Fixing One of the Biggest Problems in PvP Today

Vercingetorix

One of the primary issues plaguing PvP right now is the ability for two different faction characters to be on the same campaign - a notion that is idiotic at best, yet somehow is allowed in the game. This is blatant abuse and it in turn removes any competitive aspect of the game with cheating and griefing left unchecked. To address this issue, the solution I propose is actually quite simple: Lock accounts to a single faction and introduce a Faction Change Token in the Crown Store (with a 90-day cooldown upon use) to compensate.

So how would this work?

When the patch goes live, ZoS pulls all existing characters out of all campaigns, resetting Home and Guest options as well as resetting all maps and leaderboards. Campaign durations will reset on the day this patch goes live. (7-day and 30-day)

ZoS runs script for all existing accounts and upon your next login, you will be directed to the faction choice option. Your faction choice will be applied to all your current and all future characters on your account. New accounts will simply choose their faction first then be redirected to the character creation menu.

Cadwell's Silver and Gold will be retooled as a set of achievements: Finishing any 2 faction questlines gives the first set of rewards and finishing all 3 faction questlines gives the final reward. This allows all existing players to retain any progress and still be eligible for the rewards, regardless of whatever faction is selected. The quests "Cadwell's Silver" and "Cadwell's Gold" will be retired. The player simply ports to either of the 2 remaining factions and can essentially complete them in any order rather than a predetermined order.

The Faction Change Token can be used on an account once every 90 days. Upon being used, all characters on the account will have their Home and Guest campaign selections reset, forfeiting any current leaderboard progress as a result, but any AP gains will be retained.

VaranisArano

So I could finally make that DC character I made prior to One Tamriel join the Ebonheart Pact like all my other characters?

Sign me up!

(Problem is, lots of people have friends on other factions. I think I'm a bit of a rarity in that all my friends and guilds are Ebonheart Pact.)

Vercingetorix

VaranisArano wrote: »

So I could finally make that DC character I made prior to One Tamriel join the Ebonheart Pact like all my other characters?

Sign me up!

(Problem is, lots of people have friends on other factions. I think I'm a bit of a rarity in that all my friends and guilds are Ebonheart Pact.)

There's very few guilds that exist as strictly single-faction members only. Most are All-3-Factions for general purpose activities. Those who wish to coordinate factions with their friends will likely do so through Discord, Line, or some other social media.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I wouldnt hold your breath...

I also think you are overstating the issue. I just dont think there are that many people that are parking in alternate alliances to spy on zone chat. People want AP for themselves, and every alliance has a streamer that can easily be followed by anyone without wasting the effort. There are bigger fish to fry that dont require fundamentally changing the entire game.

Vapirko

Although I agree with some sort of faction lock, I think we would also run into situations where people start clumping into one faction to assure they’re on the winning team and we could end up seeing campaigns dominated by one faction even more so than they are now. You can always be sure that no matter what, people will find a way to ruin things. The best we can do, imo, is to just put enough of a cool down so you cant hop back and forth right away. Say a 1 hour cool down or something.

kaiage

I'd rather have them do somethings about the rampant proc set problem. Step into a world where every death you are getting you're being hit by two procs from one person.


#noLocksFixProcs

Aebaradath

Oh.

I thought this would be about the unbearable lag and getting kicked out of the game in PvP.

VaranisArano

Vercingetorix wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

So I could finally make that DC character I made prior to One Tamriel join the Ebonheart Pact like all my other characters?

Sign me up!

(Problem is, lots of people have friends on other factions. I think I'm a bit of a rarity in that all my friends and guilds are Ebonheart Pact.)

There's very few guilds that exist as strictly single-faction members only. Most are All-3-Factions for general purpose activities. Those who wish to coordinate factions with their friends will likely do so through Discord, Line, or some other social media.

I had two guilds (recently left one) that were EP only for the purposes of PVP. So I realize that most guilds are multi-faction or cross-faction in PVP - that's exactly why I said I was a rarity.

My point is that most players won't find it that easy to slot themselves into one faction. I have the easy choice - Blood for the Pact. Cross-faction players will have to make a choice under your system, and i suspect that cross-faction players who would have to give up playing with their friends on one faction or another vastly outnumber the players like me who only ever played one faction and all my friends/PVP guilds are on that same faction.

