Posted by: Snafzg
On: May 19, 2009 at 09:24am
Many people have been saying it since launch, but I must reiterate it because Keen brought something to light I meant to post about the other day after a telephone call with a friend: WAR will always suffer without a third realm.We were chatting about The Land of the Dead and really couldn't come up with too many positives about it. The videos look pretty and the developer commentary sounds spectacular (when doesn't it, right?) but I've seen too many great Mythic ideas nosedive to take either of these at face value. Aside from the potential for bugged encounters and horrible performance, The Land of the Dead will likely cause major RvR problems due to the lack of a third realm.
Let's break it down. What happens when a city is being sieged? All the RvR lakes freeze for 2 hours and RvR outside the city becomes non-existent. What happens with a city is taken? The same thing, except there's no RvR for 16 (?) hours.
What will happen when LotD comes out? Since it's so new and fresh, almost everyone from the winning side will enter it. This may die down after a few months, but given everything Mythic has put into this, LotD will draw in almost everyone who meets the rank requirement. That wouldn't be so bad except that the losing side won't have anyone to fight. What will they be left with? RvE. Yaaaay, back to RvE again. You're basically left with the same situation as a city RvR lockout.
Keen worries that that losing side might never be able to gain enough resources to get back in, but let's be slightly more optimistic and pretend for the sake of argument that they can. What's that mean? It means the only real RvR that will take place will be every 30-??? minutes when the other side sweeps in. Keen is totally correct in pointing out that this wasn't so bad in DAOC because there was at least a third realm (aka second losing realm) for you to fight when the other side controlled Darkness Falls. This won't be an option in WAR.
I have little doubt the RvR battles inside LotD will be great and fun (barring performance issues), but it shouldn't be the only exciting and meaningful RvR in the game.
I know this might sound hypocritical because I and many others have been begging for a DF equivalent in WAR since launch but I honestly hadn't considered how bad it could be without a third realm to keep on fighting outside the dungeon until Friday night's phone call. I also realize that there is little to no chance of Mythic adding a third realm to WAR given all the current zone layouts, class balance issues, and amount of work it would take to overhaul the game, but I'm still baffled as to why they didn't realize a 3-way system is much better than a 2-way system from the get-go.
Here's a tip for anyone trying to make a meaningful RvR/PvP MMO in the near future: Good things come in threes. Three stooges. Three Muskateers. Three Amigos. Ole!
