Game Director Letter – March 2014 Discussion

[Xularianne]

I do not know at this stage how plausible such a change is because I have seen fewer pvp minigames fill up or do so much slower. I have seen fewer groups even in the search function or run into or formed groups randomly with people even dating back just a few months. If I go back to the first year of Age of Conan, it is way behind since I can remember spending most of my time in random groups after leaving the tutorial map at least on all the tougher quests. Now I don't see it or get into groups as often or as long if I do. It may or may not be a reflection of game population compared to a few months ago or when it started but it sure seems like players are less willing or less likely to form random groups. It may also be they are more likely to form groups only with guild members so only the larger and most active guilds would see little change compared to the past.

[daemoanica]

I do not know at this stage how plausible such a change is because I have seen fewer pvp minigames fill up or do so much slower. I have seen fewer groups even in the search function or run into or formed groups randomly with people even dating back just a few months. If I go back to the first year of Age of Conan, it is way behind since I can remember spending most of my time in random groups after leaving the tutorial map at least on all the tougher quests. Now I don't see it or get into groups as often or as long if I do. It may or may not be a reflection of game population compared to a few months ago or when it started but it sure seems like players are less willing or less likely to form random groups. It may also be they are more likely to form groups only with guild members so only the larger and most active guilds would see little change compared to the past.

As a player on Rage I, out of self preservation, do not enter into groups outside of my guild very often. This is because there are a lot of people who will approach you in a hub city or other non-pvp area and ask you to help then to finish a quest. Then once you join their group will lead you into an ambush of their friends, drop group and gank you. As it is it is nearly impossible to get a raid going on Rage because the pvp guild will immediately attack any forming raid at the entrance to the raid instance. They also attack groups who are going for the world boss. Personally I think adding open world pvp to the pve servers is a fantastic way to ensure that they suffer the same decline in player population that rage and fury have had.
As it stands PvE servers exist so that people who are not interested in playing PvP have a place to play, if you are going to force PvP onto them you should give them the option of a refund of their subscriptions so they can go play a different game system, as I am certain they would not have paid to play knowing that you were going to change the rules like that. There are PvP servers, and PvP enabled areas already, keep the PvP there where it belongs, and allow those who have no interest in PvP to play their game without forcing them to be prey for every ganker who is too afraid to enter the mini's and PvP enabled areas.

[barbaricwildcat2]

As a player on Rage I, out of self preservation, do not enter into groups outside of my guild very often. This is because there are a lot of people who will approach you in a hub city or other non-pvp area and ask you to help then to finish a quest. Then once you join their group will lead you into an ambush of their friends, drop group and gank you. As it is it is nearly impossible to get a raid going on Rage because the pvp guild will immediately attack any forming raid at the entrance to the raid instance. They also attack groups who are going for the world boss. Personally I think adding open world pvp to the pve servers is a fantastic way to ensure that they suffer the same decline in player population that rage and fury have had.
As it stands PvE servers exist so that people who are not interested in playing PvP have a place to play, if you are going to force PvP onto them you should give them the option of a refund of their subscriptions so they can go play a different game system, as I am certain they would not have paid to play knowing that you were going to change the rules like that. There are PvP servers, and PvP enabled areas already, keep the PvP there where it belongs, and allow those who have no interest in PvP to play their game without forcing them to be prey for every ganker who is too afraid to enter the mini's and PvP enabled areas.

may i suggest u take some of your time to drop down a vote?

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=188133

[Shax84]

I've got nothing against PvP but what I have against is grouped people with one thing in mind, killing unaware solo players. Repeatedly. IMO get killed once in PvP, get green (friendly) tag for one hour.

[ArcaneScientius]

I am excited about the PvP changes. I think that these changes will bring structure and concrete, measured objectives with suitable rewards to open world PvP. This should enable PvPers to join established events, which was non-existent previously, and gain PvP exp while killing other players. Not sure about pop problems on PvP, but the changes are, at least, positive responses.

I am excited about the bounty hunter quests, especially if players can either gain a bounty through murder points (making use of an existing system) or by other players placing a bounty on their heads (e.g. 10 gold pieces put up by player and automatically transferred if player x is killed 3 times by same person, as an example).

PvP for PvP is something I support and is important because many people prefer to PvP exclusively, which was sort of catered for by the B&G server. This focus on enabling people to play the parts of the game they enjoy has also been bolstered by the de-nerfing (what is the opposite of nerf?) and revamping of PvP gear.

The potential for a new tier of PvP gear is also nice. I am not a grinder, but having more styles of armour is always great and I cannot wait to see some of the new sets.

Opening some areas on PvE servers for PvP once a month will also bring added flavour to PvE servers, as well as give some more impetus for people to gather both PvE and PvP gear.

Further, I am glad that the Slithering Chaos has been made a 12-man dungeon/raid and is another nice link for players between groups too large for dungeons and too small for raids.

“…, this allows you to "learn" visuals and then give any item in the game the visual that you wish.”

I am stoked and amped about the new crafting system, especially about being able to give a look to an item. I sometimes kept items just because I liked the look rather than the stats. It is taking a while, though. I loved my crafting, but could only manage to get my alchemy to master level. Too much cookie-cutter crafting without alternative options and alternative material options to progress at a reasonable speed for armourer. Promising work you guys are doing, especially for PvP!

[chad65]

What about people using cheats in pvp Joel ? Is there any plans to fix this ? Something like Valve anti cheat system that most games running on steam use.

[Chillee]

if you will implement it on crom, there will be ppl who will be very upset about being farmed while they just want to do pve, and you cannot blame them - they've chosen pve server to not be bothered with uncontrolled pvp.

for open world pvp you have pvp servers - make it available on fury only, on crom only border kingdoms if anything.

also think about money from transfers

Why will people on crom be upset? They've already said they'll make a pvp free zone for those who don't want to enter the gankfest.

FC does something interesting and everyone starts with the QQing.

[Kurt2013]

When and where did they say that? Can you link? So far i only heard about "alternatives", that meant similar level range zones.

[1jqqijgg]

Forcing pvp on a pve server is a terrible idea. I personally have always played on a pve server, because I DON'T LIKE PVP! Imagine that... pve on a pve server.

We already have pvp areas, and pvp servers. If it was such a popular and huge part of the game, why are they empty? Why must people who either pay, or play for free for that matter, be forced to cater to a system they have no interest in?

You want a separate instance? Yes! Do that! Put up a flag, join that instance, and tank the holy, ever loving tar out of each other! Activate a personal pvp flag, for a set amount of time, and gank each other, and smack talk each other til your computer screen is covered in rage spittle froth! But DO NOT force an entire zone into open world pvp, on a pve server. Its not what I pay for, its not what the vast, vast majority of people WHO JOINED A PVE SERVER want, or would appreciate... even if its "just for a week".

Its not our fault the pvp servers are empty, don't make us pay for it.

To recap, make a seperate instance, or make a flag, those things are fine by me, but don't hijack pve servers because the pvp servers are empty.

[Chillee]

When and where did they say that? Can you link? So far i only heard about "alternatives", that meant similar level range zones.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=188116

I took that to mean different instance. Perhaps they could clarify.