Olihin Addresses Raft of PvP Questions, Issues

Remember when Player-vs-Player was the red-headed stepchild of EQ2? Remember when there wasn’t even a PvP developer, but instead those tasks were delegated to developers who already had a full workload? Fast forward to today and one of the areas of the game getting the most attention is the PvP side, including those issues that extend into Battlegrounds.

So let’s go down the list of responses so far from PvP developer Olihin…

With regards to Toughness (and suggestions to remove it entirely, or nerf it a substantial percentage):

We are fixing a proc that should have been working correctly at the same time toughness was introduced. Should it had worked correctly, we feel the issue with toughness would be less then what it is at this time. We want to test this theory before making any other changes.

Before the trolls feed: TEST is what I put down, but we have tested it and like how it plays right now. As always we want to see how a whole server uses the ability as well before further changes are made.

and a more general comment towards Game Update 57b (as Rothgar dubbed it 😉 ):

A few changes are coming to the game.

• Bow damage changes, damage increased.
• 2 Handed Weapon changes, damage increased.
• Mutilation procs will no longer be dispelled.
  • This will now allow players with the proc to focus their attacks and burn down a target.
  • The duration of the proc is 10 seconds.
• New weapons with higher dps bonus are being considered.

Overall, the healing and toughness will remain as they are. We need to monitor the changes to make sure we are not changing everything at once and masking the real issues which we hope are being addressed. If we find that the balance is still not there, we can easily change the toughness and lastly any healing that may still be a bit over the top.

In response to a request to make PvP/BG Merchant windows filterable…

The issue is only with the Vintage Wares merchant.  All other merchants should be set to filter out as you suggest.   I left the vintage vendor as is, since most like to be able to see on any character what they might be missing or could buy on any character.   This is the only vendor that will have this large inventory for now.

In response to requests to make all Open PvP (Nagafen/Vox) armor available on Battlegrounds merchants, Olihin had this to say:

It is true that in the future, all items available in PvP will also be added to the Battlegrounds vendors. This removes quite a bit of the unique factor we had planned for in open PvP. We will make new items that will upgrade most of the older items, so adding them to the vendors is not something we plan to do. If you really want the item, then you will need to join a PvP server to earn them at this time.

…

• All that is on the vendors now, will remain as they are.
• Anything new added will be available on both Battleground and Open PvP server.
• Nothing unique is being added to Open PvP servers at this time or in near future.
• Armor sets only available in Open PvP will not be added to BG vendors.

We plan on adding new armor and even considering upgrading the current armor sets on the vendors to make sure the fights are as fair as possible.

The big difference is that Open PvP players will have the option to buy their gear using either battleground or discord tokens. Discord tokens being available via open pvp writs and by participating in Warfields. If the RoK and TSO armor point is a huge issue for you to feel balanced, then you will want to play on a PvP server to gain those at this time.