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Instancing

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Approximately 20% of content in Ashes of Creation will be instanced.[1][2][3][4][5]

What we're creating is a PvX game; and what that means is our target audience is the PvX player; and that is our golden cohort. And so to a degree if a player is solely interested in the most elaborate raid boss mechanics within a controlled and curated setting that is instanced gameplay, Ashes might not be the game for them and that's okay. However, with that being said, we do have a division of curated experiences that exist in an 80:20 ratio; and what that means is roughly 20% of the content that players will experience will be instanced, because where we want to have that granular control over the design and mechanics of a particular storyline or encounter we utilize the instance setting to provide that.[1]Steven Sharif
Instancing is generally reserved for story content, however there are some planned that are in order to provide a more tightly controlled balance to the encounter design.[10]Steven Sharif
  • Instances not intended to be places that can be farmed repeatedly.[7]
  • Instanced content will contain scripted and difficult boss fights that drop gear, but the gear drops will not be best-in-slot items.[6]
They won't be best-in-slot type items. You will not accomplish that from in from instanced-based content. Those will be found within the open-world. It'll be a competitive area for you to achieve those things, because other forces will want to achieve them as well; and because it's open-world there will be a limited number of those who can successfully complete on: Whether it be some timer for a world boss, or some condition or other world state predicate. Those are things that people are going to have to contend with each other for.[6]Steven Sharif

Dungeons and Raids

Alpha-1 open world dungeon entrance.[13]

80% of the content that will exist in Ashes of Creation is open-world and there's a specific reason for that. So because of the way that friendships and or enemies are forged in the game and people have the opportunity to create their own friends or foes. We want that to play out from a contesting standpoint as well. So a lot of these hunting grounds or raid bosses that people are going to have opportunities to kill, they're going to be essentially contested potentially by your your enemies that you've created in the game or you can work together to create alliances in order to defend those contested zones.[3]Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation will be a seamless open-world experience.[14]

  • No loading time or loading screens between regions.[14]

There will be an approximately 80/20 split between open world vs instanced encounters.[1][2][3][4][5]

  • Around 80% of the content is open-world, where healthy competition is an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes of Creation.[1][15][2]
In situations where we want to contain a particular type of raid, we will utilize instancing; and that can protect certain engagements with certain bosses. But that's really more on the 20% of the scenarios will have instancing protection like that. Around 80% of the content is open-world, where competition is- healthy competition is an instigator for soft player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. So that's an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes. It's a core philosophical point. And just to be clear, that is not for everyone. We are not trying to make a product that appeals to every MMO gamer. That's impossible; and so we've been very upfront and forthright with what we are trying to accomplish and what our core pillars of philosophical design are.[2]Steven Sharif
  • Castle and node sieges may contain instanced locations where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[8][9][2][12]
  • Dungeons and raids will maintain an open world feel while also capitalizing on the benefits of instanced mechanics.[16] Instancing is only going to happen in certain dungeons where the desire is to have greater narrative appeal.[2][7] Outside of these and arenas there will not be too much instancing anywhere else.[14]
There will be some open dungeons that have bosses at the end of the dungeons. There will be some open dungeons that just have a multitude of dungeon bosses, not necessarily world raids or something; and there will be lots of different rooms and they'll be progressive in the sense that in the earlier parts of the dungeon they'll be lower level and then at the later parts of the dungeons deeper down they'll be higher level and more difficult; and that creates again I think an ecosystem of where players across a multitude of levels have an opportunity to coexist within certain areas of the world; and that's good from a social dynamic. It's good from a recruitment dynamic. It's good from just a liveliness and relevance of particular areas. So that you don't end up with these locations that once you pass a certain level like it's empty.[17]Steven Sharif
We're probably going to do instancing only in certain dungeons and in arenas. You probably won't see instancing too much anywhere else. What you see is gonna be what you get.[14]Jeffrey Bard

The PvP flagging and corruption system is in place to safeguard against griefing without limiting opportunities for open conflict.[19][2][20]

  • Healthy competition is seen as an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes of Creation.[19][2]
  • This friction presents an opportunity to engage in the political aspects of the game, which is the lifeblood of what keeps players interested and invested in the game.[19][2][17]
Q: When you reach the bosses in [open world] dungeons can you be jumped?
A: For the most part if there are bosses at the end of dungeons, it is possible for you to get jumped.[17]Steven Sharif
Q: In an open world dungeon, what prevents others from just waiting until you're at the boss and then killing you and taking your boss's loot? What prevents mega guilds from just owning an area and preventing you from accessing or enjoying it?
A: In a majority of cases, we do not want to prevent another group from engaging potentially in PvP. We disincentivize it by creating safeguards within the flagging system that make that decision very concerning for the people that might go corrupt; and if you're in the large enough group of numbers I doubt you're going to experience that unless there's some rivalry between guilds. In which case there's apparatuses like Guild Wars that are more opt-in. You can drop guild tag if you want. But anyways, the competitive nature of this environment is a PvX element.[2]Steven Sharif

PvP Arenas

Arenas are instanced PvP scenarios and are not part of open world PvP.[22][23]

