Weekly Update 344: Arrival of the Myrmidon!
Greetings, Warriors!
While the majority of our team is constantly working towards the upcoming release of Gloria Victis 1.0, we are doing our best to bring new features and provide Quality of Life improvements for you to enjoy every week!
This week we are bringing to you new skin, fixes, and QoL improvements, and a very important announcement about our plans for the weeks to come!
Let’s take a look at this week’s changes:
The screenshot’s authors were awarded. Jonathon the Chosen One, [TBP] Derayenic/Ayiina and Liutbert – check your Ambers!
[h2]Myrmidon Skin[/h2]
We are introducing a new cosmetic skin set to the game using a mix of heavy and medium items. The new “Myrmidon” cosmetic skin is waiting for you in the supporter’s shop (default: [K]).
You won't find a warrior more devoted to the team than Myrmidon. Their squad is like a family: they eat together, sleep together and go into battle together. Everyone has a partner for whom he is responsible and cannot abandon him, even if he lies dead on the battlefield.
[h2]Adjustment to the shield bash mechanics[/h2]
Last week, we have implemented a new way of performing a shield bash, and in response to our Community’s feedback, we have decided to implement an option to bind a shield bash to another key than the default. From now on you will be able to find a field in the keybinding options. After binding a new key to the shield bash, it will be possible to perform this type of attack by clicking the bound key while holding a block with a shield. What is more, binding the new key to shield bash, will make the “kick” button perform just kicks, meaning that it will work exactly like before the last week’s changes.
[h2]Every-two week Video contest[/h2]
We cannot stress enough our happiness and gratitude to see such nice videos posted by our active community! This week, we have chosen a few combat videos, that will be rewarded with the main reward of 2000 ambers:
Yotad, for his video highlighting the finest moments of his guild throughout the recent seasons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gLhlcXB1bg
Ruffion, for a fine compilation of battles in a 2 man squad. Just look at that teamwork and combat awareness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNE_dSExZho
Busegirly, for a great archer gameplay video. The accuracy and positioning are worth taking a look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3lq-V3sAI
Be sure to use always use #gloriavictis and #playgloriavictis hashtags in your video descriptions. It greatly helps us and others to find content based on our game, and increases your visibility!
[h2]Quality of Life:[/h2]
– Adjusted the values of damage reductions for heavy armor as a response to the Community feedback we have received.
– Added character preview in the “Buy Summary” window
– Reworked the Guild Recruitation Announcement window to a new UI style
[h2]Fixes:[/h2]
– Fixed a bug that made it possible to perform a chamber with a fully loaded shield bash in certain situations.
– Fixed a tag for the new Seasonal Deal Pack in the Supporter’s Shop.
– Fixed a case where the title of the tutorial in the Lore Window would not fit into the space for some languages.
– Fixed a bugged spear throw animation for the throwing player.
– Fixed trimmed header caption label in option panel dropdowns
– Unified the icon of the supporter shop for fullscreen and quick bar
– Minor fixes and visual tweaks to the Supporter’s Shop
– Fixed the coordinates tooltip staying on screen after closing the map
[h2]WIP Insight[/h2]
Today we are coming to you with an announcement concerning the upcoming changes to the middle of the map. We announced this a while ago, but now, we are ready to shed some more light on what’s coming in the weeks to follow. The changes presented in this announcement may still vary slightly from the final version, and we are open to your feedback.
At first, when we were announcing the changes in the middle of the map and changes to how guild castles will work, we were expecting it to come all together in one big update, however, the scope has increased significantly since then and we have decided to split this huge change into parts.
The first, very significant, portion will be launched within the next updates, starting with the update on 15.12.2022, at the start of the Christmas and New Year holiday grace period we have done each year, where State of War sieges are disabled. This year will be a bit different, as instead of disabling the State of War (and in fact pausing the majority of PvP action that takes place in the middle of the map), we will introduce the updated middle of the map which will change the current Guild Castles back into Nation-controlled Castles (anyone still dreaming about the good old Original Faith’s Keep?).
