Greetings, glorious testers!
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
1. Combat and Balance
I understand that combat balance wasn't the primary focus of this livestream, and you're not deeply into balancing yet, as Steve mentioned.
However, it's such a crucial aspect of the game that I feel compelled to provide feedback regardless.
Initially, I felt that Minotaurs were too weak in 1v1 situations, especially considering the game is typically played in groups.
However, as the stream progressed, the balance improved. The scenario where a mage made a mistake by engaging a berserker in close combat, resulting in a swift demise, felt spot on to me.
In an MMORPG, solo roaming should be exceptionally challenging, if not impossible, in certain areas.
I'm eagerly anticipating specific strengths and weaknesses of mobs, such as some being slower and easier to kite, others susceptible to fire damage, or immune to movement impairments.
2. Quest Helpers
Please, for the love of Resna, avoid using markers on the map that pinpoint quest objectives.
While I acknowledge the need for some "hey, something's happening nearby" helper mechanics due to the dynamic nature of some aspects of the game, direct markers contradict its vision.
You embarked on this project to create something different—a game where players immerse themselves in the world, where cooperation and social aspects are paramount.
Reading a quest, deciphering where to go, or seeking help from other players, groupmates, or guildmates aligns perfectly with this vision. Simply following map markers does not.
And please, refrain from suggesting to "just disable the help system and let others use it if they want."
Such a system significantly alters how the game is played, shapes others' expectations within the game, and affects its overall perception.
It's akin to the BossHelper addons in WoW, where there's a general expectation to use them. The existence of such systems also influences how developers create new content.
I'll quote Okeydoke since that's about my general feelings too To expend a bit about this... I think I understand how the system works, but without a direct interaction with the choices, and where they each leads to, it's difficult to position myself in how relevant it will be for me on a personal level once the game launch.
It's a neat way of sending players in different areas so there isn't too many people fighting over the same quest mobs but also having enough around when bigger encounters are triggered. Both can still happen, but I think the system can alleviate this a bit due to the time availability of the commissions for the former, and sharing commissions for the latter.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
The most exciting thing for me is how small "individual" tasks will have an effect on the global node level. The cascading effects of cumulative small commissions triggering local events, world event, and node growth. I won't go fight against minotaures only because they're worth good XPs and drop sick loot, I'll go fight them because of what their defeat leads to. What it means for the region. At this point, everyone must be as bored of me saying it than how actually bored I am about individual rewards... But these more global impacts: they interest me far more than any rare shiny bauble or heavily runed tool of war.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
Excited about the possibilities.
Concerned that my excitements may be only me filling the void with optimistic thoughts. To be so, most commissions would have to be extremely generic, so I'm not really worried, I'm sure you guys have enough creative people to put a twist into any old cliche.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
I like it. I expect what we saw was a basic introduction, so I'm sure it goes deeper than at first glance. Is the side quest NPC always there? Can some side quests be done multiple time? That kind of depth.
We're presented these systems separately, over long periods of time, so it's sometime hard to keep them in mind to connect the pieces together. Before relegating the commissions system to a low impact position, or as not that important, people should consider how crucial unlocking higher tier commissions could be for the aspiring mayors of a religious node. That's just an example, but all systems interact in some ways and grasping the nuances might be difficult at this point, heck, how many systems are in the waiting line for a dev update?
Great idea!
I felt physical board itself, was maybe a tad undersung/not particularly prominent. It blended into the surroundings of the town a bit. My concern being, could it be prone to being blocked/obscured by player characters, are not readily/easily identifiable.
I liked the overall UI and it's elements. The mouseover on rewards were great, as well as the symbols for the type of commission it is (skull/looking glass, cube/box, map), I think these could be a little bigger (say same size as the reward icon). Overall the combination of level, reward, rarity, type information was readily available, and easily presented. I didn't like the 'Accepted' badge/symbol that appeared, I think keeping the desaturised, partnered with a highlighted/colored card outline would be a subtle yet clear way to demonstrate this. I know UI is subject to change, however I wanted to share my feedback on this.
Interacting with Commission System
I'm excited about partaking in commissions, as it lets me lean into the activities and RP flavor of my character. E.g. I'd be interested in doing the explore and kill commission, but maybe not the 'retrieve x'. I like the freedom and choice, and am interested in what other types of commissions will exist.
