Dark/blood magic

ArchivedUser

i know this has been a thread before at some point, but hadn't seen it in a while and i can't get the "search" function to find anything at all, i've even tested it by copying and pasting thread titles lol.  

but anyways, so far from what they have shown and talked about all i see are the care bear standard archetypes of classes you see in most mmos (although i know they are doing things differently within them) but what i don't see are any indications for the darker side of mmo life. they talk about extensive character customization, but i wonder if they know this extends past the character creation screen and armor you wear.  would like to know more about if there are at some point going to be more dark and bloody options for magic and melee and if not...would there be some option to alter the appearance of existing FX to lend itself to the aesthetic value of a character.  the lack of information and references to this topic has me kind of disturbed.

when i create a character what goes into it is far more than just altering the base model/races look in character creation.  I do research on lore and legends of myth and reality.  search out info on ancient dead languages or fantasy ones.  places, maybe planets, music, and even sounds can take part in the creation of a fictional persona......not just a character.  The race, the appearance of that race that i have created, the armor and color options within the game, the ability types/weapon the character will use along with a name that flows with the character design has to all come together in one cohesive unit before i accept that it's ready to be played.
i understand that this may just be as i dream of being a character/persona/background/lore creator at some point in my life if it's for a company or my own endeavor.  

so with my blowhard windbag presentment out of the way. i was hoping to find some others that like to live in the shadows of the dark alley or within the confines of the underrealm that might want to enjoy such aesthetics.....please, step into the sun and hiss so that we might start to hear more on this subject.  because i have heard nothing, nada, zip, zilch about it during any QnA, stream or any news release.  thx again.../useability <bloodfield> /p:"step into the circle to absorb the life of the dead!"

ArchivedUser

That would be awesome @Wizard_Beard. I'm hissing away in total agreement with you. The guy in my signature is what I'm aiming for. Maybe it's because I lack the imagination to do it myself, but I want the game to get me as close as possible.

ArchivedUser

I'd like to go a step further than just altering visual effects on character creation.

I think it'd be cool if character creation had something similar to talents in Pillars of Eternity

Basically unique buffs/passives you can select on character creation/class selection or acquired by completing certain quests in certain ways.

Although I'd prefer it if they weren't all straight forward stat increases. It'd be cool if most of them would be utility passives or have specific trade offs like Dungeons of Dredmor passives had.

Blood Magic in Dungeons of Dredmor meant you'd only obtain mana by killing enemies or standing in blood. I also like their take on vampirism.

ArchivedUser

yea, i'm just hoping to bring attention to the fact we haven't heard of any mention of darker types of spells/weapon skills and at the very least the visual aesthetic is needed, but yes, i would rather have actual classes that participated in the dark side of magics/weapon arts

ArchivedUser

We don't really have much to go on from the heroic side of things, either.
But, they are starting with the heroic visions of characters as they're base - and will expand from their.

Mat Broome is the artist who created the Kaelar Tank Armor concept art.
When he was working on H1Z1, I complained to him about not having any characters who were female or non-white. He explained that they start with white males as their base design and then expand from there.
I imagine the same is true for the design team when it comes to Death Knights and Necromancer's etc. They're starting with heroic Mages and Rangers and Clerics, etc.

What we do have - as it's more in keeping with and foundational to Ashes is lore- are images of corrupted NPCs and weapons and armor they might wear. in addition to the silhouettes of the Tulnar.

Remember that we will be able to dye armor and probably weapons.
Color schemes should not be much of a problem.
I expect to see death motifs, etc. as well.
I think the devs said no blood mages - might see some life siphoning magic.
The June 30 Livestream states that Clerics have a "life-balance AoE" that they can place on the battlefield as a template, where nearby enemies will suffer damage and have life removed while nearby allies have life restored based on the life removed from the enemies.
Jeffrey says we'll be seeing a lot of the life-balancing mechanics with Clerics.
I expect we will be able to alter the appearance of those abilities with augments, etc.
(without being required to purchase skins from the cash shop).
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(damn we just lost the May 22 KS Livestream from twitch!! I hope someone else saved it on a personal YouTube channel!!)

ArchivedUser

yea dygz, i agree, i've watched a lot of the streams, and that is what i'm talking about the visual aesthetic of abilities. as i would like to have actual classes i could work with to combine to create my evil eye twitch with excitement when playing it....

i was specifically pointing out the visual aesthetic, like for example...i'm a tank/cleric, cause i like the mechanics of the skills, but my swords swipes are blueish white and my spell are white/yellow and pale blues....and as you said you expect to be able to augment those abilities (which i really really hope it's in the game) to be dark reddish slashes and a say dark purple or something for the cleric's portion.  

i played a game a fairly long time ago called "champions online" it was below avg at best, but...it's character customization to this day blows anything else out of the water. and when i say this, do not take it lightly, because after swtor kind of went generic and fizzled out for me i have bounced around the globe trying out different mmos. stop rambling ye darn beard....champions had the capacity to change all the particle/skill fx colors, was one of the best attributes of character customization.  you could make a power armor lazor beam ability set, recolor it and now it looks like some kind of magical dark fairy beams.....you could take fire skills and recolor them green to toss in with some creepy summons to give an epic necromancer feel.  basically because you cold do this, even though those "powers" weren't in game you could create those character themes.  

TL:DR: 
yep i agree @Dygz and hope to see ability customization down to the color in game. lol