Kalu Werwutz
03-01-2002, 09:38 AM
Everyone should express their opinions and suggestions concerning Sullon Zek PvP in the new thread that was opened on the Sony Boards:
http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/everquest/Forum6/HTML/000854.html
This is what I just posted there:
First of all this server is constantly losing people especially in the ranks of newt and good alligned players which makes the discrepance in numbers between evils and goods/newts even more overwhelming. It is becoming horrible if you are not playing at prime times, most zones are very, very empty. So in my opinion it has to be done something and it has to be done fast, we are almost reaching the point where you are (at least at some times of the day) not even able to find people in range to group with (as a newt, might be even worse as a goodie)! This finally will even cause the core people to leave who are very happy with SZ as it is and then this server will die very fast.
Because the other three Zek-Servers are also very empty I suggest the following:
- Shut down one Zek-Server, make three Zek-Servers, one with the Sullon Zek rule set, one with the Rallos Zek rule set and one with the Tallon Zek/Vallon Zek rule set. Allow anyone from any of the four former Zek-Servers to move to ANY of the new three Zek-Servers (but still only allow 1 char on SZ per account) once with all gear.
- If the player basis after the move is still low compared to the Non-PvP-Servers allow people from any of the Non-PvP-Servers to move log once to the new Zek-Servers with some penalties, for example they are only allowed to move ONE char with three items of their choice and half of their money or five items and a quarter of their money. First come, first serve until you reached the amount of players that is playing on an average Non-PvP-Server. Might be a lot more complicating than just having them to move log, but we are talking about rescueing a server and it would be very unfair to have fully geared NToV people on any of the new Zek-Servers who acquired their gear with little to no risk on a blue server. Repeat this maybe after 3 months or half a year if the player basis is becoming lower again.
Balance the teams. Balancing does not mean to give one team an experience advantage over one of the two other teams nor does it mean to have evils fight evils. Those solutions are only simple, easier to implement workarounds for the real problems. GrayRage/Grunter made a great posting concerning this topic (although I disagree with some other points ;-P) and I repeat it here:
************************************************** ****************
Before the server went live many people pointed out the glaring problems with the teams. All pretty much unanimously agreed the Evil Team was by far the most favored and the Goody Team was doomed. Sony ignored the posts and continued as planned which ultimately turned out to be WRONG. The reason is as follows:
Team Make Up and geography -
Evil - This team has Iksars, Ogres, Trolls and DEs (99%) all to themselves. They SHARE the following races: Barbarians (33%), Humans (33%), Erudites (33%), Gnomes (33%), Humans (33%), Wood Elves (33%) and Half Elves (33%). This gives them 4 exclusive races and 11 available races. This gives them 3 classes with Instant Kill abilities (HT, Manaburn, Lifeburn). This gave them the starting areas virtually UNCONTESTED of Nektulos, LS (with Sol and Nerana dungeons), Fearot (with CT dungeon), Innothule Swamp (with Guk) and ALL of Kunark. Their mandatory (where conflict was GOING to happen) PvP borders consisted of only fighting in WC and SK against the Neutral Team for those zones.
Neutral - This team has Halfings (99%) and Dorfs exclusively to themselves. They SHARE the following races: DE (1%), Barbarian (33%), Half Elf (33%), Wood Elf (33%), Human (33%), High Elf (50%), Erudite (33%) and Gnomes (33%). This gives them 2 exclusive races and allows them the chance to be 10 races total. They have one instant kill class (manaburn).The original uncontested zones included Misty (with RE Dungeon), HPH and area, Butcherblock (with Unrest). The PvP border and mandatory conflict zones included WC (evils), SK (evils), BB/Fay zone (goodies), EF/BB/QH (goodies), SF/LF (goodies/evils).
