Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
PvE arenas - Gladiator fantasy and you.
Gubiak
Member
I have done some searching through the forum and though I have found posts that were related to "bloodsports" they never fully got through the idea I intend to present in this post so bear with me.
As a person that experienced MMO games for more than past 10 years in various forms I wanted to talk about a type of fantasy that is overlooked a lot of the times in videogames and the one I have a particular softspot for. Easiest way to call it would be a PvE gladiator arena. In order to properly present appeal of this concept I would like to bring few vivid memories from videogames that used it correctly in my opinion. (Feel free to skip to tl;dr section if you are not interested).
Gothic 3 - a single player game where a player comes to a continent beset by orcs and humans. As player ventures through the lands they can see outposts, villages and cities occupied by orcs, humans, bandits or in some cases coexisting due to specific circumstances like culture of the region. Player is a newcomer to those lands and before they can get to higher parts of the city, gain information, gain resources of high value they first need to increase their reputation. This can be done by performing manual tasks, gathering scarce resources or straight up going on a quest to deal with a major problem for people of the city/village. However there was also one other way - proving their strength in single combat. Bloodsport is one of the few entertainments for orcs and humans during the war and pitting famed warriors against each other, betting on them and cheering for their favourite would be a way to have a good time. Rule of strong is true in tribalistic/savage hierarchy of orcs where the strong are recognized and respected and the title of strongest swordsman can get you some favours in human settlements as well.
Fable - As a fully fledged adventurer, for days saving villagers, defeating werewolves and elementals you were finally invited to a grand arena to show off your skill in front of some of the most important characters in the land. This is all met with a huge prize money that meets the dangers respectively. The harder the fight - the bigger the payout. Every fight being something new. Even if you have encountered enemies before - there are new types with new abilities, new moves, there are more of them and you have to fend them off while staying alive. Sometimes it is a huge boss that requires you to utilize traps around the arena. All ending in a 1v1 duel between two arena combatants that have bested same encounters in this arena/tournament-esque arc, all the while people you have made connection with watch, cheer and shun you, truly epic stuff.
Let's take another example. Some years ago I have been playing on private servers for Neverwinter nights. Two most memorable servers I have been a part of dealt in gladiator battles. Sometimes this involved rather simple combat with a vastly weaker opponent for a quick prize money but the encounter I will not forget was when player was pitted against a monster. Player could question a fight promoter about their next potential opponent but sometimes they were shrouded in mystery, this opened up possibility for player interaction where one could ask other gladiators or bloodsport fans what they can expect. Since then It was a matter of preparation: Purchasing antidotes for poisonous stings, bandages for lacerations or scrolls that could ward-off magical effects like petrification etc. In the end as player progressed their character steadily they could deal with most opponents rather easily if overleveling encounters. However there was final one that was referred to as "The Beast". The Beast was an opponent designed to challenge most player builds on highest level and some of the characters could not even hope of defeating them ever. Additionally there was a catch: you get one chance - if you loose, your character dies permanently and beast devours you. This caused this encounter to be something of a legend or at least something that was a huge milestone for strong fighters. People always thought five times before they chose to enter this fight because if they miscalculated, got unlucky on dice rolls it was game over for their character and had to start over. However, people who bested the Beast received a huge paycheck, probably gained fans and/or benefactors from watching/betting on their fight but also were recognized as a force to be reckoned with, because for the most they were confident in their strength and for the very least they were not fearing death.
tl;dr
Now to get to the bones of the idea without needless fluff. I would propose an option for militaristic cities/metropolises to create a gladiatorial arena where people could come and test their strength against AI opponents with a chance of receiving rewards in a form of resources or simply currency but also allow people to spectate their match and potentially bet on the outcome. Players could test their skill, preparation and character building abilities in order to best arenas mightiest. This would potentially allow people to form connections between each other either by watching fights or recognizing them as people who are confident in combat - therefore able to be hired for some sort of job by wealthier players ? Hell, there could even be a quest for animal husbandry or hunters that allows players to bring "game" to the arena.
Few rule implementation that have worked in the past in order to avoid exploitation of the system:
- Limited betting: Player should have an edge over AI most of the time so being able to bet huge sums and getting paid for relatively no risk would crash the economy fast.
- Gladiators can only beat an encounter once: meaning if a gladiator was beaten during the encounter they would get knocked out, receive a death penalty and potentially loose some of their gold/equipment for loosing, but if they would win - it is assumed they are stronger than the encounter that they just finished and it is only possible for them to seek greater challenges - meaning, higher difficulty encounter they might not be ready for (also prevents people from fighting same low level enemy in arena and getting currency rewards).
- Magic effects (magic, scrolls, potions) were dispelled upon entering into the arena: Only personal performance would be rewarded during an arena match. This prevents from allies helping/interfering in an arena fight, potentially allowing people to defeat an encounter they shouldn't be considering alone.
It would be cool to see different races nodes having different encounters, allowing people that want to become famous gladiators to travel far and wide in order to reach biggest cities to beat all encounters and further their legend.
Please keep in mind that contrary to Roman arenas they do not need to be all coliseum size. I would reckon it would be fine to have a smaller "fighting pit" to have this sort of events happening but also it would make sense to have a grander type for metropolis in order to keep up with the standards.
