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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 kind of 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
Raid mechanics
Boss fights will have fairly intricate mechanics.[6]
- 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.[6] – Steven Sharif
- Multiple phase fights.[6]
- Adds.[6]
- Random skill usage.[6]
- Fights will require location, mobility and strategy.[6]
- Boss mechanics may be affected by changes in climate or time of day.[7]
- Telegraphed animations, but no obvious telegraphed templates on the ground.[8][6]
- Players can utilize boss mechanics against other players.[8]
- 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.[8] – Steven Sharif
Telegraphs
In specific circumstances there will be telegraphs (tells) to communicate something that's happening.[9]
- Animation tells.
- Templates.
Raid progression
Raid tiers
Tiers of raid difficulty are in accordance with the world's node structure.[10][11]
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.[11] – 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.[12]
- Server announcements and achievements are designed to encourage groups to experience new content.[12]
Leader boards
Players will be able to opt-in to track certain achievements on leaderboards, such as.[13]
- Dungeons completed.[13][14]
- Raids completed.[13][14]
- PvP kills.[13]
- Caravans raided.[13]
- Gathering activity.[13]
Leaderboards may be seasonal.[14]
- 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.[13] – Margaret Krohn
Open world
Ashes of Creation will be a seamless open-world experience.[18]
There will be an approximately 80/20 split between open world vs instanced encounters.[19][20][17][21][22]
- Around 80% of the content is open-world, where healthy competition is an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes of Creation.[19][23][20]
- In situations where we want to contain a particular type of raid, we will utilize instancing; and that can protect certain engagements with certain bosses. But that's really more on the 20% of the scenarios will have instancing protection like that. Around 80% of the content is open-world, where competition is- healthy competition is an instigator for soft player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. So that's an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes. It's a core philosophical point. And just to be clear, that is not for everyone. We are not trying to make a product that appeals to every MMO gamer. That's impossible; and so we've been very upfront and forthright with what we are trying to accomplish and what our core pillars of philosophical design are.[20] – Steven Sharif
- Castle and node sieges may contain instanced locations where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[24]
- Dungeons and raids will maintain an open world feel while also capitalizing on the benefits of instanced mechanics.[25] Instancing is only going to happen in certain dungeons where the desire is to have greater narrative appeal.[20][26] Outside of these and arenas there will not be too much instancing anywhere else.[18]
- There will be some open dungeons that have bosses at the end of the dungeons. There will be some open dungeons that just have a multitude of dungeon bosses, not necessarily world raids or something; and there will be lots of different rooms and they'll be progressive in the sense that in the earlier parts of the dungeon they'll be lower level and then at the later parts of the dungeons deeper down they'll be higher level and more difficult; and that creates again I think an ecosystem of where players across a multitude of levels have an opportunity to coexist within certain areas of the world; and that's good from a social dynamic. It's good from a recruitment dynamic. It's good from just a liveliness and relevance of particular areas. So that you don't end up with these locations that once you pass a certain level like it's empty.[27] – Steven Sharif
- We're probably going to do instancing only in certain dungeons and in arenas. You probably won't see instancing too much anywhere else. What you see is gonna be what you get.[18] – Jeffrey Bard
The PvP flagging and corruption system is in place to safeguard against griefing without limiting opportunities for open conflict.[29][20][30]
- Healthy competition is seen as an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes of Creation.[29][20]
- This friction presents an opportunity to engage in the political aspects of the game, which is the lifeblood of what keeps players interested and invested in the game.[29][20][27]
- Q: When you reach the bosses in [open world] dungeons can you be jumped?
- A: For the most part if there are bosses at the end of dungeons, it is possible for you to get jumped.[27] – Steven Sharif
- Q: In an open world dungeon, what prevents others from just waiting until you're at the boss and then killing you and taking your boss's loot? What prevents mega guilds from just owning an area and preventing you from accessing or enjoying it?
