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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
The "Harrowers March" area - Rather than pools of water, change them to pools of black, oily tar. It would add to the gloomy aesthetic and provide environmental hazards/considerations/interactivity for the dragon fight. (Think the La Brea Tar Pits in California)
When wading through the black tar it would slow your movement slightly and make you more susceptible to fire damage (You burn for longer) When the Dragon breathes fire, the pools would light, creating environmental hazards that need to be avoided.
It would make positioning, kiting, melee attacking etc, much more dynamic and interesting. The environment would become part of the fight and look much more epic. Verra should be a stage, not a screen. Bring in interactive elements as much as you can. It makes the world feel so much more alive!
Firebrand - When he "absorbed" from the Flame Minion Mobs and became enraged (gaining 11 stacks) this should be a visible change on the model. A size increase, a red glowing aura and a mega ball of fire! etc. Show the evolution and change through animation and SFX, not just through the UI.
Incorporate more mechanics that require people to work as a group, immersion is important but this is still a game at the end of the day.
The Citadel of The Steel Bloom - Add environmental colour, texture and interactability by having gatherables/fishables/huntables/collectables all over the place!
The water in the courtyard? Filled with special Koi! (If you have a rod) Some super special glowing trees, that can be chopped (If you have an axe) Lots of destructible crates, barrels and vases that contain some Coin or low-level Glint. Some low-level puzzles that reward recipes/maps/lore pages.
The Citadel (like all other POI) should themselves be, jam-packed treasure chests filled with gubbins and goodies. Walking into the main courtyard should be like walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory! You should feel like a kid in a candy store! What to collect? What to gather? There is only so much time! You only have so much space! You only have unlocked certain levels of skill! There is a mob trying to kill me ARGH!
POIs in general - Players should want to return to these places, multiple times for multiple reasons. Night and Day, Different Seasons, Group Numbers and Compositions etc. POIs should be gifts that keep on giving... enigmas, wrapped in riddles, wreathed in mystery and awe. More layers than an onion, more loot than you can carry and perhaps more danger than you (and your merry band of adventurers) can handle!
POIs should be the antithesis of "one and done", they should be "Been there... done that, let's go again and do more!"
For a quest, this raid content was good, but generally I prefer content that takes 2~ hours for a full on raid.
I have nothing but negative experiences when it comes to world bosses and open instances. Either the world boss is open season for everyone and is a loot pinata, or it's a push over boss with occasional trolls trying to muck up a fight. I'm hoping you all plan for instanced content when it comes to the extremely difficult PVE content, otherwise you will be unable to design truly difficult encounters under the pressure of potential PVP.
I do really like that this boss was spawned via an event so that it can be coordinated by a guild at a certain time, rather than having to wait on a respawn timer. NEVER have world bosses spawn based off respawn times, otherwise they will be elusively camped by the best guilds who will have to pvp for hours with each other before finally fighting the boss. People will create a discord keeping track of the exact respawn times, so there will never be a mystery to it. Even if it is randomized, they will keep track of that range and people will announce it in the discord.
Loved the animations on the dragon. It all went beyond what I was expecting out of Alpha, so I'm looking forward to what's to come. Monster Hunter has the best creature animation I've ever seen so it's a good reference, but this looked pretty damn good for an MMO. This fight had a good variety of mechanics, but I would love content that has such hard mechanics that it takes 200+ attempts to down the boss.
rating get used so it can scale with levels if it was crit chance +20% on a low level item it still be crit chance 20% at max level so either you gotta make % items realy low and unimpactful at low levels so they can scale relevant in late game.
Rating how every at lvl 20 100 crit rating might be 40% crit chance where at lvl 50 it might only be 10% this way value can scale better into higher levels and still be relevant low levels
that being said you should be able to hover over the rating (olf press like shift to see details) stat to see how much % chance for your current level. Either that or when u hover stats in character details it show you % chance or both
you should change his landing animation slightly current he just lands in the direction he flying in (which is past the raid then he turns around) however i think it be better that after he fly by his landing animation would spin him around aswell to face the group he just flame throwered in so it more fluid, like he could did a claw into the ground which causes the forward momentum of him landing to spin him around to look back at the raid.
Just a little thought on polish of the animation there it just a little clunky with his landing animation then reset to walking animtion to turn around and run back at the raid.
But regarding the boss lacking mechanics that require raid-coordination rather than single-player-skill only, I really think there is a simple solution, so please hear me out.
This will lead to an encounter where an uncoordinated raid will simply be grilled by him.
The players have to coordinate where the largest group of players is bulking together and which players that are. And they might even have to change that setup infight, wenn some of them die or already used their necessary cooldowns.
In general good, but the citadel felt very boring. Not once did you get the feeling that you guys were in any kind of danger unless Stephen ninja-pulls^^
What excites you about playing and interacting within the Citadel, its enemies, and Firebrand?
