I haven’t yet reached end-game, but I’m moving along at a decent pace, currently level 34 and at this point I thought I’d be enjoying at least some open PvP goodness. Yet in the last three worlds, Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine and Alderaan, all of which have open PvP zones, I’ve only run across two enemy faction players.
So where’s the PvP? Yes, I know I can join the Warzones, but to be honest, I’ve grew tired of them in Warhammer Online and while BioWare has added new elements and Hutt Ball, I still prefer open PvP much more than warzones, plus I hate Hutt Ball. I basically do my one daily Warzone per day and that’s it.
What I really want is open PvP and while I’m constantly told I’m flagged for PvP, I never see anyone. The two times I did, the guy ran away because I was a few levels above him and the second time we actually fought. He caught me during a mob fight so he killed me first, but 10 secs later after I revived myself, I was able to kill him.
Being my first open PvP kill I was expecting some sort of reward or at least acknowledgement of my first kill, but there was nothing, which just left me with an empty, why bother, feeling. I didn’t even gain XP or Valor for the kill.
Now, I’m not asking for a full fledged PvP rewards system like so many MMORPGs have today, because in my mind that just leads to PvP grinding. But I would like at least some acknowledgement of my efforts. Even something as simple as a personal stat board to show me my kills and deaths.
The problem with the open PvP zones is there is absolutely no incentive for players, which is why they’re empty. Why bother in a open zone when you can queue up for a warzone and get all the rewards? While hardcore PvPers will say the reward is in the kill itself, that’s not enough incentive to get most players to participate, so there has to be some reward be it XP, Valor or something else.
When it comes down to it PvP is flat out broken in Star Wars: The Old Republic and needs to be fixed asap. Being a one character per MMO type of guy, I don’t re-roll or start alts, my biggest concern is getting to the endgame and finding out there’s nothing left for me to do.
“While hardcore PvPers will say the reward is in the kill itself,…”
December 30th, 2011 at 2:28 pmHardcore or not, PvP kills should ALWAYS give a reward. Whatever tokens/exp/points you accrue in the ‘battleground’ type PvP should also apply to open world. This is disappointing to say the least, and is just another reason to not pick up SWTOR. Would really like to hear about this oft mentioned, never detailed open PvP world for level 50′s.
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I am anything but a PvPer (I honestly have hated PvP since DAoC)but there should be rewards for participation.
December 30th, 2011 at 3:36 pmQuote
I have to agree with a lot of this. Another thing I don’t understand is even in the warzones the level settings are completely out of whack. Why are level 27s, with level 27 abilities in a warzone with level 50′s with max abilities? I get that there are stat boosts to even that aspect a bit more, but seriously it’s out of whack balance wise. Even the gear system is annoying me. There’s no in-game manager to swap back and forth between pve and pvp gear… you would think these are basic things games launch with by now.
December 30th, 2011 at 3:36 pmQuote
PVP is broken in more than one way. 5 sec aoe stuns for one class and none for the other? they really need to fix the cc. Honestly for 6 years in dev with so much money thrown in its face, I think the pvp could have been at the very least playable if not enjoyable…
December 30th, 2011 at 4:30 pmQuote
PvP is always broken. Even on World of Warcraft a game that has been here for ever 7 years they still have no manage to really fully balance PvP, we still have certain classes that will kill anyone in PvP, I see it has a long and never ending working progress when it comes to PVP, But, this game is beautiful even with out any PvP. But, I am in a PvP swtor server and I have experienced some PvP and to be honest it was dumb cause the guys who ganked me were all 50 levels and I was only 30. To be honest this game still kicks ass even without PvP.
December 30th, 2011 at 6:38 pmQuote
One second you just want a scoreboard because it just leads to PVP grinding, not a paragraph latter you want XP.
It’s these self conflicting desires in gamers that must really drive devs nuts. Not only do their player base not all want the same thing, but even individuals in their player base do not want the same thing as themselves.
December 31st, 2011 at 1:24 amQuote
When I read the article its asking about players more than the game, but the title could reflect that better. Players are voluntary participants, you can not force them to pvp with you, you have to entice them. Playing fair is the best way to do that. Some high level players though in TOR are force flagging on PVE servers by self flagging and jumping into AE spell casting while people are already in PVE combat. That is a really good way to kill the joy and make people not want to play. That may be one reason your not seeing as many people come out to play. I can only reason that it is a problem Bioware didn’t think of in development as they typically do single player games. In the mean time I suggest rolling on a PVP server. I know there is the pesky problem of having to watch your back but hay turn about is fair play. If there were more honorable combat and less ganking and camping of lowbies, there would be more pvp. Its still early though things could improve.
December 31st, 2011 at 10:48 amQuote
@Callan for me, I good with just a scoreboard, but to provide incentive to the majority of players, you have to offer them more than that. I wasn’t contradicting myself, but offering a suggestion to get more activity in the open world PvP zones on a large scale.
December 31st, 2011 at 10:58 amQuote
PvP should be something that is allowed anywhere in a game. Only thing is, if you’re in a busy place, like a town, there should be NPC guards around that will be alerted if you attack someone there, just like in real life, and these guards (being high levels) would in turn attack you. Just like in real life, you could attack someone virtually anywhere, but there’d be consequences usually.
December 31st, 2011 at 2:01 pmQuote
” While hardcore PvPers will say the reward is in the kill itself” … I think that is the point of games. The thrill and the experience. Does it really matter more if they give you some silly bonus point or achievement? The thrill is all about the experience of getting some PVP while questing… what do numbers and titles have anything to do with it. If people were encouraged and incentivized to do more world pvp, you and others would be complaining about how you are getting farmed and camped for world pvp points, haha.
“Being a one character per MMO type of guy, I don’t re-roll or start alts, my biggest concern is getting to the endgame and finding out there’s nothing left for me to do.” MMOs, especially this game, are about enjoying the experience from 1-50, not rushing to 50 and then sitting there twiddling your thumbs wanting more. Limiting yourself to one character really does not give you the full experience. Not all character types will excel at pvp… healers should not be able to two-shot dps classes. That is truly balance. If all classes had stunds, cc, etc. it would not make sense.
December 31st, 2011 at 5:00 pmQuote
There seems to be a decided lack of interest and wide spread ignorance among developers and software game decision makers. They don’t understand the importance of persistent world faction vs faction territorial conflict and they don’t care to understand.There appears to be a few that do and they are making games like DOMINUS…ARCHEAGE…SECRET WORLD AND GUILD WARS 2.Many prefer to just make another kide game….. x number of players vs x number of player instanced game…call it a warfront or whatever and move on to what for them is far more interesting traditional mmo making.
SWTOR is the latest example…before that RIFT…..and AION….and WOW….and WAR and the list goes on……
January 6th, 2012 at 7:09 amQuote