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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.
Free PK, corruption & night in game
Myosotys
Member
While browsing the gameplay of another game in development that you will probably recognize, I discovered an interesting idea:
Make free pk possible only at night. There are several ways to integrate and adapt this idea in Ashes of Creation:
- Less corruption for the killer during the night (everywhere except in the nodes)
- No corruption at all during the night for the killer (everywhere except in nodes)
- Select only areas known to be insecure at night. Reduce or remove corruption in these areas.
Some elements (graphics only or messages) should help the player not to get trapped by warning him that night is falling or will fall soon.
EDIT : I specify that it would not be a question of favoring the FPK as if the punishments in corruption are lowered the night, they would be consequently increased the day.
Make free pk possible only at night. There are several ways to integrate and adapt this idea in Ashes of Creation:
- Less corruption for the killer during the night (everywhere except in the nodes)
- No corruption at all during the night for the killer (everywhere except in nodes)
- Select only areas known to be insecure at night. Reduce or remove corruption in these areas.
Some elements (graphics only or messages) should help the player not to get trapped by warning him that night is falling or will fall soon.
EDIT : I specify that it would not be a question of favoring the FPK as if the punishments in corruption are lowered the night, they would be consequently increased the day.
3
Comments
However, such a mechanic would be more useful in a full PvE environment. AoC has already quite a lot of PvP...
Fortunately, "getting inspired" is not "copying". Otherwise AOC would already be a copy...
I get you want to kill everyone free, energy is better spent on advocating guild vrs guild open pvp to not potentially to be limited....since we don't know much about it.
The seas will have small islands too...
I wonder if they will have autoflag too.
it would be funny seeing all the gatherers just run like crazy back to safety in a mass exodus when the night is coming and afking for 1 hour hahaha
They probably shouldn't say anything about it before then, even if they're already considering it.
As for my opinion, I don't know enough about the game flow intention of Ashes yet to say if any of these would be good, but I generally like the idea because it's such a clear marker of 'risk of unfair PvP has increased'.
I think 'no corruption' would be bad. In fact I'd go for a flat decrease rather than a divider because it wouldn't be immersive to me for high levels to be able to gank lowbies without corruption just because it got dark. I believe THAT behaviour should ALWAYS be discouraged.
But I'd take anything to the effect of 'the corruption gained by killing a noncombatant of your own level is negated at night'.
I'll probably have more of an opinion on this after a few months of TL.
A different tactic to lean into the risk vs reward aspect would be to tune up mob spawns and increase the loot tables at night. This would increase the competition between players at night leading to more player vs player friction which results in consensual pvp.
If all you want is to be able to gank people after 8pm because the night should be dangerous. I think that's simply not a good enough reason.
The Wolves of Verra
are recruiting: https://discord.gg/Rt8G3sNYac
If you want to promote player killing during the night then give guild wars better rewards for actions they take during the night or create "night raids" for node wars that could then help during a node siege (if the war leads to that), or make enemies of the state show up on the citizens' maps during the night so that it's much more dangerous for them to move in said node.
In other words, boost literally all the other pvp-centric systems instead of making the biggest deterrent to the majority of players EVEN FUCKING WORSE.
All PvP is consensual if you choose to log in. That being said, I'm indifferent to this idea. It's not really needed when the open Seas are PVP territory, but it could be an interesting weekly event in a single random node to shake things up. Keeps player interactions up and fresh. And it'd be as simple as avoiding that area if you don't wish to participate.
the reward would be to get tons of materials from players and bots
This is just prejudice against the entire AoC universe, the seas will have all kinds of sailors and people in general
I think you despise my suggestion on principle or maybe just because you are embittered. I have not found in your suggestions made in the past, anything that is genius and deserves more attention than mine.
You are free to express your disagreement, but you are not a staff member to define the priorities of the game development. Are you ?
Having one fixed corruption mechanic which can be studied by players is boring.
I would prefer fluctuations caused by clouds of corruption moving over the land originating from
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Corrupted_areas
Players could fight against those areas and reduce and stop this effect.
One does not prevent the other and one should not make a too quick shortcut between lowering corruption and griefing promotion. I am totally against griefing and I still believe that the best way to limit griefing is to produce quality content.
If corruption is extremely punitive and there is no interesting story for high level players, they will anyway engage in childish griefing activities and then leave the game when they get tired of it.
It seems to be a good idea to limit corruption at night. It is less obvious to recognize someone at night. Also night is the time of sins, highwaymen, crime and death.