Firebrand can be good if multiple groups are competing, but as it is now, with only one group the abilities are too one dimensional to pose any danger to decent raiders. I know this was a dragon and the philosophy might be to only have damage and CC abilities on dragons but a consideration into more well balanced skill set (buffs, debuffs, CC, dmg, landscape changes) that forces more co-operation in the group would be more fun. Look into world bosses from gw2 for some inspiration maybe.
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 am very concerned about the thinking towards how loot is distributed. As Stephen stated in the stream, the current idea is to let the team with the highest damage contributed to the kill will get the loot or the most loot from the boss. First, if multiple teams can share the loot from one boss, this would encourage making bosses into loot pinjatas where you just let the other teams do their thing and your team only focuses on doing as much dps as possible and you try to zerg the bosses with little interaction between the other teams. It is important that only one team will get the loot from the boss in order to create competition to get access to the highest grade of materials in the game. If you can't compete with the larger guilds for the world bosses, then go farm lower level bosses and instances until you can compete with them. I think this is the most logical way of progression for the competition between guilds.
Second, if the loot is distributed based on damage numbers a scenario would be that one team was first at the boss, starts the boss and gets the boss down to 10%HP then another team comes and wipes the boss fighting team and later kills the boss after taking out the remaining 10%HP. The wiped team would then get the loot, while they are dead? This gives way too much advantage to the team that summoned the boss or found it first since the boss fight seems to be quite short (around 10 min) and is very unfair in my opinion. A better idea (imo^^) would be to give the loot to the team with the player with the highest threat on the boss when it dies. This will encourage lots of pvp to kill the other teams tanks, to make it easier for your own tanks to build high threat and high cooperation in the team to protect the tanks and also between the tanks to share as much threat as possible in case the main tank dies.
Btw, the soundtrack during the encounter was awesome, keep going like this and this will be amazing.
For this session the most major concern I have is something I am very much hoping will be fixed as time goes on (as I suspect it will be) and that is *animations*.
The animations of the dragon felt off and beginning of 2000-like. Weightless, stiff and ... Well, not fluid. The same goes for the characters - the running animation reminds me an awful lot of GW1, the jumping feels completely detached and the transition between start-run, and run-stop feels very first generation MMO-like, completely missing the fluidness and elegance of modern MMOs (and games in general).
I have seen the animation team slowly improve things like attack animations etc, and I very much hope (and believe) that this will continue to be a work in progress because right now, it feels like these animation of NPCs and PCs alike does not at all live up to the rest of the beautiful world around them.
(As stated, I am aware of that this is Alpha and animations are fine-tuning that will come up later on - but this was seriously my biggest issue with the stream so hence I felt like I should bring it up just in case.
As always, I appreciate the teams effort endlessly. Other than the animations, I thought the fight looked very fine as an introduction to world bosses and their mechanics. I think the pre-quests could have been longer and I agree with the point made regarding it feeling a bit villain-like to summon a dragon by threatning it's egg, and the notes regarding the questions of what happens to the egg after the encounter.
As for loot, I'll voice my dislike for 3-4 items per 40man raid ... but I realize this might very much be intended design. I'll do throw my vote in the "personal loot please"-basket although I know it has been stated in the past that Steven and the team have a preference to Master Loot and the drama that comes with it.
I have seen a few people asking to make mechanics one shot, this kind of mechanic is not just the laziest design currently infecting MMOs, it’s also something only fitting for instanced content where you respawn and try again. If after testing, difficulty needs to be increased, do so by improving AI, adding new mechanics, or increasing the cadence of hard-hitting mechanics.
One shot is not the way to go, unless you want to mimic the raiding scene of wow, lost ark or FFXIV, where every raid is instanced, and it all comes down to memory games.
Please stay away from one shot mechanics, limit them to that 20% of instanced content if you must.
- I think the multiple rezzes are fine because of the duration to cast when one needs to be moving and all the other heals needed. With a little mana punch to it, it's a legitimate part of a healers decision on activity balance
It would be cool if the environment changed more throughout the fight such as:
- Fire burning in the water eh... maybe because it's special dragon fire but it would be nice if the water shortened it or impacted it somehow, maybe burning off over time
- Starting with more greenery etc around the dragon that burns off to the current stony ground throughout the fight.
- smoke as things burn instead of all that dust fog and only for a bit after the burn
I will point substanticial examples of:
At 6:36 the character is out of combat, but still it is absolutely rigid and ready for a fight at all times, the character is never relaxed and his arms are always in a stance of being ready to fight, the character's supporting foot, which is the right foot, is positioned backwards, while the left side of the body is projected forward:
This would never be the case in GW2
At 7:21, haracter's kneeling animation is another case of bad timing, making the animation look like a Powerpoint slideshow, the animatio progresses in a flat timeline when it should have different speeds, it should start slowly, then speed up and at the momment the knee his the floor then the animation should be slowed again.
