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
2nd - I understand that some things are unknown to me and my concerns may be invalid.
Disclaimer: all the following will be said with no sarcasm (to dismiss any confusion in these trollish times).
Makes you to disengage from immersion:
--- You don't keep an eye on settlers (by looking at them and counting), you just look at the text. Text REALLY helps, but you're not looking at the world (settlers in this case) at all then. It also introduces the beautiful human factor where you may count a guard as a settler and think that the stakes are lower than they truly are.
--- Kill counter - absolutely destroys expectations. Imagine bandits rushing you. You have killed some and now you're killing 3 bandits when the counter is showing 17/20 versus no counter. In the 17/20 case - you will be chillaxing knowing these are last bandits. In the case with no counter, you will be fully immersed guessing when will the hordes of bandits be over...!! That's great, keeps you on the edge of your seat!!
--- Have the counter, but make it hidden. It may also be dynamic - one time it's 20, the other it's 18, at night - 30...It's in the name - DYNAMIC event. How is current situation different from an auto-start quest that says: have at least 1 settler alive...kill 20 highwaymen...
--- Remove the progress bar or remove the "Prepare..." notification at all. Just a subtle hint that traps are there, will let us know that something's fishy. Don't literaly write "There's another phase comming up in 60 seconds...".
--- a random settler tries to run and hide behind a tree, while the tree had a beehive and started stinging him and he then just goes into a more random running around.
--- random shouting between settlers/guards...like:
Guard: "Stay behind the caravan!"
Settler1: "Look at those weak adventurers, they will be slaughtered! Help them!"
Guard2: "I will help them and join the fray!" (a silent drum begins to play from one of the settlers in the theme of "Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz")
Settler2: "I'm running back to the town!" Starts running away, but pulls a spider on himself or gets targeted by a bandit archer.
The reasons it needs more chaos is - it removes repetition. When a player is leveling up his 7th character, if the event is exactly the same - all fun from discovering the event and how it unfolds will be sucked out by then. So these random chaotic details will definitely freshen up the experience.
--- "Hey adventurer, you should have been hiding together with us"
--- "Ohh dear! A starting adventurer on these dangerous roads. Consider coming help me at the farm instead."
Forget about the eco-management offensive. People, PEOPLE! Hear hear!
This is how you'll conduct war in PvE. Venture into your enemy's node ZoI, trigger these events and, then, join the side that will bring ruin and calamity to their cities.
Kill the defenders, of course. While there cut all their trees, sure. But, if you want to bring misery to their nodes, make sure the world itself is against them. Be the masterminds orchestrating all these seemingly small unrelated events to bring their destruction.
Time your siege declaration accordingly,
So, hum, yeah. I think these events will be way more important than people realize. People were all pumped up about warring other nodes through ruining the land management system... Imagine when they see how these events can serve their cause.
Generally, I'm happy to see dynamic events occurring in the open world that have some tie to player activity. That being said, this isn't really a new idea. GW2 introduced smoothly implemented and immersive dynamic events into the MMO space over a decade ago. With that, I can't really give the team any points for novelty or overlook any potential downsides like I can with a new system like AoC's nodes, and to be frank, what was showcased was pretty dull compared to most of the experiences I've had with dynamic events in GW2 - even the lower level ones. And yes, I realize GW2 is a finished game and this isn't, but I'm talking base level creativity and mechanic design here. This didn't really feel all that creative from a design perspective.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
In order for the world to feel like a living, breathing place, dynamic events will have to be quite numerous and varied. This is the system that gives GW2 the life that it has. Do I like everything about Arena Net's event designs? No, but that can be improved upon, and having them in AoC makes me excited to feel more connected to the world through time-sensitive encounters. These are opportunities for Intrepid to showcase the intelligence of the characters in their world - make your enemies strategic and your NPCs believable. Make it all feel more real than old world versions of questing. Have enemies split off into groups with different priorities, give them strategic positioning if they're smart enough for it, make your NPCs cry out for help when they're getting attacked, or give the braver ones an improvised weapon to fight back with. Have them help put out fires, throw rocks, do things that actual people would do, and not all the same things at the same time. Events are the opportunity for you to show that this is a living, breathing world with characters that feel real, that's what I'm excited to see.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
I'll just go "scene-by-scene" here.
If a bunch of land mines were set off by the caravan to kickstart the event, then there should be some explosion sound effects generated from the crash site that signals the start of the event to anyone within alert range.
There should be some voice acting or at least a chat bubble over someone's head at the crash site informing anyone who gets within fifty feet of the caravan that they've just been attacked by bandits and believe more are on their way. A generalized call for help that can be issued to any new comer at any point in the event could be made as well. Having the UI checklist be the first and only point of information regarding what's happening feels too data-focused.
The event, although split into waves, felt fairly shallow because it was all concentrated in this one area and the enemies strategies weren't designed very intelligently. The lengthy wait time between waves, the reactivation of land mines, and the huddled clump of enemies pouring in from one direction leading into a big AOE fest didn't excite me a whole lot.
