Introduction:
First I would like to say thank you for creating this amazing server. Secondly, I’m aware that there are some that dislike the Relic/Keep Siege side of the game. This post isn’t about trying to convince some of that importance, but to discuss how to improve the current state of Realm War Siege.
For those that don’t know me, I'm one of the leaders in Garden Warfare, the most active Hib NA RvR guild. Last night I earned Relic Chief (10th Capture). I really don't mean this as a boast, but rather as a way of saying look, i've done this a few times. I really have the experience. I tested in beta with 19 successful attempts, from all 3 realms, against all 6 relic keeps. I've probably made over 200 full attempts at a RK between beta and live. I'm one of a few that achieved Relic Captain (25 captures) on Uthgard and Broadsword. I have, at the very least, a wide array of experience in regards to relics at classic patch level.
Observation:
The Current Relic Situation is Broken.
The relics are simply put, too hard to take, too easy to retake, and have too little impact to matter. For those that have zero interest in relic warfare, this must seem the most ideal scenario. However for those that enjoy endgame RvR, this system could use some attention.
Keep Sieges:
Back in beta, archers were 1-shotting casters. Today were taking lvl 10 keeps with a single group or less. If were not on one end of the spectrum, were on the other. The time it takes to complete a keep should be evenly spread out between the 3 phases, outside, courtyard and keep lord. Currently its Pull all guards, kill them outside, ram outer, ram inner, Kill Lord. Another issue is that the balance of cost versus reward is not balanced. The keeps should require bounty points to increase and maintain at higher level. This balances the need for level 10 keeps, with the cost of a level 10 keep, and the difficulty and reward for a level 10 keep. Right now the difficulty is low, reward is very low, need is even lower, and the cost is completely non-existent.
Solutions:
Limit 1 ram per door. Also increase abs of doors so weapon dmg does less, but maintain ram damage.
Place archers on the wall, tethered so they can’t be pulled off. Make them targetable from outside and increase their damage appropriately. Add patrolling guard groups for keeps lvl 5 or higher. Lvl 5 should have 1 set of 5 patrolling guards on the outside in addition to the 5 guards by the door. Add an additional set of roaming guards and level 8 and a 3rd set at level 10. Tether the guards in the courtyard so that there is a courtyard fight. This should also increase in number based on keep level. Guards should be on a shorter timer, perhaps 5 mins.
Keep reward for taking should be 200rps times level of keep. Ie lvl 1 = 200 rps, lvl 5=1k rps, lvl 10 = 2k rps.
Additional changes with Relics will also have a big impact on keeps.
Relic:
As I said earlier, relics are too hard to take, too easy to retake, and have too little impact to matter. The truth is for every message in region about how can someone help get a relic home, I get another about how we shouldn’t even be taking relics in the first place, or how were ruining their RvR time because of the 3 minute timer. The fact that we get such high volume of negative feedback from our own realm when taking....not defending but taking an enemy relic, is a perfect picture to why changes are needed. Now I understand that Phoenix wants to work within a certain framework including having relics in keeps and having lesser impact. While I would love to really shake things up, I’ll try to keep my suggestions within that framework.
Solutions:
First, relic guards need to be lowered in level. They should be lvl 50-65. They shouldn’t be the only thing that protects the relics. And right now 1 bad pull can wipe 100+ raid. These guards need to be toned down. I can’t stress this enough. On the other hand the relic KEEP guards are almost pointless. I can’t really tell any difference between them and the rk guards. This ties directly in with the keep situation. At their current level they are fine for a lvl 5 keep. I think though, for keeps higher level, the guards should be even more difficult. At level 8 or 9 they should begin to have special abilities like aoe disease, ns, or cc. The idea is to make keeps meaningful as well. Right now it’s better in most situations to skip the keeps and hit the RK head on, since the greatest threat is the RK guards. But if you lower the RK guards and increase the relic KEEP guards, you’ll increase the value of taking keeps before hitting the RK.
Additionally the relic keep guards should be on a fairly short respawn. Right now, it’s a 1 and done tactic, with a 30 min respawn. You pull all guards. Then focus doors until you have the relic. If the guards spawned every 5-10 minutes, it would be a continuous fight. This can’t happen at the moment because the guards are all too strong.
1 ram per door, with lowered weapon damage
Relic Keeps:
For keeps holding relics, we need to have the keep either auto lvl 10, or have in greatly increase the speed at which it levels. Additionally, assign a relic guard force to protect the lord of a keep that has a relic in it. Make them tethered in the Lord Room.
Grant BG credit for title. Imagine doing Dragon where only the tank group gets credit, or epic dungeons, etc.
Relic Bonuses:
This will probably get the most resistance. But the bonuses need rebalanced. Perhaps going back to 10% is too much, perhaps not. But a middle ground can be found. Give each relic 5%, including the home relic. This means holding all 3 would cap at 15%, which is lower than the 20% at this level. It also greatly incentivizes people to defend their home relic more. Additionally the timer needs to either go away, or be reduced. I’d suggest 12 hr tics, or 48 hrs till full bonus. Most relics are retaken within 24 hrs anyways. Also I suggest a one-time bonus after taking a relic. IE, for 24 hrs after relic cap, realm receives 25% RP bonus.
TLDR: HAHA, just read it dude!
