Expansion Spotlight: Sea Towers

[Resfelm]

Following up with our expansion articles, we’ll move on to some of the reasons why this next Darkfall Free Expansion is called “Conquer the Seas”. Keep on reading for one of Darkfall’s brand new epic features that will change the face of Agon’s seas forever. We give you the Sea Towers!

These massive structures are of unknown origin but rumor has it that a powerful but as of yet unknown group erected them. Their motives remain unclear; however all of Agon covets the amazing riches and fame that come with controlling them.

There are currently two Sea Towers, one in the North and one in the South Seas. The towers become vulnerable at specific time intervals and stay that way until a clan captures them. The only way to capture them is by using ships, but the Towers have their own protection. Powerful cannons stand out on their battlements threatening any ship that comes within range. These cannons can be used by anyone so the defenders will need to protect them.

As for the timers, the remaining time for the Towers to become vulnerable will be displayed on the world map for all to see. There will also be new entries in the journal showing current and previous owners for each one of the two Towers.

You’re probably asking “what’s in it for me?” Well apart from the substantial material rewards for the clan controlling the Sea Towers, there are also bragging rights, and fame: In every starting city, capital cities, as well as in some chaos cities, new structures will appear called Clan Stations. These stations will display the name of the clan controlling the corresponding Sea Tower for all to see. But there’s more: Any player that isn’t part of a clan already can use these structures to effortlessly apply for membership to the clans holding the Sea Towers. Around fifty locations around Agon will serve as Clan stations.

The Sea Towers are an important new feature which affects clan dynamics and creates new PvP and naval warfare hotspots but that’s not all: The Sea Towers are an integral part of Darkfall’s Dynamic Lore system. The background story about the group that erected them is tied in with the game’s lore and will involve the clans and players that fight to control them.

Apart from the Sea Towers, there are even more sea objectives present in the “Conquer the Seas” Darkfall expansion: Sea Villages have been built all around Agon’s seas, providing additional housing for the growing population and more potential income sources for the clans that control them. Sea Villages provide great strategic advantages and a base of operation when trying to control the seas or capture a Sea Tower.

We hope you enjoyed reading.

[dontclickme]

FIRST !!! :D


cool stuff anyway

[Sinny]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

[Jasdemi Krontan]

Nice

[klawjon]

Sounds Great!

[Dhmitris]

great!give us expack now!!:cool:

[Synik]

Kinda cool i guess, but why are they better not add all this juicy content and not fix the PVP mechanix!

[Cailian]

Nice.

[empa]

That seems fucking sweet

[Cing]

Sounds pretty chill

[Helgrrr]

Excellent, will it cost more for a house with a sea view do you think xD

[peertje]

gief nao!

[Valsair]

Awesome.

[w0rm]

nice one :) cant' wait.

[samureyed]

Hmmm.. define "substantial material rewards" :)

[ISVRaDa]

Awesome

[samureyed]

I am willing to bet placing a vendor on a house in a sea village is not a good source of income lol.

This all sounds really interesting. I like the idea of clans going out before towers are vulnerable to defend them. I can already imagine lots of naval warfare going down over these.

Will the village stones be capturable via ship cannons? Seems the obvious answer is yes, just want to make sure.

[Ragnarok Vanir]

inb4 qq posts.

[Numz dePimche]

Sounds good :)

[Jerno]

inb4 qq posts.
Too late. Check the 1st page :P

"QQ BUT WHAT ABOUT PVP?!?"

[Fugean]

sounds good, but two whole towers huh? nothing for the east or west seas huh? =/

[Greywind]

And gap between power players and normal people became even wider.

[Freewar]

Damn you AV. I am more and more willing to buy your focking game. :p

[Fall]

Well it sounds kinda strange...reason for ships to exist are two shitty towers? yay...

...and some terminals where players can join the winning team? great.

I don't know but I'm kinda disappointed. Massive sea zergfest isn't the best way to make ships useful.

[Keno]

Hrmm very interesting, sounds fun. I will be very disappointed though if no huge Sea Monsters are implemented. :(

[Sarphus]

I'm usually on board with every design idea. I'm skeptical of this one.

It seems to me that it will be impossible to defend sea towers with the cannons on them, because the attacking force will just send a bunch of people in to ray-DoT the sea tower and kill everyone inside.

Granted, I have no idea how big these towers are. maybe ray-DoT's won't be effective, but I can't imagine the towers are so big that ray-DoT's won't be the weapon of choice against the towers.

