Thoughts on improving the overall PVP experience

So, I don't think it is going to come to a surprise to anyone that node wars and siege wars on this server are basically dead. I wanted to get into my opinion on why, and maybe some ideas for how we could improve the conditions and also motivate people to want to even part-take in real node wars.

First of all, let's break down the biggest issues with node wars right now:

1. At the highest levels, it is extremely unbalanced towards large heavily stacked guilds, who basically can't even get a real fight. Which honestly is more a problem for these guilds as they can't get any meaningful wars, which I think is what a lot of us in the pvp community really want. At the higher levels, war guilds are basically a revolving door for members and a graveyard for GMs. A lot of players here are leaving or even selling off their accounts entirely, which means this server is and has been losing many of it's most dedicated players on a regular basis.

2. At the lower levels, people who want to take part in wars basically are unable to contribute anything meaningful to war. Fact is, people on this server who are below 550 GS are in a really bad place, they've worked hard to make it as far as they have, and will get stomped in numbers by someone even 20-30 gs higher than them. take this a bit lower, 500-525 gs, and you are basically only helping to raise your guilds spawn timers. As much as you might want to take part in and enjoy this aspect of the game, 1 600-ish gear score player on the other side and your entire guild might not be able to make it far from their base.

3. Progression as a motivation to be in a war guild is extremely low. I really hate comparing this server and retail BDO, since honestly I find the experience here overall so much better, one thing I find seriously lacking here though, is that being in a war guild that was holding nodes was actually a great way to passively get silver while part-taking in a group activity. If you were in a guild that was holding several nodes weekly, you were usually running up some nice income by this, while also getting some great group pvp in the process(even though retail was also often very unbalanced, but this isn't a place for that discussion). Guild payouts on this server, even at the highest levels, and in fact, especially at the highest levels, mean basically nothing compared to what solid grinding sessions can make here. If I can make 1-2b a day mostly afk running bosses, or doing special deals, then what does a 30-100mil guild payout really do for me?

Sounds pretty bleak...

I don't want to come here talking about how hopeless things here are without also proposing some things that I think could vastly improve the node war and pvp community on this server. Some of which I think might be possible, others of which, are very subjective and almost a destructive thing to do to the community at large(although may benefit it in the long run).

1. Less nodes to fight over. Snipes are just too easy to lay down to collect nodes. Guilds that want a fight drop on a node that has someone on it, in hopes of finding a fight, only to get a bare tower with no defenders. This sucks, and is the most common form of node war you are going to get with pre-planning between two guilds.

2.Gear gap. Hence why people don't even show up to defend their towers, if you are fighting a guild with 2-3 or even more geared(580+) members, and your guild is new and not very strong yet, you have NO chance. I mean no chance against 2-3 people, forget the rest of the guild. I myself have been in situations where I can sit on someones tower alone killing their defenders and destroying structures for minutes on end. How do you think it feels to bring your guild to a war to get destroyed by 1-2 people? If there is ANYTHING that would make someone not want to bother with wars again, I think this is the number 1 reason. I think this is the biggest problem affecting node wars in general at this time. However, I think there is a solution to this, although some might not like it.

Items exist in this game, the Kydict gear set, that are basically "softcap"(tet boss, with tri gold accessories) gear that leave people around 550 gs, with no crystals, and without many of the benefits that come from having the real top level gear in this game. I think the war community as a whole would greatly benefit from this gear being made available. Either as a cash shop item, or reward for hitting a certain level, or what have you. Obviously the administration here would have to consider how to best implement something like this into the game. What they feel comfortable with, and won't destroy the vision for what they want this server to be.

3. Node income is ass. If it is at all possible, increasing the income from owning nodes to make it actually meaningful is a really good way to get people to want to do wars. 1-2+ billion payouts a week would not be game breaking on this server, provided your guild is on point and able to hold nodes. The motivation to win wars for silver is basically not a thing on this server, and was a major part of a lot of peoples motivation to win on retail. Even against stacked odds, an actual possibility to make considerable silver by doing node wars might at least motivate people to participate in this aspect of the game. I think this is more slept on than anything else that is ruining node wars right now. Why bother trying to fight for it when there is basically nothing to be gained from winning. Personally I am interested in wars more for the fun than for any gain. That said my gear is already good, and frankly I can't find a good reason for me to be in a war guild at the moment. Fights are too far between, too unbalanced.

4. This is more a last resort, because it poses obvious issues, although I feel like it could actually go a long way toward making the war scene better overall. At the sacrifice of larger guilds who are not interested in war. Cutting this 100 person guild max. If you go by the amount of people actively logged into this server, by the amount of people a guild can hold, you end up with around 18 guilds. Cut out the people who don't have the gear, the number is probably dropped to 2-3 guilds at the most. How are we supposed to have a competitive and fun environment like this? The number of potential competiters could be greatly increase by dropping guild max members to around 40 people. Obviously, this hurts many guilds, including those not even interested in war, and doesn't solve a lot of the other issues effecting wars on this server.

Sorry I know this is a lot to read, but I think someone needs to put forth some realistic ideas about how to improve the pvp community on this server, instead of just complaining that it sucks or that any certain guild is ruining it. Hopefully enough people agree with me that maybe we could put pressure on the administration here to consider this idea, and hopefully give a breath of life into something that has been dying off more and more. It is a sad state for such a central aspect of the game.

 

Kydict gear on webshop is awesome, I wholly support this idea. charge like £10 so new players who are impatient can get a taste.

the gear doesn't compete with V boss with urugon at all, so the motivation to grind won't die. but there will be a lot more people who are able to participate in PvP, which is great. more dudems to kill

edit: just thought I'd add that I am full V boss w urugon myself, so I don't want this for me. it's for the young players

 

None of this is going to "fix" anything. Guilds just need to man up and learn how to take a loss and not immediately implode upon it. Sure snipe nodes here, gear gap there, but there is no difference to retail there, is there? On retail people just "suffer" through it and progress in either direction. The mindset that people have when coming to GamezBD is that they are the top dog for whatever reason, and then FML comes around and stomps them (MemeUp as a perfect example). Gear does not equal experience and I highly disagree if not outright refute the statement that a 550GS player can't do anything meaningful for their guild. Yea, sure in open world pvp they can't, in a node or siege setup they can do various tasks very well depending on their class and overall organization.

Member limit? It's already capped at 100 and if you think one guild actually fields 100 people you are wrong. 90% of the guilds, even FML, don't field their max number ever, so what's the point? People are going to be online or available on different days or even weeks, so in that case capping the already capped member limit further and thus create even more hassle for any newcoming guilds that are actively recruiting. If a GM and his/her officers have to constantly cycle members in and out depending on their availability kills a guild (see all the top guilds in retail, and how much of a "community" they are aside from a small core that has friendship ties with leadership).

The other two points or three points, im just gonna consider the max node avail. for war and income as one since they are the same in the end. Keeping the same amount of nodes available for war or occupation and increasing the money you earn from it will only further increase the sniping. You can only increase the payout of nodes when you decrease their availability and thus create a scarcity. Kydict gear? Sure, why not. Allows for a faster start but the underlying process in the background still exists (it's not going to make much of a difference in the long run really). Instead of having it available at the webshop and thus have it permanently, keep it in the IG pearlshop and make it re-buyable with pearls every week, thus encouraging progression or continuously spend pearls on these items (similar to the guild accessories).