Zone Domination

It may be fairly obvious that right now my focus isn’t quite with Warhammer Online. I still think the game is great but it doesn’t really offer a lot for the PvE play style. I’m just waiting for June to come around and that area to expand. I don’t have to buried deep in a game, however, to follow the happenings! Today I want to talk about Zone Domination.

On the whole I was all for Zone Domination. I felt it would go a long way towards forcing players to defend. Essentially the focus would be taken from the keep rotation and players would do their best to block the other side from locking a zone. It seemed like a solid idea.

In practice, however, some of the major flaws show through. These flaws are, unfortunately, inherent to this type of game. When it comes to an RvR/PvP game the major failing is the fact that the thing is 24/7. Lets face it, for RvR to work you need equal force at all times of the day and night. If you don’t have that things get skewed in a hurry.

Since Zone Domination was released Destruction on Monolith has been taking an extreme beating. Play time is the major culprit behind it too. Order simply has the players to hit things at off peak hours. Normally this is just a frustration for those late night players. In a game like this, however, where you can literally deny the other side resources this becomes a huge issue.

Beyond time issues you also have population balance. Historically speaking Order was outnumbered. Due to some incentives from Mythic and players switching sides that isn’t the case anymore. Zone Domination truly favors the side with more players. Yes, a small group can hold out but, while they do, other groups of the opposition can go claim other zones.

Ultimately I think ZD is a step in the right direction for Warhammer. It does encourage defense and with a little tweaking I’m certain it will come out right in the end.