July newsletter - Endless Conquest update, and more.
Our July newsletter went out this evening including an update on Endless Conquest:
We've also a new mask pattern added: Horned Mask
View the full newsletter here!
Work continues on Endless Conquest and we have a few updates for you about our current timeline and plans!
Right now, it's looking like we'll be launching EC in patch 1.126 early this Fall. A lot can still change but our current track would have us launch 1.126 in October.
We mentioned in a previous update that we'd have a pre-emptive patch 1.126 and then launch Endless Conquest in 1.127 but we were able to streamline some of EC's requirements and combine things down into a single update. With that streamlining, we now anticipate only some minor User Interface and User Experience updates to go into 1.126 with the bulk of them will coming some time after launch.
Once our launch date has solidified, we'll be sending out the final details for EC's privileges and restrictions but we do have some general 1.126 plans we can share with you now!
- Realm timers will make their return!
- A new Veteran reward system that offers subscribed accounts access to monthly and yearly bonuses and items!
- Alternate currencies will be streamlined so that bounty points are now the only major alternate currency.
- Atlantean Glass, Dragon Scales, Aurulite and Emerald, Sapphire, Diamond, and Blood Seals will no longer drop for any players, but pre-existing alternative currency can still be spent normally.
- With this change we'll be adding in some new ways to purchase Dragon Scale-related and Emerald, Sapphire, and Diamond Seal-related items for bounty points. Glass and Aurulite-related items can already be purchased for bounty points or crafted via bountycrafting.
- Alternate currencies that are not already on the Currency Exchange NPC will not be affected or removed.
- With this change we'll be adding in new ways to earn LOTS of bounty points in Darkness Falls that will help reinvigorate the infamous dungeon as a meaningful RvR objective!
- King's Armor stats will be receiving a major boost to help new and returning players get up to speed quickly!
- Returning player quests will be updated so that ALL characters can receive them again, so long as they qualify, and their rewards will be updated and improved!
We've also a new mask pattern added: Horned Mask
View the full newsletter here!
DAoC Community Lead
Broadsword Online Games
Broadsword Online Games
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Comments
Tbh I see this hurting Midgard the most and also affecting hibs that swap after the Hero zerg endures into US primetime (especially weekends).
https://divoxutils.com/users/user_2ZTPHy8tjVF9LWMgujSZfCY9Mos/characters
"The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
"Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
My group does not switch sides in a seige fight. We mainly run the island and we will defend what ever realm we are playing at the time.
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And sounds like broadsword have listened to what the majority want not the few who switch realms to gank and Zerg swap nothing more infuriating when you got some peeps together your hitting a keep and half your numbers disappear or if you lose one fight and again half your numbers disapear.
Should change the dynamic in game a lot.
The other thing about realm timers is how much it boosts a sense of commmunity.
if you really are set on swapping realms make another account level up a toon and use the enhanced kings gear.
If you have toons on another account that are on another realm have a 30 min bio chill out eat a fat burger then log in simple.
Can’t seei realm timers effecting the real pro groups just the douche bag wanna bes who think they leet who swap realms to gank groups who have a pally as a main healer or a scout as ma.
When this game first came out they had a slogan Choose your Realm are you a alb a hib or a mid it’s time for you to decide !
I totally understand how they could be required for the f2p accounts because someone could just make multiple accounts and start spying and stuff, but for paying account the only thing you risk is losing some subs, unless they think they are losing zergera' subs because of not having realm timers.
But anyways everybody hates ToA, the zones been empty since forever, PvE is like it never existed, the issue is clearly mine. I’m honestly guessing it’s a good push from Broadsword’s side. We’ll see
Also thank you for the veteran rewards, that sounds cool. Realm timers won’t affect me so no opinion on that.
Realm timer will be a minor inconvenience for some, but 30 mins ain't much tbh. Many left, or would have left because it's non existence, so maybe it's a fair compromise. Any who played all 3 realm can easily continue to do that.
I did already voice my opinion for updated King's gear, so I am really happy for that, hope it be good enough so king's geared returning players wont be declined from groups outside BGs anymore.
About the rest, I am really confused. Making an universal alternate currency is good, but making it strict BP which major source be DF does sound like a horrible idea. Especially with the removal for other sources for those currencies that did hurt no-one.
