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
https://asheshq.com/2023/11/01/development-update-october-31-2023/
https://asheshq.com/2023/12/05/development-update-november-30-2023/
The December Dev Update summary is up online at
https://asheshq.com/2023/12/22/development-update-december-19-2023/
https://asheshq.com/2024/02/01/development-update-january-31-2024/
The February Dev Update Summary I wrote is up online at:
https://asheshq.com/2024/02/29/development-update-february-29-2024/
Until I figure out what my plan is for their home. I will just post them here.
Development Update: March 29, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that values (time and percentages) are all subject to change with testing. To give an idea of where they are, dropping material items on death (glint or other) is ~20-30% of a stake is going to be lootable on a per death basis. This value can change based on the types of bags you are using, amongst other progressions paths. XP debt is about 3-4% of the level per death, however there are ways to medicate that % debt via the resurrection ability of the cleric. The ability will return a % upon resurrection depending on the cleric’s stats. Anywhere within a level, if you acquire 100% debt, you are looking at around 20% stat dampening. XP debt does not de-level a character, but making the fear of failure real, in order to incentivize doing better.
• The Dev Discussions for Time Dedication is still up.
• The next Dev Discussion will be on Item Drop.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
Fighter Archetype Preview
• Steven played as a Male Renkai Fighter
• Fighter uses Momentum as the class energy. Momentum: Generate 1 Combat momentum when hitting tarts. Weapon combo finishers generate 3 combat momentum plus an additional 1 per 10 casters already has. Combat moment grants unique increasing stat based on the combat form you are currently in and how much momentum you have built.
• Abilities:
o Blitz: 10 Mana 30 Range 0.8s Use
Charge directly towards target enemy, dealing physical damage to the target on arrival.
o Brutal Cleave: 20 Mana 1.2s Use
Perform a wide sweeping attacking, dealing damage to all enemies in front of you.
This ability shares a cooldown with Overpower, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher reduces its cooldown by 8 seconds
+10-20 Combat moment )based on number of enemies hit.
o Maim 25 Mana 1.4s Use
Perform a powerful melee strike in a short forward cone, dealing physical damage to all targets hit plus 100% additional damage to recently tripped targets
o Overpower 10 Mana 4m Range 1s Use
Deal direct damage and apply Shaken to target enemy. This ability shares a cooldown with Brutal Cleave, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher refreshes the cooldown of this ability
+10 Combat Momentum
o Battle Cry 30 Mana 0.7s Use
Unleash a resounding war bellow, applying the Riled effect to the caster and al nearby party memb3ers and Shaken to all nearby enemies. Gain 5 Combat Momentum for each target that was Riled.
Riled targets have increases stability and have increase change of tripping Shaken enemies.
o Rupture 15 Mana 4m Range 1.3s Use
Deal physical damage and apply a debuff to the target. While the debuff is active, the target acquires 5 wound stacks per second that they are moving.
After 5 seconds, the target takes heavy damage, plus additional damage for each stack of wound it has.
o Exert 0.2s Use
Consume your Combat Momentum rapidly, gaining 20% increased attack and movement speed and immunity to disabling effects while active.
Must have at least 20 Combat Momentum to activate, and the effect ends when all Combat Momentum is fully depleted.
o Crippling blow 15 Mana 4m Range 0.9s Use
Deal physical damage and apply Snare to target enemy for 6 seconds
o Lethal blow 15 Mana 4m Range 1.1s Use
Perform a powerful descending strike upon target enemy, dealing additional physical damage based on the amount of % missing health, up to 300% of base damage.
o Cataclysm 40 Mana 2.1s Use
Deal heavy damage and apply Shaken to all enemies in a large area in front of you.
Shaken enemies have 5% change to trip when hit, and the effect is removed when triggered. This chance doubles when hit by Riled targets.
o Whirlwind 30 Mana 3m Range 2.7s Cast
Channeled ability: Deal physical damage to all enemies around the caster with each spin while channeled, increasing the spin rate the longer it is channeled.
The caster is immune to hard disabling effects while spinning.
Activate ability again to end channeling early.
o Blood Fusion Instant Cast
Return 100% of damage dealt as heal and 50% of damage dealt as mana over the next 6 seconds.
If activated while below 50% health, gain 25% increased damage mitigation and healing received over the duration.
o Lunging Assault 0.6s Use
Spend 15 Combat Momentum to lunge in a direction a short distance and perform an upward swing upon arrival, dealing damage to enemies in front of you. You are immune to hard crow control effects while performing this ability.
o Leap Strike 30 Mana 30m Range 1.8s Use
Leap to target location and deal damage around you, snaring targets hit for 3 seconds.
Forms:
o Form of Fluidity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +4% Disable Resistance Chance per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +40%.
Shifting from costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Celerity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Movement Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Ferocity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Attack Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
• Shaken: If they take damage, they may become tripped
• Ability skill tree was displayed.
• The weapon tree has been revamped completely.
• On the client side rendering, the team will be working on it over the next few months. During active development, these things may not be as desired.
•
Fighter Q&A:
• Will the battle cry sound effect change base doff of race and sex?
o Yes, there will be a style of vocals that will respect your character customization options.
• Are any of these abilities changed based on weapon equip? (like bow with whirlwind)
o There is a dedicated range and a dedicated melee slot, abilities will spawn the required weapon.
• What % of current complete abilities do not need an active target?
o Off the top of his head, there are probably 4-5 that require a single target, the rest are on self or on a template.
• Will there be a limit on the stacks on bosses?
o Absolutely, there are diminishing returns on stack counts. The intent is not to allow an infinite stack count. This is predicated on the status type (not player).
