Can someone sum up all the outpost stuff?

[cdhollan]

There's a lot of dated posts on the boards, and a lot of confusin and long ones...

Can someone sum up what outposts are, how they work, and why so many people seem so upset over them?

What's the big deal about outposts that they make people want to quit the otherwise nearly perfect game?

[rushin]

very briefly

's not outposts that are the problem, its that people have to pick sides.

its caused and is still causing a lot of problems as the introduction of large scale PvP/GvG/FvF is relatively recent, a lot of us have had well over a year of peaceful living before these things were introduced in anything but the lore.

throw into that neutrals, who dont want to pick sides and there is quite a mess while everyone adjusts.

Still vaguely hopeful it will happen sooner or later.. I got really pissed off with all the aggro and have been playing an alt for the last month or so

[kyesmith]

For me, the problem with outposts is, 6 months ago kami and kara wernt any different, faction didnt mean anything, one day the devs deside we should kill each other, people you have grown to know are suddenly the people you have to kill!?
Other issue is the rewards for OPs, i see crystals which double exp as something that will only speed up the games life, not to mention a massive reward to those who have them

[naratuul]

For me, the problem with outposts is, 6 months ago kami and kara wernt any different, faction didnt mean anything, one day the devs deside we should kill each other, people you have grown to know are suddenly the people you have to kill!?
Other issue is the rewards for OPs, i see crystals which double exp as something that will only speed up the games life, not to mention a massive reward to those who have them

I see crystals that double XP creating players that need an escort to the plod spots in void at level 200, I see crystals creating level 215 diggers that can't careplan and don't know where the mats are at, I see crystals destroying the game...

[rushin]

I see crystals that double XP creating players that need an escort to the plod spots in void at level 200, I see crystals creating level 215 diggers that can't careplan and don't know where the mats are at, I see crystals destroying the game...

true, and it's worrying. but also its just a game mechanic. it's up to guild leaders of op owning guilds to take some responsibility and use them wisely, and players on the receiving end to think about what they are doing as well.

remember kids, there is no rush.. the journey is the fun bit

imo there should just be crafting cats, nothing for other skills

[cdhollan]

Do crystals really pose that big of a threat? How many skills can you get to 250? Even using crystals all the time, how long would it take to get everything to 250.

People powerleveling and being ignorent isn't really your problem, it's theirs. If they have a 250 dig skill and don't know where to get any materials, the only way that effects you is if you choose to use that person as your material supplier. And then you could simply tell them or show them where to go if you really wanted what they can get.

No ones under any obligation to help anyone else if they don't want to... I think having people who need escorts might be kinda fun. Here you have the idiot digger savant who can't take care of himself, but he sure can dig!

Are you sure the XP crystal thing isn't just related to personal feelings of being ripped off and cheated? You guys hard to work hard to get high level skills... and now with outposts people can get the same skill in half the time with much less struggling and hard work... I know that'd feel kind of cheap to me, personally... but I don't really think its going to destroy the game.

[naratuul]

true, and it's worrying. but also its just a game mechanic. it's up to guild leaders of op owning guilds to take some responsibility and use them wisely, and players on the receiving end to think about what they are doing as well.

remember kids, there is no rush.. the journey is the fun bit

imo there should just be crafting cats, nothing for other skills

I agree totally that cats should be for crafting only im pretty sure you would still be a 250 digger well before you hit 250 in all pieces of jewelry or armor even with crafting cats

One of our guildies has a saying , "It's a journey, not a race." Cats can be really useful for leveling but excessive use of cats makes for players that don't know the lands or the game, they only know what mob gives the fastest xp for what level...

[varelse]

Outposts provide special materials, catalysts to increase your experience gain (speeding up leveling) and flowers that can boost your statistics. The outpost has no direct maintenance cost, aside from the cost of defending it if a rival group attacks it. It seems that most of the issues surrounding outposts have to do with the fact that control of them and thus access to the resources they provide, are linked with player vs player system and thus would seem to exclude the pure pve players completely from this latest expansion. As with any system where there are winners and losers, there is much angst expressed on the forums. If you log in a play the game, however, this doesn't typically carry over into it.

Anyway, here are the 'nuts and bolts' of the outpost system:


Overview:

Each Chapter since Ryzom's launch has brought its set of new features; chapter III is no exception to the rule, as it will introduce the outposts. The concept behind the outposts is to give new tools to the guilds and some exciting challenges. They give new rewards, linked to each outpost, but their arrival also brings a new dimension to GvG (Guild versus Guild), as guilds will fight to gain control of the outposts. This feature opens a new path for PvP, with fights between armies of players.
Unique advantages

The outposts provide unique advantages. Each outpost gives a bonus to the guild that occupies it. The guild can also construct a few buildings on the outpost's territory to gain further advantages.