It's not important if we kneel slowly like that in real life, it doesn't look in a game animation, we have to do a few things differently than in real life so the animation becomes enticing.
At 10:06, Steven casts that spell which the character puts his arms up and do that gesture, this is not cool since the arms have a flat speed, this one is a bit painful to watch.
Etc, this bad timing
At 1:35, this orchestra conductor shows it all, the video also has spell effects to make it easier:
The people in this video are not even in the gaming industry.
AoC:
I am being ruthless here about this, sorry.
The Dragon's animations and effects are amazing, the dragon is in another level and have no problems. Now someone has to go back and update every animation of every character
LOL
1. Combat Dynamics and Challenge Level
Current Observation: While the dragon does engage in some aerial maneuvers and scorches the earth, much of the fight sees it remaining on the ground. This static behavior reduces the threat level and undermines the dragon's inherent aerial advantage.
Suggestion: Dragons, by their very nature, should rarely give up the advantage of flight, particularly in an open battle. The fight could be greatly enhanced by making flight the dragon’s default behavior, with it only coming to ground under specific conditions. For instance, the dragon could stay airborne for the majority of the battle, executing strafing runs with its breath attack and using its wings to create powerful gusts of wind that push players back or disrupt their formations. This would make the fight more dynamic and require players to adapt to a constantly moving target, increasing both the difficulty and the excitement.
2. Introducing Mechanics to Ground the Dragon
Current Observation: Given the dragon's tendency to remain grounded, the fight loses some of its epic potential, especially considering that dragons should be seen as nearly insurmountable challenges without proper preparation.
Suggestion: To justify bringing the dragon to the ground, players should have to employ specific mechanics that force it out of the sky. This could be achieved through the use of siege equipment, as well as other innovative gameplay elements:
Siege Equipment: Players could utilize existing siege weapons, such as ballistae or cannons, to target the dragon while it is airborne. These weapons could be placed around the battlefield and would require coordination to use effectively, adding a layer of strategy to the fight. The siege equipment could be specifically designed to deal significant damage to the dragon's wings, forcing it to land temporarily for repairs or recovery, creating windows of opportunity for melee combat.
Harpoon or Net Launchers: Players could operate large, stationary weapons designed to pull the dragon to the ground, requiring teamwork to operate effectively. These could be spread across the battlefield, forcing the dragon to target and disable them unless the players do so first.
Grounding Spells: Mages or specific classes could be given access to spells or abilities that temporarily disrupt the dragon’s ability to fly, such as grounding sigils or binding chains that tether the dragon to the earth.
Exploiting Weaknesses: The dragon might have vulnerable moments after specific aerial attacks, where it needs to land to recuperate energy or after performing a particularly devastating move. Players could capitalize on these moments to deal more damage or to force the dragon into a vulnerable state on the ground.
3. Enhancing Team Dynamics with Defensive and Collision Mechanics
Current Observation: The dragon’s breath attacks are visually stunning, but they present an opportunity for greater player interaction, especially considering the game’s planned player collision feature.
Suggestion: The use of player collision could enhance the team dynamic during these breath attacks. Tanks could form a physical barrier with their shields, protecting the party from the dragon’s fire breath. This mechanic could be tied to the dragon’s airborne nature, with it swooping down to unleash these attacks, making positioning and timing critical.
Implementation Ideas:
Shield Wall Formation: The game could detect when a certain number of tanks are aligned in a formation, triggering a special defense mode that reduces or blocks incoming damage from the dragon’s breath.
Dynamic Battlefield Changes: The breath attack could also alter the environment, scorching the ground and creating temporary hazards that players must avoid. The use of the shield wall could prevent these hazards from spreading, adding a layer of strategic planning to the encounter.
Interactive Collision Feedback: When the dragon’s fire breath hits the shield wall, it could create a dramatic visual and auditory effect, reinforcing the significance of this team-based defensive maneuver.
These are of course just a few things that jump to mind. As it stands now, it looks rather dull.
Combat is looking fluid, fun and engaging.
Loving the backstory/Lore for the areas. The world is interesting.
What I would change-
- As mentioned the fog effect with the light reflecting is a bit too much for the eyes.
- I would like to see more tactile feedback on some of the Dragon's abilities. Such as knockdown and stuns or roots.
- Some dragons could even have a shout that causes Silence(making casters unable to cast spells)
- Ressurect if not just for testing purpose is way OP and almost Game Breaking.
My first happy thought was "Yey, I'll get to play again, it looks like an actual game!" and then the dark strolled in and deviously whispered "Wait, the last time I saw better dragon fights at 25-like player level was 12 years ago in Guild Wars 2" in my other ear. I must remember that wrong, no?
So my optimist self replied "but it's alpha, it still will change for the better!". I have a gameplay scripter son running around somewhere (yea, I'm that old) so I DO know that a lot still WILL change. That flatfloater Rose lady WILL come alive, yes?
