Guilds and the new Alliance vs. Alliance system 2013-06-04 18:00

 
 
The majority of DOFUS players only play with a tiny number of other players. Sometimes these players play alone, sometimes they use multiple accounts to avoid the “messiness” of playing with people they don’t already know, or they simply don’t play with anyone who is not already in their circle of friends or a member of their guild. Other people, guilds, and the general community of their server doesn’t interest them, they play in parallel with others without getting involved with the rest of the community, because the rest of the community doesn’t seem useful to them.
 
We are introducing the alliance and guild war system to address this issue, as well as several other issues, which we’ll discuss now.
 
Now that we have taken several years to focus on classic MMO content (e.g. quests, dungeons, equipment, etc), we would like to start enriching DOFUS by giving more power to the players. We would like the game to grow more organically, not just create content for players to consume, but to provide opportunities for players to express their potential and ambition. We want to give players access to a broader range of skills and abilities within the game. Real world skills like: diplomacy, negotiation, strategy, leadership, discussion, subterfuge, and more.
 
We want to push the development of the game and its community beyond just the content and universe that has defined the DOFUS experience so far. And for this to happen, we must give the community the tools to start to shape the the World of Twelve.
 
Here’s a list of our goals for this feature:
 

• Allow guilds to band together to form alliances: strength in unity! These alliances provide new opportunities for defense and conquest.
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• Create dynamic wide-scale PVP: Currently, PvP systems that give out tangible rewards are limited to teams of 8v8 (Perceptors) or teams of 3v3 (Kolossium). We want to offer more options for wild PvP!
• Give control over the world to players: Allow them to capture and control certain territories with their guilds, rather than fighting for an anonymous group of other players within an alignment.
• Give maximum freedom to players: Rather than having little to no structure within an alignment side, alliances allow players to manage their own alliance forces through leadership and structure.
• Balance the relationship between quantity and quality: We want players who are in the low-to-medium levels of the game to have legitimate role in this new system; we want alliances composed of many “weak” guilds to be able to realistically compete with smaller alliances composed of elite guilds.
• Bring the stakes and dynamics of combat outside of the combat system.
• Offer a system that allows players to begin to create their own content within the game by creating alliances that will become significant part of the game culture and give players tools to interact with these alliances. Players who choose to use these tools will generate interactions, conflicts, pacts, cartels, diplomacy, etc.
• Offer goals and activities for players who feel that they’ve done and seen it all: the alliance system will allow players who ambition and skill to shape the politics of their server, as long as they’re willing to do what it takes to achieve their goals!
• Introduce additional kamasinks and itemsinks: Wealth in DOFUS is rarely destroyed by systems within the game - even crafting converts one form of wealth (resources) into another (equipment/useable items). However, to prevent economic bloat, ensure that the value of goods does not drop too low, and to keep the player economy lively and interesting, we will gradually introduce some mechanisms that will destroy weath to keep the value high.
• Highlighting advanced tactical behavior and skills: We want players, guilds, and alliances to be able to garner fame within the community for their actions and creations. By giving players the means to capture and exercise control over parts of the game and the community structure of their server, we want social players, communicators, leaders, generals, and entrepreneurs to rise to star status where they can play a key role in the social ecosystem of their server.

 
 

Guilds > Alignments

 
Part of our work in the 2.13 update was to change the alignment system by removing or repurposing certain systems and mechanics that just weren’t working correctly, for example: territory conquest, alignment villages, and alignment bonuses. Some of these systems will be transformed and adapted to be used by alliances and guilds.
 
We have decided to elevate the role of guilds because we believe that guilds are a stronger and more interesting social structure than alignments.
 
The alignments were originally created by our team and they are a completely rigid system that doesn’t allow players to choose who they are playing with. They may or may not share the same goals and motivations as other members of their alignment. Cheating in an alignment is easy – there’s nothing stopping any person from joining either alignment; there is no particular person guiding either alignment; no one has control over an alignment’s conduct or direction; it’s a ghost ship without a captain or sails, but it does have a very heavy anchor. This means that the PVP mechanics of the alignment system are neglected: Players are not willing to fight for land they know they will lose tomorrow, they’re not willing to go out of their way defend territories shared with characters they never meet and who are not part of their social group. In spite of tweaking the systems in many different ways over the years, the system just hasn’t become the interesting game mechanic we originally imagined.
 
