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Proxy News Update - 09/22/2017 - Alpha Zero Details, Concept Art & More!



The Latest Proxy Update:
https://youtu.be/oWYOV8mQB18

Older news Updates/AoC Content:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLFnhhjKaQo&list=PLJvvIDgksu7PqsKE5geDHuX3T7kXULc2_

What We Know So Far Series:


Not the most exciting news update, and might have a few quiet months ahead!

As always guys thanks for watching.

Comments


  • Good video, keeping us up to date.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited September 2017
    Good one Proxy. Not listening to your podcast until it's baconconfirmed.
  • Camnesia said:

    Good video, keeping us up to date.
    https://youtu.be/AruWNRVZfyk

    lexmax said:
    Good one Proxy. Not listening to your podcast until it's baconconfirmed.
    Looks to be quite a good cast so far, won't drop names yet but two are MMO veterans complete with PhD's and very talkative. It wont be Ashes of Creation Exclusive Podcast, but it will definately be a topic from time to time.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited September 2017
    Your title is misleading.

    I was lead to believe there would be Zero details about Alpha!!
  • Karthos said:
    You're title is misleading.

    I was lead to believe there would be Zero details about Alpha!!
    FFFFFHH%R"£$%"$£% You got me! Clearly Clickbait!
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited September 2017
    @DeathsProxy At First:
    • 4km x 4km ( 16km2 ) seemed fairly big ... but if each Node Area is going to 2km x 2km ... I'm not so sure
    • More important, I'm hoping each Node is actually at least x5 the size of the in Alpha/ Beta/ Launch.
    • But for Alpha Zero ... idk, if there's less space, wouldn't limit the Exploration ? IN any case,  really hoping its more  o:)
  • Eragale said:
    @DeathsProxy At First:
    • 4km x 4km ( 16km2 ) seemed fairly big ... but if each Node Area is going to 2km x 2km ... I'm not so sure
    • More important, I'm hoping each Node is actually at least x5 the size of the in Alpha/ Beta/ Launch.
    • But for Alpha Zero ... idk, if there's less space, wouldn't limit the Exploration ? IN any case,  really hoping its more  o:)
    Well when you consider this is just a single zone, then the 5 castles, then the 5 metropolis cap.... Could be over 20 zones or so in total. Nothing confirmed, but collectively it could end up being quite a big map in total.
  • Well when you consider this is just a single zone, then the 5 castles, then the 5 metropolis cap.... Could be over 20 zones or so in total. Nothing confirmed, but collectively it could end up being quite a big map in total.
    I hope that the map is really quite massive, and it will take us many months to explore it all, and years to properly explore (peering into every nook and cranny, climbing mountains and delving deep into every cave). 

    With no fast travel, it should really make the world feel even more massive. 
  • Eragale said:
    @DeathsProxy At First:
    • 4km x 4km ( 16km2 ) seemed fairly big ... but if each Node Area is going to 2km x 2km ... I'm not so sure
    • More important, I'm hoping each Node is actually at least x5 the size of the in Alpha/ Beta/ Launch.
    • But for Alpha Zero ... idk, if there's less space, wouldn't limit the Exploration ? IN any case,  really hoping its more  o:)
    Well when you consider this is just a single zone, then the 5 castles, then the 5 metropolis cap.... Could be over 20 zones or so in total. Nothing confirmed, but collectively it could end up being quite a big map in total.
    If the zones are 4km x 4km, Ashes will need a very large number to come close to the larger games out there.
    • To match LOTRO, Ashes will need around 4850 zones.
    • To match GWN, Ashes will need around 2420 zones.

  • lexmax said:
    Eragale said:
    @DeathsProxy At First:
    • 4km x 4km ( 16km2 ) seemed fairly big ... but if each Node Area is going to 2km x 2km ... I'm not so sure
    • More important, I'm hoping each Node is actually at least x5 the size of the in Alpha/ Beta/ Launch.
    • But for Alpha Zero ... idk, if there's less space, wouldn't limit the Exploration ? IN any case,  really hoping its more  o:)
    Well when you consider this is just a single zone, then the 5 castles, then the 5 metropolis cap.... Could be over 20 zones or so in total. Nothing confirmed, but collectively it could end up being quite a big map in total.
    If the zones are 4km x 4km, Ashes will need a very large number to come close to the larger games out there.
    • To match LOTRO, Ashes will need around 4850 zones.
    • To match GWN, Ashes will need around 2420 zones.

