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New Frontiers Open Beta Guide (as of 4/19/04)
Please note this is a work in progress, is subject to change, and is made available in an effort to help you all out with the testing.
Hook Points
One of the features that is accessible to all keeps, claimed and unclaimed, is the ability to purchase various objects for the keep to better defend the structure in one fashion or another. The method in which players will access these objects is via the familiar hook point system that we use in Foundations.
Every keep is made up of multiple wall/tower/gatehouse sections. Each section has a different number and type of hook points on it. The type of piece it is dictates what type of, and how many, hook points are on the keep piece.
To view the hook points on a specific wall section just Shift-Left Click on the desired keep piece. When you do this, the double-circle widget will appear in various numbers and colors depending on the piece. Higher level keeps will alter the number of hook points on a specific piece, including multiple tiered ramparts having hook points on multiple levels. Another method in displaying the hook points is to obtain the Realm Status Screen (explained below) and press the “Hookpnts” button.
There are currently 4 types of hook points in the game. Each of the four types of hook points has a corresponding colored widget so you know what can be purchased where. These widgets are as follows: Large Siege (Green), Small Siege (Yellow), NPC Combatants (Red) and NPC Support (Blue).
From here on out, using the keep hook point system should be fairly intuitive for people. When you right click on a widget, you get a store index where you can purchase various objects. So if a player right clicks on a Large Siege hook point on a corner tower of a keep, they will be presented with the option of buying a Mounted Ballista. That player can choose to pay for the Ballista in three different ways, Coin, Bounty Points or Guild Bounty Points. Currently this defaults to coin. The player would then click buy when they’ve chosen the payment option and the Ballista will appear on the hook point.
Note: All hook point purchased objects, once placed, cannot be removed or picked back up. They exist until they are destroyed or they decay (currently: 30min).
Outpost Towers use the same hook point system, but have fewer total hook points overall.
Claiming
Guild ownership of our current keeps is an important part of Dark Age of Camelot that is not going away in New Frontiers. All keeps can be claimed by individual guilds just like always, however in addition the outlying towers that surround each keep can be claimed by individual towers. So it is possible that a guild could claim the keep, and then 4 other guilds could each individually claim an Outpost Tower. Every structure would fly both the realm and guild banner of the guild that claimed the structure, as well as guards displaying the individual guild emblems as players are accustomed to seeing now.
We also realized that the way players interacted with the keeps could use some streamlining. We’ve implemented various XML windows across the expansion to assist with this task. The first one you’ll come across will be the Guild Claiming functionality. All of the old slash command functionality still exists, but hopefully players will forget it exists after awhile.
Players will get a full group together and approach a keep lord as normal, however all the leader of the group needs to do is to right click on the keep lord and they will then be asked if they wish to claim the keep. If that player clicks yes, a popup box will go to all group members asking if they wish to support the leader claiming the structure for the leaders’ guild. When all players click yes, the keep is claimed and the leader gets a new window that pops up. To claim a tower, players only need 4 members total instead of the 8 that a keep takes.
This window is called the Keep Claiming Interface Screen. This window has some familiar fields as well as a new field. It tells you the name of the keep, the level of the keep, a button to release the keep, and gives you arrow buttons to change the level of the keep. The new feature is Keep Lord Type. There are three types of keeps that a player can now set a keep to, Melee, Magic or Stealth. If a player doesn’t have the proper permissions, the keep will default to a Melee keep. Each of the three types controls spawn points throughout the keep and proper NPC’s of the type you’ve selected will spawn.
An example: A player takes his guild and wants to claim Dun Crauchon. The leader right clicks the lord and clicks yes he’d like to claim the keep. All of his group members agree to claim at which point the keep becomes theirs. The leader decides he wants a Stealther Keep, so selects that option. Around the keep Lurikeen Nightshades would spawn in place of some of the other guards.
Upgrading
Upgrading a keep is just as simple. In our example above the leader of the group forgot to upgrade the keep. At any time, any player can right click the keep lord and get the Claiming Interface Screen. If the player isn’t of the guild that claimed it, or is and doesn’t have the proper permissions they will see a Read Only version of the window. But if a player that does have the proper permissions goes to the keep lord and right clicks it, they will be presented with the same modifiable version they got upon claiming. Then they can simply alter the desired level of the keep and the keep adjusts its level towards what the player has set.
The levels at which the keeps upgrade has changed drastically from what it once was. A keep that has been fully upgraded to level 10 will be an awesome sight. These keeps will not only be impressive visually, but also with the potential defensive power that will be available to the defenders. To reflect this, it now takes a full 32 real life hours to upgrade a keep from level 1 to level 10. This progression is not linear, but a weighted progression as the first few upgrade levels will come quickly and then the time requirement starts to double.
The combat around and including the Outpost Towers is meant to be of a much faster, more fluid battle in terms of quantity of captures compared to the keeps, and as such the upgrade timer for upgrading a Outpost Tower remains at twelve minutes a level.
The keeps and towers will upgrade while players are present, so it is very possible that a player will be inside the keep or on a rampart when it is time for the castle to grow or shrink. When this happens the player will teleported to a nearby safe location. A message will be printed to the command window telling the player what just happened. Note however, that if the player is inside the lord tower, he will be teleported to another point inside the lord tower – the same holds true if someone is on a rampart, they will be teleported to another point on the ramparts. There should be no cases of a player being teleported completely outside of a keep if they were inside.