• How will augments work to help hold aggro if their secondary archetype is a tank?
o The idea is that threat generation is a core component of the tank archetypes, as a fighter if you select tank as a secondary archetype, you will be able to select spheres of augments to help with threat generation in order to better serve as tank in combat.
• Is Momentum being generated while under the effect of Exert?
o Yes, that is part of the mechanic.
• Will ranged archetypes have ways to gain distance, to combat melee range closers?
o Yes, that is the cat and mouse of these abilities, Ranger has backflip, airdrop, the mage has teleportation. There are going to be abilities that are tit for tat, managing the resources of those abilities is critical.
• Do destructables respawn?
o Yes they do.
• Can we toggle nameplates for mobs, even outside of combat?
o Yes, Steven had that disabled in game for his own immersion.
• Are mobs sounds stock or custom made?
o That was Tori and Andrew one of the audio designers, they are not stock.
• Does the fighter have any weapon specific abilities?
o Steven doesn’t believe so.
Studio Update
• New roles were added to Intrepid website.
• Steven went to GDC and spoke with a lot of people.
Art Update
• Carphin Medium Armor set.
• Nikua models and starting gear.
• VFX for Toren Godspike
• The Toren empire was an ancient empire (half elves) were under King Atrax, the Godspike was an artifact that would create an essence fissure and siphon out the essence that existed within Verra.
• Spiderlings
• Concept art for academy nodes, and Aelan highways and Kaelar Walls.
Q&A
• Will there be long term individual or group buffs unique to certain classes?
o Yes, those are intended experiences. The longest buff is only intended to be 30 minutes. Longer buffs would come from consumables (food).
• What’s the repair cost for destroyed ships?
o There is a lot of risk in traveling across the seas, destruction is very costly in reconstituting your vessels.
• Will the deep ocean be encompassed in the ZOI of Costal Nodes?
o No, the deep sea does not contribute to Coastal Nodes experience.
• Knowing that there won’t be PvP only servers, how will new players find the right severs to join?
o Ashes is a PvX game, in that regard, your ability from disconnecting from PvP completely is not likely. But you can reduce your exposure to it according to your play path, but by risk vs reward being a core pillar, it will always be an element. There are systems that govern how players will engage in PvP.
• Will we see other biomes outside of the Riverlands at the start of A2?
o Once we get closer to A2 this will be easier to answer. Assets for 7 biomes have been completed, biomes require more than assets to be compete, they need story, narratives, quests and those features are still being developed.
• How will naval combat work if ships cannot be moved or blocked?
o The intent is that there is some semblance to realism with respect to physics, this will ob course cause damage.
• Will one get credit for completing a quest objective if you are in a raid?
o In the majority of the cases, that is something that is depending on the number of participants in the raid. Some quest lines like story arcs or events, then that progress may be shared at a part/raid level. It depends on the objective of the quests.
• If there is not a coastal node leveled up our we SOL on building/launching ships?
o Coastal nodes are not where ships get built and launches, those are harbors. Harbors are POI that level up as nodes level up nearby (coastal node or not).
• How will active blocking function when it comes to spells?
o It depends, actively blocking is part of the universal skill tree, depending on what piece of equipment, some will be catered towards magic damage/blocking and others towards physical damage/blocking. There are sigils, which are the magic.
• Will players need multiple mounts on their skill bar to accommodate Verra?
o The intent is that mounts have varying abilities, and it is expected that you will have a number greater than 1 to use. The stable system is still inactive design and development. It is likely you will not be able to carry all your mounts as once. The abilities of your mounts will force you to choose which mount is best given your strategy an situation.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
Midnight Magic Q&A:
How will weapon combos work if the weapon doesn’t fit the archetypes?
o Right now, they are approaching weapons as if you have 3 dedicated slots (main-hand, off-hand, melee). Depending on the type of ability it will swap to the right weapon and swap back once the ability is done. Players can make bad choices, but there will still be options to make those bad choices within the skill tree. There will be options to have a spellcaster use a bow.
Will spells affect light up or reflect off of the environment?
o Some spells will. Leading up to A2 they are focusing on the system itself, so they will look at making sure any VFX are not too cumbersome.
How long does the light to dark transition take (sunset or sunrise)
o Probably around 10-15 minutes
Are the elements of the spells important? (i.e. a water spell before a lightning spell)
o Absolutely. This is through the status affect which enables your whole party to work together.
How easy is it to level up your weapon skill tree?
o That is something that will be testing in A2, initially they are thinking 2-3 times faster to maximize the weapon skill tree vs your adventuring level.
Will weapon level be per weapon type?
o Yes, it is per weapon type, all wands have the same progressions.
Where does the team pull wand weapon inspiration for VFX?
o Wands exist in so many different spaces, they are taking inspiration from a wide variety of places not just one.
Will there be magic connected to time/time of day/night?
o Yes, there is a god of time (the Ageless Warden Aterna) so time may be relevant.
When will we see other archetypes?
o The bard is currently in phase 2 of its development (finalizing VFX) so showcase will be in the next few months.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month; around 13 people. 8 people are still planned to join next month.
• A lot of progress is on Node Wars and will likely be seen next month in the Dev Stream.
• They are in Milestone 9, which has a goal to be feature complete for Alpha 2.
• Milestone 10 will be polishing all features for A2.
• They have a lot of engineering/combat design roles that they are looking for our help to recruit on.
Art Update
• Gingham artisan Chef sculps. (March – April 2023)
• Stormsnapper Rangefinder model. (July - August 2023)
• Ren’Kai Gear progression of Tier 1 to Tier 5 was displayed.
• Aelan Building details
Q&A
What level are the mobs and NPC in mob occupied castles?
o They are level 50 or 55.
