RvR (H' allios PvP) sto Warhammer

[Vediovis]

Opws gnorizoume to Warhammer exei kai ena deutero onoma pou akougotane prin 'pethanei' to Daoc kai to elegan oloi Daoc2, kai o logos htan & einai to RvR tou (Realm vs Realm) kai idou h sugkrisi se sxesh me to WoW..
Ta sumperasmata dika sas...

It seems that quite a few people on this board may have never played Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot and experienced its incredible Realm Rank system. I feel it’s important to have an understanding of it because Mythic will undoubtedly utilize a similar system in WAR, and having knowledge of it will enhance discussion of WAR's game design. This guide is to explain how the system worked and how it compares to another popular MMO's PvP system.

DAoC's Realm Rank System
Progression type: Static
Rewards: Abilities/Skills
Replayability: Open Ended

When you kill an enemy player in RvR the player dies and you earn realm points. The amount of realm points you earn varies depending on how many players helped you kill the enemy and the realm rank of the enemy. Assuming you were grouped the average realm points earned would be around 200-400.

You start off at Realm Rank 1 Level 1. To achieve Realm Rank 2 you progress through Realm Rank 1 Levels 1-9 (I.E. RR1 Level 1, RR1 Level 2, RR1 Level 3...), and for every Level you achieve, you earn 1 Realm Ability point. So by Realm Rank 2 Level 0 you have 10 Realm Ability points. By Realm Rank 3 Level 0 you have 20 Realm Ability points, etc.

The amount of realm points needed for each realm rank increases exponentially as you increase in rank. Think of it as a typical leveling system, where you can go from level 1 to level 2 in a few minutes, but to go from level 59 to level 60 it may take 100 times longer. For example, you can earn Realm Rank 3 in a day or two, Realm Rank 4 may take a week or two, Realm Rank 5 may take a month, and Realm Rank 6 may take almost two months. The system goes as far as Rank 13 which requires a total of 66 million realm points. Meaning, if you killed 1 enemy every 1 minute you play the game, and they were worth 300 realm points each, it would take a total time of over 152 days, or 3,666 hours. Basically the system is open ended because maybe only 1 or 2 people will ever reach Rank 13, but the beauty of the system is that there is no NEED to hit the max rank (like in WoW's Honor system, I'll explain later). Basically no matter how much you play, there is always a way to progress and earn a few more Realm Ability points.

The system is also static meaning once you earn those realm points you keep them forever, there is NEVER any decay. You can play for 1 hour a day and still feel like you're progressing because you aren't punished for not playing the game. Even the most casual player can earn Realm Rank 10 and above by simply playing consistently over the years. The only benefit to play more hours a day is that you achieve higher ranks sooner.

So what do you do with those mystical Realm Ability points? Here's a link to the full list of them:

http://www.camelotherald.com/realmabilities/ra.php

Basically you can buy passive skills that augment stats like strength, intelligence, resistance to crowd control, etc. Or you can buy active abilities which range from instant mana regen, purging all negative effects, creating a giant ball of electricity that stuns players in the area, etc. Passive abilities are always "on" while Active abilities have cooldowns that typically range from 10 - 15 minutes. And the skills increase in power the more points you spend in them. For an active ability you can either spend 5 points for level 1, spend another 10 for level 2, and spend another 15 for level 3. So let’s say you’re a healer and you buy Perfect Recovery. The first level instantly resurrects players with only 5% health and mana, level 2 instantly resurrects players with 20% health and mana, and level 3 instantly resurrects players with 100% health and mana. Passives work similarly except instead of only 3 levels, there are 5 levels, with level 1 only costing 1 point, level 2 = 3 points, level 3 = 6 points, level 4 = 10 points, and level 5 = 14 points (34 points total to get to level 5). And of course you gain more stats for every level you buy.

What is so great about this system is that it is COMPLETELY CUSTOMIZABLE. Are you a caster and want to spend all your points on defensive abilities? Go ahead and make players regret trying to take you out first. Are you a tank and want to deck yourself out with strength and Mastery of Pain so you can hit like a truck? That’s possible too. Or maybe you want to get Level 3 of Purge and almost always have a way to instantly remove all debuffs and crowd control spells.

