Glorious wiki readers. We appreciate your patience as we process the vast amount of new and updated information from the release of Alpha-2 phase 1.
Raids
Raids will either be based on triggered events or more traditional systems. Traditional world bosses will change based on node development.[3]
- We want things to be more fluid and one of the ways that we make them more fluid is through our triggered event system. That is one of the methods by which we make these more spontaneous. We make them more accessible to a wider audience. You can be just in the city and not normally be a part of a raid team, but now get to participate in this organic event that's popped up around the city and if you are not participating then buildings are gonna get destroyed and NPCs are going to die... It's not just how fast can we do it, how will we get it done in its schedule, but oh my god this thing popped up if we don't kill it we're not going to access to our stables this week and we can't get our animal husbandry certificates... It's that risk versus reward that gives you a sense of adrenaline.[4] – Steven Sharif
- The majority of raids in Ashes of Creation are open-world.[5][6][7][8] Only a minority of raids will be instanced.[6]
- Some boss rooms (within larger encounters) will be instanced.[5]
- Instanced dungeons and raids will utilize room locks or other mechanisms that restricts the encounter to its target audience.[5]
Raid bosses
- There will initially be between 12 to 15 raid bosses in the world.[11]
- Legendary equipment is only dropped by Legendary world bosses.[11]
- A single digit percentage of the population will be capable of defeating certain content.[12]
- There will be some in-depth raiding that has multiple stages that will be extremely difficult and... It would definitely be in the single digits of population that will be capable of defeating certain content... It doesn't mean that there won't be content available for the larger percentages as well... There should be a tiered level of content that players can constantly strive to accomplish. If there is no ladder of progression and everything is flat and all content can be experienced, then there is no drive to excel.[12] – Steven Sharif
List of raid bosses
This section contains potentially outdated information from Alpha-1 testing. |
- Brood Queen
- Elder Dragon of Flame
- Elder Dragon of the Tundra
- Elder Dragon of the Wood
- Firebrand
- Firebrand, the Devouring Flame
- Negalith
- Tumok the Wretched
Raid strategies
Raids will have elements that can be pre-planned.[13]
Raids will also have dynamic elements that can change from session to session.[13]
- The types and numbers of bosses and mobs present in the raid and their skill repertoire.[13]
- Variables are manifested based on node progression.[13]
- The number of metropolis nodes developed.[13]
- The types of metropolis nodes developed.[13]
- One of the design elements that we're implementing into our raids is that the raid will not be exactly the same every single time. You're going to have variables that can't necessarily be pre-planned out for. You can pre-plan out for a lot of the raid like how many DPS do you need and healers and support; where the key position and all that stuff; but I think the compelling aspect of Ashes raiding will be the difficulty in achieving this content and having that content change from session to session as well. We want there to be variables that get manifested by what type of node got developed elsewhere. Is he going to have acolytes or cultists? What will the acolytes have skills [available] to them? What kit is the boss gonna have? What available skill repertoire will the boss be able to [wield]? ... A lot of those systems are influenced obviously by world development. So the raid takes into account at what stage has the world developed: Are there two metropolises now available in the world? Okay well let's activate this skill in this skill. Now you have five metropolises, well now all these skills have been activated. Are there are they all economic nodes? Are they all military nodes? That we can change things based on that stuff. And it really is a threat assessment from the environment against the players.[13]{{ndash|Steven Sharif}
Raid mechanics
Boss fights will have fairly intricate mechanics.[15]
- Combat itself will be pretty intricate mechanics-wise. We're going to have different phases of the bosses, there's going to be a lot of adds stuff, there's going to be random oriented skill usage. We're not going to have telegraphed templates on the ground, but we will have telegraphed animations, so it's going to be location, mobility, strategic. It will be something that can not be repeatable in the exact same way from raid to raid, but has a variance between the combat, so raiders are going to have to be fluid in thinking on their feet.[15] – Steven Sharif
- Multiple phase fights.[15]
- Adds.[15]
- Random skill usage.[15]
- Fights will require location, mobility and strategy.[15]
- Boss mechanics may be affected by changes in climate or time of day.[16]
- Telegraphed animations, but no obvious telegraphed templates on the ground.[17][15]
- Players can utilize boss mechanics against other players.[17]
- Anytime the boss is telegraphing an ability, that is an opportunity for you to direct the location of that effect; and so in that sense, yes you could use a boss's mechanics in an interesting way to affect an enemy raid.[17] – Steven Sharif
Telegraphs
In specific circumstances there will be telegraphs (tells) to communicate something that's happening.[18]
- Animation tells.