I like that this provides me with a clear way to contribute to a node, that encourages me to be out in the world, where I can organically come across content. This sense of exploration, and discovery excites me. Being immersed and lost in the Verra (in a good way) is what I want, e.g. setting out for an initial purpose, but being side-tracked and curious about the world (and being an hour in, and still not completing my initial objective
Similar Systems
I experienced the boards in New World, what I didn't like about them, was how they were player controlled/influenced. There were times were there was no new quests up, or where all the available ones were very similar. This limited my choice, and I felt obligated to complete certain commissions I didn't really want to through lack of choice. In the context of New World, because there was limited PVE content, I didn't have an alternate option either. This is the primary reason why I stopped playing the game.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview? How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
• Very excited about the 'cascading' of events. The sense of adventure that comes with exploration, and wandering into the unknown. This makes the content feel special, as in I would've have experienced this otherwise, and not everyone necessarily will. The opportunity of these events popping up, and feeling of scarcity make these feel good.
• The Minotaur side quest pop-up wasn't very prominent on the screen. I think this could easily be missed, particularly if you're in the middle of combat or distracted.
• In the objective tracker, it wasn't clear the different types of objectives. e.g. I couldn't tell the 'side quest' apart from the 'commissions'.
• The event was seamless and appeared easy to engage with. It was noticeable, appeared on the minimap.
- Based on the title "Commissions Preview," I thought it was going to be fairly uninteresting, but in reality I was blown away by the progress you guys have made. Things are really coming together.
- Glint as I understand it is effectively a currency with special transportation requirements, it's mundane and will be seen constantly much like coin. That in mind, I think seeing its full item icon in the quest reward ui all the time is going to be disappointing, like "Oh boy, more dull glint." I think that spot should be reserved for actual items, things to get excited about, and the glint reward displayed more like the coin icon.
- Concerning the map ui, it looked like trees were visible on it. Guessing this is still WIP, but that seems odd. Your icon will show above the trees and they'll obscure the things you actually care about.
Great show case all in all.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
I like the drip feed of content makes the feel of discovery bigger and better.
....
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
I notice there are alot og small ui elements and colors for visualy impared and colorblind, i hope there are ALOT of solutions. I know its stated, but I always feel we get the short end when it comes to this stuff.
Also notice its hard to see NPC function like is it a quest, shop and so 4th, hope we can get some icons, atleast as a option we can turn on.
...
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
This is simply great love that.
I thought it looked amazing! All in all, the stream was very enjoyable! The weather looked great, I really enjoyed seeing how challenging the content was for a solo player and the activity felt classic yet engaging and exciting!
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
I love roaming the world and doing whatever activities allows me to explore - commissions will almost certainly be one of the things I end up doing a lot and I look forward to roaming about, and finding new friends - and enemies - when the bosses spawn.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
As stated above, I think most of the stuff looked fantastic! Running on memory, these are the things that I reacted the most to:
+ The weather effects looked amazing for being a work in progress!
+ The difficulty of the mobs felt perfect!
+ The new animations and spell effects on the mage looked absolutely amazing!
+ The mushroom mobs were adorable!
As for the negative things, it is mostly things that I honestly expect as the game is still in Alpha-state, but I'll list them either way as it is the only critic I have:
- I know all (or at least most) of the animations are still WIP and all that - but I really feel like mentioning that something in the running animations is throwing me off. I am afraid I cannot quite put my finger on what it is, but it does not feel very fluid. Especially the (lack of proper) start- and stop-animations.
- ... I know (hope?) the "black box" UI is still a WIP - both when it comes to inventory *and* the board. I really liked the suggestions above about matching the background to the object materials. I mean, the backgrounds you guys were using for the herbalism and lumbering inventories were just spot on - so I really hope we get to see more of that amazing work in the rest of the UI!
- The caaaape!
Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
I cannot recall using any similar systems that I had any strong opinions (negative nor positive) about.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
I loved it! I look forward to seeing more of it in-action during A2 !
Positive impressions overall with some areas for improvement. I like the general mission of the commission system and the way it interacts with side quests and story arcs, but I really feel that some serious work on in-game storytelling through NPC character behavior and auditory/visual cues rather than UI pop-ups is in order.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
Having a reason for players to gather in the node, creating opportunities for the node and its characters to respond dynamically to player activity in the open world.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
+
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
I'm just going to give my commentary in the order I noted it down while watching the stream:
I like the model for the commission board. Town is generally looking good.
