Hi, during the live stream, I was amazed by the quality of the ambient light in the area; a clear difference from the January stream. Kudos to the designer.
For me, a dungeon is a labyrinth and not just a door/monster/treasure. If it is possible to integrate a secret system for opening new advancement routes. Seems to me that would be a good thing.
During the stream, I felt like key characters were introduced. How can a player realize this? otherwise I was very impressed by the animation of the bridge being set up for the progression of the players. Is such magic possible in Vera's lore?
Environment is great but still can be better. Like the vine/vein things on the broken bridge are not good enough0 visually, it should more like blood vessels or massive vines grow deep and really try to suck out the energy from the land/place. If it’s more like a pollution/contamination/control thing maybe you can learn from BotW and Mononoke hime how they visualize the hate and anger of Ganon, Nago and Okkoto.
To get to the tower, I wonder that do we have multiple routes/paths to get to the tower and maybe each path represents different difficulty. Inside the tower or say dungeon, I wonder the same thing is that do we have multiple routes/paths to choose to clear the dungeon and maybe each path represents different difficulty or for different team composition.
I'm not a bow maker but I really don't feel good about bows you showed, too few different bow structures and most of them are very primitive bow design with fancy decorations on it and those things are just lower the efficiency to push arrow forward. I'm not saying it's bad to make bows fancy(after all it's a fantasy game), but it still need to be real at certain degrees as long as the bow is not a magic powered bow. A most obvious example: most of bows that has fancy long limb tips are wrong because long limb tips are bad for efficiency. Another reason I don't like the way you make bows looking fancy is because almost every copy paste game already learned for so long to use the same or similar way to over does the gear skins to be super fancy and it feels cheap, soulless and even disgusting. Maybe it's the bad taste of gear designs are too much for so long and it makes every little detail that reminds me the bad taste was amplified. All I want is asking you that when you design a bow please make it what it should be before make it looking fancy.
Different bow structures please refer this video: https://youtu.be/rUmZU51K0-o
This is my favorite stream so far I really enjoyed it, the gameplay presentation is a huge improvement over the last couple of months.
The dynamic story arc system sounds fantastic and should keep the leveling experience interesting and encourage players to revisit zones they have already "completed". Transforming existing zones through story events rather than adding new ones is a good way to handle expansions without making the old world obsolete.
A potentially interesting player dynamic occurs if a powerful guild tries to interfere with the smaller guilds dungeon or boss progress, they could be blocking the quest line from being completed and hindering their own progression. This gives me hope that PvP conflict in dungeons will be more meaningful and less about just killing everyone you see.
"The story arcs are the new hotness we've been hiding" I rolled my eyes when this was said but now i'm a believer.
Some minor points,
The old two handed sword stance was awful this over the shoulder look is much better.
The shoulder and cloak clipping on Stevens character is really bad (I know still in alpha)
The Mimic is the first interesting enemy we've seen, i'd like every pack of mobs to have an interesting "leader" enemy.
I'm a little disappointed with the Vaelune I expected them to look more like this.
1) The environment looked great in the corrupted state. It reminded me a bit of New World.
The real-time changing environment looked pretty cool too.
What I didn't like was that at the beginning of the video, when you were standing around, the environment looked kind of out of place. The sky, which reminded me of Star Wars/Track with a medieval building, and the rest with the corrupted environment looked weird to me. Maybe it was just the location where you started the video.
2) Overall the environment team did a good job, the map in the upper right looked good too.
3) I also liked the background cullise like thunder and lightning.
4) As for the combat, the effects looked too bright and overall the combat is still in a poor shape (except for the warrior basic skills, spin to win & hammerstun).
For me, the combat system is the most important part in an MMORPG. If the combat is bad, I can't enjoy the rest of the game, and it doesn't matter how good the rest is.
How do you feel about the direction the area of Carphin is taking, based on what we shared during the March Development Update?
at the beginning of the video the environment looked much better than later in the trailer. It just looks like a red filter has been slapped on everything. If it's just dark and you can see the corruption glowing, the colors would be more appealing. Also the blood waterfall looks a bit too splashy, it might move slower and make small puddles and rivers. And Veins could be making nasty noises when a player walks on it would make it more atmospheric. Every enemy could look more corrupted like (because they look like regular bandits). And the entire area could spam a debuff that requires a support class or potion (which requires resources collected from the rim before the adventure begins. This debuff could minimise your vision and if stacked to high it lead to friendly fire because it drives you mad. Even higher it lead to your character loosing small amounts of money and potions or other stuff as well. So there is an actual need even for solo players to deal with the debuff.
What are your favorite open-world dungeon elements that you would like us to incorporate? Please provide examples when applicable.
A large area where you can find a quiet spot to hide and farm (like in albion) also some teleports if its a very huge map so there is enough space so you can get out of the way if you aren't intrested in pvp or someone is at your spot. Also small map events where people would gather and participate and ganker would wait for kills. Moobs might drop some coins, and if the final boss is killed, all contestants who have those coins will get them exchanged for more loot Those coins could also be traideble in your local auction house back in your node (if your just a solo player or need simply some cash). If there are local quests, it's really great if someone could share them with those in their group who don't have them (but meet the requirement like pre-quests). Boss fights scale with their participants, so everyone has to put in some work and everyone has to do minimal damage so nobody just hits the boss, scales it up, and then waits for the group to kill the boss. But if you die in combat, your progress should be saved so players can just respawn and come back quickly instead of waiting.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the area of Carphin?
I like any game that has mimics hiding as chests, but these should be in rotating locations.
I probably would have had a more better visceral reaction playing this quest rather than observing it, to do it justice.
It seemed visually ok. To be fair, probably better than ok. I didn't really get the wow factor reaction Steven had, but I didn't dislike it either. Looked like a simple pathway type dungeon that had been washed with bloody effects. Very slight Oblivion vibe there.
Most of my points have already been mentioned, so I won't overelaborate :
-The enemies seemed easy and lacked threatening animation. I know that the party dying wouldn't showcase what you wanted, but I'm sure there is a middle ground..
-Combat effects still too flashy. I'm going to need some Phenobarbitol for full party fights.
-Entering the tower seemed to lack a real physical challenge. Would be prime territory for some magic based traps.
-Difficult to comment on the story/lore without it being fleshed out.
-Nothing original with the mimic chests (NW) or Blood Magic (DA) corruption ideas, but its ok to borrow good ideas.
Regarding the closing comments about quest design, do we want players to shape all of their quest story? Every time? I'm not convinced I want that to be an imperative, personally. I don't think there's an innate problem with the concept of being shaped by others, or the world. Sometimes we shouldn't get choices. Feeling a little out of control sometimes can be a good thing in a game. Risk and reward, right?
The girl watched the last of the creatures die and murmured a soft 'Thank you' to her rescuer.
The stranger's eyes lifted to the blood red cloud on the horizon.
I second this idea - instead of that beginning animation where the blood veines (see what I did there? ) move those broken stairs to create an open path - give players agency to TRIGGER those animations - don't automatically give players the path. Open the opportunity to build those paths.
EDIT: also... I have a feeling gliding mounts are going to be able to skip that broken staircase bridge from the get go.
I will agree with what a few others have said: the flashy combat effects are just too much. I feel like it is probably mostly the basic attacks? I think the bigger spells should have some flashy effects, but the constant bright yellow flashes/sparks from weapons swinging is a bit much. It makes it difficult to see what you are fighting, and that leads to fights feeling even more monotonous because you just see the same combat effects over and over, instead of different enemies and their animations.
