An idea for a new game mode

[MatthiasS]

So, I've heard mention of 1.0 "Hamlet" events, which, to my understanding, had DOW/DOM, DOH, and (maybe?) DoL working together in some kind of event. This got me to thinking, why not?

So, I propose this. An instanced Tower Defense like event in which an Alliance of 24 (or more, numbers can be tweaked to fit if needed) players work together to defend something, be it the walls of Ishgard from dragons, Mor Dhona from Garleans, or Ul'dah from beastmen. Here is the basic breakdown I'm seeing:

8 Battle Classes, 8 DOH, 8 DoL. The battle classes job is to kill mobs, and protect the other classes. The key here is there will be too many mobs for 8 fighters to handle without support once the instance ramps up. Fortunately, the gatherers have been bringing mats to the crafters (say the gatherers just bring "Material" items which get dropped into a shared pile to keep things simple) and the crafters have been making structures. Cannons, oil towers, gates, what have you.

There are many ways to make this practicable. One is that there are various pre-set spaces for the defenses, and crafters simply head up to one and craft, and that item appears. More crafters can speed progress. If you hold out for a set time, or kill X enemies, you win the instance, and get rewards.

Some logistical issues I forsee:

Low numbers of players, ala Frontline. Fix: NPCs can fill in for unused craft/gatherer slots after a set wait time. They will not be as good as humans, but the instance should still be doable with them. Like Choco racing fills races with NPCs at times.

Too many things to track, players get overwhelmed. Fix: Perhaps certain towers could be NPC manned, for example if we set wall cannons up, Ishgardian knights can man them.

Classes like WVR and FSH don't scream useful in battle. Fix: We already abstract a bit on beast tribe crafting (How exactly did I weave that metal tank?) Just keep it up!

Too many X, not enough Y: For example, 8 gatherers can't keep up with the crafters, or more DoW are needed. Fix: Testing should show any issues in this area, and ideally workable numbers could be found.

I'm very interested to hear other peoples thoughts, comments, ect. My FC loved the idea, and urged me to post it, so I did.

[ChazNatlo]

I'm interested. Partially because I want to weave a tower made out of fish. But the idea in it's self has merit.

[Renik]

No offense, but this seems just like another instance, it's the same kind of content we already have, the original hamlet defense would be better, it has potential as open world content, making it a fixed-party instanced content would add nothing new to the game.

[charlemagne]

I read "Hamlet" and the PTSD kicked in. Couldn't read any more.