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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
Also milking the cows might be interesting.
Not to mention the animal husbandry.
In all arrogance, the optimal way for any 'crafting minigame' to work is this:
1) Player begins production
2) One of a subset of random things appropriate to that stage of production happens
3) Player responds by utilizing some very common item (part of the craft itself, functionally) to remedy the status and prevent some RNG-ish degredation of quality
4) Player can also choose not to respond and bet on it not getting worse, to save material (so 2 'ticks' of BadThing requires you to respond, on the first tick you can just 'bet it will resolve itself to save materials and speed up the process while you do some other step)
5) If Player does not have the material or does nothing, on Tick 2, they lose some quality. If they respond but only on tick 2, the chance of negatives (instead of just normal crafting) increases on subsequent ticks.
6) Player can prevent chances of specific negatives by using specific ingredients to begin with (rewards knowledge and gathering) thereby saving on DIFFERENT costs (the stuff needed to prevent/counter those negatives).
Result is that people have their own methods, recipes, etc.
Areas and nodes, too. If you have a lot of 'X resistant ore' that prevents Negative Status A while smelting, in an area, you would get a lot of crafters who don't bother with 'Negative Status Counter Item A' in that region.
A player in a region with neither has to choose if to import 'X Resistant Ore' from far away, or 'Import Regular Ore from closer and also Negative Status Counter Item A'.
The minigame is in pressing the buttons and deciding your risks according to your materials, since 'responding to every fluctuation' takes up 'Crafting Steps' or something that could be used to get closer to High Quality results (if Ashes even has these, I think so far we only know there's less chance of total failure). Doesn't even need to be though, the crafting could be guaranteed but the amount of time and materials required to make sure it finishes, is 'RNG'. Product is a given, Process is not.
There. Now we just wait for it to be better than the above.
EDIT: At least when this is botted (because it can and will be) the bot has to calculate odds, doesn't benefit that much, uses up more material whenever playing it safe, and everyone's bot is different (add enough minutiae in configuration and only dedicated botters and programmers will fine tune it for everything)
That is the point as it gives a avenue for people that want to be int he city and craft to do that while having their own gameplay loop. And the people that don't use the instant method or slower method while making money and adventuring.
So you aren't really pissing money out you are just doing the gameplay you enjoy both people having ways to make additional money.
That is the point, as it gives an avenue for fat people that want to be in the city and craft
I'm so disappointed that it was just an illusion.
Another awful take. "Please don't try and implement anything because it might lead to a meta or people cheating" Jesus wept.
Hey it is going to be a crafting heavy game, let the people that want to craft and avoid pvp have fun with their own gameplay loop. As long as the mini games are not trash or over complicated and confusing.
Mini-games keeps them fit for fight too. In sieges and caravan events.
But at the same time you can't just ignore it.
If the minigame is too simple, I could theoretically have an untraceable bot ready in an hour.
If that minigame was based more on button presses than fiddly mouse movements, ten minutes.
You can't make 'Recognition >> Twitch Skill' style minigames for MMOs anymore except on Consoles.
So to be clear, you don't think there should even be a game? No point in combat because people will create aim-bots. No point in having transport because people will use speed hacks? No point in anything because cheaters will cheat and that will create an unfair advantage? Such a backwards take.
Number 1. You know nothing about these potential gameplay loops. To just unilaterally say no, with no information, no experience, no testing... nothing. is just urgh.
Number 2. You have just stated very clearly that you intend to cheat in the game. Hopefully Intrepid keeps a close eye on your account and Perma bans you when you try to implement botting of any kind.
Another topic where @Dygz got an answer and things change
[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=RS3e0vuj5lA&t=2741s
[2] https://youtube.com/watch?v=ni4DTaN6JvQ&t=1640s
I have a suggestion, What if completing the mini game didn't actually reward a dps gain from the improved quality item but instead altered the name of the item or its durability?
If a crafter needs 5 skill points and wants to just craft all 5 broadswords while semi-afk you could let them.
If a crafter would like to play the crafting mini game the item could gain an altered name such as "Flawless Broadsword" or perhaps its durability could be higher. It could be a blue quality with the same stats as a green quality. Could it have a socket available that would allow you to imbue a cosmetic only aura around the weapon? similar to fiery weapon enchant?
Just a few suggestions.
Ps. Cutting down trees in new world with the proximity and directional in game sound was the most immersive gathering I've ever done in an MMO. I hope the sound engineers are onto it in AOC!
I didn't say any of that.
There IS a type of skill that bots don't handle well, because most bots are not good at deciding when to make tradeoffs, and complex things require them to have billions of points of training data.
