Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
The least you could do is add an iframe on that dodge roll, or give every Archetype their own unique iframe dash similar to the double dashes shown in melee combat. 20 seconds cooldown Blink isn't enough for kiting.
not bashing your opinion, but WoW's blink is a high cooldown as well, and it gets brought down with CDR, which we haven't taken into account for these show cases. I also don't like the idea of people abusing a eye frame tactic in PvP, which would end up leading us to a meta of choosing a class that has either a lower cd on the dash/ teleport. which I believe is what they are attempting to avoid. I know metas are just unavoidable but i think if we can all settle on a middle ground that is still great and adds more to the classes without being a clone of another games, I Truly believe that we could revolutionise MMO's without drowning in Eastern MMO "gameplay"
When the devs need to cheat to stay alive, there is clearly something wrong with the classes' Sustainability too.
They are capped at level 15 going into higher level areas, I'm assuming after level 15 there is something that happens to your character that Steven doesn't want seen like the augments or maybe another status bar or just something, we also need to remember is that this is early early, nothing that is shown should be taken at face value, if it was any other company I would be on your side, As long as we all have a MUTUAL acceptance of what we want I'm sure we all could accept a few things we dislike.
The showcase was somewhere in between okay and good in terms of an overall review of it.
In terms of what was good to even great about the showcase.
The agency provided by the limited movement and cast times. GOOD!
Cast time looks good. I hesitate to say great because I myself am not playing so I’m not sure. Agency in the movement while casting looks like a good compromise from having too much movement and none at all. Mostly likely if players feel like the movement should be cranked up a tad the system is there and can be adjusted.
The effects and visuals on the abilities and auto attack combos. GREAT!
In terms of an MMO this level effects are awesome and I’m excited to see them after the team as polished them up. They are not too flashy/realistic to where they will become annoying or bog down play smoothness in large scale pvp, however they are good looking enough to give you the fantasy feel and uniqueness of playing your character with the class that you have chosen.
Thought process and implication of in depth building for your class is very exciting. GOOD!
I would make sure there are different types of buffs and debuffs within the game with key words and then collaborate very closely with players in alpha 2 to adjust them in different classes to make for a variety of different builds. Overall I love that the team is taking time to think about stuff like this makes me very hopeful for uniqueness to thrive in the game.
As for the things that seemed either Bad to Okay.
Ability and auto attack pace/spamming. BAD!
I thought it was merely the fact that Steven had no cooldown on but once Trad took over and showed the combat with cooldowns on I was disappointed by how the combat looked mainly like spamming abilities off cooldown and the auto attacks took a back seat. The pace of abilities being cast off cooldown and just the overall pace of combat seems too fast for these abilities to mean very much. In games with slower combat the usage of abilities in certain scenarios become more important which can be less forgiving but can be more forgiving depending on the abilities they choose. Leading to builds that might be more high risk high reward or lower risk lower reward. Also the auto attacks seem almost pointless with the pace as is when you have ability after ability coming up which don't really have any incentive to time with others or wait for auto attacks to set them up.
With a game that utilizes pvp in the way Ashes is planning the pace of combat is a little alarming since it leaves little to no outplay potential that's fun. It becomes very annoying when in order to win against someone you are forced to either try and counter all of their abilities one after another or just have a build to do more damage in a shorter amount of time by clicking buttons in a certain pattern. I would like to see slower combat with more emphasis on the auto attacks setting up abilities and timing them, along with more systems that would allow players to counter play that some classes might be better at than others such as: Spacing/Damage fall off, Blocking, Dodging, Dashing.(while limited)
Amount of Abilities. OKAY!
From what I’ve seen the amount of abilities is okay however I would like if there could be a soft cap for the amount of abilities for each class and like shown in the mage showcase allow for more but with a penalty to cool down percentage wise up to a hard cap. Right now the Tank had 7 abilities and the mage had what looked like 14, I would reduce this down to 5 and 10 or 6 and 12 whichever feels better. Giving each class the ability to add up to 10 or 12 from 5 or 6 but with a penalty to all the cooldowns of your abilities by like 10% per extra slot used or something like that. It would create even more depth towards building your character, having to choose between which abilities you want and if you want to use the extra slots of not for more abilities for more unique cases you would find yourself focusing on damage over defense ability wise. (I would love to hear any thoughts on the concept if people think it is possibly a good idea or not.)
