Xform Rankings; Let's avoid past Mistakes...

[Rag-DN]

So we all know in the past that the ranking system based on AP was a disaster that never allowed new/returning players to stand a chance..... So let's look at an option to avoid de-tearing new/returning players. 

Here is a suggestion that has been tossed around by several players on multiple platforms but I havn't seen make its way to the official forums yet.

1. Implement GP Ranking and Seasons System ASAP.

2. Make GP only obtainable by 3 methods

• PVP Quests
• Attending Siege
• AP to GP converter NPCS (Remember those shugos?)
• Do not give GP for PVE Instances (Like EB/IS was)

3. How it works:

You obtain GP from going to sieges, actively PVPing. This rewards players for being active. The season makes it so new/returning players can always have a chance at climbing the ranks and becoming Xforms.  

The AP to GP converters:

I know some players hate this idea, but give me a second to explain.... So originally when we had these NPCs we did NOT have seasons. Basically it was if you did it, you kept that GP forever which still created the same issue that AP Rankings did, once you had a strong lead, you never could loose it.  By having seasons, players would have to choose if they wanted to spend their AP to climb the rankings, or on gear/supplies. It would also allow players to actively PVP without such a fear of loosing their ranks as badly.  Even if one player kept getting fed forts and AP grinds, another player could stack AP/AP Items for a full season, and not cash it to GP, then next season cash it all in to jump ahead of the former Governor or top Xforms. It'd create a new exciting opportunity and tactic to the game that would be much more fairer then the current, "Whoever races to governor first gets to keep it for almost ever" style we have now.  

What do you guys think?

@Kibbelz  @Loki   Is this possible to implement? 

[Foxy Boxy]

This sounds like regular AP with extra steps. Why bother with a conversion system like that when you can just set it to how much you earned per month to determine your rank. This way you can still keep your AP but not your title/form as you would have to continue earning it. This would also make it so that if you use your AP to get gear you don't lose your title just yet and gives you a chance to maintain it. Personally I always thought it was silly to earn X AP and get a form and whatnot and then lose it simply because you bought a pair of gloves.

[Rag-DN]

5 minutes ago, Foxy Boxy said:

This sounds like regular AP with extra steps. Why bother with a conversion system like that when you can just set it to how much you earned per month to determine your rank. This way you can still keep your AP but not your title/form as you would have to continue earning it. This would also make it so that if you use your AP to get gear you don't lose your title just yet and gives you a chance to maintain it. Personally I always thought it was silly to earn X AP and get a form and whatnot and then lose it simply because you bought a pair of gloves.

The point of the conversion NPCs would be to give a way to to "burn" extra stacked AP so no players are hoarding godly amounts of AP. This way they would feel initiative to keep farming AP and stay active or a player could burn all the AP to GP and not have to worry about AP loss due to PVP. Another thing we could consider is maybe LIMIT a maximum amount of tools you can buy per week to convert AP to GP. 

[Foxy Boxy]

So with your system you would have to choose between getting gear with AP or replacing it with GP. With my comment about a monthly AP makes it so it doesn't matter how much AP you have in total, only how much you earned in a specific time frame. This way you can still get your gear but also get the rank or form you actually have earned. Your system makes it so that anyone who hordes AP can just dump it all into GP to get the title or form they want. That would inspire people to horde their AP more than the current system. It also makes it so if a player decides to take a break for a month but has a lot of AP that when they come back they can just dump it all into your GP system and take things away from people who have been actively working on earning. Setting a cap would be near impossible. What would you do if the cap is 1 mil AP per month and 5 people go to turn it into GP? Who gets the reward? At that point it would just become a race to turn in your 1 mil AP first.

[Rag-DN]

11 minutes ago, Foxy Boxy said:

So with your system you would have to choose between getting gear with AP or replacing it with GP. With my comment about a monthly AP makes it so it doesn't matter how much AP you have in total, only how much you earned in a specific time frame. This way you can still get your gear but also get the rank or form you actually have earned. Your system makes it so that anyone who hordes AP can just dump it all into GP to get the title or form they want. That would inspire people to horde their AP more than the current system. It also makes it so if a player decides to take a break for a month but has a lot of AP that when they come back they can just dump it all into your GP system and take things away from people who have been actively working on earning. Setting a cap would be near impossible. What would you do if the cap is 1 mil AP per month and 5 people go to turn it into GP? Who gets the reward? At that point it would just become a race to turn in your 1 mil AP first.

I think your just hyper focusing on the AP to GP conversion NPCs and forgetting the other ways to farm GP such as PVP and Sieging. Those 2 would be the main way to farm GP, esp if we have a Limit on the AP to GP conversion. You wouldn't HAVE to choose between using AP for gear or Gp, it'd just be an additional option once the game has been live for a while and you have your gear already. It's a burn system for AP so ppl don't hoard it like you're so worried about. Sorry if my original post wasn't clear on that.

[Foxy Boxy]

Eh? In order to get AP you have to PVP and Siege. What are you talking about lol

[Bombaba-DN]

3 minutes ago, Foxy Boxy said:

Eh? In order to get AP you have to PVP and Siege. What are you talking about lol

I think there's a language barrier or you don't understand the concept of GP here, maybe you don't/didn't play retail?

 Currently if we base rank solely on AP there is no way to reset the ranking charts so the same people that get ahead early stay in high positions. With a GP session system, like we have on retail, the rankings can reset giving new/returning players a chance to get ranked.  GP system is way better then the AP system but ONLY if there is a cap put on the AP to GP conversion NPCs or not have the NPCs. 

[Foxy Boxy]

50 minutes ago, Bombaba-DN said:

I think there's a language barrier or you don't understand the concept of GP here, maybe you don't/didn't play retail?

 Currently if we base rank solely on AP there is no way to reset the ranking charts so the same people that get ahead early stay in high positions. With a GP session system, like we have on retail, the rankings can reset giving new/returning players a chance to get ranked.  GP system is way better then the AP system but ONLY if there is a cap put on the AP to GP conversion NPCs or not have the NPCs. 

I think you missed where I stated a monthly leaderboard. It would not be difficult to program a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly leaderboard that would determine who gets what rank and form. Based on how much AP you gained during that time frame.

 

Retail up until free to play had no such system. When Aion "died" upon the free to play is when I stopped playing.

[Rag-DN]

6 minutes ago, Foxy Boxy said:

I think you missed where I stated a monthly leaderboard. It would not be difficult to program a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly leaderboard that would determine who gets what rank and form. Based on how much AP you gained during that time frame.

 

Retail up until free to play had no such system. When Aion "died" upon the free to play is when I stopped playing.

That would work too.... HOWEVER...NCWest = Lazy... GP system already exists and has the code would probably be easier. Either way they need a season version for rankings to avoid previous disasters. 

[Foxy Boxy]

Yes, NC is very lazy. Code for their newer systems would have to be changed to work on older systems. That, in it's own right, means NC will never implement any method :C