OLD FRONTIER

Lux.Thoras wrote: ↑

Thu 6 Feb 2020 7:37 AM

I don´t know why people think NF is bigger then OF.
The Zones have same size, the only change is, that the zones in NF are better usable then in OF. In the OF a lot of zones could not be used because of Hills, Mob spots and other stuff.
Also in OF they introduced the Port to the Keeps, so also this feature in NF is not different to the OF on Phoenix.

With areas in NF being blocked off with invisible walls creating forced paths with badly placed towers in some areas, less hiding/ambush/vantage points, less seeing distance in general due to lack of elevated places, less avoidance paths if roaming but with the ease and speed of getting to safe places with boats (resulting in shorter risk distance) and the amount tower/keeps to run to for safety, I would argue that NF feels much smaller with less meaningful/memorable action. All areas feel/look very similar, all towers are identical, all keeps are very similar in all realms, all losing their realm uniqueness. Even terrain in general has lost most of its realm uniqueness and you are rarely far from a river.

Unless you are running with a large enough BG to take keeps and engage with other bgs, you are left with what seems like much more limited options than in OF. Sometime even these bgs cant gather momentum enough to really get going because "the other bg is too many/much already" resulting in leaders giving up quicker and having just 1 left to dominate. In reality IMO its just that bgs are just way to mobile (again making things seems smaller) leaving little to no chance to do anything, like setup, before the larger numbers are on you, which people get bored of quick, especially the leaders once they see numbers dropping after each wipe quickly. This is not a nf only problem, but it is polarised by it due to how quick large numbers can get around in nf. Even if BGs meet, the vast majority of encounters are around keeps or towers, very few open field encounters happen because there is a lack of open areas in general. Again this imo leads to less memorable encounters and less perceived fun as a result.

Its just harder to avoid the main zergs as a roaming fg/small man/solo looking for different action in nf because its all just one map. Even going to a lesser active area to try your luck, its met with mostly emptiness, or stirring a hornets nest of keep huggers that suddenly wake up if you try engage anything remotely close, a few dock or bridge campers sometimes, a few coast guards just looking to pick off solos and not much else. No challenge or overwhelmed, little in-between. Try touch a tower and a zerg appears in no time, no matter where and as for keeps...they are a zerg only activity. EV is mostly a waste land unless you stumble across a few xpers (not much fun for either side IMO). This results in people just mostly keep camping and/or task chasing because it has highest reward for smallest risk and the others countering this with drop off point/dock camping/coast guarding. The variation and choice on play styles seems to have been lost/limited somewhere with nf out side of this more so than in OF. Flags are a thing of the past and even encounter with realm lord boss mobs seems to have decreased. There is still action of course, and there are still large numbers showing in RVR zones, but I am not sure the numbers tell the whole truth anymore.

As for phoenix saying its not possible to bring back OF. Sorry but its done on other shards so I cant see that as a valid argument (other shards are not an option anymore as this game needs numbers, which phoenix deservedly had due to well thought out QOL etc changes). Its more work and the result of the vote shouldnt be ignored for NF neither. The result was 60nf 40of or close to. Is it really necessary to ignore 40% as well? ATM OF lovers have no real option, live has NF and other shards with OF dont have the numbers (nor the qol which draws people here)), they are forced to accept NF or quit daoc completely (which some have already unfortunately). I have to ask the question, is it not possible to implement some sort of 60% of the time NF and 40% of the time OF type of thing to create a truly unique setup never seen before on any shard and make phoenix stand out as legendary or more so than it does already? I'm sure it would be a lot of work of course and would be a big project no doubt, but with an ever changing cycle, does it not have potential to get more players coming back or even sustaining NF lover and OF lovers alike (as they would both have the knowledge that their preferred frontier will cycle round eventually, potentially keeping both sides playing throughout) as well as added variety for those who like both?

Sorry for the long post/bad grammar/spelling mistakes. This is of course is all just IMO.