UPDATE: Skirmish Changes

[Mooncalf]

Some pretty big changes have been made to the skirmish system, which will impact the future of the player vs. player interaction.

3 Hitters Cap
Firstly, there is now a cap on the number of hitters who can attack a single target in a 12 hour period. We've tentatively set this cap at 3 hitters while we see how it impacts the game. This means that a 4th character will be unable to attack the same target until either the target moves, or 12 hours goes by from the time of the 1st attacker's skirmish attempt. You should note that this is 3 attempted attacks, not 3 wounds.

We believe this first change will fix certain issues with the way fighting happens in Path at the moment. Most notably, it will fix the frustrations understandably felt by players on logging into Path to find their character already hunted and killed by 10 high-level attackers. At least now they have the chance to respond before their character is defeated. This is an attempt at giving players more control, which is always better for gameplay, and should make things more fun overall. This change almost makes the PVP system turn-based, to an extent, as well as making powers more useful for things like slowing a target down and hampering their ability to retaliate.

We have the intention of soon steering away from the extreme hide-and-seek gameplay which PVP currently entails. We don't feel like that's much fun for the attacking party, as most of their night involves scouting with thralls from door to door right now. As such, some of the mastery powers will soften the blow this change might have dealt to those who already find it tough to scout for targets. However, as there is an art to seeking, and some deal of strategy involved, we do not wish to get rid of it entirely, so rest assured that it will soon be *slightly* easier to find people, rather than it being impossible to hide, or indeed impossible to scout.


'Going to Ground' Time
The second change won't make a ton of sense from a roleplay perspective, but in this instance we felt like it would significantly improve gameplay to the point where the pros far, far outweighed the cons.

Once you attack a target you will now find yourself unable to enter ANY non-public building or lair for a period of 48 hours. Your victim will also find themselves placed under these same constraints. You will, however, be able to return to the building where the original attack took place, to prevent the target from simply banishing you from the building and staying put in order to avoid death. This change also applies to tomes and Summon Ally. Simply put, it takes 48 hours to go to ground.

This change was made in order to reflect the possibility of quick retaliations, calling for support, and catching up to those who attacked before they have a chance to go into hiding. It is intended to aid the turn-based feel of the skirmish system in that neither side will be able to simply run to a fort or hide in an obscure location; they will be forced to turn and fight, if it comes to that. It further encourages the use of powers, diverts the gameplay slightly away from the hide-and-seek mechanic, and opens the game to the possibility of faction-based warfare on a grander scale. It also ensures that there's a certain amount of risk in carrying out an attack, as there is in real life, and makes it so that nobody is completely untouchable.


We're fully aware that the first change in particular will make killing a target significantly harder, and as such we're willing to listen to suggestions regarding harsher 'penalties' for death. Managing a game like this is an exercise in juggling plates, and keeping everything balanced is always going to be an on-going process. We want everyone invested in Path to have fun, so we'll be keeping a close eye on the new(ish) skirmish system, and how we can improve it to be fair for all types of players, including the high-level members of big factions. All in all, though, we think that these changes were a good step in the right direction towards fixing PVP, and will mesh well with the forthcoming mastery powers.