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.
Sieges
Sieges in Ashes of Creation refer to:
- Castle sieges, where guilds battle to occupy one of five Guild castles.[2]
- Node sieges, which are open world battles fought to destroy nodes.[3]
- Q: Why does the design want to try to account for these types of large player battles?
- A: The reason why is because, in my opinion, the types of PvP events where you have large player orchestration and coordination is really the ultimate goal for what a massively multiplayer experience is trying to provide.[4] – Steven Sharif
- There are points of balance that we want to incorporate, such as the defense mechanisms that the defenders have, the types of buffs that are acquired through completing killing the bosses, or capturing control points, the stages before a siege when it comes to those node progressions in the preceding weeks: Those are all going to be balanced considering all things being equal between the two sides. But obviously we're not going to control the state of gear acquisition that one side might have as an advantage over the other. There might be a much better geared team over there. There might be a much better coordinated team. There might be a higher number of individuals who are part of the attacking or the defense. Those are components that we aren't necessarily going to put on railroads so-to-speak. But the aspects of design that we can talk about like the hit point health of a particular wall or door, or mercenaries that can be hired; what's their cost, what's their damage output: Those are things yes we're going to balance. But obviously anything that's player dependent or that has player interaction and activity and determination you can't always balance; and you don't want to balance. Those aspects you leave those to the players.[5] – Steven Sharif
Castle sieges
Guilds participate in Castle sieges in an effort to capture and occupy one of the five guild castles in Ashes of Creation.[2]
- 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.[4][11][12][13][14]
- 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.[4] – Steven Sharif
- There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.[15]
- There may be instanced locations within otherwise open-world castle and node sieges, where specific groups can participate in small, short duration objective-based battles that will affect the overall outcome of the siege.[16][17][18][19][20][21]
- 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.[26] – Steven Sharif
A guild that captures a castle will own that castle for a month before it is sieged again.[27][28][29]
- 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.[28] – 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.[28][29]
- 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.[28][29]
- Depending on how well the guild defends their castle nodes results in better defenses for the castle.[29][30]
- 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.[31]
- When castles change hands (following a siege), some taxes stay with the castle and some stay with the guild.[32]
- 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.[29] – Steven Sharif
Node sieges
Node sieges enable players to destroy nodes starting at Village (stage 3).[3] This paves the way for new development and access to the locked content in surrounding nodes. Due to this dynamic, political strife and intrigue play an important role in the structure of the world.[16][35][36][37][38]
- Sieging nodes will not be an easy task for the attackers. Cities and metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage.[38]
- There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.[15]
- If you own a home in a node and you don't want to see that home destroyed, you need to defend that city![39] – Steven Sharif
- The majority (~80%) of content in Ashes of Creation is open-world but there may be instanced battles within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in small, short-duration objective-based battles for specific waypoints.[16][17][18][19][35][20][21][36]
- Node sieges will be released as part of Alpha-2 phase-2.[33][34]
- We will have our first iteration of node sieges available come December 20th. This is going to be obviously an event that can occur based off of players acquiring a siege scroll. It'll be in its functional form to begin with and then we will continue to iterate and expand on it as we move forward.[33] – Steven Sharif
Server prime-time
Objective-based PvP events such as node sieges, castle sieges, guild wars, and node wars will occur within a prime-time window somewhere between 3PM and 9PM server realm time. This is subject to testing.[9][10][40]
- Guild wars and node wars can be declared at any time, but the objectives will only spawn during the prime-time window.[41][42]
- The key about the server prime time is that events cater to prime time. So, these inflection points where our expectation from a gameplay design is to allow or afford players an opportunity to participate in highly impactful events within the game: Those get delegated to prime time.[41] – Steven Sharif
Siege alliances
When a siege begins, temporary alliances are formed among attackers and defenders.[43]
- For node sieges, citizens of the node or provincial nodes being attacked are automatically registered as defenders.[44]
- There are many reasons to participate as an ally in the attack or defence of other nodes.[45]
- Titles.
- Items.
- Materials.
- Money.
- Social bonds.
