Mobs

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Elite monster 3D turntable.[1]

It's a really big dude and the idea behind him is you're gonna see big monsters- I think that the character comes up to like his elbow maybe, or just beneath the elbow I'm not sure- but you're going to see these big elites just roaming and wandering through the world. They're not assigned any to to any particular hunting ground, they just roam; and I think that component is pretty cool especially when you have an open world where you can see something unique that's not matching the monsters you're hunting in a certain area but just strolls by.[1]Steven Sharif

Goblin 3D render. 3D model by Chris Atkins.[2]

There are going to be different types of "Goblinesque" creatures; and this one has not skipped out on his leg or arm day, which is a good thing for him because he's probably going to be in a lot of fights.[3]Steven Sharif

There will be a mix of different mobs/monsters and difficulty levels throughout the world that are tied to the development of nearby nodes. As nodes advance, mobs will present new and increasing dangers that players can participate in.[4]

In the world naturally there will be locations that are going to have a mix of different levels of monsters and difficulty levels; and then those spawn tables relate to the development of nearby nodes. So as nodes develop they'll be changing the spawn tables around them to reflect their further development in the world, presenting new and more difficult dangers that the players can participate in.[4]Steven Sharif
  • Mob spawning rates will adapt if the mob count falls below minimum thresholds for that mob type within an area.[5]
As monster count drops beneath a threshold, the spawner will spawn additional monsters. The the world designers have all that flexibility at their disposal. It just depends on the area, the quest type that the mob is is servicing.[5]Steven Sharif
  • Not all creatures are immediately hostile to players.[6][7] Some creatures may hunt other creatures.[8]
We've talked about this a little bit in the past when talking about taming and/or certain types of like creature gatherable resources there are herds that exist out there. There are big game that exist out there, where they're not going to aggro and attack you per-se. Also lower level monsters and certain type of like social monsters may not attack you off the bat.[7]Steven Sharif
We will have flying monsters but essentially what that means is there's going to be rotations either in the behavior tree that might make them inaccessible to targets, or they might do some like swooping attacks; they might come and land on the ground and fight you. But generally monsters are going to be accessible from on the ground, so we're not creating content for the limited number of individuals who are going to have access to a flying mount.[9]Steven Sharif
Mob training is something that is going to be fixed by the NPC engineering team when we implement code that restricts the monster from acquiring social hate against a party that is not of the aggroer when they leave a certain distance from their original spawn point. So what that means is they can continue to acquire hate on the party that is affiliated with the initial aggro, regardless of the distance from their initial spawn point, but if you are outside of that party and that mob has left a certain distance from its original spawn point it will not be able to acquire social hate.[11]Steven Sharif
Leashes are relevant. There's other gameplay implications that happen when you're able to actually move populations around. We don't want to really give that to the players perspective.[14]Steven Sharif
  • Named mobs will usually have a unique character appearance.[15]
There is something to be had there about those types of screen-shake effects. We want them to be present when we're emphasizing certain things, but we don't want them to be a nuisance, or annoying, or too plentiful; and having screen-shake apply to every step would probably be too abundant. Will players have control over those on-screen type effects? Yeah I think so. I think that's something we want to provision as a customizable option for players to be able to turn off, because it can be somewhat nauseating for certain groups of people and a distraction from what's happening in the world.[16]Steven Sharif

Mob types

Mob types will have different resistances.[22][23]

Elites

Elites are a tier of mob or boss in Ashes of Creation.[15][1]

1star Icon.png (1 star)
2star Icon.png (2 star)
3star Icon.png (3 star)
4star.png (4 star)
5star Icon.png (5 star)
  • Certain elite monsters that are not assigned to any particular hunting ground will roam throughout the world.[1] Other mobs will have leashes that will cause the mob to reset if it moves too far from its point of origin.[14]

List of elites

NPC variants

There will be variants of the monthly cosmetics for NPCs and Mobs.[27][28]

We've mentioned this before about what the cosmetics do, but all of those pre-order pack items allow us to create the world. They're the NPCs in the world. They help us make NPC variants. The clothing and costumes are costumes that we'll be putting on NPCs. You're actually helping us create the world.[29]Margaret Krohn