Also, make sure you test that archery can't damage the towers. It seems archery can always damage stuff that's siege-related when it's first introduced.

[GRCPan]

Hopefully the rewards will be worth risking a ship for.

[Darkwish]

Hopefully the rewards will be worth risking a ship for.

Dream on lol

[SynCaine]

I'm usually on board with every design idea. I'm skeptical of this one.

It seems to me that it will be impossible to defend sea towers with the cannons on them, because the attacking force will just send a bunch of people in to ray-DoT the sea tower and kill everyone inside.

Granted, I have no idea how big these towers are. maybe ray-DoT's won't be effective, but I can't imagine the towers are so big that ray-DoT's won't be the weapon of choice against the towers.

Also, make sure you test that archery can't damage the towers. It seems archery can always damage stuff that's siege-related when it's first introduced.

You are assuming magic is going to be as effective after the patch as it is now, and that cannons will be as useless vs players as they are today. If both assumptions are correct, this expansion won't deliver what DF fans are hoping for.

I'm more curious to see how ships will be required, rather than just having players swim out to a tower. Also curious to see if this will actually draw ships out, or if this is just going to be a location to raft-zerg. Hopefully the ship changes makes rafts the paper-thin structures they should be, and real ships with cannons will have little trouble destroying them. Without knowing the rest of the ship-related changes, it's hard to really speculate how combat around these towers is actually going to play out.

[Keno]

Dream on lol

Most likely they will lower the ship prices a bit for the smaller vessels, possibly add new ones with a lot of different options to choose from. Also if they make it so AOE's don't penetrate walls, it's all good.

[paxprobellum]

What's the point of Clan Stations? So the biggest clans get bigger? Sounds like AV supports the zerg ... =/

I'm glad they are adding stuff to the sea. I'll wait and see before passing judgement.

[Keno]

You are assuming magic is going to be as effective after the patch as it is now, and that cannons will be as useless vs players as they are today. If both assumptions are correct, this expansion won't deliver what DF fans are hoping for.

I'm more curious to see how ships will be required, rather than just having players swim out to a tower. Also curious to see if this will actually draw ships out, or if this is just going to be a location to raft-zerg. Hopefully the ship changes makes rafts the paper-thin structures they should be, and real ships with cannons will have little trouble destroying them. Without knowing the rest of the ship-related changes, it's hard to really speculate how combat around these towers is actually going to play out.


Spot on

[Paranoia21]

Too late. Check the 1st page :P

"QQ BUT WHAT ABOUT PVP?!?"

this is the main feature that needs fixing and it deserves a bit of QQ

[dbmk]

What's the point of Clan Stations? So the biggest clans get bigger? Sounds like AV supports the zerg ... =/

I'm glad they are adding stuff to the sea. I'll wait and see before passing judgement.

That aspect has me puzzled as well. One more funny design decision.

[Caaahl]

Nicey nice! Finally some true pirate clans will rise, i guess. :cool:

@the QQers and moaners like Greywind:
gtfo, it's getting ridicolous with you guys.

[Shrewbaba]

I'm usually on board with every design idea. I'm skeptical of this one.

It seems to me that it will be impossible to defend sea towers with the cannons on them, because the attacking force will just send a bunch of people in to ray-DoT the sea tower and kill everyone inside.

Granted, I have no idea how big these towers are. maybe ray-DoT's won't be effective, but I can't imagine the towers are so big that ray-DoT's won't be the weapon of choice against the towers.

Also, make sure you test that archery can't damage the towers. It seems archery can always damage stuff that's siege-related when it's first introduced.


I'm guessing that the tower is vulnerable only to siege weapons, like a clanstone or village control point. Field aoes will be useful in clearing out defenders, but not actually taking the tower.

[Darkwish]

Clan station seems pretty useless.

[ISVRaDa]

Maybe whey will add more options to the Clan Stones in future.

About Sea Towers.., "The only way to capture them is by using ships". With cannons maybe?

[doomahx]

Unless they fix AOE through walls these will just be giant death traps. Hopefully that fix is coming with the patch though.

[Raeyzej]

Sea villages? Like oil rigs but with a village on it? What if a hurricane comes?

I wonder if they'll have some harbor on them.

[Signus]

Kinda cool i guess, but why are they better not add all this juicy content and not fix the PVP mechanix!

See : the other spotlight articles

[vanyok]

Sea villages? What if a hurricane comes?


