Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Answered Questions on Discord (Q&A : Extended somewhat)
Hello i'm Chkoupinator from the discord, and i've been collecting answer materials for a moment now, scrolling up almost until the start of all the chats on the discord to try to get as much answers as possible for questions that might (or might not) have hit your mind at some point or that you wanted to ask but forgot.
I will try to keep this post as updated as possible, just send me a pm on discord or reply to this thread.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How do you plan to keep up with the community over the months/years as development takes a bigger toll of your time? Will you go down the route of maintaining connections directly? Or will we see proxies such as CMs taking over in time?[/color]</strong>
A: I wish to integrate CMs fairly soon, but I have a passion for the social aspect of what makes the MMO genre so great. Which means I will be directly engaging with the community through development, in the evenings when I am getting home. I will be eating, breathing, and drinking this development and it's community
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: When i show alot of people the current video footage of Ashes of Creation, often people comment on how dull the Combat looks, and i personally agree, it could use some tweaking, also alot of people consider "tab-target" quite an outdated form of combat, and that a fluid action-based combat is a better direction for games to go in. Whats your thoughts on the current combat system?[/color]</strong>
A: This is the downside of transparency. When I decided that our studios would involve the community in every aspect of our development, we understood that there would be needed a level of trust in the community that what they are seeing is not the final product. It is meant to show our progression and development. All too often, an indie developer moves to crowdsourcing a game, prior to having a working model in any system...Basically with only a concept they manage to raise money. I wanted to show more than that, I wanted to show actual production and investment from our studios, BEFORE we asked the community to bring our project to life. In regards to tab targeting, while our combat system is not completely fleshed out, I can say that our tab-targeting will involve positioning and mobility and that we will have more in-depth blogs on this system as our development progresses.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Jumping on the combat mechanics bandwagon - are you planning a limited action set of abilities where players have to choose what's active at any given time, or will players have many action bars with many active abilities as in games like WoW and SWTOR ?[/color]</strong>
A: We don't want our players to be flooded with bars filled with abilities and skills that they rarely use, or become obsolete. So we will have a skill system that progresses with the player. Like many other aspect of our game, players will choose their skill sets from their chosen archetype and archetype combinations.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: With regards to targeting, have you guys given any consideration to separate enemy / friendly targeting ala Warhammer: Age of Reckoning? That's something I felt worked really well there and opened up new archetypes like melee healers whose mechanics don't fit well with a traditional single-targeting system.[/color]</strong>
A: We will absolutely go into great depth when we release our blog on the combat system!
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Alot of people are comparing this to Ultima Online, with that paralell in mind will we be able to loot our enemies once we kill them?[/color]</strong>
A:I really don't want to compare our PvP system to anything else on the market, because it is pretty unique. Obviously a flagging system has been done before, but not as effectively as I believe we will accomplish. Our goal is to focus on the concept of Risk VS Reward. And we will get into more detail about our PvP mechanics in the near future.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Could you tell us in which languages the game will be translated? Have you contemplated Spanish?[/color]</strong>
A: Localization and translations really depend on the demand for our game in those regional markets. I can say that it is an expensive process, but one that we are wanting to do if the demand is there. The best thing you can do to see this happen, is to help build our community in those markets.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Is there any plans to eventually have player housing? And if so, my vote goes more to the being able to build (like Rift) than just a glorified bank vault.[/color]</strong>
A: Yes, we will have player housing. And it will be amazing! We already have some content regarding this on our website www.ashesofcreation.com But the player housing system is in depth and vital to many systems. It will be far, far more than just a bank vault.
(Note From Chkoupinator : Watch the Q&A Videos for more Details)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Do you think the game will appeal to more casual, or perhaps better stated, more time limited players? I love MMOs, but as a parent, I don't have the time to sink into them that I used to[/color]</strong>
A: Great question! We want to build a wide community. That means making the game playable for casual and hardcore gamers.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: When you talked about the Caravan system, and the way PvP is allowed around it. How will you prevent mass guilds from camping these trade routes, solely to attack and plunder these caravans. Also, how will you prevent mass guilds from securing these routes without trouble because of their size? (I think the latter will be easy to fix, by capping the amount of gold/resources that can be carried per caravan. So it just won't be profitable enough to organize them with mass guilds.)[/color]</strong>
A: The caravan system is designed to be initiated by the player. Which means, information of the caravans launch time and route, should be a closely guarded secret. Routes will also be diverse, and the world is large, so it might behoove you to scout the route ahead before a launch. Fast travel in our game is also limited, which means unless the guild had knowledge of your plans before hand, it is likely that they will be unable to organize and travel to a location. As far as mass guilds securing trade routes, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. Also caravans will have limitations on carrying capacity and launch windows that will segment mulitiple caravans by several minutes, which would space out the caravans, making it difficult to "zerg" a defense.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be any roles of value for those who arent interest in combat? Farming/breeding/cooking. If so, will the casual non-combat player feel like his actions are worth something. (Take cooking for example, in most games 99% of food is useless, its all about the top 1%).
