PvP Factions & Avoiding "Bandwagonism"

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:44 am

I'm not sure if it's been discussed before, but have the devs given any thought to means of avoiding faction stacking?

One of the re-occuring problems I've seen in faction PvP systems in a number of MMOGS is a tendency for players to join whatever is perceived as the strongest or most "winning" faction. It can happen for any number of reasons... players get tired of getting repeatedly ganked by a given faction, or get lonely, being the only one logged on in a particular faction during the time they have to play, etcetera, etcetera. For whatever reason, after a while it can lead to a serious imbalance in numbers.

The restrictions in race & class might be enough - I'm sure the beta will bear things out one way or the other. But if it does become a problem, I'm wondering if (for example) scripting offers any way to even out the numbers of a given faction in a PvP zone?

lord_modred · Post by **lord_modred** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:48 am

i think this wont be a problem due to the number of guilds distributed throughout the factions

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:31 am

I'm not sure I see the connection.

DrakhanValane · Post by **DrakhanValane** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:55 am

Guilds tend to stick around more than your typical player (yes, many exceptions) and tend to stick together. The current guilds will probably spread out if for no other reason than to kill each other. That means there is a healthy player base for each faction.

Post by **DeputyDog** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 8:24 am

Those same mmorgs also restrict yout to only one faction per server.

DAOC only lets you pick Albion for instance for all of your chars, and their pvp is laggy and lopsided as hell and never realyl worked.

Mokihana · Post by **Mokihana** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:45 am

i also think that with the class restrictions by faction players will weight this a little more then which faction is the strongest. I find that most players tend to stick with the same types of characters.
ie:
mz moki : rangers rogues
throsty: rangers rogues
modred: sorcs
Xander: pali rouges

just my opinion

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:32 pm

DAOC - not my favorite either. Even if you wanted to (not saying you do, just using this as an example), similar restrictions in NWN just aren't feasible. All a player would need to do is set up another account to circumvent it.

Hopefully, the faction class restrictions will be enough to balance things out. As long as no single character build (and so by extension, no particular faction) is wildly better or worse than any other, there'll be one less reason to stack or avoid a particular faction.

lord_modred · Post by **lord_modred** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:36 pm

moki... i am offended by your generalization... i am a wizard! not a sorcerer!

DrakhanValane · Post by **DrakhanValane** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:48 pm

Bob wrote:Even if you wanted to (not saying you do, just using this as an example), similar restrictions in NWN just aren't feasible. All a player would need to do is set up another account to circumvent it.

Actually it'd be done via CD-key. So you'd have to get a second copy of NWN (or at least another CD-key) to get around it.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:26 pm

I don't think the standalone supports selective character exclusion based on CD-key - you could exclude players but not specific characters belonging to those players.

Might be able to run the individual player vaults through the custom database tools to filter out the characters, but that's counter-productive to the whole idea of making factions dynamic.

Having contol over the faction population in a given area was just an idea of how to get around 10-on-1 ganks, IF that sort of thing becomes a problem...

Post by **TGPO** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:41 pm

The CD key option is very easily done, just glad that its not going to be (that I know of). Any peice of data you want can be used to set or modify any other controlable variable.

You could even go as far as checking the race on initial login and if the subrace had been typed in as Llama_slapper then that player would get 800k in exp and 10 mil in gold at the start and automatically be turned into a dwarf as a member of the Ancient Ones Faction. *dragon style hot pocket*

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:56 pm

Would that be done with the standalone or the custom database tools [edit - the exclusion part... just curious]?

DrakhanValane · Post by **DrakhanValane** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:09 pm

Scripting & Database:
1) store the faction ID to the player (Identified via CD-key). The Function "GetPCPublicCDKey(object oPlayer)" works for that.
2) If player tries to join a different faction than the stored one, "BootPC(object oPlayer)" Works.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:47 pm

Ah - OK, got it.

(Wow - didn't realize the CD Key was that unsecure.)

DrakhanValane · Post by **DrakhanValane** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:55 pm

There's a difference between the Public CD-key and your Full CD-key. The Public CD-key is composed of the first eight even digits (2,4,etc) of your full CD-key.