That may be the reward you would get were you to actually find people, however if there is no added reward for the people gathering mats, why would I go out at night? I can gather all day at far less risk, and swap to an alt to craft or work on my freehold or do something in town etc. through the night. What is my incentive to expose myself to being ganked at no cost? The open oceans are open pvp because Steven specifically wants them to be a high risk high reward area. If you want something similar you'd need to tune up the rewards sufficiently otherwise all you would run into is people hoping to pvp, which you both could do at any time regardless by flagging purp.
The Wolves of Verra
are recruiting: https://discord.gg/Rt8G3sNYac
Probably doesn't matter how much more PvP the devs add at this point - Ashes has already jumped the shark for players who typically don't play on PvP servers when they play MMORPGs.
It's an interesting idea! I would be for it.
No
I just accepted the scope creep, that's all, there's a lot to be done
I finally could keep up with the wiki and now I know how much there is to be done, that's why i dont bother in suggesting anything anymore
I will just resume myself in answered Intrepid when they ask our opinions
mats (including animals) that do not spawn during the day. someone has to go out and get them. or maybe even double the mats rewards lol
Corruption is one of the most important core mechanics of the game. The system will be tested, retested, developed, modified. Suggesting variations in the level of corruption depending on whether it is day or night does not question the core mechanics itself.
If you don't bother in suggesting anything, you might as well don't botther in participating in debates you don't feel concerned about.
My proposal does not necessarily involve making life easier for those who are for open world PvP.
It could be the opposite, to increase the level of corruption given to fpk in some areas and protect PvE players/Gatherers.
Let's take two examples:
1- A large resource farm area, well stocked and which at first sight does not have great challenges and is not a contested area. An area where there is no reason to kill a gatherer because you can simply move a few meters away and farm averything you need. As a consequence, killing a player in this area could be punished as severely as possible.
2- Now let's take an area where there is a Boss or Mini-boss that respawns every 4 hours. Players are then automatically competing for this boss, which means that there will be PvP. I think it's normal that you can challenge a boss without receiving a massive amount of corruption, because you have a valid reason to kill another player.
Going back to the day and night issue, this would bring some nuance to the two previous examples. Solo players or small groups could try their luck on bosses (when it's daytime) minimizing the risk of being dislodged by a big team.
In the resource farm areas, it would be a bit of a change and a bit of fun to see open world PvP at night in places that are 99% safe during the day.
I am not a native so I am not sure how clear my explanation is.
It’s already been a jackpot for PK players in just the last couple of months … ever since Steven announced those.
I do not see any gift for Pk players if the level of corruption is higher during the day, it will be even safer.
Side note, the open seas sure will be a formidable place with all of you PvP-loving, corruption-hating pirates out there! 😈😅
I hope there will be some islands using the PvP rules of the Ocean and not the earth )
It just adds more PvP opportunities. And makes the game even more PvP-centric than it already is.
The reason to kill a Non-Combatant is that I'm in the mood to kill a Non-Combatant.
If I were going to kill a Non-Combatant, I would probably do so with an alt whose entire purpose is to kill Non-Combatants (and gain as much Corruption as possible - especially if it is my Zombie alt).
At some point, resources in this farm will become scarce due Gatherer activity and players striving to conserve resources due to the Land Management system may feel compelled to PK Gatherers who refuse to stop farming there.
Those PKers should not be hit with extra Corruption just because they are focused on Land Management.
I am a cooperative player, rather than a competitive player.
One of the things I currently love about WoW's World Events is that they are cooperative, rather than competitive - because I play on a PvE-Only server.
For me, if there were going to be a spike in Corruption, it would be during events where everyone should be working together to defeat a world threat, rather than killing other would-be heroes due to greed.
For me, I'd say potentially, your first scenario is the one that should result in less Corruption and your second scenario is the one that should result in more Corruption.
But, truly, I feel we should just test what the devs already envision, instead of trying to add stuff to it prematurely.
Way more clear than I could do in the non-English languages I can write.
I think I am also cooperative, more than competitive as I am not fan of big ennemy guilds and I prefer to try to be friend with everyone. But one of the big difference between WOW and AOC is the loot system. If I understood right, in AOC, the mobs drop on the ground some items and the first who click on it will have the loots. So if you accept to cooperate with ennemy guilds to kill a boss, all the loots will be potentially lost.
So you are kind in a dilemna : Getting the loots or getting corruption by killing green guys fighting the boss you are waiting for 5 hours.
Even as a PKer, I would not be interested in gaining loot from Greens.
Either, I feel the need to kill another player in order to protect the land.
Or... I'm basically playing a Zombie that kills innocent people - and - in that scenario... I want my Zombie alt to gain as much Corruption as possible. Loot is irrelevant.
In Ashes, mob drops are based on first tag and highest damage.