Zones and mob levels

Dungeons, Raids, World bosses, Mobs, Quests, Events, Resources, Narratives and other content within a node's ZOI will have a diverse level range; but will scale with the advancement of that node and its racial influence.[30][31][32]

  • Approximately 50-60% of the spawn tables for mobs and resources are static and other portions are dynamic and adapt to node development.[33][34]
We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for.[35]Steven Sharif

Artificial intelligence

Firebrand Flame Breath attack being launched in the direction of the most players is an example of Adaptive AI.[36]

This was something that we talked about with the Adaptive AI being able to respond to large quantities of players. If you try to mass this guy down, he's going to be selecting AoE's in the direction of those hordes.[36]Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation utilizes an adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), meaning different encounters with similar mobs and bosses will yield different player experiences.[37][38]

As you add more players to an open world encounter there are going to be certain behaviors and/or actions that might now be higher in frequency as a result of those additional players coming in; and some of those systems might be different AoE abilities or behaviors that the AI has available to it.[39]Steven Sharif
  • Some NPC AI behaviors may be randomly selected at the time of initial engagement causing them to make decisions dynamically during an encounter.[37][43][44][45]
    • Higher frequency of AoE attacks depending on how many players are participating.[43]
    • Unlock rage, recovery effects and buffs.[46][43]
    • Supporting other monster types or classes nearby.[46]
    • Additional adds and add classes.[43]
    • Some NPCs may attempt to seek cover behind obstacles during encounters.[47]
  • Mobs should become unkillable if they can't find a path to the player. The temporary measure of NPCs teleporting to the player in Alpha-2 phase-2 will be removed when NPC pathing behavior has been improved.[48]
Q: What are the plans for improving mob pathing behavior to make them less able to be cheesed without also being too OP, such as teleporting to players if they can't find a valid path?
A: We were seeing monsters get stuck in certain locations because we were trying to save memory with not having so granular nav meshes available; and as a result we had to introduce a temporary solution, which was the ability for the monsters to teleport to certain targets if they got stuck on certain pieces of terrain. Now, ideally whenever a monster state tree is not cycling- whenever it's not going through a particular behavior, you would have the leash function called where the monster then returns to its original spawn point and regenerates health and is either un-interactable, or can't take damage during that period of time... We do have our NPC engineers focused on the navigation solution and not having to utilize teleporting as a means to reach the player.[48]Steven Sharif
  • NPCs performing "idle actions" to make the world seem more alive has been discussed by the developers but is not confirmed.[49]
Part of the NPC encounter design is not always going to be the same behavior tree. There will be purposefully behaviors that exist for the boss that are rolled at the time of the initial engagement; and so that is in an effort to keep things emergent, to keep things different, to try to not keep a static monotonous engagement idea.[37]Steven Sharif

There are AI systems that don't relate to controlling NPCs.[50]

There are some additional AI parameters that are set that don't relate necessarily to controlling NPCs. There are AIs with regards to the development of the borders for nodes in the direction and also the decisions that are made of which lower nodes to enslave as vassal states. There's AI that relates to a little bit of the stock market that's going to be present in the economy. There's some AI systems that are going to be announced also that are pretty innovative I think with regards to the MMORPG genre and that's going to make the triggered event system very interesting I think; and that's with regards to how nodes develop and the environment reacts to that development by spawning these triggered events of a horde of zombies attacking a city or a legendary raid boss coming out of the mountain. I think there's a lot of opportunity for some of the innovations that's been in the AI sector of game development too to come out in Ashes.[50]Steven Sharif

NPC perception

NPC perception is intended to have different sensory types, ranges, and angles.[51][52][53]

