Shattered Kingdoms

There seems to be a lack of imagination going on...why pk and fight back the darkness when there is nothing I can definitively to to make them surrender?? I mean no there is no coding in the game that can force people to follow a story line so keep killing them and it should hopefully bring around a time of "peace" when they get tired of being killed or failing to kill. There probably can be things to fix making death easier but there are two aspects of this game. Explore and take the challenge of what ever higher end areas there are, or get gear get it enchanted fight other people...win or die in either case....do it all over again. If that isn't for you....try solitaire...every game is completely random.

Death isn't that bad. IDK where that complaint is coming from.

The problem is when people get equipment, even if they only have it for 5 minutes, they start to feel entitled to own that item forever.

The fact that players will retire in fits of rage because somebody threatened them over a unique wand they have, and try to act like they're entitled to keep that item forever without anybody else saying or doing anything about it is a very glaring, and very real example of this.

On to Caly's comments, this is all wrong, and exactly why I made this thread. You can't "keep killing" anybody. Staff behavior, code changes, and the general tone of the game (endorsed and enforced by staff) is that it's perfectly okay to ignore conflict in the game and literally every possible reason people would have to engage in PVP (other than "loot") has been removed. CRS, defend your HQ to keep your cabal abilities? Removed. Cabal abilities are permanently available. Now cabal HQs are just safe-zone fortresses. It takes 3-4 people to break into one, and there's nothing anybody can do to stop you from recalling away during the 5 minutes where they're fighting the guardian/warparty. And there's nothing they can do to your HQ to impact your character.

Even bounty hunters had to be given an on/off toggle, because god forbid players be able to cost each other money in game.

I never experienced it myself, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a possible thing about CRS until now. IDK.

Syn's going to dismiss this as newb whining. I recognize that I am not experienced with PvP or game mechanics,
but I do play SKs because there's actually conflict and because people DO kick my [REDACTED] when I talk [REDACTED].

Things I think could use tweaking to help address the risk/reward trade off of actually fighting without trying to 3v1 people:

1) Bash and trip is broken. My 17 reflex mage recalled away from a bash last night. Seems like reliably landing a bash requires to you 3v1 people just to make sure they don't run away and hide.

2) Potion availability is broken. Strong potions are limited and it is apparently very feasible for 1-2 player to accumulate all of them, the scripted items that generate healing potions, and then collect all the potions from the guild storeroom. I'm not player hating, but yeah, no one wants to engage with that unless they wait until they get all their friends together and try to land a dirty gank. Maybe make consumables subject to some dehoarding code.

3) Too many advantages conferred by scripted or high-end items. Given the huge time sink of getting these items, and the reliance on people who have been playing this damn game for 15 years, no one wants to engage in a conflict where there's any possibility that you might lose and then be set back a week or more. And if you're fighting with the lone active vet who knows how to navigate certain end-game PVE? Reroll. Really, I like to see PvP possible in just tanso steel or whatever because then conflict would be more about skill, trying things out through trial and error would actually be feasible, and hopefully people would be more willing to take a risk and engage. It seems fair that people who put in more in preparation get an edge but it shouldn't be insurmountable.

Not related to people running but still kind of lame and I'm going to say it here anyway:

4) Massive weapons are unbalanced. There's not that may bills/glaives/bec de corbins, still no IC information I can find on which are actually massive, and their existence renders all the other weapons a bit obsolete. Maybe the massive flag should just be removed, or some advantage to non-massive weapons to compensate.

You can restrict scripted items by having the game disable the scripts if you are holding too many of them. You would need to account for sets and individual items. If people were limited to two or three of these items instead of five or more, that would help. I would make it so that anything on a person inventory worn or container counted towards the number.

Pk has been completely neutered and the end game areas are going to be undoable as well if the player count keeps dipping. I agree wholeheartedly that the state of the game and mechanics changes have made it hard to hold interest. I love sk, but it is getting harder and harder to will myself to log in because a lot of the things I like to do, I can't do.

I mean, most of that is...literally complaining that some people know the game better than other people, and feeling entitled to stuff in game.

"Oh my god strong potions!!!!" Okay, and they sell weak vials for a reason. Go use them. Stop feeling entitled to strong vials. How is somebody getting to strong vials before you any different from people sitting on 3 sanctuary wands or all the good fly staves?

"Some people know how to get scripted loot, and some don't " --Okay, go learn how to get it? I've literally led countless trips to every area, with every aura of character in game. Whose fault is it that none of you pay attention and bother learning to do it for yourself?

Like...come on.

It's not and I wouldn't object to dehoarding code those consumables, either.

This is not a personal attack against you. You've taught me an incredible amount about the game and I've had fun with you ICly. And I think you'd have more fun too if people were more willing to take you on, anyway.

I think the risk/reward ratio for PvP needs to be tweaked to get more people to engage. Otherwise, it's just irrational to try it if you're not guaranteed to win. There's too much at stake right now if you lose.

Also no one else likes CRS. So.... Idk. maybe we need something else.

Bash and trip are useless and this is a major, glaring issue. Also, to help encourage engaging in pk I think it would be worthwhile to see lower quality gear become viable in pk. People will be more willing to run around and fight and interact, breathing life into the game, if dying and Lodin your stuff wasn't such a brutal recovery. As it stands right now, i will admit in front of god and county im not engaging in any pk unless I know I will win. Why? Because it's too hard to recover usable loot as it stands.

We need to be able to craft our own items that are worthwhile. That way you can engage the big baddies and get materials or loot. I would personally not mind having to run around and grab some materials to make the +4 dex bracelet I need than to have to fight with someone to get one of the two in existance. And you still have to work for your gear.

The problem with bash and trip is it just allows groups an easier time to gank someone 3 to 1. There needs to be a better balance.

Make trip and bash similar to taunt, it puts you on the ground with an accuracy debuff, but you can still do things except word out.