Many incentives exist that can benefit your node and yourself personally by participating in the attack or defense of cities. These range from titles, to items, to materials, to money. Additionally, aiding others may help you strengthen bonds when your assets are threatened.[45] – Steven Sharif
Siege participation
Non-registered combatants are not permitted on the siege field in castle or node sieges.[46]
- Alpha-1 castle sieges are located in a separate zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.[22][23][24][25]
- Castle sieges (in the final game) may or may not be instanced.[24][47]
- Players could potentially intercept stragglers with the guild war or flagging system en route to the siege field.[49]
Lower level characters will have usefulness in mass combat that does not depend on their level, such as manning siege weapons, helping repair fortifications, bringing proximity-based buffs to key positions, using stealth or scaling walls. These types of things are relevant to the tide of battle and do not require the player to be max-level or have high combat stats.[50]
Siege weapons
Siege weapons and siege vehicles are able to be utilized during sieges.[54]
- Siege equipment is able to be crafted or purchased from NPCs. Crafting will require materials, recipes and craftsmanship.[55][56]
- Part of this endeavor of sieging a player-held location (or non-player-held location) is time to prepare; and that includes gathering and crafting these mega weapons or collecting the resources: Whether it be gold or specific quest items to purchase from NPCs.[56] – Steven Sharif
- There will be ways to repair destructible structures (such as walls and gates) and also repair (or re-craft) siege weapons that were damaged during sieges.[57]
- Anything that you want to bring into existence in the world is going to be built by players: Whether that is Ships, Siege engines, Weapons, Armor, etc.[58] – Jeffrey Bard
Siege PvP
Sieges don't use the PvP flagging system.[59]
Death penalties do not apply to objective-based events (such as caravans, guild wars, and node sieges).[60]
Siege NPCs
Siege NPCs, NPC guards, and mercenary NPCs serve as defense points during sieges and other events.[61][62]
- Only combat NPCs are killable during a siege. Non-combat NPCs, such as merchants, will despawn and will respawn if the siege is unsuccessful.[61][63]
- Upgrades to the node's Barracks may allow a garrison of siege NPCs to be spawned in the event of an attack.[61]
- Mercenary NPCs can be hired in advance.[61] They are intended to be a significant presence but not the main line of defense in a siege.[64]
Mercenary NPCs
Mercenary NPCs can be hired to participate in node and castle sieges.[66][67][68][69]
- Varying tiers of mercenary NPCs may be unlocked based on the investment made in their progression. Highest tier NPC mercenaries are referred to as heros.[70][71][67][68]
- Mayors are able to allocate treasury funding to hire mercenary NPCs to defend their node during sieges.[68][69]
- Nodes can invest in upgrade paths that give a greater selection of roles and quality (gear level) of NPC mercenaries used for caravan defense.[70]
- NPC mercenaries can be hired to participate in castle sieges based on the allocation made by the governing castle and how successful they have been defending their castle nodes.[71][67]
- These mechanics are subject to change based on testing and priorities.[70][71]
- There are mercenary NPCs that can be assigned to players. We've discussed about that before and those will follow generically... a pet system even adopted majority of the pet system with the added bonus of objective based points of interest that you can assign them to. But we don't want to inundate the field with these mercenaries they'll be few and far between. They'll be assigned specifically like let's say for example as the mayor of a node during a siege you'll be able to assign these two specific players that are citizens within your node and then they'll have those they'll spawn during the during the node siege; or vice versa and the castle siege guild leaders can assign mercenaries that are available based on the progress of those subsidiary nodes around the castle siege whether or not you have those available to your defense or your attack.[69] – Steven Sharif
Destructible environments
Destructible environments is a core element of how players interact with the world, in Ashes of Creation.[74][75]
- Buildings, siege weapons and other structures (such as walls and gates) during events, such as sieges that have been damaged or destroyed will be able to be repaired or re-crafted.[76][77]
- Destructible props in the open-world will typically respawn after 10 minutes.[78]
- The terrain itself is not destructible.[76]
Siege abilities
Group summons, such as Siege golems and Tank barricades, may be able to be activated by players combining certain archetype abilities while in the same group.[80][81][82][83][84]
- Bards are not intended to have siege summon capabilities, but sagas may fulfill a similar role on the battlefield.[85]
- Do we intend for there to be synergy between multiple archetypes, or different archetypes in skill activation? And I think we've talked about this in the past: We gave an example actually. I think I heard a Golem in this example, but we gave an example of Summoners using combined powers to summon a larger Golem. There is a desire to explore that path. I think our ability system facilitates that already.[80] – Steven Sharif
Up to eight players of the same primary archetype can band together to create monumental effects during a siege.[84]
Summoner
Summoners may be able collaborate together during sieges to summon larger creatures, such as Golems.[80][81][82][83][84]
- We do have the concept of siege summons being a thing with multiple summoners being required in order to create that siege summon. In those situations your character becomes the summon. So you don't have an AI that takes over your previous character but instead the recipient of those additional spell effects becomes the actual summon itself.[81] – Steven Sharif
- The target of the group summon becomes the summon itself.[81][83]
- Previously it was stated that the party-leader becomes the summon.[82]
- A siege summon will have an incremental size based on the number of summoners participating in that summon activity, with a maximum of eight.[86]
- The number of summoners participating in the summon will determine its overall size.[86]
- All summoners must be in the same party and the party leader must be a summoner.[82]
Tank
Tanks may in future be able to combine their Walls in a way that snaps to other tank walls.[80]
- Previously it was suggested that this would require eight Tanks using their summon wall abilities together.[84]
Deserter debuff
There is no debuff penalty for leaving a siege before it is complete.[87]
Metrics
Ashes of Creation gathers tracking data to facilitate achievements, titles and other accolades on a server realm.[88]
- Number of successful siege defenses.[88]
- Number of successful siege assaults.[88]
- Number of PvP kills.[89][88]
- Number of PvP deaths.[89]
- Raid participation points.[88]
- Number of firsts.[88]
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.[88] – Steven Sharif
Leader boards
Players will be able to opt-in to track certain achievements on leaderboards, such as.[90]
- Dungeons completed.[90][91]
- Raids completed.[90][91]
- PvP kills.[90]
- Caravans raided.[90]
- Gathering activity.[90]
Leaderboards may be seasonal.[91]
- 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.[90] – Margaret Krohn
- Some leaderboards will be across all server realms.[92]
Spectating battles
The ability to spectate battles, such as Sieges is being looked into.[93]
One of the issues I did have about that system in Lineage 2, was like certain people just have alt accounts logged in and tuned into that thing; and like they would then utilize that information. Which, I guess is a means of information gathering. But it's maybe too easy of one. So we're - like i said - we're just looking into that. I haven't decided on that yet.[93] – Steven Sharif
Visuals
2021-05-29 2021-05-29 2021-05-29 2021-05-29 2021-05-29 2021-05-29 2020-10-31 2019-07-17 2019-03-18 2019-01-12 2018-06-05 2017-10-24
See also
References
- ↑ Interview, August 8, 2018 (13:42).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Blog - Know Your Nodes - Advance and Destroy.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Interview, October 16, 2024 (10:18).