Our VFX artists would especially love some additional feedback regarding what was shown during the April 2023 Alpha Two Mage Updates Development Update Livestream.
They’d love feedback regarding, Mage Visual Effects. Visual effects / VFX is, in simple terms, what you see when you cast a spell.
Mage Visual Effects - How do you feel about the way a spell begins and ends? What looks good to you, and what feels clunky?
Do you feel the Mage animations are interesting and appropriate for their respective spells?
Do you feel the Mage's abilities look smooth and fluid to use?
We appreciate and look forward your feedback
The spells seen begin and end well. I prefer hand movements over full body movements though.
What looks good to you, and what feels clunky?
I love the lightning ball but I don't like the lightning coming from the wand prior to lightning strike. I feel lightning doesn't act in that way.
Do you feel the Mage animations are interesting and appropriate for their respective spells?
I feel the mage animations are appropriate and well designed. I love the general aspects and the way the aspects can merge.
Do you feel the Mage's abilities look smooth and fluid to use?
I feel lightning ball speed could be increased to standard mob speed. That way you can keep a mob inside the ball for longer. Otherwise, I feel the lightning ball should be less prestine.
I think blizzard and cone of cold could be less pristine in diameters too. Ice needs to be toned down to look less radioactive.
I know, I had quite a bit to say about the direction of the mage class. I'll keep those opinions separate from this. So generally speaking the best looking effects and animations are those that work in concert together. They aren't separate, simply pieces of an overall whole that is the spell or ability being used. Take the lightning strike shown for example. The mages hand/weapon gets raised and then the effect happens but the two aren't really working together. As without the effect the animation / model is just sitting there with their hand/weapon in the air making circles, which even by itself isn't adding anything, but together the two aren't making something better than the individual parts. Both animation and effects should have a clear directions of what's happening and both should compliment each other towards that. Not sure if this is coming across, so I'll give an example of the two working together.
That example being chain lightning. The character lifts off the ground, slowly opening their arms wider, trying to control the lightning that is playing along their hands and the ground. Then it's all released in a a quick burst. The entire spell is fluid and both the animation and the spell effect are working together towards an image. That image being the mage slowly struggling, calling on an overwhelming amount of lightning. Though this leads me to my next point.
As for beginning and ending I'd love to see a lot more ease in / ramp up with a lot of these effects. As these are spells that are in the middle of casting, not ready to cast right now. So for the chain lightning for example, having a few strands in the beginning but ramp up quickly to a lot more as you're about to cast, then a cut off just before the blast.
Onto another point, I think if you're going to cause the character to float there needs to be some sort of effect to demonstrate why they are floating, as currently sometimes it looks a bit clunky. The chain lightning is a bit believable but wouldn't mind seeing more improvement in that area. Blizzard is where I have the biggest issue. I love that you can move with it but instead of seeing the lower half of the player perhaps give them a mini tornado covering their lower half that connects to the ground to show why they are floating.
Again I won't rehash too much about how I think that the majority of the spells feel generic, but yeah I honestly don't find too many of the animations interesting as they have been done time and time again. They do look fluid and easy to use / cast though. I think the movement reduction on casting needs to be a tad less harsh but that's for later and not what you asked.
I just hope the team doesn't shy away from making more than just "projectile magic".
Especially blizzard for example, there could be more emphasis put on the "snowstorm" part of the ability(as of right now you can barely see that part of the spell, however it is already there and looks great!) rather than the ice crystals.
Now speaking character animations, while lightning strike looked great while channeling, the actual conclusion looks a bit off, almost like the character is cheering that he pulled the spell off. Also transitioning between different spell schools looks a bit jarring, going from almost squatting to cast an ice bolt to standing tall to charge lightning doesn't feel very cohesive. In general, extreme body positions should happen sparely and only if it really ties into casting the spell (maybe the mage needs to make contact with the earth to cast a (very) powerful earth spell?)
