess.

The premade v casual pug issue has never really been addressed. The pug scenario is too open to abuse and the rvr is premade WBs hoovering up pugs. Now the premade players always respond with "git gud" or "group up" and forget that without a regular influx of casuals these games will just die. The MMO graveyards are littered with this lesson.

There are allot of armour sets now and this basicly stands as a block to the new and casual player. It's too daunting to grind each set for the wards, while being a renown pinata.

A gear capped SC que will go along way to fixing things. But the essential issue of overworked, unpaid devs with too many problems to fix and the established premades running off the new and casual players will keep the player numbers down.

Eventualy it'll just be the personaly sandbox of a half dozen guilds.

[dtjror]

But what about the reward system, specifically? Again, imo, it is currently structured to incentivize the exact opposite of "balanced" play - steamroll sieges and farming kills from what little opposition there may be. Battles with even numbers take longer and don't increase your bag chance (afaik), and generally speaking there are less kills in even fights (more fighting, but less dying). Sure the premade/guild vs. PUG thing plays a part, but I've seen well run PUGs beat premade/guild WBs plenty of times. But 1 WB ain't gonna beat 2 or 3, regardless of other factors. So even numbers seems like kind of a prerequisite.

[Fallenkezef]

But what about the reward system, specifically? Again, imo, it is currently structured to incentivize the exact opposite of "balanced" play - steamroll sieges and farming kills from what little opposition there may be. Battles with even numbers take longer and don't increase your bag chance (afaik), and generally speaking there are less kills in even fights (more fighting, but less dying). Sure the premade/guild vs. PUG thing plays a part, but I've seen well run PUGs beat premade/guild WBs plenty of times. But 1 WB ain't gonna beat 2 or 3, regardless of other factors. So even numbers seems like kind of a prerequisite.

You can not and will not stop players going the path of least resisistance.

[Sulorie]

But what about the reward system, specifically? Again, imo, it is currently structured to incentivize the exact opposite of "balanced" play - steamroll sieges and farming kills from what little opposition there may be. Battles with even numbers take longer and don't increase your bag chance (afaik), and generally speaking there are less kills in even fights (more fighting, but less dying). Sure the premade/guild vs. PUG thing plays a part, but I've seen well run PUGs beat premade/guild WBs plenty of times. But 1 WB ain't gonna beat 2 or 3, regardless of other factors. So even numbers seems like kind of a prerequisite.

You can't call it farming kills, because you hardly get crests(too many ppl roll on loot drops), when you outnumber your enemy and the more loopsided it gets the more you have to search for targets to begin with.

IMO there are too many crests for just being there and not enough for contribution. Just being on the bigger side gives more rewards for doing nothing, while as underdog you could get more - and at the same time ignore the campaign - but you have to work for it.

[bittrio]

You have to ask the question as to whether the game has a hit a plateau at this point. It's as close to live as is possible in many ways and we run into the reasons the original game failed.

Lack of end game and poor class balance.

To make a game like this work you need one of two things (idealy both) fun and engaging pve end game with interesting rewards. Decent PvP class balance. RoR as it stands, has neither.

The current pve content is basicly for gearing and unless you run with a guild you won't get a group and the pvp has so many balance issues it is a mess.

The premade v casual pug issue has never really been addressed. The pug scenario is too open to abuse and the rvr is premade WBs hoovering up pugs. Now the premade players always respond with "git gud" or "group up" and forget that without a regular influx of casuals these games will just die. The MMO graveyards are littered with this lesson.

There are allot of armour sets now and this basicly stands as a block to the new and casual player. It's too daunting to grind each set for the wards, while being a renown pinata.

A gear capped SC que will go along way to fixing things. But the essential issue of overworked, unpaid devs with too many problems to fix and the established premades running off the new and casual players will keep the player numbers down.

Eventualy it'll just be the personaly sandbox of a half dozen guilds.

Yea I think you're right. I just made a post about getting farmed and came to a similar conclusion. This game needs more casual players.

'...the established premades running off the new and casual players will keep the player numbers down.' <- This is it. The game is most likely filled with highly skilled and highly geared experienced players. Which is cool, but it does create a barrier that needs to be addressed.

Even if fresh 40's start making premades, they'll still get farmed by high gear premades. You see the chat. LFG rr70+, 80+ for T4 SC's. The good geared players want to group with good geared players obviously.

I've been playing for about 3 months now and it does seem like there's no room for casual/semi-casual players in this game.

[dtjror]

I mentioned it in another thread, but now that the game is “fully developed”, it seems a reboot or a fresh server would be a good idea. Let the rr 80+, full Sov crowd do their thing, but give new players/players who are not on that level a chance to experience something more palatable.

I bet if they did that, the population on the fresh server would explode, while the old one would dwindle to a handful of elitist guilds too afraid to let go of their status.

[Scottx125]

I mentioned it in another thread, but now that the game is “fully developed”, it seems a reboot or a fresh server would be a good idea. Let the rr 80+, full Sov crowd do their thing, but give new players/players who are not on that level a chance to experience something more palatable.

I bet if they did that, the population on the fresh server would explode, while the old one would dwindle to a handful of elitist guilds too afraid to let go of their status.

I bet if they do a full reboot many would quit the server. People including me have put years of work into their accounts.

[dtjror]

I mentioned it in another thread, but now that the game is “fully developed”, it seems a reboot or a fresh server would be a good idea. Let the rr 80+, full Sov crowd do their thing, but give new players/players who are not on that level a chance to experience something more palatable.

I bet if they did that, the population on the fresh server would explode, while the old one would dwindle to a handful of elitist guilds too afraid to let go of their status.

I bet if they do a full reboot many would quit the server. People including me have put years of work into their accounts.

Hence a fresh server for fresh (new or newer) players. You want to keep your status and everything you’ve worked for, that’s fine. But the current power dynamic (you and those like you vs. fresh 40s) is exactly what is keeping it stagnant and will eventually result in only those who have been on the server for years still being around.

Edit: it’s a private server and could fold tomorrow. Nobody here is entitled to anything.