BraveKath

No plans to bring them back in the original form, but I'll have a think as to how they could be integrated into the game in another form. I mean by that they wouldn't replace another aspect of the game, but rather be another thing you could take part in if you wanted too

This quote actually depresses me.

I thought some thought had already been put into using the seasons template for a PvP global before now. Maybe I'm over-analysing this, but I could swear we have been told before on the forum that the seasons were being looked at with a view to making them into a global. Months ago. Maybe I'm just remembering lots of player chat and no Dev input, but I could swear, without doing a forum search, that a dev or two, possibly including Hoof, had indicated that the seasons model would be looked at with a view to converting it to a global.

Now Hoof says he's going to have a think about it. Which insinuates this will be his first serious consideration of this idea. Which means to me that nothing has been done with the decaying corpse of the seasons since they were scrapped with undue haste last year. Or was it the year before? I'm losing track. 

That to me is not awesome news. To me that is a sign that nothing has yet been done to develop the seasons model into a global, something that I at least thought had already been looked at and possibly at least partially developed by the HCS team already.

As I said, maybe I'm reading too much into this.

No plans to bring them back in the original form, but I'll have a think as to how they could be integrated into the game in another form. I mean by that they wouldn't replace another aspect of the game, but rather be another thing you could take part in if you wanted too

Whilst I love that fact that you've taken this on board Hoof - after all this time of me badgering BG about it - I'm still a lil concerned that the actual issue itself hasn't been addressed.

OK, new & more powerful mercs are definately welcome, but they're calculated from the same formula, I imagine, and are thus, still underpowered for their level, especially when you factor in the "only 20% of stats apply in groups" rule.

Ergo, to actually make the mercs more useful / powerful, either ...

1. The formula needs updating to increment their stats by a factor of 2 ? 3 ? 4 ? or whatever

OR

2. The "20% rule" needs modifying to at least 50%, ideally 100%

After all, if we hire a mercenary, and pay top dollar for him, we expect 100% commitment from him, not just 20%

ability to hit guildies?

Haven't had a single person contact me as a "mentor",

the path to finding a mentor is buried in the menu links: actions --> find player --> find a mentor

you bury something when you're trying to hide it

in my fantasy world there's a box below the FS box that says "question? click here to ask a veteran player!" that takes you to the mentor page (toggle off in preferences)

also, i would bet that a number of people think "mentor" is the candy you put into diet coke to make it explode

anyone have any success stories? i'm about 0/10

I've done a few recent  events, but  I've moved on and have my interest elsewhere now.

Miss you already.

You know the ladder system to me is no real challenge.  How about doing this if you opt into playing pvp  instead of losing xp which make no sense losing xp in pvp and ladders because obvious you lose targets to strike do to excessive loss of xp.  I am going to roll this idea out.   How about a pvp/prestige point system. Throw all players together big and small want to know why?

Hitting players higher than your level you gain more points and hitting players below your level means lower to no points in a strike.  In the same process you want to add ladder ranges put it under how many pvp/prestige earned. Keep the targets only those opted in.  Let those not opted in get hit for gold or just because strikes be able to put bounties up.  Those in the pvping opting part are at risk with automatic bb.  This should feed bounty board. If we do not then I am thinking bb will be at the sad state of no bounties for long period of time or stuck with same players showing up as before in my opinion I find boring with no targets.

Keep xp loss to bb this is where it should be. Those that attack players not interested in this aspect of game should take the risk being on bb.  Keeping xp out of pvping means more target players staying in your range  and if you use points and prestige this will show who in fs world is the best pvper.  It will set up a king or queen of the hill idea in pvp challenge and yeah keep the ability to hit your team mates.  In seasons me and my team mates hit each other to learn what works what does not against those higher than yourself.  Yes I won against eoc and those way higher from me. This is only food for thought and my opinion of a challenge.  

