Next step: Invasions!

[Adrian]

Community,

As the initial balance stage is done –and more will come, don't worry– and battles gained a bit more of dynamism, we're ready to the next step: Invasions. We all know there are several issues with this feature and it's time to start transforming the end-gameplay of the game into something more enjoyable and with potential for adding objectives in the future too.

Castle and Fort capturing and holding

We notice that holding buildings lost a lot of the challenge and also the strategic and tactical approach. Invasions require Relics, which are captured mostly one at a time, gathering all of the forces of a realm at once to a single objective. This turns into a simple outcome: if you gather enough people, you'll succeed no matter what. And when you succeed... a ride through your safe lands to store an object in a place where you walk in like home because it IS home.

Anyway, this system itself is not the problem. It could work if the defender enemy could gather an army to regain the relic at some point in that ride back home, but the map can't give a proper regroup possibility to do this.
Our intention is bring back the function of the buildings needing at least two of them captured and any object to be transported should go through dangerous lands where enemy encounters are plausible, with the sole intention of making them more enjoyable and not specifically more difficult. Not allowing second chances of defense to an attacked realm leads to a lot of people feeling "empty" somehow. We don't want this. You also don't want it. A frustrated enemy will not give a fight back and everyone loses if this happens.

OK, holding still. For what?

You capture and between that moment and the accomplishment of the objective there is a waiting time in which not all the times you'll face the retaliation of the attacked realm. If battles will spread to another buildings too, this wait will relatively increase. Staying at the building must give something to the ones that captured it and an opportunity of getting something too to the ones that recapture it.

During the capture and until the final objective of the capture there will be buffs and rewards in the zone of the building. They will come in different ways because variety will make it more entertaining. A single reward can be bigger and simple but the thrill of choosing and succeeding is better.
Relics
Currently, as soon as you have them in your power, you and the big army around you will head towards the safe zone where you can keep it for a future invasion. Yes, you are contributing for a future happening which you may not participate in. Contributing is good but being there for the utmost event would be way better.

Relics will have to cover smaller distances, so no more mounting. Instead, they will have to be taken through the pathways of the attacked realm in order to get a benefit from them. Small distances but bigger dangers. Come on, you leveled, equipped yourself, learned a lot of tactics and perfected your skilling to have it easy? No way. You’re prepared to have some challenge, not a lot more but enough to make it worth it.

Skip to Invasions, later you’ll tell us more

The realm wall, the last defense, the entrance to a great adventure. Should the access be granted without a proper fight? I guess you’re thinking: NO. The Dragon comes there to fulfill a task that it’s rather difficult: fighting players which have an intelligence that AI rarely could cope with, at least in non-scientific projects like Regnum. And while he is trying to do something he succeeds at making it somehow more difficult to select your enemies. With all this said, the Dragons may need to be occupied with something else.

But if the Dragons will do something else, what to do with the Relics? Well, the Relics –as it was mentioned before– will go from the buildings directly to the Great Wall, to be stored there to release the power that blocks the attack of the Realm Door. But that’s not all. We want the Relics to be able to unlock other things too in the future. Their power will depend on how much of them you use for each objective.

After successfully invading, that’s another world of ideas and things to check. We’ll eventually get to it.

Realm balance and multirealmers

A critical issue regarding any kind of Invasions system possible. It’s no fun when you’re less, and sometimes too when you’re more. I’ll be straightforward with this: we will measure the population average both in a long term (a week) and in a short term (a whole day) to inflict in some variables: timers, guards, health of doors and if possible, some buffs too. This will be measured among players of a level suitable for war and of those that frequent the war zone.

Multirealmers… there’s not so much that can be done without messing with other “legal” situations like a household with several players. What we can do is avoid them to handle Invasions objects after logging off and logging in to another realm for a reasonable time window.

It’s a start. Isn’t it?

Well, that’s a lot of things and not very specific. Can you sum it up, please?

Yes, of course. The suggested changes are the following, and we put them here because we want to discuss them with all of you. Anyway, let’s be clear about something: the base of the gameplay will be proposed by us. But your intervention is extremely important to us!

- The timer of the relics will depend on the capture of more than one building. Capturing two forts will have a timer of X minutes and if the castle is captured afterwards, the timer will be cut in an X amount of minutes. Once the timer begins, extra forts will cut less minutes than a castle, depending on what is captured first.
This means that in order to trigger the relic cages' countdowns, you'll have to capture more than 1 building. The more buildings from a same realm you capture, the less time it'll take for the relic cages to open up.

- After the capture, reward buffs will be activated in the zone of the fort to the capturers such as Experience Boosts from enemies, etc. Services like NPCs that give unique items or trades will spawn during that time.

- Capturing only one fort or castle will provide the mentioned bonuses, but not the Relics until another building is captured too.

- During the capture and until the end of the timer that releases the Relics, the defender realm can get a reward for capturing back and avoiding the Relic release.

- All bonuses and services will expire when the Relic cage gets opened, or if it is a single capture, the equivalent waiting time.

