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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.
Comments
1.combat music when fighting dragon boss good
2. good UI for raid nameplates (40)
3. dragon itself looks good
4. like the concept of ranks for AI enemy by star count
5. like dragon's fire breath by air and when he used it on ground
Cons:
1. in the video at 5:55-6:00 I hate the jumping animations. they look flat, not a high jump and falls to ground extremely fast, and looks like no weight in the jump
2. the ghost lady at 18:00 to 18:14 walk animation looks janky, slides up the stairs/ground
3. Either the tank was really good at aggro and required no healing, or the mobs were extremely weak. Steven was afk a lot of the time, LOOTING mobs during fight. HOW WERE THEY STAYING ALIVE
4. For a world boss, the dragon seemed so easy, it had a tail swipe, claw swipe, land/air dragon breath and adds. Either it nees more mechanics or to use his mechanics much more often, world boss fight seemed very lackluster
5. In general i think enemy AI needs more weight to their attacks. New World's monsters, when they hit you omg the stagger/knock back or disrupt were nerve-grating but it FELT SO GOOD AND CHALLENGING. These monster die too fast and or do no damge and when they do hit you, the moves look like they fly right through your character.
6. I'm not sure if 8 man groups are just so OP or the enemy AI is too weak, but they get destroyed, nornal monster should be tough 1/2 starts needs a major overhaul and 3/4 and up need to feel impossible solo but even super tough for 8 man.
7. something about ashe's world and or visuals just seems off, maybe the games characters are too small or don't fit the world. Maybe its lighting, maybe it's just how UE5 is designed, I cant put my finger on it. maybe i just need to play to see for myself. dwarf looks like a small hobit
8. The dragon fight felt very stiff, barely movedd around other than the flying. Was that because the tanks aggroed it in place and tank barely moved... idk
9. when dragon died, it didnt need to fly back in air and back to ground. they tend to fall directly to ground head first with body falling right after.
Indifferent:
1. I don't really care if the dragon is staning there waiting for us to engage or moving around, that is probaly heavy animtion on server side and it just is not needed, same with enemy AI. If you want them to roam okay I guess.... It wont break my immersion either path you take. I think people say "its 2024 not 2004" but like... the things their asking yall to make the enemy AI do after reading some of the comments seems far-fected and too big and too much work just for enemy AI idle animation. At the end of the day, just make them tough for group fights, and weight to their attacks, and make them smart; i.e. maybe have then heal each other if they see their ally is low, like in new world and stagger us with a kick or stun us.
ps. I don't know if you ever sseen final fantasy 16 boss fights, but jeewizz they are amazing
A wizard is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Overall its very, very good progress for alpha two. my suggestion come as further improvements to be looked as more refining is done. GOOD JOB
For the event itself that was shown, I'm not sure if there was more of a build up to the POI event triggering, but the event itself was very short. It used maybe 10% of the area of the giant POI that it was in from the look of the map? The enemy designs used were pretty good, I liked the theme with the glowing fire veins that all the enemies had. Since the start of the event is summoning the Lady, maybe include some sort of short (5-10second) channel period to start the event, instead of just pressing F and then oh there's a summoning circle that appears now. Maybe in previous points of the event lead up you needed to collect parts of a focus to start the summon? For defending the Lady portion of the event, it would be cool if there was some sort of competing beam effect between the Lady and the Ancient that better portrayed the point of this event. At it's core however, both portions of this event are simply go to area > kill enemies > move on. I'd like to see a bit of a variety in objectives for an event in a major POI that summons a major boss.
For the dragon itself, I think it would be good to add a bit more of theatrics to it's entrance. I think in MMOs one of it's big draws is when low level players are in an area and high level people are doing some crazy stuff around them. Summoning a dragon could tint the sky a color, when it lands it can light the nearby trees on fire and scorch the area around it's landing spot. The dragon's roar when it summons should be heard across the entire zone it's in. I'd like to see much bigger and longer roars from the dragon that really reverberate in the area. Everyone even remotely nearby should know, people are fighting a dragon.
The combat of the dragon itself was ok, I'd like to see it fleshed out more especially in the first half of the fight with added effects to it's attacks. The tail swipe has this really cool wind up and swing animation, it looks like it has a lot of weight to it. I think something like that should swat players back and include a big knockback effect. A lot of the dragon's attacks didn't seem to have much interaction from a player objective besides not standing in fire, and dodging the fire breath. A giant creature like a dragon should have knock downs, slowing roars, noticeable debuffs that players need to avoid or be hampered in some way. I couldn't tell if it was possible, but the multiple shockwave attacks should be able to be jumped if timed correctly by the players. Another possibility here with a big boss in open world combat, there were multiple pools of water nearby, maybe have it so players can reduce fire DoT time if they run into water. Bring the environment into play for the giant map boss battles, have a ballista nearby that can be repaired and shoot the dragon while it's flying to knock it down. Maybe have some fallen trees that can be used as a one time cover from the fire breath attack. More attacks I'd like to see for the boss battle, is ranged single and aoe attacks. The dragon could fire a volley of fire spit at multiple targets to interrupt casting or apply dots. It could also shoot a giant fire glob into the air that splashes in a big circle that players need to run from. Additionally, the rage/dps check in the later half of the fight is a good addition, but it seems like the boss consumed 11 ads to get 11 dmg stacks? That seems like way too many to be considered a success and at that point I'd expect the boss to start 1 shotting people and it would be a wipe.
