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.
Catastrophic Events - Water God
blul
Member
Disclaimer:
This idea is based on my fantasy and creativity and is not connected to any system or mechanic in Ashes of Creation, yet it is a dream of mine to have such an experience in an MMORPG and who knows, maybe some dev gets inspired by it and implements the one or the other of the content following below. Have fun!
This idea is based on my fantasy and creativity and is not connected to any system or mechanic in Ashes of Creation, yet it is a dream of mine to have such an experience in an MMORPG and who knows, maybe some dev gets inspired by it and implements the one or the other of the content following below. Have fun!
I came up with the main idea because of all the natural catastrophes which happened in the past couple of years. In the world of AoC those natural disasters are driven by the gods who are angered by the way of life of the people in Verra. So in theory events like this happen whenever players as a whole act against nature, e.g. have lots of industry, cut down every last tree, or maybe do too much sorcery.
The first thing was obviously some kind of heavy rain, great flood, Water Elementals which later form into one of the four Elemtal Gods, the Water God. This Water God then intents to wants to destroy what endangers the nature – and that would be the players and everything they built/did in the past time. Until that happens, the world goes through several phases/stages:
Normal Map:
Phase 1 – Awakening of the Water God
Map with Phase 1 applied:
Every phase has certain threats to deal with. The higher the phase, the more dangerous those threats will become. Threats could look like the following:
- (Water-)Monsters
- Stronger waves
- Unpredictable flows
- High tide and low tide independent of moon and time
- Sudden deaths of aquaculture species such as fish, shellfish, corals, and other underwater life
- Slight flood
- Etc. …
These threats will occur to varying degrees in different regions:
- Light threats of the River
- Light threats of the Lake
- Light threats of the Sea
- Light threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
River > Rain > Sea > Lake
River threats would be the strongest threat in Phase 1, followed by Rain threats, Sea threats and Lake threats.
Frequency of threats
River > Lake > Sea > Rain
The most threats will occur around Rivers, followed by regions around Lakes and Sea. Since Rain will almost always be everywhere it is in the last spot in this list.
So, what can players do against those threats? Similar to real life, they should prepare for floods because floods can destroy landscapes, buildings and because they are made by the water god, those watery threats will also weaken or destroy magic which is connected to fire in any way.
Against floods players should
- Prepare powerful magic which can curb water
- Prepare powerful magic which can teleport certain amounts of water to a different place
- Fill sandbags
- Build water pumps
- Create catch basins
- Craft buckets
- Shovel trenches
- Build barriers like dams or use magical barriers to redirect rain or floods
- Etc. …
- (Water-)Monsters
- Stronger waves
- Unpredictable flows
- High tide and low tide independent of moon and time
- Sudden deaths of aquaculture species such as fish, shellfish, corals, and other underwater life
- Slight flood
- Etc. …
These threats will occur to varying degrees in different regions:
- Light threats of the River
- Light threats of the Lake
- Light threats of the Sea
- Light threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
River > Rain > Sea > Lake
River threats would be the strongest threat in Phase 1, followed by Rain threats, Sea threats and Lake threats.
Frequency of threats
River > Lake > Sea > Rain
The most threats will occur around Rivers, followed by regions around Lakes and Sea. Since Rain will almost always be everywhere it is in the last spot in this list.
So, what can players do against those threats? Similar to real life, they should prepare for floods because floods can destroy landscapes, buildings and because they are made by the water god, those watery threats will also weaken or destroy magic which is connected to fire in any way.
Against floods players should
- Prepare powerful magic which can curb water
- Prepare powerful magic which can teleport certain amounts of water to a different place
- Fill sandbags
- Build water pumps
- Create catch basins
- Craft buckets
- Shovel trenches
- Build barriers like dams or use magical barriers to redirect rain or floods
- Etc. …
Phase 2 - Incensement of the Water God
Map with Phase 2 applied:
Threats of Phase 2 could look like the threats of Phase 1 but heavier:
- Storm
- Very strong swell
- Rip currents
- High tide and low tide in excessive degree and completely random
- Death of larger aquaculture species such as whales, sharks, etc. …
- Great floods reaching inside of villages and towns, flooding farmland and streets, overflowing wells, etc. …
In Phase 2 threats will become stronger which again differs in regions:
- Light + Medium threats of the River
- Light + Medium threats of the Lake
- Light + Medium threats of the Sea
- Light + Medium threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
Lake > Rain > River = Sea
In Phase 2 Lake threats would be the strongest threat, followed by Rain threats, River threats and Sea threats are equally strong.
