Best Of
Re: Dragon Raid Boss
Well everyone has different needs for immersion, i think. For me I don't need a boss to talk or have significantly good lore to be immersive, what i remember are epic fights, the people I did it with and often a reward someone or I get, I remember killing Valakas in Lineage 2 and getting his legendary raid boss drop, the amazing "Necklace Of Valakas" I remember killing Tequatl the Sunless and getting an Ascended Weapon Box drop, I remember my guilds reaction, and how much fun we had. And when the fights are epic and taking down this HUGE monster of a boss, which can fully be left to be, just that- a monster, there is no need to give it a voice. But ofc that is just me, and everyone has different wants and needs, I am sure there will be a great variety of content and a bit for everyone
Naibres
2
Re: [Feedback Request] Alpha Two Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview | August Livestream
I like the visuals. I appreciate you guys going for a more mature theme, and not shying away from the dark and grisly side of medieval conflict. Can't wait to see what that zone looks like when it's finished.How do you feel about the Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview?
Firebrand was pretty good. I loved the raw aesthetics of it, everything from the model to the animations and VFX were on point. Most of my gripes are down to polish -- shockwaves should make your character stagger, big attacks should send players flying if they get hit, and most importantly; the boss is in desperate need of visual feedback for taking damage. The entire fight it looked like he didn't even notice he was being attacked. Have him flinch and toss his head in annoyance, have his scales get scorched up and damaged as the fight goes on, give him a limp when he hits 1/4 health -- look at the Monster Hunter series for a masterclass on visual damage feedback.
To be honest, not much really appealed to me in the preview. It looked pretty boiler plate. Go here, kill things, defend this. It would be cool to see more interactivity throughout the zone -- barricaded chokepoints you have to break through, traps, a chance for random ambushes, destructable walls that reveal hidden treasure, etc. etc.What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand?
Visual clutter remains my biggest worry for the game in general. It's impossible to have a visceral, animation-driven combat system when said animations are constantly hidden behind an opaque wall of spell effects and UI elements -- especially in close quarters with large numbers of players and enemies. I understand the VFX still need to be tuned and the interface will be customizable, but the clutter has been an issue for years and we're getting very close to having players in the actual game. I think it would be a good idea to put some time into getting that sorted out sooner rather than later.Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview?
Solmyr
1
Re: [Feedback Request] Alpha Two Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview | August Livestream
There are waaaaaayyyy too many combat resurrections. In combat res's should have like a 30 min CD, being able to spam resurrect mid raid is dumb an it cheapens the fight.
It certainly did feel like their was no way to 'lose' this fight (to the dragon) given that ability. And that certainly looks like it will cheapen victory a lot if that is the norm.
That's unlikely, because other players who intend to assist Firebrand will be able to risk corruption to prevent raises happening at the preferred/good timings.
That would be one of their #1 priorities in the battle, actually, because they can rely on Firebrand to do the damage, and then move away (giving the attackers an opportunity to revive the fallen). They then have to be on point to prevent the resurrections, but they don't need to be in Firebrand's AoE at the previous part where people were actually dying.
Fights like this are supposed to be hard-fought between two groups of players. Making the resurrection too difficult would remove the entire challenge/interplay of the PvP.
Azherae
1
Re: Dragon Raid Boss
I don't disagree with you completely but... I don't remember any bosses pre level 50 in classic wow.... or EQ or any dungeons or mobs in Final fantasy online.... or guild wars or well I think you get my meaning. I think people are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to unfair to this game. We act like it should be on par with a triple A team with blizz like cinematics and they are just not that team. They are good but they don't have the man power or budget to give people what they want. NOW with that being said they are not above criticism by any means, and I have been critical in the past. I think people need to temper their expectations a little and let the game cook.
Side note... I'm starting to think this open development idea wasn't a good one.
Side note... I'm starting to think this open development idea wasn't a good one.
Paqu
4
Re: Alpha Two Wave Bundles
I noticed the wave 1 key grants you access beginning November 8th but October 25th is the release for Alpha 2. Is there a reason there is a delay between the two dates?