Cut the wait time in half and get rid of the land mine reactivation concept as it makes no sense. Why would someone design a land mine with enough reagents to be reactivated? Why are they spawned above ground? How does the whole thing not explode? Does it just open a cap, shoot some ignited fluid, and then shut again? What if the intended user can't recover them? Wasted materials. If you want to do something like that, have a few of the bandits from the first wave drop some unused grenade-type bombs that players can pick up which gives them a temporary skill button on their UI to toss at the upcoming waves of enemies.
During that wait time, have the next wave of enemies recognize the power and skill of these adventurers and launch a coordinated assault on the caravan with enemies approaching from multiple directions to surround the players. Maybe a small group are prioritizing the settlers and another group are prioritizing the caravan, while the largest group are focused on attacking the adventurers. Add some ranged enemies in multiple locations along the outskirts. If you're forcing people to perform an event in one area instead of moving them around the world as the tiers of the event shift, at least give them reason to move around and play strategically within that area.
I really hate to be so critical, perhaps this event design was rushed a bit, but if this is what Steven thinks is "super exciting", it makes me super concerned. It doesn't matter if this is supposed to be a simpler, bite-sized event, this didn't look like a great time to me, and it didn't look like it had the level of creativity or effort put into it that anything in your world should. No, it doesn't need a dragon or a cyclops, but it needs to be crafted with care and imagination. This didn't hit that mark for me.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
I really hope to see a lot of events that have fail-state or success-state progression. For example, if the bandits are successfully fended off from the caravan, players are tasked with putting out the fire, healing NPCs, disarming landmines on the road ahead of them, and getting the caravan back on the road. This would then start a caravan defense event which leads to a nearby city where multiple bandit waves must be fended off along the way.
If players reach the city, the caravan informs the guard that the nearby bandit encampment has started making larger targets and threatening the flow of trade goods, and the guard captain says enough is enough - rally your comrades, we're going to hit them where it hurts. For a few minutes, the guards disperse throughout the city with public cries for aid, telling players to gather at the city gates before making their way back there themselves. After their pathing ends, a dozen or so guards and all the players march out towards the bandit encampment to begin a raid and flush them out.
This would be a multi-stage raid where players are ambushed as they get towards the outskirts of the encampment, must then defend a battering ram until the door is broken down, and then must strategically clear out the courtyard and multiple levels of increasingly difficult bandits before making it to the top floor and taking out the council of leaders who use a mix of combat types.
If this is successful, players get to take some of their stolen goods, the nearby node gets a boon from having resources returned to it, and perhaps there's the rare chance of having some treasure maps drop to lead players to extra caches of stolen loot. Perhaps the cleared out encampment is even converted into an outpost for the nearby node, opening up new quests, vendors, and events.
Once the event cooldown timer is up, a huge bandit raid starts on the fort, and if enough players aren't there to defend the fort (this should be very difficult and kind of come out of nowhere) then the fort is converted back into a heavily guarded thief hideout, and the cycle begins again.
These are the systems that make you feel like your actions have consequences.
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
My main gripe with GW2's event system is that unless a certain area is a deadzone with no players to fight back against enemies, dynamic events very rarely progress negatively. They're all very straightforward, and nigh impossible to fail with a handful of players. So unless people intentionally stand back / fail them, the negative progression is never seen or experienced. If fail-state event progressions are in the game, then they need to really put up a good fight. If they aren't, then there should be some sort of progression when players succeed at a base level event. One-off events are okay, but they become several times better when they also act as bite-sized ways of influencing the world around you through multi-stage encounters that move you through the world, like the sequence I just described above.
The system in itself is promising, but i do not think (and hope) that the showcase was up to par with the ambition of the system and the game. It was a classic event, as we seen a lot in modern MMO. The novelty of the system was not shown in the showcase (Failing an Event or Winning an Event proc another set of event with lot of random predicates.)
So the internal mechanics of the event system is pretty cool but not really shown in the showcase. The event showcased was really "classic"
Maybe it was too soon to really introduce it. It was nice, but i was not impressed by this particular showcase.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
- Unpredictability
- Linking to Quest or Story Arc
- Visual and Sound cues
- Analysing player actions and the world react to
- Scaled rewards
- Puzzle, Investigations, Lore, Surprises ?
- Potential of the system
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
I would want to see maybe other type of events than fighting.
I am concerned about the possible lack of variety and redundancy of certain events.
I'm worried that outside of the internal workings of the system the events don't offer anything more or new than other MMORPGs.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
- Puzzles
- Jump Puzzles / Mazes
- Investigations
- Fun things
- Traps
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
I think the more iconic was the Destruction of Eorzea in FF XIV before the server closed and was followed by a realm reborn. That had quite the impact not only on the game, but on the industry. It was a Defining moment.
The plague in WoW was Crazy too.
The destruction of Lion's Arch in GW2
GM Spontaneous events in the main city in Ragnarok Online
The End of Dragons big Event in Guild Wars 2 is pretty epic.
