Outland Expansion Incoming!

    • I am torn on expansion. If SBI provides more activities for people to do in black this change could work but keeping the game as is will definitely lead to some dead zones. Black zones still need more continuous objectives to fight over. Also the game desperately needs hideouts implemented as quickly as possible to give guilds a home in black to encourage more players to reside in black.

    • tabooshka wrote:

      Joshuan wrote:

      but so much cynism and negativity after reading that actual new content is coming to the game in under a month
      im sorry, but are you calling copy pasted continent "new content"?
      1. They will rework the whole outlands map -> Avalon projekt
      2. How do you know it will be copy paste? Do you have further information?
      3. Albions Map design is more or less the way it is since the long Betas with constant little impoovements. If you dislike the copy paste design then why are you still playing it? I admit its not on the same level like other map designs like Guild Wars 2 (i loved it..) however considering their limited financial ressources its kinda okay. Again... its probably going to get a significant rework with Avalon.

    • I’ve been playing this game off and on since winter alpha. Map expansion was tried in the past and didn’t work. Even with F2P activity, I can run around Cumbria for hours barely finding people to fight. Even if you create focal points in zones, it will only add to short bursts of Zerg activity for that timer, and the map will be come a desolate wasteland. Open world PvP will die with this patch. It died when maps were expanded in testing and it was dead prior to the launch of RDs. The RD patch repopulated the red and black zones with players to fight. Now, everyone’s going to be so spread out it’ll be like a dungeon dive game of where’s Waldo . Perhaps a slight increase in size of the Royal continent would be more appropriate, to give new players more red zones to earn their stripes. If the issue is not enough terry’s for the number of players, just add more terry’s to the black zone. You already have hideouts coming down the pipe. Before you know it, the open world will be dead from the large amount of map space, random dungeons and hideouts. Portal camping like Alderwood might be viable, but with the addition of new portals, who knows what the traffic will be like.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Sharka ().

    • skillazor wrote:

      Eltharyon wrote:

      We feel it would be unfair to make new players wait until we finish that rework to have a chance to claim their own piece of Albion
      I thought royale continent is for new players with IP capped in GvG. Why no new town and zones in royals ?


      We have found that, in the past, the vast majority of players who stick with Albion play in the Outlands. While the Royal Continent is currently overpopulated, its unlikely for this to remain this way in the long run. We do anticipate the need for new guilds forming and establishing themselves, however, and therefore we're taking action now. The goal here is to avoid problems further down the road and to prevent players from 'bouncing' due to a lack of opportunity in the existing Outlands.

      Its worth mentioning we're announcing this change now to be as transparent about it as possible, while the actual change itself is still a few weeks away.

    • 10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.

    • Eltharyon wrote:

      skillazor wrote:

      Eltharyon wrote:

      We feel it would be unfair to make new players wait until we finish that rework to have a chance to claim their own piece of Albion
      I thought royale continent is for new players with IP capped in GvG. Why no new town and zones in royals ?
      We have found that, in the past, the vast majority of players who stick with Albion play in the Outlands. While the Royal Continent is currently overpopulated, its unlikely for this to remain this way in the long run. We do anticipate the need for new guilds forming and establishing themselves, however, and therefore we're taking action now. The goal here is to avoid problems further down the road and to prevent players from 'bouncing' due to a lack of opportunity in the existing Outlands.

      Its worth mentioning we're announcing this change now to be as transparent about it as possible, while the actual change itself is still a few weeks away.
      Again to point back to my previous post, you can resolve this by SMALL increase in Outland size, hideouts and adding more terry’s and open world hotspots. This will offer more opportunities for guilds while preserving open world pvp. It’s partially about surface area (server stability) and mostly about what you do with that surface area.

    • Belemrys wrote:

      10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.
      Good news is, if this turns out to be too much, we can use that information in the final re-design of the Outlands.

      If we lose a lot of players now due to lack of opportunity to claim territory (we can't get the hideouts built this fast, they're quite complex), we probably won't get them back.

      In short: In case we're wrong about this we stand ready to correct it. In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.

    • Eltharyon wrote:

      Belemrys wrote:

      10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.
      Good news is, if this turns out to be too much, we can use that information in the final re-design of the Outlands.
      If we lose a lot of players now due to lack of opportunity to claim territory (we can't get the hideouts built this fast, they're quite complex), we probably won't get them back.

