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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.
Latest Livestream Hints at a Poor Class Balance
How is the class balance going to be in Ashes of Creation? Well, it looks like we've gotten an answer during the 17th/ may/ 2017 livestream. Roughly half way through the livestream, IS gives us a glimpse into one of the metropolises in the game, an economic metropolis. When the supposedly archer (Bow user) with a rogue subclass approaches the metropolis, he/she activates a stealth skill so it won't be noticed by the guards. This happens in min 37:35 seconds. For the next 50s, upto 38:25s, the Archer_Rogue character wanders around the entrance area of the economic metropolis croosing around the royal guards, and they stand there noticing nothing. This all cool, but a question comes to mind. Is the duration of this skill 50s? Clearly this stealth mechanic, or skill allowed this character to pass the royal guard on the main gates without being noticed. This means players can't spot or hear the player in this mode. Evidently, if this is the case, then the class balance must be broken. In fact, it's so broken that i thought i would list few dozen things you can do with this overpowered stealth skill.
<strong>List of things you can do with this overpowered stealth skill.</strong>
1: Break into a heavily guarded area, and siege it from the inside while your allies siege it from outside. In fact, a guild comprised of 150 people can all have a Rogue subclass, and they can all hide for 50s, break into a heavily guarded area, and slaughter the enemy from inside.
2: You're facing 10 players from an opposing alliance that yours regularly fights. They are trying to gank you. Well, guess what? You can use this skill to save your dying as!#@$%.
3: 1v1 more like i can't see who i am fighting.
4: A fire-breathing dragon is in front of you, and you've 1% of your health left, well, you can easily escape with this skill.
You get the idea.
50s for a stealth skill is too much. The duration should be reduced to 5s, with a movement speed increase.
<strong>List of things you can do with this overpowered stealth skill.</strong>
1: Break into a heavily guarded area, and siege it from the inside while your allies siege it from outside. In fact, a guild comprised of 150 people can all have a Rogue subclass, and they can all hide for 50s, break into a heavily guarded area, and slaughter the enemy from inside.
2: You're facing 10 players from an opposing alliance that yours regularly fights. They are trying to gank you. Well, guess what? You can use this skill to save your dying as!#@$%.
3: 1v1 more like i can't see who i am fighting.
4: A fire-breathing dragon is in front of you, and you've 1% of your health left, well, you can easily escape with this skill.
You get the idea.
50s for a stealth skill is too much. The duration should be reduced to 5s, with a movement speed increase.
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Comments
And they said that part of the predators role would be two sneak in and take down the defenses to open up a siege, so i think that is working as intended.
Personally i want every class to have a niche it fills. something only it can do. this will require every class to have a use. just my two cents.
Maybe at a certain range, units will notice you?
Perhaps a ranger has more finely tuned senses than a fighter? Or a Mage can cast a spell that helps them detect invisible creatures?
Invisibility has long been a hallmark ability of rogues, especially in PvP, so I see no reason to greatly change it. All it needs is a counterbalancing factor, and it's up to IS to provide that.
There are as many ways to balance this ability as there are ways to unbalance it.
but again, rogues will have some nerfs if they are OP.
But it makes me sad to this day a player would choose a class based on what they perceive to be "over powered" rather than what they find fun.
While Steven and co. might be able to change the genre in some ways for the better, I fear there's no way to alter player mindset. And that's half of the problem sometimes. :(
You sir are the king of trolls and I firmly believe the devs should name a troll NPC after you. You totally deserve it. I totally mean it as a compliment. Genius.
Mate, they are still defining all the skills and man are being dropped on the cutting room floor.
The skills durations at this stage probbaly arent even a twinkle in anyones eye.
All they are interested in at the moment, is that they damn well work.
Jeez this is pre-alpha.
We arent even in the alpha beta testing phases yet !
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[quote quote=24989]OP, you are making some huge assumptions based on what is essentially a trailer, completely out of context with the game itself. We honestly have no idea how the stealth is going to work in-game or what measures they are going to put to counter stealth. I would honestly wait until we have more solid information before donning your tin-foil hat.
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I see where you are coming from, but i am not talking about the "Art of War" Trailer. God no. I am talking about the latest livestream, it says right there!!! "Latest livestream" Not "Trailer".
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Totally agreeing on that. This game is most likely far from Alpha, so there is no point yet, to discuss about balance in that early state of the game yet, I guess. That is what we will be testing, once we are allowed to. Right now, it is about building the basement of that project.
On the Stealth in general: I've been playing fantasy MMORPGS for over 12 years now. Most of them had "Stealth-Classes" and most of them could become invisible for a certain amount of time. Sure that is an advantage over other classes, but to compensate that, they also had a major drawback, like squashiness or only burst damage for a short amount of time, etc. etc. Also I'm pretty sure, that we will have alot of countermeasures, like craftable Detect-Potions, or Detect-Skills and so on. So many possiblities to counter that.
Anyways, as I said in the beginning of my post, in my opinion, that is not a thing to discuss yet.
baumbart :-)
I had no problem making the character out against the background.
This will only work for players that hide in the shadow and/or dont move much.
Seems far better (blance wise) than many forms of stealth I have seen.
Though I too did marvel for a second at that Predator's sneak in, it was just a second or two of marvel. I'd wait some time before I call that there is a balance issue. Kind of early.
But it makes me sad to this day a player would choose a class based on what they perceive to be "over powered" rather than what they find fun.
While Steven and co. might be able to change the genre in some ways for the better, I fear there's no way to alter player mindset. And that's half of the problem sometimes. :(
Plus we don't know what the settings were when they recorded that video. The rogue could very likely be a citizen of that metropolis and not a threat at all. In the temple, he actually came out of hiding in an area with guards and they didn't react at all.
Its way to early to tell, but they are putting it out there so its fair game to comment. If PvP can happen anywhere, fine, then stealth detection has to be available and potent. I'll give up class points or dedicated gear slots for the detection ability, thats fair but it would be nice to have a game that has the counter play to stealth equally as potent.
And as has been pointed out above, this is pre-alpha stuff. Do you really want to start, now, pre-alpha, picking apart everything that *might* be wrong? I mean, if you go at it from that angle, you'll have yourself convinced this is the worst game ever long before it even reaches beta.
On a side note, there are always class balance issues in any mmo, but still coming to this conclusion based on the demo, is kinda crasy.
Relax y'all. Can't be broken if game isn't even out yet.