-Maybe a more precise way of phrasing that would be, are there any plans to support non-combat professions as a full-time playstyle? [/color]</strong>
A: Farming/breeding/cooking and crafting in general is of EXTREME importance in this world. It is my personal opinion that players who control the economy exert greater influence over the world than those who directly influence PvP. Non-Combat playstyles will absolutely be a full-time option, and will yeild considerable influence.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What about monetization of the game is anything decided yet? Reading the faq it was sayd that the creators are veteran gamers and tired of failed mmos, does that mean its crystal clear there wont be anything p2w like? Myself i would happily spend alot money to cash shop if the game is good and not p2w and i really think it is better overall cause the game will last longer if its not p2w.[/color]</strong>
A: We are fully aware and agree that the downfall of many of the MMO's that have come out recently are a result of flagrant pay2win strategies from their monetization process. We will not follow in their footsteps.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: are you publishing the game everywhere by yourselves or are you gonna let a publisher destroy it?[/color]</strong>
A: We are self-publishing
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Speaking of, will there be in game weddings? [/color]</strong>
A: We are talking about it, Some family system that would tie into the housing mechanics, No polygamy allowed xD.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Also, will NPC's in nodes be "essential", If theyre not "essential" it means they can be killed :D[/color]</strong>
A: They would be essential inside the node
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So does that also mean that when all the npcs are killed the node will be useless?[/color]</strong>
A: NPC's in the node can only be killed during a siege against that node
Bonus Answer : Node sieges follow very specific mechanics. For example, a guild may use a difficult to get quest item, to declare a siege against a node at stage 3 (Village) or above, after the siege is declared there is a declaration period. This period is longer for higher stage nodes. During this period, all trade to and from the node is frozen. The Player government of the node is now capable of spending the node taxes on the defense of the node. When the siege begins, there will be objectives for the attackers to secure in order to increase the defenders respawn time. Ultimately the apex of the battle will rely on the attackers securing the town center, and removing the towns flag, while then raising their own. Once a node has been sieged, it cannot be sieged again for a long period of time.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will a siege be instanced then?[/color]</strong>
A: The siege will be open world.
Bonus Discussion :
C: phew, otherwise someone could solo destroy a node
Steven : @C Node sieges have a lengthy cooldown.
G: That would make the role of a Assassin/rogue more interesting, but too OP, i agree.
