Walk in the park

Just a question that has been talked about in the past, any way to beef up both fort guards?? Just been noticing if one fort is low on active players it only takes one or two from the other fort to blast into the gates/temple and get relic, I'm talking fast, happens to both sides and just seems to me what is the fun?? Only becomes fun if by chance you happen to have a matched set of lvl'ed numbers on both sides during the attack and that has been rare.. I have noticed both side take advantage of one side in a low player count and pop on with one or two 40s and do a quick relic run, done and over in 10 min.. I do think the main reason might not be the guards but the Power builds that have no RP reason behind them or restrictions on what can be taken and when.. I just remember in the past you needed a good mix in your group to do anything but I know the numbers are low so it would be hard to be alone on the server if you only had one skill set over any other.. Just wondering if anyone else was thinking the same?? Any ideas or just stay on same track? With the restore of the old vaults I don't see any changes to making any build and Class restrictions so maybe the guards can be beefed up??  

Ultimately it might be for the extra free periodic 150 xp. If it got switched back to not affecting the xp... then the reason to assault a fort with low population might be more so to test builds.
-Yet it's not the best test for pvp... and there are plenty of high lvl areas to try and solo for build testing.

So it might just cause assaults to decrease without that extra free xp being given...

As for needing a good mix in a group. A lot of umd or multi-classing alleviate the need for certain characters. While playing a shifter, a cleric -OR- druid/player that can use healing scrolls is useful. -Plenty of builds with umd are their own clerics.
Bards are well know as being useful... but.. while playing here I've rarely had bard buffs as much as it seems I should have...

So.. a bard is not vital.. and a cleric, there are substitutes.

as for a rogue... I recall them only being vital back in the low-magic based anphillias... no openlock/disable trap gear.. only 20 lvls.. so dumping into open lock was a waste.

TheeVals wrote:Ultimately it might be for the extra free periodic 150 xp. If it got switched back to not affecting the xp... then the reason to assault a fort with low population might be more so to test builds.
-Yet it's not the best test for pvp...

I know the status of builds will never change and not saying get rid of the Relic and XP just kick up the challenge to get it, should make you say "Oh Crap" at least once or twice during an unchallenged assault and maybe force you to back off and need a rest once, not saying make it crazy hard but just crank it up a little and see how it goes.. the opposing fort should not be easier to get into than soloing some other area PvM, Should be one of the hardest to PvM..

easiest/simplest way to change it would no doubt be to change the difficulty setting of the server -which would affect all other mobs.

Doubt there is anyone active and able to script encounters to add specific difficulty.. or maybe even modifying the npcs who spawn might cause an imbalance or OP -similar to the shadow/shades issue which took months before it was fixed... and months before (if ever) replacements are implemented.

side note; I've been told axfell is still empty, so it's a shame old vault hasn't caused the improvement it was meant for. Unless it was done for other reasons... :/

Though considering the player who might still be playing (not sure exactly who) but a certain few have toons on both factions.. so hopefully they take it upon themselves to balance out the sides instead of team-stacking.

Or.. the brand new start 1-faction setup could be taken into a more serious consideration the nest time plans for the server are discussed.

TheeVals wrote:Or.. the brand new start 1-faction setup could be taken into a more serious consideration the nest time plans for the server are discussed.

^^^THIS

To my knowledge the archers up on the hills for both Cleaven and Axfell have been getting their butts kicked for a long, long, loooong time now. What really makes them(the archers) difficult to overcome is when there are other players helping to defend their fort on either side, making the player(s) who are assaulting having to change up their strategies which they would normally use when only facing NPC's.

If you were to take MOST builds and try and put them up against even ONE of those gate archers, the gate archer would make an archery target out of that person within minutes, honestly speaking.

I don't like the fact that one person could go to either fort and capture the relic all by themselves, in my opinion the build(s) which could do that need to be looked at again and possibly nerfed, because no ONE person should be able to take down 4 NPC archers equip with a godly NPC ring/weapon, both gates, along with the TWO cavalry that await for said person on the other side of the outer most gate. THEN not to mention the temple door and ANOTHER cavalry and then the NPC cleric that is nearly untouchable without more then one person attacking it.

Also, if you ARE doing these SOLO relic captures((or ANY relic captures for that matter)) BE SURE that you ARE killing EVERY NPC! I don't want to hear or see anyone only killing the archers, then breaking through both gates before spawning the cavalry and then leading the cavalry to another map outside of Suman Valley/Rustin Road and going back to do the same with the temple guards. I HAVE seen it done in the past with BOTH sides((long long ago)) and in my mindset doing that is an exploit and you will be punished if you are caught doing this.  And i'm not talking about if you are just injured and trying to run from the cavalry to get healed. If that happens, then once you are healed, go back and slay the cavalry, don't lead them to another Map out of the way and then come back for the relic without killing them. That is just unfair to the other side.  


