Confirmed what we suspected

[Llava]

Lord Recluse, CoV lead designer, posted today:

"There are PvP zones where heroes and villains fight."

Also:

"Exemplaring -- you can if you want, but it's not currently a planned requirement for PvP. Of course it would be the only way a higher level could play in one of the lower level PvP zones."

So that confirms it.  There will be safe areas, and zones that act as free-for-alls, like the frontier system in DAoC.  Good plan, in my opinion, especially with the travel options that CoH offers.

[HaemishM]

That also sounds like the zones WILL be level-restricted. Not sure if that's the best option, personally. Especially for the villains, who will be stuck without PVP partners through at least the first 20 levels, I'd imagine, since the heroes side will have had most of a year or more to level up.

[Shockeye]

That also sounds like the zones WILL be level-restricted. Not sure if that's the best option, personally. Especially for the villains, who will be stuck without PVP partners through at least the first 20 levels, I'd imagine, since the heroes side will have had most of a year or more to level up.

Unless there's a "fallen hero" system put in place as rumored.

[Llava]

Level restricted zones, yes, but perhaps not all of them.  Remember the battlegrounds in DAoC.

[Mesozoic]

That also sounds like the zones WILL be level-restricted. Not sure if that's the best option, personally. Especially for the villains, who will be stuck without PVP partners through at least the first 20 levels, I'd imagine, since the heroes side will have had most of a year or more to level up.

I expect the opposite.  The playerbase will pile into CoV and level up villains pretty quickly, temporarily leaving the heroes outnumbered until  things even out.  And at any rate, with level-restricted zones the high-level heroes at least won't be smashing level 14 villains.

If the CoV PvP zones are instanced the way the I-4 PvP zones are, then the advantage goes to the low-pop side, who get instant PvP gratification while others wait.  This is vastly preferable to the non-instanced (DAoC) PvP scenario, where the high-pop side rolls over everyone else until the rest quit.

[Llava]

I believe what Haemish was saying was that it will be annoying for the villains for the first 20 levels, because it will be nearly impossible to find a hero to fight.  I have to agree there, though I do see myself playing a low level hero while everyone's playing villains just to trounce a bunch of people who don't really know what they can do yet.

[Mesozoic]

He said "partners," I took that to mean villain buddies.  And PvP may not be an option till level 14 anyway - at least if its like I-4 PvP.  

And again, there won't be PvP for anyone if someone doesn't play a hero.  If things are instanced, advantage goes to the low-pop side and things even out.  Not instanced?  Yeah, thats trouble.

[Sobelius]

And again, there won't be PvP for anyone if someone doesn't play a hero.

So villains can't fight other villains?

There's something quite wrong with that from a design p.o.v. These are not 'realms of buddies' a la DAOC's Hibernia or Midgard or Albion, where the other side was the villain just because it was the other side -- these are villain organizations, who should have the option of fighting each other as well as heroes.

[eldaec]

Villians not being able to attack other villians on the street in CoV doesn't have nearly as many issues from a design point of view as giving freeform pvp to the villian realm, then expecting them to face off against the hero realm would have.

Villians are going to pasted by heroes for many many months becuase of the headstart heroes have already had. The issue isn't levels gained, the issue is the time spent researching the exact effect of powers and enhancers in order to perfect template designs.

Cursing Villians with being unable to work together and dooming them to a DAoC Mordred level of population isn't going to be workable.

If villians can fight each other it's going to be the same way heroes can in i4, consensual arenas only.

One possible half way house might be having multiple villian realms, so that villians don't come across villians from an opposing faction unless they choose to.

[eldaec]

That also sounds like the zones WILL be level-restricted. Not sure if that's the best option, personally. Especially for the villains, who will be stuck without PVP partners through at least the first 20 levels, I'd imagine, since the heroes side will have had most of a year or more to level up.

It's easy to underestimate just how many lower level alts people actively play in CoH.

The active population in CoH is still fairly even right through the level range.

And it's easy to imagine a community of lvl 15 pvpers building up quickly, just like the community around the first battleground in DAOC.

[jpark]

The active population in CoH is still fairly even right through the level range.

Which when I think about it - probably says a great deal about the quality of the game.  There is no rush to get to a "fun level".

[Llava]

For those who don't know, villains join one of two factions when created.  One of those factions exists already, one will be new.  The new one will likely be S.P.I.D.E.R.  The existing one by most guesses will be The Council, and I'm inclined to agree.

So those two factions may be able to fight each other, but it really does make sense that they'd prevent inter-faction fighting with villains.  Except, of course, within their own arena... which they do have.

[Mesozoic]

I thought I read somewhere that SPIDER had infiltrated agents into the 5th Column and orchestrated their takeover by the Council.  That might make SPIDER/Council the "existing" bad guys and the new one has not been named.

[eldaec]

I thought I read somewhere that SPIDER had infiltrated agents into the 5th Column and orchestrated their takeover by the Council.  That might make SPIDER/Council the "existing" bad guys and the new one has not been named.

Decades ago Arachnos planted Requiem and other agents within the 5th Column. Requiem used his outside ties and the power he gained from the Nictus to cultivate many followers within the Column. When SPIDER recently reared its head, the Center (former member of Aracnos and founder of the Council), decided it was time to complete the takeover of the 5th Column. After sending a signal to Requiem the Council was able to subdue all resistance virtually overnight. Any 5th Column troops not willing to convert were killed or driven away. The 5th Column is no more, now there is only the Council.

So they are related, but SPIDER != Council

[Mesozoic]

My point being that the villain groups are not likely to be SPIDER and Council.  It would be lame if the "two groups" were just two arms of the same beast.

[Llava]

You're mistaken there.  The group that infiltrated the 5th Column and is the father of the Council is called Arachnos.  To my knowledge, they haven't specifically stated that SPIDER and Arachnos are related in any way, but it really doesn't take a big leap of the imagination to see that they might be.

[eldaec]

There is a whole load of other information around Striga isle, and in teh new arcs in i3. My understanding is that Arachnos and SPIDER are not on good terms, when I say related, I mean related in the sense of hating each other's guts.

I personally doubt they'd be silly enough to make the Council a player villian group.

The council is generally thought of as just about the lamest villian group in the history of crime. And the playerbase is not shy about stating their views on this subject.

[kaid]

Actually I don't think level segregated pvp areas will be a problem. Given how often and how many alts people make in COH combined with all the current epic archtypes starting you again at level 1 means you should find plenty of action in the lower level zones.

If it was a more normal mmrpg it could be a problem but with COH it should not be a problem at all,

kaid