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Shardfall and PVP activity

I've now been away from my retirement of MKO for a little over a month now. I didn't retire because i wanted to, but because I was forced into it. Imperian was the mud I chose to call my new home. I'd say within my rights, that I was considered one of the best pk players to play MKO. It's concepts were not polished, and the war system was flawed, but it had a lot of character.
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I just have to ask, where is the character of PVP growth within the confides of Imperian? I just don't get behind Shardfalls as the main source of PVP. The activity alone speaks to me of one that a non-comm would enjoy in their off time to help booster their city to use shards for a greater purpose. Not the focal point of all that is currently PVP.

I understand there are concepts like the "champion system" or "monoliths", but they are very restrictive type of PK. Obelisks are meant to be according to the helpfile "Obelisks and outposts represent the focal point of the Imperian's conflict system. " yet the system actually deters away from PK entirely.

I understand that most if not all of these issues have came up in the past, but Shardfall PVP to me is not something I can keep rallying behind blindly. Mixed into the fact that the landscape of Imperian seems to be everyone is friends compiled on top of the decision to release classes previously gated behind certain orgs for all to enjoy. Perhaps it is because I play in Celidon, but from what I have seen it seems that the landscape of the game seems to be no animosity at all. Where is the city vs city or org vs org hate? Even in the most dead Mud games I have played, there is still that tension or hatred of one another, but I just don't get that feeling here(though again I am not sure if that is because of my placement in the game or not).


I think it's safe to question or at least inquire over the direction PvP is headed. I am also able to understand that this isn't all on the administration to "fix", and the players can actively help the situation at hand as well. I appreciate the feedback, and ask for people to keep civil.
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Comments

  • AydenAyden North Carolia
    Being somewhat new here myself, I get the same feeling that there isn't any tension between the circles. Sure we get to team up with our own circle and -maybe- have battles at shardfalls, but after they are done, there's nothing fueling the fight. I'm not saying there has to be pure hatred, and there can't be friends across the circles, but to me, coming from a standpoint of not knowing the lore and motivations of the past(since I haven't really read a lot on it yet), it seems there's nothing to fight for. I wish I could honestly suggest something to fix this but I think a lot of it depends on the playerbase just as much as anything. I would even suggest more PvP objectives, but at the same time I feel it won't solve the overall issue of there being no tension, animosity, or motivation RP wise.

    In other words, I am with Tyden on this. The overall feeling is that everybody wants to be happy cuddly friends with each other. And also, no its not just your placement in Celidon Tyden, because I see the same from the demonick circle.
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  • edited October 2016
    There's actually a LOT of tension, and maybe even a bit of hatred between the circles, or there is between demonic and AM, but most of the people who actually made fights happen are gone. I don't think a lack of tension is actually the problem though. When there's real tension between the players in the circles, people play to win at all costs, and they also tend to play for maximum griefiness. In the short to medium term, it's a dream for people who thrive on "tears", but one side is definitely going to come out on top most of the time, and I think it also burns things out. I actually think that might have been at least part of our problem in the first place. In any case, there is plenty of tension even now I think, but the current players lack the wherewithal to act meaningfully upon it.

    Another big problem is that, say, at a shardfall, for example. Most of the players (save a few) seem to think of a shardfall as "get in, get the shards, leave" which is technically right, but from a PK perspective, couldn't be more wrong. Unless you really really really need shards (which ironically, tends to be terrible for PK), it's a lot more fun to just fight over them, and uh, maybe harvest a few. The shards (in this example) are more like a ticket to dinner, than the dinner itself. But not everyone sees it that way, and that's the problem - and I do consider that a problem, not just "different ways of playing the game" because shardfalls are emphatically a PK system.