Many of the exploits and bots you are talking about are detectable, crafting minigame bots usually WORK in a way that makes them much harder if not impossible to detect. I also have suggestions for minigames that bots do not work on, which is what I was pointing out. I can TELL people 'I can bot this' or 'I can't bot this' and how long it takes.
Also, I have not stated any intention to cheat. I have said that I know HOW to. Intrepid already knows (assuming they pay attention to this stuff and if they don't, what's your point?)
I am happy to literally post code to explain to OTHER people how easy it is to cheat CERTAIN systems. I do not think Intrepid will ban me for knowing how to do it. If anything, I will gladly help them test 'can they detect it' in Alpha if they want, but that seems 'dangerous' on both sides.
I already would expect they will be monitoring my account extra close, and I welcome it. Because if I 'get caught cheating' when I am definitely not (because I will not), then it will tell them, and people, that their algorithms for detecting it are triggering false positives, and I MIGHT have enough understanding to help them see why.
I understand the wish to crush all botters and cheaters, I share it, but 'assuming that I am going to do it' because I know how, leads to nothing good for this community, so maybe let it slide a little and leave it to Intrepid as you pointed out.
That is open development though, things can change. Doesn't mean it will though or it will be in such a way with the mini games that will warrant to feel like it was a big change.
Intrepid would be truly blessed to have such a knowledgable, fair and benevolent god such as yourself. We can only hope you grace the process with your 5head amazingness.
I really never understand responses like this. I just end up assuming I always come off like some super arrogant person even when I am trying my best not to (might as well not, right?)
What would you have preferred here? For me to 'assume that I can't possibly have enough understanding to be any help at all'? I don't get it.
Nope you didn't come off as that, guy is just mad because people don't fully agree with him. Happens all the time.
Yep. Incandescent with rage. I can barely contain my anger. lol.
Also, what is there to disagree with? "Could be interesting, let's see and test"
Saying "No" to something you haven't even seen yet isn't a "take", it's just dumb doomer doodoo.
This is how It should be. 11:22 since linking is broken.
I don't like mini-games either.
The problem is that players call mini-games also activities which try to simulate the real activity, like the behavior of the fish when you try to catch it and pull it out. And such things if they are simple and immersion breaking, you see them as game withing a game (mini-game).
But while I hate mini-games I also hate the simple combining recipes, where you can get 100 parts in one click because otherwise it would be repetitive to do that 100 time.
What I want is a crafting procedure which is time consuming, with many different phases which I cannot repeat many times. For example if the game (or players) ask for 10 swords, the game should prevent me to have the time to do that fast. My answer to the customer would be that I do not have the time to do all of them because I have to go to a raid soon.
Now comes the question if hitting the hot metal over and over is interesting or if is a repetitive / tedious process.
What can be interesting about it?
Maybe the ability to click 5000 times is what will make some crafters able to do that profession?
I definitely do not see any mini-game which can associated with this metal hitting process which I can also accept as immersive, unless the lore will attach additional phenomena to that metal being hit, like infusing it with the property to not drop when the player is killed.
What kind of energies decide that corrupted players drop items while normal players keep them?
What would you think if the mini games were more like puzzles then?
Make the most of these pieces fit inside this sword shaped box and you increase the builds efficiency?
Arrange these runes in the right way to bring out the most power from the enchant?
For the weapon smithing one we could have easier puzzles for lower tier gear, and increased difficulty as it gets higher. And you can always try to reattempt the puzzle to increase 'your technique ' of smithing that particular item.
I believe the minigames can be fun while it's a novelty, but can quickly turn into an annoying chore. For that reason, the crafting minigames should be optional to avoid making it tedious even for players who enjoy them and/or to avoid annoying a (large?) portion of the crafters who don't enjoy them.
That means you can mindlessly craft a thousand tier I bronze swords, but when you want to craft a tier V Epic Dragon Horn Longsword you can choose to do the minigame for whatever advantages/risks/etc. (or not).
I really hope that they don't consider adding minigames to gathering skills, except for fishing. That would be quite a deal breaker for me personally.
Unfortunately due to recent events, I really don't trust in many things they have said in the past anymore. I will not be surprised if many big core changes are announced before Alpha 2. Don't get me wrong, it's fine to change/improve things that are broken, I'd just love to hear the real reasons, not some PR bs
When the game is supposed to release in just a couple of years - "before 2020" - the devs would have to stick close to the original vision.
Once we start seeing significant changes and an open-ended release date - we can expect to see more significant changes.
Especially when there is no Lead Game Designer.
Like you make the blade and hilt as a weaponsmith, but need help from a leatherworker to make the leather wrapping and scabbard.
And then an enchanter to add extra stats.
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