A proposal to help integrate lower tiers into the campaign

[Stmichael1989]

The Problem:

Middle tiers are currently lifeless, boring slogs with populations that are inconsistent at best and hopelessly dead at worst. This is a carry-over from live, as the problem is inherent in any MMO with a leveling system.

Why it should be fixed:

Leveling alts notwithstanding, new players are the lifeblood of any MMO. Without a thriving PvP population through t2/t3, any new players that do manage to find this server and give it a try will be faced with nothing to do but grind generic PvE quests for tens of hours on the promise that the game will eventually manage to be fun.

The Proposals:

A) Rework Debolster to become less of a hassle. This is more of a prerequisite to the full proposals, as getting large amounts of people to pay 5 gold for a respec and maintain 2-3 additional full sets of gear in order to enter the RvR lake is a futile effort. I'm not certain what can be done without client control, as I suspect this hasn't been done yet for that very reason. Nonetheless, it should be stated for the record.

B) Route the main campaign through the lower tiers. A grand tour de WAR. Only one tier is unlocked at a time, with the victors gaining some form of advantage when the next tier unlocks. This has some obvious drawbacks, namely the zergy nature of RvR, among others. Still, it is one option.

C) Bring back victory points for lower tier control. This was part of the original game, but was removed with the "new" RvR system in patch 1.4. If handled properly, this particular proposal could kill two birds with one stone. In addition to necessitating participation in the lower tiers for control of tier 4, this could also give an outnumbered realm the opportunity to take the fight to a lower tier and force the zerg to split up to maintain control on two (or even 3) fronts to claim victory.

D) Increase XP/RP rewards in tier 2/3 lakes. This one isn't mutually exclusive with either of the previous two, but offering a bigger carrot to fight in the lower tiers would attract more people to fight in them. Perhaps cap the bonus at the max level for a given tier.

[Gerv]

Hey Stmichael1989

Unfortunatley this proposal is going to be declined because firstly, this sub forum is for "class/archetype/combat proposals ONLY." - Azarael. Therefore it does not fit the requirments. You are better off re-posting this to the suggestions and feedback section where the community can comment. Be rest assured the team reads at some point all the posts on the forums.

If you have a problem with the reasoning, send Natherul a pm