How alive will the world feel?

ArchivedUser

I recently started playing Black Desert Online.  I was mostly drawn in by the combos and spell effects, but that doesn't make a game.  They did a great job at making the attacks seem as though they carry weight, even magic.

For me...there are many things that could make the game better, but, they chose static NPC camps, that respawn and respawn and respawn and respawn and, well, you get the idea.  This does not contribute to a living world that, I would imagine, future games should be able to produce.

Secondly, the combat is still against dumb AI, and it really does feel like a shooting gallery instead of an actual fight.  Even fights against other players has this feeling, which isn't good.  This can be fixed with programming that doesnt even require the AI to think about what to do next.  It can be fixed globally, for all combatants, players and AI alike.

Third problem is that nothing really changes.  Quest hubs exist, complete, move on, complete, move on etc etc.  Same crap as WoW.  Very disappointing.

The real MMOs of the future will have RTS incorporated at a grand scale, in a living world.  Kingdoms vs Kingdoms... territories, many AI controlled to counter those of players and prevent them from achieving complete dominance.  There can always be something to fight, the world can continually change.

Crowfall has another means to this, and that is to completely allow players to win each campaign scenario.  You start a campaign, it lasts 3 months or whatever time frame the campaign has been selected by its players, and one side will win... that world dies... you go back to your own realm, which can never be destroyed, and you select the next however month long campaign to participate in.  Pretty cool how aspects of RTS games have been added to an MMO with PvP in mind, but once the campaign is over, that aspect of the game is removed and no longer persists.  The world is not alive, as the world you have done battle on dies off.  You cannot establish meaningful trade routes on worlds that die in 3 months time.

Is Ashes going to tackle this ongoing plague of mindlessness?  IMO, You guys need AI realms to counter player realms.

ArchivedUser

We will face everpresent AI foes from the corrupted past of the planet that will challenge us from every direction. A primary driver of dynamism in Ashes will be meaningful conflict between players.

Ashes of Creation is a unique take on the MMO experience. Our world structure is dynamic and built to react to the actions of our players. Cities will rise and fall, their populations based on the history of the world as the players create it. Quests will unlock as these populations gather, their needs grow, and secrets are unlocked.
As the world’s NPC structure is established in real time, players will have the ability to destroy what they’ve created, paving the way for new development, new populations, and real change. Political strife and intrigue will play a very real role in the structure of your world. 
Gone are the days of static worlds, change is here to stay.

ArchivedUser

Death in-game results in catastrophic death of the player in the real world.

ArchivedUser

ArchivedUser

I love the "mom's basement" vibe that gif has.

ArchivedUser

lexmax said:

We will face everpresent AI foes from the corrupted past of the planet that will challenge us from every direction. A primary driver of dynamism in Ashes will be meaningful conflict between players.

Ashes of Creation is a unique take on the MMO experience. Our world structure is dynamic and built to react to the actions of our players. Cities will rise and fall, their populations based on the history of the world as the players create it. Quests will unlock as these populations gather, their needs grow, and secrets are unlocked.
As the world’s NPC structure is established in real time, players will have the ability to destroy what they’ve created, paving the way for new development, new populations, and real change. Political strife and intrigue will play a very real role in the structure of your world. 
Gone are the days of static worlds, change is here to stay.

I appreciate the info, it is helpful.
 
I am curious how widespread a guilds control over the world will be.  In the unlikely event that only 1 guild exists and controls everything, things would get boring.  I'm sure player personalities will prevent this from happening anyways, but once there is 1 dominant guild, will measures be taken to bring balance back to the server?  Crowfalls analogy to a dominant player in the game of risk comes to mind.  People concede at that point.

ArchivedUser

Now that is one hell of a button mash before lag. You got a 6-peet.

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

Now that is one hell of a button mash before lag. You got a 6-peet.

Woah, didnt even realize my post made it through.  Hope I didn't post like 10 times.

ArchivedUser

Lol, one of the mods cleaned it up. Was 6 times.

ArchivedUser

DarkTides said:

lexmax said:

We will face everpresent AI foes from the corrupted past of the planet that will challenge us from every direction. A primary driver of dynamism in Ashes will be meaningful conflict between players.

Ashes of Creation is a unique take on the MMO experience. Our world structure is dynamic and built to react to the actions of our players. Cities will rise and fall, their populations based on the history of the world as the players create it. Quests will unlock as these populations gather, their needs grow, and secrets are unlocked.
As the world’s NPC structure is established in real time, players will have the ability to destroy what they’ve created, paving the way for new development, new populations, and real change. Political strife and intrigue will play a very real role in the structure of your world. 
Gone are the days of static worlds, change is here to stay.

I appreciate the info, it is helpful.
 
