Event Character Deficit

[Deez_Nuts 0]

What your suggestion is:
This main purpose of this forum is to raise a issue that is getting larger and larger on WG SWRP, I also have my suggestion of what it causing the problem and how I would fix it.

In one month time I would of been on this server for five years, at the beginning of these five years we had a small 64 slot server which primarily operated on the predecessor to 'venator_vfinal'.

When an event would occur there was no advert spamming in chat begging for event characters, it would be like a lottery, the staff member would just randomly teleport someone from the scoreboard and everyone would hope to be the lucky person chosen. Unfortunately being an event character has become dramatically less interesting to players on the server five years later. My reasoning why is that being an event character is no where near as fun or fair as it was five years ago, then it was a case of having one life, 15k hp and a gun and you would be let loose to cause terror, sometimes with a small piece of story behind it. What I believe is making people not want to be an event character is that the experience of being an event character for a normal clone who does not have the power to dictate their role in the event is that they fulfil the role of a punching bag for the clones to destroy over and over for an hour, this in its self is not that bad of a situation: holding a room as long as you can against various types of clones. The biggest issue however is you just end up getting one shot killed and spawn camped by certain ridiculous pieces of weaponry namely: sp_dc17rpg, sp_dc17shotgun, sp_dc17shotgundelta, sp_dc17sniper, sp_rpg. And if you somehow get the upper hand on the types of regiments that have these weapons they will just grapplehook out of reach, go invisible and heal themselves.

I understand that the people that have the power to solve the EC issue are the same people that are using these ridiculous weapons so this is not going to go anywhere but this is the solution and it's up to you if you want to solve it.

 

TL;DR:

RC, Battalion, 501st, 41st and 212th get ridiculously overpowered weaponry that make being a event character boring as shit which is getting events cancelled. 501st, 41st and 212th I don't mind as they only get one or two of these weapons and have low hp. Battalion and especially RC basically get massively overamped versions of these already broken weapons and every single one of them plus massive hp, invisibility and their own medkit.

Event planners should not have to cancel events or even bribe people with money and op weaponry of their own.

Any additional information:

Please don't reply justifying why you deserve more power then other players on the server.

[Lewis 46]

First of all, I very much doubt you have been on the community for nearly 5 years as I have never heard of you. Your first point of ECs not being able to create their own decisions etc. This is because the EPs need to have control over the event characters and if they don't and the ECs mess things up, the blame goes to the EP. Over the development of the server, changes have obviously happened. Bring regiments one by one was an old way of doing it but very ineffective as most people got angry at you for it.  The changes mentioned above are also caused for the server growing in size and old methods just don't work anymore. 

Moving on to the weapons. If done correctly, ECs and Clones can have the same amount of power but the majority of time it can be a bit more one sided. Also, you need to do more research on what regiments get what before making this because not all battalion and RC get med kits, can be invisible and have a lot of HP. I don't know if you was being sarcastic but better mention it. 

Lets say you had the opportunity to change some stuff to 'fix' what you are mentioning, what would you do?

(I am genuinely interested) 

[Shepherd 98]

-1

I think the way events are at the moment are fine as they have actual structure to them. EPs can change spawns, give weapons and if needs be vehicles at the correct moment. 15K HP is just a breeder for HP rushing, and places like the GR wouldn't stand a chance. 

Events are only boring when you are getting absolutely annihilated and that doesn't happen often. 

Also a lot has changed since the 64 slot servers, and those type of events wouldn't really work anymore unless done by a small team of staff members as a back-up event.
 

[Deez_Nuts 0]

 

44 minutes ago, Lewis said:

Your first point of ECs not being able to create their own decisions etc. This is because the EPs need to have control over the event characters and if they don't and the ECs mess things up, the blame goes to the EP. Over the development of the server, changes have obviously happened.

When I said "What I believe is making people not want to be an event character is that the experience of being an event character for a normal clone who does not have the power to dictate their role in the event is that they fulfil the role of a punching bag" When I said this I meant someone who can't spawn in a CIS sniper which I have noticed is something staff commonly do when playing as an EC. I did not mean that the ECs should be able to make up their own event as that would ruin events.

44 minutes ago, Lewis said:

Bring regiments one by one was an old way of doing it but very ineffective as most people got angry at you for it.

My point when I talked about that was not to reintroduce it but to show that ages ago EVERYONE wanted to be an event character and so begging for ECs was not necessary.

45 minutes ago, Lewis said:

Moving on to the weapons. If done correctly, ECs and Clones can have the same amount of power but the majority of time it can be a bit more one sided.

The events are supposed to be one-sided which is why I said I actually liked holding out against clones trying to kill me but for the average EC meaning for a non-staff player with a normal clone role they just get repeatedly killed by delta shotguns and dc17 snipers without the slightest chance of killing them due to their life span of 10 seconds.

