What do you like about the Current CoH PvP Experience

What I like about current PvP?

I like that I don't have any need to participate.

That there's nothing I need, or even anything that I want, that forces me into combat with other people. Back before the craftable temp powers that got added last year, if I wanted significant backup firepower, I'd have to consider grabbing nukes or shivans, but now I can just head to the market instead.

I'm not a badger, and I don't run difficult TFs/trials on high difficulty, so there's nothing in the PvP zones I have to concern myself with.

PvP IOs aren't important with the exception of a few absurdly valuable single pieces, and if someday I discover a build of mine MUST have one, I can get those through the market or a-merits. Generally, I can get the performance I need for my style of play without them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.

What I like about Current PvP in this game is that there are still people who care about PvP enough and are civil in discourse, even though PvP has been extremely flawed and had its legs chopped off at the knees.

Other than that, nothing. Kudos on asking, though.

Some other things I like that might have already been said are PvP IO's and that epic shields and Tough gives resistance to all damage types.

Zones: Nothing. I used to zone PvP quite a bit, but TS and HD made it so unfun, I never bother any more. The different mez mechanics between players and NPCs are stupidly broken as well. I wouldn't have minded an effort to tweak the former mez system, because I can sympathize (somewhat) with players getting frustrated that came into zones and dying as soon as they were out of BFs; however, the previous system had hard counters (such as said BFs or CMs) versus the lag-mimicking, stop-go junk we have now.

Arena: Being able to select specific arena maps is an improvement, though I seemed to be the only person screaming about how important it was to be specific in what we all really wanted...which was a checkbox system that would've allowed us to have random map selection with the ability to exclude maps. If you know anything about arena history, you know that the same few maps (monkey cage, office, and sometimes caves) are typically excluded in leagues.

I like the buff timer.

Compared to other games, I still prefer the speed and the fact that there are still roles (though reduced now) to be played on arena teams. The 'No TS' and 'No HD' buttons help, but the 'No DR' button is pointless to me without a 'No Base Resists' button. I'd suggest to add that button and a 'Use Previous Mez System' button...but that again goes back to feeling like I was mostly alone in knowing that we'd end up getting an incomplete gift (since I argued that we needed an 'i12 Rules' button if anything).

Zone PvP - Nothing. I only use those zones for the temp powers you can get there

Arena PvP - Being able to customize the settings i.e. turning of DR, travel suppression, pre match buff periods are good to get on "equal" ground to start off.

As with a majority I enjoyed PvP more pre I13 but I still see potential for it be a major factor again in the game. With a few tweaks and some incentive to PvP (other than PvP IOs since you can get those in arena) zone PvP could make a comeback like it did when Recluse's Victory was released. That was probably the most fun i had in PvP.

A Praetorian PvP zone would be interesting. Of course for maximum playability it would require the Praetorian zones to go to 40-50 for end game quality PvP. I know this would require a MASSIVE content implementation but it would be something to aim for in the future.

I like the PvP IO's.

While i never used arena before except only to test builds with friends, like everyone else, its good that we can turn off most of what was forced upon us in I13

As for zone, nothing, its completly ruined & more unbalanced than ever.

There should be no difference between PvP & PvE, every AT has its strengths & weaknesses, and consequently should know the role of the toon they intend to bring into that enviroment.

Just to make it easy for you "boiling down and all"

Majority

You asked what do you like about the current state of pvp -

ZONE - "NOTHING"
ARENA - "being able to turn off most of the i13 mistakes"

Nothing.

Castle is no longer around though so why not just slip in pre-i13 ways of PvP?

I like the fact that Powers can function differently in PvP than in PvE, so that if a power is too powerful in one, it doesn't have to change in the other as well. There hasn't been a single complaint about powers being nerfed in one because of the other, since.

That's about all that I like about the current PvP experience (I didn't like it prior to I13 either, just FYI. I think there need to be more PvP minigames like CTF, and less PvE objectives placed in PvP zones, and there needs to be some way to balance the number of players on each side for zones).

Z,

How about organizing a PvP event on Test? Get some of the devs out. Get a bunch of PvPers out. And work to get some people who wouldn't ordinarilly PvP out.

And then solicit feedback.

There are parts of i13 PvP I think that were an improvement over i12.

The Mez system being less binary was a step forward in my book. I think you could make it "great" with 3 steps.
1: Leave mez resistance and timers as is, make break free's actually break you free (i.e. 10 seconds of mez protection + breaking the current mez) You wouldn't need to use them all the time, but they would still be useful for dangerous mezzes.
2: Give status protection powers (Clear mind, Clarity, Increase Density, Enforce Morale) 3-5 seconds of mez protection after they are cast, then the standard duration on Mez resistance. This would allow emps to break dangerous mezzes if they are quick enough.
3: Make TK's duration effected by mez resistance (Somewhat). Also allow popping a break free to break it.

The lack of complete toggle dropping was an improvement.

The idea of free resists/tough/epic shield res to all was an improvement, though there were a few problems with that.
1: Too much resistance. Being able to hit 75% with free resists + epic res shield before DR is way too much.
2: It would have been better implemented when defender debuffs were unresisted, blasters and stalkers hit much harder, and blasters had a small portion of unresisted damage.

I'd also like to note if buffers were ever made useful again (i.e. Sonic/Therm Shields) Please make sure there is a meaningful source of psi resistance somewhere)

Damage Calculation based on Activation. This was a good idea, but things like End Cost, Range, Recharge time, power tier were not given enough consideration into the formula.

The best example for this I think is either Blaze or Bitter Ice blast. Where the tier 2 blast in the set costs less endurance, recharges faster, has more range, does more damage, for .67 second slower cast time.