OOF: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/e379f4e92ecb8ed5208d3cd4fdb76d6c
https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/9f3d2afbf04a8acc6dd5294bac2e9642
Skergard: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/27a6fbf0c81699fc8244d3e7ec6c857b
Leaktown: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/7df8f0d36a4014292a9362c9935ee2de
This is a much-needed change, as the current Guild Castles imposed stagnation to the map outside of the State of War periods, as the guilds could sit in their castles safely, just waiting for some action that happens close to their castle. Not only does it enforce the “zerg” meta, as a big guild that controls a castle can teleport to it and rush to action in no time, but it also creates inactivity on the map, as players are feeling urged by the design to sit in a safe place and wait for content instead of being encouraged to go for conquest.
With this in mind, we have decided to revert the castles in the middle of the map to Nation-controlled Castles, while giving them all the benefits of the Guild Castles, excluding just one – safety. Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map, just like any other Nation-controlled Castle, will be possible to be sieged at all times, making the defence and conquest of them one of the key features of the middle of the map.
The new Nation-controlled Castles will become some of the most important castles for a nation to own, as they will still provide +4 workshops, the highest quality farms, as well as mines, lumbermills, and even storehouses, just like the current Guild Castles! On top of that, the new Nation-controlled Castles will become an essential asset during the Deadly Harvest event, as they will provide a high yield of points, greatly increasing the chances of winning. This change should offer a good chance for PvP content in the middle of the map during the entire Christmas break, instead of the regular stagnation caused by the disabling of the State of War.
https://gyazo.com/ef187fffaf9838574e9f24961ad3da67
(Work in progress, some parts of the map will still change in the upcoming days)
The previous paragraphs may have you thinking about what will happen with the current Guild Castles and guilds that own them. The Guild Castles will come back in a changed form, somewhere at the start of the next calendar year, and the current Guild Castle owners will be rewarded with a memorial obelisk in the new Nation-controlled Castles. Only two guilds per server will be rewarded for each castle – the guild that holds the castle currently, and… the guild that will hold the castle at the end of the current Glory Season.
This brings us to the next announcement – the current Glory Season will be shorter, and will end on 15.12.2022 with the introduction of the new middle of the map. So, sharpen your weapons and head to battle for the Guild Castles and Glory for your guild to be forever remembered!
Let’s reveal some of the other important changes that will be implemented in this update:
[h3]Changes in non-loot and loot zones[/h3]
We are aware, that currently, activity on the map outside of the siege events is low. We find the cause of it being the “zerg” meta which makes small groups of players unwilling to roam around. This issue is even more visible due to the loot zones – a small group of players gets overrun by a bigger group they have no chance against, they lose the gear, and because of having no hope of winning another encounter, they chose to stay away from loot zones, and wait for a non-loot event. We find this state of open world to be something that goes against our goal of developing an open-world endless PvP game, where fights are happening constantly around the game’s world. In order to encourage players to do more PvP, we have decided to re-adjust the loot and non-loot zones around the map.
This change should enable more casual players to take fights in a safer environment of the non-loot, while still offering a high-risk high-reward PvP experience in the middle of the map, where looting will still be enabled, and smaller-scale PvP will be encouraged. Changing the arrangement of the loot and non-loot zones will help us to adjust the spread of valuable resources, events, unique animals, and key Nation-controlled Castles in such a way, that playing in the middle of the map will be more rewarding, while the outer ring of the map will provide a safer area.
After the update of the middle of the map goes live, there will be a significant change to the loot and non-loot zones in the game. The middle of the map will remain to be a looting zone, while the outer ring of the map will become a permanent non-loot zone. The borders of loot and non-loot zones can be seen here:
[h3]Considered new approach to the middle of the map fights[/h3]
Currently, the mixture of fast travel and horses makes it possible for players to quickly move between locations. While it is a good thing to travel between locations on the frontline, making the fights more dynamic, we have observed that it also makes roaming solo or in a small group almost impossible, as once engaged in a fight, the player can get quickly overrun by a group of mounted players and killed without a chance to fight or escape. We would like the reworked middle of the map to be a place for small groups to fight each other in a skill-based fight rather than the ones that are based on numbers.
We are still considering different options and approaches to that topic, as we would like the middle of the map to be a place where small groups can fight freely without the fear of getting overrun by a big group of mounted players that teleport to the nearest point and get into the battle in no time.
We would like to hear your feedback on that change, so please have your say on the newly added #middle-of-the-map-feedback channel on our Discord(https://discord.gg/gloriavictis).
