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We are in the Alpha Two Phase II testing which will take place 5+ days each week.
Alpha Two testing is scheduled to happen daily until January 13, 2025 at 10PM PT. We will have periods of downtime for hotfixes and daily restarts happening at 2 AM PT for NA realms, and 2 CET for EU realms.
Starting next week, Alpha Two realms are scheduled to be online for 5+ days a week from Thursdays at 10 AM PT to Mondays at 10 PM PT. Alpha Two realms are planned to be down on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and for daily restarts. Alpha Two realms will also be brought down as updates and fixes are ready.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
We are in the Alpha Two Phase II testing which will take place 5+ days each week.
Alpha Two testing is scheduled to happen daily until January 13, 2025 at 10PM PT. We will have periods of downtime for hotfixes and daily restarts happening at 2 AM PT for NA realms, and 2 CET for EU realms.
Starting next week, Alpha Two realms are scheduled to be online for 5+ days a week from Thursdays at 10 AM PT to Mondays at 10 PM PT. Alpha Two realms are planned to be down on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and for daily restarts. Alpha Two realms will also be brought down as updates and fixes are ready.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
State of contesting resources in the open world
0Reito
Member, Alpha Two
Current state of contesting resources in Ashes of Creation:
The intention of this post is NOT to shit on the current state of the systems of the game, but to show intrepid the current state of contesting resources and to get a response from intrepid on what systems they plan to implement, if any, or if this is how we are meant to contest mobs/resources/spots.
Context:
Ashes of creation is meant to be, by Steven words a PvX game, with high-risk high-reward mechanics, where resources should be contested.
Situation:
In the video you can see a lot of players trying to farm the same mob, this mob dies fast, spawns every 40 minutes and drops the fastest mount in the game.
What tools do we have to contest the mob?
1. Flag up and fight: This is optional, and most players do not choose this option, we have been farming the spot for 2-3 days to try to get a mount and no one has ever flagged, so not an option.
2. Declare war: The cost of this is 5g, and people can surrender after 1h, so the cost of killing one mob with this option is 5g just to be able to fight for it. (This is in the best-case scenario, when only 1 clan is there)
3. CC the enemy: CCing unflagged players to try to kill the mob while they are stun can be viable depending on the enemy numbers, but Steven repeatedly said this will not be in the game later so we can discard this option
4. Go corrupt, kill the players and secure the mob: Just by killing 1 player we will get corruption status, we will get huge stat dampening and lose part of the gear that takes so long to acquire, so obviously not an option either
5. AFK hit the air and try to dps race: Most viable option, and what ends up happening in both of the videos below
Conclusion:
In the current state, most players don’t flag up at all, therefore the only way to contest spots is AFK hitting the air waiting for respawns
The seme situation happens in best POI’s in the game (Tower of carphin, befallen forge and even worldbosses), where you can find 5-10 groups made up by different clans (so declaring war is not an option) just hitting mobs on respawn.
My request:
I would appreciate if @Steven or @IntrepidStudio could clarify if this is how resources are meant to be contested, or if high level POI’s and heavily contested resources are planned to be inside a lawless zone (or any similar solution)
Videos:
https://medal.tv/games/ashes-of-creation/clips/jqXkkQS9UqplPvjLO?invite=cr-MSx0UXMsNzg2ODA1Nyw
https://medal.tv/games/ashes-of-creation/clips/jqY33xE2xc7WfLu6l?invite=cr-MSxZYmMsMjk1MDE0MDk5LA
Picture of raptors being contested by AFK people (no one fighting for it)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1312006807199158312/1325772914854858875/image.png?ex=677d01be&is=677bb03e&hm=eed87c79076d1ac24d6bae0ef539f01982ce2525dc9e8095c72884969057b31a&
The intention of this post is NOT to shit on the current state of the systems of the game, but to show intrepid the current state of contesting resources and to get a response from intrepid on what systems they plan to implement, if any, or if this is how we are meant to contest mobs/resources/spots.
Context:
Ashes of creation is meant to be, by Steven words a PvX game, with high-risk high-reward mechanics, where resources should be contested.
