Dev Blog #2 What is Melee?

[Moncho]

About the spotting, will there be espionage to know details about the army? (using some citizen's family member specialised for the task for example)
Will there be a notification about "an army x strong is heading your way"?
And what about raids or other minor conflicts to destroy infrastructure or hurt economy without taking control of the castle/town?
And will armies move on the map and be susceptible for example to harrassment while they move and require outriders to keep safe and stuff? Will they devour the countryside at their pass and disband if unfed? (especially if you run out of supplies for them)

[BlackxBird]

Will there be Kesh?

Isnt discount kesh enough?

[Son Of Odin]

Maybe it's Kesh's turn to be discount kesh.

All I know is that from what I understand, on day 1 of release the name 'Kesh' is going to suddenly available on a first-come first-served basis... There better not be some bullshit early-access/beta/thing going on that allows the cRPG players who get in there to reserve every name they want before release. What's the betting that 1 cRPG player will grab all the best names first.

I thought early backers get to choose one name? Or was it a part of the kickstart campaign and thus now invalid? I don't remember anymore.

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Will you need to physically log in to the game and physically 'see' these approaching armies? (basically, are we fucked if we're at work?)

Or is there some integrated browser-feature that allows you to monitor your holdings/prepare a defence remotely?

Or a phone app!

I'm a little concerned. I'm not too worried about the settlement building, army raising and economics but is there still a place for someone who just wants to turn up and fight some guys for an hour then disappear?

[chadz]

...but is there still a place for someone who just wants to turn up and fight some guys for an hour then disappear?

Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

[Son Of Odin]

Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

They stole it from us. Sneaky little casualses. Filthy casualses
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[BlackxBird]

So Im not quite sure if I understood it.

U will be one person who has a family, with up to 5 members including urself. So, will this family be only for the economy thing or will u have to play with them too?

Will u extremely change the lvl thing or will str/agi and things like ps stay?

Will the basics of the  loompoint system stay? Or will there even be any loompoints?

When u produce something with ur blacksmith member, will it be like u can use those things on the public servers? And will u produce them only for u or for all those people who fight in ur battles?

[Hobb]

From an economy perspective, How will ranged classes be balanced in terms of small scale persistent gameplay vs large scale war? Assuming Melee's mechanics are even remotely similar to Crpg, heavy concentrations of archers often hinder the gameplay in strategus battles. Yet, realistically in both game and i'd assume historically, the archer class is "cheap." Arrows and bows cost less compared to melee weapons while the class itself doesn't require armor, and since archers fight in the back, bows are easily reused. Furthermore, low skill players can contribute more as archers firing into crowds, than any other class, which if nothing else is an indirect nerf to the concept of the individual, highly skilled "mercenary."

From a clan leader/commonder's view, it's a tradeoff between efficiency and fun. The commander, who is trying to win a war is going to choose efficiency everytime.

[Molly]

Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

Will the income of fighting instant battles be high enough to allow the higher tier gear or are "casuals" limited to peasantry cuz the income isn't high enough w/o involvement in the persistent world?

[matt2507]

- It is one open map, but split on multiple servers. So there will be small loading times when moving from one area to the other, but we'll try and keep that experience as smooth as possible. It will be possible to stand on a mountain and spot castles in the far distance built by other players

When you say "multiple servers", those servers are only officials servers or they are also the community servers ?
Do I have the possibility to create my own server and to set it up as a part of the official map ?

Also, there is any plan about capturing / ransom someone (player or family member) ?

[Ninja_Khorin]

Will the income of fighting instant battles be high enough to allow the higher tier gear or are "casuals" limited to peasantry cuz the income isn't high enough w/o involvement in the persistent world?

More importantly for me, does gear matter in Melee?

In crpg, I find that you can make do with practically any gear as long as you adapt to it. Mind is the armor 'n all that.

The strength of M&B combat system is that blocking negates all damage and that more expensive gear comes with downsides like slower speed making ninjas and other peasant types as viable as the heavier sorts.

[Casimir]

You mentioned the fact that all goods in the game will be player created, but considering you also said you don't want this to be a survival games how will you deal with agricultural goods (such as food, beer and wine) which made up some much of the medieval economy and how will the players get access to the raw materials needed to start agriculture (seeds for planting / animals for breeding)? 

Will there be an advantage/disadvantage to eating/drinking , how will supplies of food/drink affect war (either individual characters or giving bonuses for good supplies of food / drink)?

With regards to war is raiding/pillaging/sieging an enemy to starve them of basic commodities a viable strategy or will it come down to the fortunes of battle and will there be seasonal change which makes campaigning at different times significant and long wars costly for both sides?

[Soulreaver]

This is not a game for everyone

why?

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Yes, we actually talked about this a lot. You can basically do that and not concern yourself with anything in the world - or nearly nothing, you will still have to use it to buy equipment in the world, but apart from that, go ahead.

Good! Since I'm definitely going to be trying out the fighting system I don't know how the rest will sit with me, was never a fan of strat but it's good that there's still things to do. Just need to make sure there's an incentive to look at the "epic" side of the game as much as the "battlegrounds" of the game without it being too negative on the "battlegrounders". Do you actually have names for the different modes yet?

[pogosan]