Omol
Luke Warm
Joined: 15 Oct 2002
Posts: 304
|
 Posted: 01/29/04 - 14:18 Post subject: WoW PvP discription
|
|
|
| Quote: | Player v. Player
Blizzard has taken pains to remind us that this upcoming game is the World of WARcraft. While it will have the aspects of crafting and socialization that can and have driven some of the MUDs (Multi-user Dungeons) that have come before it, Blizzard plans on having a world where action and heroics are center stage.
We were actually quite surprised that Blizzard was willing to talk about PvP (player versus player) with us after being so tight lipped on the subject for so long. Blizzard has taken the aspects of multi-player competition in the games it has built and the games that they have admired and blended it into the PvP sections of Azeroth. How to describe the PvP instances of Azeroth? Well our guide described it as "Warcraft III meets Battlefield 1942"
Imagine if you would, two towns on either end of the instance, both humming away quietly as peons and peasants went to work chopping wood and mining gold. Zoom into the Great Hall and you can see a barracks just on the crest of the hill where a Grunt comes marching out. He forms up with two other waiting grunts and three troll headhunters and then they take off down the path. Hurrying to catch up with your Tauren shaman character, you patrol the near zones of your outpost. No humans to be seen, you continue onward until you come across a night elf druid leading a group of dwarf riflemen.
Battle is joined? The Orc grunts smash into the thin line that the Night Elf druid presents in a vain attempt to screen the riflemen. You cast healing wave on the lead grunt and lighting bolt the druid. Within a few moments there is nothing left of the human scout party, but at a sizable cost to your little party. Two grunts are down and a headhunter is badly wounded, not to mention that you are out of mana. As soon as a small sigh escaped your lips for surviving this encounter, a gnome warrior, human mage, and dwarf hunter crest the hill drawn on by the sounds of battle. No rest for you and yours as you rush to challenge them even in your weakened state.
As you can tell by our small fictional example, the PvP zones in World of Warcraft are designed to have the feel of being in a Warcraft III game while still maintaining the intensity of a Battlefield 1942 type game. The zones are designed to be used as teams and with objectives to achieve. This isn't just a bloodbath in the center of the map. You'll want to do everything you can to destroy your opponent's infrastructure in order to keep them from spawning new friendly units to accent the players in the zone.
At the same time where the game will have a tactical feel, there is a clear sense of this being a heroic adventure. Just done Rambo style. Jeffrey Kaplan described it like this; "When I die, I don't want to have to run thirty minutes to get back, you know. I don't want to sit and say 'You know, this really isn't fun, I keep dying.' I want to go 'That was awesome! I just died, get me back out there!!'"
To facilitate this, Blizzard has instanced the PvP zones. You'll know when you're headed in that PvP zone by the red swirling mists on the edges of the portal. (Portal is the best word we have for it, the ones we saw were actually very organic looking.) Then when you join that instanced zone, you are placed in an instance with other characters that are around your level and ability. You won't have to worry about being plucked off constantly by characters that are no where near your power level.
The objective of these zones is to have a moving front, where battles are being fought between different groups from each faction. Some controlled by the computer, some controlled by the players. The CGW article this last fall alluded to this when they mentioned that you would be able to fight alongside other NPCs at times as well. Dying is an inconvenience, but never approaching the level where you don't want to respawn immediately. Think along the lines of Battlefield 1942 or a team Halo game.
We commented that this sort of PvP made it possible to basically reenact the cinematic that was released before Warcraft III went gold where the screaming Orc horde came streaming over the hill crest. Blizzard just smiled.
Siege weapons should then be part of the equation. Our first hint to this was when we were told that the Infernal summon of the warlock would have siege value in PvP. They also hope to include catapults, steam tanks, and other siege equipment that the players could man to level the opposition's outpost. No word yet if Portable towers will be a purchasable item.
Arenas
Arenas are still in the game and are more suited for the team versus team battles that are setup ahead of time, for instance between two competing guilds. Here the objective is much more straightforward. Destroy your opponents, plain and simple. This will be the areas that Blizzard hopes to have ticketed events for other players to watch the battle unfold.
Class Balance
One of the things that Jeffery noted on our visit was that they occasionally got complaints from the alpha players that one particular class was better than another class in duels. For instance, the mage would always be able to beat a warrior in a one on one duel. He wasn't worried about this. Jeffrey told us that they were not balancing the game such that a mage and warrior were always on equal footing when it came to a PvP duel. The object is to create a rock, scissors, paper type solution where while a Mage might always be able to beat a Warrior, they would always lose to a Hunter. This is a deliberate game design decision to encourage team play in the PvP zones. Just like they tried to do in Warcraft III, Blizzard does not want it to be a desired strategy to just mass a bunch of warriors or what have you and then see a mass charge. The idea is that small side tactics of a mixed group of characters will win the day for your side, not a zergling like push.
Duels
So if classes aren't balanced, what is the purpose of dueling? Dueling is designed to really be a fun outlet for players to challenge each other without there being any real penalty or problem for losing. It's designed solely to allow players to have a battle and take bragging rights.
So What is the Point of PvP Then?
To settle as score, to make a name for yourself, and to destroy your opponent's infrastructure. But what happens when you meet your objectives in the PvP zone? Blizzard isn't sure yet. There are some ideas, maybe a new vendor becomes available, maybe some new quests are unlocked. The problem is that the rewards have to be scaled such that they don't make it undesirable to play the other side. This is something that will continue to be tested and played to determine the right balance.
So while other games work on creating a world where people can be protected from PKers or on creating worlds where the whole world is one mass battlefield, Blizzard is trying to really capture the best of both worlds. Protect casual players from the power gamers by having the PvP zones known and different in mechanics (lesser death penalty) then the rest of the world. They also want to encourage players to want to be in the PvP zones by making it team and objective based and keeping players of similar power in the same zone. It sounds great, now we'll have to see if they can pull it off.
Report by: OneMadOgre |
Taken from WorldofWar
|
|
