So you're a blood thirsty player, searching for your prey, riding out in the vast open world of Mortal Online. Suddenly in the deep horizon the target appears, another player whom you will surely catch off-guard. Adrenaline pumping you boost your horse closer and closer, trying to shoot them with your bow from a distance. Just before you can reach the enemy to dismount them, they ride into some gates which close before you're able to enter and your prey escapes behind some walls like the true coward they are.
"These damn walls shouldn't be in the game", you think to yourself.
But is there any truth to that notion?
Let's take a minute and think about this concept of why walls are placed into survival games and what their purpose is. The first known walls used as borders, were those built back in biblical times around 2,000 BC (according to national geographic). These were times when, similar to the theme of Mortal, the world was a very dangerous place. The civilizations that existed in these times were fierce barbarians such as the Huns and Goths (The Goths / Visgoths later being one of the societies which helped destroy the Roman Empire and bring about the medieval period). Walls were built in these times as a means of security in order for people to be able to rest, protect themselves, and safe keep their belongings, from the dangerous world around them. So what does any of this have to do with Mortal?
Go back to the scenario at the beginning, because perspective is everything. While the said player chasing, hoping to score a kill on the other player, is mad at the walls perhaps the other player is incapable of fighting back. Perhaps he sees you and knows he is outmatched, or might have an emergency or need to log off the game for other reasons. Even in the situation where the player had time and was adequately equipped to fight back (let's say he climbs the walls and starts shooting you from behind them), that is still not the walls fault as much as the design behind them, which leads me to the next point.
What you are upset about is not the fact that walls exist, but instead how difficult the walls are to bypass or destroy. In the first Mortal Online game, there were three glaring issues with walls. The first issue was that, even with siege equipment walls were too difficult to destroy. The second issue being that there were no ways to climb walls without building a ramp (which also would be impossible when the enemy is fighting back). Then the third is that it was easy to place many guards around the walls, making the walls even harder to destroy. These three issues are not so much faults with walls existing as they are faults with the developers who design and balance the game itself.
I am no expert on game balance, and I am not going to pretend like I am, however I do know that walls serve a very healthy role in survival games when balanced correctly. In a game such as Mortal Online, it is just as much a PvE game as it is a PvP game. Not every player wants to fight, and even people who enjoy fighting do not want to fight all the time. When I see a player that I know I stand no chance against, I'm not going to have any desire to fight them regardless of how much they would like to kill me. Game design that takes away player choice and forces the players into these situations 100% of the time will ultimately cause players to quit. A good example of this is what happened to Tindrem in the first game. Red players would sit around camping the gate of Tindrem, killing any player who tried to leave. Many players quit the game because there was nothing they could do in a situation such as this, they are unequipped to fight back.
That last point I feel should really be emphasized because many of you simply don't get it.
Players behind walls don't make the game die. Players killing other players who are defenseless makes the game die.
The more a person has, the more a person is willing to part ways with things. The less a person has, the more cautious they're going to try to be because they don't want to lose what little they have...
Basically it's a triangle like this:
1. Player is able to farm, player has a lot.
2. Player uses said farm to create items.
3. Player has many items so now player wants to use said items.
(Now there is PvP).
Then there is the reverse:
1. Players can't farm because the world is too dangerous.
2. Players only have a few items, but they lose those to another player.
3. Players have nothing to play with and cannot acquire anything to play with so the players quit the game.
4. Less and less players exist, causing even more players to quit because the game feels dead.
(Now there is no PvP).
All of the built up frustration by many players who hate walls has nothing to do with walls, so don't the hate walls because walls are not your enemy. If you are one of the players who hates walls then vent at Henrik, Farmer Joe, and whoever else makes balance decisions in the game. There's no reason for walls to be so difficult to destroy, they are the ones who make it that way. Walls have a rightful and healthy place in Mortal Online and the developers removing them is just a lazy "fix", that really doesn't fix anything.
"These damn walls shouldn't be in the game", you think to yourself.
But is there any truth to that notion?
Let's take a minute and think about this concept of why walls are placed into survival games and what their purpose is. The first known walls used as borders, were those built back in biblical times around 2,000 BC (according to national geographic). These were times when, similar to the theme of Mortal, the world was a very dangerous place. The civilizations that existed in these times were fierce barbarians such as the Huns and Goths (The Goths / Visgoths later being one of the societies which helped destroy the Roman Empire and bring about the medieval period). Walls were built in these times as a means of security in order for people to be able to rest, protect themselves, and safe keep their belongings, from the dangerous world around them. So what does any of this have to do with Mortal?
Go back to the scenario at the beginning, because perspective is everything. While the said player chasing, hoping to score a kill on the other player, is mad at the walls perhaps the other player is incapable of fighting back. Perhaps he sees you and knows he is outmatched, or might have an emergency or need to log off the game for other reasons. Even in the situation where the player had time and was adequately equipped to fight back (let's say he climbs the walls and starts shooting you from behind them), that is still not the walls fault as much as the design behind them, which leads me to the next point.
What you are upset about is not the fact that walls exist, but instead how difficult the walls are to bypass or destroy. In the first Mortal Online game, there were three glaring issues with walls. The first issue was that, even with siege equipment walls were too difficult to destroy. The second issue being that there were no ways to climb walls without building a ramp (which also would be impossible when the enemy is fighting back). Then the third is that it was easy to place many guards around the walls, making the walls even harder to destroy. These three issues are not so much faults with walls existing as they are faults with the developers who design and balance the game itself.
I am no expert on game balance, and I am not going to pretend like I am, however I do know that walls serve a very healthy role in survival games when balanced correctly. In a game such as Mortal Online, it is just as much a PvE game as it is a PvP game. Not every player wants to fight, and even people who enjoy fighting do not want to fight all the time. When I see a player that I know I stand no chance against, I'm not going to have any desire to fight them regardless of how much they would like to kill me. Game design that takes away player choice and forces the players into these situations 100% of the time will ultimately cause players to quit. A good example of this is what happened to Tindrem in the first game. Red players would sit around camping the gate of Tindrem, killing any player who tried to leave. Many players quit the game because there was nothing they could do in a situation such as this, they are unequipped to fight back.
That last point I feel should really be emphasized because many of you simply don't get it.
Players behind walls don't make the game die. Players killing other players who are defenseless makes the game die.
The more a person has, the more a person is willing to part ways with things. The less a person has, the more cautious they're going to try to be because they don't want to lose what little they have...
Basically it's a triangle like this:
1. Player is able to farm, player has a lot.
2. Player uses said farm to create items.
3. Player has many items so now player wants to use said items.
(Now there is PvP).
Then there is the reverse:
1. Players can't farm because the world is too dangerous.
2. Players only have a few items, but they lose those to another player.
3. Players have nothing to play with and cannot acquire anything to play with so the players quit the game.
4. Less and less players exist, causing even more players to quit because the game feels dead.
(Now there is no PvP).
All of the built up frustration by many players who hate walls has nothing to do with walls, so don't the hate walls because walls are not your enemy. If you are one of the players who hates walls then vent at Henrik, Farmer Joe, and whoever else makes balance decisions in the game. There's no reason for walls to be so difficult to destroy, they are the ones who make it that way. Walls have a rightful and healthy place in Mortal Online and the developers removing them is just a lazy "fix", that really doesn't fix anything.
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