I like the variety of difficulty and rarity for commissions and their respective rewards, as well as the proposed system of granting players who're more invested in a particular node greater access to the higher quality commissions.
I like that the current iteration of commission design seems to take on a settler mentality - "investigate this event, explore this place, rid this ancestral ground of these interlopers" - gives the game a sort of new world feeling (not referencing the Amazon Studios game, although that is the sort of tone I'm referring to). Perhaps this could shift as the node levels up and becomes more established / the surrounding region becomes more player-dominated and learned about.
Obviously the UI still needs some work - I genuinely hope that the final version of all UI elements will be more traditional / medieval fantasy looking. Not a big fan of modern UI aesthetic in a medieval fantasy MMO. At least having a few theme options to pick from would be nice.
When you accept a new commission, perhaps the quest log objective could fade in from the side like a flame being sparked so it's more obvious that it's been added to your quest log. I didn't even notice the side bar adjusting to what you were doing on the board until later. Additionally, perhaps the quest objective text that appears below the quest name could simply read "A new objective has been marked on your map," until you open your world map and locate the objective, then it switches to the written version of the objective. This could represent the act of copying a crude map that commission board posters would be expected to include.
I love how the game will query the world on multiple points of data to deliver relevant commissions.
I'm very much not a fan of the UI pop-ups telling you about nearby people of interest. The world needs to reach out and grab me, not the UI. Odds are, if you feel like the content in the world isn't being presented clearly enough, or story elements aren't being communicated clearly enough, the solution is not another UI pop-up. I know this is pre-A2, so voice acting isn't a big concern right now, but I'd really like to see these characters of interest going out of their way to call out to passing players. Just hearing a Minotaur yelling out, "You there, Traveler! I would ask for your aid," as soon as I pass within clear line of sight of them, or something to that effect, would make me whip my head around. Give them a waving animation to get my attention. Hell, you could even path them towards passing players on a 20-foot radius leash. Once they get within five feet of a player, or as close to that as possible, they stop and wave for 5 seconds, then walk back to the center of their leash and resume idle pathing and animations if the player doesn't pursue a conversation. I want the world and its characters to reach out and involve me in the story, not a voiceless DM to tell me what I should be killing and what static characters I should be striking up rigid conversations with.
With this in mind, I feel like a side quest as simple and errand-y as the poultice delivery should've been the commission on the board in town, and an allied faction of Minotaur or an expeditionary force of town guards from the nearby node taking refuge in the woods near the big bad Minotaur encampment should've been the ones calling out to masses of players for help. Feels weird when a single Minotaur has half a dozen players or more standing around him waiting to accept a delivery of poultice to his brother, but it makes sense to receive it as a simple request on a small town notice board. Feels better to have an existing force of opposition against the enemy Minotaur already present nearby their ZOI calling out to any wanderers who will listen to their plea for aid in defeating dozens of enemies. Just feels like a jumbled up sense of "drip-fed-content" priority to me. How cool would it feel to accept a simple quest to deliver some poultice from the town notice board, then along the way, get approached by a member of an expeditionary task force in the woods as you're passing by who asks you to join them on a mission to defeat the minotaur who've been terrorizing the clan that your original quest giver was banished from for refusing to serve? That would have been a more dramatic and engaging series of events to interact with and be swept up into IMO.
I like the nuance of other races having unique tribes and social rules that allow them to engage with players and node storylines in different ways.
I love the concept of weather events being triggerable by world events, but in the example on stream, the rain kicked in way too fast IMO. The sky began clouding halfway through Steven killing his 7th out of 10 Minotaur, then right after the 8th was killed, it was like a sudden downpour with lightning and thunder dropped in out of nowhere. I think there should be some game-system-tracked Minotaur kill thresholds that determine a gradation of weather intensity. 25% of the way to event kickoff, the sky begins clouding a bit (again, gradually). This represents the big bad noticing that their territory is being encroached upon and the beginning of their storm summon. 50% of the way to kickoff, a light drizzle gradually begins to form and the wind picks up. 75% of the way to kickoff, the rain gradually intensifies to a decent pace and occasional rumbling can be heard in the sky. At event kickoff, the rain gradually peaks into a downpour, lightning begins striking the earth, the wind goes crazy, all of that. A smooth transition between each phase, and an overall gradual transition to the peak event as the Minotaur who's summoning this storm takes their time to get the event started. It gives players a sense of "oooh, something's happening..." without smacking them in the face with it, gives them a sense of progression as they get nearer the goal, hints that something greater will come of their deeds, and also gives wandering players around the outskirts a reason to investigate this unusually isolated weather pattern visible in the sky above the ruins. Once the big bad is defeated, maybe the storm that they summoned suddenly disperses from the local area and transitions into a slightly less intense, but still steady rain system for the general area, thus leading into the alchemist event and others like it in the surrounding region.