I do not mind pvping,  I like and embrace that part of the game when I find it a challenge hitting those above me and taking the risk of some kind loss and reward bonus.  Thanks for letting me post this and my statements is not meant to be a flamer why the original ladder should stay exactly the same and add new prizes will save what a lot of players stated in comment area of forum when they were voting.    In truth of this player opinion of  new prizes will keep some interested but most will not play the old ladders without changes to it. I will put in public I am one of those players.  Take a look at my bio to see that I have been on bb and lost levels and I have been in titan league and I am not an eoc player.  You will see on my top bounties that I have hit player way above myself and I play arena in upper levels. I enjoy a challenge my opinion that pvp should reflect the best by going against the best in fs world. Challenge is gear, buffs, guilds helping you and your base stats. Thanks for letting put this long post out and I do apologize for the long post but in hopes that the ladder will be updated with changes will keep this player wanting to stay in pvp and bb area. 

We have threads on ladder rewards and GvG improvement, but not on the elephant in the room, which is the ladder.

It was widely regarded as broken and inactive. We are going back to it. Presumably going back to it in its broken and inactive form is not going to be a raging success.

New rewards will help, to be sure, but will that alone make the ladders more vibrant?

Being honest, I was warming to the seasons, especially once the standard season rewards were revealed, but what is done is done. The roll out was so bad it killed the idea, it seems to me. A pity, I would rather be tweaking the seasons than tweaking the ladder, but the decision has been made.

So: any ideas for ensuring as many players as possible join the ladders, stay on the ladders, and we see a long term increase in activity?

Just to get a ball rolling.

1) Do we expand the ranges in the ladder? In seasons some felt that the lack of ranges was a problem - will tight 100 level bands also be a problem - in the past there have been proposals to widen ladder bands - should these be looked at? Where should we widen the bands and by how much?

2) XP loss on the ladder - should it stay? XP loss was removed from the seasons, would removing it from the ladder increase participation? I think so, but I imagine most old school ladder players will want to keep XP loss. Should it be scaled down to encourage skittish noobs to try the ladder? If the ladders come back, people try it, don't like the XP loss, leave and the ladders become empty again, would an adjustment to XP loss be considered to try to increase participation, which was the original Cow goal of the failed revamp?

3) In the previous ladder much discussion was had about blocks of guildies sitting in various bands, and whether it was an advantage or not. I'm not going into those pros and cons, just asking - should guildies

be able to hit each other? In a thinly populated ladder I suppose this allows collusion, unless...

4) The random targeting function is ported into the ladder. I'm not sure this would work given the smaller numbers in each band, but I'm putting it out there for discussion. If band sizes are widened considerably, random targeting may be viable...

5) How is ladder rating calculated - should it be ELO, if it is not now?

6) What should the duration of the ladder be, same as before, or longer?

7) Random reset times or defined?

Some stuff to think about, I'm sure I have missed other avenues of improvement. 

I was having so much fun now its gonna be the same 10 people beating each other over and over again remove the opt out dont destroy the new thing you just put in.

If to get more than 10 people playing you have to force it on everyone, then doesn't that tell you something?

Thank you HCS for accommodating our requests and making the necessary changes.

Just a thought about Rated Hit and Bounty.

If players have the option to opt-out or opt-in the PvP Season, the following options make more sense:

1. Rated hits should have XP and gold losss
2. Rate hits should not be bountied
3. Unrated hits should be bountied

I don't see how naming a character first off or later or will make a whole lot of difference, TBH.  Maybe I'm missing something here, but naming my character when I start a new game is an extremely important step to me.  What gets me started on a game and keeps me going, however, is how the game is introduced, how the devs of said game have set things up to teach me how to play it.  And I try a lot of new games all the time.  No, I'm not looking to replace FS, I don't think there is a game out there that ever could.... but I do play many games.  And I do prefer to be able to personalize my character first off when  I start a new game.  It helps me to feel that I am part of things, and that I will fit in.  I think that feeling is an important one for any newcomer.  Maybe I'm wrong, IDK, just saying.....

We'll have a think about how to handle the existing PvP Ladder tokens and medal when we look into it fully. There's no point speculating about it at the moment really

That would be great Hoof.  The last time the ladder changed, I lost a silver medal.  Let us keep them this go round

We'll have a think about how to handle the existing PvP Ladder tokens and medal when we look into it fully. There's no point speculating about it at the moment really