Dark Age Of Camelot: Albion RvR TL Report 1.66

Taken fron VN Boards

Overview:

Primary small-scale RvR issues for Albion groups remain the same since the August Report. Albion groups still tend to have more difficulty in forming balanced groups due to dilution of key group abilities across more classes and spec lines. Even tailor-made Albion groups usually operate without one or more major group support/suppression abilities, instead filling group slots with essential offense-oriented classes. The common view is that Albion RvR groups can effectively compete in small-scale RvR, but require more specific classes and rely more heavily on group Realm Abilities with long timers. While certain specialized groups and guilds manage to fill the high requirements for specific classes and RA's to compete effectively, casual players still experience the most frustration in this respect.

Concern: RvR Group Design
The issues outlined in the August report regarding key support abilities being spread out across 6 Albion classes still remain the same for this November report. From a functional viewpoint, more effective RvR groups from all three realms operate with atleast 2 primary healers for extra insta-heals, redundant primary healing and RA's. Also, using a melee-oriented group as an example, a competitive Albion group would need to allocate 2+ group slots for Tank classes with high Determination levels. With a limit of 8 group slots, forming effective Albion melee groups necessitates a requirement to sacrifice one or more major support and/or suppression abilities. Albion caster-oriented groups generally face similar problems, but must also sacrifice group defensibility from focused damage, interrupts and crowd control. The synergies observed in the other two realms' groups, due to key group abilities concentrated among fewer classes, cannot be duplicated as efficiently in any Albion group without accounting for RA's.

Concern: Class Desirability

Several changes were made to improve the desirability of certain classes in Albion. The impact of these changes has yet to be fully realized. However, it is a step in the right direction and hopefully more changes will be made to improve the viability of any under-developed spec/style line. Support classes in particular are still being seen as a less-desirable type of class to play despite their importance in RvR groups. The roles of these classes can be frustrating to play. Some type of "fun-factor" needs to be added to provide incentive for more active use of these classes. Also, there is more of a trend for classes with low defense to being perceived as less desirable to play due to survivability issues. It is hoped that new non-crowd control tools to protect group mates will be made available for RvR, which would help improve the desirability in playing more vulnerable classes.

Concern: Realm Abilities

Albion RvR groups still rely on certain powerful group active RA's to compensate for comparative weaknesses in Albion group dynamics. The perception remains in the Albion community that the realm has been balanced in RvR through Realm Abilities on long timers. There tends to be a more varied RvR performance-level in Albion groups compared to groups in the other realms, depending on whether the timer is up on certain group RA's. Many would prefer that key group ability and offensive/defensive capability among classes comprising RvR groups be more balanced among the three realms as opposed to balancing profoundly through long-timer RA's.

Specific Issues: Crowd Control

The primary issues and concerns for Albion's primary crowd control class remains the same as in the last report. While the effects of insta-CC have been reduced through more players acquiring higher levels of Determination and/or magic resistances, Albion's primary crowd control class still tends to operate at a disadvantage under more RvR scenarios when compared to the primary CC classes in Hibernia and Midgard. In practice, Hibernia's primary CC class uses a range 2300, insta-AE Amnesia to interrupt, run into 1500 range, and follow up with a normal-cast AE mez. Midgard's primary CC class essentially interrupts with a range 1500 insta-AE stun, followed by normal-cast AE mez. Albion's primary CC class needs to be standing still before casting the longer range 1875 AE-mez and has no insta-interrupts/CC to help regain the initiative from a sneak-attack. The difference in crowd control abilities result in a disadvantage for Albion's primary CC class during more mobile confrontations or when caught by surprised. This represents a greater difficulty in gaining or regaining the initiative in small-scale skirmishes. Generally, it is only at standoffs where Albion's primary CC class can operate as or more effectively than its counterparts.

Specific Issues: Stealth Classes

It is mainly perceived that RvR for stealth and non-stealth classes tend to promote exclusivity from each other. Including an Infiltrator or Scout in a typical RvR group is generally considered a hindrance as the spot could be better filled by a Tank-class. The inclusion of unique group-based abilities to stealth classes across the three realms should be considered to help integrate them into successful RvR group designs with non-stealth classes. A perfect example is the Minstrel class having stealth, yet playing a pivotal role in Albion RvR groups.

New Issues: Keep Defense

There is even less desire to defend or retake keeps now that TOA is active. Furthermore, unless defenders are already inside prior to the keep being attacked, the new keep designs make it more difficult for players to reinforce a keep. Also, since players can no longer log into a keep that is being attacked, there are now fewer options to defend keeps under siege. The time required to assembling a defense force and traveling to a besieged keep is also prohibitive when compared to how quickly even a single enemy group can take an undefended level 10 keep. Also, with the capability for single groups to more easily take keeps, defenders have fewer reasons to bother with mounting a defense. Single groups aren't considered a threat to relics and wouldn't provide much in the way of Realm Points when weighed against the effort required to properly initiate a defense. Porting to Emain is a much easier and more viable alternative when viewing the cost/time vs. benefits. Keep sieges are more often becoming NPC encounters for ownership of Darkness Falls by small forces as opposed to being the setting for medium and large-scale battles. The issues stated in the last report regarding Albion's Frontier and Relic Keeps are also still present now in November.

New Issues: Trials of Atlantis Master Abilities

There is a great deal of frustration being expressed by the Albion community regarding Master Abilities. Aside from the implementation of certain bugged abilities, some Master Abilities are perceived to be having a significant effect on group-level RvR. The fact that a great deal of PvE time is needed to complete these trials, the perceived impact these new abilities are making in RvR and the lack of information on later Master Levels have frustrated many avid RvR players. Most feel that these abilities will be needed to compete in RvR even on a small-scale level, which represents an even greater investment of PvE time for a player to be competitive. Also, another major concern is how the recent expansion represents a shift away from an RvR-focused game to one that is more PvE-oriented.

New Issues: Trials of Atlantis Artifacts and Equipment

The full effects of Artifacts and equipment with new enhancing abilities have not yet been observed on a large-scale. However, certain artifacts already show significant benefits to RvR groups. For example, it is already a concern by some that the Frontiers will soon be mainly populated by RvR groups in "Panther" form. Items that help players break old damage/speed caps will also likely represent a larger rift between the ability to compete between casual players and power gamers. There is also concern from the Albion community regarding balance issues that may arise, as more players will acquire multiple Level 10 Artifacts and other major stat-enhancing equipment.

Other Issues:

- Overwriting resurrection spells
- Prevalent use of buff bots
- Radar and other forms of cheats
- RvR Stagnation with the release of the TOA Expansion
- RvR wait/downtime due to increased inactivity in most RvR areas outside of Emain