Oh Nooeess !

[Ruyn]

Clan station seems pretty useless.

I agree. I thought for a second as I was reading that the clan stations were work stations and that anyone who would use them would pay a small tax on or something. THAT would be something worth fighting over.

[Chuck Zitto]

Hope they make astrolubes easier to get or craftable or there wont be anybody even bothering to risk there boats.

[BlueOreo]

Now this is an expansion spotlight.

I'm super excited :)

Maybe villages will be put on the map as well? Sure would create more PvP if everyone could see their status.

[Sarphus]

I'm guessing that the tower is vulnerable only to siege weapons, like a clanstone or village control point. Field aoes will be useful in clearing out defenders, but not actually taking the tower.

Yeah, I was trying to make the point that field AoE's will make it so people can't safely man the cannons, which will let ships fire with impunity (my best guess)

Someone mentioned the possibility that magic will be nerfed even harder than a GCD. If they do that, I'm seriously concerned that magic will become irrelevant. I don't know one way or another until it comes out and I see how it plays out.

Another thing I don't understand about this system is the sea-based villiages. As things are right now in DF, there is little to no reason to gather resources in the ocean. I hope there is more to sea-villiages than fast travel and capturing the sea towers. If not, I probably won't care much about them.

[ninogan]

I'm really not into all the sea stuff but this definitely sounds like it could be fun though.

[Niburu]

oh my good damn QQ's

Well apart from the substantial material rewards for the clan controlling the Sea Towers

So besides from the clan station that is some fluff for clans you gain material rewards maybe gold maybe rare ores who knows

The only way to capture them is by using ships

it explains's itself

[Ragnarok Delrhe]

might have more then the towers in the water for the conquer the seas expansion just wait til patch notes at least to start qqing.

same thing: Maybe the clan stations will replace the clan tab which is rubbish at best.

[Loadafreak]

Only two towers, I don't know if this is good or bad. I was hoping navel battles would be spread out over the entire ocean, but maybe the sea villages will help with that. also, ships will probably intercept each other on the way to the two towers.
I just hope naval warfare occurs in other places other than around the towers.

[Tenebrion]

I hope sea villages will have ports >.>

[Keno]

Only two towers, I don't know if this is good or bad. I was hoping navel battles would be spread out over the entire ocean, but maybe the sea villages will help with that. also, ships will probably intercept each other on the way to the two towers.
I just hope naval warfare occurs in other places other than around the towers.

I am sure there will be loads of villages and also possibly PVE encounters as well.(Sea Monsters etc..)

[Niburu]

Only two towers, I don't know if this is good or bad. I was hoping navel battles would be spread out over the entire ocean, but maybe the sea villages will help with that. also, ships will probably intercept each other on the way to the two towers.
I just hope naval warfare occurs in other places other than around the towers.
Atleast better than no naval battle :-D

[Tenebrion]

Maybe villages will be put on the map as well? Sure would create more PvP if everyone could see their status.

This. But I doubt it'll ever happen.

[Harold Lee]

I could be wrong here, but I think these 'sea villages' are more like coastal villages than secluded island villages. Atleast I hope that is the case.

[samureyed]

Id like to see submarine warhulks... and ill-tempered sea bass with lasers :D

[Dingbat]

Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooool

[Loadafreak]

I could be wrong here, but I think these 'sea villages' are more like coastal villages than secluded island villages. Atleast I hope that is the case.

I would bet the sea-villages are on floating platforms in the ocean, maybe with something special in them to make them appealing, like a harbor as someone else had said.

or maybe they will be underwater villages built in a glass dome :ninja:

[Slaught3r]

I hope that this delivers :D

[Lord Jenicus]

On NA-1 the southern tower will be mercilessly camped by the Cairn/DFWA Coalition >.<

The Clan Station thing sounds interesting, but also sounds like it could hurt clans who choose not to participate in these events.

[Loadafreak]

with 50 clan stations, most in starting zones, won't that mean the 'winners' of the towers will get spammed unendingly with applications of mostly new low skill players?

[lkx]

i'm a bit iffy about this, lets see how this will work.

[Torinar]

with 50 clan stations, most in starting zones, won't that mean the 'winners' of the towers will get spammed unendingly with applications of mostly new low skill players?

Good for us ;).

