heRO SvN Update

[Nidsrule]

Just for arguments sake, I was referring almost exclusively to the BG1 gear list. I'd have to agree that the glorious ring is quite overpowered, but the rest of the gears seem quite fair. I was under the assumption you would only release the first lot of BG's in a similar fashion to what iRO did (in itself removing the issue of the glorious rings), while releasing KVM later down the track. heRO would have trouble enough getting things going for one set of battlegrounds let alone spreading the PvP population over both arenas. Other than that though, I disagree that the weapons/armors are overpowered.

You mentioned the concept of buying wins as being an issue (especially if you assume this would allow quick runs). Simple solution to stop people benefiting from quick runs is to add a quick modification to the script. Adding a simple account based timer after a player finishes a round of BG (at the point in the script where the players are warped from the map) and a subsequent check at the sign in stage, to make sure this timer is expired before it lets people continue, would prevent people farming in the way you present it.

As for the issue of there being no easy way to implement WoE damage mechanics (I haven't checked the battleground script releases in a long time, so I assumed by now they would have caught up with it all) it becomes not so much an issue of balance in terms of gears, but an issue with eA not having everything coded as intended in the official release. That or the battlegrounds script that has been released hasn't been added to the SVN version you are upgrading to and I'm well aware you don't like to fiddle with things like that yourselves blah blah blah. It just annoys me that you don't present this as being the main issue (if it is the case) instead of saying the gears/mechanics are broken beyond repair.

The "issue" of it giving a free ride is still rubbish imo. Whether you make it trans only or give it a high level cap, there are ways to force a decent competition. Sure it would require proper testing (this kind of thing cannot be tested efficiently on the test server, imo) and simply removing any rewards during that period takes away the worry of people finding any exploits with it, but the way you have presented your argument against battlegrounds in general seems pretty weak.

In the end it would be possible to mod the script in very minor ways to remove the issues you have mentioned but I have no idea why you refuse to do so. I'd love to know the thought process/arguments that went on behind coming to a decision regarding battlegrounds.

I don't want to get back into the discussion about GM hosted PvP. It doesn't work. That and it once again limits things based on the GM's time table/mood. This is where we get back to the concept of a lot of the updates being focused on new players (I don't really see the GR/angeling card thing a fair comparison because compared to most servers, gaining OCA's on heRO is FAR too easy).

The major changes in RO's end game content (battlegrounds, infinity tower, instances dungeons) are either taken out completely, seemingly without any effort to modify their gameplay mechanics to suit heRO or are modified to the point where they are no longer like their original concept. It would be nice to see some end game content that isn't limited by set starting times/constant GM supervision to be able to run smoothly. BGs, instances, infin tower; they were all designed to fill this criteria yet this is never maintained through modification or even the stage in which you guys decide whether it'll be added or not.

Once again I'd love to hear how you guys come to a decision on whether a concept should be added or not, as well as hearing what the real issues are when you decide not to add content. As far as I'm concerned it's only a real issue if you can't make modifications yourselves to make it work. To say that the items are too overpowered as the main reason not to add battlegrounds doesn't seem like a fair reason to skip the concept entirely. Same applies to the "issues" of randomized groups and "easy wins".

In summary:

- The gears are fine as long as you are willing to remove the ones that ARE ridiculously overpowered, or at the very least, modify them.
- Simple changes to the script whether it be adding tighter level restrictions and/or adding a cooldown timer would remove some of the balance issues you have mentioned.
- Making all these new end game concepts to be purely GM run does not make them fun (and really only makes things harder on yourselves).

If I missed any important points, let me know.