PvP Arena coming to Blight
The Empire has taken notice that recent incursions by the forces of the Withered Aegis have been more organized and deadly. In particular, their use of abilities thought to be unique to the Gifted such as resurrection has been cause for great alarm.
To better prepare againstthis increasingthreat, the Empire has been researching a way to allow the Gifted to hone their skills in combat against the most cunning foe possible: other Gifted. While the Goddess Istara normally bestows a blessingupon the Gifted which prevents them from hurting one another, researchers have discovered a ritual sacrifice that can temporarily suspend that restriction. There are two different rituals, each giving the ability to engage in combat against anyone who has undergone the opposing one.
Currently under construction are a series of Arenas. Each will present a different environment to train in and will vary in size, rating limit, and landscape. All of these Arenas are isolated from the rest of the world so there will be no intereference with daily life.
The ritual which allows this combat training to occur consumes valuable resources. Therefore, there will be a fee to participate in an Arena. There may also be a fee or other requirement to be allowed to go to the new lands where the Arenas are located, to help offset the cost of their construction. Also, for some reason this ritual only works in the Realm of Blight. Perhaps a way will be found for it to work in other Realms, but researchers cannot be sure.
The Empire does not require anyone to participate who does not wish to. The Arenas are being offered as a method for improving one's ability to combat the ever increasing threat of the Withered Aegis forces. Good luck, and good sparring!
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End of lore
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Now for a little more technical detail. First and foremost, let it be known that thecreation of this system and content did not take away from anything else in development. I was personallyable to add this on my own time (mostly while eating lunch at mydesk)quickly and easily largely due to changes that have been made for other purposes such as invasions and events. There has been no delay incurred for the Ancient Right of Passage, Dragon Lairs, or any other planned additions.
Second, the primary reason for doing this is to better test out new and adjusted content. We'll get a great deal more feedback about the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of abilities, spells, and items. Note that the concept here isn't to balance the schools or their abilities for PvP, but rather use the feedback from such to compare against their intended effect.
For now, this will only be available on Blight. The results of its use there will determine whether or not the Arenas are added to the other servers at some point in the future. In this very first release, in fact, you can only go to the Arena island by being summoned by a GM. After the initial bugs and quirks are worked out, there will be a method to get there on your own.
This first version only contains one extremely simple Arena. The content, such as the layout, NPCs, and the effects they give, are placeholders. They will be more descriptive and given more Lore as we move forward once the system has proven that it works properly.
There are no plans to add rewards, tallies, or statisticsto the Arena. It is there for characters to compare their capabilities. If players wish to assign their own rewards/contests/tournaments in the Arena, it is not supported by Tulga Games. We will not referee orsettle disputes that arise from its use. Also, the Arena is open to anyone. Characters are free to join any combat that is in progress. It is up to the players to ask one another to abstain from joining a fight, though there will be no official enforcement of these requests.
In short: use at your own risk.
As for how the system works, it's pretty simple. At either end of each Arena is an NPC. Each is the "recruiter" for one of the two teams. By greeting the NPC and accepting the fee, you receive an effect. This effect prevents recall and teleportation and causes anyone who has the opposite team's effect to be treated as your enemy. Thus they can be attacked and not healed. Characters that are not on either team cannot interact with (i.e. heal) characters that havea team effect in any way, so observers cannot interfere with an Arena combat. The effectcan beremoved in three ways: expiring after 10 minutes, greeting your team recruiter and asking for it to be removed, or dying. Death still gives a death point and penalty, if appropriate. Once dead, you can be resurrected by a bystander or recall. No experience or any other rewardis gained for killing another character in the arena.
I think that's it. I've done everything I can to make sure that those who have no interest in fighting other players will be completely unaffected. This system is voluntary, isolated, and confers no gain. Again, its purpose is to allow greater testing and balancing of content. If players have fun with it, that's a happy side-effect.
Oh, and in answer to the inevitable "when will there be another character copy to Blight": I don't know when, but I can guarantee there will be.
Originally Posted by Hal`cyon Sskyler