I am happy for the returning of DF, but we have daily quests that benefit the winning realm for zerg rps, now we give the winning realm the best access to get items. Am I the only one who worry that this just produce even more situations when majority of population will snowball in one realm while others be denied from anything basically?
So when i log on and alb has 70% bonus, i log into Alb. as soon as hero logs hib get the 70% bonus. Why do u have to wait ro switch? If like in the past we had multiple servers to choose from it would not be an issue.
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I run 4 accounts so yeah i could by pass timers but why ahould i have to do that or choose one realm.
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I think the currency change to BP is really nice and will streamline the whole item acquisition process dramatically. Having 5 different currencies was just inneficient.
It's also a nice tool for them to use to spark interest in specific areas of the game by boosting the BP gain in these zones for specific amount of times.
One thing that would be great would be for all PvE encounters to drop BPs, also with a chance to drop any items in the game. The drops % should be based on where the encounter takes place (example doing ToA encounters drops more ToA related stuff, but could still drop OW and curse items).
I wonder how balanced the BP gain between pve and rvr will be achieved, so that both streams give out similar amounts.
Still think realm timers are not the solution but whatever. A more elaborate system could be put in place to prevent jumping on the zerg bandwaggon but whatever.
Sounds like a chance for some good ole ROGs to drop as well?
Then are the arulite merchants going to accept BPS instead @beibhinn
https://divoxutils.com/users/user_2ZTPHy8tjVF9LWMgujSZfCY9Mos/characters
The people most likely to pay/play/sustain DAOC are the prior and returning customers!!!
Bad publicity can become toxic so consider some active social media PR and get your active twitch streams involved asap.
@John_Broadsword
https://divoxutils.com/users/user_2ZTPHy8tjVF9LWMgujSZfCY9Mos/characters
I am actually happy and laughing inside about all the people crying about it. What do you think the majority of people do when there is no one to fight? They don’t switch realms they create action, flame a tower, take a keep, whatever.
Edit: This is not dark age of switch a lot, glad its being slowed down.
Only people that want timers are the bg leaders and afk followers.
The. Small. Roaming 8v8 community will suffer. Causing some of us to quit because we cant play our play style. But hey? Thats $60+ a month wxtra in my pocket
"The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
"Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
You guys need to take a serious look at your ability to develop and test and stop overcommitting to the community. It's been the same dog and over-promising pony show for years now.
Because there were never timers.
Who care who does what, there are multiple playstyles, and yes every change does affect them differently. Still we only talk about 30 mins, while other places (and even live for a long time) boomed with hours of realm timers, and with a healthy 8 man community even with it.
Also would like to remind those who validate the realm swapping to be necessary in 1 min, the reason you find no enemies is also because some other relogs to the winning side of the hour, and this change going to affect them too.
I played one realm for 16 yrs. Then i was comvinced to try different realms and i havent looked bad.
Remember the realm timer only kicks in you earn RP/a player kill. If you haven't fought anything so not made either, you can swap.
@Keltorius Catacombs expansion will reopen after EC as previously mentioned here.
Broadsword Online Games
I don't try to illegitimate your critique, I do understand, but DAoC is peak low right now, and theres many reasons people have quit over the years, for some one reason was because not having realm timer. 8 man action been good even with timers in the past, the only out is to get people come back to the game so everyone finds action, not to relog to play with the last remaining 8-16 ppl ingame. That's an already dead strategy.
You seem to be blinded by your position and absolutely unable to think of a reasonable solution.
You play one realm only, underpopulated or not is another topic.
Having no realm timers doesn't affect you in any way, because you will not change the way you play with or without timers.
At the opposite, realm timers will directly influence my playing experience. Maybe they tweak the realm timers so that the inconvenience is reduced to a minimum, I don't know because the only info we got is "realm timers are making a come back!"
To reply something like "just leave I'll pay more subs" is stupid at best. This game needs players, not people cancelling I believe?
Do you think people will sub back because realm timers are implemented? Maybe, I don't know that number and you don't either.
All I'm asking BS is to spend some time to design realm timers that will minimize the inconvenience to every play style, not just a benefit to zergs.
Now, this would suck, so you'd take measures to guarantee that you have action for the evening. Your eye turns towards the thing you know for 100% certain will be out and about for you to fight. That's right; the consistant running zergs.
