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Frequently Asked PvP Questions


EricMusco

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The obvious point of this post is to deflect the negative comments they expect to get during the live stream.

Brilliant PR move to be honest. Now they dont have to answer any of these questions while they are streaming, they can just refer to this post, which will probably be referred to as "a comprehensive FAQ about the future of PVP in SWTOR." Which creates the illusion that there is a future for PVP in SWTOR.

 

As far as community management goes, Eric gets an A+

 

As for the answers provided by the devs... still not sure if its incompetence or just not caring about the PVP community.

You know we should organised all the pvpers to spam the chat with "Unsub because no pvp content" during the stream...make some sor to f impact...

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The obvious point of this post is to deflect the negative comments they expect to get during the live stream.

Brilliant PR move to be honest. Now they dont have to answer any of these questions while they are streaming, they can just refer to this post, which will probably be referred to as "a comprehensive FAQ about the future of PVP in SWTOR." Which creates the illusion that there is a future for PVP in SWTOR.

 

As far as community management goes, Eric gets an A+

 

As for the answers provided by the devs... still not sure if its incompetence or just not caring about the PVP community.

 

Well, what is there left to ask? "We know server populations are low to not allow any level of match rating in ranked and we do not plan to do anything about it." The only thing else I would ask for is what it the expected content for PvP after 2.7.

Edited by Ottoattack
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Will we ever be able to choose a specific Warzone to queue for?

 

From the design side, we do like the idea of allowing our players to be able to impact which Warzone they want to queue for, but it is not as simple as letting everyone select which Warzone they want and call it a day. Because of a few reasons (queue population, preventing ‘de facto’ best Warzone, making sure all Warzones are being played, etc.) it would require a fully-fledged design around that new queuing system in order to make sure the system was sustainable (in queue times, etc.). There are no current plans for the near future to implement this feature.

 

I understand that there's alot around such an implementation, but 2 question that pops to mind:

1. Why is there any form of prio making sure "All" Warzones are being played? If there isnt enough ppl in 1 qeueu, obviously ppl dont want to play it?

2. Why not at least grant us the option to -Exclude- 1 warzone from the rotation?

 

Will you be implementing Cross-server queuing?

 

We have no plans at this time to implement cross-server queues.

 

This is a bad choice, specially since it was in fact promised to us and is needed.

 

8vs8 ranked, Rating Gaps, Sync Queueing, queue times, Matchmaking, Hybrids, etc etc . -All these problems exist due to our promised cross server queues being shot down. How exactly do you justify that, while at the same time pointing at "too small queue populations" as the reason we have these issues?

 

Are there any plans of expanding open world PvP?

 

Currently we have no plans of expanding open world PvP, specifically to say we don’t have any plans to introduce any new systems which offer rewards around it. However, we will continue to encourage open world PvP in events and future content. Some examples of this would be the Oricon daily area and the shared questing areas of the Rakghoul event.

 

Too bad really. Not much to look forward to if nothing will ever change for the better with matchmaking, rotation and world pvp.

 

And please, remove the expertise from the lowbie weapons being sold at the Fleet pvp vendor.

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  • Dev Post

Hey folks!

 

I thought I might pop in and add some clarification around some of what we said, and why.

 

Our first goal in this post was quite simple, transparency. We completely understand the frustration around quite a few of our answers. We know that some folks want to see the return of Ranked 8v8 Warzones or that they feel cross-server queues will help in some of their current frustrations. I thought it was really important that we took those issues and gave you guys direct answers. It isn't that we don't want to do these things, or even that they will never happen. It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term.

 

When I talk about roadmaps specifically, you should keep in mind I am referring to the next X amount of months, weeks, etc. and it certainly does not mean forever. As someone pointed out, there are quite a few things that have moved from wall of crazy to being in the game.

 

We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

 

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

Edited by EricMusco
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You just dont get it Musco.

 

-4v4 Arena came at *THE REMOVAL OF 8v8 RANKED*.

-The new huttball map has been in the works for how long now? IIRC you guys teased this shortly after 2.0, right?

-Solo Queue needs to go away forever and never be spoken about again. It is the worst thing to happen to competitive PvP and overall PvP balance to this game to date.

