25 Questions About Ashes of Creation
CaptainLongstar
Member
Hello Steven,
First I will say that you guys are doing a great job with Ashes of Creation. I’m really excited with a lot of the elements your team has added to this game from past MMOs I used to play. As a player, MMOs are supposed to be designed in a way that it benefits community, teamwork and dedication. There should be no single player progression unless it’s leveling up, crafting and PVP. If people want to do endgame content then they need to engage and commit with people to do dungeons and raids which should always be community driven. None of this Group finder and LFR nonsense.
The first MMO I started to play was Star Wars Galaxies in which I still believe to this day is the best MMO I played. That is until some idiot decided to implement the Jedi class for everyone to use. Since then I have played almost every MMO on the market. The major problem each of them have is this feeling of boredom. This boredom comes from the way the game is designed as a single player experience with way too many conveniences, easy rewards and access to high level content for doing nothing.
When I saw news on Ashes of Creation on Kickstarter about a year ago I dismissed it as another Star Citizen con. Star Citizen was the game I was really excited about when they launched their Kickstarter. I remember when they needed a few hundred thousand dollars for the game to be made. Then years later they have made millions with no game to play. As of today I lost all interest in that game because I believe they should have released something and continue adding to it. They are making this over ambitious game not knowing if people will like it. This is the main reason I am skeptical just like many others are on this game.
Here are some questions I have on some of the systems that I feel are vague, exploitive and unbalanced. These questions are not meant to change the game in any way whatsoever. I just need to fully understand the full scope on how everything is laid out if I am truly going to invest my time into it.
Question 1
Your philosophy for the game is based on risk versus reward and that our investment in our characters progression is supposed to be meaningful and that not everybody is going to get a participation reward?
Will this be the process for all future expansions as well?
Question 2
If you answered Yes to Question 1 how will leveling from 1-50 work in future expansions?
There is this pointless feeling I get when leveling a character up in an MMO when the level cap is too high. Companies decide that in order to attract new players or ty to keep them subscribed they have to make the game easier for them. As to where I put the time and effort to level my character up.
So some examples they do to cater to this crowd is either they scale down the XP, give players gear with XP boosts, sell character boosts and XP boosts, give free character boosts, XP boost dungeons, scale down the levels etc. All of this is demeaning and disrespectful for the time and money I put into my characters just so others get an easy ride.
How will your game prevent this Leveling Handicap?
Question 3
I see that there are no factions in the game, but there are 5 major cities per server and about 10,000 people that can play in those servers, correct?
Question 4
About how many Guilds can there be per city?
Question 5
Is there a player cap per city?
If no, then in a way the cities do act as faction hubs. Not to the races of the game but instead to the person who can get the most people into that City correct?
Question 6
What is the balance where a Guild can exploit their numbers to congregate to one set City leaving the other 4 Cities low in numbers to be easily zerged?
Question 7
I understand that the node system is to make All Zones relevant for new and level capped players.
Will the content that appears from nodes for example: Gathering, World bosses, Dungeons etc. have a level requirement to do when they appear?
If not, how will the reward structure be balanced if a level 5 character doing these obtains a level 40 chest piece etc.?
Question 8
Will there be a Charter system where it shows the players’ names and the contributions they made to the Cities by doing the content?
Question 9
After you create your character you get to choose from 4 areas to begin (except the Tulnar race).
How will the questing experience pertain to all the zones and how will doing them have relevance?
Will they have specific level requirements or will they scale with your characters level?
Question 10
You confirmed that there will be no mod support in this game.
How about macros?
Question 11
During the live AMA on the 25th you said that people will be able to see the quality of the gear other players have.
Do you believe this will go against the corruption system in the way that players know a players power and not engage with them?
Why not just remove the ability for all players to inspect a players gear, level etc. in order to make it an even playing field with risk and consequence?
For example: I’m a level 50 cleric with enchanted gear. Then this level 15 player decides to attack me not knowing what he is getting himself into and I kill him.
Don’t you feel this works better than I’m a level 15 player who knows the player he is going to engage is a Level 50 with enchanted high tier gear and then decides not to engage him?
I believe not knowing what you are getting yourself into is part of the experience of an MMO and all the content in the game.
Question 12
With there being 8 classes and 64 secondary classes how will players know what type of gear benefits there character?
Is there an indicator letting the player know that the drop is meant for them?
Question 13
I know Caravan nodes can be attacked by players and no one will benefit from corruption.
Is there a way players can exploit this in order to force corruption onto a player or is the anti-corruption proximity based to the caravan or zone based?
