Testing out Age of Conan's new PvP system
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Patches, PvP
As we mentioned earlier, the new PvP system (or at least a large part of it) for Age of Conan is currently on the Testlive server, and undergoing rigorous testing. We're particularly impressed by tester Ydiss, who has gone out of his way to provide feedback based on actual play experience rather than speculation and hyperbole. Through testing, some interesting features of the system have come to light, which shatter previous player assumptions and weren't spelled out in the notes.Many players had assumed killing an Innocent of your own level would result in Murder Points, but it doesn't. The research actually shows that you can gank players of up to two levels below you (and any amount of levels above you) without any penalty other than being temporarily flagged as Criminal. This removes a huge anticipated bar to free PvP.
Being a Criminal gives you a funky crossed-swords icon above your head (see image) and being a Murderer gives you a skull.
On the flip side, there had been an assumption that killing Innocents outside the safe range would result in only one Murder Point; it actually results in at least ten, meaning that Murderer status (100 Murder Points) is far, far easier to earn. Ydiss has also laid out how the PvP XP system currently works.
Although it wasn't explained in the system notes, you don't lose PvP XP when you are killed if your rank is between 1 and 5. Ranks 6 through 10 will lose XP when killed, but not rank; players of ranks 11 and up will lose both XP and rank when killed.
PvP XP amounts have also been clarified. You get 100 XP for a kill (to a maximum of 150 XP for a target 5+ levels above you), divided among the group. You lose 300 XP for a death even if you are grouped. As it stands, the system is being received well, with the exception of the 10 Murder Point penalty for killing an innocent target a mere 3-5 levels below you, which some testers find overly harsh.
[Thanks, Ydiss!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-24-2008 @ 4:31PM
GenBanks said...
I can't wait, but what I'm wondering is what happened to the 'prison' system that was discussed a lot after release? When you get caught, going to jail and killing rats or carrying stones etc...
This seems much reduced compared to what was envisioned a couple months ago. Are they planning on adding more pvp other than this in the near future?
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7-24-2008 @ 7:21PM
Hot$auce_Magik said...
This definitely clears up my concerns about the new PvP system.
I'm pretty sure they scrapped the prison system in favor of this. When you think about it, the whole Killing rats/ super boring penalty for getting caught is really just a game breaker, not a cool way of dealing with getting caught.
I'm all for the new system
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7-24-2008 @ 11:37PM
Mr. Pickles said...
GenBanks, the "prison" system was never really Funcom's idea, but just rumors and ideas spread by fans (and spread more by the uninformed). The only talk of a system similar to what you're thinking of was mentioned back in Q3 & Q4 of last year where they were mentioning a PvP punishment system that involved NPCs and not players.
I, for one, am glad that they've involved both NPCs and players in this new system in that guards will attack murderers (I've yet to see this personally, though), and players attacking them for loot, extra XP, ect.
The problem I do have, though, is that on White Sands a level 10 cannot attack a level 5 or whatever else level below level 7. I had this problem where one would be try to attack me 2x while I was fighting some mobs. Well, he got me the first time, but I killed him the 2nd time without punishment (because he attacked me first). However, he kept following me knowing that I couldn't attack him first without getting the murderer points. This is an abuse of the system because the level gap is so weak like that.
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7-25-2008 @ 4:01AM
briannewton said...
Well, if a guy attacks you Mr. Pickles, he should become a criminal for 5 minutes correct? Then you should have free reign to kill him, or do you get murder points if you kill someone who's been branded as a criminal if they're a few levels lower than you?
I would think you wouldn't, because then you could never have a bigger friend come help you if someone's being a jerk and killing you over and over.
7-25-2008 @ 6:17AM
brokengod said...
near as I can tell, Mr Pickles, your only complaint here is that "he kept following me knowing that I couldn't attack him first without getting the murderer points."
I'm not sure how this is an abuse of the system - apart from wasting his own time following you around, what does he achieve? Doesn't seem like a big issue to me.
7-25-2008 @ 3:40PM
Note said...
I think Mr Pickels is trying to get across that this guy was stopping him from doing anything that would result in him losing health. Like killing mobs or attacking another player, i.e. playing the game.
The guy following him had the upper hand because he could wait for his moment to strike and Mr Pickles could not attack him or deter him by any other means.
7-25-2008 @ 5:40AM
Nmaster said...
I can't wait to see this rolled out. The hunters will become the hunted and the gankers become the ganked.
There will be justice. :3
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