I'm a bit of a sucker for the classic temperate forest biome - so far The Riverlands are right up my alley. I liked the setting of the last dev showcase quite a lot. That being said, I'm also open to experiencing a home in other biomes. Here's somewhat of a tiered list (lower number being most interested in)
1. Temperate, deciduous forest w/ seasonal environment shifts
2. Largely coniferous mountain region w/ plentiful water sources & seasonal environment shifts (Grizzly Hills is my favorite WoW zone)
3. Subtropical / coastal / island forest
4. East-Asian inspired forested mountain region (I'm imagining Ziangjiajie in Hunan, China)
Least interesting to me, personally, are deserts and tundras. I really prefer zones that have visual changes throughout the seasons. If they don't, I'd like them to at least be colorful with a lot of biodiversity year-round.
very concerned with what appears to be Tulnar architecture on the concept art, we haven't even seen tulnar gear sets or models, which indicates those are still pending, if theres going to be unique tulnar architecture with all the assets that haven't even started to be made, the 2030 launch is a possibility...
fingers crossed that those get pushed for a post-launch expansion
as for my preferred biomes, I enjoy fantasy mixed with realism, the redwood forest that was teased is one of my favourites, magical forests as well
I've always been drawn to snowy enviroments, preferably a mountainous terrain, as I love the beauty of winter, I enbrace the cold and I love to view things from a birds-eye-view.
I also like to explore all types of enviroments, preferably enviroments that are differrent or sometimes bizar. I love to see the beauty of nature in all shapes and forms rather than human made structures. Don't get my wrong, some structures could be great and all, but I'm more into nature or a combination of human structures with nature (going to be Py'Rai obviously).
People only believe in the beautiful view behind the tunnel, if they walk into the light at the end of the tunnel to see it for themselves.
I would love to see some seaside bluffs as well as large tropical zones with a focus on aquatic life and the mountains that separate them from the valleys behind them.
Thick tropical forest with many ruins and indigenous cultures that have history and religion based on the ocean and its ability to provide life for those that live near it.
The cultures living in these areas are not inherently aggressive or evil but are stout of heart and guard their heritage with fierce loyalty to their communities and families. Exploring these ruinous territories will lead you to tall mountaintop vistas overlooking the ocean and beaches below, as well as the low point rivers that flow between the mountains which show the ages of erosion forming beautiful pools of healing and inward looking presence of mind. Waterfalls that provide wonder with secretes hidden behind, perhaps even cities hidden behind. Along the journey you will find cavernous zones filled with mystery and challenge, history and introspection.
These vistas that overlook the valley should give those who are there a sense of selflessness as they seek to understand that they are a small part of the world they live in, and that this humbling experience is a centerpiece to the indigenous population of the tropical valleys. A connection with science and nature have provided a strong foundation for these people to create an empire that rivals those of the inland countries. Where curiosity and nature meet you will see many new and interesting technologies that might look like magic, but what is magic if not elegant science manifested?
Work to explore this bountiful country, it will provide with ample adventure, perilous challenges and rewarding experiences. Work to gain the trust of those who navigate these lands. Their proud culture stirs you and fills you with a courageous warmth. They may slap you on the back hard while laughing as you fall from your horse trying to learn their cultural games, but you know that they mean well and have your best interest at heart.
If you choose to earn their ire, they will fight you with the same ferocity as the wilderness outside of their gates, and you might well have wished you never found them.
Keeping in mind elven races... Be it dark or light for different elves. Communities in the trees surrounded by vast lakes, rivers, mountainous with streams/waterfalls. Vibrancy can even fill dark environments. Dark doesn't mean evil & vice-versa.
Maybe hidden caves deep in the mountains for fugitives with bounties on their heads.
Side Note for All Nodes... People shouldn't have their weapons drawn just running around unless they are bounty hunting or defending themselves.
I'd like something like that picture you just posted, neon lights within the nature and Py'rai influenced. At all the node be influenced by Py'rai architecture with the features I stated before; neon lights, tall trees (Yes, huge fan of Avatar). Although I really liked the place from the last stream showing off the Freeholds. That autumn vibes was so beautiful!
I would love to spend all of my time in a wondrous and wild place that I don't get to even imagine visiting in real life, Dense Jungles, Forests with enormous trees, Vast Cave Systems, locales of Giant fungal fruiting bodies, places that produce lots of bioluminescence of any source either above or below ground, Magical mountains and highlands, Snow and Glaciers all over... To describe a few... Hmmm.... Waterfalls are nice too... Though honestly, the less civilization, the better, for me personally, just in general.
