Goofing off at work so here's a thought.

What about combining Gladiator pets with Day Jobs and PvP rep?

Earning a combination of all of the above would allow you summon 1 charge of a Gladiator for PvE purposes, just like a Shivan or HVAS or Amy.

The Day Job Accolade would be the power that needs recharging and your PvP rep would determine the type of Gladiator you could summon (or duration or level).

Of course, you'd have to earn the specific Gladiator pet that you wanted to summon but may as well put Gladiators and PvP rep to some kind of use in the regular game...

problem is not everyone PvP's. and that is a huge part of the player base. so unfortunately i have to say no as we would be overwhelmed by the no's anyways.

the problem is that if they don't want to PvP they won't. no matter what you dangle in front of them. i wasn't saying that it wasn't a good idea, i was saying that about 95% of the player base won't do it. you may get a bunch of hard core badgers doin it, but it won't be free of complaints that they have to PvP to get this.

I'd like to earn a temp pet for each reflecting gladiator unlocked for some amount of online time.

This may seem OT, but it isn't - read on.

PvP in this game really suffers from attempting to be integrated yet separate. The devs should decide which direction to go instead of trying both. With things like dual builds and different PvP rules, I really do thing the devs should continue to sever ties to PvE.

For example, let's look at gladiator pets. You unlock them from badges that are most likely earned doing PvE content in a PvE zone. To most PvE'ers, gladiator badges are simply another badge. To PvP'ers, it's just another PvE element they have to do to make their PvP character.

Let's look at PvP IO's as well. A great idea - sets that are PvP friendly. However, when implemented, a horrid drop rate paired with their attractive use for PvE has made some of these heavily contested for PvP'ers, but for powergamers, which may or may not PvP. As a carrot on a stick for encouraging PvE'ers to enter PvP, the high prices and limited availability discourage players, because it creates a mentality that only a very expensive build is viable in PvP, when this isn't necessarily the case!

Back to topic.

Where exactly would this power be used? If it is for PvE, it is not a good idea for the reasons listed above - the PvP environment needs to separate itself from PvE and attract players on the very merit of itself - the opportunity to PvP.

If it's for PvP, I don't want any more pets for PvP. Pets are stupid and offer little more than a distraction. Worse case, they aggro some NPCs and suddenly I'm subjected to non-DR enemies in a DR environment.

However, your idea does point to an intersting issue: Why are gladiator badges unlocked via PvE when it's a PvP function? Why isn't this entire gladiator system built around PvP activity?

that is why i suggested this:

after earning the gladiator badge for defeating so many npc's, we could get a 1 time use temp power, like the snow beast is, in which we get the use of the gladiator for 4 minuets and still have the gladiator selection for arena matches. only 1 gladiator can be summoned at a time by one person.

Wow. A lot of anger in here. Let me just start with this: I don't think the OP had a bad idea. I'm a big fan of little bonuses that you have to work for, be it pvp or pve. And no, I'm not a pvper. I am a badger, however. And I don't mind going into hostile territory where I might get ganked for a little bit of rep/fun. It's part of the challenge and part of the game. I've also had people who did seem to enjoy me in a pvp zone even though I was just there for badges. More people to kill means more fun for those doing the killing.

There are also a lot of things in game that the majority don't do, but can. Ever try getting a heavy in RV? And who knows, maybe something like this will introduce some people to pvp that never thought they would be any good at it. Something like this could actually build the pvp base. Which would then give the devs more reason to make pvp better.

I also don't know why anything in a game like this should be completely separate from everything else. If everyone pretended like there was no such thing as pvp, then there would be no reason for it to be here. Which would then drive away those few who do enjoy pvp here. Pvp and pve should compliment each other. One should encourage players to at least attempt the other.

The 1 time use idea is pretty bad, too. Who wants a 1-time non-rechargeable temp? I remember one of the biggest temp-power related questions when Oro came out was, "Can I get another Amy?" I'm willing to bet that the player base would have accepted a slightly gimped version of her in order to get the pet more than once.

I would also like to add that I am seriously looking into joining pvp. The main reason? Pve "carrots" such as badges, temp powers, and pvp IOs.

I'll finish with this: Solicio, you come off as very rude. Maybe it's just me, but the way you write you posts makes it seem like you feel that the game is here for you, and if you don't want it, then the rest of the player base must agree. Pum was being extremely reasonable here, which is kind of different, and all you did was act like you think you're better than him. And I actually thought Leo was being funny, and got his point across quite well. So enjoy your negative rep, and Leo, here's a little to balance that out.

I kinda like this idea. I don't do PvP, except to get the Shivans, and Nukes, and that isn't really PvP as far as I'm concerned, just that it is in the PvP environment. I think it would need a lot of work, however.

First, the ability to pick which Gladiator was summoned would definitely be needed. Nothing like wanting a Raider Engineer for the Force Field and get a Cog due to random selection. There are about 52 Gladiators for Heroes, and 53 for Villians. Odds are against you that you'll get the one you want, or one that will help. But, would be nice to have another buddy...