The Four Wind Festival too in GW2 is pretty cool
It is hard to judge without playing it but it looks like it could be the end of boring quests. To me its seems a little bit like Guild wars 2 event systhem 2.0 wich is a good thing.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
I like that the quests are dynamic and adapt to the world around them wich will hopefully make them immersive. I think this systhem in general will help alot with immersing into the world of vera. Its gonna be interesting to see how the event systhem interacts with the node systhem and the story ark systhem. For examle if you build different buildings in nodes how will it effect the events or how will story ark descicions interact with the event systhem.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
For pvp events it would be funny if brawls could break out in pvp nodes where a 5 min free for all battle starts (not a battle to death maybe) and everybody that takes part gets some honour and the last man standing gets some special bonus.
How do you feel about the Event System Update so far?
The event itself was ok. It felt fairly typical of world events that have been around in other games. The fun stuff is understanding how events work and how they inform the great world. I like how there will be many types as well including some that are not combat in nature.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
As I mentioned above I am most exciting about how my play and my friends play can influence the world around us.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
That seemed like a fairly basic wave system. I hope there is a wide breadth of ways we will interact with this system, not just 2 or 3 combat scenarios. If there are few types of activities in place and these truly are occurring all of the time all over, it has the potential to get repetitive and boring very fast.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
I would like to see events tied into the artisanship fields as well including harvest, crafting and processing. Not just for example harvesting too many trees leads to an event but the event itself involves artisanship activities to complete.
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Warhammer Online had by far the best event system I have played in. It was dynamic and changed with player as they joined. The rewards were also fair. I highly dislike WoW world events as they are basically repacked dailies.
Double edged sword though.. spend too much time trying to inhibit another nodes growth, means not enough time building own
I thought the event was well done, like that it can link with other quests and the world itself.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
I like that the event will scale in difficulty depending on other factors that will keep it fresh. It was interesting to see the different types of enemies that were present.
Only concerns I have is that there aren't many different types of encounters and they become a bit samey and predictable. I'd like different enemy types doing different attacks to keep it feeling new.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
I think a big open sea event where a sea monster is causing havoc or downed a ship transporting cargo and you have to kill it to get a chance at the treasure or something.
I hope the respawn rate for events is closer to weeks and months vs days and hours. I do not want to see events being something you are expected to farm every day. I have seen in other games where while you are in a zone an event loops several times in the span of a few hours and it takes you out of the world.
Also I do not think the game should be giving players information that they could not possibly know. Like telling players a boss is coming. They should have to scout that information out themselves or be told by an NPC in some way.
My own questions are:
Will it be fun?
Will it be too easily manipulated?
Will it be rewarding?
Will I want to do it again?
Will there be variety in the experience?
Talked concepts, but would need to see or experience the details.
How would a lower level player survive a high difficulty event and how would they effect the difficulty.
Also I'm not sure if I missed information but how will content be shared by players with a big level gap?
I guess my only concern is that it might be difficult to implement events designed for more than ~10 players. Really big events are awesome, but they often require 30+ player to even have a chance at success. Knowing the world will be huge, fast-travel is incredibly limited, and events will happen at arbitrary times, I'm worried that larger events won't be able to draw in enough players to complete them. Hopefully that's easy enough to solve though, just by advertising large events ahead of time (30 minutes at least) and to a large enough area.
Also, I'm not a huge fan of events that have a ton of very similar waves. Long events are fine. And multiple waves that require different approaches/strategy/gameplay are fine. But killing wave after wave of the same monsters can get boring pretty fast (like, by the third or fourth wave I'm already checked out).
Solid stream, hard to give proper feedback without actually testing, but seem like it delivered what we were expecting, a dynamic event system similar to GW2, but with major implications with the atrophy events if players ignore them, this is actually an awesome idea,
hope this is node-based so they can make people want to constantly do these events to protect their own node ZOI - and fight agaist other players in their ZOI to try and stop them from doing it to weaken their node! - keeping in mind that consequences for failing events need to be a threat big enough to make people want to act
Something we are very, very excited about are the PvP events, that will flag people against each other, this is an amazing idea! and seems like it isn't hard to code, hope it's available at the start of A2 so theres a good initial representation of both PVE and PVP (and please have duels with no penalties available as well for practicing and content creation)
We hope to see a wide variety of events like we have in GW2, and hope these are widely reused to populate the whole map, the more the better! We also loved how events will help introduce local narrative quests, this was a 10/10 idea.
Having rare epic events reusing dungeon/raid/world bosses would also be great! and something Important to point out is:
This is a good example where RNG is good! We don't want timed/static events that people will be able to rotate and spam, make these events as much RNG as possible so they are unpredictable, and give us decent, but not a "meta" reward so it doesn't become the best way of leveling/farming, balancing is key
Overall we are happy with the direction, hoping we get to testing as soon as possible so you can get actual player behaviour and proper feedback on these systems
-First I'd like to say that I really like these kinds of event systems. I think it brings players together in in a way that makes the game feel more alive. Its really cool when strangers all gather to complete content in a somewhat random fashion. So far its very early, but I can see mostly where it is going. It appears to be a system I will enjoy participating in.
