Nothing will change about IC. Too late in the game and not enough interest in it.

So make IC even zergier and move even further away from the original idea of quick and enjoyable PvP without all the AvA stuff?

looks like some gankblade is asking for bigger rewards

(80% from at least 10k stones) from easier targets (unstealthed flag flippers)

nice move bro

There are flaws with the suggestions. I will point out the glaring one in the first one.

One can be in a group where only one player has 10k stones required for caping. That is all that is required so it is pretty weak at increasing risk. It seems more that it is an attempt to make farming stones from players more lucrative rather than to affect capping zones.

Glancing through it seems OP is wanting to be able to farm more telvar rather than an attempt to make IC more interesting.

ccmedaddy wrote: »

Some good ideas here but I'm 100% against any changes to IC that would encourage people to zerg even more than they already are in IC. Things like increasing tel var penalty and making flags harder to cap would incentivize zerging and punish solo players, turning IC into just another version of Cyrodiil.

I cannot stress enough how much I agree with this!

Jeremy wrote: »

BNOC wrote: »

Hey, just spitballing some ideas on how to improve IC as a PvP and PvE environment, feel free to discuss - I imagine most have been mentioned in threads before and that there's a tonne more ideas but these are mine and since the recent focus, albeit small on IC, I think it's the right time to start talking the what-ifs again.

Issues (To me)

1. Districts are far too easy to cap.
2. Telvar loss % is too small, especially now we're seeing bigger group sizes on both sides.
3. Incentives to go there besides plants just don't really exist.
4. There is no reason to go underneath and the changes below aren't good enough.
5. Ad density is too high up the top (always has been)
6. Some simple QOL could be added

Problem: Districts are far too easy to cap

Right now, it takes roughly a minute to cap a flag (no matter how many people you have - Was this a change?). Either way, what you see a lot now is, single players (Inexperienced or salty players generally) looping and capping willy nilly, with no interest in staying there or staying alive.

I can't think of many ways around this but here's a couple quick ideas:

1. You must have upwards of 10k stones on you for your flag ticks to be registering - This adds risk and also incentives to keep your eyes on district activity.
2. Increase cap time, you should be able to make it to a district before it's capped from the opposite side - Too often you see a flag under attack and it's already too late.
3. Increase flag count to 3 in each district to allow more time to reach the action, split groups up and generally increase risk for all.
4. Increase the cap time slightly and add AvA notifications as soon as the guards are dead and a flag has started flipping - This offers plays on both sides, attackers can use it as bait and defenders can defend before it's done.

With changes like these, I'd tie Continuous Attack to both portal chests in each district instead and I'd also add it to portal chests in the tunnels with the exception of the middle ring.

Problem: Telvar loss % is too small, especially now we're seeing bigger group sizes on both sides and is the only real incentive for being there

It's quicker to farm stones yourself than try find and kill people, especially as groups on both sides increase in size.

1. Increase all telvar loss to 80% again (To both player and mob)
2. Increase telvar loss by 15% for each group member you have - 50% solo, 57.5% 2man, 66% 3man, up to 80% loss. (Player death only).
3. Hand in hand with the above, decrease telvar gain by the same rules. (Player kills only) - There'd need to be some workings out to stop massive groups losing and gaining nothing from one another, maybe district owner is at the advantage somehow? No idea.

Problems: Incentives to go there besides plants don't exist

Everyone knows the only reason to go there is to make either potions or bank.

1. Add other mats
2. Add other items or rework a few more of the sets to be beneficial in IC specifically such as Imperial Physique.
   • 30% Movement speed in all districts you control
   • XSD/WD in districts you control (Work it so Imp Phy isn't just better ofc)
3. Offer a telvar to gold trade at a rate which doesn't push bought item sellers out.
4. Increase exp rates and or gold dropped to those found away from the sewers.

Problem: There is no reason to go underneath and the changes below aren't good enough

If you're in the sewers these days, unless you're trying to get the skin for whatever reason, you are not down the bottom, people need a reason to be there.
I can see that Molag Bal now offers telvar which I think was like 4k for soloing but I wasn't expecting it so don't know exactly, but it's not enough.

1. As above, increase experience rates or gold dropped
2. Add achievements with nice titles that require vets and players that aren't just interested in exp or gold to be back down there again
   • Killed 100 Walking Bosses? Title
   • Killed 1000 players in the tunnels? Title
   • so on..
3. Add capture points below (one in between each door and 3 in the middle ring) and add increased telvar to the tunnels also, though I'd say a lower bonus.