Guilds, on the other hand, solve many of the problems that hold the alignment system back: they are social groups created by players who have banded together through their personal affinities to each other, or who group together to reach common goals. They have leaders, offices, people to organize and grow their group. Guilds are based on trust, solidarity, friendship, and loyalty. They are flexible to operate; they can be large, medium or small; they can be aggressive or filled with pacifistic roleplayers. They are created by players, they are original, and they adapt and evolve over time. They have the capacity to be as lively and dynamic as the people who create them and give them life.

The alignments of Bonta and Brakmar will not disappear from the game, in fact, we intend to graduallt complete the alignment quest lines and improve and increase players’ rewards for these quests. After 2.13, alignments will become more like a character background choice, giving characters a story to follow through achievements, quests, and rewards and allow players to customize their character by chosing to join forces with one of the two cities.
We know that some players are very attached to the alignments, and the new guild/alliance system could allow these players to take the power of the alignments into their own hands by creating alliances that only accept members who are Bontarian or Brakmarian.

This means that Bontarian or Brakmarian alliances could take control of the territories in the game in an attempt to conquer the other city (the different neighborhoods of both cities will become conquerable). These alliances could then choose their members and allies under true leadership. All of this is completely possible, just remember that these alliances will still have to fight off all of the other types of alliances who have other goals or themes.
 
This type of an alliance, based on Bonta and Brakmar, could gain a lot of power, but they will require motivated players who will invest in these pseudo-alignments and organize their activities to mount a respectable territory defense.
 
 

Creating an Alliance

Only guild leaders can create an alliance. The journey to start an alliance begins at the new Alliance Temple with an Allialogem in hand. The Allialogem is a new item that can be crafted by miners.
 
The guild leader will be asked to choose a name, a coat-of-arms (Alliances will use the same backgrounds and motifs as guilds, but an Alliance’s logo will have a slightly different look than a guild logo), and a tag. An alliance tag is a nickname for the alliance, 3 to 5 characters long, and is displayed in brackets. It could be the initials of the alliance’s name or something different. For example, the alliance Future Underwriters of Bontarian’s Army Riders could have the tag “FUBAR” or “ARMY” or even “HAM” if they wish! This tag will be unique on each server (no two alliances on the same server will have the same tag).
 
Once the alliance is created, (the guild of the leader who creates the alliance will automatically be added to the new alliance), the leader may recruit other guilds if their leaders agree.
To facilitate guild recruitment, we are working on a directory listing of all available in-game guilds and alliances on your server.

Unlike guilds, alliances will not have levels. We want the value of an alliance to be in its guilds and members, its organization (hierarchy, delegation, communication, etc) and the territories it controls.

We want to avoid what we call a “jail effect” that discourages players from splitting off from  an existing group to create their own group because they would be limited by being unable to build up something effective quickly. We want alliances to be quick and easy to create and we want it to be quick and easy for new alliances to get started conquering and pillaging if they have the organization and player power to do so! We don’t want players to need alliance levels to create an effective alliance, because that is one of the current criticisms of the guild system.
 

Managing an alliance

When 2.13 is released, alliance management will be very simple from a mechanical standpoint. There is one law… the leader of the alliance. Leaders may recruit other guilds and kick guilds out of their alliance. The leader of a guild may also choose to leave their alliance whenever they like (but a guild can only be part of one alliance at a time).
In future updates, we plan to make it possible to delegate different alliance duties (like recruitment) to other guild leaders, but for now, there will only be one alliance leader.
There will be some new rights for guild leaders to manage territory capture, and these rights can be assigned to other members.
 
Each alliance can communicate internally using the repurposed /a channel (which was once the alignment channel). Messages posted on this channel will be sent to all online members of every guild within your current alliance.
 
In the long term, we would like to review the entire system of guild/alliance rights and guild/alliance management to focus on the use of ranks within an alliance and guild. Leaders will be able to define the rights associated with each rank, and members who are assigned that rank will automatically be granted that rank’s set of rights. This will allow leaders to create, edit, and distribute the rights of each member quickly. This system will require more development time than we have before the deadlines for the release of 2.13, so it will not be available with this update.