- Templates.
Raid progression
Raid tiers
Tiers of raid difficulty are in accordance with the world's node structure.[19][20]
The more developed a zone the more challenging the content; and we feel that's a good progression when it comes to actual adventuring class, because it will match both world development and it will also continue to allow for participation for new players, if they may go into a zone that's recently been reset by either a siege or some other event.[20] – Steven Sharif
PvE difficulty
The difficulty of PvE encounters in Ashes of Creation is anchored to the PvX design of the game, which takes into account the unpredictable nature of other players into the encounter design. Ashes of Creation is not trying to directly compete against purely PvE oriented games.[23][5][6][24][7][8]
- Q: How do you intend to satisfy those who love difficult end-game PvE content, such as hard mode trials of ESO, ultimate raids of Final Fantasy 14, or Word of Warcraft mythic plus dungeons?
- A: To be honest with you, I'm not sure that we're trying to compete with those games and the content that they provide in that arena, because we're a different game. We're a PvX game, which means the types of challenges that PvE players can expect from us will oftentimes revolve around the additional component that players- that you can't predict their actions- provide the encounter design. So that's something that's systemically built in a PvX approach.[23] – Steven Sharif
- Q: Could you explain if there are mechanisms particularly during boss fights that protect players from PvP interactions, such as room locks, or are all raids intended to remain fully open to PvP?
- A: Some dungeons do have instancing. Some boss rooms are instanced. In those locations, yes they will be serviced either through a room lock or some other mechanism that protects the engagement- the environment of that encounter to who is intended to be there, but the majority of our encounters can be interrupted. They are open-world; and in those events where you have two groups that are coming together that might be at war with one another, where open flagging is not necessary, they are just flagged combatants with one another. They're going to have to manage the battlefield between what they're achieving in the PvE encounter versus now what they are experiencing in the dynamic player versus player encounter.[5] – Steven Sharif
- The majority of encounters in Ashes of Creation are open-world, but instancing will be used to tightly control encounter design. For example, some boss rooms within larger encounters may be instanced.[5][6][25][5]
- Instanced dungeons and raids will utilize room locks or other mechanisms to restrict the encounter to its target audience.[5]
- Stat dampening is a stacking debuff. As such, it is an important aspect of open-world PvP, where the group (or individual) that dies the most is increasingly less likely to be capable of contesting encounters against groups (or individuals) that have not died as frequently.[5]
- Q: How challenging will raid boss mechanics be given the given that players may need to simultaneously fight other players while also fighting the boss?
- A: It depends. The great thing about our encounter system is that it has a wide scalability from encounters that some might consider easy given their composition to encounters that some might consider impossible until they get their gear level to a certain stage. The level of interaction with other players is really predicated on the encounter itself. We may have some encounters that are in instances although the predominant portion of those will be in the open world, in which case they do have the potential being contested; and these encounters, especially the big ones that might land in contention, are giving some of the best-in-slot gear you can get in the game. So it's important that they are contested because it is a significant victory point; and one of our core pillars is risk versus reward: and the higher that risk the higher that reward should be. So those two things seem fitting and then in addition we do have the concept of winners and losers. Not everybody in Ashes of Creation is going to be a winner; and that sucks if you're not I guess, but there is opportunity for you to continue to excel and become one. But it gives much more meaning to an achievement when not everybody gets the achievement. That's our philosophy.[24] – Steven Sharif
- Encounters will have different challenge ratings and may necessitate specific builds, strategies, and compositions in order to be successful.[26][27][28][29]
- Q: So it's the sort of thing where it might be, we're going do a dungeon that's oops, all fire golems, so if everybody straps up with plate armor and fire resistance, you don't have to worry about the magic fire: you've got the fire resistance for. And when you start getting punched around, that's why everyone's come in with plate?
