While the ideas are good, I doubt coh will impliment a system form their old developer. Probably a lot of legal problems there...and if you look at what goes on in bb,sc, wb and rv -there is pve content there with rewards. I have gotten purple drops from npcs in RV, you get an in game nuke from BB, shivan in game pets for pvp or pve, inf and xp - av's even show up in RV from both sides.
They tried the whole reducing dmg thing by giving squishies high to capped resistance. They had to change it because pvp became low to almost no defeats.
the io drop rate for npcs is higher in pvp zones.
people are rarely attracted by this.
I like the idea of PvE mobs in PvP zones dropping PvP recipes, but it would probably be too easily farmable to be really considered.
PvP will never become "popular" because most people just don't want to PvP no matter what the rewards, for whatever reason. If you want an incentive for PvEers to PvP, the two systems need to work at least somewhat alike, and they managed to break even that. Regarding some of your points, I have a few comments:
1) Currently, all attacks on you from NPCs follow PvE rules (except mezzes, because there is no mez protection in a PvP environment). Before they "fixed" NPC mez in I15, NPC mezzes were lasting full PvE duration and they were often a death sentence, making some NPCs more dangerous than other players (go figure). Likewise, any powers you use on an NPC will follow the PvE rules. It's just that PvE combat was designed around PvE rules, and the PvP rules being applied to you (travel suppression, heal decay, DR) make taking out even a medium-sized spawn of Longbow a royal pain.
2) The anti-survivability changes (heal decay, DR, travel suppression) all work to make a squishy die faster when they're mass-targeted. It's no wonder most of the terrible players only play melee toons, because with rare exception they're the only ones that can escape a bad situation most of the time when phase/Hibernate isn't up. Likewise, PvP damage was specifically increased to balance around DR and base resistances. The net difference is negligible in most cases. I'd rather not have my damage reduced against another player simply because the fight should last longer - that's where inspirations, movement, and player skill should come into play. If my opponent wants to last more than a few seconds, they need to work for it instead of having the system give it to them. Unfortunately, when I go up against even a mediocre Blaster in zones on my Rad/Therm, more often than not I'll be forced to Hibernate because I can't put out enough damage to get them on the defensive before my health gets low, and I can't heal or run at that point.
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
Mixing pve and pvp is pure fail for both. If anything, the amount of pve in the pvp zones, especially RV, needs to be toned down.
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Aion was developed by NC Soft, not Cryptic, which just happens to also the IP to CoH. Also, the rewards offered in PvP zones are hardly comparable to anything you see in Aion.|
Originally Posted by B_Witched
While the ideas are good, I doubt coh will impliment a system form their old developer. Probably a lot of legal problems there...and if you look at what goes on in bb,sc, wb and rv -there is pve content there with rewards. I have gotten purple drops from npcs in RV, you get an in game nuke from BB, shivan in game pets for pvp or pve, inf and xp - av's even show up in RV from both sides.
They tried the whole reducing dmg thing by giving squishies high to capped resistance. They had to change it because pvp became low to almost no defeats. |
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Originally Posted by black_barrier
the io drop rate for npcs is higher in pvp zones.
people are rarely attracted by this. |
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Originally Posted by macskull
I like the idea of PvE mobs in PvP zones dropping PvP recipes, but it would probably be too easily farmable to be really considered.
PvP will never become "popular" because most people just don't want to PvP no matter what the rewards, for whatever reason. |
For PvP IO's, I imagine if PvP IO's dropped about as often as purples off of NPC's, it would be acceptable. I have seen discussion in the market forum showing that very rare drops encourage farming. However, in a PvPvE environment, with the unpredictability of players, the often negative consequences of farming (burnout) are somewhat negated by the imprompt appearance of an ambush. Win the fight, and you can happily resume your killing.
For RV, it makes complete sense that both sides would actively attack not only PC's, but NPC's. You get some of that with pill boxes, but again, for some reason, that purpose has been reduced to farming for the badges, or to spawn the AV's.