[h3]New PvP tokens[/h3]
The reworked middle of the map will also come with new PvP tokens connected to the local quest boards. These unique tokens will be earned by doing events and quests in the middle of the map, and the Ruined Temple Raid. There will be 7 new quest boards added, divided into 4 zones with over 20 new and existing events that will award the new PvP tokens, as well as over 25 new quest board quests! PvP tokens will be exchangeable for interesting new and existing items that are useful in PvP battles.
[h3]Sneak peek into the clustered Guild Castles[/h3]
With all these changes just around the corner, we would also like to provide our Community, with a sneak peek at what can be expected at the very start of 2023. Next year will be very important for Gloria Victis, as we are just a few months away from launching Gloria Victis 1.0 and one of the remaining steps before the release will be the clustered Guild Castles, which will have their first iteration going live in January 2023.
The clustered guild castles will not only offer a chance to own a Guild Castle for smaller guilds but will also enable these smaller guilds to have a chance of building their own content around building and developing their Guild Castles. The Guild Castles will become a feature that will provide a space for guild gatherings, and give a better reason to roam around the map on the lookout for rare materials for castle building as well as fight to boost the Guild’s level. With the clustered Guild Castles, the importance of technology points will be greater, as guilds will have more technologies to unlock, as well as they will be able to develop more technologies at the same time. This change will make map roaming and participating in the new State of Wars a key to becoming one of the top guilds of a server. The newly added technologies will augment many aspects of the clustered Guild Castles as well as provide buffs and features that will help the guilds to compete at the highest level.
Another important change that the clustered Guild Castles will bring is a new version of State of War. While we think that the current State of War design is good, as it brings many memorable fights, we can see its drawbacks – Guild Castles are becoming more of a national asset making the guilds owning them reliant on the nation. This means that a shift of power between the nations may result in strong guilds losing their Guild Castles to weaker ones, but such that have a bigger support from the nation. Moreover, we have seen a number of toxic behaviors emerging from owning a Guild Castle, which is not a situation we are looking for. While changing the design of the State of War, we will be also looking for ways to keep the mass Nation vs Nation PvP in the open world, by adding new systems to the game.
The new State of War design is aimed more at Guild vs Guild, or Alliance vs Alliance, and everyday content. We want each guild to be able to adjust the castle to their needs, by tweaking the size of the battle they want to be having, and do they want to have the help of their allies or not. Moreover, guilds will be able to decide on the hour of the State of War as well as the frequency of the battles (as now they will be even possible to take place daily!). This way, fairer, and more challenging battles should take place. The new system will also get rid of the toxicity that spying, griefing or an unsuccessful State of War brings, as guilds will only lose points, not castles. The system will bring more rewards and fewer penalties, while still being a competitive feature giving guilds the ability to compete with each other.
[h3]What can be expected in the first iteration?[/h3]
The first iteration should feature buying a guild island, teleportation to and from the island to the open world, as well as castle building and workstation placement.
Once we get this iteration live we will be gathering your feedback to improve the clustered Guild Castles while working on re-enabling State of Wars in a new, reworked version that suits the new guild castle system!
[h3]FAQ[/h3]
How long will it take for State of War to be back?
We aren’t ready to announce the exact date yet, but we are aiming to release State of War on the clustered Guild Castles as soon as possible after the first iteration goes live.
Will it be possible to travel to Guild Castles of other guilds?
Yes, this is a feature that we are planning on implementing. It will not be a part of the first iteration but will follow shortly after the first iteration is live. We want the clusters to feel like an additional part of the open world and not something separate.
Will it be possible to have PvP outside of the State of War on the clustered Guild Castles?
Yes, each guild will have the option to set their Guild Castle as a PvP zone (either non-loot or loot) in order to gain some additional benefits. Traveling to a castle that has its settings set to be a PvP zone will make it possible to fight other players at any time. We want the clustered Guild Castles to feel like a part of the open world, thus we want them to resemble the rest of the map as much as possible.
Who will be able to claim a Guild Castle once they are moved to the cluster solution?
Each guild of level 10 or above will be able to claim its own castle by paying a small gold fee. The entire process will be possible through the Guild Window, and each guild will be able to own one castle.
Will there be siege events in the new Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map?
As for now, we are not planning to implement such events (neither loot nor non-loot event) in the new Nation-controlled Castles. We want the center of the map to remain a looting zone at all times, and a place where there is a chance for some small/medium-scale PvP.
