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.
Community for Classes
kyraku
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
I would like to see more systems set up for classes..
Im taking inspiration from the Wow expac, where the different classes had guild halls with class quests, class mounts, legendaries and a place to belong that wasn't tied to guilds..
Im envisioning specific classes having a role within the community. An example of this could be infirmaries for healing clerics, where the player could 'donate' time healing npc's within a quest based system, which could gain reputation within the community or even within the church that runs the infirmary. Another example could be a hunting based system where the ranger/warrior could be charged with hunting a particular nasty beast that has been plaguing and area for coin and reputation, or an assassination of an npc in a rival node by stealth, via a quests system.
All these are just ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure the designers at Intrepid can come up with better ones, but the gist of my idea is an alternate community that is based on classes rather than guilds as an alternative for people who dont want a guild or an alternative way to play with guilds as well..So the class communities would have a meeting point, be it hospital (cleric), graveyard (warlock/necromancer), woodland clearing (druid) etc... also would be additional 'flavour' to the class systems instead of just a mage with some added elemental damage or tank with some heals...
Anyway that's just my opinion..
Im taking inspiration from the Wow expac, where the different classes had guild halls with class quests, class mounts, legendaries and a place to belong that wasn't tied to guilds..
Im envisioning specific classes having a role within the community. An example of this could be infirmaries for healing clerics, where the player could 'donate' time healing npc's within a quest based system, which could gain reputation within the community or even within the church that runs the infirmary. Another example could be a hunting based system where the ranger/warrior could be charged with hunting a particular nasty beast that has been plaguing and area for coin and reputation, or an assassination of an npc in a rival node by stealth, via a quests system.
All these are just ideas off the top of my head. I'm sure the designers at Intrepid can come up with better ones, but the gist of my idea is an alternate community that is based on classes rather than guilds as an alternative for people who dont want a guild or an alternative way to play with guilds as well..So the class communities would have a meeting point, be it hospital (cleric), graveyard (warlock/necromancer), woodland clearing (druid) etc... also would be additional 'flavour' to the class systems instead of just a mage with some added elemental damage or tank with some heals...
Anyway that's just my opinion..
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Comments
The better option would be some unique. Say to get started in a class, they have a quest. Training with that weapon unlocks some sort of mastery rank with it. As in real life situations. I could learn boxing from someone but, if I don't put it to practice, it won't matter what I learned. The more I use that style, the better I get concept. This would be better in my opinion for player progression and dedication. Still offer a rock, paper, scissors role to each but, limit it by weight. The more you carry the harder it is to do anything.
This way if someone wants to mix up their roles by covering multiple areas, then they will have to work on both sets and never be a master of either. Makes them useful, but limited to their abilities. If that makes any sense.
There's a saying, the best games copy the best of other games
I think this is a great idea -in general- and I think Ashes has something like this already in the design - but I think it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to classes.
I agree with DirtyMuffin that the system should be open enough that people can mix up roles if they want to.
Playing New World this weeks has me thinking about the job boards.
I believe Ashes plans to have job boards available in taverns.
The great thing about the New World job boards is that they aren't dependent upon classes - because New World doesn't have classes.
Though, now that I think about it, I'm not sure how the job board differs from dailies.
Ashes will have Social Orgs and Religions.
Classes are primarily defined by Active Skills/Augments, which really speaks to how we do something,
Is there some reason that a Necromancer or Druid would not tend to people in a hospital? Is there a reason that a High Priest can't do what they do at a graveyard or woodland clearing? Is it not possible for a Knight or Argent to minister to patients at a hospital? Can they not participate in rituals at a graveyard or woodland clearing?
Cannot Necromancers, Druids, High Priests, Knights or Argents have tasks they can complete for a Thieves' Guild?
I did like the manner in which WoW sends us on class quests to acquire some class-defining abilities... it's great when you do something - anything - that makes you feel like your class... there might indeed be situations where a Necromancer raising undead is more helpful than a Shaman calling forth spirits.
If the devs can give us quests like that...great.
Although, looks like in Ashes, we will be assigning points where we want them rather than learning class abilities from mentors.
I don't know that the Ashes devs can easily code the AI to have generic NPCs respond to our class tags and then offer class-appropriate tasks/quests, but that would be awesome if they could do it, sure.
As for class quests, I'm pretty sure Steven said this will be a thing. Class quests will give you a sense of class identity, and you can then relate your experiences to other people of the same class and compare your stories with people of other classes. I would also like to see an interesting quest for when you choose your secondary archetype. Having to prove your worth to the archetype you choose sounds like interesting gameplay. I don't know how I feel about the game locking spells or really good items behind them, maybe the quest can unlock an augment or something? We don't know enough about augments.
I remember when I played on a vanilla WoW server, leveling my warrior and at around level 30 I received a group quest to go kill some elite mob that was super tough. After getting some help with it, I received a really strong 2H axe weapon that was good for another 15 to 20 levels, it felt like a good reward. I don't think that type of reward would work well in Ashes tho, since this game is a PvX game where you will be fighting players more often than in WoW. INtrepid has to make this game somewhat balanced.
Mayors can allocate services in the towns and cities. They can probably choose to have a hospital built or a graveyard...perhaps both. They certainly choose which social organizations have buildings in the town/city/metro.
What actually gets built within the limited space is part of the tension and conflict that drive the rise and fall of Nodes.
That being said:
"There's going to be a lot of shared quests but there's also going to be class-specific quests; and the reason for that is that some classes are better at others than doing certain things and that'll play itself out through the general community quests. That's fine, but there are certain periods from a designer's perspective where you want to make an encounter be the antithesis of what a player is good at. It also gives them perspective because we have a more fluid class combination system where you can play the line in your traditional role by adding a secondary class that's different from your primary classes role. The benefit of having these class-specific quests early on especially in an archetype is that you can come to a determination and have greater experience for the things you're not good at. So you know how to progress your class in the future with the things you have access to that are different from what you're good at."
---Steven
"Quests will be relevant to the player's class progression via their choice of primary and secondary archetypes.
So you want to give them storyline that's relevant and make sense for them to their class progression. If I'm a fighter I should be going to a barracks and learning from this dude early on. Later on if I want to take on that mage secondary and I'm more arcane in the things I do, or more based in the essence, then yeah it makes sense for my also again for a catered quest to me that lets me focus on that route in the narrative."
---Steven