Originally Posted by
Dubanka
I actually agree with you.
VD has argued for a long time that PO weapons need to be significantly nerfed.
We have also argued that the insignificance of gear (armor/clothing) was a major problem.
VD has argued since we first showed up on these forums that pvp needs a point. Pointless pvp is boring pvp. Sometimes you fight to pick a fight, but usually you fight over something. To extend my economic model from before:
harvest raw materials --> crafted goods --> goods get destroyed through use --> need for new goods --> locate raw materials source --> secure raw materials --> harvest raw materials
The point of contention in this model is the securing of the materials. You are either doing this by holding the land, or taking/stealing/buying it from the person who does hold the land, or taking over the land. This is your conflict point. The conflict point then drives the pvp cycle (craft gear --> pvp --> craft replacement /better gear)...there is always an arms race (assuming of course the gear is not worthless, as it is now).
Pointless pvp wont work. If pointless pvp worked, this game would be thriving...because pvp is completely and utterly pointless right now. Most people, even those that are 100% uber rabid pvp fans, enjoy having a point behind their action...it's the achiever piece of the bartles equation. PvP in a a territorial war has a couple phases.
I- rpk. random walking around opportunity killing. ie. what we have now. dude on on a trash hill not paying attention to his surroundings...guess ill kill him and take his stuff.
II- reprisal pk - dude comes back and camps your town in penalty for killing.
III- resource pvp - fighting over resource zones/nodes/mob spawns.
IV- asset wars- usually an escalation from reprisal or resource pvp. Sometimes purely expansionist.
We have players that like to pick fights...they like I & II. We have more players that like the team based focus that you get with III. All like when the skirmishing culminates in the 'real' game, which is defending your house, or trying to burn someone else's down. There isn't anything quite like fighting to defend something you've spent a large amount of time making, or fighting someone who is trying to protect their own investement. It's a completely different level of intensity as compared to I-III. It's not oftent that you find real emotion (fear, desparate, elation, even pride) in a video game...but the fights we've had bring that out.
1. Fix the Mechanics.
2. Fix the Gear.
3. Implement Resources.
4. Implement Seiging mechanics.
OK, finally. To drive home the 'need' to get some type of resource, that is where the totem expansion idea i posted comes in. There has to be a constant consumable requirement, for a consumable that does not currently exist. Everyone wants to make their tribe bigger, badder, whatever. Everyone wants a 6 story totem. Go get the unobtanium, and its cousin cantgetthisOre, and rank up your totem. oh, it takes 10 of each, per week, to maintain. Now you have a reason to get something, a reason to fight for something, so you have a reason to get gear, etc. etc. etc.
anyway. TLDR, i know. apologies.