Preventing Shield Hopping

JamieMadrox

In the last few PVPs we have seen members of some alliances recklessly waste HP to "shield hop" shortly before the end of the event to gain the top of the ranks over their competition. With the real-world high cost of HP to buy shields, it seems that some players will use their economic advantage over others to help place them at the top of the event. This gives the player a better score and forces equally good, but less wealthy, players out of the top ranks and could disenfranchise other players to the point that they may leave the game.

This seems highly unfair to other players that stick with the game, grind hard, spend HP and ISO wisely, and deserve to be at the top of the PVP ladder. It gives certain players an unfair advantage since they can use their wealth to score high in PVP, it hurts the player who can't afford to buy multiple shields in the event, and potentially the remaining players in the bracket who may also not have the option of shielding multiple times.

Shield hopping also undermines the competitive aspect of the PVP game because opponents can't be certain they are targeting players who are not shielded and who will lose points if they lose the match. It prevents players from truly testing their skill against others as the shield hopper can unshield, win a match or three, shield to prevent points loss on retaliations, and repeat.

One solution would be to lock shields. That is, if you shield for 3 hours you cannot unshield manually, but have to wait for the shield to wear off. This would prevent last minute shield hopping and increase the strategy required to win.

Another solution would be to have shields not prevent points loss from retaliations. This gives players that have been attached by a shield hopper to hit them back and remove points from them while also gaining points.

Either of these rules changes would prevent last minute shield hopping in an event to boost a player's score and force players to actually compete fairly for the duration of the event.

Unknown

They're never, ever going to remove aspects of the game that give an advantage to people who spend money. Ever. Under any circumstance. Ever.

Unknown

Seems misguided. People can 'use their wealth' to buy boosts, health packs, covers/ISO to "upset the balance" of this game also. Shield hopping is just another aspect of that reality.

Also, many people have -earned- and saved up 1000's of HP through winning events and prizes, why isn't their application of those HP's valid as fair play?

Unknown

The shield system was specifically designed and tweaked for this very behavior -- why you think it will get changed?

Also 150 HP is enough for 2 3h shields and is enough for a T10 placement that will not leave you at HP loss (especially if you grab the 900 progression ans sit in a better alliance that gets 100 instead of 50).

Yes, shields is one P2W element but the pay part can be covered just from the economy at the moment. The shield prices was changing around the introduction, first 50 that would be welcome, and doubled for 100 that met refusal, so it got fixed in the middle at 75. What is really tough if you play only pvp, but with some pve income you can afford any sensible shield pattern really if you can play and have some roster.

Unknown

Toxicadam wrote:

Seems misguided. People can 'use their wealth' to buy boosts, health packs, covers/ISO to "upset the balance" of this game also. Shield hopping is just another aspect of that reality.

Also, many people have -earned- and saved up 1000's of HP through winning events and prizes, why isn't their application of those HP's valid as fair play?

Hey Toxicadam, can people "use their time and energy" to coordinate like 100 players to "upset the balance" of this game too? Or is that suddenly not fair play?

Unknown

So let me be a newb for a moment and ask what the premise is behind how shield hopping works? I assume it's something like:
1) players have their next opponents queued up beyond the 3 shown in your current nodes.
2) Thus, players would have to skip a lot or fight a number of battles before you show up in that queue.
3) This would give you a small window where you can unshield and people wouldn't see you in their nodes for <some time> save for previous retaliations (and ones you earn while unshielded).

Is that the basic gist?

charlesjbarry wrote:

One solution would be to lock shields. That is, if you shield for 3 hours you cannot unshield manually, but have to wait for the shield to wear off. This would prevent last minute shield hopping and increase the strategy required to win.

If they implement this, I think it would need to go hand in hand with D3 offering more shield duration options.

Unknown

Lycra wrote:

Hey Toxicadam, can people "use their time and energy" to coordinate like 100 players to "upset the balance" of this game too? Or is that suddenly not fair play?

Seems to me you're jumping off-topic and should concern yourself with the thread topic at hand.

Or it's an admission that this was just a joke thread meant to deflect attention from the other thread that you seem so passionate about defending.

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

They're never, ever going to remove aspects of the game that give an advantage to people who spend money. Ever. Under any circumstance. Ever.

Guys, if you read between the line my friend is making a parody of Reckless, mocking her request to prevent alliance swapping because it's unfair. Reckless is the biggest shield hopper in the game. He is simply mocking her.

Unknown

klingsor wrote:

Guys, if you read between the line my friend is making a parody of Reckless, mocking her request to prevent alliance swapping because it's unfair. Reckless is the biggest shield hopper in the game. He is simply mocking her.

The big difference in this bad allegory is that >>everyone<< shield hops and almost no one else treats their alliance like a Mr. Potato Head.


Which explains why you guys are writing enough paragraphs defending the practice that it would make Tolstoy blush.

Unknown

Toxicadam wrote:

Lycra wrote:

Hey Toxicadam, can people "use their time and energy" to coordinate like 100 players to "upset the balance" of this game too? Or is that suddenly not fair play?

Seems to me you're jumping off-topic and should concern yourself with the thread topic at hand.

Or it's an admission that this was just a joke thread meant to deflect attention from the other thread that you seem so passionate about defending.

It is off topic. And you can take it whatever way you deem best. But I would like to hear your response to my question, because you seem to be pretty affected by our defense of alliance swapping, and I think I caught you out with your post in this thread.

Unknown

klingsor wrote:

Ben Grimm wrote:

They're never, ever going to remove aspects of the game that give an advantage to people who spend money. Ever. Under any circumstance. Ever.

Guys, if you read between the line my friend is making a parody of Reckless, mocking her request to prevent alliance swapping because it's unfair. Reckless is the biggest shield hopper in the game. He is simply mocking her.

Ahh, so I see. Suckered in, hook, line and sinker.

However, with this new knowledge, thread creation for mocking other forum goers should not be condoned. Locked and rep wiped.