C: indeed thats why
if they also could be killed normally without the seige an assassin could literally destroy a node solo
B: We'll have to conquer nodes using different techniques
Steven :Each node has a number of districts, depending on its stage. Each district has an objective that attackers can attempt to take control over. If an attacker takes over a district, they gain that district as a respawn location for attackers. They also increase the respawn for defenders for each district that is taken. Districts are taken by defeating a raid boss Guard NPC in that district.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q :Sounds great. But how would a defender win? Is there a timer, or similar?[/color]</strong>
A: Defenders would win on timer, or through defeating the NPC Staff and General at the Attackers Encampment, then burning down the Encampment, which is an extended cast (2-5 min)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be OP flying mounts ? (Since we saw dragons on the concept drawings you sent)[/color]</strong>
A: Dragons are epic mounts that will have strong battle abilities IE AOE Breath Weapons, swooping flyby attacks, and others. They will only be available to Kings/Queens of Castles, and Elected Mayors of Metropolis stage nodes.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What link do I give people to refer them?[/color]</strong>
A: Use your referral link
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So if they visit the site, it tracks that they did it with that link...?[/color]</strong>
A: Correct, It embeds a cookie that tags their browser forever as your conversion :)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Wait a sec @Steven are we cleared for advertisement already?[/color]</strong>
A: Absolutely, we want to build the community :)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Program is already active? How? There's nothing to purchase correct?[/color]</strong>
A: Correct
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What the combat will be like in ashes of creation ?[/color]</strong>
A: There is action based combat, to a degree. We are working on our mage combat vid now, should be done next weekish (Sent Friday 13 January 2017)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So a mix of tab target and action perhaps. Might remind me of gw2.[/color]</strong>
A: Correct
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: how often are keys given out?[/color]</strong>
A: Weekly
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will the key draws be just random? and how many?[/color]</strong>
A: Weekly, to users who perform well with referrals and posting content on forums/ participating in discussions etc. Sometimes random also
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Wouldnt mind if the combat was more like EQ Next than what it currently looks like![/color]</strong>
A: That combat video isn't anything near end product lol, was meant to show that we have working mechanics already unlike some other developers this early in production.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What are you guys currently planning for progression?[/color]</strong>
A: Our player class advancement follows both a vertical progression in the traditional leveling sense, as well as a horizontal skill customization platform. When players start the game, they will be able to choose from 8 separate Archetypes. These archetypes represent the staple fantasy classes; Fighter, Tank, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Summoner, Cleric, Bard. As the player progresses vertically with their primary class, they will have the opportunity to add a second class. This second class will be chosen again from the 8 archetypes, and will follow more of a horizontal progression. The second class will allow the player to augment their primary skills from their main class, with effects from their secondary class. For example; A fighter has a skill called “Rush”, that allows him to rush towards a target and upon reaching the target, deals x damage with a chance to knock the target down. If that fighter were to choose Mage as his secondary archetype (Spellsword), he would gain access to certain augments that he could apply to his primary skill tree. Let’s use his Rush skill as an example; As a Spellsword, he could choose to apply a teleportation augment to the Rush skill, which would allow the skill to now teleport you to the target, eliminating the charge time on the skill. Each skill in the primary tree will have several augment options from your secondary tree. The secondary skill augment tree will follow a horizontal progression that will be expanded upon further in a developer’s blog.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How big AoC world? and how many ppl can concurrent play per server?[/color]</strong>
A: We are currently looking into this particular topic, and will be releasing an official answer to this question in the coming weeks.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What type will you use, fixed server or cloud servers like amazon or google?[/color]</strong>
A: Currently we are in discussion with Google.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be racial-locked mounts? Or will every race be able to ride every mount.[/color]</strong>
A: Currently every race in Ashes has a unique mount. Then there are mounts that can be found in the wild, and tamed. As well as quest mounts, epic mounts, and a few other mount specific ideas we will release in the coming weeks.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Is it just players that can destroy nodes or will PvE events also happen than can cause node destruction/degrading?[/color]</strong>
A:Nodes will experience atrophy and will require continued player activity in order to grow. If a town loses too much activity, then it may result in a PvE siege against the node. We are still working on this mechanic.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Tell me that there will be a balance between what cosmetics are added to the shop and what is available in game. [/color]</strong>
A: There will be a balance. :smiley: Players will have a wide range of cosmetics available through in-game accomplishment and progression, as well as a wide variety of purchasable cosmetics for players who are more casual and would prefer to support the game through the cash shop. Either way, player customization will be achievable from a cosmetic standpoint readily throughout the game.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How do you plan to handle Inventory space?[/color]</strong>
A: Inventory space will be tied to a backpack type item, that will be crafted from artisans. The higher lvl backpack, the greater the inventory space. Different backpacks will cater to different players. IE A gatherers backpack will have more space for gatherables, an adventurers more space for consumables and items.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will we be able to change our Archetype later in the game if we decide we want to try something else? not change our base class, just the secondary.[/color]</strong>
A: This is looking like a yes.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will rogues actually be rogues? or are they going to be more like assassins?[/color]</strong>
A: Depends how you build it. Both options are currently viable.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will i be able to mess around "flag" on a guild member like in some MMOs, or will they be immune to all AOEs and targeted effects even if trying to purposely attack them.[/color]</strong>
A: Currently our flagging system has several lockouts. People whom you may not flag on. This order follows a simple affiliation progression in the system. Party member, Raid member, Guild member, Alliance member. If any of these 4 affiliations are present then the player may not flag on the target.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be instanced dungeons and raid content that will require a set of amount of players to follow mechanics properly to defeat, or will it be more open world where you can go in with any amount of players?[/color]</strong>
A: Both. As it stands now, many dungeons in the world have an open world component, with several instance access points that parties can participate in. We want to maintain the open world feel while being able to capitalize on the benefits of instanced mechanics. We will go into more depth in a blog soon.
