Bounty hunters! (bringing world PvP back)

#0 - Jan. 13, 2010, 9:08 p.m.

This has been suggested quite a few times, but I haven't really read a feasible implementation because going for random characters can be a bit messy. My idea is the following

- People would sign for this. In the battleground panel there would be an option to activate/deactivate bounty hunting. Only characters with this flag can hunt/be hunted.

- Among those with the option activated, X of each faction are chosen at random. Those players would appear in the bounty panel (both factions, so you can either protect your people or go for theirs).

- When a character becomes a target of the bounty system, it receives a special debuff called Wanted, that does nothing (well, almost; see below) but tell the person that there may be people after him/her. The rest get the buff Bounty Hunter

- In the panel you can see every several minutes (5-10?) the text "Last seen around.." with the area name. Maybe not just the region (Arathi Highlands, Borean Tundra) but the subarea as well. Tracking Wanted players should probably be available to Bounty Hunters, as targets could hide or just stealth. Or the opposite as well! Both factions would be tracked, in case someone wants to defend!

- Wanted people can't fly, use the hearthstone, teleport, etc. If you untag yourself (while out of combat only :P) you remove the Wanted debuff and can't join the system for a certain time (kind of a deserter debuff), and a new player takes your spot. Joining an instance or entering a Sanctuary (maybe even a capital) should give you a warning to leave that area or be removed from the bounty system after a time.

- Wanted people drop a quest item ("Wanted: Name") that can be delivered for a PvP daily (gold, honor and shards?), and are not eligible for Wanted status until 24h have passed. Bounty Hunters have a chance of dropping a similar quest item ("Hunter Hunted: Name"?)

- People in the system would join their own chat channel (coordinate attack/defense, give heads up etc)

Bring world PvP back :<

What do you guys think?

PS: Possible practical problems I see
1) Winterlag comes back (too many players at the same time in the same area if system is too successful)
2) Faction imbalance in realms with population imbalance

Solutions?
1) On the bright side bounty hunting is a continuous event and not limited to a tight schedule. Wanted targets could be chosen based on different areas, so lag shouldn't be that bad. And it's a daily, not marks for epics.
2) World-wide tenacity might be a bit OP; I think one could make wanted people powerful but unable to complete quests or loot mobs, but then some might want to do something while waiting for hunters.. I leave this to Blizzard :P The best alternative in my opinion is to make Bounty Hunting "Free for all" PvP, maximum parties of five (not raids, because that'd ruin the purpose). I'm sure ANY realm can get 5 people of the same faction.

edit: additional explanations ;)

#82 - Jan. 27, 2010, 2:33 p.m.

While we would normally prefer suggestions and ideas to be posted in the suggestions forum, this thread seems to have gathered some players having an interesting and constructive discussion about a subject that is relevant to the PvP forums. In the interest of keeping this thread's momentum going rather than dwindling down into a few pages of "/signed", and also in getting more people to partake in the discussion and sharing their opinions, I'm going to blue tag this thread and see where it goes.

Please note, though, that just because this discussion received a blue tag, it does not mean we are going to turn around and implement the suggestion first thing. It simply means that we have acknowledged that this could be a potentially interesting thread for more players to participate in.