Keeps
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Keep Overview
Holding control points in contested zones will sometimes allow for keeps to be built. Depending on how much control one Army has over a zone will determine how elaborate the keep is, and how many NPC guards will be there to defend it.
Guilds can own siege weaponry, and can claim keeps as their own.
Building and maintaining keeps are meant to be a challenge. Keeps left undefended, or defended only by NPC guards, can be captured. It may take some work, but an undefended keep will eventually fall into enemy hands.
Some/all info taken from the December 2007 Official podcast.
Keep Basics
There is at least one keep per realm, per zone in all Tier pairings except for Tier 1.
- Tier 2 zones have one keep each (two per pairing)
- Tier 3 zones have one keep each (two per pairing) with fortified outer walls
- Tier 4 zones have two keeps each for a total of six keeps
The taking of a keep has three distinct stages:
- Breach the exterior of the keep
- Breach the keep's inner sanctum
- Defeat the Keep Lord
Look and Feel
All keeps are artistically-themed to reflect the buildings of their original owners. In other words, an Empire keep looks like an Empire castle and a Chaos keep looks very chaotic. High Elf keeps are white with tall towers, and Dark Elf keeps have lots of spikes. You get the idea. When captured, these keeps take on the look and feel of the invading army.
When a keep is captured, its geometry will not change, but the look and feel of the keep will be altered to reflect the new owner. An Empire keep captured by Chaos, will still look like an Empire keep, only now it is defaced by symbols of Tzeentch, littered with bodies, belching fire and smoke, and sporting Chaos banners.
Keep Structure
All keeps share a similar underlying structural layout with three different levels (ground level, 2nd floor and roof). Access to the interior of a keep is gained via a single breakable door on the ground level. Inside the core structure are ramps that lead upwards (no ladders) to the various levels which offer access to platforms for offensive and defensive weapons.
Tier 2 keeps consist of a single fortified tower structure with a single door to breach/defend. Tier 3 and 4 keeps are protected by an additional outer wall (aka Wall Walks for the castle definition fiends), thus adding another door to breach before the keep can be taken. These doors can be damaged using player abilities, but the use of siege weapons, such as rams and trebuchets, are highly recommended!
In addition to the breakable keep door (likely under heavy siege), keeps with an outer wall have two interactive (postern) doors that defenders can use to get in and out of the keep.
Keep Ownership
At the start of the game (or when the campaign resets), keep ownership is based on the zone in which they stand (i.e., the keep in Ostland is owned by the Empire and the two keeps in the Chaos Wastes are owned by Chaos). In the Tier 4 neutral zones, ownership of the two keeps is split with Order and Destruction each owning one.
Keep Lord
Each keep is ruled by a Keep Lord and his retinue of 4 bodyguards. In order to successfully capture a keep for your Realm, the Keep Lord must be killed. This plays out as Public Quests and rewards are based on the PQ contribution system. When the Keep Lord is killed, all remaining guards are killed (despawned), and new Keep Lord (with retinue) of the appropriate Realm will spawn.
Guards
In addition to the Keep Lords retinue, keeps will have guards stationed in and around their walls. The fighting over Battlefield Objective will dictate how many guards are located in the keep. The more Battlefield Objectives you hold, the more guards you have at your keeps.
Guard levels are set to the maximum for the zone per standard RvR level caps (level 12 for Tier 1, level 23 for Tier 2, level 40 for Tiers 3 and 4).
Zone Control
Capturing an enemy keep will play heavily into RvR Zone Control. Once a keep is captured, the Zone Control meter will move significantly in favor of the victors.
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