Why are you moving the Guild Castles to clusters?
Moving the Guild Castles to a cluster solution is essential for two main reasons:
Currently, with just 9 castles per server, the fun of running a guild castle is restricted to a very small amount of players, with freebuilding being a feature that only leaders of the biggest guilds could enjoy. We would like these features to become more available for smaller guilds too.
After the official release, we expect to have to add additional servers that may eventually be merged with others. The cluster solution will make it easier to merge servers, as no guilds would need to lose a castle in that process.
When the guild castles become national castles, what resources will be available there?
The new Nation-controlled Castles will have the same mines and storehouses like current Guild Castles. This will make them the most important mines on the map, and the value of such a castle will greatly increase for the nations. This change will not only enable all players of the nation to use the mine freely but also create a potential PvP hotspot, as these castles will be key to defend against attackers.
Will the clustered Guild Castles have farms or mines?
The clustered Guild Castles will have no mines, however, they will have a farming area, with ground quality ranging from 50% to 100% based on the settings the guild that owns the castle chooses from – for example, will the Guild Castle be loot, non-loot, or a safe zone (the higher the risk factor of a Guild Castle, the better the ground quality).
Will there be better rewards in the middle of the map because it will be a loot zone?
Yes, the middle of the map will still be the only place with the most beneficial events (Kargalds, Catacombs, Pride Long Forgotten etc.) as well as the castles located in the middle of the map will have the best workshops, mines, lumbermills, and farms. On top of that, the castles in the middle of the map will provide the most points for Deadly Harvest and offer a speed buff for the workstations, making them a valuable asset for a Nation that controls them.
What will happen to the buff for the Nation that holds 2 or more Guild Castles?
The buff will be now transferred to the new Nation Castles in the middle of the map. Owning these castles will grant buffs the same way as the Guild Castles do right now. The main difference is that the Nation-controlled Castles will be possible to capture at all times, making them a constant PvP hotspot.
Will there be changes to Pilgrim's Rock?
No, Pilgrim’s Rock is a special castle, and its rules will not be changed. It will remain unchanged as it remains to be an important spot for the middle of the map PvP/PvE gameplay.
While the majority of our team is constantly working towards the upcoming release of Gloria Victis 1.0, we are doing our best to bring new features and provide Quality of Life improvements for you to enjoy every week!
This week we are bringing to you new skin, fixes, and QoL improvements, and a very important announcement about our plans for the weeks to come!
Let’s take a look at this week’s changes:
The screenshot’s authors were awarded. Jonathon the Chosen One, [TBP] Derayenic/Ayiina and Liutbert – check your Ambers!
Changelog v.0.9.9.7.1 Beta
[h2]Myrmidon Skin[/h2]
We are introducing a new cosmetic skin set to the game using a mix of heavy and medium items. The new “Myrmidon” cosmetic skin is waiting for you in the supporter’s shop (default: [K]).
You won't find a warrior more devoted to the team than Myrmidon. Their squad is like a family: they eat together, sleep together and go into battle together. Everyone has a partner for whom he is responsible and cannot abandon him, even if he lies dead on the battlefield.
[h2]Adjustment to the shield bash mechanics[/h2]
Last week, we have implemented a new way of performing a shield bash, and in response to our Community’s feedback, we have decided to implement an option to bind a shield bash to another key than the default. From now on you will be able to find a field in the keybinding options. After binding a new key to the shield bash, it will be possible to perform this type of attack by clicking the bound key while holding a block with a shield. What is more, binding the new key to shield bash, will make the “kick” button perform just kicks, meaning that it will work exactly like before the last week’s changes.
[h2]Every-two week Video contest[/h2]
We cannot stress enough our happiness and gratitude to see such nice videos posted by our active community! This week, we have chosen a few combat videos, that will be rewarded with the main reward of 2000 ambers:
Yotad, for his video highlighting the finest moments of his guild throughout the recent seasons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gLhlcXB1bg
Ruffion, for a fine compilation of battles in a 2 man squad. Just look at that teamwork and combat awareness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNE_dSExZho
Busegirly, for a great archer gameplay video. The accuracy and positioning are worth taking a look at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV3lq-V3sAI
Be sure to use always use #gloriavictis and #playgloriavictis hashtags in your video descriptions. It greatly helps us and others to find content based on our game, and increases your visibility!
