I started playing Ryzom 6-7 years ago on Arispotle. I took a long break from the game because of work and returned at the end of 2014, after the server merge.
Since pvp (coupled with RP) has been my main activity and interest in MMO's, I was very excited when I returned to game post-merge to see all the pvp activity going on. Supernodes were always fiercely disputed, a lot of tagged pvp and 2x2 matches going on on a semi-daily basis, marauder guilds initiating "city invasions", ganking in PR by certain maras, etc. All that had made me very excited about the game again.
For me the grinding of skills, harvesting of sup materials and crafting of "uber" gear has always been a means to an end, and not the goal itself. The goal was to arm myself better for pvp and be able to face different situations and counter different builds. And I believe that holds true for many other pvpers as well.
But slowly I saw pvp dwindle more and more and a good portion of pvpers (if not the majority) leave the game. It has come to a point where the game went on for _months_ without a single OP war, tagged pvp may happen sporadically, but not nearly as frequently. And when it does happen it's always staged and consentual.
Now why is that?
I know the whole thing of kamis dominating OP wars for 2 years made a lot of people upset, and justifiably so. But the introduction of mara as a 3rd faction and their subsequent teaming up with karas made it up for that by toppling the dominating faction (as much as that brought more controversy and complaints over lore and rp reasons, but whatever). Besides, even if kamis dominated OP wars due to sheer numbers, supernodes were still heavily disputed and many times maras won there due to the fact they were better organized and more skilled in small scale pvp. And it seems to me the stagnation of pvp happened mostly _after_ that.
It seems to me that in a typical "double edge" fashion, exactly what makes Ryzom's community more friendly and welcoming than most, also makes pvp shunned and stagnant.
People seem to have a lot of trouble differentiating between pvp used as a game / rp mechanic within the confines of a fictional world versus a personal insult to the player behind the screen.
OPs are purely there as a pvp mechanic, an end game content. And yet you see this air of almost outrage when a faction "dares" to attack an OP in enemy lands. It's as if kamis are supposed to own vedice 250 and karas are supposed to own maga 250 forever. Just as examples. Or alternatively, guilds who have owned certain OPs for very long and just feel like it belongs to them.
I think there should be some kind of mechanism in place which made it easier for a smaller team or guild to be able to take an OP. Virg had a thread proposal for that some time ago, I won't bother digging it up now, but just something to make taking an OP easier, make OP wars faster and OP ownership more transient.
Moreover, ganking in PR (outside of SNs) is seriously looked down by community members as trolling, disgusting behavior, etc etc. But that's the whole purpose of the PVP PR zones!! To make it dangerous, to give some more pvp content to the game. Those zones can be completely avoided, you have the choice to go there or not, and yet someone is shunned if he ganks members of the opposing faction there.
The same for tagged pvp, which baffles me even more. People who are tagged consent to participate in pvp, and yet there is this "unwritten" rule and feel that you're a bad player and a bad guy if you attack another tagged player without consent. I have seen so much arguing over being attacked tagged while grinding, afk, etc. In my opinion that mindset just helps to kill pvp even more in this game. I run into a tagged player and I'm thinking to myself "oh I shouldn't attack him, he's a friend, he's gonna get offended if I jump him". But that totally ruins the element of surprise, danger and excitment that should come along with being tagged. That you can be attacked any time and must be ready to defend yourself on a moment's notice. And if you get killed while afk, come back and go hunt the offender! Or just afk in a safe zone =P
I want Seve Noire back, sweeping the Prime Roots and killing everyone that crosses their path! I want to feel the real danger of being tagged while grinding in Void. Any moment 4 heavily armed Pandas may jump me. And that's just not in game anymore, or at least not in any considerable amount. And it used to be before ...
Unlike Virg I don't think the death of PVP will mean the death of Ryzom. There's plenty of loyal players who couldn't care any less about it. However I think Ryzom has a very interesting and very organic setup for PVP, and it's just not being used at all. And it feels like a waste to me.