[retrospect]

Does not seem bad at all. Though the clan stations sound retarded unless you are a zerg clan in the first place. More random in game clan apps don't sound like a good thing. If you can modify the information the stations show to reflect website and membership rules as well it could be a bit more useful though.

[Tiak]

with 50 clan stations, most in starting zones, won't that mean the 'winners' of the towers will get spammed unendingly with applications of mostly new low skill players?

You can always turn off applications. Hell, iirc there's even a setting that would only let red orks apply.

[Dragoon]

And gap between power players and normal people became even wider.

So basically don't any new PvP objectives because bad players like Greywind wont be able to win? Join a good clan and stop whining.

Hopefully ships will have their prices reduced to the point where small and medium sized clans can afford to have them but if you want ezmode 1,000 towers so bad players like you can win them for yourself then go back to WOW.

[Tiak]

My predictions for sea towers given that they go vulnerable more than once a day:
[LIST]
On server-down/up relatively small groups that are actually awake will be logged on the nearest land with a ship in their inventory and attempt to get the sea tower quickly before anyone else shows up. They will likely be contested the first two weeks, but after that it will go smoothly, just because so few people are awake/able to play.
All captures after that throughout will be dominated by zergs.

[lkx]

Sea villages like this: http://www.motorsport-rejser.dk/images/Waterworld.jpg
? ^_^

[raffraff]

with 50 clan stations, most in starting zones, won't that mean the 'winners' of the towers will get spammed unendingly with applications of mostly new low skill players?

I can understand the spam worry, but what exactly is wrong with new, low skill players? You say it like they are inherently a bad thing. You were a new, low skill player once, believe it or not!

[Gray Fox]

Im looking forward to see this, but seriously want AoE's not going thru walls.

I damn hope these giant sea towers are going to fit the lore perfectly, because without a decent explanation I would disaprove. Already had enough with slot machines.

[Mediolanum]

sounds cool :)

[Solvito]

it was the greatest week and a half of my life...


i need to see how this works out before commenting on it...and the whole "sea additions"...

[Chipatama]

Ok, I'm hard.

[blob]

Great news better than I hoped , now put some more shark mobs in sea and
other stuff that kills "swimers whit aoes"and you will have great sea battles.

[lkx]

Great news better than I hoped , now put some more shark mobs in sea and
other stuff that kills "swimers whit aoes"and you will have great sea battles.

or drain stamina while swimming like riding

[Kasmos]

Everything sounds great accept for one thing: clan stations.

Now I'm not trying to "QQ" here because if you look through my posts you'll see that I'm primarily supportive of everything Aventurine has released in the spotlight, but....

... won't this just support and increase the zerg mentality even further?

So the south tower gets taken by a massive zerg. What is their reward? Even MORE people applying to them now creating an even LARGER zerg.

Aventurine really, really, really needs to figure out a way to make zerging not as unbelievably an attractive option as it is now. To me, this clan station idea is going in the wrong direction.

Darkfall needs to move in the direction, and Aventurine is going to have to do something development wise to help accomplish this, of multiple smaller alliances controlling regions instead of a few large zergs controlling large portions of the map. It will not only greatly, greatly increase conflict and PvP, but it will make politics way more interesting and there won't be all these "times of peace" where no one wants to fuck with anyone else because they're happy in their safe zone.

[-fionn-]

What's the point of Clan Stations? So the biggest clans get bigger? Sounds like AV supports the zerg ... =/

I'm glad they are adding stuff to the sea. I'll wait and see before passing judgement.

Clan stations are pretty pointless from a recruitment perspective anyway imo since most decent clans you need to make a forum application to get in.

[actionbarbie]

Glad to hear they'll be more action on the high seas!

[BluesFunk]

Clan stations are a waste of resources but otherwise some kick-ass stuff.

[kdchan]

sorry Aventurine, but if you don't fix magic spam trough walls, aoes, and reduce the price of boats, i never go in these towers. Useless for small clans.

[nacitar sevaht]

until aoes cant go through objects there are no seas to conquer. aoeing a side of a boat = wtf.

[kelthroun]

i was happy for making my first raft..now i think i should really be on my watch! :P
I am gonna love this expansion!! Hell yeah! :D

[BluesFunk]

until aoes cant go through objects there are no seas to conquer. aoeing a side of a boat = wtf.

If a building or ship is hit near a wall you are standing next to with a cannon-ball, you're going to get fucked up. As for magic, I agree.

[nacitar sevaht]

If a building or ship is hit near a wall you are standing next to with a cannon-ball, you're going to get fucked up. As for magic, I agree.

