Nodes and guards in a world of magic (huge desire of mine)

So one thing that bothers me in alot of mmorpgs is that you have magic in abundance yet when you go to a city, base, town, village whatever... you're made to feel safe with the npc guards that are there. Sort of a feeling of security and a symbol of power and influence for that particular area. Yet for some reason all the npc guards are melee users. Sword and shield in mail/plate armor or whatever they wear. I see this all the time and it bothers me because I think adding flavorful guards spices it up a ton for such a simple addition, it's not a daunting task for developers to add since the makings are all already there ( i only say that because it always baffles me why they rarely do it.) and you can go the extra mile.

As a node gains power and influence I think it would make sense that it attracts the attention of beings that the ruling race of the node would be familiar with that also seek protection and to aid in the battles to come. It could also be an addition to things that Mayors can buy with taxes. To show that this node is a prominent node with a strong backbone.

Heres my suggestion

Every race has it's own sort of elite guard npcs that spawn around node level 5 for example

Upon Node level 5 a couple ents patrol the streets of a py'rai node, stomping around you truly feel like you are in a node that is bonded and protected by nature itself. A sort of cool addition to show players that this node is truly a symbol of power in the area, rather than just some guards in shiny plate armor.

Kaelar- Knight Templars (large mounted Paladins that off heal and use a lance)
Vaelune- Scorpion Riders (Riders that use the scorpion to fight for them)
Py'rai- Ents (Massive ancients of the forest, bind enemies in roots and deal crushing blows)
Empyrean-Juggernauts (Gold plated arcane magic being crafted by the elves, do ranged damage and melee)
Dunir- Stone Golems patrol nodes (highly tanky units, draw aggro and dish out high damage)
Nikua- Mud Golems/ Water elementals (aoe ability to slow enemies movement/attack speed)
Vek- Cave trolls (Bulky but with moderate aoe damage)
Ren'kai- Berserkers (Massive ogre like orcs, High single target damage, low defenses)
Tulnar- Gorgons (the monster kind not the medusa kind maybe even do a tribute to the ones we see in Stranger Things)

and my ideas could go on but these are just examples I quickly thought up but this is the general idea I'm going for

ETC ETC all with their own flavorful and unique movesets. And don't get me wrong I think it's okay to have the guards in shiny plate but I don't think that should be all we see. This is a world rich in magic and many can harness that power, I'd love to see magic using guards and patrols aswell. I think things like this could add so much flavor and it wouldn't take to much manpower in the development area.

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Dryadez

@renadedante could probably think of a good Tulnar one

Kilion

Great idea! In general it might be a good idea for a mayor to have a "tree" with policies to enact for public safety in which your suggestions would perfectly fit!

The system could be built like this:
It obviously only starts with a Tier 3 Node, since before there is no mayor.

Mayors can choose 3-6 guard policies, 3 for Tier 3 Nodes and 6 for Tier 6 Metropoli
The amount of Node policies corresponds to the quantity of guards present in the Node
Choosing more guard policies will increase the upkeep of the Node, but also leads to more security in the Node (obviously)
There are a bunch of different guard types the mayor can mix together
Type 1: Meele guards (adds two meele guards, one with a one hand weapon + shield and ond 2-handed guard)
Type 2: Rangers (adds a crossbow guard and a bow guard to the patrols)
Type 3: Magicians (Add a mage or cleric to the patrol; if chosen twice it adds one of each)
Special Type A: Racial (adds 1 or 2 race specific guards, choosing this policy multiple times increases either number or strenght, depending on race)
Special Type B: Node related (adds guards related to the Node type to the patrol)

The Node related guards could be something like this:

Divine Node - Inquisitors (A templar & a control cleric rather than with a healing focus) > can be levelled to have an angel join the patrol
Military Node - Assassin Squad (Highly mobile units that have separate patrol routes and focus on ambushing hostile targets and when upgraded they lay traps for enemies in the Node by blocking off streets etc)
Scientific Node - Surveillance system (Installs surveillance crystals in the Node which sometimes give security advice, to which guards can teleport when a fight breaks out and when upgraded that make barriers that obstruct enemies and shield allies)
Economic Node - Bouncers / Headhunters (these basically don't try to kill enemies, they bind them and throw them either out of the Node or into jail if upgraded)

daveywavey

I wouldn't even stop at guards. We're all supposed to be suddenly influenced by The Essence on coming through the portal, so even manual labourers should have access to that.

