Poll: Balanceing a PvP based MMORPG/FPS

[WendelI]

I am asking this question because i want to program something along the lines of an action RPG/FPS like Tabula Rasa or Mass Effect (that last one is not MMO but you get the point.) The problem is that i play one now days that is similar in the terms of:

Great Skill Beats a small level difference
A great level of difference beats just about any amount of skill

This game is called [b:]Ace Online[/b], Even dough I love this game and am just 30 levels away from maxing out, I stopped having fun. and that's because of the 2 waring clans. The clan that wins the first few wars its really the one that wins them all from now on since the economy is greatly improved by winning a war. Yes I understand the idea of Giving an incentive to leveling up fighting and wining and such. But when the game becomes soo unfair to the losers you just don't want to keep on playing. To this day I cant go to the areas of might righteous level because the enemy has them for their own. So I cant get past level 70. The game usually has this problem. As soon as this is done, it will become a grinding server. Since 1 nation will completely quit.

Planet Side and RF online kind of solved this problem by adding a third faction, but in the case of RF online alliances are VERY common and that ends up as a delicious 2v1. On planet side however, one of the 3 nations was barely played when i started the game. but it was VERY fun to play as them since 1 head shot at level 1 could boost you to level 3, since you got a great experience bonus for being a small loosing nation. But then again what is the point in wining for the the other 2 nations if they are practically punished for it.

 

[Good morning blues]

Sounds to me like the problem that Ace Online had was that it gave a bonus to the side that was already winning (who would think that was a good idea?) and that it could be easily improved by giving the bonus to the losing side.

I think the best way to do it would be to have a lot of small factions instead of only two or three gigantic ones.

 

[Srkkl]

I've been wanting a MMORPG/FPS but it would take a lot of skill and it would be easy to mess it up.

 

[WendelI]

Yeah i would say that the biggest problem with this games is that skill is unpredictable... It would be nice to be more of an individual performance reward like in S4 league but that tends to make the players a tad more selfish and less willing to play as a team, I have also never seen a personal bonus work on large scales well either since S4 is just 8v8 most of the time....

 

[Sevre]

I am asking this question because i want to program something along the lines of an action RPG/FPS like Tabula Rasa or Mass Effect (that last one is not MMO but you get the point.) The problem is that i play one now days that is similar in the terms of:

Great Skill Beats a small level difference
A great level of difference beats just about any amount of skill

This game is called [b:]Ace Online[/b], Even dough I love this game and am just 30 levels away from maxing out, I stopped having fun. and that's because of the 2 waring clans. The clan that wins the first few wars its really the one that wins them all from now on since the economy is greatly improved by winning a war. Yes I understand the idea of Giving an incentive to leveling up fighting and wining and such. But when the game becomes soo unfair to the losers you just don't want to keep on playing. To this day I cant go to the areas of might righteous level because the enemy has them for their own. So I cant get past level 70. The game usually has this problem. As soon as this is done, it will become a grinding server. Since 1 nation will completely quit.

Planet Side and RF online kind of solved this problem by adding a third faction, but in the case of RF online alliances are VERY common and that ends up as a delicious 2v1. On planet side however, one of the 3 nations was barely played when i started the game. but it was VERY fun to play as them since 1 head shot at level 1 could boost you to level 3, since you got a great experience bonus for being a small loosing nation. But then again what is the point in wining for the the other 2 nations if they are practically punished for it.

RF Online is the worst game it has ever been my misfortune to play, I admire CCR or whoever developed it for the guts to use player controlled alliances though. Anyway it can and will be done easily. All you have to do is balance the game like an RTS. Give the players the illusion they're making a difference and are truly stronger when you pull the strings from behind.

 

[WendelI]

RF Online is the worst game it has ever been my misfortune to play, I admire CCR or whoever developed it for the guts to use player controlled alliances though. Anyway it can and will be done easily. All you have to do is balance the game like an RTS. Give the players the illusion they're making a difference and are truly stronger when you pull the strings from behind.

You mean i should mod my own game? like GMs sending in 20 Battle ships to the winnig faction and rape their economy so the game is more fair for the other faction... Sounds like an Authoritarian god of some sort. But its a good idea.... I just think that people don't appeal much for god making things fair for them. Also it requires allot of human work, although it can be solved with some sort of AI director like in Left for dead.

 

[Sevre]

RF Online is the worst game it has ever been my misfortune to play, I admire CCR or whoever developed it for the guts to use player controlled alliances though. Anyway it can and will be done easily. All you have to do is balance the game like an RTS. Give the players the illusion they're making a difference and are truly stronger when you pull the strings from behind.

You mean i should mod my own game? like GMs sending in 20 Battle ships to the winnig faction and rape their economy so the game is more fair for the other faction... Sounds like an Authoritarian god of some sort. But its a good idea.... I just think that people don't appeal much for god making things fair for them. Also it requires allot of human work, although it can be solved with some sort of AI director like in Left for dead.

No you don't understand, doesn't matter how many battles one faction wins the advantage bar moves very little. But when one Faction starts to really fall behind invisible handicaps start to push them back on making this an endless war. I believe some MMOs already use a similiar system.