 

Showing off your alliance

One of the appealing features of guilds is the ability to show off your guild’s name and logo while you’re out and about living your life in the World of Twelve. We think this is an important feature for players, so we did not want alliance to overwrite guild names and logos.
That’s why we have only added an alliance’s logo and tag to the player’s nameplate.
We have decided not to add the full name of the alliance to keep the amount of information within a player’s nameplate as concise as possible. If we find that alliances and alliance affiliation become more important than guild affiliation within the player culture of DOFUS, we may consider ways to give a player’s alliance information more visibility in a player’s nameplate.

Alliance logos will also be displayed in other areas of the game’s interface. If your client is set to display map coordinates you will see the name and logo of the alliance that controls the territory you are currently in. This tag will be clickable and will open a summary of the alliance in question, including the number and names of the guilds within the alliance and the amount of territory they control.  In the global game map, each territory will display the name and logo of the alliance that controls it.

We have also created an alliance shield that will allow you to proudly display your alliance’s colors.

And for those who want to show off that they belong to the best guild or alliance in the entire World of Twelve, we have created two new static emotes that will allow players to display a flag with their guild or alliance’s logo.
 

Perceptors

 

Perceptor fights will be modified in 2.13. Now these fights will be 5 vs 5 (plus the Perceptor). We have decided to make this change for two main reasons: 8v8 fights are quite lengthy and depending on where the preceptor is placed, the reward may not be worth the time spent to attack or defend the preceptor. This new 5v5 system should reduce the average time to something a bit more reasonable. Also, it will be easier for smaller groups and guilds to mount an effective attack or defense.
 
Being part of an alliance will also give guilds an important advantage when it comes to defending Perceptors. All of the members of an alliance will be able to join the defense of a Perceptor, even if they are not in the guild that placed the Perc (members of the placing guild will have priority when defending). With this change, we hope to see more Perceptor attacks with proper defense!
 
The characteristics of Perceptors will also change. Their resistances will be fixed at 25% at all levels. Their hit points will be higher at low levels than they are at the time of this devblog, but they will also be lower at high levels (level 1: 3000, level 100: 5000, level 200: 7000). The battle mechanic for Perceptors will remain the same (if they are killed, the defenders lose the battle).
It will no longer be possible to attack a Perceptor with a character that is below level 50. This is similar to the Kolossium restrictions and prevents the use of “mules” to attack Perceptors.
 
In the long term, we will review the Perceptor’s suite of spells and how they collect resources, but that will be addressed in another devblog for a different, future update, not update 2.13.

 

King of the Hill

 

Alliances will be able to place prisms in different game territories to control those territories. When fighting in an area controlled by your alliance, alliance members will receive a 25% bonus to experience and drops. These prisms will not allow alliance members to teleport to other prisms owned by their alliance.
 
Only one prism can be placed in an area, which means that alliances must compete to control territories. Conquering a territory means attacking the existing prism, which takes place in two distinct stages: the initial attack and the final battle.
 
The initial fight is similar to attacking a Perceptor, it’s a 5v5 fight against the prism which can be started at any time. Defenders are warned when someone attacks, and they can send their best fighters to join the defensive team. If the prism is not destroyed, nothing changes and the attackers can go hide in Moon’s jungle until the shame of defeat fades.
 
If the prism is defeated it goes into a “weakened” state. It cannot be directly attacked, but a final battle will take place in the same area where the prism was placed within the following 24 to 48 hours, at a time set by the defending alliance.
When an alliance places a prism in a territory, they will be able to choose the time for that prism’s final battle. This time can be defined individually for each prism that an alliance places. This allows the alliance who has placed the prism to choose the timeframe that suits them for the final battle. This battle will determine if your alliance is the type who writes history… or the type that people laugh and point at by the Astrub Zaap.
 
We have set up this system because we do not want defenders to lose territories because they did not have the time prepare and organize. This appointment system will give attackers and defenders a minimum of 24 hours to prepare themselves for the final battle. There’s no excuse for an empty battlefield!
The time for the final battle cannot be changed once a prism has been defeated, but while it is in its normal state, the battle time can be rescheduled at will. Alliance members will have access to the list of prisms they control so they can easily keep track of the schedule of final battles so they will be able to organize a defense.
 
When the moment of the final battle arrives, the prism will switch from the “vulnerable” state to a “weakened” state. The attackers and defenders will have 2 hours at most to decide the fate of this area. This is where they will savagely war for the ownership of the territory.
 