And then there are some inputs that are not really questions but still good
C: i know aoc wont be out for a long time
but he said there was a closed beta of some sort you could join
but well yeah i guess he fooled me
B: Nah, sorry man
C: feelsbadman i would love to play it
B : Alpha should be out in the last quarter of 2017
D: or start of 2018
But we get the early deets here
pretty nice
and Steven, CM and the one who spearheaded the creation of Intrepid Studio's posts frequently
B :yup
C: what i learned from the video`s from @DeathsProxy it really does look like a mmorpg that im looking for ^^
B: we get lots of teasers in here
C: good i joined then :smile:
Steven :
@C One good thing, Our Alpha will persist till launch, Then become our Play Test Server
S: @Steven will you make pvp great again
Steven : @S Yes
And the best stuff for the end, some spicy quotes :
-Im so glad I play Archeage, It reminds me everyday, how NOT to run a company.
Woops, I didnt know I typed that out loud
-We're gonna make oceans great again. Dont you worry
If you want to help me with answer's it'd be cool if you used a code input thingy and then you put the question on bold and the answer right after
<pre><code> <strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: insert question here[/color]</strong>
A: insert answer here
</code></pre>
Anyways, that was a long post, GG for getting until here (unless you just scrolled down you lazy !)
(PS : I spent a lot of time gathering the messages to put them here if you wanna gimmie a thumbs up consider not skipping my signature ;D)
I will try to keep this post as updated as possible, just send me a pm on discord or reply to this thread.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How do you plan to keep up with the community over the months/years as development takes a bigger toll of your time? Will you go down the route of maintaining connections directly? Or will we see proxies such as CMs taking over in time?[/color]</strong>
A: I wish to integrate CMs fairly soon, but I have a passion for the social aspect of what makes the MMO genre so great. Which means I will be directly engaging with the community through development, in the evenings when I am getting home. I will be eating, breathing, and drinking this development and it's community
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: When i show alot of people the current video footage of Ashes of Creation, often people comment on how dull the Combat looks, and i personally agree, it could use some tweaking, also alot of people consider "tab-target" quite an outdated form of combat, and that a fluid action-based combat is a better direction for games to go in. Whats your thoughts on the current combat system?[/color]</strong>
A: This is the downside of transparency. When I decided that our studios would involve the community in every aspect of our development, we understood that there would be needed a level of trust in the community that what they are seeing is not the final product. It is meant to show our progression and development. All too often, an indie developer moves to crowdsourcing a game, prior to having a working model in any system...Basically with only a concept they manage to raise money. I wanted to show more than that, I wanted to show actual production and investment from our studios, BEFORE we asked the community to bring our project to life. In regards to tab targeting, while our combat system is not completely fleshed out, I can say that our tab-targeting will involve positioning and mobility and that we will have more in-depth blogs on this system as our development progresses.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Jumping on the combat mechanics bandwagon - are you planning a limited action set of abilities where players have to choose what's active at any given time, or will players have many action bars with many active abilities as in games like WoW and SWTOR ?[/color]</strong>
A: We don't want our players to be flooded with bars filled with abilities and skills that they rarely use, or become obsolete. So we will have a skill system that progresses with the player. Like many other aspect of our game, players will choose their skill sets from their chosen archetype and archetype combinations.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: With regards to targeting, have you guys given any consideration to separate enemy / friendly targeting ala Warhammer: Age of Reckoning? That's something I felt worked really well there and opened up new archetypes like melee healers whose mechanics don't fit well with a traditional single-targeting system.[/color]</strong>
A: We will absolutely go into great depth when we release our blog on the combat system!
