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 |  | The Proposed Midgard Frontier |  |
|  | Posted By: Sanya Thomas | 2003-12-16 16:17:41 |  |
| |  |  The designers behind our free-to-subscribers expansion are excited to unveil the concept sketch of the new Midgard Frontier Layout! This sketch is intended to display the overall concepts included in the new consolidated frontier layout and redesign - and is accompanied by a description of each feature. We anticipate reviewing feedback from the community and revising the design accordingly, so of course, this sketch may not represent the final design.
Check over our sketch and our map key, and when you're done, feel free to hit the Herald Feedback Form link there at the top left of our front page. Be sure to choose the category "RVR Expansion."
This is the second in a series of regular updates that we'll be releasing about the Frontiers expansion. In the next update: a map of the updated Hibernia frontier.
(Click the image to view a larger version in a new window!)
MAP KEY
A, B, C, D, E, F, G - Frontier Keep. These keeps control a strategic point and serves as a focus point for Realm vs. Realm Conflict.
a, b, c, d, e, f, g - Tower. These tower locations control chokepoints, passes, and approaches to the Frontier Keeps.
1 - Coastal Island keep. The bridges to the keep provide quick access in and out. The area directly to the sides of each bridge is impassable (in order to force groups to commit to taking a bridge or water route). The rest of the coastline around that keep is flat beach to allow for clear visibility when assaulting the island.
2 - Southwestern Coast. The coast has a fairly steep hill with a lip that attackers must climb up before they enter into the plains immediately on the other side. The idea is to force attackers who take this route to move up the slope blindly, without knowing if there are enemies waiting for them on the other side. The coast is dotted with steep non-climbable areas.
3 - Southeastern Coast. The beach head immediately in front of each keep is flat, allowing for a safe landing with good visibility (and consequently, into guard aggro). The area away from the keeps has the hill with the lip that prevents visibility until you're all the way up top. The coast is dotted with steep non-climbable areas.
4 - Canyon Pass. This area presents the quickest and most direct method to center of the frontier (and the center keep/river). The canyon is very tight, with steep non-climbable walls. All four portions of Canyon Pass are plateaus. A ramp leads up to the top of the north mountain allowing defenders easy access to the rope bridges leading to the three other plateaus. This allows defenders to take positions on the plateau and attack down at any attackers unfortunate enough to be trying to run through at the time. This pass provides lots of good defensive ability; for instance, it would be possible to coordinate forces on the top with those in the canyon passes setting various traps and other defensive objects.
5 - Dark Woods. This patch of woods has been overrun with lots of thickly settled and angry creatures. This serves as a disincentive for armies moving through the area. (The idea is that a single person, and perhaps even a careful group, can slowly snake their way through the woods to the other side, but any significant force would avoid this area like the plague as they'd be bogged down indefinitely fighting all the mobs that aggroed on them.)
6 - Supply Trail. The center of the Dark Woods is the Supply Trail. The trail is a fairly safe road though the woods, ending in a one-way slope that faces the keep. The intention here is to allow the defenders to move quickly to the keep to defend it, but not to offer attackers any easy means through the forest if they happen to capture the keep. Terrain on either side of the one-way portion of the road will block people from moving south to north, without moving a significant distance into Dark Woods.
7 - Ruins. The former site of a once glorious fortress city, of which all that remains are ruins. With lots of 90 degree intersections that offer opportunities for sudden and unexpected encounters between opposing forces, it'll take nerves of steel (or a lack of common sense) to move through the ruins at a high rate of speed.
8 - River Walls. Most of the river is surrounded by steep non-climbable banks, forcing anyone traveling down there to commit to that course of movement for a specific time. At various intervals there are areas where they can climb up and get onto main land.
9 - River's Edge. Except where otherwise noted, the river's edge has an area above the river walls where people can move without limitations.
10 - Western Coast. The beach head immediately in front of the keep is flat, allowing for a safe landing with good visibility. The area away from the keep has the hill with the lip that prevents visibility until you're all the way up top. The coast is dotted with steep non-climbable areas.
11 - Mountain Ridge. This impassable mountain ridge spans almost the full length of the zone. This creates a divide that forces an attacking force to deal with the center area (15) or to go through the western zone line (12).
12 - Ridge Pass. This is the opening of mountain ridge. This will be the scene of many battles as it is one of three entrance points from the outer frontier to the middle frontier.
13 - Center Island Keep. This keep has three bridges providing fast access leading to it. Directly on both sides of the bridges are impassable areas. The rest of the coast line west of the two bridges (the direction the keep faces) is flat beach to allow for clear visibility when assaulting the island. The rest of the island has the hill with the lip that prevents visibility until you're all the way to the top.
14 - Slush Pond. This area is a marshy, swampy or slushy area that sporadically slows movement. This is to act as a disincentive to movement through the area.
15 - Center Keep Valley. This mountain to the southeast of this area extends almost to the river to limit access to the middle frontier. This makes up one of three entrances into the middle frontier, along with (12) and (16). This will be one of the major choke points of combat.
16 - Boulder Pass. This is the third entrance into the middle frontier. It leads directly into the water, requiring attacking forces using this pass to enter the water before continuing on to the back frontier.
17 - Watcher's Hill. This is a nice hill that provides an excellent view of the area southwest of Center Island Keep. This is a spot players will likely use as rally points for attacks or defenses.
18 – Impassable Mountains. These are impassable mountains/hills that block travel.
19 - Woods. These areas are normal woods filled with a mix of aggressive creatures and quest related encounters. While not as unforgiving as Dark Woods, these areas provide spots for small raiding parties to flee into while still proving enough aggro to cause confusion for any large armies trying to chase them inside. These areas will be a great disincentive to large armies who plan on getting to their destination anytime soon.
20 - Relic Rapids. These areas provide river access through the defensive walls that protect each relic keep. The idea is to allow optional water access to the relic keep without requiring that a force fight through the gates (see 21).
21 - Relic Gates. These gates protect the relic keeps. Much like the existing mile gates, these will have a single door that serves as a bottleneck. The area between and on each side of the gates is an impassable wall, forcing people to move through the gates. (Currently, during relic raids, there are generally two battles. One battle that happens at the keep itself, and then a second battle that happens at the mile gates as all three realms battle in a last ditch attempt to stop the relic from escaping. This new design forces those two battles to happen closer together. It also lets defenders, who were not able to get inside the keep to defend, set up a defense at the gates.)
22, 23 - Border Keeps. The border keeps are where people zone into the frontier from their homeland. These keeps are designed to allow access across a wide area, both outside and inside the relic defense wall. This forces relic raiders to blockade two areas to stop reinforcements during a relic raid.
You will note that portal keeps no longer exist. Instead, all three realms have frontiers in the same zone, and each frontier area is separated by an ocean.
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