Lastly, I'd like to point out the dust particles that were going on in the dragon fight. They seemed to be way over saturated, in any of the ranged footage the dragon is just a shadowy silhouette, so unless you were in melee range, you really can't see what's going on. Sure from a visual/realistic perspective this may seem right, but from a gameplay perspective I don't think this is a good angle to take. People need to be able to make the enemy out clearly especially if their are attack animations that need to be timed. I think the blanket dust saturation needs to be toned way back, if there are pockets of dense dust I think that could be fine, or during certain attacks a dust cloud appears temporarily, that would be fine too.
Thanks for the great showcase and keep up the good work!
also the fire breath while flying should leave a trail of fire that damages people on the ground for some time and maybe in the 2nd phase make him do 3 without landing and jumping up again or maybe instead of a straight line he goes all around or in spiral ...etc
in fact why does he land he should strafe or turn in the air and continue spitting fire
ngl i thought the dragon would put himself on fire and start charging damaging players and leaving fire trails or maybe gets on fire jumps in the air and dive bomb a decent aoe
they have said that they are making ashes a relatively hard MMO. and from what I saw today I am overjoyed that they seem to be living up to that promise.
I also really enjoyed the model and animations of Firebrand. personally I'd like the boss to operate at a higher pace. but I'm sure I'll get plenty of hectic high paced fights at higher levels so I'm not fussed about it.
when it comes to the Citadel then my opinion is mixed. the art and the environment was amazing (I love that the ruined area outside will get more gristly as well). but the act of storming the citadel seemed very simple with little complexity in mechanics or sudden surprise threats that could knock you out of pace, that you would need to react to.
I'm not saying that everything needs such complexities but I like to be on my toes. so I'd love to see more encounters with elite mobs and events that could keep me on them.
- Some mobs should walk around or have idle animations or something. This looked very static.
- Fog was, especially with the bright light rays, a bit much. Maybe its not as bad when you play yourself, but it didnt feel real.
- Combat looked interesting
- Difficulty level seemed to easy/not challenging. I dont want WoW AoE killfest, but the mobs looked more like a damage sponge than a threat.
- I would have prefered to have a bossfight at the end of the event too. Not just fighting the waves and have it end without a climax. (Sure the climax was the dragon.. but it didnt feel satisfying)
- The amount off battle rezzes was too high in my opinion. Maybe give it a 1 or 5 min CD so that it matters (more) when someone dies. Like this, it felt like dying is a minor inconvenience. I mean its the open world. You could make a corpserun.
- For an open world lvl25 bossfight the mechanics were fine, but we need harder ones in the game too. These mechanics are too easy for MMO Veterans. Ashes is probably not going to be a PvE-Raid-Focussed-MMO which is a good thing imo, but some challenge outside of numbers would be great.
- The amount of lootdrops seem a bit low depending on how often you can fight him. Especially when this is a boss you encounter while leveling, you want to have a higher chance to get something from it than 10%~ish
-claw and tail swipes (any physical impact) need to send people flying and interrupt skills. I felt this way about Tumok's tree charge as well. There are knock back skills and status' like staggered. I feel like they should be put to use with any large mob impact attacks. Maybe a well timed block could prevent the status and falling over but you still get moved back
- I also feel as though most animals would try harder to not be surrounded. I think the dragon is lacking a quick hop away and turn type animation when people start to pile up around it.
Overall it looks great though! Love the direction
The Citadel seemed a bit lackluster. I don't feel like there was enough happening during the protect the lady battle. I feel like portions of the party should've had to move off to do objectives during protecting the lady or maybe add more spots to protect the lady at. Once the she moves on to the next spot you have to fight the Ancient on the way over or something. The waves are a good idea but there needs to be more.
12:30: The glare is really bad and it's funny that Steven liked the worst part of this video, lol. The excessive glare, brightness, and fog have undone all the good work to make the scenario beautiful. The scenario is the main feature, and AoC's scenario is very impressive, please dont spoil with ugly glare embracing fog making everything colorless and whitish.
The mobs' reactions when triggered were great.
Ice bolts shot by LivingSkillIssue are fantastic; they curve instead of going in a straight line!
The scenario is exceptionally well-made; the floors, walls, trees, and roots are all excellent; good job!
I don't like this fog at all because it makes everything white. The fog hides the beautiful scenario and characters. We want to see all the vibrant, colorful details, not a white, colorless scene. I’m not sure how to include fog while preserving AoC's beauty, take it as a challenge... is it possible making the fog less dense near the camera and more dense at distance just like in real life? Right now this fog is a fat no, right now the way it is, it is competing against all the artwork in the game.
The dragon fight was amazing, 10/10, stellar. Everything was great, and I miss knockbacks when the dragon slaps people and performs tail swipes. It would be better if people were knocked to the ground and maybe even rolled on the ground a couple times. Would be fun if the ground was on fire for a few seconds more and set the players on fire for a bit if they pass by.
Most special effects need dynamic timing. Flat timing makes them look like PowerPoint animations, especially stuff like boosts. Special effects that flow at a constant speed appear as if they're in a slideshow. For example, the yellow spell cast on the floor and the yellow cone of light illuminating players need dynamic timing. Effects should vary in speed, starting fast and then slowing down, or vice versa, or with a pattern like fast>slow>fast. Avoid flat-speed animations; use dynamic timing to make effects more engaging, like a conductor moving his baton for a symphony.
Hopefully we will be able to customize the height of the party loot window, using scrollbars and not seeing many items is not cool.
Great preview, this is going well.
