Brainstorming new non-raid content for WoW: Lets bring War back into Warcraft.

[Judge Malthred]

Bringing the War back to WarCraft
Instead of having each expansion juggle what faction controls or has destroyed what area, the players decide through open world pvp content.

Many MMO posters have been voicing dismay at the lack of non-raid content in the game-world. There have been many talks about solo/duo/trio dungeons and other ideas for content you can experience with just a few close friends. I have posted an idea a few times but wanted to really flush it out and get some feedback in its own thread. Perhaps take it over to the Blizz forums if it seems a strong enough concept.

Initially my thought was to allow towns and major cities to be seigeable by the opposite faction at any time. Actual damage would be done to structures depending on how successful the attack was. This would then open up daily/repeat quests to gather materials to rebuild the damage.

It felt a bit broad to me though and would most likely end up being some late night raid on an area and no real chance for the opposing faction to mount an effective defense.

So instead I have come up with this idea that I would like to expand on:

• Towns and Cities will be open to attack on specific days for an allotted amount of time (few hours perhaps). During this time each faction can engage in world pvp to attack or defend these areas.
• In the days leading up to these attacks their will be daily quests to gain advantages/prepare for the attack. The numbers of days of advance notice will vary depending on location. This will allow the idea of a quick skirmish that comes from no where to a large army marching for days toward capital city.
• The attacks themselves will have vehicles available to players and can be both ground and air based. There can be added NPC's on both sides that could present targets to be killed in addition to the destruction of the area under attack.
• Each side is rewarded for participating in the event, possibly through the amount of damage/healing done and objectives achieved.
• After the battle new daily/repeatable quests open up to rebuild/restock for each faction.

I would like to build on this idea with what types of attacks there could be, what kinds of equipment could be used, what kinds of rewards there would be and a system to award them. This could also be expanded into attacks form third factions where the Alliance and Horde can engage them and each other in all out warfare.

[Priestshot]

Well, would it alternate between capital cities, because having both cities attacked at once would probably leave both cities completely undefended while each team tried to push the attack. Other than that i like it, i always enjoyed the idea of large scale combat inside orgrimmar or stormwind.

[Antipathy]

I would like to build on this idea with what types of attacks there could be, what kinds of equipment could be used, what kinds of rewards there would be and a system to award them. This could also be expanded into attacks form third factions where the Alliance and Horde can engage them and each other in all out warfare.

Interesting and constructive, I like this.

I would think that implementing something like this would be fantastic, the only downside being that players who tend to enjoy leveling alts would be unhappy at the interruption. Another downside I see is that potentially Servers which heavily skew towards a faction would have difficulty in acquiring resources (just the numbers game, more players doing dailies on any given day).

as for the input, my 2 cents worth would be to take the third faction idea to a new level; possible make it more of a mercenary game for tactical reasons, depending on the lore of the specific area [recruiting guardians of lore (High HP, consistently rooting defenders/attackers), Gryphon/wyvern Riders to aerially harass the opposition or guard the settlement, Dryads who consistently buff the opposition or defense, Siege Engines to break down walls, and Healers (Faction specific) fun stuff that make it more like WARcraft]

Just how to develop a fair method of recruiting these allies would be a very good question

[Judge Malthred]

Well, would it alternate between capital cities, because having both cities attacked at once would probably leave both cities completely undefended while each team tried to push the attack. Other than that i like it, i always enjoyed the idea of large scale combat inside orgrimmar or stormwind.

Oh yea for sure, only one capital city would be under siege at a time, and perhaps a few smaller settlements at a time. The idea is to get everyone's attention on the capital cities or a few smaller areas at the same time.

---------- Post added 2011-10-18 at 05:13 PM ----------

Interesting and constructive, I like this.

I would think that implementing something like this would be fantastic, the only downside being that players who tend to enjoy leveling alts would be unhappy at the interruption. Another downside I see is that potentially Servers which heavily skew towards a faction would have difficulty in acquiring resources (just the numbers game, more players doing dailies on any given day).

as for the input, my 2 cents worth would be to take the third faction idea to a new level; possible make it more of a mercenary game for tactical reasons, depending on the lore of the specific area [recruiting guardians of lore (High HP, consistently rooting defenders/attackers), Gryphon/wyvern Riders to aerially harass the opposition or guard the settlement, Dryads who consistently buff the opposition or defense, Siege Engines to break down walls, and Healers (Faction specific) fun stuff that make it more like WARcraft]

Just how to develop a fair method of recruiting these allies would be a very good question

I think perhaps a cap on how much you can acquire before a battle could help offset large population imbalances... or some form of a tenacity buff for the lesser represented faction at the battle.

As far as low level questers being impeded upon, it is WAR! but the quest givers could be huddled somewhere for saftey while the battle is raging so they still have access.