PvP Tax

[erglion]

This idea is something that I have been thinking about in light of the general discussion at the moment.  I am not 100% in love with it myself, and there are some problems, but maybe someone else can work them out below.


Implementation:
The main idea being that if you PvP someone and loot them, then you don't get all of their items.  These items disappear forever. The exact items can be chosen with some amount of randomization.  For instance, some of the consumables might be lost (potion bottles or wands broke in the fight, etc.).  Some armor and weapons might be lost (damaged beyond repair in the fight).  And a random percentage of gold lost, maybe 10-30% (no IC rationalization). Plot items would be omitted.  Nothing so strong as to eliminate the benefits, just like a 20% net reduction to slow the rate that successful PvPers amass loot stockpiles.

Motivation:
The main motivation being that the benefits from full-looting a PC can greatly exceed what you might earn questing.  Especially if you consider the time each might take.  

I understand that PvP is way more dangerous than questing: you may die yourself and open yourself to future retribution at any time.  There are benefits too: you just killed your enemy and you probably intimidated your other enemies.  Toning the loot exchange down a little bit won't unfairly imbalance the high risk-high reward nature of PvP, especially since it would affect everyone on all sides.

Another motivation is that this is in-line with the way the rest of the game works.  If we raid the orc lair we don't leave with 95 great axes, 88 breastplates, 83 spiked helms, etc.  Most of their mundane loot disappears, and can be justified as it being damaged in the battle and so forth.  This just applies a similar (though greatly reduced) penalty to PCs.

The main implementation problem is when to apply the penalty.  It would have to happen when the pack is dropped, before it hits the ground.  Clearly if the PC is being FD'd on the spot, then it would work.  In the cases where the PC is subdued to be dragged off for sacrifice or slavery, and could even be rescued, then it is dicier.  My opinion is that it should apply whenever the fight is serious  including murders, kidnapping, and robbery.  These being the cases where the IC rationalization is more justifiable.  It should probably be a separate damage mode like "Strong Subdual".  In the case where the PC is rescued later then the equipment is still lost, that being the danger of such aggressive fighting.

[erglion]

For the implementation I figured out a way I think it could work by changing the damage mode settings:

Change the current "subdual" mode to not allow pack drops/yanks -or- to drop a locked pack that can only be opened by the PC that dropped it.

Add the new "strong subdual" mode that drops the pack with the penalty applied.

"FD" mode also drops a pack with a penalty applied.

[Caddies]

What does this add, though?

[bob7el]

I'd rather not see stuff randomly disappearing from people's packs when they die to PvP.

[Denko]

What about a bank system for both gold and items?

[Nihm]

This doesnt add anything, it reduces the loot motive of PvP, which is a good thing.

[Hammerfist0]

Bring back the bank for gold atleast is all I say.

In the old EfU I never carried around more then 100-200 gold. Those who PvP'ed me were sorely disappointed.

[Sternhund]

I'd rather eliminate as many OOC elements from the game as possible, and this is adding an OOC element to PVP. It changes the game entirely, is complicated, will take time to script (when I'd rather prepare for DM quests), and is not necessary.

Thanks for your thoughts, but I'm afraid we're not going to implement this.