Besides the blatant nature of the zerg in Mythic's
Warhammer Online, RvR combat is -- at it's root -- dependent on the amount of crowd control and area of effect abilities that are being activated by players. Of course, this isn't just a symptom of WAR. Basically, the outcome of any MMO with player vs. player combat is crowd control. But according to Nate Levy, production lead on WAR, some exciting
changes are in store for players of realm vs. realm combat.
"Crowd control abilities are a vital part of helping to control the flow and pace of combat, but for a while, they cut too deeply into our gameplay (and especially so at the high end)," said Levy in a recent Dev Diary.
Levy said the team is tackling crowd control from two different directions.
"For starters, we did a comprehensive analysis of all crowd control abilities in the game and worked out some more reasonable guidelines for durations and allocation," he said. "What does this mean for you? The general result is that you'll see many CC effect durations being slightly reduced, as well as some CC abilities moving positions, which require more of an intentional focus to obtain."
Levy said this means that some AoE CC Morales may shift from ranks one and two to three and four. Also, CC abilities may be shifted in mastery trees, thus forcing players to make a conscious investment to obtain them.
However, it's the second direction by the team that seems the most promising.
"Another aspect of allocation that we're working towards as a long-term goal is to slowly shift the general distribution of crowd control to be more common on defensive careers -- such as tank archetypes -- and away from DPS-focused careers," said Levy. "One of the primary reasons for this is that, on a whole, DPS careers already have quite a lot to offer when it comes to RvR because they bring... well... the DPS."
This statement could prove to be a game changer if applied properly. Imagine being able to go into a fight and not have a bright wizard stun you and then AoE you into oblivion. It also makes defensive tanks a target, instead of just something blocking line of sight.
"This change isn't going to happen over night -- it's simply too large of a goal to fit into any one patch (or even two or three)," said Levy. "... we want to make this shift a gradual change instead of a sudden plummet."
The first of these changes will go live in patch 1.3.2.
The team is also looking at knockdown and stun abilities. Levy said the team wants players to not only use the abilities for offense, but defense as well. Unfortunately, there's not much information regarding how this will be addressed.
Aside from these changes, WAR is implementing a "stagger" system.
"When you stagger an enemy, they'll be briefly disabled and unable to move or take any actions, just like a stun or knockdown," said Levy, "but with the critical difference that the stagger will immediately break if they suffer any damage."
He said the team has gone through every class ability that is either a stun or knockdown and changed it to where they are now either knockdowns, which will work in an offensive sense, or staggers, which are generally ideal for defense.
"Generally speaking, anything that remains or becomes a knockdown will have a duration that is three seconds or less," said Levy. "While staggers typically have durations of up to nine to 12 seconds or so, assuming they're not broken early. You'll note that I don't mention 'stun' anywhere in there, and that's correct, since we're removing it as a vague middle ground."
What does all of this really mean
Taking away the ability of DPS careers to stun you and then DPS you down without much of a fight is a great step in the right direction. Even more so, if Mythic focuses more on making abilities staggers, instead of knockdowns, that could mean the end of the rampant AoEs that now litter the battlefields in WAR.
A game changer for the best, indeed. All of these crowd control changes have the possibility of greatly reshaping the landscape of WAR's RvR. However, the game still has to overcome its codependency on zerging, because no matter how much a single player's crowd control is changed, it will never be as noticeable as Mythic hopes it to be when survival in WAR is based solely on numbers and not sound tactics.
My two cents
Disable the mechanic to form warbands. Mythic needs to force players to work as small war parties of no more than six players. Aside from that, renown bonuses should be improved to help coax players into running small groups instead of warbands.
Warbands are fine, but they should only be allowed for fortress takes/defends and city sieges.
Even something as simple as doing away with the warband function, which at its most basic change only removes the warband UI, can change how players function in larger groups. Six-man groups will still travel with others groups, but removing the ability to see the stats and map positions of those outside party members could sway the game from the incessant zerging that it now is.
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