    Does size even matter? I mean you can have the largest world out there, but its not filled with content... its just empty space.
  • ArchivedUserArchivedUser Guest
    edited September 2017
    @DeathProxy
    Larger the Game-Map = More Content. And since their is an UnderGround .. it'll be even bigger below  the depths >~>

    ( including the Oceans/ River/ Lakes/ etc )

  • DeathsProxy said:

    Does size even matter? I mean you can have the largest world out there, but its not filled with content... its just empty space.
    Apparently :*
  • Does size even matter? I mean you can have the largest world out there, but its not filled with content... its just empty space.
    Size does matter, immensely.

    If a game world is too large, the populace will be spread too thin and player interactions will be too rare, especially in a PvX game like Ashes.

    Too small and people are jammed together fighting for the same resources and things feel too claustrophobic, allowing not enough downtime for exploration, gathering ,etc.

    I think one of the keys is to hit the sweet spot of size vs interaction frequency the devs are planning on, and balance this with ensuring that each zone and area within that zone have persistent meaning as the game matures.

    Too many MMOs neglect areas and as the player base matures, early zones become dead, wastes of space. The resources they contain are worthless, easily superseded by those from "higher level" zones and all the effort put into those zones is lost. The zone may have content, but if that content is quickly surpassed and becomes meaningless then it is the same as no content at all.

    There are dozens of ways to ensure all zones are fresh and attractive to all player levels as the game progresses in maturity and I hope Intrepid really are planning their development based on a 5+ year cycle. They seem to be, but time will tell.
  • Bajjer said:
    Does size even matter? I mean you can have the largest world out there, but its not filled with content... its just empty space.
    Size does matter, immensely.

    If a game world is too large, the populace will be spread too thin and player interactions will be too rare, especially in a PvX game like Ashes.

    Too small and people are jammed together fighting for the same resources and things feel too claustrophobic, allowing not enough downtime for exploration, gathering ,etc.

    I think one of the keys is to hit the sweet spot of size vs interaction frequency the devs are planning on, and balance this with ensuring that each zone and area within that zone have persistent meaning as the game matures.

    Too many MMOs neglect areas and as the player base matures, early zones become dead, wastes of space. The resources they contain are worthless, easily superseded by those from "higher level" zones and all the effort put into those zones is lost. The zone may have content, but if that content is quickly surpassed and becomes meaningless then it is the same as no content at all.

    There are dozens of ways to ensure all zones are fresh and attractive to all player levels as the game progresses in maturity and I hope Intrepid really are planning their development based on a 5+ year cycle. They seem to be, but time will tell.
    Well in your own statement, its not the case of Size at all. Its the amount of content no and how well its spread out. Wouldnt matter if the map is 40,000km2 or 100km2 in the end, as long as the content is well spread, and the movement speed and travel of characters are adjusted. 

    I mean 100km2 in DayZ is different to say.... 100km2 in GTA5. Different transports, travel, fast travel etc etc makes a huge difference to how fast you can reletively traverse that given terrain. So isnt it less of an issues of world size, and more of an issue of how that world size is used? 
  • Well in your own statement, its not the case of Size at all. Its the amount of content no and how well its spread out. Wouldnt matter if the map is 40,000km2 or 100km2 in the end, as long as the content is well spread, and the movement speed and travel of characters are adjusted. 

    I mean 100km2 in DayZ is different to say.... 100km2 in GTA5. Different transports, travel, fast travel etc etc makes a huge difference to how fast you can reletively traverse that given terrain. So isnt it less of an issues of world size, and more of an issue of how that world size is used? 
    Good point. Travel speed is a huge factor. Except for the handful of special goobers who get flying mounts, in Ashes we'll have two main speeds: foot and mounted (yes Scientific nodes will have something akin to some form of fast travel, but we don't know what and how attractive it will be, or the impact/number of these nodes just yet so I shall ignore for the moment).