Hello glorious community,
...
Everyone here at Intrepid Studios looks forward to reading all the feedback you have to share!
overall I'd say it's looking very cool and enjoyable already, but here are some improvements I would make to make it slightly more appealing, at least to me.
graphics:
I still see the same issues here, you need to make a slider to tune down animations locally or rather tune it down for everyone. Sometimes in the fight, I'm losing touch with what is happening around, it feels like a rainbow supernova exploded next to you and I'm not even in a player pov which would make it even harder to focus, with some mechanics and perhaps more enemies or more environment dynamics people would get lost in space like that.
According to the sound system, it seems to me you slightly tuned it down or just not pressing the buttons that much in this showcase, however, it still needs a lot of tuning down. This issue might not feel like an issue at first, but imagine you are giving this game a lot of time, even daily perhaps, so again... add a slider, or tune it down for all.
dynamic environment graphics:
this felt nice, I can see some potential here for classes in groups that could do different things.. could lead to different ways in, perhaps (rogue can find a shortcut, mage make portals thru not protected walls etc).
Since the dungeon is open-world there should be some add-up difficulties to the group following the first one, they rather have a "tracker" to keep up or they get lost and end up fighting a different part of the dungeon perhaps or notify the group ahead that someone is following so they can prepare proper ambush etc. I really don't know how you want to get rid of bullying from bigger groups that will inevitably dominate the server, but I wish you can figure that out.
UI:
I'm in love with the minimap, great work there so far, otherwise you choose the right way to do it so I do have not much to add here BUT since you won't allow addons (which I still see as a mistake) you should consider adding a weak-auras (addon for wow) functionality so people can customize their UI. However you do it, please don't force us to default only.
You also need to make nameplates for those NPCs, in dark areas you can't even tell what is a friend and what is an enemy + the huge animation, and from RPG experience it becomes an epilepsy experience fairly quick.
quests, lore:
I love when you speak about choices that matter, please make them REALLY matter and not like in other games where you kill an NPC that won't even show up again anyways if you don't, etc.
Would be nice if there are optional and dynamic puzzles that could help during the way inside the dungeon, as a rogue main I'd like to be able to sneak ahead scout areas, find secret paths, secrets behind puzzles, a clue into another dungeon perhaps, etc. The possibilities are unlimited
AAA graphics coming along, as good as any already out there. I did notice that some of the pulsing vines on some of the stone block walls looked placed on instead of looking organically growing there.
Combat flash is overdone for me as well, loved the large scale environment, color palette could use a little more variety, so much red, orange and darkness.
Not necesarilly related to the area showcased but it was very noticeable in the video - combat effects are waaaaay to much, you can barely see anything. Especially given that enemies dont at all react to your hits. Need less effects and more stumbling, ragdolling and what not in enemies, breath of the wild did this really well
Carphin looks beautiful and I look forward to seeing further progress from the studio, Unrelated but, I know you guys have been on the fence about whether to add stamina or not and I believe I have thought of a unique way to have stamina in the game. Instead of stamina as in almost all games nowadays being a short-term limiting factor what about it being a Long-term limiting factor? for example, instead of your stamina bar going down multiple times per fight what about it being slowly taken down over hours in the field. You can make it so that stamina recovers using a rest animation for long periods of time as a stop-gap method in the field but it will be barely effective unless one sits for a hour or two resting. The main method of recovering stamina can be going to nodes and renting inn rooms where stamina regen is really fast as instead of resting for 2 hours somewhere to recover your stamina bar you can rest for 15 minutes in a inn room. You can also use the environment to limit player adventurer time. Under most circumstances it would say take the player stamina bar 12 hours to go down to near-empty. but in a story/event area the stamina drain is much more taking only 8 or so hours for the entire bar to go down. This can be a excellent limiting factor on player grinding as instead of a guild or group monopolizing an entire area an entire day they at some point must go home to a node to recover, where another group can enter the area. There can also be items that increase the recovery rate of stamina but I feel as though items that directly replenish stamina should not exist or if they do are high-end potions crafted by masters or something..
UE5 certainly has a lot of very fun trigger options; A change in the steps of certain quests will certainly trigger some interesting visual changes to the environ. Have rarely seen this done in games, and it's usually been instanced content, in previous games.
Have to say that the mechanics of the "server-story" and "world-stories" are a tad confusing. Am hoping this is legendary-level content, and not breeze-by stuff; If a single small group of players' choices in a key server-quest make a HUGE difference, then it really feels like it should be the hardest of content, to complete. This kind of stuff shouldn't just be first-come, first-serve for any ol' casual group of half-geared randoms....
Neat to hear repeated-content mechanics news, as well. This update laid some good foundation for the content-to-be.
As many have already said, The Tower Carphin looked amazing.
Something that I’m quite excited for with ashes of creation is that the content levels up with you. I’m wondering however, for an area like Carphin, what happens when you get to the end. Does the area stay corrupted, does the corruption shrivel up showing the area was cleansed? Or does the area look like there was never corruption in the first place (my least favorite outcome)? What I think would be cool is if after Carphin has been “cleared” there’s some sort of perk or reverberation in the world. Could it have the benefits of a scientific node and now you can use Carphin to fast travel to different sites near it, or a very specific part of the world? Could there now be arcane mobs and plants that represent a time when Carphin wasn’t corrupted?
Granted these are just suggestions but I think it would be really cool if after the corruption is cleared there is some sort of restoration of a power once forgotten.
Secondly, I love when you can leave with a souvenir once you’ve completed a healthy chunk of the story. For instance, the tower of Carphin is a location significant to mages. It would be cool if either halfway through the journey or at the end of the journey, there was something special for mages. Doesn’t need to be large. Could be a teleport to carphin spell book, or a way to customize one of your spells so it looks like it’s based on the magic of Carphin. Whether that’s casting a spell or two that can now look corrupted, or casting a spell that looks like ancient Pyrian magic. This principle would ideally apply to other parts of the world, so that other classes would get opportunities like this.
Lastly, I love when a fantastical zone has biodiversity. The corruption color scheme is very one note which I’m always a huge fan of BUT I feel like the mobs at least outside the tower were too repetitive. I know this is an early iteration of Carphin so I’m not super concerned about mob repetition later on. That being said, it’s fun seeing how corruption might affect different creatures. What do birds of prey do differently from wolves? Are plants also hostile in some fashion? You all did an amazing job showcasing this preview, I’d just love to see a tiny bit more.
Thank you, the progress is amazing to see and keep up the good work.
P.S. I personally like flashy game mechanics. I understand they can add visual clutter, though. I think some form of accessibility slider that allows you to tune the visual effects will be nice.
How do you feel about the direction the area of Carphin is taking, based on what we shared during the March Development Update?
I was extremely amazed. Especially the transition when the zone changed felt unbelievably epic to the point where I would hope that we as players could get "replays" of that if we participated in the questline, maybe as a memory crystal or so. But leaving that aside, the idea of having more than one Node and the players decisions made during the questline influence the Craphin "super dungeon area" is very good, as it can create more PvP incentives to guide the progression of the story. That is imo one of the best ways to create stakes that make PvP feel worthwhile that I have seen in online games. Well done!
What are your favorite open-world dungeon elements that you would like us to incorporate? Please provide examples when applicable.
I made a post about dungeon scenarios changing depending on groups making specific decisions while in the dungeon that'll open up or close down parts of the overall dungeon for a limited amount of time.