[h2]Quality of Life:[/h2]
– Adjusted the values of damage reductions for heavy armor as a response to the Community feedback we have received.
– Added character preview in the “Buy Summary” window
– Reworked the Guild Recruitation Announcement window to a new UI style
[h2]Fixes:[/h2]
– Fixed a bug that made it possible to perform a chamber with a fully loaded shield bash in certain situations.
– Fixed a tag for the new Seasonal Deal Pack in the Supporter’s Shop.
– Fixed a case where the title of the tutorial in the Lore Window would not fit into the space for some languages.
– Fixed a bugged spear throw animation for the throwing player.
– Fixed trimmed header caption label in option panel dropdowns
– Unified the icon of the supporter shop for fullscreen and quick bar
– Minor fixes and visual tweaks to the Supporter’s Shop
– Fixed the coordinates tooltip staying on screen after closing the map
[h2]WIP Insight[/h2]
Today we are coming to you with an announcement concerning the upcoming changes to the middle of the map. We announced this a while ago, but now, we are ready to shed some more light on what’s coming in the weeks to follow. The changes presented in this announcement may still vary slightly from the final version, and we are open to your feedback.
At first, when we were announcing the changes in the middle of the map and changes to how guild castles will work, we were expecting it to come all together in one big update, however, the scope has increased significantly since then and we have decided to split this huge change into parts.
The first, very significant, portion will be launched within the next updates, starting with the update on 15.12.2022, at the start of the Christmas and New Year holiday grace period we have done each year, where State of War sieges are disabled. This year will be a bit different, as instead of disabling the State of War (and in fact pausing the majority of PvP action that takes place in the middle of the map), we will introduce the updated middle of the map which will change the current Guild Castles back into Nation-controlled Castles (anyone still dreaming about the good old Original Faith’s Keep?).
OOF: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/e379f4e92ecb8ed5208d3cd4fdb76d6c
https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/9f3d2afbf04a8acc6dd5294bac2e9642
Skergard: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/27a6fbf0c81699fc8244d3e7ec6c857b
Leaktown: https://gloriavictis.gyazo.com/7df8f0d36a4014292a9362c9935ee2de
This is a much-needed change, as the current Guild Castles imposed stagnation to the map outside of the State of War periods, as the guilds could sit in their castles safely, just waiting for some action that happens close to their castle. Not only does it enforce the “zerg” meta, as a big guild that controls a castle can teleport to it and rush to action in no time, but it also creates inactivity on the map, as players are feeling urged by the design to sit in a safe place and wait for content instead of being encouraged to go for conquest.
With this in mind, we have decided to revert the castles in the middle of the map to Nation-controlled Castles, while giving them all the benefits of the Guild Castles, excluding just one – safety. Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map, just like any other Nation-controlled Castle, will be possible to be sieged at all times, making the defence and conquest of them one of the key features of the middle of the map.
The new Nation-controlled Castles will become some of the most important castles for a nation to own, as they will still provide +4 workshops, the highest quality farms, as well as mines, lumbermills, and even storehouses, just like the current Guild Castles! On top of that, the new Nation-controlled Castles will become an essential asset during the Deadly Harvest event, as they will provide a high yield of points, greatly increasing the chances of winning. This change should offer a good chance for PvP content in the middle of the map during the entire Christmas break, instead of the regular stagnation caused by the disabling of the State of War.
https://gyazo.com/ef187fffaf9838574e9f24961ad3da67
(Work in progress, some parts of the map will still change in the upcoming days)
The previous paragraphs may have you thinking about what will happen with the current Guild Castles and guilds that own them. The Guild Castles will come back in a changed form, somewhere at the start of the next calendar year, and the current Guild Castle owners will be rewarded with a memorial obelisk in the new Nation-controlled Castles. Only two guilds per server will be rewarded for each castle – the guild that holds the castle currently, and… the guild that will hold the castle at the end of the current Glory Season.
This brings us to the next announcement – the current Glory Season will be shorter, and will end on 15.12.2022 with the introduction of the new middle of the map. So, sharpen your weapons and head to battle for the Guild Castles and Glory for your guild to be forever remembered!
