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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.
Shifting the paradigm of 'getting gear' and 'drops'
Just a thought, since AoC is challenging us to think about MMOs progressing - does anyone else feel the paradigm of going after specific gear/drop at higher levels is restrictive? My reasoning is as follows:
1) We all want to be unique characters, and our skills progression continuously lends toward that as we branch out in our specialisations, but I feel dismayed when everyone ends up having to go for a very small pool of gear choices in the end, which takes away from the feeling of being unique.
2) Lore-wise MMOs tend to place us into worlds that seem to have past their golden eras. We go after legendary weapons and gear that someone in the past made rather than players becoming their own legends and making their own gear (again, not following a design/schematic left by some NPC)
I don't know what a solution to this would be - perhaps a crafting system that allows for small variability in end-item stats or added attributes; maybe allowing for the use of different resources to produce the variable effects (i.e. why does the Uber Axe blueprint need ash wood instead of of oak? can we experiment and produce something slightly different that I might prefer because its bonus suits my play style?).
Whatever the mechanic, it would be nice to shift the player mindset from 'I need to get this item now because that's what everyone else says to get' to 'hmm, this is what I want to do in this world, what can I make to match my awesomeness'. Ultimately, I feel the ultimate feeling of player empowerment is forging their own path - in the story, skills and in item acquisition.
1) We all want to be unique characters, and our skills progression continuously lends toward that as we branch out in our specialisations, but I feel dismayed when everyone ends up having to go for a very small pool of gear choices in the end, which takes away from the feeling of being unique.
2) Lore-wise MMOs tend to place us into worlds that seem to have past their golden eras. We go after legendary weapons and gear that someone in the past made rather than players becoming their own legends and making their own gear (again, not following a design/schematic left by some NPC)
I don't know what a solution to this would be - perhaps a crafting system that allows for small variability in end-item stats or added attributes; maybe allowing for the use of different resources to produce the variable effects (i.e. why does the Uber Axe blueprint need ash wood instead of of oak? can we experiment and produce something slightly different that I might prefer because its bonus suits my play style?).
Whatever the mechanic, it would be nice to shift the player mindset from 'I need to get this item now because that's what everyone else says to get' to 'hmm, this is what I want to do in this world, what can I make to match my awesomeness'. Ultimately, I feel the ultimate feeling of player empowerment is forging their own path - in the story, skills and in item acquisition.
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Another thing that hurt the loot variability of WoW is setting specific items to drop from a specific boss. It makes the game terribly easy when you can open up a tab in game, search through a list dungeons and bosses and find the piece of gear you want before you even enter the dungeon! Items should be able to drop off any boss/npc, it feels so linear otherwise, you're funnelled into a bottleneck to get the best gear in game.
I'd love to see a system with crafting as a major player in the loot game. There should always be the potential to find something out of the ordinary - to build on what was previously thought of as "best in slot". For a living, breathing world like what I imagine AoC to be, it needs to be constantly progressive. Imagine being able to become a master crafter (which could take a significant investment of your time and should do if you choose to go down that path) - and being able to create the most unique items on the server.
Crafting will be a major player in the loot game, very little gear will be bound so it will be tradable, and it has been said that items can be broken down to learn how they are made, thus a crafter will learn how to craft a broken down item. It is early days yet and much of what we say is just speculation even alpha0 has been described as crafting lite by Steve.
I do hope there is a good variety of gear and the look of gear, we know that each race and sub-race will have its own unique style both to its equipment and architecture. You will be able to wear other races styled gear, so while gear may have the same stats there will be 8 distinct styles not to mention old gear from before the exodus that may have yet more distinct styles. There is also a dye system that will allow for further customization, and of course skins and costumes.
So with luck our characters will be able to look different from each other, and with gear I do hope there will be many choices as to how you set your stats up no cookie cutter gear setups.
Instead everything should just drop things the particular npc could realistically possess at that time its killed.. and that should be mostly crafting materials which could be used for a great variety of gear and other items.
If there is one helmet that always drops from one boss that is obviously the best-in-slot for any defensively themed character, you get the situation you described where the loot system becomes static, and everyone simply chases after acquiring the same piece of equipment. If, on the other hand, there are five different helmets which each have a different mix of theoretically appealing attributes, the dimensionality of choice the player faces with itemization increases.
