All good games evolve over time. Daoc is a competitive game but that competition can be partitioned from realm war zergs to 8man and again to smallman ending in the most straight forward form, solo.
ESports is huge at the moment but Daoc is not involved in it. Yet arguably Daoc requires an extreme amount of skill to play effectively whether that's in a 8man setup or solo. The variation of group setups across the realms makes for interesting rock, paper scissors scenarios and even when rock meets paper it may indeed rip through depending on how the fight unfolds, the players position themselves and execute their abilities. Sometimes it comes down to a rng at 1 particular point in a battle giving the advantage and turning the tide.
The game needs some mechanism to promote an actual ESports competition that players can progress towards or enter with their friends which is removed from the original purpose of the game, Realm v Realm. This combat is too large to support an ESports system. One of the most popular form of ESports format is league of legends multiplayer online battle arena. Daoc has the potential to enter this arena but in a unique way. There is already an appetite for high skill videos of good players and how they demonstrate their ability as can be seen by the amount of videos available to view and the view count of some of these videos.
I would propose that an event zone be created that teams may enter in order to compete against other teams. Phoenix is bound by the content of the original game of course and cannot create new zones to fit with any new event. That's said, there is nothing stopping Phoenix from using already existing zones to create their own arena for combat.
The exact details of this competition would need to be fully thrashed out but a taster would be as follows. Teams can teleport to an empty OF Emain/Odin's/Hw while an opposing team then ports in to face off against them. Once two teams are present in that zone, no other group can port in. They roam until the engagement begins and one teams triumph's over the other. Release and you rebuff to roam and fight again. These could be timed to ensure one team does not hide until their abilities are backup. You blow purge on the first fight? Better invest in purge3-4 if you want it again otherwise next fight you are without. Best of 3/5. Winner decided and that team earns 3 points.
These matches could be streamed by a ref watching the engagement like in world building mode with the ability to switch between different characters view at key points in the battle.
The idea is to form a professional league where teams compete against each other and after playing every team in the league crown an eventual Champion.
Stats can easily be tracked during matches to see who was the MVP tank / caster / support. Most death blows. Most deaths. Most healed. Most time spent in CC.. etc I'm jesting on the last few but you get the idea and it's only for Abit of fun as well. These stats could be useful to other teams when replacing members of their own teams from time to time as it can be hard to field the same 8 people every match just like in daily RvR.
Their is huge potential here, not to mention if you opened up team setup without realm constraints, the group compositions become even greater. It also means you have potential for separate leagues -
Traditional - open to Alb/mid/hib groups. No cross realm
Open - 8 member team any class, any realm.
Smallman 4v4
Tri-match leagues - 3 teams to a zone.
RR4L9 capped
Solo league
Stealther only league
Stealth small man open realm teams
Obviously to begin it would make sense to keep the leagues options small, so not to dilute the player pool until such time as more people start trying to compete. This in turn would fuel the viewing.
Their would be no realm points earned for these fights and if you want to increase your realm rank you have to go back to normal RvR to build your realm ranks up. This area would also need refinement to see what works and doesn't.
Yes, it's far fetched but it's just a concept. Their is not long left in the original game unless some innovation can breath new life into it. The original game would always still be there but it gives some people a place to go and given the current player base. A way to promote the game and get new players. I know it would affect actual RvR on the server but as the population dwindles that is already a reality.
ESports is huge at the moment but Daoc is not involved in it. Yet arguably Daoc requires an extreme amount of skill to play effectively whether that's in a 8man setup or solo. The variation of group setups across the realms makes for interesting rock, paper scissors scenarios and even when rock meets paper it may indeed rip through depending on how the fight unfolds, the players position themselves and execute their abilities. Sometimes it comes down to a rng at 1 particular point in a battle giving the advantage and turning the tide.
The game needs some mechanism to promote an actual ESports competition that players can progress towards or enter with their friends which is removed from the original purpose of the game, Realm v Realm. This combat is too large to support an ESports system. One of the most popular form of ESports format is league of legends multiplayer online battle arena. Daoc has the potential to enter this arena but in a unique way. There is already an appetite for high skill videos of good players and how they demonstrate their ability as can be seen by the amount of videos available to view and the view count of some of these videos.
I would propose that an event zone be created that teams may enter in order to compete against other teams. Phoenix is bound by the content of the original game of course and cannot create new zones to fit with any new event. That's said, there is nothing stopping Phoenix from using already existing zones to create their own arena for combat.
The exact details of this competition would need to be fully thrashed out but a taster would be as follows. Teams can teleport to an empty OF Emain/Odin's/Hw while an opposing team then ports in to face off against them. Once two teams are present in that zone, no other group can port in. They roam until the engagement begins and one teams triumph's over the other. Release and you rebuff to roam and fight again. These could be timed to ensure one team does not hide until their abilities are backup. You blow purge on the first fight? Better invest in purge3-4 if you want it again otherwise next fight you are without. Best of 3/5. Winner decided and that team earns 3 points.
These matches could be streamed by a ref watching the engagement like in world building mode with the ability to switch between different characters view at key points in the battle.
The idea is to form a professional league where teams compete against each other and after playing every team in the league crown an eventual Champion.
Stats can easily be tracked during matches to see who was the MVP tank / caster / support. Most death blows. Most deaths. Most healed. Most time spent in CC.. etc I'm jesting on the last few but you get the idea and it's only for Abit of fun as well. These stats could be useful to other teams when replacing members of their own teams from time to time as it can be hard to field the same 8 people every match just like in daily RvR.
Their is huge potential here, not to mention if you opened up team setup without realm constraints, the group compositions become even greater. It also means you have potential for separate leagues -
Traditional - open to Alb/mid/hib groups. No cross realm
Open - 8 member team any class, any realm.
Smallman 4v4
Tri-match leagues - 3 teams to a zone.
RR4L9 capped
Solo league
Stealther only league
Stealth small man open realm teams
Obviously to begin it would make sense to keep the leagues options small, so not to dilute the player pool until such time as more people start trying to compete. This in turn would fuel the viewing.
Their would be no realm points earned for these fights and if you want to increase your realm rank you have to go back to normal RvR to build your realm ranks up. This area would also need refinement to see what works and doesn't.
Yes, it's far fetched but it's just a concept. Their is not long left in the original game unless some innovation can breath new life into it. The original game would always still be there but it gives some people a place to go and given the current player base. A way to promote the game and get new players. I know it would affect actual RvR on the server but as the population dwindles that is already a reality.
) tournament in whatever format just for shits n giggles (again, because i dont think any serious esports can be reasonably performed in this game) i would totally watch it!