One of the big ticket items slated for Warhammer Online's 1.4.5 patch is the reintroduction of fortresses. These imposing structures are currently sitting dormant, but the WAR team plans on having them house Relics. The name is subject to change. Players will be tasked with raiding an enemy fortress and bringing the relic back to their own, giving the realm a bonus.
WAR's Producer, James Casey, was kind enough to answer some of my questions regarding fortresses. Thanks James!
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1) One of the next big features on the horizon is the Fortress and Relic system. Can you give us a high level overview of what you see these bringing to Warhammer Online?
The fortress/relic system is designed to bring an additional goal and mechanic to the Realm vs. Realm battle in Tier 4. It is not the endcap to the campaign, nor a stopping point to the city, etc. like it was before. It's a tough challenge that can be done at any time and will benefit the whole realm if captured and kept.
2) Will Guilds or Alliances have a role to play with Fortresses?
Yes. We are looking at introducing a mechanic that will allow guilds and potentially alliances to claim the fortress or areas around the fortress as a way to beef up defense of the fortress.
3) Will Relics be open for capture at all times, or if the pairing is captured?
The current plan is they can be done at any time. As we get closer in and take more feedback and test it out, this might change.
4) What kind of obstacles or defenses will attackers have to overcome in order to capture a relic?
They will need to break down an entrance to the fortress, take out the guards and lords, and claim the relic.
Follow-up: Is Play as Monster Lords and Guards still a possibility?
Yes. We are still working towards that.
5) When a relic is taken, will the defending realm be able to see its location in the zone/pairing?
The relic will ping the map every so often, but the update will not be real-time. You’ll know where it was a few seconds ago, but you’ll need to hunt the person with it down.
6) Once a relic is fully captured, what kind of bonuses will the realm receive? Will there be any specific rewards for those who participated in the capture?
Bonuses are being built now, but we are looking at things that will be beneficial, but not just a rich get a richer thing. Ex. Racial bonuses based on pairing. There will be rewards for the capture and we are fleshing those out now, but the biggest thing will be the challenge and getting the realm bonus.
7) How do you see this playing out on realms which have an unbalanced population? Will it just give the stronger realm even more of an advantage?
Hopefully, as noted above, it won’t be a decided ‘rich get richer’ situation, that’s our goal. We’re also hoping that offering an alternative goal will give players other ways to participate in RvR and potentially even upset that imbalance a little.
8) Anything else you'd like to share about Fortresses and Relics?
We have some ambitious plans, we’ll roll more out as we move forward. We may do bits of the plan in phases depending on how they come together, but we’re jazzed about the prospects.
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