The word "through" is what you're struggling with.

[schlock]

After giving this some thought, I'm kind of disappointed. Another silly game but this time on the seas. I was hoping ships would have more meaning other than being used in a control the tower game. It seems AV is trying to too hard to create pvp hot spots.
Want to make ships more attractive? Try adding some common sense changes. Swimming should always drain stam. The type of armor you wear should directly impact your swimming capability. If it's made of metal, you sink. If it's cloth or leather, you stam drain is increased. Naked, you can go pretty far but watch that stam or you will exhaust yourself and die. Water is nothing more than a slow-mo flying zone with a timer right now.
Make ships more obtainable. If more people can get there hands on ships, more people will use them. Pvp will just happen. No silly game to persuade us.

I do realize that there may be more to this because the expac has not been released but as it reads, I'm not terribly excited.

Sea villages are pretty cool though, but I doubt anybody is going to bring there ship along to control a village. Cost/benefit/risk factor.

[DocMartin]

Like other people were saying, Sea Towers just don't seem to offer much incentive to me pvp-wise until we know more about the changes to the combat system.

If you don't live right next to the tower, you will have to spend a great deal of time traveling to the area. If you don't own a boat, you will have no reason to go there. If your boat dies in the process of attacking the tower, you no longer have a reason to be there. If you die while attacking from the water, there will be no chance for revive since you were swimming. If your client crashes while in the water, you will be sent back to your bindstone when you log back in. If AOE magics are being used, both the boat and the tower would be death traps. Ranged combat atm only favors high-level mages, excluding mounted and melee participation in the capture. I can't really imagine many defenders manning the cannons during vulnerability timer anyway. If I win the tower, I don't want my clan recruitment list to be spammed by every unclanned player.

[BluesFunk]

The word "through" is what you're struggling with.

No. If a cannon hits the walls of a structure or ship, the AOE should go through it, damaging others near the other side of the wall. Not magic though, as I said previously.

[Omegataco]

Atleast better than no naval battle :-D

This. Not saying the additions are bad, they actually look pretty interesting. We'll have to see how it all plays out ingame.

[sockpuppet]

Since clan stations are a bit useless to anything but the aspiring zerg, I have a proposal: Whenever possible, server-wide agreements to when possible/convenient let clans like NEW get the last hit in, in exchange for the total payout of the sea tower.

[Paganizer]

So in a big world with very few people, we get an even bigger world by adding the sea. Sounds to me like the pvp will be even more sparse. Less pvp except maybe a couple of alliance zergs fighting it out for the towers.
I'd rather see the 4 islands destroyed to get people living close together.. that would create a more dynamic world and give more pvp.
We already have more than half of the towns/hamlets being completely deserted. Adding more space seems like a really bad idea.

[sockpuppet]

Also: With GCDs on field AoEs now individual players won't even be able to out-damage healing on average. Sure if you get enough people casting AoEs at once it will hurt, but not nearly as much as it does now when each player is casting 2-5 of them

[Greywind]

So basically don't any new PvP objectives because bad players like Greywind wont be able to win? Join a good clan and stop whining.

Hopefully ships will have their prices reduced to the point where small and medium sized clans can afford to have them but if you want ezmode 1,000 towers so bad players like you can win them for yourself then go back to WOW.
e-peen is strong with you grasshopper.

I dont mind new PvP objective as long as they dont break game balance. Its not really good to begin with.
For example housing. Network of houses for all practical reasons = instant transportation around the world. I dont mind housing per say but I do mind indestructible gateway near my town.

[Lord Jenicus]

So in a big world with very few people, we get an even bigger world by adding the sea. Sounds to me like the pvp will be even more sparse. Less pvp except maybe a couple of alliance zergs fighting it out for the towers.
I'd rather see the 4 islands destroyed to get people living close together.. that would create a more dynamic world and give more pvp.
We already have more than half of the towns/hamlets being completely deserted. Adding more space seems like a really bad idea.

The space is fine, what we need is higher population, I'm hoping that with these changes the game becomes polished enough to be more marketable so they can actually PUSH marketing which there are subtle hints at. If we get closer to population cap, then we won't be seeing empty population zones.


To everyone else against what they refer to as the "Zerg Mentality", learn your words, not every large force is automatically a "Zerg".

There is a place in this game for the smaller clans who wish to be more discerning in their recruitment, and want a small tight-knit clan of friends.