In contrast to the ice bolt spell, the mage raising his hand to cast lightning strike from the sky also feels and looks very right and "makes sense".
Going partly back to VFX, instead of hunching over to cast an ice bolt, maybe the mage could maintain a neutral position and draw a rune above/behind/in front him from which the projectile shoots. With ashes having a very modular approach to character kits, I imagine it will be hard to balance between cohesive/fluid animations for transitioning between spells and giving each spell school a distinctive personality in terms of character animations.
It feels a little clunky when using the abilities that take longer to cast, such as the chain lightning, the lightning ball, etc., and it also feels a bit clunky for some of the abilities where you can't move as freely while casting, such as blizzard. They seem to root you for a long amount of time. Its fine if they have longer cast times or slower movement as part of risk/reward, but it just feels like it might be somewhat impractical compared to just using the free movement instant casting options in the kit. Its hard to say without being the one actually testing it out though.
-even though the animations themselves seem pretty fluid when you are actually using abilities, the feel of combat itself seems a bit clunky, probably due to the longer cast times, rooting, and cooldowns
- I like that the animations all seem to each be very different and distinct from each other. This makes it easier to read what ability is being used or about to be used when fighting against another player.
- One thing that could improve is communicating the information about the abilities in a way that allows for mastery, such as being able to tell how long your bubble shield will last. As of now it seems to just disapear, so it would be nice to maybe have some kind of animation that can help the player learn how long the ability lasts, so they can play consistently and rely on that knowledge and expect it to function a certain way.
2. Do you feel the Mage animations are interesting and appropriate for their respective spells?
yes, the style of animation seems appropriate and is immersive as a spectator.
3. Do you feel the Mage's abilities look smooth and fluid to use?
yes, it seems like its pretty snappy to use your next ability after the previous one ends, which I like a lot. The animations seem to fluidly transition between each other when used in quick succession and it looks good.
side note- I forgot to mention in my first post:
I hope that the "schools" of specialization don't force you down one specific path, and you can mix and match elements you like from different paths. This goes for both your main class and for augments used in other classes. It would be more interesting if you can build your class to use a combination of different elements, or to pick aspects you like from different schools, obviously with the ability to specialize in a single school/element if you want to go deeper into that specific role.
Abilities:
o Blink - Instantly teleport a set distance in the direction you are moving
Beginning - The fact that a purple sphere appears before you teleport is a great visual cue and I think you should keep it. It really helps telegraph the teleport. I think the purple is slightly too saturated feeling however.
End - I don't like the cloud effect at the end. It lingers on the screen way too long and the lack of cohesion on the shape makes it possible to confuse with other possible abilities and possibly obscure other more important action happening on a larger scale..
o Shell - Create a protective magical shell around yourself that absorbs a large amount of damage before breaking.
Beginning - I feel like the wideness of the stance required to cast this, compared to the casting time for the spell, makes it feel really clunky. It also makes transitions between neutral stance and the spell being cast far more noticeable despite the quick casting time. The shell itself is perfect as it is in my opinion although could probably stand to be slightly less opaque.
End - No change. Seems fine.
o Ball Lightning - Create a large ball of highly charged electricity that travels slowly forward dealing rapid periodic lightning damage to enemies it overlaps with and applying an Electrified stalk to targets with each hit.
Perfect no changes needed. Shout outs to the glowing on the hands and the swaying motion of the body for the start up animation. Great visual ques.
o Blizzard - Channel a massive blizzard around you, raining a barrage of hail shards upon your enemies while channeling. Each shard impact deals ice damage in a small area around it. All enemies in the blizzard also accumulate a stalk of Chilled periodically. Activate the ability again to end the channel early.
Beginning - My only note about the start up is that the fact that the player is hovering in the air makes me feel like it should be able to avoid 'low'/'very ground based' attacks. If you do not intend this, you should maybe make the floating feel more like 'slowly skating' on the ice created.
