[Balance suggestion] Trader drains at low levels in pvp

[Qualto]

First, a few words about myself.
I have a looong career in low lvl pvp, which has mostly been focused around Notum Wars.
My very first 'real' tower twink, was a lvl 15 froob trader at rk1, back in '04/'05 somewhere. Later i moved on to rk2 with a payed acc. And made another lvl 15 trader. I've twinked and re-twinked that toon countless times. I've used all the viable weapons over the years (frost scythe, pump master & nelebs rod). I was the first to start to use kizzermole gumboils at such a low level. (at least on rk2)
I've also made & played over 20 twinks at tl1-5 over the years. Most of them being traders. Currently, my (active) twinks are;
lvl 30 notum repulsor enforcer with 2x Mortiig Beaters
lvl 56 trader with Jame & 160 yuttos
lvl 117 notum repulso agent
lvl 158 mbc trader
(setup's in sig if you're curious)


TL;DR
Point is this: I have many years of experience with lowbie tower pvp. More than most forum pvp'ing legends on this forum these days.

Suggestion:
Make trader drains balanced in lowbie pvp. Because right now, all it takes for a low lvl trader twink to win a fight, is to cast 1 nano. Which can be insta-casted. And lands in over 9/10 times.

...a better way to make low lvl pvp more intressting, would be to reduce the amount a trader can drain from their targets in pvp. The buff they get for themselves could still be the same, but the drain on the target should scale with the lvl of the target. Something like:

Divest & Plunder:
Drain 1 pt in skills, and 0.5 in AAO per lvl of the target (each).
So with both drains running you'd drain;

lvl 10, -20 in weapon & nano skills, and -10 aao
lvl 50, -100 in weapon & nano skills, and -50 aao
lvl 100, -200 in weapon & nano skills, and -100 aao
lvl 150, -300 in weapon & nano skills, and -150 aao


Instead of what we got now, where a lvl 50 trader can drain -500 in weapon & nano skills, and -300 aao. The same as a lvl 150 trader. Which is way too much, at both lvl ranges.

[Qualto]

All you'd have to do would be to make all the Divest & Plunder nanos (save for the lvl 215 versions) cast the same, scaling, nano program on the targets. Sure, it might be a bit tedious to change all 30 nanos. But the reward in gameplay experience for us players would be great.

[Paavalniemi]

FC would have to strip all trader/agent twinks who twinked using the old drains...

[Wyoming]

Personally, I think there should be a scaling with the drains each of which caps at a different level (The first drains see the biggest at 5 and above, nanites scale up to 175, etc)

[Qualto]

FC would have to strip all trader/agent twinks who twinked using the old drains...

Why? The buff the traders gain will not change. ONLY the negative part on the targets would.

[Wyoming]

^ I actually think that Qualto here just gave me a bigger idea.

If target is a player, then give them a different drain - perhaps half as effective, unless above a certain level; for example, nanites only do half as much unless target is level 150+ and a player.

[geturmoney]

how about combine both ideas. qualtos model as foundation but only on players, pvm everything stays as it is. (i don't see anything op in pvm with the drains).

[Wyoming]

Yus, Slythea is correct.

[Tryptophy]

Just out of curiosity, which profs would start to become viable if this suggestion were implemented? Would it just boost agents and enfos or would the field really widen?

[Qualto]

Just out of curiosity, which profs would start to become viable if this suggestion were implemented? Would it just boost agents and enfos or would the field really widen?

The reason why traders, enfs & agents are so popular under lvl 100, is because they are the profs that have the best chance to kill a trader.
But if the metagame would change so that traders would not so obviously be on top of the food chain in this lvl range, I'd guess we would see more profs that perform well vs enfs & agents to.
So mainly more adv & soldier twinks, but also more MAs, fixers & keepers to.



At tl4-5 things would probably remain pretty much as they are today. Only difference would be that the profs we do see wont become completly useless if 1 single drain lands on them, instead, they'd just be a little... 'drained'

[Wyoming]

It'd boost everyone.
But most of all, classes like the Fixer, which already have an OP toolset.

[Tryptophy]

So basically this one change would generate a ton of new projects, and people who were on the verge of quitting because they were out of things to do would all of a sudden have a new goal, to roll new twinks at all the different levels, professions, and setups to find where the new balance of power is. In terms of reward vs. dev time this seems like a no-brainer for FC.

[Wyoming]

And so many people would quit due to the 2.5b they wasted on a now useless foot imp

[Tryptophy]

lolwut do refined implants have to do with pvp < lvl 100? And how would nerfing drains matter at all? Or is there some uber item that fits into the feet implant slot that I don't know about?

[Reids]

Bump a ridiculous amount for this.

[Wyoming]

Woops, sorry, Tryp, I was looking at the wrong thread.
I thought this was the "Unlock symbs" one.

But yeah, this one is very good.

Also, make the Trader AAD drains NOT make AAD Negative.

[Mesa]

This is sth. FC should have changed many many years ago. Lots of ppl asked them to. But still nothing has happend...

[Rurounin]

Fix traders plx ^^

[Lazy]

It'd boost everyone.
But most of all, classes like the Fixer, which already have an OP toolset.

fixer nerfest prof


on topic: making the drain %based on target solves 99% of the problems with lowlevel tarder pvp.

[Originality]

Made threads in this vein so many times.. Along with things about outside buffs in towers. It's a sensible suggestion, therefore the chances of FC doing it are slim. Never-the-less I approve.