    I feel like our best hope to invigorate PK is actually between AM and Magick, because we don't hate each other nearly so much (I think some people hate Septus, but that's okay, poor Septus). The problem is, Magick only has a few fighters, even now (but damn, are we stacked, and we have an almost perfect variety of profs when we're all on), and the ones it does have are the sort of people who, well, we know a thing or two, but we're not naturally good coders and we don't really have a firm grasp on actual kill strategies from beginning to end. This is why I am sitting around with tellsoff or working logged off (otherwise I end up chattering with people) right now, to get a little bit more polished. I am still willing to jump in with stuff if you want to grab me, though (unless I have something so torn apart I can't).
  • I have a few thoughts on this that I will be posting in the next couple of days. We are rethinking obelisks/outposts and I have a new raiding system that will either be part of that or separate.

  • The problem with shardfalls currently is more lack of motivation than lack of animosity. I've been pecking at a post in the Shard Update thread concerning this, but the tl/dr is that I'll sometimes just walk away from a blue/red shardfall even though I occasionally chase down singles and do area by area checks for specials/greens/yellows.

    Definitely plenty of animosity to be had, but it's low key or depends on your behavior, I guess? It's still better than it was a couple months ago, since Demogick is dead (for now, dunnnn-dun-dunnnnn). There will always be shardfall scavengers and teams deciding to surrender the fight cause morale/numbers/RL/whatever, too.
  • edited October 2016
    Actually, going to put this in the shard thread.

  • edited October 2016
    Personally, I just don't see a motivation to actually go out and do PVP. When I played Aetolia I had plenty of motivation in the conflicts between my Order and various others, and favour and other stuff like that was plenty motivation. In Imperian it really feels like the only reward I can look at if I try any of the activities tied to PVP is getting smacked down, and frankly, it's not fun to try to participate in these things and have people after me afterwards when I'm trying to do other things.

    Shardfall in particular end up a very weak impetus to participate in PVP to me now because I need a token artifact - and not a cheap one - to get any real longer-lasting benefit from them.

    Holding aspect monoliths you can basically opt of with aspect perks, and I feel this system really harshly punishes new aspects versus longer-standing ones. Someone who throws a chunk of gold at things can have all of the benefits - with none of the drawbacks. And when I can just save up and toss money at the problem why would I stick my neck out?

    For all people complain about "people hiding in guards or houses" I don't think there's a lot of respect given to the fact that sometimes some of us (hi!) would prefer participate in PK events like shardfalls because they are essentially clearly-signposted "this is the PK time" things and not have to deal with it constantly 24/7. Especially someone like me who is looking at doing this and then probably having to recode tracts of her system when something doesn't work.
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  • edited October 2016
    What do you mean by "favour" there? Like, high favour or org favours? I think it's dangerous to say "show up for x shardfalls, get org favour" - I saw that happen in Aetolia and the result was far, far too many people showing up for the enemy to even think about trying to come back for more fights ("I showed up! Minor #x done"). That said, if you're at all a regular in AM fights, especially if you show up to the fights where your side is struggling, you will probably start to get a huge amount of favours thrown your way - it's just not done in a bean counting fashion, and while bean counting is sometimes the best way to go about quantifying things, I don't think it's good for PK participation.

    I do think they should reconsider the token artifact pouches, yeah. It's easy for me to afford... but I agree it creates a barrier to entry where one definitely doesn't need to be - especially since shards are a way that less tanky people can try to buff themselves a bit. If nothing else, maybe allow people to store a reasonable, usable number of shards without owning a pouch... something.

    I think they're going to change the monos up a bit. I have mixed feelings about how some of that is going to (probably) pan out the more I think about it. I was originally totally on board with all of it at first, but I am starting to rethink it, possibly.

    So the current plan as I understand it is to limit us to fewer purchased monos, and have the 5th power only work if you are personally holding a mono. That sounds really good, but it occurs to me that it's going to incentivize people to NOT attack people who hold the same aspect, even if they're from a different circle, and I don't think that's a good thing. Also, the 5th power needs to be roughly equal in importance for all aspects, and Aryana, for example has regen super low on the tree right now. BUT, if you make the great buffs (regen, absorb, modulate) 5th tier powers, I think you're going to see very artied, very top tier people being almost the sole beneficiaries of those buffs (and yes, probably holding all of the best special shards as well). Probably not great. We do need something other than "lol, I bought all my monos", but we might need to think that through a bit more.
  • edited October 2016
    I can highfavour myself already, they don't have much value here because they're given out so blithely. Meanwhile to get a favour, even just a normal favour, from Nuiri or Dhaivol or whoever, was a big thing in Aetolia.

