The Midnight Magic update was short and to the point. I would have liked to see Steven change some skills in the wand skill tree to get a look at the other 'finishers' one of the devs eluded to. I would have also liked to see one of the devs who are at the front of architype testing get ahold of the wand and show us the true potential.
The Wand Weapon Combo system is visually appealing so far. The ability to move while casting the beam finisher, much like the blizzard spell, is a great touch. What I did notice is the beam was not AoE. I would like to think anything in the path of the beam should either take damage, mitigate damage based on how many people being hit, or potentially have the beam stop once it hits a target.
The night time lighting was never a concern for me. I appreciate the work done to visually please us. I think the night time looks great still.
I spend the early 2000s playing FFXI and it was a great time. Weapon progression existed and was a huge part of the game. Some classes were able to be proficient in several weapons. Some classes, not all, it was a must to have different weapons leveled up so that you could appropriately combo with your party while leveling or be versatile with your guild in the end game. Warriors while leveling would often main hand a single handed axe that was slow and powerful and off hand something faster, usually weaker, w/ good stats, or hit multiple times per auto attack. End game single handed axes became obsolete and warriors were forced to use a 2 handed axe. Some of the most fun I have had in FFXI was making a party called a skill up party where a group of players gather together and fight mobs to gain levels on either a weapon or type of magic. "Hey this area's mobs have a very low chance to drop some really good gear, lets go skill up a new weapon type while farming for it."
Just starting off with the Midnight Magic preview, the fireflies look great! Even with small details such as this really helps sell the immersion and reality of an environment. The layering of the skybox with the traveling clouds looks fantastic. It's SO important to incorporate the proper lighting in any environment setting and I think it's done wonderfully here, the level of darkness and light seem to be working perfectly in tandem with each other. It legitimately feels like the moonlight is actually contributing to the lighting in the Midnight Magic preview, it's perfect.
Thank you so much for the incredible spell rework for Mages, it really means a lot! Arcane Volley has been given a great rework, along with ball lightning! With Arcane Volley, the very slight screen shake adds -such- a great addition to the spell cast! Ball Lightning is becoming one of my favorite spell looks in the game! It feels like a powerful, consuming cast and its travel pattern is fantastic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
While at first I was hesitant about using a wand, I think that this preview has actually sold me on its capabilities, especially when it comes to weaving spells and the wand together with one another. It looks very powerful and it allows a player to really open up a gap betwixt the player and the enemy target, allowing for further survivability. Also that elemental beam??? It looks so great - powerful and fun to be able to play with as it changes element based on the spells used.
Overall, I'm impressed. Even with all of these small changes, they matter so much and contribute to the overall gameplay for Mages and players in general. Very well done, Intrepid and thank you for taking our feedback into consideration.
With the weapon leveling does it level up a specific type of weapon say wand or sword etc or does it end up being PER individual weapon you obtain and if you end up getting say a better wand or sword you will need to level it up again?
Steven said that the weapon tree is based on the weapon type and not the weapon. You will only have to level the skill tree once, but once for all weapons.
1) The night time looked really good. It was bright enough under the moonlight to still be able to see, while leaving some darker shadows where players (or NPCs) could potentially hide. I like what I saw. Expanding what I saw to a place like the forest, the forest becomes very dangerous at night, with things hiding in the brush or shadowed by all the trees. I love the idea.
2) The weapon skill points look like they will be separate from class skill points. Maybe I missed it before, but it seems pretty clear now. It was also mentioned that the growth curve will be something 2-3 times faster than adventurer levels. That does bring up a couple questions though: When you get to the higher levels, does this mean that you'll be getting 2-3 times the level 40 experience for a level one weapon if you haven't used it before, or do weapons have their own separate system? How do you determine which weapons get the experience? For example, just by having them equipped, actually using them against the opponent, last hitting the opponent, etc.?
3) A lot of the weapon skills were already claimed during the showcase. You were level 25, and 24 skill points had been gained/used on 24 different perks. Will it be possible to completely master a weapon and get all the perks? Or will the player have to think more carefully about which perks they choose?