  • NPCs will have varying fields of view. Some will have the ability to perceive sounds.[51][52][53]
We are talking about things like unique abilities played by characters that extend the perception radius, or sounds and different types of walking that are angular from the mob's perception perspective to be unique, different types of creatures that might be of three-dimensional in space, whether it is in water or birds in the sky that have a downward cone angle type perception as well. Those are things we want to do, but we haven't yet spent the time on the AI behaviors there.[52]Steven Sharif
Q: How far away from hostile targets will be before they act aggressively towards us? More specifically, will creatures watch us murder their friends in the open world with no reaction, will they try to kill us in retaliation, or will they run away in sheer terror?
A: Obviously as MMO Gamers we're accustomed to the concept of social aggro. When I hit a target out in the field, they're going to aggro other creatures nearby. We have similar functionality. Obviously however we also have this concept of a more puzzle-oriented level design, where you have different patrollers that might be moving around the world. So that dynamic is always changing the creatures that are near each other might be something that you need to be cognizant of as you begin to navigate those areas. And there might even be certain faction types, where you may have dedicated aggro social tags between certain creature types; and that might be like goblins with their goblin dogs. They could be far away but they send off an alert to those nearby enemies when you aggro another target. And then you also have these perception radiuses; and there's a number of different perception radius types that we incorporate as part of our AI. Those things might be a forward-looking perception cone that represents sight-based perception; and then you might also have a rear perception radius that might represent kind of sound; and those perception types might even interact with unique stats. So, as a Rogue you might have a stealth ability, or as a Ranger you might have camouflage ability: Those are going to dampen those stats which are checked by those perception radiuses; and then you might even have different creature types that fly above the battlefield, or beneath the battlefield, and they may have downward cone type angles. The whole idea is that that navigating the world should be like a puzzle as you move throughout.[51]Steven Sharif
  • NPCs in certain encounters may be aware of their local environment and can seek cover behind obstacles, for example; but this will not be prevalent in general AI designs.[47]

Loot

Alpha-2 Looting UI.[54]

It's anywhere from 2 to 4% chance on an individual mob kill that it might drop a completed item. But, the majority of those cases are going to be basic white low quality items that get dropped essentially and you don't have control over some of the stats that relate to that item.[55]Steven Sharif

Q: Are Alpha-2 bosses dropping full items instead of recipes and mats placeholder?
A: The reward tables are very much in a functional state right now. So, I wouldn't look at these reward tables and say oh this is long-term intended. This is for A2 purposes. However, it is going to be a combination of both. You're going to have full loot drops that are going to occur with world bosses. That is an expectation that should be kept. But, in addition, you will have recipes, you will have unique material components that are used to create those items as well; and you'll also have the ability to deconstruct those items to recoup some of those more unique materials to potentially create more.[66]Steven Sharif
  • Party size does not directly affect loot drops, but since loot in Ashes of Creation encounters is finite (there is no individual loot system), it must be distributed between all party members. This essentially acts to balance the lowered risk in large numbers against lower chances of gaining rewards.[76][77]
  • The greater level disparity between a character (or average level of the party) and the mob being looted, the lower the drop percentages will be from that mob. The ideal range is within 5 levels of the mob. Any player or party member with greater than 9 levels difference will stop drops and experience gains.[76][78][55]
You are most ideal if you're within I believe five levels of the monster that you're killing- party average. However, if anybody in your party is over 9 levels higher than the monster, then the drops and the experience do not occur.[76]Steven Sharif
Q: Can only one gathering artisan harvest resources from a single boss, or can multiple different artisans harvest different parts from a boss for different resources? For example, a lumberjack gets a special wood from Tumock's tree weapon, while a herbalist gathers the flowers from that same tree.
A: We don't have the concept of harvesting from bosses. NPCs follow a reward table format, where those reward tables are global. They're not unique to particular players. So, once the NPC is vanquished, you have access to the loot container that is its corpse; and it has a static value of either materials or items that get dropped; and whatever the party loot settings are that you might be a part of, or if you're a solo player you will be able to recover those things.[82]Steven Sharif

Glint

Glint in a player's inventory in Alpha-2.[84]

You're hovering over an item we call Glint. [It] comes in a few different rarities. It was formerly known as the monster certificates but we have rebranded them.[84]Chris Justo

Glint rarities in Alpha-2.[84]

Glint (previously known as Hunting certificates and Monster certificates) is a bound currency that drops from mobs and players, and is offered as a reward for completing certain quests, events, and achievements. Glint is intended to be the primary method for generating gold in the Ashes of Creation economy.[85][86][59][87][56][57]