During this phase, the battle will be a “King of the Hill” type of mechanism. The alliance that can outnumber all of the other alliances in the territory is marked as the “king” of the territory. If one alliance can maintain their “king” status for a total of 30 minutes (it does not need to be uninterrupted), that alliance will be able to either replace the prism (if they are attacking) or repair the prism (if they are defending). There will be a special interface that will display the numeric ranking of the major alliances within the territory.
This “outnumbering” metric will be calculated by the number of character in the contested territory and modified by the level of those characters (the higher level a character is, the more points they will be worth). Characters below level 50 will not be counted. Also, only characters that have their Alliance vs Alliance (AvA) state activated will be counted.
 
The AvA state allows a character to aggress and be aggressed by members of other alliances within a contested territory. It can only be turned on or off in areas that are not in a state of conflict.
To maintain or take numeric superiority in an area, the alliance will have to bring the maximum number of troops and engage in bloody combat to prevent their enemies from outnumbering them.
 
When a character is defeated in an AvA battle, they will automatically be transformed into a tombstone and they can no longer be counted in their alliance’s population score for the contested territory. If the character releases his soul, reaches the phoenix statue and returns to their normal state, that character can return to the territory. However, they will no longer count towards their alliance’s total score or be able fight against others during that territory’s conquest. They are effectively “out” of that particular territory battle.
 
Characters that are currently in combat within the territory also do not count towards their alliance’s total score. This means the choice of who to target and how to fight will be crucial for success. A lengthy battle might not be the best use of one’s time within a territory, it might be better to aim to fight several shorter fights rather than one long battle.
To help players choose their targets, characters in a conflict zone who have their AvA mode turned on will have small icons displayed over their heads to help players distinguish allies from enemies, and also see who is in the area without AvA mode.
 
This is all a bit complicated, so here’s an example of how a territory conquest might play out:
 
Alliance A has control of Gobble Corner by setting a prism. The person who set the prism also sets the final battle time for 19:00 (AKA 7 PM - all times will be set using server time). When it is first set, a prism is in the “normal” state.
A group of characters attacks Alliance A’s prism on Wednesday night at 21:00. Alliance A loses the defense, and the prism drops into the “weakened” state at 21:30 (which is just after the battle ends).
The prism’s battle time is set for 19:00, and with the addition of the 24 hour waiting period, this means that the final battle will take place on Friday at 19:00. Meanwhile, Alliance A’s prism is in the weakened state, and cannot be attacked.
On Friday at 19:00 the final battle begins. Members of Alliance A show up to the Gobball corner to defend their territory, while Alliance B, C, and D have all shown up to try to take the area.
All four alliances are trying to outnumber the others by maintaining their own forces and defeating characters from the other alliances.
Alliance B is the first to outnumber the other alliances for a total of 30 minutes. Alliance B now has 2 hours to place their own prism. At that point, Alliance A has lost control of the Gobball Corner, and Alliance B can set their own time for their prism’s final battle.
Alliance B sets their Gobball Corner prism’s final battle time to 17:00. This prism is attacked the same night (Friday) at 23:00, and defeated. Their prism drops into the “weakened” state and its final battle will take place on Sunday night at 17:00.

 

The Village Feast

The Villages will also be managed by alliances in version 2.13. Unlike conventional territories that only give extra drops and experience to members of its alliance, the villages are exclusive areas: those who are not part of the alliance that controls the village will not be able to access the village.
But, we do not want to penalize important players who do not want to participate in the alliance and guild war system, so we have create a set of rules: Collectable resources should not be totally exclusive to some villages, and the villages should not affect access to the major features of the game (like farming).
We have made several modifications to these villages, changing the proportion of resources that grow in these areas and introducing resources that were once exclusive to these villages in the common areas of the game. We have developed an ideal proportion of 90/10: 90% of these formerly exclusive resources will be within the Village, and 10% will be outside. This 90/10 rule will not apply to monsters that are only found within certain villages (like Dopples or Zoths), because we do not believe that lack of access to these resources will block access to important game mechanics, and many alternatives to the types of equipment that these monsters’ resources are used to craft.
 
We have also introduced some monsters that are normally found outside of the villages into the villages. These monsters will benefit from bonuses from the alliance’s prism and they can only be attacked by alliance members (which will no doubt mean lots of nice bonus stars!)
 