    Given that the travel speed will be fairly limited and relatively slow, compared to other MMOs, I think size then is very important. If they are aiming for 8,000 concurrent users, it makes a big difference.

    If the world is so large that it takes days of real world travel time to traverse the player available area then that is a big difference as those 8,000 people may be spread too thin and end up either clumping together, and leaving a large portion of the game empty, or spreading thin and not experiencing the game the way the devs envision.

    The game can be packed full of content, but if everyone is off doing their own thing in disparate parts of the world and there is so much content that everyone is able to choose something different it will defeat the purpose of a PvX design.

    I guess it all comes down to balance of size, travel speed, content and design.

    A pure PvE game design doesn't suffer from having a massive world as much, as people can happily play apart, which gives us the current state of MMOs where most people play solo :(
  • Thats a cool graphic. Some good points in this thread. 

    As @Eragale alluded to, don't forget the underground. If you're stacking layers, then 16 sq km of surface area can double in volume if you add a zedd dimmension, especially if theres a clever way to go up and down layers.  
  • @tugowar I'm hoping that they'll be several ways to enter the Underground Caverns
    • via Small Holes, Small Burrows hidden behind Bushes ( in the Ground )
    • Behind a Bounder, hidden in a Mountain-Caves leading lower & lower
    • Maybe a Sand Pit 
    • Rather, not so obvious, covered by Sand . So as to PLayers potentially accidentally walking over one & falling through one.

    Most likely i missed a lot of other examples too xD. 
    Regardless,  It'll could really add " depth " to the 4km x 4km Zone Area
  • tugowar said:
    Thats a cool graphic. Some good points in this thread. 

    As @Eragale alluded to, don't forget the underground. If you're stacking layers, then 16 sq km of surface area can double in volume if you add a zedd dimmension, especially if theres a clever way to go up and down layers.  
    Not to mention thats just the size specifically of this zone. Some zones might be bigger, some smaller, and we know zones are modular so they can just add new ones on. 

    But to talk about Alpha Zero and relevance of map size...

    If the map is 16km2, thats 16,000,000m2, with 800 people,

    Thats around 20,000m2 per person if the population spread out equally.

    Obviously due to the nature of POI and Hubs no one will spread out like this, but its still a decent amount space
    for 800 people (not that all testers will be online at the same time anyway).

    Skyrims map size is 39km2. Initially it feels big, after a while of playing it feels smaller and smaller, and fast travel eventually
    makes its size feel quite small. Interestingly if you play skyrim with fast travel disabled, the world already feels much quite
    vast again. So considering that this one zone in AoC is 16km2, and we know theres going to be quite a few zones, with limited
    forms of fast/faster travel, the world should end up feeling pretty big, but hopefully not to big that player interactions never/rarely occur.
  • tugowar said:
    Thats a cool graphic. Some good points in this thread. 

    As @Eragale alluded to, don't forget the underground. If you're stacking layers, then 16 sq km of surface area can double in volume if you add a zedd dimmension, especially if theres a clever way to go up and down layers.  
    Not to mention thats just the size specifically of this zone. Some zones might be bigger, some smaller, and we know zones are modular so they can just add new ones on. 

    But to talk about Alpha Zero and relevance of map size...

    If the map is 16km2, thats 16,000,000m2, with 800 people,

    Thats around 20,000m2 per person if the population spread out equally.

    Obviously due to the nature of POI and Hubs no one will spread out like this, but its still a decent amount space
    for 800 people (not that all testers will be online at the same time anyway).

    Skyrims map size is 39km2. Initially it feels big, after a while of playing it feels smaller and smaller, and fast travel eventually
    makes its size feel quite small. Interestingly if you play skyrim with fast travel disabled, the world already feels much quite
    vast again. So considering that this one zone in AoC is 16km2, and we know theres going to be quite a few zones, with limited
    forms of fast/faster travel, the world should end up feeling pretty big, but hopefully not to big that player interactions never/rarely occur.
    To give a RL reference, the village of Wainscott in the Hamptons Long Island is 16km2 and has a population of 628.
  • Great videos Death. I watched most of them and you explained some things I was uncertain about. Also, you remind me of Greg the Grim reaper from Conker's bad Furday.  :D
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