Special Rule-set Servers in WAR

Here’s what’s been “officially” announced about special servers in WAR:

• Josh Drescher says special server types like Gaheris (PvE co-op server from DAOC) are on the table for discussion but unconfirmed (MMO-Gamer).
• Mark Jacobs went into detail about Open RvR and Core server-types (an potential RP versions of both). Open RvR is pretty basic: When you see an enemy, you can attack him. In the Core rule-set, a player must become flagged before you can engage him in combat (e.g., crossing into a contested zone). Both rule-sets prevent newbie ganking (Warhammer Alliance).
• Mark Jacobs shoots down anyone’s dreams that WAR will contain a free-for-all PvP server like Mordred from DAOC (Warhammer Alliance).

Here’s a brief history of special rule-set servers from my experience:

In its heyday, Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC) had four special rule-set server-types: normal, role-play, PvP, and co-op. Normal realms were pretty basic and didn’t have any special rules outside Mythic’s original vision for the game (3-way RvR war). The role-play servers functioned similarly to normal servers except role-playing and maturity were strongly encouraged in the community (people could be reported for violations). PvP servers were one giant free-for-all, even allowing players of the same realm attack each other. And finally, co-op servers allowed members of each realm to group with each other and PvE was the focus instead of RvR. Around the time of their third retail expansion, Catacombs, the DAOC team added a fifth server-type called “classic.” The classic servers were added in response to negative player feedback about all the overpowered gear and the lengthy grind it took to obtain said gear introduced mainly by the Trials of Atlantis expansion. People wanted a throw-back server so they could experience “the good ol’ days.”

World of Warcraft has normal, PvP, and role-play (RP and RP-PvP) realms. In normal realms, the focus is more on PvE and PvP can only be entered willingly regardless of zone. PvP realms features contested zones, making up the bulk of each continent. Anyone within these contested zones is fair game for an enemy faction’s ambush. Role-play realms are similar to normal realms and role-play-PvP realms are similar to PvP realms except that player role-playing is highly encouraged. Like DAOC, you can be reported for violating RP rules.

Many MMORPGs also have specific servers based on player geographical location. For instance, Lord of the Rings Online has European servers for English-, German-, and French-speaking gamers. The benefits of choosing a server based upon your worldly position is that you can play with people from your time zone. Imagine someone from Norway (GMT +1) playing on a server located on the west coast of North America (GMT-8)… that’s a 9-hour time difference. It makes the term, “prime time” less clear. I’ve heard rumour of certain MMOs forcing players to create accounts on servers connected to their geographic location. For instance, EU players can only roll on EU servers. I’m not a fan of this since a good buddy of mine lives in Norway and we’ve gamed together for years!

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Can you think of any special servers that I missed? What sorts of special rule-sets would you like to see in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning?

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