The change to PvP has been amazing

[Coatl]

Are you serious? Winning now grants you the same EXP you would have before if you would have won or loss, and now losing grants you 30% less EXP than winning. This is the worst way they could have done this. I was never really that big on PVP, but the incentive of the EXP was enough for me to play it, and strive to win as I'm a very competitive person.

Of course, not everyone wants to win. But do these changes really stop those people from AFKing? No, not really. They will still afk because free EXP is still free. But for people who PVPed for the EXP now have less incentive to, me included. PVP's fun, but it's too much of an opportunity cost for me to seriously consider unlike before the change.

[DDkiki]

from the latest matches in FL i had no one AFKed and wanted to win, that latest update really fired up people to want to win in pvp.

[TankHunter678]

It could be confirmation bias but I am seeing a large uptick in the amount of AFKs, and people giving up. As an Aether Adder I may as well give up since loss xp is equal to 3 levels ago before the change. Squarely securing potd as a superior source of xp.

The good news is that since the change to pvp xp I have been noticing a much faster stabilization of que times for DPS for dungeons. Now instead of 30+ minutes I am getting into dungeons in 10-15 minutes.

[ThanMazus]

It could be confirmation bias but I am seeing a large uptick in the amount of AFKs, and people giving up. As an Aether Adder I may as well give up since loss xp is equal to 3 levels ago before the change. Squarely securing potd as a superior source of xp.

This is exactly what I am experiencing. Once one team pulls ahead, the other two teams start just standing around in mid waiting to be killed. I have enemy players just walking up to me and not fighting back. They just stand there and wait for me to kill them.

[ToniRomo]

I've seen the same number of AFKs. If my team falls behind a bit a lot of people just seem to give up now.

[Spiroglyph]

Happy to know queues have not changed much... was very disheartened yesterday tbh

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

Let me interject here:

I see people allude to winning/losing more for being on a particular GC. This hasn't been true or valid since 3.5 when the Frontline Freelancer option was added. It truly doesn't matter what GC you're on anymore. At all. We - the PvP community - asked and asked for GC restrictions to be lifted for over 2 years. This was because in order to play with friends, you'd HAVE to join the same GC. Players who wanted to play with other skilled players would HAVE to join that GC, and the scale was always left unbalanced, making matchmaking a bit more difficult, and queues longer. Lifting that restriction (and hiding it behind the Garo event - let's not be coy) VASTLY improved the queue times as now you simply need the numbers to queue, and you'll get a match. The numbers were already there. But it needs to be said: what team you're on really doesn't matter as much as who's on that team with you.

On Giving Up:
First, you're going to lose at some point. You're going to get absolutely crushed at some point. You may also be the ones doing the crushing. Once you accept this, don't worry about losses. More importantly, never give up if there's even still a chance at winning. I had a Shatter match a few weeks ago where the Adders were already within the 1500s. We (Maelstrom) lost our early lead thanks to missing a large ice (due to a base attack by the more passive Flames team), then a very failed attempt by the Adders to crush us at our own base (lol). We decided we weren't going out without a fight. We pushed them back, and had managed scavenge a 2nd place position from holding our own. We had the strength. So I led the attack. We hit Adders, but a few had given up and were ready to just sit at base and accept the loss. I told the alliance to get in the fight - that's when they saw the Adders' score was dropping, and there came the cavalry. Amid the fighting, the final, middle ice activated, and we backed off to try and score on it. If we could get enough points from it, we could eke out a win.

In the end, we fought to a draw.

Had we simply given up and accepted defeat, that'd have been that. But a draw counts as a win as far as mounts/rewards go. And a few people got theirs from that draw. And all because they didn't give up. Giving your all doesn't guarantee a win, but giving up guarantees a loss.

On AFKing and "Base Guarding" (in Shatter):
I won't mince words; TOS violations aside, if you don't have any intent to play the game mode, don't queue. There's plenty of other options for XP, better ones actually, but if you won't compete, at least don't drag down those who do want to.

Occasionally, I go in with a small group of friends and we act as a small, distractionary unit, hunting along outer areas of the map for stragglers, people that break off from their team for a small ice, and recently afks at base. We'll take them down, then take the base. If the enemy team comes charging back to their base, we scatter (often allowing flanks, luring to strategic points/ambushes, or allowing our team to go secure an objective in the process). AFKers, you're effectively a points loss. If you continue to charge back in alone, you're a point farm. Say there's 3 of you, and we take you all out at least twice (which has happened), that's 60 points. You've nearly cost your team the same net gain from a small ice uncontested (70 points). Now ask yourself this: despite the TOS violation, and now with potential XP on the line, do you really want to be that guy who costs 23 other people their XP gains, let alone the win?

I don't say this to scare or deter anyone from enjoying PvP. I do however say - as someone who really enjoys PvP - that the selfish act of afking can (and will) be used against you. Don't be that guy.

[TankHunter678]

-snip-

Your giving up section is what I experienced, a lot, before the xp change.

Now they just don't even try to rally because unless its a table flip to a win getting second place or a draw is worthless, you only get as much xp as a win from 3 levels ago.

Also, how is warning about ninja cappers and people trying to flank the base TOS violations?

And,the Adders on Aether, I am one of them, consistently lose. Even with freelancers. About 70% of the time we lose based on my experience.

[ArcaviusGreyashe]

And,the Adders on Aether, I am one of them, consistently lose. Even with freelancers. About 70% of the time we lose based on my experience.

Well, that's 30% win, and there are three teams, so in a perfect wold, each would have 33.33% win rate, so... yeah. You consistently lose as much as the two others, I guess ?

But I still stand with you regarding xp, that's a waste.

[TankHunter678]

Well, that's 30% win, and there are three teams, so in a perfect wold, each would have 33.33% win rate, so... yeah. You consistently lose as much as the two others, I guess ?

But I still stand with you regarding xp, that's a waste.

Yeah, I would rather have the current win xp as the baseline and then reward bonus xp multipliers based on personal performance. That way even if you lose but you personally played well you still get rewarded for actually trying to do well in the mode.

I also would like something to actually spend wolf marks on, because if I actually cared about them then I would of pushed even harder to win. As it is the only pvp reward I even register as a reason to do frontlines is the xp. If the xp is terrible I have no reason to be there besides tomestones, and potd is more efficient for tomestones.