If the factions are really as unbalanced as people claim?

sticx45_ESO · April 2015

Why not just offer a XP bonus for those playing the "underdog" factions? DAOC did this wayback, and it worked wonders for balancing out the factions. ZoS simply has to stay on top of it and monitor the active players in each faction (I would hope they have metrics for this), and change the XP bonuses accordingly.

sticx45_ESO · April 2015

Beats people asking that factions be locked out for new characters to correct the balance

deepseamk20b14_ESO · April 2015

I don't think there is an imbalance as far as PvP goes at least. During peak times most all PvP servers are pop locked for every alliance. Or are you saying some alliance zones have better cgrind spots for lower levels.

Heromofo · April 2015

I always figured the reason why AD seems so much more packed is because of the sexy voiced queen lol.
It does not affect pvp tho because of the way campaigns work so its sall good.

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · April 2015

Giving people an incentive to change factions to the less populated ones could be good, if only it didn't require yet another run through all the quests to level up an alt in a different faction. Switching factions means spending weeks on leveling a new character to a high enough VR rank to be useful in PvP. Most people are probably not thrilled by that idea.

sticx45_ESO · April 2015

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO wrote: »

Giving people an incentive to change factions to the less populated ones could be good, if only it didn't require yet another run through all the quests to level up an alt in a different faction. Switching factions means spending weeks on leveling a new character to a high enough VR rank to be useful in PvP. Most people are probably not thrilled by that idea.

We felt the same way back in DAOC, but it did work out very well for balancing things anyhow. Whether it's the new players rolling on the realm with the XP bonus, or old players rerolling. It all ended up balancing it's self out with this simple incentive.

qsnoopyjr · April 2015

Its not unbalanced.

This game just promotes buff servers.

So everyone from AD goes to a certain server, something with an H, like Haderus.
Everyone from DC goes to Chillrend (both probably outdated, I think Azura Star is DC and EP, moreso EP, and AD... If your AD your dumb to come to Azura Star, they outmanned as heck... This is a DC/EP buff server, people from AD stacking other servers besides this one)

Pretty much if you goto a server that isn't your buff server, and is another alliance buff server, prepared to get overwhelmed.... Because thing is, people want easymode, they don't want to fairly fight people.

This game allows people to buff up a server and practically claim it a DC buff server or EP buff server.

Point is, if you don't know what your buff server is, and you pick some random non buff server, expect to be outnumbered.

A lot of people don't know what there buff server is too, especially newplayers and those that don't frequent the forums and really into PvP.

AhPook_Is_Here · April 2015

That would be nice, along with transferring achievements. One of the biggest barriers for me to re-rolling or making an alt in another faction is 13,500 or so achievement points including all trials hard-modes, all vet dungeon achievements, 75% of the AVA achievements and so on.

drschplatt · April 2015

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this "buff" server crap. What happens in one server should have NO effect at all on what happens in a different server or in PVE.

Cody · April 2015

Yes

TheShadowScout · April 2015

Agreed, I kinda dislike the whole "buff server" idea. Why should the ones who prove better at PvP be rewarded with an additional buff??? Especially one that carries over into PvE? It's bad enough they rake in AP from all their big PvPness, while the underdogs have trouble earning decent gear if they cannot have much success in killing the better players or taking their territory...

Why should those who find it easy to win get rewarded more then those who are having a more difficult time or it due to fighting an uphill battle? Why not balance that? Give the dominating faction less AP and XP rewards from actually fighting, but balance this with bigger rewards for their territory held, while giving those underdog factions higher AP&XP rewards for managing to take territory back (until the campaign balance shifts again), and also give more AP for people on the loosing end of any conflict.
It should thus give the most reward when a weak side takes over territory from a strong side, and least rewards for the strong side to defend their territory, encouraging players to not sit on a buff server campaign, but change to a different campaign as soon as their home gets into the "low rewards due to overwhelming control" territory, fight in that campaign while another side takes the territory in their home campaign, then come back and shift the front again.
That way campaigns might be a bit more active, and less static, as players keep seeking the big gains of fighting from a weak position instead of sitting on their buffs...

rodney418 · April 2015

If a side are really outnumbered then give them some buffs that makes their game more enjoyable, not just extra xp. For example automatically scale up their NPC guards (call it "Defence of the Homeland" buff or something like that) so they can defend a little easier with less people; and/or give them a buff to damage enemy NPCs plus a speed buff to their mounts so they can more easily do hit & run raids against enemy rather than getting zerged to death. Call it "Guerilla Tactics" buff. This not only makes the overall strategy a bit more interesting when you have unbalanced teams, it emulates pretty much what happens in real life warfare in a situation like this.