I am curious how widespread a guilds control over the world will be.  In the unlikely event that only 1 guild exists and controls everything, things would get boring.  I'm sure player personalities will prevent this from happening anyways, but once there is 1 dominant guild, will measures be taken to bring balance back to the server?  Crowfalls analogy to a dominant player in the game of risk comes to mind.  People concede at that point.

The amount of resources and effort that goes into attacking or defending nodes will mean that individual guilds, or guild alliances will find it difficult to dominate the node system. The risk of losing everything will be far too high for this to be a viable strategy. But, we'll only know for sure during the testing phases. Maybe things will need to be tweaked to bring things into balance

ArchivedUser

Ah, so strange, other posts were working elsewhere, so I was wondering what I was doing wrong!  Pretty sure I had also made the post a few hours prior to it actually posting. I had given up after 6 tries

ArchivedUser

lexmax said:

DarkTides said:

lexmax said:

We will face everpresent AI foes from the corrupted past of the planet that will challenge us from every direction. A primary driver of dynamism in Ashes will be meaningful conflict between players.

Ashes of Creation is a unique take on the MMO experience. Our world structure is dynamic and built to react to the actions of our players. Cities will rise and fall, their populations based on the history of the world as the players create it. Quests will unlock as these populations gather, their needs grow, and secrets are unlocked.
As the world’s NPC structure is established in real time, players will have the ability to destroy what they’ve created, paving the way for new development, new populations, and real change. Political strife and intrigue will play a very real role in the structure of your world. 
Gone are the days of static worlds, change is here to stay.

I appreciate the info, it is helpful.
 
I am curious how widespread a guilds control over the world will be.  In the unlikely event that only 1 guild exists and controls everything, things would get boring.  I'm sure player personalities will prevent this from happening anyways, but once there is 1 dominant guild, will measures be taken to bring balance back to the server?  Crowfalls analogy to a dominant player in the game of risk comes to mind.  People concede at that point.

The amount of resources and effort that goes into attacking or defending nodes will mean that individual guilds, or guild alliances will find it difficult to dominate the node system. The risk of losing everything will be far too high for this to be a viable strategy. But, we'll only know for sure during the testing phases. Maybe things will need to be tweaked to bring things into balance

Most definitely.  Hoping things work out.

ArchivedUser

Also coming into play will be guild sizes. Part of the guild system will be a number of upgrade paths, similar to crafting probably, that you can only spend so many points on. Smaller guilds will have stronger options for guild play available, while if you want to have 250-300 people in your mega guild you will sacrifice other more desirable options. While it would be possible to maybe name your guilds Mega1, Mega2, and Mega3 to get around those mechanics, realize other crafty people will be figuring out how to block such workarounds.

ArchivedUser

      '...UnknownSystemError said:

        Now that is one hell of a button mash before lag. You got a 6-peet...'

(Er, I'm assuming the translation of this is: 'That was a great question? - which it is!)

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

Also coming into play will be guild sizes. Part of the guild system will be a number of upgrade paths, similar to crafting probably, that you can only spend so many points on. Smaller guilds will have stronger options for guild play available, while if you want to have 250-300 people in your mega guild you will sacrifice other more desirable options. While it would be possible to maybe name your guilds Mega1, Mega2, and Mega3 to get around those mechanics, realize other crafty people will be figuring out how to block such workarounds.

Interesting.  Like a guild skill tree?  Do we know if there is a limit to the number of points you can obtain?  Or does a guild cap out at some point, which would ultimately force guild leaders to allocate guild points to more desirable branches?  Guild size limit as opposed to the number of gold mines your guild can manage?

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

Now that is one hell of a button mash before lag. You got a 6-peet.

The lag in Warhammer Online was epic.  Large scale fights often became slide shows, lol.

ArchivedUser

I hope it wil not get static after a while where everyone is fine with the state its in, That will cause forced pvp situations while you dont even want that, if you want change.

ArchivedUser

I'm also hoping for some deep immersion.

ArchivedUser

DarkTides said:

Interesting.  Like a guild skill tree?  Do we know if there is a limit to the number of points you can obtain?  Or does a guild cap out at some point, which would ultimately force guild leaders to allocate guild points to more desirable branches?  Guild size limit as opposed to the number of gold mines your guild can manage?

I think this has come up before in vague terms.. but it was most recently addressed in the last livestream video. 

JazzNBlues: 

Will guilds have levels so that members can complete tasks to level the guild up?

Stephen: 

Yes, absolutely, guilds have a very in depth system associated with it, both from a point accrual system that goes into unlocking certain advancements for its members and/or hierarchies as well as levels that then gain access for those points to be distributed as the guild gains levels.

   

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