First I would like to say thank you for creating this amazing server. Secondly, I’m aware that there are some that dislike the Relic/Keep Siege side of the game. This post isn’t about trying to convince some of that importance, but to discuss how to improve the current state of Realm War Siege.
For those that don’t know me, I'm one of the leaders in Garden Warfare, the most active Hib NA RvR guild. Last night I earned Relic Chief (10th Capture). I really don't mean this as a boast, but rather as a way of saying look, i've done this a few times. I really have the experience. I tested in beta with 19 successful attempts, from all 3 realms, against all 6 relic keeps. I've probably made over 200 full attempts at a RK between beta and live. I'm one of a few that achieved Relic Captain (25 captures) on Uthgard and Broadsword. I have, at the very least, a wide array of experience in regards to relics at classic patch level.
Observation:
The Current Relic Situation is Broken.
The relics are simply put, too hard to take, too easy to retake, and have too little impact to matter. For those that have zero interest in relic warfare, this must seem the most ideal scenario. However for those that enjoy endgame RvR, this system could use some attention.
Keep Sieges:
Back in beta, archers were 1-shotting casters. Today were taking lvl 10 keeps with a single group or less. If were not on one end of the spectrum, were on the other. The time it takes to complete a keep should be evenly spread out between the 3 phases, outside, courtyard and keep lord. Currently its Pull all guards, kill them outside, ram outer, ram inner, Kill Lord. Another issue is that the balance of cost versus reward is not balanced. The keeps should require bounty points to increase and maintain at higher level. This balances the need for level 10 keeps, with the cost of a level 10 keep, and the difficulty and reward for a level 10 keep. Right now the difficulty is low, reward is very low, need is even lower, and the cost is completely non-existent.
Solutions:
Limit 1 ram per door. Also increase abs of doors so weapon dmg does less, but maintain ram damage.
Place archers on the wall, tethered so they can’t be pulled off. Make them targetable from outside and increase their damage appropriately. Add patrolling guard groups for keeps lvl 5 or higher. Lvl 5 should have 1 set of 5 patrolling guards on the outside in addition to the 5 guards by the door. Add an additional set of roaming guards and level 8 and a 3rd set at level 10. Tether the guards in the courtyard so that there is a courtyard fight. This should also increase in number based on keep level. Guards should be on a shorter timer, perhaps 5 mins.
Keep reward for taking should be 200rps times level of keep. Ie lvl 1 = 200 rps, lvl 5=1k rps, lvl 10 = 2k rps.
Additional changes with Relics will also have a big impact on keeps.
Relic:
As I said earlier, relics are too hard to take, too easy to retake, and have too little impact to matter. The truth is for every message in region about how can someone help get a relic home, I get another about how we shouldn’t even be taking relics in the first place, or how were ruining their RvR time because of the 3 minute timer. The fact that we get such high volume of negative feedback from our own realm when taking....not defending but taking an enemy relic, is a perfect picture to why changes are needed. Now I understand that Phoenix wants to work within a certain framework including having relics in keeps and having lesser impact. While I would love to really shake things up, I’ll try to keep my suggestions within that framework.
Solutions:
First, relic guards need to be lowered in level. They should be lvl 50-65. They shouldn’t be the only thing that protects the relics. And right now 1 bad pull can wipe 100+ raid. These guards need to be toned down. I can’t stress this enough. On the other hand the relic KEEP guards are almost pointless. I can’t really tell any difference between them and the rk guards. This ties directly in with the keep situation. At their current level they are fine for a lvl 5 keep. I think though, for keeps higher level, the guards should be even more difficult. At level 8 or 9 they should begin to have special abilities like aoe disease, ns, or cc. The idea is to make keeps meaningful as well. Right now it’s better in most situations to skip the keeps and hit the RK head on, since the greatest threat is the RK guards. But if you lower the RK guards and increase the relic KEEP guards, you’ll increase the value of taking keeps before hitting the RK.
Additionally the relic keep guards should be on a fairly short respawn. Right now, it’s a 1 and done tactic, with a 30 min respawn. You pull all guards. Then focus doors until you have the relic. If the guards spawned every 5-10 minutes, it would be a continuous fight. This can’t happen at the moment because the guards are all too strong.
1 ram per door, with lowered weapon damage
Relic Keeps:
For keeps holding relics, we need to have the keep either auto lvl 10, or have in greatly increase the speed at which it levels. Additionally, assign a relic guard force to protect the lord of a keep that has a relic in it. Make them tethered in the Lord Room.
Grant BG credit for title. Imagine doing Dragon where only the tank group gets credit, or epic dungeons, etc.
Relic Bonuses:
This will probably get the most resistance. But the bonuses need rebalanced. Perhaps going back to 10% is too much, perhaps not. But a middle ground can be found. Give each relic 5%, including the home relic. This means holding all 3 would cap at 15%, which is lower than the 20% at this level. It also greatly incentivizes people to defend their home relic more. Additionally the timer needs to either go away, or be reduced. I’d suggest 12 hr tics, or 48 hrs till full bonus. Most relics are retaken within 24 hrs anyways. Also I suggest a one-time bonus after taking a relic. IE, for 24 hrs after relic cap, realm receives 25% RP bonus.
TLDR: HAHA, just read it dude!