Title: The Grand Plan that Fixes the Level 49 Character Problems, Open World Lifeskills and Gets Rid of the Notion of PvE Servers

Server: NA

Suggestion:

Edit: Griefing has become a rare occurence lately so I'm abandoning this subject since what was once an issue has become mostly irrelevant. However, there are still issues regarding horse training, that can belong in its own thread. I'll keep this thread up for further discussion but it doesn't seem like it's really relevant anymore. Thank you everyone for contributing to this thread and thank you everyone for being kinder to lifeskillers as they are the glue that keeps us together!

Presently the game has open world PvPvE combat making BDO one of the few remaining quality MMORPGs to support this. I hope you stay with me to read through this suggestion which will not impact the open world PvP contests while benefiting lifeskillers.

But why would one need this? Well, as a lifeskiller you're not interested in contested combat and you are at a significant unfair disadvantage regardless of the situation. For bartering, you will use a bartering ship but no game mechanic is available to protect you from combat based ships. When you are farming you have nothing but your farming clothes on and are required to farm next to a town's border. While horse training people clog up the streets and run around in circles making cities look stupid and of course it's not ideal for horse trainers.

I have seen this idea thrown around over the years where if you wear lifeskill armor you become protected from PvP combat but I didn't like it as-is because it causes too many problems. This is my take on a lifeskill activator similar to agris but without a timer. It would toggle your status just as-if you are a level 49 or below character. Here are the rules that would be required for it to work without exploitation (as far as I can tell, but your opinions could help improve this).

How it works:

Go to any safe zone and click on the "lifeskill activator button" next to agris fever. This will give you immunity to PvP just like a level 49 character. Once you enter combat with enemies higher than level 49, it de-activates and you cannot use it during war on war servers etc... It is pretty limited but permits you to continue lifeskilling on any character instead of being forced to use a level 49 character. This solves the horse training problem as well. ;)

Rules:

1. You cannot be in a party or platoon

2. You cannot earn combat or skill XP, exception are shai related skills that convert gathering to said XP

3. You cannot engage in PvP combat

4. You cannot harm enemies that are not gatherable for resources

5. There is a CD after turning it on and another CD after turning it off

6. Cannot be enabled in Arsha, Elvia and Marni's Realm

7. Cannot be used during war (Protection status is deactivated automatically during war time, must change server)

8. Cannot be used while in combat (must wait 15 seconds after the last damage inflicted or recieved)

9. Must be enabled in safe zones. The reasoning is that you can't just toggle this when you want to avoid a red player or whatever. Alternatively there could be a 10 second timer that counts down to activate it but I believe toggling it in a safe zone is the best choice.

10. Damage cannot be inflicted on monsters that cannot be butchered, tanned or sucked while buff is active. Immediately when the player attacks such monster or the player recieves damage, the buff is disengaged. This might be ignored for enemies level 49 or below that don't have lifeskill "association" since there's no contest between players for these monsters anyway? The reasoning is what if you hit something super low level like a bug and it can't be gathered, it would be annoying to lose your buff due to it. What do you guys think? (Updated description on 11/15/22)

Present topic of debate in thread:

· How would this affect Bartering / Sea content be it current content or proposed content for the future?

· Possible buff in Arsha server for lifeskilling (+) system that may incensitize Risk versus Reward.

What does this mean in the end?

This would mean that players could stop creating level 49 lifeskill characters and ALL characters could benefit from this. I think this suggestion could perhaps finally end the need for both a level 49 character and a dedicated lifeskill server which many have been requesting. After all, if you're going to lifeskill you'll be using a level 49 character anyway (at least most do) so why not have a system in place that promotes players to use any level character to lifeskill? Lifeskillers would not be able to grief PvPvE players and those players wouldn't be able to grief the lifeskillers under this new system.

This system that (we're working on proposing)  is intended to encourage more people to lifeskill and help fulfill those pre-orders. Look at all those pre-orders being unfulfilled. So it benefits everyone, not just lifeskillers but PvPers, PvErs, PvPvE etc... Please don't forget to like and reply to help promote this thread!

