LillyKittens Idea for PvP

I had a thought for PvP that might be a nice fit for Path of Exile. Chris is big on risk/reward (ie. a unique might have a powerful benefit but also a roughly proportionate disadvantage). It might interesting if (similar to Diablo 2 - a great standard bearer for ARPGs) there was a loot advantage to being in a team (ie. you would personally gain currency and items at a rate say 150% more with a full team as opposed to being solo - so there was an advantage to teaming and not only playing solo).

But the disadvantage is that any party member could click a "Hostile" button and then would be ported back to town, but if they returned and found the other party members, they could kill (or be killed by) those party members (without experience loss to the party members who died). The dead party members would then drop the currency that they were carrying on their character (but not in their stash) - it would make for a fun incentive to hostile party members (and create that rush of uncertainty and the social dynamic of being hunted/hunting others) without a huge disadvantage (the dying would have the emotional loss of dying but it would be limited to losing the currency on their character).

I think it would keep people more at the edge of their seats when they play and team up and it would add lot of interesting excitement and fun plus a very dynamic social environment with more incentive to interact with other players! (I though losing gear or currency in the stash or experience or perma-death in hardcore would be too high a disadvantage for balance purposes - and because the disadvantages are not hugely impactful - it wouldn't require balancing the game around PvP - ie a build would not be imbalanced if it had slower clear speed but good at PvP).

What do you guys think? Thanks!

How does this work in hardcore? We play the same game.

How does that work with 6 man maps ?

And no ones think it's fun to get killed by a player when you're supposed to PvE. Ask anyone who got TKed by the A2 bandit helping/killing bullshit.

The PvP is also widely disliked and deserted, PvP and ARPG are not good friends by any means.

If anything it would lead to no more pickups groups when mapping because you don't want that one random asshole to start shitting on your map rotation.

"

Barivius wrote:

How does this work in hardcore? We play the same game.

oh sorry forgot to mention - just like the other pvp aspects of the game - no perma death in hardcore for a pvp kill. that is only fair.

"

Sygnano wrote:

How does that work with 6 man maps ?

And no ones think it's fun to get killed by a player when you're supposed to PvE. Ask anyone who got TKed by the A2 bandit helping/killing bullshit.

The PvP is also widely disliked and deserted, PvP and ARPG are not good friends by any means.

If anything it would lead to no more pickups groups when mapping because you don't want that one random asshole to start shitting on your map rotation.

i think current pvp is bad because it is like an e-sport, where a better pvp is more organic and personality based as opposed to striving for an e-sport that is balanced or fair - which this engine and build diversity will never be balanced for an e-sport.

i think if the currency/gear you obtain from teaming up is say 150% better than solo - then you would see more pick up groups and team ups which i think makes the game way more social and more fun (and the counterweight is the pvp aspect which i think leads to even more edge of the seat excitement and the human element and interaction is an interesting compliment to the pve aspect)

Hostility was one of the greatest things about Diablo, this concept if worked out well would certainly spice things up in PoE.

"

Dark_Chicken wrote:

Hostility was one of the greatest things about Diablo, this concept if worked out well would certainly spice things up in PoE.

I agree and I wasn't even a fan of PvP.

Cut-throat races are pretty cool, but I agree once you lose all of your items it's basically game over. Which is fun for a race, but not for a permanent league.

I think only losing currency is a good compromise on that sort of thing. I think you should still lose experience though. (Or, perhaps only lose experience, and not even currency: that way there's less incentive for farming low-lvl noobs).

I'm also not sure I agree that parties should give you such a huge bonus. I think that, like current cut-throat races, anybody should be able to enter your instance; not just old party members that turned hostile. That way the benefit of being in a party would be that you have more people to help fight off PKers.

"

Sygnano wrote:

How does that work with 6 man maps ?

I'm interested in the answer to this as well. It seems like with the current portal limits, this idea would be terrible for maps.

"

Dark_Chicken wrote:

Hostility was one of the greatest things about Diablo, this concept if worked out well would certainly spice things up in PoE.

Yeah the sound of hostility really sends chills up the spine! It adds a lot of spice to the game and really wouldn't take away anything. Plus it fits the theme of a cut throat band of exiles fighting for survival without any rules.

"

Sygnano wrote:

How does that work with 6 man maps ?

Great question. I think you'd have to have a compromise there and no solution will be 100% perfect. As a philosophy, the best design might be the simplest and most intuitive. There are a lot of options, but one I tend to like is:

1. If you hostile in a map then you go hostile but are teleported back to the start of the map (not to town). This way you have a chance to go after the rest of the team and it creates a suspense and excitement. This also avoids a few problems (there may not be an available portal if it is a six person team or on less than six person teams the hostile person may end up using a form of cheesing by running in and dying and using up a bunch of the portals). It would still be a way to have the suspense in game while supporting the mapping system Path of Exile has. The exciting thing about going Hostile in a map is the rest of the team might have accumulated some good currency and then the team has to debate between leaving the further riches of the map behind or fighting off the hostile traitor and perhaps acquiring that person's currency on hand - all of which really fits the cut throat exile theme of Path of Exile!