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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.
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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.
From the Ashes - PvW Challenges (KPS)
ChaosFactor
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
This discussion is part of the Master article "From the Ashes - Difficulty Philosophy Discussion". Please visit that forum post (Also by me) before reading this one! Or don't, it's your life, read what you'd like.
This is one of the three discussion posts talking about the individual reward and challenge structures associated with the different aspects of the upcoming game!
These posts will be specific to the mechanics that we are familiar with in Ashes of Creation! If there are any gaps in this information relevant to the concepts of KPS, I will simply fill in those gaps with some theory crafting. If there are any corrections on factual information that need to be made, please point them out to me!
This KPS discussion will be on PvW, that being specifically Questing, World Events, and Crafting
As a reminder: KPS is an Acronym that stands for Knowledge, Persistence, Skill. These are the different potential approaches to resolving a difficult challenge!
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE PURELY THEORY CRAFTED, ANY SIMILARITIES TO REAL IN GAME ITEMS IS A COINCIDENCE, OR THEY LIKED MY IDEAS!
When I think knowledge associated with PvW it most certainly is associated with having a deep and storied memory of the different aspects of the world. Memorizing and participating in many quests, understand the locations of rare resource spawns, even knowing the fastest possible leveling path.
Earn level 50 in under 150 hours played -
Participate (50%) in 5 narrative events -
Complete a quest for every single Node on Verra -
The library of available persistence strategies in the open world is near infinite. You could persistently approach quests, events, land discovery, harvesting, freehold building, etc. Obviously PvW encompasses a much larger variety of gameplay than either PvE or PvP, so realistically I could make a library of 1,000 different achievements and associated items. It would certainly be a large task on the shoulder of Intrepid Studios to vet which of these gameplay mechanics are deserving of Epic tier items to match the power level standard of other players.
Defeat 100 Beasts (Alternatively: Humanoids. Spirits, Plants, etc.) - Beast slayers benefit - 50g
Collect 500 of a single resource type -
Turn in 10,000 gold worth of Hunting Certificates -
Earn the largest total gold from the auction house on your server (100,000g+) -
Contrary to what many MMORPG player bases tend to believe, the open world can be an amazing place to express individual skill. The ability to clear large packs of enemies near your character's strength, solo boss/elite content on your own, various other near impossible things that can be achieved. These things are often done through mastery the classes' various power fantasies.
Level 10 times without dying - Bounty of the Masterful - 50g
Defeat an Elite Quest at or around your level on your own -
Complete an entire event on your own (100%) -
Complete a main story line at or around your own level wearing no gear -
Win 3 Node Sieges, Win 3 Castle Raids, Master an Artistry aspect, Complete 50 events, Complete 100 quests -
These are obviously just a large amount of item concepts that I enjoyed making! Please let me know if you think that the concepts, or interpretations of the challenges, are off base or not! The items are far less important.. Having such minimal information on the balance and technical stats of the true in-game items.. I'm really just BS'ing. I'm more curious if you think that the challenges to earn them apply to KPS properly! Please feel free to offer alternatives.
Thanks for your time!
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Comments
Oh, and once again all of this is just Persistence
There are a few there that most certainly don't have any bound related to grouping. Although it may be my reflex to prefer or have created a decent number of these in the context of Solo play. Outside of New World and Destiny 2 I play primarily Solo so I wouldn't be surprised.
Okay what's your alternative? Like I've said I'm super down to hear your feedback of what it can be replaced with. Alternatively those numbers can be altered based on the time requirement associated with the completion of those larger events.
I truly don't know where you're getting the idea that all of it is persistence. It truly does not align with the definitions provided and the goals are adequately flavored to the KPS even if it is (likely) not properly balanced.
I would like to think that there would possibly be gameplay mechanics involved that would prevent the completion of these achievements through exploitation of friends? But then again there isn't anything stopping a large group of people trading around an item priced at 100,000 gold on the auction house after one person completes the achievement.
And as Azherae pointed out, in the day and age of Youtube, there's no "knowledge". And "skill" is just persistence viewed from the side.
I agree that there should be different ways of acquiring stuff, but I believe that the "stuff" shouldn't all be the same quality or have the same impact.
I'd probably link the "knowledge" stuff to surveying and cartography (if that is still even on the design table) and give those players social org/node/money rewards for simply participating in their gameplay. Just not items.
Persistence and skill are the same to me, so I see no reason to add any non-cosmetic rewards to any of that style of gameplay, because that gameplay itself is already super rewarding.
Okay, I mean all good, I think I just disagree and I find that there is a difference between the two. In my mind I could bend my opinions on it and reach the same conclusion, but I shall simply say nay!
I'll put them next to my Vana'diel Clock.
Disclaimer: [I do not actually own a physical Vana'diel Clock, nor should this post be taken as an endorsement of that product. I'm serious about the almanac though, make it happen, Intrepid.]