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Alot of people are comparing this to Ultima Online, with that paralell in mind will we be able to loot our enemies once we kill them?[/color]</strong>
A:I really don't want to compare our PvP system to anything else on the market, because it is pretty unique. Obviously a flagging system has been done before, but not as effectively as I believe we will accomplish. Our goal is to focus on the concept of Risk VS Reward. And we will get into more detail about our PvP mechanics in the near future.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Could you tell us in which languages the game will be translated? Have you contemplated Spanish?[/color]</strong>
A: Localization and translations really depend on the demand for our game in those regional markets. I can say that it is an expensive process, but one that we are wanting to do if the demand is there. The best thing you can do to see this happen, is to help build our community in those markets.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Is there any plans to eventually have player housing? And if so, my vote goes more to the being able to build (like Rift) than just a glorified bank vault.[/color]</strong>
A: Yes, we will have player housing. And it will be amazing! We already have some content regarding this on our website www.ashesofcreation.com But the player housing system is in depth and vital to many systems. It will be far, far more than just a bank vault.
(Note From Chkoupinator : Watch the Q&A Videos for more Details)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Do you think the game will appeal to more casual, or perhaps better stated, more time limited players? I love MMOs, but as a parent, I don't have the time to sink into them that I used to[/color]</strong>
A: Great question! We want to build a wide community. That means making the game playable for casual and hardcore gamers.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: When you talked about the Caravan system, and the way PvP is allowed around it. How will you prevent mass guilds from camping these trade routes, solely to attack and plunder these caravans. Also, how will you prevent mass guilds from securing these routes without trouble because of their size? (I think the latter will be easy to fix, by capping the amount of gold/resources that can be carried per caravan. So it just won't be profitable enough to organize them with mass guilds.)[/color]</strong>
A: The caravan system is designed to be initiated by the player. Which means, information of the caravans launch time and route, should be a closely guarded secret. Routes will also be diverse, and the world is large, so it might behoove you to scout the route ahead before a launch. Fast travel in our game is also limited, which means unless the guild had knowledge of your plans before hand, it is likely that they will be unable to organize and travel to a location. As far as mass guilds securing trade routes, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. Also caravans will have limitations on carrying capacity and launch windows that will segment mulitiple caravans by several minutes, which would space out the caravans, making it difficult to "zerg" a defense.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be any roles of value for those who arent interest in combat? Farming/breeding/cooking. If so, will the casual non-combat player feel like his actions are worth something. (Take cooking for example, in most games 99% of food is useless, its all about the top 1%).
-Maybe a more precise way of phrasing that would be, are there any plans to support non-combat professions as a full-time playstyle? [/color]</strong>
A: Farming/breeding/cooking and crafting in general is of EXTREME importance in this world. It is my personal opinion that players who control the economy exert greater influence over the world than those who directly influence PvP. Non-Combat playstyles will absolutely be a full-time option, and will yeild considerable influence.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What about monetization of the game is anything decided yet? Reading the faq it was sayd that the creators are veteran gamers and tired of failed mmos, does that mean its crystal clear there wont be anything p2w like? Myself i would happily spend alot money to cash shop if the game is good and not p2w and i really think it is better overall cause the game will last longer if its not p2w.[/color]</strong>
A: We are fully aware and agree that the downfall of many of the MMO's that have come out recently are a result of flagrant pay2win strategies from their monetization process. We will not follow in their footsteps.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: are you publishing the game everywhere by yourselves or are you gonna let a publisher destroy it?[/color]</strong>
A: We are self-publishing
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Speaking of, will there be in game weddings? [/color]</strong>
A: We are talking about it, Some family system that would tie into the housing mechanics, No polygamy allowed xD.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Also, will NPC's in nodes be "essential", If theyre not "essential" it means they can be killed :D[/color]</strong>
A: They would be essential inside the node
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So does that also mean that when all the npcs are killed the node will be useless?[/color]</strong>
A: NPC's in the node can only be killed during a siege against that node
Bonus Answer : Node sieges follow very specific mechanics. For example, a guild may use a difficult to get quest item, to declare a siege against a node at stage 3 (Village) or above, after the siege is declared there is a declaration period. This period is longer for higher stage nodes. During this period, all trade to and from the node is frozen. The Player government of the node is now capable of spending the node taxes on the defense of the node. When the siege begins, there will be objectives for the attackers to secure in order to increase the defenders respawn time. Ultimately the apex of the battle will rely on the attackers securing the town center, and removing the towns flag, while then raising their own. Once a node has been sieged, it cannot be sieged again for a long period of time.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will a siege be instanced then?[/color]</strong>
A: The siege will be open world.
