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Environments?
Exarchi
Member Posts: 17
So I was just wondering if much light had been shed in terms of environments and terrains in CU?
I've searched several wikis and haven't been able to find anything. I guess it's lower on the priorities compared to classes/races and gameplay mechanics.
For me nothing compares to my first trips through the snowy caps of odin's gate and yggdra forest in DAOC. There's just something magic about exploring new lands whilst being under the threat of running into enemy realm members. I also hope we'll see similar, epic size, mile gates and border keeps in Camelot Unchained, they really add to the tension and instantly build the adrenaline as they creep into view.
I'd love to hear more about what's in store, maybe in the next few weeks?
Comments
100% agree..
no kid soccer game style battle ground pvp for this guy.
give me open forests and fields with dangers at every corner, like good old emain
The way mmo's were: Community, Exploration, Character Development, Conquest.
The way mmo's are now : Cut-Scenes,Cut-Scenes, solo Questing, Cut-Scenes...
www.CeaselessGuild.com
I would like to see a combination of the feel of OF and NF.(not NNF, as that was a joke)
I would like to see much of the terrain of OF, with the architechture and siege much more akin to NF.
Yes, I failed to mention my fond memories were from OF, the terrain was beautifully structured.
Then, as a hib, my first foray into Sauvage... I was with a really good group. It was when I started learning how to be effective in rvr, and because it was happening while exploring a land so different from the one I had spent so much time levelling up in, it really inspired a sense of awe.
I hope CU's environments are very distinct in this sense, not just aesthetically, but in a way that affects gameplay. Primodial forest combat should differ tactically and strategically from plains combat, for example.
Can't wait to see what a world torn apart by a shattered Veil looks like, either.
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/PerfArt
First time @ milegate.......perf, creeping doom, dead.
the excitement every time those first few days was unreal..........heart pounding!
Then I rerolled. Ha.
By the time my NS was levelled, they had fixed that bug, but the PA/CD combo was still effing lethal. I know people generally don't like perma-stealth, and I am not trying to address THAT issue at all...
... but my favorite part about stealth was not being able to 2 to 3 shot casters (or one if you were a SB using a two-hander) but being able to explore. Traversing enemy territory all alone and getting into unexpected fights, reporting enemy movement to my realm, being owned by (and owning) enemy stealthers doing the same thing I was... all golden.
Now I have veered away from the topic, so I will return to it. I hope the environments provide ways for people to navigate them and explore a bit, even sans stealth. I really loved the feeling of being all alone in the frontier, and if the environment facilitates that a LITTLE bit for soloers, I will be very happy. I want to feel all alone in a strange land again, hiding from enemies and being paranoid. I would gladly play a scout class with lesser dps to experience that in CU.
Perhaps an expansion or stretch goal
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/PerfArt
Open forests? Give me a deep dense wood over some sparse trees anyday. I'd like some place where your army can be ambushed by an enemy force. They can maybe pick off a few people then high tail it out of there.
- - "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?" - -
I'm going to guess that the terrain at launch is going to be pretty bare. I think half the point is that the crafter/builders are going to mold some of the terrain to their benefit/amusement.
There'll be keeps, some chokepoints, milegates maybe, and forging points to fight over, of course.
I like to say that landmarks are really important (in my opinion). Inbetween should be pretty lightly textured/mostly open with themes for a particular area, with a landmark that defines that theme. You could have a few hills along a shore (or cliff if there's no oceans left), with a broken lighthouse/signal tower. 2 FGs of Arts near the lighthouse, look out!
Even better if you enter chaos into the mix. Have a rare spawn or event that happens at these landmarks. Randomly the lighthouse could be like brand new, someone could gather the flaming wood from the signal fire to break down for a flame proc, use the wood to make a spear that helps it's wielder resist fire, or have the wood burnt extra hot, enough to melt and forge Duckownium. Though, the more you take, the more likely the tower would crumble over edge, taking you with it. You could mine a few, and just wait for the enemy to mine it, sit back, and watch them fall. You could camp it waiting for the enemy crafters to try to harvest the wood. Perhaps other times the tower could be on fire, just burning for no for good reason. Or rarely, a trapdoor that leads down to cave that spawns into the Depths, or a rare mineral vein. Perhaps that water sounds will be much louder then normal.
