by iamahh » Sat Jan 23, 2016 11:45 pm
One key issue with sieges is they are unpredictable and hard to conciliate with a healthy life habit.
To solve this problem mmo Lineage 2 used to have periodic siege time windows at saturdays, a siege npc in front of every castle where attackers and defenders had to signup for special benefits during those 2 hours or so. Battles were surprisingly fun and epic, lots of people showed up to defend because its always the same time.
Siege started, attackers and defenders who signup were flagged as 2 separate teams, so everyone could see easily who is who. Attacking players was free of consequences like scents during the battle. Battle had a time limit I believe 2h max, was enough for winning or getting stomped. Players were KO instead of killed, respawn and came back to fight until the NPCs were overcome and the throne room invaded.
Downside of periodic scheduled sieges is the lack of spontaneity, etc.
Upsides are you can organize your whole life, youre always prepared for a possible siege, call friends to defend ahead of time.
Ovverall it was a mechanic that valued the players mental well being, something some games ignore completely today. There seems to be a tendency to affect players emotionally in a bad way, and its something praised as hardcore. I fought less than 6 sieges in Lineage but those battles I cannot forget the fun adrenaline, summoning giant mechanic pigs with my dwarf, there was no mental downsides like i see today, just organized fun, and lots of players participated.