KTERA GO Post: Battleground Improvements

There are some new and some old things coming back soon for KTERA. It seems that they are really focusing on making it easier for new players to get into the game. This time their efforts will revolve around Battlegrounds.
Roughly 5 months ago there was a user experience feedback event of sorts that was hosted on Bluehole Studio’s Facebook page.
From there feedback was received that there really was nothing in-game for new players to get used to what Battlegrounds were. This causes the new players some unnecessary bad experiences of being thrown into Battlegrounds while also causing a rift between the new and old players.
So in order to address the issues in cases where new players were just being thrown into Battlegrounds they’ve put in some helpful markers and guides to get into the actual fun.

 

What the heck do you do in a Battleground?

 

Part of the problem when it comes to getting your first taste of Battlegrounds is that there are little to no information on what a player is supposed to do. You, as a player, is just thrown in and expected to know what the veterans know.
So, new indicators have been added to allow new players to see what the key items and points are within the field.

 

To some who are reading this it may not make much sense but due to TERA’s higher graphic quality there are actually some players who believe some of the key objectives and objects are just part of the scenery. Some thought that the tanks moved on their own. So to ensure each new player know which objects are actually something you need to use they’ve added visual markers.
Such changes have also been added to the mini map. Veterans may know what the pinging and blue dot may mean on the map while the new players… not so much. The added changes will make it much more obvious what is going on in the field.


Of course not everyone needs these added changes. These new additions can be turned off by going into the settings menu.


Furthermore, a new help menu has been added and will display when a new player enters the Battleground. This feature will turn off once the player has completed more than 10 matches.

 

Additional Battleground Modes at Lower Levels

 

The first Battleground that a new adventurer in Arborea experiences is the Corsair’s Stronghold. Unfortunately it may not be the most newbie friendly Battleground as it puts the bar a little too high. At the same time we wouldn’t want someone’s first PvP experience to be a thoroughly negative one.
One could change how Corsair’s Stronghold works but that would take away from those who are already enjoying it. So to allow for a more positive first time PvP experience they’ve decided to add the ever popular Winter Snowfield and a Team Deathmatch (Practice) for lower levels to enjoy.
First off, the Winter Snowfield will be available to those 25 and up. So level 65 players can also enjoy this popular Battleground mode. Second is the Team Deathmatch but it’s a practice mode for those between level 40 and 64.

 

Kick Vote and  Battleground Matching UI Update, Changes to Corsair’s Stronghold

 

Now, after reading all that there are probably players who are already enjoying the Battlegrounds. Some may be thinking…

What? Content only for newbies?? After retiring and coming back is when you do all this??

I know the feeling but let’s put that aside for now. There are some things that have been improved for veterans too.
One of the most prominent inconvenience was the vote kick feature and it’s common abuse.

1. A player will multi-client and simply idle at the spawn point
2. Players will join with friends to grief the match

The current system does not allow for players who really just want to enjoy the match to get rid of the thorn. As it is now if even one person votes against it that was the end of it and you had to sit through having a dead weight or a really annoying team that just wants to ruin your match.
The new system, however, will only require 80% of the votes for the kick to go through.


In the new UI it will also indicate the minimum number of votes to complete the kick vote. For example, in a party of 3 wanting to kick 1 person, not accounting for the player being kicked, 80% of 2 is 1.6 rounded up to 2. Therefore you need the vote of the two to kick the third.
Hopefully this will allow for an easier time combating the abusive players.
Another addition is the Battleground Matching UI. Your current reputation points and credits will be shown below.

 

And lastly a small change to Corsair’s Stronghold rules.
Currently, a match does not end even if the opposing team has already taken longer than the first team to get to the crystal. As unfortunate as it is there are players who take advantage of this and proceeds to prolong the match by adding time through objective captures.
Just been sore losers in the end.
In order to counteract this sort of griefing the match will now end if the opposite team takes longer than the initial team to break the crystal.
This was a change that probably should have been added at the start but better late than never I guess.

 

Lastly…

This update is slated to go live on June 25.
They would also like to  thank the testers who made the feedback and suggestion a reality and that they would like to continue with the “update program” where they recruit testers for new builds.

There’s still more to come to stay tuned for the next GO post.

Resource: https://espeitr.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/ktera-go-post-battleground-improvements/