QoL for Grouping. (Suggestion)
Just a thought I had during the recent livestream. It would be nice if there was functionality for group merging. Party leader A invites Party leader B and their entire group gets a yes or no popup to join party leader B's group assuming there is room in party leader A's group/raid.
Sathrago
9
Re: What happened on Today's livestream (8/30/2024)
There’s already a stickied thread going, Auja … located here:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/60607/feedback-request-alpha-two-citadel-of-the-steel-bloom-firebrand-preview-august-livestream#latest
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/60607/feedback-request-alpha-two-citadel-of-the-steel-bloom-firebrand-preview-august-livestream#latest
Re: Forum suggestions to be ready for the influx of users
I am literally only talking about disinformed users presenting their assumptions as fact, dragging other uninformed users down with them, where in reality those users would actually appreciate the status quo if they tokn the time to understand the full concept.
Happens all the time around here, and has been happening a lot more recently. Has nothing to do with me not appreciating newbies.
@Rippley
As for fresh input, it has its purpose, but you also have to take into account that the longer development has gone on, the less useful it is to suggest 180° changes. not even just as inspiration. You have to understand the game's target audience and the intended idea behind the system a little more than that, if you want your feedback to be Alpha-2-appropriate.
We should add community notes under such posts, so people with some knowledge about the game could add context.
I'm joking, but it might not be a bad idea.
iccer
1
Re: [Feedback Request] Alpha Two Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview | August Livestream
Pros:
1.combat music when fighting dragon boss good
2. good UI for raid nameplates (40)
3. dragon itself looks good
4. like the concept of ranks for AI enemy by star count
5. like dragon's fire breath by air and when he used it on ground
Cons:
1. in the video at 5:55-6:00 I hate the jumping animations. they look flat, not a high jump and falls to ground extremely fast, and looks like no weight in the jump
2. the ghost lady at 18:00 to 18:14 walk animation looks janky, slides up the stairs/ground
3. Either the tank was really good at aggro and required no healing, or the mobs were extremely weak. Steven was afk a lot of the time, LOOTING mobs during fight. HOW WERE THEY STAYING ALIVE
4. For a world boss, the dragon seemed so easy, it had a tail swipe, claw swipe, land/air dragon breath and adds. Either it nees more mechanics or to use his mechanics much more often, world boss fight seemed very lackluster
5. In general i think enemy AI needs more weight to their attacks. New World's monsters, when they hit you omg the stagger/knock back or disrupt were nerve-grating but it FELT SO GOOD AND CHALLENGING. These monster die too fast and or do no damge and when they do hit you, the moves look like they fly right through your character.
6. I'm not sure if 8 man groups are just so OP or the enemy AI is too weak, but they get destroyed, nornal monster should be tough 1/2 starts needs a major overhaul and 3/4 and up need to feel impossible solo but even super tough for 8 man.
7. something about ashe's world and or visuals just seems off, maybe the games characters are too small or don't fit the world. Maybe its lighting, maybe it's just how UE5 is designed, I cant put my finger on it. maybe i just need to play to see for myself. dwarf looks like a small hobit
8. The dragon fight felt very stiff, barely movedd around other than the flying. Was that because the tanks aggroed it in place and tank barely moved... idk
9. when dragon died, it didnt need to fly back in air and back to ground. they tend to fall directly to ground head first with body falling right after.
Indifferent:
1. I don't really care if the dragon is staning there waiting for us to engage or moving around, that is probaly heavy animtion on server side and it just is not needed, same with enemy AI. If you want them to roam okay I guess.... It wont break my immersion either path you take. I think people say "its 2024 not 2004" but like... the things their asking yall to make the enemy AI do after reading some of the comments seems far-fected and too big and too much work just for enemy AI idle animation. At the end of the day, just make them tough for group fights, and weight to their attacks, and make them smart; i.e. maybe have then heal each other if they see their ally is low, like in new world and stagger us with a kick or stun us.
