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Proposal to improve PvP
Klandestine
Posts: 20Member Beginner
There has been a great deal of discussion about PvP in the UWO game, (or lack of it), and the detrimental effect this is having on the player base. In order for UWO to develop and grow a healthy player population, especially as regards to an open world style pf pvp game-play such as exists in UWO, I submit the following proposals. These are intended to :
1. Make PvP more attractive, competitive and accessible to a larger portion of the existing player base by significantly reducing the grind and leveling the playing field between higher level and lower level players while maintaining the open world aspect of PvP.
2.Encourage older players who were turned off from the game by the existing PvP dynamic to return.
3. Attract new players to the game who may not have previously considered UWO due to the existing dynamic.
4. Accomplish these changes with minimal change to the basic mechanics of PvP game-play.
For the purposes of this discussion I will classify battle and battle related skills as:
All battle skills, other than shipbuilding, as well as Management, Navigation, Throwing, Merchandise Knowledge, Traps, Rescue and Mine detection
So with that in mind I propose the following:
Battle and battle related skills
Raising battle skills has been of of the longest grinds in the game. Many players consider this endless repetition to be tedious and annoying, (My words) and is one of the principal turn offs to new players entering the world of PvP. In order to foster interest and growth in the maritime game I submit that this grind must be significantly reduced and in some aspects eliminated entirely. The level grind has aleady been addressed by the implementation of battle reports. Therefore I make the following proposal with regard to battle and battle related skills:
1. Make all battle and battle related skills available at level one in starting cities as well as Sangres thereby removing the need for the acquisition of port permits, fame acquisition, and level grinding. There will still be the same restriction on the number of skills that a player may have based upon their levels, but they may acquire them early on in the game.
2. Eliminate ranks entirely. By making all skills one rank the massive skill grind is eliminated and the playing field between high and low level characters is significantly reduced and leveled leaving only the number and type of skills possessed and placing greater reliance on actual player ability rather than the discrepancy between skill ranks. Higher level players will still have a significant advantage in health pool, vigor pool and the number of skills possessed as well as game knowledge, understanding of the mechanics involved and their individual expertise..
3. Make all battle and battle related skills available at any guild master in addition to the current npc's.
I realize that many players, especially long term veterans such as myself, will oppose such changes however I think that for the long term health of the game it is essential that we make PvP more fun, attractive and competitive across all levels. By allowing lower level players to have an actual chance to be competitive against higher levels this will broaden the PvP player base and foster a more PvP centric mindset among the current population. In addition this will, (hopefully), make the game potentially more attractive to new players and the game generally more competitive with other PvP oriented games.
Ranking System
Higer level player are able to possess certain ships that dwarf the power of lower level boats to such a point that those lower level ships, even in thee hands of a skilled captain, are simply not competitive with the higher levels. With the above skill changes I have proposed this discrepancy will be exacerbated to a significant degree. To address this issue I propose a two rier ranking system of ships and players based upon the levels of the players and the levels of the ships to be as follows.
Players must be within 2 ranks in either direction in order to engage in PvP. Exceptions:
1, players may give consent to PvP at any time regardless of level.
2. This does not apply to ESF or other special events unless otherwise designated for specific ranks of participants.
Player Rankings:
Level 0-21 Rank 1 (pvp prohibited)
Level 22-32 Rank 2
Level 33- 43 Rank 3
Level 43-51 Rank 4
Level 52-60 Rank 5
Level 60-70 Rank 6
Level 71-85 Rank 7
Ship Ranking
Ship ranks would equal the player ranks based upon the level at which they become available. i.e. if a ship is avail at level 20 it would be a "rank one" ship. Likewise a level 52 vaiss would be a Rank 5 etc...
Higher level players could, at their option, drop down to a lower ranked ship in order to compete against ships of that level so that if, for instance, a Level 85 wanted to play with a level 39 friend, he or she could drop down to, say a refitted heavy carrack and fight against rank 3 ships. This would not prevent "seal clubbing", (which already exists in the game), but it would mitigate the advantage of the higher level player to a significant degree and still allow them fo fleet with their lower level friend or just play lower level ships while allowing lower level players to remain competitive.
