Here are some things I've noticed regarding PvP here in the past.
Yes, the devs planned to have PvP from the start but right after release it only existed in the form of the Matis Arena and the duel.
Then there came Areas with PvP enabled (roots, nexus, temple war regions) which drove away a lot of people who had become accustomed to the original way.
Then outposts where added as another PvP option but this was a good addition to PvP even though there were some screams (not too many though) because it's not always war and you can SELECT to participate or not.
Then the PvP flag was added but the way it was implemented gave a big uproar from the PvP hating ones among the RPers (I know that NOT all RPers hate PvP) because they wanted to show their allegiance but didn't want to flag for PvP.
Seeing those past developments there are some conclusions that I've come to:
1) adding PvP later on is a VERY BAD idea because the existing players might be playing the game exactly because there's NO PvP
2) if PvP is changed the change has to be voluntary for all parties involved (as far as possible) otherwise there'll always be some big part of the player base that doesn't like it.
3) new things that are changed it should maintain a balance between PvP and non-PvP (I'm not saying PvE here on purpose)
4) if there are many people doing real RP there has to be a RP reason in addition to the changes if they involve a great portion of the player base (this should be the case for any mmoRPg!!)
So here are the reasons why a PvP week(end), in the way it's proposed, would be a bad idea:
1) the entire server (except for some tiny areas) would be PvP - no balance at all
2) what would be the RP reason for this? I can't think of any.
Here's how the suggestion could be modified to make it more PvE friendly:
Make only a single or few regions forced PvP for a predetermined time.
The last event in hidden source could have been used as an example for this... with the first announcement of the "war" between the Fyros and Marauders Hidden Source (and maybe the Savage Dunes as well) could have been made the same type of PvP region as the Umbra/Nexus.
Yes, it would have made tracks harder for a while but there's a RP reason for it and the PvPers would have a big region that's very much used to get some non-PvPers to try it out.
After the event the region(s) would be back to normal of course.
Some other things that could be done to promote PvP would be the following:
1) Finally implement the spires that were announced a long time ago (the concept doesn't contradict my points above) and it might lead to some additional RPers using the flag because they don't want faction X in their region. But balancing has to be kept in mind regarding teleport-restricions.
2) add new regions that are PvP only (should have happened together with the introduction of the kitin nest though as that's a nice PvE region to maintain the balance)
Yes, the devs planned to have PvP from the start but right after release it only existed in the form of the Matis Arena and the duel.
Then there came Areas with PvP enabled (roots, nexus, temple war regions) which drove away a lot of people who had become accustomed to the original way.
Then outposts where added as another PvP option but this was a good addition to PvP even though there were some screams (not too many though) because it's not always war and you can SELECT to participate or not.
Then the PvP flag was added but the way it was implemented gave a big uproar from the PvP hating ones among the RPers (I know that NOT all RPers hate PvP) because they wanted to show their allegiance but didn't want to flag for PvP.
Seeing those past developments there are some conclusions that I've come to:
1) adding PvP later on is a VERY BAD idea because the existing players might be playing the game exactly because there's NO PvP
2) if PvP is changed the change has to be voluntary for all parties involved (as far as possible) otherwise there'll always be some big part of the player base that doesn't like it.
3) new things that are changed it should maintain a balance between PvP and non-PvP (I'm not saying PvE here on purpose)
4) if there are many people doing real RP there has to be a RP reason in addition to the changes if they involve a great portion of the player base (this should be the case for any mmoRPg!!)
So here are the reasons why a PvP week(end), in the way it's proposed, would be a bad idea:
1) the entire server (except for some tiny areas) would be PvP - no balance at all
2) what would be the RP reason for this? I can't think of any.
Here's how the suggestion could be modified to make it more PvE friendly:
Make only a single or few regions forced PvP for a predetermined time.
The last event in hidden source could have been used as an example for this... with the first announcement of the "war" between the Fyros and Marauders Hidden Source (and maybe the Savage Dunes as well) could have been made the same type of PvP region as the Umbra/Nexus.
Yes, it would have made tracks harder for a while but there's a RP reason for it and the PvPers would have a big region that's very much used to get some non-PvPers to try it out.
After the event the region(s) would be back to normal of course.
Some other things that could be done to promote PvP would be the following:
1) Finally implement the spires that were announced a long time ago (the concept doesn't contradict my points above) and it might lead to some additional RPers using the flag because they don't want faction X in their region. But balancing has to be kept in mind regarding teleport-restricions.
2) add new regions that are PvP only (should have happened together with the introduction of the kitin nest though as that's a nice PvE region to maintain the balance)
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