Hello Warlords, today we're here to talk about siege battles.
Siege battles are a core part of Conqueror's Blade, a focus of both matchmaking and Territory War, and their experience and immersion are what have enabled us to accomplish as much as we've done. Naturally, we've received plenty of feedback throughout the years. We've used this to iterate on and improve current maps, release new ones and design new events and modes to keep the experience fresh.
Siege battles have been with us for years now and have stood the test of time. But we won't let it end here. With the help of your feedback, we've come to the realization that we must make more fundamental changes if siege battles are to remain fun in the long run and truly tap into the potential the mode holds.
[h2]The Core of Siege Battles[/h2]
A staple of siege battles has always been that you choose your units before the battle begins. You might make an informed choice based on what map you're playing and whether you're playing as the attacker/defender. Once made, you cannot change your choice for this match. This integral ruleset has created a few unique setups.
[h3]Unit Setup & Strategic Stagnation[/h3]
Being unable to tell what units the enemy will be bringing to the fray, most players rely on past experience and tends to favor meta units that are expected to perform well. Over time, this has led to stagnation in terms of unit and strategy variety. One player may even play dozens of matches with the exact same setup, which detracts from the fun over the long run.
[h3]High Teamwork Requirements[/h3]
As each player can only bring a limited number of units, the 10-15 players of each team must quickly begin to cooperate in terms of unit selection and strategy. How else will they ensure to have the units required to counter the enemy's forces and win?
[h3]Little In-Match Strategizing[/h3]
As your unit options are limited to what you chose before the match, it's difficult to adjust your strategy based on the situation. This has made battles inflexible and lacking in intensity. Most players go for the 'best' unit setup ahead of time, something which sometimes largely decides the outcome of a match before the battle has already begun. I'm sure you've had times when the enemy suddenly charges a point of interest with a squadron of heavy cavalry in a match where you didn't bring any polearm units to counter them. Things like that immediately put you and your team at a huge disadvantage.
[h2]How Can We Improve Variety?[/h2]
For this time's experimental changes, we've decided to start by looking at our rules for units. We want players to be freer in terms of unit choices for more varied setups.
[h3]Escalation (Siege)[/h3]
A new mode where you can replace your units at any time throughout a match.
[This is just a preview and might be subject to change.]
Within this new ruleset, the strategic choice of which units to use will be an integral part of the battle itself. This will give you more means with which to counter your foe on the fly for more intense battles.
And owing to this, we've decided to launch a brand-new siege mode: [Escalation].
[This is just a preview and might be subject to change.]
[h3]Escalation Unit Ruleset[/h3]
1. You only need to choose one unit to start with in the Pre-deployment menu.
2. Whenever you draft units in a battle, you can choose among all of your unlocked units.
3. Leadership
Each unit you draft costs leadership.
Naturally, drafting units you've previously used in that match doesn't require any leadership. Note: you'll draft the number of units that remained and enough units must remain for you to draft them again.
Leadership isn't affected by seasonal restrictions.
[h3]Escalation Availability[/h3]
Escalation (Siege) will be available every day at set times sometime later on in the month. Rewards, quest completion and challenge progress is shared with [Siege Battle].
You'll be able to access it from [Matching] -> [Events] -> [Escalation (Siege)]. You can check when it's available from the in-game event calendar. We'll be changing its availability in the future.
[h3]Escalation's First Map Pool[/h3]
Harbour City, Kurak Castle (Dune), Sun City, White Elk Fort, Heilung Fjord and Continopolis
[h2]About the Future[/h2]
Escalation is only our first step toward greater heights. We'll continue to improve and innovate the rules for siege battles, and hopefully changes like this one that fundamentally alter how such battles are played will lead to more fun for everyone. Naturally, we'll still continue to work on the staple Siege Battle too!
We all want Conqueror's Blade to provide new and fun gameplay experiences. Your feedback is incredibly important for us in our quest to improve the game further. Any of your ideas might well be what helps us set the course for where to take the game next.
We'll continue exploring more possibilities and trying out new things, and with everyone's combined effort Conqueror's Blade will transcend itself time and again! Thank you for taking this journey with us!
