- Proposal
- Proposal 1 — Purchasable PvE Base Defense Upgrades
Allow PvE faction bases to receive purchasable defensive upgrades in the same general way players currently purchase and place towers and mines.
Possible upgrades could include:
- Increased NPC combat level and survivability
- Stronger or more numerous elite defenders
- Improved turret damage and durability
- Specialized defensive units
- Higher defensive tiers based on how much the owning faction invests
This would allow factions to decide which bases are important enough to heavily reinforce. A lightly upgraded base could remain relatively easy to attack, while a heavily invested base could require an organized PvE group and meaningful coordination.
Proposal 2 — Increase the Baseline Difficulty of All PvE Bases
If a full upgrade system is too complex to implement, a simpler alternative would be to raise the default difficulty of all PvE bases.
This could include:
- Higher CL NPC defenders
- Higher CL or stronger towers
- Increased NPC health and damage
- More meaningful defender compositions
- Stronger resistance throughout the full encounter
The goal would be to establish a baseline where PvE bases cannot be cleared almost immediately by one to three loosely organized players.
Proposal 3 — Increase PvP Base Availability and Remove the Forced Base-Type Mix
Reconsider the current restriction that limits factions to one PvP base per planet.
Instead of requiring a specific mix of PvP and PvE bases, keep the existing 5/4/3/2/1 base cap structure and allow players to decide how many of those bases are PvP or PvE.
For example, if a faction is allowed five bases on a planet, those five slots could be filled with any combination the faction chooses rather than requiring a set number of PvE bases and only one PvP base.
This would:
- Give factions more control over how they want to contest a planet
- Give PvPers a larger role in the base war
- Prevent planetary control from being overly dependent on the PvE base loop
- Allow planets to develop differently based on the players actively fighting over them
- Create more opportunities for direct faction-versus-faction defense instead of relying almost entirely on NPC defenses
These proposals are not intended to reduce PvE participation. The goal is to make PvE bases feel like real PvE content while also giving PvP players a meaningful way to influence the same base-control layer of the GCW.
- Justification
- The current PvE base loop is extremely weak as actual PvE content.
At present, the NPC defenders and towers are generally defeated within a few minutes, even by a very small group. Once the defenses are cleared, the attacking group often spends more time waiting for the base destruction timer than actually fighting the base.
This creates several problems.
First, the gameplay itself is not particularly engaging. There is very little challenge, very little need for teamwork beyond having basic healing available, and very little variation between encounters.
Second, the activity offers almost no sense of reward or accomplishment. The defenders do not meaningfully threaten the attacking group, the NPCs do not provide meaningful loot, and there are few mechanics that make successfully defeating a base feel like completing PvE content.
Third, because PvE bases can be removed so quickly, players can spend a disproportionate amount of their GCW time simply rebuilding and destroying bases rather than participating in the wider range of GCW activities.
The current system provides a non-PvP method of attacking bases, but that is not necessarily the same thing as providing meaningful PvE content.
- Motivation
- PvE should involve an actual encounter.
There should be a fight, a level of challenge, some need for coordination or teamwork, mechanics that require more than simply bringing a healer, and ideally some form of reward or progression attached to completing the objective.
Improving base defenses would benefit both sides of the system.
Base owners would have something meaningful to invest resources into and would be able to influence how difficult their bases are to attack. Attackers would get a more interesting PvE encounter that feels like an accomplishment instead of clearing weak NPCs and waiting ten minutes for a structure to disappear.
The goal is not to make PvE bases impossible to destroy. The goal is to turn them into actual GCW PvE content rather than simply a non-PvP version of base destruction.
A properly invested base should make an attacking group think:
“We need a team for this.”
Not:
“Clear the NPCs in two minutes and wait for the timer.”
I’d also seriously consider adding participation rewards or loot tied to the difficulty of the base defense. It does not need to be anything game-breaking, but if Restoration wants players repeatedly engaging with GCW PvE, the encounters need some combination of challenge, progression, teamwork, and reward.
The recent GCW scoring changes moved things in the right direction by bringing PvP and PvE activities closer together in overall value. However, bases are still a constant source of planetary score, while Flashpoints and Invasions only affect a limited number of planets over the course of a day. Because of that, we are still seeing a large portion of planetary control come down to base activity, and in practice that increasingly means PvE bases.
That creates a broader participation problem. If the most consistent influence on planetary control comes from PvE base destruction, then the GCW can end up largely in the hands of the players willing to run that loop. PvPers who do not want to spend their time repeatedly clearing PvE bases have very little way to respond, especially because PvE bases cannot be actively defended by PvP players.
The current base gameplay also falls short as meaningful PvE. NPCs and towers are generally cleared within a few minutes by very small groups, after which much of the activity becomes waiting for the destruction timer. There is little challenge, limited need for teamwork or mechanics, and very little sense of reward or accomplishment. It provides a non-PvP path into the GCW, but it does not yet feel like fully developed PvE content.
We think two areas should be looked at together: the strength and quality of PvE base encounters, and the balance between PvE and PvP base ownership.
PvE bases should be capable of becoming meaningful defensive objectives, either through purchasable upgrades or a stronger baseline combat level. At the same time, the current restriction of only one PvP base per planet should be reconsidered.
One option would be to remove the current structure that effectively requires a specific PvP/PvE base mix and instead keep the existing 5/4/3/2/1 base-cap structure, while allowing the faction to decide how many of those bases are PvP or PvE. This would give players more control over how they want to contest a planet and allow factions to lean more heavily into PvP or PvE depending on their population and playstyle.
The goal is not to reduce the importance of PvE players. It is to make sure that both PvE and PvP players have meaningful ways to influence planetary control, and that neither side of the GCW becomes dependent on a single gameplay loop
That creates a broader participation problem. If the most consistent influence on planetary control comes from PvE base destruction, then the GCW can end up largely in the hands of the players willing to run that loop. PvPers who do not want to spend their time repeatedly clearing PvE bases have very little way to respond, especially because PvE bases cannot be actively defended by PvP players.
The current base gameplay also falls short as meaningful PvE. NPCs and towers are generally cleared within a few minutes by very small groups, after which much of the activity becomes waiting for the destruction timer. There is little challenge, limited need for teamwork or mechanics, and very little sense of reward or accomplishment. It provides a non-PvP path into the GCW, but it does not yet feel like fully developed PvE content.
We think two areas should be looked at together: the strength and quality of PvE base encounters, and the balance between PvE and PvP base ownership.
PvE bases should be capable of becoming meaningful defensive objectives, either through purchasable upgrades or a stronger baseline combat level. At the same time, the current restriction of only one PvP base per planet should be reconsidered.
One option would be to remove the current structure that effectively requires a specific PvP/PvE base mix and instead keep the existing 5/4/3/2/1 base-cap structure, while allowing the faction to decide how many of those bases are PvP or PvE. This would give players more control over how they want to contest a planet and allow factions to lean more heavily into PvP or PvE depending on their population and playstyle.
The goal is not to reduce the importance of PvE players. It is to make sure that both PvE and PvP players have meaningful ways to influence planetary control, and that neither side of the GCW becomes dependent on a single gameplay loop
