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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.
Ideas for legendary weapons!
Damokles
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Hello everyone, its Damokles once again!
So, i once again had some free time, and as a highly enthusiastic crafter dreamed about legendary weapons once more.
Here are some of the drafts, share your opinions on them and tell everyone how you would like to see legendary weapons implemented in the game.
Should they have special effects, or maybe even special weaponskills?
Ratman (Potionl.) - They shall all come down with the Sickness!
- Special Effect: Attacks inflict poison, bleeding and slow debuff on all hit enemies.
Apocalypse (2h-Mace) - Playtime never ends.
- Special Effect: Melee attacks and abilities have a cleave effect and inflict bleeding on hit enemies.
Headsmasher (1h-Mace) - Playing Whack-a-mole for days.
- Special Effect: Melee attacks have a 50% chance to stun the enemy for .1sec.
Bloodthirst (2h-Axe) - The party has just begun!
- Special Effect: Melee attacks and abilities heal the user for x% of damage dealt.
Shieldbreaker (1h-Axe) - Here comes daddy!
- Special Effect: Attacks stack a 5% armour reduction debuff (up to 5 times)
Mountain Splitter (2h-Sword) - No enemy too big.
- Special Effect: Attacks deal x% of the targets % of remaining hp (highest damage bonus against full hp targets).
Thorn (1h-sword) - Even the most beautifull flowers have thorns.
- Special Effect: Each time that someone attacks user in melee combat, deal x% of that damage back to enemy.
Thin Line of Justice (Dagger) - There is a thin line between justice and corruption.
- Special Effect: Every second attack detonates the target, dealing x amount of damage to surrounding enemies and inflicting them with a slow (two melee aoes detonate all enemies hit).
The Problemsolver (Polearm) - I have 99 problems, and you are none.
- Special Effect: User deals increased damage for number of enemies surrounding him. (Can stack up to 99 times)
Thunderbolt (Spear) - As fast as lightning.
- Special Effect: Users attacks can pull him to his target, if it is within 3m range.
Last Whisper (Longbow) - A last caress before the end.
- Special Effect: Slight aim correction/increased critical hitchance depending on distance to target.
Lovers Embrace (Shortbow) - Who doesnt want to die in the arms of his loved one?
- Special Effect: Deals increased damage for each meter that you are close to the target.
Boltthrower 3000 (Crossbow) - Have you ever wondered how a porcupine feels?
- Special Effect: Deals stacking damage to target (stacks decay if you change target).
The Embalmer (Scepter) - I see they already removed their brain?
- Special Effect: Attacks and spells inflict a debuff on target, that drains lifeforce and mana for 3sec.
The Hierophants Folly (Staff) - The higher they are, the harder their fall.
- Special Effect: Deals increased damage, depending on the hp difference between user and target.
Zip-Zap (Wand) - You point from left to right, they go Zip and Zap.
- Special Effect: Mark an enemy. If you attack another enemy with spells or attacks, then cast a copy of on the marked target for reduced damage.
The Necronomicon (Spellbook) - You shall have soooo many friends on the other side.
- Special Effect: Spells have a 25% chance to summon a little demonic servant that charges your target and implodes on impact.
Palantir (Orb) - Those that seek power always ignore the fine print.
- Special Effect: Periodically returns all debuffs to the enemy caster that inflicted them upon you.
Aegis (Shield) - Never cower, stick out your chest and be proud!
- Special Effect: User recives for each attack a stacking hot (can stack up to 10 times).
So, i once again had some free time, and as a highly enthusiastic crafter dreamed about legendary weapons once more.
Here are some of the drafts, share your opinions on them and tell everyone how you would like to see legendary weapons implemented in the game.
Should they have special effects, or maybe even special weaponskills?
Ratman (Potionl.) - They shall all come down with the Sickness!
- Special Effect: Attacks inflict poison, bleeding and slow debuff on all hit enemies.
Apocalypse (2h-Mace) - Playtime never ends.
- Special Effect: Melee attacks and abilities have a cleave effect and inflict bleeding on hit enemies.
Headsmasher (1h-Mace) - Playing Whack-a-mole for days.
- Special Effect: Melee attacks have a 50% chance to stun the enemy for .1sec.
Bloodthirst (2h-Axe) - The party has just begun!
- Special Effect: Melee attacks and abilities heal the user for x% of damage dealt.
Shieldbreaker (1h-Axe) - Here comes daddy!
- Special Effect: Attacks stack a 5% armour reduction debuff (up to 5 times)
Mountain Splitter (2h-Sword) - No enemy too big.
- Special Effect: Attacks deal x% of the targets % of remaining hp (highest damage bonus against full hp targets).
Thorn (1h-sword) - Even the most beautifull flowers have thorns.
- Special Effect: Each time that someone attacks user in melee combat, deal x% of that damage back to enemy.