He also said that he was playing on GodMode for the sake of the stream/gameplay video. Hence, it did not/could not take damage has he walked through fire, got hit with fire, tail-swiped etc.
Aside from this, so many posters have fantastic ideas and suggestions. Can't wait to be in game with some of you!
So if I was in a real fight with a dragon in this setting, I would suspect that some dust would get kicked up into the air, the sun might be in my eyes, mud and dirt in my mouth, the smell of blood and singed hair in the air, and all that stuff would part of a battle with a dragon. I LOVED IT. Don't change anything about this. It adds another element to the play. Don't stand in FIRE and stand where there sun isn't in your eyes. IT's not a WoW raid with perfect ability rotation and everyone stand here and then when the boss does this, you all move there, etc. Raid rotation, boss mechanics, boring. The environment aspect is great! The AI of the dragon was fun! The design is awesome and I couldn't wait to get in there and heal! (Maybe the raid group should plan their time-of-day attack hour better.)
I agree with much of what has been said about the "spammability" of the battle rez. It should be tied to a purchasable expensive relic item, quest line, use number during a raid, use once per player per raid duration (one guy died like 10 times), longer cooldown, something that has some greater cost to the player/players than just mana or extended cast time. Many times the raid should have wiped and it did not. Many were standing in the fire, not moving out of the blast area, etc. Standing in front of a dragon in a raid fight is like rule #1 what NOT to do. At one point I thought, where's all the ranged players?? In other words, players not playing well should die in a world boss raid and stay dead after one resurrect.
Additionally, no healer with all of that going on should have to "find" a player to rez. I realize there may be a range of the spell factor involved, but I should be able to click on their name and hit the ability button and they rez. NORMALLY, next to me, NOT at the place they died. I stand in a safe place and rez them to me, else if they're in a place that killed them (i.e., fire) and I rez them where they died (with one hp), they WILL die again. Since I can't see them on the battlefield (Hence Steven saying, "Where are you?) I wouldn't know the condition of their surrounding. Frustrating at best - especially with such a costly spell ability.
I didn't like how long the Lady of the Rose channel was. It could be about 3/4 or 1/2 the time. It kind of dragged on for me, the viewer. Also, that well designed demon did nothing but stand there. Seemed like a missed opportunity to spend some of that long channel time engaging with the demon in some way and make the other creatures add. He seemed like a thrown away asset and he looked so cool (what I could see of him.)
Also, the whole walking (or floating) part from the Lady's summon location to the alter needs some work. It felt so out of place. She needs to say something epic...you know, "Thanks great adventurers for summoning my spirit to protect this sacred place! We must drive the evil out together!" She screams some battle cry and runs to the alter. She should be bigger and look like some great warrior captain.
I was disappointed that I didn't get to see more of the Citadel inside. Seems like the whole encounter could be moved deeper into the depths (if there are any) of the keep. Of course is other time is spent with another quest which satisfies this, then awesome. But, looked like a beautifully designed place to only see such a little of it.
I think Firebrand (or bosses like him/her) need to be doing something opposed to simply standing and waiting to be attacked. I dunno, flying around the Citadel or killing sheep. Maybe landing ATOP the walls of the keep? Posturing, roaring, preening, something.
You'll are doing a fantastic job. I loved it (aside from what I've mentioned) and really felt like I wanted to get in there and play. The Citadel look real, the battlefield had the right vibe, the toons/animations look good, etc.
Firebrand was pretty good. I loved the raw aesthetics of it, everything from the model to the animations and VFX were on point. Most of my gripes are down to polish -- shockwaves should make your character stagger, big attacks should send players flying if they get hit, and most importantly; the boss is in desperate need of visual feedback for taking damage. The entire fight it looked like he didn't even notice he was being attacked. Have him flinch and toss his head in annoyance, have his scales get scorched up and damaged as the fight goes on, give him a limp when he hits 1/4 health -- look at the Monster Hunter series for a masterclass on visual damage feedback.
To be honest, not much really appealed to me in the preview. It looked pretty boiler plate. Go here, kill things, defend this. It would be cool to see more interactivity throughout the zone -- barricaded chokepoints you have to break through, traps, a chance for random ambushes, destructable walls that reveal hidden treasure, etc. etc.
Visual clutter remains my biggest worry for the game in general. It's impossible to have a visceral, animation-driven combat system when said animations are constantly hidden behind an opaque wall of spell effects and UI elements -- especially in close quarters with large numbers of players and enemies. I understand the VFX still need to be tuned and the interface will be customizable, but the clutter has been an issue for years and we're getting very close to having players in the actual game. I think it would be a good idea to put some time into getting that sorted out sooner rather than later.
I like alot of what were shown today, there are things like music that I feel are on point.
I love the mechanics shown but I would like bosses to have 2nd phases idk if this is possible but thats an idea I think is cool.
The skybox should change around the zone when the fight starts so it creates immersion for players.
Class icons over player heads would be helpful too, so healers can target fallen allies or just to be cleaner in the excecution.
What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand?
Multiple mechanics are what excites me the most. I like complexity when you are rewarded acordingly so I am a little worry about the loot system atm.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview?
I just hope dungeons are all middle to large sizes so it feels like an adventure (lord of the rings like) and idk how big the citadel really is.
Are there similar areas or enemies you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Cant remember the names but Elden Ring and also some of the dragons in Wukong. I feel some of these souls like mechanics could be huge for mmos moving forward.
Dragon ground fire AoEs are easy to see compared to ground textures I.E the magma circles and the circular multi fire ring AoE.
