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Role Playing Hopes.
Alrua
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Hey all!
Never sure how to start a post but here goes. I have been actively RPing for about 10 years. Be it forums, Discord/IM chats or In MMOs of all sorts!
This is simply what I hope will be in Ashes/Suggestions for Ashes from a RPer's point of view.
In no order of priority:
Non of this should impact game play as much but also be a helpful tool and more creative side for the game in general if you are a non-rper.
Otherwise, what is your wish and hopes for RP within the game?
Looking forward to chatting with ya'!
Never sure how to start a post but here goes. I have been actively RPing for about 10 years. Be it forums, Discord/IM chats or In MMOs of all sorts!
This is simply what I hope will be in Ashes/Suggestions for Ashes from a RPer's point of view.
In no order of priority:
- Status Tag: A simple status next to your name to say if you are Role Playing or not. Something like FFxiv has.
- Profile/Search: RP profile where you can details things such as Age, history, RP titles, Detailed character descriptions etc. Along with a short write up of what you seeking, be it RP, PvE/Guilds etc. Or what ever you like. Profile can be a tab when you inspect other players. Optional UI add-in is all.
- Character Journal: A story of the character's questing/log of sorts. It would also act as a Wiki giving lore of places/events/quests and whatever else is withing Vera that the character knows. Could be tied into the profile and map making.
- Custom Emote Function: Adding to the post Here
Animations that are triggered from speech. "Hello there" Example. Character will either wave at target, or otherwise. Able to disable/enable this function too. Along with /emote, animation sets we can use. Added, combat animations that are different or set to the class. So a rogue stabs and a blade dancer dances... Don't want to see the same swing strike animation for the same class/weapon etc. Will be epic to see a lot more styles. - Customization: The more the better, never hurts at all. I am somewhat worried about the amount of cosmetics on the shop... but then again we are not paying for a Box price.
- RP Servers: A notice board/RP events calendar that can be found in-game. Can be used for other things like Pve/Pvp or guild recruitment posters. Can be linked to the profile UIs etc. Protection against Trolls and Gankers to be a little more harsh if you attack those that are purely RPing, can be tied into the Tag too.
- Environment: The Nodes and dynamic world is really a dream, but can we have more interactions with objects? Chair, bowls and so on. Example might be at a camp grounds, can we light the fire? Can we move the chair, can we adjust things or even build static things as a crafter? Something to Expand into.
- Crafting: I think it has been mentioned, items like belts can be made then a sack (of coins or whatever the RPer wants), that can be attached to that belt and wear it. Added spice as cosmetic items to you baseline stats giving clothing. Same goes for mounts and what they could have on them.
Non of this should impact game play as much but also be a helpful tool and more creative side for the game in general if you are a non-rper.
Otherwise, what is your wish and hopes for RP within the game?
Looking forward to chatting with ya'!
17
Comments
They are something the team will look at post launch.
You don't need a character journal when the world reacts to your actions. Though probably there will be a place to list your characters' deeds on the planned website. A server journal, chronicling the events that happen on the server, will exist. It's unclear how specific this will be.
They have said that character customization will be detailed. Though I would take the promise of the character creator being like BDO with a grain of salt, it will certainly be on the better end. Any class can wear any kind of armor and use any kind of weapon, that certainly helps from a roleplaying perspective. Also you won't have classes that are found in the lore but not playable, like you do in many games. Information about the armor can be found here. That being said, an MMORPG is not a virtual world. The customization options won't be limitless. Roleplaying outside the game's lore likely won't be possible.
You can decorate your house, so there will be systems in the game for moving furniture. They have promised that it will be possible to sit in chairs, lie down in beds etc. Where exactly this kind of interaction will be enabled is uncertain. Though as ESO has every furniture item in the world interactive, I'm going to guess Ashes will do that too. It's an easy thing to do these days (the main reason it wasn't available in older games was that it wasn't technically feasible) and there's little reason not to do it. They have definitively promised the ability to craft furniture items and such.
Don't want to be ganked? don't stand around in unsafe areas. Your character wouldn't just stand in the woods talking to another character because there would be bandits or wild animals. So don't do that. Ride back to the nearest town. This isn't WoW, a ganker won't be able to invade a town.
