Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
Not sure on the 2nd archetype. But definitly Bard. I want a class that is fun to play and I dont mind it being hard as long as its impactfull.
I want bard to play not only as boosting class, like "give 5% more physical damage" but Instead, it would be nice If we could influence the combat.
For exemple:
Maybe we could have some bonusses up while fighting, like, we need to not repeat skills in order to keep a buff up, maybe we can have hp regeneration increased, sttagger reduced, mount speed increased, fear resistance, and at the same time, we can`t have it up all the time (Otherwise we are going to be used only as "Buff socket")
I want bards to be more of a controll characters, slowing or interrupting enemys, slowing enemys casts and boosting allies while fighting.
While obviously being able to take care of themselfs. That is the premiss right?
As a bard, you took charisma, negotiations and the ability to take you out of almost any situation as your path of living. Maybe we cant hit as hard as a fighter, but if you can run him or confuse him, we dont need to fight, you can run and live another day.
Still don`t have my mind set in what a good bard would be. And ill be defintly going to come back to make a better answer.
But I dont want it to be just a pocket buff you take cause you have to have someone to just give fighters more damage.
Since we wont be healing, I guess we will be dpsing, and maybe we can fight gathering combo points and spending them on aoe skill, scream, enchants, something. That boosts, or does damage, or cc enemys.
We just have to be versatil.
Thanks for asking us what we would like to have. Keep the good work!
A random mechanical hope is for there to be melee abilities i can charge up similar to the berserker from tera or greatsword/hammer from Monster hunter. It would also be nice if i could move unhindered while charging.
Oooh, yes!!
Charge up abilities for heavy weapons - that you can release at your discretion right when the enemy steps into range.
I had played a game many years ago, name escapes me, where the cleric called upon favors (ultimates) from their god of worship. Each god had a different "vein" of bestowable types of curses/blessings, etc. BUT, if you had not performed the required about of supplication prior to battle, the ultimate could fail and you'd be cursed and/or unexpected side effects would occur. Made the class more in-depth as you actually needed to be a devoted cleric. Gonna bug me now that I can't remember the name, but I can see the old school graphics in my mind.
Really looking forward to the game! Please keep up the amazing work!
Dark Heart of Uukrul. From Wikipedia, "Finally, the priest send prayers to four different gods, and each prayer should have a certain effect, some similar to the magician's spells, and others unique to the priest. But the gods are whimsical or can be angered, so often prayers aren't answered, and sometimes the god smites back the priest for disturbing their godly rest."
EDIT: Found name on internet
Thus far Dreadnought appears to fit the bill, but there's so little actual info on the classes yet, who knows.
I'm hoping it will allow use of the tank harpoon pull skill alongside close the gap and rage elements. I like to be able to swap gear depending on my role at any given time. Big 2 handed sword for damage output, duel wield for a more defensive counterstrike form, and shield up for heavy tanking situations.
Probably a lot of design resources to make something like this possible, and even more to keep it competitively balanced and fun to play. Would be cool though.
I’d be happy if at least the beast race has a werewolf looking character skin, and it isn’t all lizards and cats.
Many years ago I played a japanese game called Fantasy Earth Zero and I have been mesmerised by this class - Fencer ever since. I never resonated with any mmorpg class as much as it even including ~10 years of gaming after this game.
This class is squishy like a mage, short-ranged like a fighter, yet it does not have the one-shot bursts or stealth like an assassin. Still, it can be extremely deadly, if you know how to play, because of its high mobility, high normal attack damage and the hardest-to-use ability: counter-strike.
This ability, when activated, makes your character invincible for 0.x seconds and does one of two things: either you parry and counter strike the first incoming physical damage and stagger the opponent for 0.x seconds, or you get an animation lock for 1.x seconds if you did not get attacked physically. This means that you have to read your opponents, think as them, and be patient.
If you time it right, it is your most deadly weapon and gives you the satisfaction nothing else can. But if you miss, you will get punished heavily because of animation lock. And there are more limitations: you can still get hit by magical abilities, or physical abilities that have multiple hits, a limited amount of times you can use it in a period.
