Hello,
again, thank you for the mechanics which successfully established constant action in Rvr.
However, those mass suicides at portal keeps are really silly. Also, tasks switch so fast, it sometimes is annoying that you have to travel long distances in a very limited amount of time, in order to port back and run somewhere else immediately. Also, there is no feeling of an epic invasion/defense campaign at all. It is just pointless skirmish.
In order to improve that, it might be worth trying to make the realm where realm tasks take place constant over a course of a much longer timespan, like hours or even a day.
That way, each realm is under heavy siege for some time, with alternating roles. That might also have the nice side effect that DF possession switches more frequently. Also, there is time for rather grand strategies, so battlegroup leadership may come up with longer-term plans, like sending troops to the inner frontiers in order to ambush supply forces etc while preparin a frontal attack on a keep . If the task rewards are diminishing for higher RRs anyway, there will always be enough players who are willing to refrain from the keepdef/attack credit and rather earn RPs from attacking groups in the inner frontier zones. This also has a cool role-play feeling of a grand general sending his elite forces behind enemy lines, while the common army is following him nearby. This also works the opposite way in the case of a battlegroup commander coordinating a realm defense.
Moreover, for people who don't like heavy battlegroup action it becomes easier and more reliable to dodge the zergs without having to suicide / port all the time: Simply go to one of the other two realms and be good for hours or even the whole evening. Maybe add some kind of small scouting tasks in the other 2 realms which are only to be accomplished while solo or something like that. But that is a different topic.
Overall, there is much to gain from simply not switching the venue that often. There are also a lot of other nice side effects. I have the feeling that porting always comes with a higher risks of client crashes or linkdeads, so having to port less is good. There would also be significantly less time spent rebuffing at portal keeps (at least for the winning parties).
Optional Addition: Make realm task venue dependent on supremacy
A predefined venue which is determined by some script which simply rotates the realms might still feel silly to some players. In order to give players more influence on which realm is under siege, you might consider implementing some goal that has to be achieved which will then trigger the task-venue to switch to another realm. The realm task venue change might be tied to Darkness Falls ownership: The realm having the most keeps will have Darkness Falls, but as soon as it was able to sustain its supremacy for a longer time, it will also become venue for the realm tasks. That might unleash some very interesting dynamics because gaining keep supremacy puts the dominating realm under pressure against the two other realms.
So for example, if Albion currently has the most keeps, thus also has Darkness Falls, realm tasks will only take place in Albion. A Midgard battlegroup commander manages his forces so well that they win multiple keeptakes in a row, so they gain Darkness Falls ownership. After several more tasks are finished with sustained Midgard supremacy (like 3 tasks in a row with Midgard having most keeps), the venue changes to Midgard and all following realm tasks will take place in Midgard. The number of realm tasks in a row with sustained supremacy indirectly determine how fast the venue switches. If it feels too slow, decrease that number. Ff it feels too fast, increase it.
As an additional incentive, there might be a realmwide extra reward as soon as supremacy is gained, which gets larger the more one has contributed to the realm tasks meanwhile.
Thank you for reading!
again, thank you for the mechanics which successfully established constant action in Rvr.
However, those mass suicides at portal keeps are really silly. Also, tasks switch so fast, it sometimes is annoying that you have to travel long distances in a very limited amount of time, in order to port back and run somewhere else immediately. Also, there is no feeling of an epic invasion/defense campaign at all. It is just pointless skirmish.
In order to improve that, it might be worth trying to make the realm where realm tasks take place constant over a course of a much longer timespan, like hours or even a day.
That way, each realm is under heavy siege for some time, with alternating roles. That might also have the nice side effect that DF possession switches more frequently. Also, there is time for rather grand strategies, so battlegroup leadership may come up with longer-term plans, like sending troops to the inner frontiers in order to ambush supply forces etc while preparin a frontal attack on a keep . If the task rewards are diminishing for higher RRs anyway, there will always be enough players who are willing to refrain from the keepdef/attack credit and rather earn RPs from attacking groups in the inner frontier zones. This also has a cool role-play feeling of a grand general sending his elite forces behind enemy lines, while the common army is following him nearby. This also works the opposite way in the case of a battlegroup commander coordinating a realm defense.
Moreover, for people who don't like heavy battlegroup action it becomes easier and more reliable to dodge the zergs without having to suicide / port all the time: Simply go to one of the other two realms and be good for hours or even the whole evening. Maybe add some kind of small scouting tasks in the other 2 realms which are only to be accomplished while solo or something like that. But that is a different topic.
Overall, there is much to gain from simply not switching the venue that often. There are also a lot of other nice side effects. I have the feeling that porting always comes with a higher risks of client crashes or linkdeads, so having to port less is good. There would also be significantly less time spent rebuffing at portal keeps (at least for the winning parties).
Optional Addition: Make realm task venue dependent on supremacy
A predefined venue which is determined by some script which simply rotates the realms might still feel silly to some players. In order to give players more influence on which realm is under siege, you might consider implementing some goal that has to be achieved which will then trigger the task-venue to switch to another realm. The realm task venue change might be tied to Darkness Falls ownership: The realm having the most keeps will have Darkness Falls, but as soon as it was able to sustain its supremacy for a longer time, it will also become venue for the realm tasks. That might unleash some very interesting dynamics because gaining keep supremacy puts the dominating realm under pressure against the two other realms.
So for example, if Albion currently has the most keeps, thus also has Darkness Falls, realm tasks will only take place in Albion. A Midgard battlegroup commander manages his forces so well that they win multiple keeptakes in a row, so they gain Darkness Falls ownership. After several more tasks are finished with sustained Midgard supremacy (like 3 tasks in a row with Midgard having most keeps), the venue changes to Midgard and all following realm tasks will take place in Midgard. The number of realm tasks in a row with sustained supremacy indirectly determine how fast the venue switches. If it feels too slow, decrease that number. Ff it feels too fast, increase it.
As an additional incentive, there might be a realmwide extra reward as soon as supremacy is gained, which gets larger the more one has contributed to the realm tasks meanwhile.
Thank you for reading!