JG: “Warplots are like the pinnacle of raid style strategy for the PvP environment. With all of these other systems, you’re focusing a lot on tactical gameplay, but because youre in a guild structure for Warplots, you have a strategy layer on top of that.” Warparty management is an initial strategy and then tactical gameplay during the match.
Well coordinated guilds are going to have an advantage. In testing, both coordinated guilds and players newer to this level have both helped the development of Warplots, since seeing players able to get used to it over time.
JG: “ You can earn Prestige during those matches that you can spend at a special PvP vendor. You will be able to get gear for your level ranges, so if you want to continue PvPing as your primary leveling experience, you can do so.” And you won’t miss out on being underequipped for your specific level ranges.
MMORPG.com: So which queues are cross-realm?
JG: “Arenas, Battlegrounds, and Warplots - the rated versions of them are all cross-realm. For the open, it’s cross-realm as well, but players can choose to only queue for their home realm. So for players that want to have a sort of rivalry experience, they can choose to queue that way.”
“Because we want the ratings and your ELO score to mean something, cross-realm, region-wide...we decided to keep those [options available].” Gotta have bragging rights!
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MMORPG.com: So how has testing surprised you? Anything change as a result of having people try out the systems?
JG: “We were working on Walatiki Temple, and we noticed that we were all aiming our cameras down [due to the telegraphs] and the original design of the map didn’t have enough distinguishing elements to delineate the sides.”
Decisions were made to distinguish the sides a little more in the terrain and even lower, so that players were able to always have a better sense of the territory.
Team respawn was also a bit of a surprise, but it worked so well it’s now a standout feature.
JG: “We kind of happened upon the team respawn almost by accident. We were doing the testing and we were in a combat model at the time that was really fast, people were dying very quickly, and we wanted to have the matches last a little longer so we could test the layout.”
“So we quickly put together this team respawn system just so we could have the matches last at least 15 minutes and we could get some feedback on the space. And it turns out everybody loved it - because it allows you to regroup, you’re not just focused on burning down your opponents, and even when the model changed and player death times got longer, we felt we needed to keep it because it presented a unique gameplay element to Arenas.”
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As for what’s to come? There are surprises in store for post launch too. Both Gordy and Lee were excited about things that shall remain locked away for now, but were able to mention that there’s already internal testing on some of the stuff and that it will be in line with the regular updates promised by the team. Expect new maps and a promise they’ll “keep things updated fresh”. Given what we’ve seen so far, and if we’re guessing, features like Warplots will see some additions and increased options down the line.
Christina Gonzalez / Christina is a freelancer and contributor to MMORPG.com, where she writes the community-focused Social Hub column. You will also find her contributions at RTSGuru. Follow her on Twitter: @c_gonzalez
