Fort rework ideas
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 3:02 pm
I think most players would agree that forts are currently the weakest part of the game (except maybe PvE questing). So here I go throwing out some more or less thought-out ideas on how to make forts more interesting. Feel free to add more or discuss points, I might add it to this main post for better reviewing, with a mention and link to your post.
Stage 3
The big problem of the current stage 3 is that the whole zone fight happens in the two funnels that are main gate and postern. Most players just stand still at one spot and spam their few AoE abilities. The only strategies available are morale drops, door blocking and fake pushes. Not only is the gameplay bland, but the massive spam of abilities, spell effects, player models, movement/collision and target cap checks cause both server and client performance issues.
How do we improve that?
One possibility was already tested: the orcapults. I think they have a lot of potential, but they are not the single solution. Throwing attackers up to the fort roof only adds one more entry point that is still in direct "visibility" (client lags) and they are more of a gamble the way they were tested, with single players shooting only themselves up.
A better solution is to actually split both teams to different zone areas and create multiple smaller fights. Defenders will not leave the "blob safety" of the inner fort, because once they are wiped and stuck in jail it is an almost guaranteed loss. Luckily, we already have points of interest: the flags from stage 2. Why not let both teams still capture them in stage 3, and whoever controls a flag has a temporary respawn point, like it is often done in (M)MOFPS games? Attackers would need a lot of zone strategy to actually control all five flags when wiping the defenders, so they all end up in jail. It gives them a lot of "safe chances" to run around capturing flags, dropping on or flanking the attackers and other shenanigans.
Now that we gave the defenders the possibility to roam around the flags, the attackers need a way to actually be able to win the fort when defenders are rushing back to them all the time. And there is one simple thing we can do: no more Lord resets. If the Lords don't heal back up, the attackers still have a way to win with enough wipes damaging the lord before the defenders come back and bomb them out. I even think the Lords shouldn't help the defenders at all on second floor, and just stay in third floor.
At this point we gave both teams a reason to roam, but I don't feel it's enough to make players actually do that. Most don't aim for fun, but for efficiency. They choose the most boring way of doing something simply because it is the most effective (e.g. grinding/leveling). Let's go on with the more absurd things to implement.
What we need are siege machines that are effective and have a meaning. There are many things one could come up with, but if we are just talking about stage 3, a rather easy siege mechanic would be to have oil at inner main for the defenders and a catapult on the outer middle gate for the attackers that shoots into the second floor room. Both should have to be captured and held (not deployed+killed), but work on their own, and both should do more damage the more flags the team has (0 if no flag) to give another incentive for flag roaming.
I think this is all I can come up with for stage 3 right now, I will write something for stage 2 and stage 1 later too.
Also, maybe I should let you in on my ultimate "goal": if we can make the fights spread as much as possible (even better than in normal zones), we can have them end up as an actual massive siege zone of unlimited players, with actual win/lose conditions that are not "kill the lord in time or lose", where we can see a comeback for the "realm commanders" that have to come up with decent strategy and communication to be succesful.
Stage 3
The big problem of the current stage 3 is that the whole zone fight happens in the two funnels that are main gate and postern. Most players just stand still at one spot and spam their few AoE abilities. The only strategies available are morale drops, door blocking and fake pushes. Not only is the gameplay bland, but the massive spam of abilities, spell effects, player models, movement/collision and target cap checks cause both server and client performance issues.
How do we improve that?
One possibility was already tested: the orcapults. I think they have a lot of potential, but they are not the single solution. Throwing attackers up to the fort roof only adds one more entry point that is still in direct "visibility" (client lags) and they are more of a gamble the way they were tested, with single players shooting only themselves up.
A better solution is to actually split both teams to different zone areas and create multiple smaller fights. Defenders will not leave the "blob safety" of the inner fort, because once they are wiped and stuck in jail it is an almost guaranteed loss. Luckily, we already have points of interest: the flags from stage 2. Why not let both teams still capture them in stage 3, and whoever controls a flag has a temporary respawn point, like it is often done in (M)MOFPS games? Attackers would need a lot of zone strategy to actually control all five flags when wiping the defenders, so they all end up in jail. It gives them a lot of "safe chances" to run around capturing flags, dropping on or flanking the attackers and other shenanigans.
Now that we gave the defenders the possibility to roam around the flags, the attackers need a way to actually be able to win the fort when defenders are rushing back to them all the time. And there is one simple thing we can do: no more Lord resets. If the Lords don't heal back up, the attackers still have a way to win with enough wipes damaging the lord before the defenders come back and bomb them out. I even think the Lords shouldn't help the defenders at all on second floor, and just stay in third floor.
At this point we gave both teams a reason to roam, but I don't feel it's enough to make players actually do that. Most don't aim for fun, but for efficiency. They choose the most boring way of doing something simply because it is the most effective (e.g. grinding/leveling). Let's go on with the more absurd things to implement.
What we need are siege machines that are effective and have a meaning. There are many things one could come up with, but if we are just talking about stage 3, a rather easy siege mechanic would be to have oil at inner main for the defenders and a catapult on the outer middle gate for the attackers that shoots into the second floor room. Both should have to be captured and held (not deployed+killed), but work on their own, and both should do more damage the more flags the team has (0 if no flag) to give another incentive for flag roaming.
I think this is all I can come up with for stage 3 right now, I will write something for stage 2 and stage 1 later too.
Also, maybe I should let you in on my ultimate "goal": if we can make the fights spread as much as possible (even better than in normal zones), we can have them end up as an actual massive siege zone of unlimited players, with actual win/lose conditions that are not "kill the lord in time or lose", where we can see a comeback for the "realm commanders" that have to come up with decent strategy and communication to be succesful.