The wind up attacks of the dragon body slam and flying flame line breath give enough time for people to evacuate if they are paying attention and look interesting/add dynamic life to the fight.
Dragon having minions it can summon and sacrifice for damage stacks based on survived npc's is a good straightforward mechanic in a situation were there is no current npc warning dialogue.
The dragon flying in from the sky and landing with dust coming up was cool.
I liked the simple color coded raid ui very easy to understand.
Music had a nice Godzilla kinda start to it and as the fight progresses becomes more horror slasher themed which is nice. Maybe when the dragon gets to about 10% hp the music slowly swaps to a hopeful and heroic tune like a light at the end of a tunnel kinda thing. Play around with it music can really set a fight apart from other similier mobs/scenarios.
Cons: The first packs of mobs were uninterested in the players killing their fellow mobs nearby and line of sight currently seems very forgiving. The ranger(?) pulled a mob in one of the fights and either the tank ignored it or the mob had no interest in whatever generates aggro in the current tank skills (bug?)
I found the glint dust color indicator for rarity to be a bit distracting having 2-3 colors on the screen while player abilities stacked ontop of those bodies making it feel cluttered. I assume the UI that we can customize might allow us to pick corpse loot colors or have alternate looks (small sparkles, yellow outline, white dots, small sunwells) for future options.
Lady of the Rose fight happening in small enclosed space made it hard to tell what attacks were player attacks and what was enemy npc attacks.I.E. if the fire elements used fire AoEs on the ground I didn't see it or saw very light flames (not as pronounced as the dragon ground magma). The fight also seemed to drag a bit and I'm not sure if its because the characters were undergeared for the encounter or the mobs just had that much more health then the squishy mobs outside the cathedral area.
The moment the relic egg was picked up nothing happened. Would be cool if a large roar could be heared from a distance and the area starts to get black clouds in the sky. Setting the atmosphere of the coming fight and announcing to nearby players of the event without a text prompt. (setting the tone for world building)
When the dragon lands it does a weird open mouth forward charge before stopping, but I don't think we see that in the fight (reminds me kinda like classic Fatalis forward charge from Monster Hunter)
Dragons idol animation eating at the ground doesn't make sense if there is no animal corpse to eat from. I recommend having stand on two legs and breathe a fire blast into the air after landing before setting back down to all fours and then have it wander the area.
If the area is set with black/grey clouds once the fight starts maybe the dragon can do a cool fly upward animation and do a big arena style flamethrower causing the water in the swamp to evaporate and turn cracked and dry and the trees can be turned black and lose their foliage. It lands and starts the fight encounter where the music starts to play.
Tail swipes and claw swipes would be nice to see the cone of where those can hit you exactly to avoid damage.
All in all good start to an alpha fight and has clear prompt to work around and play with. Just needs a bit of pizazz and mob balancing and you'll have a proper boss fight on your hands.
Adds
Addition mobs are quite generic in most mmos but it might be refreshing to see some smart moving or positioning from them, maybe being able to strafe and dodge a little, ranged units keeping some distance or attempts at kiting unless pushed, not just a brain rot encounter like most mmos.
Dragon
Current mechanics
The mechanics included so far were anything from great to alright.
Tail Swipe would be nice to see knock back especially if there is environmental damage around so players be careful! (tanks have reduced knockback maybe). Needs a bit of a punch to it.
Fire scorch from above Visually stunning as is but it feels like it has a long build up and easy to anticipate. Maybe wider spread of fire with the edges of fire across the floor doing less damage and no debuffs like dots while the center of the strip does more damage and applies dot or increased damage taken by fire. Perhaps leave a temporary path of fire that hurts players that walk into it.
Fire breath side to side This could be twice as fast from one side to the other.
Ground Quake Adding slow or nimble down would make sense, temporary Jaggered terrain requiring you jump or manoeuvre through it, something more.
Fire rings A bit easy to avoid, maybe a smidge more difficult and a bit more connected with its other segments, especially if there is a lot mobility moves and knock up from this might be cool. More intense fire visual for this too.
Needed Mechanics
Outside of what was mentioned above throughout most of the fight it felt a little repetitive with not a lot of situational progression as the fight went on. The same moves were used over and over despite dropping the targets HP and I believe it would be good to see multiple phases (3 is a good number imo) on top of what we have now to demonstrate more epic and challenging features from this boss as the battle gets increasingly dire for both players and the boss as you progress through its hp and even possibly the raids hp. We did see adds spawn however, it felt a bit lackluster and not very climatic also a bit "placeholdery" cant quite put my finger on it. It was definitely a bit disappointing for my anticipation watching the dragon go from 2 thirds hp to 1 third hp and not a lot changed. I think adding phases keeps the combat engaging and interesting as well as keeping you on your toes. A grand finale in form of large and majestic mechanic when the boss comes to its end is greatly needed. Example (just spit balling/brain storming), Phase 1 as normal with all mechanics shown, phase 2 it could engulfs its self in flames or a violent ember storm around it elaborating and enhancing the dynamics of its previous mechanics, Maybe the scorch from above leaves permanent fire on the ground, the fire breath from side to side becomes a big cone blast and the progressive fire rings are twice as fast and causes the earth beneath to be flung up into the causing major knock up and as the molten pieces fall back down like meteors that you have to avoid. phase 3 as final ditch effort burn through all its remaining resources and life force to give us the grand finale, perhaps a huge move the whole raid needs to pitch in to defend or maybe high burst of dps in order to avoid a cataclysmic event, almost wipe mechanic. It would be generally good to have this concept in any other boss we may see in the future.