However they have no sense of entitlement to be the only type of clan. If I wish to have a clan of 300+ members of varying skill levels, I am just as entitled as anyone else is. This game's end-game PvP mechanics are centered around clan vs. clan warfare, which includes LARGE SCALE CONFLICT. A large clan makes sense actually, if you play any RTS game, you often will try to create more units than your enemy, or if not more, better units than your enemy.

Aventurine owes these smaller clans nothing in terms of handicapping clans larger than them that wish to control more territory, the power is ALREADY in player hands. If you want to destroy a large clan's holdings, or take them over, you can DO that. These "Anti Zerg" people are intentionally handicapping themselves with their supposed sense of "war ethics" and thinking that AV should do something to level the playing field? No I say.

[xerian]

Im pretty sure that clan stations doesnt mean stations only your clan can use, but stations that like your city stations, give you income when used. If its stations only for the clan its worthless.

[JCatano]

The towers... I'm not intrigued, but it's better than nothing.

I'm waiting for you guys to implement world-changing mechanics. As a non-clanned player, I don't care who owns a city, hamlet, or village. I'm sure I won't care who owns the towers, either.

Thing is... I should care. The mechanics should cause me to worry (or be happy) that <insert clan> owns something. DAoC-style bonuses, Entropia Universe-style tax settings on mobs in an area, racial NPC presence with faction ratings towards a player, etc., etc.

Something... Anything!

[neon sheild]

this...is...so...cool! OMG i cant wait for this!!!! This is soooo sweet!

[longclaw]

Now we just need a list of all the features and fixes in the expansion. Definantly a good addition though. Can't Wait!!!!!!!!!!:):):D

[amah]

Hmmm.. define "substantial material rewards" :)

my words exactly . now it just seems like bragging rights and thats all

[Jango1337]

ships will still be useless if the cannon damage stays so low and if AoE's can still go thro walls.

[Robert1213]

cool

[Kornmaster]

blah

[stingerII]

sounds interesting ... look forward to seeing them in game :)

[Fenrir Frauki]

Towers that just rise out of the sea feels out of place to me. I fail to see the point in having a "clan station" to check who owns the sea tower if there is only 2 sea towers. More than likely the same alliance will own both sea towers and anyone who is a factor is gonna know who owns them without needing to check. I'm sure whoever owns the towers will have a lot of fun rejecting all the random noobs who apply to their clan, it will most likely be a zerg though so they will probably just accept them all.

I can't help but wonder what a "sea village" is gonna look like. Hopefully they are on small islands and not floating immersion breakers.

[Banok]

cool

[Corp-Por]

Most established clans having more money than they already know what to do with due to lack of money sinks, the material gains from this will do little to create the longevity in motivation for this new cap the flag and hold the base in the sea game play.

The bragging rights side of it will only last a short time before nobody really cares whose name plastered around all the clan stations, it will most likely be a clan everybody bitches about cheating and exploiting anyway, it will create more negative then positives. I guess the clan stations will make it easier for all the big clans to send their spies to join others each others big clans a bit easier. Though it's a lot better than nothing like the seas are now.

[Caaahl]

Most established clans having more money than they already know what to do with due to lack of money sinks[...]

Well, thats what slotmachines are for e.g. :rolleyes:

Hey wait, thats the other feature you bitched about,"because it will be hacked and exploited yadda yadda :(" . You whiners are hilarious.

[nizzie]

You whiners are hilarious.

Fanboys are worse.

[Kaang]

Id like to see submarine warhulks... and ill-tempered sea bass with lasers :D

no no no it was supposed to be sharks with lasers... AV couldn't get the sharks on short notice

[Madt]

Sounds really epic and i love the idea! :D

One little thing thought, couldn't you make these towers move randomly around the seas? I predict everyone and their mothers dogs will just mark runestones to the towers and port in when its vulnerable and wait for the first people to show up and just zerg their ship which wont be so fun unless the people bringing the ship have equal numbers. I guess though thats a good thing as it will increase big pvp battles.

Not very good for small clans however unless they are in big alliances. Sucks to be them I guess. :p

[Kevlar]

I was doubting if I would resub to this game, but this just makes it all clear to me. First thing I do is resub very soon! Thank you devs for doing a great job

[Esudar]

Hmmm.. define "substantial material rewards" :)

50 wood.

[Temko Firewing]

50 wood.

wow. wood.

NEVER TIMBER AGAIN.