Guys, that entry run to get to the egg was boring (imagine having to do that a couple of times to get everyone in your guild this or that piece of armor or crafting material). Filler content between 2 dungeon events, sure, can be on autopilot, but this deserves juuuust a little bit more.
Then again, I hate PVE already, so I might be a little bit biased. I'm in it for the PVP blood.
So please, help me out here. Help me get through the necessary PVE.
More challenging, less static, better scripted for individual variety (some Baldur's Gate lessons?), more randomly targeted yet impactful actions so this fight will always have some unpredictable outcomes until they converge again at specific points.
Don't get me wrong, I'll play this game because I'm mmo-starved by now, but still... don't have me simply pick up the same gameplay where I left.
I believe in you guys.
Amaze me.
Some things I'd love to see:
-Tank's wall being able to stop the flames on the frontal fire cone attack. It
-Some epic knock-back on the tail sweep and claw attacks would be sweet.
It was a little hard to visualize where ground AOE's were in some cases. While I'm not usually a fan of adding UI red lines around effects, it would be nice to have some visual clarify in the effects themselves. For example, add blackened ground under the fire to show where not to stand.
I think NPC animations/pathing could use some work. I know one person already stated that having them path around or doing something instead of just standing there would set Ashes apart from other MMO's. The movement of the NPCs feels quite rigid on certain models and they have few abilities/mechanics. The dwarf running animation is very stiff and in general could use a little more "tilt" of the character model in the direction you are running.
For the Citadel, while it is pretty, the ambience isn't quite hitting the vibe check. The fire-based NPC's and creepy demon at the end didn't jive with the surrounding lush and beautiful ruin. The fire in the braziers was flickering way too fast. The ghost lady felt like she was just slide walking and had very little animation. She didn't evoke any etherealness, adding some mist/whisps and floating animation to her may help. Would love reasons to go outside the one straight path towards the altar and experience lore of the POI. And having a more interactive way to contribute towards the ritual instead of (or in addition to?) the wave-based encounter would be nice. In general, having more interaction with the environment and less of "go here, kill XYZ". This is probably WIP, but the ritual completion is anticlimactic and the demon disappearing is jarring. Also, 'Orb of Ultimate Essence' is kinda a silly name for a dragon egg, lol.
For the Firebrand dragon fight, his legs did not really bend at all, was sliding when walking and when he did his flying breath attack his turn around was very stiff. Him standing in middle of the field was a little awkward. Only two abilities had the "unique" component- the circle of fire and the pillars near the end that acts as a soft enrage. The other abilities were the standard dragon toolkit, which is good but wish were more dynamic in how they impacted the players. Giving his abilities more impact/weight would contribute to the "massive" feeling of him, but make sure that they impact melee vs ranged equally. The circle of fire could have been bigger but I like the mechanic. Use those giant cool looking wings to attack more. The pillars/soft enrage is a cool mechanic and wish it happened earlier/gradually throughout the fight. Would be cool to enhance the animation so he was sucking the fire into his mouth instead of his chest, then give a visual enhancement to show he is "fired-up" instead of just gauging based off of stacks.
One thing I've noticed in pretty much every show case is water. The surface of the water looks good, but where it meets land at the edge it is a very stark transition. And while player models walking through the water and rippling it looks good (except for the dwarf), there is pretty much no interaction of the dragon with the water or the fire that is raining down upon it. Adding large splashes with footfalls/landings and perhaps some mist as fire hits it would go a LONG way in emersion. Maybe include the water into the dragon's fire mechanics!
The bloom effect was a little intense at certain angles due to the godrays interacting with the fog.
Others have said this, but there should be a limit on combat resurrection, it trivializes fights.
4 pieces of loot on need vs greed for 40 players is too small IMO.
The best design for a battle res is Zilean ult in League of Legends (the spell is casted before the death)
It promotes : - Being able to predict damage
- Good positioning
- Mind games in pvp
- Better awareness
It would add way more depth, be more fair, skillful and rewarding for the cleric rather than having the chore to stand still and res people. And it's also way more epic and satisfying for the person being saved, they are not waiting on the ground for a cleric to come.
Zilean ult is a pretty simple design but it adds so much more depth than just a simple res.
Oh man that would be hilarious to see. It’s gotta be one of the more infuriating things too when you set up your burst perfectly, just to see the res animation start playing because the Zilean frame-perfect cast their ult.
I do like the direction you've always taken towards realistic lighting, but for the last few streams, everything has seemed really washed out. If I was really in that world and I wanted to get a good look at something with the sun above / behind it, I'd put my hand above my eyes. I can't do that in an MMO. So there needs to be a balance between realistic lighting effects and being able to actually see the beautiful world you've made for us to enjoy.
