Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
I don't know. That's how I feel now.
After alpha 2 I might have a different attitude.
PVP for PVP sake is only keeps people entertained for a certian amount of time. Resource locks or content that is being blocked, Revenge or betrayal, rivalries, new dungeons, faster travel, changing controlling guild, best crafting: Those are all reasons to fight. The game is going in a direction that always has conflicting choices and those conflicts will create the story.
I'm not finding this number, anywhere. The wiki states that each Metropolis will gain a ZOI up to a max of 1/5 of the world. 85 / 5 = 17, and Castle-Nodes will work in a different way.
Guild wars interest me in the way they'll be managed. SS had elaborated on some of the potential goals of guild wars, but I don't see these driving ZOI versus ZOI conflicts.
Taking down a node to steal their relics in the reliquary is hopefully also a common theme, due to the big advantages they should give. Like access to high end gear materials like dragon scales and such.
Never underestimate how much being bored can crank up people's creativity for doing stupid dangerous things.
I was off by 2 it is only 13 https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Metropolis
Yes, I believe they somewhat recently simplified this down in specific ways.
(for those who are looking, there's no specific number 13 on the page, you're looking for an image with a Node Tree)
If relics bring big advantages, why would the node lose the fight?
Not unlikely the Side which i like more / like more to have as my Ally.
Who would probably fly better with my own Character ? Who has probably more the Mindset of what our Nodes should be like ? More the Mindset i agree with ? From Design, due to which's "Races" Infrastructure should be dominant in the City,
( i already smile and grin about People who will shriek Racism in this Game, hahahahah. )
And of Course, which Side is more profitable as an Ally for the possible Guild i should be inside in.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Cause currently - if the server was to min/max we would have each type, economy, religion, etc.
But if there was 6 node types but only 5 can be in the world - then we have a reason for another node to fight their parent to build this other type of node.
I'm glad you pointed this out, because:
1) I believe your math is correct, about "vassaled" Nodes and
2) I don't think a lot of us caught on to the aspect that there seems to be a discrepancy between the kingdom/nation that they will constitute, and the present material on Zones of Influence.
If a vassal-kingdom can only be 13 Nodes, that would infer that the Zones of Influence could still be as big as 17 - if they can, in fact, encompass 1/5 of the world. However, this would have to mean that some Nodes in that collection of 17 are NOT vassaled.
Very interesting. Will make this the topic of my next Q&A question.
There are only 4 types at the moment, thus, 2 more would be needed. Thanks for making me wrack my mind for several hours about 5 node types before I could check the wiki 😆
pirate node please :P could have something to do with increase rewards from plunder goods from other players or reduced corruption from kills from people who are not citizen of the node as the node benefits. Military has the anti pk things with the bounty hunter system so it makes sense to have one that a little more PK relevant to counter act that.
Also having a pirate (or bandit allows for non coastal nodes there) nearby would also promote conflict in regions where PvE nodes may push to destroy the pirate metro to reduce the PKing they have in there area which is an interesting dynamic.
Like lets say one continents is super populated so 4 metro appear ont he west continent and only 1 on the east, whats gonna happen there the ZOI probaly isnt gonna cross the ocean to the other major continent so the 4 on the west continent will be competing to suck up the vassel nodes not probaly run out of nodes they can vassalise before hitting the cap. the east continetn will suck up the nodes around it till it hit the cap leaving alot of unvasslised ones around there aswell that cant be claimed till a metro gets destroyed
Could adding a bonus to have 2 of the same node in the world so lets say 2 military node provide x bonus to citizen of those nodes or 2 religion nodes provides a bonus to those citizens cause then the other other 3 nodes that dont have a double would have reason to destroy the node type that have 2 so then maybe one of the replacement nodes might be their type so they now get the bonus instead.
Also agreed totally. I can see some 'mining outposts' or 'fishing villages' becoming 'ghost towns' after a bit. At that point it's closer to 'demolition', though.
Another thought I have is that the 'intended part' does not guarantee that players will like it.
Will we test node dynamic in alpha?
