I'm thinking of making new players start at max level and gear but when you die you lose a moderate amount of XP, and your gear takes damage that can only be repaired by getting rare material drops. Gear also decays at a slower rate from combat. Gear can break completely.

I want to start players at max level and gear, because I want to have open PvP. The gear you start with can't be traded, or sold.

There would need to be new character creation restrictions, to prevent players from just making new characters if they died too much and lost levels/gear. I'm thinking, players could only make a new character every 3-6 months.

Just a rough idea. I'm open to refinement suggestions.

Doubt you can enforce players to have new characters by waiting. Most reasonable behaviour of some newcomer would be wasting first character then build new one with more knowledge, so you'll end up with dead accounts in no time.

And doubt anyone appreciates losing XP from max level (and what if he doesn't die and get XP? He's already at max level) , progression drives people at MMO games imo.

So what would you suggest in place for a game with open PvP to prevent new players from being preyed upon? This is a problem in any MMO with any PvP outside of battlegrounds, and not just full world open PvP.

I think players would be more frusterated from being killed repeatedly from higher level players due to power gaps than they would from losing some XP when they die, when they can actually fight back.

I might make it so new players have a buffer of deaths that won't count towards XP loss or gear decay.

I'm also open to suggestions for how progression could be added without it ruining the experience of new players.

So what would you suggest in place for a game with open PvP to prevent new players from being preyed upon? This is a problem in any MMO with any PvP outside of battlegrounds, and not just full world open PvP.

I think players would be more frusterated from being killed repeatedly from higher level players due to power gaps than they would from losing some XP when they die, when they can actually fight back.

I might make it so new players have a buffer of deaths that won't count towards XP loss or gear decay.

I'm also open to suggestions for how progression could be added without it ruining the experience of new players.

If you start everyone at max progression, why have progression at all? Doesnt make any sense.

If you want to prevent newbs being killed by pros, the problem is a situation where:

-High lvl and low lvl players are in the same location

-High lvl player is stronger than low lvl player

-High lvl player attacks low lvl player

-High lvl player is able to finish the kill

You can prevent any of those to solve the issue. You could add artificial limits, you could spatially separate different level players, you could make level matter for other things than PvP and not affect the relative strenght of two players much, you could allow low level players to somehow flee, you could make it disadvantageous to attack low level players... And you can also have 'weaker' versions of these solutions, like spatially separate players but still allow them to leave their optimal playing area but apply some negative effect if they do so (maybe the low level players want the shiny high level items of the 'stranger' and attack in groups...?).

I think I may make progression more of a "more options" thing rather than a linear power hike, sort of how FPS games do it. The higher lvl guns are generally better, but not so much to the point that it makes new players powerless.

So what would you suggest in place for a game with open PvP to prevent new players from being preyed upon? This is a problem in any MMO with any PvP outside of battlegrounds, and not just full world open PvP.

I think players would be more frusterated from being killed repeatedly from higher level players due to power gaps than they would from losing some XP when they die, when they can actually fight back.

I might make it so new players have a buffer of deaths that won't count towards XP loss or gear decay.

I'm also open to suggestions for how progression could be added without it ruining the experience of new players.

I think giving them a good untransferable "beginner gear" that will break in a predefined item they can use to protect themselves. That gear can even be in "noob weapon" but can only be used by well, noobs.

Maybe you can also arrange mechanics for high levels that makes killing low level players giving very few XP, even negative in some cases (even better giving XP to noob from high level)

There are 2 things that kill new players in any pvp open world game:

1. difference in gear

2. difference in skill

If new character starts at "max level" with decent gear than you only ruled out the 1. but it don't change much. They will still die a lot to more experienced players and as soon as they lose enough xp AND gear, you are back to starting point of any PVP MMO + frustration for losing decent gear.

What should prevent such player to create a new character? Or even new account if you want to limit new characters?

I hate to just critique without any advice but I don't know of any good way to encourage players for open world pvp without frustration at some point. For any player there are always be easy kills with lower level/gear and quick deaths by surprise / skill / gear difference.

One thing that comes to me is to create a few factions that player belongs to, so they can support you and could come to help and revenge. So at least it is not single player against all world but only half of it :)

Negative reinforcement is stricly weaker than positive reinforcement (when allowed).

The carrot/stick Experience system is only valuable because it provides positive reinforcements.

You'll notice "merciless games" such as Dark Souls use that, despite taxing failure.

I wouldn't suggest moving forward with this plan, if only to remain grounded in human psychology.

I can think of no demonstrated evidence that this approach would have any value...

Overall, starting more powerful and decreasing in power is a good way to make the game more difficult and more challenging as the game goes on.

However, here, you are not making the game more challenging for people that are succeeding at the game. Instead, you're making the game more challenging for people that are already losing at the game and making it more likely that they'll continue to lose, leading to a spiral of increasing challenge that they can't get out of until they rage-quit.

Challenge needs to increase for the players that are no longer challenged, to keep the game enjoyable; not the players that are losing.

Losing isn't always "I made a tactically wrong choice". Infact, more commonly, it's "I accidentally clicked the wrong button, I happened to be facing the wrong direction and didn't see the attack coming, I unawaredly walked into the wrong room and was stabbed in the back, I was coincidentally was up against more powerful and more numerous enemies..." So you're punishing players for events that are mostly out of their control.

In addition to all this, players do need to see positive progression even while the game gets more difficult. It's also nice to have tactical choices and customizations to make.

What about, for each winning player, he loses a piece of equipment of his choice. Maybe instead of getting rid of it, every piece of equipment starts at level 5, and each victory he chooses one piece to de-level one level. This provides increasing challenge for winning players, keeping the game enjoyable, and also provides tactical choices and customizations (i.e. which equipment do I want to preserve long-term?).

Players still need to see positive progression as well, even if it's non-combat related. This can include things like moving up a ranking chart - but with a large amount of players, moving from rank 10017 to only 10016 isn't enough motivation.

I don't recommend. There is a natural psychological need (especially for kids/teenagers) for "growth". Level up is so powerfull because it caters to that need.