High Snowy Mountains with Caves and Forests to explore.
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ZekethephoenixMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Along with a coastal city with lots of harbour features, I really wanna see cliffside cities the likes of Minas Tirith from lotr. Winding paths to the peak of a city built into a mountain. Closest game I've seen get it almost right was in GW2. Also in Darkfall online there were really interesting designs for guild owned villages. One I remember was my guild chose to build up a quarry area into essentially a bandit base.
-Gloomy and dark area full of mud where it rains 24/7 with occasional thunder
-Swamps and bogs
-Sulphur fields
-Salt plains
-Alkaline lakes that petrify living things, like Lake Natron in Tanzania
-Bamboo forest
-Poppy fields or mixed flower area
-Birch forest
-Red maple tree forest
-Gorges
-Fast rivers (for kayaking)
-Big waterfalls
-Sequoia, baobab or dragon blood tree forest
-A plain area with blustering winds and trees like the ones in Slope Point in New Zealand.
-Canyon area
-Basalt columns area like the ones at the shores of Iceland.
you got a lot of dream scenarios... if you were to pick one of these, which would it be?
The entirety of my Tulnar existence was spent among these pools and falls. Until recently I had no need or desire to leave them!
A few years ago strange noises, banging, and clanking drew a few of our people into the sunlight. In the land above we discovered thousands of new beings invading our perfect world. They began polluting Verra’s raw beauty in an attempt to build what they call “castles, mertopolissss’s, and cities”. They are nothing more than a scourge on the soil.
I’ll do all that I can to cleanse my perfect world of these colonizers! If that means taking up arms with those who wish to collapse their trade routes, and sunder their shipments… so be it! They may be [Suspect] but the enemy of my enemy iss my friend!
I look forward to the day when I can slither back into my pools and rest my weary scales again! Until then….TO WAR!
[clearly this character doesn’t fully understand the meaning of mercenaries, a lesson I’m sure she’ll learn along the way!]
To be honest I’ll most likely spend most of my time in a node that my guild hangs around because I like spending time with friends even if I don’t personally like it. So the most desirable node would be the one where all my friends are.
But if I could make it any type of biome, I always like cottage-core or mushroom styled areas. The windmill from the last node stream made me so happy.
For the open world I love fantasy mushroom vibes. I know I’ve been very mushroom oriented the past two years or so whenever a post like this comes up, but hey, I love my aesthetic.
But I’d be happy with anything with a mix between semi-open fields and some forest bits. I don’t like feeling too exposed, but when it’s pure jungle I feel suffocated.
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TawniMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Thick forests!
Generally the only forest you see in games is very sparse, which is a real shame.
I would say a wide valley is ideal. A good one can be surrounded by a variety of beautiful landscapes and adventuring opportunities. Rivers and creeks, rolling green foothills, dark forests, snowy mountains, deep caves, perilous cliffs.
-A lake that will spawn a merchant island, it will rise from the bottom of the lake when the red moon will rise and the merchant island will give you a good loot and enemies will await you there.
I would like a node that is strategically placed...like in a mountainous area , say like a cliffs edge as one of its boundaries, limiting the direction from which a node can be attacked from..
I really like the idea of node prestige, that when you're a citizen of a certain node, other people will know a little more about you.
There could be a node that is hard to maintain, tough monsters around and scarce resources, in a desolate area, but harbors a natural anomaly (like insane heat or something magical). This thing has a unique benefit to the node but comes at the cost of being very expensive in maintainance (benefits can go away or weaken etc).
Going back to the prestige, this obviously creates prestige for anyone being a citizen of that node. Like holy shit they must go hard to endure that.
For a tropical node you could think of similar effects. Like higher degrading speed (needing more resources) from weather effects, but for example the food, herbs and poisons from that node become more potent.
Or a node is in constant battle with trolls or the sea, or dragons or earthquakes. But all gain a particular boon from that extra work compared to other nodes.
100% an underrealm node for me in first place. Just for the visuals.
Jungle or forest node as a second choice, and mountain node for third. Lava biome node is probably cool at first, but I think it'll grow boring for me quickly, unless Intrepid makes it really varied and cool.
Strategically speaking, anything is fine for me. I doubt Intrepid is going to make any node really inaccessible, so the best strategic place for a node is the one where the neighbours like you and want to help defend. When it comes to node sieges and wars, allies are going to be most important, not the location.
