State of the Shard's PVP...Factions, O/C, PK

So let's talk. I'm about three weeks in on the shard and here's my take on it. It's tough to find a fight. Factions seem pretty damn dead at the moment, I occasionally see someone with an O/C tag, and seems like people getting PKed is about the extent of the PVP ... at least during my playtime.

Please respond if you have a faction guild with the following info:

What Faction
Recruiting? Y/N
Guild Contact

Same goes for O/C.



2nd part - for those not currently in Factions or O/C: can you explain what keeps you from being in factions? High cost to restock after death? Don't know anyone? You suck or are disinterested in PVP?

I've been at this a long time so I'm comfortable with the cost of death and I have 'ready bags' so I can get back in the action. Here's what I recommend to those that are interested in trying it out but unsure what you really need to get going (for mages anyway):

Leather suits
40-50 each reg, prepped bags
5 Trapped pouches
weapons
Safe rune, bank rune

Death is way less painful when you just prepare for it. It sucks scrambling around after you just got killed.

There isn't much competition in the field of pvp here. There's maybe one or two somewhat active guilds. The rest are crafters/tamers, or suck too bad to try.

I agree it's pretty dead here PVP wise. My opinion is that it's a PVM shard set up for tamers, crafters and pixel junkies. Also the mechanics are quirky IMO, just my two cents. After doing a little PVP here I think I'll go with another freeshard (not to be mentioned here I'm sure that's probably against the rules on these forums) when it comes to fighting. This is a good shard for housing, crafting and general UO but the PVP could use some fixes. I still enjoyed making a tamer here and taking advantage of the crazy gold opportunities it leads to, but other than that it's a fairly dead scene here. Most people are holed up in their houses staying logged on for one reason or another or in their favorite gold accumulation spots. I did see a little action at a few banks with the typical bank thieves but that's to be expected on any shard.

I agree 100% with zen, the mechanics are a bit funny when it comes to the mage combat.

Can you guys explain what is funny about the mechanics or needs tweaking?

First thing that needs to be changed, from my limited time here, is the ridiculous magic reflect. Against a GM scribe it takes me 4 mana drains just to get it down (hell im considering buying wands just to spam). I think any spell should knock it down for non-scribes. Two spells for scribes. Protection/RA is traditionally what made scribe mages strong, being able to not be interupted.

I really don't want to open a can of worms but the wait time between spells is a bit off in my opinion, archery is worthless. I didn't see any nox mage bonuses on this shard which to me seems strange because mindblast is doing the crazy amount of damage to unbalanced stats here and there are the special hits for two handed weapons which I think was the era in which poisoning gave mages a bonus to their ability to cast deadly poison within a few tiles from a target.

Certain spells perform interrupts and others don't seem to be interrupting such as clumsy and other debuffs that used to interrupt if my memory serves. There's alot of other nuances but overall it's an awkward system and maybe it's been awhile since I actually did any PVP in the renaissance era but it just seems a little buggy to me.

Inscription really did buff protection spells in the renaissance era as I remember it. The spell was scaled as to the number of circles of magic it would reflect before going down, then there was a delay before it could be cast again. That part seems to be working o.k. but there are other differences that make PVP a little quirky here.

I have also noticed the spell delay thing. I'm glad im not the only one that thinks it feels 'off'.

Clumsy, weaken, feeblemind were bread and butter interrupt spells IIRC

So 1 level 5 spell will force your opponent to cast 4 circle 4 spells. That's quite the value. Reflect is something that should not be casted in the middle of fights. It's a protective measure that you wander around with but one little magic arrow should drop it IMO. Two little magic arrows should drop a scribe's reflect. No way in hell should I have to dump half my mana to take it down. And then have to do it all over again in two minutes.

