What WAR could steal from APB, part I

AKA What Spider Love could steal from BSD

I don't know a whole lot about A.P.B.'s mission system. I watched a demo video, and what I learned about missions from that is you hop in a car, briefly drive around like a half-blind old Chinese lady who's been drinking Cuervo all night, jump into another car, then jump out and immediately die.

No?

It's basically Open Group PvP questing with opposing objectives and conditional stages. Like a PvP PQ, sort of. Like the city siege!

I like the idea as an idea, but as a generic concept for Warhammer it doesn't do a whole lot for me at the moment. I think any new tweaks like that added to the game should be solely focused on augmenting the one central idea in the game (oRvR), not add more extraneous mini-game type horseshit like scenarios or arenas or pve loot grinds.

It needs to get players involved directly in the ORvR campaign, not distract from it.



BSD gave an example where mission givers handed out orders to defend/destroy a farm.

Why make it some random farm when it could be something much more crucial and pressing to the campaign? Like a Battlefield Objective? Or a Keep? Or a Fort?

Battlefield Objectives are painfully boring in Tier 4. You're fighting over small little patches of grass, dirt, cobblestone, nothing, it's just open air or an Elven Outhouse in the middle of nowhere, defended by a couple generic no-name mobs. It's less than epic.

Those should be ripped out and replaced with more fitting BO's. Watchtowers. Barracks. Armories. ... Hell, you could make those upgrades the objective of the missions. Mission givers would send outs squads to help fortify those positions, and the opposing team would be doing everything in their power to not let that happen.

So, let's say you log on to your Choppa, Chopraham Linchop. You're at the camp in Praag and suddenly, !, there's an available mission. It's an Elite Navy SEALS mission, high-ranking players only. You fill out a group and accept the quest to upgrade Martyr's Square. You storm off to central Praag, escorting a Chaos Architect and some Snotling Laborers. Upon arrival, the Architect barks out orders and the Snotlings zip around doing stuff. Stage One has begun. Then, oh no!, the good guys show up with a mission to kill your Architect or take the BO to put an end to your construction efforts. Other players jump in to attack/defend the BO, but the mission remains solely to the group that accepted it.

You succeed by wiping away the Order dregs and keeping your Architect alive for the time required to upgrade the BO. The Snotlings swarm into action, kicking up a huge cloud of smoke and debris, and when the dust settles, Martyr's Square is now a guardhouse fortified with reinforced concrete walls and surrounded by a ring of razorwire-wrapped dragon's teeth.

You could then have the missions move on to Stage Two, an Order team must attempt to burn down or blow up the new fortifications to soften your defenses, and you must stop them and kick them in their little hairy dwarf balls. The further along you get, the more rewarding it is for you and your team, your realm as a whole, and for the game itself.

Just a thought.