Thin Line of Justice (Dagger) - There is a thin line between justice and corruption.
- Special Effect: Every second attack detonates the target, dealing x amount of damage to surrounding enemies and inflicting them with a slow (two melee aoes detonate all enemies hit).
The Problemsolver (Polearm) - I have 99 problems, and you are none.
- Special Effect: User deals increased damage for number of enemies surrounding him. (Can stack up to 99 times)
Thunderbolt (Spear) - As fast as lightning.
- Special Effect: Users attacks can pull him to his target, if it is within 3m range.
Last Whisper (Longbow) - A last caress before the end.
- Special Effect: Slight aim correction/increased critical hitchance depending on distance to target.
Lovers Embrace (Shortbow) - Who doesnt want to die in the arms of his loved one?
- Special Effect: Deals increased damage for each meter that you are close to the target.
Boltthrower 3000 (Crossbow) - Have you ever wondered how a porcupine feels?
- Special Effect: Deals stacking damage to target (stacks decay if you change target).
The Embalmer (Scepter) - I see they already removed their brain?
- Special Effect: Attacks and spells inflict a debuff on target, that drains lifeforce and mana for 3sec.
The Hierophants Folly (Staff) - The higher they are, the harder their fall.
- Special Effect: Deals increased damage, depending on the hp difference between user and target.
Zip-Zap (Wand) - You point from left to right, they go Zip and Zap.
- Special Effect: Mark an enemy. If you attack another enemy with spells or attacks, then cast a copy of on the marked target for reduced damage.
The Necronomicon (Spellbook) - You shall have soooo many friends on the other side.
- Special Effect: Spells have a 25% chance to summon a little demonic servant that charges your target and implodes on impact.
Palantir (Orb) - Those that seek power always ignore the fine print.
- Special Effect: Periodically returns all debuffs to the enemy caster that inflicted them upon you.
Aegis (Shield) - Never cower, stick out your chest and be proud!
- Special Effect: User recives for each attack a stacking hot (can stack up to 10 times).
3
Comments
I know, but they were mostly something that i thought would have a nice theme
What i am mlst interested in, is how other people think about legendary weapons and how they think they should be implemented.
Well, I have 2 questions to ask first:
1. What defines a legendary weapon? Is it more powerful than other weapons or simply harder to acquire?
2. Why do we need legendary weapons in Ashes?
For me personally when I hear the term "legendary weapon" I imagine weapons with heavy significance in the lore of the game. Famous weapons that were once wielded by by-gone heroes or even gods. Obviously this kind of thing is hard to do in Ashes because currently there is no lore.
An example could be a shield - something that has amazing stats (what ever shield stats do), but has the effect of the holder unable to ever be at the top of an enemies hate list. So the player has the best shield in the game, but can't tank PvE content.
One example from EQ2 of this (the only example of such an item that I know of in an MMO) was the Bloodthirsty Choker. Being a neck item (a choker, after all), you weren't able to take it off during combat (an important factor). The effect it had was to give every spell 25% more damage (which was applied last, so if you already had increases to spells, this increase would increase those increases).
The downside was that it would take 10% of your total life every time you cast a spell. It was very easy to kill yourself with this item, and some healers would refuse to heal anyone that wore it. That said, some were more than happy for specific classes (specifically those that cast slow, big spells) to use the item as it game the healer someone else to heal, and got the group or raid through the content faster.
1. A legendary weapon is something, that can be either crafted after multiple months of preparation at the highest level, or a reward for a legendary questchain. They are stronger than any other non legendary weapon. I like the GW2 approach of legendary weapons the most tbh.
2. It is not about us needing them in AoC, Steven already confirmed their existence in the game after all
There could be a good chance, that IS does go that rout, they have a good backstory for such after all
It would be cool to see one legendary for each playable race too.
I'm thinking that they may have choose to go for those timing combo attack, like 3 click with 1sec delay and 2 with 2sec that make you move in a certain style with you weapon , where the damages rise for each success click.
If it's right i would like to see Legendary weapon with no limits combo but more conditions to succeed it , like you have to hit some one ect.
I would enjoy to see a hug one edge sword that need to be drag behind you and that slow you but once you swing it, you make a little jump and for each success hit, you jump further !
Obviously the combo break if you mist.
(I know the are no plan for stupidity hug sword but I think Legendary weapons is a place where they could place some exception and justifies it with prerequisites to us those weapon , like for this word having master the sword and a massive other weapon )
It would be really interesting, if legendary weapons had special attack sequences.
A hammer could maybe pull in enemies every three attacks etc.
But as a crafter to I wonder if all the Legendary item will be craft able or some will be unique and unduplic able.
I would prefer these weapons to be "unique". Not a classification of a weapon, but by it's very definition - there's only one of them (per server.)