End -Like every ice spell, I'm going to say the same thing. The ice is too saturated and blue compared to the over all visual style of the world. I would also like the snowflake decals to match the general hit box of each hail shard rather than having a size inconsistent with that to help give players more visual feedback for calibrating their spacing.
o Frost bolt - Launch a bolt of frost towards your target. Dealing Ice damage and applying 2 Chilled Stacks to the target on impact.
Beginning - The kamehameha like stance isn't my first choice for this type of attack, but it's animation isn't terrible. The charge up time compared to the visual growth of the projectile feels extremely exaggerated and slow.
End - The projectile itself looks fine but the snow trail behind it looks too wide. If the hitbox of the attack is that wide, the projectile should be thicker. The projectile's flight self itself feels weirdly too straight and centered compared to the physical motion used to form it in the first place.
Additionally the impact with the enemy feels weirdly kinetic rather than magical. I'm not against the 'shockwave ripple', but I'd like to see it feel a bit more related to ice somehow.
o Cone of Cold - Blasts a cone of cold in front of the caster, dealing ice damage and applying a stack of Chilled to each enemy hit. The blast also leaves behind a field of ice mines that explode on proximity contact, causing additional ice damage and Chilled stacks to nearby enemies.
Other than the saturation of the ice, no changes.
o Lightning Strike - Call down a bolt of lightning upon your target, dealing lightning damage and applying two stalks of Electrified to the target.
Beginning - I like that the hand raise has some clear vfx indicator that an attack is about to happen. The pose feels natural. The lightning also feels natural.
End - It feels like it's a bit too long. It's also not visually clear where the lightning comes from because it's disjointed. I also think the transition between the casting start and end is a bit clunky and feels pretty choppy. I think this is partially because the animation for the body ends before the lightning finishes.
This might be intended, and if so ignore this next suggestion, but I think if the lightning 'leaped' from in the casters hands onto the target somehow, it'd make tracking who it belongs to easier while still feeling natural.
o Arcane Volley (40 m Range) - Fires a volley of arcane missiles at your target, dealing arcane damage with each hit.
o Elemental Empowerment - Whenever you cast an elemental spell, your weapon attacks deal additional damage of that spell’s element and apply a stack of corresponding element status effect to targets hit. Casting a spell of a different element switches this effect to the new element.
None, perfect. Possibly my favorite ability so far. Will love to see the other elements.
o Chain Lightning - Release a powerful streak of lightning that hits your primary target and then chains outward to all nearby enemies from that target, dealing lightning damage and applying 3 stalks of Electrified to each target hit.
Beginning - The main issue I have with this attack is similar to the start up with Blizzard. The hovering off the ground makes me feel like it should be able to avoid certain types of low/ground based attacks.
End - The rest of the animation feels very smooth and understandable. I really like this effect even if it feels a bit slow.
o Slumber - Applies the sleeping condition to targets affected within a small area around the primary target, rending them unable to move or take any action., Any damage dealt to a sleeping target will break the effect.
This is fine. Purple cloud is very understandable and clear. Just make sure it's distinct and not confuse-able with other abilities (like blink.) It should be very clear who caused cc, what type it is, and what ability was used.
Summary: Over all I think the VFX's look pretty smooth. However, I have some issues with the general fluidity and connectivity of the spells initial formation, body motion, and impact. This can be smoothed out fairly easily in my opinion as you have a large amount of time in the animations to create smoother motions and effect work.
How do you feel about the Mage Archetype so far?
So far so good. I like what I see for sure.
How do you feel about being able to move while casting spells? Do you like the agency given to you, or does it feel unnatural?
I absolutely love the fact that I can cast while moving. I have played games where that wasn't the case. Like when casting a spell, you are locked in that position until the cast animation has completed. That sucks for situation's like in a dungeon/raid where at the start of lets say a 5 second cast, the Boss drops a ring of fire around you causing damage over time so you need to immediately move out of it but you have to wait for the animation to complete. Not a fun way to play. When I hit the WASD keys I want the animation/spell cast to cancel and allow me to move immediately.
How do you feel about the transitions between spells? Does this feel natural to you?
They look good to me.
How do you feel about the general or rotational complexity of the Mage Archetype? Does it feel too simple, too hard, or just right?
