Blazing the Way - Mage Alpha One Preview

✨ Are you ready to rain raw destruction on your foes? 🔥

Meet the Mage and find out more about their might from level 1-10 in our Alpha One Preview: https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2020-12-23-blazing-the-way-mage-alpha-one-preview

https://youtu.be/lQo1WK0HkcI

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Jinthul

So, here is my opinion to the mage skills and animations.

- Fireball looks nice, but the floating animation for a little Fireball is to much, make it simple! If it was a big a** Magmaball with an even longer animation ok, i get it.

- Lightning Bolt looks cool.

- Black Hole again no need for the floating animation maybe some kind of shaping a sphere hand animation is maybe better?

- Drain Essence the beam direction is toward the opponent, maybe the other way around from the opponent to the caster looks more logical?

- Blink looks amazing, just to much smoke for me.

- Lava Storm yeah i like it.

- Meteor Storm overall nice. I think it's just a skill for a higher level.

- Prismatic Beam love it.

With best regards

ThePeacekeeper

I'll be honest, i really hated all the jumping and floating animations, and many comments here and in YouTube share this opinion. The effects i hope you can tone down like you stated in other videos and development updates because right now, as it is, I'm worried for the final outcome of the combat animations.

Tycan

I'm very conflicted regarding the animations, on one hand they seem to be a little "over-the-top" on the other hand if all animations are similar then it won't affect the overall gameplay or create a loophole in combat scenarios.

Dreoh

Citadel1664 wrote: »

I'm very conflicted regarding the animations, on one hand they seem to be a little "over-the-top" on the other hand if all animations are similar then it won't affect the overall gameplay or create a loophole in combat scenarios.

Animations don't affect gameplay at all to begin with, other than immersion and maybe visibility/recognition.
Can you define the "combat loophole", I genuinely don't know what you're referring to there

Xenotor

Ralms wrote: »

I've provided this feedback on Youtube comments, however I felt it would be interesting to also start a thread here on the forums so see if others share a similar opinion.

The following feedback is regarding the recent video from Intrepid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQo1WK0HkcI

Whoever is the animator of these skills, has a clear addiction with skills that make you jump or float.... Way too much and feels unnatural.
I know it's alpha and I'm sure it will be improved, however it's something I've noticed lately is that the skills animations are not taking into consideration combos and fight fluidity, they don't chain with each other.
And mostly due to the very long floating stuff.
For example, "Fireball", it's just a fireball, you have all that build up as the character is about to drop a crazy AoE, but then just a measly fireball...

Also Mages use Robes, not metal armor .

Overall here is my feedback and opinion on the skills presented on this video:
0:29 Fireball: The jumping / floating is too much, have the fire build up on the chars hands and shoot, make the animations a bit quicker.

0:42 Lightning bolt: Love it, nice and short, sudden like electricity.

0:48 Black Hole: The jump once more unnecessary, I would rather see the character stay grounded use his hands as he was forming an imaginary sphere, which matches the big dark sphere showing up near the enemies.

1:00 Drain Essence: It's ok, meh. My main criticism is that you are draining, however the ray animation is towards the enemy, it's contradictory, it should be the opposite, like you are sucking energy from the enemy.

1:15 Blink: Overall love it, just too much smoke on the arrival. The first animation of entering the portal is spot on, 10/10, so maybe consider inverting it, making the arrival location start with the energy sparkles and the portal showing up quickly without smoke.

1:26 Lava Storm: Overall like it. The jump/ floating makes sense here and adds more impact specially being an AoE skill. What I would improve is on the ground animation right now looks more like an eruption rather then a storm, as such consider making the lava splatters on the ground smaller and higher in number, having some falling rocks or lava drips as it would be raining lava, matching the lava splatter on the ground.

1:38 Meteor Storm: I'm confused about this one, as its almost the same thing as Lava Storm. The falling "Meteors" are way too big. Maybe save this one for a higher level? And instead of having 3 meteors just call it Meteor and have a big AoE rock fall from the sky. After all a Meteor naturally gets on fire when falling thru the atmosphere.