 

And you might think you are saying 'Not at this time' instead of 'NO', but there are about to be a lot more options for MMO players. One would think you would be aware of that, and what features those games are offering that this one is not, and maybe do something to make your game equally appealing?

 

'Not at this time' might as well be never for many people.

Edited by cashogy_reborn
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You know we should organised all the pvpers to spam the chat with "Unsub because no pvp content" during the stream...make some sor to f impact...

 

Can it be "Unsub because of no cross-server" instead?

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Hey folks!

 

I thought I might pop in and add some clarification around some of what we said, and why.

 

Our first goal in this post was quite simple, transparency. We completely understand the frustration around quite a few of our answers. We know that some folks want to see the return of Ranked 8v8 Warzones or that they feel cross-server queues will help in some of their current frustrations. I thought it was really important that we took those issues and gave you guys direct answers. It isn't that we don't want to do these things, or even that they will never happen. It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term

 

When I talk about roadmaps specifically, you should keep in mind I am referring to the next X amount of months, weeks, etc. and it certainly does not mean forever. As someone pointed out, there are quite a few things that have moved from wall of crazy to being in the game.

 

We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

 

Lmao.. So many people Unsubbed that they're now saying.. "Ohh, we're not saying it'll never happen.. We're just saying, not right now."

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Will you be implementing Cross-server queuing?

 

We have no plans at this time to implement cross-server queues.

 

Ugh, you really should reconsider this or at least provide a better/fuller explanation of why you are not willing to consider it. Because a lot of your other answers are about trying to strike a balance for faster queue times, and combining the PvP populations would only seem to make that balance easier.

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Hey folks!

 

I thought I might pop in and add some clarification around some of what we said, and why.

 

Our first goal in this post was quite simple, transparency. We completely understand the frustration around quite a few of our answers. We know that some folks want to see the return of Ranked 8v8 Warzones or that they feel cross-server queues will help in some of their current frustrations. I thought it was really important that we took those issues and gave you guys direct answers. It isn't that we don't want to do these things, or even that they will never happen. It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term

 

When I talk about roadmaps specifically, you should keep in mind I am referring to the next X amount of months, weeks, etc. and it certainly does not mean forever. As someone pointed out, there are quite a few things that have moved from wall of crazy to being in the game.

 

We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

 

TL: DR - No does actually mean, please stay subbed for more No's. No thanks, I had enough pain in solo rankeds already. We're done.

Edited by NRN_Hawk
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I have been here since launch. My account was for 6 months recurring. Notice the key word? Was.

 

I cancelled my sub on Monday. This was a VERY difficult choice to make. Since that day I have gone through a lot of hand wringing on whether this was the right move for me.

 

Bioware announced Player Housing and Guild Ships shortly after I unsub'd. This too caused me to rethink the decision.

 

I have no doubts about that decision today.

 

There are so many things I want to say, but most have been said in the thread already. Its time for me to leave the game permanently. I have spent hundreds of dollars on cartel coins in support of this game, thinking that my investment would yield the content I enjoy the most, PVP. It never happened. I just don't care enough to log in again.

 

I have now pre-ordered 2 games that will be launching in April and June. I will invest my money and hopes into those. SWTOR will receive neither from me again.

 

Good luck to all of you who choose to stay. For those who are also leaving, I look forward to seeing you in our new adventures elsewhere.

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Hey folks!

 

I thought I might pop in and add some clarification around some of what we said, and why.

 

Our first goal in this post was quite simple, transparency. We completely understand the frustration around quite a few of our answers. We know that some folks want to see the return of Ranked 8v8 Warzones or that they feel cross-server queues will help in some of their current frustrations. I thought it was really important that we took those issues and gave you guys direct answers. It isn't that we don't want to do these things, or even that they will never happen. It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term

 

When I talk about roadmaps specifically, you should keep in mind I am referring to the next X amount of months, weeks, etc. and it certainly does not mean forever. As someone pointed out, there are quite a few things that have moved from wall of crazy to being in the game.

 

We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

 

I think you still not catch the point Eric, sorry.