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| If you want an incentive for PvEers to PvP, the two systems need to work at least somewhat alike, and they managed to break even that. |
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Regarding some of your points, I have a few comments: 1) Currently, all attacks on you from NPCs follow PvE rules (except mezzes, because there is no mez protection in a PvP environment). Before they "fixed" NPC mez in I15, NPC mezzes were lasting full PvE duration and they were often a death sentence, making some NPCs more dangerous than other players (go figure). Likewise, any powers you use on an NPC will follow the PvE rules. It's just that PvE combat was designed around PvE rules, and the PvP rules being applied to you (travel suppression, heal decay, DR) make taking out even a medium-sized spawn of Longbow a royal pain. |
I definitely do agree that shorter duration mezzes are essential.
I agree that a lot of the new PvP rules get in the way of actual PvP. I also agree that the PvE design of this game makes it very difficult to design a viable PvP system.
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| 2) The anti-survivability changes (heal decay, DR, travel suppression) all work to make a squishy die faster when they're mass-targeted. It's no wonder most of the terrible players only play melee toons, because with rare exception they're the only ones that can escape a bad situation most of the time when phase/Hibernate isn't up. Likewise, PvP damage was specifically increased to balance around DR and base resistances. The net difference is negligible in most cases. I'd rather not have my damage reduced against another player simply because the fight should last longer - that's where inspirations, movement, and player skill should come into play. If my opponent wants to last more than a few seconds, they need to work for it instead of having the system give it to them. Unfortunately, when I go up against even a mediocre Blaster in zones on my Rad/Therm, more often than not I'll be forced to Hibernate because I can't put out enough damage to get them on the defensive before my health gets low, and I can't heal or run at that point. |
However, by increasing the length of fights, player skill comes into play. It allows players time to react to surprises by countering with inspirations - especially the squishies.
As for the net difference being negligible, my heavily IO'd Nin/Nin stalker would strongly disagree with you. There is a stark difference if I engage an NPC in a PvP zone with a PvE zone. I won't even start with talking about what I think of hide in PvP.
Another key point about Aion is that often, PvP is done in groups. Suddenly, that rad/therm corr is a little more handy to have. One interesting feature is that there are fortresses to take where you kill a fortress guardian (closest thing would be taking down Hami). This is one case where group PvP thrives. It is also where the edge in builds start to break down.
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Originally Posted by black_barrier
the io drop rate for npcs is higher in pvp zones.
people are rarely attracted by this. |
care to offer any proof of this ?
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
care to offer any proof of this ?
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lord_of_time / ka faraq has the numbers somewhere in his hard drive.
send him a pm, he's generally very very helpful when it comes to stuff like that.
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let me use an analogy for this one.|
Originally Posted by Tonality
A
However, by increasing the length of fights, player skill comes into play. It allows players time to react to surprises by countering with inspirations - especially the squishies. |
i12: you're racing straight towards a brick wall on a 2009 camaro at 95 mph, fully equipped. if you have half a brain, you can hit the brakes, and stop before hitting the wall, or you can also hit the emergency brake and swing around it.
i13: you're driving a rusted yugo, with no emergency brakes, a busted transmission and faulty brakes. you're racing at 50 mph towards the brick wall. guess what? you're ******, because you're gonna hit it, no matter what. you just have a bit more time to say your prayers.
increasing the length of fights results in mediocre players thinking they will survive the onslaught of a more experienced player, only to realize how hopeless they are after the first 10 seconds of "fighting".
why does regen work so nice in i13? because it was already good at slowing the fight.
in i12, fighting a bad regen meant i'd spend 5 minutes running him out of breakfrees on my dom, then the next 5 farming him. that was a slow match.
when you allow for further slowing, you end up with trash like 1-0 scores in 10 minute matches between good players and bad regens.
now, crap like DR does the opposite to squishies because of how the curve works. a dark/cold will get destroyed by good burst damage because it can no longer slow the fight like it used to in i12 (unless you're fighting a downie with fire damage and no kb protection). it's the whole big discrepancy between debuffs and buffs, and melee DR vs. ranged DR.
