Faction Boundaries

[jwiwchar]

Ever since the feature was put in where you lose an item if killed by a player protecting their faction, I've been curious as to where these faction boundaries actually extend to. Well, I found out the other day.

Apparently, the Last Alliance boundary extends all the way to the gates of Avendell. When it comes to the item loss idea, this doesn't make any sense. When someone from the Last Alliance kills someone directly outside of Avendell, they are not protecting their faction from an invader. There's only two ways out of Avendell, and to count one of them as LA territory really allows people from that faction to exploit it. What's keeping someone from hanging around and killing people for items when they leave Avendell (or come in from the black hills)?

Personally, I think that (as far as item loss goes) the only area that should count as faction territory should be the city itself, and perhaps the outer gates. As I understood it, the item loss idea was put in to add an element of risk to faction raiding. If the faction boundaries are going to be so far-reaching, then it's not just getting people who are raiding a faction.

Anyway, I don't really like the item loss idea at all, but if it's going to stay (and I'm sure it is), then I think the faction boundaries should be much smaller to keep people from abusing it.

[TheBestDeception]

Personally, I think that (as far as item loss goes) the only area that should count as faction territory should be the city itself, and perhaps the outer gates.

I have to agree with you there.

As far as factional reaches, I know Sleeth has the Mountain Trail, and likely any of the Ancient Road.

[Elagneros]

According to the faction descriptions, LA is supposed to be the faction with the largest territory. So I don't see the problem. Yes, it can be risky for non-LA characters to travel through LA territory, but I think it gives LA one of its few advantages in the game (besides being open to any character). After all, LA has no other faction as an ally unlike every other faction, has only the halflings in Evenshire as friends, has no unique prestige class, and AFAIK, can't bind anywhere outside LA territory except for Avendell.

Ancient Ones to me seems to have an even bigger advantage in terms of territory than LA. If as TBD said is true and AO has the mountain, what's to stop its characters from staking the mountain and pking characters for their equipment? Keep in mind that AO is the only other faction besides LA that allows any character at all. Get a group of players that wnat to pk for equipment, and they could just make up a bunch of AO characters (or even RK ones when alliances are added in), and pretty much "own" one of the most popular xp destinations in the game.

If the Ancient Road is also included (which seems likely), that also gives AO players the opportunity to stop a Sleeth raid long before it reaches the gates of Sleeth, especially if those defenders are bound to Krallusk. The only other faction that can defend itself so far out like this is NC.

[deathdearler1]

the only thing that stops AO faction players from staking the mountain is the understading that you can only do this once. you would break every zone on the mountain if you did this. LA doesn't really have the biggest territory you can walk most of it pretty easy, try walking MA or SL territory.

[Elagneros]

Interesting, I wasn't aware that pking could lead to breakage. Though I suppose really unscrupulous AO players could always try staking right after a mountain break before anyone realizes it's broken too.

And you want a big territory? NC controls a pretty big chunk of server 1's map. I'd estimate that they've got nearly a third of the server in their hands. With guardians spread through the whole place too.

MA territory isn't really that bad, except for the desert.