    Different environments - definitely. Really, there's no reason to overcome the inertia the exists right now. I have much more to lose in terms of my time and level of enjoyment if Anette gets involved in open PK than I could ever, ever hope to gain, and I doubt even if I got her up to the level I had my Aetolia character where I can be a one woman holy war it would ever be as fulfilling as it was on Aetolia, for a variety of reasons. (Autocuring means everyone has a system so there's not much pride in beating someone else's system being a big one for me as a hobbyist programmer)

    Right now the prevailing problem I personally have is more one of environment than something mechanical, I think. Because the high end people with all those artifacts are so starved for PK, they jump on any open PK they can get. Moment I touched a monolith? Jumped. Moment I walk into an area that a shardfall is occuring in? Jumped. I get it, they want the PK, and I don't blame them either, but I can't compete with someone who has spent probably upwards of 10k on this game and I have no desire to try.

    I actually want to give a bit of a hat tip to @Septus for being the one person I've been able to approach with questions that's accessible to Anette ICly whose been happy to answer them. We could use more of that, at least in AM. Which is probably a result of the various migrations more than anything.

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    edit -

    If I had any suggestion towards encouraging a better PK environment to change the prevailing attitude to one respectful of different combatants' desired level of involvement rather than "well you did this thing so we're going to jump you now, deal with it." While the latter may be technically true, it isn't going to endear anyone to wanting to spar with anyone. My best matches in Achaea or Aetolia were with close friends - because we competed over who could be the best. There was a camaraderie there that frankly, I don't feel here.

    edit 2 -
    Kiskan said:

    I do think they should reconsider the token artifact pouches, yeah. It's easy for me to afford... but I agree it creates a barrier to entry where one definitely doesn't need to be - especially since shards are a way that less tanky people can try to buff themselves a bit. If nothing else, maybe allow people to store a reasonable, usable number of shards without owning a pouch... something.

    Why reinvent the wheel? We have shard rift artifacts now, that increase rift capacity. Make a baseline capacity in the rift, and turn the pouches into things like the riftshards that let you have more. I feel this would be a reasonable compromise.

    Personally, I don't see myself getting 5 tokens worth of value out of any participation in shardfalls, and as such, I choose not to participate. I am certain I am not the only one.
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  • edited October 2016
    When I go to take a mono, I often start by taking 1 teammate (because I am not a 1 v. 1 hero, but I don't want to immediately escalate to a huge team, either). Who that teammate is depends on who I think might come out. If I am AM, unless I expect an immediate escalation, it's definitely not going to be Septus to start with (especially not with the pool of players we have right now). If you love 1 v. 1 it's worth trying to do it alone, and I think a lot of people will try to be respectful of that (that said, I hate not having Truesight to check how many people there are at a potential mono fight without burning a shard). I rarely take monos if I'm going to be hunting a bunch. It's a great thing to do if you expect a follow-on fight soonish. If you don't want to be holding a mono while you hunt (which I get), I'd just go release the monolith (I didn't realize you could do this for a very, very long time).

    For shardfalls, I think a 3-man team is a solid start - sometimes just two people, if say, there is just one person in the area to begin with, and you know for a fact that person can whip your ass all over the place, no question. But... to me, there also has to be someplace for that to go, so hopefully, that guy has a buddy he can call in for round two, and so forth. Adds are not all bad, because they can maximize participation, but you (usually) don't want to just nuke people either - not because you're such a nice guy, but because that tends to make people pack it in and go home (or, if they have the people, they'll nuke you back even harder). But yeah, you are definitely going to get jumped (possibly by a good sized team) if you show up at a shardfall. In fact, I've pottered about shardfalls alone specifically so I could get jumped, probably die, and then call in some friends. It's a great way to start a fight sometimes.

