World vs World and/or cross-server events/content

JamesSunderland

ITT i would like people to share their opinions about World vs World and cross-server events/content,
i personaly really like those type of systems that give the possibility of interaction between players on different servers that otherwise would never meet each other, may it be in a PvE setting like a cross-server PvE instance or in competitive PvX/PvP setting like in World vs World events or cross-server arenas.

As for the current information we have about Cross-server content(from the wiki):

The arena system may support cross-server combat.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers#cite_note-livestream-26-May-2017-29:13-69

There may be monthly competitions where the winning server and winning team receive beneficial buffs for the month.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers#cite_note-livestream-8-April-2018-.28PM.29-36:21-71

"We definitely like cross-server play. I think it's cool because it is something that players get to participate in." – Steven Sharif
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers#cite_note-livestream-26-May-2017-29:05-72

"When you're talking about Arena play especially, one server might not be able to support that depending on what's going on with it, but across all the servers then we've got a really great pool for matchmaking." – Jeffrey Bard
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Servers#cite_note-livestream-26-May-2017-29:05-72

QuiQSilv3r

If their arena champion design is good then having a global pvp leaderboard will be great.

JamesSunderland

QuiQSilver wrote: »

If their arena champion design is good then having a global pvp leaderboard will be great.

A Leaderboard definitely feels essencial for competitive content like that.

Noaani

IMO the arena is the only use case for cross server anything in Ashes.

JustVine

Hmm, due to the nature of how a server develops, I think it'd be pretty hard to balance a competition to be fair without the arena system or some other form of instancing being used.

I also think it's kind of pointless to have a global leader board on issues that are not related to instancing and balancing what gear is available or what strength it is. People will just flatly have entirely different sets of items available to them and what items are available are sort of hard to control without a very strong hand by well organized guilds.

Even BDO which has much less gear choice and much less centralization or reasons to have divergent strategies for gear has this issue to a degree. Some server regions are more developed than others due to differences in social norms relative to the economy and therefore what sorts of gear is available on the market for any given player and the rate of progression of that gear. Now amplify that sort of difference by a bucket load due to node development and differences in flat gear available... Eh. 'Is it really a battle when you don't have control over the relevant variables?' An arena or instanced area can solve this issue with a good equalization algorithm.

Maybe there is some world dimension eating boss down the road and whatever server fights it off first gets a small server wide bonus relative to lowered corruption or something. That'd be cool if executed correctly.

Karthos

People will cry foul about this right away.

Server A will not equal Server B, or Server C. Some servers will have some content unlocked that another one doesn't, and people will be unhappy about this lack of symmetry, and be upset that it's a balance problem, which it likely will be.

This will then lead people to re-rolling on other serves, which leads to server population issues, and then thats how you will get the dreaded....


SERVER MERGES!!!! thunder clap

JamesSunderland

@JustVine
@Karthos
I really don't think "This will then lead people to re-rolling on other serves" for something like that especially in a game that will be hard and take quite long to level up like Ashes.
On the contrary i believe this would create more competitivity between the server.

So the main issue you guys worry about would be the balancing of gear between the servers, and equalization of gear in such arenas would be the only way to fix it?

JustVine

JamesSunderland wrote: »

I really don't think "This will then lead people to re-rolling on other serves" for something like that especially in a game that will be hard and take quite long to level up like Ashes.
On the contrary i believe this would create more competitivity between the server.

A reasonable debate to have. I personally don't have an opinion on that aspect though.

So the main issue you guys worry about would be the balancing of gear between the servers, and equalization of gear in such arenas would be the only way to fix it?

Yeah that is my main 'worry'. I don't think arena is the only answer but instancing will be necessary no matter what you do, so you can equalize gear and such from there.

BDO does some pretty in depth research relative to the relative gear scores between different regions and platforms the game is released on. Other games do this as well but that's the main one that comes to mind rn. They make it very clear that there are some pretty strong unforseeable disparities in gearing, economic behavior and activities performed in game depending on individual player populations behaviors and that those things have nothing to do with the seriousness or skill of top players.

So in a game like Ashes where you have potential for not just different levels of gear, but entirely different available equipment not connected to individual choice, it can be difficult to measure actual skill in such a scenario right? If you level the playing field to account for that now you have meaningful competition.

That's all I really mean. I think it's plenty possible to make cross server competitive content if you account for that.