Going back to the UI pop-ups for characters / areas of interest, the whole "new event nearby" pop up gives me the same negative vibes. It just feels like such a storytelling cop-out. I'd rather have some massive thunder booms sound out across the same notification radius to let nearby players know that something unusual is happening. From there, they look out towards wherever the sound is radiating from and see an unnaturally concentrated weather system hovering above the ruins. This alone should be enough to call any true adventurer to action. If the game really needed it, there could maybe be a soft halo on the mini-map that roughly outlines where the event is occurring if the player is technically within line of sight of the storm. Perhaps the opacity of the halo could dynamically strengthen or weaken depending on how close or further away the player grew to the event. It's really the "narrator" text on the screen in the absence of visual/auditory cues that's the problem for me.
Whoever gives you the quest to kill the big bad minotaur should immediately come running towards the area as soon as the weather gets rough and the battle commences. There, they can welcome in any new players advancing towards the area from the visual/auditory cues, calling out to them to aid in the fight. If appropriate, they can help the players in battle, otherwise they can just wait it out nearby. Once the boss is defeated, they can rush into the ruins if they aren't there already and hang out for a while to distribute quest rewards to victorious players before eventually pathing back to wherever they originally came from. Thinking this way about storytelling through NPC behaviors should be the foundation of these systems IMO. Doing what you can with logical NPC activity to envelop players in the story, not make them go out of their way hunting for every part of your storytelling mechanics. All of these things that I'm suggesting for storytelling improvements were already largely present in GW2 over a decade ago. Intrepid Studios should be able to perform storytelling in Ashes leaps and bounds ahead of that, and you'll have to, if you want to impress a gaming audience past 2025.
The ending of the video was really strange for me, visually speaking. I had no idea what I was looking at from the lookout point. I saw battlements with (seemingly) nothing inside and a glitched out burning tree in the distance with its roots fully exposed. It looked like a bit of a mess if I'm being totally honest. I guess Steven was saying it was a random area of interest with a Carphin-esque story arc emanating from it as the node leveled? Couldn't have told you what it was before.
Additional Commentary
The satellite map looks great - for a minimap. IMO, that sort of precise detail should only be used for one's immediate area, where it could believably be seen within the limits of the player's field of vision. I really think the world map should be more painterly and hand-drawn. Again, going back to my modern UI comments, it feels like opening up Google Maps on your iPhone in the middle of a medieval town square.
Capes look a bit like the upper 1/3 are glued to the character's shoulder blades, while everything below that is freely flowing. Not sure if perhaps giving free movement to the whole thing ending up producing some annoying head-wrapping effects with the wind, but it could use a little more work.
Not a big fan of the current creature summon appearances. They just look flat and a bit dull. I think they could use a little more variation in opacity and some eye-catching VFX that weave their way through the creatures' bodies at some point. Just a bit more visual interest and ethereal depth.
Not sure what was going on with the character model for the alchemist, but... Something about the face didn't look right. Personal preference, I guess, but I also have to say that I found her outfit so gaudy. I know it's a fantasy game, but I feel like the intensity of the colors in that example could be toned down just a tad. The appearance and insinuated clothing of the person in the dialogue window is more like what I'd expect to see.
At times, the aggro range on the Minotaur seemed way too short. There were some occasions where Steven walked right in LOS of one and the Minotaur did nothing. Steven got asked a question on stream about enemy aggro before the showcase, and he responded by saying the system is highly nuanced with significant aggro range in the enemy's LOS with diminished capacity around the side and rear radius of them that can still sense the equivalent of sound and peripheral vision. That level of nuance didn't seem apparent to me here, and I'd really like to see that system be shown off more clearly sometime.
TTK and enemy difficulty feels pretty good.
All the clothing sets and the instruments during the art update were awesome, that Carphin set was particularly badass. Nice work!
That's all I've got!
Thanks so much for the showcase and the stream. Best wishes in all your efforts this month!
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Starting with simple stuff, I have a couple comments about the UI/presentation of the system.
