Option to opt out of PvP

DeletedUser30224

I can understand what you are saying. The game is not aimed in one direction only (duelling) and you have quite a few options with your character development that are contradictory with the idea of being a jack of all trades. However there are quite a few games on the market that leave you defenseless if you decide to be a pure crafter, quester and so on, usually with some sort of protection either for your character or your possessions. The west is quite lenient in this regard and quite strict compared to some other games designed for children. I for one want more complexity and challenge from this game, not one click does it all type of attitude. The option to be protected from duels while keeping your luxury is a bit removed from my vision of the game development, but with the current job KO I do not see the difference and certainly understand why the next step would be suggested.

For a townless player, it is very easy to earn money in the game if you do jobs and quests, certainly enough to be able to afford $250 for a premium hotel room in any foreign town. Every 5th day you earn 15 nuggets so with the assumption that you only play one world, you can bank your cash every 5th day without even paying a bank fee, which in the case of our townless fella is 20%. The only action he is missing is town chat because town shops are only useful to a small degree; in most cases you have to buy gear on the market anyhow.

With the last-ish update, townless can fort fight, so really being townless serves the purpose of blocking one area of the game (duelling) while allows you to keep the rest of your daily activity almost unaffected.

Before job KO, an organised enough player could always find the time to get KO'd by duelling a dueller with low HP. The only problem with that was that after 48h period you might not have been online and ready to KO yourself again so every now and then you were caught with your pants down. With job KO you can renew your KO protection at any time, even if your 48h grace period is still active. This enabled non-duellers to be part of a town and with a bit of effort (so slight in fact that the actual word "effort" seems inappropriate to use in this case) they can bypass duelling altogether.

Having carefully considered the idea of effortless duel protection, I must say it kind of looks like a spit in the face of the game theme. As I have mentioned, I want a complex and as diverse game-play experience as possible where you have to earn your bread instead of it becoming a game you log in once a day and manage all your affairs in one session. I know that doesn't sound too good, but it would actually give me enjoyment: diversity, complexity and a touch of realism (though realism is never a strong part of any non-hard core game anyhow).
 

DeletedUser26977

Zd3mo, I really appreciate all your thoughtful insight and the time you took to post them. I should PM you for help when ever I need it. :)

Thanks and take care.
 

DeletedUser30224

This thread should be shortlisted for the Worst Brainfart Ever award

Not while I'm managing this section. Even if an idea is not particularly great or useful, it is still a good incentive to have a discussion. And since this is a forum, discussions are more than welcomed. No idea goes to voting without the community's consent anyway so why would you want to discourage people from coming forward with ideas?
 

Red Falcon

Well-Known Member
A very good idea! But since I am town-less, I do not have to worry about being dueled. However, if I had to do a quest series which required me to be part of a town at all times until it was completed, I would seriously consider buying a no-dueling premium option/feature if it ever became available.
 

DeletedUser20688

But, this is a losing battle, so I guess if I want to join a town I will just have to KO myself every 48 hours. Better yet, I will remain townless and play solo even though I prefer not to.

ShireMist has an excellent point here. At the core of this game's design are almost exclusively cooperation-based incentives that do typically define the nature of an MMO game. However, there are many MMO game designs out there that not only take solo play into account, that feature is actually promoted and spun to market to a certain player. Example: the Hunter class in Lord of the Rings Online is a nuker that really requires no cooperation to go through the entire game not including Raids or similarly, purposeful cooperation-based game objectives.

The West is not to the scale of an MMO like WoW or LotRO but nonetheless has very similar principles of design.

Ironically, The West does have a class that in essence compared to the others is a natural intuitive choice for those wanting to solo: The Adventurer. Of course it's no big surprise that this is the class that gets pummeled by duelers...unless you fall in line and respec to a more co-op based player build.

Sure you can KO your self working. That's a very functional work around but at the same time I totally see Shire's point and she is an advent on W11 if I'm not mistaken (as am I).

My point is that the game does not discourage players that come to the game with a character concept that is independent and fastidious. But come on - let's face it. These days that motivation to play is basically punished constantly. With that in mind I support ShireMist's idea.
 

DeletedUser22685

ShireMist has an excellent point here. At the core of this game's design are almost exclusively cooperation-based incentives that do typically define the nature of an MMO game. However, there are many MMO game designs out there that not only take solo play into account, that feature is actually promoted and spun to market to a certain player. Example: the Hunter class in Lord of the Rings Online is a nuker that really requires no cooperation to go through the entire game not including Raids or similarly, purposeful cooperation-based game objectives.

