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Military Node - Mayor Selection Suggestion
Glory
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
I've been thinking this over a lot. I understand the purpose of the Champion. This allows for all players to equally participate in the competition to become mayor without having to worry about specific 1v1 class balance. While this makes a lot of sense, I do feel the Champion really "takes away" a little something from it all.
So, what if instead of having a "free for all" type of event. We have something closer related to a "tournament" utilizing the Arena system and 3v3? My reasons for this:
1) Any kind of "free for all" system leaves a lot up to chance and chaos. Sure this means "anyone can win" but it also really makes it hard for a Military Node to function. While other nodes will have order, Military Nodes seem doomed to disorder and chaos. (Who knows what can change month over month with a leadership model vastly changing)
2) In my opinion the best way to balance PvP, and mmos in general, has been via group play. Having a system that encourages groups to compete is ideal. It is much more fair to balance 3v3 or 5v5 type settings. So the original reason for the Champion was to avoid balancing issues regarding 1v1 and I feel this is a fair way to address potential balancing issues. (Not to mention that group based imbalances should be address regardless by Intrepid through the life of the game. As Arenas are already a feature in the game.)
3) It allows you to use your main character and works as a secondary support mechanism for arena and competitive pvp gameplay.
As for how to decide which player of the 3v3 team becomes the actual Major. I feel it is safe to have the "Captain", who is selected at registration, the person. The 3 people would just have to work that out beforehand.
Let me know your thoughts.
So, what if instead of having a "free for all" type of event. We have something closer related to a "tournament" utilizing the Arena system and 3v3? My reasons for this:
1) Any kind of "free for all" system leaves a lot up to chance and chaos. Sure this means "anyone can win" but it also really makes it hard for a Military Node to function. While other nodes will have order, Military Nodes seem doomed to disorder and chaos. (Who knows what can change month over month with a leadership model vastly changing)
2) In my opinion the best way to balance PvP, and mmos in general, has been via group play. Having a system that encourages groups to compete is ideal. It is much more fair to balance 3v3 or 5v5 type settings. So the original reason for the Champion was to avoid balancing issues regarding 1v1 and I feel this is a fair way to address potential balancing issues. (Not to mention that group based imbalances should be address regardless by Intrepid through the life of the game. As Arenas are already a feature in the game.)
3) It allows you to use your main character and works as a secondary support mechanism for arena and competitive pvp gameplay.
As for how to decide which player of the 3v3 team becomes the actual Major. I feel it is safe to have the "Captain", who is selected at registration, the person. The 3 people would just have to work that out beforehand.
Let me know your thoughts.
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Comments
For example, let's say I'm in a guild with a large influence in that node. We all "team up" to kill everyone else. Once everyone else is dead then we can freely "throw' any competition to die so the person we selected becomes leader.
This would effectively make the competition false and give any group/guild/organization all the power. Which really just makes the selection process a glorified vote, aka the Scientific Node.
How do you expect players will react if their prospects of mayorship are at the mercy of an ever evolving balance cycle?
Arranging the mayoral tournaments to exist in a relative vacuum is sidestepping endless problems and drama with an appropriately thematic work around, ensuring that even someone who isn't necessarily max level has a reasonable chance to compete if they have adequate skill, not at the mercy of the current patch cycle.
I think there are enough avenues of competitive pvp available by design already in the game. Team arenas are a thing, so are battlegrounds, caravans, and duels.
It's important for mayorship of a node to be handled in a way that is consistent and evenhanded, regardless of where class balance may lie, which is why I personally disagree with OP's suggestions.
Military nodes are supposed to be all about power and that could mean that a military node's leader is a PvP nutjob who will just be removed and replaced in a month by the next warmongering tyrant.
I like that to become the leader of a military node you just have outlive and outlast all other fighters in a savage brawl. That's really cool and sets the military node apart from all other nodes. If people want something more orderly there are 3 other node options for them.
Edit: However, I do agree with your second point of people teaming up and sacrificing themselves at the end when all other opponents have been killed. I do believe that that will be exploitable and I'm curious what Intrepid will do about that (if anything at all). However, that is still possible even in the 3 man teams scenario...
We'll see how it all plays out though. I'll definitely want to test and leave feedback on live. I am an avid PvPer and, at this moment, have no intention of joining a Military Node. Conceptually they seem weaker to me as they are more random. Chaos in leadership is not an effective tool for node growth.
however to decide the Major of the 3 those 3 must fight a 1V1V1.
This is the FUCKING MILITARY ZONE. YOURE FRIENDS ARE YOURE REAL ENEMIES.
with a 1v1v1 you could decide to give Major to 1 by taking the knee. OR major can be passed down and/or the other 2 count as "DUKES" or "KNIGHTS" with all the privileges of major except for finalizing a decision in which the major must be present.
Why should all nodes have 1 Major?
The job of Major can be broken up to 3 positions easily as well.
I think its too random and people can help each other so its not so much a FFA. The ladder would prove whos the best 3v3.
Could do a ladder 1v1 and whoever wins the most 1v1's is major.
So in the free for all I guess they would still need rounds at least, otherwise there could be a ton of people in a single instance. I know the wiki mentions a 20 person deathmatch so if that's what it is then it could be rounds from there. Like the winners of each death match get put into a final deathmatch together or something.
But as for the team combat I'm not sure how I feel about it since I liked the idea that military nodes are one of the better node types that could be lead by the players who prefer to play solo, with religious nodes being close to it. The economic and science nodes would be easier for groups to own with combining wealth and group voting power. Although 3 isn't a lot of people if a person hopes to maintain some sort of power they'd need to find a static group which would turn leadership more towards group players. I myself am a group player so this wouldn't bother me (also not a big pvp person so no sweat there). But I liked the idea that all play styles could find something to do and had the potential for power.
The one thing I wouldn't really agree on is not using a champion. Small quick battles usually aren't favorable for classes that either have slow/easily interruptible cast times, depend more on movement or kiting and are trapped in an arena setting, or are better suited for long combat. I liked the idea of a champion because it doesn't make you consider changing your main class just to fit a niche mold best suited for military node combat.
Every participant's Champion facing off in 1v1's for one Champion to emerge as the winner of the tournament, making that participant the mayor.