Generally speaking, I like the concept of the way the citadel fits into the game world. Having it be normally occupied by one type of enemy, then giving them the chance to be empowered, weakened, replaced, bolstered, etc, due to other events occurring throughout the world is really awesome and I think you should continue to construct those interlaced story events that build off of each other. I would always recommend incorporating the classic narrative design technique of "yes/no, therefore" or "yes/no, but" to make the completion or failure of game events feel intrinsically connected to some of the next events on the docket. If too many events feel like isolated one-stops, people will get bored with the content and lose interest, even if the stories of those little isolated events are good ones. Same as with story beats in a single narrative.
Combat animations are looking better for some mobs. Still not as good as they should be before release, but they're looking smoother, more varied, dynamic, and flow into each other better than they have in the past.
New ability bar icons are looking great.
Now, as for the citadel content itself, I have to be honest and say I was fairly disappointed. I'm really hoping that the event mechanics and enemy layouts in this showcase were just slapped together for the sake of showing off the enemies, the environment, and a visual representation of the empowerment mechanic. I feel almost certain that this has to be the case, but after also being fairly disappointed with the lack of creative and dynamic encounter design present in the caravan bandit event showcase, I'm not sure I can entirely trust that to be true, so I'll try to illustrate what I'd hope this event would look like.
The entrance into the citadel is fine, some groups of mobs nearby is good. However, why are they already clustered into these parties and just hanging out doing nothing? Some guards posted in fixed positions is fine, but the best player strategy arises when enemies are moving, fluid, going about their business, performing routines, traversing small areas of the citadel (or even its entirety!), so that players are compelled to study the landscape and their enemy's movements, and maintain good communication as the nature of that landscape and enemy layout shifts as they make their way through the area. This becomes especially tense when players are forced into enclosed spaces within enemy territory. It's no fun when enemies are just grazing around the same 15 foot radius ultimately doing nothing, or worse, standing still forever.
Activating a summoning circle to bring back the guardian of the citadel is fun, I like that idea. But why is the summoning circle already on the ground? Who are you, a random adventurer, to be able to walk right up to it and activate it? That seems like an incredibly powerful ritual. There should be some items you need to acquire that are scattered throughout various wings and upper/lower levels of the citadel in order to perform the summoning ritual. Perhaps a focus, some reagents, items that belonged to her, and a book on how to perform the ritual or something. Clues could help lead players to know what they're supposed to be looking for. With this, combined with much more dynamic enemy behavior outside of combat, you could turn what currently appears to be a mob-wave face-roll into a dangerous test of strategy and communication as players infiltrate the citadel, dodge some enemies and fight others, solve clues or riddles, pilfer the various interior chambers, and pull off a summoning ritual to summon the citadel's master.
Upon starting the ritual, I think it's only natural that the entire citadel be alerted, so that's good. This is what justifies the wave event where they try and stop you. Enemies were spawning from decently far away, so that seemed good, just as long as they're spawning from within the citadel and not just fading in out of nowhere inside the courtyard. As the fight was going on, I heard Steven remark that y'all were "doing good", personally I thought it was going too well. This summon should call the entire citadel to arms. That wave event should be a pretty tough fight to make it out of alive.
As fighters make their way into the fray, rangers could be hanging out near the outer walls of the courtyard that need to be dealt with, which splits the group a bit. After a while, some summoners flock down from where the egg is being held and begin channeling their own summon on the other side of the walkway to bring about the giant demon gorilla looking creature. Every summoner you manage to take out before their ritual is completed reduces the strength of the summoned creature by a flat percentage, but doing so requires you to drastically split your group even further while other ranged enemies come flooding out from the other end of the citadel. Again, choices and consequences in combat event scenarios. Not just face-rolling a bunch of brainless DPS sponges. There are some elements of old school MMOs people really love and miss. I sincerely do not believe this is one of them.
If your group manages to survive the onslaught and summon the Lady of the Rose, she begins ascending towards the location of the dragon egg after a succinct briefing on the scenario. Perhaps her spirit is actually what reached out to draw you there and lead you to the necessary objects to summon her throughout the citadel in the first place? Along the way to the egg, more stragglers from deeper within the citadel continue to pour out from inside and assail you all as you escort her.
Speaking of the dragon egg... "Orb of Ultimate Essence"? Perhaps something a little more thematic and creative can be done there. It's about as bad as calling the tanking class the Tank.
Once you reach the egg and she begins channeling on it, He-Who-Beguiles should enter very dramatically, perhaps crawling his way out from a sudden crack in reality or something. While the battle of channels is a cool idea in concept, I think it makes the power of this terrible fiend seem relatively limited. The only thing he can do is barely manage to keep up while channeling against the memory of a dead person? That's it? I feel like he should be able to do that one handed while summoning extra-planar creatures from rifts in reality and blasting us with a bunch of different direct-hit/ground-effect/CC magic abilities with his other hand. That guy looks like he should be terrifying, and when all he can do is channel while getting backed up by a bunch more of the same dudes we just slaughtered en masse in the courtyard, it doesn't really deliver on that. This event feels like it should function a bit like a pop-up raid. There are moments of trash mobs, some waves, some boss fights, but also choices to be made, strategies to be discussed, interactable objects that effect the flow of battle and strength of enemies.
