Feldon 
There has certainly been a lot of gnashing of teeth on EQ2Flames and the EQ2 Forums that Battlegrounds, Battlegrounds Armor, and the PvP ruleset is going to “ruin” raiding in EQ2.
And there have been plenty of naysayers saying PvP wasn’t strong enough to sustain multiple PvP servers, or that Arenas never really caught on, as proof that there is no need for Battlegrounds.
As for me, the prospect of being robbed on the way to the bank, or being unable to turn in a quest due to roaming murder squads, just isn’t why I play this game. I know it is a play style that many people love, and I respect that.
I’m no stranger to PvP in other games. I had a blast playing Rainbow Six, and Quake. Not to mention some early networked PvP games like MazeWars and NetTrek. The PvP was a controlled environment, and something I could switch on and off. It was a lot of fun!
I’ve been optimistic about Battlegrounds because I see the potential. People have downtime when forming groups or raids. Some people like the idea of PvP in EQ2, but not the implementation. Sometimes there just aren’t a lot of players online. And no doubt, some guilds will want to test their mettle against other guilds on other servers!
Tonight, I tried out the group Battlegrounds zones, and so far, I had a lot of fun!
- First run was Battlefield of Ganak (Capture the Flag). First, I have to say the zone artwork is purpose-built just for Battlegrounds and looks great. There are lots of hiding places to lurk in and vantage points to watch from. The Capture the Flag scenario offers a bit of strategy and teamwork. I found this to be a lot of fun!
- The second was Gears of Klak’anon (protect the artifact). My experience was very different from Ganak. Our group did not communicate much or strategize. It seemed to be more of a close-quarters gankfest all about picking off other players. But I intend to go back and see if different group dynamics will change things.
- I went back to Battlefield of Ganak and it was a trip to see some folks I met at Fan Faire like Bigron. I killed him a couple times. 😉 They had a pretty stacked group — we didn’t have a chance! 🙂
For more information on how to join a Battleground, check out:
EQ2Wire Guide: How do Battlegrounds Work
Some issues I’ve got with Battlegrounds so far (no doubt already being investigated):
- No voice chat
- UI settings are not automatically copied (fortunately /load_uisettings works)
- At the end of a battle, there could be a clearer message stating the outcome.
- It would also be great if you could talk to the other side for, say, 30-45 seconds at the end of the battle to trash talk, etc. 🙂
- If you get “stuck” at the end of a battle, you cannot sit, so the only way to get out is Quit.
Going Forward
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of comments about Battlegrounds in the next few weeks. But so far, I am thinking these are going to be a lot of fun. With the duration changes to stun/stifle/mez/root, battles aren’t decided in 2 seconds.
I can’t speak to the armor progression, except a lot of the effects on Battlegrounds PvP gear is locked away behind the “Must be engaged in PvP combat” rule. I don’t think Battlegrounds PvP gear should be part of PvE progression.
I love the PVP aspect of the game. Nothing better than the buz you get when jumped by a 3 man “gank group” and wipe them (I play an 80 warlock on nagefen).
After playing WoW for a year or so I loved the battlegrounds there and really hope these are not direct copies of their system. But they do not look like they are!
As long as people all play with the end goal of the BG in mind (as opposed to who is top on the kill/death ratio list) then these should be great fun. And the “must be engaged in pvp combat” thing is great too. I just hope they sort out the bugs you listed above (especially the voice chat) and have open world pvp gear which is superior to the BG stuff but still not as good as the PVE stuff.
Also, I think it is a VERY bad idea to allow the sides to trash talk each other after the fight. This will result in crazy insults and rage’s ect. Best to just let the teams be happy they won/sad the lost.
I’m all for trash talk, hell leave the voice chat open to both teams during the fight!
If you want players to come into Battlegrounds …. you had better keep the open channels CLOSED. There are a LOT of PvE players that would play PvP except FOR THE TRASH TALKING.
Yeah i could see that being true. I’m an aggressive fella when it comes to mashing my PvP opponents to a pulp. I always make sure i let them know there loss with some rude gesture or words. =P
Only reason I don’t play PvP on Eq2 is how horrid it’s set-up is in the game. It wouldn’t be bad if it were like many of the “free” mmo’s out there with PVP where you can turn it on or off at will depending on mood and what a person wishes to accomplish that day. If it was set up like that, ohhh i think it would generate a new populace to the game.
I tried the Battle Grounds for close to 3 hours . It was fun to start but, that quickly changed. The experienced pvp players quickly learned that if they stood on the respawn point and blasted away with aoes, the competition could not get back in the battle once they were down. The gear is also terribly unbalanced.
Darkcircle, thats a silly idea. People would just turn pvp off unless in a stacked group specifically looking for pvp. This would completely destroy pvp in eq2.
Also, pvp in eq2 is MUCH better than in other mmo’s I have played. Sure some classes are overpowered compared to others and ofc gear makes a big big difference, but at least the level 80’s can not wonder into a lv20 zone and just continue to kill the lowbies.