The easiest way I could see to do it would be to give each of the NPCs, guards included, an Archetype. Just pump the guards up a little so that they give out more damage than normal.

AnimusRex

Mayor - "Why is my city patrol wage bill suddenly so high?'

Lackey - " Well, we created an invincible super force of elite guards, Sir."

Mayor - "Raise all taxes asap!"

Trob

I like the idea that as a mayor you could have sliders to select the type of guard forces within the node. (Militia / Infantry / Archers / Mage / Knights as platoon styles. And have options for low mid high tier as well as small large and grand size and potentially mounted or unmounted.

It feels like there's a limit to the classes but if you did go unlimited you could stylize your city with priests druids, paladins, to go with a thematic or to provide a healing component to your troops.

Cool thought.

Dryadez

Kilion wrote: »

Great idea! In general it might be a good idea for a major to have a "tree" with policies to enact for public safety in which your suggestions would perfectly fit!

The system could be built like this:
It obviously only starts with a Tier 3 Node, since before there is no mayor.
Mayors can choose 3-6 guard policies, 3 for Tier 3 Nodes and 6 for Tier 6 Metropoli

The amount of Node policies corresponds to the quantity of guards present in the Node

Choosing more guard policies will increase the upkeep of the Node, but also leads to more security in the Node (obviously)

There are a bunch of different guard types the mayor can mix together

Type 1: Meele guards (adds two meele guards, one with a one hand weapon + shield and ond 2-handed guard)

Type 2: Rangers (adds a crossbow guard and a bow guard to the patrols)

Type 3: Magicians (Add a mage or cleric to the patrol; if chosen twice it adds one of each)

Special Type A: Racial (adds 1 or 2 race specific guards, choosing this policy multiple times increases either number or strenght, depending on race)

Special Type B: Node related (adds guards related to the Node type to the patrol)

The Node related guards could be something like this:
Divine Node - Inquisitors (A templar & a control cleric rather than with a healing focus) > can be levelled to have an angel join the patrol

Military Node - Assassin Squad (Highly mobile units that have separate patrol roots and focus on ambushing hostile targets and when upgraded they lay traps for enemies in the Node by blocking off streets etc)

Scientific Node - Surveillance system (Installs surveillance crystals in the Node which sometimes give security advice, to which guards can teleport when a fight breaks out and when upgraded that make barriers that obstruct enemies and shield allies)

Economic Node - Bouncers / Headhunters (these basically don't try to kill enemies, they bind them and throw them either out of the Node or into jail if upgraded)

I would love for them to add a tree for this area and like I said, these are units and abilities that are already in the game (except for possibly some of the racial elite guards i listed) so they can mix and match tons of variables

I do think depending on the race you should already automatically see a mix of guards-rangers-battlemages patrolling the node.

Py'rai/empyrean- druids
Dunir/nikua- geomancers
Vek/ren'kai- Shamans
humans- Mages
Tulnar- Sporemancer

but having the option to stylize your patrols and what types of units we see is definitely something I can see them adding and touching on in patches down the road because theres a ton of possibilities

Dryadez

Added Gorgons to the OP as idea for Tulnar elite units

Ace1234

Sounds cool. I never really noticed this for some reason, but now it seems really obvious and hard to ignore after you mentioned it.

Tyranthraxus

Now that you've said something, I do recall feeling this was a bit off; If there's a wizard and his forces threatening a region, wouldn't the guards also have wizards in their ranks/garrisons?

Dryadez

Tyranthraxus wrote: »

Now that you've said something, I do recall feeling this was a bit off; If there's a wizard and his forces threatening a region, wouldn't the guards also have wizards in their ranks/garrisons?