Karivaa

I have toons on rvery alliance. When I play in PVP, I solely play on 1 alliance. Yes, I miss out on tons of rewards at the end of the canpaign, but I don’t want to fight against my friends. I guess I am a rarity.

kaiage

I don't want to fight my friends either but, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

generalmyrick

i would love to not have someone i helped an hour ago not bomb me and 10 of my other mates at a castle on a different faction...leet!

DenMoria

I have the solution!

Let's get rid of PvP completely.

No more whining about PvP. No more performance issues about PvP. No more toxicity of PvPers!

It's win, win!

Of course then we'd have to address the whining of the PvE. The performance issues of the PvE. And the toxicity of the PvE.

Looks like there won't be much of a game left.

Aren_Liore

Not to be a broken record, but I'm pretty sure the biggest problem in pvp today and the one they should be putting in the most effort to fix is the state of performance in cyrodiil. When we can have three zergs hammering on a keep and not see massive lag then we can look at something like this.

Personally, I have characters in all alliances but I only play PvP in the Pact. Why have characters in the other alliances? I'm a member of several really friendly guilds from all different factions and if they want to have a PvP event in the dominion, I'm more than happy to join them. I'd rather be able to hang out with the amazing people I've come to call friends than be obsessed with end of campaign rewards. Hell I actually killed someone from my main guild the other week because she was playing in AD and we had a good laugh over it.

The_Brosteen

Ahmurrrgeeeeerd spaaaaiiiisss

Sygil05

Are spies really that big of an issue?

I see people complaining and making accusations about it constantly in zone chat, but it seems like a lot of effort for very little gain. The Cyrodiil map has remained pretty much the same since the start of the game, and, depending on which alliances hold which keeps, the battles typically take place in the same spots over and over again.

Based on that, this seems like a fix for a problem that doesn't really exist.

Jammer480

The pic below is exactly why accounts must be prevented from switching campaigns. Someone from either the house of smurfs or the banana republic came to the faction of the gods and decided to max out the number of camps that can occupy a campaign by a single faction.

Vercingetorix

Sygil05 wrote: »

Are spies really that big of an issue?

I see people complaining and making accusations about it constantly in zone chat, but it seems like a lot of effort for very little gain. The Cyrodiil map has remained pretty much the same since the start of the game, and, depending on which alliances hold which keeps, the battles typically take place in the same spots over and over again.

Based on that, this seems like a fix for a problem that doesn't really exist.

It has nothing to do with "spies". It is the exploit of flipping an entire map between 2 factions several times within several coordinated groups, all with the same players' accounts. There's no competition when everyone is on every team. Choosing a faction should be an important choice - it could be where your friends are or perhaps the faction's aesthetics you enjoy - either way, the game as it is right now doesn't make faction choice matter in any way. Players flip-flop all day long, disrupting folks who just want to play the game rather than turn the entire map into a massive keep-flip farm.

Vercingetorix

Jammer480 wrote: »

The pic below is exactly why accounts must be prevented from switching campaigns. Someone from either the house of smurfs or the banana republic came to the faction of the gods and decided to max out the number of camps that can occupy a campaign by a single faction.

EP is currently doing it to AD this campaign. DC did the same thing to players last campaign. All factions are doing stupid crap like this. This is a great example of why a faction lock is needed in this game.

Jammer480

Vercingetorix wrote: »

Jammer480 wrote: »

The pic below is exactly why accounts must be prevented from switching campaigns. Someone from either the house of smurfs or the banana republic came to the faction of the gods and decided to max out the number of camps that can occupy a campaign by a single faction.

EP is currently doing it to AD this campaign. DC did the same thing to players last campaign. All factions are doing stupid crap like this. This is a great example of why a faction lock is needed in this game.

Agreed, I don't care who is doing it to who, it's absolute bs. I think if ZOS would try to implement a fix, the kids that do this kinda crap would leave the game(and go back to COD) and sadly the pvp might become a ghost town. lol

TequilaFire

Vercingetorix wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

So I could finally make that DC character I made prior to One Tamriel join the Ebonheart Pact like all my other characters?

Sign me up!