For example, if you're Realm Rank 5 Level 0 and you have 40 Realm Ability points to spend, and you're a Caster you might spend them like this:

Augmented Dexterity Level 3 (+22 Dexterity, 10 RA Points)
Physical Defense Level 3 (12% more defense against physical damage, 10 RA Points)
Mystic Crystal Lore Level 2 (+60% Mana every 3 minutes, 15 RA Points)
Purge Level 1 (Clears all negative effects every 15 minutes, 5 RA Points)

The higher Realm Rank you have, the more points you to spend, and the more toys you have to play with.

WoW's Honor System
Progression type: Ladder
Rewards: Gear
Replayability: Close Ended

Now to compare that to WoW. WoW's system is ladder based meaning ranks are not set at specific amounts of Honor. You earn Ranks depending on how how much honor you grind compared to other players in your faction. Now this wouldn't as big of a problem if the reward system wasn't the way it is. For every rank you gain, you earn access to gear. It's possible to earn up to Rank 10 as a casual player, and by that rank you earn a full set of Blue (rare) gear. But for the casual player that's when the fun stops.

Because the system is a ladder in order to get up to Rank 11 or above, basically you have to start playing more than anyone else in your faction. Meaning, you need to compete with players who live in their parent’s basement and do nothing but play all day. For the players who can only play less than 6 hours a day, already they have hit a brick wall and no matter how much time they invest over the years, they will never reach Rank 11 and they will never start earning good Epic gear. They will be stuck with their Blue rewards and be forced to compete against Raiders and Rank 14s who have gear which essentially makes them twice as powerful as someone in gimpy blue gear. Back to progressing through the ranks... time wise, it becomes so ridiculous that in order to get to Rank 14 you essentially need to be playing 14 hours a day and that is not even an exaggeration. And the irony of it all is that it's for gear which is already out dated, raiders can already get better gear from the latest raid instances.

Another problem is that if you do spend all that time and do get to Rank 14, you earn your final piece of purple gear... then that’s it. Every week one person reaches the final rank and then has absolutely no reason to keep PvPing. You've already earned every reward the system has to offer you, so why keep playing? There is no motivation at all to keep PvPing and no way to continue to progress outside of PvE.

So casual players are stuck at Rank 9-10 with no chance of progressing, hardcore players already hit Rank 14 (and probably ended up in the hospital for playing so long every day for MONTHS) and now they don't have a reason to keep PvPing, and it's all for gear which is sub par to what raiders have access to. The system isn't customizable in the least bit, and you basically have to get to Rank 13 or above to even be competitive. Oh and ranks are calculated once a week, while Realm Ranks and realm ability points are earned instantly, no need to wait in order to get your reward.

Conclusion

I hope I've shed some light on how two very different PvP systems work. As you can see now, Mythic created a great RvR Rank system which offers years and years of replayability, great customization, no "need" to hit the cap rank for sub par gear, and its very casual friendly because no matter how few hours you play per day, you'll still be progressing towards a higher rank.

[Akis]

Να προσθέσω κάτι. Το RvR σύστημα της Mythic είναι μοναδικό λόγω της δυναμικής του. Tο τι θα κάνει ο καθένας μας επηρεάζει την ισορροπία και την καθημερινότητα του Server. Δηλαδή, κερδίσαμε κάποια περιοχή, το faction μας θα την ελέγχει μέχρι να την πάρει πίσω ο εχθρός. Το endgame δεν έχει να κάνει με κάποιον παντοδύναμο NPC, αλλά έχει να κάνει με τον αντίπαλο παίκτη, υπερασπιζόμαστε την γη μας από αντίπαλους παίκτες και όχι από προγραμματισμένα mobs, είναι ένας διαρκής πόλεμος και κάθε τι που κάνουμε έχει τον αντίκτυπό του. Όσοι έχετε παίξει DAoC αντιλαμβάνεστε τι λέω, οι υπόλοιποι ας κάνετε λίγη υπομονή. Το φθινόπωρο είναι κοντά.