- A: The encounters design team presents a particular type of challenge rating- for those you're familiar with playing DnD or whatever, challenge rating gets informed by a few different vertical power levels, but then there's also the horizontal perspective: That is, what tools does your party have to address the challenge rating of the situation and some of the horizontal progression exists within how you kit your equipment slots. Some of those can be enhancements or stones, as you're discussing with fire resistance. Some of those are base stats that exist on a particular item, such as physical damage mitigation versus magical damage mitigation and what subtype of damage is incoming based on that. These are the ways that we emphasize that more rock-paper-scissors type of interaction with balance to where it's okay to have asymmetric imbalance if there are horizontal methods by which you achieve the challenge rating.[26] – Steven Sharif
- Encounter difficulty will dynamically adapt based on the number of participants and their performance against that and previous bosses in that encounter. This applies to both instanced and open-world encounters.[30][22][31][32][33]
- How does the state tree of the NPC respond to the actions of the players? Well, it weights certain actions and behaviors based off of what the players are doing and as it weights those things, it makes decisions that will be unique according to the encounter that's occurring in front of it. So, each time might be different as a result of that. That's one section. In addition, when we talk about the adaptive scaling- this isn't scaling in like power relation to the level of the player- this is scaling in the quantity of participants; and that means that it starts to weight the behaviors that include AoE actions higher than others as a result of the number of players who are present. This intrinsically increases the challenge rating of the encounter, because those AoE abilities are providing a higher return on DPS overall to the to the raid encounter for the monster.[30] – Steven Sharif
- Attunements may be present on certain encounters.[35]
- Attunements are a a gatekeeping mechanism. They are a way to mitigate the potential PvX interaction that could interrupt your raid, because there is some level of effort that must be exerted by antagonists who would hope to interrupt your efforts. Now that was a specific narrative mechanic in A1. Is it possible that we will see those throughout the rest of the game? Absolutely, 100%. That is a valid design mechanic.[35] – Steven Sharif
- Both in Alpha-2 and when the game launches, there will be monsters whose technical level is above that of the cap; and the intent there is obviously again to provide some level of challenge that exceeds a comparable level challenge rating.[27] – Steven Sharif
- The higher the difficulty, the better the loot tables will be.[34]
Metrics
Ashes of Creation gathers tracking data to facilitate achievements, titles and other accolades on a server realm.[36]
- Number of successful siege defenses.[36]
- Number of successful siege assaults.[36]
- Number of PvP kills.[37][36]
- Number of PvP deaths.[37]
- Raid participation points.[36]
- Number of firsts.[36]
Visibility of those types of things on the server help to promote a competitive atmosphere. If there is an attainable impression that you can work towards, so that others know your success, you have more drive to succeed.[36] – Steven Sharif
Trophy park
Trophy park is an area within Town, City or Metropolis nodes that has available spots for trophies. These trophies show the character names of players who are the first to complete world bosses and dungeon bosses that were spawned as the result of the development of that particular node.[38]
- Server announcements and achievements are designed to encourage groups to experience new content.[38]
Leader boards
Players will be able to opt-in to track certain achievements on leaderboards, such as.[39]
- Dungeons completed.[39][40]
- Raids completed.[39][40]
- PvP kills.[39]
- Caravans raided.[39]
- Gathering activity.[39]
Leaderboards may be seasonal.[40]
- We have many dreams that we want to do with game-to-web and game-to-mobile in regards to showing stats and being making things shareable for you. We know how social media works; how sharing content with friends works. But those things will come in due time.[39] – Margaret Krohn
- Some leaderboards will be across all server realms.[41]
Looting
Ashes of Creation intends to use traditional loot rules, selected by the party or raid leader.[44][45][46]
- Loot in Ashes of Creation encounters is finite and must be distributed between party or raid members who complete the encounter. There is no individual loot system that grants loot to all participants. This essentially acts to balance the lowered risk in large numbers against lower chances of gaining rewards.[47]
- Group loot rules are defined on a per-rarity basis.[42]
- A majority of party members must vote to approve any changes to group loot allocation changes.[43]
- The developers are considering using a double-tap interaction to loot all containers within a close proximity radius.[48]
- There won't be auto-looting pets.[49]
- It will be possible to kick a player from a party prior to them acquiring loot.[50]
- Yes, technically it would be possible for you to kick a player prior to acquiring loot. However, again because we are a game that relies on social interactions, there are reputations to be had; and if you acquire a reputation as a raid leader, or as a party leader, of doing something dirty like that, then it's unlikely you'll be able to Garner the support of future party members and/or raids to lead efforts against these raid bosses.[50] – Steven Sharif