Question 14
Will there be a way to buy, craft or earn armor customization for your mounts?
Question 15
How would exploration work in Ashes of Creation? Example: Uncovering artifacts, lore based, a zone story introduction as to what’s been going on etc.
Question 16
Will there be a treasure hunting feature where you get a map to follow clues that lead you to items that are character lore driven, gear, crafting schematics etc.
The 4 pillars of Destruction of every MMO
These next few questions will be pertaining to the worst features all MMO have. These features are Flying, Fast travel, Master loot and Multiboxing.
I understand these 4 features all too well.
Question 17
I’m confused as to who can obtain flying mounts and at what level a mayor needs to be to ride them?
Is the mayor the only one that can use these flying mounts or can other players obtain them?
I noticed they drop from World bosses. But does the drop of the mount only go for the mayor or can the guild leader distribute this mount to another player?
Question 18
Do all flying mounts have a flying attack to deal damage to ground players?
If so, how powerful is the damage dealt by these flying mounts compared to a Level capped character?
Question 19
I believe players who use flying mounts have a higher advantage than other players by getting to other areas faster.
As gatherers they could just fly down to a node get the resource and fly back up bypassing the Corruption system.
Also depending on the mounts damage they could prove a huge advantage against a Caravans defense.
Now if they are unable to use gathering professions then I don’t see a problem with these players having a flying mount. I just believe there needs to be some sort of risk for a player who to use a flying mount.The best option in my opinion is to remove flying mounts from the game altogether. I know this may seem harsh but I consider flying mounts a poison to all MMOs. It’s one of the reason I loved Star Wars Galaxies and why I occasionally play Star Wars the Old republic.
So my question is if someone has a flying mount what are the disadvantages they have by obtaining these mounts?
Question 20
Can players with flying mounts be able to bypass mobs in world dungeons getting to bosses faster?
Question 21
Can the mayor elect of a city also be a guild leader?
Question 22
I understand only 8 people can use the family feature to fast travel to other locations. Is this feature per guild or per city?
In addition, can multiple families of 8 exist in a Guild or a city?
If so, why limit the family size to 8 when they could coordinate with 5 or more family groups and have over 40 people teleport to that location?
Question 23
Will there be a GPS fast travel feature like in Black Desert Online where you set a point on the map and your character automatically runs to that location?
If no, that’s fantastic.
Question 24
During the AMA on the 25th you said that the loot distribution depends on the dps done to the target.
This is totally biased when it comes to Tanks and Healers. This is the main reason in MMOs they are so difficult to find or to bring along and it’s because of this system.
But if you going by a DPS race then casters always deal more damage than close combat DPS in any MMO and that has always been a fact.
So Why Master-loot?
What is the incentive the healer or tank get when there job is to make sure everyone is alive and keep agro away from those who are going to benefit from the loot drop the most?
Why give any player full control of the distribution of loot?
This never ends well.
Example 1: Let’s say I play a healer in Ashes of Creation and join a guild. I’ve been with the guild for a month going to all the dungeons and raids and outperforming as a healer. We then go to a World boss encounter. I heal everyone and no one dies. Then a piece of gear drops that benefits my healing greatly but the guild leader decides to give it to a player who already max out his main character who decided to make a new alt as a healer.
Example 2: How about there are no alts in the run and the same piece of gear drops. The guild leader then decides to scrap it knowing that I or another healer would have benefited from that piece.
Master looters are a danger to the game. They will use this system to Meta there main character and those they know personally. Then they switch to alts to repeat the same cycle while others who help carry then get left out. Then when all of there characters are all nicely geared out they quit the game handicapping the guild.
A better system could be on how each encounter can gauge the time the player spent on an encounter doing their abilities by attacking and assisting other players. Then have a reward structure where it distributes a number of tokens to each player on the time spent. Then you can go to a vendor and use the tokens to buy your gear.
But I also liked the idea you have of materials dropping from bosses to craft your gear. Maybe this could be as effective as the token system. But with the removal of gear drops from bosses and let players roll on the materials or let the computer randomize the loot to those who put the effort.
There is no way to justify Master looter in any MMO. It’s very exploitative and always creates Guild drama.
Question 25
This will be my last question and it’s about multiboxing. Multiboxing can occur within the game by either using mods, (which you said people will not be able to use) by the follow feature in game, remote access to multiple computers and other means. Multiboxing can be prevented you just need to remove or block the tools for these players use. Better yet enforce permanent bans. If you want to create a great game that last you need to supervise and enforce whats acceptable and not acceptable. Just because someone has more money to drop into multiple accounts doesn't give him a free pass over everyone else.
