I think there are some simple but very fun elements that could be linked to enabling gliding points/towers/platforms.
Easy way to beat the jumping puzzles.
I was just wondering about jumping puzzles the other day. I wonder if they’ll have some “bubble” type invisible barriers around them that prevent players from gliding halfway through them or just getting past them entirely. One could argue that’s just playing smart. But it does diminish the effort put into the puzzles if anyone with a gliding mount can circumvent them. If metro mayors and guild kings/queens get actual flying mounts, it would be a bit silly for them to get a whole month just to cruise around and beat all the jumping puzzles.
As for the gliding point suggestion, I guess I just assume there will be enough elevation shifts throughout the terrain for us to do this naturally as we navigate the world with a gliding mount. You may also use your gliding mount at any time and just have it walk whenever it's not gliding, I think. Or would these gliding points offer some special bonus, like to your flight speed / endurance?
- I'd say they could be the only spot where one could learn to glide.
- When you glide from such a spot you gain a speed boost or lose a bit less altitude (so you can glide further)
- offer quest to find and tame gliding & flying mounts
- Get flying related crafting options (e.g. an options for helmet that makes updrafts visible to increase altitude during gliding)
- Be points just high enough to enter a special area like the secluded crater of an inactive volcano or a (seemingly) abandoned cave atop a steep cliff out on a small island.
I think there are some simple but very fun elements that could be linked to enabling gliding points/towers/platforms.
Learn to glide? So you’d purchase a gliding mount, but then have to walk it up to a high point to learn how to glide on it? Seems like you’d want to start with small hovering, like little dips in hillsides, logically, if you were learning how to “fall with style” for the first time. Not sure I’d want to climb up a mountain and jump off as my first attempt at riding on the back of a gryphon lol
That being said, WoW’s new implementation of dragon riding was actually pretty cool. They strategically placed hovering tokens up in the sky to be endurance challenges for players. If you glide right and time your boosts well, you’ll just barely be able to reach the tokens, and gain a new point for your dragon riding skill tree. I’d be down for a similar system in ashes, if there is a skill tree for mount mastery. Also - gliding time trails. Those are lots of fun.
But, something tells me gliding in Ashes won’t be anything like WoW’s dragon riding or GW2’s flying with the realistic flight maneuvering, speed boosts, etc. If I’m right, and it’s just a simple elevation drop dependent on mount quality and near pinpoint cornering with no speed boosts or momentum-based speed gain, some of those systems might be pointless and boring if implemented.
Also, if actual flight works like old world-WoW flying where you just hover in place indefinitely with no flight endurance or momentum, I don’t think it’s worth bothering. GW2 and WoW’s (new) flight systems are just too much fun for anything else to be particularly valuable or considered much of an incentive for player effort. Sure, flying when virtually no one else can technically presents value in a vacuum, getting a mount that can move in precisely measured units at whatever speed you want in three dimensions and drop fire bombs on your enemies is pretty powerful, but it’s not very fun in and of itself anymore, at least not by modern gameplay standards. I think most gamers who’ve tried modern MMO flight mechanics would agree.
You misunderstood that point a bit. Glinding points would be additional structures set up atop higher elevated points, which includes - but is not limited to - mountains. Assuming that players have to acquire the skill of handling a Tier 2 Mount (a gliding mount), I would think that next to other places the gliding points would make good additional places to learn this skill. The main reason for that is that I doubt that any Node from LV 3 on will have a teacher in them to teach this. So if a Tier 5 or Tier 6 Node decides that as one of their policies they build these gliding points in their ZoI, then this additional feature would allow citizens of Nodes in that ZOI to learn the skill without having to travel all the way to the "capitol" or a high tier Node.
I can't comment on how true flight is going to work in Ashes because we simply do not know but with those being limited to approximately 20 people on the server, I doubt this will me relevant to me specifically anyways. But I agree the GW2 flying system is very good.
Gliders is plenty imo. If you fall off a ledge or need to flee from something, you can still do so. Without the map feeling to small. In forms of fast travel I would rather have boats going up and down rivers you can jump on, as opposed to just flying anywhere/everywhere.
I can't comment on how true flight is going to work in Ashes because we simply do not know but with those being limited to approximately 20 people on the server, I doubt this will me relevant to me specifically anyways. But I agree the GW2 flying system is very good.
I guess my main point in mentioning WoW’s new flight system in addition to GW2’s flight system is that WoW’s dragon riding isn’t actual flying. I think that once you max out your skill level, people have found ways to min-max flight angles and boost usage so that you can technically fly forever, but if the boosting was limited a fair amount and not designed to keep you in the air indefinitely, WoW’s dragon riding would basically be fancy gliding with limited capacity for upward movement. I think having an almost-but-not-quite flying system would be really engaging and encourage the world designers to play with verticality in their designs a lot more.