Currently, there's a bar showing the time that the Lady of The Rose needs to channel for, and her health bar. I think that in addition to these, there should be a counter-channel bar for He-Who-Beguiles. When He-Who-Beguiles first appears, he's much stronger than the Lady of The Rose, and begins gaining on her. As you kill some of He-Who-Beguiles' summons, they chip away at his essence, as though they're extensions of him, reducing the speed of his counter-channel. So you need to take down some pretty hefty beasties as quickly as possible while also maneuvering the array of spells he casts at you and your party. You'll need to be efficient, focused, and aware of your surroundings in order for the ghost of the Lady of The Rose to succeed in the channeling race. If successful, the event continues as usual. If you fail, well, that's a whole other story.
Let's move onto the dragon fight. While the initial entrance of him swooping in and crashing to the ground is cool, I don't think his 'idle' animations should stop there. After he crashes down and unleashes a roar, I think he should take back off again and fly through the air above the field for fairly lengthy periods of time, occasionally letting out a fire blast or a shrieking cry. You literally have his baby. I don't think he's just going to hang out in the field and calmly wait for you to give it to him.
With that in mind, it would be sick if there were some remnants of ballista towers on the outskirts of the citadel, maybe one or two of them, that players could contribute a significant amount of materials to repair. I imagine Firebrand's weak spot would be someplace underneath him, only strikable while he's flying. As he does his flying idle around the battlefield, scanning the area for his prey, crisscrossing in various directions and angles, players can attempt to shoot him down with the ballista, giving them an edge in battle once he lands. This should be a fairly difficult shot to land in a specific spot, so perhaps when manning the ballista, the player's screen enters the zoomed in view of a magnified targeting lens mounted in front of them. Perhaps they can use a couple buttons to switch between a couple different levels of magnification for locating, then aiming for the specific point on his body. The ballista bolts designed specifically for piercing the dragon's hide should be quite large, with very solid wood and strong tips, making them somewhat expensive to construct. Obviously, the risk of contributing the materials and potentially missing several times if you aren't the best shot should offer a fair debuff as a reward if pulled off successfully. Alternatively, players can simply rush in and try to catch him during one of his brief landing sequences if they're feeling very confident or don't want to risk the material costs of reconstructing and arming the ballista.
As for the showcased fight itself, I was rather impressed! There was a decent array of boss abilities, which all looked pretty cool, and he seemed fairly intelligent with his targeting. I appreciated the camera effects and the haze coming off the dragon-fire a lot. Apart from the actual encounter design / boss abilities, one main point of critical feedback I'll give here is that the dragon animations should be much smoother, especially the transitions between abilities and movement. It seemed like there was always a one second pause where he just stood still before switching tasks or turning around. If the dragon is moving around, it should seem a bit more serpentine, more smooth, less rigid. The dragon swooping down, landing, and turning back towards the players should be a smooth transition of unending movement. The somewhat stuttered/disjointed animation between movement and ability usage kind of sapped the life and character out of him for me.
As for how I'd like to see the gameplay experience improved, some of my feedback is hard to give with absolute certainty, since Steven was playing with godmode on, doing way more in-combat resurrections than I think should be possible, and generally playing the ultimate healer. Generally speaking, I think the fight should be much more difficult to succeed at than what we saw on screen. Players were taking a wallop, but y'all still made it through just fine, despite many participants getting hit with abilities that should be able to be dodged. Given the asterisk of Steven's super-human healing during the showcase, take that as you will.
Naturally, I'd expect competition from other raid groups, which would make the scale of the battle seem larger and more chaotic, so that's good. But I think boss mechanics, if it's a single dragon with no adds, should be more punishing overall. I did see some pretty punishing mechanics, like the panning stream of fire you have to dodge, but others seemed pretty tame for a creature that attacks fairly slowly, like the attack where he looks like he's charging up for a second, then unleashes one quick circular fire-burst around his body that expands out to a certain distance. Didn't really seem to do much damage with that at all. Perhaps an ability like that could apply a burning DoT to anyone it hits? Not really able to be dodged, so it forces players to contend with the damage however they're able, using their own items or abilities to mitigate it or be at the risk of ticking down before getting snuffed out by a panning fire stream.
I think more could be done to make the battlefield itself feel a bit more dynamic as well. It's a large space, I think player movement could be dictated by more than just where the dragon lands after he does his flying fire-breath.
When Firebrand goes up in the air to stream fire down onto the battlefield, maybe you can make the flames stay burning really intensely wherever they land for a minute or so to try and split the raid? This would make his telegraph encourage raid leaders to call out a side for everyone to run to, and give players who get cut off the option of taking damage to immediate rejoin the fight or making their way around the swath of flames to avoid injury. The strength of the flames could visually and effectively dwindle over time before they go out, so perhaps there's a matter of timing your passage through the flames so you don't take too much damage.