Keep Status
A quick way to get info on the keep is to simply Shift-Right click any wall piece on the castle. This will bring up a small display window called the Keep Status Screen. This is a read only window that mimics the Claiming Interface Screen, but with the addition that it displays the current health of the wall piece you clicked on.
Gate Keepers
In New Frontiers, there is no longer any need for Gatekeepers like there is now. You can enter and exit a door by a single right-clicking on it assuming you are of the proper realm. You may also say “enter” or “exit” in front of the doors to get to where you want to be.
Realm War Screen
The Realm War screen is an important part of the New Frontiers. The idea will be able to provide an approximate location of enemy forces, where battles are taking place, and what keeps are under siege. To access this window, you can either right click on a Frontiers Portal Stone or type /realmwar.
When a player first opens the realm war screen they will currently see the Hibernian Frontier with all of the keeps and towers on a simplified terrain map. Up at the top you have the names of the three frontiers which allow the player to switch back and forth between the three realm maps. The Key button opens up a mini-window that explains all the different symbols, and the Update button can force a request to the server to look for new Scouting and Battle reports. Note, if you right-click on a Frontiers Portal Stone the map that is displayed will be your home realm, and not Hibernia.
Clicking on various keeps and towers will display for the player the name of the keep/tower, it will show if any guild owns it, and if that keep or tower is under siege in the mini description box.
When the scouts from a tower or keep detect armies an icon will appear on the map corresponding to the size and realm affiliation of the army it detects. Each of the three realms will be represented by their realm specific icon. The size of the icon can be used to gauge the number of forces in the area.
When a battle erupts, the map will present a symbol containing two swords with realm specific colors corresponding to the two largest forces in the area (in the case of a three-way battle). Again, the size of the crossed sword symbol can be use to gauge the size of the battle occurring.
To see changes in the Realm War screen, there are two different methods you can utilize. The most obvious way is to open up a new Realm War map. All scouting and battle reports, as well as outpost siege states and ownership information is updated when a player opens up the Realm War map. The same functionality is provided by just changing the realm displayed and back. However, if you just want to refresh the scouting and battle reports on the map you currently have open, all that is needed is to press the Update button.
Keep Teleportation
Another new feature of New Frontiers is the ability to quickly travel between keeps via a Keep Teleportation system. In each keep and at every Homeland keep there will be a Frontiers Portal Stone. Right clicking this stone will bring up the Realm War window with a few additions. These additions would be the Teleport Button as well as solid circular disks under certain keeps on the map.
Each keep has certain requirements for it to be able to be teleported to, and if these requirements are met the solid circle will appear under the keep on the realm war map. These requirements are often referred to as the Supply Lines from the Homeland keep, the details of which are beyond the scope of this introduction.
If the keep that a player wants to travel to has the solid circle under its icon on the map, the player simply single left clicks it on the map and then presses the Teleport button and the player will be swiftly transported to the location inside the keep in question.
Relic Gates
The familiar milegates of the old frontiers have now become gates guarding the entrance into the Relic Area of the New Frontiers. These gates are not opened by traditional methods and start off closed. Members of the defending realm can cross through the portcullis by single clicking on the bars. To open the relic gates to the attackers, the attacking realm needs to take a series of keeps, each corresponding to a specific relic gate.
There are four Relic Gates to be opened, one in each pair are on the same side of the river as the relic temple. These will be the last gates to open. Please reference the Midgard Map on the herald for the remainder of this section. If you number the relic gates from the top going clockwise 1-4, then keeps A, C and D must be captured to open up Relic Gate #1. If you want to open up the relic gate closest to the temple (#2) players must additionally capture keep F. To open #3, players need to capture A, B, and E, and then to open up #4 they need to additionally capture keep G. This same pattern holds true for all three frontiers.
Realm Points Rewards for Keeps
In New Frontiers, there are two ways to get realm points based on combat directly involved in keep fighting for both the attackers and the defenders. At the higher levels of keep upgrading, the Lords are worth a flat RP reward for all enemies in the area. So a level 10 keep lord who dies are worth X realm points for all victors in the area. This reward scales upwards depending on the level of the keep, starting in the mid upgrade levels. Realm points are only added to this pool when realm points are earned (through kills or resurrections) in a certain radius of the keep and only when the keep is under siege. When the pool is divided up, it is then emptied for the next time the keep comes under siege.
The second way to earn realm points from keeps that is both available to attackers and defenders tallies up all of the realm points that were earned by both sides that occurred in the radius of the keep, then dishes out a share of this pool to all of the victors. Victory in this fashion is different for each: Upon killing the Lord of the keep (any level) all living and dead members of the attacking realm in range, are awarded their share of the realm point pool.
Defenders need only drive the attackers away, through killing them all or forcing them to retreat. When the keep becomes unsieged, and no attackers are found in the radius, the defenders will get their share of the realm point pool.
Supply Chests
In the bottom floor of the lord towers, you will see various Supply Chests. These can be used via a keep specific key you can earn from killing high level Lords of the keep. Players will start to see keys drop from level 5 keep lords and above.
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