-I hope that the events are very diverse, challenging, interesting and rewarding.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
-Exploring the content, interacting with others to achieve a goal, overcoming challenging content, reaping the rewards, seeing how these may dynamically change the world around me, distract me and keep me engaged.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
-I'm excited about the depth that this system will bring to the game.
-Playing it!!!!!
-It's a bit early, but a concern I would have is making sure that the content is rewarding. Often these events are very trivial and don't provide the rewards I think they should have in the design. Make unlocking mounts, pets, toys, furniture, cosmetics, gear, gold, achievements, titles, recipe's, rare mats, and all of the things part of the system. Usually its, here is some gear you can't use, xp, gold, some mats and a title. Make them far more difficult but rewarding.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
-Solo, party and even raid scale events
-Night and day events that only come during these times
-Events that change the environment/weather
-Multiple stages of mobs/mini bosses and a main boss at the end (make some of them longer and hard to beat)
-Puzzles
-Ones that you have to defend or attack a node (PVP or PVE)
-World bosses
-Exploration
-Hunting/Bounties (PVE/PVP)
-Life skill (gathering, processing, crafting)
-Races (mounted or not)
-Quests
-Seasonal
-Treasure hunts
-Events that maybe combine some of these in a chain, or chain other events together depending on ones outcome
This list could get long, I'll leave it there
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
-I really liked the raid events that Rift provided when a tear opened up in the world. You had to defend the world from elemental creatures and bosses coming through. You had waves of mobs and in every 10 stages you had a mini boss, then a big boss at the end. They incorporated some fun mechanics in some of the stages that wasn't just killing mobs also. They had like 100+ stages on some of these and I don't think AoC needs to do this necessarily but having many stages and working up to a great reward was fun. I also loved how an entire zone would be under attack and you had to defend. Patrols would pour out of the rifts and attack towns all over the place. NPC's could actually die and affect your ability quest or interact with vendors etc, unless you helped eliminate the threat.
-GW2 had fun events that really felt like it brought players together. It seemed like there was a lot of these though, so in a certain way they became routine. If AoC made them a bit more special and also a bit less copy and paste maybe it would prevent this routine feeling and make them more fun.
-I think events need to have some really good rewards to make them worth doing.
Overall I think the event system was as expected, and as such I feel fairly neutral about it.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
I'm most excited about seeing the complexity of the failure/success decision tree that comes from a complex event system.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
As someone that is completely new to the MMORPG genre, I am excited about the partying after an event system, as I do not have a core group I will be playing with yet, having an in game system that helps me make those connections and find friends to play with is great.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
I hope to see events triggered by an individual (or very small groups) action on rare occasion, however be next to impossible for a small group to even complete. It would require that individual to run from the nearby event to go to a nearby town to try to recruit players to join them in defeating it.
compare:
Again, massive fan of GW2 world events. Their small-scale, local events happened pretty often, as you were passing by, and always rewarded participants of all levels for contributing. It was great seeing high-level characters helping newer players complete objectives. And not all objectives for combat-focused. Some were gathering, some were puzzles, and some involved a combination of interactions.. It was a nice way of switching up mundane killing/gathering, retrieving, etc.
On the other hand, having extremely large world boss fights that triggered from smaller events completed was such a great spectacle, even if it was a loot pinata sometimes. Seeing something so large scale, with so many participants was an amazing feeling- each time.
I thought it was great and very enjoyable, I particularly liked the grouping system that went along with the event system, allowing players to seamlessly join a raid in order to better facilitate heals, aggro, and communication.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
Being able to go from minding my business getting crafting materials or questing and then all of a sudden a random event has popped up, something I wasn't expecting.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
My biggest concern would be either an implementation of a grindy aspect of an event system, in which events become a great way to gain XP and thus are required for farming, creating a repetitive process, or, the events themselves being repetitive i.e. defend the caravan 70 times, protect refugees 40 times, etc. I understand this is necessary to an extent, but in a game such as Destiny 2 with their event system, it got to the point where I simply ignored the event due to the fact that I had already done the same event 30 times in that location.
My excitement would be an increase in immersion and being able to interact with this events in accordance with the node that it is in, such as the highwaymen hills bandits being the enemy of an event, or minotaurs, or whatever mob is local to that node. That would be excellent to see.
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
Events that are environmental in nature, perhaps changing the node in some way if the event is failed, such as a random attack on a city, and should the attack fail, perhaps the city's treasury is robbed. Or even the nearby volcano explodes and some boss comes out. These are random examples, but events that make me feel like I am a part of the world and I am witness to these events would be amazing.
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
As mentioned previously, Destiny 2 has in game events in which random players can join, however, they became static and repetitive very quickly, as the only difference between these events were the mobs and the planet where the event took place. The locations on each planet were static, so you could in theory camp out an event, and the mobs at each individual event were the same every time, with the same concept each time at each location. In short, the events not only became predictable, but knowable in lieu of the random nature of a threat.
