The realm of Hibernia has mostly dominated realm versus realm (RvR) warfare on the Ywain server cluster in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) during Fall 2020. This is evidenced by massive realm point (RP) disparities (233 million RPs in the last week of September 2020, with approximately 140 million each for the realms of Midgard and Albion), as well as the day to day success of RvR operations for the battle groups (BGs) of each realm. Sustained dominance by a single realm leads to less enjoyment, lowered morale, less playtime, and, ultimately, players ending their subscriptions on the underdog realms.

Realm points over time for the three realms Hibernia (green), Midgard (blue), and Albion (red). Data from http://excidio.net/herald/.

I identify four possible causes for Hibernian dominance as follows:

1. Higher player skill: Perhaps players on Hibernia are simply better players, thus yielding this RvR dominance? This statement is partially supported by anecdotal evidence suggesting the presence of more RvR-focused guilds with experienced players who regularly participate in BG operations in Hibernia. However, it is refuted by the fact that most DAoC players move freely between the three realms, thus suggesting that the player demographics and skills are approximately equal across realms. Nevertheless, we contend that it may be a factor in the current situation.

2. Better leadership: It is plausible that the leaders running Hibernian BGs are more experienced, more charismatic, and/or more strategic than for other realms. This is supported by the fact that the Hibernian BG leader Herorius, with the highest number of RPs in all of the realms, has a very long track record of leading his BG during European prime time. However, the Albion BG leader Rescu has a similar track record, yet is not nearly as successful. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that BG leaders would really have such consistent disparities.

3. Class imbalance: Maybe Hibernian dominance can be explained by Hibernian classes overall being more powerful than other realms? However, class balance has been the focus previously of Mythic and now Broadsword’s most significant game balance interventions, so this is less of a concern than it used to be in the past.

4. Population imbalance: As in real-world warfare, the largest force in DAoC RvR tends to prevail if all other factors are equal. This is supported by data from Excidio.net suggesting that Hibernia enjoys the largest number of active accounts, as well as anecdotal evidence of the size of Herorius’s BG on regular weekends.

Finally, it is worth noting that while Hibernia has often been the dominant realm since the DAoC servers were clustered, this level of domination is a relatively recent occurrence.

All of the above four causes are worth discussing in depth. In this proposal, I will focus on the fourth item: population imbalance. However, it should be noted that regardless of cause, sustained domination by a single realm over the other realms is not ideal, and will eventually lead to the demise of DAoC as a game due to diminishing player population.

Dealing with imbalances in team sizes is a perpetual problem in multiplayer game design. For example, in online FPS and MOBA games, significant mechanisms have been devised to balance the teams, including moving players between teams, forming starting teams based on player skill, pausing gameplay until balance has been restored, etc. It can even be argued that bringing the right force to bear in the right place at the right time is an intrinsic part of the challenge of a large-scale PvP game such as DAoC, and thus is a player concern rather than a game designer concern. For example, collapsing all damage on a single target at an opportune time is a common tactic in group vs. group (8-man) combat in DAoC. However, this is no longer true when the entire population of a realm has been exhausted. This point has currently been reached in DAoC on the Ywain cluster, where the RvR-active population in Hibernia far outnumbers those of other realms.

On what basis do I come to such a conclusion? Individual players typically lack the means to assess population imbalances; these numbers are no doubt easily accessible to Broadsword, the software company running the DAoC servers. However, data on cluster-wide RvR performance on the website Excidio.net as well as anecdotal evidence no doubt shared by all DAoC players suggests that the Hibernian RvR BGs have generally been larger than those of other realms during Fall 2020, especially when led by the Hibernian BG leader Herorius.

To give a specific example, during the evening of Saturday, October 10, 2020 (early U.S. prime time), reports on the Hibernian BG led by Herorius was that it numbered 90 players, whereas the Midgard BG consisted of approximately 45 players. After starting at 8.30pm, the Midgard BG eventually disbanded around 9.30pm after unsuccessfully taking on the Hibernian BG on several occasions. These BGs typically run for 2-3 hours during U.S. primetime, and sometimes longer on a Saturday when many players can commit additional time due to the weekend. Seeing it fold so early is indicative of a problem with the players' ability to enjoy the game. It should also be noted that the Albion BG had already disbanded by the time the Midgard BG ended because of being obliterated by equally superior numbers, and then losing one of its realm’s relics. I speculate that players abandoning the game early in such a way may be prophetic for the future should the Hibernian dominance continue in this fashion.