- Free-for-all.[46]
- Whoever is first to loot gets the loot.[44]
- A master looter (or lootmaster) is a player designated by the party leader to decide how loot is distributed in a dungeon or raid party.[46]
- With round-robin looting, party members take turns looting.[46]
- This is a traditional need before greed system based on dice rolls.[46]
- Since there is very little gear binding in Ashes of Creation, it's left to the party to deal with players who excessively roll Need on loot.[51]
- Bidding system.[46]
- Intrepid are investigating a potential bidding system, which allows players to bid on items instead of rolling for them.[46]
Loot tables
- Mobs drop glint, items, and crafting materials in preference to gold.[53][54]
- Glint is not bound to a specific region and can be also dropped by players on death as stolen glint, based on applicable death penalties.[55][56][57][58][53][59]
- The rarity of glint increases with the mob's level.[60]
- Loot tables are disabled for player controlled monsters.[61]
- Experience debt decreases the drop rate percentages from monsters.[62]
- 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.[63] – Steven Sharif
- Loot (loot tables) from mobs and bosses have about a 2-4% RNG chance of dropping gear (completed items).[52][64][63][65][66]
- There is also a chance that materials and unique recipes are dropped that can be used to craft items of equitable value.[64][63][65][67][68]
- Most completed item drops will be of low quality items, but there is a small RNG chance of looting rare and legendary items or crafting materials from mobs based on the level, status and type of mob. This also applies to harvesting resources with a gathering profession.[52][11][69]
- RNG drop chances will likely not be made public.[70]
- Stats on dropped items will vary based on the rarity of the item.[71]
- The greater level disparity between the player and the mob being looted, the lower the drop percentages will be from that mob.[72][52]
- Currently, if your level in comparison to the monster is greater than 3 levels apart there will be a slight fall off in drop efficiency. In a party, this uses the greatest disparity as the whole parties comparison. If you or a member of the party is greater than 9 levels apart from the monster, then drop chance and exp is not possible.[72] – Steven Sharif
- Loot tables will likely not be affected by weather conditions.[16] This was previously listed as a possible effect.[73]
- There won't be specific loot drops for artisans.[74][75] Previously it was stated that master gatherers may have the ability to "spoil" a boss' loot.[76]
- 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.[75] – Steven Sharif
Glint
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.[78][79][56][80][53][54]
- 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.[81] – Steven Sharif
- Glint is not localized to specific regions.[55][56][57][58][53][59] Previously it was stated that glint was specific to an economic region.[82][53][83][54]
- Glint occupies space within the spatial inventory system and must be transported via crates when in large quantities.[55]
- Glint can be sold directly to commodities vendors at hunting lodges within nodes to "make some quick money".[84]
- 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.[56][82][53][83][54] 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.[85][56]
- Glint will drop as stolen glint on a character's death, based on applicable death penalties.[56][57][58][53][59] Glint taken from caravan wreckages is also classed as stolen.[86] Stolen glint is not bound and may be redeemed for less than its original value at black market locations.[56][57]
- Glint may be used to pay housing taxes and citizen dues.[81][56][80]
- Glint can be stored within node warehouses.[53]
- Glint is not intended as crafting materials.[80]
- Glint is always distributed via round-robin loot rules.[87]
Loot tagging
Looting rights (also known as Loot tagging) is based on a blended tag and damage done system.[88][89][45]
- The first raid/party to obtain a tag (on a mob or boss) will gain an approximately 5-10% edge over competing parties in terms of the total damage done when determining looting rights.[89][45]
- These numbers will be balanced based on testing.[89]
- We have a combination of a tag system that grants some bonus percentage to the first tag and then we cumulatively value the damage done on a raid/party basis; and then whichever party exceeds the 50% as a result of that has the loot rights for a period of time; and then after that period of time expires it becomes public.[88] – Steven Sharif
- At the end of the fight, the party with the highest damage done, including first tagging bonus, will be granted looting rights for a period of time.[88][89][45] If the looting rights are not exercised in the timeframe, the loot becomes public.[88]
- We have a blended approach of damage done and a tag benefit. So if you tag the boss first, or you tag the loot- whatever the loot target is first- you're gonna get a benefit in the damage overall determination. So if you need to have 51% of damage done in order to qualify your raid, or the plurality of damage done if there's even three or four raids, then tagging first might give you a five or ten percent edge. We'll play with that number- balance it based on testing, but generally that's our approach in competing loot rights[89] – Steven Sharif
- Q: If looting rights are based on a blended tag and damage done system, will there be any mechanics in place to ensure roles like tanks and healers have an equal shot even when they haven't dealt as much damage?