Situation:
In the video you can see a lot of players trying to farm the same mob, this mob dies fast, spawns every 40 minutes and drops the fastest mount in the game.
What tools do we have to contest the mob?
1. Flag up and fight: This is optional, and most players do not choose this option, we have been farming the spot for 2-3 days to try to get a mount and no one has ever flagged, so not an option.
2. Declare war: The cost of this is 5g, and people can surrender after 1h, so the cost of killing one mob with this option is 5g just to be able to fight for it. (This is in the best-case scenario, when only 1 clan is there)
3. CC the enemy: CCing unflagged players to try to kill the mob while they are stun can be viable depending on the enemy numbers, but Steven repeatedly said this will not be in the game later so we can discard this option
4. Go corrupt, kill the players and secure the mob: Just by killing 1 player we will get corruption status, we will get huge stat dampening and lose part of the gear that takes so long to acquire, so obviously not an option either
5. AFK hit the air and try to dps race: Most viable option, and what ends up happening in both of the videos below
Conclusion:
In the current state, most players don’t flag up at all, therefore the only way to contest spots is AFK hitting the air waiting for respawns
The seme situation happens in best POI’s in the game (Tower of carphin, befallen forge and even worldbosses), where you can find 5-10 groups made up by different clans (so declaring war is not an option) just hitting mobs on respawn.
My request:
I would appreciate if @Steven or @IntrepidStudio could clarify if this is how resources are meant to be contested, or if high level POI’s and heavily contested resources are planned to be inside a lawless zone (or any similar solution)
Videos:
https://medal.tv/games/ashes-of-creation/clips/jqXkkQS9UqplPvjLO?invite=cr-MSx0UXMsNzg2ODA1Nyw
https://medal.tv/games/ashes-of-creation/clips/jqY33xE2xc7WfLu6l?invite=cr-MSxZYmMsMjk1MDE0MDk5LA
Picture of raptors being contested by AFK people (no one fighting for it)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1312006807199158312/1325772914854858875/image.png?ex=677d01be&is=677bb03e&hm=eed87c79076d1ac24d6bae0ef539f01982ce2525dc9e8095c72884969057b31a&
3
Comments
It would be amazing to see if we can even for data collection and feedback implementing some of the obvious options to help this sooner rather than later. For example POI's being lawless/auto combatant (such as the small area in the desert where there is nothing of importance). Even tagging combatant when you damage a named mob.
The general population is very very carebare and gets toxic and upset even when engaged in caravan raiding (HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A CARAVAN!) the rampant bug abusing by the same players to make caravans have no event and abusing alt-f4 to save caravans is also very disheartening.
The combination of the issue Reito raised here and the caravans being an abuse festival means the only pvp content in the game right now is declaring wars on people unprepared (boring and a stompfest) or organising a war, there is little to no pvp in the game even though the systems exist and are not being used in a way that seems to be common sense to a large portion of the game (but likely not the majority, as the majority do not want pvp).
The crocs are in lawless area and farming those provide with a very fun risk-reward pvp experience
How about 6&7&8, bring enough people, get the tag or out-dps the group that gets the tag?
I have been experiencing groups willing to flag up after short periods of time fighting over the same resource so PVP is happening quite regularly for me in this game.
This is a PVX game and as such, we cannot try to use the same ol' PVP tactics of pushing PVE players out of resources and/or content by PKing them when they do not wish to engage unless we are willing to accept the penalty for doing so.
I see no issue with the system they way it is, with the exception of being a bit overtuned.
If the people camping the area are part of your "team" like your node or "realm" then maybe people would follow some etiquette. If not you should be able to kill them without much of a penalty. If they are part of your "team" then and they don't follow an etiquette then they can be shamed, or you can risk killing them. Big problem is people don't care about etiquette anymore and rolling a throw away char for cheesing is too easy.
Flip side if you open PvP without corruption or minimal corruption, that might get you the mount, or the gear, whatever. But the way things are PvP is so free for all as it is It everyone will be looking over their shoulders and jumping at shadows. Both are no fun. The challenge of making a PvP focused game appeal to non PvE players. Probably their biggest challenge.
Problem solved!