Challenging Ability
This game's base mechanics were never designed with PVP in mind and it doesn't really work well with it. Also, the player base is more composed of casual players than hard-core gamers, people not so interested in PVP.
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Crafters
Badge-hounds
AE Builders
Marketeers
Anyone post level 40
Villains
Dual-builds
... That's just things off the top that I can think of that were not available on release, thus the game was "Not designed with it in mind". Don't get me started on the different sects of players that compose the player base!
PvP, like everything else I listed, was an element added to the game through updates. A major element that they went "HEEEEY! LOOKIT THIS!" in fact.
A nice QoL function for PvPers wouldn't "break" anything, there would need to be restrictions on it of course, to help prevent it from becoming a major issue to non-PvPers.
Simply put, disable PvP (drop 'duel' mode) in any place protected by drones/no spawn.
The argument against the use of city zones? Feh, let those who partake determine that issue.
Your opponent is a coward who turns tail and vanishes in to the city? It's your choice whether you give chase and enjoy the hunt, or just say hell with it and drop the fight.
And for the argument that "heroes don't roam around the city fighting each other" .. BULL.
In the comic book universe, heroes are always fighting each other for whatever stupid reason, because nerds like sitting there going "Who would win, Superman or Batman?" And comic book writers ARE nerds!
Then of course you consider the fact that we have a lot of roleplayers (on certain servers), at any given point in Atlas you will have: Heroes, Anti-heroes, Dark Heroes, Classic heroes, Villains masquerading as heroes, villains NOT masquerading as heroes, neutral parties, people who do what THEY think is right..........
There's no reason THAT would lead to fighting ever... >.>
Most of the other arguments I've heard? Don't have much weight as those are already issues in the game.
Like the "SET FLAG!" argument.. Feh, no different than any other thing some idiot annoying **** will do. "PL ME!" "GIMME MONEY!" "JOIN MY TEAM" "JOIN MY SG", hell those last two pop up an annoying box, no different than a '/duel' box.
"I don't want to see it." ... Yeah, well I don't want to see people looking for farm teams. Some people don't want zone events, some don't want to see things trigger zone events, etc. So there is nothing that could be suggested or is already IN THE GAME, that doesn't have people going "Oooh, I don't like this! This is my game, X shouldn't be in it!"
The "congested location" argument, of course is solved by restricting the locations where dueling can be done.
I would say restrict dueling from under the Atlas Statue, just due to the sheer congestion of that location, anyways.
"PVP is still broken." Valid argument, but if you notice in the post I initially listed the stipulations that would get me to /sign it, one of them was "Fix PVP".
(And try to remember one thing: This is coming from the person who really didn't want to see PvP brought to the game in the first place.)
I already get cranky enough when someone forgets to turn of Steamy Mist or something at the Black Market. If they started dueling while I was trying to sell my loot (or, far more likely, trying to get the damn market interface to load without mapservering me), my level of personal hostility towards them would skyrocket to homicidal levels.
It's too bad, really. I would love the ability, I just don't trust individual players to be responsible with it.
One thing I'd absolutely love though, that builds tangentally off of the original suggestion, is the ability for Super Group leaders to flag their base as Duel Enabled or not so SG members could use the base itselt as a sparring ground. Maybe it could be set from one room to the next (with a small item you could place only in rooms you want to be duel-enabled, with adjacent doorways counting as well), so certain places could be designated as acceptable training areas, and others as set for no fighting.
@Eisenzahn
GW2 - Melchior.2135
AIM - Euroclydon23
Email - scorpany@yahoo.com or <sameasmyAIM>@aol.com (for the sheer novelty of an almost 20 year old email address that hasn't been overwhelmed by spambots yet)
One thing I'd absolutely love though, that builds tangentally off of the original suggestion, is the ability for Super Group leaders to flag their base as Duel Enabled or not so SG members could use the base itselt as a sparring ground. Maybe it could be set from one room to the next (with a small item you could place only in rooms you want to be duel-enabled, with adjacent doorways counting as well), so certain places could be designated as acceptable training areas, and others as set for no fighting. |
I dont think the 'tech' exists for anything other than the whole zone, but I like the item idea if that could be implemented.
One downside of the whole base would be if you zoned in at the same time as with someone who had pets out or a damage aura running.

@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
And for the argument that "heroes don't roam around the city fighting each other" .. BULL.
In the comic book universe, heroes are always fighting each other for whatever stupid reason, because nerds like sitting there going "Who would win, Superman or Batman?" And comic book writers ARE nerds! |
Superman does not regularly zip over to Gotham and say "Batman, Imma gonna punch you inna mouth". There may be a story, an arc, a reason... but they do not just say "Duel meh!"
Then of course you consider the fact that we have a lot of roleplayers (on certain servers), at any given point in Atlas you will have: Heroes, Anti-heroes, Dark Heroes, Classic heroes, Villains masquerading as heroes, villains NOT masquerading as heroes, neutral parties, people who do what THEY think is right..........
There's no reason THAT would lead to fighting ever... >.> |
And yes, as pointed out, it'll happen in WW, it'll happen in the middle of someone's CC, it'll bounce into the middle of a group of quiet chatters, it'd... you get the idea.