- A: That's the reason for the blended approach. The reason that we're doing a hybrid system between tag and damage done is for the purposes of those classes who may not be as DPS oriented as other classes. The tag system- all classes are going to have a sprinkling of immediate effects- of instantaneous casts and they can use that to tag a target, and that'll give them a modifier on the looting rights: So plus 10 or plus 15 will balance that, but it'll give them plus 10 to 15 on overall damage done if they tag the target and then their damage will make up the remainder of that percentage completion. So if I do 50 damage to a target but someone else has the tag I'm not going to be able to claim that looting right. They'll have done the other 50 plus 10 or 15.[90] – Steven Sharif
Chat bubbles
Chat bubbles will be able to be toggled on or off by players. There will be options to manage the bubbles to reduce visual clutter.[91][92]
We do want to include chat bubbles. We do want to include a host of options that will allow you to manage those bubbles so you can turn them on, you don't see just a field of bubbles.[92] – Jeffrey Bard
Raid party controls
Raid party controls include:
- Kick from raid.[93]
- Promote to raid leader.[93]
- Convert raid to party.[93]
- Raid voice controls.[94][95]
Raid voice controls
Raid and party leaders are able to control Voice chat.[94][95]
- Toggle (global) mute on the entire raid.[95]
- Define who has global speech capacity across the entire raid.[96]
- Granting administrative functions to raid and party members.[94]
If you are joined in raid where you have multiple squads that have connected into a raid for the castle sieges, the leaders of those squads will be able to communicate across all members of squad. So let's say you have five teams of four, for a total of twenty people within a particular raid... there are five that have global speech capacity; and then in those individual parties they'll also have their own inter-voice communication. So party leader will be able to hear their party members and the party members will hear each other, but they'll also be able to hear other party leaders speak as well.[96] – Steven Sharif
Raid target markers
Players have the ability to set target marker symbols above players or mobs that are visible to other party members.[97][98][94]
Adaptive content
New points of interest (such as dungeons, world bosses, and corrupted areas) spawn as nodes develop.[100][101] This content adapts to the node progression of the zone it is in.[99][102]
- Additional buildings will spawn.[99]
- Additional mobs will spawn.[99]
- Different antagonists/leaders with different story lines.[99][102]
- Populations will change.[102]
- Content difficulty will change.[102]
- The content may be different altogether.[102]
- Additional quest hooks.[99]
- Dungeons will be unlocked when certain nodes advance to certain stages.[103]
- Drop tables in areas and dungeons will be tied into the progression of certain areas.[103]
- POI events are events that relate to specific points-of-interest (POI).[106]
- The location of points of interest will be the same on each server realm, but some servers may have limited or no access to them.[107]