Visuals, environment and atmosphere:
The entry of the dragon was nice to see it fly across the sky into the raid but after that hes kinda just chilling there and there is no atmosphere building outside the queued music, there needs to be more. Heat releasing from his body, as he lands, trees set a blazed, the ground quickly becomes dry and chard as vegetation in the area burns up far into the surrounding landscape, the large puddles of water evaporates into the air adding a thick layer of fog and ash obscuring vision and causing the surrounding sky to turn red from the fires burning around. With the sky now heavy, having his flames break through the fog or even glow through the fog from above just makes the encounter visually intense and pleasing. Having this would build up that sense of power and danger from the boss as well as really setting the tone of the fight. Even from these new visuals adds opportunity to add nuances such as the previous lakes are safe spots where no ticking damage is received or the exterior hot areas reduce mana and health regeneration. Fire damage is a bit stronger, nature damage is weaker a bit weaker.. Im obviously spit balling again but its there to explain the point of environmental change affecting gameplay. When the dragon dies the environment changes slowly dissipates leaving little flickers fire on trees, ashes and embers, chard ground and the heat, colour and fog in the sky lifts.
Seeing the heat waves off the fire is very pleasing and sick to see, defo play with this more.
UI
A bit of a small niche preference here, wasn't very satisfying seeing the loot from the dragon in scroll-able window, would be nice to see it display items that drop with a sense of theatrics, more so for rarer and legendary items.
Maybe markers dont need to be static? For example, attack marker 2 swords clashing in the same style of the axe show, A pulsing shield for defense marker Or maybe even a war banner as a marker its self.
Conclusion
Despite my heavy criticism I think the team has done a phenomenal job so far, its looking so great so early on, well done guys! I know this is still early access and in development and elements are bound to change. I understand some of whats includes is placeholder and theses are entirely my opinions but thats my "2 cents" haha
Also if your intending being able to constantly battle rezz people (which is fine) i think your should be a minor stacking debuff each time you get rezzed like a 10% stat reduction per rezz for like 3 minutes so you cant constantly rezz people mid fight to keep fight going otherwise people just use the strat throw bodies at it till it dies and keep rezzing
Couple quick other options
- I Like the fly by flamethrower
- Dragon entrance could do with a bit more work mainly scenery, say add some trees in the mote section and when he fly in he breath fire on the tree setting them on fire and when he lands they get knocked over for example
- Feels the tail swipe needs a bit of a CC involved on it aswell wither a knockdown or a bit of a knockback it lacks umm weight/impact (Could be a knockback on heavy armor and knockback and knock down on light armor potentially)
- having a few dead trees in the fight area that get destroyed.knocked down by the boss mechanics could add to the fight too
Nothing to say on the mechanics, very well made this is a solid boss fight, people forget this will also be a PvP encounter so suggestions for extremely detailed mechanics dont take that into account
I did think it is too easy, the elites are not a threat at all, and the boss itself wont be an issue for a full raid of lvl 25s, based on what PI said they had lvl 10 gear so this is a very Negative for me
I am worried that devs are underestimating players and we will roll through content easily, please consider making these harder
Also, after finishing the Citadel of the Steel Bloom and dealing with the Ghost Lady, the choice to kill the Dragon, who was probably just trying to retrieve its egg, felt like a major "What the heck?" moment. It came off as almost comic book villain levels of evil - taking the egg from those who stole it and then killing the Dragon when it comes back for it seemed insanely cruel, especially if Dragons are meant to be intelligent. Personally, I would have preferred giving the Dragon the egg and unlocking a Dragon-related quest instead. That would have made for a much more compelling and rewarding outcome!
Regarding the fight itself: it felt like we were mostly reacting to what the boss was doing - like its fire breath and stomps - without the boss reacting to our strategies. The fight was fun in a basic way, but I think it could be improved with mechanics where the boss adapts to our actions. For instance, if the boss changed phases or showed weak points when we were attacking, it would make things more engaging. I really liked how Firebrand’s firebreath swept across a wide area, hitting a bunch of us when we grouped up too much. Can’t wait to see how future bosses with similar mechanics turn out!
Encounters like the Dragon fight also desperately need some impactful music that really makes you feel like what you're doing matters. The music was okay-ish but felt very generic and easily forgettable. This made the relatively simple fight against Firebrand feel less enjoyable, as the music was just kinda there. I liked the animations quite a lot, but the Dragon’s landing animation after flying could be smoother, with the Dragon bending its legs more. The sounds were on the right track, though personally, I’d enjoy a bit more oomph when the Dragon crashes down after flying and during stomps - the rest sounded pretty solid.
Guild Wars 2’s bosses, like Tequatl the Sunless and the Karka Queen, are great examples of dynamic encounters. They adjust their tactics and force players to focus on weak spots, which makes the battles more engaging and challenging. I’d love to see future bosses incorporate similar mechanics.
I’m seeing a lot of potential here and really appreciate all the dedication put into even the smallest details. Keep up the great work!
There’s confusion in our guild about whether Firebrand is the Citadel boss or an open-world boss. My understanding is that Firebrand is an open-world boss, separate from the Citadel.
The Citadel of the Steelbloom had a promising setup, but it lacked impactful storytelling, interactions, and a sense of immersion. For example, key characters like the Lady of the Rose appeared without context, and her sudden presence didn’t contribute to the lore or the player's connection to the dungeon. The dungeon seemed short and somewhat incomplete, likely due to it being in Alpha, but even in this state, the design felt lacking in creativity and excitement. There were standard mobs, elites, and the ritual scene, but nothing stood out as particularly innovative or engaging. I felt that the Citadel lacked that spark to make it a memorable dungeon experience.
