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« on: April 11, 2013, 01:29:40 am »
First I'll say what that I'm sure balancing crpg is hell. Everyone , me included, whines virtually all the time and whatever you do people will complain about it.
That said, I'll also say that what players ask for often results in things they don't want happening. People asked at a time for a melee server, and it failed, because everyone went to EU1 instead.
The most players we had and the most teamplay (yes, with "pubs") we had was on old EU4. It was both fast (it could run with 220 players smoothly), and it's map rotation were all random open maps.
When you say that, most people imagine "cavalry paradise". Well, it was and it wasn't. It was in the sense you could play all maps as cavalry and potentially do well, since there was no impassable terrain for you. It wasn't, because archers were noticeably more effective firing at range back then, there were more of them and they were typically protected - outright attacking was just suicide, and even riding closeby was suicide - you had to stick behind your team, assist vs enemy cav, and then you could try attacking distracted people. On the other hand, due to player count in one part and the fact maps are open and flat (so once infantry is toast you WILL be caught) archers couldn't kite endlessly, camp hills or do such shenniganns - once there's no infantry to protect you you will get shot by other archers / mown down by horses.
Teamplay was enforced not by game mechanics (such as old gold/xp proximity system) but by how the game plays - you stuck together or died, sticking together was easy since the maps were open and largely flat and you saw where your team is, and if you didn't you would predictably die. There were no "town maps"; every map you had to act the same (assemble into some sort of formation, either advance together or camp) and then people learn how to stick together by rote, by repetition. it was the only time I regularly saw teamplay in CRPG.
The various classes all had their fun. The infantry clash was generally speaking decisive, but even a peasant with a scythe had a role and fun (eg; protecting archers from horses, helping infantry by stabbing people etc). Archers had their fun, shooting horses, other archers, and 2h heroes once the shieldwall broke. Cavalry had a map they could play on in every match. Ofc, it wasn't -perfect- (the horse charge at the time was overdone, for instance, and things like destriers too survivable, much like now), but overall I think it was a lot more fun for everyone.
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