It's different if its a world like LOTR where magic is rare and overpowered

but worlds like Guild wars, WoW, Ashes of Creation, Skyrim etc etc all kind of have no excuse for the npc militaries to be composed entirely of sword swingers. I actually went ahead and made my own mods where I added custom made units for towns and bases, i also beefed them up a bit with better functioning defenses like towers and walls.

I added Paladins (one handed swords with off heals), Vindicators (two handed weapons with a shout that creates a holy barrier around them) Vampire hunters (rangers with magicka draining crossbow bolts and magicka resistant armor) To the Dawnguard that randomly spawn and patrol for paranormal creatures.

I also added Imperial battlemages to imperial owned cities and towns and Frost mages to nord owned cities and towns which I incorporated into the guard routines and Guard Captains which I gave powerful stats and gear to.

Before that, the towns were just guards that swung around sharp or heavy objects. These small additions add a ton of spice to the city and even create more of a challenge for players who contest the area.

TheDarkSorcerer

These are great ideas! This makes me think of LoTR Two Towers of the ent taking over Isengard. That was such a majestic scene.

Dryadez

TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »

These are great ideas! This makes me think of LoTR Two Towers of the ent taking over Isengard. That was such a majestic scene.

Right I mean how can you have tree elves and no ents! Can't be done! Bonding with nature and mastery over nature energy and magic surely has more benefits than just living in trees.

Same with dwarves and their close bond to earth and stone and humans and their abilities of domestication and will to dominate other things (hence the mounted elite guards i listed for humans) etc

Arya_Yeshe

Your idea has appeal.

What enfuriates me about guards in towns is that they are so stoic, always there, always ready, they are never drunk or taking bribes

Kilion

Maybe they should get worse in fulfilling their duty if the upkeep is not paid or the node declines in general

Dryadez

Arya_Yeshe wrote: »

Your idea has appeal.

What enfuriates me about guards in towns is that they are so stoic, always there, always ready, they are never drunk or taking bribes

They're usually good for directions lol

Demostrathe

Insanely cool idea. definitely needs to be bumped to the top

Veeshan

Should be building option for guards let say barracks and have muiltipul upgrade options
1 - Guard strength = over difficlty of guards
2 - Guard location = Guard stationary location inside and outside node (guardpost along road for example)
3- Guard patrols= Guard patrols mobile guard that patrol the roads out of the city to the node boarder aswell as inside the node

Military node could allow for muiltipul barracks as build options where other noes can only build 1, or the military node gets a unique barracks building that has more upgrade or better upgrade options for example a normal barrack upgrade might be 1 patrol where military node get 2 patrols or 1 patrol but more guards than a normal barracks

Could also have some policys that effects guards aswell for temporay buffs at the price of gold often used leading into wars i suspect

another idea for building is an armory, where the mayor (or maybe citizens) can slot in equipment sets which a guard wears so this would act as a equipment sink to a degree to boost guards powers

AnimusRex

Arya_Yeshe wrote: »

Your idea has appeal.

What enfuriates me about guards in towns is that they are so stoic, always there, always ready, they are never drunk or taking bribes

So... you want these elite guards to be drunk and bribable?

Stoic , present and ready is kind of the Guard job description.

Dryadez

Demostrathe wrote: »

Insanely cool idea. definitely needs to be bumped to the top

Thank you!

Dryadez

Veeshan wrote: »

Should be building option for guards let say barracks and have muiltipul upgrade options
1 - Guard strength = over difficlty of guards
2 - Guard location = Guard stationary location inside and outside node (guardpost along road for example)
3- Guard patrols= Guard patrols mobile guard that patrol the roads out of the city to the node boarder aswell as inside the node

Military node could allow for muiltipul barracks as build options where other noes can only build 1, or the military node gets a unique barracks building that has more upgrade or better upgrade options for example a normal barrack upgrade might be 1 patrol where military node get 2 patrols or 1 patrol but more guards than a normal barracks

Could also have some policys that effects guards aswell for temporay buffs at the price of gold often used leading into wars i suspect

another idea for building is an armory, where the mayor (or maybe citizens) can slot in equipment sets which a guard wears so this would act as a equipment sink to a degree to boost guards powers

I think the more customization in this area the better but also on a very basic level I think nodes need to have more than just a few guards wearing tin.

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