Curse

Zahr Dalsk · Sep 28, 2009, 04:15 PM // 16:15

Speaking of which, I need to learn how to do DTSC some time.

zelgadissan · Sep 28, 2009, 06:14 PM // 18:14

If you're wanting to do questionable levels of PvP for your faction, Kurzicks have obvious advantages in both FA and JQ. Why wouldn't they play there? Similarly, Luxons have obvious disadvantages in FA and JQ (especially with bots in JQ), so why wouldn't they play AB?

Agreed with Zahr about armors as well.

Eragon Zarroc · Sep 28, 2009, 07:01 PM // 19:01

it is kinda crappy that the kurzicks suck so bad >_< maybe bigger advantages could be given oon the deeper maps to the hometeam? idk

Sifow Chan · Sep 28, 2009, 07:20 PM // 19:20

They need to make AB reward more faction than FA/JQ. I thought AB was supposed to be the mainstream battling between the Luxon and Kurzicks? Pretty stupid how the competitive missions give more.

madriel222 · Sep 28, 2009, 07:20 PM // 19:20

It's been said, but the rewards for AB need to be comparable to the rewards in JQ/FA if AB is ever going to get competitive again.

cebalrai · Sep 29, 2009, 05:12 AM // 05:12

The map is even having a hard time getting to Grenz now... It's 90+% Ancestral.

AB is broken... Plz even out the faction reward or even better - just make the maps random!!!

Where's Regina?

zelgadissan · Sep 29, 2009, 02:02 PM // 14:02

Why do you keep asking for Regina? She's CR, to the best of my knowledge all she could do is mention it to the devs/Live Team.

Anyway, here's what makes me think AB is going to get neglected in this big update:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linsey's big journal update

Right now, we have a list of over a dozen projects that we'd like to put into this build, though I expect this list to shrink considerably as we get closer to lockdown.

The Henchmen Project
PvP Skins
GvG Tiebreaker
New Schedule for Automated Tournaments
Bug Fixes for Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry
The Hall of Heroes
Syncing Random

Basically, they have over a dozen things they'd like to do, but AB wasn't even on their short list, plus they said it'd probably be even less by the time the update actually hits. In good news, they mentioned FA and JQ fixes, so hopefully they will be evened out to where it's not just instant Kurzick wins (well, at least JQ) - maybe some Kurzicks will head back to AB, and maybe some Luxons will head to FA and JQ.

Short · Sep 29, 2009, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Nerf faction rewards for JQ and FA, not too much. But less than AB, I miss the days when the map was different every day. I hate Echovald so I never play anymore, so dark...

moriz · Sep 29, 2009, 08:02 PM // 20:02

just quadruple the balthazar factions gained in AB. that alone will draw in enough players that the two sides equalize.

Giga_Gaia · Sep 30, 2009, 02:54 AM // 02:54

I think another reason why AB is so neglected these days is because it's so heavily fixed towards ignoring other players and just nuke the npc shrines and move on to the next one. Really, where's the fun in that? If I wanted to run around destroying the pathetic AI, I could just go PvE. At least in JQ/FA you pretty much HAVE to kill each other in order to win.

moriz · Sep 30, 2009, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giga_Gaia

I think another reason why AB is so neglected these days is because it's so heavily fixed towards ignoring other players and just nuke the npc shrines and move on to the next one. Really, where's the fun in that? If I wanted to run around destroying the pathetic AI, I could just go PvE. At least in JQ/FA you pretty much HAVE to kill each other in order to win.

correction: it is EASIER for BAD players to ignore their opponents and nuke NPCs. after all, nuking NPCs is much easier to do.

AB is a game of territorial control. you gain territory by nuking shrines and capping them. you deny territory from your opponents by defending shrines, or just flat out annihilating them. the second aspect can be very hard for the predominately PvE'er playerbase, so they usually ignore it completely.

but then, just because it is ignored, doesn't mean it is not important. running in circles and nuking npcs will generally give you a 50% win rate, depending on which map it is. doing both will greatly increase your win rate, assuming you can do it properly.

Martin Alvito · Sep 30, 2009, 07:50 AM // 07:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

just quadruple the balthazar factions gained in AB. that alone will draw in enough players that the two sides equalize.

And kill JQ and FA as dead as they were when Factions was released. Then the PvE-ers will complain about how they can't get Cartographer. (Not that anyone else would complain. I'm sure the current JQ players would be happy to AB for quadded-up faction.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

AB is a game of territorial control. you gain territory by nuking shrines and capping them. you deny territory from your opponents by defending shrines, or just flat out annihilating them. the second aspect can be very hard for the predominately PvE'er playerbase, so they usually ignore it completely.

