Ask Cryptic: July 24th, 2009

I can see many of the PvP challenges are group based, will there be a chance for those players which do not have a team to join randomly together? – insomnia68

Absolutely! You can join a Hero Games queue as a team or as solo player. If you queue as a solo player, you'll be automatically placed on a side with other players to make a full team. If you use the team queue option, your whole team will get to play together on the same side in the same game.

Will the BASH and other PvP styles have varied maps, or will the arena be static? And if they are varied, what kind of maps can we expect? – Harvestking

There are multiple UTC maps that offer challenges and benefits for different players. The UTC Cage Match is the first arena players will fight in. As you move up in level, you will progress to the High-Tech Training Room and, later, a ruined Lava Temple.

We'll also be launching with one B.A.S.H. map (Millennium City Westside), and one Apocalypse scenario (Stronghold Prison). The team is dedicated to growing the number of locations and options on a regular basis. Think of this as the first course in a delicious and varied banquet of PvP.

Will there be set up tournament hosted by devs in for arena type pvp? – DirtyRat88

The Hero Games team is very enthusiastic about offering both exhibition and ranked matches in a tournament format, but we want to do it right. We are looking into the best way to deliver the system to the players and how we can reward the participants.

Will duels lead to actual death and have whatever death penalties go along with that? Or like WoW, for example, will duels be fought until the brink of death, declare the winner and spare the players from dying? – notarchiebunker

Players won't get a “death penalty” from duels or from any player vs. player combat. Duels come to an end once a player is defeated, and that player will stand back up with one hit point. Duels are for fun and bragging rights; we don't ever want to punish players for losing one.

Even though B.A.S.H. takes place in an outdoor zone it’s still a type of arena event. Are there any future plans to implement a persistent open PvP zone? – L12

We have no plans at this time but if it’s something our PvPers want to see happen we’ll look into it.

I noticed the recent PvP article mentioned "duel-anywhere" style technology with some form of shield or field to stop other players interfering. Have you put something in place so duelists cannot block things like building entrances or the like? – serra

This is an (understandable) misconception. Players are able to duel most anywhere in the world but they will never interfere with another player’s ability to play the game. The "force field" is really more like a hologram, and just exists to show the boundaries. You can see it if you're in the duel, but anyone can pass right through it.

Can you explain how the loot and xp distribution systems will work? – Keldran

Rewards are given out at the end of each Hero Games match, and each hero's reward is based on their participation in the match. There's a reasonably complex formula for this, but you'll tend to get more rewards for accomplishing your objectives without letting your opponents accomplish theirs: helping to defeat opponents, and winning matches, for instance, will tend to increase your reward. For team games, most of these rewards are shared across the entire team, so a healer or tank who contributes to a win will get good rewards even though they weren't scoring the kills personally.

That said, even if you're not a strong player, you'll still get a respectable reward for participating--after all, persevering in the face of certain death is what makes a hero, right?

Match rewards include XP and Acclaim. Acclaim can be "spent" at Hero Games vendors for special loot: upgrades, costume unlocks, and other stuff that you can't get anywhere else. We're also working on a system to let defeated enemy players drop valuable items directly once in a blue moon.

We give out rewards at the end of each match for a few reasons. First, it make it easier to reward support characters for indirect contributions. Second, it makes it easier to give out rewards for things like your team winning. For one, it makes it easier to give out rewards based on it discourages players from quitting mid-game. Even if they're losing, they can stick it out and earn some rewards. If they ragequit, they get nothing.

Will it be possible for a character to *only* engage in PvP and still gain levels at a comparable rate to a character who *only* engages in PvE? – Lo_Jystix

Yes, but you have to earn it!

Rewards in the Hero Games are based on skill. The average player will gain experience in PvP at somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 the rate of a player who's doing PvE. That's fast enough that you're not putting your character advancement on hold. It's slow enough that you're encouraged to try to PvE content from time to time. Once in a while. C'mon. We put a lot of effort into those Lairs.

However, the best PvP players will be getting more XP than the average PvP players. If you're really good, you can gain XP just as quickly in PvP as you could in PvE. Consider it a challenge.

(Average PvP players, don't despair! You get the lion's share of the reward just for participation.)

If the duels are like Sumo matches where you lose if you get pushed out of the circle, is there anything to keep powers like Force with its huge knockback from being over powered in duels? Wouldn't it be easy to just push someone out of the ring with Force powers and finish the match quickly and unfairly? – GetterRobo

The circle is big--it's on the order of 200 feet. You won't accidentally step out or get pushed out unless you were fighting close to the edge, even if you're a fast-moving super-speedster or acrobat. But positioning is part of Champions combat! When fighting a hero with force powers, you really do want to keep some extra distance from the edge of the circle, or make sure you have some knockback resistance.

I know the maximum number of players that can participate in a B.A.S.H. event is 20, what is the minimum number required for the event to start? Are the loot drops dependent on the number of players that partake in the event? – L12

I think you might like this…. 2 and no! We wanted to keep it open and easy to get in and fight. Any number of players should have the same chance at gaining rewards. More opponents means more threats to watch out for, but it also means more targets to take advantage of!

Will it be possible for players to AFK their way through any of the PvP games, mooch off the other participants and still get a reward (even a minor one) when the game concludes? For example, queuing up for an Apocalypse run and then either staying near the entrance doing nothing, or just auto-following another player without offering any assistance. – AndrosArch

No. AFK players will get coal in their stockings and nothing else.

In general, any system can be gamed. Our goal is to make sure that it's less profitable to try to game the system than just to play normally. You can be sure we'll keep an eye out for potential abuses as we launch.

Will the PvP have some sort of a ranking system, particularly the 5v5 battles? – Juiced

We track your PvP record, both overall and in each arena. You'll earn perks, unlock costume pieces, and gain titles as you rack up victories.

Also, as mentioned in a previous answer, we want to get to the point where we can have ranked matches as well as a ratings and rankings board. We want to get it right the first time, which means that we're not going to try to shoehorn it in for launch.

Will the ability to purchase premium items out of the game with real money cause imbalance and overpowered characters to dominate the PvP? – CameronChampion

There are no items available for purchase with real money that upset the balance of the game.