1:50 Prismatic Beam: Love how it looks, but make the big splatter animation on the character hands like 60% the size of what it is now. It's too big. The energy beam looks really cool.

I would love to hear from your guys, if you agree with me or what is your opinion about these skills.

Thank you and looking forward to trying Ashes one day.

Best Regards,
Ralm

You are spot on.
+1

I could not have said it better.
Watching the animations i did wonder if we play mages or Martial artists in some of the animations.

Dayuhan

In defense of the Fireball Animation
From my perspective the animation for this casting makes some sense if the intent of the Fireball is "Fire Support". The mage is elevating to be at a higher elevation than the front line troops and then releases the fireball at the target - firing over the heads of friendly forces. Now I agree jumping up and down repeatedly, while chain-firing Fireball's, does appear unnecessary, however, in the animation test we only see one Fireball being fired before the viewpoint changes; perhaps the animation allows the mage to remain elevated as long as their manna pool holds out if they are repeatedly firing Fireball. However, if the mage attempts to cast any other spell then they should drop to the ground beforehand - even if the next spell is also a spell that uses elevation (i.e. Black Hole) - this drop to the ground represents the mages change of focus.

In defense of the Black Hole
Defending this animation for much the same reason as Fireball. The jump to elevation allows the mage to place the Black Hole with a clear line of view. This is especially useful when used strategically to separate the
enemy forces or to disrupt their ranks - by placing it near the back or middle of the enemy force.

In defense of Drain Essence
The initial ray hitting the target is forming the link necessary to drain the essence from the target - an ethereal straw for sucking the essence out. I think it would be nice if inside the ray we saw a reverse flow, representing the essence being drawn back to the mage. The puff at the end represents the cutting of the drain, essence that was in the process of being drawn but was not absorbed in to the mage.

In Defense of Blink
This is a combat maneuver. The mage is ripping a hole between two points and stepping through that hole before it closes. The "smoke" is not really smoke it is the raw essence nature being rent open at the entrance and exit points. When you rip a hole in a living thing it is not going to close immediately.

Katakros

First time posting, very interested in the game, very interested in all aspects from PvP to PvE, crafting, node control, lore etc etc.

I've been gaming MMORPGs since around 2003/4 started with the typical "korean grind" MMOs, Runescape, Asherons Call, which then lead to WoW, LotrO, Warhammer Online, SW:ToR, GW, GW2, ESO, BDO, and a bunch of smaller or short lived MMOs that ive dabbled in.

I love to get invested into the worlds I game in, I like to learn about the lore and so on, go on dungeon crawls and kill giant dragons and loot their corpses, but if there is one thing that I love more than any other aspect of MMORPG gaming, its PvP. Some games have been an amazing experience, others an absolute nightmare.

Which brings me to this mage preview video. Lets start with the Pros.
-Graphically Stunning. The Lava storm actually looks HOT. So many games make "fire" but fail to capture the feeling behind it. HEAT. Looking at Lava Storm gave me the feeling that, it could actually be hot.
-Fluid Animations. The importance of this is so understated in gaming, and so many companies cheap out on animations by giving them that sort of "anime" style where they can blur some lines make it really quick and it feels effortless.
-Support Spells. Black Hole and Drain Essence will become invaluable tools in both PvE and PvP prolonged fights, im glad to see its not just a fireball spam and finisher type of game.

and the Cons. I'll attach some questions with these since I havent played any alpha myself so I don't know exactly if these are cons or not, so i'm on the side of caution as to not get my hopes to high up.
-Animation and Graphical bloat. The jumping animation of fireball seems over dramatized, while i like it for Black Hole, because it gives the opportunity to counter a hard CC, for fireball it seems a little much. Unless fireball is a BIG damage spell in which it would be favorable to have a long cast. Blinks graphical bloat with the extra cloud animation on entry and exit to what looks like a portal seems a bit overboard for a simple magical spell. Unless there is some underlying effects on blink entrance and exit done to enemies or yourself through an empowered version of the spell and that's what we saw?
-Animation Size/Length. It was Mentioned that Meteor Storm and Lava Storm were both AoE castable spells, but I didnt get a good indication of their relative size in the video, seemed like meteor should have been a much wider AoE compared to Lava storm based on animation sizes? Also there is no clear defined end point to the animation, whether or not damage will bleed out a little bit passed its animation?
-Beam Spells. A Pro and a Con, it looks great, it looks powerful, i dont want to be on the recieving end of it. The downside to these is, are you animation locked while casting? Meaning, can you rotate your character to aim the beam mid cast?