[Aurdor]

Sounds really epic and i love the idea! :D

One little thing thought, couldn't you make these towers move randomly around the seas? I predict everyone and their mothers dogs will just mark runestones to the towers and port in when its vulnerable and wait for the first people to show up and just zerg their ship which wont be so fun unless the people bringing the ship have equal numbers. I guess though thats a good thing as it will increase big pvp battles.

Not very good for small clans however unless they are in big alliances. Sucks to be them I guess. :p
This.
Give small clans some love.

[ISVRaDa]

I have a deja vu...

http://uo.stratics.com/pics/uot2aexit11.jpg

Serpent pilars....:rolleyes:

[Ginger Magician]

This sounds like a big fail to me.There are 2 sea towers who presumably only change hands at downtime like villages do now.All this will do is make zerg clans even richer and more powerful.Sure they may be a few fights to start with using ships but these will exclude 90% of the server population in small clans and who cannot afford the most expensive ships.

Villages at sea will be even more of a fail.Who wants to live in the sea and face a long swim or boat ride to get somewhere useful.

While this sort of stuff wont be game breaking I just feel it doesnt address some of the major issues in the game and will prove irrelevant to the vast majority of the population.
Ships are already extremely expensive and can only be built at cities with harbours.Do we really want a situation as recently where ever player is allied with each other so they can make ships and try to take part in pvp because there is no other option for small clans or soloists?

[Ezar]

This sounds like a big fail to me.There are 2 sea towers who presumably only change hands at downtime like villages do now.All this will do is make zerg clans even richer and more powerful.Sure they may be a few fights to start with using ships but these will exclude 90% of the server population in small clans and who cannot afford the most expensive ships.

Villages at sea will be even more of a fail.Who wants to live in the sea and face a long swim or boat ride to get somewhere useful.

While this sort of stuff wont be game breaking I just feel it doesnt address some of the major issues in the game and will prove irrelevant to the vast majority of the population.
Ships are already extremely expensive and can only be built at cities with harbours.Do we really want a situation as recently where ever player is allied with each other so they can make ships and try to take part in pvp because there is no other option for small clans or soloists?

I agree mostly. It does seem to prefer big alliances, which ain't a good thing.

I also don't like the fact that these cannons can be defended from the tower itself, so you don't have to fight back on a ship.

It is still an upgrade to the game, but it could have been done a lot better.

[Rycon]

I agree mostly. It does seem to prefer big alliances, which ain't a good thing.

I also don't like the fact that these cannons can be defended from the tower itself, so you don't have to fight back on a ship.

It is still an upgrade to the game, but it could have been done a lot better.

Remember there will be ship changes and damage changes.

Ships will be cheaper (prob wort the protection over rafts) , Cannons doing more damage to people , Improved pvp (no same class) etc etc etc

This means that the scene will change.Yes zerg clans might still have an advantage but you can not really prevent that.What the community can do is zerg the zerg.

[SSguy]

I can't help but wonder what a "sea village" is gonna look like. Hopefully they are on small islands and not floating immersion breakers.

Rumor has it they hired that dwarf architect responsible for the first floating city towers to build the towns. :p

[Elmi]

Duh, no artwork this time :(

And i do agree that while ships can be made at harbours only - their amount (and as result - naval warfare) is heavy limited.

[wicked]

I agree mostly. It does seem to prefer big alliances, which ain't a good thing.

I also don't like the fact that these cannons can be defended from the tower itself, so you don't have to fight back on a ship.

It is still an upgrade to the game, but it could have been done a lot better.

if you can't beat them, join them! at least... when you play a game that was designed that way (large, epic battles!)

[thedrumchannell]

if you can't beat them, join them! at least... when you play a game that was designed that way (large, epic battles!)

There will NEVER be a FFA PvP game that doesn't include the zerg mentality. ;)

FFA PvP will always = "strength in numbers". If you don't like it, then look for smaller scale battles because that is where the skill is at in Darkfall.

[SSguy]

I agree mostly. It does seem to prefer big alliances, which ain't a good thing.


Who says big alliances is a bad thing? Don't make so many enemies imo.

[ReddogTN]

Not saying I dont like the Idea, However I hope thats not you're plain to bring seas to life. I hope you have more ideas that you bringing into the sea espect. Like fixen the boats to where they are wourth any thing. The cannons hit way to weak. Towareds humans as well as structures. Price Is just crazy for some. Man of war and the ones close to it I can see being so high. All though high s they are it still workable, But getting a astroblabe Isnt. I hope you are making better to use a boat. But not a bad idea.