As already has been noted, most of the DAoC player population switches realms freely, which gives rise to an amplifying success effect: when one realm is more successful, more players will switch over to that realm in order to share in the success (get more realm points and win more fights). This compounds the problem given the Hibernian realm dominance feeding an increased population imbalance.

Combating these effects requires implementing mechanisms that directly discourage realm switching and "playing on the winning team." So far, realm balance mechanisms implemented by Broadsword—while welcome—have been insufficient and limited to enforcing a 15-minute timer for switching realms as well as encouraging realm balance by providing RP bonuses for underdog realms. I contend that future balancing mechanisms must take a more directly discouraging approach to foster improved realm balance.

I propose implementing both magic and melee bonuses and penalties proportional to the real-time realm balance on the Ywain cluster. These magic and melee bonuses (versus penalties) can be based on the current relic mechanic, which awards realms different bonuses to melee damage (for melee relics) and magic damage and healing power (for power relics) depending on the number of relics each realm holds. Unfortunately, the existing relic mechanic, while one of the end-game goals for many players, directly contributes to realm imbalance because it favors strong realms with RvR dominance, making them even stronger.

The proposal here will have the reverse effect. Underdog realms that are dominated by another realm will be hitting harder and healing more efficiently. Dominating realms, on the other hand, should experience the reverse; their attacks will cause less damage and their healing will be less effective. This will help mitigate population imbalances. My humble proposal is to have bonuses (and penalties) range from -25% to +25%.

Determining the current balance of power between the realms is a vital aspect of this proposal. I can see four distinct possibilities for how to achieve this:

1. Current realm bonus mechanic: There is already a population-based realm bonus that awards underpopulated realms extra realm and bounty points depending on the balance of player population in the frontiers for each realm. Many players are skeptical of this calculation, however, because it does not seem to distinguish between bot accounts used for buffs (buffbots), soloers, 8-man players, and people who play in BG operations.

2. Active combatants: To address inactive bot accounts or people who are idle, another idea may be to just use the number of people for each realm who have an active realm timer (i.e. who has earned RPs in the last 15 minutes) when counting population for the sake of realm bonuses. This would be an arguably small tweak of the current system.

3. Moving window of realm RPs: To better capture the ebb and tide of RvR combat, why not measure a realm’s current dominance by accumulating all of the RPs earned for each realm in the last 30-minute window? This would enable a more agile and up-to-date assessment of the fortunes of the DAoC realm war. However, it also means that successful BGs will be punished for their success, which may be counterproductive. Nevertheless, this mechanic will lead to a more fluid realm balance.

4. Population in current locale: The New Frontiers is a large place and RvR happens at many levels of scale, from soloers to battle groups. To accommodate this multi-scale and global nature, another option may be to assess the population balance in the surrounding radius (say, 20,000 units) when determining which magic and melee bonuses and penalties to apply.

A secondary proposal to address population imbalance is to increase the realm switch timer from 15 minutes to 1 hour. This would largely prevent people from switching between realms to follow the fortunes of war, instead promoting more loyalty to a specific realm.

It should be noted that while this document took its starting point in the current Hibernian dominance in DAoC, none of these mechanisms are specifically targeting the realm of Hibernia. Instead, this proposal attempts to remedy both current and future realm imbalances, regardless of which realm is dominating at the time.

This proposal would have the following effects:

• Increased damage and healing: Smaller BGs would be able to take on bigger BGs despite inevitable population imbalances. By enhancing the damage and healing capabilities of the underdog BG, that BG will have an increased chance at prevailing (or at least making RPs) despite inferior numbers.

• Unchanged numbers: The bigger BG will still have more players able to interrupt and damage the smaller BG. The playing field will be somewhat leveled, but a well-played larger BG will still be able to overwhelm the smaller one because of its numerical advantage.

• Smallman/8man/soloing: Players from underdog realms will have a magic and melee advantage, which could lead to unfair advantages over players from dominant realms in 8man, smallman, and solo action. Scaling bonuses and penalties based on the population balance in a specific area will eliminate this problem, however.

I hope that the changes proposed above will increase the life of DAoC, a game that so many of its dedicated player base still enjoys particularly for its dynamic and ever-changing realm war. I would be happy to see some aspects of these ideas implemented in the game.