Well, you actually maximize your impact by killing opponents at their shrines (thereby negating the shrine and killing the other guy), but this is difficult. You have to be much better than your opponent, and having the builds, tactical expertise and player skill to pull it off are beyond most of the player base.

Long story short, you want to maximize the amount of time that your team (all 12 of them) has a numerical advantage while standing on shrines controlled by the opponent, and minimize the amount of time that your opponents are able to do this. If you can efficiently wipe opposing teams, this makes it easier for the other 8 people on the map to cap things. 20 seconds of dead, plus the long walk back out, plus the predictability of where the dead opponents will go confers a large advantage.

Fighting them at your own shrine improves the odds of successfully killing the opponent but increases the risks of failure, because you gave them a time advantage by retreating/staying put to fight at your shrine. If your team is capable, it's best to run out to meet the opponent rather than wait for them.

moriz · Sep 30, 2009, 12:54 PM // 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Alvito

And kill JQ and FA as dead as they were when Factions was released. Then the PvE-ers will complain about how they can't get Cartographer. (Not that anyone else would complain. I'm sure the current JQ players would be happy to AB for quadded-up faction.)

i was talking about quadrupling balthazar faction gain only. those who wants to max out there allegiance titles as quickly as possible would still go for JQ/FA, or speedclears anyways.

Lexar · Sep 30, 2009, 04:45 PM // 16:45

Instead of always increasing rewards and devaluating the title, how about reducing rewards for other factions related activities?

But that's only assuming that good players will come back to AB on the kurzick side. Nobody has been playing AB for the rewards for a long time. I think Luxons are simply better in general because they play more. Obviously this slowly escalated. Let me explain:

It's common knowledge there's more kurzicks than luxons overall. There always have to be AB's with both parties, so the waiting time on the kurzick side is longer, much longer. In the time it takes a luxon to play 10 matches a kurzick plays 6 or 7. (numbers are made up but dont change the point) Luxons simply get more practice. That's what caused the shift in the first place, and that's not going to change if the 'good kurzicks' come back to AB.

xenosagafreak · Sep 30, 2009, 05:43 PM // 17:43

The title was devalued from the beginning with the abusing of HFFF.

The argument that "practice" makes one side better is flawed. There are only _two_ predominantly played maps, so it's not exactly rocket science to know where to go after a couple of games.

The only reason why Lux wins is because the higher difficulty of fighting on AL from their side (with the corresponding underdog bonus) attracts higher level players. In the rare instances where map lands on Etnaran or Kaanai, the Kurzick population shrinks because they know that they won't be able to win with randomway or capway. Correspondingly, the premise that kurzicks are fighting on a map tilted in their favor draws the scrubs.

A simple buff to rewards on the AB end of things is all that's neccessary to revive this format. I mean, seriously, even on AB event days, you can still see kurzicks crying about long wait times in JQ. That's a clear sign that it's the lack of rewards that are failing to draw players.

N1ghtstalker · Sep 30, 2009, 06:10 PM // 18:10

just put in a map rotation
one map = 1 hour

Martin Alvito · Sep 30, 2009, 07:49 PM // 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

i was talking about quadrupling balthazar faction gain only. those who wants to max out there allegiance titles as quickly as possible would still go for JQ/FA, or speedclears anyways.

No problem, I saw what I expected to see.

It still wouldn't be worth players' time to farm Balth even with quadded up AB Balth faction. You'd make a couple zkeys an hour, but PvE alternatives would still be more efficient. I'm not sure where people would substitute from on the PvP side just to get Balth faction.

cebalrai · Oct 04, 2009, 01:33 AM // 01:33

There are some good ideas on this thread. I just hope devs check them out.

And btw I was asking for Regina b/c she can mention things to the live team.

C'mon devs, could the loyal AB community get a little help here plz. AB is really broken right now

erk · Oct 04, 2009, 09:05 AM // 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by cebalrai

This needs attention still, bad. The map is ancestral 2/3 of the time and grenz 1/3, and it's getting worse.

It's driving me nuts. The fix is simple, make the map changes random, rotate ever 3 hours like they are now, but to a random map out of the 5 choices. Get rid of this whole idea of the line moving as the result of battle outcome, it doesn't work, it makes the game dull.

Adriaanz#Shiro · Oct 04, 2009, 10:20 AM // 10:20

While it is true that the maps are mostly Saltspray, Grenz and Ancestral, I highly disagree with the 'luxons being superior'.

The last 3 weeks, I've played every morning, and getting like 12 victories straight, and maybe 1 loss. In the kurzick outposts, there are alot of groups waiting, and when I ask a friend to check out the luxon outpost, it is almost empty. (this is around 12 A.M. GMT+1 until 4 P.M. GMT+1).