Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
Blazing the Way - Mage Alpha One Preview
LieutenantToast
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
✨ Are you ready to rain raw destruction on your foes? 🔥
Meet the Mage and find out more about their might from level 1-10 in our Alpha One Preview: https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2020-12-23-blazing-the-way-mage-alpha-one-preview
https://youtu.be/lQo1WK0HkcI
Meet the Mage and find out more about their might from level 1-10 in our Alpha One Preview: https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2020-12-23-blazing-the-way-mage-alpha-one-preview
https://youtu.be/lQo1WK0HkcI
4
Comments
The following feedback is regarding the recent video from Intrepid:
Whoever is the animator of these skills, has a clear addiction with skills that make you jump or float.... Way too much and feels unnatural.
I know it's alpha and I'm sure it will be improved, however it's something I've noticed lately is that the skills animations are not taking into consideration combos and fight fluidity, they don't chain with each other.
And mostly due to the very long floating stuff.
For example, "Fireball", it's just a fireball, you have all that build up as the character is about to drop a crazy AoE, but then just a measly fireball...
Also Mages use Robes, not metal armor
Overall here is my feedback and opinion on the skills presented on this video:
I would love to hear from your guys, if you agree with me or what is your opinion about these skills.
Thank you and looking forward to trying Ashes one day.
Best Regards,
Ralm
Can you elaborate? you mean no stun skill?
This is lv1 to lv10 though, you usually don't get it on low level stuff.
Personally for pre-Alpha I think they look great. I know things will change and be refined down the road, and sped up once we have gear/buffs, but I like the direction they're going right now.
Also regarding mages in cloth gear - you can wear any gear/weapons you want. And some gear even if it's just cloth, may have elements in the visual design of plate, leather, etc. while still being just a cloth piece.
I just watched your Alpha One Preview of the Mage Archetype video, and I am completely overwhelmed by the character animations on really basic skills;
Characters jumping on every single skill and doing aerial acrobatics might be apealing for a cinematographic preview of the game but playing a game where you constantly need to cast your basic skill and it includes jumps and dramatic stuff for the simpliest basic skill, should be a no go, I was already exhausted after watching the video, I can't imagine doing some PVE for like 3 hours of constantly watching the character jumping over and over.
Please, reconsidere all this aerial animations skills, the game will be equaly great without them
One thing to think about is in March or May (I can't remember), there is a combat rehaul. I remember hearing something about this on the last stream.
I agree the animations for both have definitely grown on me and I hope they stick with this style. It's definitely the type of game I prefer and it's similar to the types of games this is inspired by. People forget that they will be refined and changed as development continues. As for cast speed, Steven said we'll have stats and buffs at later levels to increase that.
Yes it looks great.
I understand and know from part MMOs experience that low level stuff is boring and slow, however it's usually mostly in cooldown and not so much in very long cast speed.
Although I would be ok if the cast speed remains the current one, however some of the animations don't make sense currently as I explained above.
The animations and cast speed are the same thing here and stats/buffs will increase the speed of both. Steven's comment refers to Korean MMO's we've all played and that AoC is inspired by - they typically use this type of system. I don't expect cooldowns to change...
Thats exactly the point.
want to ressurrect a target? okay go ahead and levitate and jump! great!
need to cast 8 times fireball on a level 10 bear to kill it? not fun to watch ur character jump 8 times...
And Steven just confirmed on youtube comments that casting speed will affect on the animations speed... so it will look just absolutely ridiculous to have your char bouncing and bouncing for hours
While in Ashes of Creation neither weapons nor armor are class-locked, we appreciate the feedback on wanting to see more light armor in upcoming videos!
You can take a look at a more detailed description of some of the spells here, including the effects they gain upon leveling them up further. For example, Lightning Bolt gains a knockdown and Meteor Storm gains a stun!
My only 2 thoughts are
Fireball:
I think the jumping with the fireball is a bit overkill. It seems like in a pvp setting its like announcing you are there by going up in the air before you launch your fireball.
Blink:
If you compared 2 people side by side, 1 person running 1 person casting is it faster to blink than to just run? While the animation for it looks really cool
Rest of them, I like! Awesome Job!
1. Too many jumping/flying animations
2. The beam is awesome but the beginning of the beam is a bit too much.
3. The lava move would be cooler if he was slamming the ground instead of flying up(Some earth bending feels).
Everything else is absolutely stunning! love the look of the fireball!! The lighting, Blink, and the meteor is perfect!!