[Fenrir Frauki]

if you can't beat them, join them! at least... when you play a game that was designed that way (large, epic battles!)

only retards play that way and theres nothing epic about zerg vs zerg fights. i find it even dumber that their plan to bring the seas to life is to add sea towers and sea villages. I'd much rather see ships used to actually attack cities instead of changing to focus to capture the flag in the middle of the ocean, you don't even need to put on gear to fire a cannon.

they should be focusing on making craftable ammunition for ships and land cannons alike, adding more coastal and island cities, and finding a way to add things like trade routes and cargo ships. Right now I'm not too impressed with what they have to offer, villages sounded like an awesome idea and turned out to be shit. Sea towers doesn't even sound that appealing to me, so I'm less than optimistic about how it's gonna play out.

I actually find myself agreeing with Ginger Magician on this one. :rolleyes:

Last thing this game needs is more towers. Trying to back it up and say it's gonna play into the lore is a joke. You need to actually write the lore before you add this kinda shit. Making up the lore after the fact and as you go along defeats the purpose of lore.

[Keno]

Hrmm, how about we wait and see what the expansion delivers before we start bashing it. Just because they made a post about the villages and towers does not mean that is all they are adding to the sea life. I am sure that the ships themselves will have a massive overhaul making them viable against coastal cities. Hopefully they add some customization options as well, to make some ships unique. And as far as the trade route's go, I bet ships will be linked with that some how.

[Arethel]

Sounds Epic

[Lumanil]

Hrmm, how about we wait and see what the expansion delivers before we start bashing it. Just because they made a post about the villages and towers does not mean that is all they are adding to the sea life. I am sure that the ships themselves will have a massive overhaul making them viable against coastal cities. Hopefully they add some customization options as well, to make some ships unique. And as far as the trade route's go, I bet ships will be linked with that some how.

I have to fully agree. We only know of some little parts of this big puzzle.
So don't start bashing anything. Its whole thing we need to see and test, before we are able to make our own decision.
There are many changes in this expansion, which are build on eachother. Things which aren't amazing on its own, but maybe awesome as a whole.

[Battle Smurf]

You better make the income from the sea towers REALLY good if you want this to create much needed reason for naval pvp.

[stony23]

You better make the income from the sea towers REALLY good if you want this to create much needed reason for naval pvp.

its all about the fame man!

[Dragoon]

Funny how anything that involves competitive play and you have baddies crying about how zergs will take them over. Should aventurine remove PvP altogether since according to you PvP will be dominated by zergs?

My only real concern with this is whether or not the rewards are good enough to make it worth risking a boat. Boats still need to be drastically improved (stronger cannons, faster movement) and they need their prices reduced substantially.

The expansion might be crap, it might be awesome.. we don't know, this is just ONE feature of what will hopefully be many.

[Tengil]

I hope they have fixed it so that ships and other structures gives protection from AoE magic, or there will be a lot of swimming AoE mages.

[ISVRaDa]

Agree with magic protections on ships.

[Zeraphine]

Sounds interesting!

Can i get some stuff when i burn down the enemy in the sea tower? ;)

[Mezmorized]

Well it sounds kinda strange...reason for ships to exist are two shitty towers? yay...

...and some terminals where players can join the winning team? great.

I don't know but I'm kinda disappointed. Massive sea zergfest isn't the best way to make ships useful.



so small scale sea warfare is what you want?...Massive sea battles is exactly what this game needs...the market for all things ship related will sky rocket...thus making you more money if u have a lot of wood in your bank ...prices will probably drop or rise depending on how cheap(expansion notes) they are to make -- people will sell more and more wood and with armor getting upgrades and all these skill extensions (ie. Rage) armor will have a market as well...think outside of the box...

Chaos Stations where players can join winning clans...= more activity in capital, chaos citys = more pvp outside racial lands ...this might not last as long but if they continue making good changes it will make people go outside of there city and make them play.

[buiopltys]

I accept with information: Aventurine owes these smaller clans nothing in terms of handicapping clans larger than them that wish to control more territory, the power is ALREADY in player hands. If you want to destroy a large clan's holdings, or take them over, you can DO that. These "Anti Zerg" people are intentionally handicapping themselves with their supposed sense of "war ethics".

[pitullo]

new mount?