Ok, so now we’re all on the same page, I shall have a little ramble about my thoughts regarding this news.
My initial thought on this was “ooh interesting” but tarnished by a coating of bitter tasting disappointment. I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting of the Skaven zone, but I think the clue was in the word “zone”. As in a large area that could be explored with freedom, regardless of if I am solo or grouped. I was thinking about tunnels linking up all the zones, sneaking around, battling rats and scrapping with players.
And then as I was pondering on why we’re instead getting an instanced dungeon, I realised I was letting my UO and DAoC roots influence me too far. In WAR there’s no point or use for tunnels linking zones or in fact any of the DAoC style underground stuff. It’s all made completely irrelevant by flight masters and PvE lands around the RvR lakes, there’s no need to sneak through tunnels. It would be too damn slow, provide no benefit and be a total waste of time.
So with that type of zone ruled out, it leaves us with a Land of the Dead style area and if we’re honest while LotD has seen a bit of a resurgence in popularity, it’s not exactly packed with people queuing to get in. Whereas the new city siege is very popular and when it’s available there’s always plenty of fighting to be found. That’s not to say it doesn’t have issues, like anything from every MMO ever, nothing is perfect, but it is pretty good and in general people like it. Certainly I think with the city siege Mythic cracked the PvPvE combination and the potential for taking this further is huge, which is obviously what they are trying to do with the new Skaven dungeon.
The new Skaven zone/dungeon/area/thing
And now I’ve changed to a feeling of positive curiosity. There is a lot of potential here and it could turn out to be extremely compelling. I’m not leaping up and down with excitement yet, my doubts are not written off, but I am intrigued in a good way. Not to the same level as the campaign changes mind you, which I can’t bloody wait for and think will be abso-sodding-lutely awesome.
Now some people are making a lot of assumptions about this Skaven dungeon news, both positive and negative, but seriously folks all we have is a rough outline. I’ve seen a few people likening it to just a scenario, I’m not entirely sure why. It sounds more like the new city to me and keep in mind Carrie has only described “ONE of the bosses”, that implies more than just some a single scenario thing. So please don’t get too het up in either direction just yet, particularly since the new stuff goes to the PTS (Public Test Server) this month and we will discover the truth of it all soon.
The key questions for me, at least as I think about it right now with limited knowledge of the details, are:
The biggest annoyance with the city siege is people chain quitting instances and not staying to fight. Will this have the same system to get in and if so how will the problem be avoided? This really needs sorting out somehow.
On a grand scale. Like Tori Amos said; “it’s gotta be big”.
How often and what prompts the Skaven area becoming accessible? I’m pondering on things like when doing ORvR with a warband, do we suddenly drop out and leave the people under RR65 to fight alone in the normal campaign? Or will people have notice and time to prepare and split warbands by RR? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I’m just curious about how it will work.
The city siege is supposedly remaining as the big deal, final battle of uberness. How do the new armour sets relate to City and Skaven instances? What items are available, if any, in the Skaven dungeon area?
Ahh I could go on, there’s so much to wonder about… I suspect these PTS events will be a wee bit busier than normal.
PTS DETAILS ANNOUNCED!
Yes that was... PTS details announced! AND IT IS THIS WEEK!
Starting with T3... should be a great laugh ;)
"Greetings!
We're very excited to announce the first phase of Mass Play-test events surrounding the upcoming changes to Open Realm vs. Realm combat!
We're inviting our entire Community out to the Warpstone Public Test Server this Wednesday, October 6th 2010, to put the new ORvR mechanic through it's paces. We'll be kicking things off at 8:00 PM EDT/02.00 CET, so be sure to log in early to get set up! Tier 3 templates will be provided, as we'll be testing the night away in the Tier 3 EvC Lake.
A second (European friendly) test will be hosted this Friday, October 8th 2010 at 21.00 CET/3:00 PM EDT with a final test occurring Tuesday, October 12th 2010 at 8:00 PM EDT/02.00 CET.
For instructions on how to access the Warpstone PTS, please read here!
So come on out to Warpstone and see the future of ORvR!
We'll see you on the battlefield!
WAAAGH!"
They did mention looking into some sort of matchmaking system. Could Mythic be using that for this new area? Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteThe term "zone" was definitely not the appropriate term for what this sounds like. To me, it sounds like a "city siege lite" moreso like a big 24-v-24 scenario where the goal is to kill a boss NPC. I'm sure it will be cool but more info needed to really get a feel for this.
ReplyDeleteI was probably abit off calling it "glorified" but I think it is justified to call it a scenario obviously it is a larger scale yet we still have have the three elements that define a scenario (atleast for me) 1. A specific goal (objectives, kills, boil his head etc) 2. Fixed max number of players 3. Fixed time limit (presumably) but completing the objective will most likely occur first as always. You could also stick in defined area too.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that though I do like the new city instance, I consider that a scenario too. I really hope the first time I play the new skaven zone I am just as blown away as I was when I first played the new city instance.
I am guessing that there will be PQs or some such in the scen possibly involving beating large rats over the head with a zweihander.
I am absolutely looking forward to it though. All new content is good.
I don't quite understand why it is being done in Tier 3, but I may check out Tier 4 before the official PTS event.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of things to do with size of the area, depends on the number of bosses and how Mythic work on bringing the various sides together for additional conflict.
ReplyDeleteWASD, Tier 3 is a little more forgiving combat-wise than Tier 4 and thus will help people focus more on the actual mechanics in play than ingrained perceived imbalances in Tier 4 combat which is a separate issue. At least, that's what I get from the choice. I'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDelete