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đź“ť Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities âš”

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  • bluedragon0980bluedragon0980 Member, Alpha Two
    What is the best ability or spell you’ve used and why?

    I play Cleric currently: My fav ability to Flash Cure the cast time is instant and heals relative to my healing power and magic power.

    Which spells or abilities stand out the most to you from games you’ve played in the past?
    For me I will be referring alot to FFXIV White Mage.
    Damage spells like Aero and Stone help with being able to solo. Cleric does not really have damage spells so to speak currently.
    Spells like Media (all levels) and other heals



    What made them special to you? Giving me the range of healing abilities and types from a group stand point or single target. Cleric currently does not alot of flexibility for healing variations.
  • OmegacometOmegacomet Member, Alpha Two
    Environment interacting abilities,

    I'm a big fan of abilities that do more than combat. These help with immersion and bring you in closer with feeling a part of the game

    1. Light magic, the caster grants a user a modicum of light in a badly lit dungeon.
    2. Summoning Magic, A user is able to summon party members to there location via a ritual of some sort.
    3. Locate Object , A spell that allows a user to locate an item.
    4. Disguise Self , a spell that allows a user to disguise a party member
    5. Attacks that miss and damage things behind them. Example, you shoot a fireball and it misses the target but damages a tree behind the person.
    6. etc...


  • banemus0banemus0 Member, Alpha Two
    I loved ana in heroes of the storm, where your heals were done by skills shots.
    Because of targeting in ashes of creation, maybe it would be nice if you were able to put a spell on your mace or melee weapon and you could slap people to full health as a cleric. Making it more an active play than just standing in the back throwing spells around. and then give the ability from brightwing where you would teleport to someone to instant heal.

    I also like rythm games which would nice as a bard where you have to play notes to activate specific buffs and then when you complete a full combo, you get a crescendo, or big buff/heal.

    Think about abilities that would make the backline of your party a bit more active. It gets pretty boring just standing in the back throwing spells around.

    Lotro also has a combo system where specific classes start a combo and other characters continue or finish the combo.

    Healthstone from warlock in wow. Basically a spell you can fire off once. could be interesting as a mage to give out spells to people that they can use once.

    priest mind control from wow, where you could temporarily control an enemy.

    mages polymorph. Just a fun spell for crowd control.

    I'm kinda dissapointed in the fighter, if i recollect from a fighter in dnd games that they are proficient in all weapons. So why not have abilities that can only be used if a specific weapon is in the inventory? So that he becomes a walking armory. So his skills are also based on his inventory.

    Grease, where people walk over it, they have a chance of tripping over.

    Enlarge, make someone huge on the field.
  • banemus0banemus0 Member, Alpha Two
    I loved ana in heroes of the storm, where your heals were done by skills shots.
    Because of targeting in ashes of creation, maybe it would be nice if you were able to put a spell on your mace or melee weapon and you could slap people to full health as a cleric. Making it more an active play than just standing in the back throwing spells around. and then give the ability from brightwing where you would teleport to someone to instant heal.

    I also like rythm games which would nice as a bard where you have to play notes to activate specific buffs and then when you complete a full combo, you get a crescendo, or big buff/heal.

    Think about abilities that would make the backline of your party a bit more active. It gets pretty boring just standing in the back throwing spells around.

    Lotro also has a combo system where specific classes start a combo and other characters continue or finish the combo.

    Healthstone from warlock in wow. Basically a spell you can fire off once. could be interesting as a mage to give out spells to people that they can use once.

    priest mind control from wow, where you could temporarily control an enemy.

    mages polymorph. Just a fun spell for crowd control.

    I'm kinda dissapointed in the fighter, if i recollect from a fighter in dnd games that they are proficient in all weapons. So why not have abilities that can only be used if a specific weapon is in the inventory? So that he becomes a walking armory. So his skills are also based on his inventory.

    Grease, where people walk over it, they have a chance of tripping over.

    Enlarge, make someone huge on the field.

    Mages are powerfull but tbh, they miss some sort of kickback. A shotgun can't be fired without a serious kickback. Wizards from the warhammer universe are in constant fear of dying or turning chaos. Virmentide puts a meter which fills with every spell you cast and if the meter is full you die instantly.
  • crusaduruscrusadurus Member, Alpha Two
    Magnet Sphere from Terraria is one of my favorite spells ever, to see it recreated inAoC with ball lightning was great! It was so good for quick area denial in PvE.
    I also really like Mind Vision from wow classic. Scouting around dungeons and raids with it was a lot of fun. Esp with the BoeD glitch I found on accident lol
  • OrgagriffithOrgagriffith Member, Alpha Two
    Spike Healing I love the high risk healing style. Heals that have extreme effect if used as a save (such as target is low life or incapacitated or surrounded by enemies) Some examples in games are Soraka's passive, the *old* flash heal & T&L, and some underpowered builds in new world. Most games favor puddle or DoT healing but I really like playing a diveline healer that goes in and has a high cooldown 0-100 kit. This is a great expression of skill for me and the few times games have featured this playstyles it often gets nerfed or removed in favor of the more reliable specs like puddles and dots.

    Payoff HP Shields Shields that reward the caster for successfully mitigating a damage spike. Like if the shield is burnt through fully, it gives a heal or other boon like cc break/immunity. I can't think of any examples of the top of my head but most games seem to reward the opposite, like Mordekaiser from LoL. I think both types of shield could be good to have as long as they are telegraphed to the opponent ( like a bubble pattern says "dont burn this shield", or a runic pattern means "burn this shield if you don't want them to have XYZ buff)
    tl;Dr A well placed shield is often invisible and I'd like to see the mitigation have a more impactful feeling/effect
  • SleepyMochiSleepyMochi Member, Alpha Two
    One Ability that stands out for me is:
    Lissandras Ult (LOL) Frozen tomb
    Not only is it a powerful Offensive Ability but also Defensive ability. I would love to see this one ingame (maybe instead of the blizzard ability). Being able to freeze an enemy or oneself would be a really unique touch for the mage class :)
  • NorththemageNorththemage Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Abilities that create more rock paper scissors (mindgames) in matchups are SUPER fun and really well done up to this point.

    Keep it up please :)
  • gooberbeargooberbear Member, Pioneer, Kickstarter
    I never got to play spell break,butI liked the idea they had where if you cast one spell in a particular sequence with another spell, you would get a third spell cast. Think like if you cast fireball as a nuke, followed immediately by nova , another nuke , it would apply a debuff to the target, making them take more damage from other elements.
  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Buff steal is my favorite, even though I rarely used it in owpvp, cause it can be real unfair.

    In general terms, TARGET MANIPULATION! Cancel target, redirect target, hold target - all in different methods of application, from direct spell that only has one of those functions to "this armor gives you a passive that has a chance to cancel your attacker's targetting on hit".
  • AmarAmar Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited 2:27AM
    Sniper in SWTOR had a combined pair of skills that I believe would benefit Ranger and was a favorite of mine, Crouch deploys a forward facing slight arc portable cover shield wherever you are currently standing that you kneel behind Ă—) However you need to stand up from behind it to engage an enemy so you will take damage when actively shooting. It can also be flanked. And a somewhat spamable cone aoe called Suppressive Fire (much like Rangers current Barrage) that could only be used if crouch was deployed first. All other active skills break the shield and put it on cooldown.

    In certain situations this combination gave Sniper a bit of survivability and damage mitigation with powerful bursts of DPS. However it's a choice that comes at a cost of being stationary in combat when used and not immune to damage completely, as well as taking 2 skill points to spec.

    For Ranger this could be an optional choice. Barrage can be turned into an aoe but only if a magical version of the shield is also chosen.

    In general I really like Rangers kit however it does feel kinda squishy at times. I'm confident that balance and tuning over time will help a lot of this. The above is just for your consideration and doesn't fundamentally change the kit it just becomes a different style but not without its costs.

    Keep up the fantastic work.

    Amaris
  • ZombieHeartZombieHeart Member, Alpha Two
    Dev Discussion - Spells and Abilities
    What is the best ability or spell you’ve used and why? Which spells or abilities stand out the most to you from games you’ve played in the past? What made them special to you?
    Cleric chains ability is neat, I wouldn't mind if the chains were made to look much larger. Cleric resurrection is so cool and I look forward to learning that lore. Clerics wave ability feels good but I wouldn't mind if the range (not width) was slightly increased. A lot of the bard spells stand out to me in this game, the tank dome flag stands out, one or two fighter skills, the mage? has a huge AoE lava floor spell.
    From the past I enjoyed the passive abilities given to classes. What's happening with racial passives in ashes, anything? I liked those passives because characters from the character creater was tied to certain predetermined BiS outcomes that can't be changed through spending skill points.
    What makes some a skill special to me? I've enjoyed skills that can be used for very big plays and speccing character equipment around those plays. Some skills in games can help with DPS but in a easy/funny way that I'd try to get away with. Yea, skills that make me want to design builds around them are the most impactful or special, besides that, it's usually for memes, unless I'm dying too much.
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  • mintyfresh45mintyfresh45 Member, Alpha Two
    {The priest summon spell in shadowbane} would be really nice to have a summon spell of some sort for healers in this game to allow them to summon other players to their location after a short delay shadowbane was 30 seconds I believe could add a lot to make travel around the map a little less of a Burdon.

    {The bleed system that poe} had was really nice could do lots of damage over time which allowed you to do a lot more as a solo dps player you could hit things and run around and then reengage when they were a little lower life to not die would be nice on fighters and rouges.
  • MissionCreepMissionCreep Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    The main thing that Ashes is missing that I like are ongoing Point Blank Area of Effect abilities.
    There are PBAOE buffs but that's not really an active, visible, cool ability. Something weighty that everyone in the area can recognize.

    Some random ideas could be: flame shield, repelling field, gaze of madness, divine grace, lightning aura, cloud of insects, shroud of shadows. That's just off the top of my head, the options are limitless. Give every archetype one signature active aura. Or maybe 2 more modest ones, one for level 1-25 and one for level 25-50.

    Toggled PBAoE's are cool because they can made be quite powerful but they drain your mana which is such a precious resource in this game. Duration and power would be self-limiting based on mana alone, although be wary if it's a Bard ability, I guess. Bard isn't really all that great with heavy mana drain, though, they are better for mana over time. So just don't give Bard a cheap one!
  • Lark WyllLark Wyll Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    For Ranger play I like Ashe (LoL) Ultimate arrow shot that you can stun from down town. Fun ability. Also volley arrow shot is nice, it sends out a fan that does damage and slows. Nice visuals for each. Sticking w/LoL Teemo sapper, trap style abilities with camo could apply to ranger. Unique playstyle.

    New World's Hatchet weapon Berzerk ability has a rad audio trigger to it when you go into the buffed state, its awesome. Path of Destiny for War Hammer in New World is a nice melee ability that staggers in a aoe direction for a medium to long distance.

    Marvel Rivals has a lot of fun ability mechanics that could be used in a mmo for various roles.
    -Dr. Strange's portal ability to transport party/raid to another location in a fight could be interesting for a mage role.
    -Invisible Woman has a nice utility & healer kit with some push/pull abilities, stealth etc.

    A lot of inspirational ideas could be pulled from Marvel Rivals for the expanded blend of class roles for added effects to the 8x8 = 64 class design.

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  • TeylouneTeyloune Member, Phoenix Initiative, Hero of the People, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited 5:04AM
    When I think about spells in MMORPGs, there’s one ability I always remember fondly. It’s Volatile Infection from the Summoner class in Allods Online. That game was a pretty solid PvX experience, so you could get killed at any time and lose experience. Kind of like Ashes of Creation in that way, but a lot more of a railroaded themepark.

    Alright, let me tell you about this ability because I seriously miss it. I haven't seen anything like it in any other game.

    Volatile Infection
    "Infects the target and all enemies within a 10 yard radius of the target with a virus that explodes when the Volatile Infection effect fades, and inflicts X damage to the targets and up to 3 enemies within a 10 yard radius of the targets."

    Range: 40 yards (I remember it as a medium range, just barely out of range for some other class to charge at you)
    Mana Cost: 25 (medium-ish mana cost, so spamming this thing did get expensive)
    Cast Time: 2s (fairly long, so people could see what you were doing and maybe silence or interrupt you)
    No cooldown

    In PvP, it was incredible. You’d chuck it into a zerg of players, and half the time they’d either panic or fail to react until it was too late. I’m talking specifically about large, uncoordinated groups that didn’t communicate or cleanse at all. When that explosion went off? Absolute bliss.

    The ability was actually pretty balanced. The counter? Good communication and teamwork. You could cleanse it or spread out to reduce the damage if cleansing wasn’t an option. It forced large groups to pay attention and work together. Running around as part of an unthinking zerg trying to brute-force content was risky because a well-organized group could and would punish you hard.

    This ability was pretty useful for pressuring enemy teams. You could force them to burn cleanses, put their supports on edge, and overall be disruptive. If their supports weren’t on top of things, it could get out of control rather quickly. Timing was key, too. You could wait for them to use up their cleanses, then throw it in to force them to scatter and break formation. If your team was well-coordinated, you could combo it with crowd control to trap them together, turning it into a devastating wipe. Pulling that off wasn’t easy, but when it worked, it was perfection.

    In PvE, it was great for clearing out mobs, especially in dungeons and raids. The damage scaled with the number of enemies, but the virus took time to spread and explode, so you couldn’t just spam it mindlessly. You had to stay alive and count on your team to cover you while it did its thing. Some encounters felt tailor-made for this ability, and when you got to use it in those moments, it was beyond satisfying.



    Another "Spell" of sorts that I like is Eldritch Blast from Dungeons & Dragons.
    Why?
    I like that it starts out as this simple and effective magical ranged attack but gets stronger over the course of your adventure. As you level up and choose upgrades for it, the "spell" essentially levels up as well, rather than staying the same like so many other spells or abilities. I like to imagine that with each significant upgrade, the visuals of the spell also become more... well, intense.

    The way I picture it is that it starts out as a small magical blast, but as you grow stronger, it eventually becomes this devastating, chaotic beam of raw obliterating power.


    Additional "Abilities" that I wanted to highlight:
    Every "ability" that Vergil uses in Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition.
    But if you want me to point you towards specific ones:
    - 1:54 Judgement Cut and all variations of it
    - 5:10 Hell on Earth
    - 8:08 For some cool Sword Summoning
    They look cool, they are fun, that's all they need to be.
    The Bloodboon Ritual from Elden Ring.
    It looks cool.
    Forum won't accept the video timestamp, so skip to 23 seconds.
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