My dev summaries will not longer be posted on asheshq.com.
Until I figure out what my plan is for their home. I will just post them here.
Development Update: March 29, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that values (time and percentages) are all subject to change with testing. To give an idea of where they are, dropping material items on death (glint or other) is ~20-30% of a stake is going to be lootable on a per death basis. This value can change based on the types of bags you are using, amongst other progressions paths. XP debt is about 3-4% of the level per death, however there are ways to medicate that % debt via the resurrection ability of the cleric. The ability will return a % upon resurrection depending on the cleric’s stats. Anywhere within a level, if you acquire 100% debt, you are looking at around 20% stat dampening. XP debt does not de-level a character, but making the fear of failure real, in order to incentivize doing better.
• The Dev Discussions for Time Dedication is still up.
• The next Dev Discussion will be on Item Drop.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
Fighter Archetype Preview
• Steven played as a Male Renkai Fighter
• Fighter uses Momentum as the class energy. Momentum: Generate 1 Combat momentum when hitting tarts. Weapon combo finishers generate 3 combat momentum plus an additional 1 per 10 casters already has. Combat moment grants unique increasing stat based on the combat form you are currently in and how much momentum you have built.
• Abilities:
o Blitz: 10 Mana 30 Range 0.8s Use
Charge directly towards target enemy, dealing physical damage to the target on arrival.
o Brutal Cleave: 20 Mana 1.2s Use
Perform a wide sweeping attacking, dealing damage to all enemies in front of you.
This ability shares a cooldown with Overpower, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher reduces its cooldown by 8 seconds
+10-20 Combat moment )based on number of enemies hit.
o Maim 25 Mana 1.4s Use
Perform a powerful melee strike in a short forward cone, dealing physical damage to all targets hit plus 100% additional damage to recently tripped targets
o Overpower 10 Mana 4m Range 1s Use
Deal direct damage and apply Shaken to target enemy. This ability shares a cooldown with Brutal Cleave, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher refreshes the cooldown of this ability
+10 Combat Momentum
o Battle Cry 30 Mana 0.7s Use
Unleash a resounding war bellow, applying the Riled effect to the caster and al nearby party memb3ers and Shaken to all nearby enemies. Gain 5 Combat Momentum for each target that was Riled.
Riled targets have increases stability and have increase change of tripping Shaken enemies.
o Rupture 15 Mana 4m Range 1.3s Use
Deal physical damage and apply a debuff to the target. While the debuff is active, the target acquires 5 wound stacks per second that they are moving.
After 5 seconds, the target takes heavy damage, plus additional damage for each stack of wound it has.
o Exert 0.2s Use
Consume your Combat Momentum rapidly, gaining 20% increased attack and movement speed and immunity to disabling effects while active.
Must have at least 20 Combat Momentum to activate, and the effect ends when all Combat Momentum is fully depleted.
o Crippling blow 15 Mana 4m Range 0.9s Use
Deal physical damage and apply Snare to target enemy for 6 seconds
o Lethal blow 15 Mana 4m Range 1.1s Use
Perform a powerful descending strike upon target enemy, dealing additional physical damage based on the amount of % missing health, up to 300% of base damage.
o Cataclysm 40 Mana 2.1s Use
Deal heavy damage and apply Shaken to all enemies in a large area in front of you.
Shaken enemies have 5% change to trip when hit, and the effect is removed when triggered. This chance doubles when hit by Riled targets.
o Whirlwind 30 Mana 3m Range 2.7s Cast
Channeled ability: Deal physical damage to all enemies around the caster with each spin while channeled, increasing the spin rate the longer it is channeled.
The caster is immune to hard disabling effects while spinning.
Activate ability again to end channeling early.
o Blood Fusion Instant Cast
Return 100% of damage dealt as heal and 50% of damage dealt as mana over the next 6 seconds.
If activated while below 50% health, gain 25% increased damage mitigation and healing received over the duration.
o Lunging Assault 0.6s Use
Spend 15 Combat Momentum to lunge in a direction a short distance and perform an upward swing upon arrival, dealing damage to enemies in front of you. You are immune to hard crow control effects while performing this ability.
o Leap Strike 30 Mana 30m Range 1.8s Use
Leap to target location and deal damage around you, snaring targets hit for 3 seconds.
Forms:
o Form of Fluidity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +4% Disable Resistance Chance per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +40%.
Shifting from costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Celerity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Movement Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Ferocity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Attack Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
• Shaken: If they take damage, they may become tripped
• Ability skill tree was displayed.
• The weapon tree has been revamped completely.
• On the client side rendering, the team will be working on it over the next few months. During active development, these things may not be as desired.
•
Fighter Q&A:
• Will the battle cry sound effect change base doff of race and sex?
o Yes, there will be a style of vocals that will respect your character customization options.
• Are any of these abilities changed based on weapon equip? (like bow with whirlwind)
o There is a dedicated range and a dedicated melee slot, abilities will spawn the required weapon.
• What % of current complete abilities do not need an active target?
o Off the top of his head, there are probably 4-5 that require a single target, the rest are on self or on a template.
• Will there be a limit on the stacks on bosses?
o Absolutely, there are diminishing returns on stack counts. The intent is not to allow an infinite stack count. This is predicated on the status type (not player).
