Fortresses
WORK IN PROGRESS
Each pairing has two fortresses that sit at opposing ends of the pairing. Upon arriving in Tier 4 a Realm must successfully siege and lock two zones (middle and pre-fort) to reach the fort.
Before the Fortress siege begins
Population Caps
Fortresses are capped to 168 attackers (7 full warbands) and 135 defenders (80% of the attackers, 5 full warbands, 1 half-full warband). It is very common to see more attackers and defenders in a pre-fort siege, so entry to a fortress siege is determined by contribution in the pre-fort zone. Entry is further complicated by the need for each side to have a reasonable number of each archtype, and therefore it's not as straightforward as "the top 168 attackers by contribution get in". Often underplayed heal/tank archtypes find entry into fortresses more consistent while more DPS roles do not, however this is wildly varying by time of day, realm attacking/defending, which fortress is being attacked, and other factors.
Under Siege!
Stages
Stage 1.
Stage 1 is the same for both attackers and defenders. A 5 minute timer will count down to the end of the stage, during which both sides will begin to organise, form warbands, and strategise entrances, defences, locations etc. During this time the attackers cannot access the inner fortress.
If the population caps have been hit, those who did not get into the fortress can queue (by running into the zone) at which point they'll be teleported to their Realm queueing location; behind the fort for defenders, the zone boundary for attackers.
Once the timer is completed, all those who had reservations that did not join the fortress battle surrender those reservations, and the people in the queue are invited to fill the open spots.
Stage 2.
Stage 2 plays like a much smaller zone battle, but with five Battlefield Objectives instead of four. Each realm vies for control of each objective, with objectives granting a realm points on a control bar (shown in the upper centre of your screen). When your control points exceed the opposing Realm's points, the inner door health moves in your direction (down for attackers, up for defenders).