As for WHEN to assault the opposing side, that is up to YOU, however, how fair is it to assault the opposing side when the numbers are against said person defending say 4 or 5 to 1, it really isn't fair, at all. Do we do anything to change this? I'm not hearing or receiving any complaints on this so I assume it isn't a problem, however I would still like to touch on it briefly. I would just like all players to use common sense at times like these and think to YOURSELF, How much fun would it be for MYSELF((as in your own self))to even attempt to defend your fort when you have 4+ other players coming to steal the relic. I love being the underdog, so if you asked ME that question, I would say ALOT of fun, though not everyone is like myself. So I just ask that we do use common sense when we are doing this. If you have a group of players and you see ONE player is online from the opposing faction((lets be real here, I know each and every one of you are looking at the player list prior to assaulting or you ATLEAST have an EXACT idea of how many players from the opposing side are online, you might not know whether or not they are ACTIVE at the moment, but if you see ONE player from the opposing faction online and there are a group of you, go do something else, take a trip to condors or vanguards, or something else, leave the relic for another time.


And to touch briefly on the player base.  In my opinion, bringing back the old character vault did attract players, even if it was just one or two, it did help. I notice atleast 6-7 steady players who are on the server day in and day out. There has even been a few times in the past couple days when it has been at 10 players. And with the new forum under way I think that will help to attract a player or two here and there, I was just reading through the live chat on the new forum yesterday and I noticed a player in there who said "OMG I'm so happy that i found that anphillia continuum is still here!" <---That at least tells me that even if it is just one player here and there, players will come back if we as staff/other players do our own little parts AS players/staff.  

AND I'm STILL open to the idea of joining as ONE faction, however I would want to run a poll on it first and get AT LEAST 10 players to vote for doing this. I honestly don't want to go through all sorts of changes and end up with the same turn out that we have been getting. <--- And this may be a poor attitude to have, but does anyone know the meaning of Insanity? Which is doing the same thing over and over again yet still expecting there to be a change EACH time. Even though we may NOT be doing the SAME thing over and over again, we are still doing the same concept, which is constantly trying to change things over and over, perhaps that is where we initially went wrong when we had the wipe of the characters we just recently brought back. If I could remember back then from when I was playing, we still had a steady 15 players at the least.

RPDM Raven wrote: I would just like all players to use common sense at times like these and think to YOURSELF, How much fun would it be for MYSELF((as in your own self))to even attempt to defend your fort when you have 4+ other players coming to steal the relic. I love being the underdog, so if you asked ME that question, I would say ALOT of fun, though not everyone is like myself.

So you plan to switch to axfell to solo-defend?

I'd assume axfell is still low population from this topic and insight given to me by sniqow and rabidus (nwn still not installed..).
So if the majority are still cleavens... now would be the prefect time for certain players, (like yourself; who enjoy being outnumbered in pvp.) to step up to this opportunity.
Saying something and doing something, 2 different things.


As for nerfing the builds that can solo assault... to my knowledge I know that the following builds can complete an assault completely alone with the server difficulty set as it has been for a while now.
-wizard (not sure about sorc..) [sure about gates, unsure about temple]
-charger (traditional one for sure, not sure about creative mixes or barbs)
-archer (traditional high lvl AA with either monk or bard classes) [sure about gates, unsure about temple]
-shapechanger (traditional druid/shifter & RDD tank builds, not sure about RDD caster)

I'm not sure if a pure druid or cleric can manage it... potentially able to clear the gates at least.

Perhaps switch all the archers to be as strong as the one at the corner.. because.. let's face it.. once that one is down.. it's child's play because the others do less damage or less likely to hit. -But to have two of them shooting at you at once.. might make having a cleric or healer/back up more vital.. without causing other mobs to become too difficult for the players who have the bad luck of being on the inactive/empty faction.

Might also be easy to copy and paste the knight's encounter to a 2nd spot?
would mean 4 would need to be defeated in total.

How sick and twisted would it be to add an element of surprise... to throw off assault strategies..
ex: Soldiers just finish killing the corner archer and move in to take care of the others, once they step in between the cliffs 2 knights charge in to flank them... or charge from the gates (we need not ask questions where they appeared from... let's say they've been magically teleported into battle... or the gates did open.. just not close enough to notice.. )

TheeVals wrote:How sick and twisted would it be to add an element of surprise... to throw off assault strategies..
ex: Soldiers just finish killing the corner archer and move in to take care of the others, once they step in between the cliffs 2 knights charge in to flank them... or charge from the gates (we need not ask questions where they appeared from... let's say they've been magically teleported into battle... or the gates did open.. just not close enough to notice.. )

Now I like this, just a few small easy changes just to keep you thinking, maybe even move the spawn point around after a few weeks prior to a reboot, then your not sure when it will happen?? Could also make a "Scout" or some faction NPC spawn someplace in map prior to gate when the warning sounds??   

