20/11/2014

How People Play Conquests

I've been recording the conquest participation of my guildies for eleven weeks now, as well as generally observing how other people talk about their interest in conquest, and I think I've managed to identify roughly five different ways in which people participate in this part of the game so far. Note that these aren't set in stone and it's perfectly possible for someone to change their play style and move from one group to another.

The Reluctant Tagalong

The Reluctant Tagalong has decided that they don't really like conquest. Doesn't matter how nicely you ask in the guild message of the day that everyone should please make a bit of an effort to score conquest points this week, they just don't enjoy it, and they couldn't care less about their personal target. However, you can generally coax them into contributing a little by dragging them along to guild activities while downplaying the conquest aspect. "Hey, we're going to run Scum storymode in a bit, do you want to bring your newest alt? She could probably use the gear..." If they tag along, that extra person adds another three thousand points to your guild score at operation completion whether they care about it or not.

The Oblivious Contributor

The Oblivious Contributor barely even has a passing awareness of conquest and doesn't really try to hit their target, ever. However, depending on their play style, it might just happen anyway! Dedicated PvPers commonly fall into this group due to the sheer number of warzones they play over the course of a week. If they do happen to hit their target towards the end of it, they are probably confused by the extra mission reward popping up out of nowhere.

The Irregular

The Irregular doesn't really have strong feelings about conquest one way or another, but they are not a creature of routine. They may not even log into the game every week! (It's unlikely that this is someone from your regular ops team.) Most weeks you can't expect to get much of a contribution out of this person, but if you make a point of advertising that the guild will make a co-ordinated effort during a particular week, and they happen to be online, they'll be happy to do a bit of "work" for the good of the guild and do their part to contribute towards any shared goals.

The Clockwork Conqueror

The Clockwork Conqueror has decided that they really like conquest and it has become a central point of their gameplay. They'll hit their personal target on at least one character every week, but usually they'll take a couple of alts along for the ride as well. After all, it's fun! With a couple of players like these, your guild can end up scoring pretty impressive numbers even when you've told people to take it easy this week. After all, why would they take it easy while they are having fun?

The Crafting Magnate

The Crafting Magnate is very rich in-game and enjoys the privilege of being able to create conquest points by effectively converting credits into conquest points via crafting. They'll log in several times a day to send all their companions out to craft and will accumulate a high amount of points this way without actually having to invest a lot of play time. If they have a lot of alts, they can single-handedly earn scores in the millions and carry a guild to victory that way. Players who are less rich may try to play the role of the crafting magnate temporarily, to give the guild a boost during a particular competitive stage, but will quickly run into the problem of running out of money and materials.

Have you seen any of these in your guild? And how would you classify yourself, if you participate in conquests at all? I'm probably a bit of a Clockwork Conqueror, though I'm starting to feel a little burnt out on it.

3 comments :

  1. I think its improtant to not forget the Willing to Learn. I happen to be one of those that don't exactly know how things work, but am willing to expand my knowledge of the game.

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    1. I don't think that really applies to conquests in specific though, as there isn't really much to learn and master. As soon as you're at all aware of their existence, you can start to participate... or not. :)

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  2. I think I must be the Irregular. Two weeks ago I hit the conquest target on four alts (and my guild got to No.5 on the chart, our highest ever placing). In the two weeks since I haven't contributed a single point.

    Sometimes I just don't feel like doing it. It's grindy and to me the rewards aren't in proportion with the effort put in. Of course it really depends on what activities score points that week. Some things I just don't want to do, however much it helps the guild.

    I feel quite lucky though, as the higher-ups in the guild make it very clear that if Conquest is not your thing, there is no pressure to do it. It's quite a casual, social guild, with very little nagging about anything.

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