And just as a little ending note on personal preference. Animation Canceling, your game is shaping up to have big elaborate spells, and enourmous effects. It would be sad to see animation cancel PvP take over as "meta" for AoC. The rolling/dodging animation cancel style PvP is so wrong and cheap feeling that it turn myself and many other gamers off. I understand that a main staple in an action combat style MMO is the dodge roll mechanic, but when it starts to become animation cancelling PvP is when I check out. I like to be immersed in the world, not have insta-cast spells and giant men in full plate rolling back and forth while trying to cancel their swing animations on eachother.

finis

I feel like I'm a little late to the party, but here I go:

0:29 Fireball - I'm just going to assume that Fireball will be one of a mages bread and butter skills as it is in a lot of other MMOs. That being said the animation is FAR to long. Cast time aside which wizard would jump around in the air to throw his fireball every few seconds? It would look funny in a setting with lots of wizards but I don't think it would be fun playing this class (in early stages) with this animation. You are locked far too long for a meager amount of damage (which I have to assume since it's a low-level skill.) I would personally prefer a shorter animation with a visible cast time for example the fireball slowly grows in the hand of the wizard until it's big enough to hurl it forward.
0:42 Lightning Bolt - I love the lightning bolt! The cast time and animation are much shorter, which makes sense since it's a lightning spell. Now if you compare this spell with fireball, no one would use the latter. Even after upgrading. Lightning bolt gets a knockdown and chains to multiple enemies while fireball only gets a dot and larger aoe.
0:48 Black Hole - The particles on the caster look amazing, even though I would have changed the color from blue to purple- dark purplish like the black hole itself. The problem for me is again: The jump, it doesn't feel like the jump contributes to the spell at all it's just like: "Hey, why don't we let him jump it might look cool." And it might, maybe once or twice.. but if you use it more often it will start to suck.
1:00 Drain Essence - Again, the weird jump here. It just feels forced. Aside from that, the effect looks neat but as another comment pointed out already, it would be cool to see an reverse flow of the targets essence.
1:15 Blink - The particles could be a bit toned down as well as the smoke at the exit. Maybe the effect gets smaller the higher the user levels up in the skill, which sounds weird at first, but it would make sense as he gets better in tearing apart space, which would also address the concerns of another commenter who noted that it would be better not to see the exit point at all, since it would be more threatening than just looking for a giant puff of smoke around you. Also: The time to travel seems kind of long for the distance. It doesn't look like it's much faster than a high movement speed character could run in the same time.
1:26 Lava Storm - Instead for a jump, I would go with a fist or even the leg stomping on the ground, upon impact the ground cracks open like in the animation. Instead of the small explosion from time to time, a continous bubbling of smaller lava particles would look better in my opinion.
1:38 Meteor Storm - Meteor Storms wind up and animation are fine, as it looks like some sort of ultimate spell (to quote peon: big damage!!) It seems kind of strong for a low level spell but I don't know whats going to follow in terms of spells. I personally like the animation and wouldn't change much about it.
1:50 Prismatic Beam - The point of origin is far to huge in my opinion. It should be toned down quite a bit. The rest of the animation looks nice

As an additional note specific to the black hole which I thought of might be kind of cool even though probably a pain to program: If multiple black holes would increase in size and pull strength if they overlap. So for examples two wizards are casting tier 1 black holes that a part of them overlap with the other. They somehow merge together, getting slightly bigger in the process and possess the pull strength and AOE of a t2 black hole. Now this could be further enhanced with another t1 black hole by another wizard merging to a t3. Now to not make this abuseable it would stop increasing in size and pull strength afterwards.
Now what would happen if someone casts a t1 black hole onto an t3 black hole or the reverse? Or a t2 black hole onto another t2 black hole? Another neat effect could happen: It might get unstable due to magic overflow or whatever reason you can think of and explode, dealing explosive area damage of t3 or even a little bit higher.