- Certain dungeons and other points of interest across the map will all be affected by the server’s node development. Some dungeons will only be unlocked if nodes are developed to certain stages. The storyline objectives for players inside dungeons will also be dependent on the story arc paths chosen through the node system. The drop tables in area and dungeons will also be tied into the progression of certain areas. For example, let’s say that the humans have developed a node in Region A, and a storyline has opened up that leads players to inspect the ruins (dungeon) of a nearby area. And let’s say that this node was developed in a scientific (crafting) zone… Well before the node developed, this dungeon was accessible… But now the dungeon has propagated new monster assets that include a drop table catering to a crafting emphasis because of the development of that academic node. And perhaps, a new boss appears in different rooms of the dungeon that includes different adventure quest starts, like a mysterious item with a storyline that can only be progressed if a node develops to the metropolis stage in a certain region, across the world. Our system is so vast, when it comes to interconnectivity and how the world reacts to the players.[103]
Group sizes
Ashes of Creation is designed for solo players as well as large and small groups.[109][110][111]
- The idea behind an 8-person group is to allow us to really amplify party roles, and to create a need for each of the archetypes in every party.[46]
- Raids will have 40 man groups.[112]
- Content will be tailored for 40, 16 and 8 person group sizes.[66]
- Arenas will have 1 man, 3 man, 5 man and possibly 20 man Free-For-All (Deathmatch) group sizes.[113]
- Castle sieges are expected to have at minimum 250x250 players to be on a single battlefield, with the possibility of increasing this to 500x500 over time.[115][116][117][118]
- The minimum goal is 500 players on a single battlefield. I think we will be able to hit 500vs500 but we shall see.[118] – Steven Sharif
Zergs
- Zergs are empowered by fast-travel. Meaningful travel times are intended to prevent zerg play from being so much of an influence.[121]
- Encounters are designed to have meaning in terms of how boss skills and abilities relate to group compositions, tactics and strategies. Zerging is not experiencing content.[122] There are different ways to make a fight more difficult for larger sized groups without relying solely on stat buffs or making the boss a "damage sponge".[32]
- Raid and dungeon bosses have specific mechanics and abilities that players need to learn and react to.[32] Zergs that are not aware of these mechanics or react to them appropriately will be wiped.[122]
- Bosses and mobs can dynamically adapt to the number and types of combatants in proximity to the encounter.[30][22][32][33]
- Adaptive AI behaviors, such as AoE effects, might activate based on progress within an encounter.[123][22][31][32]
- Q: For open world bosses, how will we address people that bring way more players than the boss is intended for?
- A: This is going to be adaptive AI behaviors that are going to have a higher level of frequency that's going to make it very difficult to zerg down certain content. That is the intent behind that system, is to be an anti-zerg mechanism. In certain encounters where we want to keep the numbers at a very specific value, we will utilize instancing. We've talked in the past about 80% of the world content being open-world and about 20% of it being instancing. That value still seems like it's going to be true.[123] – Steven Sharif
- Loot in Ashes of Creation encounters is finite and must be distributed between party or raid members who complete the encounter. There is no individual loot system that grants loot to all participants. This essentially acts to balance the lowered risk in large numbers against lower chances of gaining rewards.[47]
- Q: Risk versus reward seems to be involved in all systems. Do you feel risk, such as death penalties, or the threat of being PKed during dungeon content will lead to players zerging world bosses and dungeons to minimize said risk, thus trivializing some content and experiences, regardless of that planned difficulty scaling you just spoke about?