(EXAMPLE) Lets say there is a mine themed dungeon and a portion of the mine had been digging into an old underground structure only to be abandoned and sealed, after some parasitic lifeform had killed a bunch of miners there. The mine was completely abandoned after a bunch of Earth/Rock/Crystal Elementals raided the place.
Group 1 takes a mine cart full of dynamite from the old storage facility to the outer wall of the underground structure and blows it up. The passage is clear but not stable, it sends tremors through the dungeon, notifying other groups that the passage has been opened but the explosion also has woken up an Earth Elemental Boss, who now starts moving through the mine shafts. Even though Group 1 triggered this event, they won't be the ones to encounter this Boss in this "Run", they can only encounter the Elemental Boss by exiting the dungeon and going back in from above. The triggered Earth Elemental proceeds through the dungeon, destroys the remaining dynamite in the storage house and then goes on to seal up the wall to the underground structure Group 1 opened because the parasites are a danger to the Elementals.
Group 2 who is also in the dungeon, decides to fight the Elemental Boss, they can attack him at the dynamite storage and use that dynamite to get an easier kill, but there is only a limited amount of time for that opportunity. If they don't succeed before the dynamite is completely destroyed the Elemental moves on to the breach in the mine and seals it up. While he channels his powers to seal the hole, Group 2 catches up and faces him again, but Group 3 has also waited here for the Elemental. They fight, Group 3 takes out Group 2 and then takes on the Elemental. The breach has been sealed but the Elemental has been slain. While all that was going on in that part of the dungeon, Group 4 has gone and taken a closer look at the resting place of that Earth Elemental and found some valuable stuff there as well as another area of the dungeon. If the Earth Elemental had survived to return to his resting spot after he sealed the breach only to find that it was looted, he would would go into a frenzy and enrage the other Elemental creatures in the mine as well. Also: If Group 1 abandons their run or wipes in the passage they have opened, a parasitic type of mob swarms out into the mine and takes over the Elementals.
Events like this could change the "scenario" of the dungeon, change loot tables and enemy types it would result in player groups trying to compete over the dungeon scenario.
A second group might sneak into the passage of Group 1 before it was sealed, try to kill them and all players who want to stop the spread of the parasite so that the big Earth Elemental Boss is turned by the parasite to drop specific loot. Having different impactful interests for a dungeon would be a great way to encourage competition as well. (/EXAMPLE)
And I remembered that Rogues will have the unique ability to detect traps and maybe secret doors in a dungeon. A group without a Rogue (this could be a limitation set by a quest or just by no Rogue being available) might want to take another groups Rogue hostage for some time to open up a passage to a specific part of the dungeon or to clear a trap.
These type of scenarios mid sized dungeons could be a great opportunity for bonding PvP and PvE closer together, as well as provide us with some much needed "early" incentives when building up Nodes in areas that might be less known and visually thrilling like the Riverlands are. The aspect of competing over the dungeon "scenario"/environment for some time is a key ability for people to feel their impact in the world and being able as a player to modify that for example through changing the possible pathing of a dungeon (e.g. growing magical vines to block a path at one of the entrances of the dungeon - if you have sufficient farming or Alchemy skills.). Since Steven mentioned cycles, it would be awesome if after a dungeon clear, the "reset" could be connected to some quests. Picking up the example in my quote, after all the bosses were defeated or pacified, the mine becomes a hub for resource gathering. However a nearby Node falling, robbing the supply caravans TO the dungeon or overfarming the resources in it would lead to it being abandoned again and turn it back into a "fight" dungeon.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the area of Carphin?
The only thing I missed, which I hope is simply due to the current state of development, is that the areas might become too much of a micro cosmos, insulated from the outside except from caravans. I hope that the Bard classes or NPC will be able to inform us about the events at other places on our server maybe even intentionally to create migration towards these interesting places.
Finding a balance there will be very important, because there should be other reasons for people to move on from a place rather than feeling that they have seen everything in that place.
The area surrounding the tower was great. The broken ruins, sharp corners with mobs around them, the mobs themselves, the ambiance, etc.
Keeping in mind this is still pre-alpha 2, I do have feedback about the overall graphics. The shield was well made, but I don't feel like the shiny bits were reflecting the environment at all, or not enough. The blood looked like heavy fog when it was falling, and less like blood. I would be happy with less falling blood if it looked more like blood. Still looking forward to seeing capes not pass through bodies. There was a targeted magic spell cast by the cleric that terminates directly in the center of an enemy, that definitely needs to pass through them(around?) for like a foot, it looks unnatural when it stops right then and there.
Things that I particularly enjoyed: the blood magic of the humanoids was fantastic. Cleric spells inside the tower had a beautiful contrast to the surroundings. The flashiness of the 'being hit' effects gives great threat assessment. Greatsword idles, movements, etc (again, what a great direction with combat, looking forward to seeing the motions look really fluid at release). The light shining through the stained glass on the tower. How much darker it got overall once the event was triggered, it went from a full moon to fairly dark, very nice. Tank armor. The unique sounds of combat, such as how clearly the sound of arrows cuts through the din of combat.
Rest up Steven, and for everyone else working, thanks for the hard work and another great update. My own hypothesis on A2(let me innnnn) is sometime around winter, if you keep up your current rate of class updates.. if you go for an early Alpha 2. If you're going for a more complete Alpha 2, next year
In regard with the mimic you should put chests all around the world and when they spawn they could be a chest or one of 3 types of mimics solo, group, boss (maybe raid boss one too). You dont know what type of chest it is till u interreact with it and it could be a chest or mimic this way people wont know if it a mimic or chest every time or how strong it will be if it is a mimic.
Dungeons should have higher chance for the stronger mimics over solo ones however i think it would be cool to randomly get a boss/raid mimic in solo area to bring people in the area together.
These mimics should also drop stuff like a chest obviously harder difficulty mimics will drop more.
rogues could get the ability to detect wether it a chest or a mimic but not what kinda of mimic (could make this a chance aka a difficulty to inspect) and if the rogue fails his inspect it attacks hims i would make the first attack of a mimic a heavy hitting sneak attack kinda thing too tbh just to add to the surprise/oshit moment
Having chests that could be mimics over the place like this will help keep the dangerous feeling of the world and keep players on there toes not just from possible PK but also surprise mob attacks. These kinda feature make the world feel more alive when there some unpredictable things in the worlds (Old games had patrolling mobs often mobs higher level) newer games since WoW kinda removed these unpredicable elements and the feeling got predictable and boring.
I haven't really posted in the forums in a long time, but I really wanted to give feedback on this stream. I love the aesthetics of the area shown. Having the tower be this massive towering structure over the entire zone is incredible. Having structures like this in a zone that are always visible as you quest and navigate through the zone is something that I absolutely love. It sparks curiosity in a player, and I think it helps contribute to the excitement that will be felt whenever an event triggers that makes that structure accessible to players.
I also wanted to comment on the combat, I really like the pacing. I saw a lot of comments during the twitch stream that were saying they wanted it to be slower, and I just really hope you guys don't head that way. I believe that quicker combat is the future and slow, pantheon style combat is antiquated. As for constructive feedback for the combat, I think it would be nice if the combat felt a little more punchy. I know there's still many iterations to go, but I hope that's the direction you take those iterations.
Positive:
1. the enviroment looks great, detailed art and nice animations regarding the corruption and moving bridge.
2. the outfits from the characters look great and also the weapon design.