So yeah, not a lot of this in mmo's would LOVE to see it in this one. What do you think ?
As a person that experienced MMO games for more than past 10 years in various forms I wanted to talk about a type of fantasy that is overlooked a lot of the times in videogames and the one I have a particular softspot for. Easiest way to call it would be a PvE gladiator arena. In order to properly present appeal of this concept I would like to bring few vivid memories from videogames that used it correctly in my opinion. (Feel free to skip to tl;dr section if you are not interested).
Gothic 3 - a single player game where a player comes to a continent beset by orcs and humans. As player ventures through the lands they can see outposts, villages and cities occupied by orcs, humans, bandits or in some cases coexisting due to specific circumstances like culture of the region. Player is a newcomer to those lands and before they can get to higher parts of the city, gain information, gain resources of high value they first need to increase their reputation. This can be done by performing manual tasks, gathering scarce resources or straight up going on a quest to deal with a major problem for people of the city/village. However there was also one other way - proving their strength in single combat. Bloodsport is one of the few entertainments for orcs and humans during the war and pitting famed warriors against each other, betting on them and cheering for their favourite would be a way to have a good time. Rule of strong is true in tribalistic/savage hierarchy of orcs where the strong are recognized and respected and the title of strongest swordsman can get you some favours in human settlements as well.
Fable - As a fully fledged adventurer, for days saving villagers, defeating werewolves and elementals you were finally invited to a grand arena to show off your skill in front of some of the most important characters in the land. This is all met with a huge prize money that meets the dangers respectively. The harder the fight - the bigger the payout. Every fight being something new. Even if you have encountered enemies before - there are new types with new abilities, new moves, there are more of them and you have to fend them off while staying alive. Sometimes it is a huge boss that requires you to utilize traps around the arena. All ending in a 1v1 duel between two arena combatants that have bested same encounters in this arena/tournament-esque arc, all the while people you have made connection with watch, cheer and shun you, truly epic stuff.
Let's take another example. Some years ago I have been playing on private servers for Neverwinter nights. Two most memorable servers I have been a part of dealt in gladiator battles. Sometimes this involved rather simple combat with a vastly weaker opponent for a quick prize money but the encounter I will not forget was when player was pitted against a monster. Player could question a fight promoter about their next potential opponent but sometimes they were shrouded in mystery, this opened up possibility for player interaction where one could ask other gladiators or bloodsport fans what they can expect. Since then It was a matter of preparation: Purchasing antidotes for poisonous stings, bandages for lacerations or scrolls that could ward-off magical effects like petrification etc. In the end as player progressed their character steadily they could deal with most opponents rather easily if overleveling encounters. However there was final one that was referred to as "The Beast". The Beast was an opponent designed to challenge most player builds on highest level and some of the characters could not even hope of defeating them ever. Additionally there was a catch: you get one chance - if you loose, your character dies permanently and beast devours you. This caused this encounter to be something of a legend or at least something that was a huge milestone for strong fighters. People always thought five times before they chose to enter this fight because if they miscalculated, got unlucky on dice rolls it was game over for their character and had to start over. However, people who bested the Beast received a huge paycheck, probably gained fans and/or benefactors from watching/betting on their fight but also were recognized as a force to be reckoned with, because for the most they were confident in their strength and for the very least they were not fearing death.
tl;dr
Now to get to the bones of the idea without needless fluff. I would propose an option for militaristic cities/metropolises to create a gladiatorial arena where people could come and test their strength against AI opponents with a chance of receiving rewards in a form of resources or simply currency but also allow people to spectate their match and potentially bet on the outcome. Players could test their skill, preparation and character building abilities in order to best arenas mightiest. This would potentially allow people to form connections between each other either by watching fights or recognizing them as people who are confident in combat - therefore able to be hired for some sort of job by wealthier players ? Hell, there could even be a quest for animal husbandry or hunters that allows players to bring "game" to the arena.
Few rule implementation that have worked in the past in order to avoid exploitation of the system:
- Limited betting: Player should have an edge over AI most of the time so being able to bet huge sums and getting paid for relatively no risk would crash the economy fast.
- Gladiators can only beat an encounter once: meaning if a gladiator was beaten during the encounter they would get knocked out, receive a death penalty and potentially loose some of their gold/equipment for loosing, but if they would win - it is assumed they are stronger than the encounter that they just finished and it is only possible for them to seek greater challenges - meaning, higher difficulty encounter they might not be ready for (also prevents people from fighting same low level enemy in arena and getting currency rewards).
- Magic effects (magic, scrolls, potions) were dispelled upon entering into the arena: Only personal performance would be rewarded during an arena match. This prevents from allies helping/interfering in an arena fight, potentially allowing people to defeat an encounter they shouldn't be considering alone.
It would be cool to see different races nodes having different encounters, allowing people that want to become famous gladiators to travel far and wide in order to reach biggest cities to beat all encounters and further their legend.
Please keep in mind that contrary to Roman arenas they do not need to be all coliseum size. I would reckon it would be fine to have a smaller "fighting pit" to have this sort of events happening but also it would make sense to have a grander type for metropolis in order to keep up with the standards.
So yeah, not a lot of this in mmo's would LOVE to see it in this one. What do you think ?
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