Since pvp (coupled with RP) has been my main activity and interest in MMO's, I was very excited when I returned to game post-merge to see all the pvp activity going on. Supernodes were always fiercely disputed, a lot of tagged pvp and 2x2 matches going on on a semi-daily basis, marauder guilds initiating "city invasions", ganking in PR by certain maras, etc. All that had made me very excited about the game again.
For me the grinding of skills, harvesting of sup materials and crafting of "uber" gear has always been a means to an end, and not the goal itself. The goal was to arm myself better for pvp and be able to face different situations and counter different builds. And I believe that holds true for many other pvpers as well.
But slowly I saw pvp dwindle more and more and a good portion of pvpers (if not the majority) leave the game. It has come to a point where the game went on for _months_ without a single OP war, tagged pvp may happen sporadically, but not nearly as frequently. And when it does happen it's always staged and consentual.
Now why is that?
I know the whole thing of kamis dominating OP wars for 2 years made a lot of people upset, and justifiably so. But the introduction of mara as a 3rd faction and their subsequent teaming up with karas made it up for that by toppling the dominating faction (as much as that brought more controversy and complaints over lore and rp reasons, but whatever). Besides, even if kamis dominated OP wars due to sheer numbers, supernodes were still heavily disputed and many times maras won there due to the fact they were better organized and more skilled in small scale pvp. And it seems to me the stagnation of pvp happened mostly _after_ that.
It seems to me that in a typical "double edge" fashion, exactly what makes Ryzom's community more friendly and welcoming than most, also makes pvp shunned and stagnant.
People seem to have a lot of trouble differentiating between pvp used as a game / rp mechanic within the confines of a fictional world versus a personal insult to the player behind the screen.
OPs are purely there as a pvp mechanic, an end game content. And yet you see this air of almost outrage when a faction "dares" to attack an OP in enemy lands. It's as if kamis are supposed to own vedice 250 and karas are supposed to own maga 250 forever. Just as examples. Or alternatively, guilds who have owned certain OPs for very long and just feel like it belongs to them.
I think there should be some kind of mechanism in place which made it easier for a smaller team or guild to be able to take an OP. Virg had a thread proposal for that some time ago, I won't bother digging it up now, but just something to make taking an OP easier, make OP wars faster and OP ownership more transient.
Moreover, ganking in PR (outside of SNs) is seriously looked down by community members as trolling, disgusting behavior, etc etc. But that's the whole purpose of the PVP PR zones!! To make it dangerous, to give some more pvp content to the game. Those zones can be completely avoided, you have the choice to go there or not, and yet someone is shunned if he ganks members of the opposing faction there.
The same for tagged pvp, which baffles me even more. People who are tagged consent to participate in pvp, and yet there is this "unwritten" rule and feel that you're a bad player and a bad guy if you attack another tagged player without consent. I have seen so much arguing over being attacked tagged while grinding, afk, etc. In my opinion that mindset just helps to kill pvp even more in this game. I run into a tagged player and I'm thinking to myself "oh I shouldn't attack him, he's a friend, he's gonna get offended if I jump him". But that totally ruins the element of surprise, danger and excitment that should come along with being tagged. That you can be attacked any time and must be ready to defend yourself on a moment's notice. And if you get killed while afk, come back and go hunt the offender! Or just afk in a safe zone =P
I want Seve Noire back, sweeping the Prime Roots and killing everyone that crosses their path! I want to feel the real danger of being tagged while grinding in Void. Any moment 4 heavily armed Pandas may jump me. And that's just not in game anymore, or at least not in any considerable amount. And it used to be before ...
Unlike Virg I don't think the death of PVP will mean the death of Ryzom. There's plenty of loyal players who couldn't care any less about it. However I think Ryzom has a very interesting and very organic setup for PVP, and it's just not being used at all. And it feels like a waste to me.
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"We are Kami. We are here to be you. We are many as you are of many minds. We are one as you are one in Ma-Duk."