Best Of

Tried out the Alpha only to find out that mob grinding is the best way to level up and questing is not even worth doing. Is there any information on if they are going to change this at all? Game seems alright but I don't want to play if it's just going to be a mindless grind fest to max level bashing your head against mobs with 0 reason for questing.

Resource Optimization
Model and Texture Optimization
Simplify Models: Use polygon counting tools to analyze models, remove unnecessary details, and reduce the number of polygons in the models. For models visible from a distance, use low-polygon versions.
Texture Compression: Utilize the texture compression function of Unreal Engine 5 to reduce the size of texture files while ensuring visual quality. For example, use efficient compression formats like BC7.
Texture Atlases: Combine multiple small textures into a large texture atlas to reduce the number of texture sampling times and improve rendering efficiency.

Resource Management
Resource Streaming Loading: According to the player's location and activity range, dynamically load and unload resources to reduce memory usage. Use the streaming level function of Unreal Engine 5 to load resources of specific areas only when needed.
Resource Reference Optimization: Avoid duplicate references of resources to ensure that each resource exists only once in memory. Use the resource reference analysis tool in Unreal to find and solve the problem of duplicate references.
Rendering Optimization

Lighting and Shadow Optimization
Static Lighting Baking: For fixed lighting and shadows in the scene, use the lighting baking technology to reduce the amount of real-time lighting calculation.
Adjustment of Shadow Distance and Resolution: Adjust the maximum distance and resolution of shadows according to the actual situation to avoid unnecessary shadow calculations.
Use of Lightmass Importance Volume: Reasonably set the Lightmass Importance Volume to ensure that the lighting baking has sufficient accuracy in key areas.

Post-processing Optimization
Reduce Post-processing Effects: Avoid using too many complex post-processing effects, such as depth of field, blurring, etc., as these effects will increase the rendering burden.
Post-processing Quality Grading: Provide different quality levels of post-processing options according to the performance of the player's device, allowing players to adjust according to their own devices.

Network Optimization
Server Optimization
Server Architecture Design: Adopt a distributed server architecture to distribute players to different server nodes and reduce the burden on a single server.
Server Load Balancing: Use a load balancer to dynamically allocate player requests according to the load situation of the servers, ensuring the load balance of each server.
Server Performance Monitoring: Monitor the performance indicators of the server in real time, such as CPU usage, memory usage, network bandwidth, etc., and promptly identify and solve performance bottlenecks.

Network Communication Optimization
Reduce Network Bandwidth Occupancy: Optimize the size and sending frequency of data packets to reduce unnecessary data transmission. For example, only send the player's location and status information when necessary.
Network Latency Optimization: Adopt prediction and compensation algorithms to reduce the impact of network latency on the player's gaming experience. For example, when the player performs a movement operation, the client first makes a predictive movement and then synchronizes after the server confirms it.

Code Optimization
Script Optimization
Reduce the Number of Script Executions: Avoid executing unnecessary script code in every frame, and execute some operations that do not need to be updated frequently at appropriate time intervals.
Optimize Script Logic: Use efficient algorithms and data structures to reduce the computational amount of the script. For example, use a hash table to quickly find data.

Engine Code Optimization
Use the Optimization Functions Provided by the Engine: Unreal Engine 5 provides many optimization tools and functions, such as Actor pools, object pools, etc. Reasonable use of these functions can improve game performance.
Avoid Frequent Garbage Collection: Reduce the creation of temporary objects and avoid frequently triggering the garbage collection mechanism, so as not to affect the smoothness of the game.
Performance Testing and Analysis

Performance Testing
Use Performance Testing Tools: Utilize the performance analysis tools provided by Unreal Engine 5, such as Session Frontend, Visual Studio Profiler, etc., to conduct a comprehensive performance test on the game.
Multi-platform Testing: Conduct tests on different hardware platforms and operating systems to ensure that the game can perform well on various devices.

Data Analysis and Optimization
Analyze Performance Data: According to the results of the performance test, analyze the performance bottlenecks of the game and identify the parts that need optimization.
Continuous Optimization: Performance optimization is a continuous process, which requires continuous testing, analysis, and optimization to ensure that the performance of the game always remains at a high level.

As a cleric main, I prefer to have to sacrifice damage for more healing effectiveness. Like a cleric who can kill other classes in open world should be basically incapable of out healing their bursts. I want to be very hard to kill but also basically unable to kill others outside of maybe a duel where they cant just run away and I run them out of mana. Healing power should matter a lot more than magic power, seems to me.

REHOC wrote: »

Wow, this is an incredibly detailed and creative concept! 🙌 Definitely a cool take on how a Necromancer class and themed boss could work in AoC. You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into the mechanics and synergy systems, love the idea of formations and summon evolutions. Would be great to have this shared in the class discussions section or even the suggestions forum so the devs can see it more easily. Thanks for the inspiration!

where can i find the suggestions forum?

Hello, I'm interested in the Bard and I had a few questions.

Can the Bard be played as a true DPS in both PvE and PvP?