For you this a reasonable PvP release?

 

Oh com'on, seriusly, please this post is something to tell: "ehy you see we are doing something" even more disappointed after this post.

 

The ability to solo queue for ranked play

Something because we are low on population. A tampon

 

Season 1 rewards

That are just a resking and a title. GG

 

It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term

So we have to continue to stay here, and look for?

Is two year that we have this proble, is two year that we recive ALWAYS the same answer: "not in near plan", like many many many thing, bubble, cross-server, double spec, world pvp and so on.

 

How much time we have to stay here?

You think for us is happynes to get tired of a game where you have invested friends and two years of life?

 

But for me this is enough. I end this time.

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We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

 

Eric, I have been holding out for a long long time for some serious changes to be made. The launch of arenas and a new huttball map is all we have received content wise in a good year. Arenas were packaged with ranked since you removed 8's so this list is "padded".

 

We get that you cant please everyone and that you're just the messenger but the message is clear and that is if you're main goal is PvP this game is not for you. I love this game, the people I play with as well as PvP but it's not just the answers, it's the past 2+ years of ridiculous class changes, empty promises and broken systems which has helped dissolve what was once a very healthy PvP population.

 

 

Free UGLY

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That's about the point where I have stopped reading, thanks for the FAQ, I know what I can expect for my Sub now, nothing PVP, dead rankeds... very disappointing.

 

People don't queue for ranked because they don't want to get rolled by a premade.

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I have been here since launch. My account was for 6 months recurring. Notice the key word? Was.

 

I cancelled my sub on Monday. This was a VERY difficult choice to make. Since that day I have gone through a lot of hand wringing on whether this was the right move for me.

 

Bioware announced Player Housing and Guild Ships shortly after I unsub'd. This too caused me to rethink the decision.

 

I have no doubts about that decision today.

 

There are so many things I want to say, but most have been said in the thread already. Its time for me to leave the game permanently. I have spent hundreds of dollars on cartel coins in support of this game, thinking that my investment would yield the content I enjoy the most, PVP. It never happened. I just don't care enough to log in again.

 

I have now pre-ordered 2 games that will be launching in April and June. I will invest my money and hopes into those. SWTOR will receive neither from me again.

 

Good luck to all of you who choose to stay. For those who are also leaving, I look forward to seeing you in our new adventures elsewhere.

 

Same, same, same, I'm *********** sad but I'm very tired of this.

And BW you keep losing loyal players that had been there since launch, take a break and think on why you keep losing the hard core gamers, players that have always supported you. Look at all the history and find an answer

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Why is Bolster in Ranked PvP? Why not just require a high level of PvP gear?

 

This is a great question, and one we put a lot of thought into when the decision made to keep Bolster in Ranked PvP. As many of you likely know, in the past we had an entry level set of PvP gear called the Recruit set. Wearing this set into a Warzone would put you at an “entry level” for PvP. However, having Recruit gear in the game created two important factors:

 

1. The player needed to know that this is how PvP at max level worked.

2. The player needed to then get the gear and actually equip it.

 

Although this may seem like something which is obvious to many of you who are more seasoned and hardcore PvPers, these factors being missed led to many players first experience being that they got completely stomped in PvP. Although we understand that there are certainly “dues to be paid” when you play PvP, they shouldn’t come right at the beginning of someone’s PvP career. We also want the Ranked population to be as high as possible within the Level 55 bracket so we have Bolster in place so more players can participate in the system.

 

The best solution for this situation was a systematic approach which puts all players on an even footing when they enter the system. We know that some feel the best solution is to simply make everyone have the same gear and stats when in PvP so that it is purely a measure skill and skill alone. However, we feel that as an MMO, gear progression is a major cornerstone of its long term gameplay. We feel that Bolster takes both of those ideas into account and lands as a nice middle ground.

 

It is very unfortunate that Bolster has experienced issues since its implementation which certainly created pain points for our PvP community. However we will continue to work to ensure that Bolster is working as intended! I think we can all agree that having the first time you PvP be a positive experience will go to great lengths to ensuring that those folks stick around and continue to PvP!