The Commission Board (the model itself) should probably be wall-sized rather than a little sign-post, considering that nodes are big, and many other utilities and vendors will have entire buildings dedicated to them. Especially if there's supposed to be a crowd around them.
And the toasts/pop-ups for the side-quest weren't very noticeable on my small laptop screen. I'm know the UI elements will be scalable, but I think they could use a shimmer or something to grab attention when they appear out of nowhere.
I saw some others didn't like the card-style commission UI, but I think it looks nice. As long as the information involved remains simple and you can fit it all on those cards, that kind of UI works better for quickly reviewing all the options and finding what you want. Although I do agree with whoever suggested that it should be stylized as actual pieces of parchment/placards on a bulletin board.
After watching a second time, I noticed a nice little thing about the side-quests, which I hope will be standard practice. When you picked up the first side-quest to deliver something to the minotaur brother, there was no arrow nor map icon (I think?) pointing to the next NPC. Rather, there was a note in the quest text describing the general location. Then as you got closer there was another side-quest popup with a little flavor text about "a minotaur hiding in some brush," and only then did a marker appear on the map to take you the rest of the way there. I love everything about that sequence. Seems like the perfect balance of giving players an opportunity to look for stuff themselves using map navigation skills, and keeping immersion/flavor with the quest/pop-up text, while still leading players where they need to go/cutting down on aimless wandering.
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Moving on to some more difficult concerns...
Considering that everything shown on stream will be subject to group-play, but a lot of it is easy enough to do solo, it seems like the best way to play might be the tried-and-true farm trains (which I have plenty of experience with in GW2). You know, like when some commander/leader does a shout chat calling people to join him at the quest board, everyone picks up all the commissions, and then they just follow the leader, steam-rolling everything in sight. All the way through the side-quests and group event at the end.
I'm... not sure what can be done about that, or if anything SHOULD be done about it. In GW2, it works out decently, because there are plenty of solo- and group-objectives throughout the zone. Solo objectives are largely one-time achievements/quests/exploration that groups would have no reason to farm over-and-over, and you can easily do them solo. And the group stuff is, well, very group-oriented: it scales based on the # of players in the area and usually includes lots of mobs and multiple objectives.
If that sounds good, maybe it would help to emulate that style of solo gameplay via side-quests: make them non-repeatable (or only once per story arc/other predicate), and give them slightly better/unique rewards compared the farm-trains. And then shift SOME (not all) commissions to be more group-oriented: multiple objectives in the same area, faster respawn times and higher density on the quest mobs plus a few elites that are more difficult to solo, and make it easy to share kill credit without partying up.
Oh and, one little side complaint: Loot for group events should depend on participation. It was a little strange seeing the Minotaur chief die to lightning, but Steven still got all the loot. (All the loot should go to the lightning
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And lastly, I have to rant about something unrelated, but personally important to me. In the Q/A, someone asked about quests that require a bunch of random drops to turn in. And Steven + Margaret disappointed me with almost every sentence after that. But I think I'll make a separate thread for that, and just leave a link here. BRB.
Edit: I regret everything and nothing.
I have a question about the world task. I heard that once it has progressed further, the previous part can only be replayed but not actively experienced. If this is the case, how do you ensure that people who have to take breaks (due to work, vacation, illness, etc.) and players who start the game 6 months or even later do not lose interest when they are not allowed to experience such important content? I look forward to your response. Greetings from Germany,
Arne.
1. first thing is you could make enemy type be flexible, the minotaur’s don’t have to be minotaur’s, they could be wiped out by players and the neighboring node has a high goblin population which spills over. this could be semi hidden and all potential enemies for that zone have a hidden growth rate, but only dominant species is visible. And if some factor pushes the balance there could be EvE interaction between those types of enemies. Having half "enemy locations" beeing goblin half minotaurs and them batteling it out while players can push or sabotage either side could be interesting.
1.a) if the enemies are flexible there could be "scouting quests" which enemy is currently present and you need to prove it.
1. b) surprise encounter where players could encounter a non native enemy type and need to report to node NPC to trigger commissions or similar.
this could be accompanied by NPC's sending out a knight party to confirm or do a commission for it.
especial interesting could be if players are allowed to "invent" sightings and loose reputation
on the other hand they could gain special reputation for reporting new species. (it basically proves they are local, since they are aware of what’s worth reporting and what’s not)
1 c) could be implemented as "grassland mob type", "forest mob type", ....
