By: Bob “Maurath” Hess

Hello again, this is Bob “Maurath” Hess with a new Developer Diary. This time I will be talking about “Attack at Dawn,” the new skirmish located in Dol Dínen, in the North Downs. For reference, in our ‘Echoes of the Dead’ update I worked on the 'solofication' pass of Volume 2, was the primary designer on the Northcotton Farms instance and previously I created region content in Enedwaith’s Thror’s Coomb and the Lich Bluffs.

To give you a peek into how we brought this skirmish to life, I'll give a bit of a background on the space, an overview of the design process and then a few final notes regarding the space as a whole.

Background:

I was one of two designers asked to work on Skirmishes following the latest instance cluster. As this was the first Skirmish I had the opportunity to work on, I saw it as both a challenge and keen opportunity to learn how to work within the system. The designers and engineers who developed the Skirmish system put together a rather robust toolset that not only tailors itself to a wide array of encounters, but also streamlines the creation process.

Overview of the Design Process:

• Select a location
• Select a theme/storyline
• Create an interesting fight mechanic that makes the space feel unique
• Create a compelling boss encounter which scales well with player levels

Selecting a location:

For these Skirmishes we're revisiting thematically interesting areas that some players haven't experienced. Additionally, we're selecting areas that lend themselves to a wide level range.

When looking over locations we consider a number of different choices such as Nan Wathren, and Ost Galumar in Nan Amulug West. But after looking over several options, we determined that Dol Dínen in the North Downs really lends itself to the format. As both a small and regular-sized fellowship content area we feel that it might allow new players to experience the area and former visitors to experience it in a slightly different light.

Below is one of the maps used for early planning purposes. You can notice that we’ve denoted some of the encounters, starting locations, control points, and optional locations. However, this map is based on the original Dol Dínen space, with none of the terrain and decoration changes, obstacles and gating shown.

Selecting a Theme/Storyline:

We decided early in the design process to create offensive Skirmish spaces, so we wanted to come up with a believable background for why the Rangers would send adventurers deep within the camp. The feeling was this would give players a sense of urgency and also help with the final boss encounter design.

Creating an interesting fight mechanic that makes the space feel unique: Looking at the space, it became apparent that one thematic terrain element was the plateau overlooking a camp below.

It seemed like a perfect place to set up a few catapults, and use them to rain boulders down on the camp below. While we used a similar mechanic during a boss encounter in the Protectors of Thangúlhad Skirmish, the thought was that a different use of the mechanic might be interesting within the main courtyard. It’s there where you’ll find both the main objective and several counter-attacks. After setting up a prototype, the space felt more dynamic and allowed careful players to use the mechanic to their advantage.

Creating a compelling boss encounter:

One of the many challenges when creating a boss encounter for a Skirmish is the variable group size and level spread. Our approach to ensuring an interesting Skirmish is by giving the encounter several elements to balance, while making sure not to make them too complicated.

Based on the story we decided there would be an escape mechanic that the player needs to balance while with dealing with the boss.

In addition to the escape mechanic, we wanted to use something similar to the catapult mechanic that players had already experienced in the encounter. So, during the final boss fight, goblin sappers will toss charges onto the players below.

Finally, the boss himself was given several abilities that tie into these challenges. All in all, this should make for a rather dynamic fight encounter!

Final Thoughts:

Despite this being my first Skirmish, the effort of our team really shines through in the quality of the Skirmish and the space's fun factor. I'm lucky to be a part of a great team supporting each other through these processes.

Joe “JWBarry” Barry was tremendous help with the mechanics of setting up the Skirmish, and is a fountain of knowledge regarding the Skirmish system as a whole. The systems team stepped up for item support, and skill information for the Skirmish. Fantus and the rest of the world team did a great job refining the space. Last but not least, the QA team really was instrumental on giving me feedback and suggestions throughout the design process. Without their tireless support, this space (and the game as whole) would be in much rougher shape.

I really hope you enjoy the “Attack at Dawn” Skirmish, and I hope you all have a Hobbit-slapping good time.

Bob “Maurath” Hess