Because 8man action can't be guaranteed, but the zerging action can, the remaining 8mans will join together to farm the zergs. The 8man playstyle is now completely dead, the zergs are getting farmed and can't even complete their daily quests by chasing 8mans on EV any more. After the alb zerg has been unable to leave boldiam for the 3rd week straight the '8man zerg' will get bored because they don't actually like this playstyle in the least, quit, and the normal zergs can come back out, roaming an empty ev and pveing all the relics they want.
The main advocates for timers are undoubtedly the zerg players who mainly, likely only, play one realm and don't think they can be negatively affected in any way but instead have only things to gain from it. I pray that when they are proven wrong and the above happens Broadsword will have enough sense to revert the timer change. Sounds exaggerated to you? Far fetched? There's no way to know, we'll just have to see.
The point is that there certainly can be negative effects from the timer that people don't think about. After realizing this ask yourself; what does a 30 minute timer really accomplish? People who think that their own zerg swaps to defend against them are beyond delusional. What happens when you go to a keep is some of your zerg won't follow you because taking keeps suck, and groups from the opposing realm who have been trying to avoid you up until this point will show up for the easy rps. Timers won't change this. Timers won't change the fact that one group is enough to defend a relic keep vs a 60+ US alb zerg. Why is a timer needed when it hasn't been asked for until recently, and ywain launched in what 2011? Because the mid zerg demanded it and took their ball to the bird when they didn't get catered to, and BS doesn't want to risk losing more of the zergs? Well I'm telling you that you will lose people from the 8man playstyle by doing this, and although a timer has been asked for by many, you have no guarantee it will solve any percieved issues nor bring more people back than you'll lose.
minor note; any style of larger drafts events we've seen throughout the years where captains pick a team, a realm, a few fight happens, and then you redraft and repeat, can no longer be performed. Instead drafts where you stick with your team throughout the night will have to become the norm, and good luck balancing it out when people have to leave and require reps.
also a 30 minute timer isn't enough to inspire any sense of realm loyalty. You'd need probably 12h+, preferably a few days even, to accomplish that.
If you absolutely must have a timer, I'd think 10 minutes is enough to get a relic take well underway whilst not completely hindering, though still inconveniencing, other playstyles. 30 minutes is too much and completely unneccesary.
BTW I know I'm not going to convince anyone who has it in their head that timers are the way to go and will fix everything. All I want is for Broadsword to hear our (the 8man community) plea and rethink what they're doing.
YouTube
People claim they like to fight 8v16 cause they are elite, but will swap a realm when they see certain groups running because of the advantage they get from it, bonuses and quests. Lets get back to some realm pride, and not hop realms to find the action, or you could just be put in time out for 30min after each fight. Time out sounds like the best option to hinder people swapping, and 30min is probably the best option for it. No less, no more.
People who swap realms so quickly have no realm pride, they don’t give anything to the realm they play, the don't help do anything for the realm, and they sure a hell aren’t around to assist a realm get a relic keep or whatever. They are only on the realm cause of their own needs and wants not for the community.
YouTube
Not like it's gonna be any better by monopolizing itemization/alternate currencies to the strongest realm who can control DF, I think thats far greater issue.
I do understand all these concerns, and why it affects your current playstyle, but find it funny that everyone's concern is the legitimate realm jumping when majority of people does exactly use it for the opposite.
This is 100% on point. I truly did not believe Broadsword could do anything that would lose more people but I have been proven wrong. This realm timer is 100% only targeted towards the 8man community and I have no idea why we are being targeted. The 8man community is already so small (maybe 4-5 groups max across all time zones) and after this it will leave 0 groups.
This caters only to zergers and I know Carol believes that zergers realm swap, but they don't. Take it from an active player who actually experiences this first hand every singe day. Zergers stay loyal to their realm and their guilds /alliances. Action has been so terrible lately that it can change from a small mid zerg, only 1 grp hib and 1 grp alb to instantly an alb zerg or instantly 4fgh running the island. All within 10 minutes. The only thing the 8mans are doing is going to the lease populated realm to attempt to create action for everyone. When we log on alb to kill the 3fgm and then the mids log and there are only albs left out with (maybe (crossing fingers)) a hib grp out we will all be roaming the wind looking for any action at all.
