PvP Balance Adjustments and PvP Tiers

[Cinco]

Thanks for your support through these last few weeks' PvP balance changes! More changes are coming soon...

Today we are adding new matchmaking features. These changes will allow us to address balance issues with a lot more accuracy. Specifically: we have changed the way that PvP matches are made. Instead of admitting players to an arena based on their relative level (within 3 levels of a character already in the map), we are now creating five-level Tiers. Player levels 1 - 5 are Tier 1. Player levels 6 - 10 are Tier 2. These tiers continue to the level cap, with the last tier (currently) spanning levels 51-56. Each PvP Tier gets its own damage and healing adjustment values based on our analysis and your feedback.

Our next update, planned for later today, will have these five-level Tier changes. Currently the level ranges are far too broad (all of them spanning 10 levels). The update will fix this :-)

While this tier system is a much better platform to support our continued efforts for PvP balance, it is a significantly different approach to matchmaking and could have unintended negative consequences. Please feedback on the issues! We are now able to target specific character levels within each tier for further adjustments.


Looking forward to your feedback (and to some great battles this weekend!!)

- Cinco

[Visiting]

Twinks are gonna love this! Ty Cinco

[Cinco]

Please tell me how 13 can defeat 18? 5 tiers is really too much.

To clarify: I'm not talking about an arbitrary 5 levels between you and another; we now use fixed level bands. This means that 13 would never see an 18. All of the 13's would be grouped with players within the range of 11 to 15. Likewise, 15's would be grouped with other 11 to 15's, just like other 11's. And a level 18 player would be grouped with levels 16 to 20. It's quite different than the previous system that used relative levels.

[Cinco]

But 15 can be grouped with 13 and 17 too? Or 15 can be grouped with 19 right?

No. A player at 15 would be grouped with a 13 but not with a 17.
A 15 would not be grouped with a 19; that's a higher Tier.

[Cinco]

So 15 won't meet anymore higher lvl than 16 right ?

Yes! That is how it will be after today's update. Right now, players are still able to join matches that are 10 levels higher or lower (and that'll be fixed).

[Zeus]

This seems really cool. No more: you're a higher level nonsense from twinks, everybody will just go to the highest level for that tier.

[Binlaggin]

If everyone is forced to level to the top of the tiers, are there enough weapons/gear available to fulfill the new demand?

[Binlaggin]

No one is forced.

May the force be with you

[Upperbound]

Ok what does it means for me, i am 16 level warrior with nearly the best gear i could found for my level:
- if i stay at 16 i will fight with 16-20, i have chance to win again 16 and 17 but 18-20 will wreck me, so i have two options here to be competetive:
1. I must go to level 20, top of my tier: not so good idea, because i need to find full set of new gear for level 20, rogues are stronger on higher twink levels because of more crit.
2. I can delevel to 15: i will be on top of 11-15 tier, i need only armor and weapon change because 16 wars use 15 amu/ring ( winter/tarlok ), so this option is really better for me (if sts will be so kind and delevel me for sure

With both 1 and 2 options i cant sell my current armor and weapon for a good price because 16s will be very unpopular soon: all people will move up or down to be on top of some tier.

Now let talk about 17-18 levels, there are many of them. These guys cant delevel down to 15 (only one level down is allowed), so they must go up to 20 and change change their gear completely, which will be costy due to hi demand on top-tier gear.

I think this situation affects majority of twinks because the most popular brackets are 13-17. Only 15 level guys are happy with the new system.

In my opinion STS should act more wisely and dont bring such wide brackets where all players must move to the top of the tiers. I believe many people will support me and is situation will be fixed soon.

[worshiped]

This is highly disliked, you endgamers can't start talking about this because you dont know what it is like. STS some people stay at levels they feel comfortable with not having to be forced to a higher level to survive in twink. I am joining level 20s but can't join a level 15, If you check the stats a level 19 rogue can 3 hit me with crits and i am a 17 tank fully geared. STS please just change this back in behalf of 15-18 pvp and <Fame>

[worshiped]

This seems really cool. No more: you're a higher level nonsense from twinks, everybody will just go to the highest level for that tier.

The point of the game is not to go to the higher level of the tier, to start over find new gear and you have to keep in mind no one will be willing to buy 16-19 PvP gear, thus you have no gold to buy new gear. The nonsense is part of the game all people have been in levels they feel comfortable with its not level nonsense, simply just a fact that people are saying about there gear and level, but this is not the way to solve that at all.

[Futurereal]

STS can you please restore lvl 15-18 to how it was before. Lvl 16-20's just not fair anymore as a current lvl 16 rogue/tank twink player the lvl gap became way too far, this is not what makes pvp balanced at lower lvl! Especially not at lvl 15-18 from what it used to be before. Many people already complain that they do not want to do pvp anymore at this bracket, Why? Because of this level gap it gives higher lvl players the opportunity to take advantage on lower lvl's simply because the stats are higher. Not to mention that lvl 15s & lvl 16s used to play together as guild or play against each other which was fair before, same goes for 16s & 17s, 17s and 18s and so on. Despite the fact that two levels difference was a fair challenge, i hope this getting fixed spent million's of golds getting gears on both classes as it was for me the best bracket to play pvp after retiring endgame before.