So far it looks good. I didn't see anything that bothered me anyway.
What excites you about playing as, with, or against the Mage Archetype?
Playing as, I love blowing stuff up and what is nice in AoC, I have some utility also (Sleep etc..) and
though unconventional, I love the fact that I can use a sword also. That adds a whole new dimension to the Mage class.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited, or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Mage Archetype?
The one thing that concerns me is that I saw a spell being cast (Blizzard?) where while casting the Mage rose upward. I hope I can cancel that when/if I need to quickly move.
Also, I love tab targeting combat. Thank You so much for giving us a game that ISN'T 100% action combat based.
That's my 2 cents. Really looking forward to the games release. Great job so far. Hats off to you and your AoC team.
Tbh I got mixed feelings.
The synergy and combo stuff is REALLY cool. Honestly something I've been waiting for for a looong time now, so I really hope you guys keep this up, include similar stuff for all the classes and also make it challenging. I always prefer that you have to put some effort in to master your class over it being simple and easy to play for everyone.
About the graphics though (and I know I might be alone on this) I do like how the electricity bubble adjusted to the ground but I felt like it was not really smooth and I feel like when there's a more uneven surface it might be looking really glitchy just flickering up and down. And to be completely honest, to me the ice skill effects looked really flat and low compared to what you guys usually create. I like the idea of snowflakes but there was so little of skill effect over all for the ice, and the ice idk just felt more comic style. Idk again this is probably just me but I guess I just expected sparkling crystal like ice where you can see the full potential of UE5 and the lighting effects,
How do you feel about being able to move while casting spells? Do you like the agency given to you, or does it feel unnatural?
Imo the more movement the more interesting the gameplay becomes, especially for PvP. However, balancing becomes really important the more there is possible.
How do you feel about the transitions between spells? Does this feel natural to you?
I honestly think it's hard to tell from what we've seen, because late game gameplay always looks way different, however to me it looked like there could be a bit more "flow" between the skills but again, hard to tell.
How do you feel about the general or rotational complexity of the Mage Archetype? Does it feel too simple, too hard, or just right?
I hope you keep this up and add more to it. I prefer more difficult gameplay.
What excites you about playing as, with, or against the Mage Archetype?
I am hoping to see a classic mage, with a good balance of weaknesses and strengths. Burst DPS, combos, CC, a valuable player in group PvP but also decent at 1v1, and I would love to see the mage being on the squishy side by default but able to trade in some of their DPS for tankiness to adjust to the group and what's needed (in case you still plan on making every class playable with any weapon and armour types). This goes for every class but I would love to see flexibility and individual play styles possible and working.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited, or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Mage Archetype?
Basically what I wrote for the first question xD
Looks good, very curious about the possibilities.
How do you feel about being able to move while casting spells? Do you like the agency given to you, or does it feel unnatural?
I think some spells could be casted while moving, but the big or specific spells should prevent the character to move
How do you feel about the transitions between spells? Does this feel natural to you?
Hard to define, have to try out
How do you feel about the general or rotational complexity of the Mage Archetype? Does it feel too simple, too hard, or just right?
From what I have seen, it doesn't look hard, rotation depend about the build, the gear, the situation and the encounter. Have to test to give a proper answer.
What excites you about playing as, with, or against the Mage Archetype?
I'm still considering 3 classes, and none of them is a mage. Against a mage, I would consider the distance, possible environment barriers, reading the animations to understand what type of spell he is using, the elemental stacks on my character, how to close the distance evading the Ice Cone or Slumber, how to make him waste Shell and Blizzard. then I would consider how to make more distance to disengage for skills cooldown, make him waste some spells, or escape if the fight is not going in a good direction.
What are your favorite Mage archetypes in other games? Please provide examples when applicable.
Necromancers, I know AoC already has it with Summoner/Cleric. I like it because it is a very complete class: nuke spells, debuffs, summons, life steal/management. It is a very technical class with a lot of useful stuff for a lot of situations. I also like the theme and "aura" of necromancers: elements are good, but souls are better!