4) The beam looked incredibly powerful compared to some of the spells. I know your team mentioned you spec'd into dealing more weapon damage (vs. procs), but the difference was pretty big, especially when you factor in the basic attacks. I'm just eyeballing it, but it looked like the cast times for Lightning Strike and Frostbolt took around the same time as 3-4 weapon attacks, and both did less damage than the beam on its own. The beam didn't cost any mana either. If weapon damage ends up being more than just filler, then some skills will be made obsolete or limited to a burst window.
4a) I did notice that the beam deals lots of little hits rather than a single big hit. If there is a flat damage reduction via armor, skills, augments, etc., this could mitigate the apparent strength of the beam vs spells or skills. I can't wait to see how all the combat mechanics work together.
5) The player's visual effects didn't seem to have any effect on the world in terms of lighting. For example, the fireballs weren't illuminating the ground, and the wand wasn't illuminating the player's clothes. Are there lighting effects from the spells and equipment planned for down the road?
6) The sandsquall desert was beautiful, but I didn't see any footprints in the sand or movement in the water. Just thought I'd mention it, as we've seen footprints and water physics in other areas before
2) The weapon skill points look like they will be separate from class skill points. Maybe I missed it before, but it seems pretty clear now. It was also mentioned that the growth curve will be something 2-3 times faster than adventurer levels. That does bring up a couple questions though: When you get to the higher levels, does this mean that you'll be getting 2-3 times the level 40 experience for a level one weapon if you haven't used it before, or do weapons have their own separate system? How do you determine which weapons get the experience? For example, just by having them equipped, actually using them against the opponent, last hitting the opponent, etc.?
In games I have played in the past you only gained skill points when you landed a successful hit. Also if your skill wasn't high enough you couldn't just go kill mobs that you were accustom to fighting. You had to go fight mobs around the current level of the weapon you were trying to skill up. This makes sense because if you aren't proficient with a weapon you shouldn't be able to strike a foe who is higher in level to the skill you posses. I like this approach, it will be interesting to see what their plans are.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
I really enjoyed it, the mage updates, the skybox, the desert, the seeing feedback being implemented, a lot of information hinted at and dropped as well. Lots of solid steps in the right direction and I am already frothing, eager to get my hands and mind into the alpha and help make this an even better game for my mates and our communities. And as always since UE5 it was stunning.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
Playing around with different combinations to see what I like more, shorter or longer combos for faster status effect stacking for crowd control vs more burst perhaps. The beams and their different elemental types, different spell combinations. Steven mentioned that wet targets take more lightning damage, super curious to see what wombo combos we can create as solo & in group play.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Its better then the first showcase but I really liked the dark dark, its way more atmospheric. It can definitely affect things but the gameplay elements of moving in under the cover of dark, creatures coming out of it. The fear of the dark is a real and terror inducing thing and I'd love to see it in Ashes. It was good in this stream and I'd be happy with that, its better then say wow where the night is just a different skybox and everything is still fully lit up and visible from across the zone.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
I absolutely loved some of the animation and spell updates, the tortoise animations were great, it walked like it was falling each step, stumbling forward slowly like a real tortoise, very nice. Then we saw the updated lightning ball, I loved it. I suggested making it look like the inside of a tesla coil ball without the outside sphere and thats pretty much what you did and it looks fantastic, even better as it pulses with energy. The lightning strike charge up as well starting with thinner sparks getting larger then wham, the strike hits. And the sound effects on all the lightning spells was incredible, like it was tearing the air and I loved that. It just sounds like you're playing with something dangerous and unleashing it on your enemies. The arcane volley update was great, and the fire spells looked awesome too, the molten ground effect looked very hot haha. Can't wait to see more spells like meteors. The beams on the wands looked awesome too, Steven mentioned they can be tweaked so they become thicker and more powerful with the skill tree. I hope they pierce their target and become an AoE of sorts, hitting all in the line. The updates to the tooltips with colour coding for spell types and effects was great too. The attention to detail is fantastic too, the texture in the leather when close to the light was fantastic too. I can't wait to see it all in game.