Please please please have the option for events to have a less binary effect. I'd definitely prefer for there to be a 'neutral' type outcome for many, even like, for the one shown.
e.g. you beat all the bandits EXCEPT the leader, he can't possibly carry all that loot by himself so he retreats, swearing vengeance or whatever, and the result in the system is just 'no real change' other than maybe the cooldown of the event resetting.
I think players are more likely to participate in things without being assured to win if they know that losing won't do any harm, stuff like that. Sure, there will be those that disregard things because they don't think they can win and get whatever rewards, but even so, it would still be good that when two groups of players that are equally matched join opposite sides in an event, clash with all their might, and the event ends, you're not getting 'all the benefits going to the ones that won by the razor-thin margin'.
I sorta 'forgot' to bring this up before because the 'Garrison' type event is explicitly more of a 'you succeeded/you failed' thing, but thinking on it now, none of the other events I mentioned are quite that binary, you can always see the effect of 'only barely losing' and always have to deal with the consequences of 'only barely winning'.
2) What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
This might be more about the analytics system that informs the event system but that tool is amazing!
The amount of possible triggers this system should make possible on the one hand is crazy on the other that probably makes it possible to implement new content in known areas without just a new NPCs standing around having a new quest!
I think having quests, rewards and such "hidden" by event triggers that are not publically known is huge for a game in this age. Sure, at some point people will write down when they were able to do XYZ but there is always and element of uncertainty to it whether or not one knows all the necessary details to trigger a certain events. I see this as the ultimate empowerment for the individuals group experience as this is probably the single most biggest change to bring back the sense of adventure and exploration.
3) Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
Concern:
- Depending on the reward structure, it could be that players will feel like there is more to gain from working against others rather than supporting for "lesser" rewards. It comes down to individual player mentality but this will certainly be a difficult balancing act.
- It might just be the nature of this being new or because this was a particularly chaotic event and all but I had the feeling that some hints were missing for example where to collect the reward. The event text also was shown forr something like 6 seconds. Assuming there might be an event that ends with some sort of things still left to do to wrap up the event within my group, I might miss the message and then stand there with no reminder on how to collect my reward - so I suggest that there might either be a persistent tooltip for events if someone wishes for it or that the reward location receives a small indicator on the mini map. Anything that helps us finish up the event nicely
Excitement:
- The Update had me really hyped up because so much seems possible with such a useful tool to work with especially since it allows for REAL dynamic events.
- As stated before, I love that the invisible triggers for events has the power to bring back genuine exploration in an age of spoilers and guides
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
Even though I am not a sucker for RP in MMOs myself, I like good storylines and I like rewarding those who make themselves part of the world. So it might be funny if for example there is a raid group setting out during sunset to venture to a dungeon. Night falls on their way so the group sets up camp and lights a few camp fires by the road... and then suddenly the fires flames jump off the logs and run away into the nearby swamp. To retrieve the... fires and to investigate how a flame could just jump off the coal, the party ventures into the swamp to find a locked up queen of will-'o-the-wisps and she had used her last strength to call upon the flames of travelers to lure them here and help her escape. If the players choose to not help the travelers flames empowered by the gases in the swamp will attack them; if the players choose to free her she will try to take revenge on the Vek who have trapped her for being a "false star"
Something like that a wild situation that would only happen by doing something so utterly normal than setting up a few camp fires.
I'd also would like to see people whose artisanship requires them to go out into the world to trigger quests. e.g. In an area down the river there is a good chance to catch some special fish. If a player has been registered to come here often his chances to find a hidden treasure increases. The treasure is an item that helps him identify hidden marks that will guide him up the river to a secret passage in a stone wall. Passing through one finds a small dungeon, of a refugee who fled the from the doom that Atrax brought. Same could happen when gutting an animal nearby, where the guiding stone is found to be swallowed by an animal or dug up while mining or tending to the fields of ones freehold.
EDIT:
In my opinion there is one more thing you can do to create a very strong feeling of excitment: Dungeon events. In fact I'd be elated to find dungeons that are basically a series of dungeon events. Example:
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
I've heard a lot of people applaud the rift events that happen in the game "Rift" but to be honest I find these monster invasion events to be the worst way to make events. Rather than having those as the first option I'd hope to see them not too often in Ashes but in turn have some epic invasion event with a Harbinger crashing down and corrupting a whole region as the exceptional even that it is. A player should never go "Urgh, ANOTHER invasion portal?!" in my opion. Make em few, but make em count.
Please don’t feel limited by the thought starters above. Feel free to share anything you’d like about Ashes of Creation’s Alpha Two Event System Update shown during the September Development Update
I think the greatest strength in this system really is the thing that could make Ashes stand out in modern times: Comprehensible information restriction. Obviously there won't be a full list of how to trigger each event, nor about the possible rewards unless someone spoils it via datamining. But the more the content becomes accessible through game play first, the more agency players will feel the have, the more accomplished they will feel for having done so. This could bring back a kind of fun I have been missing in the age of disruptive information (spoilers and guide reading minmaxers).
This very much.