NPC controlled outposts

When an outpost is not owned by a guild, hostile NPCs or creatures may occupy it. The first challenge for a guild, which wants to get control of an outpost held by these NPCs, is to fight and defeat them.

Guild wars

The next challenge is to actually keep the control of the outpost. Other guilds can try to conquer it by launching an offensive. In case of conflict between two guilds, the zone around the outpost becomes a PvP area.

Hiring NPCs

The guilds can hire NPC soldiers to defend their outpost. They can choose between different types of NPCs and organize their defense.

Alliances

If the NPC soldiers and guild members don't suffice to fend off against another guild's offensive, the defending guild can call allied guilds for help. The attacking guild can also be helped by other guilds in its attempt to conquer an outpost. Diplomacy becomes all important !

Victory

To gain control over an outpost, the attacking guild needs to overcome the defenses set up by the defending guild. The new owner then has to quickly organize new defenses to prepare for a possible counter-attack.

Details on mechanics:





Summary1. Declaring War


2. Attack battle
3. Defense battle
4. Minimum threshold
5. Buying squads
6. Squads management
7. Squads power
8. Conflict area


1. Declaring War (24 hours)


If a guild wants to take an outpost, it must first declare war to the current owner of that outpost. The war declaration takes 24 hours, to allow the two opponents to organize themselves, to give them a chance to be there when the true conflict occurs. At the time the war is declared [Update], the attacking guild can choose a time when the “attack battle” will take place. During the first 24 hours (declaration period) [Update] the defending guild a time where the “defence battle” will take place (see below).
Note: While only one guild at a time can declare war to a given outpost, temporary alliances are possible.



2. Attack battle (2 hours)


A battle is divided in several rounds, each of them lasting a given amount of time (We’ll start with 5 minutes [Update], for example, and modify that depending on the results and your comments).
As soon as a round starts, one or more NPC squads appear at the outpost to defend it. The goal of the attacker is to get rid of all the spawned squads before the end of the round. The goal of the defenders is, of course, to not let the attackers achieve their goal by making sure the squads stay alive.
Every round has a given level of difficulty. The outcome of each round decides if the level of the next round will be increased or decreased: if the attacker wins (all squads are killed), the level is increased, otherwise, it is decreased. The attackers must try to attain the highest level they can.
At level 1, only one squad is spawned. At level 2, a squad spawns at the beginning of the round and a second squad spawns at mid-round. At level 3, 2 squads spawn at the beginning and one more at mid-round. At level 4, 2 squads spawn at the beginning of the round, then one more after 3 minutes and one more after 6 minutes, and so on. Generally speaking, when the level is increased, the time it takes new squads to arrive shortens, and the number of simultaneous squads increases.
The squads are despawned at the end of each round and “fresh” squads are respawned for the next round.

At the end of the 2 hour period, the higher level attained by the attackers over the whole battle will be kept.

Then, there are two possibilities:



• The attackers haven’t exceeded the minimum required level (the “minimum threshold”, cf. 4). In this case, war will come to an end, no defence period will start and the attackers have lost. The outpost will be kept by its current owners;Or:• The attackers attained the minimum threshold. In that case, this level is the one the defenders will have to reach during the defence battle to keep ownership of their outpost.


3. Defence period (2 hours)


If attackers did reach the minimum threshold, then defenders will have to react. We can consider this second battle as the counter-attack. It occurs the same way as the attack phase, but roles are reversed: The appearing squads belong to attackers and defenders have to kill them. And, of course, attackers have to try to prevent them from doing it.
To keep the outpost, the defenders don’t need to do better than attackers; they just have to reach the same level.



4. Minimum threshold


When a guild has succeeded in taking over an outpost, the battle level the guild reached to conquer it becomes the new minimum threshold for the outpost. It will be the level that any guild wanting to control that outpost will have to exceed.
This threshold decreases over time, offering some protection after the takeover, but it won’t stay long. The threshold will be at its maximum during the first two days, then decrease by one battle level every two days.


5. Buying squads


Default squads are given to both sides; however, they are relatively weak. It is possible to buy new ones, about two times stronger. Also, their spawn order can be chosen.. When a squad is killed, if it was a paid one, it is lost forever. When there are no more paid squads, the default ones are used.


6. Squads management


Squads appear in two lists, sorted in the order they will be spawned. The first list allows to select the lists to be spawned at the beginning of the round, the second one the squads to be spawned during the round, thus allowing to setup strategies. A squad is paid when it spawns, and is reimbursed at the end of the round if at least one of its members is still alive. [Update]


Authorized persons among those owning the outpost can change this order in the list. Changes during a battle have no effect on the current round, but will be effective for the next round.