The arena system as we've spoken about before is going to have ladder systems where people can progress within certain seasons based on their win/loss ratios. The importance of arenas are obviously that players have an opportunity to participate [and] practice out certain builds from a PvP perspective and can compete with one another within the system.[22]Steven Sharif

Castle sieges

Alpha-1 castle siege gameplay.[33]

Throughout Ashes of Creation, the player has an opportunity to participate in massively multiplayer siege warfare. Since castles are likely the world’s most limited resource, it will be a task to secure and hold them. Involving hundreds of players on a single battlefield, our sieges will employ many moving parts and intricate design features. Because of the difficult nature of taking and keeping a castle there are great rewards available to the players for their efforts. Castles will allow players to exert control over nearby lands and allow for the development of unique buildings in the nearby towns.[34]

Guilds participate in Castle sieges in an effort to capture and occupy one of the five guild castles in Ashes of Creation.[35]

  • The minimum goal is for 250x250 players to be on a single battlefield. It is hoped that this can be increased to 500x500 over time.[39][40][41][42][43]
Q: Is 500x500 still the goal for castle sieges?
A: Our metrics currently point to a very positive trend when it comes to how the networking backend is facilitating Alpha-2 right now. Given that in order to achieve the types of player versus player scaling that we want to, we are not a far cry off from facilitating those types of numbers. So, I would say that given time and given the ability to inspect the Alpha-2 performance and the data that we collect with Alpha-2 tester participation, we are going to achieve 500 versus 500.[39]Steven Sharif
  • There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.[44]
I love castle-based gameplay. I love trophies. I like rewarding risk a lot; and for me it's very difficult to imagine a MMO that I would want to play where there is not competition of strategic prowess that determines the outcome of these types of events and there is not a meaningful reward both mechanically and from just a bragging rights perspective that players can aim for and try to achieve. I think that it brings a lot to the game when it comes to motivations, to excel, to level, to gain power, to engage those different progression loops when there is an ultimate goal or trophy that is not static and doesn't exist forever once you achieve it, but that you must constantly perform in order to maintain; and that's really the purpose of these castles.[48]Steven Sharif

A guild that captures a castle will own that castle for a month before it is sieged again.[49][50][51]

Each week leading up to the siege week... is a week that's dedicated to one of the three castle dedicated nodes. So around the castle there are three nodes. They represent week, one, two, and three; and then the fourth week is the siege against the castle. Those can only be elevated up to stage three. We've discussed this in the past and there's definitely information out there on the community ran wiki.[50]Steven Sharif
  • In the first three weeks that a guild occupies a castle they will need to level up each of their castle nodes to Village stage through questing.[50][51]
    • Each of the three castle nodes have a siege against it at the end of each of these three weeks.[51][52]
  • The fourth week is declaration week, where other guilds have the opportunity to lay down their declaration flag or to sign up as a defender of the castle.[50][51]
  • Depending on how well the guild defends their castle nodes results in better defenses for the castle.[51][52]
  • Different siege weaponry will grant the attackers the ability to destroy walls, doors and sections of the castle in order to gain access to the inner keep area.[53]
  • When castles change hands (following a siege), some taxes stay with the castle and some stay with the guild.[54]
There will be benefits to attracting people... even if they're not in your guild or alliance – a feudal like system, where you can attract other players who are just independent of this whole politic. They will have things to do there - benefits to receive - and there will be a reciprocal relationship between who you can attract, what they do for you; and how that benefits you and them.[51]Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 castle sieges

Trebuchets in the Alpha-1 preview castle siege attackers headquarter camp.[56]

Alpha-1 castle sieges were based on Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle sieges.[58][47]

  • Players will be able to join guilds. These guilds can register for the siege events.[56]
  • Castle siege events will be 100v100 battles that occur daily and will last for three hours.[56]
  • Attackers will start on the opposite end of the map (from the defenders).[56]
  • Attackers will be able to use trebuchets to drive to and assault the castle.[56]
    • Trebuchets have a single primary fire that does a small amount of damage to players and heavy damage to buildings.[56]
    • Trebuchets will be fully physical when they are being driven.[56]
  • When the attackers have breached the castle they will be able to channel a cast on the relic in the throne room to try to capture the castle from the defenders.[56]
  • The victors of castle sieges will receive benefits, such as cloaks, flying mounts for guild leaders and potentially also for guild officers.[56]
  • Alpha-1 castle sieges are in a separate zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.[18][45][46]
    Currently the siege zone is actually in the open world, but separated by mountains and off in the sea a bit. There is actually no instancing in A1, although the siege zone will only be accessible in A1 through a registration NPC teleporter.[18]Steven Sharif
  • The opposing team is notified when these raid bosses are being attacked.[58]
  • Teams who get the last hit on these bosses will receive buffs that will help them in the siege battle.[58]

