The long awaited post on PvP has been made by Castle on the official forums. The highlights:
Diminishing returns:
The first buff of a particular attribute is full strength, but each additional buff to that attribute is reduced in effect, and buffs in addition to that are reduced further still. The example given is Aim+Buildup currently grants 67% ToHit, and under the diminishing returns system it will grant 49%.
I don't know that this goes far enough for addressing the prevalence of ToHit in PvP. Defense sets practically have to live inside their tier-9 if they are to survive in the current PvP environment. In comics, you always see the reflexer giving the super strengther a hard time, not the other way around. In CoX PvP, Super Strength trumps Super Reflexes completely, and that's just plain wrong.
Melee attack range increased:
Melee range is increased to 7 feet. This effects PvE as well (probably not a bad thing there).
I would have looked at making it 8-10 feet for PvP, because I find that's the minimum range a melee attack can have before you start running into serious problems reaching your target. Notice how easily Bane Spiders' Shatter and Brute and Tanker Knock Out Blow are executed in PvP compared to 5 foot range attacks (they are easier than the 5 footers by an order of magnitude).
Travel Suppression:
Activating a ranged damage power activates a 3*damage scale second travel suppression. So if a power has a damage scale of 1.0, it activates a 3 second travel suppression. 2.0 is 6 seconds and so on. Melee attacks have a 2* suppression, and ranged control powers are 3.5*. Interestingly, being attacked gives a 2 second suppression.
The attacked-suppression could be a bit frustrating when you're trying to get out of a bad situation, but I can see the reasoning behind it. Right now it's just too easy to avoid combat all together, and this can make getting a kill in very difficult. Heals and buffs cause suppression too, and that's good to see, since it can be very difficult getting those support classes as they hop around at will. This also gives melees a bit more of a chance to get to a ranged attacker, since ranged attackers have about 50% more suppression.
Control Duration:
Control duration is now basically 4 seconds. 8 seconds in Domination. Resistance instead of protection means you'll more easily get someone held, but for a far shorter time (for example a Tanker will be held for 3.48 seconds if a control lasts 8 seconds). Holds do far more damage now, however.
This could make taking a Tanker out more problematic. Right now you can get that Granite Tank held with just a bit of patience and have enough time during that hold to kill him. Under the new system? Not so easy. This has me wondering about the value of my Doms in PvP under this system. I'll try it out first and before crying DOOM! though. Odds are I'll like it once I get used to it.
Heal Resistance:
When someone gets a heal from any source, a 15 second heal suppression goes into effect during which an additional heal is reduced in effectiveness by 25% (and more heals are further reduced still).
I like it. I immediately wonder what affect if any this will have on Regeneration, the premeire PvP melee armor set.
Power Damage:
Longer activation time powers do more damage. Long recharge powers get a smaller bonus to damage.
I really like this. Right now, you're punished for using any long animating attack. Under this new system, you'll be rewarded for it. The new system is much more fair and makes much more sense in this way. It enables you to bring a much wider selection of powersets into PvP, too, and I love that! This is perhaps my favorite change of the lot.
Resistance:
Each Archetype gets a bonus resist buff in PvP, equalizing the survivability of the various classes. All armors now protect against all damage types.
I don't know about this one. A Blaster is as survivable as a Tank is as survivable as a Dominator etc? Well, I suppose some of the damage advantage of Blasters has been taken away (since all Archetypes do generally the same damage now), so some survivability in return would only be fair. I'll have to see how this one goes in open beta before deciding if I like it or not. It somehow seems necessary to the new system, though. *shoulder shrug*
Taunt:
Taunt has a -75% range effect now. Tankers get a full AOE Taunt, while Scrappers and Brutes get a single target. All have the -range. Each attack has a guaranteed minimum range beyond wich it cannot be dubuffed.
I like this one a lot! It was first dicussed on the forums very recently, so I thought it was going to be a while before we saw it implemented. I guess Castle really likes it because he apparently put it on the fast track. This goes a long, long way to giving melees a chance in PvP.
That's a lot of changes coming to PvP! I sure hope they take a long, hard look at Defense vs. ToHit in PvP though, because the stacking limitation isn't enough to solve the problem (Super Strength's Rage alone cuts right past Super Refelxes Defense, and that's just not fair or comic-bookie). Here's hoping that gets fixed, too!
Check it out at the official forums.
There has been much crying in the Arena PvP forums over these changes. Very many threats of leaving. You know, I'm a bit disappointed. Aren't these the people that, when people complain about the current broken system say, "cri moar, l2p"? Heed your own advice, guys! The current system is broken and you know it. Things must change in PvP. Learn, adapt, grow. You just might find, in the long run, that you find you like the new system once you acclimate to it.
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