FRS and GCW Zone Update

- FRS Season Change -

Why

After a lengthy investigation conducted by Staff into allegations of kill trading and fight clubbing, we have decided to implement a method for a "seasonal" reset of the Force Ranking System. As we have stated before, the FRS is a broken system and was not developed for longevity in live SWG. With our project development on the brink of 1.0 completion, we looked for a method to deal with some of the issues found during our investigations. In addition to the FRS seasonal reset implementation, we increased logging for FRS fights, added additional combat statistics. We also added XP trading prevention checks and tools for our CSR's to allow them to banish offending Jedi from accessing the FRS system. Banished players will be unable to achieve any rank greater than Jedi Padawan.

We have taken these temporary measures to avoid having to deal with a complete FRS overhaul at this time. This allows us to continue moving forward on development and planning for what's next, while allowing players to still enjoy ranking up in FRS on a seasonal basis. Freeing staff up from constant FRS management will allow us to focus on the future of pre-CU and beyond.


What does this mean?

Every player that is a current member of the Force Ranking System, upon the change of the season, will be set to Rank 0 and have their FRS Experience cleared. When this happens FRS players will receive an email so they know the season has changed. This puts all FRS members back onto level footing and allows them to start progression up the ranks again. We decided to couple this with the release of the GCW Zone, giving players a new place to fight the Galactic Civil War and test out new content ideas the team has for potential future use in a post 1.0+ server. The FRS Seasons are planned to be reset on a 6 month interval.

When

In the coming weeks, both the above FRS changes and the GCW Zone will be active on Finalizer. Please keep an eye out in the Update Notes Pop-up, the Newsnet Terminals and the Finalizer Updates Forum.

- Opening of the GCW Zone -

Original GCW Zone Development Thread.

Where

-3050, 457 Lok

How do you access the Zone?

Players are able to access the zone on foot/speeder and by faction portals, locations listed below. The portals have certain restrictions on them to prevent players from attempting to use them as a means of escape. The portals listed in the factionally aligned cities are GCW Banners with a special radial menu option. They will be found in a guard tower behind each listed Starport. Only members of that faction will be able to enter the guard tower and will be required to be out of combat and not under the duress of a GCW or PvP TEF. This also applies to the exit portal areas inside the GCW Zone. Players will not be able to use them as a quick means to escape the zone. They must be out of combat and again, not have a GCW or PvP TEF. Players attempting to enter the portal area of the opposite faction will be damaged and kicked back.

Imperial Portal - Bestine, Tatooine - Behind Starport

Rebel Portal - Moenia, Naboo - Behind Starport

Players that are aligned to a faction will be given a system message warning before crossing into the zone. Players that continue into the PvP Zone will have any active faction pets stored and they will be set to Overt status. The zone will prevent players calling faction pets while they are inside the boundary. Exiting the zone does not clear a player's Overt status, they will need to visit a faction recruiter in order to return to Covert stats.

What will players find in the zone?

With the introduction of this zone we are also introducing a new GCW PvP Token. This token is available through a number of actions (see below), can be traded between players, and used to redeem services in the GCW Zone and reward items. These tokens will auto stack with other tokens when transferred into a bag or inventory and have a max stack size of 20 count per stack.

• Killing a Player: If a player kills a player of the opposite faction in the Zone they will receive a GCW PvP Token. There is a cooldown of 4 hours on each player that will prevent them from rewarding another GCW PvP Token from their death.
• Faction Requisition Terminals: Requires players to be GCW rank of 10 (Second Lieutenant) or higher. Use of the terminal will cost GCW PvP Tokens as well as factions standing, each request type has a cooldown.
• Airstrikes: The GCW zone suffers from random airstrikes from each faction, players caught in an airstrike will be damaged.
• Drop Ships: Dropships from each faction will randomly land outside the main fenced area of the GCW Zone and patrol in those areas. These will vary in size and strength.
• Cloning: There will be NO cloning options in the GCW zone. Players will need to store their clone data prior to entering the zone.
• Buffs: There are no buffs provided in the zone other than what players can do through normal game mechanics.

Capture Points

Each faction has the following Capture Points: Power Station, Control Point, Main Base

• Capture Point terminals spawn within the fenced area of the GCW Zone.
• Each faction has 3 capture point locations.
• There is a delay of 30 minutes after the server comes online and then the capture point terminals are scheduled to spawn in 4 hours.
• A 30 minute pre-warning will be in the PvpBroadcast Channel stating that the terminals will be spawning.
• Capture point terminals will stay active for 3 hours once they are spawned.
• At the end of the Capture Point active period the terminals will be despawned and the next active period will be scheduled 3 hours and 45 minutes from that time. This allows for the time to gradually shift for players of all time zones.
• One hour, thirty minute and fifteen minute warnings will be broadcast in the PvpBroadcasts Chat Channel for the end of a Capture Point Period.
• In order for terminals to be captured there is a minimum requirement of 5 players of each faction in the zone AND a minimum of 2 defending factional players must be killed before they can begin capturing points.
• Players must be the factional rank of Colonel in order to access the capture point terminals.
• Main base capture point can only be captured if the attacking faction has control of either the Control Point or Power Station of the defending faction.
• It takes 5 minutes to capture a point and the faction member cannot be in combat at the time of initiating the capture countdown.
• Defending faction members have the ability to interrupt the capture process, but must be out of combat to do so.
• Points can be recaptured by defending faction members, this takes approximately 4 minutes and also requires the player to be out of combat when initiating the recapture.
• Attacking players have the ability to break the recapture countdown.

Capture Point Period Score Calculation

• Capture Points controlled by the opposite faction have a value of 20 points, calculated at the end of the active period.
• Every 10 kills adds one point to the score.
• Tokens are only awarded to the winning faction of the Capture Point Period if the difference between the two factions' scores is more than 20.
• Four GCW PvP Tokens and Faction Points are awarded to the winning side.
• In order for a player to be eligible for the reward they must have done one of the following: Killed at least one opposite faction player, captured a point, interrupted a point being captured or recaptured a point.
• Players must also be within 300m of the center of the zone to receive the award at the time of the active period ending.
• Players must be online to receive their reward.
• Scores will be output into the PvpBroadcast channel.

Rewards

All item rewards are in Schematic form and require players to seek out a crafter to obtain their reward item. The following items are available to purchase at the cost of faction standing and GCW PvP Tokens. All of the armor added is equivalent to Composite armor and requires the same components to craft. All schematics are single use, with the exception of the GCW City Banners. The only schematic that is manufacturable is the PSG Schematic.

• Bunker House Schematic
• Enhanced Bounty Hunter Armor (Neutral)
• Kashyyykian Black Mountain Special Armor (Neutral)
• Strengthened Ithorian Guardian Armor (Neutral)
• Reinforced Stormtrooper Armor (Imperial)
• Augmented Rebel Marine Armor (Rebel)
• Kyber Enhanced Personal Shield Generator
• Rebel and Imperial City Decoration Banners

All of the above listed armors allow for color adjustment in the same method as composite armor. The armor colorization is restricted to the available colors from the original objects template.



























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