Eka’s Tier 5 – High Elf v Dark Elf

Happy Tuesday! For today I present to you a poll regarding the removal of friendly player collisions on the Bioware Social Network (boo to them). Recently Mythic has tested removing friendly collisions and their impact on server performance and its implications in RvR. As a range dps I could care less for friendly collisions, as a tank/mdps they bug the hell outta me. Its like getting cut off on the road. Anyone who drives knows exactly how this feels. You’re in hot pursuit of the ice cream truck and then ‘wham!’ a slayer cuts you off and you are now that much further from the ice cream truck. What do you do? You try to circle around the stupid slayer and get the ice cream truck BUT by the time you reach it, the slayers eaten all your ice cream. Hrm, back to WAR, it seems that the majority of players would like to keep friendly collisions in. Read the thread, become enlightened!

Ok on to the post… in my final segment of the T5 map locales I bring to you the High Elves and the Dark Elves. For this particular episode I have two maps because I do not feel that Ulthuan can contain many more locations simply because Mythic has already dumbed down its size and made it a rather compact pairing. As you can see of the eleven elven provinces, eight are used in the storyline. You can argue that the Shadowlands is huge on this map but consider that the Dark Elf PvE lake stretches from Anlec (its entrance to the zone) to the Griffon Gate (its exit). My solution: The High Elves go on the offensive! This rarely happens in lore and when it does no survivors return but what the heck, Mythic doesn’t care much about lore anyway so lets do it!

First off my apologies for the quality of the Naggaroth map, but its the best I could find… if you want to visualize it better its North America more or less with the Sea of Malice as the St. Lawrence Straight or Hudson Bay, who knows, and the Dark Elves are Canadians, naturally. Once again the orange dots are locations I could foresee as possible additional zones to the game.

• a. Cothique – An underpopulated forest region much ravaged by the forces of Chaos. Marauder ships have been scouted on the horizon, the forces of Chaos sail from the north to assail Ulthuan!
• b. Southern Shadowlands at the Eagle Gate – The southern most gate of the Shadowlands by Tor Anroc. A vicious battle erupts around the last gate of the Shadowlands. The High Elves hold the Dragon and Phoenix Gates tenuously, the Unicorn Gate is the site of a great battle, and there is no word from the Griffon Gate. The less Gates the Dark Elves hold, the less access they have to Ulthuan.
• c. Yvresse & Tor Yvresse – An underpopulated sandy coastal region much ravaged by a greenskin invasion. A greenskin armada has once again been sighted off the waters of Yvresse. The town is too weak to defend itself against this horde yet again…
• d. Tiranoc – A region devastated by the sundering, most of its coastal cities were swallowed up by the sea. The Sundering ravaged this land and now Malekith seeks something here…
• e. The Shrine of Asuryan – Where the candidates for the Phoenix King enter the Flame of Asuryan to receive his blessing. The Dark Elves have launched an assault on the Shrine of Asuryan, for the flames within deeply scarred Malekith and he seeks its destruction. Who is Asuryan to tell Malekith he can’t be king?
• f. The Watchtowers of Naggaroth – Beacons in the tundra warning the Dark Elves of invasions of chaos hordes. The High Elves sent an elite expedition to harass the Watchtowers of Naggaroth, perhaps if they fall then the forces of Chaos will draw Malekith’s attention away from Ulthuan.
• g. Karond Kar – Dark Elf Citadel, home of the Dark Elf Navy and the beastmasters. The only way to slow the invasions on Ulthuan is to sink their navy in their harbor. The High Elves sail forth to strike at the Dark Elf supply lines and starve the invasion of Ulthuan.
• h. Ghrond – Dark Elf Citadel, home of the Witch Elves and Hellebron the Hag Queen. The savagery of Vaul’s Anvil has not been forgotten. It is not vengeance the High Elves seek, it is justice. Hellebron and her witch elves will be hunted down…
• i. Har Ganeth – Dark Elf Citadel, City of Executioners. ‘Producer’ of the Dark Elves’ slaves and iron. Any invasion of Naggaroth would be greatly bolstered if the slaves of Har Ganeth were freed and turned on their masters… the vile City of Executioners cannot be ignored.
• j. Naggarond – Dark Elf Citadel, Malekith’s fortress. Seat of the Black Guard Garrison. The heart of the Dark Beast, it is here where the final blow shall be dealt. No doubt Morathi is lurking in this city as well…
• k. Hag Graef – Dark Elf Citadel, stone and iron quarry and entrance to the Underworld where the Cold Ones reside. The fortresses of the Dark Elves depend on the stone from Hag Graef, and this vital city controls the underground water-passage to the western shores of the New World. A severe blow would be dealt to the Dark Elves if these operations could be hindered…
• l. Clar Karond – Dark Elf Citadel, breadbasket of Naggaroth and the main shipping industry. Many a belly would go empty if the High Elves could seize Clar Karond. Malekith would be forced to divert his forces to protect this city or risk starving his army.
  
• m. Arnhelm – High Elf City, colony in the New World. The High Elf colony in the New World, long has it burned Malekith’s eye… to have a High Elf city so close to his own citadels makes his blood boil, if only there was a way to assault it and take it…
  

Ok I’ll admit it, I play a High Elf and find it upsetting that we’re on the defensive the entire storyline. If there are any map expansions then damn it, we ought to invade Naggaroth! I’ll also say that the Eagle Gate and Shrine of Asuryan would make better scenarios than maps, but the locations are nonetheless exotic. As for the other locations in Ulthuan, they’re all highly underpopulated regions which suffered greatly already so any further conflict there would spell… that’s right! More despair for the High Elves! Taking the WAR to Naggaroth would both give the High Elf storyline an upswing AND give us some epic environment to fight in. Seriously, we need more geographically varied maps in the HEvDE storyline. I’ve had my fill of green pastures and pink trees.