Last year, I spoke of attempting to incorporate sieges into the Alpha One experience. This has obviously been a goal of mine because it provides considerable data and a consistent event within the world that players can participate in to help stress test the deployment. Well, I am happy to say that it is appearing more and more likely by the day! Initial implementation of the Apocalypse siege code has been migrated into the Alpha One client, and we should begin internal testing next month. I will caveat this expectation with the fact that we are cutting it a bit close from an internal QA standpoint, but I have some confidence that the system will be online and capable of inclusion for the Alpha One test in the month of June. The siege component will obviously not be representative of what the siege system will be at launch, or even in Alpha Two.[47]Steven Sharif

Instanced apartments

Apartments provide instanced player housing functionality on a rental basis.[60][61]

  • Village (stage 3) apartment buildings offer 50 rental apartments. Additional apartments can be added at Town (stage 4) if the mayor chooses to construct them and if there is an available plot for the expansion. This includes different types of apartments, such as penthouses.[62][63][60][64][61]
  • The number and sizes of available apartments increases as a normal part of node advancement.[60][65]
  • It is estimated that the number of apartments available in a Metropolis (stage 6) node will be in the hundreds, if that node specs into all apartment expansion upgrades. This number is subject to change based on testing.[60]
  • Prices for apartments will fluctuate depending on the number of units already sold in the node.[61]
  • Different price points offer different apartment sizes and types, such as penthouses.[63][61]
  • It was previously stated that apartments would be available at Town (stage 4) or above.[61]
The mayor may additionally construct apartment buildings when the node hits stage 4 at one of the building plots in the node, along with cities gaining additional static housing and apartments by default as a normal part of the leveling process.[65]Steven Sharif

Server instancing

There won't be server channels (sharding/layers) or phasing in Ashes of Creation.[66][67][68][69]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Interview, September 10, 2023 (58:47).
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:00:16).
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Interview, July 19, 2020 (11:04).
  4. 4.0 4.1 openworldinstancedsplit.png
  5. 5.0 5.1 Livestream, March 28, 2020 (1:48:36).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:19:41).
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Podcast, September 29, 2021 (34:11).
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Interview, November 10, 2024 (13:47).
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Livestream, July 3, 2024 (1:59:34).
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 steven-instancing.png
  11. 11.0 11.1 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (46:50).
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (17:50).
  13. Livestream, April 30, 2020 (1:05:34).
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (20:59).
  15. Livestream, May 31, 2023 (45:47).
  16. dungeon open.png
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Podcast, September 29, 2021 (35:17).
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 steven-siege-zone.png
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (2:06).
  20. Livestream, May 19, 2017 (24:17).
  21. Video, July 16, 2017 (0:01).
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:22:46).
  23. Livestream, May 5, 2017 (16:53).
  24. Livestream, 2017-18-7 (15:15).
  25. 25.0 25.1 partysize.png
  26. Livestream, May 26, 2017 (48:12).
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Livestream, October 28, 2022 (1:38:33).
  28. arena rewards.png
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 Podcast, May 11, 2018 (52:20).
  30. gladiators.jpg
  31. Livestream, May 26, 2017 (29:13).
  32. Interview, March 27, 2020 (11:04).
  33. Video, May 28, 2021 (25:44).
  34. About Ashes of Creation.
  35. 35.0 35.1 castle nodes.png
  36. Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:12:14).
  37. Interview, July 29, 2020 (31:05).
  38. Interview, July 18, 2020 (13:13).
  39. 39.0 39.1 Interview, October 16, 2024 (10:18).
  40. Livestream, September 24, 2021 (52:48).
  41. Interview, July 8, 2021 (57:19).
  42. Interview, July 19, 2020 (44:28).
  43. castle-siege-scale.png
  44. Twitch Bustin - Practice Sieges?
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (41:18).
  46. 46.0 46.1 Podcast, April 11, 2021 (49:40).
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 Blog: Creative Director's Letter, April 14 2021
  48. Interview, September 10, 2023 (25:14).
  49. Livestream, July 31, 2024 (2:40:49).
  50. 50.0 50.1 50.2 50.3 Livestream, August 28, 2020 (1:43:03).
  51. 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 51.4 51.5 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (21:55).
  52. 52.0 52.1 Livestream, August 23, 2017 (23:00).
  53. Podcast, April 23, 2018 (15:14).
  54. castle-taxes5.png
  55. Video, May 28, 2021 (24:44).
  56. 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 56.5 56.6 56.7 56.8 Video, April 30, 2021 (19:25).
  57. Video, May 28, 2021 (19:04).
  58. 58.0 58.1 58.2 58.3 Video, April 30, 2021 (13:02).
  59. 59.0 59.1 Livestream, May 28, 2021 (1:04:29).
  60. 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:50:50).
  61. 61.0 61.1 61.2 61.3 61.4 Node series part II – the Metropolis.
  62. Blog: Development Update with Village Node.
  63. 63.0 63.1 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (15:51).
  64. steven-housing-numbers.png
  65. 65.0 65.1 Steven Sharif - Clarification points from today’s stream.
  66. Interview, November 10, 2024 (1:49:26).
  67. Video, July 3, 2024 (9:32).
  68. Livestream, May 8, 2017 (36:26).
  69. Livestream, July 28, 2017 (35:42).