Game Design Developer Diaries - Submit Your Question Here!

mcstackerson

What percent of the class skill tree do you want us to be able to use once we hit max level?

Apok

From a class design perspective, what kind of builds can we look forward to when it comes to stat modifiers from gear?

mozsta69

Hi Team,
Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions.

Sorry if this has been asked. In combat will there be a block action? And does it use stamina?

What other activities so far do you see using stamina? For example sprinting, rolling, blocking, maybe swimming?

Thank you

aeder

How far will a smith be able to progress by themselves, with gathering, processing and crafting all being required to create an item?

Will I be able to craft my own items without needing the support of two other people just to have the resources required for anything?

Sarevok

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read all of our questions! I have multiple questions so please feel free to choose the best one you might be able to answer.

1. If you decide to go with full action combat, will you have healers cast more AoE heals or go with smart healing that targets the lowest health ally in range or will healers have to aim at the ally needing heals?
2. How will threat or enmity system work in the game when in a tank role? Will they need to have DPS to back up their threat generation or will some attacks just generate more threat than damage to maintain mob(s) focus?
3. For all classes, how do you plan to balance DPS, CC, support, mobility and survival? Following a rock/paper/scissor philosophy and Steven (aka Sorcerer) having played ArcheAge, will some classes be stronger in certain areas giving them their own unique playstyles? How will you deal with cookie cutter builds or meta classes in a game that offers 64 different options?
4. Having played Dark Age of Camelot and enjoyed their armor resistances, is there any ideas floating around where we can see something like crushing or blunt weapons are strong vs heavy armor, weak vs medium armor and neutral vs light armor? i.e. https://darkageofcamelot.com/content/armor-resist-tables
5. Will spells damage type (fire, frost, lightning, etc...) also play a factor into doing more damage vs certain armor types? I'm worried about this mainly due to how ArcheAge made Plate armor weak to magic, leather was balanced between physical and magical damage and light was weak to physical. On that note, will it be feasible to mix and match all armor types together? i.e. Heavy chest and legs with medium boots, gloves and shoulders with a light helm.
6. How much RNG is going to be in the combat mechanics? If you decide to go for a full action combat style, will evasion/dodge passives and block passives be removed to give players control over their own survival?

Thanks!

Hexcat

We have already seen some of the abilities in action during the MMO gameplay video and the Apocalypse game testing, my question is:
Are you planing to make the abilities more visually stunning depending of the level of such ability?
For example
Fire spell: Spark--->Ignite--->Fireball--->Flameshock--->Dragon Breath
Each state representing a visual upgrade to the ability or its going to be the same VFX fireball at level 5 and at level 50?
Thanks for reading hoping for an answer
Great work everyone

mattmann06

Ahoy!
One of the last Dev Diaries I believe Steven mentioned there will be a "best tank".
My question is will there be an absolute DPS class/dps build? Or will you guys try to balance the dps across a few dps classes?

If the first question has already been answered.
Will there be classes/builds that was have a buffer/mezzer that totally rely on noncombat specefic roles? My worry is I dont want my bard dying to a level 3 iron quill porcupine.

toshito

My question is, how will you balance the other builds, dps and tanking build agaisnt the self healing builds in the pvp scenario and cc locked builds (if that will exist ofc)?

Damokles

*cough* *cough* BARDS?!? *cough* *cough*

nightragner

Can the devs explain the difficulty in making unique abilities to fit the theme of a class that also then can work in combinations without making one just better than another class?

Gattsu

Will we be getting weapon enchantments / effects / animation effects i.e on weapons and armours

Fire / lightning / ice / death / bloodstealing etc?

darkblade

Will there be any way to be able to transform into an animal/creature of some kind? A bit like a druid.

reodan16

- Ability Design
** we all know that in a hybrid type or on a more combat type mmo, almost all of the classes have their own cc respectively. What will be your approach to this? Personally I see this as a stigma, this actually constricts diversity in classes. (ex. 50% population will be assasin) Or how will you prevent this.
- Balance Design
** I am a support player, even of fps games, as I remember you can combine classes like go for paly and then healer, thus serving as both tank and sustain. Will there be a way to go healer - healer? Will it give more boost to approach the class system in linear method.
- Class Design
** Will you approach the big bad a** armours like fantasy inclined? or will you try and stick realistically? Like super fitted full plates and proper paddings and all.

Idhalar AlBaiesh

-We already know about utility skills and have seen things like polymorph. What variety of out of combat skills can we expect from the different classes?
Most MMOs focus too much on combat skills and it's a shame. For example arcane magic casting and divine classes should have all kinds of different useful spells, summons or miracles available.

C4ptainGrumpy

How will stats like power and mentality effect gameplay?

Caelron

Something I've noticed in all games lately, the developers seem to think that "engagement" is the most important metric. While fun == engaging ; engaging != fun (Should be read as: Fun is always engaging, but engaging is not always fun. I'd even go so far as saying that forced engagement is almost never fun.)