    All of that said, I think we have an incredible amount of control over when we do and don't get involved in PK (even too much in some cases, see "not being allowed to collect bounties when people are chatting with the Blood God"), but for those two scenarios, I think that is what works best.
    Anette said:


    edit -

    My best matches in Achaea or Aetolia were with close friends - because we competed over who could be the best. There was a camaraderie there that frankly, I don't feel here.

    I do think the above touches on something really important. I've had people riding me HARD (and I mean some serious verbal badgering and abuse) to go back over and over to fights my side was losing very, very badly, and part of why it was so hard, was because I knew that even the guy "encouraging" me looked down his nose at me and was laughing at me inwardly, so there was no real trust or friendship. I felt I was being used (and I absolutely was). It's super important to have mentors that let you progress at your own pace, and don't judge you for it, and don't try to push you into the deep part of the ocean just because some top tier PK-ers are bored.
  • edited October 2016
    Kiskan said:

    For shardfalls, I think a 3-man team is a solid start - sometimes just two people, if say, there is just one person in the area to begin with, and you know for a fact that person can whip your ass all over the place, no question. But... to me, there also has to be someplace for that to go, so hopefully, that guy has a buddy he can call in for round two, and so forth. Adds are not all bad, because they can maximize participation, but you (usually) don't want to just nuke people either - not because you're such a nice guy, but because that tends to make people pack it in and go home (or, if they have the people, they'll nuke you back even harder). But yeah, you are definitely going to get jumped (possibly by a good sized team) if you show up at a shardfall. In fact, I've pottered about shardfalls alone specifically so I could get jumped, probably die, and then call in some friends. It's a great way to start a fight sometimes.

    And yer pretty boned if a shardfall happens in the middle of you hunting the area. I just bounce these days.
    Kiskan said:

    I do think the above touches on something really important. I've had people riding me HARD (and I mean some serious verbal badgering and abuse) to go back over and over to fights my side was losing very, very badly, and part of why it was so hard, was because I knew that even the guy "encouraging" me looked down his nose at me and was laughing at me inwardly, so there was no real trust or friendship. I felt I was being used (and I absolutely was).

    This is a huge turn off for me. Antioch doesn't actually bother me too much anymore but when I first hit aspect it happened a lot and it feels like because I didn't jump in the deep end headfirst with no system I missed that bus. But moreover, speaking from experience running many an org on many a character, pushing people towards RP or towards PK is only going to turn them off it further. People become resistant to it just out of not wanting to be goaded into things. And that's entirely valid. People should be engaging in entertainment media on their own terms.

    I think part of the reason here is there is no incentive (outside of downright illegal things that you can issue someone for) not to be a dick to someone if you have a valid PK reason, so of course people are going to. On somewheres like Aetolia that has a death penalty (or at least did when I played) you didn't do this kind of thing because if you did they'd jump you right back, usually with like ten of their closest acquaintances. Say what you will about ganking people, it served as something that prevented the worse excesses of it. Because we don't have a death penalty, I've been just told to "deal with it" so many times, despite it having completely disrupted what I was trying to do and costing me the time going to and crawling back up from Dis. So sure, I'll "just deal with it" - by opting out of the thing entirely.

    [inline edit - I used to think using Starburst/redemption/soulcage was kind of lame in Aetolia, because it robbed the person of a kill basically. This again goes to the sort of comaraderie. I have zero qualms about using every starburst/redemption/combust I can on Imperian cause I give no care if someone "loses" a kill that was in Impy, and indeed it's been the thing that has kept these ambushes from being intrusive into my enjoyment of the game, frankly speaking. I really wish I didn't feel this way.]

    All of this is frankly all on the playerbase that participate on PVP and this is something we have the power to change - if we want to. I guess the question is if the community at large wants to.
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  • edited October 2016
    Oh they do the illegal stuff too, from time to time - the line there is pretty much "it's one death" and sure, people can be real dicks about it. No one likes it once it's pretty clear the other side is actually TRYING to be dicks, and it definitely happens sometimes. That said, if you get no kidding ganked again sometime (even "just once"), try and grab your local Septus if you can. He will very likely help you do that thing you talked about with the good old countergank <3.

