OGRank - DAOC Producer Letter

As part of our commitment to RvR, we have recently polled our customers, with many of the popular RvR enhancement ideas. Our goal is to focus resources on these ideas throughout the remainder of the year. Some concepts will come to fruition much more quickly, such as a new battleground we plan to test and release this patch.

New Level 45-49 BG: In this version, we will deploy our final battleground, covering levels 45-49, lower Realm Ranks, and lower Master Levels. Currently, players in these ranges are frustrated by the inability to get groups and participate in New Frontiers RvR, and we plan to put out a single zone battleground to allow them to participate in RvR.

Underwater areas: In our last patch we added underwater adventuring in Midgard’s homeland, and in this patch we are deploying the same to Hibernia and Albion.

Since version 1.81, we have adjusted nineteen classes, in many cases making very significant changes. In this version, we are taking a step back, to assess the impact of all of these changes as a whole, and refine these adjustments as needed. In many (but not all) cases, we feel that we did not increase a class’s abilities enough, and we will be making additional improvements.

Master Level lines: Since the launch of ToA, some master level lines were not perfectly suited to the classes that had them. If we swapped out Master Level lines, we would be taking away a choice from our players, which is never an ideal solution. In this version, rather than swapping out Master Level lines, we plan to offer every class an additional choice of a third existing Master Level line.

Bolts: The bolt classes in the game have often struggled to find the proper role for these spells. While originally designed as opening gambits, the movement speed of modern RvR has significantly diminished this utility. In addition, bolts fail as standoff spells, as players cannot rely on bolts to hit opponents who are in combat. In this version, we plan to reduce the cast timers on bolts to allow them to be used as combat openers once again. We also plan to alter the ‘target in combat’ restrictions for bolts, allowing players to use these spells in standoff situations.

As always, we will have many other additions and changes to the patch, including work on tradeskills and quests.