Goody - This team currently has only Cat People as exclusively to them (but NO exclusive races when server was born). They had the option of being the following races: Barb (33%), Human (33%), Gnome (33%), High Elf (50%), Wood Elf (33%), Half Elf (33%) and Erudites (33%). This gives them ONE exclusive race and the availability to be 8 races. Geographically the goodies had ZERO uncontested areas and eventually carved out a spot in EF/Perma as well as Gfay/LFay/KK/Crushbone. The goodies always either fought over zones or contested zones with Neutrals only but in ALL of their zones because they always bordered neutral uncontested areas. This is what has/had lead tot he animosity between the Neutral/Goody teams.
The evil team having 4 races exclusive, 3 insta kill classes and 11 races potentially for creation exceeds the Neutral teams 2 exclusive races, 10 available races and 1 instant kill class and FAR exceeds the good team's 1 exclusive race (which came long after SZ was born), 8 available races and single insta kill class. Additionally, the evil team's multitude of uncontested zones early in the life of the server gave them the ability to avoid PvP entirely if they so desired whilst the Neutral and goody teams were constantly battling for lands. For these reasons, I am comfortable in stating that Sony failed to create our server with balanced Teams and is the primary reason why it's population dropped so dramatically (because if the teams were balanced Neutral and Goody would have the same numbers as evil).
A better team makeup would have been as follows (and one that can still exist if you follow my proposed solution):
Evil - Ogre, Troll, Iksar, DE, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
Neutral - Halfing, Gnome, Dorf, Barbarian, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
Goody - High Elf, Wood Elf, Half Elf, Cat Dude, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
The only class restrictions would be as follows:
SK - Evil only
Ranger - Neutral/Goody Only
Paladin - Goody/Neutral Only
For people already on SZ allow them to switch their race to remain on their team (IE: DE wizzies changing to Gnome).
************************************************** ****************
Adjust the basic abilities of some race/class combinations for a bit to make them more attractive, for example before spending any ability points while building a new char an ogre warrior has 140 Strength and 132 Stamina while a gnome warrior has only 70 Strength and 80 Stamina. In this example let the ogre have like 120 Strength and 112 Stamina and the gnome like 80 Strength and 90 Stamina, thats still a huge enough difference between those two races. Weaken some of the stronger races and strengthen some of the weaker races and of course this should apply to all existing chars on all servers.
http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/everquest/Forum6/HTML/000854.html
This is what I just posted there:
First of all this server is constantly losing people especially in the ranks of newt and good alligned players which makes the discrepance in numbers between evils and goods/newts even more overwhelming. It is becoming horrible if you are not playing at prime times, most zones are very, very empty. So in my opinion it has to be done something and it has to be done fast, we are almost reaching the point where you are (at least at some times of the day) not even able to find people in range to group with (as a newt, might be even worse as a goodie)! This finally will even cause the core people to leave who are very happy with SZ as it is and then this server will die very fast.
Because the other three Zek-Servers are also very empty I suggest the following:
- Shut down one Zek-Server, make three Zek-Servers, one with the Sullon Zek rule set, one with the Rallos Zek rule set and one with the Tallon Zek/Vallon Zek rule set. Allow anyone from any of the four former Zek-Servers to move to ANY of the new three Zek-Servers (but still only allow 1 char on SZ per account) once with all gear.
- If the player basis after the move is still low compared to the Non-PvP-Servers allow people from any of the Non-PvP-Servers to move log once to the new Zek-Servers with some penalties, for example they are only allowed to move ONE char with three items of their choice and half of their money or five items and a quarter of their money. First come, first serve until you reached the amount of players that is playing on an average Non-PvP-Server. Might be a lot more complicating than just having them to move log, but we are talking about rescueing a server and it would be very unfair to have fully geared NToV people on any of the new Zek-Servers who acquired their gear with little to no risk on a blue server. Repeat this maybe after 3 months or half a year if the player basis is becoming lower again.