I think being in RC should mean you get a variety of equipment to combat any scenario but that does not mean each piece of said equipment should be soup'd up to extreme levels.

1 hour ago, Lewis said:

Also, you need to do more research on what regiments get what before making this because not all battalion and RC get med kits, can be invisible and have a lot of HP. I don't know if you was being sarcastic but better mention it.

I do know this but I was simplifying the regiment. for the most part most of these jobs get an OP close range gun, long range gun and a lot of health. some getting the ability to cloak and heal.

 

1 hour ago, Lewis said:

Lets say you had the opportunity to change some stuff to 'fix' what you are mentioning, what would you do?

(I am genuinely interested) 

I don't think I have the solution but nerfing certain key equipment like the dc17 shotguns and sniper, giving the same restrictions 212th abide by for the dc17rpg such as limited use. making sure no one has everything meaning blaster, navas and certain high command is a good start.

 

1 hour ago, Shepherd said:

I think the way events are at the moment are fine as they have actual structure to them. EPs can change spawns, give weapons and if needs be vehicles at the correct moment. 15K HP is just a breeder for HP rushing, and places like the GR wouldn't stand a chance. 

Events are only boring when you are getting absolutely annihilated and that doesn't happen often. 

Also a lot has changed since the 64 slot servers, and those type of events wouldn't really work anymore unless done by a small team of staff members as a back-up event.
 

you have missed the point of my post, I do like the way events are structured and the story behind them. I do not want to return to the old ways.

I have a problem with getting repeatedly killed by the same ~6 people who have bs gear.

[Bean 80]

2 hours ago, Deez_Nuts said:

RC, Battalion, 501st, 41st and 212th get ridiculously overpowered weaponry

You forgot the 21st FT. 

But i do see where you're coming from to be honest. I never play clone EC unless its to save an event with my regiment because being mowed down by the same few regiments with their strong EQ for around half an hour is absolutely no fun at all. EPs can balance events so it feels like we're not just steamrolling the hostiles but i feel like this doesn't happen often and probably isn't very easy. I don't really have any solutions for this mind you but i'd love to see more incentives for people to go clone EC or more ways to dynamically balance out events i.e not just giving the ECs a ton of OP weapons and forcing the entire GAR to fight through one tight corridor in order to balance the two sides.

[Silent 148]

Lewis i think you walked into that last line there. RC are literally all ULX ranks with a Vice Manager an event manager a senior event planner and other ULx roles. Yet you have the most broken weaponry and your own rules for combat. Battalion have a lot of HP that is correct and it probably is unfair but in my opinion we get subsidised by lack of weaponry as Battalion can only choose 1 Piece of equipment from their supervising regiment. This can vary from a repeating blaster to a Sniper. 

 

I believe that if events are to be improved you need to fix the lag.  SLT have been trying to do this for years so that can't really be done. I say this because I think that you could possibly use more event characters perhaps double and give them their regimental equipment or part of it. This can be done by making permanent EC jobs for different regiments or making weapons permanent until job change or staff being awfully quici with claims.

 

If you get more ECs it means that you can treat it more as a skirmish and have the spawns awfully far away from the battle and the EP would act as the EC Battalion. You can also lower the HP of the ECs so that in fights its more evenly spread.

 

This would stop things like GR pushes which are just unimaginative and unrealistic and it will allow a more widespread battle with EC own choice. In addition if you are using more clones for ECs and they are using their clone equipment or some of it, I believe that if you mess around and don't listen to EP you can be liable to IC clone punishment eg demotion, strikes.

 

For jesi events there are a couple of ideas I have to improve them. First of all the combat isn't brilliant especially when it's lagging. I recommend doing jedi events on separate times to clone events, maybe between the hours.  Eg 3 6 8. Also the force leap power is abused, in my opinion just removing this force power will benefit jedi events greatly. Most jedi can just fly to caves so that problem isn't massive. In lore you don't see jedi jumping around too often, and yes you can say "but thr server doesn't follow lore" bitch stop jumping around like a rabbit with a pogostick. 

This will stop jedi ecs just leaping around from place to place and will make the fighting or negotiating better. 

 

In addition I believe that Jedi only Event planners should be brought in, this is because if the jedi events are happening at different times like I suggested it will mean that normal Eps are not having to come on for a very long time. In addition it means that Jedi only eps can focus on that specific event so that it can run smoother. 

 

My final point is that we should stop using maps like Mos Mesric and the one you start on the bridge. This is because most of the fighting is a kill box and its not too enjoyable as clones if you are just holding left click. On the other hand Ecs get either raped or do the raping there is never an inbetween. 

 

 

[Dyno 98]

I agree with a lot of the points made. I do remember really wanting to be selected for EC back then and that's the way it should be. As an EP you can give out OP weaponry or set HPs higher to combat the one side of the server with extremely OP weaponry but then, the rest of the player base will get shat on and begin complaining. Jedi only EPs would be cool, never really understood why we can't have them. If anything, there needs to be a wider variety of weapons for EPs to choose from. Additionally, they need to pack some punch.