Like the "SET FLAG!" argument.. Feh, no different than any other thing some idiot annoying **** will do. "PL ME!" "GIMME MONEY!" "JOIN MY TEAM" "JOIN MY SG", hell those last two pop up an annoying box, no different than a '/duel' box.
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Not having the option hurts no one, having it just introduces more opportunity for noise.
Agreed and, frankly, your best argument but "arena that way". There is no _reason_ to introduce disturbance to tens or dozens of others just to satisfy a pair.
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You get taken off to the arena to fight then get brought right back afterwards.

@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
Thats something I could go with.
I dont think the 'tech' exists for anything other than the whole zone, but I like the item idea if that could be implemented. One downside of the whole base would be if you zoned in at the same time as with someone who had pets out or a damage aura running. |
@Eisenzahn
GW2 - Melchior.2135
AIM - Euroclydon23
Email - scorpany@yahoo.com or <sameasmyAIM>@aol.com (for the sheer novelty of an almost 20 year old email address that hasn't been overwhelmed by spambots yet)
I refer up to my first post in this thread. You don't even have to physically go to an arena, you can use /arenalist and create a match from anywhere. Choose one of the 'city maps' (Atlas and Steel IIRC) and go for it
You get taken off to the arena to fight then get brought right back afterwards. |
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
/arenalist
bringsup the arena console anywhere in the game create your match conditions and list. /ai playername invites your opponent Hit start match and you are ported into an arena instance and away you go. After the match you exit and get ported right back. Thats as far down the /duel route this dev team will likely go. (and /arenalist is a very new command). PVP is only to take place in specific instances, the zones, the arena and bases (when enabled), never in the regular PVE zones. |
/End Thread.
Ah, for the old days when my Dominator got petitioned for holding a guy and then beating him up. He made sure to broadcast to the entire zone that he was petitioning me for not letting him fight back.
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... just as soon as he finished filing the bug report about all the bad guys in that last mission just standing around doing nothing.
Most of the other arguments I've heard? Don't have much weight as those are already issues in the game.
Like the "SET FLAG!" argument.. Feh, no different than any other thing some idiot annoying **** will do. "PL ME!" "GIMME MONEY!" "JOIN MY TEAM" "JOIN MY SG", hell those last two pop up an annoying box, no different than a '/duel' box. |
The claim was made that introducing a duel flag that's turned to "off" by default would prevent people from spamming you with duel requests. My point was only to point out they could (and will) still spam you, just by asking for the flag to be turned on.
The burden of proof lies with the person proposing the "duel flag, default off" idea to show that it actually would help, which I doubt.
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I think you misunderstand where the burden of proof lies. There's no burden of proof on me to show that "Set flag!" spam is qualitatively different than existing spam. My post was in response to the duel flag idea.
The claim was made that introducing a duel flag that's turned to "off" by default would prevent people from spamming you with duel requests. My point was only to point out they could (and will) still spam you, just by asking for the flag to be turned on. The burden of proof lies with the person proposing the "duel flag, default off" idea to show that it actually would help, which I doubt. |
For instance - again, I'm going to point to Aion. In the options, there's a "Decline duel requests" checkbox you can pick. Mine's not set. Aion's population is roughly 3x higher than COH, being newly released. (400,000 copies at an early report. Now, cut out some dual boxes and peopel doing so for spamming/farming/etc, I think we can safely say 2x. In addition, the population is almost completely outdoors, so your chance of being seen and challenged is much higher than COH, where you've got solo to 8 person teams doing their own thing in instances.
Being a PvPvE game - where PVP is one of the selling points - you'd expect to have more duels and such breaking out, offered and the like. Yet, even without that, I have *yet* to get a duel request. This could chance when I start levelling up my fighter (likely to Gladiator,) as it's a more combat oriented AT than my Priest or mage, but my highest character *is* a combat class (Ranger,) both ranged and melee (when I remember to swap >.>.)
Going to COH, we've had 12 issues since the Arena launched. In that time, I've seen the occasional broadcast for "Anyone want to duel?" (perhaps 3x a year,) and can think of exactly one tell - which, when I said no, was the end of it.
Does this invalidate those who say people would bug them continually with /duel if it exists? No. There's another board regular - I think it's Zeikran - who talks about another MMO (SWG?) where they *did* get spammed with it at ridiculous amounts.
It's not just the existence of the option, but the community itself, both in awareness of the option and the reaction to using it. COH, being a mostly PVE game with a heavily PVE community and no "PVP dedicated" servers (meaning "by the development staff/NCSoft") plus a small PVP community... I don't think would have an issue, right offhand, past the occasional individual. (You also have to consider individual tolerance - some people wouldn't find someone bugging them to /duel for five minutes anything but funny, others would get greatly annoyed by getting just one.)
Of course, that doesn't take into account the aforementioned massive power differences between PVP and PVE - so I still think that, should such a command be introduced, it moves the involved people to a pre-made Arena match.
This game's base mechanics were never designed with PVP in mind and it doesn't really work well with it. Also, the player base is more composed of casual players than hard-core gamers, people not so interested in PVP.
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