So for my Final Juicy Question.
What systems do you have in place in which the Mayor or Guild Leader will not be able to exploit the game by controlling the 4 Pillars of Destruction (Questions 17-25)?
Because what it looks like to me is that these systems work to reward the person who has the most influence (Streamers) and money in order to exploit the game to their own benefit. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really have been carefully putting the pieces to the puzzle together and there is no doubt that this is going to be the outcome. Perhaps maybe all of you wouldn't have thought of this happening. I don't know.
Thank you for reading this exhausting post and I really hope your answers prove me dead wrong. This doesn’t mean that I’m not going to play the game. If anything I’m more excited to see and hear more about this game. If I didn't have any interest in this MMO I wouldn’t write all this. I just NEED this to be the MMO to put all the other ones to shame and enjoy playing, cracking jokes, laughing, and talking with the community.
You said so yourself in the interview for people to give feedback and breakdown your systems. I hope I didn't.
Thank you,
Captain Longstar
First I will say that you guys are doing a great job with Ashes of Creation. I’m really excited with a lot of the elements your team has added to this game from past MMOs I used to play. As a player, MMOs are supposed to be designed in a way that it benefits community, teamwork and dedication. There should be no single player progression unless it’s leveling up, crafting and PVP. If people want to do endgame content then they need to engage and commit with people to do dungeons and raids which should always be community driven. None of this Group finder and LFR nonsense.
The first MMO I started to play was Star Wars Galaxies in which I still believe to this day is the best MMO I played. That is until some idiot decided to implement the Jedi class for everyone to use. Since then I have played almost every MMO on the market. The major problem each of them have is this feeling of boredom. This boredom comes from the way the game is designed as a single player experience with way too many conveniences, easy rewards and access to high level content for doing nothing.
When I saw news on Ashes of Creation on Kickstarter about a year ago I dismissed it as another Star Citizen con. Star Citizen was the game I was really excited about when they launched their Kickstarter. I remember when they needed a few hundred thousand dollars for the game to be made. Then years later they have made millions with no game to play. As of today I lost all interest in that game because I believe they should have released something and continue adding to it. They are making this over ambitious game not knowing if people will like it. This is the main reason I am skeptical just like many others are on this game.
Here are some questions I have on some of the systems that I feel are vague, exploitive and unbalanced. These questions are not meant to change the game in any way whatsoever. I just need to fully understand the full scope on how everything is laid out if I am truly going to invest my time into it.
Question 1
Your philosophy for the game is based on risk versus reward and that our investment in our characters progression is supposed to be meaningful and that not everybody is going to get a participation reward?
Will this be the process for all future expansions as well?
Question 2
If you answered Yes to Question 1 how will leveling from 1-50 work in future expansions?
There is this pointless feeling I get when leveling a character up in an MMO when the level cap is too high. Companies decide that in order to attract new players or ty to keep them subscribed they have to make the game easier for them. As to where I put the time and effort to level my character up.
So some examples they do to cater to this crowd is either they scale down the XP, give players gear with XP boosts, sell character boosts and XP boosts, give free character boosts, XP boost dungeons, scale down the levels etc. All of this is demeaning and disrespectful for the time and money I put into my characters just so others get an easy ride.
How will your game prevent this Leveling Handicap?
Question 3
I see that there are no factions in the game, but there are 5 major cities per server and about 10,000 people that can play in those servers, correct?
Question 4
About how many Guilds can there be per city?
Question 5
Is there a player cap per city?
If no, then in a way the cities do act as faction hubs. Not to the races of the game but instead to the person who can get the most people into that City correct?
Question 6
What is the balance where a Guild can exploit their numbers to congregate to one set City leaving the other 4 Cities low in numbers to be easily zerged?
Question 7
I understand that the node system is to make All Zones relevant for new and level capped players.
Will the content that appears from nodes for example: Gathering, World bosses, Dungeons etc. have a level requirement to do when they appear?
If not, how will the reward structure be balanced if a level 5 character doing these obtains a level 40 chest piece etc.?
Question 8
Will there be a Charter system where it shows the players’ names and the contributions they made to the Cities by doing the content?
Question 9
After you create your character you get to choose from 4 areas to begin (except the Tulnar race).
How will the questing experience pertain to all the zones and how will doing them have relevance?
Will they have specific level requirements or will they scale with your characters level?
Question 10
You confirmed that there will be no mod support in this game.
