Alternative To Dark Sectors' Current Function

[Aksyl]

I was excited for what Dark Sectors sounded like before the update hit. I thought there was a whole chain of uncharted systems players would need to build across, cooperatively, while allowing clans to occasionally challenge the claims on a node with either a fair or slightly defender favored contest.

 

What we've got now is a microcosm of class warfare, not even bracketed by clan size. My clan, myself included, doesn't even want to deploy a rail due to the fact that, even if we got one out, it would nigh immediately be challenged and become worthless until we fought off usurpers, only to be challenged again, assuming we won, thus forwarding a never-ending cycle of, well, territorial "marking". 

 

I've loved this game for so long because it has represented rivalry instead of a grudgematch grief-fest that Dark Sectors have become.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Aksyl

[Bobsplosion]

You can still use your rail while you're being challenged.

[CakieXD]

I really don't like how the system is at the moment; it's fake-pvp, with no option for counter-play.

I honestly expected a system like epic quest for epic loot, where you can build the area enemy players run, and select what defenses you place in the area. But at the moment, it's more like a big griefing match. Players could join other sides raiding parties in a Loki frame and try to hault progress by constantly swapping them back.

That's the only counter play. Griefing.

 

come on i just wanna make a death arena people have to run through.

 

 

or you know, conclave esque missions, something to halt the progress of the enemy without running missions to damage the solar rail. legitment pvp, or a better psedu-pvp with dojo style construction of the solar rail that lets you build and place enemies for Tenno to fight

Edited April 14, 2014 by CakieXD

[Aksyl]

You can still use your rail while you're being challenged.

Doesn't the lore say that two rails cannot coexist at the same node?

[Bobsplosion]

Doesn't the lore say that two rails cannot coexist at the same node?

I don't know about that, but a lot of rails are being deployed right now and I can still access their dark sectors.

[Morec0]

Doesn't the lore say that two rails cannot coexist at the same node?

 

They drain the power of each other, deteriorating both over time, but both sides have the power to repair their rails to keep them functional and in use. When one clan fails to provide sufficient resources/materials for the repairs, then their rail will crumble to dust. So, they can be used, but each use damages that rail - hence the need for repairs.

[CakieXD]

I don't know about that, but a lot of rails are being deployed right now and I can still access their dark sectors.

they said in the devspeak video when they ARE deployed, they will be locked until the fight is done

[Naqel]

territorial "marking"

 

Without actual PvP, or a benefit that makes competing for and taxing the rails relevant, comparing the whole idea to a pissing contest is most appropriate.

[Endorphinz]

I've been waiting for a thread about Dark Sectors, because it's really something that DE clearly didn't think through. No one in DE thought that maybe having a handful of locations up for being contested by HUNDREDS of clans and alliances only ONCE every 24 hours was just a little bit of a half-baked concept? Claiming a dark sector comes down to whoever clicks the fastest.

 

On top of it all, it seems like most solar rail is going to charge 0% tribute for access, meaning there's not really any incentive to claim dark sectors as your own, when you can still just get into them for free.

 

I really ought to make a new thread about this.

[Aksyl]

So, to flesh out the idea a little more, the one I mistook the addition of dark sectors to mean:

 

A new system with a reusable key (similar to the dojo key), would open up to high level clans/players.

 

This system would include:

A new tileset, maybe something akin to Xen from Half-Life providing a decent test of one's agility (As implied by that crazy hologram in the orokin lab).

 

Dynamically interconnected nodes: when two nodes are within a certain distance they can be connected, the only exceptions being that two rails can't intersect, and each node can only have one rail tax it.

 

Players can choose which path to take through the nodes. The further from the origin they travel, the harder the missions becomes. Your clan/alliance must have beaten a node to create a rail from it.

 

Challenging another clan's claim on a node works much the same as it does here, but is less based on opportunism and the added chore of clicking buttons more than the other guy. More, the people who actually use the node choose which they prefer to use more.

 

A "seasonal" repeated event sweeps through the dark sectors, say, every two months. Without heavy Tenno cooperation, many solar rails can be lost, pushing back progress towards the endgame.

 

If rails become disconnected from the network by an intermediary severance, they begin to rapidly decay.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Aksyl