2. how about a system where the "enemy population" has a thread value attached based on how much they were left alone and grow based on that. when killing you consolidate that threat and relieve some of it. Consolidation results in spawning more powerful versions, such as the storm caller (would be cool to have 2-10 pre stages). but if those powerful versions are left alone the "growth rate" increases since they can support the runts better and if players do not clear concentrated mobs, the enemy type can trigger "negative chain events" where EvP sieges or "stampedes" (manga speak)
Imagine the players trigger the storm caller, do not clear him and he gets followers and body guards per hour and at a certain point starts marching at the node. Meanwhile the node creates more and more commissions to clear it. Would need balancing of course, but could be an interesting node activity for people to artificially create the strongest possible negative event so they could get high rewards
This could be accompanied by reputation loss of all residence since they are ignoring threat
3. if mob population counters are implemented it should NPC resources, either type, or quantity, or quality
I really enjoyed the showcase. I was a bit shocked about how in depth the playthrough went. I was expecting a slightly different direction
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
Exploration! I do enjoy where this may take players. I also enjoy that they complete after objective for a commission is obtained. I do wish you could interact with the Commission board. Maybe there is sections on the board with the paper posting. If you go back after completing a commission, the section is no longer viewable or interactive. I will tell you the UI looks fine, but we have all seen this before so figure something different.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
One of the main take aways was the time the board refreshes new commissions. I wonder if the time frame of 30 minutes is too short. My initial thought it that may take away players doing other activities. If there is high motivation to provide experience to the node, it would make players feel the need to continuously complete commissions from that node. Promoting the feeling of having to report back 30 mins later. My fear would be players feeling the need to remain within the node area.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
This is a great interaction. Huge fan of how they align together. No additional feedback here.
One note with the lightning mechanic. Amazing! I love how this can be detrimental for the players. I do wish however, if a mob is being struck by the lightning they receive a buff or heal vs being damaged. If a mob spawns or is part of a dynamic event change, I would prefer to see them benefit as they are part of the change.
Great work per usual. Really starting to look A2 ready! Thanks
As a Minotaur, I was appalled by it.
The stranger's eyes lifted to the blood red cloud on the horizon.
'We have to move. It's not safe here.'
The live-stream was great and you are doing a great job.
Feedback
I would just like to give my feedback on the rain. I find it quite unnatural and the direction of the rain rotates too much with the character and it looks very unnatural. Maybe a more static rain or some adjustments to the rain while the character is rotating would be beneficial.
Dear Ashes of Creation Development Team,
After exploring the recent Commissions Preview, I find the integration of side quests, and story arcs to be a promising approach towards creating a dynamic, player-driven world. The idea that these quests not only contribute to character development but also have tangible effects on the game's world, particularly through node progression, is intriguing and aligns well with the game's vision of a living, breathing MMORPG environment.
Looking at similar systems in other games, like the "contracts" in Throne and Liberty right now. The system is not as advanced as here but visually similar.
Every day, you accumulate the right to take on a contract, with up to 10 contracts accruing per day (up to a maximum of 60). Then, from a list with a similar interface, you select a contract (with 8 choices available). Once you've chosen one, you can refresh the list to look for another one that suits you better in terms of rewards and location. You can take on and complete up to 5 contracts simultaneously. Completing them may reward you with a loot box from which you can obtain a higher-level contract for dungeon quests.
However, this system, while it may seem acceptable at first glance, has become tedious to all the players I've spoken with in our guild, due to its repetitiveness. Every day, you're essentially doing the same contracts over and over. Many have accumulated over 60 contracts, and are simply sick of them. Yes, you can take contracts in different locations to make it not so routine, but it doesn't change the fact that it becomes a monotonous routine that becomes very tiresome after a month of play, with daily tasks like killing 10 mobs here, another 10 there, 20 more in another place, and collecting two chests every single day.
However, as a player with a strong preference for PvP content, I have concerns about the potential for PvE-centric Commissions to overshadow PvP activities. The notion that player actions can significantly impact the game world is exciting, but I believe offering parallel paths for PvP progression, similar in impact to PvE Commissions, would enrich the game's depth and cater to a broader player base. Incorporating PvP-oriented tasks on a separate commission board, perhaps with comparable time investments and rewards, could ensure that both PvE and PvP players have meaningful ways to contribute to and experience the world of Verra.