What about randomizing defenses? Like TheeVals was mentioning surprise attacks and whatnot. What if there were triggers with a percent chance to cause something like that to happen as you walked over them? That seems like... like a really neat idea. Or a percent chance to hold you in place so you can't retreat to heal when you get hurt or buffs wear off at the wrong time... it seems like a fantastic way to spice things up.

Having a level 40 Bard/AA, I can tell you that assaulting solo is possible at least through the gates, but it is tedious and expensive. Or perhaps you mean something more AA and less bard than I have, because that would help considerably.

Whoisthere wrote: Could also make a "Scout" or some  faction NPC spawn someplace in map prior to gate when the warning sounds??   

Would be awesome to force encounters after each signal.. maybe 2-3 druids.. then 4-5 scouts at least a bit away from the trans (of course).

However.. no guarantee that players won't just run straight through.. spawning as a flank as soon as the assault team makes progress.. like killing an archer or breaking a gate... (though realistically.. it would make sense rp wise for the druids and scouts to remain at their post for signalling..) :s

Rann Cora wrote: Or a percent chance to hold you in place so you can't retreat to heal when you get hurt or buffs wear off at the wrong time... it seems like a fantastic way to spice things up.

Like condor traps.. only more specifically themed toward what a fort might have out on the battle field.

examples; "You've fallen into a spiked pit, before managing to climb out you've got a short spike wedged into your shin; this causes a hindrance to your movement." (movement speed decrease)

"As you step closer the temple door glimmers before an energy bursts forth; You've no time to stay clear of it's blast which deals a severe blow to your torso." (-#con)

Could even put in.. (at a lesser percent chance)... random buffs (Blessings, if you will) while assaulting/defending.. so if 50% chance of a negative trap.. 25% chance that cleaven's/axfell's deity intervenes to provide soldiers with a benefit... (because realistically.. I recall another player putting it best... 'the war of anphillia might not be a priority of the gods being 'worshipped'

I can't recall... condor traps can't be detected pre-trigger... can't be disabled if detected?

it's nice and all to come up with these idea even though there is high chance they can not be implemented until we get scripter activity.

All good stuff..   someone is making notes to pass to a scripter when one becomes available??.. I wish I could help in this, more a networking server side person than a scripting.. Sure someone will pop up..

Yes these are all very great ideas. I could put something simple into Rustin Road/Suman Valley, however i'm not sure with the forest areas prior to Rustin/Suman. They probably should just be left alone. What would be interesting as well is for something to spawn AFTER the relic is already stolen, a last call of reinforcements from whichever fort it is that was under attack, this of course would require scripting i'd imagine since it would need to be set to spawn for when the opposing side is leaving the said area with captured relic in possession.

Only for players level 4-15(this im not sure of but read on)

Axfell example, it would work the same way with cleaven, only their versions since I've never played cleaven I don't know...

Rustin Point boss, Silent Hill boss and Bugbear cave boss all drop a token that can be turned into captain hullet for a significant XP reward. It would work the same as golden necklace in that each player could only turn it in once per reset.

Turning in the token will place an axfell friendly (fort defending) version of that NPC that would be able to somewhat impede the progress of attackers past the outer gates to a limit of 5, would be better if they were a bit beefed up but not game breaking. Theyd spawn in the area closest to their respective zone but in a place that would still help fight off attacks. If a player turns in a token when the limit has been reached they still get the xp reward and the 'thanks for your contribution' speech from the captain but it wouldn't spawn another NPC. Since these NPC's are for the sole purpose of annoying attackers, there would be no XP reward for killing them.

Posted this dec 2012

Other suggestion, add spellcaster defenders that spam mords/dispells/silence and any spell that would force a shapechanger to unchange or randomly make them another shape.

This satisfies the idea that to attack you need a mix of classes, warrior classes and good archers who don't need to be spelled up or shapechanged to obliterate the opposition will still have a fighting chance and be able to protect the more magic dependant classes.

There could be a faction-wide quest to ensure that the "reinforcements" (whether it's captain Hullet or bunch of spellcasting druids or whatnot) are there...

Instead of a nuts hunt after the reboot, completing this quest should be a priority to secure a defense back-up. (it should be harder than killing an ent...)

I really don't like the idea of having a pure caster npc up there on the walls spamming mords (although it would really nerf anybody assaulting)

Does not have to be many things just a few little adjustments will make it better, try a few little things and see how it works out...
I'll have to say, lastnight was a good gate fight, four of us (Axfell) and not sure how many on Cleaven side, looked like a good number online but did not get a count of how many defending, but it was one of the best back and forth at a gate in a while. you get four on a side in a PvP at the gate and it does change things.. I think the gate guards spawned back before we could finish, not sure the time delay but sure seemed short or it was so much fun time flew by..lol