Hello fellow Uthgard players,

as you all know we've been battling, roaming, exploring, leveling, raiding, ... in OF for just over a month now. We've had the time to seriously test out pretty much everything it has to offer and get a clearer picture of how we experience it.

I would like this thread to become a place where people can give their own opinions and experiences they had in OF so far. Not everyone's opinion will be similar so please just respect each other. It would be nice to offer possible solutions for the issues you experienced so the staff can have a better view on the player feedback. Of course trolling and flaming have no place here, but I guess that's a known fact.

Please try to make your post constructive, compact and to the point.
I will start off. My feedback is only about what's not good or can be improved. I'm definately very happy we got OF and I'm sure I'm not the only one with that opinion. However, what I'm trying to point out here is that it still needs a bit of tweaking and perfectionising to scale with Uthgard's setting like it should.



Feedback:
*A) Keep attacks are too hard to counter. By the time you know a keep is under attack, it is already taken.

*B) Zones besides Hibernia's frontiers or rather Emain Macha are barely used.

*C) Soloing is too demanding to be interesting. The time to get into the RvR zone is very high for players who wish to solo in their home realm, recharge costs are incredibly high, since the action zone is a lot more spread out. It requires a lot more time where you need to have your charges up for a lot less incs and thus BPs. Recharging with cash is too expensive to be a worthy alternative.

*D) Port timers are still a bit longer than necessary.

*E) Mob spawns are usually poorly populated and spawn rates are too slow. This combined with an xp bonus that's hardly worth it in places where you can actually find decent mobs makes xping in OF unattractive. Especially when you compare it to DF.

*F) The impact of Darkness Falls has significantly increased. Realms who hold DF tend to be a lot less present in RvR. This is probably connected with the poor xp spots in OF compared to Agramon, making DF the ulitmate xp dungeon without any real alternatives when it's open.

*H) Having the porters also linked to porting to housing/capital is an unnecessary timesink. There is no point in having to wait on the pad for this, especially since ports between those zones are completely instant. Binding in border keeps has become completely useless.

*I) Border keeps lack a BP merchant. These keeps are the buildings that are most closely related to anything to do with RvR. Not putting a BP merchant there, in combination with the timed port to capitals is yet another unnecessary timesink.


Suggested solutions:
*A) Send out a clear message throughout the realm if a realm's keep is being attacked (<75% on front gates), this would be similar to the NF map where you could see towers or keeps burning. The guild who claimed the keep will get more info one enemy numbers, guards killed, gate status etc.
Ideally, a NF-style interactive map with 'burning' keeps would be awesome, but a realm-wide message will do the trick too imo.

*B) I think we should be careful with spreading action too much. Uthgard does not have 3000, but only 7-800 on primetime. Even still, barely 100 of those are actively RvRing at that time.

*C) Because of the completely different nature of solo RvR compared to grouped RvR, it is possible to try and separate these 2 from eachother without spreading the activity up too much. FGs will not be out to hunt soloers and soloers will not search for FGs as their main targets.
Therefore, I suggest handing out a bonus for solo players in a specifc place/zone would be very interesting to all who prefer this playstyle. I would suggest giving a 10-25% RP bonus to ungrouped players in one of the following zones/places: HMG/AMG in Odins, MMG/HMG in Hadrians.
This would effectively shift the small-man / solo RvR area from the Group packed lands of Emain to the hardly used zones like Odins Gate or Hadrians Wall. It would help creating a better RvR experience for this type of playstyle. By making this bonus only work for players who are ungrouped, you do not harm any hotspots for players who like to group instead of solo.
I know staff does not want to interfere with the dividation of the RvR population in general, though I really do not see why this would cause any negative effect on anyone.

Charge timers could be increased or the BP costs could be lowered. The current rates were viable in Agramon, but are just exaggerated in the current RvR situation.

Hastener speed could be increased the first 3 - 5 minutes of the trip to make the run to the RvR zone less stressful for players without speed 5 or 6. Of course, this speed bonus should only be granted from the border keeps. (for instance: value 175 instead of 150 for the first 5 minutes, followed by the usual 150 the last 5 minutes)

*D) Reduce porting timers to 5 or 6 minutes. This is the time needed for a group to run to the MG zones at speed 5 or 6. Giving the hastener speed from border keeps a little boost will also decrease running times for soloers.