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Willdo.|
Originally Posted by black_barrier
lord_of_time / ka faraq has the numbers somewhere in his hard drive.
send him a pm, he's generally very very helpful when it comes to stuff like that. |
If it is the case, one reason it may not attract people, is that is simply is not known. This thread is the first I have heard of it.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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I'm not doing a very good job of describing PvP in Aion. PvP fights usually last about 15-30 seconds. If a player is good, it goes on for about 60 seconds.|
Originally Posted by black_barrier
let me use an analogy for this one.
i12: you're racing straight towards a brick wall on a 2009 camaro at 95 mph, fully equipped. if you have half a brain, you can hit the brakes, and stop before hitting the wall, or you can also hit the emergency brake and swing around it. i13: you're driving a rusted yugo, with no emergency brakes, a busted transmission and faulty brakes. you're racing at 50 mph towards the brick wall. guess what? you're ******, because you're gonna hit it, no matter what. you just have a bit more time to say your prayers. increasing the length of fights results in mediocre players thinking they will survive the onslaught of a more experienced player, only to realize how hopeless they are after the first 10 seconds of "fighting". why does regen work so nice in i13? because it was already good at slowing the fight. in i12, fighting a bad regen meant i'd spend 5 minutes running him out of breakfrees on my dom, then the next 5 farming him. that was a slow match. when you allow for further slowing, you end up with trash like 1-0 scores in 10 minute matches between good players and bad regens. now, crap like DR does the opposite to squishies because of how the curve works. a dark/cold will get destroyed by good burst damage because it can no longer slow the fight like it used to in i12 (unless you're fighting a downie with fire damage and no kb protection). it's the whole big discrepancy between debuffs and buffs, and melee DR vs. ranged DR. |
The point I was trying to make is that Aion solved PvP balance issues by maintaining PvE balance on NPCs, but using a different balance system on PC's. This meant that an incoming player to PvP will find that enemy mobs behave exactly as they are expected to, while PvP combat is the foreign element.
For Aion, that meant that the incredible burst DPS classes (rangers, sorcs, sins) couldn't insta-gib someone because damage was reduced by 50%. This allowed players time to react, pop potions, or run away. This solution is far superior to the current DR system.
In any case, this isn't quite the point I was aiming for.
The PvPvE environment of Aion meant that players were encouraged to try it out - and found that it can be incredibly enjoyable. On top of that, PvP was balanced around teaming, rather than 1v1 in some cases. PvPvE in Aion works incredibly well, and I think a similar system of balance and gameplay would be much more acceptable to the masses..
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Well i12 PvP was also balanced around teaming. So if we had that back. You know. Stuff.
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Originally Posted by Tonality
The PvPvE environment of Aion meant that players were encouraged to try it out - and found that it can be incredibly enjoyable. On top of that, PvP was balanced around teaming, rather than 1v1 in some cases. PvPvE in Aion works incredibly well, and I think a similar system of balance and gameplay would be much more acceptable to the masses..
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Having PvP IOs drop from critters would be the best thing ever!
Aion has an interesting concept but beyond that it is a terrible game. The only thing I would approve of is having a rift system connecting CoX to Aion so we could grief people in the Abyss.
A very sad story about War Witch and the neglected kitty. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219670
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Originally Posted by Black_Barrier
Guess it's hard to click while actively trying to keep the drool away from the keyboard...
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Originally Posted by OPTICAL_ILLUSION
Having PvP IOs drop from critters would unfortunately turn RV into a crying carebear farm zone.
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i don't see this as a problem.
i play this game to make people angry.
Barrier, you have shown me the light!
A very sad story about War Witch and the neglected kitty. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219670
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Originally Posted by Black_Barrier
Guess it's hard to click while actively trying to keep the drool away from the keyboard...
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The problem with PvP before I13 wasn't that it was unbalanced (yes, there were some things that needed to be changed, and just about every PvPer worth anything in the old system knew that, and many even offered suggestions for changes that would make it more beginner-friendly), it was that there was absolutely zero incentive to PvP other than for the sake of PvPing. Obviously many people will simply avoid PvP under that scenario, and that's what happened. After I13, most encounters under zone rules (travel suppression and heal decay on) are hopelessly unbalanced in favor of pure damage dealers, and there are no real rewards for PvPing (a token amount of inf and prestige and the chance for an inspiration or salvage drop don't really cut it, and the actual drop rate of PvP IOs is far too low).|
Originally Posted by Tonality
I was a strict PvE'er in CoH before I played Aion. After playing Aion, I found the PvP experience exhilarating. It can be frustrating, but it can be loads of fun! I think the failure of PvP in CoH has led our community to reject the possibility of any success for future PvP in this game. I believe examining successes in what makes PvP enjoyable in other games is a very good idea when the devs decide to look at PvP again.