Firebrand, on the other hand, was a standout. His design, impactful attacks, and mechanics showcased a well-balanced and dynamic open-world boss fight. The visuals were fantastic, and his movements across the battlefield added a strategic layer to the encounter, keeping players on their toes and ensuring the fight felt lively and engaging. The fight’s scale, with Firebrand moving over a large area, added to the excitement and made positioning crucial, setting a strong standard for how open-world bosses should feel in the game.
**What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand?**
Firebrand’s fight mechanics and design are excellent examples of what makes open-world encounters exciting. His movement, impactful attack patterns, and overall battlefield presence kept the fight dynamic, requiring constant awareness and strategic positioning. This kind of approach brings a lot of excitement to player interactions, making every moment of the fight feel significant and challenging.
For the Citadel, there’s potential to create similarly engaging gameplay by introducing more dynamic and evolving interactions. One idea is for NPCs, like the Lady of the Rose, to play a more involved role, such as leveling up after each encounter within the dungeon. As the NPC levels up, she could gain new abilities that help the group in combat, eventually aiding against PvP groups in the open world after the dungeon is completed. This would add a unique twist to the dungeon experience, making NPC interactions feel meaningful and directly tied to the players’ success.
**Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Citadel of the Steelbloom & Firebrand Preview?**
One of the main concerns with the Citadel is the lack of depth in its mechanics and storytelling. The ritual scene where players have to protect an NPC felt like a missed opportunity; it lacked creativity and didn’t connect well with the overall narrative. There was no sense of why we were doing what we were doing, and the absence of dialogue or backstory made the encounter feel disconnected. To improve this, the dungeon could include more interactive elements, such as moments where players have to assist the NPC during the ritual or where certain group members are pulled away to complete specific tasks that add to the story.
Adding alarm mechanics, where mobs could alert others if not dealt with swiftly, would also introduce a new layer of strategy, forcing players to stay vigilant and adapt their approach on the fly. Dialogue during key encounters, especially when enemies or bosses appear, would add significant narrative weight, making each fight feel like part of a larger story rather than just a sequence of combat scenarios.
Firebrand’s design shows the right direction—his mechanics were engaging, the fight was well-paced, and his presence on the battlefield was impactful. The balance felt right, and his ability to move around kept the encounter fluid and intense. This level of detail and thought should also be applied to the Citadel, ensuring that both open-world bosses and dungeons feel equally rewarding and challenging.
**Are there similar areas or enemies you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!**
Firebrand’s fight reminded me of some of the best aspects of open-world bosses in other successful MMOs, such as the fluid movement, strategic attack patterns, and the need for constant player adaptation. These elements make such encounters memorable and enjoyable. However, the Citadel’s current setup feels too reminiscent of standard dungeon encounters that we’ve seen many times before, lacking unique mechanics or a compelling narrative hook that makes it stand out.
In other games, dungeons that are memorable often have strong storytelling elements, unique enemy behaviors, and mechanics that require players to engage deeply with the environment and the characters within it. The Citadel could greatly benefit from more meaningful NPC interactions, alarm mechanics, and tasks that require teamwork beyond just combat. Adding these elements would not only set the Citadel apart but also elevate the overall dungeon experience to match the excitement seen in Firebrand’s encounter.
Much agreed on this! This and the bard encounter they had just seemed too weak. I’m hoping we can have lots more feedback from a wider skill level in A2 that supports our sentiments about ease.
However I was very surprised about the shown gameplay. You barely entered the fortress, there was no in game quest exploration, no voice over of the lady and also the narrative was weird. You free the lady, do this ritual, get the egg and then you have to kill the dragon mom?
The fight itself was a bit underwhelming.
The dragon was way too static and also visually not very impressive. Guild wars world bosses are in comparison on a much much much higher level.
If you have this giant field, please make him move. And make the model bigger, he was so tiny.
One big issue I had watching the livestream were respawn points locations, I hope they were placed so close only for stream purpose and in the final game they will be moved far away from the boss. I felt that this fight were almost impossible to wipe because people were able to return after death in matter of seconds.
It would be even worse for PvP balance (I hope bosses like this will be worth fighting for by best guilds) as respawns like this would likely cause deadlocks as any side won't have time to refocus on the boss fight.
Overall feeling is good.
Dragon animation should be less symmetric. When it turns in place, the model just rotates. It should bend it's body and tail, move legs... Sometime should rise just one wing. The wings should have no holes in it. Don't copy the holes in wings from other games. Those make no sense.
Else I liked the dragon fight and combat. Might not be as in some "modern" games "in this day and age" but works for me.
People seem to want more alive NPCs here in such events. I want more alive NPCs outside everywhere else, doing their stuff.
Things like light from the sun coming into player's face and making things harder to see is important during PvP, to use it against your opponent. But is more important in action rather than tab targeting.
If the gameplay is tuned more toward PvE, I will let background music play. Else if PvP is often present, I turn music off. I would do the same with the cosmetics. Please add a toggle option for that.
Maybe also options to customize spell effects.
I am not sure about the fog. I like fog but somehow here doesn't feel a good fog. I noticed last year too, in the forest when the first ranger met some minotaurs. It doesn't bring immersion. Valheim fog on sea is a good fog. Else I don't remember having fog. If there was, that was a good fog too! Make it fluffy or not present at all because you seem to have difficulties finding a good solution.
