__ Chapter V, Where the Voices Whisper of the Small Border Town, Three Laughing Skulls and the Voodoo __ ______________________________________Part 1____________________________________________
__________________________________Town Life__________________________________________
Ideally, every civilian career should be (in some way – emotionally, economically, hearthstonically etc.) tied to a town or a place in the world. The aim is to have at least some engineers/cooks and such (possibly, together with warriors) „living“ in a border fortress/outpost/keep (or visiting it 3-4 times per day) and loading/repairing defensive engines or even NPC´s weapons/armor, bringing „offerings“ and food to these, checking/maintaining their own shops,fields etc.
In case of a siege, a couple of players behind oil/defensive weaponry (and eventually commanding NPCs or even a Bridge Guard – see Chapter IV) should slow the enemy zerg significantly (while having the ability to repair damage and, say, heal/resurrect/re-summon fallen NPCs). They should be able to hold for, say, 10-15 minutes, alarming their faction and hoping for reinforcements. But the real point (besides making another powerful money/resources/time sink) is in offering „civilian“ classes a place they could care/fight for and call it home, investing in it and eventually even making it slowly grow into a small town or even a fortress.
Another link would be, of course, player´s personal (or his guild´s) workshops, restaurants!?, quarries, mills, corn fields, mines, bazaar (connected to Caravans) with, say, hired NPCs working in these.
• Talking about corn fields - make it popcorn corn fields, with appropriate daily quests – in order to protect the popcorn – such as „Kill 10 Rats“. (Yes, I am serious! I can imagine forums exploding after all those wonderful PvP people discover about this :)
The risk of losing our preciousss (imagine watching, from the keep walls or while running for your life – or from a corpse - enemy killing the NPC workers of your mill, pillaging and burning your fields, rats included) should be compensated by lucrative operating at/near the frontline: more/richer gathering resources, quick/cheap access to war pillage and harvest (less/no transport costs) and so on.
The challenge is to (slightly ab)use greed (can it be overestimated?) and build „front line“ economy with rich interplay between caravans/merchants, crafters, soldiers and all kinds of NPCs, all that with RvRvR raging nearby (and sometimes, closer than nearby...).
______________________________Warhammer Flashbacks__________________________________
Initially, I planned to make these a key part of Chapter III and build on it, but then it struck me that people wouldn´t even know what I am talking about while, on the other hand, almost automatically connecting WAR with Titanic rather than anything else. So, with tear hidden in my eye, I moved the sad remains here. In case you forgot (or never played it) - here is a very brief reminder of WAR careers (classes) - http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Career and, say, scenarios (battlegrounds) http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Scenario
Over time, people were suggesting various theories on why WAR failed, but to modern science it is obvious that the main reason is because Tor Anroc wasn´t popping often enough... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeh_5FHc5kU - lava bath! <3 <3 <3 On a serious(?) note, scenario functionality (30-40 people max) is different to that of RvRvR, I am simply „quoting“ pieces of WAR scenario design I enjoyed the most - Gates of Ekrund, Reikland Factory, Stone Troll Crossing, Twisting Tower – slightly labyrintish, with tunnels/multiple floors and possibility to push people off a cliff :)
Finally, some concepts i´d like to see varied in CU. Besides public quests, tactics and morale, I am surprised that, say, Ironbreaker´s mechanics (and WAR tanking in general) didn´t develop stronger following in subsequent MMOs. I also like Marauders (especially the visuals – mutations!), Bright Wizard´s (say, St´rm could use parts of BW mechanics!?) and Choppa´s heating up, Witch Hunter and his „Burn, Heretics!“ fanatical style and especially my all time favorite - and easily the toon I had the most fun with in my MMO career, that sexy beast - Goblin Shaman! (also, No1 in humor department :)
__________________________________End of Part 1___________________________________________