Capital city
From HammerWiki
In Warhammer Online, a capital city is the headquarters and the main source of the war effort for each army. Capital cities can be attacked, temporarily raided and even partially razed through the campaigns. Capital city zones are in the fourth and final tier of the campaign map, according to the advancement of characters through the game. The 'King' or leader of each army will be resident in their capital city, and it will be possible to fight and capture an army's King during a city siege. In addition, each city will contain facilities such as a Bank, an Auction House and a Library.
As of July 11, 2008, EAMythic released a new update stating that only Altdorf and The Inevitable City will be included in the game content by the time of the official game launch. They have stated that they did not have enough time to fully design and finish all six capital cities, so they decided to shelf the other four in order to make two cities that were "Not good, not great, but fabulous," in time for the game launch. It has, however, been also noted that the other four cities are expected to enter the game in patches post-launch. -- MMORPG.com Source
It is important to note that, while the cities have been limited to only two at launch, their size and magnitude overshadow any city previously seen in any MMO to date. Their scenery and design is complex, creative, and inspires curiosity and exploration (indeed, cities are large enough to explore). Simply in size, the two capital cities are as large or larger as all three of the racial cities offered in the World of Warcraft, combined. They also offer numerous secrets and hidden wonders, as well as myriad quests, instances, and tasks to accomplish.
Contents |
[edit] Capital City List
| Order of the Griffon: | Altdorf |
| Raven Host: | The Inevitable City |
| Oathbearers: | Karaz-a-Karak |
| Bloody Sun Boyz: | Karak Eight Peaks |
| Shining Guard: | Lothern |
| House Uthorin: | Fist of Malekith |
[edit] Living Cities
Cities in WAR are considered "Living Cities", a term used to describe how cities dynamically grow and improve over time according to their relative success in the RvR conflict.
[edit] City Rank
A city will, at the beginning of a server begin as a Poor city, and may eventually become Prosperous. This is considered the city's Rank. Currently, cities can attain ranks from 1 to 5, although the names and benefits of these ranks are mostly unknown. Leveling to rank 5 is estimated to take a significant amount of time (months not weeks).
The rank of a capital city is proportional to the success of the players. City rank contributions are determined by what zone players adventure in, not by their army. A city's rank is tied into WAR's campaign system, as well as PvE achievements, and other factors such as crafting. The more you achieve, the richer your city becomes; gaining victory points in the campaign and successfully completing PvE quests all helps to create a thriving economy, causing capitals to become more prosperous. This will change the look of the city (a poor city might mostly be a slum covered in garbage, while a prosperous city will mostly be rich & clean neighborhoods). City guards will also level up with your city, so at rank 1 a guard will be a peasant drafted into the army and at rank 5 you will have well armored knights defending the city. Additional quests and features within the city will also open up when your city gains rank. For example, while Altdorf is poor, a player may overhear a peasant talking about seeing a giant "rat man"; as the city becomes more and more prosperous the culmination of the story will reveal Skaven tunnels under the city, allowing for players to explore new territory.
In addition to providing friendly players with special events, and new quests, prosperous cities are a source of wealth and opportunity to enemy looters. Capturing a city allows the attackers to take part in the events and quests that are available within the city, meaning that rank 5 cities are a much more valuable target to the opposing realm. By opening up the World Map, a player can then see the rank of a city, and see what events are taking place in the city at this time. This allows for greater coordination among players of a realm for offensive pushes in the campaign.
[edit] Player Statues
Inside the city there will be statues of players whom have gotten the most renown for a time period. When a city is sacked by an enemy these statues can then be destroyed.
[edit] Calender Events
Several festivals and holidays will occur in capital cities on certain in-game dates. Examples of these are: Day of the Dead style festival, carnivals, festival days, and Pie week.
[edit] Capital City Capture
When the Tier 4 zone of a particular army falls during a campaign, their capital city zone becomes "attack eligible".
- The attacker can then attack the city and break down the City Gates
- The city then becomes contested
- Attacker enters the first area, the War Quarter, and engages in what is described as close-quarter fighting along narrow city streets.
- The War Quarter becomes instanced if needed, a 75v75 instance.
- Across all instances the attacker earns victory points to capture city.
- While the attack is blocked off in War Quarter, different objectives are scattered in area.
- Once attacker builds up enough victory points to "capture" this area they win the city.
- Or lose if they fail to build up enough points, and are pushed back.
- If attacker wins, next gate opens up and gives the attacker access to the rest of the city.
- At that time the defenders of the city have lost.
- City gate becomes closed to defenders, but defenders do not get kicked out until you kill them or they leave on their own. However there is no defender respawning.
This is the definitive win point of PvP, and the defenders have essentially been defeated and the next phase begins....
[edit] Pillage and Looting Phase
Public Quests, Quests, Dungeons, looting, pillaging, and eventually King are unlocked to the attacker. When an opposing capital is sacked, players will be able to loot and pillage the city. Attacking players will be able to break down doors, attack the inhabitants, loot their possessions, and set buildings on fire. There will be landmark buildings to pillage and special NPCs to fight. Many of these encounters will only be available once, thus the ones who actually take part in the initial War Quarter attack and who do most of the work capturing the city will be first on the scene and will have the first shot at some of these one-off encounters.
Capital cities will contain a fortified area which will remain safe for home players throughout the duration of a siege. This area will include vital locations such as the bank and auction house, and some of the more important NPC merchants who operate out of the city. However, once a capital city is captured, players must rely on a "black market" for goods and services, meaning that everything costs more.
[edit] Capturing the King
In each city there are two large areas where the attacker must complete public quests before they can assault the faction leader, or "King". For example in Altdorf you must complete public quests in the Temple of Sigmar and Bright Wizard College before you can attack Emperor Karl Franz.
The actual king event is an instanced encounter consisting of 24 players (four groups of six) versus the king. This fight is supposed to be the culmination of the PvE quest chapters in the game, and as a result rewards successful players with some of the best items in the game.
[edit] Re-taking a city
Players from the attacking realm will have roughly 24 hours (not finalized) to freely pillage a fallen city. Once this time period has expired the city gates reopen for home characters who can then siege the city from the WarQuarter in a reverse of other faction capturing the city. After the city is re-captured the campaign for that battlefront is re-set.
