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.
Comments
because 80-90% of the game is already like l2??!!??!!
I'm not talking about the backend and all the invisible systems the players cant see. I'm talking about the front end and all the systems the players can see
allowing people to see wether they are above or below you has nothing to do with the available technology. its a design choice
Expect the Ashes mini-map to show what is underground since that is possible with modern tech - rather than expecting the minimap to be limited to the tech available when L2 released.
Makes no sense to have an Underrealm and not be able to track what's there via the mini-map - unless there's no tech to support that feature.
honestly - FUCK MAPS... there shouldnt be map. Let me get lost in the world and start memorizing key points.
At the very least - IF WE MUST HAVE MAPS.... let it be a profession - a cartographer. People can sell their maps of what they have explored. It will uncover in your personal Map - BUT it doesnt unlock when you try to sell your map - you still needed to visit it in person to sell a full map.
basically just because you bought 20 maps to unlock the full world, doesnt mean you can get to sell a full world map - Little boarder indication showing what you uncovered vs what you bought. You can only sell what you uncovered, as to keep Cartographers special.
Maps are lootable and decays.
Now we can also do other fun things with cartographers
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/54327/surveying-and-or-cartography-can-we-create-this-as-a-profession#latest
but in the end - I am in favor of no map. Make Landmarks important.
In other words, do better.
Part of me really enjoyed the SWG approach where you could find/see the cave/underrealm entrance and then the map populated when you entered. Now again this is 20 yr old tech so I'd expect it to be better but I liked the "direction" of that a lot.
And very likely better.
There obviously has to be SOME carrot for corruption, other wise they'd just remove the ability to attack Greens altogether. The "carrot" being - "Hey, you want this farming spot all to yourself? Is the extra experience you'll get by killing them worth being corrupted to you? Then go for it!"
The "no carrot" argument is that there won't be a deliberate incentive to being corrupted, but that doesn't mean the players can't make their own incentives based on their own risk/reward tolerance.
With that said - I'm totally on board with the corrupted players of any given server coming to an agreement to use one of the nodes as a "safe haven" for corrupted players. In game rules would permit anyone to attack and kill each other. They would only be governed by their own trust in one another. That would probably require Town Guards be entirely decided by the mayor and paid for by taxes. A "corrupted node" would have to forgo any guards as they'd immediately start attacking everyone. Not having any guards is also one of the risks the node would have to incur. If there are any open world events where a node is raided, the players would be wholly responsible for defending it. Bounty Hunters would also know exactly where to hang out and collect bounties. These all sound like perfectly reasonable trade-offs if there's enough corrupted players on a server to maintain a corrupted node.
Would you like a 4D map?
"They would only be governed by their own trust in one another" - The game is not made for such a concept.
The carrot is the loot if the attacker sees and knows for sure that the other player has valuable resources.
Also the entire philosophy, the conflicts between the nodes, would be very rigid with peaceful players. Therefore the corruption gently introduces players to combat, if they are open to accept it. The others are pushed away to protect the game. Of course the game could be changed but then it would face a big competition with the similar mmos.