Project Lore

A dark, stormy night. The thunder of cannon fire ricocheting off the rocky cliffs. A lurching behemoth moves across the sky, ready to rain destruction upon the ground below. Fireballs burst forth from the vents of a nearby manufacturing plant. If nothing more, you could say that the Isle of Conquest is appropriately moody. Atmospheric, even. In my opinion, probably one of the finest works of visual design in the game. Which is why it's such a shame that, for all its bravado and promises, it doesn't really seem to move the concept of the Battleground forward. I regaled you in a previous post with the things I desired to see in the future of PvP combat, and the initial previews for the Isle of Conquest suggested that it might just be headed in that direction. A brief reminder: resource collection, enforceable objectives, hard modes, and an epic scale. Of all those, the end result  seems only to incorporate the last. Standing in front of the imposing Horde Keep. Now, I shouldn't say "end result." After all, IoC has only seen a day of public testing, and there's plenty of time to tweak and change it before Patch 3.2 gets tossed out on live servers, but that may not be enough if the fundamental mechanics are potentially broken. With a couple dozen matches under my belt, I've noticed that zerging still hasn't gone out of style. Just like Arathi Basin, people burst forth from their starting gates and scramble to capture several objectives strewn about in the middle of the map (even the icons are the same!). Controlling the Docks will give you access to the new Glaive Thrower vehicle (which, I have to admit, is pretty bad ass; it's physically weak, but has a lot of range and reminds me of those cool little foam disc shooters I had as a kid). The Siege Workship, which sits square in the center, allows you to ride the now-familiar Demolishers and Siege Engines (the latter of which will activate after you've maintained control for awhile). And then there's the Airship Hangar, which is the objective du jour. Hold onto this building and your faction's got an automated battleship ready to unleash chaos on your enemies. Taking a portal at the Hangar transports you on top, allowing you to either man the powerful on-board cannons or take a flying leap into the opposing Keep (don't worry, a parachute will guide you down safely). As absolutely cool as this mechanic is (and it may account for some of its current popularity), it's also evidence that zerging has certainly not gone out of style. Currently, Isle of Conquest seems to consist of two things: rush the Hangar, assault the Keep. Capping doesn't take very long, and there are no other towers to take down to delay the process. The only other pre-condition is that you blow up the front gate (which can be done from inside after your paratroopers land) in order to make the enemy commander appear. Wide shot of the two airships hovering just above the Hangar, one of the Isle of Conquest's capture points. The Oil Derrick and Cobalt Mine (which sit on opposite diagonals of the map), thus far, seem to attract far less attention, and I can see them becoming just like the mines in Alterac Valley (i.e. a random, lonely player looking to stay away from the main action will likely cap them in order to make themselves feel like they're actually helping). With all the zerging going on, who needs reinforcements? Essentially, there's nothing offered in IoC that pushes people to create new strategies or think about Battlegrounds in any way different from before. The matches I played last an average of 8-15 minutes, which is criminally short for something that's supposed to be this epic. Where are the stop-gaps? The objectives on the Isle are more like various options to complete the same objective, whereas they should be working in tandem to open up or shut down the enemy's Keep. The Workshop, for instance, could control a forcefield that either keeps people from parachuting into a  base or greatly reduces the amount of damage that can be done to its walls. They'd have to hold it in order to make the Airship Hangar a worthwhile choice. Or how about the Derrick and Mine? Make them spawn resources (not mere reinforcements) that, when accumulated over time, allows your faction to purchase the vehicles (instead of having them simply sitting there once the objective is taken)? Looking clear across the battlefield, you can see the enemy Keep. Mechanics like this would force players into a multi-step procedure for winning the fight. You must complete Phase 1, to even access Phase 2, and Phase 2 must be completed before you can finally assault the opposition. But the more I think about it, the more I consider that there's an alternate motive for the speed at which IoC moves along, and that is, quite simply, its sister Battlegrounds. In order to keep it fresh, current, and well-played, instead of quickly forgotten, it must offer something to appease the mass of players that cares more for accumulating Honor than a fun, well-fought battle. Alterac Valley, in zerg mode, is the fastest way to earn the (not-so-)precious commodity. For the Isle of Conquest to take over as the premiere venue for PvPers, it must be even faster. Beyond that, it's just catering to those with short attention spans and the desire for instant rewards. And this seems like a bit of a defeatist attitude for the Battleground designers to have. Their aspirations seem like mere window dressing, a thin coat of "cool" to hide the dirty truth about what players really want, and reluctantly or not, they're letting them have their way. But hey, that's business, and as much as I'd love it, they can't simply kowtow to people like The rising smokestacks of the Oil Derrick/Docks area. me, who are far more involved in the raiding and questing aspects of the game anyway. I'll say it again, it's a beautiful setup, and the vehicles add a much needed layer of scope to the proceedings. There are a lot of things I like about the Isle of Conquest so far, but that makes the underlying issues even more glaring. I was hoping that this would be the one to sell me on the concept of Player versus Player again, but unless sweeping changes are made to the basic mechanics of the Battlegrounds or the philosophy upon which they are conducted, I think I may have to pass. Nonetheless, we have a whole test period ahead of us to see what changes. Perhaps some of the problems can be corrected through tweaks, while others can be rectified by players simply getting used to the Battleground and molding it into something different than what I've seen thus far. Then again, learning to zerg is something that comes later on in the cycle, and if its already appearing, people have either already exploited some glaring holes, it is designed as I've speculated in this article. Speak out, readers, and let me know how you feel about the Isle of Conquest, especially if you've put some actual time into on the PTR. Are you a lapsed PvPer looking to get back into the game? Does the new Battleground look like it could whet your appetite, or is it more of the same? Or are you dedicated to the fine art of ganking? If so, are you happy about these developments and the ease of farming Honor? You can also tell me to sod off with my sour grapes, and go raid something if I don't like having my butt whooped in PvP!

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