After the playtest Sunday, I was surprised how many people brought up PvP concerns in their feedback, even though it was barely mentioned. As some of you may know, the system will be revised for the coming year, although I doubt many of the changes will cause problems for anyone. Here are the highlights:
- Flagged instead of alignment. Although the alignment system approximated the ramifications of flagging, it brought along some unintended baggage as well. Henceforth, instead of Good/Neutral/Evil, it will simply be flagged or not. Mind you, this is just a change in nomenclature; the mechanics are functionally the same. Whether or not a character is flagged will only be relevant for PCs. Monsters are still fair game for anyone. You can do what you like with NPCs, as well, but plot may warn you that killing a certain NPC could result in flagging. This falls under story-related flagging.
- Mandatory three-game waiting period for newbies. Our biggest concern lately has been with newbies flagging, which will now be against the rules. Newbies will need to play for at least three events before they will be allowed to flag. This may be waived by game ownership on a case by case basis for players with extensive past LARPing experience.
- No more automatically flagged character options. Although certain classes such as assassin or warlock will retain some PvP-centric abilities (e.g., Crit Damage, Dissipate), membership in these classes will not automatically flag a PC. The same goes for races such as goblin or uordeq.
- No more cabin raiding. Cabin raiding has been officially hated out of existence. Cabins will be out-of-play areas. Rules for going out of play to escape a situation still apply, as always.
- Dueling remains as-is. Anybody can duel, whether or not they're flagged. If a non-flagged character is involved, the terms of the duel have to be honored.
- Global PvP reset. Obviously, with such an extensive revamp and all of the other changes going on, next season is a clean slate. Those who want to flag may do so, provided they've played at least three games. Those who don't may likewise do so, and the normal waiting period to unflag will be waived.
You can read the full text of the new PvP rules on the new site. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop them in the comments.
As a rule of thumb, I dislike any mechanic that forces a person to ignore information that they know but their character doesn't. It violates suspension of disbelief. There are valid exceptions, of course, such as concealment effects, but they are few and far between.
I could go on at length about how amnesia abilities, or even the sort of automatic amnesia that is so popular in other PvP systems, are made entirely worthless through metagaming that is impossible to marshal, but the simplest answer I can give is no. Like truth mechanics, this isn't something that will ever be added.
You PvP folks will just have to find other ways to get away with killing one another. Amnesia is out. ;)
Yes, i did see the inherent problem on relying on player good faith. At least please tell me i could use the new disguise mechanic to mess with people in pvp, not in combat of course, just conversation. I can imagine a lot of fun scenarios for looking like other people.
Unfortunately, no. Disguise isn't anything new, and has always been a story mechanic. As such, it can only be used as part of an adventure or storyline and requires a plot member to adjudicate its effects.
This isn't to say you can't roleplay with it. I used to use my druid's Commune Nature while roleplaying all the time, for example. However, Disguise is not a PvP mechanic and cannot be used to conceal your identity from another PC for that purpose.
One thing i think would help pvp a lot is a killing blow:Amnesia PVP ability that removes all of someones memory directly prior to their death upon ressurection. Something wifty for mage classes, or a simple blow to the head for savadges. This way people would actually have something to fear getting ganked because there is a chance they will have no clue who did it. Also makes assassination a lot more viable, because its not really assasination if your target is always going to be a witness.