DR was a good idea. Sort of. It could have balanced things out, but ended up messing over buffing and debuffing classes. If anything there should be two DR curves. The first for what your character can do themselves. Then another for outside/external buffs buffs. (Making buff's do something once more) There is without a doubt a middle ground between tank-mage status and buffing being next to useless.

The Ability to take off HD/TS is a feature I like, without it I think team arena would be next to unplayable.

I like PvP IO's. I don't like the system used to reward them.

I like the buff timer at the start of matches.

I like the phase period after you respawn.

I like PVP IOs. I think its a ****** system that encourages farming.

I LOVE the zones. I think there are not enough incentives to actually play in them. There are definitely NOT enough people to fill them nicely

Why not close off pvp ios in the zones, but make it so purples have a chance to drop on ANY mob in a pvp zone? Make pvp ios drop much faster, but only in base raid pvp? Everyone loves base raid pvp anyway.

Stuff and things. I really really really liked base pvp. I think generic zone pvp could be really awesome but just lacks stuff to have more people play. :/

I like the speed.

Zone PvP: Nothing, other than temporary powers.

Arena: Other than the few other Arena badges I haven't gotten. Nothing.

I like that phased people can attack other phased people.

I like the IDEA behind heal decay and travel suppression. As a once-in-a-great-while PvPer on a controller, it always REALLY cheesed me off when someone was zipping around faster than i could turn my camera to target them and try to get a single attack off, and they ran away. Like, what, really?

Old PvP favored someone having SS, SJ, Heal Self, and a small handfull of their normally available powers. it DIDN'T WORK for people with normal PvE builds, which is why I can appreciate the Devs efforts at curtailing some of these oddball power-choices.

However, as others have said, it went too far, so, yeah.

Anyway, I also like, in general, that it's THERE if I decide to give it another try. I like the visceral adrenaline rush I get when a match is close. There's a real sense of "oh crap I'm gonna lose!", which isn't present when i fight most NPCs. But then if I win, the relief and sense of victory is also much more rewarding than beating down an NPC. So there's that, too =)

I agree with what Fiery, Macskull, LuxunS, Posma, Philly Girl, and Mr. Liberty said overall.

Since i13 there have been some QoL changes for arena, mostly dealing with the UI and improving it somewhat. These are good things. All those added options (though half of them go unused because they are not useful in their current state) are a nice thought. The idea of game type systems (I'm looking at you swiss draw) are good ideas as well if the devs knew what kinda games PvPers actually played in arena.... *cough* Kickball *cough*.

Rating System/ PvP Rep/ Bounty - The idea behind these things I like, but again in their current system they are pretty worthless. A lot of games base a toons PvP 'fame' on how well they do and then they in turn use that 'fame' as their currency to buy PvP related things.

Power Differences between PvE and PvP - This is one of the necessary evils that is a love/hate thing for me. I do not like it because any new person will have to relearn how to play because the rule book was changed on them. On the flip side, it is really the only way for the devs to have room for balance without changing the PvE side of things.

Diminishing returns - As previously stated by other people, I like the intention behind it for balance reasons, but everything based on AT and not powers/powersets is just bad and lazy.

PvP IOs - The idea to have PvP loot is great. The current system is bad. The implementation on how to get them is bad. The fact that you can get them without PvPing is bad. Anyway you get the idea. Whoever made the set bonus' for these PvP sets didn't ever PvP. Half of the set bonus' dont make sense to have in a PvP setting.

Mez - I personally did not play enough in PvP prior to i13 to get a true understanding how the old mez system played into PvP (started PvPing about i11). The non-offisive toggles no longer dropping and just suppressing is a very good improvement all around. The suggestion that Mr Lib made about it all I think is the direction it should go, but it would need more tweaks then just drop that idea on top of that.

Epic Shields and Tough - Giving Res to all damage types I think is a good improvement here, though the ammount per damage type may need to be looked at some time when/if powers ever start getting balanced. Right now there is no downsides to taking the epic that you want. So if you want power boost for your controller, great, grab power mastery. You dont even have to consider what epic shield your getting. Im not really saying thats a bad thing, but it also is just another factor that dumbs down things even more.

Global Resists - These are bad. From the intention they were coming from I can understand it but the current amount you get FOR FREE, its just bad.

So all in all PvPing in zones for any extended period of time makes me want to quit the game (again). The Travel Suppression and Heal Decay makes my emp cry. If you couldnt turn those 2 things off in arena, I would not PvP anymore. Arena is the only thing keeping me in PvP.

Zone PVP: I love the temporary powers. I enjoy the little mini-games that get you Shivans and Nukes, and I love the fact that I can use them to leverage a victory when soloing an AV that is either narrowly (or quite soundly) defeating me solo. I find soloing an AV to be a lot of fun, and I dread the day when 'fixing' PVP takes that option away from me.

So as terrible as it sounds, I'm one of those people that quite literally and genuinely likes the fact the current PVP system has cleared the zones of PVPers, so I can get my temp powers in peace. I have no interest in PVP. I only want the temp powers. PVPers turn getting them from a fun exercise into miserable tedium that makes getting them not worth the effort.

So, for me, the real question is as a non PVPer, what can you do that would make me interested in PVP? Actually, that answer hasn't changed since last time: reward me for what I'm good at - getting slaughtered by other players.

Nothing, powers that only work at the core are not liked by me.

Heal/buff period and rolling respawn timer.
PvP IOs.
Selectable Arena maps.
Selectable Heal Decay/DR/TS
Friends still PvPing.
Zones mostly empty so I can get Shivans and Nukes as needed.
Arena doesn't crash much (See I5 to I11).