RvR Upgrades and Updates

This section lists the current plans for the future of Keeps, Battlefield Objectives, Scenarios, Warcamps, Siege and Zone Control Messaging. Remember, this is beta so things may change!

Keeps

• Guilds will be able to claim Keeps which will grant them many benefits via NPCs and augmentation to current systems that add several benefits to defending players. We’re also analyzing and adjusting Renown pool disbursement for taking and defending Keeps.


• Guild ownership will allow guilds to Respawn inside a Keep and/or provide fast transit to their Keep.


• Adding increased amounts and levels of Guards, siege pads and Merchants can also be purchased by Guilds once they own a Keep.


• Keep appearance will change when controlled by the enemy Realm


• Fast transit to and from the Keep via Guild Ownership


• Messaging will go out to the RvR area noting when a Keep has been taken over, but there will also be detailed messaging for guilds noting the status of doors, guards, bodyguards and the Keep Lord.

Battlefield Objectives

Besides Guilds being able to claim Battlefield Objectives, we are looking to add more support functionality to help alleviate warcamp camping as well as providing increased utility:

• Respawning and/or fast transit to claimed Battlefield Objectives


• Adjustment of terrain surrounding BO locations to give a more distinct feel and sense of importance.


• Clearer communication to players how Battlefield Objectives add guards to Keeps via NPC titles that denote which Objective they’re tied to


• Extension of safe period of ownership to 15 minutes


• Battlefield Objectives under attack will be displayed on the in-game map.


• In addition, if a guild owns a Battlefield Objective that is being assaulted all guild members will be alerted.


• We’re looking at adjusting the number of Siege pads available based on Battlefield Objective ownership for attackers/defenders.

Scenarios

Scenarios are readjusted with every Beta, but we’re also looking at Queue updates:

• You’ve enjoyed forced fights over locations and flag objects (bombs, flags, murderballs) so we will continue to emphasize those rule-sets.


• Spawn point and respawn points will continually be analyzed to discourage spawn camping.


• No scenario will extend beyond the limits of 18 vs. 18 for population.


• Dogs of War will help quell uneven battles until the scenario population balances out on a match by match basis.


• Multiple Queue’ing will allow players to join all Scenarios queues which are available in the zone/tier they are in at once. (Note: once entering a scenario, the other scenarios in queue are dropped – no scenario to scenario hopping.)


• Players anywhere in Tier 4 will be able to queue to the current active Tier 4 scenario(s).

Warcamps
We know that players want to take the fight straight to the Warcamps, and so we have already begun implementing the following items to fight against the zerg:

• Siege will now be placed in all Tier 1 – Tier 4 Warcamps. This will be accessible to all players to fire only at enemy players lurking near their Warcamp.


• Guard counts will be increased from 7 to 10 along with two additional sets of roaming patrols on the perimeter.


• We’ll continue to make sure there are multiple exit points from Warcamps and investigate ways to make them more obvious to players.

Siege

We have many more things planned in order to take our Siege warfare to the next level:

• Animation, effects and sound across the board will be improved in order to give us that polish that’s been missing.


• Players will have the ability to attach themselves to the siege when firing. (i.e. attaching to the ram when in use)


• Tweaking of firing mini games (i.e. Ram will now have a power bar for all 4 players to activate)


• Renown Ability “Siege Abilities” will grant players additional means to breach outer walls and keeps along with specializing in using certain types of siege.

Zone Control Messaging

You, the players, and us internally, the devs, recognize that our current method for messaging players about epic in-game events is not clear enough. Below are a few things we will be adding to make this more obvious.

• The UI team is updating the zone control bar to better show when a zone is currently locked down.


• Adding longer screen shakes and audio cues coupled with skydome changes for both the winners and losers in a zone.


• Investigating adding the current zone where the battle is taking place to the main interface when in any Tier 4 zone


• Giving a status update on the war on the loading screen while zoning.


• RvR hotspots will display on the map via the WAR symbol with varying sizes to denote where a fight is, and its size.


• Minimap adjustments will denote wthe owner of a Zone at a glance (outlining the Minimap or some other visual in blue, red or white like in Scenarios).


• When opening the large scale map, you will see who owns the zone you’re in and quickly be able to see where the Active zone is

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