- A: In a majority of cases, we do not want to prevent another group from engaging potentially in PvP. We disincentivize it by creating safeguards within the flagging system that make that decision very concerning for the people that might go corrupt; and if you're in the large enough group of numbers I doubt you're going to experience that unless there's some rivalry between guilds. In which case there's apparatuses like Guild Wars that are more opt-in. You can drop guild tag if you want. But anyways, the competitive nature of this environment is a PvX element.[20] – Steven Sharif
Adaptive content
New points of interest (such as dungeons, world bosses, and corrupted areas) spawn as nodes develop.[32][33] This content adapts to the node progression of the zone it is in.[31][34]
- Additional buildings will spawn.[31]
- Additional mobs will spawn.[31]
- Different antagonists/leaders with different story lines.[31][34]
- Populations will change.[34]
- Content difficulty will change.[34]
- The content may be different altogether.[34]
- Additional quest hooks.[31]
- Dungeons will be unlocked when certain nodes advance to certain stages.[35]
- Drop tables in areas and dungeons will be tied into the progression of certain areas.[35]
- POI events are events that relate to specific points-of-interest (POI).[39]
- The location of points of interest will be the same on each server, but some servers may have limited or no access to them.[40]
- 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.[35]
Group sizes
Ashes of Creation is designed for solo players as well as large and small groups.[42][43][44]
- 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.[45]
- Raids will have 40 man groups.[46]
- Content will be tailored for 40, 16 and 8 person group sizes.[47]
- Arenas will have 1 man, 3 man, 5 man and possibly 20 man Free-For-All (Deathmatch) group sizes.[48]
- 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.[50][51][52][53]
- The minimum goal is 500 players on a single battlefield. I think we will be able to hit 500vs500 but we shall see.[53] – 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.[56]
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.[57] 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".[58]
- Raid and dungeon bosses have specific mechanics and abilities that players need to learn and react to.[58] Zergs that are not aware of these mechanics or react to them appropriately will be wiped.[57]
- There may be environmental hazards and AoE effects that cause more damage based on the number of players present.[58]
- 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.[59]
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.[59] – Steven Sharif
Mechanics that encourage political intrigue will play a role in destabilizing zergs.[60]
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.[60] – Steven Sharif
Objective-based game play helps to balance the zerg mentality.[61]
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.[61] – Steven Sharif
Instancing doesn't play a major role in limiting zergs, due to 80% of content in Ashes of Creation being open-world.[24]
- There may be instanced locations within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[24]
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.[24] – Steven Sharif
Affiliations
An affiliation tree determines how entities are flagged against other entities within its hierarchy.[62][63][64]
- Corrupted players can be attacked (or killed) regardless of other affiliations. This is something that will be tested during Alpha-2.[62]
- Node citizenship.[62][63][64]
- Alliances.[62][63][64]
- Guilds.[62][63][64]
- Parties.[62][63][64]
- Raids.[62][63][64]
- Family.[63]
- Religion.[64]
- Society.[64]
There's node citizenship. There's guild. There's alliance. There's party. There's raid. There's family. All of these types of affiliations have a hierarchy. The highest of which is your node affiliation: So your citizenship is your greatest superceding relationship, which means if you were a part of a guild and the guild has multiple nodes in which its members are citizens of, if there was a war between two of those nodes, the members of those nodes would be first and foremost citizens who defend that node, even against their own guild members.[63] – Steven Sharif
All of these things have some hierarchy; and within that hierarchy there's the ability to participate within certain systems. So for example, if you have a node that has fallen under your vassal state and you're a citizen of the parent node, then you could participate in a siege against the vassal node but if you're a citizen of the vassal node you could not participate as an attacker against the parent node; so there's a hierarchy, unless you were to renounce your citizenship.[64] – Steven Sharif
Artwork
See also
- ↑ Livestream, May 4, 2018 (20:00).
- ↑ Livestream, May 4, 2018 (21:20).
- ↑
- ↑ Podcast, April 23, 2018 (27:14).
- ↑ Forums - Dev Discussion #52 - Boss Mechanics
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (1:14:01).
- ↑ Livestream, May 27, 2022 (1:14:46).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Interview, September 10, 2023 (32:16).
- ↑ Livestream, May 22, 2017 (49:38).
- ↑
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:39:47).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:35:58).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (2:21).
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Livestream, July 18, 2017 (58:50).
- ↑ Livestream, May 15, 2017 (44:10).
- ↑ Livestream, April 30, 2020 (1:05:34).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (11:04).
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (20:59).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Interview, September 10, 2023 (58:47).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:00:16).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, March 28, 2020 (1:48:36).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2023 (45:47).
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (17:50).
- ↑
- ↑ Podcast, September 29, 2021 (34:11).
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Podcast, September 29, 2021 (35:17).
- ↑
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (2:06).
- ↑ Livestream, May 19, 2017 (24:17).
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 31.5 31.6 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (50:33).
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (22:53).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (36:22).
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (18:29).
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, July 25, 2020 (46:08).
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (40:21).
- ↑
- ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (33:57).
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (2:40).
- ↑ Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:20:25).
- ↑
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Group dynamics blog.
- ↑ Livestream, May 9, 2017 (34:38).
- ↑ February 8, 2019 - Questions and Answers.
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (48:12).
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (52:48).
- ↑ Interview, July 8, 2021 (57:19).
- ↑ Interview, July 19, 2020 (44:28).
- ↑ 53.0 53.1
- ↑
- ↑ Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
- ↑ Livestream, May 5, 2017 (23:26).
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 Livestream, May 19, 2017 (25:18).
- ↑ 58.0 58.1 58.2 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:16:09).
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (57:37).
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (44:20).
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 Interview, August 8, 2018 (11:52).
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 62.4 62.5 62.6 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:07:20).
- ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 63.3 63.4 63.5 63.6 63.7 Livestream, March 29, 2019 (17:10).
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 64.2 64.3 64.4 64.5 64.6 64.7 64.8 Interview, May 11, 2018 (58:07).