• How will augments work to help hold aggro if their secondary archetype is a tank?
o The idea is that threat generation is a core component of the tank archetypes, as a fighter if you select tank as a secondary archetype, you will be able to select spheres of augments to help with threat generation in order to better serve as tank in combat.
• Is Momentum being generated while under the effect of Exert?
o Yes, that is part of the mechanic.
• Will ranged archetypes have ways to gain distance, to combat melee range closers?
o Yes, that is the cat and mouse of these abilities, Ranger has backflip, airdrop, the mage has teleportation. There are going to be abilities that are tit for tat, managing the resources of those abilities is critical.
• Do destructables respawn?
o Yes they do.
• Can we toggle nameplates for mobs, even outside of combat?
o Yes, Steven had that disabled in game for his own immersion.
• Are mobs sounds stock or custom made?
o That was Tori and Andrew one of the audio designers, they are not stock.
• Does the fighter have any weapon specific abilities?
o Steven doesn’t believe so.
Studio Update
• New roles were added to Intrepid website.
• Steven went to GDC and spoke with a lot of people.
Art Update
• Carphin Medium Armor set.
• Nikua models and starting gear.
• VFX for Toren Godspike
• The Toren empire was an ancient empire (half elves) were under King Atrax, the Godspike was an artifact that would create an essence fissure and siphon out the essence that existed within Verra.
• Spiderlings
• Concept art for academy nodes, and Aelan highways and Kaelar Walls.
Q&A
• Will there be long term individual or group buffs unique to certain classes?
o Yes, those are intended experiences. The longest buff is only intended to be 30 minutes. Longer buffs would come from consumables (food).
• What’s the repair cost for destroyed ships?
o There is a lot of risk in traveling across the seas, destruction is very costly in reconstituting your vessels.
• Will the deep ocean be encompassed in the ZOI of Costal Nodes?
o No, the deep sea does not contribute to Coastal Nodes experience.
• Knowing that there won’t be PvP only servers, how will new players find the right severs to join?
o Ashes is a PvX game, in that regard, your ability from disconnecting from PvP completely is not likely. But you can reduce your exposure to it according to your play path, but by risk vs reward being a core pillar, it will always be an element. There are systems that govern how players will engage in PvP.
• Will we see other biomes outside of the Riverlands at the start of A2?
o Once we get closer to A2 this will be easier to answer. Assets for 7 biomes have been completed, biomes require more than assets to be compete, they need story, narratives, quests and those features are still being developed.
• How will naval combat work if ships cannot be moved or blocked?
o The intent is that there is some semblance to realism with respect to physics, this will ob course cause damage.
• Will one get credit for completing a quest objective if you are in a raid?
o In the majority of the cases, that is something that is depending on the number of participants in the raid. Some quest lines like story arcs or events, then that progress may be shared at a part/raid level. It depends on the objective of the quests.
• If there is not a coastal node leveled up our we SOL on building/launching ships?
o Coastal nodes are not where ships get built and launches, those are harbors. Harbors are POI that level up as nodes level up nearby (coastal node or not).
• How will active blocking function when it comes to spells?
o It depends, actively blocking is part of the universal skill tree, depending on what piece of equipment, some will be catered towards magic damage/blocking and others towards physical damage/blocking. There are sigils, which are the magic.
• Will players need multiple mounts on their skill bar to accommodate Verra?
o The intent is that mounts have varying abilities, and it is expected that you will have a number greater than 1 to use. The stable system is still inactive design and development. It is likely you will not be able to carry all your mounts as once. The abilities of your mounts will force you to choose which mount is best given your strategy an situation.
Development Update: April 30, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that the UI team believes there should be as much customization as possible. Currently it is only set to some, but they are working on all elements being able to be customized. Customization is an important part of UI.
The Dev Discussions for Item Drop is still up.
The next Dev Discussion will be on Cut Scenes.
There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
Pre-order packs have ended.
Midnight Magic
Steven prefaced that the Alpha will be a true Alpha, not a full game. This will not be playing a game, but testing a system that is full of bugs. This dev stream will touch on a number of different subjects, such as nighttime lighting, the skybox, a new biome, weapon progression, and mage abilities.
Chris Logan and Gabriel Ford (the lighting team), Todd (Sr. VFX), and Brian Ferguson (Sr. Combat Designer) (apologies for spelling mistakes on names everyone)
The skybox was converted to a cube map, which means it rotates with the planet. This means it plays into predicates for the constellations system.
The moons now respond to the skybox. (i.e. the nebulas move through the day night cycle)
Lore: A harbinger struck one of the moons, thus why it is shattered in pieces
They have pushed the lighting a bit darker in the nighttime.
The sky now reacts to color fades (from warm to cool), some atmospheric changes.
The wand weapon tree received a big pass, it now has 7 different ways to customize it: The length, the finisher, status affect, and others. This is meant to compliment your class abilities.
Ball Lightning, Arcana Volley, Lightning strike, and Fireball VFX were also updated.
The wand displayed the elemental empowerment being used.
They are moving the lighting to physically based lighting, this is meant to mimic real life lighting, while still making sure lightning is visible in the daytime.
There is a material function that atomically adjusts the brightening of particles which will adopt to the lack of light. So, something at night will be bright but not blinding, and in the day it will be visible.
There are beam amplifiers bonus that are visible via the beam VFX itself.
