Open RvR - State of the Game

**Molgam Bot** · 25.11.2008, 19:19

Folks,

Over the last few months I’ve spoken about
our continued focus on improving our open RvR systems. While we have taken some major steps in the
last month, we believe that there is much more we can do to encourage people to
take part in oRvR throughout the entire evolution of their character(s). Over the next few months we have some very
exciting changes and additions taking place.
Please note that as always, this does not represent everything that
either we are doing or thinking about doing, just what we, as of now, plan on
adding to WAR.

We have a number of major initiatives planned
for oRvR in WAR. Please keep in mind
that these changes/systems apply to oRvR only and not to scenarios. This is not all we are working on but these
do reflect the majority of oRvR additions that we are currently working
on/planning for the next few months.

First, we have created an RvR
Influence system. This system is
designed to reward our oRvR players with lots of new stuff that you can only
get through oRvR. This will be a
complimentary system to our PQ Influence system. This system is already implemented in 1.1 and
is scheduled to go LIVE along with that version in December.

Second, we want to improve the
visibility that players have into oRvR and make it easier for players to get
involved in the action quickly and easily.
We have a number of wide-ranging changes going into our map and travel
systems to allow players to better understand the state of oRvR in our game and
also allow them to get to the action faster.
We have already taken one step with putting a Rally Master in each
Warcamp but we will also add the ability for people to have a second bind point
to make it even easier for players to move around the maps. We will also make it easily for players to
see where players from their Realm are engaging in oRvR, a Campaign HUD for all
tiers and other improvements We will also improve Tier-wide messaging about
what is going on in Battlefield Objectives and Keeps. Other additions
include changes to the UI, in-game manual improvements, map enhancements, and a
few other changes.

Third, we want to provide greater
incentives to players to participate in oRvR.
In order to accomplish this we will be adding additional layers to the
questing system of oRvR including the addition of Keep Quests, “Daily Event Quests”,
Chained RvR Missions, improve the initial Tome Unlocks and other oRvR-oriented
Events. We will also improve our BO
itemization. Our goal is to provide
players with even more incentive for participating in oRvR than we have already.

Fourth, we want to encourage guilds
to take and control keeps, and we will continue our work on adding better
rewards for Guilds who own Keeps as well as the addition of a system of Keep
upgrades. This system will be added to the game in several stages beginning in
the late winter.

Finally, we will begin work on a
global oRvR “Fame” system that will be tied directly to the Tome of Knowledge
which will provide more rewards, titles, experience, etc. for participating and
being successful in oRvR. This system will provide even more incentives
for people to participate in oRvR than the current systems and one that fits
nicely both with the ToK’s concept as “This is your life” as well as an
additional advancement and reward system.

Please keep
in mind that these additions are subject to change and given the nature of
these changes/improvements, they will not go LIVE until we have thoroughly
tested them. However, these are crucial
improvements to WAR and are being treated as such by the team.

Finally, I want to close this out with a
brief explanation about the role that we believe that oRvR should play in
WAR. It’s really as simple as this, oRvR
should be a major focus for leveling, item gain, etc. in WAR. Some of the systems are already in place and
in Tier 4, oRvR is alive and well. On
other Tiers, however, oRvR is not being engaged in as often as we had hoped
when we launched WAR. Our goal is to
ensure that oRvR is the place where players can level the fastest, get the best
items and overall, have a great time while doing it. It is supposed to be riskier, more
challenging but ultimately, more rewarding than any other place within
WAR. What is outlined in this letter are
some of the ways we plan on making this happen over the next few months and
beyond.