Second, I think the aspects of the power should be different for PvE, and PvP. While most of your Gladiator badges are earned through PvE, they are in fact for the PvP aspect. Granted you can only use them in the arena, and your char doesn't actually engage, it is considered PvP. For earning the power, it should involve the PvP Day Jobs, and Accolade. Although, there is already a power (Combat Shield: Toggle) associated with the Day Job Accolade, (oddly enough, "Gladiator") I wouldn't know what else might be needed to gain this summoning power. I think it should be placed on a lengthy timer, say 20 minutes, that way people aren't popping out gladiators every five minutes, and the summon should last 4-5 minutes. For PvE, that would be static. No effect from bonuses, etc. For PvP, I think the timer should stay the same, but duration would be adjustable based on your Rep. The more Rep, the longer it lasts, up to at least 10 minutes. I would say no more than 15, but that would be pushing it. Of course you would be able to buff and heal both aspects. Also, I think the PvE aspect should be non-controlled, much like the Shivans, and the PvP would be controllable, like the Heavies. Each would be based off the environment you were in of course.

Also, I think there would be a need to seperate which class of Gladiators you could summon based on some sort of timer, or environment. For instance, you shouldn't be able to keep summoning the Boss class gladiators over and over. Maybe make it so each class must be summoned once before you can summon that class again. I realize that could put you in a loop (Minion, LT, Boss, Minion, LT, Boss...) but maybe set it so the power resets after a certain amount of time logged off, and you can start over. Or, the power is inactive/unused for so long, and will reset. Maybe even set the classes so Minions are able to be summoned each time, LT's every other time, and Bosses every third.

Neat idea Pum, thanks for sharing.

The number one problem with suggesting anything be added that pertains to PvP is ismply the fact that few people do it. If 95% of the players avoid PvP like the plague, then it is extremely difficult to justify putting many resources towards it. Even ideas that have the potential to boost PvP numbers are a hard sell because they're not guaranteed to do so and may be viewed as a poor use of time and money by the bean counters.

Take a look at the rather disaterous pass at PvP last time. They put considerable resources into altering PvP to make it more appealing to a larger audience and ended up lowering the PvP numbers and losing some subscribers. The investement wasn't just a bad one, but a losing one. Worse, it means the PvP community is smaller now making it even more difficult to justify the expendature.

The sad fast is, the fewer people who PvP the less business sense it makes to do anything with or for PvP (including more rewards). The second sad fact is, the more they have done with PvP has had a negative or neutral impact on PvP population in general, meaning they have a second reason to simply let PvP sit there as is.

After the earlier and expensive failures, any idea to deal with PvP will pretty much have to be a near guaranteed winner for increasing the population, and enticing PvEers into PvP via rewards isn't a guaranteed winner. Odds are the PvEers will do what they've always done, go in low population times for the rewards (such as Nukes and Shivs) or set up farms that split up the second someone actually tries to PvP (like Rep Badges and Rep Gladiators). The end result will be a short term spike in zone population followed by more doldrums and PvEers more convinced PvP sucks and more PvPers convinced the zones are too dead.

While there is nothing expressly bad or wrong with the original idea (though it would likely be severely tweaked before implimentation) it simply fails to "work" from a business standpoint. It doesn't appear to have the potential to increase PvP populations long term and would be viewed as a waste of time and money in the long run.

I'm just going to restate what I've said many times before - adding PvE rewards to the PvP game is a mistake, because it just pisses people off and does nothing to promote PvP. It's the symptom of a flawed idea that you need "just more people" for PvP to be fun, ignoring the fact that you need not just more people, but more INTERESTED people. You get interested people, as well as more people interested, but putting tasks in PvP which are relevant to the act of PvP itself. This gets people to participate, not just exist within the same shared space as people looking for PvP.

Let me put it very simply - trying to get people not interested in PvP into PvP zones to fragged by people interested in PvP is a mistake. It adds nothing to the "challenge" everyone claims to want out of the thing, and it pisses off the victims at the same time, who vow to never return in their own right.

Basically, it's the act of putting a reward associated with one action behind an action wholly unassociated with it. The result is that you get a lot of people who want the reward but hate the activity, and an equally many people who want the activity, but don't care about the reward. And that's not a good use of resources. Far as I'm concerned, any action should provide rewards associated with the action itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

This thread amazes me. The OP had a perfectly reasonable idea. The naysayers saw the initials PvP and just applied the NOWAY rubber stamp.

I see people go into PvP zones all the time to get badges and needed items such as Nukes and Shivan's. Are the naysayers saying that people aren't doing that? What is the difference between those activities and the OP's idea?

I think most of the posters in this thread misunderstood the suggestion.

As I understood it, there would be an accolade based on day badges that allows one to summon a gladiator. One could summon a gladiator upon earning the appropriate badges and "charging" the accolade like other day job accolade powers.

The only PvP portion of the suggestion was to make PvP reputation affect the day job accolade in some way -- longer lasting, higher rank, whatever.

So the suggestion, to add a day job that allows one to summon a gladiator pet, is awesome!

I also like the suggestion to have PvP reputation give it a little longer lasting, or perhaps make it controllable in PvP like a mastermind pet as someone else suggested.

And personally, I would like it if it summoned a gladiator at random. While it might be a bit gameable (only acquire the gladiator badges for powerful gladiators) I think that a long recharge and the fact that some gladiators wimpy gladiators are almost unavoidable would keep it from being over powered.