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Whats a Keep? Startin' with the Basics
A keep is a smaller castle that can hold, at most, a small village inside
it. This is as opposed to a fort which can be enormous. Tier 4 zones,
which have players of roughly levels 30-40 in them, have two keeps each.
Keeps have an outer wall and an inner keep to penetrate.
To take a keep you have to kill the keep lord and the opposing enemy
defending the keep. To do this you'll have to break down the main gates
on the outer and inner walls, all the while fending off the defenders. You
are in a race against time as defenders race from around the realm and
the keep's defensive capabilities (rank) begin their slow rise as the guild
who claimed it desperately tries to improve its defenses.
In addition to the main doors to the outer wall and inner keep, there are
posterns, which are little doors that only the defending realm can use to
get in. The exception is that outer wall posterns can be entered by
melee dps characters. In fact, in the infrequent case an inner keep is not
"deadbolted" by the guild claiming the keep, even inner keep posterns can
be broken into by the same. More on that later.
In the old days there was only one ramp up to the room with the lord of
the keep in it, leading to strategically and tactically fixed battles favoring
defense to the extreme. There are now two such ramps making keep battles
more of a fun rumble, and creates more strategic options and risks.
The new two ramp system sometimes even results in battles at the
entrance downstairs to the inner keep rather than upstairs with the keep
lord and his champions, despite the benefits of fighting with their aid,
in order to gain advantage from the gate's natural chokepoint.
Oil level of keep bristling with ranged while melee fight below
Why Claim a Keep?
After the keep is taken from the enemy, a guild must claim a keep to start
the 2 hour domination timer which you can see on the map. Until those 2
hours are up for both keeps in a zone, it is unlikely you can lock that zone
and move on to the next and ultimately towards the enemy's city.
This is one of the most critical role of guilds and makes them integral to the
war overall, not just a collection of individuals. It is the glue that binds guilds
together within the realm rather than keep them antagonistic to each other.
As only one guild can own a keep at a time, even some of the smallest
guilds can have a great impact on the war.
If that keep can be successfully defended by the realm until the zone locks,
that guild will receive a goodies bag in the mail and some guild advancement
points, but more importantly since a guild can only claim one keep this is
an important part of battling the enemy into his city where warlord crests and
the reknown from city battles await.
How to Claim a Keep
If ah had 1g for every time someone asked how to claim a keep!
A guild member with flag/standard bearer rights clicks on a keep banner
(flag) holder in the wall under the keep's banners and the guild member's
standard/flag disappears (2g to rebuy), and the keep is now claimed by
the guild. The keep's banner holders are found on the top floor on the
wall edge.
This action without careful commitment to keep defense management
over time can bankrupt a guild or lose a zone.
These keeps are very expensive for guilds to hold, but we'll get to the fun
details of that in part 2.
If you have any ideas for additional info to add
about keeps, let me know! See "Contact Dwooid"
on the sidebar for contact info.
Best Regahds,
Dwooid of Caledor
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