In summary, while the Commissions system has the potential to significantly enhance the Ashes of Creation experience, I encourage you to consider the following recommendations:
Introduce a PvP-focused commission board to offer balanced progression paths for all play styles. Its really very important for PvP players.
Ensure a variety of Commission types to avoid the pitfalls of repetitive gameplay, possibly by incorporating unpredictable elements or special events that can surprise and engage players.
Thank you for your dedication to creating an immersive and evolving world in Ashes of Creation. I look forward to seeing how the game develops and how player feedback, including concerns from PvP enthusiasts like myself, is integrated into the game's evolution.
I have some minor comments and questions.
Voice acting:
I understand that budget and time constraints limit the implementation of full voice acting. However, introducing brief starting voice interactions for NPCs would significantly enhance the immersion. Simple on-click reactions like "Good day to you," "Hello," "Moo," or "Huh?" would bring the world to life without requiring complete voice acting for all text.
NPC interactions:
Similar to the previous point, having NPCs turn their bodies or heads towards the player when interacted with may seem like a small change but could greatly enhance immersion.
Quest Objective Circle on the Map:
I suggest locating quest destinations through textual clues rather than relying on markers. However, once the player physically reaches the destination, having the quest objective circle permanently appear on the map could serve as a helpful quality-of-life feature.
Event pop-up:
From an immersion perspective, I don't necessarily prefer the pop-up to appear when I am in the proximity of the event; however, I should at least be able to see visual clues in the distance before the pop-up appears.
Rain:
It seems you chose to implement the rain as a 'rain filter' attached to the player's camera rather than simulating rain in the game world. I'm curious about how this would function when the player is under cover or inside a house. Does the rain filter switch off in such scenarios? If so, wouldn't the rain also stop outside, making it impossible to see through windows, doors, or cave entrances?
As a preview it was okay, I would liked to see a preview of different dificulty commissions shown.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
How many different expieriences I can get from it. How much I would enjoy this doing it solo vs with friends.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
Concerns... How much other groups can interfire while I am doing these in the open world. I enjoy some friction but not too much.
Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Not in other games, but What I would add if there is not there alredy is commissions that send you far from your node.... Like epic level commissions.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
Pretty good, I would like some voice acting but for me is not really mandatory.
Thx Guys!
For the general quests about killing 10 minotaurs and other such kill/ gather x quests, I would consider having them repeatable and denoted on the world map. I would like to be able to open my map and just see the areas I need to go to do these generic quests. Also, making them repeatable means I can open my map, go to the area, and grind for as much time as I want.
For higher difficulty quests, like kill a named elite mob or do a dungeon, I think it is a good idea to get those quests in a central hub area. This could make it easier to find others to do that quest and to assemble a party before heading out.
I thought it was great, I like the option to interact with a system like this.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system?
I like the dynamic concept of it, the options to choose what I want to do, rather than being restricted to specific set NPC quests.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview?
What really excites me is seeing the way the mobs behave, the skills they have, the way they interact with the player, it's not just a bunch of predictable auto attacks, I thought that I was amazing. I also *LOVED* the way the minotaur would summon spectral beasts to fight for them, the animation of it looked amazing. I also loved the weather/rain effect. I also loved the backstory to these interactions/commissions.
My only critique of that is that the spectral summons just completely disappear with the minotaur that summoned them dies. It looks odd... like one moment they are there, the next *blip* they are gone. There needs to be some kind of fade (or exploding) effect when they die.
Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Yes, but they are not as good as what I saw in Ashes of Creation showcase, so I am really excited to see it in game.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview?
I thought it was great, it was really well done, makes me even more excited to play the game
Keep up the great work!
The question shouldn't be about whether or not quests/commissions should be shareable, that should be a definite yes.
The real issue should be ensuring that there are mechanics in place to prevent the kind of issue we saw in games like ESO, New World, and even GW2, where you end up with giant zerg trains of players just grinding through most of the open world content. Removing a lot of the social aspect (as it becomes more about blitzing through each area as quickly as possible) as well as destroying any chance of that content being challenging/enjoyable. When you log in and see messages in global chat along the lines of " XP Quest chain starting in 30 mins, 10 spots still available, pst for invite/summon!!!!" then you know it's time to just burn it to the ground and start over.
WoW and Lotro were good examples of how to prevent that kind of mentality. They both utilised systems that prevented players from progressing group or solo quests if they were in a raid, not to mention other penalties such as reduced xp gain.