The fact that they are implementing a realm timer with such a low population will only kill all the action. I hope to god they see the err of their ways in a few weeks of this going live and admit their wrong-doing and revert. It brings me a lot of sadness that it will have to come to this point because BS is so out of touch of the real status of daoc rvr in 2019. [edited]
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You say 30 min isn't long., but when you are only running with 8, in that 30 min people will find other things to do and now we can't fill when we come back. Since we don't join the BG Zergs, that kills us and we log. Now that's 8 less people you have have to fight. IF the other 8 mans don't have anyone to fight, they log. Now that's 16 less people to fight on other realms. If the zerglings can't find people to fight and have to wait 30 min to find a different zerg they log. Its a snowball effect.
I can't name one person that swapped realms to go defend a keep that they were just attacking. I am not saying it doesn't happen, just saying its not as bad as pro timer people say it is.
PS with only one server realm pride is gone. this game has 3 different factions and people enjoy playing all factions. If you only enjoy 1/3 of the game, that is fine. But don't hurt the other people that enjoy the full sectrum on the game. Back in the day, you couldn't have toons on different realms on the same server. but there were multiple servers to have "realm pride on." Now, you can't.
Anyways I am really done here. what is done is done. I am still wondering about Bps are they going to lift the 500k limit and are we going to be able to trade them?
Yes Gavner, my point is live in 2019 with the lack of population. [edited]
@Carol_Broadsword If we kill a doppleganger we get RPs. does that trigger the timer? Also, lets say I am on Hib and have earned Rps. I roam around for 15 min not killing anything, does that mean if I switch I only have 15 min or is it a full 30 because I have RPs?
Broadsword Online Games
@Minibard It's a bit of a stretch to call 30min denying you to enjoy 2/3rd of the game. I don't know what you mean by 2/3rd, do you play PvE, do you play 47 classes right now every single day?
Despite what's my stance on this matter, I do understand what you guys saying, and I do understand why some people do that. However calling 8 man community a community is kind of odd when most of you guys trash talk and hate each other here on forums, and in game. As I previously said, I understand that this is an inconvenience for some, and I can understand why, but I rather blame it on things that made most of the ppl quit last 3 years instead.
Anyway, despite I stopped making BGs, and no jumps hurt, but every time I got close to a relic in the past, i could see the bonuses shift in a major way in 10-15mins, with some of those nice 8 mans sitting in relic keeps for the defense quests. Most of people love to paint themselves in the picture of being the underdog, but in reality most care for RPs and quest updates the most.
Our biggest concern should be to not screw up this FTP if Broadsword already spent their development effort on that instead of fixing things that made many quit. I am quiet worried about it, but It's the last effort, or does anyone really think that the current income of the game will keep this game alive as is forever?
Let’s get one thing straight every single one of these so called 8 mans Zerg I’ve seen it many times I’ve seen them roam around one group hit then mysteriously another appears I’ve seen them fight in keeps alongside zergs I’ve seen them hit zergs with the realm zergs they are currently on.
I’ve even seen them hit zergs or 16 mans with another realm it’s just one big lol but they try to come across as some special leet players who don’t leach or Zerg its a joke.
Bring on the timers the real 8 mans left the game a long time ago all that’s left is the garbage.
population is a big issue. I can't tell you how populatations are figured but I have seen on many instances where when we log off Alb, hibs have a 50 % bonus and when we log in there is no bonus. granted when our 8 switch its about a 15+ char switch when you count buff bots. so lets say 2 groups log off and change realms, that can cause a realm that had a bonus to lose a bonus or a realm to gain a bonus that previously didn't.
also its a love hate relationship. lol
@Brut noone said I am leet. I am far from it and never calm to be. I agree with you. we have hit a zerg with a zerg, we have hit a zerg with other realms, we have defended and took keps/towers with zergs and we have fought ( got ran over) by zergs on our 8 man, we would rather roam as 8 and fight other groups. but when there is no action we follow the action just like your zerg does. but we also try to get action by switching realms.
Just type /who NF at times. As said I do understand why in current situation its an inconvenience, but 30min is not like you denied the access of the rest of the realms. It just no longer worth to jump around all the time, but nothing stops you guys from playing in all 3. This will come with FTP that supposed to be the savior of the game, let's try to focus on getting the possible returning players the best experience ever, so you won't have trouble finding enemies in one realm a night.