Unfortunately, I strongly feel that item sets (which Intrepid has said they are including in the game) are problematic here because what tends to happen is that item sets encourage players to choose the best set of gear, rather than choosing the best pieces of gear. This has the particularly damaging consequence of reducing the dimensionality of choice for the player where instead of choosing the combination of five pieces of gear for five equipment slots, you simply choose which one item set you will use for all five slots.
I personally hope that during the testing process Intrepid backs away from gear sets and moves towards simply having a large variety of unique and interesting itemization. This will improve the richness of character development and the gear chase while helping to protect crafters (whose role is damaged by the presence of equipment sets).
I think there will be a need for a balance of crafting and drops.
There should be things that crafters can make, which don't drop (or almost unique in drops) and likewise some gear should be unique to drops.
That named lochbar axe, with hill giant strength buff, which you got from a minotaur toughie, probable cannot not be crafted (unless your a minotaur).
Instead of x boss drops x weapon I would love to see x boss drops x craft component and you make your gear from that.
I do think there should be SOME world loot, trinkets etc. Weapons and armor make craftable but trinkets, rings, necks, make ancient powerful items that add a specific bonus rather than a stat bonus?
Let weapons and armor determine movement speed, swing speed, other characteristics along with base stat upgrades.
Maybe bosses drop "gems" (generic) that add 'set' bonuses to gear? So you can craft your perfect weapon for you, then slot it with that uber set bonus?
I agree that sets do tend to be a little problematic and you end up with people disregarding excellent items because of set bonuses.
I don't mind the Elder Scrolls system of mixing and matching sets so you can get a 2 piece bonus and a 4 piece bonus. But still you do feel locked into a set of gear and there usually tends to be one or two sets that are the "best" for any given role.
I think with just individual pieces of gear, you can mix and match so much more and have so much more ability to choose a style for your character, one that can make you truly individual and not so much cookie cutter.
The ESO system isn't a bad way of doing it there are real choices you can make concerning the stats on your gear, sets you can craft and the style of the set. I actually hope that ashes will be even more in depth with all manner of choices as to what stats can be on gear, and its style, we do know that each sub race has its own distinct style thus 9. But will there be others, older styles from before the exodus or from other sources such as non player races.
But I do hope there will a lot of choice involved when crafting a set of armour as to the stats and abilities they possess.
Putting things in a tiered structure allows players to work towards those improvements via token / item drops rather than hoping for the RNG to not curse them to grind out that final piece or two of a set item.
The traits can be pre-determined by sets, but allow the player to choose what type of set enhancement they will place on the gear.
Where many MMO games have failed on the past is by putting to much of a gap between the tiers of gear. Tier one gear should be relatively easy to obtain in small group play, and there should be an equivalent solo piece out there as well.
Tier two gear should require a moderate grid with teamwork and community involved in obtaining the pieces. There should be no solo equivalent gear.
Tier three gear should stack onto the concepts of tier two with more time invested to obtain.
The final tier, legendary items should initially be phased in on weapons only. Bring them in slow and balance them well. Have one for each character spec if you will. Then introduce a second and third wave of them to allow players options to optimize their play style.
I also feel that balance between range and melee types needs to really be weighed. Berserk type of warriors and rogues that do their damage up close and personal should put out more damage than ranged players. Warriors that cannot stealth like rogue / ranger types should be more survivable.
It is all just a mathematical sliding scale with variance in style of play IMHO. But the most important thing is to allow players to play the style they want and make sure that the gear enhances that without causing OP builds. And when they do happen, because they will, devs have a tough job of determining who their audience is and who this game is made for.
Hence determining the balance between hard core and casual players. Because that is where the gear grinds end up making the most differential on the virtual battlefields. Just how much reward to players get for grinding gear.
That is my take on it anyways...
They already talked about finding resources that are limited and might disappear all together for a long time, talked about abandoning the tier system in crafting and replacing it with a component based one, which translates to different kinds of woods apply different stat focuses.
I don't know when the last time they talked about crafting at all, it's obviously not their first focus, but I can point at QnAs from march that state this, so as long as they don't throw away those statements officially, all you asked for is present in Ashes.
SWTOR somewhat had this as a system with their orange grade of equipment making it so you're just socketing in the best component for the gear you wanted to look like. Which is why when I played I had top tier raid gear, but was using the level 30 armor appearance.