Taking over villages is similar to attacking territories. The prism for the village will be set on the same map as the door to the village. When the final battle begins, the gate to the village will open, and the fight for numeric superiority will be fought inside the village walls. When one of the competing alliances has outnumbered the others for 30 minutes, they may place their prism on the gate map, which closes the gate, teleports all members of foreign alliances, and gives control of the village to the winning alliance.
 
Control of alliances will mean control over important areas of the game, areas with rare resources and monsters. This means that the alliances that can control these villages will be able to produce these resources and items at better prices.
 
We expect to introduce more alliance villages in future updates and to improve the villages that already exist within the ganem. The more villages there are, the more alliances will have the opportunity to control.
 

Fighting outside of combat

 
DOFUS has a rich combat system, but it is sorely lacking in tactics outside of that combat system: characters can run to a map and try to click on their target as quickly as possible to try to get the drop on their enemy… and that’s just about it.
 
We want to start enriching the strategies that players use outside of combat, and we will use this new alliance and guild war system to perform some tests, and if everything works properly, we will continue to introduce new mechanics outside of combat.
 
In version 2.13, we expect to use the existing mechanism for the Order ability items that have never really been widely used by players because the global dynamics of war between the alignments didn’t call for their use.
Characters will be able to visit the alliance temple to choose one of three roles in AvA combat (roles that they can change at will) by speaking to an NPC:
 
Healers can resurrect a character that has been transformed into the tombstone. When healed by a healer, the character will be able to return to the territory and be counted in their alliance’s score. They will also be able to continue fighting in the war zone.
Undertakers can forcibly send characters who are tombed back to the cemetery without their consent. This means they will be removed from their alliance’s score and cannot continue to fight in that particular war zone.
Sentries can show off their bravado by automatically attacking members of other alliances that pass by them (within 6 cells) while they are in a combat zone.
 
Alliances will need to give a lot of thought to how they portion out these roles within their fighters. Going to war without any Undertakers could be fatal!
The Order ability items will no longer function after the release of 2.13, so as not to interfere with how the AvA system operates. In a future update, we will work on a system to allow players to trade in these items for supplies for their alliance’s war chest.
 
In the long run, if these roles prove effective, we want to add more of them. At the moment, we’re sticking with just the three roles, to make sure that they are balanced and relevant to the new alliance system. We want to encourage players to actively participate during the conflict, not just enter the combat zone and hide for a few hours.
 
With these non-combat mechanics, we are also introducing the concept of an item use time. Currently, usable potions (like recall potions) instantly take effect. This posts a problem for out-of-combat tactics, because it means that characters can escape or perform actions without other players being able to react or prevent it.
 
So, in version 2.13 we have added a casting time (a delay before the item is consumed and takes effect) on certain specific items:  teleportation potions and AvA combat items, like those used to revive a tombed ally. This cooldown is only a few seconds (5 for teleportation potions), but it should be enough for a nimble clicker to interrupt it with an aggression while being short enough not to be too onerous.

 

But I want to be a carebear, I don’t want to fight!

 
We also believe that there are players who will not want any part of any conflict, and who want to stay out of this entire system. We haven’t forgotten you gentle souls!
 
Guilds are not required to be part of an alliance, if they wish, and they can completely stay out of any conflict. Even an alliance can decide not to take part without any penalty.
 
In the 2.13 update, we want to make it possible for players who do not want to participate in PvP to be protected from all forms of PvP. This means that in 2.13, it will no longer be possible to aggress neutral alignment characters.
Also, AvA aggressions will only be possible in battle zones, and even then, it will only be possible for characters who have their AvA mode activated.
 
This means it will be possible to go on a merry monster hunt right in the middle of a battle zone without being attacked, even if your alliance is currently fighting in that area. You will be able to choose what you want to do, but even being a carebear may have some concequences.
The 90/10 rule exists to prevent a total monopoly on harvestable resources, however it may be difficult to gather these resources if you are not part of an alliance that controls the villages where these resources are plentiful.
Naturally, the market system exists to help players players buy and trade for these items.
It will also be possible for a guild to integrate with a powerful guild or alliance for the purpose of enjoying the perks of the alliance. If you can’t beat them, join them, right?
 
All of these mechanics exist to allow players to choose their level of participation in PvP mechanics, and especially allows them not to be harassed by other players if they prefer not to engage in the war system.