A field with a few of cracked stone humans aiting at stone tables. Sometimes, the tables will have the stone revert back to normal, and if you answer a riddle, they'll give some of their special food. Fail or attack them , and they'll turn into ghosts that basically act like animist bombers. Other times, it could be dwarf statues, or dryads; just for cosmetics. Other times it could be the ghosts already, and running by too close would be a nasty surprise.
Though, those are just ideas, but all in all I think landmarks are important to the look and feel of the terrain. They should give help provoke pride, by giving people a familiar location. Boasting how your small group ambushed the Viking horde out of the Cursed Bush. Had a brawl in the middle of the Graveyard against the TDDs fighting over the rare spawn. Set up a few traps in the Hollow Tree just to be, 'that guy!'
Outside the normal forests, pastures, fields, foothills etc. we could have some more exotic areas.
I would not mind seeing a cold northern area with open frozen tundra. The tundra would also include frozen rivers and lakes they would be extremely slippery. The ice could be thin in spots with the danger of falling through. Also some areas could be choked with snow where movement would be slow or completely restricted.
I would like to see swamps with water hazards and quicksand. Of course we would need many unseen underwater vermin.
We need a desert with sand storms, dunes and movement restrictions. The desert could include limited resources with the exceptions in an oasis. Fatigue due to the heat may limit endurance.
Other exotic themes that could be used are un-inhabited cites in total ruin. This could be like cliff dwellings in the desert. An Angkor Wat like styles in the swamps. And castle / Stonehenge structures for the tundra.
Nanulak
I just hope that climbing is enabled. I really want to climb trees, keep walls, ladders etc. In all the games where I've not been able to do it, it's always been very disappointing.
Imagine an ambush from the trees above in a wooded area
Fjords for the Viking area would be cool. Although too much water is usually a pain, especially when it slows you down too much.
As much as I loved the OF Midgard frontier, I did think it was wrong since the Anglo-Saxons and Celts never sailed to Scandinavia. DAoC circumvented that by implementing the portals which sort of worked.
For a history nerd like myself, I would like to see a Viking main encampment in York/Jorvik/Eoferwic which was a Viking stronghold for long periods of time. If the Arthurians were located in Wessex/Southern England, we could see the Celts cross the Irish sea and the main RvR area could be located in Mercia.
The environments and terrains of CU should be diverse. Some open areas and some hills and forests. As others have mentioned, DAoC did a great job of giving OF Yggdra a feeling of freezing temperatures and strong winds. As for structures, I hope they take the designs of OF, but add the ability to destroy wall sections like NF. However, destroyed sections should not magically rebuild upon killing the keep lord, but had to be rebuilt manually.
I am looking for the following things from the environment:
-Interactive. MJ has hinted as much that this would be in the game. Terrains which slow travel, impede vision, and otherwise provide dynamic affects to the gameplay rather than just providing scenery.
-Immersive. Graphics which make me shiver with the cold of the Viking lands, breathe in the fog of Arthurian moors and feel the sting of the Tautha mists.
-Unique. I want each land to have its own look and feel. I want to KNOW when I'm in the Viking lands, not because I have an axe buried in my skull, but because the lands look like Vikings would live there! I don't want deserts or tropical rain forests or high sierra or dusty praries... I want the lands to be cold, harsh and rugged with glimpses of warm sunlight that makes you feel like Danu herself has smiled upon the earth before Odin unzips his trousers on you.
Emeryc Eightdrakes - Ranger of DragonMyst Keep - Percival
RED IS DEAD!
I agree with everything. The question remains of how large the homelands needs to be since there is no PvE-leveling, and there is no need for large areas of mobs of various levels.
Another thought, I don't know if it is a great idea to have roads/paths that give a speed bonus. Part of me says it would be good since makes sense from a physical aspect, but I am uneasy about the exploitability.