Edit:

Changed the title from: The great idea that gets rid of the lv49 lifeskillers and gets rid of the notion of PvE servers

To: The Grand Plan that Fixes the Level 49 Character Problems, Open World Lifeskills and Gets Rid of the Notion of PvE Servers

Also changed Rule #10 so that it automatically turns off the invulnerability status when engaging an enemy not suited for it.

11/18/22 - Added Arsha buff + incentives as current topic

12/3/22 - Removed content from "currently debating" since it was answered with #10

First thing coming to my mind : wouldn't it be the creation of the invincible stalker? 

What? lol.. Don't think so because you can have a level 49 character and stalk all you want already. Although that's creepy xD

A well thought-out idea!

I think it is good that you're suggesting an already used system, as it essentially makes your character lvl 49 again.  I think the timer and cooldown should be similar to Marni's Realm, so a one hour length and an eight hour cooldown.  That way serious lifeskillers can have a shot at being undisturbed, but not all risk is avoided.  No risk, no reward, right?  In fact taking risks is probably THE cornerstone principle of this game.  We all know about Enhancing.  This game should be called "Risk Factor Online".  And that seems to be what half the arguments have been about lately, how to balance the risks in this game, especially coming from other players.  There should be risk: again, it's what makes the rewards so worth it.  But still, this is a game, first and foremost.  Everyone should be allowed to have fun.

Life skills also require combat, especially bartering and sailing where you fight with smh.

I will write again: why combine and reinvent the wheel since the solution is very simple: removing open pvp.

You have pvp avtive = you can only fight vs others players with pvp active. 

All these topics and the toxicity of pvp players that they present in them, make me take their karma even more, if they spoil my game, I will spoil them.

Thanks! Though I was thinking more on the lines that there wouldn't be a timer as far as using it, only the toggle part would have a timer because you would want to avoid abuse in every type of situation as possible. The reasoning why I'm suggesting there not to be a active use timer is because if you want to horse train then you could use this system to train your horse outside of towns which would be great IMO. It would also permit all-day undisturbed bartering etc...

Hopefully PA sees this idea and thinks about the possibilties at least xD

I'd put a 8h cooldown on exiting the lifeskiller mode and yeah, restrict toggling it on to being in towns.

There's no reward for afk training as of late. PA keeps taking away the perks of a trainer. So there should be very little risk to it. Besides, just getting rid of all the afk trainers clogging all the towns would be a massive visual QoL improvement.

You must be the only one that fires his weapons at the papus and otters instead of using the bartering menu. Must be quite hard to convince them to exchange items at gun (well, cannon, actually) point. Also, grinding sea monsters is not lifeskilling. Rest of your post is... as usual.

^ The issue I have with a 8h cooldown on the timer is that we can get disconnected at random (especially game crash) or need to hop on another character to fight a world boss etc... You might also need to hop around and do various tasks and not just gather for 8hrs straight since well, gathering for an hour straight is hard enough as it is. :P In a way not having a cooldown like that would encourage players to do a variety of open world tasks outside of just lifeskilling. You would just be penalizing the player if they just want to lifeskill for 20 minutes after all. In my opinion it would probably be better to have a small but impactful cooldown to prevent abuse for a loophole that I can't imagine yet so about 5mins maybe?

PS. I always wanted to point at a stinkin otter after they offer an unfair trade ;P

Well, imagine Polly... Navarn Steppes... A level 49 would have a hard time killing monsters reliably there because of accuracy, but if they are lvl 61 they can pretty much hunt there without problem, while being protected which would be pretty unfair for the ones grinding there. 

PS : again, you can barter safely with a level 49.

Nope, you can't. Active barter is also progress of sailing, completing quests, including killing smh, and lvl 49 char cannot use the cannons on the ship.

Skill level is of enormous importance, and without lvl 59, you don't have them fully developed. 

Give it a rest with lvl 49 because it made sense .... 5 years ago. Today even some quests require lvl 60 or even 62.