PvP Roadmap 2013

Posted by Jens Andersen

Origin Crisis, our next and largely PvE-focused DLC Pack, is fast approaching, but before we start down that road, I wanted to take a moment to share with you our plans for PvP in 2013. Some of these have been underway for some time, while others are still just beginning to be worked on. We're very excited about what these plans will accomplish, but we also want feedback from your perspective.

I'll outline the high level goals in this announcement and then pass the discussion along to some of the developers working on the systems. To that end, I will share links to a series of discussion on the forums for you to get involved in. Please drop by and give us some feedback on the individual topics. We want it to be clear that while PvE is the focus of our DLC Packs this year, PvP is still a major focus. In fact, PvP is vital, and overall for the year it is our goal to make several improvements to the PvP experience.

What We Have Done So Far

Ranked Matchmaking

Some of you have probably already begun to notice the effects of Ranked Matchmaking, since this system has actually been running on the live servers since February 26th. Our goal is to provide a more balanced and competitive experience when using the On Duty menu to find PvP matches. Ranked Matchmaking has been collecting match results and using them to assemble more balanced teams and matches. This feature is not only likely to provide a better match up, but it also ensures a better chance for victory.

What's Next

In no particular order – they're all interconnected

Arranged Matchmaking

Continuing our goal to make PvP more competitive, we are working on an Arranged Matchmaking system. Our players have been requesting a way to bypass the On Duty queues and just play against another group of friends, or rivals, and this will deliver on that. We expect this to be an exciting tool for our entire community to use to train, to have casual matches with friends, grudge matches with enemies, and to even run your own events. These are some of the key points to the system:

· Can use any map

· Will not grant rewards

· Will not affect Ranked Matchmaking

PvP Progression

Significant adjustments are being made to the way PvP rewards and progression work. We will be introducing a new system of gear progression. Additionally, there will also be a new way of distributing marks for victories in PvP.

The first aspect to announce is a new approach to gear progression. We will be introducing "Seasonal Gear" [name subject to change]. The introduction of a new season of gear signals the start of a new series of PvP tiers. When a season begins, new styles will be introduced, and more powerful stats will be incorporated into the gear. This new season's gear replaces the last season's (meaning there are always a set number of tiers to collect each season before maxing out.) This accomplishes a few things. Most notably, it allows players to continue progressing without making PvP power gaps grow exponentially. It also gives players a "fresh start" on a regular basis, which will tie in to another long term objective down the road.

The second aspect is the way rewards are distributed in PvP. Mark rewards will be overhauled when this new system is put into place. There will be two rewards - a daily and a weekly. Each will be locked when a victory is achieved on the map. There is no consolation reward for losing any longer in this system. This will mean adjusting prices on vendors to reflect the new mark accumulation rate.

Map Rotation

To ensure that we can continue to add new maps and game modes for players to enjoy, we must initiate a PvP map scheduler - a rotation of maps - or we will find the community spread too thin. This will mean reducing the number of PvP maps available each day, but swapping them out on a regular basis to provide a faster queuing system and a fresh series of maps to enjoy for that window. The basic idea is to have:

· 5 maps in rotation

· Categories based on Group size (1,2,4,5, & 8)

· Maps change out cyclically

This system will allow us to continue to expand and add to our roster of PvP maps without adversely affecting queue times or progression. It also allows us to add new maps very easily, both locations and new game modes.

Developer Discussions

If you would like to ask any questions or share your thoughts on one of these specific topics, please follow the links below and join our developers on the forums. While these changes are far reaching, they are building blocks for even more exciting features and development down the road. We look forward to sharing those with you after our current efforts are complete.

Please join Mark [Tunso] Halash for a discussion about PvP progression and Rewards: [Link]

Please join me, Jens [Spytle] Andersen, for a discussion about the Map Rotation: [Link]

Please join Steve [Why] Wyckoff to talk about the Ranked Matchmaking feature: [Link]

Please join Larry [Captain Liberty] Liberty and give him hell about Arranged Matchmaking: [Link] (okay, maybe just talk normally to him about it.)