Something of a thought for Eve Online here - though nothing to do with making ISK - but all about seeing if we can bring the joys of PVP to the PVE / HighSec community.
What does WoW do for instant PVP or team based PVE?
Eve Online gives me the great market based game (much deeper than World of Warcraft) but is not as good on the ability to get into team based PVE or PVP almost instantly if i am not in the right location geographically in the game. Generally, i have to travel to get some team based PVE or PVP.
The way World of Warcraft allows such instant PVP or team based PVE to happen from very early on in the game (i got to that point within 4 hours) is to allow players to queue to form a group that is going to enter PVP or PVE. Whilst they are in the queue they can continue doing what they were already doing (general PVE etc). These are called Instances, and the other players on the server can not interfere with them.
The queuing players specify the role they will take (tank, healer or dps).
And once enough people are in the queue to form a group each player gets notified that the PVE / PVP is about to start and, if they accept, they are instantly taken from their current location to the location of the PVE / PVP event. Once over, each player is returned to their prior location.
How could this relate to EVE?
Clearly, Eve already has PVE / PVP events ready to go but, as far as i am aware, there is no way of being transported straight there?
My proposal is to create PVP events (instances), with set ships and specs (say 5 frigates on each side with set specs and set clone specs) where players can put themselves in a queue to join. When enough people are ready then the players are notified and transported straight to the event. Hence, these can happen at any time - just needs enough players to want to play.
Would seem to be an ideal way of getting different players together and allowing PVE / HighSec players to see what PVP is all about.
And something similar could happen for team based PVE.
But would this not detract from general PVP?
Not really. It does not in WoW. It is another aspect of the game that allows solo players to mix with others or those in guilds (corps) to enjoy team based events when their corp is not online.
I would argue it hugely detracts from world pvp in WoW. Originally there were no battlegrounds and players fought in the leveling up zones, most notably Southshore/Tarren Mill. As BGs became established we saw people drift away from that style of play to the more rewarding BGs.
ReplyDeleteIn Warhammer Online the effect was even more marked. The game was intended to be a RvR game. In beta they added scenarios (their word for battlegrounds), then players complained they weren't rewarding enough. Just before launch they significantly buffed scenario rewards so the game launched and all the PvPers did instances all day.
If we introduce BGs to Eve, eventually the people who do them will work out they need rewards to shorten queue times to an acceptable wait.
In addition these areas would have to be immune to open world pvp - we can't just come hotdrop you. So you're asking for a zone even safer than freighter hauling in a 1.0 high sec system.
This issue idea has been batted back and forth for years. Nothing will ever go forward on it. Code does exist for it in a proto form, Veritas did work on a 1v1 system called "dojos" before leaving CCP as his flex project. It did not survive contact with the opinions of the player base even though it's more or less sitting completed. It was shouted down so loudly it didn't really even enter limited testing to see what sort of impact it would have.
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly agree with their reasons for shouting it down. But.. shrug. In some instances we're our own worst enemy in why we can't have nice things. Not the first or last intriguing idea that didn't survive contact with the player base even for a limited test run.