I did think the campfire light was too bright, cast too much light around them. And when when mobs or bushes were really close to the fire, it looked almost like daylight. Just too bright. It should be brighter but still dim, it also doesn't flicker but I imagine that would be a nightmare for fps in an MMO? I used to fish at night and hiking back to campfires is something I saw a lot and it just looked a bit not right.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Basic wand attack is boring, and thats mostly what I'm used to. This is already way beyond that with the element of your attacks changing the spell and x hits triggering status affects. Wombo combos are something stupid fun to pull off, particularly in team play where one persons applies a status effect like wet and another does a lightning attack for mass damage. Or one person grips someone in and another person stuns them and the combo makes them vulnerable for more damage for a moment. A little coordination for a little result.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
WoW has really bland night time lighting. New world is better but I was hoping for more darkness as an element of gameplay.
7 Days To Die's night times are some of the best I've experienced. Its not completely dark, you can see shapes of trees, of mountains, still find your way, but you can't clearly see into the dark, whats lurking, it gets truly intense, it makes some creatures more dangerous as well, you can see details on things as they get light on them, otherwise its like a shadow moving in the darkness, a black wolf in a grassy field became very difficult to spot, you could hear it and see the movement between the bushes occasionally, bigger creatures bumbling out of dark or the mist were great too.
Dragons Dogma 2's nights do look fantastic but seem problematic of not seeing anything beyond the edge of your own light, mind you this is how it is in reality, its black outside the light you produce, away from the cities. Nights with low moonlight, are pitch black.
Perhaps that could be an element, with the rotating skybox there are parts of the night that are really, really dark, then other parts where its lit up quite nicely. Full moon light is very walkable with no other light. Perhaps make it part of some events, an eclipe for total darkness or once every part of the lunar cycle, a small group creatures starts attacking you out of the dark, you can only see their eyes as they circle your party, initally just one or two, then you attack and more eyes light up all around you. Or a full scale army of orcs or other bandits take advantage of the darkness and sneak up to your base before being noticed, giving you less time to react. Or on the darkest nights the darkest spells are cast, creating items or summons out of it, or vice versa, a sun elemental can only be brought to life and bound during the brightest parts of the day.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Overall positive.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
As someone who loves to make hybrids in any game, wands seem to be perfect for me. Hopefully other weapons will have similar mechanics.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Nice balance between darkest dark and too bright of a lighting.
What I would love to see how does night looks during different types of storms or when its cloudy.
Is it even darker? Does lightning flashes come in bursts of light?
Torch lights are a tad bit desaturated imo. Bring a bit more orange into the mix.
As far as avoiding Hollywood blues for your nighttime-I get it. Its overdone, but I wouldn't mind different hues appearing randomly for different night. Light blues when its snowing, dark teal hues for some ominous atmosphere etc...
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Skills.
I would like to point out of how good of a feedback you got for telegraphed spells with two mechanics like Scattershot. We NEED more of that types of skills for a mage.
Things that I dont like about the mage currently:
-Fireball has NEVER been 3 missiles in any game. It was usually the spell with most casting time in almost every MMO, unless you have something like Pyroblast in your game.
IMO, Fireball should be charged telegraphed shot or a one quick throw cast ( Dark Souls fireball animation). Nothing in between.
-Magma field should be instant cast, but with burst delay. Check out Eruption and Lava Flow from Guild Wars 2 for reference.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Nope, but I have seen it in single player game (Kingdoms of Amalur) and it was fun to use. If anything, that game had fun combat.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
1.Red Dead Redemption 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, Witcher 3 all have good looking nighttimes.
2.Witcher 3, Dark Souls 2 and Elden Ring sunsets are top notch.
3.Witcher 3 has the best dawns.
Anything that reminds me of Romanticism paintings vibes with me.
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Potato BasketMember, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
edited May 1
Something is still off with the overall global illumination.
Seems like it's not effected by the clouds and the shadows are way too distinct as opposed to soft, makes the overall environment feel disconnected, lack of atmosphere.
Too bright at areas where it shouldn't be like under a big tree or shadowy areas. (Could be ok for a full moon but should be much darker otherwise)
As if the black levels are not starting from 0 but 255 (video levels).
I would like to see utilization of illumination elements in a form of spells or items such as torches or wands, used when an area gets too dark, out in the open on a new moon or inside of a cave.
Skybox way too vibrant and too bright of a shade.
Fireball VFX, the final explosion when hitting the target looks too displaced (21:27 timestamp)
The bubble shield should burst progressively like a bubble with some soap-like derby falling instead of instantly disappearing.
