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.
Comments
Healing any type PvE npc opens up an explosive chance of explioits.
I do agree with you and your hunter example, if I heal the creature or otherwise help it escape the hunter should be able to, and should, treat me like a dirty poacher. I don't think they will be able to loot anything but "materials," which I also support. If they could steal/raid/confiscate everything I had this would be a different type of game, read as survival.
I was trying to indicate that if the option was heal everything meaning "NPC's, mobs, anything alive" or "NPC's only" I would likely vote NPC's only.
I'll even go one further, I think, certain types of creatures, I'll use a zombie as an example. Should be healable, but rather than being healed, take damage.
(on some random L2 private server we used to heal raidbosses to denie enemy guilds the loot, was hilarious xD)
1. If NPC guards are normal HP, like players and can be soloed same like other players, then YES players should be able to heal them.
2. If NPC guards have high HP like mini bosses, and easily kill players, then NO, players should absolutely not be able to heal them.
Also the question is what will the respawn time on NPC guards be. Things need to be balanced.
The question was about NPC siege guards that defend the caravans or nodes, not raid bosses. Of course they should not be healed unless by another npc.
(I'll edit for clarity)
Gothix said: Could you elaborate? I don't quite understand the logic behind this. Provided archetypes are balanced for PVP (since this is a PVP discussion) health contribution of healers should be on par with damage from DPS. You should only see an issue if there is an imbalance there.
The only way I see this being an issue is if the NPC has outlandish damage reduction. The actual amount of health an NPC has doesn't matter, the healer would be contributing to the battle exactly as DPS would be.
Indirect PvP combat without fear of Corruption.
Yes. What if each NPC decided who was friend or foe. Either;
1. By recording every individual player interaction (massive database)
2. By NPC having dynamic enemies and allying with them makes you an enemy (small database)
Taking 2 as the simplest option...perhaps rather than a karma system....an NPC or node allegiance system that will make you more or less a friend who may or may not merit aid. And if its dynamic, those allegiances may change from day to day.
How does it matter if you come across a posse of 30 enemy players or 30 enemy NPCs ? How does it matter if the players heal and buff themselves or the NPC do ? How does it make any difference if a party is all NPC, all players or a mixture ?
NPC = Non Player Character (i.e. Usually representatives of our respective races that are controlled by the AI)
Mob - A monster or other similar type of being that is placed into the world solely as an adversarial element.
There of course will be notable exceptions to both sides but everything should be flagged as either an NPC or a Mob, not both.
Can heal an NPC, can't heal a Mob.
That being said I think the term has evolved a bit since then to a specific group apart from NPCs
If guards will be in any aspect more powerful than players, then no healing should not be allowed because this would create a great imbalance in encounter.
I know that all PvE focused people just want their caravans safe and they will rip themselves apart voting PRO safety in any poll, even if it creates imbalance in defenders favor (this is what PvE players want).
But if caravans are impossible (or very hard) to get robbed, game will become dramatically less fun, for PvP part of players at least.
Sometimes I really wish there was more PvP oriented players in this forums.
Every discussion is so much biased anti PvP, and pro safety.
They said theyll see in the future because they don't want e.g. guards to be the main line of defense.
But what when 100% of players defending the node tat some moment will be healer specced clerics? They have to have a way to protect their node.
I was involved in a discussion on stealing in which I supported the idea of not only being able to steal from npc's ala ESO but steal from players as well. I don't support this because I'm a person that actually plays a thief but because I'm a person who wants the community to have the freedom to follow their own path. The more freedom the community has the happier I will be as a player because that means the game has become more realistic and walks closer in hand with day to day life.
Is stealing from players something that would be appropriate? Yup. I can raid your caravan then tell me why I can't pick your pocket? Seriously is it more likely for someone to steal from a guarded armored car or 1 person on the street? Don't want all your hard earned gold stolen? There's a funny thing in the game called banks. Do you think Bill Gates strolls around with $20 million dollars in his pockets? This is a player v player, guild v guild, and node v node game. Stealing gold from players in an opposing node and adding those resources to your own nodes economy fits quite nicely just like sabotaging players in another nodes experience gaining endeavors.
This game doesn't operate in a vacuum for someone to get stronger means someone else should be getting weaker in the process.
One of my favorite games of all time was called Shadowbane which came out in 2003. The motto of the game was play to crush and it was a full inventory loot pvp focused game. Once you left the starter area and headed to the mainland it was on like donkey kong. I played a ranger so I could track and as I sat out killing mobs earning gold and items I had to spam track every few minutes to see if any new names had popped up. If someone that I hadn't seen on track came up I would stop killing and wait to see if they were about to roll through the spawns. If they were a pk then I would toss on my fleet foot spell and it was a race back to the nearest city to cower next to the guards. The farther you strayed from the city the greater the risk you faced. If you weren't diligent then say goodbye to your gold. Shadowbane wasn't an item dependent game so they had no use for the junk weapons that you were picking up from the mobs. If you got killed you simply went back picked up the gear you had collected sold it tossed the gold in the bank and started over again.
Shadowbane was a darker game which the developers have said AoC is. Higher level monsters only spawned in certain areas which defined where the power guilds set down their cities. Later in the game as a group your guilds "expeditionary" force would sneak into the territory of these guilds to "poach" their mobs for experience and loot. Scouts and Rangers were essential because we both dpsed and watch track to see if the guild who's territory we were in were sending out a sweeper force or their own xp party. When the track lit up with unknowns we would all gate back to our own city because the ability to go back home was the extent of the travel system in shadowbane as well.
This is what I want AoC to be, a dangerous game that has me constantly looking over my shoulder. I want to feel that at any given moment disaster can strike. I want the rush of combat knowing if I lose at the very least my gold is going to be gone and whatever I had in my inventory of value is out the window because that is where the adrenaline rush comes from. I want to have to make the decision at each moment do I go back to town with this awesome drop or do I dare continue hunting. I want to race back to town shrieking in terror praying that I make it before that pk shuts me down. I want to overcome his lame ass and dance on his lifeless body as I clean out his ill gotten gains. I want to go back to my guild hall or local tavern and tell the tale of my impossible victory or humiliating defeat at the hands of that black hearted bastard. I even salivate at the thought of that pk pretending to be friendly. Partying with me and sharing in the danger then at the perfect moment sliding his daggers into my weakened back and cackling about it just being business as he strolls away. Its a game its supposed to be dangerous, exciting, and fun. I don't login to a game to feel safe and nurtured within its confines. There are plenty of lame ass games like that on the market already.
It is early in the developmental process and I participated in the kickstart even though it ended less than 22 hours after I first heard about the game. If in the coming months this game begins to mold itself into the gritty dangerous game I want I'll stay if not then I assume 4 months will be plenty of time for me to get bored and gravitate to a f2p game instead.
I would prefer to not pay monthly for the need to constantly look over my shoulder. I think that mind set would prevent a community from growing. Everyone would be in guild and not trust anyone out of their guild or in general just be super paranoid. I would prefer to not HAVE to be in a guild to avoid going crazy with paranoia.
I do agree with your point of not knowing what will or will not be in the game. I also respect you honestly stating that if Ashes doesn't go that way you will move on.
In a may discord Q&A before the kickstarter May 22:
Thieves, would you be able to steal a small amount from other players?