A new round of test campaigns has started in the world of Crowfall, and this time around, the game has been updated with the new capture bonus mechanic that was first announced a couple of weeks ago. In short, this new mechanic adds a pool of bonus points to all captured forts and outposts, and the longer a location is held, the larger its bonus pool will grow. The faction that ultimately manages to wrest control of the location will also earn all the accumulated points.
This should hopefully reduce the likelihood of runaway victories while also giving players an incentive to actively try to capture enemy territory rather than just turtling up and defending their holdings. This set of test campaigns will last for one week in order to to test how the new mechanics work out over a longer period, after which the devs will “see how the mechanic works, balance it based on what [they’ve] learned and immediately roll into longer campaigns.”
Also, a recent “significant balance pass” unfortunately necessitated an alpha character wipe, though to soften the blow a little bit, the devs are not going to wipe passive skill training. In addition, although there’s been much debate about whether or not to allow imports (of items from players’ Spirit Banks) for the first sanctioned campaign, Creative Director J. Todd Coleman says he’s currently leaning in favor, in part because of the “ill-timed character wipe.” Even if imports are allowed, though, Coleman emphasizes that there will be “no-import” sanctioned campaigns later down the line. To read a bit more about the thought process behind this decision (and on the latest round of test campaigns), be sure to check out the full post on the game’s official site.