Balance the teams. Balancing does not mean to give one team an experience advantage over one of the two other teams nor does it mean to have evils fight evils. Those solutions are only simple, easier to implement workarounds for the real problems. GrayRage/Grunter made a great posting concerning this topic (although I disagree with some other points ;-P) and I repeat it here:
************************************************** ****************
Before the server went live many people pointed out the glaring problems with the teams. All pretty much unanimously agreed the Evil Team was by far the most favored and the Goody Team was doomed. Sony ignored the posts and continued as planned which ultimately turned out to be WRONG. The reason is as follows:
Team Make Up and geography -
Evil - This team has Iksars, Ogres, Trolls and DEs (99%) all to themselves. They SHARE the following races: Barbarians (33%), Humans (33%), Erudites (33%), Gnomes (33%), Humans (33%), Wood Elves (33%) and Half Elves (33%). This gives them 4 exclusive races and 11 available races. This gives them 3 classes with Instant Kill abilities (HT, Manaburn, Lifeburn). This gave them the starting areas virtually UNCONTESTED of Nektulos, LS (with Sol and Nerana dungeons), Fearot (with CT dungeon), Innothule Swamp (with Guk) and ALL of Kunark. Their mandatory (where conflict was GOING to happen) PvP borders consisted of only fighting in WC and SK against the Neutral Team for those zones.
Neutral - This team has Halfings (99%) and Dorfs exclusively to themselves. They SHARE the following races: DE (1%), Barbarian (33%), Half Elf (33%), Wood Elf (33%), Human (33%), High Elf (50%), Erudite (33%) and Gnomes (33%). This gives them 2 exclusive races and allows them the chance to be 10 races total. They have one instant kill class (manaburn).The original uncontested zones included Misty (with RE Dungeon), HPH and area, Butcherblock (with Unrest). The PvP border and mandatory conflict zones included WC (evils), SK (evils), BB/Fay zone (goodies), EF/BB/QH (goodies), SF/LF (goodies/evils).
Goody - This team currently has only Cat People as exclusively to them (but NO exclusive races when server was born). They had the option of being the following races: Barb (33%), Human (33%), Gnome (33%), High Elf (50%), Wood Elf (33%), Half Elf (33%) and Erudites (33%). This gives them ONE exclusive race and the availability to be 8 races. Geographically the goodies had ZERO uncontested areas and eventually carved out a spot in EF/Perma as well as Gfay/LFay/KK/Crushbone. The goodies always either fought over zones or contested zones with Neutrals only but in ALL of their zones because they always bordered neutral uncontested areas. This is what has/had lead tot he animosity between the Neutral/Goody teams.
The evil team having 4 races exclusive, 3 insta kill classes and 11 races potentially for creation exceeds the Neutral teams 2 exclusive races, 10 available races and 1 instant kill class and FAR exceeds the good team's 1 exclusive race (which came long after SZ was born), 8 available races and single insta kill class. Additionally, the evil team's multitude of uncontested zones early in the life of the server gave them the ability to avoid PvP entirely if they so desired whilst the Neutral and goody teams were constantly battling for lands. For these reasons, I am comfortable in stating that Sony failed to create our server with balanced Teams and is the primary reason why it's population dropped so dramatically (because if the teams were balanced Neutral and Goody would have the same numbers as evil).
A better team makeup would have been as follows (and one that can still exist if you follow my proposed solution):
Evil - Ogre, Troll, Iksar, DE, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
Neutral - Halfing, Gnome, Dorf, Barbarian, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
Goody - High Elf, Wood Elf, Half Elf, Cat Dude, Human (33%), Erudite (33%)
The only class restrictions would be as follows:
SK - Evil only
Ranger - Neutral/Goody Only
Paladin - Goody/Neutral Only
For people already on SZ allow them to switch their race to remain on their team (IE: DE wizzies changing to Gnome).
************************************************** ****************
Adjust the basic abilities of some race/class combinations for a bit to make them more attractive, for example before spending any ability points while building a new char an ogre warrior has 140 Strength and 132 Stamina while a gnome warrior has only 70 Strength and 80 Stamina. In this example let the ogre have like 120 Strength and 112 Stamina and the gnome like 80 Strength and 90 Stamina, thats still a huge enough difference between those two races. Weaken some of the stronger races and strengthen some of the weaker races and of course this should apply to all existing chars on all servers.