Will alpha 2 play style be relevant and reflect what players at release want?
The intent is that Alpha-2 will eventually be feature-complete so we'll be able to test everything together. So, we'll be testing everything to do with nodes along the way.
Also, just because there is one Economic Metro, that does not mean it's being progressed/governed in a manner desirable to the other Metros.
When will the game release if we actually have 60-day lockouts for Node Sieges?
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
Why does every convo degrade to a Zerg mentaliaty? Interpid is doing an amazing job of making people choose. Skill trees, lifeskills, location...etc. One groups view of the server is just that. Steven has said that he expects there to be fracturing of larger coherent groups into smaller groups that fight each other over choices. They are trying to design a system that has no correct best way. One way might be better for taxes but another has more services. One might have high level dungeons, the other has high level crafting. Everything will not be able to be max or best so people will disagree on which it should be. The game will not be static. And behind is really a relative term. Eve is a time based "leveling" system. If you didnt start in 2006 or whenever it came out, you are behind. Might as well never play it, except as the skills get more specalized, the time it takes to research them goes way up. Maybe it gives 1% more damage on a gun, but takes a month to train or 3 months to train. Its not a game changer. Sure you are better than everyone else, but if you get caught in a bad place you still die to someone who is "behind"
The node system is designed for conflict because you cant have everything. Servers will be static for a little while, but they will change. Fail a node seige, 60 days of keeping it until the next group takes a shot, or the same group recruits buddies. Resources and dungeons and crafting and freehold for processing and location in the world and seasons and years and story arcs and...and....and... will all drive the guild landscape to change, the node landscape to change, the direction of the crafting loop to change, as well as everything else.
The only constant in this game will be that there is no constant and that you have to make hay when the sun is shining.
As a solo player i cannot wait to sit on the sidelines with a bag of popcorn watching the drama unfold haha
The Nodes-system is to be the aspect of the game that will be put out there as the driving unique element of the game, to attract players to a next-gen MMORPG. Some might not like it, but it will be known well-ahead of playing that the game will feature Nodes that will both rise and fall; it won't come as an unpleasant surprise, to anyone who picks up the game.
The Node system did see some crude/elementary testing the Alpha One, and is intended for extensive testing/balancing in the Alpha Two.
The game itself will NOT reflect what players want at release, and nor is it intended to; This is a true Alpha, not just a chance to experience the game, pre-launch. Most of us have probably seen alphas/betas before wherein the game-dev company is really just letting you test a product they've already finished and won't be putting any more work, into; Instead, we'll be pioneering interfaces, probing at to-be systems and providing feedback for improvements, and bug-testing the hell out of the game environment.
Don't know. The primary purpose of the Alpha One was to test the durability and capacities of the server-hardware - and by IS's accounts, it passed with flying colors.
A good summarization - am just wondering how that will play out with ZOI borders.
If a ZOI can grow to 17 Nodes, and only 13 can be vassaled, will the borders still change based only on the destruction of Nodes? And if not, how will those borders/territories change, if a ZOI *already* has 20% of the world's mass?
Castles may cause node wars too because you can end up paying taxes to guilds which are not citizens of your metropolis nation. And those guilds may end up using the taxes for themselves rather than providing buffs to the region
- Castle regions, Economic regions, and Node ZOI (Zones of Influence) can overlap.[3][4]
- Node ZOIs are fluid and change their area based on the progression of the node and its neighbors.[16]
- Castle region boundaries are static.[3]
- A castle's region is 1/5th the game world.[2]
- Nodes are the glue that hold castle and economic regions together in potential synergy or chaos.[18]
- Guild castles impose a tax on all revenue for the nodes within its region.[6][7]
- The monarch sets the tax rate, and can use those proceeds to upgrade defenses, maintain the castle's direct nodes, or provide buffs and benefits to the citizens of that region.[8]
- The remainder of tax income can be used by the guild for whatever they want.[6][13]
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Castle_regions
It may end up being Steven's surprise if he gets fewer players than he expects. Players can also play for 6-9 months only, after release.