PVE/PVP Balancing - Cool Bounty System

  • SiLveR FoX354

    Hey All,

    Hope you are enjoying the seas! Friends and I have been playing since release and really like the game. Here is something we thought of that hopefully you might find interesting too!

    A bounty system to balance PVP. First and foremost I have read the other posts on Bounty systems (there are some great ideas out there) and I think that Rare might be able to pull from everyone if they do decide to implement a bounty system.

    Here is what we are thinking:

    • New weapon -- Club -- to knock out players (1-3 hits?). Once unconscious there is an option to lock them in the Brig. A pirate will stay unconscious for 30 seconds before waking if not thrown into the brig. Should be we be able to throw a whole Crew of 4 in a ships brig? Thoughts?
    • You must then return them Alive to an outpost to claim a reward. Maybe turn in to a new NPC or the Barkeep. They remain in a ship's brig until you interact with NPC to claim prize.

    Bounty Mechanics are as follows

    • Bounty is per server
    • Kill count is displayed above a pirate's name with a skull and the number of kills beside it (for easy identification while sailing the seas).
    • Kill counts can only be added by killing innocents (those without a kill count). Example: if two pirates with kill counts square off... the winner cannot be penalized with another kill count.
    • Upon a victim's death there is a prompt asking if they want to add a kill count to the one that sent them to the Ferry of the Damned.
    • Gold is added per kill count a pirate racks up (ex 250 gold per kill added by the game- not player added). Maybe an option to add additional Bounty by a victim if desired...?
    • There is a time delay to return to the world (ex 2.5 min per kill). They are transported to a jail once their bounty is turned in... then released when their time is up.
    • Kill count is reset upon being released back to the world.
    • A captured pirate should be able to be released but we are unsure of how... Maybe if the one that captured them is killed? or If the ship that holds them is sunk? Thoughts?
    • Pirate bounty is shared among a crew the same as Voyages.

    Why this bounty system? FOR FUN first and foremost! We have been on the both ends of pirate attacks and we think it would be fun to have a little more excitement that goes along with pvp or pve with pirate attack encounters.

    There would be an actual consequence for pirates killing people and raiding their ships (time in jail)... I mean back in the day as a pirate being thrown in jail or hung was completely within the realm of punishment. If would also be more enticing for those being attacked to stand ground and fight back with the hope of securing a nice plunder.

    I have read a lot and PVE and PVP complaints and I feel that this system or one similar similar could level the playing field and meld the PVE/PVP experience to where those that like to hunt (PVP) could be awarded by collecting bounties and PVE'rs now have incentive to engage in the hunt as well.

    What do you think? Let's help Rare build on the game so engage, respond, support, give constructive criticism...

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  • Pilks4k
    Founder

    Far to complicated and does not balance PVP vs PVE in anyway as PVP for the aggressor is the same only difference is your system gives the PVE player an option to chase PVP players with bountys thats not balancing.

    To balance PVP in a PVE world their has to be a negative/consequence for the aggressor also referred to as risk vs reward so any system put in place should effect PVP players not PVE players.

    So we are looking at something like if you engage in PVP (aggress) you are flagged as hostile and are visable on the map to all players and have a beacon on your head for a certain amount of time and killing you during this period gives the person a reward, this type of system makes the PVP aggressor think is it worth attacking that ship?

    Your system sounds fun in theory but in actual gameplay it will be harder to catch a pvp person and cash in the bounty than it would for the PVP player to just going round killing people so there is very little risk put on the PVP player the fact is your trying to force PVE players into PVP when what you should be doing is making PVP more risky.

  • SiLveR FoX354

    @pilks4k

    Nice I like it... LOL shows my age but in Ultima Online you are flagged if you attack someone and held under that status for 2 min.

    Ok so where does it go beyond that? What else beyond being flagged can add balance... fun... and depth to the game?

  • Pilks4k
    Founder

    @silver-fox354 said in PVE/PVP Balancing - Cool Bounty System:

    @pilks4k

    Nice I like it... LOL shows my age but in Ultima Online you are flagged if you attack someone and held under that status for 2 min.

