I would lke to propose a long-term solution to the lack of interest in STO PvP, but I need the support of the PvP community to make it work. I call this solution, "Boot Camp."

In fact, I was inspired by the Sad Pandas recent creation of two training fleets: Sad Panda Cubs (http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...d.php?t=268443) and Hax Panda Cubs (http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...d.php?t=408711). This was a great idea. Kudos to the Pandas for coming up with it. I think what I have to propose could easily dovetail with what they are doing.

Concept: A regular (monthly?) training session (boot camp) in which players of all levels can come together in small teams (perhaps 3 vs 3 with one "coach") to learn the basics of PvP. The session could be, say, 1 hour in length, with a "sparring" match as the climax. As the coach has the teams run through various drills s/he would give advice and encouragement. Preferably, these teams would be diverse with respect to player careers (i.e., eng, tac, science, etc.)

Philosophy: I would venture to say that intimidation is one of the key issues keeping people from jumping into PvP ques. Apart from personal resolve, the key to breaking through intimidation is through education and a taste of success, both of which are more easily accomplished in a controlled pedagogical setting than in an open PUG match.

Promotion: I think there is potential to promote this event through a number of channels.

1) Because this is not a tournament, in which rules like "no siphon drones, AMS, etc." would be implemented, it is more likely that Branflakes could promote it. It is not beyond the realm of possibility for us to get a front page blog article on STO's website.

2) For those of you who are not in PvP exclusive fleets, this is an opportunity to train up potential players and get them interested in PvP.

3) Some of you know that I write a KDF Blog for Priority One (Warrior's Way), and I would be willing to feature such a project in the blog. And although I cannot promise anything, I would certainly talk with the producers of P1 to see if they could plug this event as well on the weekly podcast. I would also ask the Gates of Stovokor people too, with whom I am in close contact.

Given that PvP will (hopefully) get a boost in Season 8 (6 months away?), now is the time to start building up our ranks. Please leave your feedback, critical or otherwise. If you are interested in collaborating with me on this issue, please indicate as much.

Good luck with this. Anything to help new players get into pvp is a good think.

Also...getting the word out to the as many ppl as possible is gonna be the tipping point, but also the hard part. Getting a dev to help with this would be a giant step in the right direction if you could pull it off. I know there are a line of PvP'ers that gladly give their time and knowledge to help this cause, but without some help from cryptic staff to get the word out, it's very difficult to pull pve'ers in.

Bran, Bort, any other dev listening, what can we do to make this happen?

A good start would be promoting the OPVP channel, so more people have it visible in their chat box. More like the doff or eliteSTF channels.

I applaud the effort, but I have one thing to say about getting more players to PvP...

rewards!

As long as we're forced to spend time on other things to get what we want, people will not be inclined to PvP...

I wonder... will there ever be a "PvP reputation" system?

What would make PvP full of people:
- Better reward for participation
- Some reward for performance
- Some reward for winning
- adding 3v3 queues
- Leaderboard (showing best win/loose ratio over last 30 (?) arenas)

Unfortunately, this is all things only devs can do... It wouldn't even be much work for them, but even a little effort may be too much to ask, it seems....

Anyway, good luck!

You forgot NO REWARDS for AFK.

I've been doing this for the last month with my fleet I hold at least 1 pvp training event a week and it has really helped a lot of players in my fleet with builds and abilities. I honestly think every fleet should hold pvp training events

Would you be willing to discuss with me expanding such events to include people outside your fleet, as I have proposed above?

Good job in doing this in your own fleet. What fleet are you part of? I don't see anything in your signature. Thanks for posting.

I'm one of the leaders in The Galactic Horde (fed) i don't put a signature because this isn't my main account but yes I would love to expand it so that people outside the fleet could join in. I was hoping to get more people involved in using real pvp tactics and not just doing some cheese move like DPB's tric, pet tractor spam, and drain builds. A lot of not so skilled players in my fleet use those tactics. I try to train my fleet members to more out maneuver and out smart there opponents. If you want just send me a message in game or just keep this thread up and ill respond to anything.

Thanks, wolfpack12c. Let me see how this thread develops over the next day or so. I am hoping that borticus or Branflakes will pick up on it. Even if these hopes are not realized, I will likely contact you anyway. Thanks again.