Midnight Magic Q&A:
How will weapon combos work if the weapon doesn’t fit the archetypes?
o Right now, they are approaching weapons as if you have 3 dedicated slots (main-hand, off-hand, melee). Depending on the type of ability it will swap to the right weapon and swap back once the ability is done. Players can make bad choices, but there will still be options to make those bad choices within the skill tree. There will be options to have a spellcaster use a bow.
Will spells affect light up or reflect off of the environment?
o Some spells will. Leading up to A2 they are focusing on the system itself, so they will look at making sure any VFX are not too cumbersome.
How long does the light to dark transition take (sunset or sunrise)
o Probably around 10-15 minutes
Are the elements of the spells important? (i.e. a water spell before a lightning spell)
o Absolutely. This is through the status affect which enables your whole party to work together.
How easy is it to level up your weapon skill tree?
o That is something that will be testing in A2, initially they are thinking 2-3 times faster to maximize the weapon skill tree vs your adventuring level.
Will weapon level be per weapon type?
o Yes, it is per weapon type, all wands have the same progressions.
Where does the team pull wand weapon inspiration for VFX?
o Wands exist in so many different spaces, they are taking inspiration from a wide variety of places not just one.
Will there be magic connected to time/time of day/night?
o Yes, there is a god of time (the Ageless Warden Aterna) so time may be relevant.
When will we see other archetypes?
o The bard is currently in phase 2 of its development (finalizing VFX) so showcase will be in the next few months.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month; around 13 people. 8 people are still planned to join next month.
• A lot of progress is on Node Wars and will likely be seen next month in the Dev Stream.
• They are in Milestone 9, which has a goal to be feature complete for Alpha 2.
• Milestone 10 will be polishing all features for A2.
• They have a lot of engineering/combat design roles that they are looking for our help to recruit on.
Art Update
• Gingham artisan Chef sculps. (March – April 2023)
• Stormsnapper Rangefinder model. (July - August 2023)
• Ren’Kai Gear progression of Tier 1 to Tier 5 was displayed.
• Aelan Building details
Q&A
What level are the mobs and NPC in mob occupied castles?
o They are level 50 or 55.
Will players be able to raise flags and banners?
o Yes, that is a definite inclusion of props you can place on your freehold.
Will RNG be made public?
o Some may, some may not. Things like the % chance of enchanting will be seen. You may see chance of success for crafting. You will not see drop table chances.
It was mentioned that an elected official can give insider information on future commission, could the mayor siphon off funds from the city?
o The intent is that the mayor has that ability, the mayors action will affect if they stay in office (according to the social opinion). However, there are clamps on purchase prices to keep them within some bounds.
What stops a player joining an enemy node from a neighboring economic and bidding for the mayor position to take over its resources?
o That sounds like a strategy, but there are citizenship buy-ins requirements in order for the mayor to have complete control over the node.
Will open world dungeons have a negative feedback loop for those who are bussing lower level dungeons for other players?
o Generally, there is a level disparity mechanic that prevents players that are 9-10 levels below the requirement to collect any experience during their adventuring. They are catering the encounter experience to be done through a high efficiency party dynamic, and as such a low-level player not contributing will weaken the party enough to not to make the process seamless. There will also be heatmaps and live GM that will watch for Power Levels.
What is your approach form a UX standpoint for new players to understand complex systems for the first time?
o There are trigger response when players interact with new system, new nodes, etc, that will prompt players to help them with first time experience. That is meant to help orient players.
Performance in PvP is measured in 6-month season. How will this be measured in A2 with server wipes?
o The goal is not meant to have server wipes in A2. Players can test the 6-month season in the alpha 2.
Are the development tools that are needed for world building completed?
o Tools are constantly being touched up, but no not all tools are completed. Tools are stood up bare bones fashions and receive updates all the time. Some tools will require more iterations then expected depending on what they see in Alpha 2.
Are mounts and the animal husbandry profession are meant to have the same resource sinks as the other professions?
o Mounts are not (unless you are talking about flying mounts). In animal husbandry there are a lot.
Development Update: May 31, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that there will be many varieties of playstyles. Players can customize their archetype, and gear and how they interact with the counter designs. From a balance perspective, they are not trying to balance everything, especially in a 1-1 scenario. But rather there will be balance in a group composition. It is a rock-paper-scissor design, each group will have its own make up based on their decisions that will lean one way or another in those categories. Modern MMO have moved away from that and towards a 1-1 perspective, but Steven does not like style of design.
• The Dev Discussions for Cutscenes is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
• Next month live stream will be a deep dive on technical performance.