    For the shardfalls, there shouldn't be too many of them that happen inside prime hunting areas (I don't think?) - that said, I'd like to see them moved to a few smallish areas (definitely under 100 rooms - places like Cinua, Barnack) that are hard to run around in (and also not along main travel routes). My motivation is more to make it hard to slink around a shardfall (and also make it relatively easy for people to predict/check up on shard fall areas), but nevertheless it would fix your problem too.
  • I had one happen to me when I was still getting to aspect and bashing in Zh'serurn, I was just lucky that since Khizan and Septus decided to get in on it I could just quietly bail. There definitely seem to exclude many bashing areas, but there's a few they can hit. Cinua is actually a pretty neat quest area IMO so maybe not there. I'd almost suggest making them happen in specific tailor-made areas, but that would involve some new content that might be onerous at this time of year with all the events going on. Perhaps we could have them happen in some of the otherwise mostly unused areas (snowfield comes to mind) so that they're given a meaningful reason to exist again besides just being a sort of thematic filler.

    As regards PVP at large - I do think with things as they are now and a lot of people sitting and talking about how we can get PVP going in a meaningful way again there's a lot of opprotunity for those interested to come together and make it what we'd prefer to have it, really.
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  • edited October 2016
    I mean, I think there has to be some kind of "surprises happen at least once in a great while" element. Personally, I am sort of undecided on exactly where that line should be (I wouldn't say I don't care), but I can tell you that the counterargument for this scenario is probably going to be that we already have an incredible amount of control over "when do I PK, when do I not" to the point where it smacks of sheer sanitization.

    For the moment, I guess I'd say I'd personally be ecstatic to use Gyannis and similar areas (although Gyannis specifically might have a problem with lots of duplicate room names, which is something I'd like to avoid for shardfalls), but I think some people are going to view "oh, nope, can't have shardfalls there EVER, someone might be doing a quest" as further ultra-sanitization (and they kind of have a point).
  • edited October 2016
    I have played IRE games for nigh on a decade now and the only thing I have to say to people who say "surprises happen" is ... they are the same lot who seem to accumulate a lot of complaints about getting issued all the time.

    People don't complain about surprises if they're fun. And it being fun or not with PVP comes down almost entirely to the tone and the untold "gentlemen's agreements" that form the implicit code of honour that people abide by. I generally take people complaining about being jumped (and my own complaints about being jumped) as an indication there's a problem in that regard.


    edit, to respond to @kiskan 's point -

    I wouldn't say there's a mechanical sanitization of PVP per se. There are plenty of ways to put up the Open PK batsignal, so many of them that I've unadvertently ended up beaming it a couple times without meaning to, and people are more than willing to take you up on it if you make that offer.

    I'd say what is happening here (and "feels" the same) is that because it can be so unpleasant sometimes (you recount being badgered and bullied into fighting for instance) people don't really feel that incentivized to continue. I actually think the mechanical approach Imperian tries here is right for the most part - you want to minimize the negatives of participation after all. They just need stronger positive incentives to do so. For instance, if those shard fall semi-artifact-things were of a great enough value, people would be willing to put up with open PK for them. Right now several seem very situational, and the problem this introduces is you have a *constant* negative (being open to PK) for a very *situational* benefit. So it undermines the approach of doing things like removing the death penalty.

    Just to be clear, I'm not saying "open PK is bad", what I'm saying is "the reasons to make yourself open PK do not justify dealing with it to me."
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  • Iluv had suggested shardfalls dropping (some number of? occasionally?) L1 artifacts instead of the special shards. That's probably a good idea. At the very least, could do that in addition to the special shards.

    I mostly won't make myself open PK either, by the way. Very few people are up for being open PK all day every day, and I was never pushed into open PK. The pushing was usually more "you guys are in WAY over your head to begin with, but I want you and your team to rush back to that shardfall 3-4 more times before you've even properly redeffed and regrouped".

