Nations
There are three nations fighting for control of Stoneholm: the Ismirs, the Midlanders, and the Sangmar. This article is primarily about the mechanics and social structure of nation-based gameplay. For lore about the nations click here.
When creating a character for the first time, the player will be asked to choose a nation and a background. The "background" aspect of character creation currently does not serve a purpose and will be developed further in the future.
Players may freely choose to change nations until reaching level 40 on any one character. After that, All characters on the account will be locked to that nation with very limited opportunities to change nations. Reaching level 40 can be done in a couple of hours, so it is important to remember this.
There are no race or nation based traits, buffs or effects.
Nation mates are your natural allies. They are the ones who will teach you, fight and die beside you, heal you, provide cover fire, and make the final push to capture the flag. Getting to know your nation, joining guilds, running events, and making friends is a great way to make a nation feel like home. Gloria Victis is a highly social game, requiring significant team work.
The Nations
The Ismirs
The Ismirs occupy the North and West sides of the map. Their national colors are blue and white, and their symbol is a serpent. Their lore and style is based on the Danes and Vikings.
The Midlanders
The Midlanders hail from the north and east side of the map. Their national colors are red and green, and their symbol is a tower and sword. Their lore and style is based on medieval continental Europe.
The Sangmar
The Sangmar occupy the southern reaches of the map. Their colors are black, gold, and purple. Their symbol is the zenith sun. Their lore and style is based on the Roman and Byzantine empires.
Nation Themed Armor and Weapons
Each nation has themed armor and weapon sets which can be obtained, worn and learned by players in all nations. Equipment's statistics are based on tier, so Ismir tier 4 gear has similar to identical statistics to Midland and Sangmar tier 4 gear, and the difference between them is primarily visual.
Balancing Player Population
Because Gloria Victis is an open world PvP game that strives to give players of all nations a fighting chance, but also give players the freedom to play on the nation they choose to play on, there are several balancing tools which help ensure every nation has a chance to enjoy themselves and the content.
The Underdog System and Nation Changing
The largest of these balancing systems is the Underdog system, which uses several metrics to determine which nation, if any, is at a disadvantage. If a nation is flagged as Underdog, a mercenary recruiter NPC will appear near the Logistician in the non-underdog nation(s), and allow players to transfer to the Underdog nation for free. Remember that transferring nations will transfer the entire account, not just 1 character. There is not always an Underdog nation, and there can be up to 2 Underdog nations.
It is important to note that transferring TO Underdog nations is easy with the Mercenary Recruiter, but transferring FROM Underdog nations is not possible. A player who is in an Underdog nation who wishes to leave it must do one of the following:
1. Wait for another nation to be marked as Underdog and use the Mercenary Recruiter to transfer out.
or
2. Start a new account.
or
3. Delete all characters and start over fresh.
New players who have not yet made a character will be alerted during character creation about which nations are Underdog and will be offered bonuses to gold and experience gain for joining that nation. Those bonuses will be in effect until the nation loses Underdog status. All current players on the Underdog nation also receive those buffs.
Nations marked as Underdog give fewer Nation Points to enemies, and gain XP buffs for taking territory from non-underdog nations.
Limits on Joining Events
Another way Gloria Victis attempts to encourage even numbered fights is by providing events with either hard or soft caps on party size. Some events like Volcano and Sea Wraiths are hard capped for small parties of 5 or 7 players.
Other events like the Valley Of Death Tournament will cap the party size based on how many players register from each nation, so that one nation cannot overrun the event. Here is one potential Tournament Registration scenario:
Ismirs: 13
Midlanders: 25
Sangmar: 9
In this case, the Tournament will allow in 13 from each nation. Midlanders will have 12 people in queue, and any additional Ismirs wishing to join will also wait in queue until Sangmar reaches at least 13 players. Sangmar will be able to join the event freely as it goes on until they reach 13 members. In this way, although the Sangmar are outnumbered, they can join the event more easily than the other 2 nations.
Non-loot sieges which spawn directly after the Valley of Death operate on a queue system, so as more individuals from each nation join the event, the parties increase in size at similar rates. Note: players who are in queue can physically travel to the location by foot or by horse and participate without waiting for the queue. This is an intended mechanic.
Nations with higher populations will receive events on both fronts for non-loot sieges, further potentially splitting their forces, while smaller nations will receive one event on one front.
Cross Server Play
There are 3 servers serving 3 regions: Europe (Eaglewood), North America (Aquilla), and Asia (Dukla). Players must choose a Main server for their account. Playing on other servers is possible, but comes with significant drawbacks. Players may not loot other players or fish on a server that is not their main server..
Off-server players from nations which are not underdogs will receive a significant health and damage debuff. In some cases, players may not be able to join a server at all if their nation is not Underdog. This mechanic is intended to prevent "invasions" from off server players for events like State of War.
Access to Content
In Gloria Victis, many valuable resources and high level content is located along the Native Territory borders between nations. For example, the Holy Temples and various worldEvents are in these conflict zones. it is much easier to complete events and quests in these areas when your nation controls the area, but it is not impossible to do the content otherwise. Each nation's native territory offers similar quests, resources, and events. Expanding your nation's borders puts pressure on opposing nations who want easier access to the resources and materials, and it provides your nation with a larger Territory Bonus.
The center of the map is not considered to be any nations "native" territory and is dominated by guild castles. There are valuable events and resources here as well.
Please see The Map for more information about access to content and resources.
Friendly Fire
By default, Friendly Fire is turned off. Turning it on alerts all players in the vicinity that it has been turned on. In general, there is little reason to use the Friendly Fire mechanic. If a player is harming your party, use the /votespy command to vote him away. All /votespy actions are monitored by the community manager.
Although Friendly Fire is an option any player can use at any time, doing so comes with signficant risks. Harming or killing a fellow nation member will mark all characters across the entire account as Criminal for many in-game hours, and it allows players to kill criminals on sight without penalty. In addition, criminals will not be able to capture flags, or respawn in nation held locations, instead criminals respawn at Traitor Island or at your Tent if you have one placed. It is not possible to loot a nation member.
Outlaw Gameplay
Playing as an outlaw is not a viable playstyle. The Traitor System is a punishment system, not an alternative playstyle. The Friendly Fire mechanic was originally meant to deal with griefers or players intentionally harming their party or a siege, but much of this can now be accomplished with the /votespy command. Players are meant to play within nations and view their nation as their team. It is not possible to be independent from a nation.