Node Wars Preview
• Steven prefaced that this is their opportunity to provide updates to the community in order for the community to provide feedback back to them. The whole purpose of this is open development to get that feedback. That being said this is not completely fleshed out, there is not polish on these systems yet. Steven is requesting the interaction, ability design, effects, system overview, not things like VFX soup, UI design, etc…
• In this livestream they displayed how to declare a war.
o The mayor has a special “Mayor tab” where they can manage mayor commission. Once enough commissions are completed, there are rewards. One of the commissions is “War Preparations” players received glint when they complete the commission (which in this case is donating resources to the war)
o There are mayor boards around the node that players can interact with, accept and complete.
o There are cooldowns and time restrictions to mayoral commission.
o The War Preparation completion gives the mayor a “war token”. Which allows the mayor to declare war on a specific node. The type of war can also be specific like Territory Control War, amongst others.
o Territory control war is about controlling territory, there will be battle over certain POIs to gain control over those POIs, if enough battles are won the node gets a luck buff within that territory, and siphons resource XP in those POIs for the winning of the battle.
o During the territory war each kill against another player in an opposing node gains 1 point, the war is declared successful with enough points.
o On the performance side, they have been refining the pipelines. They have been auditing many different profiles and are prepared for many 100 people to be fighting.
o Along with PvP, there are gatherable that are fought over between nodes. Those who can get the most specific resources in the area and return them to camps first gain additional points.
o The team has been focusing on honing the Day 1 of Alpha 2 as smooth as possible. They are working with people around the world to identify any issues with individuals and their systems. They have been doing this every 1-2 week for the past couple months.
o Different node types have different mayor ability used in different scenarios; the Scientific node has a War ability that gives damage buff/mitigation.
o There was mention about a nemesis system, where you might be able to track those who may have killed you the most.
o During sanctions PvP events, death penalties are turned off, you will still drop your material inventory, but you will not receive XP debt, or gear wear.
o There are conditions to win war events, phases, as well as to win the war entirely.
o The event shown was to take Highway man Hills form the neighboring node.
o Other war buffs in A2 will but turning off constructions (of enemy node), turning off the caravansary (of enemy node), steal/destroy a relic.
o On the client side, they are hoping it is seamless, things like dynamic load balancers, where the visual fidelity is the same in solo, vs large groups, because everything is handled under the hood.
o The DLSS integration has greatly helped, in 40 series they double the framerate.
o Big rewards for war are: Buffs, disabling services, syphoning gold, temporary mayor control, reducing taxes, stealing node XP, new content for winners (like a special raid boss).
Node Ware Q&A:
• Is there going to be a system to sabotage opposing war preparations?
o Mayors needs buy-in from citizen, so espionage could be vital to preparing against or stopping predicates from being accomplished. If citizens do not want to complete commissions (for wars citizens don’t support) then the ability to declare war preparation will be on cooldown for a while.
• Will there be VOIP options?
o Yes, it is an intended features in taverns, parties, and raids, but not at the beginning of A2.
• Will there be upkeep costs to war instead of just initiation?
o Not in the war context, but in systems before war like creating unique upgrades for war like barracks, or weapons. Crafters are very important in AoC.
• Is it possible to hired as a mercenary that isn’t a citizen of the 2 opposing nodes?
o There will be war scrolls that could be co-operative, to joint declare war or have pacts and treaties between nodes.
• Can you declare war outside of primetime?
o Yes, the key about server prime time is that events cater to prime time. From a gameplay design participating in impactful events is depending on primetime, not war declaration. War declaration is just open flagging, but the events associated with war will be during prime time.
• Would a team get more points for killing a mayor?
o Yes, not just a mayor, but also special position within a node (like head of a religious organization).
• Will there be a way to differentiate between ally and enemy spells?
o That is not something that is currently intended, but maybe there will be accessibility things in the future.
• After declaring war, are your allies also autoflagged in the warzone, or just your citizens?
o Currently, certain war scrolls, and types, will induct alliances as participants of the war, but not all wars will.
• Is there a cap on how many players can join a war objective, and can they join while it is going on?
o Events are not intended on being capped.
• Can the dragon be killed, and what happens if it dies (cooldown)?
o At the beginning of A2, the intent is that dragons are given to mayors. That mount is timed and associated with the mayoral term. During certain events (siege/war/war events) the mayor can use that mount at a certain cost. When the mount dies, they will need to be subject to a cooldown period and pay the cost again. Others can mount the flying mount depending on alliance, and title.
• Can all nodes go to war, or only vassals?
o All nodes of stage 3 or higher can declare war or be declared on. However, the jury is still out weather vassals can declare war on other nodes of the same vassal. There is no proximity requirement.
• Why are some enemies shown completely and other shown in quarters?
o Enemy name plates are shown in quarters, this is meant to provide an element of decision making that happens different in PvP when you do not have exact % of health of our enemy. Allies and NPC don’t have that same decision making so you can see their full exact values.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month.
Q&A
• To what extent will logistics and supply lines be integrated int o node wars.
o There has been discussion around certain event types requiring those types of supplies within certain timelines. Acquiring, transporting, staging, so in that sense there are some but it’s dedicated to only specific war type
• Can a mayor voluntarily de-rank their node to avoid a war?
o No, they cannot.
• Are node wars or any part of node wars instances or will they be entirely open world?
o They have spoken about objectives being instanced in order to control participation numbers. That could be a feature component in the future, but right now it is open world.
• Can you explain the reason why nodes cannot declare war on their parents?
o They lost the battle already; they are outranked by their parents. The clutches of vassal ship are strong. Vassal structures are meant to be supportive, not depressing.
• Will node wars between 2 metropolises nodes mostly manifest in the vassal network or will there be system to invade further into a vassal network?
o These events are not just dedicated to the fringe, there will be event types that might be to steal a relic from the heart of the territory.
• Will there be a scoreboard detailing the most active/best players in wars?
o Yes, you will be able to see yours, as well as others (if they chose to opt-in)
• How many objectives must be completed to win a war?
o That is dependent on the war scroll type, some of which intersect more with non PvP achievements.