    I'll sometimes hold a mono, and I have no problem doing that any time one might be useful, or just feel like trying to start a fight, but it's not like I constantly walk around holding mono. Not even close. The only other time I'm ever really open PK is when I am bountied. I don't hold Champion, either.

    And I mean, I don't hold onto those special shard things either. I don't think they were ever really intended for the general population (even the general PK population). Even if they had absolutely amazing benefits, unless they were an actual win button (which would be so bad), I think they're always going to end up in a few hands. I think they're meant to drive conflict at the upper tier, but for whatever reason, even in Achaea, they mostly seem to be held by a literal handful of guys. But I think the intent is "give the guys who already love fighting an especially tasty stick of gum to fight over". The more awesome you make those shards actually, I think the more of a problem they become, for that reason.
  • I wonder if some sort of system could be added to incentivize shardfall pvp.

    Like, inter-circle violence in a shardfall area would increase the chances of special shards appearing, or buffing the special shards, or increase the number of shards at the next fall, etc.
  • Kiskan said:

    I mostly won't make myself open PK either, by the way. Very few people are up for being open PK all day every day, and I was never pushed into open PK. The pushing was usually more "you guys are in WAY over your head to begin with, but I want you and your team to rush back to that shardfall 3-4 more times before you've even properly redeffed and regrouped".

    Oh man I remember when this happened on my old character all the time. Nothing my enemy did made me want to pack it in more than my own side not even giving me time to properly re-situate myself before being herded back into the firing line. It was a guarantee that at the very best, you were not fighting at full capacity.
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  • Sometimes it's really, really important to try to get back quickly. I don't mind if a leader is basically bouncing up and down for his team to reassemble so we can try plan C (whatever that might be), and I will scurry as best I can. But that is because he already has a pretty good idea of what went wrong, and what he'd like to try to counter it. It might work and it might not, it might be a smallish change, but I know he has something he wants to try. But if you and your entire team just died horribly (again), and you are all looking at each other going "huh?" or even "I think one of us got picked off by some kind of insta" (let's find out what it is), what's the rush?
  • IniarIniar Australia
    @Tyden

    it has been a really long time since I last felt the thrill of a call-to-arms upon login...

    ring: Iniar!
    ring: #roomnum
    ring: #roomnum
    ring: #roomnum
    ring: def up!
    ring: .
    ring: .
    ring: .
    ring: #roomnum
    ring: #roomnum
    ring: #roomnum

    -insert deathsight messages-

    -finish def up-

    Iniar: sooooo, where we fightin'?


    Reflecting on it, I feel that that sense of urgency and excitement was due to a few reasons, ranked in terms of how my perception of their relevance:
    - Imperian combat was new to me at the time
    - I was much less artifacted than I am now, so getting PK kills in shardfalls were a good part of building PK experience
    - I had a visceral hate for Septus and AM because they kept beating us; I wanted to win (i-l-u-2 bb)
    - I felt the compulsion to help the people on my side, because I liked them
    - Shardfalls mattered, because investing in the shard skill-tree would yield benefits, both non-combat and combat related
    - I liked killing people

    When I inspect those reasons now, all the reasons are no longer valid. Somewhere along the line, I had lost my appetite for combat; there was no primary reason, nor triggering event.

    I have played this game for about 3 years now, which is relatively short compared to some of the other players before they retired. I've never been through a cycle where a mechanic has been exhausted and the game lies in a state of quiescence, and it was quite frustrating for me. I had spent all this time and money learning about this game so I could carry a connection to the same people no matter where my employer(s) sent me.

    Backtracking, I feel now that although Imperian combat has aged on me a little, it still is, in my opinion, a lot of fun.

    I also feel that, while I no longer hate Septus & co with the same intensity that I used to, I no longer have someone or some people that I would consider 'opposition'. This highlights the indispensable role of combat leaders, people who are willing and capable enough to lead fights, and willing enough to be hated for it (hopefully by the other side(s) only). There's a fine line between being a nuisance, a disruptive force, a fight-trigger and then someone who people loathe and snub/reject/kick out.

