rbdragon wrote: Shield hopping, in its current state, is definitely broken. But as so many have stated, this isn't the answer. In fact, it doesn't need to be fixed at all - at least not before:Skipping a player completely removes them from the queue. There are 1000's of players who play the game. Stop showing me the same 4 or 5, and stop charging me a skip tax to see the same player I just skipped. Stop putting multiple versions of ourselves in other's queues. There is no reason I should be hit by 4 or 5 people at the same time every time I'm in a match. Once you defeat someone, give them a cooling off period - something like you cannot see them again in your queue for an hour. There are enough opponents out there if you actually give everyone access to them instead of showing us such a tiny few. Make shielded players visible to attacks. Just because they are shielded doesn't mean they aren't there. This only works with the cooling down period though, as this could easily be exploited as it has in the past. I'm sure there are other things that could be "fixed" first as well - but this is all I could think of off the top of my head at 1am after a long day.....
Dauthi wrote: I wouldn't say it harms zero players, those not in the specified alliances won't have a chance in hell to score 1st or 2nd etc. I will say it doesn't harm me, as I am not a player interesting in scoring 2k to get a reward.
Dauthi wrote: Like tanking, it wasn't intended and should be fixed, however it is viable to use until then.
"David wrote: Moore"]Some of the thinking behind this change: "Shield hopping" is still possible but very limited. High-scoring is fun, but Shield hopping generally requires a large amount of out-of-game communication that not all players have access to. We asked ourselves this question: "Would you Shield hop if you didn't need to in order to reach a high score? If not, that's a sign that a change is probably needed."
"David wrote: Moore"] • This change helps level the playing field. Players that don't have the Hero Points to spend on Shields, either through being in a top 100 Alliance or purchasing currency, will not need to worry about someone simply outspending them by using hundreds of Hero Points to Shield hop for a win.
"David wrote: Moore"] • Initially, we'll be keeping the scores needed to earn progression rewards the same while we test a few Versus Events and gather data. Over the last few months, we've seen a lot of variation in the number of players using lots of Shields in a single Event, and a lot of variation in the highest scores players reach, but very little variation in how much effort it takes to reach a particular progression reward. It's not clear at this point how much this change will affect the difficulty of earning progression rewards; it'll depend on what strategies people adopt in response to the change. We'll be watching how the difficulty changes and will make adjustments to the rewards after a few Events if necessary
Jameson2014 wrote: rbdragon wrote: Shield hopping, in its current state, is definitely broken. But as so many have stated, this isn't the answer. In fact, it doesn't need to be fixed at all - at least not before:Skipping a player completely removes them from the queue. There are 1000's of players who play the game. Stop showing me the same 4 or 5, and stop charging me a skip tax to see the same player I just skipped. Stop putting multiple versions of ourselves in other's queues. There is no reason I should be hit by 4 or 5 people at the same time every time I'm in a match. Once you defeat someone, give them a cooling off period - something like you cannot see them again in your queue for an hour. There are enough opponents out there if you actually give everyone access to them instead of showing us such a tiny few. Make shielded players visible to attacks. Just because they are shielded doesn't mean they aren't there. This only works with the cooling down period though, as this could easily be exploited as it has in the past. I'm sure there are other things that could be "fixed" first as well - but this is all I could think of off the top of my head at 1am after a long day..... This post NEEDS to go green... Bad. I have never agreed with anything more on this silly-**** forum.