• How often do you suspect node wars will occurs across the server?
o For A2s purpose pretty often, because of how it is currently delegated to the commissions system. The intend version will be much more governed by a reputation score in the game.
• By what means can mayors use diplomacy with other mayors.
o For A2, its chat. For launch there will be a number of different power, mechanics, like trade routes, agreements, events, relics, etc.
Comments
https://asheshq.com/2023/11/01/development-update-october-31-2023/
https://asheshq.com/2023/12/05/development-update-november-30-2023/
The December Dev Update summary is up online at
https://asheshq.com/2023/12/22/development-update-december-19-2023/
https://asheshq.com/2024/02/01/development-update-january-31-2024/
The February Dev Update Summary I wrote is up online at:
https://asheshq.com/2024/02/29/development-update-february-29-2024/
Until I figure out what my plan is for their home. I will just post them here.
Development Update: March 29, 2024
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that values (time and percentages) are all subject to change with testing. To give an idea of where they are, dropping material items on death (glint or other) is ~20-30% of a stake is going to be lootable on a per death basis. This value can change based on the types of bags you are using, amongst other progressions paths. XP debt is about 3-4% of the level per death, however there are ways to medicate that % debt via the resurrection ability of the cleric. The ability will return a % upon resurrection depending on the cleric’s stats. Anywhere within a level, if you acquire 100% debt, you are looking at around 20% stat dampening. XP debt does not de-level a character, but making the fear of failure real, in order to incentivize doing better.
• The Dev Discussions for Time Dedication is still up.
• The next Dev Discussion will be on Item Drop.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
Fighter Archetype Preview
• Steven played as a Male Renkai Fighter
• Fighter uses Momentum as the class energy. Momentum: Generate 1 Combat momentum when hitting tarts. Weapon combo finishers generate 3 combat momentum plus an additional 1 per 10 casters already has. Combat moment grants unique increasing stat based on the combat form you are currently in and how much momentum you have built.
• Abilities:
o Blitz: 10 Mana 30 Range 0.8s Use
Charge directly towards target enemy, dealing physical damage to the target on arrival.
o Brutal Cleave: 20 Mana 1.2s Use
Perform a wide sweeping attacking, dealing damage to all enemies in front of you.
This ability shares a cooldown with Overpower, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher reduces its cooldown by 8 seconds
+10-20 Combat moment )based on number of enemies hit.
o Maim 25 Mana 1.4s Use
Perform a powerful melee strike in a short forward cone, dealing physical damage to all targets hit plus 100% additional damage to recently tripped targets
o Overpower 10 Mana 4m Range 1s Use
Deal direct damage and apply Shaken to target enemy. This ability shares a cooldown with Brutal Cleave, and hitting an enemy with a weapon combo finisher refreshes the cooldown of this ability
+10 Combat Momentum
o Battle Cry 30 Mana 0.7s Use
Unleash a resounding war bellow, applying the Riled effect to the caster and al nearby party memb3ers and Shaken to all nearby enemies. Gain 5 Combat Momentum for each target that was Riled.
Riled targets have increases stability and have increase change of tripping Shaken enemies.
o Rupture 15 Mana 4m Range 1.3s Use
Deal physical damage and apply a debuff to the target. While the debuff is active, the target acquires 5 wound stacks per second that they are moving.
After 5 seconds, the target takes heavy damage, plus additional damage for each stack of wound it has.
o Exert 0.2s Use
Consume your Combat Momentum rapidly, gaining 20% increased attack and movement speed and immunity to disabling effects while active.
Must have at least 20 Combat Momentum to activate, and the effect ends when all Combat Momentum is fully depleted.
o Crippling blow 15 Mana 4m Range 0.9s Use
Deal physical damage and apply Snare to target enemy for 6 seconds
o Lethal blow 15 Mana 4m Range 1.1s Use
Perform a powerful descending strike upon target enemy, dealing additional physical damage based on the amount of % missing health, up to 300% of base damage.
o Cataclysm 40 Mana 2.1s Use
Deal heavy damage and apply Shaken to all enemies in a large area in front of you.
Shaken enemies have 5% change to trip when hit, and the effect is removed when triggered. This chance doubles when hit by Riled targets.
o Whirlwind 30 Mana 3m Range 2.7s Cast
Channeled ability: Deal physical damage to all enemies around the caster with each spin while channeled, increasing the spin rate the longer it is channeled.
The caster is immune to hard disabling effects while spinning.
Activate ability again to end channeling early.
o Blood Fusion Instant Cast
Return 100% of damage dealt as heal and 50% of damage dealt as mana over the next 6 seconds.
If activated while below 50% health, gain 25% increased damage mitigation and healing received over the duration.
o Lunging Assault 0.6s Use
Spend 15 Combat Momentum to lunge in a direction a short distance and perform an upward swing upon arrival, dealing damage to enemies in front of you. You are immune to hard crow control effects while performing this ability.
o Leap Strike 30 Mana 30m Range 1.8s Use
Leap to target location and deal damage around you, snaring targets hit for 3 seconds.
Forms:
o Form of Fluidity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +4% Disable Resistance Chance per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +40%.
Shifting from costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Celerity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Movement Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
o Form of Ferocity 10 Mana 0.7s Use
While in this form, the caster receives +2% Attack Speed per 10 Combat Momentum, up to a maximum of +20%.