The only mage that caught my attention is the Elven High Mage (D&D Faerun 3.0). Both for the lore, both because he could "rewrite reality" in a large region (Mythal). Probably way too power for a player character, but would be cool for the lore of some NPC or areas.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited, or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Mage Archetype?
I'm looking forward to check the Spellhunter and the Scion, I was always curious about the "Arcane Archer". I'm also curious about the Thief regarding stealth mechanic, the Necromancer (of course!) and fighter/thank: Dreadnought!
Lightning/Thunder strike looked frail and weak. Part of that is it needs more oomf on the audio side, but for visuals the bolt should be thicker maybe yellow and pound the ground, maybe a burn/scorch area. Baby Thor thunder mage wasn't threatening enough. Looked like vertical static rather than a bolt of lightning.
The static orb that the mage can send out along a line looks nice. I would speed it up a lot. It looks way too slow to be effective against anything that moves.
The auto attack looping combo attacks looked neat. Nice subtle touch. I also liked the frost storm ability where the mage levitates. I dont understand the levitation but artistic flair is fine in this instance.
The protection shell translates what it does well for both the user and enemy.
First I will start by saying that I think that the VFXs are not as important as the gameplay of the class itself. That said I think the effects are okay, nothing too pleasing or interesting looking but also not cluttering the screen. For example, Dragons Dogma 2 has some great VFX for spells (especially the ice one don't remember the name right now), but if the Effects get too large scale and too dense that can make it nearly impossible to navigate the game in large battles. I am not saying that there shouldn't be maybe some spells that obscure vision but I am not sure if all the spells should have complex and large VFX structures.
SPELLS/ABILITIES
Yeah, I think the sleep spell looks boring and the animation lock makes it a spell I am not sure if I would want to use it because it locks you in place for so so long which I think many games do to mages, they give them some spells and than Anker them in place but I don't get why, it makes sense for big dmg AOE spells but other than that I believe you should never lock a player in place for anything it just takes away from interactions and makes the fighting less fun, more stagnant and overall very annoying. Maybe it could be made so that there is a stat that allows you to move faster when casting or makes it so that at a certain point you are not locked in place anymore. I saw someone talk about a concentration stat, which could be utilized for this. This could also help with progressing in the class, as a beginner you still have to heavily focus on spells to cast them, but after some time you get so used to using it in battle that moving at regular speeds while casting is not impossible.
You could also tie in a proficiency with skills, that the more you use them the easier it is to cast them in certain situations or something like that.
Another thing is I am not sure if Blizard should be a hold skill if it does not cc (soft to hard cc like at first it does not slow, then a slightly slow, and if the enemy does not get out of its range it gets slower and slower until the enemy gets frozen) enemies, I think it also would be better if you cast it and it just stayed in that place where you casted it. I also would love to see some other group defensive spells like a a wall of ice that blocks a certain amount of damage in that direction or something like that.
I also love the spells: Arcane Eye, Blink (Can still be improved but I think that should be part of augments or the 2nd Class) and Arcane Volley looked interesting.
COMBOS
Next up is the combo system it is just boring, of course it is nice that you can deal a bit more damage by switching elements but what if you just want to use one element? You get nothing...
At least for now, I think we know of no upsides to specializing in just one element which makes it look like you either go with multiple elements or you are worse off, which is not what I think it should be.
On another note, I would have loved elemental interactions more if they also had overworld effects and spells/projectiles could collide, for example, there is the potential Magma Field spell, now someone casts Blizzard while in it, it would be cool if it would create steam, and I also think it would have been more interesting if you could combine different elements with spells, like how it works in Magicka 2. Combo and combinations of spells should be a complex science that every mage should explore.
Equipment
Equipment is something interesting because I think the game that did this best was Noita with its staff system, something like that would be cool to have for mages where they can engrave maybe runes or use certain materials to make equipment do different things.
CONCLUSIONS
I think my main point is versatility and mobility, using combos for creating more new and complex spells instead of just a status effect is what I think would be way cooler. Of course, it is not without its problems but I think there is a healthy middle ground that can be reached.
In the end, I will have to wait and see how the combat in AOC feels to say if I like the mage overall but just from the showcases it doesn't look right to me.