Monster coins

Monster coin concept art.

Let's say for example you have an event- that is the predicate for this event kicking off was that a raid boss was killed in a nearby dungeon; and it was killed for the 50th time, or it was killed by some particular storyline end or whatever the predicate system is in the world state to say "hey kick this event off". Well, when that event kicks off a number of spawners activate around the node and NPCs start moving towards a node. The node is notified, like "hey there's something happening here, you guys should put up your defenses focus on this thing"; and those with monster coins who are within the area and are not a citizen of the node or an affiliated node can choose to activate the monster coin to become one of the monster types that exist within that event; and that event has a number of targets; and let's say for this particular story arc the thing was we need to find artifacts and better weapons in order to defeat these bosses at the bottom of this dungeon; and a lot of players went through that process they found those weapons and whatnot. Well those things might be stored in three buildings that exist within the node. They might be stored within the armory; they might be stored within the barracks; and they might be stored at a workshop that has access to a workbench that they've chosen to build and that could also potentially serve as a predicate; and when you become the monster those are your three objectives; and you don't need to destroy all three. You potentially just need to destroy one, or you destroy as many as you can if it's a time selected event; and you might have targets that are NPC-related as well, such as the blacksmith that's at the workbench, or the captain of the guard who's at the barracks, or whatever who's at the armory; and you get to go in and you get to kill other players potentially during this who are helping to defend the city; and you can also make it to the objectives and potentially help in destroying the building, or killing the NPCs. That is the type of objectives that would exist within a monster coin system for an event. – Steven Sharif

Pre-alpha monster coin system.

Sometimes the disturbed beings could take the form of packs of dire wolves, hordes of zombies roused from their graveyard, or even, rarely, an epic-tier dragon flying out of a volcano once a node reaches its maximum level. In any case, the disturbed monsters have to tackle a series of destructive objectives, which can either be handled by the AI or, more interestingly, by a player. The player in turn would attempt to complete all those actions much as in a multi-objective quest, hopefully before other players brought him or her down.

Monster coins enable players to play as monsters within the monster coin event system. This ranges from playing as a horde of zombies, to becoming a massive dragon.

During a Monster Coin Event, players will be able to activate Monster Coins, allowing them to become monsters and wreak havoc! These Events can be triggered in a variety of different ways, and in some cases they may even provide cosmetic rewards.

Monster coin events are system spawned events that will occur even if players do not participate in controlling a monster.

The events themselves occur regardless of if coins are at play. A coin allows players to control some of these creatures during the events.

• They are structured in a way to prevent groups from gaming the system.
• Monster coin events are triggered by activity in the world, such as node advancement, defeating a boss or constructing certain types of buildings within a node.
• Server messages appear for players in the vicinity of these dynamic events.
• The player will have a number of potential objectives they can choose to attack during the event. This may include node buildings, points-of-interest, dungeon, NPC, or other open-world objective.

When you're playing as a as a monster from the monster coin use as part of an NPC event that might be targeting a node, or other some other open-world objective or POI, or dungeon, you get to participate as a monster and your focus is completing objectives that have already been prescribed as part of the event. – Steven Sharif

• Drop tables are disabled for player controlled monsters.
• Monster coins only allow a character to participate in events on their own server.
• NPC hate lists do not affect monster coin events.

The Ancients are not going to be part of the monster coin system.

Traditionally, the Ancients are not going to be part of the Monster Coin system. These are the primary antagonists of the story. From a lore perspective, and one of the reasons why they're not a part of the Monster Coin system, is because their souls have really developed almost to the point of perfection in manipulating the Essence for more corrupt uses. They haven't quite gotten there, and who knows if they ever will, but that attunes them out of the possibility: The reason why the monster coin system is possible with other creatures. – Steven Sharif

Use of monster coins

Monster coin concept art.

• Monster coins are only usable during monster coin events.
  • Events do not occur before sieges.
  • Events do not occur during sieges.
• Two different monster coins can not be used on the same monster player during the same event.
• Some events have monsters that can be taken over by multiple players.
• If no players participate in a monster event, the monsters will be run by AI.
• Citizens of a Node are not eligible to control monsters attacking that node.

We are very well aware that systems if they can be gamed they will be gamed and we're making sure to develop the monster coin system so that there is no potential for gaming there. – Steven Sharif

Obtaining monster coins

Monster coins are obtainable from:

• Rare drops in-game.
• Purchasable from the cosmetic store.

Monster coins are not tradeable.

Impact of monster events

Monster coin events (Bosses) cannot destroy or delevel nodes. They can disable certain buildings, services and NPCs within a node. Node sieges are the chief mechanic for destroying nodes.

• Monster coin events do not occur before sieges.
• Monster coin events do not occur during sieges.
• Destruction of certain buildings during a monster coin event could have local, regional, or even global economic impacts.

For example, if the service building that got disabled was a blacksmith's building that housed a workbench, which was the only workbench in the region capable of crafting a t5 (or tier 5), or high-tier quality equipment, then of course that would have ramifications economically, as those pieces of equipment that are already readily available would raise in prices; and because there would be a issue within the supply chain of those items being introduced into the economy, you would potentially have some supply and demand changes economically and that could span regions: that could be global even. – Steven Sharif

Rewards from monster coin events

• Cosmetics are the only rewards available to players from monster coin events.
• Cosmetic rewards resemble the creature that was being controlled.
• Monster coins are not tradeable.

Monster coin progression

Monster coin progression unlocks more advanced monster skills based on how often a character plays each type of monster in the monster coin system.

The intent behind that design is that the more often you play that monster, you will gain access to additional abilities; and this is to ease players into the gameplay of specific types of monsters. So, the intent for the design there is: your first few times playing with the monster you're going to have access to a unique subset of abilities that are that are pretty straightforward; and then as you gain that experience, that's another progression loop that you can pursue, and you will unlock more intricate and complicated abilities for that particular monster. – Steven Sharif

• As nodes advance, so does the scale of the monsters. There are tiers of events denoting the caliber of the monsters being spawned.

In Ashes of Creation a large portion of world events revolve around the environment reacting to the player. This means that as players are exploring the world and developing civilization around them the environment is responding to this encroachment by spawning dynamic events and creatures to attack those developing cities. These events occur in 3 different types: the Legion level the Elite level and the Epic level. – Steven Sharif

• The tier of the monster coin dictates how powerful the monster is.

Q: Will World bosses like the like Tumok take part in the NPC sieges on nodes and will players be able to use a monster coin to play as one of those world bosses in an event?

A: That is the intent, is that we will have varying quality of monster coins available creatures like Tumok may participate in certain atrophy events or other types of events; and if you have the very rare and legendary type of monster coin that's available to be used on a creature type like Tumok then yes, you could inhabit him. That's the intent of the system. – Steven Sharif

Legion monster events

Legion monster coin events are common events that occur for Nodes up to the Village stage. This might include a horde of zombies rolling across the countryside finding something or someone to feast on. Players who wish to keep their advancements will need to be vigilant.

Elite monster events

Elite monster coin events occur for nodes that exist between the Village and Metropolis stages. This level of event would include something along the lines of a dungeon level bosses and mobs coming into the world to pillage and destroy specific centers of activity.

Epic monster events

Epic monster coin events are of truly fitting proportions. These events occur randomly in the world as well as in realms where nodes have advanced to the City and Metropolis stages of development. This would be a legendary boss awoken from their long and deep slumber: A mighty dragon perhaps, whose sole purpose is to plunder to punish those who have summoned his malice and hate.

Visuals

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  2022-05-04
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  2018-02-15
• 2018-01-19

See also

• Events
• Node attacks
• Mobs