Showing Posts For Zraak.4590:
It would be great to have an option in the Mode Preferences for people to be matched only with and against people using the basic skills and traits without the addon.
There are some resons for that request:
First of all some of the specialisations of HoT feel fairly broken in balance. And in the last hours of play I have seen things that appeared to me as excessive use of exploits or some third party software. When you see 9 Stacks of Adaptive Armor on someone when it should only be possible to have 5 Maximum. Even 4 people couldn’t get that player down together.
Second it is better to know what you are up against. People who did not buy HoT can easy mistake a trait as a cheat. So if you are only paired against people using the same stuff as you, you are way better at understanding how things work out in the game.
Thirdly you got used to how things work and do not want or are not able to adapt to all the new stuff? Maybe you are just on a nostalgic trip and want to play your 0815 warrior build that you know how to play and don’t want to be taken down by a Meta that requires HoT to be able to see a win?
Fourthly think of new players. They will be overwhelmed by the complexity of the game and it is way better to to have matches with a reduced skill and trait pool. So you can learn things one at a time. I still think that even the basic game without the extention could use some smaller skill and trait pools for PvP. And don’t say the PvE is tutorial enough. Introducing in PvP follows different rules and gameplay is entirely different from that wack and slack in PvE. Besides smaller skill and trait pools would allow for distinct metas. Trading card games like magic use limited pools for specific tournaments and fights to keep the game interesting. These cases show that less can mean more.
So I hope you pick this up and think about it.
If you transfer the current real world economics in to a virtual system and let them run together with the inconsiderate human preferences, you can see all the systems flaws in their glory.
There is a broad variety of possible ways to include a handicap system. Some games allow a good player to pick a specific handicap. For example some lower your power of executable performances (like running with weights), some lower the strategic options you have by disallowing certain draws (like having a hand tied on your back) or limiting strategic information (like beeing blindfolded).
It is more or less like the Mistlock Instabilities in the fractals of the mists.
You can read the Dev Tracker to learn about the thousands of accounts closed, many because of reports. You can learn about specific action taken on some reported accounts when the account owner posts his/her case for public consumption.
The in-game report window states there will be no personal acknowledgement of your report. I’m sure you agree discussing other’s accounts with the public when the discussion was not instigated by the account owner would be inappropriate.
The Dev Tracker doesn’t give you a clue about your own evaluation basis. You need feedback to see if you were right or wrong in sending a report. How else could you realize your own mistakes? There is no need to discuss a specific case if you have some solid statistical numbers that display the results of your own behaviour. They give you a chance to lern from.
As for a Dhuum-like ban/suspension mechanic, the CS Team Lead addresses that issue in the Support sub-forum, again found by perusing the Dev Tracker.
I not suggesting a Dhuum ban mechanic. My reference towards it was just an example of a specific account information that is given out to the public. Another example would be the Hall of Monuments Reward Calculator, that could be abused as an identifier of profitable targets for phishing or hacking.
The amount of phishing mails I received when that thing got online skyrocked in that month. The same applies for the leaderboards.
There already is enough information out there to start witch hunt, but the median of people I know has no interest in such a thing. And to be afraid of being pinned to an online pillory seems kind of childish considering the people that already do that on their own free will and therefore give enough to gape at for people who care.
Just take a look around here and maybe on facebook and you will see what I mean.
So why not handing out some statistical data you can reflect upon?
That you usually do not hand out information on a specific case is a given. But you can hand out information on a statistical basis with some delay.
Back in Guild Wars days they showed Dhuum scything banned players. Witch is as specific as it can get in my eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf5urf-QVzY&hd=1
As it is now a player can send various types of reports, if the player observes something that might violate the User Agreement and/or the Rules of Conduct.
Right now there are Botting, Inappropriate Character Name, Spamming, Verbal Abuse, Scamming, Selling Gold and LFG System Abuse.
But as a player you get no feedback upon your report at all. Not even some statistics on the evaluation of your report. I mean what is the point in reporting, if you get the impression that it doesn’t make a difference.
It could be nothing more than some empty GUI that has no function behind it at all. Without a feedback it is more or less a placebo. Some bland tasteless soul candy.
As a user I want to know, if that action actually does anything. How else will I see that there is really stuff done behind the scenes. That there is some interest of people who want to improve the gaming experience.
For example, if I see some player that acts out like a bot in my view, I want to know if my observation was correct. Did I just randomly guess? Did I falsely accuse players of actions that were based on my personal biased perception? How else could I learn to recognize a bot, when I am not someone programming them?
So what is the point in offering a report system, when I get the impression that without feedback it is utterly meaningless for me to use.
Just because a problem is complex dosen’t mean it shouldn’t be adressed. You can toss a lot of assumptions why the devs do this or that. An intuitive answer is not better than just blindly guessing why. If they are smart they use the statistics of the game and some good algorithm to adjust it. Maybe they even fiddle with some of the games mechanics. But if the median of people loses their matches or feel like they are playtesting an unfinifshed game and have therefore an unpleasant gaming experience; you can bet that this game will lose a lot of players. If they do not fix this and do it quick, they damage their own source of income.
Justin ODell in the current system you match up players with a huge difference in skills. When that happens the game becomes frustrating and most players can’t learn to improve their play if the do not meet opponents that are on par with their skills.
Noone I know keeps playing Guild Wars 2 PvP if they get stomped in the ground so often. Most people on my guild quit playing PvP because of that.
Why don’t you use a handicap for skilled players to even the game with lower skilled players to keep it exciting? Many games like golf, go or chess use handicapping to keep their audience.