AoH Season 6: The NPC Apocalypse Is Here

So AoH Season 6 started and I didn't even really feel Season 5 ending before this one started. Oh, that's right, because there was no break and no major announcement around the gameplay. It was literally back to back... well, with 1 CCS in between.

The updates around this season were cute. Some buildings give more points, fewer Altars overall, sounds like good things. But before I even step foot into the arena, reports from previous time slots already start creeping in and the rumors begin. Allegedly the NPCs are on fire this time and you can't make a move without them seeing you and reacting in a brutal way.

And I'm thinking... ok, more Elimination points, right? Well... wrong! First of all, more boots to race all over the map. Second, more healing to keep fighting constantly. And lastly, Eliminations depend heavily on who's actually on the map. Naturally, bigger accounts kill more, while mid and lower accounts will struggle more. So the more I think about this new season based on what I'm hearing... the more I'm starting to get worried.

But alas, let's not jump to any conclusions before I actually play. Our team has historically done very well and I'm sure we can adjust to this new season as well.

Our time slot comes around, we form our team and step into the arena. It's funny how our team looks compared to others. You wouldn't even guess we're actually a well organized entity, all on Discord voice and actively contributing to the game outcome. We give off more of a skirmish vibe, like some randoms who just got stuck together in a match.

The most interesting thing on this map is that we've "dodged" the NBe team we usually end up playing, but instead we're playing the main N0X team.😫

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoZIExrbpCI

I'm sure this will be a friendly game and there's absolutely no chance it will spiral out of control for no reason, right?

Since the NPCs are rumored to be crazy, we low key decide to use the Trade Camps strategy, since it only means we need to hold 3 Altars and the camps in the NPC house. Sounds easy enough.

But as the game actually starts, I hear some mix-a-thing-combo strategy where we also want to build Troop Camps for the capture points. I don't really like that, since it complicates things if we decide to switch later, but I don't think we want to switch now. So we're going all the way with these camps.

As we take the 2nd House and our N0X friends also take their 2nd House... it seems the other team on the map... isn't taking theirs?

And looking at the N0X team to see what they're up to, it seems like they're also going Trade, perhaps also worried about the NPC madhouse that's about to start.

And so is the other House... almost. They still haven't started building, and their score isn't going up like ours... so it might look like we've only got 1 opponent this round: our alliance friends from N0X!

And despite our great start and initial capture points that put us ahead of the other N0X team in points... they have now taken the NPC House from the team that almost seems abandoned, boosting them into 1st place. Having 2 NPC Houses is nice, and we're now in trouble as we'll need to step up our game if we want to win this.

I'm still clueless as to what we're doing this match, but it seems the game is on and the NPCs deliver exactly as advertised. Their hits on our NPC House are no joke, and more NPC fighting soon follows.

And just looking at their marches, it's clear they have stepped up their game a lot since last we met.😅 They're even doing rallies and using almost-decent formations and almost-full army sizes. So not only do we have to worry about our N0X competition, we need to keep an eye on the NPCs as well, because you never know what kind of mischief they're about to pull.

As per the instructions, I've started taking the Camps in the NPC region, but I'm not getting reinforced to have mine constructed fast and I need to keep my Lord March inside just to keep it safe from the NPCs who are contesting it. "NPCs contesting it", that's a phrase I didn't see myself saying...😂 This game is basically 90% fighting NPCs and 10% talking with my team about which NPCs we should fight next.

And remember when I said "I'm sure playing N0X vs N0X will be smooth and not spiral out of control"? Well, before the game even reaches the midpoint, one of ours, without having anything else to do and with only 1 House posing a threat to us... hits one of their Altars.

Now... I think we were already sitting on 3 Maidens and we're taking this one as a backup?

But on the other side, the other N0X team was only sitting on 3 Maidens and they've now lost 1 to us!

So you can imagine what comes next...

But since I'm still locked in "forever alone" mode inside a Trading Post that I'm trying to build up, I'm missing out on most of this fun.

Until Center opens and this game's about to get real! We rush to take it and get inside 1st, but we're soon kicked out. Our 2nd racer then kicks whoever kicked us, so we end up holding Center for a few seconds, but long enough to send some reinforcements inside.

Now the real challenge starts: can we lock it?

We speed more troops in, while recalling the lower marches to heal and sending them back in at full army size. We appear to be in good shape... until we see the N0X team sending 3 timed rallies our way.😱

And because apparently 3 timed rallies weren't enough, the other House suddenly wakes up and starts attacking Center as well. Great timing to wake up guys! Really appreciated!

So now we're rotating troops in and preparing for what looks like a 4-5 rally marathon, while wondering how a silly Altar hit managed to turn a friendly N0X vs N0X game into a multi faction war for the City of Glory.

And then the hits start coming, but we do a decent job and tank them without being kicked out. Our defense holds beautifully, and it's a good thing we took all the Catapults and Towers because the NPCs are not weaving their own attacks into Center to bleed us.

We're still getting hammered from every other direction, but the City stays ours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMpInD9JSn8

Eventually the last of the timed rallies crashes into us and suddenly we're left with our pants down for a few seconds. Most of our troops are either dead or being sent back, leaving Center dangerously thin on troops.

If the other N0X team notices our weak position, they could probably take Center with 2 solos.

But luckily for us, they don't.

We manage to squeeze enough defenders back inside and lock Center down for good. After that insane volley, we have 4 minutes to stabilize the rest of the map before we jump back into Center again.

And the important part is that we just proved we can hold.

If we want to seal the deal, we also have to pay attention to the small mines. But we're split all over the map and realistically only have 3 marches available to do the heavy lifting. Playing around the mines while also defending Center + 2 Houses against crazed NPCs and the other Houses who are now apparently out for blood is borderline impossible.

We do manage to get the 2 mines in our proximity and a few others that everyone else missed, and it's just enough to keep us in 1st place.

As the game moves into the final stages, the situation is so dire that I have to hit NPCs with whatever troops I've managed to heal from the hospital after the City of Glory fight. So you can imagine my Lord March contesting NPCs with 100-200k troops. It's hilarious and desperate at the same time.

The NPCs even kick us out of the NPC mine we were trying to empty. Now that's commitment, lol.

As the game ends, just look at "our" Altars... or should I say "the Altars in front of our House". We don't own a single one!

The NPCs even took the empty mine shaft we had.

This is ridiculous. The amount of marches they're sending out is hard to watch, let alone counter.

But we still managed to hang on to 1st place, and that's largely thanks to the strategy I didn't trust at the start.

Because both other Houses went full Trading and we split some Camps into Troops, we were able to take all those initial capture points. That gave us a nice early lead and, more importantly, made holding Center much easier for us later.

I have to say, for the 1st time, I actually see the mixed Trade/Troop strategy paying off. So far it felt like nothing more than a complication where we'd get little or no benefit from it.

And with those nice 42 Fame points, I get a Glory Rank promotion as well, bringing me closer to the rewards I was hoping to get from last season, lol. I only need 1-2 more wins in Season 6 to finish my much-needed AoH Skin and get a Glory Dragon upgrade, both things I thought I could have done last season.

That being said, this new AoH mode is beyond crazy. Even the "simple and safe" Trading strategy has proven to be insanely stressful compared to the previous playstyle.

And with AoH in the rotation again next week, I'm really curious to see if there will be some changes made to this game mode, because this is a massive change to the overall style of the game.