PS: English is not my main language so there might be some weird wording here and there but I hope it's mostly understandable.

Ryfaen

Just a couple:

Lava Burst - I agree with previous poster that this should be a strike to the ground and the lava bursting up. Perhaps a shorter jump up to gather power then strike to the ground.

Blink - What is the expected use? If to break targeting, it should be instant shift of position, followed by stagger as mage recovers. If to escape, then it should be more subtle in effects as the current effects just scream "mage is now here!".

Rhinehold

Ralms wrote: »

I've provided this feedback on Youtube comments, however I felt it would be interesting to also start a thread here on the forums so see if others share a similar opinion.

I too left feed back in the youtube comments.

I agree with the vast majority of Ralms' feed back.

Mowaby

Ryfaen wrote: »

Just a couple:

Lava Burst - I agree with previous poster that this should be a strike to the ground and the lava bursting up. Perhaps a shorter jump up to gather power then strike to the ground.

Blink - What is the expected use? If to break targeting, it should be instant shift of position, followed by stagger as mage recovers. If to escape, then it should be more subtle in effects as the current effects just scream "mage is now here!".

I think blink is to escape. I think it should telegraph where the mage went.

Solid_Sneak

My two cents, if there is jump to be involved in a spellcast animation, make it a telegraph, so people can instinctively learn "jumping animation == AOE spell coming".

Furthermore, if the company wants to expand the mage gameplay later on by allowing spellcasting on the move, yeah, good luck with the "animu" animations where the mage flies about while casting.

Protey

LieutenantToast wrote: »

While in Ashes of Creation neither weapons nor armor are class-locked, we appreciate the feedback on wanting to see more light armor in upcoming videos!

Thank you! Us warrior mages appreciate it.

Kurgon

The float up into the air animation is over used in my opinion. It isn't a deal breaker for me, and they look good, it's just a bit over the top for my taste. I think the float in the air as you cast animation should be reserved for something impactful, something big, and everything else should be cast from standing. My 2 cents.

Kemani

I think the mage class spell look awesome but the animations make it look like a cartoon hero not a mmorpg mage and flying in the air looks weird , i don't know if they were trying to be unique but it turn out too kid like, i want to roleplay a evil mage but if i attack their going to make jokes at me and don't take me serious.

maouw

Hi Kemani,
most people would agree with you. You can find everyone else's comments here:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/47792/blazing-the-way-mage-alpha-one-preview

Taleof2Cities

The forums should have an auto-reply feature that reminds players the game is still in pre-Alpha 1.

Honshu

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

The forums should have an auto-reply feature that reminds players the game is still in pre-Alpha 1.

All the more reason to voice criticism early, before things start getting cemented.

Khronus

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

The forums should have an auto-reply feature that reminds players the game is still in pre-Alpha 1.

Nah, that wouldn't be productive. The original posters comments are true and Intrepid will reflect on the feedback (especially since this viewpoint is overwhelmingly consistent). Just because we are in Alpha 1, doesn't mean our feedback should be silenced.

Taleof2Cities

Honshu wrote: »

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

The forums should have an auto-reply feature that reminds players the game is still in pre-Alpha 1.

All the more reason to voice criticism early, before things start getting cemented.

Khronus wrote: »

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

The forums should have an auto-reply feature that reminds players the game is still in pre-Alpha 1.

Nah, that wouldn't be productive. The original posters comments are true and Intrepid will reflect on the feedback (especially since this viewpoint is overwhelmingly consistent). Just because we are in Alpha 1, doesn't mean our feedback should be silenced.

I'm not saying we shouldn't voice our opinions.

I am saying that it's too early to have a meaningful discussion of animations that are a long way (maybe years) from being polished ... especially when Steven has pre-empted game footage clips by noting animations are placeholders not in their final form.

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