Mismatched L2 Aden Expectations and Incentives

[Beestly]

In my opinion, the issues arisve from how NCSoft markets/presents L2 Aden vs what L2 really is as a whole. It's an MMO with PvPvE, yes, but it's also "Do all content by yourself! Have a great solo experience!" There's also contrast between the set-it-and-forget-it auto play and active play. The players who aren't as active EXPECT to be able to auto-hunt while afk, and active players don't see why those players should expect to stay alive while away from the computer. Two different cultures exist in the game, which is the true Aden/Essence experiment, as I see it.

The problem comes from the incentives/disincentives BETWEEN solo vs group play. Here's an example we all know.

Problem: no PK consequence/disincentive - that's a direct result of empowering the solo side. A single player can keep all their gains, and only give up a few lcoins and adena.

This has been mentioned before, but seriously, this type of thing can be OPTIMIZED over time. Players who get killed over and over then sit out, log out, or quit because they can't play. PKers get virtually no downtime and can keep going. See the mismatch? What's incentivised here?

Solution: harsher escalating penalties - after a certain point, the PKer shouldn't be allowed to waltz into towns, and should bear the risk of permanently dropping items. People risk items while compounding and enchanting all the time. L2 Revolution did a better job of dealing with jerks.

Perhaps there should also be a SOE/BSOE debuff - for 5 minutes (while Chaotic), increased SOE/BSOE time by 100% per stack.

There's so much more as a part of this discussion, but to all who say PKing is part of the game. Yes, yes it is, but it's NOT marketed as solely that. There's a balance to be struck, and whether that's by NCSoft framing this server more accurately, changing consequences, or by players coming together (<- IDEAL), then we'll continue to have culture/expectation wars and drama all around.

A short list of features that are mismatched between solo/group play:

-PKer penalties

-Clan hopping and irrelevant loyalty

-Diversity of rewards/tasks of daily missions

-"War" system lacks depth of any kind

-Olympiad isn't optimized in any way for solo PvP

-Auto-hunt 24/7 isn't the only way to play the game

At the end of the day, Epidemic played the clan game better than anyone. A tyranny formed around raid bosses and end-game content. Rival clans couldn't just magically organize, and if they did, it wasn't enough. There's now widespread revolt through server-wide pking, and a "protest" in Giran, hah. Also, the player pool at the top will keep dwindling, with a mid-tier population is littered with alts. There's a persistent quit-and-sell pattern with geared characters who are done. Oh, and there's an ongoing content schedule that 99% of Elcadia is weeks/months behind on. The discomfort that this brings to L2 will compound over time, since the system of incentives and content is for those who spend, with no help to those struggling on the bubble. It's all just a game, but we're all adults and each have a choice to make about the world you want to spend time in.

If you guys have suggestions or more info from your own perspectives, please share.

[Rhtc]

You are spot on. I logged all my chars off yesterday after constantly having to rez them all and go back to hunt spot only to be pkd again (pretty much all zones).

I don't mind the pk's but the fact that most of the pkrs are all stronger then my highest level char there is nothing that I can do. 

I tried LineageW last night, seems to have a better story to it so far, but gameplay seems like its way to automated. My PS5 with COD vanguard is arriving today, I guess I will be playing that for a while, maybe come back in a few months and see how the server evolves by then.

[Flammable]

What' going on is called griefing and is completely agaings ncsoft T&C

Repeatedly pking someone, especially much lower levels is griefing and harrasment and is bannable offence.

Simple as.

@Hime @Sunshine

Are you going to follow your TCs and ban these players?

It's only a handful of sore losers from Doom who can't compete with Epidemic on sieges and raid bosses and are venting their frustration on all other players, especially lower levels.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a great fan of Epidemic but they got their position in the server by being organized and spending a lot of cash on the game.

However I have no memory of Epidemic harassing low level players and pk-ing them repeatedly 

Spot protection, yes. Raid boss fight, yes. Clan wars, yes. 

But they never harassed other players just farming the way doom (and few others) do now.

The only real memory I have of being killed by Epidemic is Kyo pking players in SV while getting into chaotic state and exping on RB.

Never had any major problem when I moved to diff spot or zone.

Now players can' farm even in plains of glory as a sore 80+ will repeatedly kill them.

Thankfully I am reasonably high level and so are my alts but lot of ppl are not and if this continues they will leave the game.

And Ncsoft will lose players and income.

[localhost]

Again as per NC Soft response PK is part of the game (even if you PK once or round the clock).

So good luck with their PKers. From now and on my farm style will change. I will go with my 80lvl and just sit all day in started areas. PK anyone so they will quit game as they cant progress the game. After all PK is part of the game. 

So good luck NC soft making new players.

[lelu]

This is what happens when people rush to endgame.  They've hit a wall and can't play anymore (clans locking down everything for max level).  Stomping their feet and taking it out on everyone else.  The PK system is broken.  Live you were attacked on sight if you tried to enter the town and were killed immediately by guards.  You dropped your gears if you were killed while red.  Only city you could go to was Floran Village.  Now you just have a few babies who PK the server because there is no penalty for it.  If you fight back they poof out of there to the safety of any city.  The game mirrors real life where there is no common decency or sense anymore.  

Sad thing is you can't really call it harassment, since they're not targeting individuals.  They're going after EVERYONE who is AFK levelling.

As for all the AFK PK'ing, you can't say that you couldn't see that happening from a million miles away.  It's easy targeting with no penalty.  A VERY simple solution would be the buff that used to be on there where you couldn't get killed by people 10 levels over you.  Doesn't really help you after about a month of playing though.  People can cry carebear all they want, but it would keep the server population up.

[TinyToppie]

"We kill every afk player" was their explanation ... totally BS, they pk'd ppl over and over again  wich ended up that most players  didnt go out town anymore or logged out.