Will players be able to raise flags and banners?
o Yes, that is a definite inclusion of props you can place on your freehold.
Will RNG be made public?
o Some may, some may not. Things like the % chance of enchanting will be seen. You may see chance of success for crafting. You will not see drop table chances.
It was mentioned that an elected official can give insider information on future commission, could the mayor siphon off funds from the city?
o The intent is that the mayor has that ability, the mayors action will affect if they stay in office (according to the social opinion). However, there are clamps on purchase prices to keep them within some bounds.
What stops a player joining an enemy node from a neighboring economic and bidding for the mayor position to take over its resources?
o That sounds like a strategy, but there are citizenship buy-ins requirements in order for the mayor to have complete control over the node.
Will open world dungeons have a negative feedback loop for those who are bussing lower level dungeons for other players?
o Generally, there is a level disparity mechanic that prevents players that are 9-10 levels below the requirement to collect any experience during their adventuring. They are catering the encounter experience to be done through a high efficiency party dynamic, and as such a low-level player not contributing will weaken the party enough to not to make the process seamless. There will also be heatmaps and live GM that will watch for Power Levels.
What is your approach form a UX standpoint for new players to understand complex systems for the first time?
o There are trigger response when players interact with new system, new nodes, etc, that will prompt players to help them with first time experience. That is meant to help orient players.
Performance in PvP is measured in 6-month season. How will this be measured in A2 with server wipes?
o The goal is not meant to have server wipes in A2. Players can test the 6-month season in the alpha 2.
Are the development tools that are needed for world building completed?
o Tools are constantly being touched up, but no not all tools are completed. Tools are stood up bare bones fashions and receive updates all the time. Some tools will require more iterations then expected depending on what they see in Alpha 2.
Are mounts and the animal husbandry profession are meant to have the same resource sinks as the other professions?
o Mounts are not (unless you are talking about flying mounts). In animal husbandry there are a lot.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that there will be many varieties of playstyles. Players can customize their archetype, and gear and how they interact with the counter designs. From a balance perspective, they are not trying to balance everything, especially in a 1-1 scenario. But rather there will be balance in a group composition. It is a rock-paper-scissor design, each group will have its own make up based on their decisions that will lean one way or another in those categories. Modern MMO have moved away from that and towards a 1-1 perspective, but Steven does not like style of design.
• The Dev Discussions for Cutscenes is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
• Next month live stream will be a deep dive on technical performance.
Node Wars Preview
• Steven prefaced that this is their opportunity to provide updates to the community in order for the community to provide feedback back to them. The whole purpose of this is open development to get that feedback. That being said this is not completely fleshed out, there is not polish on these systems yet. Steven is requesting the interaction, ability design, effects, system overview, not things like VFX soup, UI design, etc…
• In this livestream they displayed how to declare a war.
o The mayor has a special “Mayor tab” where they can manage mayor commission. Once enough commissions are completed, there are rewards. One of the commissions is “War Preparations” players received glint when they complete the commission (which in this case is donating resources to the war)
o There are mayor boards around the node that players can interact with, accept and complete.
o There are cooldowns and time restrictions to mayoral commission.
o The War Preparation completion gives the mayor a “war token”. Which allows the mayor to declare war on a specific node. The type of war can also be specific like Territory Control War, amongst others.
o Territory control war is about controlling territory, there will be battle over certain POIs to gain control over those POIs, if enough battles are won the node gets a luck buff within that territory, and siphons resource XP in those POIs for the winning of the battle.
o During the territory war each kill against another player in an opposing node gains 1 point, the war is declared successful with enough points.
o On the performance side, they have been refining the pipelines. They have been auditing many different profiles and are prepared for many 100 people to be fighting.
o Along with PvP, there are gatherable that are fought over between nodes. Those who can get the most specific resources in the area and return them to camps first gain additional points.
o The team has been focusing on honing the Day 1 of Alpha 2 as smooth as possible. They are working with people around the world to identify any issues with individuals and their systems. They have been doing this every 1-2 week for the past couple months.
o Different node types have different mayor ability used in different scenarios; the Scientific node has a War ability that gives damage buff/mitigation.
o There was mention about a nemesis system, where you might be able to track those who may have killed you the most.
o During sanctions PvP events, death penalties are turned off, you will still drop your material inventory, but you will not receive XP debt, or gear wear.
o There are conditions to win war events, phases, as well as to win the war entirely.
o The event shown was to take Highway man Hills form the neighboring node.
o Other war buffs in A2 will but turning off constructions (of enemy node), turning off the caravansary (of enemy node), steal/destroy a relic.
o On the client side, they are hoping it is seamless, things like dynamic load balancers, where the visual fidelity is the same in solo, vs large groups, because everything is handled under the hood.
o The DLSS integration has greatly helped, in 40 series they double the framerate.
o Big rewards for war are: Buffs, disabling services, syphoning gold, temporary mayor control, reducing taxes, stealing node XP, new content for winners (like a special raid boss).
Node Ware Q&A:
• Is there going to be a system to sabotage opposing war preparations?
o Mayors needs buy-in from citizen, so espionage could be vital to preparing against or stopping predicates from being accomplished. If citizens do not want to complete commissions (for wars citizens don’t support) then the ability to declare war preparation will be on cooldown for a while.
• Will there be VOIP options?
o Yes, it is an intended features in taverns, parties, and raids, but not at the beginning of A2.
• Will there be upkeep costs to war instead of just initiation?
o Not in the war context, but in systems before war like creating unique upgrades for war like barracks, or weapons. Crafters are very important in AoC.
• Is it possible to hired as a mercenary that isn’t a citizen of the 2 opposing nodes?
o There will be war scrolls that could be co-operative, to joint declare war or have pacts and treaties between nodes.