Imagination is the highest kite you can fly.
here is your one-year necro badge
I have to agree with you
Like if you pick a rogue archetype as part of your "class" you can sneak your way through certain quests or objectives, taking a nonlethal or stealthier approach for example.
As well as plenty of locations (taverns, libraries, etc.) that have no immediate or priority to gameplay or mechanics but instead offer a niche locale for roleplayers like myself to get away from the hacking and slashing and comfortable immerse ourselves in the world.
It is designed to be out of prying eyes if you know what I mean, confientiality of what you do behind close doors is not my concern, So if you do come to my tavern when it opens I offer you special offers so that you may find quality opportunity where none be had normally @JackBlackjack I ask you consider this stranger in a strange land's offer if you wish, we will be best friends and have much drinks and women i am sure, adieu.
-Pravchenski, yelling this at some twigs in sand, in a desert.
Wait a minute, WHAT? they won't even mark a server per region as "RP" just so role-players can all join the same server? They don't even have to make the servers different in any way, just when you're selecting the server put "RP" after the name so that people can join the server which will have the most role-players, and if you don't like RP, you can make sure to avoid that one.
Edit: I don't even like role-playing that much, but I enjoy walking into town or into a tavern and seeing people talking, it makes the world feel more alive and immersive.
I wouldn't worry too much about this. Any given MMO may not have a dedicated RP server, but that doesn't stop players from choosing an unofficial RP server for themselves. And with the ability to pre-register for a server before launch, players who want RP will be able to get into the unofficial RP server without needing to fight tooth and claw upon release.
RP Community Discord: Here
I'm crossing my fingers for for possibly an Enjin forum to be set up for roleplayers, it seems to be the best platform to put profiles and make contacts.
All ideas are good except the more corruption for ganking roleplayers. Because... it is part of the game, even from some dumb shitty that just love to gank roleplayers. In wilderness, noone are safe. simply.
And also, the RP servers (will say again after)
But from all you said i would mainly like two things
1) a way to do a description that anyone can read while inspecting/examining.
Not as good as RP addon on wow offers (even if we have this, would be really good) but like 2000 caracters would already be nice.
2) not exactly a quest log as you said but a personnal notepad.
Then, a calendar system would be nice, but discord and this forum are already great tool for this
About cosmetic, i hate cash shops in subscription systems, even if "only cosmetic" and even if "we dont have to buy the game". buuuut ... it is now the least we can have (thank you blizzard with this pandora's box ) And the fast growing FFXIV cash shop was one of the big reason making me stop this game after 5 years.
I really REALLY hope that we will be able to find really good cosmetic skins for free (be it in "usefull stuff" or "useless one"). i can't hide i can afford some cash shop aesthetic for sure (the words near my nickname over this post :x) but i always think about people that can't afford it. And roleplay without enough choice of skin is really a bad thing. the skin of the stuff is a big part of a character identity.
Why against RP server ? a game like Ashes of Creation is by nature, already RP servers. not roleplay like most here think, right, but even hardcore PvPer are part of this whole RP. Because one big thing in persistant world game Roleplay is "socialisation" 2 guild non roleplay who speak about alliance, or threaten each other to war is already kind of RP in the game.
Looking forward to it!
I spoke about "official"
after, roleplay communities does what they want.
I have a fairly specific perspective on this set of suggestions, though I largely agree with a good chunk of what Aerlana said. So here is my direct responses to the original post:
Status Tag: FFXIV's tag is immersion breaking in it's 'video gamey' look and feel. FFXIV has this tag because it is by nature a more limited world in terms of it's social interactivity than AoC due to FFXIV's themepark nature and RPers need to know who to whisper to in that game to have a more social rp focused experience. So a title like 'Player of Roles' still serves a purpose, but it should be crafted in a way that doesn't break immersion as there is less need for the tag in AoC in the first place.
Profile search: Great to have on the ashes website/forum (in fact it's generally already possible), terrible for the devs to put in the game code. Let's encourage an implementation that minimizes bugs and maximizes ease of bug fixing. Having a player character description should be in the game however as it is usable by shop owners and crafters to describe their wares as well.
Character Journal: I'd like to have this feature because I'm a single screen gamer. Taking notes as I go in a quest line would be very helpful as I get easily lost and distracted. FFXI quests were the worst to come back to a month later and me having no idea where to go due to unhelpful quest marker notes in the quest. That being said like many things in this list it would require more dev time and might be prone to long qa times. It is therefore much lower priority than most other things as it does not add much to gameplay directly. That being said, maybe it's slightly higher on the pile due to the exploratory nature of the crafting systems intended for the game.