(Problem is, lots of people have friends on other factions. I think I'm a bit of a rarity in that all my friends and guilds are Ebonheart Pact.)

There's very few guilds that exist as strictly single-faction members only. Most are All-3-Factions for general purpose activities. Those who wish to coordinate factions with their friends will likely do so through Discord, Line, or some other social media.

But for some strange reason pure PvP guilds tend to be single faction only.
It is mostly PvE/Social/Trading guilds that tend to be multi faction
Problem is when PvE players want to play PvP to unlock their alliance skills.

shadowwraith666

so your asking for the post one-tamriel faction mechanics to be changed just to please the PvP crowd... how about no and leave it as it is.

TequilaFire

shadowwraith666 wrote: »

so your asking for the post one-tamriel faction mechanics to be changed just to please the PvP crowd... how about no and leave it as it is.

No just in PvP campaigns is all most of us are asking so PvE has no reason to cry about it.

Jammer480

TequilaFire wrote: »

shadowwraith666 wrote: »

so your asking for the post one-tamriel faction mechanics to be changed just to please the PvP crowd... how about no and leave it as it is.

No just in PvP campaigns is all most of us are asking so PvE has no reason to cry about it.

While it needs to happen, we all know it never will.

Vercingetorix

shadowwraith666 wrote: »

so your asking for the post one-tamriel faction mechanics to be changed just to please the PvP crowd... how about no and leave it as it is.

Did you even read my post? Go back and read it - I specifically mention Cadwell's Silver and Gold becoming achievements that are structured to be completed in any order the player wants. One achievement for 2 factions complete and a second achievement for all 3 factions being completed. The Almanac still applies and isn't disrupted by this change. The quests "Cadwell's Silver" and "Cadwell's Gold" were always placeholder quests that lingered in your journal anyway - having 2 achievements to track is far easier and it isn't faction-specific anymore so players can complete the 3 factions in whatever order they want. That's actually MORE in line with One Tamriel.

jaws343

I think faction locks are unnecessary. I run EP on 10 characters in Vivec. I have 1 AD character that also mains Vivec for AD guild events. That character mains Vivec because that is the faction my guild decides to run in when they PVP on any faction. Those events are usually Friday nights.

So with some of the proposed "solutions" I would have the following problems:

1) Complete faction lock - No longer able to PVP with guild mates who run AD characters.

2) 24 hour lock - After playing Friday night, I am now unable to play PVP on my other 10 characters until Sunday. And if that lock is 48 hours, there goes my entire weekend of PVP.

And I am sure that I am not alone in this. Many people do not have toons solely in one faction because they have friends that play in other factions. And there is only 1 30-day CP campaign. Players don't want to play the 7-day campaign or non-CP and they shouldn't be forced to to play with friends on other alliances in those campaigns.

Vercingetorix

jaws343 wrote: »

I think faction locks are unnecessary. I run EP on 10 characters in Vivec. I have 1 AD character that also mains Vivec for AD guild events. That character mains Vivec because that is the faction my guild decides to run in when they PVP on any faction. Those events are usually Friday nights.

So with some of the proposed "solutions" I would have the following problems:

1) Complete faction lock - No longer able to PVP with guild mates who run AD characters.

2) 24 hour lock - After playing Friday night, I am now unable to play PVP on my other 10 characters until Sunday. And if that lock is 48 hours, there goes my entire weekend of PVP.

And I am sure that I am not alone in this. Many people do not have toons solely in one faction because they have friends that play in other factions. And there is only 1 30-day CP campaign. Players don't want to play the 7-day campaign or non-CP and they shouldn't be forced to to play with friends on other alliances in those campaigns.

When the faction lock would occur, you could coordinate with your guild and simply choose AD to be with your guild. Having 2 characters in the same campaign on opposing factions is an exploit that needs correcting. Whether or not you are contributing to the exploit is irrelevant - others are and because of that, there needs to be a change.

jaws343

Vercingetorix wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

I think faction locks are unnecessary. I run EP on 10 characters in Vivec. I have 1 AD character that also mains Vivec for AD guild events. That character mains Vivec because that is the faction my guild decides to run in when they PVP on any faction. Those events are usually Friday nights.

