XP Debt accrual for Non Combatants-AKA Penalties for being Ganked...

ArchivedUser

Hello, I'm pretty new around here and I have coe across something that I find disturbing(Thanks to Dygz for the link).
[quote quote=16748]<div><a href="https://errantpenman.com/2017/01/11/interview-ashes-of-creation-wants-to-bring-the-virtual-world-to-life/" rel="nofollow">Interview: Ashes of Creation Wants to Bring the Virtual World to Life</a></div>
[b]"A Non-Combatant who dies suffers normal penalties, which includes experience debt, durability loss, as well as dropping a portion of carried raw materials (which can then be looted). A Combatant who dies suffers these same penalties, but at half the Non-Combatant rate. A character who has a Corruption Score on the other hand, suffers penalties at three times the rate of a Non-Combatant, and has a chance to drop *any* carried/equiped items based on their current Corruption Score."[/b]

I'm a big fan of having PVP in the games I play. I don't engage in it except in rare circumstances but I do believe that is in necessary for a healthy game if done right.
Is this (above) still The Plan? If "yes" then I really have to voice an opinion here that it REALLY is not a good idea. You won't see a tantrum from me about it or threats that I won't play this game because of it. That is usually trivial threatening at best. Still I URGE you to rethink this and abandon the concept of xp debt for non combatants that are killed. You have some great ideas about PVP but this really isn't one of those.
There are players who want to enjoy your game who will not fight back when they are attacked during other more mundane activities, like gathering or traveling. They simply are not wired to play that way. They will panic and try to flee or just stand there and be ganked. There are more of these types than you probably realize. Just saying that they should all learn to fight back and not freak out is not a valid response or expectation. They do not want to.
There is a phrase I have seen now on several different forums when discussing PVP and why many games do not make it to "The Big Time" or do not stay there very long. This phrase has really struck me in an odd way and I have even seen it here or something that communicates the same truth.
"Game Designers continuously fail to recognize that people will not(at least not for long) pay to be victims."
Sorry that this does digress a bit from my point, yet it also ties in pretty well. [b]Please reconsider xp debt for non combatants that are killed non consensually.[/b] You will have a hard enough time getting anti PVP players to play an OWPVP game that you are building. DO NOT PUNISH THEM FOR GETTING KILLED AGAINST THIER WILL. If they take a chance and fight back then sure, flag them "combatant", I hope this makes sense and Entrepid will reconsider this bad, bad mistake...

ArchivedUser

Ok lets put this out there now. Most of my MMORPG time I been a PVE gamer. I want to play Ashes even though I spend most of my MMORPG game time in PVE. However I agree with this format. It pushes players to fight back and not be lazy. It also pushes them to group with people who like to PVP while gathering resources. Yes there are billions of Single Player gamers out there that will be pissed off because they will get PKed for their resources because they want to be Anti Social and play a single player game. This mechanic that Ashes is creating is saying Hey, Fight back dont just be anti social thinking you will be able to go off into some little corner of the game buy yourself. You can do that but you will likely get PKed often.

So Grab a friend or 2, or more and play together. This way when Jared the bad ass PKER comes to down attacks you; fight back and have your friends to are close by help you. Then you take that PKers gear and LOL at him. This game is going to have mechanics that push you to PVP and play with other people. Period, this will not be an open world sandbox that you can play the entire game solo. Watch their videos and you will hear them say, MASSIVE SINGLE PLAYER GAME and say how that is not Ashes. Thats Exactly it while you can solo you should really group up because this game will be designed for more group play.

ArchivedUser

2 More things. PKers will end up losing stats and combat effectiveness based on how much corruption that have. That will help keep most PKers under control.

The second thing is Even in PVE if you die you will lose XP. So this game will not be for the light of heart.

ArchivedUser

XP debt also sounds worse than it is. I played asheron's call back in the day and they had that penalty and it was a great game . but its the penalty for those attacking the Non Combatants that really matter. That being said I don't think Non Combatants should drop anything. I mean that's what the attacters are wanting, the only thing beside being a pain. if they don't drop anything it would probably decrease the attacks.