For example, the caravan event in the dev stream required a certain amount of survivors. Let's pretend the threshhold is 2 in order to be on the side of success. If only 1 survives, it's a failure, but not abject failure. Likewise, if only 2 survive, the rewards should be small and the NPCs can be bitter about it, and it could trigger a longer cooldown until the event happens again. Or a different event, where next time they bring more guards, whereas if they all survived, they might try their luck again sooner without extra guards.
Are there any safeguards and/or measures taken to make sure that everybody is presented with a reasonable challenge and can meaningfully contribute in this kind of scenario?
So far, so good. I personally hope for the most part, that the Events keep being flexible and different most of the time.
Like : it was Bandits attacking the Caravan that one time. But next it might be a few Gryphons.
Or one or several Wyvern. Or maybe a few Undead risen from a desecrated Graveyard nearby.
Or maybe it is not a Caravan at all, but something different. Maybe we actually take part in "Different" Bandit Groups duking it out for Territory and "who gets" to ambush and assault innocent Travellers along the Road. (lol)
The biggest Concern that was voiced right away, was the Concern that People might "join" these Events, so that the PvE-Waves of Attackers on for Example that Caravan-Event get stronger - and stronger - and stronger,
but the People who are nearby until they are counted as present so that the Event gets more difficult -> intentionally sabotage the Event by doing nothing. Or maybe even by attacking the other Players, if that could be possible.
While i personally am more on the Side who would find that exciting for more "Unpredictability" and possible Plot-Twists and Action in our daily Adventures,
i am aware that this could become a very annoying thing very quickly.
One of my Suggestions to combat this Problem, in which Players could " use " such Events, to bring Grief over other Players,
is to flag them immediately corrupt once they do that. The only Problem here would be, how would the System notice that the Player is sabotaging the Event and annoying the other Players with it ?
Or : should the Corruption-Flag be higher/stronger than normal, when a Player bothers other Players - during such an Event ? Higher/Stronger as in Three to Five Times as strong, as when the Player to go corrupt, attacks the other Player/s simply in the Wilderness ?
Higher Punishments could deter People from sabotaging such Events just for the Sake of annoying the other Players. But this is likely easier said than done.
Maybe someone is just bad (lol?) to support other Players in the Event ? Maybe someone has a Disconnect. Maybe someone has an Emergency at Home and needs to go AFK really quick for a few Moments and the Timing ingame is just unlucky.
But anyway -> the Main Concern of Players over these Events - is for the most Part, that other Players might use them for Griefplay and only to bother other Players more efficiently where they alone couldn't be such a pain in the butt. ^.^"
And Thanks the Gods that You dared to do exactly this - and let PvP and PvE become mixed in such Events.
Same as higher - the "only Concern" i can currently think of - is actually the Concern of many other People and that is only and simply, that Players might try to use Events for Griefplay.
What makes PvP Fun for me in Situations like these,
is as stated, the certain Unpredictability that always come with such a Situation. It is ALWAYS - a fresh Experience. It can be very different - every single time.
As it should be. This is one of the best Way imaginable to keep the Game exciting and fresh to participate in, for a long time.
In other Games ... ... ... hmm. The only MMO i ever played was World of Warcraft for a long time.
And the "bad" Part about World Events in WoW is, that they were always extremely scripted to a 100% Degree, that they were always the same.
A World-Event-Boss was no different from any Raid-Boss in a Raid-Instance.
And where in Ashes of Creation, Events, Worldevents - and anything "Open World" that many, many Players can team up against,
where in Ashes the Bosses and Events get "stronger" and more challenging -> in WoW the World-Bosses were apparently always limited in Strength.
One single Raid is at the huge, blue Dragon Azuregos in Kalimdor ?
Two more Raids are watching nearby ? Welp, to bad for them. The Boss is designed for ONE RAID ONLY - and the two "OTHER" Raids are hoping for the first Raid to die, so that THEY can attack and flag him for their own Raid, next.
The Boss didn't get stronger so all THREE Raids should have teamed up to take him together, a.k.a. 120 People,
no - the other two Raids could only and simply watch. On "PvE-Servers" it didn't even matter as well, if the Raids were the two different Factions Horde or Alliance.
The Raids could not even attack each other, to fight over who gets to fight and slay the Boss.
Apparently in Ashes of Creation however - currently for me, it seems like this is possible. Elevating the Element of Surprise, Action, possible Conflict and Competition with other Groups onto a Level that World of Warcraft simply couldn't reach.
I am aware that "Raid-sized World Event Bosses" in WoW were changed to a certain Degree, that People could join Groups in different "Phasings" and take Bosses on together, no matter how many Players were already engaged into fighting them,
but that System didn't seem as flexible as compared to in Ashes of Creation - where apparently Players can also fight and attack "each other" at any Opportunity and anywhere in the World.
I can safely say, that this will create a L~OOOOT of Saltiness and butthurt in some People (hahah), but it will also make Ashes of Creation far more exciting.
And of Course -> i can also see People already being concerned, that on different Servers - huge Groups of Players can form,
who will surely try to farm, guard - and "claim the World Event Bosses" for themselves - by trying to have the most Players ready to go - and attack and kill any other Groups of Players who might want to snatch the Bosses also.
