Crafterers, Gatherererereres, PvEers, PVPers, and Playerers |||| Ideas to break up preconceptions?
Stryta
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
All MMOs are the same...You gather, you craft, you pve, you pvp and you have a whole lot of fun doing it. 
I say we open a discussion of various ideas on how to add to, evolve and break up the preconceptions of these with the sole intention of potentially sparking and building ideas.
Thoughts:
If you're out gathering there's a chance to spawn a random Mob/Boss/event unique to each skill, and the encounter is dependent on skill level or just good ol' RNG (balanced)
Cutting down tress is wrong and therefore should incur the wrath of the tree spirits (see above)
Enough players in an area may trigger encounters
The potential for unique/rare gear WITHIN the professions. (Someone gathering wood could spawn a treant, thats also a rare spawn, that also drops a unique gear piece, that also could be apart of a set)
With it being a heavy crafting game, the crafting systems should have a massive amount of depth and uniqueness. think a talent tree for crafting you specialize into
with Ashes being so dynamic and potentially diverse i think there should be more to do with gathering/crafting
What do i mean? imagine your spending a few hours fishing. After a while, the area begins to stink and therefore spawn an event/mob/quest/encounter but not enough to be annoying to those who want to sit back and fish.
World boss's and mobs could migrate.
Unique/Rare spawns of mobs/world bosses
If a world boss gets killed enough times it decides that, that area sucks and therefore wants to move to a new location (world boss's can migrate depending situations)
Change in mobs/mob types and density to break up what will be mob grinding for mats, as well as add player crafted quality of life stuffs (faster respawn, more hp regen, a spawn node for parties etc. all this would need to be balanced)
Cooking/fishing could create monster lures to increase mob spawn in an area and therefore with repetitive use that area may attract or spawn unique monsters or a world boss
Cutting down trees/deforestation could spawn a wild fire, or cause mobs to migrate to a new Eco-system
Server wide affects and events. What do i mean? imagine killing a rare mob or world boss after doing so it could cause the sky to crack open or shooting stars. it could cause the area to become more hostile or passive. imagine killing a world boss whos ecosystem required that world boss's influence...how would it change?
Solo players should have the potential to spawn encounters to the degree above but balance to what makes sense of a solo. (gathering trees potentially spawns a treant/Worldboss)
if musical instruments are a thing then make it so those same instruments could be used to anger/pacify mobs in various ways. think snake charmer
In addition to the monster token system, i would evolve it to incorporate reputation into the system. You could gain enough reputation with a certain species of monster that allows for you to transform at will or have better stats and ability. Your stats would change to be that of whatever mob you change into. This would allow for player vs environment + player and that could add to more "spice" in mob farming as well as whatever other interactions that could create.
Bring back the value of Rarity that all MMOs diminish for the sole purpose of making sure all players have the experience. And on this subject, create a foundation for rare and unique moments that MMOs lack but don't script them into the game. How? i would say add more tools, objects, skills, and abilities that allow more random interaction in the world. Develop and allow players to craft those building block....think how instruments allow for a random group of players at a random time to have a concert.
Think how sacred geometry looks, imagine that to be an ecosystem and all the things within and how it all comes around full circle (or used in many different varieties). thats what each profession and skill should have in ashes. In what different ways could a profession be used outside its norm?
With some of the ideas stated above i think this could prevent that monotony in the end game that is in all MMORPGs.
That whole "ive seen it all, done it all" that WILL eventually happen to most in the end game. Being that Ashes has a very dynamic foundation, the more ideas and the way those ideas are incorporated will only make AoC that much better for longer.
I say we open a discussion of various ideas on how to add to, evolve and break up the preconceptions of these with the sole intention of potentially sparking and building ideas.Thoughts:
If you're out gathering there's a chance to spawn a random Mob/Boss/event unique to each skill, and the encounter is dependent on skill level or just good ol' RNG (balanced)
Cutting down tress is wrong and therefore should incur the wrath of the tree spirits (see above)
Enough players in an area may trigger encounters
The potential for unique/rare gear WITHIN the professions. (Someone gathering wood could spawn a treant, thats also a rare spawn, that also drops a unique gear piece, that also could be apart of a set)
With it being a heavy crafting game, the crafting systems should have a massive amount of depth and uniqueness. think a talent tree for crafting you specialize into
with Ashes being so dynamic and potentially diverse i think there should be more to do with gathering/crafting
What do i mean? imagine your spending a few hours fishing. After a while, the area begins to stink and therefore spawn an event/mob/quest/encounter but not enough to be annoying to those who want to sit back and fish.
World boss's and mobs could migrate.
Unique/Rare spawns of mobs/world bosses
If a world boss gets killed enough times it decides that, that area sucks and therefore wants to move to a new location (world boss's can migrate depending situations)
Change in mobs/mob types and density to break up what will be mob grinding for mats, as well as add player crafted quality of life stuffs (faster respawn, more hp regen, a spawn node for parties etc. all this would need to be balanced)
Cooking/fishing could create monster lures to increase mob spawn in an area and therefore with repetitive use that area may attract or spawn unique monsters or a world boss
Cutting down trees/deforestation could spawn a wild fire, or cause mobs to migrate to a new Eco-system
Server wide affects and events. What do i mean? imagine killing a rare mob or world boss after doing so it could cause the sky to crack open or shooting stars. it could cause the area to become more hostile or passive. imagine killing a world boss whos ecosystem required that world boss's influence...how would it change?
Solo players should have the potential to spawn encounters to the degree above but balance to what makes sense of a solo. (gathering trees potentially spawns a treant/Worldboss)
if musical instruments are a thing then make it so those same instruments could be used to anger/pacify mobs in various ways. think snake charmer
In addition to the monster token system, i would evolve it to incorporate reputation into the system. You could gain enough reputation with a certain species of monster that allows for you to transform at will or have better stats and ability. Your stats would change to be that of whatever mob you change into. This would allow for player vs environment + player and that could add to more "spice" in mob farming as well as whatever other interactions that could create.
Bring back the value of Rarity that all MMOs diminish for the sole purpose of making sure all players have the experience. And on this subject, create a foundation for rare and unique moments that MMOs lack but don't script them into the game. How? i would say add more tools, objects, skills, and abilities that allow more random interaction in the world. Develop and allow players to craft those building block....think how instruments allow for a random group of players at a random time to have a concert.
Think how sacred geometry looks, imagine that to be an ecosystem and all the things within and how it all comes around full circle (or used in many different varieties). thats what each profession and skill should have in ashes. In what different ways could a profession be used outside its norm?
With some of the ideas stated above i think this could prevent that monotony in the end game that is in all MMORPGs.
That whole "ive seen it all, done it all" that WILL eventually happen to most in the end game. Being that Ashes has a very dynamic foundation, the more ideas and the way those ideas are incorporated will only make AoC that much better for longer.
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Comments
I think some of the specifics you mentioned are planned already but the specifics matter less than the direction. Yes, there will be a lot of emergence on a large scale with the nodes and all, but I would also like to see more emergence on a smaller scale as well through the general approach you mentioned (like more tools, objects, skills, abilites, utility, and overall options to interact with the world and environment in unique ways). This would allow much more room for different strategies, more creative approaches and playstyles, more room for player optimization and skill expression, and more unique player-driven stories.
I like your examples of music pacifying enemies, and I also appreciate your consideration for more purist players (like trying not to infringe on pure fisherman players while also adding some dynamicism to the world for players who want that emergence.)
This is an example of what can emerge from this design direction.