- The Great Walls will have several points to store the Relics that will reduce the power of the protection of the Great Door. One Relic will reduce it for X minutes, more Relics will have more perks about it.

- Relics will not allow mounting anymore and may have other effects on the carrier and surrounding army. They will have a timer also to be used. If not, they will go back to their altar.

- If re-logging from an account of one realm to another, a timer that will forbid the usage of Invasions mechanics (including fort capturing, etc) will start with proper feedback to the user.

- Realm Balance variables will be created. They will inflict in the objects of Invasions whenever possible.

If for some (or most) users it is enough with the rewards and decide not to perform an Invasion, that’s nothing to worry about the new system of buildings, but about the attractiveness of Invasions. And we MUST make them attractive enough, not force you into them. Each step MUST be enjoyable.

So, this is the idea so far. We want to discuss it with you before development, so… go ahead!

NOTE: Every mentioned change could be modified or not applied, if necessary.

[MDpro]

Multirealmers… there’s not so much that can be done without messing with other “legal” situations like a household with several players. What we can do is avoid them to handle Invasions objects after logging off and logging in to another realm for a reasonable time window.

It’s a start. Isn’t it?

- If re-logging from an account of one realm to another, a timer that will forbid the usage of Invasions mechanics (including fort capturing, etc) will start with proper feedback to the user.

I REALLY like that idea. As long as it's strictly for switching accounts, and not for switching servers on the same account. I play in Ignis (Haven) and Aslius (RA) on this account, and wouldn't want to be limited in war for switching servers on the same account.

- After the capture, reward buffs will be activated in the zone of the fort to the capturers such as Experience Boosts from enemies, etc. Services like NPCs that give unique items or trades will spawn during that time.

Exp boosts from enemy players for capturing their forts, not a bad idea... Especially for farming their forts. However, I am not a fan of the NPC idea, that's just too much in my opinion.

- The timer of the relics will depend on the capture of more than one building. Capturing two forts will have a timer of X minutes and if the castle is captured afterwards, the timer will be cut in an X amount of minutes. Once the timer begins, extra forts will cut less minutes than a castle, depending on what is captured first.

100% not a fan of this idea at all. I personally believe relic timers should be lengthened a little bit. And especially if one realm has multiple forts capped of a certain enemy realm. That way, if one realm wants to capture more than one of an enemy realm's forts to try and make a quick invasion (most likely because they know the enemy realm is dead), I think the timers should increase even more, so that it gives the defending realm more time to fight back.

- The Great Walls will have several points to store the Relics that will reduce the power of the protection of the Great Door. One Relic will reduce it for X minutes, more Relics will have more perks about it.

Not quite sure I understand what this means.

- Relics will not allow mounting anymore and may have other effects on the carrier and surrounding army. They will have a timer also to be used. If not, they will go back to their altar.

I love the idea of relics not being mounted anymore. I, however, think it's a little bit much to make the relic have effects on it's carrier and the surrounding army, unless it's a very small effect... Maybe a small amount of movement speed and defense increase, that's about it in my opinion.

Well, the Relics –as it was mentioned before– will go from the buildings directly to the Great Wall, to be stored there to release the power that blocks the attack of the Realm Door. But that’s not all. We want the Relics to be able to unlock other things too in the future. Their power will depend on how much of them you use for each objective.

I hope this change never happens, as it is too big of a change. But I have a question, because I don't really understand this much... How would a realm get it's relics back if not all 3 are in the gate? By knocking their own gate down? I might not be reading this correctly, so I apologize if I'm missing something.


Wow, never thought I'd write this much on the forum.

[Frosk]

Originally Posted by MDpro

However, I am not a fan of the NPC idea, that's just too much in my opinion.

Our idea is that the NPC's located in the forts would exclusively sell items strictly related to RvR; whether they're consumables or permanent items in exchange of, for example, WM Coins.
Suggestions are welcome =)

Originally Posted by MDpro

100% not a fan of this idea at all. I personally believe relic timers should be lengthened a little bit. And especially if one realm has multiple forts capped of a certain enemy realm. That way, if one realm wants to capture more than one of an enemy realm's forts to try and make a quick invasion (most likely because they know the enemy realm is dead), I think the timers should increase even more, so that it gives the defending realm more time to fight back.

Yes. Timers would of course be lengthened, in order to promote simultaneous captures that reduce this value. However, exact values have to be still determined.

Originally Posted by MDpro

Not quite sure I understand what this means.

This basically means that the more relics you store in the enemy Realm, the more vulnerable the Door becomes, and the more time you'll have to attack it.

Originally Posted by MDpro

I hope this change never happens, as it is too big of a change. But I have a question, because I don't really understand this much... How would a realm get it's relics back if not all 3 are in the gate? By knocking their own gate down? I might not be reading this correctly, so I apologize if I'm missing something.

They wouldn't. The only way for a realm to get their own relics back to their forts is by basically resisting the invasion attempt.
Keep in mind that only 1 relic would make the Wall vulnerable, although it'd be for a very short period of time, which means that in order to have a serious invasion attempt it'd be wise to cap various relics at the same time and earn a much bigger opportunity.