3. The chest-monster is a really cool enemy, nice animations and details.
4. The red fog makes everything even more furious and evil looking. like it a lot.
"Negative":
1. eventho the enviroment looks great and thus provides a nice fundament for a dark and evil atmosphere, the global lighting was again not on point imo. in the day/night cycle showcase many people (including me) found the global lighting to be a lot too bright.
Ofc. in regards of functionality it is not welcomed if the overall lighting is too low, since it affects pvp and the spotting ability for enemies.
But for me personally, i prefer a darker atmosphere and thus more immersion than some better vision for enemies, since everybody would have the same initial position.
Also it would offer a lot of nice tools to play with e.g. burning arrows that brighten up the spot/area that they were shot on.
Or torches and other light sources in general that a player can include into the game.
Long story short: i think the zone was too bright and thus didnt show its full atmospheric potential of dark- and evilness.
2. Ive said that many times, but the walking animation seems too unfluid. When you move the character the pov moves instantly with no increase as if an organism would be able to move 10km/h within a second.
That also counts for rotation and movement in general...
the character doesnt "feel" like it has some weight on it and more like its floating.
3. the combat doesnt look fun to watch. its not bad but as already mentioned in previous discussions, it just doesnt look outstanding or near as good as in games like bdo.
Ofc. aoc is not bdo and should not be, but the combat right now is just a flashy weapon spamming that doesnt feel like it has some relevant impact on the enemies nor yourself.
No interruptions from dmg, no "falling to the ground", no specific root animations or knock back animations and the swings from the hammer and long sword look like the material is out of plastic since no normal organism can swing such heavy things that fast without building momentum...
I like everything thats going on so far a LOT, but the combat is the only thing this far that wont come to my taste at all. Its not that i dislike it, but its just underwhelming.
4. combat sound design: from what ive heard, the sounds being made are all mid to high frequences on average. Listening to all the sounds at once (like shown in the latest showcase) makes the combat sound sometimes a little bit irritating since most of the frequences are in the described segment and its getting too much.
But it could be just my ears, since i have no evidence and didnt record and measure the sound.
I am really looking forward for this game and even tho the "negatives" seem to weigh a lot more, i wanted to point up that i would need a lot of time stating all the good things i personally like.
So over all i am really enjoying the development so far and these are the only things i personally would change.
To be honest I was quite impressed with this stream. The zone looked very nice. But what I appreciated the most! Was the discussion of lore! Telling us who the statues represented, what the symbols on the walls represented, etc. Lore will be very important for the longevity of the game, so it is nice to see it being discussed to some degree. That way it does not feel like a bland mmorpg with no real story. I also appreciated the discussion about how a player can revisit some of these quests or zone trials if they missed the window it was available. Even if it does not change the end result of how the server will change... I would still like to see the content if I was away for a short time.
I do share the same statements/worries of what I have said in the past though in regards to combat. Turn down the special effects a bit in regards to the weapon attacks. Still to flashy.
The changing flora when the next story arc starts is great. I'd like to see that expanded in other environments as well. Corrupted vines coming out looked amazing, but I'm curious how a new story arc would look in the desert or tundra. I'd hope you utilize animation/lights/effects in flora in similar ways as at Carphin. Having the world feel alive passively is great for immersion. This can also be shone in fauna as well.
The scale of everything outside was dope. The giant doors/chains really gives off the feeling that you're about to enter something massive. The foyer felt a little small compared to right in front of the doors, but I imagine players won't spend a lot of time there and would quickly venture to the floor/area of choice.
Story arc timers are a great idea. Objectives that only allow you to choose one is also good, resulting in players having to make a deliberate choice. Hopefully there won't be a way to see how many people chose one over the other so the results won't be known until later. There should also be a way to know which of your choices resulted in which change (if any). Exploration being a major revealer of objectives is also a nice touch. Only concern is if the rewards ever become the main driver of quest objective over narrative progression, but that can easily be changed by keeping the same reward regardless of which sub-objective you do. This is good for small-scale rewards (gold/exp/mats), but it would be cool to have something like objectives that result in more ore deposits forming in an area vs more fishing spots (with accompanied NPC) or an objective that results in one animal husbandry breed being available to be tamed vs another. For example, choosing to help the fisherman over the miner. Steven mentioned wanting to drive artisan classes to become more involved with PVP and PVE and this would be a great way to do that. Gatherers may now have to take time away from that to participate in PVE story arcs if they want to collect more of their main materials in the area, or be forced to find another area if it swings to the other way. Especially for "cosmetic" artisan classes (carpentry, animal husbandry, etc), having major PVE choices determine whether an NPC that sells one races furniture recipes appear vs another is a great driver for conflict that isn't necessarily a power creep, or as easily meta-gamed with "everyone complete this objective because mithril ore is worth more than yellow-spiked fish". Having personal preference or even those RP guilds spend time and gold pushing a story arc one way purely to turn the aesthetic of an area to their race or to be able to purchase unique cosmetics/mounts that fit their aesthetic is way less black & white and won't result in people getting flamed for "trolling the server" by doing what they want.
The "corrupted" versions of flora is also really good. You've discussed changing gatherables as different nodes and story arcs progress, so I'm excited to see that. Would be cool if the spawn locations also drastically changed, so when the new arc happens, it's like you're rediscovering new land instead of retracing the path you took before.
The bridge being built is sick and I hope that same tech is used on a much smaller scale, maybe creating small pockets where collectibles come about, or rare gatherable nodes, or even just new vaultable/traversable paths.
Cons:
Minimap indicator of the area of "Carphin" that's being changed so you're not accidentally inside and get removed (if it behaves the same way as a town node being upgraded does). A countdown/timer would also be great (I know this was manually triggered and the deadline of a story arc would most likely be a clue).
As mentioned before, a way to see which of the objectives was "chosen" by the server. I can imagine if a major story arc completes at a predetermined time, many people will be online and excited to explore the new area. Being in discord and knowing you and your friends all chose to save the wolf pack instead of kill them and hoping they survive, then getting the notification on the screen that says "The Wolf Pack was saved, resulting in a new breed of tameable wolves roaming the land."
The smoke at the top of the tower during the event trigger should obscure the tower more, right now it sits behind the tower and looks layered. The vines animation looks so good, it'd be amazing if some similar strobing effect appeared on the tower aesthetic, or cracks, or any noticeable change on it so from far away it's easy to tell "oh something happened there, that looks different".
Comments:
Not sure why everyone's mentioning the combat effects considering that's outside of scope, but I'll mention that games with "flashy" effects can be amazing (BDO, Revelation Online, Maplestory, Blade & Soul, Sword of Legends Online). I'm sure the combat will have multiple passovers in the future, and I'm excited to see the next showcase where you request feedback on combat, but I'd much rather you improve on the effects rather than tone it down. The direction is good, it's just early iteration and I'm under the impression many people are misconstrueing "incomplete" as "over the top"
If that strobing orange bulbous looking plant is a gatherable node, then I'm extremely glad with the direction gathering is going. The trees and ore we've seen so far have been the most base version and acceptable, but the one plant we saw made me think all gatherables would be static and unimpressive. That orange bulbous plant looked like something out of New World, and utilized animation, lights, and unique silhouettes really well. More gatherables like that would be amazing. Keep it up!
I STRONGLY support the sticking to the aesthetic of the game, too many games break their theme and feel by adding things that go against that or with cross-over things with external IPs
Hi team, looked great, i loved how the zone "ticked over" into a new story phase.
my only personal worry with that is that while playing and the event ticks over i miss the visuals/zone change - whether that's purely aesthetic like the top of the tower exploding with that crimson coloured spell or something of game play importance like the new bridge forming (telling me where to go), im just a little worried ill miss it or wont notice it.
i realise that being an MMO you will probably just be able to follow the mob of people to figure out that something is going on, but perhaps something else UI related that maybe i can replay the cool aesthetic tower spell cast
thanks for the great work, have a good day.
