Initial thoughts on the corruption system from an experienced PVPer

Its_Me

Rumlox wrote: »

My point is that PvP only happens if both parties flag.

Steven has stated that other than pvp events (caravans, wars ect.) he wants the open world pvp to happen between people that flag and to significantly reduce a players exposure to non-consensual PVP so I think this is what you are seeing play out and also what I have seen taking place after the first test weekend (more pvp between flagged, less non-combatant pk). He specifically stated: "We do incentivize players to fight back, or to participate in PvP through the flagging system, but not to PK."

I think the primary reason some of the non-flagged people do not fight back right now is to take advantage of the corruption mechanic. Although Steven made it clear that he wants the majority of open world pvp to be between flagged players and intentionally overtuned corruption for alpha to deter non-consensual pvp, I am not certain it was his plan for no one to fight back so perhaps we will see a change in the corruption severity in the upcoming weeks.

The small incentivization of less drop and xp loss upon death for flagged players might not be enough at this point to get some players to flag or even to fight back if engaged, so I think it would be beneficial to increase incentives during test by providing an xp boost to players that are flagged during leveling. Like any other game, PVE players will cry that this is unfair but I think it would result in more flagged players (which is an option everyone has) and more consensual (or semi-consensual) PVP encounters.

I think if they work on the issue with using mounts as shields or even add a tiny bit of corruption for players that flag just to repeatedly get other players low too CC mobs on them (like small tick each hit that accumulates over time), perhaps this would help some of the current complaints. I would not be opposed to Steven lessening the corruption gained for one PK or even two, just sounds like he has the threshold set high intentionally for alpha so not certain he will make this move. I think there are plenty of things they can work on between test weekends to improve the corruption system (this is the purpose of test after all) so hopefully they will take a look at all the feedback and make improvement without changing Steven's vision entirely-in either direction.

You can do whatever you want as long as you don't flag, because corruption is too strong.

I am not certain I understand your point. If your settings are activated to not engage non-combatants with aoe heals or dps and you want to pvp someone that is flagged or someone engages you that is flagged, there should not be an issue with corruption? Are you referring to accidentally targeting the wrong player or their mount and due to the overtuned corruption in alpha, it is too easy to go red on one mistake so your group is not flagging?

I believe that the only players who will engage in open PvP are those on alt characters, because they care less about the consequences for those characters.

Even in test where corruption is overtuned right now, I have been flagging without issue, my guild has been flagging without issue, and there is plenty of open world pvp happening all over our server where people run around flagged and/or flag up on each other at resources areas. The only time I saw red this past weekend was twice when two different groups were flagging to get people low so they could CC them in a group of mobs and made the mistake of one hit too many and killed the player.

I am giving feedback on the current system. There is some PvP on the server but its the worst people who are just messing with groups to annoy people who never flag up.

Not sure when Steven will lessen the corruption on test, but I think this would help with some of the complaints.

Granted, small groups and guilds would still be able to resist the larger groups that want to control the best grind areas 24/7 and I think this is the annoyance many of the PVPrs have, they can no longer force solos or smaller groups out of spots just by sheer numbers without incurring a penalty for doing it.

Steven has stated that he is trying to balance the advantage that numbers has in the game (a reason given for many servers dying quickly) by doing things such as limiting fast travel and possibly putting dampers on stats at pvp events where the number is greatly one sided, and it sounds like his corruption mechanic is also allowing smaller groups and solos to resist being forced out of grind spots simply due to a numbers game so this seems to align?

Unfortunately, there is no perfect answer/mechanic for what Steven is trying to do so you will have similar size groups competing for the same resource that will use the corruption mechanic to prevent engagement but I think in the future, this will improve as the corruption penalty lessens and people are able to kill others without going red immediately.

With all of this said, I can see how open world pvp might be influenced by the type of server, and I have not experienced alpha from a standpoint of a server that is more pve focused and PVP players are the minority so I cannot speak to how the corruption mechanic is currently playing out on these servers or how often people are flagging.

Steven has stated that there will not be separate servers for pvp and pve, he wants them all the same pvx but he has indicated that some servers will be known for being more pvp focused with their playerbase and hopefully those with a PVP mindset will gravitate toward these servers.