---

Best,

[Ryan_Carmon]

Will players around the captures gain an amount of WMC as well, if there are items purely obtainable by those. (It seems pretty hard to gain those coins while playing during off-peak hours)

[The_Pirate]

Originally Posted by MDpro View Post
Quote:
How would a realm get it's relics back if not all 3 are in the gate? By knocking their own gate down? I might not be reading this correctly, so I apologize if I'm missing something.

They wouldn't. The only way for a realm to get their own relics back to their forts is by basically resisting the invasion attempt.
Keep in mind that only 1 relic would make the Wall vulnerable, although it'd be for a very short period of time, which means that in order to have a serious invasion attempt it'd be wise to cap various relics at the same time and earn a much bigger opportunity.

Love it. Yes, make getting a relic a once only opportunity. Would prevent a lot of to-ing and fro-ing recapping relics and stopping an invasion.

Our idea is that the NPC's located in the forts would exclusively sell items strictly related to RvR; whether they're consumables or permanent items in exchange of, for example, WM Coins.
Suggestions are welcome =)

YES re WM coins!!! Yes re castle NPCs selling stuff. And YES re RvR useful items, preferably permanent stuff. I would even resume buying WM scrolls for that - assuming the permanent stuff is useful. Even if it is just 'combine gems' to give higher gem stats, or amend armor stats, or something similar to tweak existing weapons. Exciting.

General comments - this is quite a change. It looks exciting - love the idea of taking relics to enemy walls instead of to own territory. Also like the idea of 'relics placed closer to gate=weaker gate'.

[schachteana]

thanks for sharing this with us

Please don't make Regnum too complicated, basic ingame description of gameplay dynamics lack already. Warmaster and Champion functions as well as the complete current invasion system is not being explained anywhere. For example, all guards (no matter where, no matter which ones) could provide the user with every warzone-related information there is. Regnum is becoming more and more like Minecraft, where you have to either use the Wiki or ask several players about how things work.
Even if this intended, I still hope the upcoming update will also be very intuitive and easys to understand for everyone, no matter how complicated underlying mechanics may be, and that help texts will keep getting updated. This though is something rather important for new players.

Originally Posted by Adrian

- The timer of the relics will depend on the capture of more than one building. Capturing two forts will have a timer of X minutes and if the castle is captured afterwards, the timer will be cut in an X amount of minutes. Once the timer begins, extra forts will cut less minutes than a castle, depending on what is captured first

sounds complicated as hell to me. where do you want to put all the timer informtion? on the map? The map, btw, lacks some very important things, such as
- relic timer in forts
- highlights of important WZ spots like the realm wall, the altars (old map was way better in this aspect) etc. - again, very important for newer players. If I were new to this game and were about to open the map for the very first time, I would have no idea where to go apart from the towns and forts. Btw, why isn't the option "save map zoom level" ticked by default? Same goes for "Party", "Quest" etc. options on the map itself
- invasion timer ( = dragon timer with the current inva system )
- teleporting spots (eg. boats @ swamp or teleport at Syrtis gate)

back to the relic idea, it's nice that we'll have to coordinate more than one fort again

Originally Posted by Adrian

- After the capture, reward buffs will be activated in the zone of the fort to the capturers such as Experience Boosts from enemies, etc. Services like NPCs that give unique items or trades will spawn during that time.

So, basically, while our enemies are banging against the front door, everybody is talking to the tower guard in order to get their items? I hope these rewards won't be too big because otherwise ppl would exploit it. good idea though

Originally Posted by Adrian

- All bonuses and services will expire when the Relic cage gets opened, or if it is a single capture, the equivalent waiting time

The current invasion system is - kind of - killing good fort battles because mostly, after 15 minutes, the whole action is over already. Seems this is going to be fixed with the next update, awesome. Many old players miss the big, fat, long exhausting fort battles from earlier times

Concerning everything else: Yes, please (y)

[smeagle_errei]

Just a remminder that Fort`s doors, Realm Gates and Castle`s doors could use a explicit HP bar

[-Aniara-]

This may be the most promising post in a long time. Mostly cause you seem willing to add new mechanics and think a bit different.

However. Gaining control over all three enemy forts/castles will most likely be something that can just be done with huge numbers. And if having all three relics make door defence very weak it may still reward zerg tactics.

What if gaining all three relics opens up a sneak way to invade? A broken trapdoor? A ladder? A zeppelin ;o) (allowing just a few ppl to enter ofc)

So that a small force can enter for some dark op action?

This would mean that a low pop realm can try get one relic at a time and still get a worthy reward at the end of the day.

Keep up the good work!


/A

[Zas_]

+1 from me

Please ensure clear indicators are visible for timers, health (doors), invasion steps etc...

[pauluzz]

Originally Posted by Zas_

+1 from me

Please ensure clear indicators are visible for timers, health (doors), invasion steps etc...

+1 ! It would also be nice to see some indication on the map or on your hud when a realm is being invaded.

And oh how I miss those old invasion doors that visually slowly broke ^^