How about macros?
Question 11
During the live AMA on the 25th you said that people will be able to see the quality of the gear other players have.
Do you believe this will go against the corruption system in the way that players know a players power and not engage with them?
Why not just remove the ability for all players to inspect a players gear, level etc. in order to make it an even playing field with risk and consequence?
For example: I’m a level 50 cleric with enchanted gear. Then this level 15 player decides to attack me not knowing what he is getting himself into and I kill him.
Don’t you feel this works better than I’m a level 15 player who knows the player he is going to engage is a Level 50 with enchanted high tier gear and then decides not to engage him?
I believe not knowing what you are getting yourself into is part of the experience of an MMO and all the content in the game.
Question 12
With there being 8 classes and 64 secondary classes how will players know what type of gear benefits there character?
Is there an indicator letting the player know that the drop is meant for them?
Question 13
I know Caravan nodes can be attacked by players and no one will benefit from corruption.
Is there a way players can exploit this in order to force corruption onto a player or is the anti-corruption proximity based to the caravan or zone based?
Question 14
Will there be a way to buy, craft or earn armor customization for your mounts?
Question 15
How would exploration work in Ashes of Creation? Example: Uncovering artifacts, lore based, a zone story introduction as to what’s been going on etc.
Question 16
Will there be a treasure hunting feature where you get a map to follow clues that lead you to items that are character lore driven, gear, crafting schematics etc.
The 4 pillars of Destruction of every MMO
These next few questions will be pertaining to the worst features all MMO have. These features are Flying, Fast travel, Master loot and Multiboxing.
I understand these 4 features all too well.
Question 17
I’m confused as to who can obtain flying mounts and at what level a mayor needs to be to ride them?
Is the mayor the only one that can use these flying mounts or can other players obtain them?
I noticed they drop from World bosses. But does the drop of the mount only go for the mayor or can the guild leader distribute this mount to another player?
Question 18
Do all flying mounts have a flying attack to deal damage to ground players?
If so, how powerful is the damage dealt by these flying mounts compared to a Level capped character?
Question 19
I believe players who use flying mounts have a higher advantage than other players by getting to other areas faster.
As gatherers they could just fly down to a node get the resource and fly back up bypassing the Corruption system.
Also depending on the mounts damage they could prove a huge advantage against a Caravans defense.
Now if they are unable to use gathering professions then I don’t see a problem with these players having a flying mount. I just believe there needs to be some sort of risk for a player who to use a flying mount.The best option in my opinion is to remove flying mounts from the game altogether. I know this may seem harsh but I consider flying mounts a poison to all MMOs. It’s one of the reason I loved Star Wars Galaxies and why I occasionally play Star Wars the Old republic.
So my question is if someone has a flying mount what are the disadvantages they have by obtaining these mounts?
Question 20
Can players with flying mounts be able to bypass mobs in world dungeons getting to bosses faster?
Question 21
Can the mayor elect of a city also be a guild leader?
Question 22
I understand only 8 people can use the family feature to fast travel to other locations. Is this feature per guild or per city?
In addition, can multiple families of 8 exist in a Guild or a city?
If so, why limit the family size to 8 when they could coordinate with 5 or more family groups and have over 40 people teleport to that location?
Question 23
Will there be a GPS fast travel feature like in Black Desert Online where you set a point on the map and your character automatically runs to that location?
If no, that’s fantastic.
Question 24
During the AMA on the 25th you said that the loot distribution depends on the dps done to the target.
This is totally biased when it comes to Tanks and Healers. This is the main reason in MMOs they are so difficult to find or to bring along and it’s because of this system.
But if you going by a DPS race then casters always deal more damage than close combat DPS in any MMO and that has always been a fact.
So Why Master-loot?
What is the incentive the healer or tank get when there job is to make sure everyone is alive and keep agro away from those who are going to benefit from the loot drop the most?
Why give any player full control of the distribution of loot?
This never ends well.
Example 1: Let’s say I play a healer in Ashes of Creation and join a guild. I’ve been with the guild for a month going to all the dungeons and raids and outperforming as a healer. We then go to a World boss encounter. I heal everyone and no one dies. Then a piece of gear drops that benefits my healing greatly but the guild leader decides to give it to a player who already max out his main character who decided to make a new alt as a healer.
Example 2: How about there are no alts in the run and the same piece of gear drops. The guild leader then decides to scrap it knowing that I or another healer would have benefited from that piece.
