This post will bring together several suggestions I've made in the past into one complete Issue basically. Yes, It's another epic post, but stay with me. It's gonna be worth it:
This suggestion comes in
three parts affecting changes in the enemy level system, outdoor zones and instanced missions as well as pvp system, making them come together in glorious, fun harmony. Let's begin with the quick and dirty break-down:
1. Change enemy levels
The first part is essential: Change all enemies in the same way as rikti and zombie invasion, that is minions con white, lieuts yellow etc unless you've upp'ed your diff settings.
2. Changes to instanced missions
Put all instanced outdoor missions in the actual zones. Let heroes and villains actually go to the zone and do the mission out in the open. This way the zones will come alive and it will bring the community together.
3. Let there be pvp
Yes, outdoor instanced skyway missions for villains, restrict the zone for the villains and graphically show it to heroes. Since they always con same level this would bring pvp alive and to a whole new level.
What does this really mean? Analysis and cosequences:
This would be a pretty huge undertaking, but the benefits are plenty.
First off, you could basically
skip the lk/sk/mentor/malf system with the new level system. It would make the MA easier and it would bring PLing (as in "bring your -5 level alt to the mission") to a halt (guess some think that's bad, heh). It would also
possibly allow different team members to have different diff settings (and that would probably be good for PL)
It would also
bring the zones alive in a new way. We have these wonderful city zones we basically only use (are forced to) to get to the next mission/contact. This could also be a new start to bring the zones alive with completely
new types of missions and events. Charity races on the Skyway roads for SG prestige? The possibilities are endless and we already have the zone event channels that can announce these events. Maybe we could have a kiosk like the pvp thingy so players can arrange and start events.
It would also bring villains and heroes together and make you feel
you're actions does matter. The best example is the mayhems/safegaurds. Imagine villains entering Atlas to rob the bank. Game breaking? Let's think about it:
For villains, it's
essential to do "mayhems", that is rob banks, to get a contact. If they drop in to Atlas, there would be a zone event message and the area would go red/blue/whatever on the map and temporarily be designated a pvp zone with warnings if you get close. A speedy stalker can still easily run off to the bank, break the vault and exit. A team of eight villains could have some serious fun as the Atlas posse rush to save the bank. Remember villains still get a new contact even if they fail the mayhem.
For heroes this is
not a big deal. Heroes was designed so you don't need to do safeguards, but there's some nice benefits. Imagine the event message coming up, you rush your level 50 to Atlas to get that highly desired badge and jump into the zone, realising you're the only hero there, and there's eight bad villains in that bank. You're perma-held and smacked down. Then three more heroes show up, rez you and it's payback time.
For both sides it would mean that
others can help out when you do an outdoor mission and there would be more "maps" although placement of these "zones" would need some careful planning. It's done in many other MMOs so of course it can work. It's a good way of finding new teams and friends. In LOTRO I've made several friends this way, going on a mission solo, noticing others doing the same and hooking up to help eachother.
The big difference and possible game breaker here is that we'd allow villains into hero non-pvp zones, but of course that can be done as well, although it might be a lot of work. I guess there would be heroes doing missions in certain villain zones as well. As I see it, this is possibly the only way to "save" PVP in the game since it's now a lame, near-death duck, while this would be some serious fun.
Another game breaker is the balance issue. There's soooo many more heroes. Especially the Atlas mayhem would be a problem since there's always loads of people in Atlas that can respond quickly (unlike Mercy, that you leave oh-so-fast). Then again, with the new level system,
why would the first mayhem be in Atlas? Hollows seem to be safer, so maybe someone wanna set up a bank there?
"But I don't wanna PVP!" Well, don't then!!! Once a villain enters a mission, the zone alert could go out. While he/she loads into the zone you'd have plenty of time to get to safety, and most likely it would be more of a chicken race, villains rushing to get away from any danger.
What if you're on the other side? Yeah, that's a bit tougher. These missions would have to be clearly marked as pvp content just like everything else (if they're on "the other side", most outdoor missions could be within friendly zones). I guess there might have to be a slight revamp of villain side so you don't
have to do mayhems... ...
or not. Personally I'm no fan of the pvp in this game, but going on these mayhems would be fun imho. I still get a new contact if I fail, and there's no debt, so...
Looking at what the devs have hinted at, this is - however -
unlikely to happen, since they've talked about possibly allowing cross-server teams which pretty much requires instanced missions to work. Imho my suggestion is way more beneficial to the game!
For other benefits of Part 1 and 2 of my proposal you can also see my old posts. I think this is enough for one post!
