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
One of the primary ways a cleric class grips me is the casting animations, spell effects/spell sounds, and types of abilities granted to me. It doesn't always have to be in the forms of spells, either, but secondary/tertiary elements that supplement a cleric. Ashes isn't tabletop D&D but it would be nice to have non-combat abilities/traits that are desirable to others (bonuses or higher chance-to-succeed when crafting items, weapons, or armor with holy augments, special defenses to a node against undead monster invasions). Hopefully divine nodes will have these "extra" desirables for cleric types?
A class that can stalk through the woods and pounce on foes with either big bursty damage or immobilizing traps would be really cool. An archer of some sort perhaps? Trapper? Maybe a class that plays with poisons, that can paralyze enemies with coated arrows or blowdarts? Something like this I think would fulfull a really cool fantasy I haven't been able to feel anywhere else.
No marked player shall ever feel safe on my server.
I'm hoping we'll have the option to fully utilise a full range of summoner pet(s) abilities but also maintain a decent amount of PC skills to use or some happy medium that balances across the board.
One thing with this is that for instance in FF14 their Bard class is in a really weird spot where they don't do good damage like the other Ranged Physical DPS class Machinist and the utility they offer isn't as good as the other support class Dancer. I hope that in Ashes it doesn't fall into this hole as well where it's kinda of a useless class to bring because they cant dish out good damage and their support isn't good enough to bring either.
Healing Archer : a support class than actually uses the arrows to cast things. Either shooting arrows to heal or create buffing or debuffing AoE's. Can be either full support or hybrid dmg.
Dmg dealing healer : deals dmg to heal party members. Maybe through phoenix flames or demonic pacts
Summoner healer: healer that uses temporary and permanent summons to buff, debuff, and/or heal
Shapeshifting class : a lot of MMO's don't do shapeshifting classes any more
Divine vessel healer: healers that maybe get possessed by entities in different phases to heal
Solar and/or lunar based classes
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
Rogue: I think it would be awesome if rogues had a legitimate shadow step ability where they could teleport into real shadows 5-10m away (including behind a player) and have like 3 or so charges. This would make them very effective in town/forest settings but handicapped in an open field which I think makes a lot of sense for a rogue.
Ranger: I fantasize about being a ranger who has an ability to fire a giant laser arrow that can go through walls with a big cooldown and sniping people off of or through castle walls in a castle siege. That would be absolutely awesome.
(Craziest idea) Summoner: If summoners had a cooldown to go into a summons realm of sorts to look for a new summon. There would be many common types around but a small chance to run into rare unique summons who may not be objectively better, but may have a unique ability or stat distribution. You would have limited time to look around and find one; and you could only do this one per day (cooldown increase 1 day per 10 levels). It would be really cool to see people running around with summons you had never seen before using cool abilities while still not being overpowered. The fantasy of a summoner to me is changing around your companion to fit what you want to do that in a time period and seeing lots of people using unique ones.
Mage: I would want a mage build where I can blink around the battlefield a LOT and be really annoying while zapping people with chain lightning and slows. It would also be really cool if there were super over the top spells you could use in large scale sieges that had like a 30 second charge up/cast time to launch reasonably insane long range AOE or beam type spells depending on what you need. That's the real archmage life right there, and maybe those could be specifically for mage-mage class.
I will definitely be playing one of these classes and if any of these ideas somehow show up in the final game that will definitely be the class I will be playing
For my main class I will probably play a High Priest simply because I’m going to assume that a pure cleric/cleric build will have the highest pure healing output. As cool as shields and buffs and such are, I like being an insane healer where a stranger can join the party and be shocked at how well you’re managing to keep everyone alive. Because of this I usually team up with very beefy tanks and glass cannons as I can usually keep them full up as long as they don’t get 1-shot. Basically, an ideal class for me is one where I have an extreme healing capability even if that makes my dps trash because I like playing in a party anyways. And if I solo out in the world I don’t mind taking it a little slower to level (because if my healing ability is high enough certain mobs can’t deal enough dps to kill me anyways).
Basically…I like big healing numbers. It’s lame and not creative, but it always makes me happy.
Alts:
However, depending on how the class plays Bard seems really interesting. I’m so curious to see how the Siren plays as it sounds almost like it would call adventurers towards it to either die or fight for it. I’m usually not a fan of tanking, but if the Siren has some cool skills like that, I’d probably use my first alt as a Siren.
Finally, depending on how Oracle/Scryer works I’m most definitely going to play one of those as my RP alt while I use fortune telling cards to determine the events of the day.