• Can you declare war outside of primetime?
o Yes, the key about server prime time is that events cater to prime time. From a gameplay design participating in impactful events is depending on primetime, not war declaration. War declaration is just open flagging, but the events associated with war will be during prime time.
• Would a team get more points for killing a mayor?
o Yes, not just a mayor, but also special position within a node (like head of a religious organization).
• Will there be a way to differentiate between ally and enemy spells?
o That is not something that is currently intended, but maybe there will be accessibility things in the future.
• After declaring war, are your allies also autoflagged in the warzone, or just your citizens?
o Currently, certain war scrolls, and types, will induct alliances as participants of the war, but not all wars will.
• Is there a cap on how many players can join a war objective, and can they join while it is going on?
o Events are not intended on being capped.
• Can the dragon be killed, and what happens if it dies (cooldown)?
o At the beginning of A2, the intent is that dragons are given to mayors. That mount is timed and associated with the mayoral term. During certain events (siege/war/war events) the mayor can use that mount at a certain cost. When the mount dies, they will need to be subject to a cooldown period and pay the cost again. Others can mount the flying mount depending on alliance, and title.
• Can all nodes go to war, or only vassals?
o All nodes of stage 3 or higher can declare war or be declared on. However, the jury is still out weather vassals can declare war on other nodes of the same vassal. There is no proximity requirement.
• Why are some enemies shown completely and other shown in quarters?
o Enemy name plates are shown in quarters, this is meant to provide an element of decision making that happens different in PvP when you do not have exact % of health of our enemy. Allies and NPC don’t have that same decision making so you can see their full exact values.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month.
Q&A
• To what extent will logistics and supply lines be integrated int o node wars.
o There has been discussion around certain event types requiring those types of supplies within certain timelines. Acquiring, transporting, staging, so in that sense there are some but it’s dedicated to only specific war type
• Can a mayor voluntarily de-rank their node to avoid a war?
o No, they cannot.
• Are node wars or any part of node wars instances or will they be entirely open world?
o They have spoken about objectives being instanced in order to control participation numbers. That could be a feature component in the future, but right now it is open world.
• Can you explain the reason why nodes cannot declare war on their parents?
o They lost the battle already; they are outranked by their parents. The clutches of vassal ship are strong. Vassal structures are meant to be supportive, not depressing.
• Will node wars between 2 metropolises nodes mostly manifest in the vassal network or will there be system to invade further into a vassal network?
o These events are not just dedicated to the fringe, there will be event types that might be to steal a relic from the heart of the territory.
• Will there be a scoreboard detailing the most active/best players in wars?
o Yes, you will be able to see yours, as well as others (if they chose to opt-in)
• How many objectives must be completed to win a war?
o That is dependent on the war scroll type, some of which intersect more with non PvP achievements.
• How often do you suspect node wars will occurs across the server?
o For A2s purpose pretty often, because of how it is currently delegated to the commissions system. The intend version will be much more governed by a reputation score in the game.
• By what means can mayors use diplomacy with other mayors.
o For A2, its chat. For launch there will be a number of different power, mechanics, like trade routes, agreements, events, relics, etc.
Development Update: July 31, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain work is delegate across servers, each server has its own dedicated multithread. There are automatic backups for servers (example: if a server crashes). This happened last Friday when they had 1500 testers. There was no realm crashes, but just server crashes (where they were able to re-login) and players not on that server were not affected. Whenever a server isn’t crowded, they are merged to save costs.
• The Dev Discussions for Camera Perspective is still up.
• The next Dev Discussion will be on Storytelling archetypes.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
• A2 roadmap AMA will be August 16th, at 11AM PST.
• A2 will begin in October.
Bard Archetype Preview
• Took place in the Daragal Estates. Used to be owned by the Daragal Family, but since has been taken over by peasants since returning to Verra.
• The Daragal Estates were once a place of pure essential water.
• Steven was joined by 5 Designers: Tory (Sound), Doug (NPC), Trad (Combat), Bucky (Combat), Brian (Combat)
• Bard Inspiration comes from Lineage, Archage, but also some concepts from WoW. It’s not just song or dance, but all in one kit.
• There are Tiers in the Skill Tree, once you have enough points into Tier 1 skills it allows you to start to put points into Tier 2 skills. They would like feedback on this.
• Instruments are currently just a cosmetic choice. It changes the SFX and animations.
• Diminishing returns systems have been put in place for CCs. (hard CC, activation CC (silence and disarm), movement CC (snare, chill, root and freeze) ). Once the CC for the category has been reached you become immune, in order to avoid perma-CC.
• A spell book is a slower weapon (like a great sword). This is the first self-animated weapon.
• Elite systems for mobs were shown. They are indicated by one or more stars next to their name.
• Lighting is still being worked on.
• Audio team is still working on layering.
• The book is just an example weapon, not necessary for the bard.
• NPC animations can be throttled depending on how many there are in a given area so there was some animation bugs.
Abilities
• Cheerful Melody 30m
o Nearby party members gain Cheerful Melody: Healing received increased by 20%. Also lightly heal for 15% magic power every 2 seconds.
o Melodies can be played concurrently with other abilities
• Pensive Melody (30m)
o Nearby party members gain Pensive Melody. Restores mana equal to 1+1% magic power every 2 seconds.
o Melodies can be played concurrently with other abilities.
• Epic Melody (30m)
o Nearby party members gain Epic Melody. Movement speed increases by 20%.
o Melodies can be played concurrently with other abilities.
• Cathartic Melody (30m Range)
o Nearby party members gain Cathartic Melody. Your attacks have a 25% to heal yourself for 50% of the damage done.
o Melodies can be played concurrently with other abilities.