Custom Emote: This sounds pretty unreasonable to ask of the dev team. It's complicated, extremely prone to bugs, and some of your requests aren't necessary given any class can use any weapon. I would like a text based custom emote like FFXI's /em, however, as it is much less difficult and bug prone to code and adds a ton of utility for regular RP-ers and casual rping by non-RP-ers alike.
Customization: Not sure what is being asked for here? As a complete insert of my own suggestion, it would be cool if the community had the ability to vote on things in the cash store that get made based on various dev offered mock ups, and ones that reach enough votes/preorders? get inserted into the next dev cycle. It would be in line with the transparency of AoC's development philosophy, while still giving the devs complete ability to control what they want to work on. It would just make it easier to get more confidence on various ideas and higher responsiveness to the communities tastes and wants. And lets be honest the buyer population is going to be highly rper tilted due to their higher needs/vocal-ness/demands.
RP Servers: Aerlana said it best.
Environment: I think some of these are already planned. Maybe not outside (I just haven't heard any data), but a lot of the indoor emote desires sound like they are being considered (Beds, tubs, eating emotes, etc.)
Crafting: Not sure what is being asked for here either.
Over all a lot of these suggestions feel like they are rooted in a FFXIV game experience (just as mine are rooted in a FFXI experience.) If you are switching from the design philosophy of FFXIV to AoC, it's going to be a bit jarring as the philosophies are drastically different in terms of how they approach and cater to roleplay experiences. So I hope my harshness isn't taken as being upset or diminishing of the spirit of your ideas, it's just that the philosophy of AoC's RP experience means there is a large gap between it and themepark mmorpgs.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yhr9WpjaDzw
To hopefully bring you some joy in your day! There is already plans to give players a sort of Character sheet to write down back stories, descriptions, titles, and more for other players to see.
Calendar systems will be a thing in guilds as you will be able to set up various event times and what not. Guilds will have tons of Quality of Life systems to ensure all people can get involved effectively. Steven has mentioned an AOC app you will be able to download on your phone to access various in game functions and chats as well as calendars and making announcements for guilds. So if you are in a quality guild you will get plenty use of these systems
There has been a huge commitment to the idea that you will be able to find good cosmetics in game without spending additional money if you put the effort in.
It was stated several times Steven is against tags of any kind for any server other than time zones. He believes all servers are roleplay. So it comes down to the RP communities to name those servers
Status Tag - I dont see why not its a rather simple thing they can add, City of Heroes/Villans had it (2003), and FFXIV had it even before the remake.
Profile/Search - A personal profile page for the character inside of the 'inspect' window or a RP UI might be doable but its likely going to be rather bare bones and just have a basic description of your character if at all. I do not see them adding a search function for RPers even though this would help RPers find each other in a server. Not a bad idea to bring up.
Character Journal - This falls into the Profile part and if anything this seems more doable since the text could be stored locally on your PC, rather than a server but that would cause PTP issues and will likely be the size of a twitter post per entry so people cant just post 2gigs worth of character data and bog down the servers. That or make it its own web page thing.
Custom Emote Function - I would just say make this a macro function rather than baking it into the game. Combat animations would need to be their own thing since the 'class' is just your jobs combined. We are likely not going to see these but animation team might go above and beyond but it will likely fall under the 'default' appearance thing for low end pcs so not a high priority.
Customization: - This is baked into the game and hopefully we get enough customization.
RP Servers - RP servers will sadly not be happening, Intrepid is hellbent on squishing that notion, but I wish we had the option. Posting RP events will likely happen in cities towns and villages rather than being server wide.
Environment - My hope here is that we do get some things like 'survival skill' and place down a tent campfire and a chair to sit around outside while traveling for an hour. Then with cities the hope is that 'owning' a plot of land will allow you to customize it but I do not think that will happen.
Crafting - Not sure on this one will really need to take a gander at how in-depth the crafting scene will be. Praying they nail this one since regardless of it being an RP thing, crafting will need to see a unique system that is backwards compatible since 80-90% of all items will be crafted or at least thats the claim?