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If the devs are serious about "fixing" PvP to make it more attractive, it needs to have more tangible rewards that improve your character in PvE as well as PvP - rewards need to be common enough as to be meaningful and not feel impossibly difficult to attain, but rare enough that there won't be a glut of them. PvP needs actual minigames instead of the non-PvP-related zone events in the PvP zones, with worthwhile rewards for the winning team. Lastly, revert to I12 rules, keep the global resistances in the patron/epic shields (not the base resists though), add unresisted travel suppression for being hit by a melee attack, and find a middle ground between the old and new mez systems (neither one is very good in a PvP context).
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| For PvP IO's, I imagine if PvP IO's dropped about as often as purples off of NPC's, it would be acceptable. I have seen discussion in the market forum showing that very rare drops encourage farming. However, in a PvPvE environment, with the unpredictability of players, the often negative consequences of farming (burnout) are somewhat negated by the imprompt appearance of an ambush. Win the fight, and you can happily resume your killing. |
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| One of the interesting features of Aion is that if you are mezzed, your resistances go up. Mez then becomes a tool to take someone out of a fight. This should be possible to implement. |
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| Balance is certainly a problem that I think Castle has admitted he wants to work out. If I remember, Fire/Dark Corrs are very effective compared to the other sets for a corr, which indicates balance problems. |
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However, by increasing the length of fights, player skill comes into play. It allows players time to react to surprises by countering with inspirations - especially the squishies. As for the net difference being negligible, my heavily IO'd Nin/Nin stalker would strongly disagree with you. There is a stark difference if I engage an NPC in a PvP zone with a PvE zone. I won't even start with talking about what I think of hide in PvP. |
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| Another key point about Aion is that often, PvP is done in groups. Suddenly, that rad/therm corr is a little more handy to have. One interesting feature is that there are fortresses to take where you kill a fortress guardian (closest thing would be taking down Hami). This is one case where group PvP thrives. It is also where the edge in builds start to break down. |
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
Wow all for that change Tonality, although along with all the other things you said I wish they'd do something about supression as well. Worse idea ever to get hit by something not ment to slow and be slowed....
there should have been pvp purples an pvp common ios, with the common pvp ios having something like a 1:10 drop rate and the pvp purples having a 1:100 drop rate.
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Thanks for taking the time to explain some things. I'm not familiar with the history of PvP in CoH, only that it is a sore wound. As I said, I'd like to enjoy PvP here as I found it quite fun in Aion.|
Originally Posted by macskull
The problem with PvP before I13 wasn't that it was unbalanced (yes, there were some things that needed to be changed, and just about every PvPer worth anything in the old system knew that, and many even offered suggestions for changes that would make it more beginner-friendly), it was that there was absolutely zero incentive to PvP other than for the sake of PvPing.
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| If the devs are serious about "fixing" PvP to make it more attractive, it needs to have more tangible rewards that improve your character in PvE as well as PvP - rewards need to be common enough as to be meaningful and not feel impossibly difficult to attain, but rare enough that there won't be a glut of them. PvP needs actual minigames instead of the non-PvP-related zone events in the PvP zones, with worthwhile rewards for the winning team. |
In RV, you are supposed to capture the pillboxes in order to change the appearance the zone to show which side is winning. However, there is no real incentive to do this.
Enter PvP IOs.
Let's suppose that the NPC's in the zone were assigned a new PvP drop pool at a reasonable rate determined by the devs. However, to have a chance at getting drops from the pool from the enemies you kill, you had to control the zone, by taking pill boxes.
Now, you don't simply go to RV to farm PvP IOs, you have to capture (and potentially defend) pillboxes in order to allow players to acquire PvP IOs by wiping out the enemy forces.
The turrets should be raised from boss status to something higher - perhaps even AV status, so they aren't easy to take solo.
Now there are is a real incentive to controlling RV, and a reason for players to try to PvP, and a real reason for SGs to begin establishing a presence in RV.
