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Fan Site Summit: Gabe Amatangelo Interview

Fan Site Summit: Gabe Amatangelo Interview



Many improvements and changes made their way into various PvP systems since we last spoke to Star Wars: The Old Republic's Gabe Amatangelo. Last month's Fan Site Summit provided an opportunity to catch up with BioWare's Lead PvP Designer to discuss Warzone reward systems, what we can expect if we choose to use PvP as our leveling method of choice, the favorite topic of crowd control in PvP, and much more after a small skirmish with the third rail of interview topics:

Gabe Amatangelo: I want to touch on open world PvP. We're going to have PvP servers, and on the PvE servers there will be designated PvP areas. On a PvE server, you aren't going to flag unless you want to flag yourself, or unless you go into a designated PvP area that is going to be completely isolated from quests and story lines and that kind of stuff. Now, we're not talking about the goals inside those areas today, but we are saying that it is there. People can go and fight each other there.

Are these Open World PvP areas guild- or faction-based?

We're not talking about the goals of those areas. I know Darth Hater and all the people who follow you are really group conscious. You guys are guilds. We want to do everything we can to accommodate that type of game play.

Today we're focusing on a few systems that we haven't talked about before. The focus of them is promoting a good, healthy PvP community and allowing players to play the role they want in PvP. There are a number of systems that roll into those two points.

Hit the jump for more interview PvP.
Interview


How would classes that can fulfill a tank role like the Juggernaut, Powertech, and Assassin (and their Republic counterparts) play in a Warzone?

Gabe Amatangelo: They are able to "guard" their allies. Building up their defense, avoidance, etc. is not going to be lost in a PvP situation. They'll be able to shift whatever kind of damage absorption they have onto their buddy. And then the scoreboard tracks every bit of damage they take on behalf of their buddy, and they are rewarded accordingly. We carrot players who aren't working as an organized team with their buddies in Warzones -- like pick up groups. They still have an incentive to throw that guard on a healer that is about to go down or that DPS that got thirty kills on the opposite faction. Basically, a tank who is a good tank will be able to switch their guard targets of opportunity when it is most viable.



Tanks won't have to switch to a DPS spec to be viable in PvP?

Correct. To clarify this a bit more, if you built yourself up to have taunts, heavy armor, and all kinds of avoidance and absorption all of that is going to be one hundred percent viable in PvP through the guard ability. If I taunt a player, they are going to do less damage to everyone except for me. And that less damage that they end up delivering -- that difference is going to be tracked on the scoreboard for me. When I guard a player, fifty percent of the damage they receive is redirected to me. And of course, all my heavy armor and avoidance is going to come into play, helping them to survive as well as myself, and all the damage I take on their behalf will be tracked for my rewards at the end of the Warzone.

Can you describe with an example how one particular Advanced Class would differ its combat style in PvP?

The Sith Assassin's tank spec is more of an avoidance type in PvP. You'll end up blocking, dodging, and that kind of stuff as opposed to having natural mitigation within your armor like a Bounty Hunter or a Trooper Vanguard.

Can you describe the different types of PvP rewards besides XP and some of the innovations you are using in the reward system?

We have a Valor Rank system which players throughout all PvP activities will earn Valor and they will go up in Valor Rank as they hit different Valor thresholds. The Valor ranks are going to award titles as well as other PvP privileges. For example, when you are in a Warzone, whoever has the highest Valor rank in the pre-match is going to be the leader of the Warzone group. So you'll be able to mark targets and that kind of thing. We're going to allow for prestigious sort of privileges for high Valor ranks.



Additionally, you're going to earn Valor Tokens which you can cash in for PvP armor, PvP consumables, and other types of PvP gear like trinkets and things of that nature. But the Valor Rank isn't going to restrict (these items) except for a couple pieces. Generally speaking, it isn't going to restrict what PvP gear you can put on. If you can afford to buy it with Valor tokens, then you can put it on.

In your opinion, what are the comparative benefits of the different kinds of PvP progress tracking systems such as ladders that you move up based on your personal achievements versus structured tournaments or brackets that involve scheduling match ups?

An Elo system lends itself to more incidental PvP; you can just PvP at any time and your win/loss ratio will play into Elo system. You'll either go up or down, and some people do some confidence modifiers to it. The tournament bracket system if you aren't there and it isn't on a schedule that caters to you, then it makes it difficult to participate. I think an Elo system lends itself more towards the casual PvP competitor, whereas the other one is the person who really has to devote to it. Any of us can take a few days off once in a while if it is once in a blue moon.
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Comments

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  • Hravn's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #41 Hravn Posted 5/6/2011 2:53:55 PM
    From reading this interview, it sounds like the developers learned many good lessons from Warhammer Online. I see a few things WAR players have asked for but never received. And it seems some of the things that do work well in WAR are being included in SWTOR. I hope as they reveal more about the persistent world pvp areas, we'll see indications that it's objective based. Forcing PvE into PvP (a la Thanquol's Incursion or Land of the Dead) hasn't worked so well in WAR. So I hope we have objectives instead.
  • Jonneh's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 379
    #39 Jonneh Posted 5/6/2011 12:34:46 PM
    Its an interesting approach to CC with the 'Resolve' bar. I'm really interested to see how that might work in practise. I fear it may be a bit too complicated, but will reserve judgement until I see it in action. I'm not sure I've ever seen a system like it, so its going to be a challenge to make it work at any rate. Iteration on the design once we're into open beta or release is probably pretty inevitable.

    Still, it has potential - eager to see how it works out.

