Quote Originally Posted by Wintersandman View Post
Now the problem is there is no point investing the time into PvP. There is no motivation to continue like there is for PvE which is where gear progression is beneficial. It's like great I can spend all this time pvp'ing and there is no real reward for my time spent. There should be something that shows for investing time in either PvE or PvP. I am behind gear wise for PvE and if I tank I know I will be getting hate ripped off me. I have to invest the time and it will be frustrating just as it is for the new person starting off in PvP. Your demoralization argument applies to PvE as well but you don't see SE changing how that works. How long did it take groups to say Clear needed on new Ex fights and won't take anyone new in PF? I see it within a week.

So there should be something to show that you spend the time. PVE gets it all. Mounts, gear and titles.
PvE is still quite different than PvP though. SE designs PvE to be completed at a certain item level, and all that does for you as a player is restrict the mistakes you can make to clear that content if you meet the bare minimum to participate. So while yes, latest and greatest PvE has the same challenge where it's hard to clear when you first run into it, all you need to do is make less mistakes and then you'll win and get the gear. In PvP it depends on how geared AND good your opponents are. You can play flawlessly and not make a single mistake, but because your opponent didn't either, they win because they out-gear you - or in some cases they out-gear you so much they can make mistakes and still win.

But yeah, a disadvantage of a normalized gear design is that the rewards don't feel as good. Your power level doesn't go up, so what's the point? Right now it's all just mounts and titles. Which is enough to keep people interested until they attain those mounts and titles. I just got The Hand of Mercy so I won't be seen in Frontlines for a while. That's a challenging problem - find rewards that make it worth doing and in a way that gives it replayability. This is where things like crafting mats or Housing can help, but the main driving force of completing content in an RPG is to get stronger and when you take that away - it's a hard problem to solve. Because like you said - PvE also gets the mounts and titles AND the reward of getting stronger.

I guess I could get behind a progression PvP system if I was confident that SE could attract players into the mode and provide good match making, and plugging exploit holes (like smurfing or win trading). I think with the lack of resources they are putting into PvP it's about as good as it can be right now.