ps. I don't know if you ever sseen final fantasy 16 boss fights, but jeewizz they are amazing
1.combat music when fighting dragon boss good
2. good UI for raid nameplates (40)
3. dragon itself looks good
4. like the concept of ranks for AI enemy by star count
5. like dragon's fire breath by air and when he used it on ground
Cons:
1. in the video at 5:55-6:00 I hate the jumping animations. they look flat, not a high jump and falls to ground extremely fast, and looks like no weight in the jump
2. the ghost lady at 18:00 to 18:14 walk animation looks janky, slides up the stairs/ground
3. Either the tank was really good at aggro and required no healing, or the mobs were extremely weak. Steven was afk a lot of the time, LOOTING mobs during fight. HOW WERE THEY STAYING ALIVE
4. For a world boss, the dragon seemed so easy, it had a tail swipe, claw swipe, land/air dragon breath and adds. Either it nees more mechanics or to use his mechanics much more often, world boss fight seemed very lackluster
5. In general i think enemy AI needs more weight to their attacks. New World's monsters, when they hit you omg the stagger/knock back or disrupt were nerve-grating but it FELT SO GOOD AND CHALLENGING. These monster die too fast and or do no damge and when they do hit you, the moves look like they fly right through your character.
6. I'm not sure if 8 man groups are just so OP or the enemy AI is too weak, but they get destroyed, nornal monster should be tough 1/2 starts needs a major overhaul and 3/4 and up need to feel impossible solo but even super tough for 8 man.
7. something about ashe's world and or visuals just seems off, maybe the games characters are too small or don't fit the world. Maybe its lighting, maybe it's just how UE5 is designed, I cant put my finger on it. maybe i just need to play to see for myself. dwarf looks like a small hobit
8. The dragon fight felt very stiff, barely movedd around other than the flying. Was that because the tanks aggroed it in place and tank barely moved... idk
9. when dragon died, it didnt need to fly back in air and back to ground. they tend to fall directly to ground head first with body falling right after.
Indifferent:
1. I don't really care if the dragon is staning there waiting for us to engage or moving around, that is probaly heavy animtion on server side and it just is not needed, same with enemy AI. If you want them to roam okay I guess.... It wont break my immersion either path you take. I think people say "its 2024 not 2004" but like... the things their asking yall to make the enemy AI do after reading some of the comments seems far-fected and too big and too much work just for enemy AI idle animation. At the end of the day, just make them tough for group fights, and weight to their attacks, and make them smart; i.e. maybe have then heal each other if they see their ally is low, like in new world and stagger us with a kick or stun us.
ps. I don't know if you ever sseen final fantasy 16 boss fights, but jeewizz they are amazing
Re: [Feedback Request] Alpha Two Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview | August Livestream
I was originally going to just talk about the dragon as noted, but the Steel Bloom segment irked me enough on watching more closely that I have to talk about it too.
You noted that all the enemies present were two-stars or higher, definitely elite mobs, but they didn't seem to have any special mechanics. If they did, they didn't affect the group much other than one person getting occasionally blasted. Further, there wasn't much effort in terms of positioning, and even when Steven (a cleric) face pulled a bunch, they barely seemed to hurt him. Either the enemies are very underwhelming, or the party is too over leveled to show off this content - neither is a good look.
There was a lot of talk about the Lady of the Rose being a great warrior, but she kinda just stood there and channeled. I feel like this undersells her character as any kind of threat, and the same goes for the demon that spawned in the ritual - it seemed to not be much threat to her or anyone. It seems like there's no real commitment here to threat, if there's that many enemies around her with AOE attacks that close by, I would expect her to take more damage and be under real threat.
Speaking of which, no matter how much Steven or anyone else healed, the enemies didn't go after them, even though DPS+tank were not specifically pushing for it. Healing having no downside in a PVE environment makes combat stale and, again, either the party is too over leveled, or there's something fundamentally wrong about how Threat is being spread out, and neither option is a good look.