Frequency of threats
Lake > Rain = River = Sea
In Phase 2 most threats will occur around Lakes, this time with Rain, River and Sea threats equally frequent to happen.
- Storm
- Very strong swell
- Rip currents
- High tide and low tide in excessive degree and completely random
- Death of larger aquaculture species such as whales, sharks, etc. …
- Great floods reaching inside of villages and towns, flooding farmland and streets, overflowing wells, etc. …
In Phase 2 threats will become stronger which again differs in regions:
- Light + Medium threats of the River
- Light + Medium threats of the Lake
- Light + Medium threats of the Sea
- Light + Medium threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
Lake > Rain > River = Sea
In Phase 2 Lake threats would be the strongest threat, followed by Rain threats, River threats and Sea threats are equally strong.
Frequency of threats
Lake > Rain = River = Sea
In Phase 2 most threats will occur around Lakes, this time with Rain, River and Sea threats equally frequent to happen.
Phase 3 – Punishment of the Water God
Map with Phase 3 applied:
Threats of Phase 3 could look like the threats of Phase 1 + 2 but heavier:
- Floods become huge, deadly, raging rivers
- Valleys become lakes
- Hills become beaches
- Mountains and ground are blasted open and water fountains rise up
- Houses are swept away by the water, trees uprooted, mountains cleared away
Now this is the point where all of this is leading into some kind of narrative:
Chunks of rock blast out of a huge mountain, exposing an ancient magical tomb. A temple of the ancient water gods (this could later also be made accessible as an instance/raid). Where the huge chunks hit the water, huge waves are created, from which a total of five Water Elementals are formed (The Water Elementals later join together to form the water god, like Exodia from YuGiOh. Maybe players should be able to stop that from happening by putting down those Water Elementals in time).
In the Temple of the Water Gods, the most powerful water mages must reach up to a shrine of some sort. The shrine is shaped like a large birdbath at knee level. In it, a volunteer player must sacrifice his life (the character is deleted) by turning "water into blood, blood into wine." He stands in the ritual pool, and three mages cut his back and major arteries with organic, water shaped swings and hold him while he bleeds out. Afterwards, the 13 most powerful water mages drink his blood, thereby learning a specific type of magic to weaken the water god, who by then has formed himself into an incarnation of himself in the world (Phase 4).
While all of the above happens, threats continue to grow bigger. In Phase 2 threats will become stronger which again differs in regions other than both Phases before:
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the River
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Lake
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Sea
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
Sea > Lake = Rain > River
In Phase 3 Sea threats would be the strongest threat, followed by Lake and Rain threats, while River threats become obsolete, since everything is under water already.
Frequency of threats
Sea > Rain > River = Lake
In Phase 3 most threats will occur around the Sea (everywhere), and Rain threats will be more common than River and Lake threats.
- Floods become huge, deadly, raging rivers
- Valleys become lakes
- Hills become beaches
- Mountains and ground are blasted open and water fountains rise up
- Houses are swept away by the water, trees uprooted, mountains cleared away
Now this is the point where all of this is leading into some kind of narrative:
Chunks of rock blast out of a huge mountain, exposing an ancient magical tomb. A temple of the ancient water gods (this could later also be made accessible as an instance/raid). Where the huge chunks hit the water, huge waves are created, from which a total of five Water Elementals are formed (The Water Elementals later join together to form the water god, like Exodia from YuGiOh. Maybe players should be able to stop that from happening by putting down those Water Elementals in time).
In the Temple of the Water Gods, the most powerful water mages must reach up to a shrine of some sort. The shrine is shaped like a large birdbath at knee level. In it, a volunteer player must sacrifice his life (the character is deleted) by turning "water into blood, blood into wine." He stands in the ritual pool, and three mages cut his back and major arteries with organic, water shaped swings and hold him while he bleeds out. Afterwards, the 13 most powerful water mages drink his blood, thereby learning a specific type of magic to weaken the water god, who by then has formed himself into an incarnation of himself in the world (Phase 4).