Regards,

A two year old twink currently in <Fame>

[Robiiinhood]

Almost 3yrs playing pvp.. I came from 7,8,9,10 twink lvl and now im in 11 then these updates come lol...
ign: Robiiinhood - The God Army

[Lawpvp]

Ive written essays in the past and this is likely to be fairly long aswell so here it goes...

For starters, instead of just saying "i dont like this" lets try and come up with a general consensus on what the best course of action moving forwards is.

I'm open to revising the Tiers based on what's most fun and most popular :-)

this is from Cinco on another thread ive made so clearly he is open to hearing what we have to say

The old system had many good aspects to it and it wasnt really an issue. I do recognize that the introduction of tiers is in large part for the distinction of the damage and heal nerfs but I dont think entirely scrapping a system that worked well already is the way to go. I think a blend of old and new will make the majority of people happy. I think what needs to be discussed here are what the most important factors of how pvp rooms ought to function objectively. Personally I think the most important factors are as follows:

The level gap: the level gap as it was before was perfect imo and many others probably feel the same way. Only 2 levels (10-11 for example or 12-13) would probably be too small and cause rooms to be more inactive due to a more limited number of players who can join a given map. 4 levels (perhaps 13-16) is probably too big because then the balance between the highest and lowest level becomes too much to deal with. 3 levels was pretty much perfect because it was still possible to beat people who are 2 levels higher than you(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaQZwfREoKA heres the proof for the nubs who cry about only 1 lvl) and it creates a bigger pool of potential enemies. So i think the pvp maps should remain as before with only 3 levels in one map.

Tiers for the damage and healing nerfs: I agree with scaling of the nerfs based upon level, its the only logical way to do it. However i dont think lvls 10, 15, 20, etc should be at the top of those tiers. Alternatively i think lvls 9, 14, 19, should be at the top of the tiers. So maybe 5-9, 10-14, 15-19. Levels 10, 15, etc represent when a new type of jewel is available. These levels are also exclusive to certain types of items that are very prevalent in twinking, tarlok amulet/winter star ring, lvl 15 is when power/legend/enchanted/ensorcelled rings start. Most 14s use eerie as their amulet of choice while most 15s use tarlok. This partial power spike in gear along with the upgrade in jewels gives 15s a bigger advantage over 14s than lvl 16s have over 15s in comparison. As a result I think tiers should for the damage/heal nerfs should start at lvls 10, 15, etc to compensate for the larger power spike over previous levels. Now this does pose the question of what the first tier will be, i think if the first tier was 1-9 it wouldnt be much of an issue because stats are low enough at those levels that a small percentage difference in the nerfs between lvl 5 and 6 as it is now wont make any significant difference anyways.

Tier for establishing pvp zones: Personally i dont think having set levels for maps is the way to go. This only encourages people to level up to be near the top of their respective tier. As it is currently lvl 16s or 11s are kinda screwed because they will fight primarily people higher level than them while level 15s or 20s will never face that challenge. With the old system sometimes u would fight higher levels, sometimes lower levels, but it evened out for the most part in the end. and plus, many guilds are right on the border of the tiers. 10-11 guilds can no longer pvp together, 15-16 guilds can no longer pvp together. I think the old system did a good job of allowing you to fight higher and lower levels while keeping the gap in stats within reason.

The beauty of the old system is that you can pvp at just about any level you want to thats active and have people the same level, higher level, and lower level to fight against. Having set levels for pvp maps that dont change encourages certain levels over others and devalues items near the bottom end of tiers while creating a much shortage and overvalueing of items at the higher end of tiers. While i completely agree with tiers for the sake of damage and heal nerfs, i dont think it was really necessary to change how pvp maps are made.

[Lawpvp]

this just shows how sad and unappreciative many of you players are. people cant deal with a situation for more than 24 hours before they start complaining and contemplating uninstall. Heres an idea, quit being useless people and propose solutions as i have

[Iots]

Please tell me how can 16lv will win 18-20lv?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Tapatalk

[Justg]

Cleaned up the thread a bit. We're here, we're listening, and if you want to have a productive conversation, please keep the drama out of it.

Thanks,

- g

[Lawpvp]

Cleaned up the thread a bit. We're here, we're listening, and if you want to have a productive conversation, please keep the drama out of it.

Thanks,

- g

and propose something, 40 comments saying "this is unfair why change it" does nothing, better off not commenting and keeping the thread shorter so people can read it to catch up

[Hail]

I must say though, I much prefer the idea of fixed level zones rather than a possibility of what levels can enter. It is also an advantage to me, my low level is 10 - despite not using it #endgameratm.
ATM I am 50/50 in regards to the idea. As I said before, fixed level zones are awesome but I do understand the rage of people at the lower ends of the brackets. But guys remember this was done to tackle the ever growing unbalance in pvp. STS could have just screwed us over and given us that -50% damage at every level but instead they scaled it to work best for every level.. so best to not rage over it too much and discuss the problem in a polite manner

Finally, a big thanks to sts for considering lower levels and working towards a more fair pvp for all, keep it up guys the game is starting to look great in my eyes.

[resurrected]

Twinks are gonna love this! Ty Cinco

So far i do!