Beam should be an AOE hitting multiple targets that interact with it.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
- The beams are nice, we didn't really see anything else. Overall it seems too powerful compared to the actual class skills. It is of course part of balancing, and we can only give real feedback once we can actually test it ingame.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
- very nice, dark enough and you got rid of the full black areas, don't go any darker!
- sky is nice too
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
- Spell effects, please..
1. Turn those flashes down. No bright white flashy effects or distortions, it's super bad.
2. No weird fog on the ice effects please, the core ice effects are so nice, the fog is too much. (Frostbolt and also Blizzard and Cone of Cold from Commissions Preview)
The mage effects are looking much better than previous iterations and are definitely headed in the right direction. I like that the effects aren't as bright, and don't light up the environment as much as they used to. The new arcane volley animation compared to lightning bolt is a good juxtaposition.
I really liked seeing the new damage in tooltips when mousing over the skills, great addition. Also happy to see ToT make an appearance.
The sky looks good, but I liked the sky during the day night cycle stream as well.
The night time light level is looking good where it is with that very large moon. The few times that Steven was away from other lighting sources it was just about perfect. Since its the desert at night we know that forests will end up being a little darker. So the light level shown here in the desert is right where it should be.
The fire pits and lighting staves scattered through out the area were an eye sore. Shining like a noon day sun in the water at midnight. I'm assuming they will be part of the lighting overhaul that's happening.
Also- I think the shattered moon looks a little out of place- doesn't blend into the skybox as well as it can. Besides that, the first 'normal' looking moon is lovely- not sure if it interacts with clouds at all given its the majority of light at night: would be really cool if it did.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
There were some good and bad moments.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
Only that It makes me excited about other weapons and what will you do with them based on this showcase.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
It doesnt feel like a night to me. Its more like a moment right before the dawn.
You shouldn't really showcase nighttime if you are only going to show it in one biome.
Nighttime in desert is different to the one in forest.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha ]Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Mages abilities don't have variance. Almost all of them are tab targeted-I thought this was a hybrid combat?
What happened to Scatter Shot type of abilities? What happened to targeted abilities.
Skills feel dull and very outdated mechanics wise. Visually, they are improving.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Yeah, but they were all action based games like Black Desert.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
Black Desert, but its too dark for some people.
Something is still off with the overall global illumination.
Also, seems like it's not effected by the clouds.
Too bright at areas where it shouldn't be like under a big tree or shadowy areas. (Could be ok for a full moon but should be much darker otherwise)
As if the black levels are not starting from 0, makes the environment look disconnected.
I would like to see a utilization of illumination elements in a form of spells or wands, used when an area gets too dark out in the open on a new moon or inside of a cave.
Skybox way too vibrant and too bright of a shade.
Fireball VFX, the final explosion when hitting the target looks too displaced (21:27 timestamp)
The bubble shield should burst gradually like a bubble instead of instantly disappearing.
Beam should be an AOE and hit multiple targets that interact with it.
Atmospheric fog is too bright. Things in distance are too visible.
Also- I think the shattered moon looks a little out of place- doesn't blend into the skybox as well as it can. Besides that, the first 'normal' looking moon is lovely- not sure if it interacts with clouds at all given its the majority of light at night: would be really cool if it did.
Clouds are all the same too. Some of them also have a rim light based on position of the moon, which is not seen in the showcase.
Let me start by saying, I absolutely loved the nighttime skybox and the spell effects during it.
My feedback is not about either of those, but about the terrain. The sand everywhere is rippled, suggesting there is wind. Seeing some sand blow along the ground would probably enhance the desert effect. Also, would it be possible to have a small trail of your footprints left behind in the sand while you are walking?
Dragon dogma 2 night and also Valheim nights are probably the best in game night experience there is for a mmo, i wish AoC went more rpg toward night feeling and darkness
DD2 and Valheim are not MMOs. MMO's shouldn't be dark as DD2 with complete blackness. Nighttime is never that dark in real life, especially when TWO moons shining in the night sky like we have in Ashes.
The night-time lighting shown during the livestream felt super immersive. The ambience felt great, and it truly did feel dynamic. The skybox in particular was a highlight, as it moved/rotated, it felt real.
I liked the darkness personally, as Steven said, it did elicit that vibe, while not obscuring vision. I liked how the shadows at night were particularly dark, I could see this having gameplay implications (NPCs, players hiding in the shadows).
