How would you design a PvP system in ME:A if you were given the opportunity?

Simply put: I wouldn't.

The basic problem with the way Mass Effect abilities are designed is that they were never intended to be used on another player and as a result have effects that players would find entirely unfun to fight against, but it works because the AI doesn't need to be having fun. If you wanted to make PvP work what you would have to do is:

> Every CC ability in the game is heavily nerfed in how long and how often it can CC other players.
> Shield restoring abilities like Biotic Charge need to have those effects basically removed.
> Stagger needs to be completely removed.
> Damage all around needs to be drastically reduced, especially in damage over time effects. A single Dark Channel in ME3 would kill most characters, to say nothing of what the Reegar Carbine would do.

You'd have to take so much out of Mass Effect that makes it Mass Effect just to get a PvP system to actually work that wasn't a complete nightmare to actually play.

No.

I'm actually leaning towards "no" myself, but since I can't sleep:


This is one of three ways I could see it actually working, but balance and salt will still be inevitable issues. Though they probably will be, regardless.

Another way is something like Evolve, where four players face off against an elite, player-controlled enemy. I'd make it best of three rounds with rewards proportionate to the amount of time taken to win, compared against regular PvE income, with high and low caps plus small bonuses on top to control exploitation.

Or, something like a dungeon master mode, where one player can upgrade regular spawns and place special units and obstacles (within reason), given an appropriately tactical view of the battlefield. Again, income would be balanced against regular PvE. I'm thinking mainly in terms of 1v4 because waiting for eight players presents its own problems... and plain 4v4 would suck.

Any way you look at it, there'd need to be a worthwhile, comparable reward so that people are playing towards something. Progression that improves the "monster" side of your gameplay would probably be fitting, as I'm sure some people would prefer those roles, plus currency you can spend on the usual traps, or things specifically tailored towards playing as the enemy. Receiving a 25% portion of the enemy's experience (assuming full team) for their respective classes is another option. Hard to be 100% on anything. Problems abound any way you take it, so hopefully they'll just stick to what they know/knew.

There are fire/shock grenades/turrets in the Division and I hate these things.
Imo, pvp would destroy something beautiful.Imagine all the rage,salt which pvp usually brings.
OK,I agree that pvp also brings thrill,challenge which pve cannot provide, but price is too steep.

I find that MP is a perfect blend of objective-based PvP's thrill/intensity/camaraderie with the coolness of the quest in the raid style PvE, but without the slow-paced parts and protracted logistics. The only thing MP does not incorporate is story-telling from the bigger raids, but those are uber luxury items. I also have a feeling that the large-scale siege-style pvp is basically impossible to make attractive in practice.

I'd use a different game engine, make it a first person shooter, use different weapons, remove all the powers, make all kits have the same base stats and...
... ah screw that, go play some Quake or UT if you want good PvP

Seriously I would go totally out of the box if I did a PvP mode on this game for the reasons Cyonan gave. Make it crazy like plants vs zombies garden warfare, maybe all the alien animal fauna battling with each other like pyjak, tresher maw, varren, etc. I know it sounds silly but PvZ is fun as hell and not serious. This is a mostly coop community; I think it would be better received than a traditional PvP shooter.

I dunno, as much as I love plants, I haven't really ever thought of playing as a fern, though pushing daisies joke would be priceless... still, the silliness of the Ocerwatch style kept me from giving it a shot (not that it kept gazillions of others from enjoying it), and a pvp mode would certainly be something I'd jump on.

Maybe if it were presented as a holodeck or other form of entertainment the colonists enjoy, sort of a video game in the Andromeda reality....

One thing I was wondering if they could do something like GSF in SWTOR, that used your character, was loosely tied to the game, but it put the character in a flight simulator PvP that negated all the concerns about the abilities, gear etc, making it basically a different game track, since you geared the ship and fought as a ship, but still with your character at the centre of it.

But seeing how GSF was largerly unpopular....

Overwatch and Battleborn seem to work, so an ME pvp game should operate along the same principles.

Or even more standard, all biotic and tech powers have analogs in weaponry, so even then, it'd work if the game played more like Battlefield, too. Adjust singularity to keep people from moving out of a given area, bring back lift (but remove the defenselessness), and everything would flow just fine.

Just as long as people can still attack while under the telekinetics, it's all good.

 


This is what I've thought in the past.  An Overwatch style game with Mass Effect characters might work.  You could have a Lucio like Volus healing the team.   There could also be an annoying Asari that keeps freezing you with Stasis like Mei does with her freeze gun.  Ok, maybe this is something I don't want to see. 

Huttball was easily the Best Thing Ever (tm), but I was an Immortal/Vengenge hybrid Juggernaut, so my opinion is obviously skewered.  My friend played an Operative and he hated Huttball.

An operative hating huttball? Inconceivable! Actually, yeah, because everyone expects you to win the game for them. That's before they could do translocation. Huttball is an awesome game mode, wish they did another map instead of Odessen....