Welp. Sounds for me like People then need to band together, if another, already VERY huge Group of Players, maybe one or several Guilds - banded together, trying to rule the whole Server by force.
I am confident right now, i probably only understand truly around +30% of what exactly is meant. ^.^"
Participating in unique and creative ways ... ... ... ... i am all Ears. What other ways of influencing Events and taking part in them are there, aside from joining such Events directly - and take them on directly ?
When my Memory serves me right, i know that for Example a Node growing - and building a Mine somewhere to work off Ore,
can probably startle something like Trolls or Dragons nearby which lived in a Cave and are now angry that some cocky, "tiny Humanoids" (heheh) dare to enter and trespass into their Terroritoy.
And that "NOT" taking on Events that were started by a Node expanding, could result in severe Punishments by the Node being harmed - if nobody takes on the Problems that such Events could bring to the Node.
And that it can in general have a positive Effect for the Node, to actually do take on such Events,
and that in general, ignoring such Events can have a negative Effect.
I like the Idea that one SHOULDN'T ignore such Events - and rise to the Help quickly, when the Node is being attacked by something, by growing to a certain Degree and awakening something that may liked the whole Area more quiet instead of a City being there.
Very curious of how Players - also Players who may "NOT" be part of the Node affected, can influence such Events.
I would find it cool, if Players from an Enemy Node we might be at War at, or at bad Terms in general, can try and use this Event, to harm and damage our Node.
Kinda the classical "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend"-Scenario.
Why shouldn't Enemy Players try to "support" a troubling Event, that is hostile to our Node ? Be it with the Monster-Coin System, or directly as the Players they are ?
I promise i saw all of that Video.
( The "electrical Ball" of that one Mage(?)-Class needs a cool Animation -> "dissipating into thing Air" with a few Crackles or Sparks that break apart, instead of just vanishing like "POP" and like it was never there ^^ but only my own Opinion. ;-> )
Extra Points from me, dear Ashes of Creation Team,
for making the " Bandits " seem very smart. The Archers shooting at the Caravan and Players from a High Ground and Distance, as to have more of an Advantage as Archers.
The " thankful Caravan NPC " looked, like he is almost a Statue. Like his Eyes, Face - and Body-Stance - are firmly set to look sternly in front of him no matter what.
I recommend scripting NPC's so, that they can always "look - and turn" - towards the Players that are clicking on them, hence opening Dialogue with them, whenever they are right next to them.
If done like in for Example World of Warcraft, you can do this for every single Player - without breaking the Appareance/Look for the other Players. If an "old MMO" like World of Warcraft can do this, i am sure Ashes of Creation will be able to do the same.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Currently no guild !! (o_o)
It makes the event a little different each time and sometime you might roll short delay which adds to the difficulty since you dont have time to replenish mana compared to if it rolls 100 seconds.
Would be interesting i reckon.
I know it's just a little preview sample but these events need to have a feeling of intensity to them that gradually increases. They be such things as:
- blood curdling war cry's from raiders, minotaur's etc as they rush the POI
- gradual music intensity as a looming threat emerges and/or during encounter
- visual effect intensity (fire spreading, weather etc), skies darken from swarms of corvin as the npc's decend
- npc spawn effects such as some previously mentioned but also specific to the type of npc/mob
- needs that certain "oh shit" moments, for when you think " what did I get myself into"
I know it was just little caravan defense example but there is lots of things to make the location more dynamic and less static per se.
I like the idea that they can gradually progress if left unchecked or not completed but they need an element of discovery and surprise to their reveal within the vicinity. Something that is like... what was that? should I or We go check it out?
I would like to see more of a chaotic element to them via ambiance depending on the design of it such as fire balls reigning down randomly like trebuchet artillery, lightning bolts coming down. something that adds chaos and less systematic predictability to encourage players to pay attention instead of what comes next on the script.
Dynamic affixes carried over to sieges or wars in the area if event is active during siege etc. If the event gets out of control within the node, it should spill over and affect it. Could make things very interesting. (but now this got me thinking of dynamic siege events and monster coins....)
Depending on event, flora and fauna changes
Make them fun and relatively chaotic and less of a scheduled farm chore to maintain.
I really like that there will be non combat events, presumably where you're watching npcs RP basically. No I don't need a ton of those types of events. But some here and there are good for world building flavor. And I like that there will be events where opposing sides and pvp is involved. All in all, no it wasn't a "banger" showcase for me, but it was solid for what it was and I like the progress and direction.
It was talked about by one of the devs that the current rewards structure for the event was based on the amount of time you were present at the event. And it was said in a way that seemed to imply to me that that structure was at least being considered as....maybe the way it should be. Cmonnnnn mannn. We don't even have the game yet, don't make us start asking for Ashes of Creation "Classic" before the game even comes out. That is a participation reward. It's worse than a participation reward. You don't even have to participate, just be present. Ya gotta come up with something that is more merit and participation based. Throw in some RNG lottery calculations at the top rung of spots if you don't want the tryhards to win best rewards every time.