I had a gm scribe/nox mage and they were great. I almost always ran protection for the interrupt protection, but I think I remember running RA against LJs or something. IDK, it's been a long time. I sure don't remember having to dump 16 circles worth of spells to ever drop some reflect.

to fix PvP you need to find someone who qualifies as both
1) An objective expert in PvP
and 2) Someone who Telamon believes is credible

#1 is a trait often self-accredited but rarely genuinely deserved
and #2 is as fleeting as it is uncommon

Not being able to poison-
Spell interrupt delay -
No alchemy mage -

Well it's really not a big deal to me because I prefer to PVP on another server. If PVP was important to this server they would have fixed it by now. A few people that have a problem with the way it is here probably doesn't warrant a "fix".

It's this way for a reason here so I just PVP somewhere else and enjoy the other things this server has to offer when I play here.

Also PVP needs a group to support it, I really don't see that here like I do on other free servers.

Noxmages work here. The level of poison you cast is based on the distance you are from the target. Closer = stronger, further = weaker. I will say though from my experience, poison seems to get completely a lot more often than I would expect.

I 100% disagree a single magic arrow should drop reflect. This isn't T2A. The way it works right now seems just fine. Use mana drain wands.

Poison mages do work here, I have one. Also archery is awesome. I have an archer mage that is extremely lethal in any 1v1. Also Clumsy and all other debuffs interupt 100% of the time, whereas harms/magic arrow etc can fail at times.

Thank you HateCrime. I was waiting for someone to correct all the incorrect statements these guys are speaking. I personally think this servers pvp mechanics are great, the only prob is that there are so many more things to do other than pvp that most ppl are to pre-occupied with an event or a boss to want to pvp. But that is a good thing IMHO.

My favorite form of PVP is hunting reds. There is usually a group out killing someone, so get in IRC and wait for call-outs.

One level 5 spell *and 100 skill points*.

And incidentally, those 100 skill points only get you an extra two circle 4 spells. The first two you get for "free" for being a GM Mage.

* * * * *

Anyways, the reason people don't PvP much here is because there's tons of other stuff to do. Fewer people do *everything* here, which is both good and bad. Good in that it brings more people of varied interests to the shard, bad in that it splits the pop a bit.

Yeah there is a big opening for a nice red hunting guild to be set up here. Reds are extremely easy to set up and most groups use some dated tactics when they pk because they aren't used to people setting them up. I also enjoy the pvp the way it is here. If it were to be changed I'd still enjoy it, I'd just adapt. Archer mages here are one of the most underused builds for some reason. A group of them could be extremely lethal in group combat. If anybody is interested in playing an archer get ahold of me, I don't mind showing you how they can work well here. Its honestly my favorite build for this shard in a 1v1 scenario.

The pvp here has been slow since day 1. Nowadays there are several large groups who run things, which I feel deters the new/average pvper from getting into the scene here. Its likely that running solo or with just one other person will not get you very far. Who knows, maybe it will pick up one day *crosses fingers*

Well as I said, didn't want to open a can of worms. I've tried the PVP here and it's a bit off so to each their own. I did try test because someone told me to try some things out and from what I've tested and tried the spell delay in between spells seems off and I've tested the nox thing out quite a bit and I never landed anything over what appeared to be regular poison standing right next to my other character.

Archery might work if you're in a group or setting up a heavy X-Bow sniper shot then having another player launch an explosion/mindblast or ebolt combo. Other than that it's a little too slow and the damage is fairly inconsistent, and the fact everyone wears barbed leather or better here knocking the damage down to BB gun standards if you use a bow.

If the PVP system works for you, play here, it's not like my opinion is going to matter to those who have made up their mind that this is the type of PVP they like and wish to continue. It simply is too buggy and awkward for me so I just prefer to PVP elsewhere.

It's like eating a new food, you don't know if you'll like it until you've tried it. I've tried this server's PVP and I can't say I like it as much as other servers I've played or am playing at the present. I enjoy other things about this shard but like I said the PVP is too quirky and the there doesn't seem to be that much of it as it stands right now.

It's a decent server if one likes gold farming, crafting, housing add-ons and pixel collecting, other than that the combat system in my opinion needs some fixing. Just an observation, not trying to bash this shard.

I'm not trying to convince anyone one way or the other, just some guy's opinion and nothing else.