[SixSeven 11]

I rarely go EC unless someone offers in game credits for it. 

Purely due to the fact I know that no matter what I do if I get a bad spawn I will die 20 times in the same spot to snipers/shotguns etc.

I hate being an EC to be honest its not really that fun unless you're given op equipment but then clones just complain about it. 

Feels like a loss loss situation for the EP no matter what they do.

Maybe EC's need a buff in HP or have weapons with higher damage to stop spawn killing and being absolutely destroyed by the op equipment alternatively you nerf the clones but again whatever happens I feel like if its not the EP being moaned at for a bad event SMT/Spades will be moaned at for making people too OP or not powerful enough and again were in a loss loss situation.

I think there is a good majority of people in the server who would agree that they don't want to/don't enjoy going EC as they know they will just get shit on. 

I think that the bigger situation from this post is that often/more and more recently events get cancelled due to a lack of EC's whether that be because people generally don't want to go EC or because if they go EC they know they will just get destroyed.

Whatever the fix to this is it will have to be thought of carefully as, what I stated above someone will always be at blame if people aren't happy even if they change is for good.

[Frenchy 6]

This has been said many times over, but an event character deficit is not primarily caused by equipment. Some of the reasons are rather:
- People want to be active within their regiment
- People need loggings (in most regiments) as clone
- People are off promotion cooldown and want to be promoted af a clone event
- Being event character is a commitment and forces you to stay, even if you don't want to

Also in regards to equipment of regiments like RC, it's important to understand what numbers you are working with. How many people do RC consist of compared to a normal regiment?

Lastly, let's be real here. I may not be a self-proclaimed 5 year active memer, but during my entire time on the server being event character has always had the same amount of disinterest. It's simply uninteresting and doesn't do anything for your progression on the server. It actually seems to have gotten a bit better with the addition of TS medals.

[Blaster 50]

Denied

After being an Event Character for an insane amount of times, most of which I received standart EC Equipment, I must say this is so far from truth. I will be speaking from a perspective on which I did not receive special equipment.

 

First of all, being an Event Character is not mandatory. People will ALWAYS prefer to play their main jobs in order to progress the ranks. Unfortunately, most regiments do not account their member's activity if they are playing as an EC. This heavily discourages people to volunteer and help with the event.

Secondly, events are mainly focused on entertaining both sides and bringing a balanced force between them. This is all up to the Event Host, where he may give out almost any type of weapon, vehicle, equipment or barricade. Clones are restricted to what their job/regiment has, unless a Rear Admiral+ intervenes into breaking the Bronze Rule and allowing any republic personnel to use equipment outside their regiment or training. This means that it is up to the Event Host to put down barricades, give you weapons, find safe spawns and assist in any way he can. This does not mean that he will constantly be giving you overpowered equipment. Only when needed.

As a counter point to the equipment, all Event Character weapons are heavily buffed to match clone one, and even outmatch them at times. This includes your mentioned RC weaponry. With the addition of increased health, support from an OOC source (Event Host), which has access to most actions otherwise classed as powergaming, event characters are easily the most powerful group in an event, depending on how the Event Host wants to run it. EC Jobs have equipment that match their role. For example, a Bounty Hunter has a GH, a B2 Droid has an arm rocket and a B1 Sniper has a sniper (obviously). 

Moreover, having to be a job that is distributed and made equal to usually 10 clones (Usually an EC is counted as equal to 10 Clones), you should expect 10 times the amount of force. Also, events are most of the time a victory for the Republic, with last stands being the most usual victories for Event Characters. This is a Clone Wars server, heavily focused on events where clones gain the upper hand.

Last but not least, I have done a survey myself between November 12th and December 23rd, to find the main causes of lack of Event Characters. This included me constantly being an Event Character without any advantage over a standard EC, asking and monitoring Event Chat/Communication and finally comparing Event Flow. The 3 main causes were:

1. Spawncamping. This is when an EC or Clone, in this case EC, is killed almost instantly out of spawn due to lack of cover.

2. Flamethrowers. This was heavily mentioned and the causes were the constant red screen from afterburn and in connection with spawncamping.

3. Lack of special equipment. This included weapons, equipment such as the Grapple Hook, turrets and vehicles in order to counter clones.

 

Event Character Jobs are also under work and some clone weapons will be rebalanced to fit their category. In the end, an explosive must do more damage than a laser shot, a single shotgun shot must do more damage than a single SMG shot and a regiment such as RC, where there are only 10 members (not always on at the same time), being the elite regiment of special forces, must have access to the best weapons the Republic has to offer, in order for them to be most efficient.

Nonetheless, thank you for your suggestion, and as mentioned above, job rebalances are already being looked into.