Personally, my dream node would be a Py'rai themed musical forest, a node where music can be heard resonating from the top of the mountainous citadel tree fortress towering above all else, down to the smallest valley filled with ferns, the more fauna an area has, the more music can be heard.
An example of this would be a the central node itself being filled with Py'rai musicians playing in the streets, the music playing depending on the type of building you're next to. You could have the blacksmith playing a meaty drum filled chorus while the market would be filled with a variety of instruments to reflect it's busy atmosphere, the taverns playing fun chipper flute filled music.
The music would then be reflected throughout the area depending on the fauna itself, a dense forest would be filled with upbeat inspiring music that would give the feeling of excitement and adventure while an area with less vegetation would only play soft cords. Think of each layer of fauna being another layer of musical instrument. Tie the chords or bass line of the area's music to reflect the amount of forestation in the area, if you were to stand in a clearing with no vegetation it could just be a simple flute melody playing gently in the air.
This could also be tied to a world boss for the node that could change the music that the trees in the area are playing to their "boss music" as they traverse the area. Players could follow the music in the forest to track down the world boss which could be a more musically themed Bard Beast style of fight.
This of course would require the Py'rai to be THE musical race in Ashes of Creation which seems like a bit of a fun idea and a nice way to make them stand out on their own from the other races aside from just antlers.
This would be a dream node for me, something that sounds awe inspiring and unlike anything I've ever seen in an MMO of any kind.
Something I havent seen yet in an open 3d world is a city inside some kind of cave or cliff.
I't s actually quite weird you don't see it that often, if at all, in video games as there're plenty of societies all around the world that have build cities inside rock formations or underground. I don't think this is the game that would have cities carved inside cliffs as their buildings are assets, but I'm sure they could make something work similar considering the undergrounds will have nodes as well. Can't wait to see some of those cities though
People only believe in the beautiful view behind the tunnel, if they walk into the light at the end of the tunnel to see it for themselves.
I would love to spend my time in a dense forest, where the very buildings are weaved in a mish-mash all over the place organic type place. Thinking of elven type cities like Lothlorien from Lord of the Rings.
Comments
The node would have a single entry, these could be:
-An interconnection portal
-A giant tree, the entrance would be in its trunk and the roots would form the node.
-A giant waterfall
The concept of the node would be surrounded by the style of the dark elves.
1. Temperate, deciduous forest w/ seasonal environment shifts
2. Largely coniferous mountain region w/ plentiful water sources & seasonal environment shifts (Grizzly Hills is my favorite WoW zone)
3. Subtropical / coastal / island forest
4. East-Asian inspired forested mountain region (I'm imagining Ziangjiajie in Hunan, China)
Least interesting to me, personally, are deserts and tundras. I really prefer zones that have visual changes throughout the seasons. If they don't, I'd like them to at least be colorful with a lot of biodiversity year-round.
fingers crossed that those get pushed for a post-launch expansion
as for my preferred biomes, I enjoy fantasy mixed with realism, the redwood forest that was teased is one of my favourites, magical forests as well
I also like to explore all types of enviroments, preferably enviroments that are differrent or sometimes bizar. I love to see the beauty of nature in all shapes and forms rather than human made structures. Don't get my wrong, some structures could be great and all, but I'm more into nature or a combination of human structures with nature (going to be Py'Rai obviously).
Thick tropical forest with many ruins and indigenous cultures that have history and religion based on the ocean and its ability to provide life for those that live near it.
The cultures living in these areas are not inherently aggressive or evil but are stout of heart and guard their heritage with fierce loyalty to their communities and families. Exploring these ruinous territories will lead you to tall mountaintop vistas overlooking the ocean and beaches below, as well as the low point rivers that flow between the mountains which show the ages of erosion forming beautiful pools of healing and inward looking presence of mind. Waterfalls that provide wonder with secretes hidden behind, perhaps even cities hidden behind. Along the journey you will find cavernous zones filled with mystery and challenge, history and introspection.
These vistas that overlook the valley should give those who are there a sense of selflessness as they seek to understand that they are a small part of the world they live in, and that this humbling experience is a centerpiece to the indigenous population of the tropical valleys. A connection with science and nature have provided a strong foundation for these people to create an empire that rivals those of the inland countries. Where curiosity and nature meet you will see many new and interesting technologies that might look like magic, but what is magic if not elegant science manifested?
Work to explore this bountiful country, it will provide with ample adventure, perilous challenges and rewarding experiences. Work to gain the trust of those who navigate these lands. Their proud culture stirs you and fills you with a courageous warmth. They may slap you on the back hard while laughing as you fall from your horse trying to learn their cultural games, but you know that they mean well and have your best interest at heart.
