Citadel Studios founder/CEO Derek Brinkmann, lead producer Jeffrey Edwards, community manager Liz Finnegan, and lead game designer Ben Phelps took to Twitch a couple of days ago to hold a Legends of Aria Town Hall, where they discussed what’s next for the sandbox MMO, with particular focus on improving militia-based capture-the-flag.
The stream first discussed what’s being worked on for Point Release 9, including the previously detailed Grand Bazaar, updates to militias including changes to ranks to make them more participation-based and less susceptible to manipulation, a duel system to allow 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 fights in the game’s duel arenas, additional Leagues of Celador content, and promise of PvP balancing.
The stream then went on to take a closer look at militia updates, providing a live look at new capture-the-flag mechanics. The primary addition is a global material known as Spiritwood, which can be earned for your militia only if it controls the Spiritwood King of the Hill location. Gaining this resource is important, since it repairs keep doors and allows players to summon a battering ram to knock down opposing keep doors. Unleashing a battering ram on an enemy keep isn’t exactly subtle, so players should be aware that doing this will send a message to the defenders that the keep is under attack, allowing them to mount a defense.
Spiritwood is the first of several global resources planned for Legends of Aria militias to use in the defense and attack of keeps, and these resources will only be available by holding on to King of the Hill locations, meaning defending these areas will become much more vital.
The stream then went on to further elaborate on the new milita ranking system, a live look at the Grand Bazaar, and held a Q&A session with the playerbase. You can take in the complete video in the embed for a complete look.