- A: Another part of our design that is more old school, but speaks exactly to this thought is that the reward is finite; and what that means is in a lot of modern MMOs, each person gets their own reward for participating; and back in the day, the one person was the loot master: they would interact with the raid boss and then there would be some guild-driven system or alliance-driven system that would determine who's next on the list to get this bow, or who's the crafter that deserves this master legendary recipe, or where does this legendary material go. It's not that everybody got your loot box because we all completed the boss together: everyone gets the auto-granted reward from the quest of completing the boss together. What people came for that reward- the reason why alliances and guilds organized the raid to go defeat the dragon, was because the dragon boat dropped, and there was only one that dropped. So, the more people you take, the more slices of the finite pie you have to deliver, which reduces the reward structure. So, if you're going to reduce risk you must reduce reward.[47] – Steven Sharif
- There is a give-and-take for guilds that want to see a larger number of members as opposed to a more focused group that may be a part of an alliance or unlock additional guild passive skills.[124][125][126][127][128]
- We're very cognizant of the fact that we don't want to see zerging be a mechanic that's utilized by guilds to accomplish content or just to steamroll over sieges... There are specific mechanics that we are working on that will be seen through the testing phases that relate to a degree of understanding of certain systems that can't just be overrun with numbers.[127] – Steven Sharif
- The best way that I found in games I played previously to take down a zerg is to cause drama from within... It's that conflict inside of the politicking that happens in that big organization. If we provide opportunities for division to occur then it also provides stability to keep a server healthy away from that zerg mentality also... If we approach the castle siege and we've destroyed the walls and we're in the throne room and we're about to cast on the penultimate thing and I at this time am just so excited from what's happening that I'm like "screw it I'm gonna go for it". It's gonna be mine. I'm gonna take the taxes for the next month. I'm gonna take all the gear from the castle. I'm gonna take everything... We want that political intrigue to be present in the game.[130] – Steven Sharif
- Objective-based game play helps to balance the zerg mentality.[131]
- I always feel that if you balance based on groups that in your balance focus is to incorporate features that play well from a player versus player perspective as well as a player versus environment perspective: Having support classes, having DPS and tanks that can obstruct movement and/or create bottlenecks on the field and stuff like that. I think a well-rounded raid it will perform better against a non well-rounded raid, however then you incorporate the second aspect of numbers; and that's where again mobility, organization, leadership tactics. Having objectives in gameplay that make those important helps to balance the zerg mentality that a lot of guilds can tend to have.[131] – Steven Sharif
- Instancing doesn't play a major role in limiting zergs, due to 80% of content in Ashes of Creation being open-world.[132]
- There may be instanced locations within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[132]
- Zerging is always a problem in a lot of these MMORPGs where you really can't control the number of participants in certain open-world systems; and in that sense instancing is a great tool that designers can sometimes use to curate a particular number of participants that you want. But the predominant amount of content within Ashes of Creation, over 80% of which is is open-world content, so instancing is very limited.[132] – Steven Sharif
Visuals
2024-09-03 2024-09-02 2021-05-01
See also
References
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2020 (1:40:18).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2020 (1:17:42).
- ↑
- ↑ Podcast, April 23, 2018 (27:14).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (46:50).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (10:16).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Livestream, June 1, 2017 (39:21).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (20:59).
- ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:10:43).
- ↑ Video, May 28, 2021 (5:40).
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Livestream, July 25, 2020 (46:08).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:42:14).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 Podcast, July 9, 2018 (22:24).
- ↑ Forums - Dev Discussion #52 - Boss Mechanics
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (1:14:01).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Livestream, May 27, 2022 (1:14:46).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Interview, September 10, 2023 (32:16).
- ↑ Livestream, May 22, 2017 (49:38).
- ↑
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:39:47).
- ↑ Newsletter - June 2023.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Livestream, January 27, 2023 (1:34:06).
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Interview, October 16, 2024 (29:32).
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Livestream, May 27, 2022 (1:20:35).
- ↑
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:40:41).
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Livestream, November 30, 2023 (1:53:50).
- ↑ [to https://twitter.com/AshesofCreation/status/1571960759894286336 Twitter - Creature resistances.]
- ↑ Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:08:23).
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (48:54).
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Interview, June 13, 2021 (22:20).
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 32.5 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:16:09).
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (17:12).
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (14:51).
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Podcast, October 12, 2024 (47:01).
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 36.4 36.5 36.6 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:47:21).
- ↑ 37.0 37.1
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:35:58).
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 39.4 39.5 39.6 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (2:21).
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Livestream, July 18, 2017 (58:50).
- ↑ Livestream, May 15, 2017 (44:10).
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 42.6 Video, January 27, 2023 (16:44).
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Video, January 27, 2023 (32:01).
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:01:40).
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 Livestream, July 25, 2020 (1:24:56).
- ↑ 46.00 46.01 46.02 46.03 46.04 46.05 46.06 46.07 46.08 46.09 46.10 46.11 46.12 46.13 Group dynamics blog.
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (50:37).
