Trial/Battleground - Doable?

BoloBoffin

So I was thinking about future trials and thought - hey, what if there was a trial that in the middle became a battleground and then merged back into a trial? As in, the midpoint boss of the trial would be each other?

I'm thinking out loud here, but a site like Labyrinthian might be perfect for this. The first part of the trial would be normal - the 12 man group advances through the trial to the midpoint, an arena. There, you either enter as four-man teams, or it's every man for himself until four remain. Those four advance directly to the the next-to-last boss and hold it it off or kill it while the other eight are tossed into the labyrinth in various locations (four on one side, four on the other) and must battle their way through the maze to get to that boss battle.

If the four-man winning squad can kill the next-to-last boss before the other 8 get there, they get a very special drop. (The left and right squads will have to enter together.) If one of the losing four-man squads makes it to the pentultimate arena before that boss drops, the boss gets an Tier 2 add. If the two squads can kill boss and add before the third gets there, they get a special drop (but not as nice as the solo squad drop). If the third squad gets there before the boss and add is killed, a second add drops. Then at the end, they all get the normal boss drop, no special drop. And any group that doesn't get to the pentultimate arena before the boss dies gets NOTHING. You Lose. Good DAY, Sir. Of course in this case, maybe the "special drop" is a special buff like doubling your mundus stone buff.

Or perhaps there are three Tier 2 bosses in the pentultimate arena. Each would give a normal boss drop. One is released for each squad that enters the arena. So the winning squad from the battleground stage will get three drops, the first group to enter gets two (or three if the winning squad can't dispatch their boss). And the last group to enter the arena risks only getting one drop from the arena.

And then all 12 advance through the remainder of the trial to the final boss.

Does this sound like something you'd like to try? A PvE trial with a distinct PvP component? There are probably a few permutations of this idea that could be done.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

Sorry, no, I would not be interested in that. Trials are long enough as it is.

Leandor

All attempts to merge PvE and PvP in this game so far have miserably failed and continue to be reason for complaint threads time and again. Proposing to mix the most difficult PvE content with the most challenging PvP content surely is going to go over better and will garner massive support on all sides.

SirDopey

Imperial City sewers kind of started like that when you'd get to Molag and another group would emerge....

The hardest part with these things is keeping the interest there so that we have the continual population to support it.

Izaki

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

Sorry, no, I would not be interested in that. Trials are long enough as it is.

20 minutes too long for you? Damn.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

Izaki wrote: »

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

Sorry, no, I would not be interested in that. Trials are long enough as it is.

20 minutes too long for you? Damn.

When you have to run several a night...yes.

BoloBoffin

Leandor wrote: »

All attempts to merge PvE and PvP in this game so far have miserably failed and continue to be reason for complaint threads time and again. Proposing to mix the most difficult PvE content with the most challenging PvP content surely is going to go over better and will garner massive support on all sides.

Yes, gods forbid someone try to come up with something fun for a game they love. I should have known better than to bring this up in the forum salt mines.

I won't be making that mistake again, ZOS.

FakeFox

Don't think this would work, because good groups wouldn't actually PvP, they would optimize the PvP out of it.
But you gave me another idea: What if the group gets split up in two groups that can attack each other, but the goal is not to just PvP, but to be careful not to kill each other.

Pink_Violinz

Izaki wrote: »

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

Sorry, no, I would not be interested in that. Trials are long enough as it is.

20 minutes too long for you? Damn.

Are we talking a normal trial? Because even some of the best teams struggle to pull a 20 minute vet.

smacky

Tank vs DPS vs Healer midway through. I just don't see it working.

Orjix

The main problem with this idea is that groups would optimise the PVP portion and just have select people die, just so they can have the best results. Now a race trial where there were 4 teams competing to get done first with PVP portions could be interesting

Anotherone773

BoloBoffin wrote: »

Leandor wrote: »

All attempts to merge PvE and PvP in this game so far have miserably failed and continue to be reason for complaint threads time and again. Proposing to mix the most difficult PvE content with the most challenging PvP content surely is going to go over better and will garner massive support on all sides.

Yes, gods forbid someone try to come up with something fun for a game they love. I should have known better than to bring this up in the forum salt mines.

I won't be making that mistake again, ZOS.

A general rule of game forums is that any idea you post on the forums will be met with heavy criticism. Some of it will be stupid like " I dont need the game to be any more grindy" or " no its easy enough for my 12 max level characters in trial gear" or my favorite " they need to fix bugs first!"

It is just how forums work. The people on it are very critical of anything new. They are quick to point out the problems, even ones they make up in their head, and very light on the praise. You learn to ignore them. They dont decide what goes in the game anyway.

You hope that someone important sees your idea, likes it, takes it to the devs, and implements it in some fashion in the game. But dont get your hopes up, you have a better chance of winning the lottery. Even ideas that have been asked for by dozens of people and supporters for years have not made it into the game.

Mostly the forums are used to complain about stuff, which falls on death ears usually. Very few devs care what the people who play their games think on a daily basis. I mean its people constant critiquing their work and in most games they dont have a lot of control over what goes into a game. The suits usually decide that and they couldnt operate a game controller if their life depended on it, most of the time.

Its why many devs have went indy over the last decade, to many people that dont know anything about this industry calling the shots. Its like putting a carpenter in charge of the ER.

Most management in game companies think making a game is like making a washing machine. As long as you end up with the desired result at the end, winning. I know of only 3 companies that really care what their players think at decision making levels.

Narvuntien

I would like to see "competitive PVE" Allianced based PVE.

Groups from different alliances completing to complete PVE objectives

BoloBoffin

Orjix wrote: »

The main problem with this idea is that groups would optimise the PVP portion and just have select people die, just so they can have the best results. Now a race trial where there were 4 teams competing to get done first with PVP portions could be interesting

Yes, that would be part of it. I can see 4 man teams being selected beforehand. but in my idea, the extra drops from the round after the PvP portion could be bound to the account - no swaps. If the group wanted to manipulate it so they ran three times and allowed all 12 to win one time, then I guess that's their business.

I like your idea too!

qwyksylver

How about instead as a 2nd or 3rd boss your group faces doppelgangers of themselves, no PvP but the bosses would change based on your group composition