Scenario champions

[Babanim]

The champions (guards) in some scenarios are so far back that they never actually attack. Players can come up to the barrier and spawn camp and never get killed by guards. Some even got pulled inside the spawn area through the barrier by a marauder and the guards would still do nothing. Could we get guards that actually do their jobs?

[Rubius]

Which scenario did you notice this in? We've been fixing up some issues with Guards not doing their jobs over the last year; having specific info will help us have a look.

[Babanim]

Battle for praag, blood of the black cairn. There are certainly more.

And in many others like howling gorge or mourkain temple or phenix gate you have to get a perfect punt which isn't exactly reliable and only tanks can do it.

[Martok]

This is a relevant issue but also a old one, discussed on numerous occasions both here and during previous episodes of the Tothmonra Podcast. Hopefully it will be addressed at some point.

[bittrio]

Howling Gorge. You can get pushed back in the tunnel and guards don't attack unless players are punted up on the ledge.

[Babanim]

I don't get why the scenario guards were changed for wall barriers in some scenarios.

Current Serpent's passage/Dragon's Bane are a good example.

In Dragon's Bane you can back into the spawn area, there is no wall barrier blocking you and the guards actually attack the enemies if they push too close to the spawn.

Why not just have the same in Serpent's passage? SP is really annoying since you can't get protection from the guards because of the wall barrier. Can't get back inside so it's garanteed death if you go out.

Maras even pull enemies through the barrier and the guards are STILL too far to attack them and they just walk out alive.

How did putting a wall barrier improve the experience in any way versus simply having well placed guards like it was on the original game?

[Martok]

Could we get guards that actually do their jobs?

I discuss this issue here, in Volume Nineteen of The Reckoning Monologues:



Click here to watch on YouTube

[Prismo]

I don't get why the scenario guards were changed for wall barriers in some scenarios.

Current Serpent's passage/Dragon's Bane….

I have done an unhealthy amount of Serpent’s Passage games farming tools for annus rings. If the barriers were put up to prevent spawn camping then they have failed tremendously.

It’s not like it’s uncommon for a scenario to degenerate into one team sitting in front of the other team’s spawn ignoring objectives until the losing team goes AFK waiting for ff vote to open up. However, that happens nearly every single game in SP, and the barriers definitely are not helping. The ballistas can work to assist a team to push out, but if there’s an average amount of healers then the damage usually just gets ignored. Realistically, if the guards won’t work with the barrier then the ballistas should be one-shotting, or at least more damage. I would love to see that as it implements the counter to spawn camping as a player controlled tool with a little bit of skill involved. (albeit minor)

All scenarios should have effective counter camping mechanics. It’s not fun for either side, and the solution was already there; Instant death if you get too close to the enemy spawn! People become too afraid to go past the barrier and be stuck out there so it’s very difficult to coordinate a push out while being camped and losing.

Fixing the guards wouldn’t completely fix the issue, but it would be very nice. Particularly on SP, it would be great to have really anything to counter the camping. Even if the match is cooked, the losing team is significantly more likely to leave spawn if the winning team gives them room to reset outside the barrier. As is, people quit or go AFK after the first wipe half the time which is a real bummer. Unfortunately, the winning team will always default to spawn camping as they chase kills (Definitely amplified by everyone farming annus rings tbf) unless the game removes the viability of it.

[gisborne]

It almost doesn't matter if they fix guards, barriers, etc. because the dominating team will just camp a bit further out. The real problem is the ridiculous number of scenarios with just one objective (or effectively one objective, even if it rotates). This gives no counterplay. You can win a game of Old Dwarf Road or Dragon's Bane if the other team is just stupidly camping. You can't do that with the majority of scenarios, like SP. RoR has so many scenarios yet for some reason there isn't even a single one with 5 open objectives like the classic AB in WoW.

[Fey]

Some form of expanded scenario list on the test server would be useful. Maybe all of them. Allow people to launch a scenario with no requirements, then testers can wander as they like and asses the state of various spawn camps and objectives.

This game has an astonishing number of scenarios. Some specific ones have mechanics that are lacking, but the variety therein is worth it imo.

Scenarios are perhaps the most discussed topic on these boards, so the team is well aware of the issue. As a scenario pervert I have 4 suggestions.

1 - Barriers need to go. Existing scenario architecture allows for both encroachment and protection at the spawn camp depending on the specific scenario. This is good because variety in scenarios is more interesting. Barriers do not promote variety.

2 - Guards need to be repsitioned. Guards that are physically too far away might as well not exist. Remove or reposition them. Make some spawn camps more vulnerable and remove the guards completely. Why not Nordland? Did you get stomped? Well now you have to jump into the water, and swim away like a pathetic coward. Awesome.

3 - Add a roaming guard. Do this in scenarios like Battle for Praag where the spawn camp lies between the objectives. This creates an opportunity for the losing team to push out periodically. Also it promotes the other path to the objective. More tasty variety.

4 - Guard kills grant renown.