Lich form: Undead appearance, debuff being increased damage from holy damage whilst in lich form, and buff being increased shadow damage to enemies whilst in lich form and a movement speed buff of 5%)
Ressurection ability: The ressurection ability "Lich form" is activated if a Soul Jar is not destroyed within 5 seconds after it spawns, the Soul Jar is an entity with health which spawns at the location a Lich dies on their first death in the place of a tombstone.
Weapons: Has the ability to use staffs, two one handed swords, two handed swords, or a one handed sword and a relic (like a soul orb or book).
Summoning abilities: With Necromancer abilities to summon undead skeleton minions like in Diablo 2, as well as golems and demons at higher levels.
Conjuration: Has the ability to summon armor and weapons which are ethereal in nature (not seethrough or transparent, but instead regular looking armor which dissapears after a while.) Liches can only use conjured heavy armor, and not actual heavy armor. They are ordinarily limited to light armor/cloth.
Magic abilities: Uses many debuffs and Damage over time abilities, Dark magic/Chaos magic and a few Fire and Ice spells.
A Predator also makes me think of a survivalist. Predators know how to be self sufficient, no matter the situation.
Most of all I value ingenuity and individualism. The feeling of having carved my own, individual path is what I always look for in a game, even if it's not the meta, optimal, or even 'good'. To me, Predator is a class that would reward creativity in every encounter.
I don't care much about the specific thematic things, but I will bring up a silly preference: I don't like the idea of 'shadow magic' very much. My ideal character could do his work with just his skills and a sharp object, if he had to.
Thanks for the discussion posts! Hope y'all are happy & healthy
I do hope that besides the summons it could manybe be a controller class with stun/root/messes/defuffs?
The biggest concern to would be if it can handle itself in pvp, as pet classes tend to do badly. You can just bypass the summons.
I love sorcerer, a mage who has anima. Instead of a magic pool their pool of magic more readily replenishes on its own. They're abilities are stronger and are mainly aoe based. Perhaps casting spells, increases their rate of anima regeneration. The bard is a buffer class so let us begin with augments. The song or discord. Fireball either makes monster weak to fire for x amount of time or reduces fire resistance for the next attack. Lighting bolt electrifies the weapons of allies in the stream or stuns others. Black hole adds a slow effect after cast for x seconds or monsters take negative energy damage. Drain essence (or converts part of the drain into healing for allies or mana and slows the monsters next spell or special ability. Blinking obfuscates the area you were or the area you blink into for yourself and allies. (enemies obviously need to run out to see)
I think it's very important that Ashes of Creation bring mage back to a crowd control buffer class than a nuker. Let people tank of combinations and how to work with others. I can't wait to see an Archmage who can blink farther/w a reduced cool down. A bigger block hole that slows characters while getting sucked into the hole. A fireball that bursts and does an aoe after impact or tags a few other monsters. A lava storm that bursts from the ground to a greater height that falls back down on fools it hit. A Prismatic beam that powers up like a kamehaha wave. Let the Archmage feel like the epitome of magical power.
Have a Spellstone casting fireball create a fire shield around them or burns the victim debuffing their attack power. Lightening bolt weakens their opponents armor or creates increased threat. Black hole now works on large creatures or isn't limited to the amount of creatures. Lavaburst creates a fire shield around all allies in the area or debuffs their attack.
Just good thematic classes and abilities are good enough.
My second choice would be Necromancer. My ideal necromancer would be one that actually FEELS like a Necromancer, capable of summoning a horde of undead (temporarily) while having a few permanent minions. I'd love if the Necromancer was like a commander of a small squadron of NPCs, capable of equipping your zombies or skeletons with crafted gear and weapons and then standing in the background buffing them and providing support while they do most of the heavy fighting.
(I'm going to love this game regardless 100%. This would simply elevate it to 110%, no 120%, no... Infinity%!)
hope i could add some inspiration for the devs!
@LieutenantToast
Realy like tanking and DD but since im often a Solo Player i end up Playing a Assasin like class.
My main role will be Rogue.
As a Rogue there a 2 Playstyles witch i Prefer the most.
1 one is the Burst Assasin type.
You aktivate all your buffs and run straight to your target. you try to hit him as fast you can out of stealth kill him and hide again in the shadows before getting caught.
if you get caught you will die fast (in PVP or against bosses) but you got some tools that will help you for that.
