sigh* PVP gear issues could've been so easily avoided.

[TronWolf]

Easy as this, synced pvp modes so new players can get into pvp and have fun getting gear and ranking up. Then at least one unsynced BG and unsynced Arena. It seems so simple, veterans and new players both happy. But them SE got a much better idea! instead SE decides to just ignore hardcore players entirely and destroy a huge incentive to play the game almost completely. noice!

[Brianmj]

It would fragment the community.

[Februs]

It would fragment the community.

The community is already fragmented simply by having casual and ranked options. It's a difficult problem.

[Koltik]

They tried unsync'd at launch, it blew up in their faces. It was good for a month, but the gear discrepancy drove players away.

Start with sync'd, and if the PvP community grows then I'm sure they'll add in an unsync'd type in the future. No reason to spread our thin pvp base even thinner at this point.

[Blubbers]

I've been doing a lot of den over the past year. I'm part of the Aether PvP skype chat which has over 50 people in it including almost all of the most active PvPers on Aether. We set up Den scrims all the time and are very excited about the feast in 2 weeks. I (as well as everyone else in the group) have been max pvp rank within a few weeks after each patch where they raise it. I have participated in several PvP events, including hosting a wolves den PvP tournament last year (link here). Most people in our Aether PvP group can be objectively described as "hardcore pvpers".

Everyone I've talked to in the group is hugely supportive of both sync'ed den and removing the level cap on PvP gear.

Sync'ed Den

Sync'ed den is great for several reasons... It means your personal skill level is much more important than the gear you've obtained. Rather than getting on a treadmill where your number goes up and you get more powerful over time, how well you do is entirely determined by your skill and awareness. You have to take notes, work on personal goals, and train to get better rather than just queue up. The quality of each match matters much more than the quantity.

Sync'ed den also means it's much easier to gear up alts. By playing different jobs you have more awareness of how they work and overall become a better PvPer. This makes it easier to do so. If queues are short for a particular job, it also gives you more flexibilty to swap around depending on what job is needed.

Sync'ed den is much more accessible. A lower bar for gear means more people will be queuing for it. By only have one option (unsync'ed), the entire PvP community won't be split and games will pop much more quickly. This was a huge issue earlier with 30/40/50/i80 & unsync'ed den earlier on.


PvP Gear

The purpose of PvP gear in unsync'ed is twofold: min/maxing for optimal substats and glamour. I understand how people feel about putting in the time to achieve max rank to get glamour gear, but it makes sense that everyone has access to the same gearset so we're all on equal footing here. Personally, I'm not motivated by the glamour, I PvP to have fun and get better. My PvP experience is improved dramatically the larger the player base. The more people that PvP, the shorter my queues will be and there will be more high quality pvp players that make their way to the top tier ranks.

I personally think that all player should be given the maximum amount of pvp points at rank 1. New players already have a huge skill disadvantage and it doesn't make sense to disadvantage them further by limiting the amount of points they have. I agree that ranking up is a good motivator and gives you a sense of accomplishment though - and I think they should add more achievements that give items such as mounts & glamour to reward people for sticking with it, I don't think pvp ranks or skills are the way to do this.

[nickx]

Wise Words

I'm gonna buy you a beer at fanfest

[Synestra]

<3

Damn! cant hit like button more than once.