So with some of the proposed "solutions" I would have the following problems:

1) Complete faction lock - No longer able to PVP with guild mates who run AD characters.

2) 24 hour lock - After playing Friday night, I am now unable to play PVP on my other 10 characters until Sunday. And if that lock is 48 hours, there goes my entire weekend of PVP.

And I am sure that I am not alone in this. Many people do not have toons solely in one faction because they have friends that play in other factions. And there is only 1 30-day CP campaign. Players don't want to play the 7-day campaign or non-CP and they shouldn't be forced to to play with friends on other alliances in those campaigns.

When the faction lock would occur, you could coordinate with your guild and simply choose AD to be with your guild. Having 2 characters in the same campaign on opposing factions is an exploit that needs correcting. Whether or not you are contributing to the exploit is irrelevant - others are and because of that, there needs to be a change.

Again, choose AD but be unable to PVP with the preferred majority of my characters. How about we don't punish the majority for the actions of the minority.

DenMoria

If the rest of your characters were in AD where they belong then you wouldn't have that problem.

Jammer480

jaws343 wrote: »

Vercingetorix wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

I think faction locks are unnecessary. I run EP on 10 characters in Vivec. I have 1 AD character that also mains Vivec for AD guild events. That character mains Vivec because that is the faction my guild decides to run in when they PVP on any faction. Those events are usually Friday nights.

So with some of the proposed "solutions" I would have the following problems:

1) Complete faction lock - No longer able to PVP with guild mates who run AD characters.

2) 24 hour lock - After playing Friday night, I am now unable to play PVP on my other 10 characters until Sunday. And if that lock is 48 hours, there goes my entire weekend of PVP.

And I am sure that I am not alone in this. Many people do not have toons solely in one faction because they have friends that play in other factions. And there is only 1 30-day CP campaign. Players don't want to play the 7-day campaign or non-CP and they shouldn't be forced to to play with friends on other alliances in those campaigns.

When the faction lock would occur, you could coordinate with your guild and simply choose AD to be with your guild. Having 2 characters in the same campaign on opposing factions is an exploit that needs correcting. Whether or not you are contributing to the exploit is irrelevant - others are and because of that, there needs to be a change.

Again, choose AD but be unable to PVP with the preferred majority of my characters. How about we don't punish the majority for the actions of the minority.

I'm sorry you would be punished for the actions of others but this change is absolutely imperative as the faction swapping scumbags are damaging pvp...and I disagree about which one is majority. What if there was the 1 time option to move all your characters to AD?

DenMoria

Jammer480 wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

Vercingetorix wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

I think faction locks are unnecessary. I run EP on 10 characters in Vivec. I have 1 AD character that also mains Vivec for AD guild events. That character mains Vivec because that is the faction my guild decides to run in when they PVP on any faction. Those events are usually Friday nights.

So with some of the proposed "solutions" I would have the following problems:

1) Complete faction lock - No longer able to PVP with guild mates who run AD characters.

2) 24 hour lock - After playing Friday night, I am now unable to play PVP on my other 10 characters until Sunday. And if that lock is 48 hours, there goes my entire weekend of PVP.

And I am sure that I am not alone in this. Many people do not have toons solely in one faction because they have friends that play in other factions. And there is only 1 30-day CP campaign. Players don't want to play the 7-day campaign or non-CP and they shouldn't be forced to to play with friends on other alliances in those campaigns.

When the faction lock would occur, you could coordinate with your guild and simply choose AD to be with your guild. Having 2 characters in the same campaign on opposing factions is an exploit that needs correcting. Whether or not you are contributing to the exploit is irrelevant - others are and because of that, there needs to be a change.

Again, choose AD but be unable to PVP with the preferred majority of my characters. How about we don't punish the majority for the actions of the minority.

I'm sorry you would be punished for the actions of others but this change is absolutely imperative as the faction swapping scumbags are damaging pvp...and I disagree about which one is majority. What if there was the 1 time option to move all your characters to AD?

I say it should be in the next patch. EVERYBODY gets moved to AD. The other factions are lame.

Jammer480

DenMoria wrote: »

I say it should be in the next patch. EVERYBODY gets moved to AD. The other factions are lame.

I absolutely refuse to join the banana republic of Cyrodiil...