I'm strongly against instant teleportation in AoC for any reason. I'm ok with air/water/land public transportation options as long as there is a limit to carrying capacity and longer duration than traveling with flying, regular, or naval mounts or ships. However, air transportation should be more expensive, and I'm content with the scientific metropolis requiring unique facility building between nodes.
Just wanted to drop back in after the gliding system teaser we got in the mage update today and say that I was really impressed with how the gliding mounts are looking so far. They look much more mobile than the gliding options available in some other MMOs and definitely alleviate some of the concerns I've had around the exclusivity of actual flying mounts.
Thanks to the team for selecting my related question on the QA thread for the stream and to Steven for answering so transparently. It's nice to hear that there will be the potential for animal husbandry-related gliding skills that the player can use to more actively control their gliding paths, speed, and distance. I'm not sure if maybe Steven didn't understand my question perfectly, but it sounded like actual momentum based gliding will not be a thing - more so a hard set of flight speed data based on species and genes regardless of flight trajectory. Might be wrong, but that's the impression I got. A bit disappointing, but overall the gliding still looked like a lot of fun and certainly a useful asset in world exploration.
Comments
Though do think transportation works well in MMO's.
Riding for ages is all well n good at the start, but once you know areas well its a pain in the ***
I was just wondering about jumping puzzles the other day. I wonder if they’ll have some “bubble” type invisible barriers around them that prevent players from gliding halfway through them or just getting past them entirely. One could argue that’s just playing smart. But it does diminish the effort put into the puzzles if anyone with a gliding mount can circumvent them. If metro mayors and guild kings/queens get actual flying mounts, it would be a bit silly for them to get a whole month just to cruise around and beat all the jumping puzzles.
Learn to glide? So you’d purchase a gliding mount, but then have to walk it up to a high point to learn how to glide on it? Seems like you’d want to start with small hovering, like little dips in hillsides, logically, if you were learning how to “fall with style” for the first time. Not sure I’d want to climb up a mountain and jump off as my first attempt at riding on the back of a gryphon lol
That being said, WoW’s new implementation of dragon riding was actually pretty cool. They strategically placed hovering tokens up in the sky to be endurance challenges for players. If you glide right and time your boosts well, you’ll just barely be able to reach the tokens, and gain a new point for your dragon riding skill tree. I’d be down for a similar system in ashes, if there is a skill tree for mount mastery. Also - gliding time trails. Those are lots of fun.
But, something tells me gliding in Ashes won’t be anything like WoW’s dragon riding or GW2’s flying with the realistic flight maneuvering, speed boosts, etc. If I’m right, and it’s just a simple elevation drop dependent on mount quality and near pinpoint cornering with no speed boosts or momentum-based speed gain, some of those systems might be pointless and boring if implemented.
Also, if actual flight works like old world-WoW flying where you just hover in place indefinitely with no flight endurance or momentum, I don’t think it’s worth bothering. GW2 and WoW’s (new) flight systems are just too much fun for anything else to be particularly valuable or considered much of an incentive for player effort. Sure, flying when virtually no one else can technically presents value in a vacuum, getting a mount that can move in precisely measured units at whatever speed you want in three dimensions and drop fire bombs on your enemies is pretty powerful, but it’s not very fun in and of itself anymore, at least not by modern gameplay standards. I think most gamers who’ve tried modern MMO flight mechanics would agree.
I can't comment on how true flight is going to work in Ashes because we simply do not know but with those being limited to approximately 20 people on the server, I doubt this will me relevant to me specifically anyways. But I agree the GW2 flying system is very good.
I guess my main point in mentioning WoW’s new flight system in addition to GW2’s flight system is that WoW’s dragon riding isn’t actual flying. I think that once you max out your skill level, people have found ways to min-max flight angles and boost usage so that you can technically fly forever, but if the boosting was limited a fair amount and not designed to keep you in the air indefinitely, WoW’s dragon riding would basically be fancy gliding with limited capacity for upward movement. I think having an almost-but-not-quite flying system would be really engaging and encourage the world designers to play with verticality in their designs a lot more.
Thanks to the team for selecting my related question on the QA thread for the stream and to Steven for answering so transparently. It's nice to hear that there will be the potential for animal husbandry-related gliding skills that the player can use to more actively control their gliding paths, speed, and distance. I'm not sure if maybe Steven didn't understand my question perfectly, but it sounded like actual momentum based gliding will not be a thing - more so a hard set of flight speed data based on species and genes regardless of flight trajectory. Might be wrong, but that's the impression I got. A bit disappointing, but overall the gliding still looked like a lot of fun and certainly a useful asset in world exploration.