Spell effects. Work in progress, spell effects slider coming, I know. But I have to mention it as usual. Some of them are very bad, very gaudy and absolutely detract from the experience.
All in all, good showcase.
I think the event system seems good at first glance, I do like how random player who stumble upon it can get that "OH what is this?" moment is always a good feeling in a video game. To genuinely stumble across activities, or items or interactions that have meaning or use to them feels great and sparks intrigue
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Event system?
Personally I get a lot of enjoyment out of difficult challenges. I think in my mind at least it breads replayability and looking for the next challenge whether that be a event or dungeon or farming something rare. You start to go through in your head what you could of done better if you didn't do so well. How can you learn your class to feel you are effectively contributing, what other cool challenges are out there? That peaks brain movement and stimulation which is where I find myself enjoying a game when they can push me like that. I'm excited for these events to be challenging ! interesting and refreshing. Maybe one event your facing close to a world boss OUT OF NOWHERE not expected at all maybe not that scale but something you would never expect to come across just running around getting your quests done, to another one of a sad story of maybe a NPCs husband or wife dying. The un- predictableness and challenges are what can be so exciting ! Don't pull punches get fancy with it!
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Event System Update?
My concerns would be it turning into some mundane obstacle in the way of doing something more important or enjoyable. It turns into some steamroll W key through, tanks didn't really have to think about tanking, healers had nothing barley to heal, dps pressing one key and its all over with. If it becomes a chore or something that yields some have to get it done rewards but to boring to care type of activity
Are there any particular Events you hope to see in-game?
As I touched on earlier I think if the content is challenging and everyone has to really think about their moves and strategy on how to complete it or else if they don't there is real possibility of failure or strain in completion. It will be fun. Anything that can provoke the excited after event or quest completion talk which is "Oh my god dude you almost died I had to use this move cause the mobs were doing this!" and vice versa the tank saying stuff like "I had this up and I managed to get them away from the caravan just in time that was nuts, that elite boss was hitting me like a truck!" stuff like that is when you really know everyone was challenged and having a good time. ALSO RARE STUFF IS SUPER FUN AND COOL. Even when people have the game all figured out a year after launch if there is chances or knowledge that this rare spawn can come in at this event or this area or this quest, that type of exclusive don't come across it often type of stuff is super valuable and exciting. You see that one guy in town with a odd piece of gear that you have never seen or a mount no one has really seen and you immediately want to go out in the world and find out more about it or how to get it. Back in for instance wrath of lich king WoW when you saw someone with a time lost proto drake or a super hard content armor on that you know took SKILL or big EFFORT to get you knew they were the baddest kids on the block and it made you want to also go out and do that
Are there Events you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
I cant recall specifically any game that has had exceptional event style content, WoWs is pretty dull in the sense its 1. Run to event 2. kill 12 mobs 3. loot 4 things. Event complete. Just make it unpredictable ! Maybe on event you go down in some ruins and the building your in somehow locks everyone in with a barrier and you have to do some nifty mechanics or survival, maybe you go to that bandit camp one day that attacked the caravan and there is a super cool look petting the bandit king has the is unique and has to be handled a certain way. Maybe a travel with a caravan but add a twist to it? we all know those boring escort quests that just have you walk slowly alongside of the escortee and you will come across a mob or two every so often till you get to the final destination.
Honestly the Rewards would have to be something that i RRREEAALLYYY want to have for some Reason,
a Cosmetic Armor Item for some Style Fashion,
a useful Trinket with an Effect : maybe a cool " Toy " like in World of Warcraft that has a cool Visual Effect once every few Minutes up to half an Hour or so,
something that would especially feel desirable for me, regarding Roleplay and Immersion would be best.
If those Events wouldn't have such a thing -> " THEN " they should at least give me some Ressources at an acceptable Chance of Rate, that i can use to support my Guild, Freehold, Node, Friends, etc. with.
There must be an absolutely undeniable Reason to participate in such Events. There must.
Node-Reputation,
Faction-Reputation,
whatever it is. Otherwise after awhile it would just become a more or less waste of time, aside from supporting other Players who want to do them at every Cost.
FOMO ? The Game better have something desirable in Store, if it is supposed to reach anything near the Word of FOMO.
You may want to leave this in any Form of Suggestion Topic inside this Forum.
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Sounds challenging. I could imagine that Events that are "left unattended", can in fact grow larger, grow worse, grow more of a "Problem to be", if Nobody takes them on,
and that they can indeed "spill over" to other Area's. I am just aware of the fact, that this is easier said, than programmed.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Currently no guild !! (o_o)
lots of those mainstream triple-A studios pay psychologists and psychiatrists a lot of money to make their games addicting and manipulate people with Fomo to mask their games souless participation and reward system.
Steven said he wasn't planning on making it a toy box MMO so i dont imagine (unless things have changed?) they're planning on toys and pointless rewards are going to be the incentive to participate them. I could see them becoming detrimental to the node and surrounding area with rewards that one would expect to encourage them to be completed.
Maybe transmogrifications? but lets be real,. if that's the only reason to do them people will collect and forget once they get the cookies and milk.