Let’s reveal some of the other important changes that will be implemented in this update:
[h3]Changes in non-loot and loot zones[/h3]
We are aware, that currently, activity on the map outside of the siege events is low. We find the cause of it being the “zerg” meta which makes small groups of players unwilling to roam around. This issue is even more visible due to the loot zones – a small group of players gets overrun by a bigger group they have no chance against, they lose the gear, and because of having no hope of winning another encounter, they chose to stay away from loot zones, and wait for a non-loot event. We find this state of open world to be something that goes against our goal of developing an open-world endless PvP game, where fights are happening constantly around the game’s world. In order to encourage players to do more PvP, we have decided to re-adjust the loot and non-loot zones around the map.
This change should enable more casual players to take fights in a safer environment of the non-loot, while still offering a high-risk high-reward PvP experience in the middle of the map, where looting will still be enabled, and smaller-scale PvP will be encouraged. Changing the arrangement of the loot and non-loot zones will help us to adjust the spread of valuable resources, events, unique animals, and key Nation-controlled Castles in such a way, that playing in the middle of the map will be more rewarding, while the outer ring of the map will provide a safer area.
After the update of the middle of the map goes live, there will be a significant change to the loot and non-loot zones in the game. The middle of the map will remain to be a looting zone, while the outer ring of the map will become a permanent non-loot zone. The borders of loot and non-loot zones can be seen here:
[h3]Considered new approach to the middle of the map fights[/h3]
Currently, the mixture of fast travel and horses makes it possible for players to quickly move between locations. While it is a good thing to travel between locations on the frontline, making the fights more dynamic, we have observed that it also makes roaming solo or in a small group almost impossible, as once engaged in a fight, the player can get quickly overrun by a group of mounted players and killed without a chance to fight or escape. We would like the reworked middle of the map to be a place for small groups to fight each other in a skill-based fight rather than the ones that are based on numbers.
We are still considering different options and approaches to that topic, as we would like the middle of the map to be a place where small groups can fight freely without the fear of getting overrun by a big group of mounted players that teleport to the nearest point and get into the battle in no time.
We would like to hear your feedback on that change, so please have your say on the newly added #middle-of-the-map-feedback channel on our Discord(https://discord.gg/gloriavictis).
[h3]New PvP tokens[/h3]
The reworked middle of the map will also come with new PvP tokens connected to the local quest boards. These unique tokens will be earned by doing events and quests in the middle of the map, and the Ruined Temple Raid. There will be 7 new quest boards added, divided into 4 zones with over 20 new and existing events that will award the new PvP tokens, as well as over 25 new quest board quests! PvP tokens will be exchangeable for interesting new and existing items that are useful in PvP battles.
[h3]Sneak peek into the clustered Guild Castles[/h3]
With all these changes just around the corner, we would also like to provide our Community, with a sneak peek at what can be expected at the very start of 2023. Next year will be very important for Gloria Victis, as we are just a few months away from launching Gloria Victis 1.0 and one of the remaining steps before the release will be the clustered Guild Castles, which will have their first iteration going live in January 2023.
The clustered guild castles will not only offer a chance to own a Guild Castle for smaller guilds but will also enable these smaller guilds to have a chance of building their own content around building and developing their Guild Castles. The Guild Castles will become a feature that will provide a space for guild gatherings, and give a better reason to roam around the map on the lookout for rare materials for castle building as well as fight to boost the Guild’s level. With the clustered Guild Castles, the importance of technology points will be greater, as guilds will have more technologies to unlock, as well as they will be able to develop more technologies at the same time. This change will make map roaming and participating in the new State of Wars a key to becoming one of the top guilds of a server. The newly added technologies will augment many aspects of the clustered Guild Castles as well as provide buffs and features that will help the guilds to compete at the highest level.
Another important change that the clustered Guild Castles will bring is a new version of State of War. While we think that the current State of War design is good, as it brings many memorable fights, we can see its drawbacks – Guild Castles are becoming more of a national asset making the guilds owning them reliant on the nation. This means that a shift of power between the nations may result in strong guilds losing their Guild Castles to weaker ones, but such that have a bigger support from the nation. Moreover, we have seen a number of toxic behaviors emerging from owning a Guild Castle, which is not a situation we are looking for. While changing the design of the State of War, we will be also looking for ways to keep the mass Nation vs Nation PvP in the open world, by adding new systems to the game.