 

Geopolitics in perpetual motion:

 
Behind this somewhat bold title hides a real goal that we want to achieve (and propose): ensure that any given situation on a server is never permanent. For example, that an alliance can never totally and continuously dominate a server.
 
To achieve this goal, we have put some specific game mechanisms in place:
Alliances are easily created, build and dissolved. The main tool to destroy alliances will come from within: the drama!
The transition of guilds between alliances is very simple and without constraints.
The diversion possibilities are numerous. For example, using simultaneous attacks on Perceptors and different prisms of the same alliance in order to divide their forces.
There are many incentives to group guilds together: more protection for Perceptors, areas and villages, as well as more manpower to make the conquest of territories easier.
There are many incentives to isolate oneself in order to gain more by sharing less: the conquest villages are more valuable when there are less characters sharing its content.
 
These mechanisms should ensure regular guild movements between alliances, betrayals, informal alliances, and thus generating a motion that will ensure that no particular situation can remain the same.
 
And if it does indeed remain the same for too long, it will largely depend on the players to organize themselves and join forces to change the way things are. You now have the tools available to you, prove yourself worthy and step up to the responsibility!
 
 

A server that reflects its players

 
We decided to capitalize on the guild system in order to give players a lot more control over their game, to enable it to let it flourish, and for Ankama to no longer be just a content creator addressing the demands of players but also a tool provider that enables the community to express its full potential.
 
As such, the geopolitical landscape of the servers may become very different: the system allows for the creation of a single alliance comprising all or most of the guilds in game. It will also be possible to create a myriad of alliances composed of one or a few guilds.
 
Servers might get the opportunity to differentiate themselves from each other by having a completely different geopolitical landscape.
 
It players want to fight and negotiate the control of a portion of their server, we want them to be able to do so.
 
Everything is possible: players will also be able to create a huge pacifistic alliance and decide to share everything across their server.
 
If this is what the community wants, then we want to enable it to do it and be proud of it!
 
 

Heroic Server

 
The alliance system as well as the guild wars had to be adapted to the Heroic Server. We want this new system to take an important place in this server, where  alliances and guild wars have existed for a long time but have been struggling to express their potential due to the lack of tools and adjusted game mechanics.
 
Considering the topic is quite long and complex to address right now, we are planning for a devblog article specific to the Heroic Server and this new system.
 
 
 

Future iterations

 
The 2.13 update will provide the basis for the alliance system, but we do plan to improve and expand the system according to your feedback. Here's what we would like to improve from our end:
 
Guild rights - the rights and ranks management is too chaotic. We would like to propose a system where rights are rank dependent in order to simplify the allocation and modification of ranks to all members.
 
Communication - provide the ability to create a "message of the day" in game for guilds and alliances, or an in-game description of one's guild or alliance.
 
More constructs - new prisms or small constructs to be placed in an area, for a strengthened defense, better bonuses, additional features (such as teleportation).  Some powerful constructs could require significant amount of resources or even Boss resources in order to ensure a wealth cycle of destruction, guaranteeing a good economy dynamic.
 
New roles - to enrich the out of combat game play.
 
New conquest territories - so that a greater number of alliances can take advantage of said territories.
 
Improvement to Perceptors - improved resource generation, a more significant role in the conquest of territories, improved spells.
 
Status between alliances - have the possibility to define a status between alliances (ally, neutral, enemy) in order to facilitate non-aggression agreements between alliances as well as the designation of enemy alliances.

 

Questions / answers:

Don’t you think the game’s atmosphere might deteriorate with this new system?
We give the players as many tools to generate conflict as to avoid or try and solve them. Besides, it will also be possible to totally avoid the alliance system or to become a member of an alliance not involved in any conflict. Players who are members of a very aggressive alliance will even be able to decide whether they want to get involved in a particular conflict or not. This new system does not allow a player’s character to be attacked without the intentional activation of their PvP mode; it allows willing players to fight each other or to become allies. With the 2.13 update, players who try to avoid conflicts will be even more protected than before since it will no longer be possible to attack characters of neutral alignment. Of course, this system will create many rivalries and power struggles between alliances and guilds, but it will also allow players to forge strong links between guilds of one alliance. This system will give players the opportunity to create new relationships with other players. Players must also remember that, in DOFUS, it is possible to fight each other while still staying respectful towards each other (in fact, it’s highly recommended).
 