The telegraph for the concentric fire-burst rings looked great, but lasted a little too long imo. Way too easy to get out of. Steven literally back-peddled out of the whole thing.
The tail swipe also looked great, but perhaps it can also deliver a 20-foot knockback to anyone it hits? Would make the impact of getting pounded by a massive dragon tail way more immersive and dynamic.
The rage mechanic with the adds you need to take down while getting blasted by aerial attacks was pretty great, nice work.
Body slam is awesome. Perhaps that one can apply a brief knock-down effect that makes you slowly get back up to your feet after a second or two.
Again, if the only reason this raid succeeded was because of Steven being in god-mode, then perhaps take my feedback on general difficulty with a grain of salt. But attacks hitting hard doesn't necessarily make a difficult fight challenging or fun. Some of the other recommendations I mentioned regarding effects of boss attacks other than just flat damage can give players choices to make and more complex consequences for their actions. That then creates the need for strategy, clear communication, and gives players prompts to make meaningful decisions on the fly.
Overall, things are continuing to look good. My most critical feedback right now is on event design. They need to be really creative and fairly complex in nature with a fair amount of of decision making and strategizing to do. Not just a quick jaunt through the courtyard and multiple rounds of pinata punch-out.
Love y'all, keep up the great work!
- The Lady of the Rose and the ancient, once done casting, just disappeared and it felt wrong. It was lacking VFX like some portal sending them back where they came from or just a little vanishing animation. Just not straight up disappear out of the blue.
- Firebrand itself looked amazing, animations were definitely the best part and I loved the variety in the mechanics and especially the realism behind any fire animations. Even if at first the dragon looked too small but then it was explained that it was a young dragon, which is very cool. Whoever I didn't like the wings texture; they felt very rough and almost something out of WoW style, which shouldn't be enough details and polishes as today's standards demands.
- I thought the boss encounter was a bit too short, and the quest to summon it too easy for a world boss.
- Having the Bard & Fighter PoV felt right, because they didn't have god mode and therefore through their PoV it was easier to grasp the difficulty of the encounter where our glorious cameraman Steven with his godmod gave us good shots but also looked invulnerable. And that's not what you want to feel when you're fighting a dragon
- Lastly we could maybe get different endings to a world boss or for each different world boss instead of just killing them. We could make the world boss flee or become friendly as we pass its trial. In reality we'd still need to get the boss from 100 to 0 but the ending could vary depending on the world boss and the lore, an elder dragon could fly away if his life is too low leaving behind some legendary scales as loot. Or just leaving his treasure unguarded and so lootable by the raid that earned the loot. The leviathan could flee into the depths while spitting out a shipwreck he swallowed long ago, containing multiple ship blueprints and gear from the sailors he swallowed. Or even a world boss being so strong he can't be defeated but the players have to fight him in order to distract him so that a bunch of master gatherer "steal" his loot. If the raid isn't strong enough and dealing enough damage then the world boss does a full wipe mechanic resetting any progress the gatherers have done
- And please keep the loot this way, never give in to the "i want a reward for my contribution", this loot system was so good i wish to see it again
Here is my feedback
#1 I like Asmon's suggestions for adding a siege bow on the castle to shoot at the dragon, but it has no ammo, so you have to make it.
#2 Please have the music change when the dragon spawns, not when the fight actually starts. This adds immersion for people passing through who see the dragon even if they cannot fight it. Plus, it adds that sense of wonder that WOW had when it first came out.
#3 The initial landing animation is fine, but the animation directly after that is stiff and looks really bad.
#4 Please add more mechanics to the first phase of the fight.
Mechanic #1, upon switching from phase 1 to phase 2, traps someone in a ball of fire that needs to be destroyed or it has an AEO blast with massive damage. If the party wins the DPS check, then the dragon is stunned for 8 seconds and takes a percentage of increased damage (credit to Asmongold for this one)
#5 Mechanic or attack, please add a wing attack for people who are standing on the dragon's sides.
#6 The animation after the dragon finishes an attack feels stiff. It needs a few more frames on the attack recovery, and it may need another stance once entering combat. When the dragon goes from clawing to standing straight up the next second, it does not look very fluid or polished.
#7 The dragon should talk to the player that holds the egg if the player is able to solo the dragon. Other people in the area (not just in the party should hear the dragon but in draconic and not be able to understand what it said) (another great idea from Asmongold)
#8 The skybox should change, the ground and trees should be burnt when the dragon lands, and their should be an environmental fire (that does no damage) around the area when the dragon lands
#9 The dragon should speak in draconic. Upon landing, everyone in the area should be able to hear, not just the party with the egg.