The new State of War design is aimed more at Guild vs Guild, or Alliance vs Alliance, and everyday content. We want each guild to be able to adjust the castle to their needs, by tweaking the size of the battle they want to be having, and do they want to have the help of their allies or not. Moreover, guilds will be able to decide on the hour of the State of War as well as the frequency of the battles (as now they will be even possible to take place daily!). This way, fairer, and more challenging battles should take place. The new system will also get rid of the toxicity that spying, griefing or an unsuccessful State of War brings, as guilds will only lose points, not castles. The system will bring more rewards and fewer penalties, while still being a competitive feature giving guilds the ability to compete with each other.
[h3]What can be expected in the first iteration?[/h3]
The first iteration should feature buying a guild island, teleportation to and from the island to the open world, as well as castle building and workstation placement.
Once we get this iteration live we will be gathering your feedback to improve the clustered Guild Castles while working on re-enabling State of Wars in a new, reworked version that suits the new guild castle system!
[h3]FAQ[/h3]
How long will it take for State of War to be back?
We aren’t ready to announce the exact date yet, but we are aiming to release State of War on the clustered Guild Castles as soon as possible after the first iteration goes live.
Will it be possible to travel to Guild Castles of other guilds?
Yes, this is a feature that we are planning on implementing. It will not be a part of the first iteration but will follow shortly after the first iteration is live. We want the clusters to feel like an additional part of the open world and not something separate.
Will it be possible to have PvP outside of the State of War on the clustered Guild Castles?
Yes, each guild will have the option to set their Guild Castle as a PvP zone (either non-loot or loot) in order to gain some additional benefits. Traveling to a castle that has its settings set to be a PvP zone will make it possible to fight other players at any time. We want the clustered Guild Castles to feel like a part of the open world, thus we want them to resemble the rest of the map as much as possible.
Who will be able to claim a Guild Castle once they are moved to the cluster solution?
Each guild of level 10 or above will be able to claim its own castle by paying a small gold fee. The entire process will be possible through the Guild Window, and each guild will be able to own one castle.
Will there be siege events in the new Nation-controlled Castles in the middle of the map?
As for now, we are not planning to implement such events (neither loot nor non-loot event) in the new Nation-controlled Castles. We want the center of the map to remain a looting zone at all times, and a place where there is a chance for some small/medium-scale PvP.
Why are you moving the Guild Castles to clusters?
Moving the Guild Castles to a cluster solution is essential for two main reasons:
Currently, with just 9 castles per server, the fun of running a guild castle is restricted to a very small amount of players, with freebuilding being a feature that only leaders of the biggest guilds could enjoy. We would like these features to become more available for smaller guilds too.
After the official release, we expect to have to add additional servers that may eventually be merged with others. The cluster solution will make it easier to merge servers, as no guilds would need to lose a castle in that process.
When the guild castles become national castles, what resources will be available there?
The new Nation-controlled Castles will have the same mines and storehouses like current Guild Castles. This will make them the most important mines on the map, and the value of such a castle will greatly increase for the nations. This change will not only enable all players of the nation to use the mine freely but also create a potential PvP hotspot, as these castles will be key to defend against attackers.
Will the clustered Guild Castles have farms or mines?
The clustered Guild Castles will have no mines, however, they will have a farming area, with ground quality ranging from 50% to 100% based on the settings the guild that owns the castle chooses from – for example, will the Guild Castle be loot, non-loot, or a safe zone (the higher the risk factor of a Guild Castle, the better the ground quality).
Will there be better rewards in the middle of the map because it will be a loot zone?
Yes, the middle of the map will still be the only place with the most beneficial events (Kargalds, Catacombs, Pride Long Forgotten etc.) as well as the castles located in the middle of the map will have the best workshops, mines, lumbermills, and farms. On top of that, the castles in the middle of the map will provide the most points for Deadly Harvest and offer a speed buff for the workstations, making them a valuable asset for a Nation that controls them.
What will happen to the buff for the Nation that holds 2 or more Guild Castles?
The buff will be now transferred to the new Nation Castles in the middle of the map. Owning these castles will grant buffs the same way as the Guild Castles do right now. The main difference is that the Nation-controlled Castles will be possible to capture at all times, making them a constant PvP hotspot.
Will there be changes to Pilgrim's Rock?
No, Pilgrim’s Rock is a special castle, and its rules will not be changed. It will remain unchanged as it remains to be an important spot for the middle of the map PvP/PvE gameplay.