What are the possible options for a guild without an alliance in this system?
Guilds without an alliance won’t be able to take part in the AvA (Alliances versus Alliances) system in order to keep the system simple. On the other hand, an alliance can be created with only one guild, allowing that one guild to benefit from all the system’s functions.

Won’t the battles be unbalanced?
The Kolossium offers balanced battles, 3 against 3 and with characters who have ratings close to that of their adversaries. Our goal with the AvA system is to create something different from the Kolossium; we’re not looking to offer a balanced battle for every character that participates no matter what their potential, but battles that will be won by the best alliances. It is up to the player to build the best alliances possible on their server, because they bring together powerful, well organized, talented players or overwhelming force through superior numbers!

Why create alliances and not let guilds fight guilds directly?
By offering a system of ally or enemy guilds only, the risk would be for all the guilds to be at the same level and to share the same responsibilities. We wanted to offer a bigger social structure, allowing the guilds of different affinities to gather around common goals and projects. We wanted real leaders to rise and to allow the creation of groups of several hundreds of players. The notion of guild alliance brings an additional dimension to the game, which seems to be especially interesting to us; it is a different challenge from the “simple management of a guild.”

Will it really be necessary to wait for 5 seconds to use a recall potion?
We understand it is hard to wait 5 seconds to save a trip that would have taken 10 minutes without a potion, but we think it is necessary for the game. In the long term, we’d like to use this incantation time to display animations and graphical effects that allow the actions in preparation to be better distinguished and make the world of DOFUS livelier.

Won’t alliances that operate at night have a significant advantage?
If we want the attackers to actually confront the defenders to make a territory capture stick, we have to create a system that enforces those meetings, which obviously means timing constraints. We’re not asking the players to change their gaming habits or the frequency at which they connect in order to adapt to the meeting system; we want the players to adapt their alliance’s goals to their normal play time. The broader the number of hours an alliance can cover, the more the alliance will be capable of responding to attacks and defenses. But an alliance with a significant presence in a limited time will be able to take advantage of their schedule by setting its defense parameters in this time slot to ensure a massive defensive or offensive force for a brief period.
 
How will the multi-accounters be managed?
We’ll manage the use of several accounts in the same way as for perceptor battles: it will be forbidden to use several accounts from one and only one computer to attack a prism or participate to an alliance battle in an area of conflict. It will be possible to use several accounts simultaneously in the area of battle for the battle of numerical superiority, but it will then be necessary to defend them separately in case of an attack.

Why isn’t it possible to use Order Ability items anymore?
Order Ability items depend directly on alignments, and we didn’t want players to be forced to choose an alignment to be able to participate to the AvA system. Besides, we weren’t happy with some Order Ability items’ function and we didn’t want them to conflict with the AvA system.

What do you plan on doing with alignment aggressions and honor points?
Alignment aggressions and honor points will still be present in 2.13, but we plan on removing honor points eventually, because their mechanic doesn’t work properly, leaving loopholes that have allowed many players to cheat and avoid it through rigged battles. We’d like to turn the alignment “wings” into ornaments that will be obtained via alignment quests. We’ve haven’t decided yet which form alignment aggressions would take. We’re aware that some players want to keep on hunting members of other alignments and we’re looking forward to seeing to what extent players will exploit the AvA system to express their attachment to one of the two cities.
 
Will it be possible to use shields in alliance battles?
No because it won’t be possible to activate both the PvP (necessary to wear a shield) and the AvA modes (necessary to participate to alliance battles in area of conflict).

What do you plan on doing with shields?
We haven’t decided yet how shields should evolve; we’re working on several options. They’ll have to be reviewed anyway when we’ll remove the honor points system and we have to implement other types of prerequisites to equip them. We’re also thinking of reviewing the balancing of the shields.

Why can’t the characters in battle win any points for the battle of numerical superiority in area of conflict?
If the characters in battle could win points, the players could be tempted to start fake battles at will to protect their characters indefinitely and win points without the possibility for their enemies to confront them. By not including characters in battles, we’re pushing players to start short battles in order to win points more quickly.
 
If we’re turned into a ghost after losing an AvA battle, won’t we be spending way more time walking to the Phoneix in ghost form than playing and having fun?
We’re planning to speed up the walking speed of the ghosts considerably in the 2.13 version, so that this phase is less frustrating and penalizing.