What's so good about Champion Spawns?
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 4:08 pm
They are the only kind of PvM I ever enjoyed in UO, Oaks especially. I'm not even talking about raiding them, just actually 'working' the spawn.
My reasons:
1. The risk of PvP.
2. Working as a team
3. Reward(scrolls)
Obviously you then consider the other benefit of champ spawns; the PvP itself.
Why did champ spawns offer the best PvP experience? I talk a lot about purpose and risk vs rewards which obviously aren't the only factors, but to address that first:
Factions had purpose, but you had to have a faction char, make yourself attackable all the time and be on at the right time for raids, etc. Which obviously didn't suit most UO players. The rewards weren't that great either. Warhorses being the best thing beyond the limited scope of the bragging rights of controlling the towns.
With spawns, you didn't have to join a limiting PvP system, you could go on any kind of PvP or PvM char - and unless you were attacked by other guilds, PvM chars were actually far more useful. The system was therefore accessible to all, and actually offered advantages to PvMers over PvPers to a large extent.
Everyone wanted to be involved because the rewards were so great. All the European and American shards turned into a shard-wide battleground over spawns, simply because scrolls were so desirable. You could argue that Felucca became the busiest facet. Certainly on most American shards the majority of top 10 guilds for members in early AOS were 'spawner guilds' - PvM guilds primarily interested in Champ Spawns above all else. Later on many of these guilds were replaced by hybrid PvM/PvP 'spawn' guilds, concerned solely with controlling the champion spawn market with their PvM chars and killing off any opposition with their PvP chars.
Stopping there, and without considering any other factors. Does that not alone mean that the Factions system on Legacy was wholly unnecessary and that spawns are a strong enough system alone to keep PvPers and PvMers interested?
My reasons:
1. The risk of PvP.
2. Working as a team
3. Reward(scrolls)
Obviously you then consider the other benefit of champ spawns; the PvP itself.
Why did champ spawns offer the best PvP experience? I talk a lot about purpose and risk vs rewards which obviously aren't the only factors, but to address that first:
Factions had purpose, but you had to have a faction char, make yourself attackable all the time and be on at the right time for raids, etc. Which obviously didn't suit most UO players. The rewards weren't that great either. Warhorses being the best thing beyond the limited scope of the bragging rights of controlling the towns.
With spawns, you didn't have to join a limiting PvP system, you could go on any kind of PvP or PvM char - and unless you were attacked by other guilds, PvM chars were actually far more useful. The system was therefore accessible to all, and actually offered advantages to PvMers over PvPers to a large extent.
Everyone wanted to be involved because the rewards were so great. All the European and American shards turned into a shard-wide battleground over spawns, simply because scrolls were so desirable. You could argue that Felucca became the busiest facet. Certainly on most American shards the majority of top 10 guilds for members in early AOS were 'spawner guilds' - PvM guilds primarily interested in Champ Spawns above all else. Later on many of these guilds were replaced by hybrid PvM/PvP 'spawn' guilds, concerned solely with controlling the champion spawn market with their PvM chars and killing off any opposition with their PvP chars.
Stopping there, and without considering any other factors. Does that not alone mean that the Factions system on Legacy was wholly unnecessary and that spawns are a strong enough system alone to keep PvPers and PvMers interested?