I am happy I can soon try things out and give more reliable feedback.
Considering this game will have mostly non-instanced dungeons and boss fights, you guys should seriously think about having boss lockout mechanics either at the beginning of the fight or in the middle. What I mean by that is a temporary barrier that appears around the boss area/room which prevents players from entering or leaving for some time. This would force opposing parties that are contesting a boss to commit and/or lockout groups that arrived late giving the first group time to fight/defeat the boss. It would also limit a zergs ability to swoop in and overrun smaller groups, giving them a chance to actually complete it. The barrier could be a giant door shutting, a golden or blue magical see through barrier in a large radius, or in this instance a ring of fire that is created by the dragon after it flys in a circle and breathes down fire at a certain stage.
The area where the dragon was fought didn't have a good theme. Most good boss fights are in a place that compliments the boss itself. I imagine it being more flat and rocky without puddles surrounded by burn scarred ground and trees. The quest stage prior to the dragon also felt anti-climactic.. like it wasn't sufficient, there weren't enough stages. There was that giant keep which was barely explored and you killed some enemies, but then you came right back outside and the dragon appeared.
There was too much visual clutter when you combine everything, the UI, spell animations, and health bars. A lot of it seems to be coming from the Health Bars and ability VFX such as Cleric's descending light beams and the light bomb, Fighter also with their yellow glowing attacks and cataclysm. The blue bubble with the banner didn't look right. Remove the banner and make the bubble more circular with a defined radius. It wasn't clear at all what effect it had and in what area.
I know we talked about loot drops in previous discussions. I hope there is plenty of materials that can be gathered from the Dragon itself for crafting gear like the dragons heart, dragon scales, bones, claws and teeth. There should be a significant amount considering it's a massive creature and that would help make up for the lack of drops as a reward.
1) Overall visual clarity with spell effects looks great, player spell effects does not hinder perception, which is really good to see.
2) The dragon looks great, the attacks it has are interesting.
3) The archetype icons look really good, can easily tell what each one is.
4) The spell icons also look really good.
Steel Rose Dungeon things that can be changed/improved:
1) The dungeon overall seems very boring. Go in, kill a bunch of mobs and leave. It doesn't feel challenging or interesting.
2) A dungeon and its bosses needs to have interesting and challenging encounters/mechanics.
3) The mobs protecting the steel citadel seem like just basic minions with bigger hp pools... at one point, one of the mobs was basically being ignored, and that didn't seem to pose any problem. The mobs need to react more, deal more damage, feel more challenging...
4) I am assuming that the lady will have walking animation added, instead of just hovering like she did?.
Dragon encounter things that can be changed/improved:
1) Why are we randomly attacking this dragon? we took its egg and now we want to kill the dragon that the egg belongs to?... the story around this needs to be adjusted, it feels like it doesn't make sense.
2) The dragon needs to have crowd control effects, if it does a swipe, it should send players flying... with its attacks just dealing damage and nothing else, it feels like they have no impact.
3) Again, it feels like just hitting a target with big hp pool... there needs to be more mechanics to it. Maybe a stacking debuff that needs to be cleansed/removed. It just overall feels a bit bland.
Other things that can be changed/improved:
1) Combat resurrect ability needs to have a longer cd... if you can just keep continuously resurrecting anyone that dies, it feels like it removes any consequence of dying.
2) The sun shining at the start preventing you from being able to see properly is not good at all... I understand the realism aspect to it, but firstly in real life it doesn't look anywhere near as bad, and secondly in real life you can put on glasses... in a game you can't do that.
Extraordinary
Suggests for improvements
How do you feel about the Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview?
Pretty good, especially that you took the time to adress the whole Alpha 2 Key situation before going into the showcase is the kind of feedback the community cares about and values a lot as far as I can tell - and I appreciate it too.
The showcase was VERY impressive.
The Q&A was okay though I wasn't too interested in the questions regarding system that we haven't seen at all or for a long time (makes me assume they are still heavily under developement and nothing to focus on for now).
What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand?
We haven't seen too much of the Citadel, but it really looked to me like this is a nice compact area for lots of different activities to take place in. Also the idea that the enemies may change based on the progression of story arcs in the area is really neat.
The music and the sound effects during the Firebrand fight were insane, this felt amazing and really got me into it while watching it, cant wait to experience that myself! Visuals were also quite good I noticed that this time around the visual effects of skills didn't seem too excessive, which I take as a good sign of progress on adjusting that.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview?
Exploring the Citadel definitely get me excited, I love exploring and this truly deserves the name "point of interest" - consider me highly intrerested!
Big applause for the Boss design, attacks of different sorts where recognizable, so that players could react to certain attacks without getting any extra UI flashing or telling them what to do, that really makes for a great trial-and-error based learning curve in an RPG. Really great design, hats off for that.
Are there similar areas or enemies you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
The area and the boss encounter actually reminded me a lot of Dark Souls, it felt gritty, darker than what we had seen in other streams and it felt epic - and to see this change in scenery and atmosphere simply work and feel immersive gave me a lot of confidence in regards to all the things we have yet to see in Verra.
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 Citadel of the Steel Bloom & Firebrand Preview shown during the August Development Update
On the topic of UI: I realized I will need to make use of some accessibilty features during raids because my colorblindness made it hard for me to distinguish enemy and ally health bars, I hope I can make the necessary adjustments for that.