Bonus Discussion :
C: phew, otherwise someone could solo destroy a node
Steven : @C Node sieges have a lengthy cooldown.
G: That would make the role of a Assassin/rogue more interesting, but too OP, i agree.
C: indeed thats why
if they also could be killed normally without the seige an assassin could literally destroy a node solo
B: We'll have to conquer nodes using different techniques
Steven :Each node has a number of districts, depending on its stage. Each district has an objective that attackers can attempt to take control over. If an attacker takes over a district, they gain that district as a respawn location for attackers. They also increase the respawn for defenders for each district that is taken. Districts are taken by defeating a raid boss Guard NPC in that district.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q :Sounds great. But how would a defender win? Is there a timer, or similar?[/color]</strong>
A: Defenders would win on timer, or through defeating the NPC Staff and General at the Attackers Encampment, then burning down the Encampment, which is an extended cast (2-5 min)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be OP flying mounts ? (Since we saw dragons on the concept drawings you sent)[/color]</strong>
A: Dragons are epic mounts that will have strong battle abilities IE AOE Breath Weapons, swooping flyby attacks, and others. They will only be available to Kings/Queens of Castles, and Elected Mayors of Metropolis stage nodes.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What link do I give people to refer them?[/color]</strong>
A: Use your referral link
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So if they visit the site, it tracks that they did it with that link...?[/color]</strong>
A: Correct, It embeds a cookie that tags their browser forever as your conversion :)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Wait a sec @Steven are we cleared for advertisement already?[/color]</strong>
A: Absolutely, we want to build the community :)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Program is already active? How? There's nothing to purchase correct?[/color]</strong>
A: Correct
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What the combat will be like in ashes of creation ?[/color]</strong>
A: There is action based combat, to a degree. We are working on our mage combat vid now, should be done next weekish (Sent Friday 13 January 2017)
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: So a mix of tab target and action perhaps. Might remind me of gw2.[/color]</strong>
A: Correct
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: how often are keys given out?[/color]</strong>
A: Weekly
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will the key draws be just random? and how many?[/color]</strong>
A: Weekly, to users who perform well with referrals and posting content on forums/ participating in discussions etc. Sometimes random also
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Wouldnt mind if the combat was more like EQ Next than what it currently looks like![/color]</strong>
A: That combat video isn't anything near end product lol, was meant to show that we have working mechanics already unlike some other developers this early in production.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What are you guys currently planning for progression?[/color]</strong>
A: Our player class advancement follows both a vertical progression in the traditional leveling sense, as well as a horizontal skill customization platform. When players start the game, they will be able to choose from 8 separate Archetypes. These archetypes represent the staple fantasy classes; Fighter, Tank, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Summoner, Cleric, Bard. As the player progresses vertically with their primary class, they will have the opportunity to add a second class. This second class will be chosen again from the 8 archetypes, and will follow more of a horizontal progression. The second class will allow the player to augment their primary skills from their main class, with effects from their secondary class. For example; A fighter has a skill called “Rush”, that allows him to rush towards a target and upon reaching the target, deals x damage with a chance to knock the target down. If that fighter were to choose Mage as his secondary archetype (Spellsword), he would gain access to certain augments that he could apply to his primary skill tree. Let’s use his Rush skill as an example; As a Spellsword, he could choose to apply a teleportation augment to the Rush skill, which would allow the skill to now teleport you to the target, eliminating the charge time on the skill. Each skill in the primary tree will have several augment options from your secondary tree. The secondary skill augment tree will follow a horizontal progression that will be expanded upon further in a developer’s blog.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How big AoC world? and how many ppl can concurrent play per server?[/color]</strong>
A: We are currently looking into this particular topic, and will be releasing an official answer to this question in the coming weeks.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: What type will you use, fixed server or cloud servers like amazon or google?[/color]</strong>
A: Currently we are in discussion with Google.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be racial-locked mounts? Or will every race be able to ride every mount.[/color]</strong>
A: Currently every race in Ashes has a unique mount. Then there are mounts that can be found in the wild, and tamed. As well as quest mounts, epic mounts, and a few other mount specific ideas we will release in the coming weeks.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Is it just players that can destroy nodes or will PvE events also happen than can cause node destruction/degrading?[/color]</strong>