    I no longer feel the compulsion to help my fellow city-mates. Why? To place this in context, I used to care enough to write, package and service combat systems for Demonic. I did this for about three to six months before I threw a tantrum and stopped. That is another discussion in itself. So why do I no longer feel the compulsion to help city-mates? I suspect it's because the city has about as much relevance to me as 'thanks for the shard-skills, laterzzzzzzz'.

    I no longer feel much satisfaction in killing people. Class mastery is also a magnitude less relevant when placed in the context of prolonged imbalanced design.

    Finally, the one thing in that list that the admin -can- control directly: shardfall relevance.

    I don't have any good ideas. All I will say is that when winning shardfalls had -direct- impact on access to skillsets for the city and circle, they were a whole lot more interesting. Once Antimagick had completed their tree, and Demonic's attempts petered out, it became irrelevant. Much like how Juran sees Obelisks as fights that used to matter, I agree that there should be an attempt to recreate things-that-matter-to-groups. Does that mean renewing and undoing the efforts of those who have invested time and energy into the existing system? Possibly. Does it mean designing a system that will have periodic renewals and draw from a pool of variable rewards to keep it fresh? Possibly. Does it mean designing rewards that are staggered so that no one ends up feeling like a 100% loser? Probably. Does it mean designing a system that limits the competitive period to generate that intense pressure to win, then lapses into a sustained benefit phase, and subsequently goes through a rebirth to allow other people to take another shot? Probably.

    Will it come to fruition?

    Will it come to fruition in time?

    Who knows.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • Iniar said:

    @Tyden

    I had spent all this time and money learning about this game so I could carry a connection to the same people no matter where my employer(s) sent me.

    Who knows.

    i know this feel. as a child my parents were constantly moving, different schools every 2 years. even after high school (went to 3 different high schools), moved around quite a bit, different countries, different people. i learned how to make friends quickly but never learned how to make long term friends easily. imperian was always the constant i could rely on.

    fifth elephant - terry pratchett
  • People stopped caring about PvP when it stopped actually impacting them.

    Damn near all of the big PvPers I know can point to a single definitive event that made them get into PvP in a serious way, and that event is usually another PvPer doing something that makes them go "Okay, that's it, I've had it with that guy's crap, I'm gonna kick his ass."

    Andelas and Zero trashtalking all Druids as terrible after exterminating forests in Achaea. Pythona hunting Aetolian vampires to find a cure for the condition. Getting robbed. Jagara trash talking after a raid. Somebody made things personal, and a non-PvPer went "Okay, f*** that guy" and turned into a PvPer.

    Imperian has basically removed all areas of the game where that kind of thing can happen, and so that has stopped happening. If you want to get more people into PvP you need things to happen that will get people emotionally invested in it, and this means that people are going to have to be able to raid cities and such. Shardfalls are great for learning HOW to fight and for getting non-coms out on the field, but they're not gonna get non-PvPers emotionally invested in the idea of turning into a PvPer.
  • MathiausMathiaus Pennsylvania
    The first time I ever started pvp was with a bard I had started, and faced a vodun wytch named Velina, I believe. At the time, she apparently was one of the top tier fighters. I remember just hitting her with shaite rubait over and over hoping for the best, cause I didn't know about afflictions or much else of the game. Once I died, I was hooked. I wanted to get better.

    I had the old, first round Nexus client at the time, and was one of the few who actually made a system on it to use. I remember when I finished it, and actually started using it effectively, pvp became this bright new world to explore and conquer.

    It wasn't until I switch to using mudlet that I became immersed into coding intricately and finding creative ways to kill people.

