Azarael wrote:Koha wrote:I would rather address the zerg conditions in ORvR later than design pulls around this particular case.
Ive written about this in a few threads, but am not sure if you have seen them Az.
The only way to address zerging in RvR is to address WHY people zerg in the first place.
Reason #1 - rewards are too localized. In order to get rewards from a keep take, you have to be near the keep. This reason is a LARGE reason why everyone zergs the keep and noone stays at BOs to guard them.
Reason #2 - there is no REASON to not zerg. You capture BOs, and head towards the keep (#1) as there is no reason to stay and try to defend.
Reason #3 - Keep takes take MASSIVE amounts of time, and need as much help as possible to try and bring the doors down.
So, how do we address these areas?
Solution #1 - ALL rewards should be zone wide. Much like how it was when a zone was locked and the influence/renown was spread zone wide. This will promote more spread out play as players wont feel they HAVE to be part of the zerg for benefits. This, however does introduce some liabilities of people logging into the zone for just the ticks + loot. This is where I think a 'minimum contribution' requirement can be inserted. Contribution should be given for BO takes (again lake-wide) as well as damage dealt to the door (much like in PQs, once the door is down, it gives contribution spread to the group based on damage dealt to door) as well as damage dealt to the Hero - again giving contribution. I DONT think this should be factored into the "roll" however because then you didnt solve this at all... Players will do EVERYTHING possible to max contribution - meaning ditch BOs to hit the door, etc. This means the contribution system needs to be changed as well but thats a different topic.
Solution #2 - Put more weight on attacking and holding the BOs. One of the biggest issues with zerging is the fact that BOs lock. So you zerg to a BO, lock it, then move on. It requires no defense. The SECOND issue is that even once you have all the BOs, doors take SOOO freaking long to take down that (again) everyone needs to be there. So the solution, to me, is to not have BOs lock as long, and once all BOs are captured and HELD, the door falls much easier. My SUGGESTION for this: Remove the 3:00 contest period where the BO needs to be held before it locks. INSTEAD, once you capture a BO, it caps and locks IMMEDIATELY for 3:00. After that 3:00 lock is up - the NPCs (Hero/Champs) spawn and act as the defense for the BO. What this does is makes BO capping much easier to swap back and forth, since they are not locked as long. Meaning more battles over the BOs, and less zerging from one BO to another. Instead it will require an offensive force and a defensive force to capture and hold BOs.
Solution #3 - So the other aspect, now that BOs are more easily traded... The keep doors need to be scaled INCREDIBLY more based on the number of BOs taken. So that if all 4 BOs are taken and held, the door should fall fairly easily. If even 1 BO is recaptured by the enemy it should SEVERELY derail the keep attempt - forcing players to play "defense"/Scouting. My suggestion is something like a "wounds buff" to the door, where it increases the current and max HP on the door, so that once the BO "wounds buff" is removed, essentially the door is healed back to full. Meaning losing ONE BO, is a colossal loss to the keep attempt. This will also solve the Problem #3 as now a Keep assault relies MORE on holding BOs than on the offensive force actually hitting the keep. You will still need a formidable warband put together to attack a keep, but you will EQUALLY need defensive forces holding BOs. You can ONLY have this system with the first two "solutions" in place though since those guys holding BOs will want the keep take rewards.
I have talked to many players about this system and have not yet met a person who I have talked to about it, and didnt like it. Id love to share the thought process and everything that has been discussed about this system - if you want to send me a PM or chat in TS or something.
Thanks!