A few notes on the current test; primarily PvP and the criminal system, as well as a few other bits and pieces.
Looting players
Im not sure if it was because the player died (DoT) while inside a town safe zone, but can good players loot defeated evil players?
PvP/ Economical Alignment
I may be mistaken about a few points here, but as I understand it:
*Good players cannot commit crimes, or loot evil players they have defeated.
*Evil players must be defeated by a bounty hunter to be subject to any punishment.
*Most PvP players seem to be of evil alignment, and most good players seem to be focusing on building, farming and crafting.
Given these points, as well as the fact that the larger guilds seem to be the main evil PvP players at the moment, the situation appears thus:
PvP characters of evil alignment travel in large groups, good players either have small groups or go solo, focusing on PvE.
Bounty hunters are severely outnumbered, PvE players get ganked and their equipment taken, evil players have no countering force and do not risk losing equipment, making evil alignment the only viable PvP alignment, and luck the only hope of the solo player.
Fractured is purported to support all play styles, and if completed as describe will certainly do so, however, there is currently no opposition to PvP players, and with all players combined on a single planet, indeed a single continent, the density of evil players to good players is problematic; none of the measures to mitigate undesired Player Killing are in existence or in effect.
Due to these facts, and to improve testing of sieges, the primary purpose of this test i believe, I would suggest that good players need to band together to provide a viable counter-balance to the current situation. (PvP players are united by purpose, where other players have a variety of interests and so are often divided)
As much as I personally, and I'm sure most other players, wish to do their own thing, given this is a test and that the pursuit of personal interests will be cut short leaving no legacy, perhaps we need to band together as players and focus on the testing so as to enjoy the completed game that much sooner.
It has been suggested, by one @Nekrage, that the other worlds should be dropped from the concept, and that Fractured should be focused more on PvP.
I would hope that this will not happen, as it is the other aspects of the game that drew me to it, and that have kept me here despite growing fears those aspects will never be realised.
For these to flourish, indeed in my opinion for the game itself to become anything special, and not just another hack'n'slash, the three worlds MUST all be included; a game that is only simulated farming and crafting is, even in my opinion, boring, and yet what beauty can come from a game that is purely combat?
The duality (Triality?) of Fractured has the potential to make it a brilliant game; and to settle for less than the lofty goals described in the early newsletters and the wiki, will be sure to see Fractured fail as a success, and more importantly, fail to become the beautiful game it might be.
To quote a character in one of my favourite books: "The point is to play a beautiful game" (a wise mans fear, Patrick Rothfuss)
@Nekrage has also expressed dissatisfaction with other games that "build their entire game around PvE and punish players interested in PvP"
I would like to counter this with the suggestion that all games, to whatever degree, punish PvN players, namely players that would rather play the same game, and yet solve their problems some way other than by hitting it over the head with a heavy object.
I feel obliged to justify my position here: I do not ask for a game that makes it easy to avoid combat, I have just now said that conflict is necessary to keep dullness at bay, nor do I ask for a game that negatively affects players desiring combat, I understand that most gamers see it as a must.
All I ask is for a game in which it is POSSIBLE to avoid killing, and still engage in all other aspects of the game; this is something Fractured has proposed already, namely ways of learning skills without killing the thing, but has yet to implement, and which I implore the developers not to cut out of the game.
Fractured has proposed a game wherein I am sure @Nekrage will be able to engage in unfettered PvP, and I will be able to create a character able to experience all but one of the games aspects without the need to end the virtual life of a single player or creature.
Fractured, should it achieved its aims, would be a game that comes close to satisfying the two of us, and I would have no problem with having Nekrage's hordes devastate my lands, slaughter myself and my comrades and bear off as plunder the fruits of our labour, though my comrades may be a little put out.
However.
This does require the completion of the game entire; as the game is now; a single landmass with incomplete systems and a small inconsistent player base, there is really no place for players running about in large groups intent on slaying and looting everything that moves, though that thing be a player seeking to strengthen himself and his city in preparation of testing the siege mechanics.
On a lighter note: Horses
Having been twice in a position where a quick get-away was the only chance of survival (or would have been) I have a suggestion about horses/mounts:
What if mounts could be, rather than 'summoned' from a magical 'horse-pocket', they were, when not ridden, drawn along by a tether, from which station either fight or flight might be enacted instantly.
In short; you get off your horse and leave it, obediently standing, while you head off to fight. Or, perhaps you are aware that you might have to flee, or fight at a moments notice, therefore you lead the horse. Should battle be joined, you drop the lead and the horse either stands, or runs a short way from where it may be called once combat is ended, or if flight becomes necessary, you run to your mount and leap astride it, going from foot to horse instantly. Perhaps, as you lead your horse, you encounter a menace you cannot defeat, and so, leap straight-way to the saddle and ride away.
I am unsure as to the ease of making this work, but it possibly the mechanics for wagons and carts might be adapted.
do you know if there is a point where posts are deleted? I couldn't seem to find any old posts.
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