#10 It's kind of weird when the dragon makes his fire bombing run attack, and he lands far away from the party and then has to run back. It would be better if the dragon did two bombing runs without landing and then landed in the middle of the party, doing a ground smash upon landing. This would make more sense. Add to the difficulty, and look better.
#11 The area around the dragon needs to be more creepy. Right now, it just looks like dirt and bones.
#12 The citadel looks bland. I think the creepy factor needs to be upped a lot for this style to work. I am not 100% sure what you guys are going for, but I think something like the scarlet monastery vibe would work much better for this style.
#13 Overall, though, I was very happy with the showcase. These are just additions I hope to see come launch on top of what you guys already have. Great job!
First of all, congratulations on your work.
The dragon is really beautiful with nice animations.
-Positive points:
- Nice scenery, the citadel is nice too, misty atmosphere.
- The level of the monsters seems challenging, requiring you not to aggro in gruff mode.
- The dragon is beautiful and impressive, with good animation.
Point for improvement:
- The appearance of the event may lack a visual effect or something to indicate that it's over. The egg appeared too discreetly (this may also be the effect of the stream).
- Something visually bothered me about the Wings: they seemed rigid (although dragons have tough skin), maybe make them more flexible.
- During combat, the dragon may lack an element to distinguish the different phases. The flames are very beautiful, but on different phases I expect to see an effect on the dragon (skin that becomes incandescent at one point in the fight, flames that turn blue when it becomes enraged).
- It wasn't easy to distinguish between AOEs that produce damage on characters and AOEs linked to visual effects and abilities that don't (perhaps you need to enable a parameter to create an outline of harmful zones, for example a red circle around flames that do damage with the parameter active, or if inactive just the circle of flames with the ground burnt.
Thanks and see you
The dragon looks very brown and boring, would be nice with some effects on the dragon.
Also in todays mmorpgs enemies should have blodied effects the lower health they have, like Monster Hunter.
also the water should splash from attacks and movement, water isnt affected by any movement.
Theres fire in the water.
Ground is still very flat and foliage is still very 2D and flat if you look at it from the side.
Stones on ground just looks painted onto a flat ground.
All plants move exactly the same making it unnatural.
plants are not affected by players moving through them.
The fire in braziers are to fast and they all burn exactly the same making it unnatural.
playing Wukong with its great enviromental graphics makes AoC look very outdated and flat.
also some spelleffects sound is way to loud.
0dbea148-8cb8-4711-ba90-eb0864e93b5f
1. The tank flag skill is really blinding when you stand in it. Could we remove the blue aura from the top and move it to the sides on the ground making a definitive outline of where you can stand without obstructing vision?
2. The dust and sun effects seem to be a lot when they layer on top of each other.
3. Mob pulling. It seemed like some of the mobs in the first event had a really low aggro radius and wouldn't even aggro when mobs right next to them were pulled.
70 attack speed= How fast you swing.
6 crit power rating = How hard you crit
111 additive weapon fire damage rating = How much extra fire damage you hit with on a normal attack.
We don't use percentages because it makes lower level items better than they should be, and the only way you could make top end gear better is by pushing percentages to insane amounts. Consider how useful 5% crit chance is at level cap vs level 1. It's still very good.
We use crit rating instead, it contributes to a crit rating on your paper doll that becomes less effective the higher level you are. This pushes the player to seek out better crit rating gear to increase crit, whilst capping crit chance at all levels to a reasonable amount for that level.
That being said, I actually like gear systems where low level gear can still be BiS, because it's neat. (WOW did it best with things like https://www.wowhead.com/classic/item=8345/wolfshead-helm )
But it becomes a monotonous balancing act, and I don't blame intrepid for not wanting to put up with it.
1. The two front claw stomp attack that did AOE damage didn't really seem to do much. In the fight it was a mechanic that could be ignored compared to the fire were ignoring the fire would result in death. Maybe some added effect to it would spice it up?
2. Breath flyby was very nice but it seemed to go in areas with no players at all despite being advertised as the AI targeting clumps of players. I did like its telegraph compared to lethality, with such a long attack its up to the players to dodge or suffer major consequence.
3. The ring fire attack was nice but the fires looked a little small compared to the the effect it should have brought. Maybe a bigger animation. Also consider inversing the order of rings to make players pay attention to where the ring starts from.
4. Add phase with continuous flyby attacks is a lovely addition and a great way to force players to deal with soft enrage mechanics. I like the boss didn't continuously do breath attacks and forced players to only kill the adds. My one complaint is I believe this mechanic took too long to occur, and should happen when the boss is higher HP.
5. Soft Enrage. I like the idea of this in an open world because it adds on the importance of killing a boss fast beyond the threat of an additional group of players arriving to mess things up. I don't think a damage amp is enough though. Maybe consider any fire add missed leaves a permanent flame spot on the ground limiting player movement, but also letting players corner off approaches to the boss. Stacking debuffs could also be a method of forcing players to adapt and deal with the boss in a face paced manner.