Spring starts to set in on the North and local pathfinders have the good prediction for you: snow is about to melt and soon you will be able to move onward from Wasteland of Winds. His Majesty has already issued the edict to reinforce northern passes with magic, so that snow would not block them again next winter. In short, time is close when everyone will be able to get to Alatika and Battle Shores.
Waiting for you in the next part of the North update:
- 2 more maps: Alatika and Battle Shores
- 3 small dungeons
- The continuation of the main storyline quest chain (over 60 new missions)
- 25 new monsters
- 12 types of class weapons for 63 level
- Slotted versions of equipment for 63 level
- New resources to pick
- 2 new bosses and the oldie: Hugo
Some details concerning Alaites and harsh life on the North have been already shared in previous notes, the rest you will learn in due time.
Today's notes focus on the hottest topic: the upcoming update will bring the rework of castle sieges.
Why sieges?
Recent updates have concerned mostly the PvE aspect of the game. New maps, monsters and bosses have been added but battles between players have remained almost untouched. We have planned, after the work at the Northern lands would be over, to shift focus to guilds, to their role in players' life, to interactions within a guild and between different guilds. We would also like, in prospect, to improve and to further develop the PvP aspect (first and foremost, mass PvP modes).
Still, too often any interactions between players evolve into cahoots and attempts to get around the very spirit of the fair contest (like fixed fights on arena). That's why some changes in PvP modes may turn out to be unfit or to have hidden pitfalls. Therefore we are planning, before implementing global changes, to release some updates that will let us to judge how this or that decision will affect on the gameplay.
The second stage of The North update will include changes of the siege system: from the encounter between parties to the encounter between guilds.
Features:
Bids
- A guild can own only one castle. A guild leader may leave the current castle if he will choose to make a bid for another.
- Only a guild leader can make a bid for a siege: in gold.
- A guild currently owning a castle will automatically take part in the siege.
- The basic bid for all castles is 1 000 000 gold, the minimum auction step will be 500 000 gold.
- The maximum bid (or two maximum bids if the castle has no owner) wins. The rest of bids return to bidders.
- If there is only one bid for a castle without the owner, the bidding guild goes to the siege alone.
Siege
Changes are experimental for now, so the basic logic with platforms and parties will remain much the same.
- During the siege any player from the participating guild can enter Key Master Labyrinth (through guild interface), but every guild can send no more than 20 parties to the siege.
- Members of one group will get on the same platform. The maximum party number is defined by the type of the castle.
- While being in Labyrinth you can't kick a player from the party or leave the party. If somebody is kicked from the party at the castle grounds, he will be teleported to the entrance.
- If a player enters Labyrinth without a party he will be automatically added to any party with vacant places. If there are no vacant places in existing parties but there is another lone player, a new party with these two players will be created - or he will remain on his own until anyone else comes alone.
- To free a platform for a new party all party members should leave the siege.
- If two parties from the same guild are on adjoining platforms the pass between platforms is restricted (the yellow highlighting will be removed in this case). But if two parties from the same guild still succeed to get on the same platform, the platform will fall and everyone there will perish. Exception: the platform with Key Master.
This way sieges will become not the party but the guild event. To reduce the possible issue of transfer between guilds, the leaving guild penalty will be increased to 8 days. This plan has its own flaws but a lot of advantages too - in our view. We are working at many other ideas, economic and gameplay among other things, but it's too soon to share them now.
So - what is your opinion?