Glint serves a very integral role in the economy within Ashes of Creation. It is a material substance that is acquired through various means, but primarily hunting different antagonists within the world; and it is the physical form of Essence within the beasts of Verra. So when you acquire this it is bound to your character, and that is a very important component of the economic systems here because glint will be used to pay for certain services, such as taxation for buildings that you have, or citizenship dues that are necessary.[88]Steven Sharif
  • Glint may be traded with commodities vendors for player commodities. These commodities can then be transported to other nodes (via caravan or merchant ship) where they can be traded for gold.[59][89][56][90][57] The gold value is based on the demand for the commodity at the destination node (over the last seven days) as well as its distance from the originating node.[92][59]

Tamable creatures

Mounts and combat pets can be found in the wild and tamed.[95][96][97]

For example: A wolf or a dog may look different but may be balanced to the same templated behavior.[98]
Item Icon Type Set Rarity Level requirement Source Cost
Armored Bear Icon.Armored Bear.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary Drop 750
Armored Raptor Icon.Armored Raptor.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Bear Icon.Bear.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Drop,Crafted items 10
Bonestrider Icon.Bonestrider.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 75
Bork Icon.Bork.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Brew Bear Icon.Brew Bear.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 75
Dawnbreaker Icon.Dawnbreaker.png Flying mount CommonLegendary Vendor,Crafted items,Drop 15
Daystrider Icon.Daystrider.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 75
Deer Icon.Deer.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 750
Drake of the Canopy Icon.Drake of the Canopy.png Flying mount CommonLegendary 20 Vendor,Crafted items 15
Drill Spider Icon.Drill Spider.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 750
Dynasty Beetle Icon.Dynasty Beetle.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 750
Ebon Omen Icon.Ebon Omen.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Vendor,Crafted items,Drop 15
Flailrunner Icon.Flailrunner.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 15
Giant Bullywog Icon.Giant Bullywog.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Glimmering Geode Icon.Glimmering Geode.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 75
Gryphon Icon.Gryphon.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary 15
Hippo Icon.Hippo.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 75
Horse Icon.Horse.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop,Vendor 75
Midnight Mare Icon.Midnight Mare.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Obsidian Stallion Icon.Obsidian Stallion.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Pallas Cat Icon.Pallas Cat.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 75
Plumed Haleberder Icon.Plumed Haleberder.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary 15
Pridestrider Icon.Pridestrider.png Flying mount CommonLegendary Vendor,Crafted items,Drop 15
Protectors Pride Icon.Protectors Pride.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary Drop 15
Riverdancer Otter Icon.Riverdancer Otter.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Runic Steed Icon.Runic Steed.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Sandsquall Croc Icon.Sandsquall Croc.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 75
Sandsquall Komodo Icon.Sandsquall Komodo.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Scorpion Icon.Scorpion.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Scorpion Broodling Icon.Scorpion Broodling.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items 750
Scorpix Icon.Scorpix.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Shatterclaw Icon.Shatterclaw.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 15
Shell of the Ancients Icon.Shell of the Ancients.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary 750
Shoalskipper Icon.Shoalskipper.png Aquatic mount CommonLegendary Crafted items 750
Skinwalker Icon.Skinwalker.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Terror Bird Icon.Terror Bird.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Tidebreaker Icon.Tidebreaker.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Crafted items,Drop 750
Tidesnapper Icon.Tidesnapper.png Aquatic mount CommonLegendary 10 Crafted items,Drop 750
Timeless Terrapin Icon.Timeless Terrapin.png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items,Drop 15
Verdant Voyager Icon.Verdant Voyager .png Ground mount CommonLegendary 20 Crafted items 75
Vershan Komodo Icon.Vershan Komodo.png Wild creature Gatherable resource CommonLegendary Drop 750
Wolf Icon.Wolf.png Ground mount CommonLegendary Drop,Crafted items 10
Wyrmling Icon.Wyrmling.png Flying mount CommonLegendary Vendor,Crafted items,Drop 15

Visuals

See also

References

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