My only worry is that if the story arcs are set to loop too often they will get old very quickly. I would rather see months rather than weeks or days to loop again. I really like the idea that you have no idea what you are going to do when you log in for the day. I do not want to see people optimizing the fun out of the game by preplanning a schedule of content rotations for that week. Something like lasts 2-3 weeks and then you will not see that particular arc again for a long while would make them feel more unique and would make the world feel less gamified.
Alright, I think we have finally reached a point in the style direction where it's clear that the current graphical style direction and the previous one are just completely out of sync.
The original style direction was made to be viewed much closer up. This was the style that made me fall in love with Ashes' artistic direction. The games assets are lovingly crafted as is the general animations. But there is one singular problem.
Steven likes his games at high levels of zoom. At first I thought that game was taking a bad turn and the assets were just lower quality. But after watching this stream it became a lot more clear to me how much the art direction looking awful is more so the fact that the assets not being made for the zoom level Steven likes, rather than the quality of the assets.
I don't see the appeal of this wide of a viewing angle. I'd rather play an isometric game at this level. It makes you look like a table top miniature and it makes the world feel immensely unimmersive. But hey some people just fell in love with Lineage 2's point and click adventure game style. This show case made me realize that it wasn't that the game was getting more ugly or that the animations were bad. It was that the zoom out ratio is too wide for the artistic direction to be effective.
Now normally I'd argue you should just make the cap for max zoom smaller. But as this game continues to be more and more Ashes of Archcraft I no longer think this is appropriate advice. The art team needs to get on Steven's (zoom) level and rework literally every texture and design to look better at max viewing distance. Stop living in your own idea of beauty and deliver what your customer, Steven, is asking for. Super far zoom.
If you don't animations will continue to look far too fast, the environments empty and monotonously bland feeling, and the amount of effort you put into the texturing will be absolutely wasted because the game will be played from max zoom as the primary experience as it is a pvp game first and a pve immersive experience second.
In regard with the mimic you should put chests all around the world and when they spawn they could be a chest or one of 3 types of mimics solo, group, boss (maybe raid boss one too). You dont know what type of chest it is till u interreact with it and it could be a chest or mimic this way people wont know if it a mimic or chest every time or how strong it will be if it is a mimic.
Dungeons should have higher chance for the stronger mimics over solo ones however i think it would be cool to randomly get a boss/raid mimic in solo area to bring people in the area together.
These mimics should also drop stuff like a chest obviously harder difficulty mimics will drop more.
rogues could get the ability to detect wether it a chest or a mimic but not what kinda of mimic (could make this a chance aka a difficulty to inspect) and if the rogue fails his inspect it attacks hims i would make the first attack of a mimic a heavy hitting sneak attack kinda thing too tbh just to add to the surprise/oshit moment
Having chests that could be mimics over the place like this will help keep the dangerous feeling of the world and keep players on there toes not just from possible PK but also surprise mob attacks. These kinda feature make the world feel more alive when there some unpredictable things in the worlds (Old games had patrolling mobs often mobs higher level) newer games since WoW kinda removed these unpredicable elements and the feeling got predictable and boring.
Why did I watch that video, how could you make me re-watch that scene again T_T Also I agree, mimics are one of the coolest mechanics in the Dark Souls series and I think having them immediately turn before you even attempt to open them really removes the fear and surprise you get. I think while it was a good showcase, I do hope they make them more subtle. Have it so multiple chests exist and look similar to the Hoarders throughout other parts of the game, so that when you do come to a Hoarder, you have absolutely no idea it's one. That would make every encounter with one as intense as the previous.
I love the theme and mood and THE MUSIC creeps me out in a good way.
I think I would like some larger enemies around the tower, maybe some of those Fiend Golems or something like that to give it a bit more diversity in play. though you guys are probably already planning that.
one thing I can think of that would be pretty cool is if as part of the new resources available for the event. there are elite creatures in the node (and maybe that Migrate out of the node to adjacent ones) that you can Hunt for rare leathers and other materials. maybe even with bounties of some sort.
Visually the dungeon is beautiful, I personally like more dark style, blood and skulls or ancient ruins this is my theme . unfortunately did not play games with open world dungeons, so dont have opinion on this. but I have concerns, if I heard correctly there will be 2 story chains that then determine to some extent the history of the server, wouldn't it be difficult to maintain it later if there is one story chain on one server and another on the other.
Comments
For me, a dungeon is a labyrinth and not just a door/monster/treasure. If it is possible to integrate a secret system for opening new advancement routes. Seems to me that would be a good thing.
During the stream, I felt like key characters were introduced. How can a player realize this? otherwise I was very impressed by the animation of the bridge being set up for the progression of the players. Is such magic possible in Vera's lore?
from google trad french.
To get to the tower, I wonder that do we have multiple routes/paths to get to the tower and maybe each path represents different difficulty. Inside the tower or say dungeon, I wonder the same thing is that do we have multiple routes/paths to choose to clear the dungeon and maybe each path represents different difficulty or for different team composition.
I'm not a bow maker but I really don't feel good about bows you showed, too few different bow structures and most of them are very primitive bow design with fancy decorations on it and those things are just lower the efficiency to push arrow forward. I'm not saying it's bad to make bows fancy(after all it's a fantasy game), but it still need to be real at certain degrees as long as the bow is not a magic powered bow. A most obvious example: most of bows that has fancy long limb tips are wrong because long limb tips are bad for efficiency. Another reason I don't like the way you make bows looking fancy is because almost every copy paste game already learned for so long to use the same or similar way to over does the gear skins to be super fancy and it feels cheap, soulless and even disgusting. Maybe it's the bad taste of gear designs are too much for so long and it makes every little detail that reminds me the bad taste was amplified. All I want is asking you that when you design a bow please make it what it should be before make it looking fancy.
Different bow structures please refer this video:
↓Good youtube channel to learn things about creating games.↓
Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv1DvRY5PyHHt3KN9ghunuw
The dynamic story arc system sounds fantastic and should keep the leveling experience interesting and encourage players to revisit zones they have already "completed". Transforming existing zones through story events rather than adding new ones is a good way to handle expansions without making the old world obsolete.
A potentially interesting player dynamic occurs if a powerful guild tries to interfere with the smaller guilds dungeon or boss progress, they could be blocking the quest line from being completed and hindering their own progression. This gives me hope that PvP conflict in dungeons will be more meaningful and less about just killing everyone you see.
"The story arcs are the new hotness we've been hiding" I rolled my eyes when this was said but now i'm a believer.
Some minor points,
The old two handed sword stance was awful this over the shoulder look is much better.
The shoulder and cloak clipping on Stevens character is really bad (I know still in alpha)
The Mimic is the first interesting enemy we've seen, i'd like every pack of mobs to have an interesting "leader" enemy.
I'm a little disappointed with the Vaelune I expected them to look more like this.
The real-time changing environment looked pretty cool too.
What I didn't like was that at the beginning of the video, when you were standing around, the environment looked kind of out of place. The sky, which reminded me of Star Wars/Track with a medieval building, and the rest with the corrupted environment looked weird to me. Maybe it was just the location where you started the video.
2) Overall the environment team did a good job, the map in the upper right looked good too.