Shifting form costs 20% of current Combat Momentum and triggers cooldown for all Combat Forms.
• Shaken: If they take damage, they may become tripped
• Ability skill tree was displayed.
• The weapon tree has been revamped completely.
• On the client side rendering, the team will be working on it over the next few months. During active development, these things may not be as desired.
•
Fighter Q&A:
• Will the battle cry sound effect change base doff of race and sex?
o Yes, there will be a style of vocals that will respect your character customization options.
• Are any of these abilities changed based on weapon equip? (like bow with whirlwind)
o There is a dedicated range and a dedicated melee slot, abilities will spawn the required weapon.
• What % of current complete abilities do not need an active target?
o Off the top of his head, there are probably 4-5 that require a single target, the rest are on self or on a template.
• Will there be a limit on the stacks on bosses?
o Absolutely, there are diminishing returns on stack counts. The intent is not to allow an infinite stack count. This is predicated on the status type (not player).
• How will augments work to help hold aggro if their secondary archetype is a tank?
o The idea is that threat generation is a core component of the tank archetypes, as a fighter if you select tank as a secondary archetype, you will be able to select spheres of augments to help with threat generation in order to better serve as tank in combat.
• Is Momentum being generated while under the effect of Exert?
o Yes, that is part of the mechanic.
• Will ranged archetypes have ways to gain distance, to combat melee range closers?
o Yes, that is the cat and mouse of these abilities, Ranger has backflip, airdrop, the mage has teleportation. There are going to be abilities that are tit for tat, managing the resources of those abilities is critical.
• Do destructables respawn?
o Yes they do.
• Can we toggle nameplates for mobs, even outside of combat?
o Yes, Steven had that disabled in game for his own immersion.
• Are mobs sounds stock or custom made?
o That was Tori and Andrew one of the audio designers, they are not stock.
• Does the fighter have any weapon specific abilities?
o Steven doesn’t believe so.
Studio Update
• New roles were added to Intrepid website.
• Steven went to GDC and spoke with a lot of people.
Art Update
• Carphin Medium Armor set.
• Nikua models and starting gear.
• VFX for Toren Godspike
• The Toren empire was an ancient empire (half elves) were under King Atrax, the Godspike was an artifact that would create an essence fissure and siphon out the essence that existed within Verra.
• Spiderlings
• Concept art for academy nodes, and Aelan highways and Kaelar Walls.
Q&A
• Will there be long term individual or group buffs unique to certain classes?
o Yes, those are intended experiences. The longest buff is only intended to be 30 minutes. Longer buffs would come from consumables (food).
• What’s the repair cost for destroyed ships?
o There is a lot of risk in traveling across the seas, destruction is very costly in reconstituting your vessels.
• Will the deep ocean be encompassed in the ZOI of Costal Nodes?
o No, the deep sea does not contribute to Coastal Nodes experience.
• Knowing that there won’t be PvP only servers, how will new players find the right severs to join?
o Ashes is a PvX game, in that regard, your ability from disconnecting from PvP completely is not likely. But you can reduce your exposure to it according to your play path, but by risk vs reward being a core pillar, it will always be an element. There are systems that govern how players will engage in PvP.
• Will we see other biomes outside of the Riverlands at the start of A2?
o Once we get closer to A2 this will be easier to answer. Assets for 7 biomes have been completed, biomes require more than assets to be compete, they need story, narratives, quests and those features are still being developed.
• How will naval combat work if ships cannot be moved or blocked?
o The intent is that there is some semblance to realism with respect to physics, this will ob course cause damage.
• Will one get credit for completing a quest objective if you are in a raid?
o In the majority of the cases, that is something that is depending on the number of participants in the raid. Some quest lines like story arcs or events, then that progress may be shared at a part/raid level. It depends on the objective of the quests.
• If there is not a coastal node leveled up our we SOL on building/launching ships?
o Coastal nodes are not where ships get built and launches, those are harbors. Harbors are POI that level up as nodes level up nearby (coastal node or not).
• How will active blocking function when it comes to spells?
o It depends, actively blocking is part of the universal skill tree, depending on what piece of equipment, some will be catered towards magic damage/blocking and others towards physical damage/blocking. There are sigils, which are the magic.
• Will players need multiple mounts on their skill bar to accommodate Verra?
o The intent is that mounts have varying abilities, and it is expected that you will have a number greater than 1 to use. The stable system is still inactive design and development. It is likely you will not be able to carry all your mounts as once. The abilities of your mounts will force you to choose which mount is best given your strategy an situation.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
Midnight Magic Q&A:
How will weapon combos work if the weapon doesn’t fit the archetypes?
o Right now, they are approaching weapons as if you have 3 dedicated slots (main-hand, off-hand, melee). Depending on the type of ability it will swap to the right weapon and swap back once the ability is done. Players can make bad choices, but there will still be options to make those bad choices within the skill tree. There will be options to have a spellcaster use a bow.
Will spells affect light up or reflect off of the environment?
o Some spells will. Leading up to A2 they are focusing on the system itself, so they will look at making sure any VFX are not too cumbersome.
How long does the light to dark transition take (sunset or sunrise)
o Probably around 10-15 minutes
Are the elements of the spells important? (i.e. a water spell before a lightning spell)
o Absolutely. This is through the status affect which enables your whole party to work together.
