Thirty-Seven

I see, it's not an opposition to the idea, but to the concept that some things will be visible that were never meant to be. Gotcha.

This suggestion... may not be what you came here expecting considering the "label" on the packaging.

CoH launched without PvP. It was introduced several issues later, and was... to my understanding, luke-warmly received. Its population ebbed and flowed until Issue 13 in which it was perceived by Development that something needed to be done to entice non-PvPers into the PvP mini-game. This decision was regarded (to be generous) by the PvP Community as a massive flop. Though it leveled some aspects of the field, it devastated others. Sum total? It was a failure.

Today? PvP is often regarded as a joke by the non-PvP crowd (and by many avid PvPers as well). It has been lowered to an afterthought of a red-headed stepchild-type rank.

The Proposal:
SO... my suggestion is, essentially, for CoH to cut its losses, stop pretending they are ever going to fix or adjust PvP to align with the wants and needs of those who do it now, and (all but) remove it completely from the game entirely.

You read that right. Remove almost all vestiges of PvP and stop pretending. While this action will likely have lots of negative responses from certain segments of the player-base, ultimately having a token PvP System in this game does a disservice to anyone who comes here looking for that type of game-play. It simply isn't supported in any meaningful way, and it should be clear that if that's what you want, you probably won't be satisfied with what we have.

That leaves a lot of loose ends: the zones, arenas, Badges, etc.

Badges
• Remove all badges directly tied to defeating other players or gaining bounty.

• Retain all badges for completing objectives in PvP Zones (I'll get to that).


PvP IOs
• Add PvP IO drops as a very low chance to drop from defeating Boss class enemies in PvP Zones, and as a slightly larger chance to drop during the "Hero/Villain Incursion" Events that will occur in all former PvP Zones.

• PvP IOs will have an increased chance as present to drop from defeated players in the Arena (I'll get to that too).


Hero/Villain Incursion Events
• As a way to simulate a bit of the flavor lost to PvP Zones: Siren's Call, Bloody Bay, Warburg and Recluse's Victory will have a new zone event added.

• During this zone event (mechanics to be debated): Heroes from the Paragon Heroes faction, or Villains from the Rogue Isles Villains faction will spawn in proportion to the number of heroes/villains in the zone. They will only be hostile to the faction they oppose (PH to Villains, and RIV to Heroes). Defeating these AV class enemies have a chance to drop a PvP IO slightly lower than the old rate to drop from defeated players.

Zones
• All Zones will lose their auto-exemplar mechanic and act like regular zones with standard level range that dictates enemy spawns

• Bloody Bay: Now a Level 15-25 Co-Op Zone
— Add Neo-Shivan spawns
— Add a new Zone Event in which a Shivan Obliterator GM will spawn, presumably triggered by collecting a certain number of Meteor Fragments
— Everything else, will stay as is.

• Warburg: Now a Level 30-38 Co-Op Zone
— Everything will stay as is.

• Siren's Call: Now a Level 20-30 Villain Zone
— Add new Strike Force: the Battle for Siren's Call ~ It will be a 20-30 SF designed to emulate the former object of SC in some way. Not entirely sure how to accomplish that, but it will add a new zone to Red-Side as well as a new SF in a level range where one is needed.
— Add a Story Arc to the Zone consisting of at least 3 new contacts.
— Add a Repeatable Mission contact that tells a bit about the history of the zone through interaction with a Pillar of Ice and Flame.
— Everything else, will stay as is.

• Recluse's Victory: Now a Level 45+ Co-Op Zone
— Everything will stay as is.

Arenas
• The Last Bastion of PvP!

• The ability to fight other players will be retained in the Arena, along with the settings that go with that (1v1, Teaming, Pentad, etc.).

• Additional instanced versions of zones will be added for: SC, BB, RV, and WB.

• Additional options will be added to the interface, essentially, to make it possible to go to pre-i13 PvP or any combination thereof. I seem to recall that even with the current options, some things are lacking and maintain a bit of the "new" PvP.

(Edit: As an additional thought... one could preserve the zones without any changes by adding Ouro crystals to each Arena-space allowing access to Echoes of the zones as they once were... if you want a far less dramatic approach to the whole thing.)

Sam, you of all people should be able to see the utility of floating helmet details above hats! Considering the many unorthodox costume requests you have made, asking that something not be allowed like that should seem like a smack to creativity. While some will look ridiculous, Draeth is proposing that it be left to the player to not use those.

Simple.

I support this idea 100%, and further endorse that other categories be looked at with a similar eye to reducing category bloat.

Ummm, okay. So you must be saying that if all Procs are decreased in Damage... somehow individuals using them will somehow still not be equal?

My point was that if all of them decrease in effectiveness, it won't matter since no -one- PvPer will be at a disadvantage. You didn't seem to speak to that.

I don't PvP, so maybe I am missing something... but if its a global Nerf... won't everyone be on the same footing still, since it will hit everyone?

So... how long until people get all up in arms, pissing and moaning that the powersets announced at the Pummit (prior: 'leaked' on Beta) are -still- not available in-game... You know, Staff Fighting: Part Deux.

Option 3: One that doesn't involve Penny at all.

He's only blaming the players that see population as an issue... then, instead of staying as a small boon they leave making it worse... and then telling other people that's why they did it. Which, arguably, is worse than just doing it.

Yeah, I don't really even think these should exist... let alone buy one. To me, it seems like a way to get out of doing 2XP Weekends... why give them away if you can milk the costumer base for the same thing?

Doesn't at least some post-apoc fiction end with the main hero having survived a harsh landscape, after battles with fiercer enemies in a world that has been torn asunder? How does that not speak of overcoming adversity and perserverance?

I don't think I can answer the question in this thread... because if I don't know it exists, I can't very well talk about it, can I?

I'm not much of an RPer... and I have never played on Union... but I keep wondering how it is that you folks have a totally different continuity than the one that is actually going on in-game? How the heck do new folks join you if they can't reference stuff they know? Is this a closed group thing?

Just curious for the sake of curiosity as I have seen a few threads pop up recently about events and things that... well... are being ignored or whatnot.

First of all: TLDR

Second why would the Devs ever want to make it -more- viable than it already is to drop to Premium? If you ask me there should be -less- of a reason to unsubscribe, never more.