I understand that there will be a combat revamp happening in March, however, those animations are being showcased now, and that makes me think they are here to stay, although they look cool, in my opinion, they make combat really stiff, I would love to see this change and have animations to be shorter, removed, or just the possibility to cast while moving, (maybe even by enhancing a skill) which for sure would make combat more dynamic.
PS: as always, upvote to decrease the particle effects
lightning bolt is solid.
black hole hole looks great, jump looks ok here.
drain essence feels very stiff and doesnt feel like its actually draining anything. shouldn't be a jump on a basic skill like this.
lava is great, jump makes sense and nice touch on aoe around caster.
meteor looks cool but i personally think its a bit excessive of an attack. meteors in general are just way too strong to br summoned like that, especially at low-mid level. i think this skill should be changed into something similar to what it is, maybe even another element, like have this be icicles forming midair and crashing down instead. the meteors could be an augment for mage/mage class where you actually could use much stronger magic.
the beam is great, but it looks like an ultimate, feels like an ultimate, can be used like an ultimate. its perfect for a very high level skill, but too strong for a mere level 10.
one of the problems I've had with MMOs and effects is that literally everyone has super OP spells with amazing effects and it all just becomew boring clutter. where summoning a meteor should be a devastating attack that could at least change the flow or battle, you have low level players spamming it which just ruins the wow factor. I think lower level spells should just be smooth and look somewhat satisfying. The actually good skill effects should be for high level stronger spells.
Having gear be agnostic I think is a step in the right direction. I am sure the RP crowd likes the idea the most being able to equip as they choose to tell the story they want to tell.
Fireball: The fireball itself is good, but the jumping animation for a bread-and-butter spell is too much. I think a better fit would be the wind up from the Meteor Storm, paired with Prismatic Beam animation.
Lightning Bolt: Overall good, especially the lightning itself. An animation that starts with the hand high and then leveling out towards the enemy would be appropriate, as if the caster is calling the lightning from the sky. The quickness of the animation is spot on.
Black Hole: Not bad, perhaps less jumping. (unless jumping is made the cue for AoE spells?)
Drain Essence: Here the caster plainly shoots something at the enemy, rather than 'draining' from the enemy. Perhaps a pulling motion from the caster? More grounded would be appropriate.
Blink: Nice! Perhaps less smoke at the exit. The jumping animation here I really enjoy.
Lava Storm: Here the caster looks up, jumps/levitates, and then shoot lava towards the enemy. Lava should come from below the surface, so the caster's attention should be initially directed down.
Meteor Storm: Here the caster looks down, and conjures a meteor in his hands before launching it up, which then comes down as a meteor. Swapping this animation (along with a few tweaks) with Lava Storm's would be a better fit.
Prismatic Beam: Love it! A bit less at the caster would help with being able to see whats going on. /wink
The lightning bolt and Prismatic beam animations are prefect. A simple fluid motion. What it really gets down to is that I don't imagine mages to be so coordinated. I see a mage doing something like drawing a sigil in the air, reading a book, or doing some kind DBZ energy ball power up. Some of the moves in that video look like NBA jam style slam dunks. I half expected to hear "Boom-Shakalaka!" when that fireball went off.
I know Steven commented on the Youtube video explaining that this is alpha, and casting speeds can be augmented to be faster. I understand this. I just wanted to see what y'all think? Are the mages overly coordinated? If there this coordinated at level 10, will they be dunking from half court at level 50?
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Both the Mage and the Cleric can levitate. Regardless of whether you're going to do something with the fact that the floaty animations don't seem particularly well-liked in the comment sections, I would suggest giving just one that ability for class identity purposes (and I'd go with the Mage).
There's an overabundance of what some other commenter called "firework effects". The same particle effects were used for the Cleric, and here, both lightning and fire use it. Seems kinda random (but probably easy to progam).
Overall, there's again many skills with a rather long cast time with animation locking. And some skills don't seem to merit that because of what they do.
I gather that the Fireball spell eventually has going to have a DoT and an AoE effect to it if you level it up.
1. Is the animation the same for all levels? (I hope not)
2. As of right now, only your character floats up, not the camera, ignoring the added benefit of having a better view of the battlefield.
The pirouette doesn't seem to add anything in the sense of momentum to the fireball because it's so small and close to the character.
Same as with the Cleric, I don't see any connection between what a skill does and how long it takes for them to do it.
