The Plan for Cut-Throat Mode

Chris,

Before any specific game mechanic changes are mentioned I want to stress that although a good portion of future cut-throat players will want their characters to live ("So that they may hunt down their killers") there are also a very large number of future players which want to play hardcore to its fullest. It would not be difficult to have cut-throat be a button instead of a league, similar to the "Hardcore" button, having it underneath hardcore.

With that said I will give my two cents for some gameplay mechanics.

Hardcore
Hardcore Cut-Throat is a must. Setting aside the killing each other aspect, there is so much that having characters be permanently removed adds to the atmosphere. It keeps the perpetuity of the grind going in a way where it is not just about time spent playing, but about time spent surviving. You can actually surpass your comrades on the leaderboards simply by not dying while they do. This is irreplaceable. Now to touch on the cut-throat part of it - It just increases the difficulty of survival and will keep the league true to itself. The bigger they are the harder they fall. If one person is infamous for being high level and killing many people, it may spark the idea of his enemies to create characters and specialize them in a way specifically made to counter this person, and take down the juggernaut. So much is possible in a Hardcore Cut-Throat environment. It is a must.

Needless to say there should also be a Cut-Throat softcore mode. Not everyone wants to live in this special deep dark place of hell. And I think everyone understands that. :)

Parties
As mentioned, forming parties should not be allowed. This solves multiple problems with grief squads, adds a significantly more delicate element to the gameplay, and also truly resonates with the "Cut-Throat" ideology.

Griefing
I agree level 80s should not be able to run into level 3 instances and kill them. I don't think anyone disagrees with this, however I do think the level disparity should be significant to be prevented. A couple levels is not that big of a deal and especially in a cruel cut-throat world it should be expected that everything will not be fair. I don't have the stats to put forth a specific number, but I'm sure someone could crunch the numbers and find the apex.

Player Health
I have seen quite a few players suggest taking less damage from other players to prevent instant kills or instant deaths. Although I do understand that PvP can happen extremely fast in PoE, I believe that making a "Resilience" type of stat similar to what other MMOs have done will only create a snowball effect that will require more maintenance. When you add extra damage resistance it favors some classes/abilities over others and anything that is balanced for the regular game will be imbalanced for Cut-Throat.

Temporary Invulnerability
To me the ultimate griefing is people exploiting game mechanics or actual PC mechanics. When you go through a portal or when you change zones, give a 5 second immunity to damage coupled with a inability to use attacks or abilities yourself, this will prevent people camping TPs or zones.

Max Level Zones
I believe in addition with the max level instances based on instance owner, there should be max level for particular zones, this should be slightly more strict than the restrictions on level difference for instances. This would allow games with multiple people in them to thrive due to the fact that slightly lower level players in the same game could quest in a lower level area while their friends or enemies may quest in a higher level area.

Example: If a higher level friend invites 3 friends to join his game but they are all a bit lower, this would make them susceptible to someone higher than their friend joining the game, traveling to the lower level zone, and killing them. His level would exceed the level difference restriction of the lower level friends, but not exceed the level restriction of the instance creator, causing this problem.

I'll keep trying to come up with some ideas and I have read a lot of others' ideas which are great. I know a large clique that is waiting to play PoE for the hardcore cut-throat mode and if done correctly could snowball the popularity.

Thanks for reading this GGG.

Very respectfully,

Christopher G

Nobody gonna read this ... I didn't read all the pages myself... :P

But unless they add a diminishing returns for status ailments/ stuns/ curses ... this league will be real boring real fast!

Or else EVERYBODY will run ICE SKILLS + TEMPORAL CHAINS ...


Something like, once chilled next chill is 50% effecting and the following is 25% and then immune to chill for 5s. Same for other effects and curses. Maybe something like this is already in the plans, I sure hope so and this will be rather fun.

my 2 Chaos

How are you going to prevent Alt+F4 n00bs?

Such wow

Do ladder still work on experience gained from mobs? You realize that it is kinda stupid?

"

Omga4000 wrote:

How are you going to prevent Alt+F4 n00bs?

says 0 lifetime standart player?

"

jstq wrote:

Do ladder still work on experience gained from mobs? You realize that it is kinda stupid?

"

Omga4000 wrote:

How are you going to prevent Alt+F4 n00bs?

says 0 lifetime standart player?

rekt

I cant wait to try this! Very cool.

maybe there are some special cut throat item descriptions as well? not like ears, but that your weapons get a list, maybe in regards to yoru character like:

WEAPONSTATS ETC...

-Text-
Backstabed 7 souls

-or-

-Killer of-
Kahn
Mortezzah
etc.

maybe not a brilliant idea - but i am just pumped for PERMANENT cut throat

just imagine a area with rogue exiles and player exiles all trying to loot you!

I'd rather have cutthroat be an option when you create a character in all leagues.
Cutthroat chars would have access to your stash in the league but restricted to instances created by cutthroat chars, unable to party, etc.

i really like the idea of cut-throat, but the notion of dropping all of your items really puts me off.
suggestion; have only one or two items drop from a player, and have it tied to the magic-find system.
the more IIR you have, the better the chances of your drop being magic, rare and unique.
this would force a "stalker" to prioritize. either, more damage, or better drops.
also, have currency items be very abundant, so when the players go out to grind, they will come back with all the tools necessary to buy and craft white/blue gear, to return to the most hostile zones faster, and better equipped for revenge.

instead of just the standard waypoints, have random spawn zones, when using WPs, to get out into the world.
use the those teleport objects that piety uses, and sprinkle them around the zones.
example; you want to go to mud flats, [having already activated the WP] you click the WP from town, and there you would have the option to spawn at the normal WP, or a random "piety node".

an 'inspect player' function would also be very useful. -keep reading
as a hunter by nature, i would like as many tools possible to stalk, and assess my prey.
when loading into an instance, have all the players in that instance visible via a list, and have the name attached to their account, with an option to visit their cut-throat character page,
which will display all their current items and more.
if you find someone with an item you "MUST" have, you can shadow her/him, and have all pertinent information about their class, level, items and skills, to take measure of your prey, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
when you are ready to strike, [after searching all the instances for your prey] you enter the zone, and in doing so, the mark will be notified through an audio and visual indicator.[which can be toggled i/o individually]
if you didn't get the drop you wanted from your mark, you can try again with more IIR!
have a system in place that would give victims a buff against repeat killers. it will keep things fresh, and difficult for the stalker, and keep prey from being overwhelmed by hunters.

also, put in place a log out timer in hostile zones. we don't want our prey to disgrace itself, by taking the cowardly option.

i have to make lunch, so i will stop here.
thanks for reading.