Obviously, this is a flawed design from last decade, that cannot be put in in AoC, as animation locks and staggering make the combat, albeit more realistic, less fluid. But the core idea can. A high skill cap squishy melee class with no stealth nor extreme burst damage, that requires you to think and play smart, to have good positioning, to be patient and creative about how you dive into the enemies instead of blindly using your high mobility. You learn to lose your bloodlust. You learn when to engage and when to dis-engage. You look for opportunities and seize them, like a fencer. You observe, you think and you react. You play smart or you die.
I want there to be reasons why I am using an ability instead of impetuously smashing 123412314423111321111.
I want there to be limits of the class and abilities that I can get around, if I can play smart enough, not an over-glamourised fantasy that tilts the balance and is invincible by default.
I want to be a victor by outplaying the enemy with my knowledge, skills and experience, not by having over-powered stats given by the system.
This is not just about a set of abilities or a play style. It is a mindset. It is acting as someone else in a Fantasy world. It is actual role-playing.
Oh yes if you haven't noticed yet, I am a (mostly) PvP player.
But I know my life won't permit that, I have kids, a job, and limited time:
So my ideal class is self reliant soloer. With proper execution I can solo things you probably shouldn't.
I tend to find that broken class who can slowly kite, DoT, or grind out something alone. No clue yet which that is yet, but summoner/cleric tend to be a safe bet.
For those unaware, Joachim was a secret character that would summon swords to float around him and he could will them to hack and slash his enemies. I think this playstyle would be something truly unique and after seeing how well animations are coming along already in pre-alpha, I believe the animators could really have a blast with this.
/fingers crossed
But i must admit Predator also sounds very fun i like the mix of the two!!
This sounds like modern day Fiora in League of Legends. She has a split second parry stance, which can negate almost everything in the game when used correctly, so a smart Fiora player is an almost unrivalled duellist. Her parry looks like this:
but you need to get the timing right or else this happens:
I used to play DAOC and the system of classes of this game was truly amazing In my opinion.
If AoC come close to it I would be the happiest. I think without copying sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Therefore, I would recommend logging on to DAOC to have a feeling of the classes and evolution.
Anyway I hope AoC will not be delayed to much over time, development is forever and sometimes you just have to lunch it fixing problems as they come. I wish you good luck. I think it's a fantastic project that can drive the young and old generation. Companies don't realize how much MMORPG is loved and how much public there is.
I would also like to have some kind of class that uses Transformation (animals, spirit, etc) or a kind of rage like Berserker or bloodthirst. I hope above the classes there will be enough races with different competence like a troll for strength, Kobolt for dexterity, Elf for Intelligence etc.
For a favourite class I will decide that after having participated in the alpha2 and the betas to see how the game plays.
I never saw myself as a forward role which has to control the flow of the battle be it against mobs, bosses and even more so other player parties. Although if need be I could fill any role if join an organized group pre-launch.
That being said I would most likely prefer playing a long range classes or classes that keep the team alive:
Wizard/Ranger : Archwizard, Hawkeye, Spellhunter and Scion classes for ranged DPS.
Priest/Bard: High Priest, Minstrel, Scryer, Soul Weaver for maximum support capability.
While also taking a race with a higher mana pool and magic related attributes to maximize the effects.
I don't see it as an issue being a pure support like some people, because I believe that being a part of a permanent group like a guild or a group of friends the gear will be equally spread to cover the needs of the supports so that they can be even more effective in the future.
Although depending on the way accounts and character limits work in ashes over time I would consider creating a multitude of characters ranging from pure supports to full glass cannon assassin classes.
I imagine the Bladecaller as someone who has a lot of blades around him in the air, and he can controll them. In fight he can use them defensive or for range attacks or some flurry type combo attack. Examples are Irelia from League of Legends, or Killer B from Naruto. In his fight vs Sasuke he is constantly alternate between 8 blades with high speed.
I really like the classic, high dmg, go in/no out, with omega lifesteal, "berserker" type gameplay. Usually with dual wielding axes, 2hander swords. Some intresting HP mechanic, like some ability deal more dmg if u have less HP, or it cost HP, so u can manage ur health bar. Example: fury warrior from WoW.
I have this fear the Fighter/Fighter=Weapon Master will be more about fighting with a bunch of type of weapons. I would like it if this is not the case. In my mind this archetype is about mastering a particular weapon type (ex.: master of the sword). As gameplay i see this as special moves with the choosen weapon type. Example for character: Aphelios from League of Legends, he uses 5 guns and every gun has a unique effect (like cc, extra range, lifesteal)[maybe this idea is better for Fighter/Summoner]
The Highsword is another classic archetype for me. Its the templar, crusader, paladin stuff, with heals, shields, and the vengeance of righteousness. A divine hybrid.