3) I also liked the background cullise like thunder and lightning.
4) As for the combat, the effects looked too bright and overall the combat is still in a poor shape (except for the warrior basic skills, spin to win & hammerstun).
For me, the combat system is the most important part in an MMORPG. If the combat is bad, I can't enjoy the rest of the game, and it doesn't matter how good the rest is.
at the beginning of the video the environment looked much better than later in the trailer. It just looks like a red filter has been slapped on everything. If it's just dark and you can see the corruption glowing, the colors would be more appealing. Also the blood waterfall looks a bit too splashy, it might move slower and make small puddles and rivers. And Veins could be making nasty noises when a player walks on it would make it more atmospheric. Every enemy could look more corrupted like (because they look like regular bandits). And the entire area could spam a debuff that requires a support class or potion (which requires resources collected from the rim before the adventure begins. This debuff could minimise your vision and if stacked to high it lead to friendly fire because it drives you mad. Even higher it lead to your character loosing small amounts of money and potions or other stuff as well. So there is an actual need even for solo players to deal with the debuff.
What are your favorite open-world dungeon elements that you would like us to incorporate? Please provide examples when applicable.
A large area where you can find a quiet spot to hide and farm (like in albion) also some teleports if its a very huge map so there is enough space so you can get out of the way if you aren't intrested in pvp or someone is at your spot. Also small map events where people would gather and participate and ganker would wait for kills. Moobs might drop some coins, and if the final boss is killed, all contestants who have those coins will get them exchanged for more loot Those coins could also be traideble in your local auction house back in your node (if your just a solo player or need simply some cash). If there are local quests, it's really great if someone could share them with those in their group who don't have them (but meet the requirement like pre-quests). Boss fights scale with their participants, so everyone has to put in some work and everyone has to do minimal damage so nobody just hits the boss, scales it up, and then waits for the group to kill the boss. But if you die in combat, your progress should be saved so players can just respawn and come back quickly instead of waiting.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the area of Carphin?
I like any game that has mimics hiding as chests, but these should be in rotating locations.
It seemed visually ok. To be fair, probably better than ok. I didn't really get the wow factor reaction Steven had, but I didn't dislike it either. Looked like a simple pathway type dungeon that had been washed with bloody effects. Very slight Oblivion vibe there.
Most of my points have already been mentioned, so I won't overelaborate :
-The enemies seemed easy and lacked threatening animation. I know that the party dying wouldn't showcase what you wanted, but I'm sure there is a middle ground..
-Combat effects still too flashy. I'm going to need some Phenobarbitol for full party fights.
-Entering the tower seemed to lack a real physical challenge. Would be prime territory for some magic based traps.
-Difficult to comment on the story/lore without it being fleshed out.
-Nothing original with the mimic chests (NW) or Blood Magic (DA) corruption ideas, but its ok to borrow good ideas.
Regarding the closing comments about quest design, do we want players to shape all of their quest story? Every time? I'm not convinced I want that to be an imperative, personally. I don't think there's an innate problem with the concept of being shaped by others, or the world. Sometimes we shouldn't get choices. Feeling a little out of control sometimes can be a good thing in a game. Risk and reward, right?
The stranger's eyes lifted to the blood red cloud on the horizon.
'We have to move. It's not safe here.'
The rest makes me excited, though.
I second this idea - instead of that beginning animation where the blood veines (see what I did there?
EDIT: also... I have a feeling gliding mounts are going to be able to skip that broken staircase bridge from the get go.
overall I'd say it's looking very cool and enjoyable already, but here are some improvements I would make to make it slightly more appealing, at least to me.
graphics:
I still see the same issues here, you need to make a slider to tune down animations locally or rather tune it down for everyone. Sometimes in the fight, I'm losing touch with what is happening around, it feels like a rainbow supernova exploded next to you and I'm not even in a player pov which would make it even harder to focus, with some mechanics and perhaps more enemies or more environment dynamics people would get lost in space like that.
According to the sound system, it seems to me you slightly tuned it down or just not pressing the buttons that much in this showcase, however, it still needs a lot of tuning down. This issue might not feel like an issue at first, but imagine you are giving this game a lot of time, even daily perhaps, so again... add a slider, or tune it down for all.
dynamic environment graphics:
this felt nice, I can see some potential here for classes in groups that could do different things.. could lead to different ways in, perhaps (rogue can find a shortcut, mage make portals thru not protected walls etc).
Since the dungeon is open-world there should be some add-up difficulties to the group following the first one, they rather have a "tracker" to keep up or they get lost and end up fighting a different part of the dungeon perhaps or notify the group ahead that someone is following so they can prepare proper ambush etc. I really don't know how you want to get rid of bullying from bigger groups that will inevitably dominate the server, but I wish you can figure that out.
UI:
I'm in love with the minimap, great work there so far, otherwise you choose the right way to do it so I do have not much to add here BUT since you won't allow addons (which I still see as a mistake) you should consider adding a weak-auras (addon for wow) functionality so people can customize their UI. However you do it, please don't force us to default only.
You also need to make nameplates for those NPCs, in dark areas you can't even tell what is a friend and what is an enemy + the huge animation, and from RPG experience it becomes an epilepsy experience fairly quick.
quests, lore:
I love when you speak about choices that matter, please make them REALLY matter and not like in other games where you kill an NPC that won't even show up again anyways if you don't, etc.
Would be nice if there are optional and dynamic puzzles that could help during the way inside the dungeon, as a rogue main I'd like to be able to sneak ahead scout areas, find secret paths, secrets behind puzzles, a clue into another dungeon perhaps, etc. The possibilities are unlimited
Combat flash is overdone for me as well, loved the large scale environment, color palette could use a little more variety, so much red, orange and darkness.
Have to say that the mechanics of the "server-story" and "world-stories" are a tad confusing. Am hoping this is legendary-level content, and not breeze-by stuff; If a single small group of players' choices in a key server-quest make a HUGE difference, then it really feels like it should be the hardest of content, to complete. This kind of stuff shouldn't just be first-come, first-serve for any ol' casual group of half-geared randoms....
Neat to hear repeated-content mechanics news, as well. This update laid some good foundation for the content-to-be.
Something that I’m quite excited for with ashes of creation is that the content levels up with you. I’m wondering however, for an area like Carphin, what happens when you get to the end. Does the area stay corrupted, does the corruption shrivel up showing the area was cleansed? Or does the area look like there was never corruption in the first place (my least favorite outcome)? What I think would be cool is if after Carphin has been “cleared” there’s some sort of perk or reverberation in the world. Could it have the benefits of a scientific node and now you can use Carphin to fast travel to different sites near it, or a very specific part of the world? Could there now be arcane mobs and plants that represent a time when Carphin wasn’t corrupted?
Granted these are just suggestions but I think it would be really cool if after the corruption is cleared there is some sort of restoration of a power once forgotten.
Secondly, I love when you can leave with a souvenir once you’ve completed a healthy chunk of the story. For instance, the tower of Carphin is a location significant to mages. It would be cool if either halfway through the journey or at the end of the journey, there was something special for mages. Doesn’t need to be large. Could be a teleport to carphin spell book, or a way to customize one of your spells so it looks like it’s based on the magic of Carphin. Whether that’s casting a spell or two that can now look corrupted, or casting a spell that looks like ancient Pyrian magic. This principle would ideally apply to other parts of the world, so that other classes would get opportunities like this.