• Menacing Melody (30m Range)
o Nearby enemies are afflicted with Menancing Melody. Increases damage taken by 10%.
o Melodies can be played concurrently with other abilities.
• Flourish (15 Mana)
o Slide forward gracefully in your aimed directions and gain Pep (+20% movement speed). Can be used concurrently with any other ability.
• Shielding Dance (25 Mana 5m Range)
o Heal yourself and nearby allies for 50% magic power every second and apply up to one instance of Shield (Temporary health of 400% of healing power) to each target.
• Nimble Dance (25 Mana 5m Range)
o Grants Nimble (+50% evasion) and Pep to yourself and nearby allies every second.
• Mesmerizing Dance (25 Mana 5m Range)
o Quickly strike a dazzling pose! Mesmerizing all nearby enemies applying Incapacitate for 10 seconds.
o Any targets with Staggered also becomes Stunned for 3 seconds.
• Maddening Dance (25 Mana 5m Range)
o Damage nearby enemies for 40% magic arcane damage every second. Damage increases with less targets, up to 60% magic arcane damage.
o Applies Humiliate to target that are Demoralized.
• Get off The Stage (20 Mana 5m Range)
o Knockback enemies in front of you with your instrument, dealing 175% magic power bludgeoning damage and applying 3 stacks of Snared that tapers off over the course of 6 seconds.
• Quick Wit (10 Mana 30 Range)
o Jest with target ally, healing for 120% magic power healing and applying Glee (heal for 60% every 2 seconds for up to 30s.
o OR
o Ridicule target enemy, dealing them 100% magic power bludgeoning damage and applying Demoralized.
• Lovely Serenade (25 Mana 30m Range)
o Target ally is healed for 150% magic power every second. The final hit applies to Glee.
o Also applied Disarm to targets with Staggered
• Anthem of Alacrity (25 Mana 30m Range)
o Target ally gains Anthem of Alacrity. Attack speed increases by 25% and casting speed increases by 25%. Lasts 10 seconds.
• Chilling Lament 25 Mana, 30m Range
o Target enemy is dealt 75% magic ice damage and affected with 4 seconds of Chilled every second. Deals damage to Frozen Targets.
• Dark Lullaby (25 Mana 30m Range)
o Deal 50-100% arcane power of spirit damage to target enemy each second. Scales in power over the course of the cast. This damage will not wake an Incapacitated target.
o The final hit applies Stunned for 6 seconds if the target is Incapacitated.
• Discordance (20 Mana 30m Range)
o Launch a wild burst of 3 discordant notes at your target, each dealing 75% arcana power and applying Staggered. The notes will bounce to random nearby enemies dealing reduced damaged.
• Gambit (20 Mana 30m Range)
o In a daring maneuver, transfer life to or from target party member, depending on who has the lower percentage health. This ability will not reduce player health below 20% health.
o The character that loses life in this exchange gains Solace.
• Conflict (30 Mana 30m Range)
o Nearby party members gain Conflict. Increase physical power by 10%. Lasts 30 seconds. Generates Tragedy.
• Chaos (30 Mana 30m Range)
o Nearby party members gain Chaos. Magical critical chance increased by 15 seconds. Generates Tragedy.
• Saga (50 Mana)
o Complete your tale with a great finale, consuming all your current theme (ex: Tragedies). The specific saga you have access to is determined by the combination of your current Themes.
o The Apocalypse
Conjure a scene at your location that depicts this fabled event. Enemies in front of you will hit for 150% arcane power as fire damage. Burning and afflicted with Shaken. A lingering zone of flames will be left behind dealing 30% arcane power as fire damage each second, lasting 8 seconds.
o The return to Verra
o The Silent Pantheon
o The Myth of Creation
Bard Q&A:
• If there are multiple bards in a party do the abilities stack?
o Buffs of the same type do not stack but you can have different abilities stack.
• Do heals crit?
o Yes, heals crit for any class.
• Are all of the bard abilities AoE based or group?
o They require players to be in a party.
• Can bards used melodies while mounted?
o Buffs are not currently transferred to mounts. Abilities can not be currently used while mounted.
• If players have other player speed increase, will they stack with the bards buffs?
o Yes, as long as its not the same buff name. There may be diminishing returns though.
• If you are outside of the range of the initial melody cast, but then move in, do you receive the effects?
o Yes, the melody is a channeled effect, so it depends if you are within range or not.
• Do instruments do anything or are they purely cosmetic?
o The instrument at this moment is purely cosmetic.
• Can players use macro to help with bard abilities?
o Macros are something they want to be careful of, but generally Steven is opposed to macros.
• What does the humiliate status do?
o 30% reduction against sources that are not the source the humiliation.
Studio Update
• New roles were added to the Intrepid website.
• Live player testing has started.
Art Update
• Rosethorn outfit (in game achievable)
• Images of Inns were displayed (kaelar)
• Marketing assets for Alpha 2 (Firebrand Dragon)
Q&A
• How important will knowledge and deduction be in the game, and will you avoid tedious data gathering method?
o Knowledge and deduction will be important, not just for combat of creatures, but also for story, and crafting results, which are riddled across many places.
• Will bards have the opportunity to specialize into tasks like caravan or ship building?
o Utility overall is spread across all archetypes not just bard. There isn’t one archetype that will excel far beyond others for utility skills. In archetype design, utility skills are still being developed and will likely only come into play in A2.1 and 2.2.
• Can you give us an idea how the bard might augment the other archetypes?
o When thinking about how augments work, they represent the core function of the archetypes you are getting augment schools for. So, bard is regenerative affects, buffs effect types, so you could imagine you would be adding affect types that would add regeneration or buffs.