The West is not to the scale of an MMO like WoW or LotRO but nonetheless has very similar principles of design.

Ironically, The West does have a class that in essence compared to the others is a natural intuitive choice for those wanting to solo: The Adventurer. Of course it's no big surprise that this is the class that gets pummeled by duelers...unless you fall in line and respec to a more co-op based player build.

Sure you can KO your self working. That's a very functional work around but at the same time I totally see Shire's point and she is an advent on W11 if I'm not mistaken (as am I).

My point is that the game does not discourage players that come to the game with a character concept that is independent and fastidious. But come on - let's face it. These days that motivation to play is basically punished constantly. With that in mind I support ShireMist's idea.

I think you're analysing things too deeply by classifying builds as "solo" or "co-op". There's no such thing as a solo or co-op build or class. If you want to distinguish between co-op and solo styles of play, there's a simple way to do so: co-op play involves being a member of a town, while solo play does not.

Townless players are most definitely not being punished constantly. There are virtually no disadvantages of being townless other than the fact that you won't have forts to sleep in and will probably have less access to players who can help you out with items.

But I can see where you're coming from. The imbalance here is caused by the fact that being a member of a town, or choosing a "co-op" play style, gives you the above benefits over being townless, but the intended disadvantage of making yourself a target for duellers is non-existent due to a bugged game mechanic. Players are able to easily avoid being duelled whilst still maintaining all of the advantages of belonging to a town and alliance.

Since you mentioned builds, I assume you're talking about duel builds and job/fort builds (fort builds would be classified as co-op, but for this purpose they're solo as they're probably the main culprits of abusing the privileges of being in a town whilst using job KOs to hide from duels). If so, currently a "solo" style of play is being favoured and has been for a good many updates now. There's really no other way of looking at it, and anyone who claims otherwise is kidding themselves. From the way the removal of job KOs on Beta was reverted, to the recent duel motivation split, every recent update involving duellers has been to their detriment.

It doesn't need to be any simpler than it already is for players to opt out of duels. Either stay townless like you're supposed to if you want a peaceful style of play, or abuse the bugged mechanic that should have been patched by now.

People need to remember that being a dueller is a valid style of play. Too often we see workers and fort fighters acting as though duellers are nothing more than pests who are out to ruin their gaming experience, which is not true. Duellers play for fun, just like the rest of you. Start to consider the gameplay of others rather than simply what makes the game easier for you or the player numbers will continue to decline. I guarantee that since the change to the duel formula a couple of years ago, the single greatest portion of long-time players who have left the game have been duellers.

Disclaimer: I currently have no characters that are actively duelling, and over the years I have had FAR more non-dueller characters than dueller characters (that's not to say I haven't spent more time duelling than most). I'm not making these comments for my own personal benefit, I'm standing up for what I think is fair.
 
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DeletedUser36559

If this option was ever implemented it would be the last straw for duelers so no from me.
 

DeletedUser25632

If this option was ever implemented it would be the last straw for duelers so no from me.

I hardly see it as a last straw because players choose not to be dueled, I don't agree with having this implemented, but it has uses and it doesn't change much as people tend to be townless if they don't want to be dueled. Dueling needs to be evaluated and improved yes, but that's something that wouldn't have to do with this idea.
 

DeletedUser22685

I hardly see it as a last straw because players choose not to be dueled, I don't agree with having this implemented, but it has uses and it doesn't change much as people tend to be townless if they don't want to be dueled. Dueling needs to be evaluated and improved yes, but that's something that wouldn't have to do with this idea.

At least 50% of players in towns would activate this option constantly. It would most definitely be the last straw.
 

DeletedUser31475

Would love to see more of a vacation mode pvp stop outside of that job KO is more then enough
 

DeletedUser25632

At least 50% of players in towns would activate this option constantly. It would most definitely be the last straw.

While most would likely activate it as they're fort fighters and what not, it should have certain restrictions to it such as you cannot enter a fort fight while under this protection and other things that way this is mostly good for builders as that's the only time I've ever had an issue with duelers but I was usually in a good town where they would defend me quickly and wipe out whoever.

But like I said, I don't agree with this being implemented but if it does, I think a restriction to fort fighting and other stuff would help keep people away from using this option.
 

DeletedUser22493

Imo, the problem isn't that people are abusing the the dueling system against people who are not well equipped enough to defend themselves.
It's rather that dueling has become such an inferior part of the game, that most doesn't see it a vital part enough of the game to put points and effort into it, and therefor simply consider it more of an annoyance.


Id vote yes to a no pvp option until a new and more integrated dueling system is in place.
 
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