PvE FRS XP rebalance and expansion

[Mythor]

As probably the only Jedi (Sharna) to have attended virtually every event since January I think I'm uniquely positioned to say this - the current rate of PvE FRS XP is too low to be viable or fun in the long term. I'm sitting on Rank 1 at the moment while trying to save for Rank 5. I've been to practically every coordinated event, taken part in a random krayt hunt, did a full buff of Sentinel hunting in a sizeable group, killed the one BH who came for me at an event (in 2.5 months!) and one random flagged player and I'm still short of the 40k needed for Rank 4.

The values for the current mobs were set over 4 years ago and, as far as I can tell, never changed. The only addition has been the Sentinels. In that time I gather PvP has diminished significantly, to the point now where myself and an assortment of other Jedi spent 6 hours at a Rogue event today (Saturday/Sunday) without a Bounty Hunter coming for any of us, and that's the easiest sort of PvP to get started. I've also gone out solo to Fort Tusken, the Krayt Graveyard, two Imperial POIs (for faction) and hunting assorted NPCs for Recycler parts for extended periods and not been hunted. So even if I wanted to PvP for my FRS, I can't.

I'm therefore proposing 2 changes. First, a rebalance of existing PvE FRS XP rewards to make soloing/small group hunts more viable and events a little less mandatory for Jedi.

Second, adding more mobs that can award FRS XP.

Both suggestions would hopefully encourage Jedi to get out hunting on their own more often, either to gain ranks or to maintain their existing rank. I don't know the situation on the dark side of things, but on the light side we only have 3 Jedi above rank 1: One at rank 2, one at 5 and one at 8.

Nobody dares advance because the only viable source of FRS is the events. I appreciate the work of the Event Coordinators in running events for us, but I feel bad that they're basically stuck running events that reward FRS in some fashion lest everyone get dumped back to Knight. I'm sure they'd rather be playing their own characters sometimes, too. Nobody is saying it outright, but with the very low chances at interesting loot the main driver for events right now is FRS. And running Rogue's (excellent) bunker for hours at a time is a recipe for burnout for all but the most dedicated players.

First, the rebalance. Anything that doesn't have set spawn locations, only random, should reward significantly more FRS than currently. Values adjusted to match difficulty of mobs as Sentinels are significantly harder than the Gorax, plus the current Sentinel rewards just aren't enough to motivate most people.

Mob - Current Value - Proposed Value
Mammoth Thune - 10 - 50
Peko Peko Albatross - 25 - 60
Gorax - 100 - 250
Sentinel - 55 - 500

Anything that does have a set spawn, or a region where they're prevalent, should reward more FRS, though not as much extra as the RNG mobs. Kiin'Dray does not give FRS at present to my knowledge, but the other targets around it in the Knight Trial list do. Krayts get less increase as they also have pearls, the other Jedi advancement opportunity.

Mob - Current Value - Proposed Value
Canyon/Giant Krayt - 15 - 30
Ancient Krayt - 20 - 60

Tusken Observer - 15 - 50
Tusken Executioner - 20 - 60

SMC Councilwoman - 15 - 50
NS Elder - 15 - 50
Augwynne - 25 - 150
Axkva - 50 - 200

Death Watch Overlord - 25 - 50
Acklay - 25 - 100
*Kiin'Dray - 0 - 50

Moving these values up provides room for lower value FRS mobs. Jedi would have to hunt these in significant numbers for advancement/maintenance, but they might come across them while hunting some of the above.

Mob - Suggested Value
NS Protector/SMC equivalent - 5
Tusken Witch Doctor - 5
Whatever the biggest Kimogilas are - 10-15
The Kimos below the biggest - 5
Adolescent Krayt - 5
Suggestions?

Goals of these changes:
- Get more Jedi out more regularly because they feel like they can make progress in a timely fashion, which also provides more opportunities for BH/faction squads, rather than having to rumble events.

- Make progressing through the FRS a viable advancement option for Jedi, both old and new. Old/high ranked Jedi could meet their maintenance needs more easily and potentially fill out the ranks more. Rank 1s would feel more comfortable stepping up ranks to make way for the crop of new Jedi coming through. Rank 1 on the light side is full and will likely remain so until someone gains enough to step up to rank 5. ie; months at current values.

- Increase FRS rank activity for dark side Jedi, with more challenges to free up higher slots. And voting on light side. >_>

- Sentinels become more enticing if the reward more closely matches the effort involved. Increasing the loot odds seems unlikely, but with 500 FRS XP on offer (1500 if you kill the 2 respawns) people might start grouping up for them more often.

Obviously all the numbers provided are just suggestions. Some might find the numbers much too high! Some might find the numbers not high enough! These are just a starting point for a (hopefully) productive discussion on a path to making the FRS a bit more interesting. If it turns out everyone's gaining ranks much too fast after the change, I would hope the numbers would be revised back down. I'd rather that than the idea not be tried at all for fear of FRS bloat. Should PvP return on a regular basis this could also be reduced, of course.

My hope is that increasing the FRS XP available will free Event Coordinators up to run some different events, like raids on Fort Tusken, or Krayt Hunts. I don't know if they feel the pressure to be FRS sources, but I doubt it's escaped their notice.

I know this might seem a little self-serving as well, since I'm currently trying to advance through the FRS myself. But short of going out to prey on unsuspecting/afk flagged players (which would just drive more people away from the server) I can't see another route to Rank 5, other than attending another 20+ events. New Jedi who can't make it to as many events as I do are never going to get past rank 1, barring a miraculous population resurgence.

Hope this is given serious consideration for the health of the Jedi population and the server in general.

[Kidders]

some good ideas, i dont agree with some of the magnitude of increases for some of the mobs but i do agree in the overall sentiment.

id also like to see small values added to Factional NPCS, even if its just 1-2-3-4-5 values to encourage jedi to get out there and engage in factional combat. perhaps only the highest value targets granting small values, with Values also added to DJK/Adept/DJM in a higher reasonable value.

that being said adding values to imperial Force NPCS, means we would have to have Rebel ones added, LJK/LJM/LJA etc.

with Rank caps being implemented eventually, as per Patch 10 notes. it would make Decay maintenance easier to obtain overall.

[Triaan]

Morning,

all ideas are great.
Putting up more Critters with FRS Points would help maintain or collect enough FRS.

I'm in the same Problem as Sharna. I can't rank up in FRS. Kammii is Rank 1 and i am loosing every Day 50 FRS. I sit in around 35k FRS. ANd i can't attend every EC-Event.

If not for the Loot with Sentinels ( it's crap! ) more FRS for a kill would bring more fun in killing them. At the moment its very frustrating.

Greets
Loklo

[Mythor]

Some of the XP increases might be too high but there's also some suggestions of other potential targets for adding to the list. Just adding some extra targets would be an improvement on the current system.

[zackjdl]

I love the idea of adding small FRS rewards to other mobs. It does feel like our options of gaining FRS is very limited and expanding our options would be a breath of fresh air.

Regarding PvP, I realize the FRS system was intended for PvP as Cyclone has clearly stated. However even if we were to participate in PvP as intended, the cooldown between gaining FRS from killing the same person repeatedly might still make the top ranks 9+ unachievable as there aren't enough players on the server to kill and the system cannot function as intended anyway (without intentionally making a bunch of alts and feeding). I think this fact alone should warrant a tweak to the system.

Hope the suggestion gains some traction.

-Par