The Shadowblade is for the real edgelords (like me xd). A squishy, super high dmg class. Black shadowy effects, japanese style, using a katana. Maybe shadow and lightning magic. Another Naruto example: Sasuke.
The Bladedancer can have special effects buffs on his ablities (like speed, resistances, etc.) and maybe uses stances.
Im not really intrested in the Hunter and Spellsword.
So this is my 2 cent. If u read it all props to u, if i made a bunch of mistakes sorry for them, english is not my fst language and i learned it on the internet. Have a lovely day
I know there is an awesome black hole spell for the Mage but I have a fun little idea for an AOE aggro grab.
Have the Spellshield stomp the ground sending spikes of ice upward and outward 360 degrees around the tank. Allow those to grab any enemies within range pull them to the tank. This ability shouldn't do a ton of damage but should create a moderate amount of equal aggro from each mob caught.
It may have been mentioned before but I also like the idea of a teleporting version of Onslaught. I feel like this should cause a large amount of aggro on the selected target.
The image of the two above spells cast back to back sounds super sexy.
Other abilities could involve:
1.Spell reflect/damage mitigation for party members (buff)
2. Bonus damage for spell casters in the party (buff).
3. Maybe a fist or some form of visual energy that quickly generates a small portal to
literally grab an enemy to pull threat off a party member.
4. Visual armour and weapon augments based on elemental magic choice. i.e. flaming
sword or electricity popping off the armour etc.
5. Perhaps the ability to convert mana into health when needed. This would need on a long
cooldown timer or have a smaller overall effect on health. Would hate to have a tank that
didn't need a healer.
That's all I've got for now. And if these have already been mentioned somewhere above, I do apologize as I haven't gone through all the posts quite yet.
Thank you all so much for always asking for our input!
Most importantly im excited to see how the class gameplay is, because in the most games summoners are a trash class.
Some games have very boring looking summons that i Think or hope it is not so in ashes i mean we all see some ridings etc and they look really good/cool/cute.
Something i dont understamd is some games have a few summons that you can elect like i Think it was finL fantasy 14 with the same summon only different colour for the Element.
And that you can have more than one companion.
Also in most games the gameplay is always the same you yourself are basically useless and you say summon use this attack, it would be cool if you have an extra tab or something were you can change how they attack and that you get with a higher level a new attackformation and maybe for the Player self that you can use skills that are changing because of the summon you have like fire monster a fire ball earth monster earth ball ( that the player self have some cool looking animation and not only standing or moving and all Action and animations are with the summon)
Most importantly pls make a useful ai for your summons.
And also i like to interact with animal in game seven if its minimal it would be cool if you have some interactions maybe you can choose some of them and can put them somethere into your house.
And last but not least that the summons are also growing maybe something like the breeding system for ridings for the summons and that they can level up (you can choose what stat should increase) and Evolve (maybe some Paths that you can choose something like Wolf can go to two headed than three headed wolf or to fire than to lava wolf ) with a apearance and ability change
Put it all together
Not boring looking summons
Not only one summon
Maybe you can change your summon
Maybe the summon you dont Pick are at your house
More than one summon with you
Player not useless he must not be strong he can e even weak but not only standing or walking
Maybe attackformation tank summo have agro skill and begind it is a damage Dealer summon
Useful ai
Many interactions with summons
Summon level up evolve and maybe breed
Im also mostly revering to the beasttmaster because i love the monster artworks and hope they also looking cool
Stealthy and deadly.
For me, the rogue class is defined in knowing how to wait for the right moment, look for the right prey and launch as quickly as possible and disappear.
I've been in games like Lineage ll for years where this class has evolved as the game continues.
From slowing down the enemy to jumping on their back or simply disappearing are skills that every rogue should have.
With another point of view, blinding skills, smoke and critical points would make this class a lot of fun.
In Lineage ll there was a low probability of hitting the enemy if you hit from the front, on the other hand, if the enemy was from behind you gave him a good blow.
One of the classes that I had the most fun in each game.