It would make sense to have trees break LoS, which was not in DAoC. Took me a while to figure out that I did not have to make myself visible to use my bow effectively, and it was a feature I did not particularly care for.
Then you don't take advantage of the fastest terrain available. Fast and dangerous....or slow and safe(r)
Vargur, I wouldn't necessarily say speed buffs on roads, but rather speed DE-buffs on less forgiving terrain, like thick trees or rocky highlands or swampy marsh, etc. Again, I think it would be cool if the Scout class (archer or not) had some innate ability (or possibly a group aura) that provided him limited immunity to terrain-based speed de-buffs... less stealth, more mobility.
I can't possibly imagine the LoS issues we had in DAoC will pervade CU... the technology has come WAY too far. (I am unashamed to say I picked off Alb Casters from behind the trees in Hadrian's all day long!)
I do think mob camps shouldn't be TOO sparse. They could add a level of strategy to all actions in the Frontiers. It doesn't have to be for XP gain, but rather for strategic purposes... I used the Piper Faeries in Hadrian's to great effect when fighting Bonedancers and other pet classes (I actually solo'd Hryggr using them and he claimed I was the only stealther to beat him 1v1. I never could have done it or even come close without those faeries.)
EDITTED for clarity and spelling
Emeryc Eightdrakes - Ranger of DragonMyst Keep - Percival
RED IS DEAD!
If they change trees to having actual substance(blocks LoS, no shooting through), edges of forest will be nice for an archer.....but inside of the forest range attacks will almost be useless
Awww. And here I was all ready to share my axe with you!
The beauty of CU is that a lot of the things in the environment wil be created by the crafters in our realm, So if we want to make things like milegates, I'm sure we'll be able to do that!
I mean I'm sure there will be mountains and all that, but I'm nto sure if there will be any buildings at all in the beginning.
We may just start out with an empty slate, other than the safe area.
We may have to literally build everything ourselves outside of the starting city, nobody has really said whether or not there will be any buildings already there for us.
If its 100% empty, things will really get cool after a while, and I can see this happening to be honest.
Mark did say we will have to shape the world afterall.
Can I be Johnny Appleseed? Is there a tier for that?
Hryggr was a force beyond realism. He use to kite realm guards just so you couldn't CC his pets. (We where in the same guild, actually met him in RL once when hanging out with Erdan...Hryggr was a...character).
There has also been some talk about atmospheric environment...i.e. rain, snow, mist, fog, etc. One of the things I liked about DAoC was its implimentation of weather that really reduced visibility pretty effectively - both from an "enemy creeping through the mist towards you" standpoint and from an immersion standpoint.
I know MJ has confirmed that music is a high priority - not sure if he has said anything specifically about weather effects. Obviously they would have to be done without sacrificing performance, but I never remember it affecting performance in DAoC. 100-man zerg, yes...snowstorm with a smaller number of players on-screen, no.
I believe Jacobs has chimed in on the importance of day/night progressions that actually look like day and night - another thing that Dark Age got pretty spot-on and really added to both immersion and strategic gameplay.
Even if many of the structures in the environment are going to be player-built, I would imagine the designers will do quite a lot with static terrain and environmental features - hills, ravines, outcroppings, swamps, rivers or lakes, forests, tall grasses, heavy brush etc as these all contribute to strategy. (And shouldn't slow down framerate - unless you have unnecessarily elaborate water effects.) I don't think anyone needs to worry about a big open green soccer field - because not only is it not immersive or pretty, it's not fun! The big open soccer field leaves little room for strategy..
From what the designers have said about the game, I would think that anything that makes player strategy more interesting would be a high priority. Terrain in particular can really even the playing field for that solo player, small group, or crafter sneaking over to a mine, or to burn down the enemy's handy bridge so that they have to go the long way around to get to you! If you're clever and know the area, you should be able to get around the couple of full groups out patrolling. Especially if you can also use darkness and weather to your advantage.
I think whatever it is is going to look pretty darn good, even without player-built structures in it.
Fog!
Exactamentally.