- ↑ Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:10:52).
- ↑ Video, May 28, 2021 (25:44).
- ↑ About Ashes of Creation.
- ↑ Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:12:14).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Interview, July 29, 2020 (31:05).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (13:13).
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (52:48).
- ↑ Interview, July 8, 2021 (57:19).
- ↑ Interview, July 19, 2020 (44:28).
- ↑
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Twitch Bustin - Practice Sieges?
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Interview, November 10, 2024 (13:47).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Livestream, July 3, 2024 (1:59:34).
- ↑ 18.0 18.1
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (46:50).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:00:16).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (17:50).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (41:18).
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 Podcast, April 11, 2021 (49:40).
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Blog: Creative Director's Letter, April 14 2021
- ↑ Interview, September 10, 2023 (25:14).
- ↑ Livestream, July 31, 2024 (2:40:49).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Livestream, August 28, 2020 (1:43:03).
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (21:55).
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Livestream, August 23, 2017 (23:00).
- ↑ Podcast, April 23, 2018 (15:14).
- ↑
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Livestream, November 27, 2024 (19:51).
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 2024-11-27 - Development Update with Alpha Two Giants and Demons.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:28:14).
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Interview, June 13, 2021 (36:38).
- ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (44:20).
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 A reactive world - Nodes.
- ↑ Video, April 30, 2017 (5:31).
- ↑ Interview, July 8, 2020 (22:37).
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 Livestream, May 31, 2024 (1:48:21).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Official Livestream - May 4th @ 3 PM PST - Q&A
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Interview, July 8, 2020 (1:12:51).
- ↑ Video, May 28, 2021 (25:44).
- ↑ Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
- ↑ Video, May 28, 2021 (11:55).
- ↑ Interview, September 10, 2023 (22:29).
- ↑ Interview, August 8, 2018 (20:49).
- ↑ 56.0 56.1 Livestream, January 18, 2018 (37:05).
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 Livestream, May 28, 2021 (1:04:29).
- ↑ Livestream, May 24, 2017 (17:08).
- ↑ Livestream, May 19, 2017 (45:14).
- ↑ Livestream, December 22, 2020 (1:13:51).
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 61.3 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (2:09:32).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, July 28, 2017 (36:51).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2023 (58:25).
- ↑ 66.0 66.1 Livestream, May 31, 2024 (2:20:00).
- ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 Livestream, August 28, 2020 (1:41:24).
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 68.2 Livestream, June 26, 2020 (59:11).
- ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 69.3 Livestream, November 22, 2019 (1:14:23).
- ↑ 70.0 70.1 70.2 Livestream, May 27, 2022 (1:18:09).
- ↑ 71.0 71.1 71.2 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:01:10).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2024 (1:46:56).
- ↑ Video, March 29, 2024 (1:09:52).
- ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:13:00).
- ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (31:15).
- ↑ 76.0 76.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:33:05).
- ↑ Livestream, May 28, 2021 (1:04:29).
- ↑ Livestream, March 29, 2024 (2:04:00).
- ↑ Livestream, November 22, 2019 (41:02).
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 Livestream, July 3, 2024 (1:52).
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 81.3 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:22:21).
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 82.3 82.4 82.5 82.6 82.7 Interview, August 17, 2018 (14:59).
- ↑ 83.0 83.1 83.2 Livestream, May 19, 2017 (10:06).
- ↑ 84.0 84.1 84.2 84.3 84.4 Podcast, May 11, 2018 (49:20).
- ↑ Livestream, July 31, 2024 (2:36:06).
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (28:01).
- ↑ Livestream, May 24, 2017 (37:07).
- ↑ 88.0 88.1 88.2 88.3 88.4 88.5 88.6 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:47:21).
- ↑ 89.0 89.1
- ↑ 90.0 90.1 90.2 90.3 90.4 90.5 90.6 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (2:21).
- ↑ 91.0 91.1 91.2 Livestream, July 18, 2017 (58:50).
- ↑ Livestream, May 15, 2017 (44:10).
- ↑ 93.0 93.1 Interview, August 17, 2018 (26:38).