Here, lightning bolt is insta cast, it damages multiple enemies, and even does a knockdown to one (or more?)
Black Hole, Drain Essence and Lava Storm target animations are cool, but I don't really get why there's levitating here as well.
The Blink animation is way over the top and cast ought to be instant in my opinion.
The following is more a personal preference of mine. One that Intrepid probably consciously rejected based on lore, but I like the idea of having element specific mages, instead of jack of all trades mages that can use fire, electricity, healing, telekinetic and health draining (and even summoning).
Or an Orc haha
1. "Fireball" - So, if this is a basic spell, the animation seems like a bit 'too much.' The character model levitates, then spins in a 360 degree circle, blindly throwing the fireball at at the target.
(Now, I would like to stop and say that I DO appreciate the work the animators are putting into the spells. And the animation shouldn't be canned. But maybe just switched to a spell that would be used less often?)
The reason why is; if this is an early-game spell and is used often by Mages....sure, it might look fine with 1 person casting it here or there. But imagine 5, or 10 mages or more in a raid, or world boss fight, or defending/attacking a caravan. All popping up and down like Mexican Jumping Beans. It would look silly, not dramatic or cool.
"Lightning Bolt" (by comparison) is much simpler and straight forward. I personally would prefer using Lightning Bolt over Fireball, simply to avoid looking goofy. (personal preference) /shrug
2. "Black Hole" - I love that sound! Did you guys hear that?! It's like a super low treb sound. Nice touch!
3. "Drain Essence" - Okay, now this one was weird to me from a timing issue for the animations. In the animation; he shoots a beam. Then when it ends; he levitates for a second. Then there's a burst of dark purple smoke and he lands on his feet.
This seems out of order.
It feels like it should be: Quick levitate to draw in power --> burst of dark-purple smoke --> drops and fires beam.
4. "Blink" - This is biggest one I think some Mages would have a problem with. I LOVE the warp-hole animation that he escapes INTO. But...I don't like (even though I understand logically why it's happening) that a second warp-hole opens for him to escape OUT from.
Here's the problem with the second warp-hole; it telegraphs exactly WHERE the mage exited.
Isn't one on the key components as to why Mages use Blink; is to escape from danger/harm? Blink is suppose to disorient their attacker, confuse them. The Mage suddenly disappears! Where is he/she? Where did they go? The attacker begins frantically looking around in each direction to try and locate the Mage.
But with a plainly obvious and visible 2nd warp-hole opening, there is no mistaking exactly where the mage is now.
Am I wrong in this thinking? I don't play Mage much in MMOs, but whenever I fought them, not knowing where they landed after their Blink, was scary. Because they could be launching a nuke any second, before I had a chance to find them again. If I knew right where they were after a blink, it would be less of a threat.
In a PvP oriented game, I personally would prefer the 2nd warp-hole to be less obvious or veto'd entirely.
Anyways, those are my thoughts.
Steven Sharif is my James Halliday (Anorak)
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
-HPL
I have to agree with most of what you stated. I like your take on Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Black Hole, Drain Essence, Meteor Storm and Prismatic Beam.
I somewhat agree on the Blink with inverting it but I like the smoke BUT with a reduced smoke effect.
Lava Storm should be more like "Lava Eruption" based on what the ability does. Maybe have the character use his/her hands to "call up" a lava eruption from the ground because as is, it is too similar to Meteor Storm.
I was gonna write up a longer feedback post... then I saw Ralm had pretty much already written it for me.
The only place my feed back seems to take a turn is that a lot of the skills feel very... Superhero-y. I feel like this iteration of the mage plays less like a master of arcane forces, and more like an acrobatic showman. The animations, with the exception of prismatic beam, seem to almost try to overcompensate the toned down effects of skills themselves with flashy flourishes and physical displays that ultimately downplay the impact and visual weight of the skills themselves.
Here's a template for anyone else who wants to do the same:
Overall, I still feel we have too many sparks being sprayed everywhere.
To put it in precise technical terms: please turn down the lifespan of particles that are generated unless it's a high level spell.
Admittedly some of the flashiness such as the jumps and special effects seem slightly excessive for lower levelled spells - but just imagine how much effort goes in to the higher tiered spells if this is what we start out with! Overall, I am very impressed with what I am seeing here.
There is a great attention to detail in these animations and I honestly cannot wait to see more examples of movement in skill activation - provided that it suits the skill being cast.