Lastly, I love when a fantastical zone has biodiversity. The corruption color scheme is very one note which I’m always a huge fan of BUT I feel like the mobs at least outside the tower were too repetitive. I know this is an early iteration of Carphin so I’m not super concerned about mob repetition later on. That being said, it’s fun seeing how corruption might affect different creatures. What do birds of prey do differently from wolves? Are plants also hostile in some fashion? You all did an amazing job showcasing this preview, I’d just love to see a tiny bit more.
Thank you, the progress is amazing to see and keep up the good work.
P.S. I personally like flashy game mechanics. I understand they can add visual clutter, though. I think some form of accessibility slider that allows you to tune the visual effects will be nice.
I was extremely amazed. Especially the transition when the zone changed felt unbelievably epic to the point where I would hope that we as players could get "replays" of that if we participated in the questline, maybe as a memory crystal or so. But leaving that aside, the idea of having more than one Node and the players decisions made during the questline influence the Craphin "super dungeon area" is very good, as it can create more PvP incentives to guide the progression of the story. That is imo one of the best ways to create stakes that make PvP feel worthwhile that I have seen in online games. Well done!
What are your favorite open-world dungeon elements that you would like us to incorporate? Please provide examples when applicable.
I made a post about dungeon scenarios changing depending on groups making specific decisions while in the dungeon that'll open up or close down parts of the overall dungeon for a limited amount of time.
The example I made was as follows:
These type of scenarios mid sized dungeons could be a great opportunity for bonding PvP and PvE closer together, as well as provide us with some much needed "early" incentives when building up Nodes in areas that might be less known and visually thrilling like the Riverlands are. The aspect of competing over the dungeon "scenario"/environment for some time is a key ability for people to feel their impact in the world and being able as a player to modify that for example through changing the possible pathing of a dungeon (e.g. growing magical vines to block a path at one of the entrances of the dungeon - if you have sufficient farming or Alchemy skills.). Since Steven mentioned cycles, it would be awesome if after a dungeon clear, the "reset" could be connected to some quests. Picking up the example in my quote, after all the bosses were defeated or pacified, the mine becomes a hub for resource gathering. However a nearby Node falling, robbing the supply caravans TO the dungeon or overfarming the resources in it would lead to it being abandoned again and turn it back into a "fight" dungeon.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the area of Carphin?
The only thing I missed, which I hope is simply due to the current state of development, is that the areas might become too much of a micro cosmos, insulated from the outside except from caravans. I hope that the Bard classes or NPC will be able to inform us about the events at other places on our server maybe even intentionally to create migration towards these interesting places.
Finding a balance there will be very important, because there should be other reasons for people to move on from a place rather than feeling that they have seen everything in that place.
Keeping in mind this is still pre-alpha 2, I do have feedback about the overall graphics. The shield was well made, but I don't feel like the shiny bits were reflecting the environment at all, or not enough. The blood looked like heavy fog when it was falling, and less like blood. I would be happy with less falling blood if it looked more like blood. Still looking forward to seeing capes not pass through bodies. There was a targeted magic spell cast by the cleric that terminates directly in the center of an enemy, that definitely needs to pass through them(around?) for like a foot, it looks unnatural when it stops right then and there.
Things that I particularly enjoyed: the blood magic of the humanoids was fantastic. Cleric spells inside the tower had a beautiful contrast to the surroundings. The flashiness of the 'being hit' effects gives great threat assessment. Greatsword idles, movements, etc (again, what a great direction with combat, looking forward to seeing the motions look really fluid at release). The light shining through the stained glass on the tower. How much darker it got overall once the event was triggered, it went from a full moon to fairly dark, very nice. Tank armor. The unique sounds of combat, such as how clearly the sound of arrows cuts through the din of combat.
Rest up Steven, and for everyone else working, thanks for the hard work and another great update. My own hypothesis on A2(let me innnnn) is sometime around winter, if you keep up your current rate of class updates.. if you go for an early Alpha 2. If you're going for a more complete Alpha 2, next year
Dungeons should have higher chance for the stronger mimics over solo ones however i think it would be cool to randomly get a boss/raid mimic in solo area to bring people in the area together.
These mimics should also drop stuff like a chest obviously harder difficulty mimics will drop more.
rogues could get the ability to detect wether it a chest or a mimic but not what kinda of mimic (could make this a chance aka a difficulty to inspect) and if the rogue fails his inspect it attacks hims i would make the first attack of a mimic a heavy hitting sneak attack kinda thing too tbh just to add to the surprise/oshit moment
Having chests that could be mimics over the place like this will help keep the dangerous feeling of the world and keep players on there toes not just from possible PK but also surprise mob attacks. These kinda feature make the world feel more alive when there some unpredictable things in the worlds (Old games had patrolling mobs often mobs higher level) newer games since WoW kinda removed these unpredicable elements and the feeling got predictable and boring.
Can also add trapped chests aswell where instead of mobs it could be curses or spell effects or summoned mobs. the anime SAO potrayed this quite well with trapped chests (
I also wanted to comment on the combat, I really like the pacing. I saw a lot of comments during the twitch stream that were saying they wanted it to be slower, and I just really hope you guys don't head that way. I believe that quicker combat is the future and slow, pantheon style combat is antiquated. As for constructive feedback for the combat, I think it would be nice if the combat felt a little more punchy. I know there's still many iterations to go, but I hope that's the direction you take those iterations.
Positive:
1. the enviroment looks great, detailed art and nice animations regarding the corruption and moving bridge.
2. the outfits from the characters look great and also the weapon design.
3. The chest-monster is a really cool enemy, nice animations and details.
4. The red fog makes everything even more furious and evil looking. like it a lot.
"Negative":
1. eventho the enviroment looks great and thus provides a nice fundament for a dark and evil atmosphere, the global lighting was again not on point imo. in the day/night cycle showcase many people (including me) found the global lighting to be a lot too bright.
Ofc. in regards of functionality it is not welcomed if the overall lighting is too low, since it affects pvp and the spotting ability for enemies.
But for me personally, i prefer a darker atmosphere and thus more immersion than some better vision for enemies, since everybody would have the same initial position.
Also it would offer a lot of nice tools to play with e.g. burning arrows that brighten up the spot/area that they were shot on.
Or torches and other light sources in general that a player can include into the game.
Long story short: i think the zone was too bright and thus didnt show its full atmospheric potential of dark- and evilness.
2. Ive said that many times, but the walking animation seems too unfluid. When you move the character the pov moves instantly with no increase as if an organism would be able to move 10km/h within a second.
That also counts for rotation and movement in general...
the character doesnt "feel" like it has some weight on it and more like its floating.
3. the combat doesnt look fun to watch. its not bad but as already mentioned in previous discussions, it just doesnt look outstanding or near as good as in games like bdo.
Ofc. aoc is not bdo and should not be, but the combat right now is just a flashy weapon spamming that doesnt feel like it has some relevant impact on the enemies nor yourself.
No interruptions from dmg, no "falling to the ground", no specific root animations or knock back animations and the swings from the hammer and long sword look like the material is out of plastic since no normal organism can swing such heavy things that fast without building momentum...
I like everything thats going on so far a LOT, but the combat is the only thing this far that wont come to my taste at all. Its not that i dislike it, but its just underwhelming.
4. combat sound design: from what ive heard, the sounds being made are all mid to high frequences on average. Listening to all the sounds at once (like shown in the latest showcase) makes the combat sound sometimes a little bit irritating since most of the frequences are in the described segment and its getting too much.
But it could be just my ears, since i have no evidence and didnt record and measure the sound.