- ↑ Livestream, January 27, 2023 (1:08:06).
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (1:04:52).
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (1:07:45).
- ↑ Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:12:03).
- ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 52.3 Interview, October 14, 2024 (6:29).
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 53.4 53.5 53.6 53.7 Interview, July 18, 2020 (27:11).
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 54.3 Livestream, May 24, 2017 (44:14).
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2
- ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 56.5 56.6 56.7 Interview, September 10, 2023 (53:47).
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 57.3 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (1:07:33).
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 58.2
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 Podcast, May 5, 2017 (43:05).
- ↑ 60.0 60.1
- ↑ Livestream, May 3, 2017 (35:25).
- ↑ Ashes of Creation Forums - Former Lineage 2 PvP'er wanting to discuss PvP loopholes.
- ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:03:38).
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 Livestream, September 27, 2024 (1:45:22).
- ↑ 65.0 65.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (8:43).
- ↑ 66.0 66.1 February 8, 2019 - Questions and Answers.
- ↑ Interview, July 20, 2020 (21:57).
- ↑ Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (55:49).
- ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (1:00:15).
- ↑ Livestream, April 30, 2024 (1:03:57).
- ↑ Livestream, December 22, 2020 (1:15:01).
- ↑ 72.0 72.1
- ↑ Video, May 27, 2022 (2:21).
- ↑ Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:12:52).
- ↑ 75.0 75.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (1:22:09).
- ↑ Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:44:54).
- ↑ 77.0 77.1 77.2 Video, October 31, 2023 (4:45).
- ↑ Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:06:32).
- ↑ Video, October 31, 2023 (3:34).
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 Livestream, October 29, 2021 (1:06:31).
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 Video, October 31, 2023 (5:06).
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (1:08:22).
- ↑ 83.0 83.1 Interview, April 17, 2019 (49:55).
- ↑ Video, October 31, 2023 (6:07).
- ↑ Video, October 31, 2023 (8:05).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2024 (2:09:45).
- ↑ 88.0 88.1 88.2 88.3 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:18:02).
- ↑ 89.0 89.1 89.2 89.3 89.4 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:23:06).
- ↑ Livestream, June 30, 2022 (1:16:22).
- ↑ Interview, February 7, 2021 (55:22).
- ↑ 92.0 92.1 Livestream, January 29, 2021 (1:20:05).
- ↑ 93.0 93.1 93.2 93.3
- ↑ 94.0 94.1 94.2 94.3 Livestream, May 27, 2022 (2:33).
- ↑ 95.0 95.1 95.2 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (57:27).
- ↑ 96.0 96.1 Interview, December 6, 2018 (2:57).
- ↑ 97.0 97.1 Video, July 31, 2024 (1:44:46).
- ↑ Livestream, July 3, 2024 (2:00:15).
- ↑ 99.0 99.1 99.2 99.3 99.4 99.5 99.6 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (50:33).
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (22:53).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (36:22).
- ↑ 102.0 102.1 102.2 102.3 102.4 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (18:29).
- ↑ 103.0 103.1 103.2 103.3 MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (40:21).
- ↑
- ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (33:57).
- ↑ 109.0 109.1 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (2:40).
- ↑ Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:20:25).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, May 9, 2017 (34:38).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (48:12).
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (52:48).
- ↑ Interview, July 8, 2021 (57:19).
- ↑ Interview, July 19, 2020 (44:28).
- ↑ 118.0 118.1
- ↑
- ↑ Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
- ↑ Livestream, May 5, 2017 (23:26).
- ↑ 122.0 122.1 Livestream, May 19, 2017 (25:18).
- ↑ 123.0 123.1 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:02:37).
- ↑ Podcast, May 10, 2024 (35:00).
- ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2018 (55:39).
- ↑ Interview, August 8, 2018 (9:36).
- ↑ 127.0 127.1 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (57:37).
- ↑ Livestream, May 5, 2017 (23:26).
- ↑ Podcast, May 10, 2024 (40:31).
- ↑ 130.0 130.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (44:20).
- ↑ 131.0 131.1 Interview, August 8, 2018 (11:52).
- ↑ 132.0 132.1 132.2 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (17:50).