This Is How I Want to Play! My Dream BG Fix

Over the course of the weekend, a certain Hunter, from some random backwater server, happened to be in the same BG's that I was in. Everyone here knows the type: argumentative, loud and generally mean spirited. I'm alot like that guy, but since I play to win, my commentary is usually either a) directions to other random pug players to do something strategically (no, cancelling your subscription is not strategy) or b) sarcastically lamenting the fact that the people who are playing with me need to learn how to play the various BG's.

I'll let y'all know right now that I'm not the kindest of BG participants and I have harsh criticism for people who really make grievous errors like to the Rogues who watch me get steamrolled, only to come out of Stealth after I die, to attack my attacker. I do report players who swear up a storm and are general eThugs in BG's, but knowing that karma can be a bitch, I don't swear or give anyone any opportunities to leverage any actionable behavior because of my slip ups.

So, anyways, this Hunter responds very negatively with everything I'm saying, and to be clear, my /bg chat was mostly comprised of (In SotA) "Alliance is pushing Green!", "Protect the Graveyards!", and the ever wonderful "Get off the beach and up to Yellow!". I'd personally think that these directions are helpful, especially if there are people who aren't looking at the minimap to see the flow of the match. In fact, communication of this type is critical for BG's as it gives people an idea on how to respond or take initiative.

His loudest and most frequent comment is:

Look! Another know it all. Let people play how they want to
play and STFU!

Which only got me into an ePissing match with him, which, to save your collective sanities, will not be printed here.

Naturally, this got me into thinking. Theoretically, Mr. Hunter is right. People CAN do whatever the hell they want to do in a BG. They can repeatedly drown themselves in the water by Stables for 20 minutes straight if they wanted to. However, functionally, to do something contrary to the goals of the bg weakens everybody's chances of attaining better rewards.

Pinning your chances of success to someone who doesn't care, doesn't want to win, and/or doesn't know how to complete objectives to increase their own chances of success is a dreadfully bad investment of time, and as such, is the reason why so many top PvPers just AFK BG's.

Sooooooo... What can game designers do to enforce collective movement towards a goal.

Here's my idea:

• Build into the game, the ability to detect combat in a 40 yd radius for each person.
• Give each person an Activity Rating (AR).
• Grant Honor based off of AR. No AR = no honor.
• AR is calculated through active participation, but with various boundaries: Each additional person pursuing the same 'node', up to a determined value, which is different for each node for each BG, grants additional AR. This encourages group effort. Each person beyond the set value lowers the rating, thus discouraging zerging or turtling. The game will grant AR if it detects offensive abilities being used as well as if heals/buffs are being distributed. One heal every 30 seconds = little to no AR. Buffing people who need buffs count towards AR if people are in combat. Long duration buffs do not count (Fortitude, Wisdom, etc). The game will grant bonus AR if the combat is within 40 yards of a capturable node. The game will also grant no AR if it detects combat within 40 yds from the player and that player is not participating in combat.
• (Optional) Keep a tally of average AR for the past 5 BG's of each type. If it is of a certain value or higher in a specific BG, grant a small multipler bonus on subsequent BG's of that type until the 5 game average drops below the threshold. If it is of a certain value or lower, grant a multiplier penalty on subsequent BG's until the value is brought past the threshold.
• (Optional) Each person below a certain threshold in a BG will grant a bonus AR multiplier to people who are above that threshold. This is designed to give those who are dealing with AFK'ers on their team an incentive to keep playing

For AB:

• Set all capturable nodes to have a clickable 'capture' flag and an AR value of 5 players/faction. The ownership of the node depends on how far the slider (a la EotS) is to either the Alliance or Horde side. If there is no combat going on nearby, the clickable 'capture' flag's ownership slowly reverts to neutral over time .
• If there is no combat nearby, a player may actively channel (click) to move the ownership to their faction's side. Players may move while channeling (think Fire Festival dance poles) up to 40 yards from the flag, but must refresh the channel every several seconds. This will contribute to their AR. Each additional person channeling will dilute the AR. Beyond 3 people, the channel effect will not grant AR to anyone, encouraging people to move to another node.
• If there is combat going on nearby, ownership of the node is calculated as it currently is in EotS (proximity instead of channeling)

For EOTS:

• Set all capturable towers to have a clickable 'capture' flag and an AR value of 5 players/faction. The ownership of the node depends on how far the slider (a la EotS) is to either the Alliance or Horde side. If there is no combat going on nearby, the clickable 'capture' flag's ownership slowly reverts to neutral over time .
• If there is no combat nearby, a player may actively channel (click) to move the ownership to their faction's side. Players may move while channeling (think Fire Festival dance poles) up to 40 yards from the flag, but must refresh the channel every several seconds. This will contribute to their AR. Each additional person channeling will dilute the AR. Beyond 3 people, the channel effect will not grant AR to anyone, encouraging people to move to another node.
• If there is combat going on nearby, ownership of the node is calculated as it currently is in EotS (proximity instead of channeling)
• The Flag is a mobile node with an AR limit of 3 players/faction, regardless of combat status.

For WSG

• Each Flag is a mobile node with an AR limit of 5 players/faction

For SotA

• Each Demolisher is a mobile node with an AR limit of 3 players/faction
• Passengers on a Demolisher must be actively participating or will not obtain AR.
• Each Graveyard is a node for the Defending team with with an AR limit of 5 players.

For AV

• Each Tower has an AR limit of 5 players/faction
• Each Opposing tower burned grants a bonus AR multiplier
• Each Graveyard has an AR limit of 5 players/faction

So, thoughts? Comments?