I am really looking forward for this game and even tho the "negatives" seem to weigh a lot more, i wanted to point up that i would need a lot of time stating all the good things i personally like.
So over all i am really enjoying the development so far and these are the only things i personally would change.
I hope my feedback somehow helped,
much love
I do share the same statements/worries of what I have said in the past though in regards to combat. Turn down the special effects a bit in regards to the weapon attacks. Still to flashy.
The changing flora when the next story arc starts is great. I'd like to see that expanded in other environments as well. Corrupted vines coming out looked amazing, but I'm curious how a new story arc would look in the desert or tundra. I'd hope you utilize animation/lights/effects in flora in similar ways as at Carphin. Having the world feel alive passively is great for immersion. This can also be shone in fauna as well.
The scale of everything outside was dope. The giant doors/chains really gives off the feeling that you're about to enter something massive. The foyer felt a little small compared to right in front of the doors, but I imagine players won't spend a lot of time there and would quickly venture to the floor/area of choice.
Story arc timers are a great idea. Objectives that only allow you to choose one is also good, resulting in players having to make a deliberate choice. Hopefully there won't be a way to see how many people chose one over the other so the results won't be known until later. There should also be a way to know which of your choices resulted in which change (if any). Exploration being a major revealer of objectives is also a nice touch. Only concern is if the rewards ever become the main driver of quest objective over narrative progression, but that can easily be changed by keeping the same reward regardless of which sub-objective you do. This is good for small-scale rewards (gold/exp/mats), but it would be cool to have something like objectives that result in more ore deposits forming in an area vs more fishing spots (with accompanied NPC) or an objective that results in one animal husbandry breed being available to be tamed vs another. For example, choosing to help the fisherman over the miner. Steven mentioned wanting to drive artisan classes to become more involved with PVP and PVE and this would be a great way to do that. Gatherers may now have to take time away from that to participate in PVE story arcs if they want to collect more of their main materials in the area, or be forced to find another area if it swings to the other way. Especially for "cosmetic" artisan classes (carpentry, animal husbandry, etc), having major PVE choices determine whether an NPC that sells one races furniture recipes appear vs another is a great driver for conflict that isn't necessarily a power creep, or as easily meta-gamed with "everyone complete this objective because mithril ore is worth more than yellow-spiked fish". Having personal preference or even those RP guilds spend time and gold pushing a story arc one way purely to turn the aesthetic of an area to their race or to be able to purchase unique cosmetics/mounts that fit their aesthetic is way less black & white and won't result in people getting flamed for "trolling the server" by doing what they want.
The "corrupted" versions of flora is also really good. You've discussed changing gatherables as different nodes and story arcs progress, so I'm excited to see that. Would be cool if the spawn locations also drastically changed, so when the new arc happens, it's like you're rediscovering new land instead of retracing the path you took before.
The bridge being built is sick and I hope that same tech is used on a much smaller scale, maybe creating small pockets where collectibles come about, or rare gatherable nodes, or even just new vaultable/traversable paths.
Cons:
Minimap indicator of the area of "Carphin" that's being changed so you're not accidentally inside and get removed (if it behaves the same way as a town node being upgraded does). A countdown/timer would also be great (I know this was manually triggered and the deadline of a story arc would most likely be a clue).
As mentioned before, a way to see which of the objectives was "chosen" by the server. I can imagine if a major story arc completes at a predetermined time, many people will be online and excited to explore the new area. Being in discord and knowing you and your friends all chose to save the wolf pack instead of kill them and hoping they survive, then getting the notification on the screen that says "The Wolf Pack was saved, resulting in a new breed of tameable wolves roaming the land."
The smoke at the top of the tower during the event trigger should obscure the tower more, right now it sits behind the tower and looks layered. The vines animation looks so good, it'd be amazing if some similar strobing effect appeared on the tower aesthetic, or cracks, or any noticeable change on it so from far away it's easy to tell "oh something happened there, that looks different".
Comments:
Not sure why everyone's mentioning the combat effects considering that's outside of scope, but I'll mention that games with "flashy" effects can be amazing (BDO, Revelation Online, Maplestory, Blade & Soul, Sword of Legends Online). I'm sure the combat will have multiple passovers in the future, and I'm excited to see the next showcase where you request feedback on combat, but I'd much rather you improve on the effects rather than tone it down. The direction is good, it's just early iteration and I'm under the impression many people are misconstrueing "incomplete" as "over the top"
If that strobing orange bulbous looking plant is a gatherable node, then I'm extremely glad with the direction gathering is going. The trees and ore we've seen so far have been the most base version and acceptable, but the one plant we saw made me think all gatherables would be static and unimpressive. That orange bulbous plant looked like something out of New World, and utilized animation, lights, and unique silhouettes really well. More gatherables like that would be amazing. Keep it up!
my only personal worry with that is that while playing and the event ticks over i miss the visuals/zone change - whether that's purely aesthetic like the top of the tower exploding with that crimson coloured spell or something of game play importance like the new bridge forming (telling me where to go), im just a little worried ill miss it or wont notice it.
i realise that being an MMO you will probably just be able to follow the mob of people to figure out that something is going on, but perhaps something else UI related that maybe i can replay the cool aesthetic tower spell cast
thanks for the great work, have a good day.
The original style direction was made to be viewed much closer up. This was the style that made me fall in love with Ashes' artistic direction. The games assets are lovingly crafted as is the general animations. But there is one singular problem.
Steven likes his games at high levels of zoom. At first I thought that game was taking a bad turn and the assets were just lower quality. But after watching this stream it became a lot more clear to me how much the art direction looking awful is more so the fact that the assets not being made for the zoom level Steven likes, rather than the quality of the assets.
I don't see the appeal of this wide of a viewing angle. I'd rather play an isometric game at this level. It makes you look like a table top miniature and it makes the world feel immensely unimmersive. But hey some people just fell in love with Lineage 2's point and click adventure game style. This show case made me realize that it wasn't that the game was getting more ugly or that the animations were bad. It was that the zoom out ratio is too wide for the artistic direction to be effective.
Now normally I'd argue you should just make the cap for max zoom smaller. But as this game continues to be more and more Ashes of Archcraft I no longer think this is appropriate advice. The art team needs to get on Steven's (zoom) level and rework literally every texture and design to look better at max viewing distance. Stop living in your own idea of beauty and deliver what your customer, Steven, is asking for. Super far zoom.
If you don't animations will continue to look far too fast, the environments empty and monotonously bland feeling, and the amount of effort you put into the texturing will be absolutely wasted because the game will be played from max zoom as the primary experience as it is a pvp game first and a pve immersive experience second.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yhr9WpjaDzw
Why did I watch that video, how could you make me re-watch that scene again T_T Also I agree, mimics are one of the coolest mechanics in the Dark Souls series and I think having them immediately turn before you even attempt to open them really removes the fear and surprise you get. I think while it was a good showcase, I do hope they make them more subtle. Have it so multiple chests exist and look similar to the Hoarders throughout other parts of the game, so that when you do come to a Hoarder, you have absolutely no idea it's one. That would make every encounter with one as intense as the previous.
I think I would like some larger enemies around the tower, maybe some of those Fiend Golems or something like that to give it a bit more diversity in play. though you guys are probably already planning that.
one thing I can think of that would be pretty cool is if as part of the new resources available for the event. there are elite creatures in the node (and maybe that Migrate out of the node to adjacent ones) that you can Hunt for rare leathers and other materials. maybe even with bounties of some sort.