I have been looking to other games to see how they PvP. The sad thing is, I haven't seen one game take a step away from the crowd and actually try to make a PvP system different from other games. It's not that the other games got it right. Heck all of the games have been 100% wrong in PvP so far. Matter of fact, PvP in games so far is strictly based on how LAZY the programmers are. Not trying to flame, but how can you say that making a zone a free for all and letting the players figure out the rules for themselves, is somehow a well thought out PvP system.
It isn't a thought out system at all. It's bland and predictable, and has been done in every game to date. We need a game that steps forward and trys to tackle the issue of PvP with a REAL system that addresses the players needs and makes them REALLY feel as if they are in a war.
Let's start off with prolly the most controversial idea in my whole article. That is the elimination of ALL 0% and 25% zones in the game. The reasons for this goes beyond the PvP issue so I'll try to explain why this is a good thing. By te way, that doesnt mean a death to PvP, but only to Ganking as we know it now.
Benifits of 75% zones
1. It brings in more players to the game. This is the single most important thing that has kept games going is the company realizing that 99% of people do NOT like to be ganked. In no game in online history has a game been highly successful and succeeded with free-for-all zones. People may play an alternate server for fun but dont like this as only means to play.
Ultima Online is the Ultimate example of this. For over 2 years they had 1 dimension only which eventually became known as Felluca. ANYTHING was allowed here with no real punishment to the people participating. When Trammel was opened up All the players that had lived to wreak havok on the casual player declared this the death of Ultima Online and the game would go under withen the year.
Withen 1 year of the introduction of Trammel, Ultima Onlines subcription base went up 100,000 accounts. This was after a year of sharp declines in active accounts. Other factors contributed to Ultima Onlines revival, but this one of the major ones.
The player behavior clearly showed that most people preferred Trammel and the result was Felucca looking like a ghost town. Most of the people that where left on Felluca side where the ones that owned houses in Felluca, but that only made them migrate from both sides meaning they would only come over to refresh their home or do some macroing.
2. Removes the worst part of War. Historically the worst parts of war was the complete lawlessness that often occured. From the Looting, pillaging, and raping of complete towns all the way down to the killing of innocent children and women. The truth is, given no retribution, humans would degrade into their worst personalities. This lowering of morals and what not would be a sort of retribution in itself, so that it would look just like the state AO is in now. Alot like the "Old West" days of American history. A sort of informal set of rules to generally get from day to day, but nothing set into stone that would help us really enjoy the game unless we played in the worst possible way.
3. Allows for the evening out of the zones. Right now everyone is jamming into a few zones creating huge amounts of lag. By opening up these other zones, by increasing the gas percentage, it would allow people to level in other places besides missions. Of course alot would have to be doen in the mean time to fix spawns around Rubi-Ka but it would be a good start. Other things like adding whompas, banks, saves, grids, and everything else that makes up a successful zone. Otherwise you will still have EVERYONE jamming into missions trying to level at a decent rate without worrying about being ganked.
Like the old saying goes, "If you cant change human nature, then you have to consider changing the rules of the game." So either the gas and missions have to go, or you figure out a new way to make people fight. This often means making changes that would call into question you once believed in. Sometimes though you have to ask yourself the hard questions, or consider continuing to lie to yourself. I myself would rather call into question my beliefs long before I continued on with a system that has been flawed since its inception.
How would we Fight the war then? Well first have to look what war really is. Is war just fighting or are there focused stratagies, pinpointed targets,meaningful goals,specific and significant battlefields, near unbeatable strongholds, and legendary groups of soldiers? To me war is the latter and not just a free for all in certain zones.
War can't be boiled down into one aspect of the whole experience. Heck the only game to bring it down into its simplest and most complete aspect is the game of chess, yet no one can claim it is just a simple game. It's far beyond that and that is what AO needs to capture as much as possible.
Of course it would be near impossible to redesign AO to complete this task, but there are many things that can be done to bring it close to our final goal which is a PvP system which for once in online RPG history has some meaning. Maybe, if we are lucky, the next generation of gaming will glean a little of what we propose here and finally take gaming to that next level.
So, whithout anymore delays, here is SOME of the ideas I propose and hope you can add more ideas to them to get a better grasp of what needs to be done to put in place an actual system that simulates war as close as possible.
I really think several ideas need to be discussed at once. Not only the fact it allows for Funcom to choose more than one idea, but also doesnt make us put all of our eggs in one basket. Plus I hate the fact everyone thinks in singular terms. The game should work on so many levels, even if it is essentially the same thing. There should be several ways to PvP, just as there should be several ways to gain experience :O) Anyways here is some of my expanded ideas :O)
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