*E) Add more mobs to spawns that are not worth xping at, perhaps consider adding custom spawns to make the xp bonusses worthwile. This will effectively draw more people into the RvR zones and reduce the impact DF has on the RvR and PvE population.

*F) See E).

*H) Just add a separate porter (like in the capitals) for ports to housing and capitals.

*I) Place a BP merchant in the border keeps.





Some of my solutions are controversial, some are trivial, but I think most if not all of them will improve our OF and Uthgard experience a lot. Please feel free to add comments and personal views on how you see the situation and the solutions yourself.

@Staff: please keep a eye on this thread since it will hopefully contain very valuable player feedback on your tremendous effort to make OF work.


Regards,
Zarkor

Solo and smallman RvR is dead.

Just wanted to get that out in the open, will comment more on eveything tomorrow.

a second port, 30-60 seconds after the first would be nice so groups dont get split up as often, and 7 people have to wait for last person who just missed port.

Nymeros wrote:Solo and smallman RvR is dead.

True. Im out. OF killed Uthgard for me (even tho i like some parts of it)

I think there is too many OF zones, and everyone wants quickest action and they are use to fighting in only emain, so 2 realms only have to wait for port , which is a max of 8min or less, while hib has to run a min of 7min with sprinting and realm speed. You have to run threw 2 empty zones to get to the main rvr zone, while if your a visable, your likeyness to run into a grp is high and some may not want to solo as visables. You could go to other OF zones to try and solo, but may end up not finding many to fight, making it boring. I think using one realms OF zone is a better choice. As i suggested before, using like hib of zones, with Hib PK at the boarder in CG, mids in emain at there default PK, and albs in MC at the bottom right corner, with a placed keep ( if possible ) for there PK. Making Brifiene the hot spot and allowing action to take place in all zones, and since it keeps the RVR together, more likely to find grps and solos.

On the issue of Pot/Charge buffing, i dont see a problem. All you have to do is wait till your in emain and buffup. If they increase the duration or make them cheaper, it encourages everyone to run more buffs, more then they alrdy are. With a classic setup with old ra's, if we remove this issue by removing these buffs, we wouldnt have such a need for those buffs because the only reason you need them now, is because your enemy has them. They dont make you more skilled, they are a passive benifit that is a inconvenice, kinda like running a buffbot of your own. Maybe not as effective as a buffbot would be, but still gives you a un-needed benifit without any real skills needed to achieve them. I think i could live without str/con and haste, if my enemys where also fairly buffed with what they have to spec for.

I do think they should add normal porters to cities and BGs, there is no balancing reason to slow down traffic to cities and in BGs when you die, you respawn in the BG alrdy. And there would be no need for a porter, with my OF zone change. The duration it takes to run from your zone to briefine should be long enough, like 2-4 min.

C) I agree that the newer, time consuming nature of OF makes charging/potion buffing exceedingly tedious. It would be nice to see the duration on these upped to 20 minutes, making them consistent with non-concentration self buffs. It would help with the cost to the player as well. In Agramon I had no trouble funding them on RvR alone, but my money is dwindling quickly in OF. We already see enough negative feedback about low overall RvR population, the last think I would think we need is forcing a percentage of that group to PvE to make cash just to compete in RvR.

D) Unrelated to the RvR aspect, but I would like to see the teleporters back in SF,DL, and CS for places like the capital city and housing zones, while leaving the telepad strictly for RvR. Even beyond that, re-add battlegrounds to the teleporters instead of the pad since they have a different release system (you don't leave the battleground when you die), so there is no need for the teleport delay to make it an authentic experience.

F) I would love to see the old frontier dungeons here. I'm not sure how difficult this would be to implement here, or if there is much information even available on them at this point, but it would give a nice alternative to DF (provided there is a nice XP bonus). They would also help encourage people to go places other than Emain, perhaps a nice opportunity for soloers and small groups.

Would be nice to be able to port to gothwaite only if solo , for all soloers to battle , no extra bonuses needed , would be a nice trial untill SI is launched, if ever it is.

*C) Soloing is too demanding to be interesting. The time to get into the RvR zone is very high for players who wish to solo in their home realm, recharge costs are incredibly high, since the action zone is a lot more spread out. It requires a lot more time where you need to have your charges up for a lot less incs and thus BPs. Recharging with cash is too expensive to be a worthy alternative.