While all of the above happens, threats continue to grow bigger. In Phase 2 threats will become stronger which again differs in regions other than both Phases before:
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the River
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Lake
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Sea
- Light + Medium + hard threats of the Clouds/of the Rain/from above
Thereby applies:
Strength of threats
Sea > Lake = Rain > River
In Phase 3 Sea threats would be the strongest threat, followed by Lake and Rain threats, while River threats become obsolete, since everything is under water already.
Frequency of threats
Sea > Rain > River = Lake
In Phase 3 most threats will occur around the Sea (everywhere), and Rain threats will be more common than River and Lake threats.
Phase 4 – Incarnation of the Water God
Map with Phase 4 applied:
To form his appearance the Water God sucks in all the water from around the area where he decides to be/where before the most destruction of nature took place. Imagine it as an epicenter of an earthquake, just turned around. The Water God drys out the land.
The less Water Elementals are alive at the moment the God decides to from, the more water he needs to come to his true form, which means it is on a knife’s edge whether he only needs some of the water in the area or if he needs all the water on land plus ground water and probably sea water too (I believe if all five Water Elementals are still alive, the Water God should only need the water in his area surrounding him + the Water Elementals to form). Therefor the target of the Water God is to destroy what harms nature the most (e.g. this could be a city with a large industrial complex). To stop him from doing so player could be able to somehow dive into him or ride him like a wave. The Water God could also become something like an ongoing ini, where players have fight inside of the Water God against whatever Water Creatures to defeat/weaken him from inside. In my imagination there could be many different ways to move on/under water.
On water:
- Surfboard
- Raft
- Boat
- Ship
Under Water:
- Snorkel & Diving Goggles
- Submersible hand motors
- Swimming fins
- Submarines
Mounts:
- Any Water Mounts
As you can see, I haven’t really thought about everything yet. This idea can be further developed and discussed. Please leave some constructive criticism and a thought on if and more importantly how this could possibly be implemented into AoC.
Thanks for reading!
AI-Impressions of how the Water God could look like:
The less Water Elementals are alive at the moment the God decides to from, the more water he needs to come to his true form, which means it is on a knife’s edge whether he only needs some of the water in the area or if he needs all the water on land plus ground water and probably sea water too (I believe if all five Water Elementals are still alive, the Water God should only need the water in his area surrounding him + the Water Elementals to form). Therefor the target of the Water God is to destroy what harms nature the most (e.g. this could be a city with a large industrial complex). To stop him from doing so player could be able to somehow dive into him or ride him like a wave. The Water God could also become something like an ongoing ini, where players have fight inside of the Water God against whatever Water Creatures to defeat/weaken him from inside. In my imagination there could be many different ways to move on/under water.
On water:
- Surfboard
- Raft
- Boat
- Ship
Under Water:
- Snorkel & Diving Goggles
- Submersible hand motors
- Swimming fins
- Submarines
Mounts:
- Any Water Mounts
As you can see, I haven’t really thought about everything yet. This idea can be further developed and discussed. Please leave some constructive criticism and a thought on if and more importantly how this could possibly be implemented into AoC.
2
Comments
it already happens from sieges so idk why it would be controversial.
However I would like to preface that this should be an expansion feature later on in the games life after release, not something to try and add to the current release plan.
Sure thing. I was thinking about it in the way of a Single Time Event which only happens once and of course later on in the game.
The idea of a seperate Event Island isn't bad at all. Yet it gives me chills when I'm thinking about how an angry Water God could possibly take everything I built up over weeks. IMO it would bring the playerbase of an entire server closer together to prevent the above to happen to their world. And as you said, there'll be the good and the bad guys, one trying to protect and one trying to sabotage. The two week time period is excellent.
There's a been *so* little news on the to-be Religion mini-game in AoC; Thus far, we're largely left with what to discover about it for ourselves, in-game. A lot of the questions from yours truly in the monthly Q&A threads have related to religion.
The world will already be shifting due to nodes. I wouldn't want to add another major layer to that.
And i can only imagine the lag of everyone crowding up on that mountain in phase 3...