With Fresh starts, merges and node wipes coming, let's get rid of flying mounts!

With the server merge on May 1st, it's a good time to think about some of the mechanics we've experienced and how their absence might shape the game moving forward, especially with Phase 3 on the horizon in August. Flying mounts have introduced some concerning issues when it comes to node development and community balance.

One of the more significant issues I've observed is how flying mounts can inadvertently incentivize players to game the Node Mayoral system. Instead of focusing on the core gameplay loop of node progression - participating in events, building structures, and leveling up the node itself certain communities have been able to leverage mayoral control to secure multiple flying mounts. This feels counter to the intended design, where mayoral leadership should ideally be tied to fostering a well-developed node.

Flying mounts also create an imbalance of power. Groups that manage to win multiple nodes gain an even greater advantage due to their enhanced mobility and scouting provided by flying mounts. This can make it significantly harder for smaller communities or newer players to establish themselves and compete.

The upcoming server merge, which will reset mayors and remove flying mounts, presents Intrepid with a fantastic opportunity. We'll essentially have a clean slate to observe how a server ecosystem functions without the influence of widespread aerial travel. This period leading up to the Phase 3 launch in August could provide invaluable data on node progression, resource distribution, and community interaction in a world where ground based travel and node development are more central to the experience.

Personally, I'm interested to see how the absence of flying mounts impacts player behavior and the overall server dynamic. Will we see a greater emphasis on node development and cooperation? Will the balance of power shift, offering more opportunities for emerging communities?

What are your thoughts on the impact of flying mounts? Do you agree with these potential negatives, or do you see benefits that outweigh them? Let's discuss!

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Comments

Texas

The negatives outweigh the benefits right now for sure.

Imnotkio

I agree, and I would go further:

1. Remove rare and under gear drops from mobs past level 10. With the recent gearing changes, level 20 gear is better than any level 10 gear, and players won't engage with crafting until journeyman stations unlock. This will severely harm the crafters and make the economy suffer since most materials will be useless for a really long time. Caravans won't be run as often because players don't need gold, because they are not crafting/buying materials. Players will be less incentivized to donate mats for node buy orders because they are only interested in journeyman stations and not apprentice ones.

By removing gear drops rare and under from mobs level 10, you make sure players can't reliably gear through grinding mobs, so they still need to engage with the crafting system, make gold, run caravans and level nodes to get their progression. Level 10 gear remains meaningful until level 20 benches unlock.

2. Rework the caravan reward calculations. Currently, demand of commodities vary the price way too little (most people probably don't even know it changes). Players find "meta" paths and just run 1 or 2 of those and most nodes don't see any caravan action. This also makes it incredibly easy and widespread for players to just print money

Price of commodities should vary based on 1. Demand: amount of foot traffic on a node (how many citizens, how many materials are spent, how much taxes the node gets from sales, etc) to give more busy nodes that ppl currently ignore for caravans a more enticing reward at the risk of delivering a caravan in a more busy area and 2. Supply: If a post is receiving the same commodity non stop, the price of that commodity should drop to a point where its not even profitable to deliver that commodity there. Create some big fluctuation in commodity payouts so where to start and where to end the caravan run is always a thing to think about.

3. Rewards for PvP systems/events: I don't understand how they didnt learn this lesson the first time, but they have reintroduced the same rewards that ppl were exploiting P2 start to node sieges. Stop giving people valuable goods/consumables for participating in these events and start adding meaningful consequences/rewards instead. Every reward for PvP should be zero-sum.

4. Alt voting: Please, remove the ability of alts to vote on node mayor elections.

melite

I agree that flying mounts should be removed or, at the very least, have some kind of cooldown on them. For instance, they would have a much smaller affect on overall gameplay health if they could only be used for flying for a short period (2-3 min) of time with a decent (20 min) cooldown. If they can be killed and put on a longer timer, rather than going to a new server worker to get it back, this would also be great.

I hope to see the alt voting removed during the May 1st merge & fresh start so that would be eliminated as an issue completely for gaining a node, however it wouldn't deter people from pushing nodes specifically for a mount and not benefiting the node as a whole.

In general, you made a lot of great points and a lot of people have felt that flying in the game as a whole could be removed or drastically reduced because the advantage gained from having a flying mount is too substantial.

My understanding is that when the game is launched, flying mounts won't be as available as they are currently, if ample testing and data has been gathered on flying mounts at this time, I also believe it's a great opportunity to see how the world progresses in terms of nodes, pvp, artisan, economy, etc without access to flying mounts at all.

willsummon

I believe that flying mounts should be a late game option.

Flying mounts and gliders offer the option of relaxation. Just flying over the terrain and see what is out there. For a late game, that would be a nice way to unwind when a player get tired of most of the other options the game has to offer.

AnimusRex

willsummon wrote: »

I believe that flying mounts should be a late game option.

Flying mounts and gliders offer the option of relaxation. Just flying over the terrain and see what is out there. For a late game, that would be a nice way to unwind when a player get tired of most of the other options the game has to offer.

Those are benefits that everyone would probably enjoy, but won't, from flying mounts anyway.

I think the issue is the other disproportionate powers they have.

It's always seemed a little bit off to me. And the elephant in the room is that Steven will certainly have a flying mount, and he has made them greatly overpowered....

Chase

Agree with the post, hope they can add the glider mounts eventually though.

SovereignGaming

Flying mounts definitely should go.

Undead Canuck

It looks like flying mounts are unlimited right now just for testing, but will be restricted more later on and at launch.

https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Flying_mounts
Flying mounts may be limited in speed and/or range from a node's vassal network.[12]
Potentially longer death timers that can stack.[12]
A previous statement was that flying mounts could only be mounted at a royal stables in order to fly.[4]
It was also stated previously that a maximum flight time of 20 and 30 minutes might be enforced to limit range of effectiveness.[4]

Vyllz

Good points overall, and I get the concern, but just a quick reminder that we’re still in Alpha, and a lot of these systems (including flying mounts) are still being tested and tuned.

Flying mounts are already planned to be extremely limited at launch, mainly for mayors and certain guild leaders, and Intrepid has mentioned they’ll likely come with strict cooldowns, zone restrictions, and no combat use. So it’s possible they’ll tweak things even more to avoid abuse or imbalance.

That’s exactly what this test phase is for, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Let’s see how things evolve after the May 1st reset!

Aszkalon

I doubt that Players with flying Mounts will be online all and everyday just to harrass all other Players somehow who don't have flying Mounts ... ...

Hamlet

Aszkalon wrote: »

I doubt that Players with flying Mounts will be online all and everyday just to harass all other Players somehow who don't have flying Mounts ... ...

i guess it depends on your level of play, and keep in mind this is coming from someone who is in a community that has had 2 mounts regularly, 4 if you count our alliance. The power they project is very oppressive, especially when fighting communities that do not have flying mounts

ZYBAK

I do think the flying mounts add a cool factor to the world especially if there's open world PvP of some kind happening and you see one swoop in. Kind of a cool Game of Thrones moment.

But yes as we've gotten more nodes flying mounts have gotten a bit corny. Maybe only the core heavy hitters Nodes like Winstead, Miraleth, and Halcyon should get them?

Ludullu

ZYBAK wrote: »

But yes as we've gotten more nodes flying mounts have gotten a bit corny. Maybe only the core heavy hitters Nodes like Winstead, Miraleth, and Halcyon should get them?

We simply need to finally get the higher lvls of nodes and keep flying mounts only to those. And keep updating that until we hit the proper design of "only Metro mayors have them".

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