• Will bards have large mechanics that will affect larger battles?
o The sagas will likely be the largest abilities. There are still 3 more saga effects that were not shown in the livestream.
• Will bards and rogues have the ability to mask themselves?
o That is not currently planed for in scope.
• Will bards have long lasting or customizable buffs by performing a tavern?
o For A2 there are no plans, but in the past, they have talked about having those buffs available. That would be later in A2 (post level 25)
• What will the four school of augmentation for bard?
o Regeneration and Buffs, but the final design for all of those are not completed.
• Does the team have a bard siege summon?
o No siege summons intended for bard. But the saga is meant to be a massive summon style.
• Are bards’ abilities generally affected by LOS?
o No, they are not. It is not a targeted ability.
• What will happen to a siege attacker side if the castle owning guild has 250 members and one of the attacking guilds successfully casts the seal to move ownership to themselves?
o The castle siege event will end and the sealing guild will become the new owners.
“Intrepid Net" was presented - the server technology for Ashes of Creation.Thanks to it, the team is confident of larger test groups for the Alpha 2. Therefore, fresh Alpha 2 accesses will soon be offered in the shop again. Soon, NDA tests will start with A1 backers. It is still planned to release the Character Creator before the release of A2.
Intrepid Net relies on server meshing, a dynamic server network and multi-threading, which was specially developed for a huge and interactive MMORPG. The game world of AoC is 1,200 km² in size and should be able to accommodate 10,000 players at the same time.
With "server meshing", the game world is divided into several servers (sectors) that can communicate with each other and thus share the load. There is no central server with which all other servers communicate. Instead, neighbouring servers communicate directly with each other. If one server crashes, the others remain online.
Many players in an area can overload a single server. If necessary, a sector can be divided into two or more servers ("server gritting") automatically, which reduces the load. Server Gritting should be available for Alpha 2. The boundaries between two servers are fluid. However, only neighbouring servers communicate with each other, which leads to new problems: How does a server receive information from the other end of the game world?
Microservices are independent services that are available to every server. They can connect to any server and thus access the entire game world. There are several microservices, such as "Social Services", which allows us to see the locations of all group members.
Despite server meshing and dynamic gritting, a single server still has to process an enormous amount of information (extremely large number of actors and perform relevance checks). To counteract this, the development team has come up with several solutions.
"Spatial Grid Bucket" - To minimise the relevance checks, an (invisible) grid is placed on the game world. The server systems recognise our position and only carry out relevance checks for actors in the immediate vicinity.
Multithreading - The development team has managed to make the calculation process multi-threaded, i.e. to distribute the work over several cores.
Studio Update: 9th milestone completed, 10th milestone focuses on fixing bugs and polishing effects and the UI for Alpha 2. During the last quarter, the team has grown by 15%.
Art Update: Web hand wraps, belt, grove guard helm, elegant top, mantle, bat, guard armour
Q&A:
- There will be server queues at launch on high activity times
- There will be extensive testing in Alpha 2 for server border areas
- The aim is to provide AoC owned servers, with backup servers in the cloud in case of an unexpectedly large rush
- Aggro is calculated using a formula and therefore generated differently across actions
- There will be underwater dungeons on the high seas where PvP flagging is active
- Basic functions to mark people will be available at the start of A2
- Mobs respawn faster when there are many characters in an area
- There will be underwater content in the Underrealm
- Drops are the same for everyone. Useless recipes can be traded
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that the archetype augmentation system could be rudimentary changes, like cooldowns, damage, or range. But they could also be very complex which would mean visuals and audio and flavor for a particular ability. They are not at that stage of development just yet though. Some will radically and fundamentally change some classes.
• The Dev Discussions for Storytelling with Archetypes is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• A2 bundles are now available for purchase while supplies last.
• A2 will begin in October.
Citadel of the Steel Bloom and Firebrand Preview
• Jeremey (World Designer), The Citadel of the Steel Bloom was the location of order of the Steel Bloom prior to the exodus and apocalypse. They were a special unit formed by the Aelune Queen who believed in the portents and the omens beforehand. Chung and Trad (Design Team) , Ben, Jason (NPC designer), Bucky, Gunther (Senior Producer)
• The area was in the Harrowers area. The Harrower was one of the ancients lead slaughter, who led a team of marauders through this area during the exodus. They slaughtered the steel Bloom while they were locked inside the citadel.
• The event from the showcase takes place quite a few quests into a main story arc. The people who are currently residing in the Citadel right now are the sacred blades, they are a Kaelar defected military group who took over the Citadel. They have been dealing with cultist to increase their power. They are looking for a relic called The Orb of Ultimate Essence.
• They are trying to resurrect The First Lady of the Rose, who was on the Order of the Rose for the Queen. She is meant to help the party stop the Harrower.
• If the players get The Orb of Ultimate Essence, it is actually a dragon egg, when it is taken it spawns the Firebrand Dragon.
Firebrand Q&A:
• Is it intentional that in target of target the dragon health ticks down in the oppose direction compared to regular health bars.
o No that’s probably a bug.
• Please elaborate on Battle Res. Can you res in combat? Is it mana intensive?
o From a balanced perspective that is what A2 is meant to provide. Battle Res is meant to be a long channel ability that incurs a lot of risk for the healer, but also the player that is resurrected will come back with limited health and limited mana.
• Will world boss’s health be proportional to the number of players fighting it?
o The health will not scale, however as you add more players to an open world encounter, some behaviors may occur more frequently, such as more AoE abilities.