 

That's fine and all for regs but there is no excuse for ranked. You need to require minimum tier 1 pvp gear to even be allowed to queue for ranked. Sorry if you don't understand the basics of pvp and you don't even have the minimum of tier 1 gear then why are you participating in ranked? What good is that going to do when you need tier one gear to even benefit from the comms from ranked....Well I guess you could convert them but that would be extremely ignorant to do so.

 

 

Will you be implementing Cross-server queuing?

 

We have no plans at this time to implement cross-server queues.

 

Aaaaaaaand fail. Granted we all knew what the answer to that would be, but what most of us really want is the true reason why you refuse to implement something that is becoming a standard with MMO's now. For someone like me who really only does pvp and rarely does pve I find it hard to keep playing a game that refuses to advance in pvp because of population issues that you guys refuse to fix. And what baffles me even more is that cross server would help your precious pve players as well...but whatever, keep gliding along until there is nothing left of this game because it is painfully clear that you guys don't actually give a damn about pvp, let alone this game.

 

 

Will you be bringing back 8v8 Ranked Warzones?

 

We have no plans currently of bringing back 8v8 Ranked Warzones.

 

Fail.

 

Are there any plans of expanding open world PvP?

 

Currently we have no plans of expanding open world PvP, specifically to say we don’t have any plans to introduce any new systems which offer rewards around it. However, we will continue to encourage open world PvP in events and future content. Some examples of this would be the Oricon daily area and the shared questing areas of the Rakghoul event.

 

Fail. This team has no vision at all for pvp. You are giving pvpers no reason to stay. It seems to me that you only care about the pve players who casually go into a warzone. Basically telling those who only pvp and see the potential of pvp in this game constantly be burned into the ground piss off. Guess what, they are doing exactly that and going to wildstar/eso. I wont be surprised if ranked queue's are completely empty in the next few months and only regs will be popping with pve geared players.

 

 

Are there any plans to address teams having healer hybrids in Arenas fighting against teams without a healer?

 

This is a question of how long we want to wait to pop an Arena match when it relates to hybrids. We could, in theory, create restrictions around matchmaking to pair you only against someone extremely similar to your character in both rating and “spec” layout. However if we did that, it would have very serious effects on how long a queue takes to pop. We had to make a decision to err on the side of having more matches pop than simply trying to mirror the teams exactly. The only option to address this would be to tighten restrictions on matchmaking but this will result in greatly increased queue length, which is not favorable.

 

So basically you are in favor of keeping solo queue as the "no one cares" queue since hybrids will always break what little balance exists in solo queue.... The reality is if hybrids were locked out then full healers/tanks would queue more often. But the fact is because dps gets them a faster queue and an advantage they stick to hybrids.

 

Cross server would help a lot as well but clearly you just don't give a damn.

 

 

What about the issue of 3v4 matches in Arenas?

 

This typically occurs due to a player crashing before loading into a match, which creates a situation where one team will have one less player. In this situation, we have made the decision that matchmaking will not backfill that player. This is because by the time we can accurately detect that a player has crashed, and then select a player to backfill in the crashed player’s place, the first round would already be in progress or over. In this case, backfilling would turn a negative situation for 4 players into a negative situation for 5 players, and we are not fond of that idea.

 

On the plus side, our rating system takes the 3v4 into account when awarding rating at the end of the match. The team with 4 will not be rewarded nearly as well for winning as they would if it was a normal match, nor will the team with 3 be punished as severely for losing.

 

What is so hard about just closing the match? No one gains or loses ratings, the end. Oh wait that would be too difficult and requires too much coding :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Huge rating gaps between players in any given Arena match….

 

Typically this issue occurs when there are not a lot of players in the Arena queue, I think it may help to understand a bit about how our matchmaking works. Matches are based around the original character who is entered in matchmaking and what their rating is. Let’s say a character is 1500 and enters the queue. Matchmaking will start looking for another 7 players to have them play with who are also 1500. At certain time intervals, that rating range is expanded (both up and down) in order to work to fill the match. Over time that range will continue to be expanded, so the “up” and “down” rating from that base player is why you could see a 1200 player and an 1800 player in the same game as they are both 300 rating from the original character in the queue.