That being said - Will classes have skills and abilities designed to always be used or always be implemented in a rotation, or will it be more selective and situational?

To be more specific, there's two main questions/observations related to that:
1. Are classes going to have abilities that don't get used all the time? Reasoning: I think that a Mage should have hundreds of spells, some that rarely ever get used, but perhaps a few "core" damaging spells, depending on the encounter or the target. If I'm going to fight an ice dragon, I want to prepare more fire-based spells, or spells that keep me from slipping on ice, and other unique/situational type spells. Or a Fighter: I think he should have a different set of abilities fighting humans than fighting against dragons. Or perhaps different weapon sets/enchantments or gear to fight a different type of opponent (don't want to wear metal fighting a rust monster.)
2. Will class design be focused around how many buttons you push and how quickly? I think there's always a few games that think you're not being "engaging" enough in a fight, regardless of role, unless you're pushing a button every 1-2 seconds or quicker; or somehow not complicated enough unless you're actively managing 8-10 buttons all the time per encounter. If I wanted to play a summoner and spend 10 minutes summoning my custom monster and then sit back for most of the real "fight", I should be able to. Or maybe I want to spend a full minute casting a monster meteor instead of flinging pea-shooter fireballs every 3 seconds. Trying to hide in a corner and avoid having your spell interrupted for that minute could potentially be more fun than a magical slap-fight.

bloodprophet

Animal husbandry.
What is the intent? How will we aquire new creatures to breed? Will there be a skill tree and we specialize in a certain type(unicorns vs wolves)?
Will we need to experiment to find hidden types or will we need to learn from books/scrolls the available combinations?

Thanks and keep up the good work!!

Bloodchant

Would love a Dev Diary on Orc Architecture 😊

Ghyx

What is the team's stance on the balance of cosmetic diversity that is available via in-game content/progression versus via an in-game cosmetic shop?

On a related note, what is the current view of the design team on cosmetic progression for harder content - i.e., are the fanciest skins/cosmetics available from the hardest content (e.g., raids, etc.)? If so, how is the team thinking about cosmetic progression for other types of content (e.g., how will we look interesting/engaging while leveling, or if we enjoy other content types at endgame)?

Argentum401

Hi together

What is planed for the leveling systhem for combat and noncombat skills? is it a fix systhem of where you only get stronger by achiving specific levels, ore are you getting proggressivly stronger the more you do sth. ?
fore example, if you cast 1000 fire balls you get +10 dmg. added to that spell.

Kesarakk

When you approach the current class list, how do you plan out abilities that not only feel unique to that class, but also the character with their subclasses? How will I be able to tell the difference between a Spellsword and a Battle-Mage?

sivanna

What types of healing can we hope to see for healing classes?
For example: leeching, summons, absorbs, HoTs, area effects (runes or auras), potions/kits, redirection

Aertew2

How many abilities will classes have? Will it be like WoW where you have to keep track of 20+ abilities? Or will it be 10 abilites for a bar?

Wandering Mist

What are you current thoughts on resource management in combat (e.g. Mana, stamina, etc)? For example, how often will we be able to cast spells before going "oom", and will there be abilities/augments to gain back those resources during combat?

Saturn Aurora

What will be the skill cap? Cause if its 10 i can see things getting tedious and boring quite fast. But if its 10+ which opens more variety and insist the player utilizes more strategic thinking with what skills to use for certain situations then it is more exciting.
I just want to know do we have a rough number of how many skills a player can expect to get by max level?

Varkun

What is your vision for the tank in pvp. Will taunts have an effect on other player characters and if so what type of effect might they have?

YeOldeSmith

Do you have any dates about when we will see any of this in a stream? Or in alpha form?

Eona

Will you have at least one race that stands up straight and has good posture? I have been watching some of the pvp videos, and none of the characters seem to have straight posture, instead they all seem to have rounded shoulders, and walk forward with their heads first (like turtles).

martilk

Will there be a talent tree that lets us choose some of our abilities after we pick our secondary class?

SynK

Hello, AoC Developers,

I have a question about the Guild System and Trading System of AoC. I know that this topic has been touched over a couple times throughout the announcement of AoC, however, I want to ask more in-depth questions about them. With the trading system, will we be able to freely trade stuff amongst other members? Say that I found an item in a dungeon, such as a weapon, but I didn't really need it. Would I be able to trade that item openly with a friend or Guildee that needed that item without having to go through a Marketplace?

With the Guild System, will there be more detail orientated on it? This game seems like it will be heavily focused on joining a Guild for Nodes and PvE/PvP content. Could you provide more detailed analysis on everything that will be included in Guilds, like ranking systems where some ranks aren't just name placements but actually have purposes. Like other MMO's just have ranks that really do nothing.

More details on these two topics would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
SynK