Cash Shop versions of ships would retain their lower level requirements but their rank would be equivelent to their shipyard counterparts. This would enable lower level players to play and grind in these ships while the ship rank restrictions would not allow them to take unfair advantage of lower level players.
Weapons ammo and gear
1. Eliminate forging tools from the game.
2. Make all forges items un-repairable so that when they wear out the are gone for good.
3. Refund an amount of UWC equal to the cost of these tools to all players who still posess them at the time of their removal
This will make the most difference by massively reducing the "pay to win" aspect of the game, something that is detested by competitive pvp gamers across the internet and will, thereby, make the game more attractive to new players who might not consider otherwise.
5. Allow ammo types to be fired from any type of cannon with cannons designated to fire a pecific type of round I.E. standard, smoke, canister etc... to gain a slight advantage when using them.
This would require the "reload" skill.
Events
Organize special events such as tournaments and leagues based upon rank. For instance, a legue of company vs company in R5 ships only or a team based league of R7 ships only. Spread the leagues out over 4-8 weeks. Better, have seasons. Company league season, team league season, duel season, (1v1), Duo season (2v2) and trio season (3v3), pirate vs bh etc... , red vs white Spread the through out the year, vary the ranks
A typical calendar of events might look some thing like this:
Jan 1-30 Company V Company.
March 1-30 Pirate vs Pirate
April 1-30 BH Vs Pirate
Etc...
Players, companies teams etc... would sign up for the events they want to participate in when the calendar is released. Any rules, ranking restrictions etc... would be on the calendar.
Anyway, these are my suggestions to improve not only PvP but to also help grow the game. Obviously these are only a starting point for a discussion. Any ideas to improve on these are welcome. My main focus is to both attract new players to the game and expand pvp across the existing player base without making massive changes to the existing game-play mechanics, ( although that would be my preference) were it even possible and I don't think it really is)
Thanks in advance to all who read through this and for any suggestions/improvements to these ideas.
1. Make PvP more attractive, competitive and accessible to a larger portion of the existing player base by significantly reducing the grind and leveling the playing field between higher level and lower level players while maintaining the open world aspect of PvP.
2.Encourage older players who were turned off from the game by the existing PvP dynamic to return.
3. Attract new players to the game who may not have previously considered UWO due to the existing dynamic.
4. Accomplish these changes with minimal change to the basic mechanics of PvP game-play.
For the purposes of this discussion I will classify battle and battle related skills as:
All battle skills, other than shipbuilding, as well as Management, Navigation, Throwing, Merchandise Knowledge, Traps, Rescue and Mine detection
So with that in mind I propose the following:
Battle and battle related skills
Raising battle skills has been of of the longest grinds in the game. Many players consider this endless repetition to be tedious and annoying, (My words) and is one of the principal turn offs to new players entering the world of PvP. In order to foster interest and growth in the maritime game I submit that this grind must be significantly reduced and in some aspects eliminated entirely. The level grind has aleady been addressed by the implementation of battle reports. Therefore I make the following proposal with regard to battle and battle related skills:
1. Make all battle and battle related skills available at level one in starting cities as well as Sangres thereby removing the need for the acquisition of port permits, fame acquisition, and level grinding. There will still be the same restriction on the number of skills that a player may have based upon their levels, but they may acquire them early on in the game.
2. Eliminate ranks entirely. By making all skills one rank the massive skill grind is eliminated and the playing field between high and low level characters is significantly reduced and leveled leaving only the number and type of skills possessed and placing greater reliance on actual player ability rather than the discrepancy between skill ranks. Higher level players will still have a significant advantage in health pool, vigor pool and the number of skills possessed as well as game knowledge, understanding of the mechanics involved and their individual expertise..