• Since bosses like these are open world, how will you address people that bring way more players than what the boss is designed for?
o To a degree adaptive AI to help zerg down certain content. In certain encounters where they want to keep the numbers at a specific value, they will use instanced content, but that will only be ~20%, but that won’t be until phase 3 of A2
• Are the boss droppings full items a place holders, instead of recipes or mats?
o Yes, the reward tables are not completed. They are just in a functional state. However you will get full loot drops from world bosses, but you will also get unique recipes and components.
Studio Update
• The team and testers are doing a great job leading up to A2.
Q&A
• The staff can be scene in game but not in the A2 phases, can you tell us if the staff will be in A2 and when?
o The other weapons and the staff will be throughout phase 3 of A2. There will be a lot of legacy features in phase 3. There has been a lot of work done on the animations but not necessarily the weapon skills trees, so make sure their identity is unique.
• Would bosses provide exclusive gathering materials for players with specific artisan profession skills such as hunting?
o There likely wouldn’t be exclusive materials, and there isn’t a plan for world bosses to interact with the hunting professions. That is just delicate to hunting prey, which will be divorced from the standard mob. In A2 there will be overlap with mobs, but in the completed game it is hoped that they are unique NPCs that you would track and hunt in order to collect the materials and resources.
• Can you explains what progression will look like and what the benefits or reasons are of leveling monsters (for monster coins)?
o The intent is that the more often you play that monster you will gain additional abilities, in order to ease players into the gameplay of specific monsters.
• There seems to be many ways nodes can hurt each other through PvP, are there ways to hurt rival nodes without a direct PvP, such as trading off resources, or NPC riots.
o There are less straight forward ways other than PvP, such as node commissions which would degrade trade alliances, land management systems, policy choices to limit choices the neighboring node can take, and vassalship.
• You had mentioned in the past that player held castles can be attacked monthly, does this mean that if a castle is not attacked monthly by players the NPCs would original try to retake the castle?
o They have discussed it, but from a design perspective it is not confirmed. The thought process is that if you didn’t have any attackers scheduled for the castle siege, then the castle would enter into an NPC siege, but that might not be the case.
• Since we are getting ships in A2, can we know more about the ship building process? Will we require carpentry for the hull, and tailoring for the sails?
o Yes there will definitely be interfacing with a number of different artisanship in order to create all the components necessary. Not just to build the ship, but also to equip the ship in its equipment slots. They will have more details as the naval system approaches, right now there are still discussion on where certain design aspects will live.
• In a multi boss encounter, how is player performance captured when it becomes a PvX encounter?
o There is a combination of tags system (for first tag), and then damage done, on a raid party basis and then which ever party exceeds the 50% has the loot rights for a period of time. After that period of time expires it becomes public loot.
• Can you elaborate on the Mendelian inheritance of the animal husbandry system?
o The traits are going to be relate to some stat on the animal stat block, they will also relate to abilities (such as passive benefits). This will be tied to genetic traits, and the system will overtime take it into account.
• During phase 2 you are going to test vassaling, would you be open to testing sieging your parent node?
o They don’t need to test that at that stage, what will be tested is the relationship between the too, is it negative or positive? The idea is that it is positive, so then they can look at changing the systems to ensure it is a positive relationship.
Unfortunately that is all the information we have, Margaret said that they are waiting to hire the “Content Creator Community Manager” position before moving on to the next steps of the Content Creator Program, which may be after the launch of Phase 1 of A2
Thank you.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Bill Trost: Director of Design
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that the relic system still has outstanding feature work, there are different types of relics, generally they are serviced through the cargo system, meaning you need a relic, merchant ship, or mule, in order for it to confine to the special grid of the cargo hold, where you then need to bring it to the node. Some relics, upon completion of a task, are sent directly to the node, but this is more relevant to common relics. There is some flexible in the relic system, which allows you to grant certain perks to certain groups. Intrepid will provide the players dynamism to create their own player driven experience. Relics are not meant to be kept by a single individual, they are meant to be deposited to the node.
• The Dev Discussions for AoE Forms & Function is still up.
• The next Dev Discussion is on Crowd Control.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• A2 bundles are now available for purchase while supplies last.
• A2 will begin on October 25th.
• Q&A after this month will be live and not pre-chosen from the forums.
Alpha 2 Guide
• A 3 day NDA test is starting this week with over 9k A1 testers.
• They have completed their Milestone 10 on Tuesday, and they have started their Milestone 11, which is to move the teams from Agile to Kanban to better prioritize bugs and build processes.
• The Map of A2 was shown.
• The Lawless Turquoise Sea Tropics and the Lawless Sandsquall Desert are meant to emulate the Lawless Open seas for launch.
• All artisan classes will be present at the launch.
• All Archetype Abilities that will be present at the start of A2 were all shown.
• ~1/3 of skills can be spec’d into at max level.
• They showed the Available weapons that will have full skill trees: Mace, Short bow, Longbow, 1HD sword, 2HD sword, wand and book.
• They showed a video on what it would be like to log into Verra on day one.
• The dead heartwood tree was show. It is a tree that taps into the essence of Verra. As nodes progress and prosper the tree itself will reflect that. They were a gift from the goddess of creation.
• There is in house sourced AI voice generation for NPCs, this is meant to be adaptive for translations as well.
• Loot drops from monster/boss kills is one of the primary methods that gear gets introduced into the economy.
• You can not kill quest givers and vendors in town.
Studio Update
• They hired 20 people over the last 10-12 weeks.
•
Art Update
• Brass Gauntlets
• Shamen goblin mask model
• Steel Bloom Armor
Q&A
• If two nodes are friendly towards each other, but a new mayor wants a war, how many mayoral war commissions would need to be completed to start a war?
o Mandates allows the mayor to degrade node relationships faster, but it still requires buy-in. So policies require opt-in from citizenships, if they do opted in then the mayor could skip the wait period.