I'd love to see similar systems put in place for AoC, hopefully they'll be quite strict with the penalties too. I'd say something like an 80% xp reduction whilst in raid, as well as being unable to progress any group or solo quests whilst in the raid is a great starting point.
Something I'd love to see in regards to commissions, are built in triggers to expand the quests that branch off the main commission you pick up whilst in town. For example, you accept a commission to search for a missing merchant. Whilst following the path he was last seen on, you find another NPC who requests assistance in locating a rare flower that has healing properties, which the NPC needs to aid a sick family member. The flower, and the merchant are located in roughly the same area, and as the player nears this general location, they find a ranger who has been wounded. They warn you the area is crawling with spiders who have appeared in large numbers recently, and ask your assistance in finding out why. This leads to a new quest chain that involves multiple steps, such as killing spiders to collect a few venom sacks (to make anti-venom) which then becomes important later in the quest when you are eventually tasked with clearing a spider nest/defeating the spider queen inside the nest, etc.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Commissions system? The weather change due to a boss spawning is really awesome to see and the fact that other quests will pop up when the weather is changed is also a really cool concept and i know someone like my wife who loves just wandering around doing quests is going to really like this concept ( I also like this type of random quests).
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Commissions Preview? I did not like the boss being wiped by the lightning strikes. I feel that if the boss is causing the weather change then the boss should either be immune or buffed by the lightning strikes. Even if a lightning strike were to heal it i feel that would make the boss fight more fun and harder as well which i feel would be much better then just oh it was killed by the lightning.
How do you feel about the way Commissions, side quests, and story arcs worked together during the Commissions Preview? I feel that the whole setup is working and seems very fluent while interacting with it. Personally i would like it to be a little harder when looking for the side quests. Example text popped up saying there was a minotaur lurking in the bushes or something like that. The minotaur was just out in the open. Seemed a little contradictory there since we will get a notification about something happening around us I will much rather enjoy looking for like a shaking bush or something instead of reading that text then seeing the guy standing there.
Hide the actual number AND make it random, only show something like "Kill boars".
One player will kill 5 and that will complete this quest, but another player will get to kill 15.
1. This creates a mystery with each quest.
2. It will create a vastly different experiences. Let's say an unlucky guy gets a number of 50 boars to kill and will give up and miss out the subsequent chain event. On next playthrough he will have a different experience if he discovers the chain after it. Or another example - he will later see an awesome gear on a person and ask the details about acquisition...he discovers it's from that boar quest...then asks for a help in chat for people who are of similar unlucky nature and go on a boar kill group with them...
3. This creates different material disposition among players. Everyone killing 10 boars will have approx. the same amount of fangs. No demand/supply among them, while on the other hand we get this effect, if fangs are required for crafting.
Coming into this love stream I was hoping to see innovation on how quests are displayed in the map. I don't like quest markers shown on the map, I think it leads to xp maximisation gameplay which is boring. Doesn't sit with the risk/ reward philosophy, it's just freebies. That said, I don't have good ideas for you, don't want to go too far in the other direction where figuring out how to do a quest is time consuming and also boring. One solution is keep it as is but put Easter eggs in the quest text to leads to a bonus outcome that little co-ordinate following robots will miss out on.
One other thought is, could you allow freehold owners with a tavern to mirror the billboard to decentralise the quest pick up locations with a split benefit to freehold, player and zone.
A commissions board is a welcome change from walking around town talking to 10 different NPCs who's only purpose is to hand you a quest. An "intelligent" town board that funnels people towards waiting zone events is a great idea. However...this needs to take into account overpop as well. Perhaps some predictive logic based around how many people have accepted the quest and are in the quest area? Once a threshold has been reached, direct players to other events? Might not be an issue until release and overpopulation is serious.
Can zone events be done again? IE, can they repeat in the same zone after a X days (assuming the zone doesn't level up). Or if I do an event in a Level 3 zone, can I go to a different Level 3 zone and do the same event there? Same question for side quests after I go to another, similar zone.
It might be a good idea to give people an indicator that an event is about to happen. If I kill my 10 minotaurs, and I see that an event is about to happen, I might stick around to kill a few more.
Are green/blue/purple quests harder/group-based or just show up less often? I'd prefer they be harder/group-based.
As at least one other person said, if it shows up on the main map give us an option to show it on the mini-map, even if it isn't on by default.