VI. Resource-Based World PVP for the GameDynamic WarzonesFor the love of god please do not make everything static, where you complete content and "won" control the planet for your faction but everything still looks the same as when you started. PvP should serve as an ever-changing endgame state of the Halo universe; where planets change hands regularly as the sides compete for control.
Here's how it could work:
Players will be given a new option under some sort of panel: "Enter Warzones". Once enabled the player will be presented with a dynamically updated "Halo Universe Warzone Map". Every planet available for both UNSC and Covenant players will be available in the Halo Universe Warzone Map. Each planet will be a duplicate of the existing playfields as a unified single-shard system with the following changes; no regular quests/content quests and all high-leveled NPCs. The faction NPCs would change based on which side controls the planet/local base on the planet and provide daily (and maybe dynamic and different) PvP quests/content at key locations.
There will be objectives scattered across the planet map which will need to be secured to control the planet and get daily quests/content from that location to other nearby locations. While a planet is controlled the players will be able to plant tower fields and mine the resources for their guild and granting their faction with several bonuses across all levels.
Attempting to land on a planet which is controlled by an opposing faction should trigger a space combat event ranging from a single ship trying to run a blockade for a solo player or small group of 4, to a full-fledged fleet battle as a preface to a landing invasion for an Operation. This will encourage PvP encounters and side-cooperation, as well as give a real value to the ship and modifications that can be created for them. Hopefully, we will be able to buy new ships eventually, too! Smile
There should be no instancing in this situation. A large number of players should be present on one unified shard for this type of system to work.- Spoiler:
Let's look at each planet:
1. Let's divide the region up into tower sites and let guilds compete for control over the field.
2. Each guild will only be able to plant 1 field per planet up to a maximum of 3 total fields across all planets.
3. The specialty towers "Harvesters" will generate PvP materials over time. The harvested resources will be split 100:10:1 (Faction:Guild:Player). Faction resources will become available from PvP vendors on that planet. Guild resources will be automatically placed in a resource tab of the Guild Bank. Player resources will be deposited into a separate tab in the player's inventory.
4. Each field controlled by a faction adds a weighted XP bonus for all members of their side up to a maximum of 25% for controlling "ALL" towers on all planets.
5. Control Towers and Generic Turrets can be purchased in each planet's main base and Advanced Turrets are created by special vendors with specific requirements. Each type of tower modification will grant different combat bonuses for the player who creates/plants it, except Harvesters which will grant various bonuses.
6. Once a siege has been completed and the planetary control has changed, all Tower Fields become hot allowing players from the opposing faction to attack all the sites. A side must rally to defend it, but have a limited number of defensive deployments to protect their [REDACTED] before being forced to engage in a fleet battle to reach the surface again.
7. Each planet will have a limited number of deployments for the attacking side during sieges. Once those deployments are depleted another space battle will be required before they can siege the planet again and control a landing pad.
8. Each zone can have a remote base(s) which grants bonuses to attackers and defenders for the side which controls it. After a successful siege, attacking players will start at the landing pad. From there the attackers will work to setup a supply route by taking and holding outposts for route/travel access. This use of strategic locations should keep this type of encounter from becoming too "zergy" as forces will have to be stationed throughout the planet to successfully accomplish goals.
9. Quests/content should be given to attack or defend bases, tower sites and players near those objectives each day and for the weekly, replacing the current endgame daily system with one that truly has impact for your side. The quests/content should be relative to ownership such as guilds which do not own a tower site get quests for attacking other side towers and players within the vicinity of friendly towers or enemy towers—successful destruction of a tower and field, etc.
Planetary Siege EventInfiltration by a small group to lower planetary defenses, or direct frontal [REDACTED] by a large fleet. (Space Fleet PvP battle for Operations or a Group Space PvE Campaign for a small team, failure would alert enemy players to the blockade running attempt.)
Either results in a landing pad base being taken which will remain accessible for double the duration of the current "hot" timer (this base cannot be captured and is defended).
After securing a landing platform the attacking side will gather quests to take key strategic points around the planet such as respawn points & speeder routes.
Some players will remain at each [REDACTED] to defend. These players will get quests to defend these [REDACTED] from the location in question.
The majority of a raid force will push on to the next objective until they reach the capital city/main base.
After successfully sieging the capital, the attackers will lower the shields to all resource towers on the planet.
The previous defenders will now spawn at the landing pad and have a chance to retake the capital based on the existence of their tower fields. Once all tower fields have been demolished the defenders lose access to the planet for 24 hours (Planet is now COLD).
During the 24 hour COLD timer, the victorious side will determine which guilds get to plant tower fields and harvest the resources from each site.
The next day the previous day's losing side can resiege the planet following the same rules within a 1 hour grace period. Each day thereafter, the window to win the space siege for access to the landing pad increases by 1 hour up to a maximum of 19 hours HOT, 6 hours COLD.
System Feedback of an AttackI'll use an example from Anarchy Online which had a faction-wide "Tower Alert Message" that was broadcasted in the system channel with notifications that appeared such as:
"<NameOfPlayer> of the <Faction> guild <NameOfAttackerGuild> attacked the <Faction> guild <NameOfDefenderGuild> at their <Base#> in <ZoneName>."
which translated to:
"Xuan" of the Clan organization "Aethyr Knights" attacked the Omni organization "Mafia Din Romania" at 2x in Avalon."
A key note is that if multiple guilds attacked a tower, it would send an update for the first player attacking any tower in the field from a guild but no one else from that guild would be listed in the announcement. Also, they used the term "Organizations" instead of "Guilds".
Then, it would update with a similar message but add "The attackers won" if the CT was successfully destroyed when it is destroyed.