• What are the systems for node atrophy?
o Node atrophy is another system is a system that is not yet implemented, but as players do things to build up a node, if players do less and less of that over time, services within the node may become inactive, some buildings may become inaccessible.
• If people want battlepasses will you make them?
o Battlepasses don’t really make sense with the monetization systems. As there are only cosmetics, no pay-convenience or pay to win. The intent is that cosmetics are different not better, than what is achievable in game.
• Is it possible for players to get stuck with broken gear if there is no repair shop or ingredients nearby?
o If you don’t repair your gear, then yes you are SOL, there are consumable repair items for in field repair.
• How will glint (a bound loot drop) be distributed if the loot drop is set to Master Looter.
o The glint is a systemically round robin lootable only.
• Will dungeons have their own maps with fog of war?
o There is not a plan for bespoke dungeon maps.
• Can you talk more about treasure maps and how they function compared to other games?
o It is currently a simplified temporary to put content in games for A2. Currently you acquire them, they have point(s) and the treasure might be at one of the points, and it may be timed. You may need to have consumable in order to dig your treasure up in order for you to role on the treasure table. Treasure maps are tradable.
• How manty gathering professions will most dungeons attack?
o All professions will have some looted relevance to POIs and Dungeons. The distribution of it is depending on world state.
• How do you plan to feasible deliver the other biomes before launch with previous time of development taking so long?
o The Riverlands is very much the a2 test bed, testing the development tools to generate content for the game. As the model is polished, they can better understand what needs to be made and create for each biome individual. They can then refine the outsourcing required for content.
Development Update: October 25, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Bill Trost: Director of Design
Bryan Langford: Executive Director
Jacob Beucler: Lead Producer
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain the alpha 2 spoiling the game launcher is also similar to open development spoiling the game as well. But the purpose is to engage with players to ensure that the content being created is the content players want to play. There is still a lot of road ahead. Ashes is a dynamic world so you can’t spoil everything for everyone at the same time. The essence of Ashes is the players driven by agency and dynamism, and as such some servers will experience new things that haven’t been spoiled depending on how the world progresses. And a lot of the lore is being hidden.
• The Dev Discussions for Crowd Control is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• A2 bundles are now available for purchase while supplies last.
Alpha 2 Play
• They started in the POI outside the Bryarwood Farms.
• Clerics have had a significant update to their visual effects.
• The starting area are currently being bogged down, but as you get further out the lagging should fix itself.
• Even though they are showing just a small part of the world, it is still a large play area, phase 2 and 3 should have the biomes come up relatively quickly.
Q&A
• How much will your secondary class change your first?
o Steven recommends reading the Wiki because this has been answered in the past. But there is a significant amount of flavor change, that is the intent behind the class system.
• How do you find friends in-game?
o There are a lot of way, in A2 chat is your best resources. Discord, or other networking might be your best bet. Discord has a guild recruitment section. AoC is a non-faction based game so there are no limits to who you can befriend in your server. Long term there will be a friends list.
• Most other MMOs focus on end game, with leveling taking so long in AoC what will the content loop look like?
o They are focusing on making sure the leveling experience is fun.
• Can you add the ability to dual shield as a tank?
o No, not as a tank or as another class.
• Is the team still in a crunch?
o Crunch is only required when absolutely required not as a requirement and so the plan is to not be on a crunch.
• Will the HUD be resizable?
o Yes it currently is, but it will be even more customizable in the future. (Default to access edit control is the button below backspace (the vertical line)
• How many people/hours will it take to make a biome in full?
o In short, they are still finding good ways to accelerate work. They made a conscious decision to make the Riverlands to display what their gameplay loops will look like. This commitment to focus on one space doesn’t mean that other places aren’t being worked on.
• Is there a possibility for community art to make it into game?
o They foresee some competition to contribute as part of a contest to have fan made art make it in game.
• Are stealth abilities planned for mounts?
o Yes, that will be a type of ability for mounts
• How often do you think you will wipe in A2?
o As little as possible.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain ambience and music roots you in the world, as can be seen in carphin, and firebrand battle music. Soon the turquoise sea and desert music will be implemented.
• The Dev Discussions for A2 First impressions is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• A2 bundles are now available for purchase while supplies last.
Phase 2 Update
• Steven prefaced that the plans have changed for Phase 2 Release.
• The current plan for December 20th is now
o Tropics expansion and gatherables will be added, including the trees to be harvestable.
o Desert expansion will see more love than the tropics. Including natural environmental and gatherables.
o Dunir will be a playable race.
o Befallen Forge – New Dungeon
o Node sieges will be available
o Player Stalls – NOT an action house
o Treasure Hunts
o Archetype balanced
o Combat Balance
o Economy Balance
o Node Balancing – including buy orders
o Stretch Goal : Freeholds
o Stretch Goal: Vaelune Playable race – including narrative structures
Monster Coin Event
• They were able to stand a new mob type (giant) up in a week.
• They showed of a Monster coin even on Lyneth with multiple streamrs, including Narc, JamieKoas, Pirate software Grapplr, Vlhadus.
Q&A
• When the desert and the tropics expand will they still be law-less?
o As they develop, the region of law-lessness will move towards less developed areas.
• Will max level be changed for phase 2?
o No, but their leveling curve might be changed
• Will artisan class progression be changed?
o All things balance wise will be evaluated against feedback and data collection.
• Will node sieges be instance or Open world?
o Open world. However there will be a registration list, for those that are not registered you will be killed inside the zone.
• Will there be wipes after Phase 2 start?
o The goal is to not wipe. Some new servers might spin up at different times.
• Will logout timers be added?
o They are looking at adding this yes, might be before December 20th.