Charge timers could be increased or the BP costs could be lowered. The current rates were viable in Agramon, but are just exaggerated in the current RvR situation.

Totally agree.

Preety much what Zarkor said. Agreed.

And solo rvr is DEAD. Albs are camping amg with even fg stealthers, and amg is the only inc. As a player who like to solo my stealther, its no point in playing. NF was 100x times better with 2 milegates for each realm.

I roamed the other OF zones with skald, not a single enemy.

My advice of an additional bg for 50's has been shot down several times but I still firmly believe that it can help improve RvR action on this server.
Perhaps even make it more worth while for solo'rs if they have their own bg.

Molvik lvl49-lvl50 RR5l4 (max player number can be done)
bg type: Solo RvR bg
[no group before porting, and grouping in bg leads to bg removal]

Leirvik lvl50 RR4l8 (max player number of each realm 16, -> 48 )
bg type: similar to thid
[to close the gap between old & high end players and new rookie ones, and to create hotspot in the low hours]

And if its full it will lead to repopulation of OF cause else you'll have to log a lowbie or get bored (suicidal) while waiting for someone to leave.

infi I play my own but I die most of the time against stealhtes Hibs 3-4 +, most of the time are fg, no fun for me to die again and again into their hands.

They just my farm, all I can do is to join those who roam the AMG, and when we bring them fg vs fg they make quit, and wait to return later,or get curator.

They never play alone. =)

This is reason why albs make too grup and camp amg, we no chance solos against 3-4 of then in 1 flight.

Runis wrote:I roamed the other OF zones with skald, not a single enemy.

I had quite a lot of fun in odins / hadrians ... even in snowdonia and in sauvage forest.

What I like most about OF: A lot more players' responsibility for the RvR experience, because:

- No stupid brainless warmap: You have to organize RvR yourself. You have to decide if you need help and if so you have to communicate with your realm mates. This regards keep raids as well as keep defenses as well as open field RvR.

- No stupid brainless instant teleport close to the enemy: You have to find fights yourself. Here it is also up to you to e.g. communicate with assassins being in the frontiers.

- No realm wide keep-is-under-attack-message: Again it is up to you to 1st claim a keep 2nd tell your realm if it is under attack and organize defense.

So in general I prefer OF a lot about NF. Nevertheless in my opinion the keeps could be tweaked a bit:

1) keep guards and gates like on live in OF-times: A keep level 10 on live-OF was guarded by evil badass guards that I am missing here. If you implement them as close to live-OF as possible upgrading a keep would be much more worth it. Same goes for the keep gates, to me they seem pretty weak compared to live gates.

2) weapons for keep guards: Another thing regarding the keep guards is giving them the ability to be equipped with weapons by the players. For example on live-OF you could give a ranged weapon guard (e.g. a Scout) a bow which would increase it's damage.

3) implement the live-OF relic guard system: When on live-OF a guild claimed one of its realm's keeps one guard was sent from that keep to each relic keep. Those additional relic keep guards wore the respective guild's emblem on their cloak and their origin keep's name above their heads. They were quite tough and had a short respawn timer. Therefore they provided a worthful additional defense to the relics. If I remember correctly if one of them was killed they gave their guild a warning that they were killed near the relic so this guild could warn the realm. This would also make the realm wide warning message obsolete and would be another step towards more players' responsibility.

4) make the keeps themselves worth something: If you look at the current RvR keeps are not worth something themselves. They give a bit realm wide bonus, they open DF - but they are not worth something themselves. A first thing could be to introduce a zone of EXP-Bonus (10% for example) around every keep (radius of 5000 or 6000 unites around the keep centre's position maybe). This is also live-like. Additionally there could be a merchant that sells one of the highest level ingredients for half the price: Arkanium bars in Dun Crauchon, Dustwood in Dun Crimthainn etc. - you get the point.

A few das, tired of going alone to AMG, and die at their hands, hib and i go to talk to any of them, they say it is their gameplay, I do not say how they should play, and that if I did not like it, i have to delete my toon and leave uthgard.

Since then, I am the first group and makes for more players to fight them, if they want Gerra the will, unfortunately, the sole losers who go through milegate.

Der_Eisbaer you should understand that not all of us have fun by raiding keeps/relics or having such a long downtime until next fight. Some dont have time to do that also.