A:Nodes will experience atrophy and will require continued player activity in order to grow. If a town loses too much activity, then it may result in a PvE siege against the node. We are still working on this mechanic.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Tell me that there will be a balance between what cosmetics are added to the shop and what is available in game. [/color]</strong>
A: There will be a balance. :smiley: Players will have a wide range of cosmetics available through in-game accomplishment and progression, as well as a wide variety of purchasable cosmetics for players who are more casual and would prefer to support the game through the cash shop. Either way, player customization will be achievable from a cosmetic standpoint readily throughout the game.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: How do you plan to handle Inventory space?[/color]</strong>
A: Inventory space will be tied to a backpack type item, that will be crafted from artisans. The higher lvl backpack, the greater the inventory space. Different backpacks will cater to different players. IE A gatherers backpack will have more space for gatherables, an adventurers more space for consumables and items.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will we be able to change our Archetype later in the game if we decide we want to try something else? not change our base class, just the secondary.[/color]</strong>
A: This is looking like a yes.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will rogues actually be rogues? or are they going to be more like assassins?[/color]</strong>
A: Depends how you build it. Both options are currently viable.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will i be able to mess around "flag" on a guild member like in some MMOs, or will they be immune to all AOEs and targeted effects even if trying to purposely attack them.[/color]</strong>
A: Currently our flagging system has several lockouts. People whom you may not flag on. This order follows a simple affiliation progression in the system. Party member, Raid member, Guild member, Alliance member. If any of these 4 affiliations are present then the player may not flag on the target.
<strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: Will there be instanced dungeons and raid content that will require a set of amount of players to follow mechanics properly to defeat, or will it be more open world where you can go in with any amount of players?[/color]</strong>
A: Both. As it stands now, many dungeons in the world have an open world component, with several instance access points that parties can participate in. We want to maintain the open world feel while being able to capitalize on the benefits of instanced mechanics. We will go into more depth in a blog soon.
And then there are some inputs that are not really questions but still good
C: i know aoc wont be out for a long time
but he said there was a closed beta of some sort you could join
but well yeah i guess he fooled me
B: Nah, sorry man
C: feelsbadman i would love to play it
B : Alpha should be out in the last quarter of 2017
D: or start of 2018
But we get the early deets here
pretty nice
and Steven, CM and the one who spearheaded the creation of Intrepid Studio's posts frequently
B :yup
C: what i learned from the video`s from @DeathsProxy it really does look like a mmorpg that im looking for ^^
B: we get lots of teasers in here
C: good i joined then :smile:
Steven :
@C One good thing, Our Alpha will persist till launch, Then become our Play Test Server
S: @Steven will you make pvp great again
Steven : @S Yes
And the best stuff for the end, some spicy quotes :
-Im so glad I play Archeage, It reminds me everyday, how NOT to run a company.
Woops, I didnt know I typed that out loud
-We're gonna make oceans great again. Dont you worry
If you want to help me with answer's it'd be cool if you used a code input thingy and then you put the question on bold and the answer right after
<pre><code> <strong>[color=#33cccc]Q: insert question here[/color]</strong>
A: insert answer here
</code></pre>
Anyways, that was a long post, GG for getting until here (unless you just scrolled down you lazy !)
(PS : I spent a lot of time gathering the messages to put them here if you wanna gimmie a thumbs up consider not skipping my signature ;D)
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Comments
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[quote quote=1859]This is a very good and informative post! Props to you!
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[quote quote=1860]Thank you for this! This will be quite helpful to people.
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[quote quote=1861]Congrats by this post. Subbed!!!
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Thanks guys ! I'm glad my work was <em>actually </em> helpful and didn't go unnoticed for once :DD
Naval Content Confirmed?!?!?! ;) :)
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It's an honor for me to be useful for ya :D
[quote quote=1864]Thanks for your effort, was a great read overall.
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Glad i did my job well xD
[quote quote=1865]Good Job Chkoupinator !! Proud of you.
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should've said "Chkoupi ! Great moves, Keep it up ! Proud of you !" (h3h3 reference xD) anyways glad to be helping as always :D
[quote quote=1867]This is amazing work! It must have been a pain to compile, so thanks for all your effort.
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It was a bit yea, i should have used Libre Office instead of notepad ++ ;-;
[quote quote=1869]Agreed. Well done. I’m sure there was plenty of “quality” off topic convo you had to weed through…
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Man you can't even imagine XD, Though thank god Steven's username is in Yellow and my discord theme is black so yellow is pretty obvious to spot when fast scrolling up :D
[quote quote=1870]Thanks for the easy to read post, your effort is appreciated ?
