War in the Initiation Zone?

[Artemo]

With the clan update only a few weeks away and a merry christmas to come too I thought it's time to move on the discussion to the next point on the Roadmap!

Originally Posted by Adrian

War in the Initiation Zone
The Squid Island will play an important role in retention and exposing the best side of the game in the first levels giving a preview of what the War Zone conflict will be.
We are not making the most of this zone and through simple objectives we can make the players contribute to the conflict between the realms and make clear that the effort of getting there will pay off.
These objectives will be coordinated by NPCs to avoid, in case it's necessary, sensations of imbalance or emptiness.

Squid island is a pretty big island, with rich fauna and flora and attention to detail, where new players are supposed to learn how the war works.
However the current situation is that only players from level 1-10 are allowed to enter.
This makes the are unable to reach for nearly everyone who would want to learn about the warzone.
Getting from level 1 to 10 is easily done in a matter of hours and nobody is staying on this island for longer than the 5 minutes It takes to complete the quests there.
I doubt any new player is even aware of the fact that there are supposed to be players from enemy realms fighting against you.

This is why I have a few suggestions in regards to the quote from the Roadmap.

You are aiming to expose the best side of the game, the conflict in the warzone to new players. While that Is a great idea, I think players, levels 1 to 10, are not experienced enough with the game mechanics.
I am suggesting to move the level restrictions up a notch to whre there is currently a very apparent gap in "things to do in the game".
After a player has completed the main questline he/she has reached a level between 35- and 40. This is the piont at wich questions like "what am I supposed to do now" come up in the realm chat. Proptly answered by experiened players by "grinding till you reach 11.000.000 exp".A quick look on the exp bar reveals: only 8.000.000 to go... great.
With a level of ~35 you get to check out the warzone for the first time. a NPC in the capital gives a quest to elimnate one warrior of every enemy realm. It's at this point where I would like new players to be introduced into squid island (maybe think about that name again) with level 37 one can max out his first spell-tree and test out all the spells, preferably on fresh enemy meat.
From my experience it's very hard to win any fight against a level 60 player before the level 55, this is why I would open up squid island for players from levels 35 to 55.

Are there already plans on how the low leveled players are supposed to contribute to the conflict in the warzone? I could imagine there to be one additional fort located in the center of the island and wichever realm controlls this fort gets +5 mins time to capture the gate if they are invading an enemy realm and -5 mins for the enemy if they are getting invaded. Or this fort could act as one of the forts in the waarzone so that the high leveled players only have to take the castle to start an invasion.

You are planning to have NPCs regulate these objectives, (whatever they may be). I am envisioning the orcs taking over the fort so that it cannot count as a bonus for the warzone and that there is an objective to keep this place defended. Strenght and number of the orcs should again be depending on population. I imagine it to be quite fun to defend a fort against Urgogg and the likes.

SOOO, what are your suggestions as to what should happen with squid island? Moving the level cap? Make it float and crash into the enemy realm to open its gate? Replace the warzone with it?

[Lebeau]

Squid Island is an instance ... so ... just run multiple versions, & voila, we'd then have say, a 1-7 instance, an 8-14, a 15-21, a 22-28, a 29-35, a 36-42, & a 43-49 ... or as many or few as NGD deems appropriate....



P.S.: Balloon/NPC access to these (7*) Squid Island instances would be available for all levels (1-49*) at Skolheim & Birka in Alsius, Nasraah Tej & Medenet in Ignis, & Ilreah & Raeraia in Syrtis. Opinions?....

[kowocki]

Oldest suggestions to shift lvls required to Squid island are like 2 years old.

There is indeed a loophole in lvling system between lvls 40 and 50, this is best solution to seal it. Just add more exp from war there and crowd it with appropriate mobs (useful for realm tasks).

And move the zeppelin to the more covenient location like a town nearest to the realm wall.

[Hollow-Ichigo]

Just needed to make 1-50 less of a shitfest and it would eliminate the need for squid island. Fighting at low level is boring and making it easier to reach 50 would be far more useful.