Remove BS level locks

[elshy]

Please consider removing the level locks for BS's and changing the mech mechanics. As things currently are it's impossible to get some BS action at most level ranges.

Ideally the new level limit for entering the BS would be level 25, and everyone from level 25 to 175ish who entered the BS would be in a mech at all times, chosen when they entered the BS. Further the mech-roles they can fill would vary by profession and would not be available to players 210+.

The roles would be Support unit, Artillery unit, Control unit, and Infantry unit (original huh?)

The support mechs would be able to heal players and other mechs and be able to cast a dot that ticks for 1K, 4 times every 5 seconds (20 second recharge)

The Artillery would give very large but very short lasting Ranged init buffs, evade buffs and damage buffs in addition to having one attack that lowers health by 20%.

The Infantry unit would offer substantial hp, ar, and damage buffs (also very short term) and one attack that lowers health by 20% and

The control unit would be able to cast roots, snares, and aad and aao debuffs and one attack that lowers health by 20%.

All of the basic support mechs would have the same defense/offense/hp/ar regardless of the level/equip of the character who's in the mech.

At 175 players would be able to access the current attack mechs and fullfill those roles, maybe those can be expanded to be more effective, I'd like to see some opportunistic attacks that only worked when hp was above or below a certain percentage.

At 210 players would be able to walk around the battlestations in their current gear.

The BS's would only start once each side had an equal number of people 10-20, and there would be a certain number of support (25-175), mech attackers (175-210) and normal player slots alloted in each team to ensure balance. Maybe 6 support, 6 mech attackers and 8 players.

The level ranges are of course maliable but I think this would be far better than the current system. A setup like this would allow everyone to participate and would encourage lower level players to learn teamwork/support and for higher level players to try and work with supporting players. Plus a system like this would ensure consistent access to VP for all and consistently running BS's. And guilds can participate jointly in BS's without having to worry about having enough people of the right level.

A bonus is that it creates a VP sink, players can buy access to the different mechs, mech abilities and have much more mech stuff to research.

[Clamdigger]

What a great idea... balancing PvP with mechs... this would be quite awesome, and pretty easy to implement. BS would always be running, nobody would be all "h4lp ym pr0f r gimpz0r" and n00bs could learn basic strategy.

[kichael]

Except that takes out all the fun out of working on your profession and then showing it off and competing. I work on my character to try to make him better everytime just so I can have that slight advantage in pvp, that new technique or combination, it's what makes this game fun, getting that next item, then getting it on. If we're all in mechs all the time, might as well dust of the old mechwarrior cd. Mechs are probably the unfunnest aspect of BS to me. I'd rather actually have the 150-174 and 175-199 BS combined into one.

[Kahiri]

Aye, if what I wanted was pure Mech combat, I'd go and play Mech Warrior. It does it so much better.

Granted, the toon I'm most likely to play BS on is 220, so wouldn't really apply, that that would certainbly ensure I wouldn't bother taking anyone up to BS before 210.

Changing the level ranges around might work, but it would have to mean you could attack everybody there. Having someone cap a point and being out of your pvp range is not acceptable.

[elshy]

Aye, if what I wanted was pure Mech combat, I'd go and play Mech Warrior. It does it so much better.

Granted, the toon I'm most likely to play BS on is 220, so wouldn't really apply, that that would certainbly ensure I wouldn't bother taking anyone up to BS before 210.

Changing the level ranges around might work, but it would have to mean you could attack everybody there. Having someone cap a point and being out of your pvp range is not acceptable.

The fact is that there are not enough people at most level ranges to BS at all, further PvP at most level ranges is impossible as soon as one good twink shows up and owns everything. We can keep the system exactly as it is, and all of our lower level characters can hang out next to the sign up machine and continue to not get any VP.

We need to encourage participation of new players, less established players and casuals.

[elshy]

Except that takes out all the fun out of working on your profession and then showing it off and competing. I work on my character to try to make him better everytime just so I can have that slight advantage in pvp, that new technique or combination, it's what makes this game fun, getting that next item, then getting it on. If we're all in mechs all the time, might as well dust of the old mechwarrior cd. Mechs are probably the unfunnest aspect of BS to me. I'd rather actually have the 150-174 and 175-199 BS combined into one.

Working on a toon so he can hang out and play by himself isn't exactly fun.

[kichael]

Working on your character so he's decent, so he's near the top of the level cap, makes it all fun. The other good part is teamwork. If one twink shows up, and theres 3 people, nothing that he can do, so stick together and stop camping A (If you're omni). I want to play my character, the mech part is completely independent of the mech, it's just no fun. I want new maps and new objectives. I want to play my character, not a mech.

[Clamdigger]

The problem is that BS doesn't even start pre-TL5, and TL5 doesn't always start.

This is a good fix. Maybe TL5-7 should be the only BS's as they exist now, and this suggestion ought to cover TL1-4. That way, TL's 1-4 can run around and blast each other a lot easier and the BS's that are working as intended can continue to do so.