[/quote]
Glad i did it right :D
[quote quote=1871]<blockquote><div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/answered-questions-on-discord-qa-extended-somewhat/#post-1857" rel="nofollow">Chkoupinator wrote:</a></div>
-We’re gonna make oceans great again. Dont you worry
</blockquote>
Naval Content Confirmed?!?!?! ? ?
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Could be, could also be a joke though xD
[quote quote=1874]Thank you kind sir.
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No probelemo ! :D
[quote quote=1876]Great questions, and thank you for posting them! Cannot wait to ride my own dragon into battle ?
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Dragons > all :D but it sucks to be a mayor i don't think i'll ever get to ride one :(
Read with intrigue.
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Mostly cause everyone is posting all the time, you can be gone 5 min and miss 200 posts ;)
Read with intrigue.
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No problemo :D
[quote quote=1885]Looks like even if im in the discord chat i still missed quite a lot of questions, thanks for this post now i know a lot more ?[/quote]
Yeah there is a lot of shitpost everywhere xD
[quote quote=1904]<blockquote><div class="d4p-bbt-quote-title"><a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/answered-questions-on-discord-qa-extended-somewhat/page/2/#post-1885" rel="nofollow">cococol wrote:</a></div>
Looks like even if im in the discord chat i still missed quite a lot of questions, thanks for this post now i know a lot more <img alt="?" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/svg/1f609.svg" width="20" height="20" />
</blockquote>
Mostly cause everyone is posting all the time, you can be gone 5 min and miss 200 posts <img alt="?" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/svg/1f609.svg" width="20" height="20" />
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it's even worse then that by some times, also not everyone joined at the beginning, i went up to way before i joined the discord myself :P
A: We don’t want our players to be flooded with bars filled with abilities and skills that they rarely use, or become obsolete. So we will have a skill system that progresses with the player. Like many other aspect of our game, players will choose their skill sets from their chosen archetype and archetype combinations.[/quote]
This has me really excited. My favorite skill system was one where each class had a set number of trainable abilities that they had access to. After each level that gained certain stat points for allocation to spec into, and you had to specialize the build in a certain way because you would never have enough points for everything. For instance, you might spec into doing a lot of fire damage so you wouldn't train cold or electric damage spells, but then you would still further havet to decide which fire based spells you wanted to train and reach mastery of (1 point gave you access to a spell, but it took 40 points to receive the full benefits of that spell's mastery). I hope that this game will have a similar system.
[quote quote=1857]Q: Will we be able to change our Archetype later in the game if we decide we want to try something else? not change our base class, just the secondary.
A: This is looking like a yes.[/quote]
I hope this turns out to be a no, or at the very least they make it so that respeccing your secondary class is not a simple thing. I hate grinding out levels as much as anyone, but I do hope that people have to put some real time into making major switches like that.
That said, I appreciate the Q & As and respect that you want to build a community this way. So far, the community is highly optimistic, and mostly respectful. That's a huge bonus in my book coming from many years of mmo play. I hope this continues well after launch of the game.
That said, I appreciate the Q & As and respect that you want to build a community this way. So far, the community is highly optimistic, and mostly respectful. That’s a huge bonus in my book coming from many years of mmo play. I hope this continues well after launch of the game.
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Yeah, the community makes out a great amount of the overall game enjoyment. If you're mostly surrounded by toxicity you won't be happy playing the game or investing time in it in a long run..
[quote quote=4179]Tab-targeting…*sigh*. For the life of me, I will never understand why you chose this route when a lot of mmos are going to the more action based combat style. Especially when you have the game engine that you have that would be phenomenal with it. I hope you reconsider this, or at least create a hybrid system.
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I'd say we should wait for the game play video which should come next week. The game is still in development, we might see something cool, I wouldn't be disappointed just yet!
~ Zention
I don't know that using what other MMO's are doing is a good basis for any argument considering MMO's have not had a lot of success in recent years. A properly implemented action system could be ok, but my concern with that on a MMO is always performance. Especially in a game which has advertised that there will be times where there may be hundreds of people on the battle field that is a lot of data for a server to handle. Tab targeting is a little more forgiving when you may find yourself in a massive lag spike.