RvR games like wow and warhammer do not lend themselves well to supporting either military structure, formations, or tactics. What we need is the kind of FFA PvP the KGB enjoyed and excelled at in UO. PvP in UO was not only tactical but strategic in many ways as well.

In current MMOs, death is an inconvenience, nothing more. You res and are immediately able to reenter the fight. Gear neither wears out nor needs to be replaced. In UO, not only did you have to find a healer or get a res from a party member, in many cases, your corpse would be dry looted and your horse killed. So not only could you remove the enemy from the field by killing him, over time, you can deplete their capacity to fight. Kill/loot your enemy enough, and unless he wants to go to the sword fight naked and weaponless, he's done until he finds a way to resupply himself. If he has to go on foot because he can't manage to get another horse quickly enough, that is a further disadvantage.

I'm really hoping that DarkFall will allow us to return to that combat model. I'm withholding judgement on the look and feel for Darkfall until I can have a chance to evaluate the game play. Shadowbane in many was was butt ugly, but the PvP and siege capability made up for it's cosmetic crudeness.

Age of Conan is very pretty, but I never enjoyed the PvP environment there. Give me a UO skill based game with an open PvP environment and a siege capability like Shadowbane, and I think that from the point of view of playability, we will have a game where the KGB can shine.

To the everlasting glory of the infantry...

Owain ab Arawn
KGB Supreme Knight
King's High Council