      In short: In case we're wrong about this we stand ready to correct it. In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.
      if this is all a temporary solution, why not just double up on territories in the maps that already exist? Or is that too difficult to do development wise versus copy paste maps.

    • Sharka wrote:

      Eltharyon wrote:

      Belemrys wrote:

      10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.
      Good news is, if this turns out to be too much, we can use that information in the final re-design of the Outlands.If we lose a lot of players now due to lack of opportunity to claim territory (we can't get the hideouts built this fast, they're quite complex), we probably won't get them back.

      In short: In case we're wrong about this we stand ready to correct it. In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.
      if this is all a temporary solution, why not just double up on territories in the maps that already exist? Or is that too difficult to do development wise versus copy paste maps.
      Because they are using design to avoid hardware limitations instead of upgrading hardware to satisfy their design. They dont want 10x population waiting in royal portals trying to get into the outlands on reset day and getting zone cap messages.

    • Eltharyon wrote:

      In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.
      Thanks for answers, I guess some risk changes must be implemented but :

      1) expanding BZ with current portal system is splitting population.
      2) expanding Royals = overall all players playing together.

      Of course, the first solution is more ,,cheaper" than second. I hope this change will have a really small impact before outlands redesign.

    • lol so much maps , DEAD ZONES incoming , less pvp incoming.


      So you want to disperse the players even more? you are boycotting your content, the probability of non-spoiled / spontaneous pvp will drastically decrease. you are taking the game to a ffing simulator, which has improved but does not have enough quality to sustain the game, so I insist, what are these changes? what is the need?


      BAD MOVE.

    • my question: will it be possible to crystal gvg from the new territories?

      Now I think it's a bad idea to keep the energy generation of the territories and castles of this continents.
      IMO remove them so the current biggest alliances get less incentives to go there.
      I think the data you would get from such a change would also be really interesting.

      Sidenote for the whiners: this change is done this way since this continents were already prepared in beta 3 resulting in a low devtime demand. Having a different "hotfix" would mean less time to develop the planned changes of the roadmap.

    • Eltharyon wrote:

      Belemrys wrote:

      10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.
      Good news is, if this turns out to be too much, we can use that information in the final re-design of the Outlands.
      If we lose a lot of players now due to lack of opportunity to claim territory (we can't get the hideouts built this fast, they're quite complex), we probably won't get them back.

      In short: In case we're wrong about this we stand ready to correct it. In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.
      The problem is how territory is claimed (through GvG) not that there is not enough territories to go around... adding nearly 2x the amount of land you have now is going to dillute player interactions greatly :(

    • Eltharyon wrote:

      Belemrys wrote:

      10x the number of players is encouraging but in the end I think our game population will not warrant the doubling of the black zone. For reset it helps with lag but day to day activities and living out of the black zone has been non-eventful for a long time. I would have implemented hideouts to give new guilds an opportunity to fight and create diplomatic relationships in the black zone and expanded royals...the amount of black zone fame and resources and energy are going to inflate the economy even more so...I think this is rash, I would have waited for Avalon to expand the outlands as you would have better population data by then.
      Good news is, if this turns out to be too much, we can use that information in the final re-design of the Outlands.
      If we lose a lot of players now due to lack of opportunity to claim territory (we can't get the hideouts built this fast, they're quite complex), we probably won't get them back.

      In short: In case we're wrong about this we stand ready to correct it. In case we're right, we'll have a lot more guilds getting into Outland gameplay, which can only be good for the game.
      Wait, you decided on a moderated adjustment based on your perspective as a game developer with all relevant information at your disposal?

      I am sorta used to people just shouting and carrying on about what should and shouldn't happen, based on such serious factors such as,how the chicken bones have fallen in a circle or how they feel about things in the game from their perspective as the worlds foremost expert on bumble bees.

      I don't think I am ready for this brave new world.
      Discord: Piddle#7413

    • Myringains wrote:

      fezao wrote:

      Myringains wrote:

      Im glad you guys learnt nothing from beta 2.
      i dont understand. can u explain?
      They tried to Increase map size in beta 2, resulting in ton of dead zones.

      Termination wrote:

      Adding space, just like in beta 2 resulted in dead zones.
      I dont think they had 20,000-30,000 even 40k players in Beta, did they?