An open letter to GGG regarding PvP

GGG,

I’d like to talk about PvP in PoE.

PvP has come a long way, but fallen short in some areas, and as far as I see it, it's more part of the genre of the game rather than anything else. The question is, are you willing to stray from the genre conventions in order to allow PvP to be successful and competitive?

The original Guild Wars (yes different genre) had an amazingly competitive scene for quite a long time because they completely separated PvP from PvE and benefitted massively from this. A lot of true PvP players aren’t interested in PvE and vice versa.

PoE has started out well, PvP only characters, PvP balances, Sponsorship for tournaments etc. All good things. However there are accessibility issues.

I myself have in the past been a very competitive PvP player in games such as GW earning real world prizes for many competitions. I stopped playing competitively when I had to start working properly. I couldn’t focus on both and it seemed a good time to stop.

I do however now play PoE and got very excited at the prospect of PvP. However, like many others that I know, I don't get that much time to play, probably around 4-6 hours in the week, as well as time on the weekend, which I would like to use to compete in the tournament.

The problems start with gearing my characters. Having played PoE before I did have a stash of uniques and some currency lying around, so I was able to build what I felt would be an effective character. I did and it worked out ok, I hit top 10 ladder and now I think I’ve settled around 35-40 having not been able to play for a couple of days. This was only possible as I had previous gear lying around, this option is not open to new players.

Secondly, I’ve got to know the metagame for current PvP and now I want to create a new character to try and shift the power and take advantage of the choices people have made (this is a good thing to encourage as otherwise the meta gets stale; It’s not a rock paper scissors match when you’re forced to take your paper to battle every time) I’ve already spent my currency though, and the idea I have isn’t using gear that I have lying around. So what do I do?

Remember that I only have 6 hours a week in the evenings to play. What I really want to do in those 6 hours is queue up for ladder matches, practice my build, make adjustments, and generally prepare for the weekend tournament. Then spend the next week learning from the mistakes and improving. But I have to gear my character.

So I’m forced to do Dom runs, or try and flip items, or run maps, or beg, in order to buy the Level 28 items that are going to be so hot on the market when the PvP scene really takes off. In my 6 hours a week this is going to take quite a lot of time. I’m not even going to make it in time for Season 1 am I?

I’m not one to bring problems without a possible solution, so here is what I have in mind:

I’m well aware that you don’t want to gift people top tier items off the bat on creating a new character, but I feel that these items needed to be competitive need to be accessible to PvPers through PvP. So use a system like the favour that you already have built in as a sort of PvP currency that can be used to buy items, gems, orbs, etc all of which can only be used in PvP could work well. You already have the limitations on gear to prevent it having an effect on the economy, so just apply that limitation to every single thing you buy with these PvP points. In essence I should be able to completely gear my PvP character through playing PvP.

This has two main effects (benefits) that I can see. On a personal level it allows me, and many others, to spend their 6 hours a week both gearing a character as well as practicing PvP and learning the metagame. On a wider level, it protects the PvE market from huge price hikes on level 28 gear which could have a negative effect on the economy.

But most importantly it allows PvPers to PvP.

We’re a strange group. Competitive PvPers don’t like to have to grind a PvE game in order to be competitive (however we’re much more open to grinding PvP: see WoW, GW, etc.). The potential this would create for bringing in new players, as well as build diversity and competitive balance is huge.

I understand that this is no small task, but if you’re serious about PvP I hope you give it a little thought.

Thank you for making a game enjoyable enough that I’ve taken the time to write this open letter. It really is a great game.

JoSo

+1

I agree with some of your points and I see where you are coming from. But i personally really like that there also is a grind for gear in poe PvP.

I just really enjoy this mixture of both strategic and good play is important, as well as getting good gear and farming low level content, vaaling a lot of items, etc.

I myself have very mediocre items compared to the people that were very dedicated lld'ers for quite a while now, but I enjoy the gearing process.

And on a related note, GGG has said they want to do the next pvp season in the challenge leagues, so that would remove a lot of the "only chars with mirrored gear have a chance". I would hope for both events in normal HC/Std and in the challenge leagues.

(answered the same here as on the reddit post for possible visablity)

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JoSo_UK wrote:

In essence I should be able to completely gear my PvP character through playing PvP.

This is fundamentally flawed as POE is an ARPG game. Gear is the foundation of PvP and you need to grind PvE to get it. You can farm gear or currency, this is also good for the economy as there are more desired items = higher volume of trades overall. The system you thought up is wrong because nothing stops a group of people to play a shitton of fake matches to gain reputation and thus gain gear.

If your friends can't be bothered to play PVE then I don't think it's the PVP system to blame.

If you only have 4-6 hours a week to play your best bet is to do high level maps/atziri and make currency selling good drops and doing the chaos and regal recipes then buying gear. When pvp gets more popular the demand vs supply will even out, currently supply < demand, thats why good items are sold very fast leaving little chance to less dedicated players to trade for them.

You can also craft very good LLD gear with little investment if you know how. (http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1118864)

The current system is far from perfect, for example all time spent in queue waiting for match should simply be eliminated and you should be allowed to do other shit while waiting for a match. My solution to this is to start 2 POE clients, queue on the first one and do maps on the second. When I hear the round starting I portal out and switch the client, do my match, requeue, and continue mapping. GGG should handle this better for sure.

It's a good idea to help pvp, but the ultimate goal is to make you play as much as possible, not provide a good pvp system.

That is the reason why ill stick to LLD pvp for POE, i can't compete pve wise at high level for good item.

But as for gearing for LLD , that isnt much of a problem, most people already has a high level character and at least you can pve solo to obtain your gear on top of being able to rise %rarity even with the level penalty , its worth it.