If you choose to earn their ire, they will fight you with the same ferocity as the wilderness outside of their gates, and you might well have wished you never found them.
Maybe hidden caves deep in the mountains for fugitives with bounties on their heads.
Side Note for All Nodes... People shouldn't have their weapons drawn just running around unless they are bounty hunting or defending themselves.
Also, mountain nodes like sky resorts, only with gliding (if it is allowed in the final game) base jumping.
Along with Yenn0war's idea. A metropolis that is also a harbor will need to have statues like the Colossus of Rhodes.
you got a lot of dream scenarios... if you were to pick one of these, which would it be?
A few years ago strange noises, banging, and clanking drew a few of our people into the sunlight. In the land above we discovered thousands of new beings invading our perfect world. They began polluting Verra’s raw beauty in an attempt to build what they call “castles, mertopolissss’s, and cities”. They are nothing more than a scourge on the soil.
I’ll do all that I can to cleanse my perfect world of these colonizers! If that means taking up arms with those who wish to collapse their trade routes, and sunder their shipments… so be it! They may be [Suspect] but the enemy of my enemy iss my friend!
I look forward to the day when I can slither back into my pools and rest my weary scales again! Until then….TO WAR!
[clearly this character doesn’t fully understand the meaning of mercenaries, a lesson I’m sure she’ll learn along the way!]
But if I could make it any type of biome, I always like cottage-core or mushroom styled areas. The windmill from the last node stream made me so happy.
For the open world I love fantasy mushroom vibes. I know I’ve been very mushroom oriented the past two years or so whenever a post like this comes up, but hey, I love my aesthetic.
But I’d be happy with anything with a mix between semi-open fields and some forest bits. I don’t like feeling too exposed, but when it’s pure jungle I feel suffocated.
Generally the only forest you see in games is very sparse, which is a real shame.
-A lake that will spawn a merchant island, it will rise from the bottom of the lake when the red moon will rise and the merchant island will give you a good loot and enemies will await you there.
There could be a node that is hard to maintain, tough monsters around and scarce resources, in a desolate area, but harbors a natural anomaly (like insane heat or something magical). This thing has a unique benefit to the node but comes at the cost of being very expensive in maintainance (benefits can go away or weaken etc).
Going back to the prestige, this obviously creates prestige for anyone being a citizen of that node. Like holy shit they must go hard to endure that.
For a tropical node you could think of similar effects. Like higher degrading speed (needing more resources) from weather effects, but for example the food, herbs and poisons from that node become more potent.
Or a node is in constant battle with trolls or the sea, or dragons or earthquakes. But all gain a particular boon from that extra work compared to other nodes.
Endless possibilities for nodes when combined with different landscapes.
Something I havent seen yet in an open 3d world is a city inside some kind of cave or cliff.
Jungle or forest node as a second choice, and mountain node for third. Lava biome node is probably cool at first, but I think it'll grow boring for me quickly, unless Intrepid makes it really varied and cool.
Strategically speaking, anything is fine for me. I doubt Intrepid is going to make any node really inaccessible, so the best strategic place for a node is the one where the neighbours like you and want to help defend. When it comes to node sieges and wars, allies are going to be most important, not the location.
An example of this would be a the central node itself being filled with Py'rai musicians playing in the streets, the music playing depending on the type of building you're next to. You could have the blacksmith playing a meaty drum filled chorus while the market would be filled with a variety of instruments to reflect it's busy atmosphere, the taverns playing fun chipper flute filled music.
The music would then be reflected throughout the area depending on the fauna itself, a dense forest would be filled with upbeat inspiring music that would give the feeling of excitement and adventure while an area with less vegetation would only play soft cords. Think of each layer of fauna being another layer of musical instrument. Tie the chords or bass line of the area's music to reflect the amount of forestation in the area, if you were to stand in a clearing with no vegetation it could just be a simple flute melody playing gently in the air.
This could also be tied to a world boss for the node that could change the music that the trees in the area are playing to their "boss music" as they traverse the area. Players could follow the music in the forest to track down the world boss which could be a more musically themed Bard Beast style of fight.
This of course would require the Py'rai to be THE musical race in Ashes of Creation which seems like a bit of a fun idea and a nice way to make them stand out on their own from the other races aside from just antlers.
This would be a dream node for me, something that sounds awe inspiring and unlike anything I've ever seen in an MMO of any kind.