When I say "true DPS," I mean choosing skills and gear specifically to maximize damage — is that a viable option compared to other classes that are defined as pure DPS (like Mage, Fighter, etc.)?

I put together this list before I started playing on December 20th. When Steven interviewed PirateSoftware, he mentioned fishing, and during that discussion, many people in the chat started asking their fishing-related questions. I collected those questions, along with my own, and compiled them into this list. Since the game is still in development, many of these features are uncertain, but many players hope to see them included in the final version.

For that reason, I’m going to try to share this around. I’d also like to hear what you all think and if you have any additional questions. Some of these features are already present, but we don’t know if they are in their final state.

Fishing Mechanics and Equipment
Will there be huge fish that require caravans to transport?
Can we go whaling?
Will there be server records for fishing?
Will there be ice fishing, fly fishing, or net trawling?
Can we get yanked into the sea by a sea serpent if it bites our rod and we can't fight to catch it properly?
Will there be harpooning and diving?
Will seasons be shorter or longer in different nodes, impacting the fish that spawn?
Will fishing rods break?
Can we fish up wearable gear?
Will fishing rods drop treasure? If so, what kind of treasure can we expect?
Can we get money out of crates while fishing?
Can we fish up world bosses? If so, would this trigger an area-wide event?
Can we fish up pets?
Will there be fish as pets or fish tanks for housing?
Is there a fishing minigame planned?
Will different lures impact the types of fish we can catch?
Will there be ways to modify the fishing experience, making it more interesting or challenging?
Could different lures mimic fishing mechanics from other games, such as Red Dead Redemption, Stardew Valley, or ArcheAge?
Will it be difficult to build fishing ships?
Will there be instanced fishing minigames, like Tempoross in OSRS?
Will there be fishing competitions, similar to the Stranglethorn Booty Bay Fishing Tournament?
Will fishing have an infinite progression system, or will it be capped?
Will there be a prestige system for fishing, allowing players to reset levels for added benefits?
Are there extensive fishing-related achievements?
Will there be a variety of fishing options, such as cages, nets, harpoons, fly fishing, ice fishing, deep-sea fishing, sky fishing, or sand fishing?
Is it common to get glint from catching fish?
Does the chance of catching fish increase with higher levels?
"I really hope they allow some sort of cooperation in fishing instead of making it purely competitive. In OSRS, they changed woodcutting so that working together is beneficial rather than depleting resources faster. It would be nice if fishing worked similarly."

Housing and Structures
Will we be able to build a pirate port in the middle of the ocean?
Is permanent residence on the ocean possible?
Will underwater ocean living be available?
Can we build ships with on-board crafting? Could this lead to floating cities or resource hubs?
Progression and Quests
Will there be fishing-related quests, objectives, or ways to turn fish into EXP?
Could fishing be a viable leveling method for life-skill-focused players?
Player Interaction and PvP
Will players be able to steal fish pots or fish from others?
Will the best fishing spots be difficult to reach?
Will fishing spots move around frequently, or will there be opportunities for group fishing?
Will solo fishing be viable, or will ocean fishing be too dangerous due to PvP?
Will players be able to cross the ocean and fish without engaging in PvP, or will high-level fishing require combat readiness?
Environment and Exploration
Will there be underwater content?
Will the water behave realistically, with waves like in Valheim, or will it be static like in many MMOs?
Will seasonal changes affect fishing, such as different fish appearing in different times of the year?

That might be, definitionally, as far as it can possibly be taken.

But that isn't how most players will see it or interact with it almost no matter what you do, so it's not too worth it for Devs to try to push it further in any obvious way.

I'm gonna be so glad when Ashes catches up to PoE/TL and people stop 'worrying' about this, but realistically, they won't, because some idiot in Global chat will just go 'High Priest is the only good healer wdym, healers don't need damage' and then there will be a post about 'gatekeeping' on Reddit or something.

They also promised the "DIALS", which were supposed to let us control the gear's specialization and stat directions. So, if that's still on the table, I'd imagine we'll have all the build variety we can have once that's implemented.

And even if that feature gets cornered into a "you choose gear with the highest def values and then apply your preferred stats to it" place - there's still hope for armor passives and armor types, which would at least triple the potential variety of "BiS". And considering that we'll be playing a PvX game with, hopefully, a variety of party compositions (or class combos, if we do end up with "1-of-each" design) - you'll either carry all 3 types of gear on you or you'll have to choose what's best for your preferred playstyle/group composition.

And at that point, I don't really know how much further build variety can be taken.

Have faith in their concept of augment design.

The radical change comes from the overall directional shift of the aggregate, not from aspects of each specific skill.

My teammate and I play two, almost entirely different Darkblighters in Throne and Liberty, and that was before the new Weapon Mastery system caused an even larger divergence. FF11 used to do this with 'just gear' for a while, and TL/Onigiri doubled down on this.

I maintain that the reason games don't do this is because players in general can't/don't handle the complexity, not that the complexity itself is hard to manage.

Also, REHOC, my very human friend, watch out for the formulaic/high frequency nature of your mirroring in the opening line of your posts.

As long as it's something I can completely disable on my end, I'm all for it.