7. Squads power


Squads are considered as level 250, but with a level 50 defence, thus allowing a low-level character to attack them. However, their HP reserve will be larger than the one of a normal character and will depend on the level of the outpost. Also, in each squad, there is always a leader who has a defence corresponding to the outpost level. Thus, a high-level outpost couldn’t be taken by only low-level characters.


8. Conflict area

The conflict area is limited to the outpost perimeter; when you leave the perimeter, you have to wait a few minutes before quitting the Outpost combat though. [Update]


Rewards:

Production : Outposts Rewards by Xavier Antoviaque

After the explanation of the Outposts battle system and the special edition of the Q&A, here is the third and last document on the Outposts feature, aka Chapter III, to be released next month.

Some of you have noticed that I had let two important questions unanswered in the Q&A: what will we gain in conquering an Outpost, and what will be the role of harvesters/crafters in regards to the Outposts? This document answers both questions at once, since crafters will be the ones benefiting directly from the Outposts: you'll be able to buy a forage building to gather new kind of raw materials.

[ Discuss it! ]






Overall Concept

When you conquer an Outpost, you won't directly get a reward or a bonus. You'll have to actually use the Outpost, by placing a forage building on the Outpost, which will allow you to dig more deeply into Atys' ground and reach new raw materials and consumable items. They will depend on the Outpost you are controlling.




New Raw Materials

Once the foraging building is available, new raw materials will be automatically and periodically gathered, and be available for your own crafters, or for distribution among your allies.




New Crafting Plans

You will also get new crafting plans (92 in total), to be used with the new raw materials. New weapons, tools and amplifiers - with new skins - will be made out of it.




New Tools

The new tools you will be able to craft using the new raw materials and crafting plans won't open a new crafting skill branch, but will help you to improve the charateristics of the items you will craft by using them.





Consumables

You will also get items of a new type, consumables, which will - for example - increase your character's characteristics temporarily.




XP Catalysers

XP catalysers are a special type of consumables, which increase your learning efficiency, and allow to earn more experience points from a given action (it doubles the amount).

There are 5 different levels of catalysers (50, 100, 150, 200, 250); a catalyser of a given type only improves your learning efficiency for a skill whose level is equal or below the catalyser level. 1 catalyser is consumed for every 100 XP added as a bonus.

Example:

- You activate a level 50 catalyser stack (quantity 34);
- You kill a mob which would normally earn you 2,500 XP with a skill level of 23;
- The catalyser works - you earn 5,000 XP, and the catalyser quantity decreases to 9;
- You kill the same kind of mob with the same skill, which would still earn you 2,500 XP without the catalyser effect;
- The catalyser works, but that time you only get a total of 3,400 XP (2,500 + 900 XP), since you have only 9 catalysers left.

[naratuul]

Do crystals really pose that big of a threat? How many skills can you get to 250? Even using crystals all the time, how long would it take to get everything to 250.

People powerleveling and being ignorent isn't really your problem, it's theirs. If they have a 250 dig skill and don't know where to get any materials, the only way that effects you is if you choose to use that person as your material supplier. And then you could simply tell them or show them where to go if you really wanted what they can get.

No ones under any obligation to help anyone else if they don't want to... I think having people who need escorts might be kinda fun. Here you have the idiot digger savant who can't take care of himself, but he sure can dig!

Are you sure the XP crystal thing isn't just related to personal feelings of being ripped off and cheated? You guys hard to work hard to get high level skills... and now with outposts people can get the same skill in half the time with much less struggling and hard work... I know that'd feel kind of cheap to me, personally... but I don't really think its going to destroy the game.

Nope dont feel cheated, I was in a large guild that had plenty of cats, before I moved on im my journeys on Atyss. What I am saying is excessive use of cats creates high level players that don't know how to play the game very well. They don't acquire the skills that they would have gotten by leveling the normal way, and they can often be a major liability on group hunts and treks.

As far as the digger thing, I think its hilarious to be honest, but the fact remains that I know a couple diggers that would be pretty pissed if they were on the supernode and a crystal baby kept blowing up ;P

Maybe I was a little harsh in my wording that they are destroying the game, what they are really doing is just watering it down and making accomplishments less impressive. I guess it really doesn't matter but I'm sure many people can fondly remember the days when having a 250 skill actually meant something, you had to work hard and be a productive team member to get there...

[katriell]

People who are bored by grinding and prefer more creative, productive activities like exploring, roleplaying, helping others, etc. benefit from crystals.

I think this sums up the attitude of "I had to work hard to get my precious high levels, so I feel bad when others do it in half the time":
"Back in my day, I had to walk ten miles to school uphill both ways in the snow without shoes...young'uns these days ought to have to do the same!"