A big thing that worked for another game was 'battlegrounds' (Dark Age of Camelot). This is where certain levels (say, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, etc) could fight (rvr/pvp) eachother on 'factioned sides'. Each battleground had a keep (central keep) in the middle and a spawn keep where you need to capture the keep in the middle to get a bonus (a level). Mobs were also present in the battlegrounds that were 'normal' mobs and some mobs were 'named' mobs that dropped unique drops and offered more xp/higher drop chance than normal (all mobs).
BG's since they were implemented are still going strong in said game. They are a 24/7 thing and a big staple as to why DAoC was popular and still very popular on private servers to this day.
Would AoC have such a thing implemented in the future?
- BG's were 'zoned instances' where you could opt in and leave at any time with no cap of amount of people, 1 instance per level base.
- Level based battlegrounds - 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, etc.
- 3 'factioned' sides compete against one another on a 24/7 hour basis.
- Drops only came from mobs or guards from the central keep.
- Other factions were enemies and were automatically enemies.
- 3 'outside' castles (or spawn areas) and one in the middle (central keep, king of the hill style).
- Mobs and other player kills rewarded xp. XP from mobs were given a 'bonus' xp from BG's.
- Named mobs existed and dropped special named loot but nothing 'over the top' but 'nice to have' items.
- All battlegrounds were 'different' landscapes but had the same 'idea' with 3 spawns and a central keep.
- Central keep had guards and a 'lord' that needed to be killed to claim it for your faction.
- If your faction had the central keep, you could defend it (guards/lord were on the same side).
- A reward for taking the central keep was a 'free level' and some gear (armor/weapons/accessories).