How easy is it to level up your weapon skill tree?
o That is something that will be testing in A2, initially they are thinking 2-3 times faster to maximize the weapon skill tree vs your adventuring level.
Will weapon level be per weapon type?
o Yes, it is per weapon type, all wands have the same progressions.
Where does the team pull wand weapon inspiration for VFX?
o Wands exist in so many different spaces, they are taking inspiration from a wide variety of places not just one.
Will there be magic connected to time/time of day/night?
o Yes, there is a god of time (the Ageless Warden Aterna) so time may be relevant.
When will we see other archetypes?
o The bard is currently in phase 2 of its development (finalizing VFX) so showcase will be in the next few months.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month; around 13 people. 8 people are still planned to join next month.
• A lot of progress is on Node Wars and will likely be seen next month in the Dev Stream.
• They are in Milestone 9, which has a goal to be feature complete for Alpha 2.
• Milestone 10 will be polishing all features for A2.
• They have a lot of engineering/combat design roles that they are looking for our help to recruit on.
Art Update
• Gingham artisan Chef sculps. (March – April 2023)
• Stormsnapper Rangefinder model. (July - August 2023)
• Ren’Kai Gear progression of Tier 1 to Tier 5 was displayed.
• Aelan Building details
Q&A
What level are the mobs and NPC in mob occupied castles?
o They are level 50 or 55.
Will players be able to raise flags and banners?
o Yes, that is a definite inclusion of props you can place on your freehold.
Will RNG be made public?
o Some may, some may not. Things like the % chance of enchanting will be seen. You may see chance of success for crafting. You will not see drop table chances.
It was mentioned that an elected official can give insider information on future commission, could the mayor siphon off funds from the city?
o The intent is that the mayor has that ability, the mayors action will affect if they stay in office (according to the social opinion). However, there are clamps on purchase prices to keep them within some bounds.
What stops a player joining an enemy node from a neighboring economic and bidding for the mayor position to take over its resources?
o That sounds like a strategy, but there are citizenship buy-ins requirements in order for the mayor to have complete control over the node.
Will open world dungeons have a negative feedback loop for those who are bussing lower level dungeons for other players?
o Generally, there is a level disparity mechanic that prevents players that are 9-10 levels below the requirement to collect any experience during their adventuring. They are catering the encounter experience to be done through a high efficiency party dynamic, and as such a low-level player not contributing will weaken the party enough to not to make the process seamless. There will also be heatmaps and live GM that will watch for Power Levels.
What is your approach form a UX standpoint for new players to understand complex systems for the first time?
o There are trigger response when players interact with new system, new nodes, etc, that will prompt players to help them with first time experience. That is meant to help orient players.
Performance in PvP is measured in 6-month season. How will this be measured in A2 with server wipes?
o The goal is not meant to have server wipes in A2. Players can test the 6-month season in the alpha 2.
Are the development tools that are needed for world building completed?
o Tools are constantly being touched up, but no not all tools are completed. Tools are stood up bare bones fashions and receive updates all the time. Some tools will require more iterations then expected depending on what they see in Alpha 2.
Are mounts and the animal husbandry profession are meant to have the same resource sinks as the other professions?
o Mounts are not (unless you are talking about flying mounts). In animal husbandry there are a lot.
Present:
Steven Sharif: Creative Director
Margaret Krohn: Director of Communications
Discussion & Outline Summary
Community & Reminders
• The YouTube comment for this month lead Steven to explain that there will be many varieties of playstyles. Players can customize their archetype, and gear and how they interact with the counter designs. From a balance perspective, they are not trying to balance everything, especially in a 1-1 scenario. But rather there will be balance in a group composition. It is a rock-paper-scissor design, each group will have its own make up based on their decisions that will lean one way or another in those categories. Modern MMO have moved away from that and towards a 1-1 perspective, but Steven does not like style of design.
• The Dev Discussions for Cutscenes is still up.
• There are still regular office hours that you can provide input on discord with the team.
• Content Creator Program is still open but will be closing in the near future.
• Pre-order packs have ended.
• Next month live stream will be a deep dive on technical performance.
Node Wars Preview
• Steven prefaced that this is their opportunity to provide updates to the community in order for the community to provide feedback back to them. The whole purpose of this is open development to get that feedback. That being said this is not completely fleshed out, there is not polish on these systems yet. Steven is requesting the interaction, ability design, effects, system overview, not things like VFX soup, UI design, etc…
• In this livestream they displayed how to declare a war.
o The mayor has a special “Mayor tab” where they can manage mayor commission. Once enough commissions are completed, there are rewards. One of the commissions is “War Preparations” players received glint when they complete the commission (which in this case is donating resources to the war)
o There are mayor boards around the node that players can interact with, accept and complete.
o There are cooldowns and time restrictions to mayoral commission.
o The War Preparation completion gives the mayor a “war token”. Which allows the mayor to declare war on a specific node. The type of war can also be specific like Territory Control War, amongst others.
o Territory control war is about controlling territory, there will be battle over certain POIs to gain control over those POIs, if enough battles are won the node gets a luck buff within that territory, and siphons resource XP in those POIs for the winning of the battle.
o During the territory war each kill against another player in an opposing node gains 1 point, the war is declared successful with enough points.
