Will Verra have real deep forests?

tydal

In most mmo´s there is no such thing as a real deep forest. A tree here and there, not too big, not spanning its branches to wide...but that´s no forest! That´s so annoying! The most intriguing environment in WoW for me was Shadowglen and even Elwynn Forest was ok. But that was way back when. Now we have 2021 and AoC rises as a new hope on the horizon...so please please please give us immersive players some real deep forests with large trees that build a roof of leaves above our heads! Give us green shelter, give us mystic rays of light and spots that are so unique and dreamy that we did not want to leave them anymore.
Eh...should i stop dreaming? Or is intrepid fulfilling even this task? ( I dare to think they will )

Ostaff

tydal wrote: »

In most mmo´s there is no such thing as a real deep forest. A tree here and there, not too big, not spanning its branches to wide...but that´s no forest! That´s so annoying! The most intriguing environment in WoW for me was Shadowglen and even Elwynn Forest was ok. But that was way back when. Now we have 2021 and AoC rises as a new hope on the horizon...so please please please give us immersive players some real deep forests with large trees that build a roof of leaves above our heads! Give us green shelter, give us mystic rays of light and spots that are so unique and dreamy that we did not want to leave them anymore.
Eh...should i stop dreaming? Or is intrepid fulfilling even this task? ( I dare to think they will )

I am sure that with very limited fast travel, you will find this real deep forest that you so crave. For now there is incentive for a designer to actually create a work of art as they know that their work will be seen and explored instead of putting in a lot of work just for everyone to by-pass with portaling.

PoliceGirl

I hope they do. I hope they have many deep environments. Getting lost is the best friend of immersion.

NchDu

Warhammer - Age of Reckoning had very deep and dark forests. Some even way too dark for me back then xD.

Skyrall

Hopefully Intrepid is basing environments off of real-world sub-biomes + magical elements in terms of flora and fauna population density. If so, we will be sure to find this kind of place.

ariatras

Maybe, at some point they'll do a video, where they just run from one side of the world to the other (When more zones are finished) and talk like they do normally.

WhitneyHagasMatsumoto

Moss, decaying trees, and young trees sprouting from them.
Just the thought of it soothes my soul, and maybe you'll see them in Verra too

https://imgur.com/gallery/qRGiuqZ

PS
I noticed that the translation was too definitive, so I added the words in bold.
I apologize if anyone misunderstood: ......😅

maouw

With tiny streams trickling between the mossy rocks? yes please!

Ostaff

Trees that grow upside down, with their roots up in the air and their branches in the ground

Wandering Mist

As long as they don't go crazy like GW2 did with the jungles in Heart of Thorns then I'll be fine with deep forests. Seriously f*** that place and trying to navigate it.

Volgaire

As long as the forest isnt a bumpy plane with trees spaced between eachother sticking straight up I will be fine with anything.

Blandmarrow

One thing that can be a pain with a deep and bushy forest is that the camera gets blocked by all the branches and alike.

But I do agree that a deep and immersive forest would be nice.

Hellfar

Aw but I love the Heart of Thorns maps in GW2. The artists did an amazing job creating those treacherous lands. And yes they are VERY treacherous, as they should be. You're practically running around on top of the Jungle Dragon himself! It is probably the verticality of those maps that can get a bit frustrating but it just adds depth and more places to explore. Biomes like that are amazing for group content. I feel like I'm doing parkour whenever me and my guild are running through the area at a fast pace.

I don't see Ashes going over the top like this but it would be awesome to experience a similar depth in some areas.

Enigmatic Sage

definitely looking forward to the biomes with seasonal change and weathered effects. I imagine they will have some more really interesting biomes to show eventually. Deep forestry is a must in certain biomes!

Tyranthraxus

Just what are you planning on doing, in the deep, dark forest?

Aye - some games find the right balance. Yours truly recalls the systems in SWG: In the early game, your compass and map would disappear/become unavailable while you were in the wilderness. Certain professions had a tracking ability to path-find through. Later this was removed, and the wilderness became much simpler - although less exciting.

Enigmatic Sage

Tyranthraxus wrote: »

Just what are you planning on doing, in the deep, dark forest?

Aye - some games find the right balance. Yours truly recalls the systems in SWG: In the early game, your compass and map would disappear/become unavailable while you were in the wilderness. Certain professions had a tracking ability to path-find through. Later this was removed, and the wilderness became much simpler - although less exciting.

this is where biome design gets really cool with seasons and weather.

Forest - tree canopy, bushes, smaller plants, shading, godrays, line of site for pvp and pve, tactical advantages and disadvantages.
plains - trees, tall grass, boulders, rocky plateaus, morning dews, rolling fogs
snow - evergreens, frozen trees, ice, rocks, crevices, blizzards, snow squalls, white outs, increased fogs, rain and thunderstorms between seasons.
deserts- sand, rocks, tropical vegetation bursts with seasonal change and weather, sand storms, dirt devils, oasis zones

yes, the seasonal and weather effects can be used across the biomes in situational effects like rolling fogs, morning dew and its lighting as things are wet and relatively sparkly with god rays and a relative golden hour effect vs night time effects with moon phases.

