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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.
Underwater Content
neuroguy
Member, Alpha Two
What do people expect and want from the underwater content? Where have you seen it done well and what did it entail?
I personally think the underwater content provides a cool opportunity to really make the players have to deal with and survive a harsh environment. I don't think underwater combat should be emphasized too much as I've never seen it done well in an mmo (it's just regular combat but you are 'flying'... cool -_-). But if underwater exploration and dungeons (not underwater NPC hubs) required more prep and interactions with breathing, light, temperature, and even pressure based on depth I would be happy. Finding some shipwreck should be cool and a different feel than finding old ruins on the ground. If I just have to kill a bunch of mobs to get some loot either way, I don't care if the mobs are fish/snake people that are in water or out of water. But if I have to plan for the appropriate depth and get provision and know I have limited time to explore, then it feels different than above water.
Essentially: I just hope they make underwater content and exploration actually feel different and have different mechanics than above water. If it's the same formula of kill monsters, but this time they look like fish and you can move up and down because you're underwater then that's not very exciting. Also, if my breathing bar is easy to get around by some potion or spell that lasts 30 minutes +, then the breathing bar is kinda pointless.
I also have zero experience with naval combat in games, so I was curious how people expect/want underwater mechanics to interact with naval stuff? In terms of combat as well as what happens if you fall overboard or your ship sinks.
I personally think the underwater content provides a cool opportunity to really make the players have to deal with and survive a harsh environment. I don't think underwater combat should be emphasized too much as I've never seen it done well in an mmo (it's just regular combat but you are 'flying'... cool -_-). But if underwater exploration and dungeons (not underwater NPC hubs) required more prep and interactions with breathing, light, temperature, and even pressure based on depth I would be happy. Finding some shipwreck should be cool and a different feel than finding old ruins on the ground. If I just have to kill a bunch of mobs to get some loot either way, I don't care if the mobs are fish/snake people that are in water or out of water. But if I have to plan for the appropriate depth and get provision and know I have limited time to explore, then it feels different than above water.
Essentially: I just hope they make underwater content and exploration actually feel different and have different mechanics than above water. If it's the same formula of kill monsters, but this time they look like fish and you can move up and down because you're underwater then that's not very exciting. Also, if my breathing bar is easy to get around by some potion or spell that lasts 30 minutes +, then the breathing bar is kinda pointless.
I also have zero experience with naval combat in games, so I was curious how people expect/want underwater mechanics to interact with naval stuff? In terms of combat as well as what happens if you fall overboard or your ship sinks.
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Comments
1. Underwater fishing (like octopus catching, or clam diving etc)
2. Underwater exploration (like secret pirate coves, treasure chests, sunken wracks etc)
What about Octopus wrestling?
So what does underwater exploration look like to you though? Just like above water exploration expect you also fly and have some breathing bar you have to deal with? How do you find wrecks?
@neuroguy Well that depends. Pirate coves could be found through looted treasure maps (the same could go for normal treasure chests), while wrecks could be random under the sea and you would to have to actually look for them, or you can hear news in the tavern of a sunken ship etc. They could make it so that ship wrecks can randomly spawn on active sea traderoutes.
Exploration itself would be like you described: you have an air bar that slowly depletes, and the actual time underwater would then depend on your stamina stat (meaning that tanks for example could naturally stay longer underwater). It would be also really cool, if engineers could craft things like air canisters or something like that xD
I want this so bad
No more Shark costumes increasing swim speed like in bdo!
You're bleeding for salvation, but you can't see that you are the damnation itself." -Norther
Completely off topic but that guy's buoyancy control is absolutely shit.
As for underwater stuff in Ashes, the main problem with underwater anything is the use of the Z axis (the bit that goes up and down). Most mmorpgs aren't designed for this kind of movement and it can be very disorientating for people, particularly when manipulating the camera. That's why you will often think your character is level with an object/mob underwater when in fact they are above or below it.
It's something to consider if a large portion of the game is done underwater.
Underwater content is already confirmed including dungeons and points of interest. https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Underwater#cite_note-livestream-19-May-2017-38:46-1
I haven't played archeage but underwater MMO combat in my experience is just not different enough from above water to give it any real meaning. As the original post suggests, I just don't think underwater combat can be made that good in MMOs from what I've seen but I don't think "combat" needs to be the focus of what you do underwater necessarily. Outside of dungeons, points of interest and coastline waters, I hope there is more of a "treasure finding" feel to exploring underwater, with shipwrecks and such but not necessarily mobs in too many places.
The best underwater content I've seen is not in an MMO, it is in survival games like subnautica where there is virtually no combat. Instead, survival mechanics and exploration are what drive the feel and purpose of being underwater and I think that this may be transferable to MMOs. I am excited to see what Intrepid does with underwater stuff. Given how cool the underrealm looks, I am excited for the aesthetics alone already hahaha.