Anywhere there's an increased gain or potential gain, people of both sides will be drawn and the bottom suggestion really opens the whole sewers up to action, rather than the only real potential being the blue loop and the middle.

Problem: Ad density is too high

This is just what it is to me, could do with being slightly less unless there's a reason to be in IC and the districts are heaving will more than enough players again.


Not so much a problem: QOL additions

1. Allow teleporting out of the base
2. Allow teleporting to a chosen wayshrine from the exit
3. Stop players entering a campaign from IC when they have over 10k stones on them, if they forgot a sigil, make them run back and risk being caught. This also adds incentives to be down the tunnels near bases.

That's my list of rough ideas, I haven't really thought them all through to be honest but you get the idea, some will be good, some terrible.

The gist is that I just want IC to be restored to it's former short lived glory because it was insane, I'm sick of the garden centre vibe, mix it up!

I believe Imperial City is split into two camps.

Nightblades - who will probably say it's fine. Then everyone else.

That place is a hell hole - unless you play as a Night Blade, then it's not so bad because you're not a sitting duck every time an opposing player (or players) come along. That's why I recommend anyone who wants to go into Imperial City regularly to level a Night Blade.

A very one-dimensional assessment. Pet sorcs in Imperial Physique rule. An experienced one is hell for a nightblade.

Any tanky player has an advantage in boss fights, because the AOE targets nightblades even in cloak, once they entered the fight, and they are typically squishier.

Facing a well-played DK as a magblade, he will take half the damage from most of my attacks while dishing out insane damage with Molten Whip or he'll be an unkillable 1H+S Defile Low Slash Bash DK, who does pretty obscene damage as well, despite how tanky he is and despite the bash nerf.

Like many players you may have a misconception about where cloak is really good. Contrary to popular belief, it's not in tight enclosed spaces, but in open ones. In tight corridors a nightblade becomes too predictable. I will concede this is less true of the shade, which does work well in IC.

IMO IC favors 1vXers, who know how to take advantage of the buildings, as much as it does nightblades. At the same time, groups still rule, as they always do. A group of experienced solo players works, as does an organised guild group that might include Arrow Spray spammers and healers. PuGs tend to be less effective, but still worthwhile.

I confess that I main a cloaking magblade. I am not as accomplished playing solo on any other class and I don't play magsorc. When I play another class, I typically group up sooner, but that's the same in Cyrodiil. Maybe most players fall into that bracket. However, I have played with magplars and DKs who fight and survive just as well, or better, than I do, in IC.

A nightblade played by a beginner is a one trick pony. Once they're out of cloak and their burst doesn't work, many of them are toast. There is no question that, if you want to play solo in any context, or if you perhaps just want to do the IC PvE quests in relative peace, a nightblade is ideal. I'd still recommend to play what you like, though. One of the best decisions I ever made was to fully commit to my main and stop jumping between alts every day. You get better reflexes and judging the limitations of your character becomes much easier that way.

If you are alone and not comfortable soloing, look at the map and see what flags your faction is turning, join them and zerg surf for a bit. You'll run into them sooner or later anyway. Just do it sooner. Even as a nightblade you need to group up, if you want to take on other groups.

A final bit of advice: Don't consider that you own the Tel Var you carry. Consider that you only own half of them. Once you reach an amount where that doesn't sit right with you, go and bank. Carry some retreat sigils, go through a door and use one on a protected platform.

Tel var loss is TOO HIGH. Reduce it to 0% on PvP death, and make PvP kills award a pre-determined amount (with diminishing returns when killing the same person repeatedly over a short period of time). That's the only way you'll get more people in there.

Kadoin wrote: »

My take: no point in going there unless you are either an NB or ultra-tanky stam build that will wait until boss attacks your enemy. Bosses should attack all players instead of chasing one IMO. There's a start to part of the fix for me!

Bosses DO attack all players. Those poison pools from the Arena flesh atro spawn underneath every player, even cloaking NBs, if they attacked the boss just once. Other bosses are similar.

As to the ultra tanky stam builds, one of my friends played an outright tank and used to aggro the bosses to make them work in his favor. On the other hand I now play with a templar who wears Amber Plasm, another damage set (front bar) and a damage monster set. As I assume people's builds are confidential until they tell me otherwise, I won't be any more specific, but he is running light armor and not even Protective jewelry to my knowledge, yet he survives as well as anyone against multiple opponents. As I am a cloaking magblade, I do not help him survive when we duo. He takes all the aggro first.