I'm all for faction loyalty, but more so I was against faction hopping because in a lot of ways it contributes to the lowering of the integrity or 'fair play' of PvP. In the end I have realized that I am more concerned with the balanced competition of each campaign over permanent faction loyalty.
There are plenty of rants about this subject, most are locked. The open ones are 90% people explaining why it needs to be an all or nothing scenario from one perspective or the other. The possible ideas, solutions and
compromises seem to be getting lost.
This post is in hopes we can come to some kind of accommodation regarding this issue. Returning to no locks at all isn't going to work for everyone either. For or against faction locks, I'm not sure the subject has to be so black and white.
Also, I do see the issues around faction lock from the hoppers' perspectives and would like to take a look at ways to make the system better for everyone. Here are some suggestions:
- Characters are no longer bound to a faction permanently. This actually fits into the overall lore better - you already cross-faction in PvE lore to 'complete' the game, your character should have (in lore theory) good - or at least neutral - standing with all of them.
- Characters can pick a faction when they first queue for a campaign (only valid for current campaign, choose a different one next time, if desired). It locks your account to that faction for that campaign. In other words: all your characters are locked to an alliance on a campaign by campaign basis NOT character by character basis which is the status quo. This change would allow for locks but also allow all a player's characters to participate in that campaign under the same banner. Allowing the account to choose a different faction for a different campaign should probably be ok as well. The idea is to protect the integrity of each campaign, one campaign at a time, nothing more.
- Add some kind of bonus for remaining with the same faction in consecutive campaigns (or it could be a penalty for switching that disappears when you re-up for a second time with your new faction); strong enough to make faction hopping unattractive but not so OP factions become completely stagnant. While some may hop to the perpetual 'winner', many PvP players and guilds do it for the challenge (and bragging rights) and would be just as likely to hop to the perpetual 'loser' instead. Some (not too frequent) long-term movement would be good for overall balance and competition.
- Assume that there will be population imbalances and create scenarios to rectify it. For example 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9:
- If after the ~quarter pole (7 days on a 30 day campaign) if you haven't pledged to a faction yet , if you pledge to the current points loser, you gain a small currency and xp/ap bonus for the remainder of the campaign .
- If after the ~halfway mark (15 days on a 30 day campaign) if you haven't pledged to a faction yet , if you pledge to the current points loser, you gain a medium currency and xp/ap bonus for the remainder of the campaign.
- If after the ~three quarter pole (22 days on a 30 day campaign) if you haven't pledged to a faction yet , if you pledge to the current points loser, you gain a large currency and xp/ap bonus for the remainder of the campaign. Losing side populations dwindle as campaigns go on (except for the alt transmute rush of the last couple days, lol) and there tends to be swings that last many months where one faction just can't get anything going. New players coming in for the gains likely have a higher chance of staying with that faction for next campaign - people like familiarity, especially when they are new at something; over time the pledge bonuses should help even out long-term populations and provide better overall long-term competition.
- Identify long term (multiple runs of the same campaign) population growth problems and occasionally offer incentives for switching from consistently high to consistently low pop factions.
- Add a Mercenary function as a pledge instead of a specific Alliance for the duration of that campaign. Could have some small bonus to currency and xp/ap gain and would also gain Undaunted faction. Mercenaries would help alleviate off-peak population imbalances by always automatically logging into the current lowest population faction at their time of entry (could be different faction every time they enter the campaign) - this would also ensure fastest queue times for mercs. Good way for new players to test alliances before assigning one, and old players could finally get that Undaunted grind on their alts done - all while helping balance gameplay. Mercs would still only receive one set of tier prizes like any other character.
These are just suggestions with the goal being to have a system that offers incentives instead of hard code (as much as possible) to better distribute and balance population, and promote campaign integrity while offering some freedom. I'm sure these ideas aren't perfect, but, hopefully it's a start and I look forward to further input.