 

Oh look, another issue that cross server would help resolve :rolleyes:

 

What about players who “sync queue” to specifically play each other, AKA match fixing?

 

we have systems in place to detect these types of actions and when Season 1 ends, those players will find themselves without any rewards at all.

 

For some reason I highly doubt that.

 

 

Honestly Eric all your post does is make me want to play this game even less. I enjoy pvp and I love star wars but what reason do I have to stick around anymore? BW clearly has no intention on improving pvp in this game.

Edited by Raansu
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I will find myself without a rancor because all of that **** breath in.... breath out.... ***** issues that happened in solo ranked... plus we hardly get...

 

nvm I just stop posting I am too pissed at this right now

 

afk trying to chill before I finally explode

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Hey folks!

 

I thought I might pop in and add some clarification around some of what we said, and why.

 

Our first goal in this post was quite simple, transparency. We completely understand the frustration around quite a few of our answers. We know that some folks want to see the return of Ranked 8v8 Warzones or that they feel cross-server queues will help in some of their current frustrations. I thought it was really important that we took those issues and gave you guys direct answers. It isn't that we don't want to do these things, or even that they will never happen. It is just that they are not something that will be happening in the near-term

 

When I talk about roadmaps specifically, you should keep in mind I am referring to the next X amount of months, weeks, etc. and it certainly does not mean forever. As someone pointed out, there are quite a few things that have moved from wall of crazy to being in the game.

 

We will always continue to add new content around PvP whenever possible and to continue to create the best PvP environment that we can. If you look back, in the past 3 Game Updates (including 2.7) we had:

  • The launch of Warzone Arenas
  • The ability to solo queue for ranked play
  • Season 1 rewards
  • 4 new Warzone Arena maps
  • A new Huttball map

I know that this is not everything that everyone wants. To reiterate, we aren't saying "no" to your questions, we are simply just saying "not at this time." I know it may not seem that way, but these two things are different. I know many of your are frustrated and I hope this adds a little bit of clarity to where we are coming from.

 

-eric

 

Well, if I dig deep enough I will probably find similar response a year ago and two years ago, so the impression is not these will be done later is that they will never be done. The problem is that the PvP population on any server is not sufficient to sustain any level of competitive PvP, even in regular WZs. The fact that no resolution is death for PvP.

 

Plus, are we really having a conversation about how much content there is? At least try to leverage on the game's strengths and content is surely not one of them.

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I will find myself without a rancor because all of that **** breath in.... breath out.... ***** issues that happened in solo ranked... plus we hardly get...

 

nvm I just stop posting I am too pissed at this right now

 

afk trying to chill before I finally explode

 

Hey bro no worries! Just get it for cheap on the cartel market, it will be easy, no effort required for 6 months to get a tier 1 reward.

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Tldr version of erics post:

 

There are no plans to implement anything that will improve pvp.

 

GG Eric. Ranked, and pvp in general, will be a total joke without cross server queues. Also arena is far more difficult to balance than warzones.

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In order to understand pvp, you need to pvp. Clearly the devs don't know how to pvp or don't pvp at all. With Wildstar around the corner offering SKILL BASED pvp and not this outdated gear grind and the fact they just released their pvp trailer clearly shows that Carbine do understand pvp.

 

Bioware are proud of their record in pvp, they need to seriously take a look at themselves. ONE 8v8 map in 2 years, added a format (4v4) that no one wanted, allowed Q pops to simply get longer and longer by not adding cross server at launch.

 

Face it, if you are still hanging around for PvP to improve, you are going to have a long wait because this game is turning more into The Sims in space with every update - cosmetics, housing,toys,jobs(operations/flashpoints).

 

Jump ship now and don't sink any more time/money into this outdated game

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Tldr version of erics post:

 

There are no plans to implement anything that will improve pvp.

 

GG Eric. Ranked, and pvp in general, will be a total joke without cross server queues. Also arena is far more difficult to balance than warzones.

 

That boils it down well. They are trying to balance the game for 3 different things, arenas, warzones, and pve, and its failing miserably.

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