In fact, I think I'll throw this out to the wolves in the Suggestions forum.
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| Lastly, revert to I12 rules, keep the global resistances in the patron/epic shields (not the base resists though), add unresisted travel suppression for being hit by a melee attack, and find a middle ground between the old and new mez systems (neither one is very good in a PvP context). |
In CoH, mezzes are used as offense, defense, and disruption. Under the old rules, the best way to take someone out of a fight in a team match, where Clear Mind and the like would be flying around all the time, would be to bring a Sonic or FF and cage them. However, cages are virtually useless under the new rules because their duration is so short, even on control ATs.
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| There are far better Corruptor builds than Fire/Dark. Until every powerset is exactly the same, though, there will always be builds that are popular because they're better. That's just the nature of the beast. I13 was supposed to eliminate FotMs, but all it did was axe some old ones, introduce some new ones, and some are still around from the old days (Fire/EM Blaster, anyone?). |
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| Reaction time and movement is part of player skill - if you're always aware of your surroundings, as you should be in a PvP environment, you won't often get surprised, and when you do get surprised, you'll have the reaction time to do something. Now, though, you'll get hit with a mez and you'll be dead before it wears off because there's nothing you can do until it wears off. Under the old system you could've at least popped a Break Free and tried to get away. Your powers work exactly the same way against NPCs in a PvP zone as they do in a PvE zone, but the reason encounters are more dangerous against NPCs is because of DR, travel suppression, and heal decay (which NPCs have none of). |
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| Pre-I13 PvP was balanced just like PvE is - for the most part, team encounters. Team balance was thrown out the window in favor of solo balance so that everyone could "contribute equally" (read: do damage, nevermind that a team would have disruption/debuff, buff, and damage dealers so everyone was contributing). The reason you don't see many buffers around these days is because they've just turned into farm targets who are much less able to help their teammates than they were under the old rules. |
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Bing.
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Originally Posted by Tonality
Then I think that the new PvP goes against the entire structure of the PvE CoH experience. |
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Here's an amusing social experiment: go into the suggestions and ideas forum and start a thread about how the game could stand to use some rebalancing to bring certain "problem" builds in line, as everyone knows there are certain powerset combinations that are way better than others. In this thread, you'd list off the changes made to PvP in I13, but reword them and apply them to PvE so it's not immediately obvious. Make the post, and then watch the uproar as people would say "wow, if they did that, I'd quit the game." The devs knew this when I13 happened, yet they also knew that the existing PvP playerbase was so small as to be completely expendable so they had absolutely no qualm with making all those changes. Now, the PvP playerbase is even smaller, which makes me wonder if they're thinking to themselves "well, it can't get much worse, let's throw some more changes at them and see what happens," or if they're saying "hm, we should fix this."|
Originally Posted by Tonality
Then I think that the new PvP goes against the entire structure of the PvE CoH experience.
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You hit the nail on the head, good sir.
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
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No! The devs just want what's best for the game!|
Originally Posted by macskull
Here's an amusing social experiment: go into the suggestions and ideas forum and start a thread about how the game could stand to use some rebalancing to bring certain "problem" builds in line, as everyone knows there are certain powerset combinations that are way better than others. In this thread, you'd list off the changes made to PvP in I13, but reword them and apply them to PvE so it's not immediately obvious. Make the post, and then watch the uproar as people would say "wow, if they did that, I'd quit the game." The devs knew this when I13 happened, yet they also knew that the existing PvP playerbase was so small as to be completely expendable so they had absolutely no qualm with making all those changes. Now, the PvP playerbase is even smaller, which makes me wonder if they're thinking to themselves "well, it can't get much worse, let's throw some more changes at them and see what happens," or if they're saying "hm, we should fix this."
You hit the nail on the head, good sir. |
They gave you PvPers the PvP IOs that you can't get in PvE so why complain?
I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or serious. 
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
The worse possible thing they could do is balance ats. There should be high dmg ats, high control ats, healers, buffers and debuffers. Once they make everything the same it's pretty much I hit you...you hit me...I hit you...you hit me.
Beyond DR, TS and HD the things they did that ruin pvp are..
