I feel like a majority of the problems revolving around PVP stem from having factions be directly involved in PVP gameplay/politics.
The game should be company vs company only.
Things that are wrong with PVP (or that people complain about):
- mega companies making it impossible for weaker companies of the same faction to get war decs due to having bigger zergs
- one faction ends up taking over whole map (nobody wants to be in weakest faction)
- you cannot do anything about a toxic company in your own faction (can’t war them)
- PVE players are directly impacted by PVP players skills/decisions
- every faction helps the other factions anyway
- it makes no sense with the lore
- same 100 people get into every war and same 4 companies getting to go to war at all
- shell companies
POTENTIAL COMPANY REWORK:
- member cap increased to 200 players per company
- after leaving a company, you have a 7 day cooldown before you can join a new one
- your war roster must consist of 40 of your own players. If you cannot fill this much, it will randomly fill in from the sign-up list.
- two siege windows: one for attack, one for defense
- must have a minimum of 50 players in your company to declare war
This removes the ability for mega companies to create 100s of shell companies (to increase their chances at decs). This makes it impossible to hold territories with shell companies. This still allows a solid company with a good roster the ability to take/hold 2 territories, but anything else will be far too easy for enemies to double-declare their siege window and thus they will likely lose.
SO WHAT WOULD FACTIONS BECOME?
Factions would become what they always should have been:
PVE loyalties that provide specific buffs to players that suit each theme.
Example:
Syndicate (science) = 30% speedboost while walking in water (out of combat). 5% chance to craft extra arcana items. 5% chance to harvest more from plants/creatures. 5% chance to craft more items at any station (non-gear).
Marauders (military) = 25% speedboost on roads (out of combat). 5% chance to not consume (a random) material when crafting (such as you might get lucky and not consume your asmo when making gloves). 5% chance to find more PVP craftmods when looting chests or mobs. +5% expertise when crafting at the forge.
Covenant (religion) = 15% speedboost at night (out of combat). 5% more rewards from quests. 5% chance to craft an extra item (gear). 5% chance to save 10% on any transaction.
People would be able to choose their faction based on their preferred way to play the game outside of PVP. No more hating someone based on their colour. Faction vendors could still function the same way they do now except they no longer drive ‘influence’ when doing flagged missions.
THEN HOW WILL PEOPLE PUSH A TERRITORY?
Remove influence pushes.
OPTION 1:
- tournament style wars.
Every company that is able to (and wants to) declare on the territory must beat the other competitors in wars first. Essentially you war against the other companies who want to take it until there is one left. The victor will get to declare on the territory and war will be scheduled.
This allows for way more wars and everyone who wants to war will get the chance.
OPTION 2:
- Influence pushes work relatively similar to now except its based on how many players are killed by each company in that territory (instead of collecting medallions, your kills directly fill the meter).
Each company can see their own influence as well as see the company with the leading influence. Whoever reaches 100% first wins the chance to declare. If theres no one around to kill, players can choose to run PVP missions (which will work a bit slower), but if they have the lead and nobody else reaches 100% before them in 2 days, the leading company automatically gets the declaration.
OPTION 3:
- Nothing changes, but its just company vs company influence rather than faction influence.
OTHER NECESSARY CHANGES:
- when flagged for PVP, your tent is also PVP flagged and can be destroyed (company emblem will hover above it for clarity).
- you can only bind to a PVP flagged tent/camp of your own company (but not a PVE one and not an enemy tent)
TL;DR
I could be way wrong with these ideas, but currently factions feel like they hurt PVP more than help it.