So much can be done to make such a beautiful immersion much more immersive and visually appealing.

then you can have biome effects like the underworlds bioluminescence of glowing spores and gills in the shrooms.. Mycelium network effects from fungal growth and interactions from players and environment.

i could go on and on

EDIT:

additionally, you get swamps, wetlands, vegetation decay (fallen over tree's as well as lifeless tree's), different water murkiness from ocean vs rivers, depth, vegetation in water, corals, bioluminescence in water creatures and shorelines depending on time of day and lighting situations.
mountains, rock and mineral formations, gemstones and their effects and lighting, electromagnetic effects (floating rocks over some sort of crevice or canyon).

I should look up the biomes intended and build more off of that. thanks for getting my gears turning!

akabear

If you do a little search, you might just find some imagery that has not been released officially!

DesyncGaming

My favourite parts of MMORPG's are always the forest type locations i spent alot, ALOT of time in BDO farming ogre rings it sucked but atleast it was beautiful

Enigmatic Sage

DesyncGaming wrote: »

My favourite parts of MMORPG's are always the forest type locations i spent alot, ALOT of time in BDO farming ogre rings it sucked but atleast it was beutiful

great scenery and stage for epic battles

the environments in games can be quite captivating, especially with such diverse biomes!

Xenantaya

I'm hoping for some dense forests as well. New World actually does a good job of this, with high tree density where you really feel like you are in a thick, real-world kind of forest. Like you say, too many MMOs consider a "forest" to be some scattered trees ... and to be honest, so far that's all we've seen in AOC, though of course we haven't seen all the biomes. I'm hoping one or more of biomes we haven't seen have some dense, deep forests.

Enigmatic Sage

Xenantaya wrote: »

I'm hoping for some dense forests as well. New World actually does a good job of this, with high tree density where you really feel like you are in a thick, real-world kind of forest. Like you say, too many MMOs consider a "forest" to be some scattered trees ... and to be honest, so far that's all we've seen in AOC, though of course we haven't seen all the biomes. I'm hoping one or more of biomes we haven't seen have some dense, deep forests.

I too am hoping for more density in both foilage and tree canopy for some darker parts of the forest and jungle biomes. Time of day can really play a factor in it too with lighting system in place (which was mentioned as being a work in progress (WIP))
it is probable that the density and lighting/shading are not completely synergistic yet.

here a couple pictures I have found some relevance to forest density so far

Jxshuwu

PoliceGirl wrote: »

I hope they do. I hope they have many deep environments. Getting lost is the best friend of immersion.

Oh man we could talk for hours together about landscapes we want to see in the game and fantasize about.
That forest you're talking about is something very specific i've been craving also, usually its a few trees on a simple grass texture.

But the same goes for mountains!!!!!! give us enormous mountains you can climb with side paths with awesome fountains streaming down, not just silly hills. Massive lakes, not some little pond. A big crack/fissure in the earth with a land bridge to cross it. Big caves where bats come flying out the second you enter with glowing mushrooms and hidden chests etc. Personally i'd also love to see Yggdrasil or the world tree somewhere in the game! (Just a massive towering tree that pierces the clouds) but it might be a little too big to physically render without performance issues

Extreme and as you call it; deep landscapes are the best! Because those are the things that bring us to another world. If its just standard and not impressive/interesting, it doesn't take us to that world we want to be in.

I share your excitement and passion for this, hope to see it in-game c:

Asgerr

Deep forests would be fine so long as they don't heavily impeach movement, navigation and combat.

It's a thing for you to be a little careful when traversing a densely populated forest, it's another to get lost at every turn because you can't go this one way, because the roots are blocking your path.

Combat can be challenging and adding interruptions to line of sight and direct lines to attack, can be fun, so long as it remains possible to do and doesn't essentially favor one type of class.

Overall, it's a matter of balancing theses aspects so that it feels like it's dense enough to look like a forest, while still being enjoyable as an MMO area to traverse and do other activities in.

Jxshuwu

Asgerr wrote: »

Deep forests would be fine so long as they don't heavily impeach movement, navigation and combat.

It's a thing for you to be a little careful when traversing a densely populated forest, it's another to get lost at every turn because you can't go this one way, because the roots are blocking your path.

Combat can be challenging and adding interruptions to line of sight and direct lines to attack, can be fun, so long as it remains possible to do and doesn't essentially favor one type of class.

Overall, it's a matter of balancing theses aspects so that it feels like it's dense enough to look like a forest, while still being enjoyable as an MMO area to traverse and do other activities in.

There's a few solutions to this:

1. You can also split the two, make the forest a travel-only area. Although my imagination tells me a fight against a giant magical stag in a thick forest is cool and all, gameplay wise it would get tedious indeed. Make biome's where you fight a bit more open and simple and the difficult and prettier ones will only be used for immersion/travel.

2. Inside the forest can be some open spaces, fights simply won't occur in the crowded areas.

akabear

New World & Kingdom Come Deliverance spring to mind with great landscapes and deep forests.
To a lesser extent BDO.