Mez duration - give it back plz. Hold should hold, Immobs should immob and not just for 1 sec...you want melee toons viable for pvp? give them back thier mez protection...make BF's a tool again..k thx
Unresisted Dmg - uhh yeah you took it away from all the hero ats but scrappers who crit at 25% of the time, yet scourge dmg is unresisted, stalker crits are unresisted..give some unresisted dmg back to the hero side.
Debuffs on defenders should be unresisted - Rad em is lol now...give it back to defenders..make them viable again.
fix fury in pvp pls...you can break 1000 things from i12 to 16 and not ever fix fury?? come on,
restore speed boost and IR as unsupressed movement buffs..make kins worth playing again in team pvp.
remove supression from all other player buffs...make it so an emp or pain dom, thermal etc does not become target #1 when trying to be a team player.
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You just gave me an amazing idea!|
Originally Posted by macskull
Here's an amusing social experiment: go into the suggestions and ideas forum and start a thread about how the game could stand to use some rebalancing to bring certain "problem" builds in line, as everyone knows there are certain powerset combinations that are way better than others. In this thread, you'd list off the changes made to PvP in I13, but reword them and apply them to PvE so it's not immediately obvious. Make the post, and then watch the uproar as people would say "wow, if they did that, I'd quit the game." The devs knew this when I13 happened, yet they also knew that the existing PvP playerbase was so small as to be completely expendable so they had absolutely no qualm with making all those changes. Now, the PvP playerbase is even smaller, which makes me wonder if they're thinking to themselves "well, it can't get much worse, let's throw some more changes at them and see what happens," or if they're saying "hm, we should fix this."
You hit the nail on the head, good sir. |
For GR they should apply the exact same rules in Praetoria that we have for PvP. This would not only provide players with a refreshing new level of challenge, but would also allow them to learn and understand these mechanics in a safe environment which will in turn make them less apprehensive to step foot into the Arena or a PvP zone. win/win
I'll be posting this in suggestions so please be sure to click over there and show your support.
A very sad story about War Witch and the neglected kitty. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=219670
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Originally Posted by Black_Barrier
Guess it's hard to click while actively trying to keep the drool away from the keyboard...
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If CoH were to apply a PvPvE approach to the PvP zones, I believe even the current version of PvP would be more popular.
In Aion, once you hit level 25, you can enter the Abyss, a large PvPvE zone filled with NPCs, and of course, PCs of the opposing faction. There are rewards for entering this zone, not only from killing players, but from killing NPCs. What I propose is a multi-stage approach to PvP.
What can be done now?
For starters, PvP IOs could be set to drop from NPCs in PvP zones. This encourages players to enter PvP zones for the purpose of killing PvE mobs. Ganking is a possibility, but if you want to take a risk, you are more than welcome to!
Smart players will begin to team up with friends, while smart predators will begin to team with friends as well. Enter group PvP. Enter a new use for being in an active SG or VG.
While allowing PvP IOs to drop from NPC mobs will indeed encourage farming, it inadvertently leads to PvP. In my case, I found the rush from PvP in Aion enjoyable enough to stop grinding and start wasting my money actively PvPing.
What can be done in the future?
Revamp and simplify the current DR system by:
1) Governing all PvE mobs in PvP zones to follow traditional PvE rules in combat. Every attack should work exactly as it does in PvE, so it makes sense to entering PvE'ers.
2) Increasing the duration of PvP combat by reducing player damage on another player by an arbritary number (such as Aion's 50%).
3) Diminishing returns would not be needed under this system. Yes, tricked out builds will rule in PvP at times, but there are these things called inspirations and player skill...
4) Further encourage the PvPvE concept with scripted onslaughts of NPCs on enemy bases, allowing players to join in on either side.
5) Open-instanced challenges - the defeat a certain enemy missions, with an appropriate reward.
Disclaimer:
1) I know the Devs have plans to revamp PvP sometime in the future.
2) I know PvP discussion often ends in flames. Please don't make this true in this case.
3) I know PvP is occasionally brought up on the forums. I searched and did not see any topic regarding Aion's PvPvE system.
4) I am a pure PvE'er from CoH. After trying out Aion, I left the game with 1600 PvP kills. I found that I enjoyed the rush I got out of PvP, even moreso when I was in the middle of fighting enemy mobs.