That doesn't mean they have to have crazy damage, effects, or spells - just completely unique in their own right. Especially with a unique story element to go with it in-game. I would also want the weapon stats or effects (damage, abilities, etc.) to be hidden to everybody except the owner of the weapon. That way only he/she knows the real effects, stats, etc. and can choose whether or not to share it.
It could be the best weapon in the game... or perhaps it's actually the weakest, but grants some unique benefit? Imagine as long as you hold it you're invulnerable... but if you hit someone with it, it shatters. Based on an older game where you would essentially drop all of your gear when you died (or it would break on death), one of the most valuable weapons in the game was a weapon that never dropped or broke when you died.
Too many possibilities!
I dont want a case like wow, where you make legendaries every expansion and throw away old ones.
I think a good idea to prevent that would be to make them "growing" weapons. You could sacrifice a certain number of newly added epic wepons of the same weapontype to upgrade your legendary to the new best.
Let say you have 1% to get the blueprint and 99% to destroy it for ever in this server what would you do ?
For items that offer up a required stat that is limited in terms of where you can attain it (weapon damage or armor, usually), you need to upgrade that stat every time there is new top end content added to the game.
For items that don't offer this kind of thing (jewelry, as an example), you could quite happily have an item that is several expansions old with an effect that is simply too good to give up.
In terms of weapons or armor , when they release new content that makes the base stats of such an item less than ideal, they could simply allow crafters to take the core of that legendary item and apply it to a different item of the same base item type.
Personally though, I'd rather items that are deserving of being called legendary to be something that can last players several years, rather than needing to be replaced or upgraded every time new content is added.
About the legendary weapons in itself, I think that in the end, we will have two "types" of legendary weapons.
The one we get from quest lines or loot, dunno... and the ones we craft.
I remember having read or heard (maybe i'm smoking) that as a crafter, you can craft one same weapon in many different ways, that will change its stats at the final result.
That rise the question, will the "crafting recipe" to create a legendary weapon "unique" in the way the result will always be the same, or as I said before we will be able to change the way we create it and in the end its stats ?So it we would mean we have the potential to customize crafted legendary weapons in their creation process.
Regarding the combo system replacing auto-attacks, it would be indeed interesting to add depth to the gameplay with changes in how you use the combos.
I think that your idea would fit another weapon better, the way I see legendary weapons, is that they are not only unique in their stats and effects, but unique in their appearances.
Let's imagine for a second we have a polearm, since it's a legendary one it's aspect becomes a scythe. The way it is made you could grab someone closer to you with the weapon's unique combo.
It makes me think of some equipment in POE where they give you unique gameplay and builds.
Taking your idea and the example of @Damokles
I can imagine a legendary 1h-sword or 2h-sword that is like a "whip-sword" if it exists, just like extended weapons in Aion, it would have lower stats in general, but increased range. Its combos could maybe root the target if some conditions are met (encircling the target and restraining it).
To give you a proper idea :
I really like the whip sword xD
Another thing that would be interesting, is if legendaries could switch forms.
Like, they could have a one handed and a two handed mode.
Staff -> Wand
Longbow -> Shortbow
Scepter -> Orb
2-handed axe/sword/mace -> 1-handed equivalent
I remembered the item from EQ2 as I was typing the post - it was a much more general concept (everyone understands 25% more damage while taking 10% of your total HP).
I want a Legendary mass baleful polymorph wand.
1x / day, I can turn everybody in the town in to a newt!
Only if you turn yourself into a newt too, and the transformation is only 1min.
Of course they will require a lot of effort to obtain, but the reward for the effort is the chance to use their power. However, i hope in exchange for the power the weapons have some drawbacks that make for more thoughtful game play and decision making of when to use them.
Risks that offset the power. Such as drawbacks that give negative effects on the user or the risk that if the wielder is killed they could drop the weapon for an opponent to pick up. It would make players think before using them. Do they want to use their OP weapon against their rival guild for an advantage in a battle to preserve their town? Would they still be willing to do so if their champion dies they might have one of their best assets turned against them? Will a player want to constantly use a weapon with a power like ignoring half of enemies armor or resistances if it also lowers the resistances of the wielder or reduces the durability of their gear when used?
I like the idea of legendary weapons having risks to their use so they are seen more in big/important battles when they are needed to tip the scales than just having people running around using rare OP weapons to gank poor crafters for cheap materials. Though I think the risk should reflect the reward. If legendary weapons are only marginally better than top tier non-legendary weapons, then I don't think it would be worth putting drawbacks on them, but if they are as game changing as I hope them are, then I hope they have risks to make players think before using them.
I think they should be incentivized to be used and not be kept hidden or hoarded, but should also have measures in place to keep them from being less special and used like any other weapon. Maybe make a requirement that a legendary weapon can only be used during an event like a siege, node war, caravan, or dungeon? That way people can't go around trolling and ganking with them, but there will always be the chance that one could show up when something starts happening and up the stakes?