o On the performance side, they have been refining the pipelines. They have been auditing many different profiles and are prepared for many 100 people to be fighting.
o Along with PvP, there are gatherable that are fought over between nodes. Those who can get the most specific resources in the area and return them to camps first gain additional points.
o The team has been focusing on honing the Day 1 of Alpha 2 as smooth as possible. They are working with people around the world to identify any issues with individuals and their systems. They have been doing this every 1-2 week for the past couple months.
o Different node types have different mayor ability used in different scenarios; the Scientific node has a War ability that gives damage buff/mitigation.
o There was mention about a nemesis system, where you might be able to track those who may have killed you the most.
o During sanctions PvP events, death penalties are turned off, you will still drop your material inventory, but you will not receive XP debt, or gear wear.
o There are conditions to win war events, phases, as well as to win the war entirely.
o The event shown was to take Highway man Hills form the neighboring node.
o Other war buffs in A2 will but turning off constructions (of enemy node), turning off the caravansary (of enemy node), steal/destroy a relic.
o On the client side, they are hoping it is seamless, things like dynamic load balancers, where the visual fidelity is the same in solo, vs large groups, because everything is handled under the hood.
o The DLSS integration has greatly helped, in 40 series they double the framerate.
o Big rewards for war are: Buffs, disabling services, syphoning gold, temporary mayor control, reducing taxes, stealing node XP, new content for winners (like a special raid boss).
Node Ware Q&A:
• Is there going to be a system to sabotage opposing war preparations?
o Mayors needs buy-in from citizen, so espionage could be vital to preparing against or stopping predicates from being accomplished. If citizens do not want to complete commissions (for wars citizens don’t support) then the ability to declare war preparation will be on cooldown for a while.
• Will there be VOIP options?
o Yes, it is an intended features in taverns, parties, and raids, but not at the beginning of A2.
• Will there be upkeep costs to war instead of just initiation?
o Not in the war context, but in systems before war like creating unique upgrades for war like barracks, or weapons. Crafters are very important in AoC.
• Is it possible to hired as a mercenary that isn’t a citizen of the 2 opposing nodes?
o There will be war scrolls that could be co-operative, to joint declare war or have pacts and treaties between nodes.
• Can you declare war outside of primetime?
o Yes, the key about server prime time is that events cater to prime time. From a gameplay design participating in impactful events is depending on primetime, not war declaration. War declaration is just open flagging, but the events associated with war will be during prime time.
• Would a team get more points for killing a mayor?
o Yes, not just a mayor, but also special position within a node (like head of a religious organization).
• Will there be a way to differentiate between ally and enemy spells?
o That is not something that is currently intended, but maybe there will be accessibility things in the future.
• After declaring war, are your allies also autoflagged in the warzone, or just your citizens?
o Currently, certain war scrolls, and types, will induct alliances as participants of the war, but not all wars will.
• Is there a cap on how many players can join a war objective, and can they join while it is going on?
o Events are not intended on being capped.
• Can the dragon be killed, and what happens if it dies (cooldown)?
o At the beginning of A2, the intent is that dragons are given to mayors. That mount is timed and associated with the mayoral term. During certain events (siege/war/war events) the mayor can use that mount at a certain cost. When the mount dies, they will need to be subject to a cooldown period and pay the cost again. Others can mount the flying mount depending on alliance, and title.
• Can all nodes go to war, or only vassals?
o All nodes of stage 3 or higher can declare war or be declared on. However, the jury is still out weather vassals can declare war on other nodes of the same vassal. There is no proximity requirement.
• Why are some enemies shown completely and other shown in quarters?
o Enemy name plates are shown in quarters, this is meant to provide an element of decision making that happens different in PvP when you do not have exact % of health of our enemy. Allies and NPC don’t have that same decision making so you can see their full exact values.
Studio Update
• They have had a lot of people join the studio this month.
Q&A
• To what extent will logistics and supply lines be integrated int o node wars.
o There has been discussion around certain event types requiring those types of supplies within certain timelines. Acquiring, transporting, staging, so in that sense there are some but it’s dedicated to only specific war type
• Can a mayor voluntarily de-rank their node to avoid a war?
o No, they cannot.
• Are node wars or any part of node wars instances or will they be entirely open world?
o They have spoken about objectives being instanced in order to control participation numbers. That could be a feature component in the future, but right now it is open world.
• Can you explain the reason why nodes cannot declare war on their parents?
o They lost the battle already; they are outranked by their parents. The clutches of vassal ship are strong. Vassal structures are meant to be supportive, not depressing.
• Will node wars between 2 metropolises nodes mostly manifest in the vassal network or will there be system to invade further into a vassal network?
o These events are not just dedicated to the fringe, there will be event types that might be to steal a relic from the heart of the territory.
• Will there be a scoreboard detailing the most active/best players in wars?
o Yes, you will be able to see yours, as well as others (if they chose to opt-in)
• How many objectives must be completed to win a war?
o That is dependent on the war scroll type, some of which intersect more with non PvP achievements.
• How often do you suspect node wars will occurs across the server?
o For A2s purpose pretty often, because of how it is currently delegated to the commissions system. The intend version will be much more governed by a reputation score in the game.
• By what means can mayors use diplomacy with other mayors.
o For A2, its chat. For launch there will be a number of different power, mechanics, like trade routes, agreements, events, relics, etc.