    Ok so where does it go beyond that? What else beyond being flagged can add balance... fun... and depth to the game?

    PVP adds very little depth to any game by its nature... its all about cheap thrills the best you can do is make it more of thrill and whats better than raiding a ship stealing the loot and knowing everyone on the map knows where you are for the next 10min and might be after you also you could make loot that is cashed in while under the flag pay out more which then completes the risk vs reward system.

    You could add a leaderboard/most wanted board in the outposts which ranks the top PVP players by kills/boats sank etc people like that sort of thing.

    P.S I do like your system but I think that would work better as an NPC bounty system rather than a pvp one and simplify it some.

  • stem589

    @silver-fox354

    I like most of it, but what's stopping that group of 4 who got clubbed down and thrown the brig (hilarious idea) from just dropping game and starting up in another server?

    Also, I don't think your bounty should be limited to the one server session you're in. It should be persistent across all servers or it's meaningless for the same reason I mentioned above.

  • stem589

    @pilks4k said in PVE/PVP Balancing - Cool Bounty System:

    So we are looking at something like if you engage in PVP (aggress) you are flagged as hostile and are visable on the map to all players and have a beacon on your head for a certain amount of time and killing you during this period gives the person a reward, this type of system makes the PVP aggressor think is it worth attacking that ship?

    Ooooh...... I like the idea of map location for PvP bounty ships.

  • Pilks4k
    Founder

    @stem589 Yep makes PVP more of a risk/harder and at the same time ups the thrill for the PVPer, right now there is no risk when engaging in pvp so the game has become a death match which is not fun for either the PVE or PVP player this system balances/evens the playing field as who is most likely to target a flagged PVP player? thats right another like minded player.

  • luiscool1009593
    Marauder

    @silver-fox354 its a cool concept but i dont think it will balance it but still I would like to see this in the game

  • Pilks4k
    Founder

    @luiscool1009593 said in PVE/PVP Balancing - Cool Bounty System:

    @silver-fox354 its a cool concept but i dont think it will balance it but still I would like to see this in the game

    Yep same add a hangman to the outposts who give's you quests to go out and capture famous pirates (NPC's) and bring them back to face the hangmans noose.

  • isukun

    First, this sounds like it would be more frustrating than fun. It opens a new door to griefing other players. Why not just throw a bounty in the brig and forget about them? A player could potentially be locked in the brig for hours.

    Second, if it's just based on getting killed, there's no way to tell in game who the aggressor was in an altercation. You could try to attack someone's ship, bite off more than you can chew, and then put a bounty on the guy for simply defending himself. It's game sanctioned trolling.

    Third, nothing about how this works fits with the design of the game. We're not supposed to be presented with every detail of the people we come across. There's no guides of information granted to the player in this game for a reason. Posting how many kills someone has over their name goes against the core design philosophy of the game.

    Fourth, you have a ridiculous wait time attached to turning in a bounty. So after sitting in the brig for 20 minutes to potentially hours, they also have to wait two and half minutes for each person they killed before respawning? That's ludicrous. Just send them to the gallows and have it count as a normal death, they've had enough of their time wasted already.

    This REALLY doesn't sound fun. It's just game sanctioned abuse of other players that you get rewarded for. The brig is already abused, people don't need more excuses to pull people out of the game for long periods of time.

  • Thedoctor133
    Seafarer

    Isukun true the transportation could be abused. To counter that maybe put a timer to it say 24 in game hours at witch point they make there escape and respawn. As for people biting off more than they can chew to just rack up some ones kill count maybe implement a first shot system that tracks who starts a combat. Also I agree that there should just be a gallows not a long jail time, although a slightly longer respawn time might be nice. The part of showing kills above there head is a bit much that could be handled by the flag on there ship and having it get slightly more evil looking with every lets say 4 kills. Stays friendly to the idea of the game and it makes you look cool if you kill tons of people.

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