On to the dragon. Animations and model look great, SFX are pretty good. But actually fighting it...there was a push to talk about how this one would be different and more complex than what you would expect, and I feel like it didn't deliver. This is not more complex than the fire or poison dragons from Alpha 1 in any significant capacity, and I was hoping for something more after hearing Tradd and Chong talk it up so much. The rings in particular seemed underwhelming in terms of overall effect, as did the shockwaves. This is another case where I can't tell if the raid was over leveled or the dragon is underwhelming, but despite poor positioning, a lot of people definitely managed to not take much damage from these even with no Bard Shield.
You noted you had two dwarf tanks, but it was difficult to tell who, or what, the dragon was aiming for a lot of the time. The threat reactions from Firebrand are confusing and strange, and while the breath attacks and such make sense to aim with anti Zerg ideals in mind, his basic attacks didn't aim consistently in big contrast to the other enemies who were kind of stuck on certain people, and it concerns me.
Finally, if people who get up from Resurrection only have 50% HP as a downside, the cooldown is way too short. Given how long it takes Firebrand to take anyone down, if this is an expected level to fight Firebrand at, all you need to do is bring 4 or 5 clerics and nobody will ever stay dead, even if they don't have infinite health like Steven. This seems poorly structured and either the person getting up should suffer more consequences, or Resurrection should have a longer cooldown, because as it stands you're setting yourself up for some Zergimg the system despite anti-zerg measures implemented in Firebrand himself.
Overall: this was either poorly presented or there's some serious issues in PVE systems, and I'm really hoping it's the former.
You noted that all the enemies present were two-stars or higher, definitely elite mobs, but they didn't seem to have any special mechanics. If they did, they didn't affect the group much other than one person getting occasionally blasted. Further, there wasn't much effort in terms of positioning, and even when Steven (a cleric) face pulled a bunch, they barely seemed to hurt him. Either the enemies are very underwhelming, or the party is too over leveled to show off this content - neither is a good look.
There was a lot of talk about the Lady of the Rose being a great warrior, but she kinda just stood there and channeled. I feel like this undersells her character as any kind of threat, and the same goes for the demon that spawned in the ritual - it seemed to not be much threat to her or anyone. It seems like there's no real commitment here to threat, if there's that many enemies around her with AOE attacks that close by, I would expect her to take more damage and be under real threat.
Speaking of which, no matter how much Steven or anyone else healed, the enemies didn't go after them, even though DPS+tank were not specifically pushing for it. Healing having no downside in a PVE environment makes combat stale and, again, either the party is too over leveled, or there's something fundamentally wrong about how Threat is being spread out, and neither option is a good look.
On to the dragon. Animations and model look great, SFX are pretty good. But actually fighting it...there was a push to talk about how this one would be different and more complex than what you would expect, and I feel like it didn't deliver. This is not more complex than the fire or poison dragons from Alpha 1 in any significant capacity, and I was hoping for something more after hearing Tradd and Chong talk it up so much. The rings in particular seemed underwhelming in terms of overall effect, as did the shockwaves. This is another case where I can't tell if the raid was over leveled or the dragon is underwhelming, but despite poor positioning, a lot of people definitely managed to not take much damage from these even with no Bard Shield.
You noted you had two dwarf tanks, but it was difficult to tell who, or what, the dragon was aiming for a lot of the time. The threat reactions from Firebrand are confusing and strange, and while the breath attacks and such make sense to aim with anti Zerg ideals in mind, his basic attacks didn't aim consistently in big contrast to the other enemies who were kind of stuck on certain people, and it concerns me.
Finally, if people who get up from Resurrection only have 50% HP as a downside, the cooldown is way too short. Given how long it takes Firebrand to take anyone down, if this is an expected level to fight Firebrand at, all you need to do is bring 4 or 5 clerics and nobody will ever stay dead, even if they don't have infinite health like Steven. This seems poorly structured and either the person getting up should suffer more consequences, or Resurrection should have a longer cooldown, because as it stands you're setting yourself up for some Zergimg the system despite anti-zerg measures implemented in Firebrand himself.
Overall: this was either poorly presented or there's some serious issues in PVE systems, and I'm really hoping it's the former.