3. Make all battle and battle related skills available at any guild master in addition to the current npc's.
I realize that many players, especially long term veterans such as myself, will oppose such changes however I think that for the long term health of the game it is essential that we make PvP more fun, attractive and competitive across all levels. By allowing lower level players to have an actual chance to be competitive against higher levels this will broaden the PvP player base and foster a more PvP centric mindset among the current population. In addition this will, (hopefully), make the game potentially more attractive to new players and the game generally more competitive with other PvP oriented games.
Ranking System
Higer level player are able to possess certain ships that dwarf the power of lower level boats to such a point that those lower level ships, even in thee hands of a skilled captain, are simply not competitive with the higher levels. With the above skill changes I have proposed this discrepancy will be exacerbated to a significant degree. To address this issue I propose a two rier ranking system of ships and players based upon the levels of the players and the levels of the ships to be as follows.
Players must be within 2 ranks in either direction in order to engage in PvP. Exceptions:
1, players may give consent to PvP at any time regardless of level.
2. This does not apply to ESF or other special events unless otherwise designated for specific ranks of participants.
Player Rankings:
Level 0-21 Rank 1 (pvp prohibited)
Level 22-32 Rank 2
Level 33- 43 Rank 3
Level 43-51 Rank 4
Level 52-60 Rank 5
Level 60-70 Rank 6
Level 71-85 Rank 7
Ship Ranking
Ship ranks would equal the player ranks based upon the level at which they become available. i.e. if a ship is avail at level 20 it would be a "rank one" ship. Likewise a level 52 vaiss would be a Rank 5 etc...
Higher level players could, at their option, drop down to a lower ranked ship in order to compete against ships of that level so that if, for instance, a Level 85 wanted to play with a level 39 friend, he or she could drop down to, say a refitted heavy carrack and fight against rank 3 ships. This would not prevent "seal clubbing", (which already exists in the game), but it would mitigate the advantage of the higher level player to a significant degree and still allow them fo fleet with their lower level friend or just play lower level ships while allowing lower level players to remain competitive.
Cash Shop versions of ships would retain their lower level requirements but their rank would be equivelent to their shipyard counterparts. This would enable lower level players to play and grind in these ships while the ship rank restrictions would not allow them to take unfair advantage of lower level players.
Weapons ammo and gear
1. Eliminate forging tools from the game.
2. Make all forges items un-repairable so that when they wear out the are gone for good.
3. Refund an amount of UWC equal to the cost of these tools to all players who still posess them at the time of their removal
This will make the most difference by massively reducing the "pay to win" aspect of the game, something that is detested by competitive pvp gamers across the internet and will, thereby, make the game more attractive to new players who might not consider otherwise.
5. Allow ammo types to be fired from any type of cannon with cannons designated to fire a pecific type of round I.E. standard, smoke, canister etc... to gain a slight advantage when using them.
This would require the "reload" skill.
Events
Organize special events such as tournaments and leagues based upon rank. For instance, a legue of company vs company in R5 ships only or a team based league of R7 ships only. Spread the leagues out over 4-8 weeks. Better, have seasons. Company league season, team league season, duel season, (1v1), Duo season (2v2) and trio season (3v3), pirate vs bh etc... , red vs white Spread the through out the year, vary the ranks
A typical calendar of events might look some thing like this:
Jan 1-30 Company V Company.
March 1-30 Pirate vs Pirate
April 1-30 BH Vs Pirate
Etc...
Players, companies teams etc... would sign up for the events they want to participate in when the calendar is released. Any rules, ranking restrictions etc... would be on the calendar.
Anyway, these are my suggestions to improve not only PvP but to also help grow the game. Obviously these are only a starting point for a discussion. Any ideas to improve on these are welcome. My main focus is to both attract new players to the game and expand pvp across the existing player base without making massive changes to the existing game-play mechanics, ( although that would be my preference) were it even possible and I don't think it really is)
Thanks in advance to all who read through this and for any suggestions/improvements to these ideas.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -Hunter S. Thompson
IGN-Bodegas
IGN-Bodegas