Captured / Contested Cities 101

this will clear things up

General Q&A Information

What does contested and captured Altdorf mean exactly?

When both Order and Destruction players have completed the campaign phase of the game they will then either enter Altdorf or the Inevitable City. Once players first enter one of the cities, both Order and Destruction will enter phase 1 (contested).

During this phase both Order and Destruction will be fighting against each other in the city streets. Not only does each realm fight against each other but there are multiple battle objectives to invade and defend, quests to adventure, items to burn and smash along with Order having the opportunity to counter the city burning by extinguishing the fires.

Is each city during the contested/captured phase an instance?

- Yes, the contested/captured city of Altdorf and the Inevitable City is an instance. Each generated instance will currently hold 48 Destruction players and 48 Order players for this round of testing for a total of 96 players per city instance. Once a city instance reaches capacity a new instance of that city becomes available allowing a total of 96 additional Destruction and Order players to join. Please note, player population numbers may change during BETA as we continue to evaluate various metrics.

What can an invader and a defender do while inside an invaded city instance?

- Inside the city, players will be able to kill, loot, pillage, burn and extinguish!
o You will find crates and chests that can be destroyed and will have the chance to drop loot, even a rare green item! Smash away!
o You will find chairs and tables that can be destroyed as well as awnings that may be set on fire!
o You may smash in to interior homes of Altdorf and Inevitable City citizens and pillage inside. All Altdorf doors that can be destroyed are clearly marked with a Chaos symbol and all Inevitable City doors that can be destroyed are clearly marked with an empire sun logo burned in to the door. In Altdorf, doors that can not be destroyed have wooden boards across them and in the Inevitable City doors that can not be destroyed have metal bars across them.
o You may attack the citizens and livestock of Altdorf and the Inevitable City. Some will be tougher than others.
o Each object that you destroy and burn adds points to your home city ranking. (This will be covered at a later date in full detail).
o Invaders may perform quests to cause destruction in the city and defenders may perform quests that assist in the aid of the cities defense.
o Players have the opportunity to take on six of the cities biggest foes. For Altdorf they are Thyrus Gorman, Grand Theoginist Volkmar and Emperor Karl Franz. For the Inevitable City they are Engra Deathsword, Lycithas the Harridan Seer and Tchar’zanek.

The Karl Franz and Tchar’zanek encounters are only accessible once the major city PQs have been successfully defeated in a single instance. Once this occurs, the gates to Karl Franz’s and Tchar’zanek’s palace will open up to all players across all instances. Those in other instances who have not yet defeated the two sub bosses that gate the Kings may still do so to fight for the reward at the end!

City Instancing

- A new “city instancing” feature has been added to the game that players will experience once they have defeated a campaign and advance in to an enemy city. The new “city instancing” is explained below:
o General City Instancing Information
- Warbands are unable to queue for a city instance, should a particular instance be full.
- Groups are unable to queue for a city instance, should a particular instance be full.
- Solo players are able to queue for a city instance
- Once a warband leader or group leader enters a city instance they will be unable to invite friends, guildmates or other players that are outside the city instance. Groups can however be formed from within a city instance.
- Once a warband, group or solo player enters a city instance, that city instance is flagged to their character. Should you decide to venture in to a dungeon or King instance off of the main city instance, on your exit of that dungeon you will return to the main city instance you originally entered.
- The city instance selection window will auto refresh every five minutes providing players with the current available instances.
o Solo Players & City Instancing
- When a solo player approaches the entrance to an enemy city they will be presented with a window to choose an instance of their choice. If an instance is immediately available, a solo player will automatically be able to zone in to a city instance. If a solo player wishes to join an instance that contains their friends or guildmates but that instance is currently full, the solo player will be able to queue for that instance. Once a solo player queues for a certain instance, they will not be able to join another instance without dropping their current queue for the previous instance.
o Warbands & City Instancing
- When a warband leader approaches the entrance to an enemy city they will be presented with a window to choose an instance of their choice. Once the warband leader chooses an instance and enters that instance, all players in the warband that walk to the doors of the city and zone in to the city will automatically be placed within the same instance as their warband leader. If a warband leader chooses an instance and it does not have enough room for the entire warband, the warband leader will be instructed of this and be able to choose another instance. Warband members will have to wait for their warband leader to pick an instance before they can zone in to the city. (Please note: Warbands are not able to queue for an instance as this feature is only reserved for solo players)
o Group Leaders & City Instancing
- When a group leader approaches the entrance to an enemy city they will be presented with a window to choose an instance of their choice. Once the group leader chooses an instance and enters that instance, all players in the group that walk to the doors of the city and zone in to the city will automatically be placed within the same instance as their group leader. If a group leader chooses an instance and it does not have enough room for the entire group, the group leader will be instructed of this and be able to choose another instance. Group members will have to wait for their group leader to pick an instance before they can zone in to the city (Please note: groups are not able to queue for an instance as this feature is only reserved for solo players)

Testing Instructions for Altdorf Invasion (Destruction):

- Proceed to log in to beta
- Choose to create a new character.
- On the drop down menu please choose the level 40 template. Once you choose your template and click to login, your character will be placed at the front door of Altdorf in Reikwald.
- After loading in to Reikwald all you need to do is click on the door that resides on the city wall and you will be presented with the following option:
- Warband leaders, group leaders and solo players will have the option to choose the city instance of their choice. Once they have selected an instance, all group and warband members will zone in to the same instance. If a group leader or warband leader choose a city instance that does not have capacity for all of their members, the leader will be notified as such and can choose to start a new instance.
- If you are a solo player and want to join a city instance that contains some of your friends or guildmates but the city instance is full, you will have the option to queue for that instance. Please note, once you queue for an instance you may not join any other city instances.
- After zoning in to either of the cities, players will have the following options open to them:

Altdorf
- All players may participate in a city wide PQ, both invaders and defenders.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Bright Wizard College PQ.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Temple of Sigmar PQ.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Karl Franz encounter (only available when both PQs are successfully defeated in a single instance)

The Inevitable City
- All players may participate in a city wide PQ, both invaders and defenders.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Monolith PQ.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Sacellum PQ.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Tchar’zanek encounter (only available when both PQs are successfully defeated in a single instance)

Testing Instructions for Altdorf Defend (Order):

- Proceed to log in to beta
- Choose to create a new Order character.
- On the drop down menu please choose the level 40 template. Once you choose your template and click to login, your character will be placed at the side door “refugee camp” of Altdorf in Reikwald.
- After loading in to Reikwald all you need to do is click on the door that resides on the city wall and you will be presented with the following option:
- Warband leaders, group leaders and solo players will have the option to choose the city instance of their choice. Once they have selected an instance, all group and warband members will zone in to the same instance. If a group leader or warband leader choose a city instance that does not have capacity for all of their members, the leader will be notified as such and can choose to start a new instance.
- If you are a solo player and want to join a city instance that contains some of your friends or guildmates but the city instance is full, you will have the option to queue for that instance. Please note, once you queue for an instance you may not join any other city instances.

Altdorf
- All players may participate in a city wide PQ, both invaders and defenders.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Bright Wizard College PQ.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Temple of Sigmar PQ.
- All Destruction players may attempt to defeat the Karl Franz encounter (only available when both PQs are successfully defeated in a single instance)

The Inevitable City
- All players may participate in a city wide PQ, both invaders and defenders.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Monolith PQ.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Sacellum PQ.
- All Order players may attempt to defeat the Tchar’zanek encounter (only available when both PQs are successfully defeated in a single instance)

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