    My youtube channel - SW:TOR content

  • DarthShnooky's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #46 DarthShnooky Posted 5/6/2011 4:15:48 PM
    Yeah i love the resolve bar idea. Allows players to more easily see and understand diminishing returns on CC. Plus its easy for them to adjust. If the 8 seconds is too much or too little, then just alter the total number of points needed to fill the resolve bar. I'd like to know how long it takes to go down, however; and if you can CC again once it begins to go down or have to wait for it to completely empty before you can CC a target again.
  • DarthSerious's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 251
    #37 DarthSerious Posted 5/6/2011 11:41:35 AM
    Why don't they add the regular kind of taunt from PVE in PVP? So tanks can taunt and pull their targets literally for 3 secs or w/e it should be for balance.

    I suppose either way makes sense (guarding or taunting), but if they have taunts already in PVE then why not implement the same mechanism. Adding taunts for PVP can work, and is also visually easy to see, which I assume would be the same with guarding being easy to see as well. Is adding taunts really that imbalanced for PVP?

    Meh, I am happy with the viability of the tanks having more utility in PVP, so good things came out of that.
  • agentwred's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 298
    #51 agentwred Posted 5/11/2011 8:10:08 AM
    You are a little mistaken with the guarding instead of taunting. There is both guarding and taunting, and they are slightly different, though similar. "Guarding" you apply to a single ally and any damaged to you is split between the two of you. "Taunt" you apply to an enemy and all his damaging abilities are less effective than normal to everybody except for you for a short time. This therefore encourages the target to attack you instead of anybody else, but doesn't force them too. The reason for it working this way the others touch on. But I think you were mainly confused about guard and taunt being two separate abilities that are both usable by tanks in PvP.
  • DarthShnooky's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #42 DarthShnooky Posted 5/6/2011 3:03:06 PM
    Taunt in PvE forces a target to attack you -- generally, people don't like having control taken away from them. CC is one thing, because there are issues like diminishing returns and short time span. Taunt in PvP just doesn't make sense if it worked the same way as PvE. Much better to have it become a debuff that encourages enemies to attack you, without taking control of their characters away or just being another CC.
  • DarthSerious's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 251
    #47 DarthSerious Posted 5/7/2011 8:47:45 AM
    Yea, that makes sense. So guarding is better.
  • Jonneh's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 379
    #38 Jonneh Posted 5/6/2011 12:26:38 PM
    Why don't they add the regular kind of taunt from PVE in PVP? So tanks can taunt and pull their targets literally for 3 secs or w/e it should be for balance.

    Because that's not mitigation then, its crowd control. Not really a great option if you think it through... so the guy has to attack you. Can he use abilities? If so, can he use AoE that doesnt hit you? Can he heal? Does he follow you wherever you go, like if you jump off a bridge? ;p

    With a 50% mitigation cooldown, you have the choice to ignore it, and try to burn the person down anyway. Control of your own character is retained, and there is still a choice for the attacking player.

    I believe this taunt mechanic is stolen directly from 'bioware mythic' and the failed mmo Warhammer Online. not sure how well it worked there, because I quit without ever paying a monthly sub because the game was so bad :/

    My youtube channel - SW:TOR content

  • DarthSerious's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 251
    #48 DarthSerious Posted 5/7/2011 8:53:48 AM
    Well, if there is a taunt and they lose they ability to move, and attack other targets, it would be the same as guarding. So, as DarthShnooky and you pointed out it would be better to have guarding to offer the option and it would add more to strategy. Do they continue to attack the squishy which is attacking the tank, spreading out their dps, or do they focus their attack on the tank instead which is the toughest target to kill.

    I am guessing the tactics would be a bit more complicated that with knock backs and stuns. In theory from what we know, a person could stun a tank, and knock back a squishy from their guard and be taken out quickly that way. Sounds like some fun strategy is going to be thought up to take short cuts to taking out the squishes quicker with these abilities, if I am reading this right.
  • Bhel's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 33
    #36 Bhel Posted 5/6/2011 9:10:08 AM
    I wonder if Sith Assassin guarding others being good idea at all as you can't evade the guarded damage and as they write they don't mitigate tank.
  • theunwarshed's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 358
    #45 theunwarshed Posted 5/6/2011 3:14:42 PM
    that's a good question, because Gabe certainly made it sound like tank defenses will have an effect on the transferred damage. it's easy to see how it works with a mitigation tank, not so clear with an avoidance tank.
  • DarthShnooky's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #43 DarthShnooky Posted 5/6/2011 3:03:59 PM
    How do you know you can't evade the guarded damage? It sounds like the 50% damage coming to a tank from guard will be mitigated by that tank's stats. Otherwise guarding a target could just be a death sentence for a tank.
  • Bhel's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 33
    #50 Bhel Posted 5/9/2011 6:29:27 AM
    If they take the Warhammer formula this damage cannot be evaded, only mitigated. We shall see if it's different.
  • agentwred's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 298
    #52 agentwred Posted 5/11/2011 8:16:44 AM
    Makes sense as evaded means not getting touched at all, but if it does hit then it hits, and it is hitting the guarded player.

    Maybe you can help the targeted player evade as well. Otherwise I'd have to assume you can evade some of the transferred damage.
  • Loekii's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #27 Loekii Posted 5/5/2011 11:09:00 PM
    I am hoping that the Pvp areas are not just empty voids like WAR RvR Lakes were in WAR.

    I definitely understand the need to not have major PvE content inside such zones, but I would like to see some PvE content -- to give you another reason to be there and something to do if no one else is around.

    In WAR, the lakes just remained empty until one side could zerg rush a few brave fools that dared to enter into such zones.
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