-Stealth
-1 incombat stealth with High CD
-1 jump skill to flee
2 is the rogue that is more spezializided in longer fights.
your main damage output is with dots. you can make your enemys Bleed,Poison,burn
you change your skills with extra bleed damage or poison or lenghen the time.
you get a skill that reduces the income healing from the poisoned enemy and you have some more tools that will help you in long fights.
-enemy Blind
-Lifeleech
-antistun (long CD)
this way you could choose how to play an assasin like char. first playstyle is very good against other DDs like mages etc. and the 2nd playstyle is better against enemys with larger healthpools and some selfheals like tank/paladin like classes.
My ideal class will be Tank/Cleric, also known as Paladin. The perfect balance between protector and savior. Being able to protect my mates et save the unfortunates. With a shield to ward off obscurity and a hammer to purge evilness. Justice and kindness will be my credo, to bring light to a world of darkness.
So some abilities to keep ennemies focusing me ( single or AoE taunt or one of each ), a grapple to bring ennemies to me and group them up ( also single or aoe, even if aoe is better ), a single target healing spell without casting time and a protect spell like an aura from the shield protecting the mates behind. That would be the necessary spells in my opinion
Take care of yourself and your loved ones,
Mardemak Alvicie
Bladecaller?
For example WoW is rich in lore and a more quest based story driven game with an open world and I love RP'ing as a Paladin for because
1. they look cool and
2. there's just something about the idea of a holy warrior/tank/healer that draws me in. Also
3. they are a jack of all trades to some extent which really helps in the typical mmo scene when you just want to quest around on your own but if you run into others you can still help them with heals and/or auras. Having decent burst damage and enough sustain to reach that perfect burst combo is quite cool and it works well in both PvP and PvE. With Shadowlands covenants the paladin could be made into a pretty decent PvP Support class or a monster of burst dmg.
I started playing TERA as a substitute for BDO because there is no real "healer" in BDO and as it was more instanced based it was easier to pick up and put down as I felt like it but i used it exclusively for PvE. Boss mechanics with Cleric was a bunch of fun as having to juggle proximity to teammates to get off heals as well as avoiding the boss AoE attacks was pretty great and what added a really nice level of complexity and potential possibility was the "pull" move where you can lock onto a friend and drag them to your position. This I used a great deal many times while trying to help others who seemed to not know the mechanics of the dungeon very well or if they just slipped up and got caught up in a stun or some such. One of the best things about the cleric in TERA is that your damage isn't horrible, you apply debuffs to your target through a combo and then get back to healing and buffing the party so there was always something to think about.
Lastly BDO Awk Ranger is I think such a satisfying blend of Ranged offensive ability coupled with melee defensive/counter attack mechanics. It's an unforgiving class in that if you get caught out you will die but it has a great scope for outplaying other classes. Smoothly transitioning from ranged to melee and being abit slippery to catch I think is just so much fun and is probably one of my favorite classes ive ever played (although in the meta of BDO it has fallen very far down the ranking as its an old class and balance doesn't seem to be of too much concern in BDO currently).
That being said BDO is a different kind of MMO to the others and I think when it comes down to it I will most likely choose Primary Class as Cleric and switch secondary as i feel like it.
One aspect that I think is missing from a lot of classes is the ability "to make a play". As cleric in TERA some of the best clutch moments were reviving my entire dead team while just kiting and dodging the boss. In WoW my paladin went a covenant which allowed him to put down a massive AoE circle which healed teammates and harmed enemies within the circle - I later changed to a more bursty one which made larger PvP battles less fun because I couldn't make any plays, support or damage wise. In BDO ranger is probably the worst class to make plays with as she has limited AoE, is squishy, and outside of a 1v1 scenario her defense is quite poor so flanking is rather difficult if she runs into any adversaries not with the main ball.
In anycase, the class which Ideally would be for me is something that flows well, smooth transitions and combos and which can - to some level - make plays for your team or even solo if you catch the enemy by surprise. Mages to me always felt clunky, you charge up a spell while stationary and then another...and another. They usually do great damage but its not fun for me just standing there stationary while i rely on my big damage skills to delete people before they reach me. Flow, movement, positioning and combos are my jam.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP31ixSBO7GHKLBefWVcJaA
I dont know how this would apply to AoC but I would hope that its useful in both pve and pvp.
Maybe a PvE boon would mean I get to pick a second social-org to "infiltrate" and do their questlines with reduced/variant rewards.
The PvP boon might allow me to participate in certain node-locked actions for an opposing node or maybe you can disguise your secondary class as a different class.
Just some ideas but i think spying/intrigue is too meta and played via discord/alts too much.