Issues with pvp flag.

[ispeedonthe405]

Originally Posted by McClellan if you want to participate in open sea PvP you have to put your ship on the line always, not just when fortune favors you.

That sums it up nicely.

The concept of giving the enemy a fair, sporting chance on the battlefield went out a long time ago. The best battle is one where the enemy doesn't have a chance in hell.

To date most of my PVP battles have actually been 1:1 so I understand and agree that a "fair" contest, mano a mano, is fun. It really is. But there is no escaping or redefining the fact that voluntarily turning on that flag means, "Yes, I am choosing to open myself to whatever PVP comes my way."

[PandaRuns]

Sure they were players? lol

[hoosier]

Yes it was players, both were named and same guild title, and afterwards i had "rezz sick" said i had been defeated in PvP combat and was worth no points, etc... Was my first PvP encounter really, so i checked everything to make sure it was for real , and i didnt have something set wrong to, like my flag on by accident or something.

[PandaRuns]

I'm not sure then.

Maybe a bug? Doesn't make sense to me.

[Sprak]

I find the current system rather flawed, and frankly somewhat ill-advised. While I understand the PvP flag is "voluntary," I'm personally of the opinion that was mentioned by a previous poster: if you have the PvP flag on, you should be able to attack anybody, or should only be attackable by others with a PvP flag on. The current system favours gankers, and not actual PvPers. Tonight, there were 5 Spaniards sitting outside of Grenville trying to pick off French freetraders who had their PvP flag on to avoid NPCs. While I agree that if you have your PvP flag on you're fair game, I find the system incredibly frustrating. My society rounded up 5 captains to try and thwart the Spaniards. We all excitedly turned our PvP flag on, and raced from Tampa to Grenville (which was amazingly upwind both ways). To our dismay, we found the Spaniards had been harassing our captains without their PvP flags on. So, we sat outside Tampa for a while, and watched to see if they would engage us. Needless to say, when the odds were even, they didn't want to fight.

If you're going to attack somebody who's flagged, and you're not flagged, you should automatically be PvP flagged for a predetermined amount of time (the current time is very short, and defeats the purpose). I would recommend a one hour PvP flag that cannot be turned off; if you attack somebody who's PvP flagged and you're voluntarily flagged, the system would work as it does now (dock and you can turn your flag off). This would deter people from attacking only when they think they can win, which defeats the whole point of PvP. It isn't dangerous, which to me is thus not fun.

Player versus player is all about risk. The "voluntary flag" PvP in its' current form is merely opportunistic ganking. You can pick and choose when you want to attack; something I think is entirely different than PvP.

[Sykomyke421]

I think a longer "PvP aggresson" flag is needed. That is what it's called when your a blue (Non-pvp enabled) and you attack a red (pvp enabled). You get a 5 minute buff that makes you targetable. However it doesn't always work for some reason...and it's too short. I was sailing around yesterday and heard in nation chat about a flagged guy near one of our harbours. Was nearby and only saw a level 21 spaniard that was blue.

Looked again and he was gone, saw a green battle circle and noticed that this level 21 had ganked a level 7 who was in a fallback ship (with his pvp flag on). I joined and he promptly ran. True mentality of gankers. He had no qualms about attacking the level 7...even though his pvp flag was OFF. But the minute I joined he turned tail like the ganking coward he was.

PvP flags should be MUTUAL. At first I was of the mentality of "it's voluntary, you chose it". But I've come to realize that most of the battles I've been in have been where they had a number advantage. The only truly even battle I've fought is where me and a buddy caught a two players that were approx our level and fought a 2v2. Other then that it's either I have to run because it's 3v1 or they have to run because it's 1v2.

Alas, it seems fair play is not in-depth in this game. I'm all for advantages...but I'm talking about wind and positioning advantages....not player numbers.

[PandaRuns]

Well they'll never allow flagged players to openly attack players, then that would get out of hand. 9 out of 10 times people won't fight if the odds don't favor them, we do lose ships for defeat in this game afterall. The flag has it's ups and downs and is by no means meant to create a "fair fight".

[kungtotte]

The simplest solution is to make the attack-PvP-buff last longer, 30 minutes or something instead of just five. Five minutes means you can basically camp a port and attack all flagged people coming in there without running the risk of getting attacked yourself, so you'd pick all the fights.

If it lasted 30 minutes. or even an hour, instead they'd have to run away and cool off, or accept the fact that some guy they just ganked will probably return shortly with five of his friends.

It would level the field as far as flagging goes.

[Sykomyke421]

Originally Posted by kungtotte The simplest solution is to make the attack-PvP-buff last longer, 30 minutes or something instead of just five. Five minutes means you can basically camp a port and attack all flagged people coming in there without running the risk of getting attacked yourself, so you'd pick all the fights. If it lasted 30 minutes. or even an hour, instead they'd have to run away and cool off, or accept the fact that some guy they just ganked will probably return shortly with five of his friends. It would level the field as far as flagging goes.

The PvP aggression debuff only lasts 5 minutes and I actually had a guy I was chasing down (Once in battle, he ran got out and I was chasing him again). Found a ship he could attack (PvE) and attacked it. I couldn't follow because it wasn't my nation he attacked and he loses the PvP flag while in the battle. It's just not right...

[ispeedonthe405]

Originally Posted by Sykomyke421 The PvP aggression debuff only lasts 5 minutes and I actually had a guy I was chasing down (Once in battle, he ran got out and I was chasing him again). Found a ship he could attack (PvE) and attacked it. I couldn't follow because it wasn't my nation he attacked and he loses the PvP flag while in the battle. It's just not right...

You're right. In that case the timer should suspend during the NPC fight. Otherwise, engaging the first NPC that comes along and sailing in circles is an easy out.

Originally Posted by Sprak if you have the PvP flag on, you should be able to attack anybody

That would be hysterical but it doesn't make much sense. If you can attack anyone, what's the point of the attacker needing the flag? It would be a pointless step. The flag is there so people can choose to be the attackee.