    The accomplishment of building a system and having it actually work kept me around, and keeps me coming back for more.
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  • also pvp is too complex here. you had a lot of people doing pk because you could throw sketch/kantae, shadowstrike/impale, maul/lightning, or throw axe w/shoot incendiary.

    usually the people who want to be badass don't want to make a million condition system like i do
    fifth elephant - terry pratchett
  • IniarIniar Australia
    Zorantiz said:

    also pvp is too complex here. you had a lot of people doing pk because you could throw sketch/kantae, shadowstrike/impale, maul/lightning, or throw axe w/shoot incendiary.

    usually the people who want to be badass don't want to make a million condition system like i do

    Pretty sure Garryn and co have been trying to design simpler classes, ala the inspiration for Berserker, without removing all of the possible complexity of combat. Tough gig.
    wit beyond measure is a Sidhe's greatest treasure
  • MathiausMathiaus Pennsylvania
    I'm weird. I really like taking the time to learn a skill and discover complexities instead of it being simple.
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  • Zorantiz said:

    usually the people who want to be badass don't want to make a million condition system like i do

    The good thing about IRE games is you don't -have- to do any of this. It's been proven time and again in every one of them, that you can 'hang' with the best, with full manual play if you actually put in the effort of learning how to play, and learning what does what.

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  • ya but you could say that was a lot more true of magick profs in the past than it is now.. look at hunter, mage, druid, runeguard, renegade and bard.

    hunter used to be throw axe dir cigua/oxalis (send ents dir) then shoot incendiary

    mage used to be check resists target, staffcast target elemental type

    druid used to be maul/lightning

    renegade was also trickier but you could isabella metrazol it

    bard was throw sketch kantae

    compare that to

    hunter needs to learn how to do triggers (very complex)

    druid needs to track earth, air, overwhelm, trueassess health and mana etc

    mage needs crystal management, 4 attunement management, plus aff tracking

    runeguard needs aff track plus nairat deny track (hard) plus tablet rotation management and guessing on haemophilia for slash shred vs lacerate lacerate

    renegade needs aff tracking plus shadowplant (hard) and switching prios based on hypnosis or salve stacking or smoke stacking against fitness

    bard anomaly.

    sure mathaius and i stayed, but we lost the aakrins, the therians, the gurns, the isabellas etc
    fifth elephant - terry pratchett
  • Aysari said:

    Zorantiz said:

    usually the people who want to be badass don't want to make a million condition system like i do

    The good thing about IRE games is you don't -have- to do any of this. It's been proven time and again in every one of them, that you can 'hang' with the best, with full manual play if you actually put in the effort of learning how to play, and learning what does what.

    If you're "hanging with the best" in Imperian with a manual offense, you are extremely well artifacted, or the class you are using is insanely poorly balanced(see: bal-knock spamming pre-nerf druid).
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  • edited October 2016
    Dicene said:


    If you're "hanging with the best" in Imperian with a manual offense, you are extremely well artifacted, or the class you are using is insanely poorly balanced(see: bal-knock spamming pre-nerf druid).

    Wooo, more people who think automation is the only way to PK. To quote the basics of the conversation Achaea forums just finished:

    1) Learn to play,
    2) Make proper highlights,
    3) Create aliases that aren't obnoxious to remember/type.

    Tada you now have the tools to manual.

    PS: Automation (in a game like this) is prone to just as many screw ups as a player is, just different kinds.

    Sorry @Septus, this is too relevant to not post:
    Septus tells you, "Never found an auto person who genuinely concerns me to fight."
    Septus tells you, "There's def a case of "man this guy might get me"."
    Septus tells you, "No auto person has made me sweat, basically."

    Yes, it's Septus the walking artifact, but the point remains.

    PPS: Can we stop saying "aff tracking" is mandatory? It really isn't. The game isn't fast enough to necessitate it to the degree that people keep trying to say it is. If you can't make a decision in 2-2.5 seconds based on what you saw them eat while off balance, on what to afflict with, you're probably not half as amazing as you think you are. Especially with just how many afflictions have 3rd person cures now.
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  • edited October 2016
    i am not saying auto is better than manual. what i am trying to say is the gurns, the therians and the aakrins etc are not going to be come superstars with manual set ups either, especially when there are so many variables to keep track of in your head. the game was more populated when the classes were less complex. that's not causation though, just an observation.
    fifth elephant - terry pratchett
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