wymtime wrote: So I want to say again I am happy D3 is doing something about shield hopping. It did make a PTW system, and if you had the right characters and were willing to spend the HP you could score whatever you want. D3 is implementing a CD system so each shield has an 8 hour CD. So if you want to shield hop from a 3 hr shield instead of spending 75 HP for another 3 hr you spend 150 for 8 hr, then you can go to 300 HP for 24 hr. This is to limit the amount of shield hopping which in turn will keep scores down. Right now in the game to achieve a score of 1300+ which reaches all the progression you need to shield hop 3-4 times. D3 now made the cost for 1300 progression a min of 525-600 HP instead of 225-300. Will this stop whales from hopping? Probably not as people have spent over 4k HP in one PVP. Right now if you are above 1000 and you go unshielded for 10 min you get hit. All D3 did was make it more expensive for people who shield hop. I generally do 1 to 2 hops to try and get above 1100 progression. This change will effect more F2P hoppers than PTW hoppers. Here is a couple of alternatives that I think would make the game more fair, and still allow people to have the opportunity to make the progressions. 1) make it so when you break your shieild you cannot shield again for 30 min. Making the shield like a single health pack. D3 will also need to look at match making at high levels as you will be hit like crazy if you are above 1000 points. 2) Everyone can only use 3 shields total. IF you want to use a 24hr shield, and 2 8 hour shields go ahead. If you want to use 3 3hr shields go ahead. By only alowing 3 shields with 0 cool down everyone is on the same playing field. PTW players cannot just out spend you to win. 1300 will still be possible and it will only cost a significant amount to shiled if you need to use a longer shield. 3) only give 24 hours (could be less) worth of shields total. This will make PTW have an advantage in if they want to break shield and go they can. It still puts a level playing field but give people who are willing to spend an advantage. Overall I personally like options 2 and 3 more than a CD period or what D3 is doing with the 8 hr CD. I applaud them for taking this issue on as it is in the best interest of the game, but I think there are a couple better alternatives.
Dauthi wrote: PVP is pretty important, and in order to do well you have to play an unfun and extremely stressful metagame called "shield hopping" that was in no way intended.
GothicKratos wrote: I just want to point out that if the big button issue becomes "it's to hard to hit Progression Rewards" they can very easily tweak those numbers, as they have in the past.
NorthernPolarity wrote: The entire reasoning behind this post just doesn't make any sense to me. To reiterate the points that have me confounded: • "Shield hopping" is still possible but very limited. High-scoring is fun, but Shield hopping generally requires a large amount of out-of-game communication that not all players have access to. We asked ourselves this question: "Would you Shield hop if you didn't need to in order to reach a high score? If not, that's a sign that a change is probably needed." The new system encourages this even more. Once you're above 900 points, if you can only get points every 8 hours, what do you think people are going to do? The ONLY strategy for this is now going to require out-of-game communication, since how the heck are you going to find high point targets reliably without hopping with other people? Since high point ppl can only push once every 8 hours, the only reliable source of points you get are gonna come from the people you hop with. • This change helps level the playing field. Players that don't have the Hero Points to spend on Shields, either through being in a top 100 Alliance or purchasing currency, will not need to worry about someone simply outspending them by using hundreds of Hero Points to Shield hop for a win. The X-Men are going to start early, and push every time a cd period is up, spending a ton of hero points in the process. The little guy who doesn't have HP, can't do this, and therefore NOTHING changes for them. I hope we can get some dev clarification for this reasoning, because as is it makes no sense whatsoever.
MercyEhm wrote: So... Schedule MPQ time... Shield.... Reschedule (oh **** set alarm!) hit a few battles, shield.... Wait- that's sixteen hours. Oh who needs to eat sleep or poop?
Sweenz wrote: Cooldown should never be longer than the shield itself.
mohio wrote: I appreciate that you realize the dev's current solution does not do what they intend it to do and are offering alternative solutions. However I would like to ask those early pvpers out there (x-men, etc) if it is actually possible to reach 1300 on only 3 shields. My gut says no, since iirc they start shielding in the 800-900 range and can really only get 50-100 per hop if they're the event leaders. Sure it's easier for the guys who come along 2 days in and have all those high point scores to prop them up but if you only give people 3 shields then those scores won't be there (or if you're super optimistic, they'll simply be shielded) and it will be impossible to reach that score.
mohio wrote: My gut says no, since iirc they start shielding in the 800-900 range.