For Legendary unique item the only thing i do hope they do well is making sure that those item will be us regardless the risk , I don't want them to be collectors item that you will know some one got it from record but never see it because the owner don't want to lose it by using it .
I'm made a topics about it , where i proposed a mechanic that forced the owner to us it if he want to keep it.
There are absolutely legendary items and they're not items that are attained easily nor are they granted out in a volume. There might even be items that are single items that will exist on the server at any given time.
Another thing to note regarding this is, that legendaries are not temporary (except for legendary mounts that you find in the wild). Legendary weapons wont despawn and will most likely be unbreakable.
We want to stay away from the highly RNGd system, and instead take our multiple progression paths that we are offering the players and put the construction components for achieving these legendary items within them so it encourages communities to work together because it's going to be difficult for just one person by themselves to gather everything. Not to say that they couldn't in an economic sense, by buying those components, that's possible. But achieving them from a time investment standpoint we want it to be considerably less RNG focussed.
This could mean, that the construction of a legendary weapon is something that a whole guild has to do together (like Thunderfury or Sulfuras in WoW Classic).
There could also be a shield that risks deflecting damage upon both allies and enemies in a cone in front of it, but ultimately has great defensive stats.
I really like the scythe idea, where it drains the energy around it.
It could be balanced in a sense that it drains 5% of current hp from all units in a 5m radius (including yourself and allies). It couldnt outright kill them, but leave them at 1hp. And in turn it would increase your dmg by
(5 × amount of units you drained energy from)%.
Yes please ^^
Lets say it just procs a dps buff then if it is a mace spikes could come out temporarily. Think Devs at Ashes of Creation Could come up with things ten times better that . Way better than that. Idea is to put some life into the weapon. Instead of just nice looking with proc or ability that does not even have in game animation.
Plus lets say I am playing a palladin and have a holy weapon. Weapon could pulse with holy energy denoting Nagash (meant undead) same thing is around.
Same thing for undead death knight could have dark red or purple energy pulse much like neon lights in Need For Speed for their Weapons when Goody tissue palladins and clerics are around.
Actually could be used to denote certain rival is around in normal weapons. Like if you been ganked by lets say Bob a lot so you put him on Rival list and weapon pulsates when around.
don´t get me wrong, I enjoy a reference to H.P. Lovecraft work as much as any other but, for a "legendary" weapon and far more from an item which will only exist one of a kind at any moment at any server I expect something more than an axe that has the same effect and name of a League of Legends item
For example how about some of the weapons have some kind of debuff for the user and maybe just make an exception for the rule "all classes at any level can use all weapons" maybe just for the use of legendary weapons you need a minimum amount of point in proficiency with that kind of weapon (if I remember well there is going to be a system like in vanilla wow).
Another important thing is this:
I think you're completely correct about this fact but there is space for some twist too, bear with me, you are a player lvl 1 just entered the game and going for your first hunt in the forest, classic one,slay some boars and slimes just to get some experience and coins, but all of a sudden you found a item in the ground, its just a stick, a normal, common, simple stick, but for some reason you can pick it from the ground, and it has status for attack and defense 1 on each and makes 1-3 damage per hit, it doesn't activate any kind of quest but for some reason there seems to be no other "sticks" around to be picked, why? is it some kind of bug or maybe just a little prank from a bored GM?
but what you don´t know is that if you keep that stick, equip it and start to use it has a weapon it starts to evolve at the same phase as you and eventually it will become a legendary weapon, and it was all just luck, my point is, we are talking about the game that will bring MMORPG 2.0 to the market or at least we all hope so, so I reeeeeeeeaaaaaaally expect this extra push and out of the box kind of implementation, including legendary weapons
I love the idea of items being seemingly basic but leveling up and becoming more and more powerful over time! I hope there's going to be a lot of that alongside some that have quests attached to them.
As far as I know the money we gather will not be able to us at the moment we kill and loot the monster but when we sell the dropped items to a merchant, ABD I kinda remember that it was said that rare spawns will drop only items according to the level and rarity of the NPC, so let's imagine you're come across one of these rare monsters, you manage to overcome it and loot it, but among the treasures there is a grey or white item that should not be there, a monster lvl 40 dropping trash? Why? Maybe your first instinct is take it and sell it at the first opportunity, but what if you go to the local gatherer that has some kind of appraisal ability and BAM!!! the item you woul have sold in maybe 1 silver is actually a very rare components for a combination of materials that will grant you a legendary item!!!
This are just simple ideas that i can think of giving the legendary weapons some spice and I'm sure that the IS team can think of more awesome way to impress us in this subject
I like this idea from an adventuring standpoint - but from a crafter/economy standpoint, I'm somewhat less interested.