Another thing that I found good was that when looking from different players perspectives we got to see the UI adjusted by that players preferences, so that seems to be working fine, very nice.
I wonder if we can also change the way healthbars look, e.g. for a damage dealer team mate health might be not too interesting so reducing it from a bar down to an orb that empties when health drops might be enough.
As for Bard and Clerics: I liked the very active gameplay the Bard requires, this has been confirmed in this livestream too.
However, it seemed to me like the Cleric isn't as exciting to play as an Archetype, maybe there are still many spells missing but I was under the impression that the Cleric playstyle overall was quite passive. Seeing that he is a master of the life and death domain, it might be an option to design the Archetype in a way where one could maximize the healing and damage potential by having a mechanic in which doing healing spells builds up damage potential and doing damage builds up healing potential or so, to increase the active gameplay of the Cleric. This was definitely the strongest 'negative' point for me in the livestream.
- The excessive fog detracts from the overall visual appeal.
- The brightness and lighting are overly intense, making the game appear bland and washed out.
- The contrast and gamma settings need adjustment to enhance the visual depth and richness.
NPCs & Dragon:
- The era of static NPCs is long gone. Modern games require NPCs that are dynamic and responsive.
- The dragon fight felt lackluster and uninspired. The dragon appeared weak and disoriented, lacking the primal aggression and dominance that should define such a creature. The combat mechanics—selecting a target, standing still, and pressing buttons until the enemy is defeated—are outdated by at least two decades. To engage players, combat needs to be more dynamic, interactive, and challenging.
- The enemy AI is currently too simplistic, offering no real challenge. It feels like you're simply mowing down enemies with little resistance or strategy involved.
Bard:
- The Bard class feels underwhelming and lacks a clear purpose or value within the game. Every time I saw the Bard in action, I questioned its role and contribution to the gameplay experience.
Overall Feel:
- The combat and gameplay give off a strong "been there, done that" vibe. It feels overly safe, lacking the excitement and innovation that could make it stand out. There's nothing particularly fresh or new, leaving the experience feeling predictable and uninspired.
What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand? meh
Are there similar areas or enemies you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Overall it was a very bland dragon. The same mechanics are used in almost every other game. Some of the visual effects of the dragon were cool, like the fire breathing. The rest was very bland.
You have to ask yourself, If you were Jesus Dragon and some thief took your egg, what would you do?
If i were the dragon i certainly wouldn't fly down to the middle of a field and act as if i was reading a book or constipated. Also the dragon was grey or brown, i forget which... thats the best ya got?
Use some imagination, i know its an alpha so i'm sure you'll get it right eventually.
- The dragon model is not unique, but I still fancied it. I still think wings and some movements need more love and attention. It's a huge creature, and its attacks must have more impact, especially tail swipes and landing moves. Behavior before the engagement needs more love. Eating grass is cool, but standing still all this time is not. Move around a little, glare at neraby players, breathe fire menacingly?
- Dragon abilities. I dont want to talk about numbers and damage because these things will be dealt with during alpha.
Burning spots on the ground look unfinished. Players stading in the zone should get ramping up burning that needs to be cleansed either by cleric, potion, or selfbuff. This burning should have distinctive visuals so that clerics can react in time. Secondly, burning ground under water without the latter boiling and evaporating looks strange to say the least.
Only one wave of adds for a raid boss is unserious. And it occurs only on low HP. I think it is reasonable to add one more wave at, say, 70% so that players would get punished for unsuccessful elimination.
A linear attack from above is not scary at all. Animation is great, but impact is pitiful. It is a move with long preparation. Those who fail to get out of the way should be severely debuffed or instakilled.
Ground circles of fire are okay. Maybe rump up the casting speed and radius the lower the dragon's health drops?
Bite and claw attacks seem very repetitive. Easy job for a tank. Maybe give the dragon some lethal moves? Standing up on two legs and crushing down with x3 damage? Add some delayed bites with prone effect if unblocked?
Fire breath. Like other moves, it needs to be more complex. From the stream, I got to the conclusion that it is undodgeble on long distances. And this is great because long-range characters are rarely punished. Hmmm. Maybe give the dragon an indication that it is preparing a fire breath attack. For example, the scales on its belly or neck start to glow with red/orange. Now players are aware that a big move is coming and can use defensive abilities or shields to mitigate damage. In compensation add a stun or burning debuff to fire breath.
Overall right now this dragon feels like childsplay mechanically wise. And im not saying that a midlevel raid boss should be extra complex with precision positioning, lightspeed reactions, gear fireresist management, timegates, enragement, and so on...just...add some teamwork, add actual punishment for mistakes.
- People already mentioned lightning and dust. I agree
- Loot. This is where I am VERY concerned. First of all, as I said many times, full item drops ruin economy and craft. Why can't bosses and raid bosses drop unique mats and recepies? Right now you are separating crafting from raiding. This is bad. Why can't this big dragon drop lots of scales, several fangs, horns, meat, heart, essence, and claws? Noooo, it drops shields, armor, and weapons out of its belly (or ass). Does it have iron deficiency? Poor thing.
Even if the development team is hellbent on fullitem drop couple of trinkets for a 40 player raid is laughable.
- Some other thoughts.
I assume Steven was in godmode.
Resurection with a less than 10-minute cooldown is unacceptable.
Path to the ritual site and the channeling are extra easy and repetitive. Add some action. Add unique mobs that reduce the channeling progress. Make enemy archers focus the ghost. Mix in some special effects or cast made by demon. Because right now this part looks uninspired and dull. Im sorry.