Master looters are a danger to the game. They will use this system to Meta there main character and those they know personally. Then they switch to alts to repeat the same cycle while others who help carry then get left out. Then when all of there characters are all nicely geared out they quit the game handicapping the guild.
A better system could be on how each encounter can gauge the time the player spent on an encounter doing their abilities by attacking and assisting other players. Then have a reward structure where it distributes a number of tokens to each player on the time spent. Then you can go to a vendor and use the tokens to buy your gear.
But I also liked the idea you have of materials dropping from bosses to craft your gear. Maybe this could be as effective as the token system. But with the removal of gear drops from bosses and let players roll on the materials or let the computer randomize the loot to those who put the effort.
There is no way to justify Master looter in any MMO. It’s very exploitative and always creates Guild drama.
Question 25
This will be my last question and it’s about multiboxing. Multiboxing can occur within the game by either using mods, (which you said people will not be able to use) by the follow feature in game, remote access to multiple computers and other means. Multiboxing can be prevented you just need to remove or block the tools for these players use. Better yet enforce permanent bans. If you want to create a great game that last you need to supervise and enforce whats acceptable and not acceptable. Just because someone has more money to drop into multiple accounts doesn't give him a free pass over everyone else.
So for my Final Juicy Question.
What systems do you have in place in which the Mayor or Guild Leader will not be able to exploit the game by controlling the 4 Pillars of Destruction (Questions 17-25)?
Because what it looks like to me is that these systems work to reward the person who has the most influence (Streamers) and money in order to exploit the game to their own benefit. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really have been carefully putting the pieces to the puzzle together and there is no doubt that this is going to be the outcome. Perhaps maybe all of you wouldn't have thought of this happening. I don't know.
Thank you for reading this exhausting post and I really hope your answers prove me dead wrong. This doesn’t mean that I’m not going to play the game. If anything I’m more excited to see and hear more about this game. If I didn't have any interest in this MMO I wouldn’t write all this. I just NEED this to be the MMO to put all the other ones to shame and enjoy playing, cracking jokes, laughing, and talking with the community.
You said so yourself in the interview for people to give feedback and breakdown your systems. I hope I didn't.
Thank you,
Captain Longstar
0
Comments
That could answer a lot of questions for you. Be aware that the game is only in pre-alpha so much is still unknown or unconfirmed.
You seem to have some concerns about flying mounts. The realism is they will be very rare. If they do have special abilities that aid owners, then I think the effort that would have to be put into getting one deserves to be rewarded.
Steven discussed family summoning on the Pathfinder podcast this week. Guilds could set up groups in families to aid fast travel but it will take effort. If they are flagged for world event, i.e. a siege, then they won't be able to use the family summoning to get there.
There will also be a long cast on the ability so use of it if attacked will be hard.
Other than the family summoning I believe the only fast travel will be in scientific metropolises. Intrepid want the world size to be significant and travel to matter so I am pretty sure you won't be able to auto run routes.
About all I can answer. Don't quote me on any of it though. Hard to say anything much for certain as of yet. There is a long way to go so stay tuned in.
2, don't know
3, yes
4, no specific limit
5, yes
6, this makes no sense to me.
7, this makes no sense to me.
8, not that we know
9, there are 5 starting areas, players can pick any. The rest, no idea.
10, limited macros have been stated to be ok, but no definition of what limited nacros are has been given.
11, that is your belief, not Intrepids.
12, players are expected to know how to gear their character.
13, players state whether they are attackers or defenders of the caravan.
14, mounts have barding slots, so yes.
15, no idea
16, not specifically as you mention.
17, mayors of metropolis level nodes, guild leaders of guilds with castles, and players that have found an egg and hatched it are able to use flying mounts. There is not expected to be more than 20 players on any given server at any given time that have these mounts - and in all cases, they are temporary.
18, no idea
19, the idea of these mounts is that they are useful/powerful. Using a flying mount for harvesting raw resources seems like something of a waste though.
20, unlikely, there isn't room to fly in dungeons. Even if they could, they would likely be by themselves when they get there.
21, yes
22, this makes no sense to me.
23, no.
24, This kind of loot system will mostly be in play in regards to group or raid content, not solo content.
25, I didn't see a question in here.
6_Lets say for example there are about 500 players in city 1, 100 people in city 2, 50 people in city 3, 10people in city 4 and 1 person in city 5.
If people can choose to coordinate to one city won't they have the advantage in ruining the advancements of the other cities?
7_How does the content in the node system affect a players level?
25_I bolded the question.
Thanks for the answers. Everything sounds interesting so far.