I didn't, and still don't like the shield/bubble on NPC mobs. It feels somewhat low quality, I'd like to see this on a range of enemies to understand if it's shape and size is dynamic to the NPCs, or it has set dimensions. I think it's something with the horizontal wavy lines of the shield that make it look a bit low quality, especially compared to say the clean visuals of the mage bubble.
The mage spells overall were great, no real callouts for me other than a big thumps up. The elemental empowerment and associate visuals were nice.
In terms of other games, I've experienced issues with night-time lightning being too dark, and not being able to distinguish or see changes in terrain (e.g. edges), or things like gathering nodes. I don't have any issue if this is in shadows areas, as long as there is potentially a counterplay such as a torch or something to address it.
Also, whilst not necessarily specific to night-time, I've experienced issues in games with dark areas/dark floors, are similarly colored/dark tone enemy AOE effects, making it hard to distinguish and react to these ability (dodge or stack, for example).
Whilst brightness settings may change visuals at an individual level, other games, such a WOW have an item which changes the skybox and lighting (inky black potion), I like such an item (with maybe a limited time on use), as it can help address issues with the player experience. This doesn't address the root cause of what can be an individual issue, but provides players with some counter to visual challenges, if they themselves are having issues.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
• I think the midnight darkness and especially the skybox looking real good right here.
Overall a big W for visuals and gameplay with the wand/mage.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
• Yeah, im not usually playing mage classes and probably wont here either but it starting to look better and better. I guess I might check out wand weapon because of how nimble and powerful you might feel with it.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
•The main thing I feel meh about is the "ball of lightning"s lack of usefullness and the fact that wands are not very cool. I don't like BoL ability because of it's seemingly limited use, how dependant it is on positioning and how slow it is.
•Here is a list of things that would make wands cooler:
1. Could go all in and make something really cool like be able to change your hole arm into the element you choose. Maybe a stance thing.
2. Or the element creeping up on your arm dependant of what spells you cast from the wand.
3. Or maybe create an illusion so it looks like your wand is something else.
4. Create a magic transparent offhand dependant on what stance you are in. Glowy transparent Shield for defensive, totem for offensive and so on.
These things would make wands a bit cooler option I think.
• The "lightning strike" ability is like a self flashbang.
I mean what is this. lol
hmm, the picture i posted above was gone when I came back here today. Here is a link if it goes away again. https://imgur.com/yU9fuVZ
Please don't make it any darker. My brightness and gamma settings are already as high as I can tolerate, and parts of the world are still difficult to see (like in the shadow of the mountain).
I loved the night time skybox, stars, moons, and galaxies. This will sound dumb, but it reminded me of staring up at the night skies of Asheron's Call's Dereth back in year 2000! You know how you remember games looking better than they did? Just like that. Ya'll are creating a beautiful fantasy night time, and I couldn't be more excited!
I think the night is good where it is.
I really like the way Arcane Volley looks now. It'd definitely be a skill I want to use if I play Mage (though I don't currently plan to)
I like the way the wand looks, but I'm not sure if enough thought was given to non-mage wand users. The greatsword had a lot more nods to the way a mage would want to use it already implemented. Expect that there will be rangers who use wands instead of bows unless you explicitly lock it for whatever reason (which doesn't fit with your stated design goals of ranged weapons for ranged powers and melee weapons for melee powers). Also be very clear if you intend Perfect Timing to work with any ability (such as Ranger skills) or just spells. As worded it can work with any ability - even a melee ability after it is procc'd, and it should work how it reads, so if that's not intended be explicit.
I plan on playing Rogue and will likely want to use a wand or orb as my ranged weapon for style reasons unless there are very clear reasons not to.
I really hope the moons have different orbits and that it's not a 'static skybox' for all the work you are putting into a realism of a rotating sky.
I would love to see opportunities for a high level of skill expression in combat through weapon and ability combos and timings. For instance, a lightning bolt could do more damage to a target the closer they are to the center of ball lightning. This can give lower level players more of a chance against higher level players by lessening the importance of gear/stats while also making combat more replayable and rewarding.
looks great, i would take caution in making the weapon skills over shine the actual skills, but other than that looks great, Side note, the 3 fireballs on the mage would be MUCH better if it were stacks and you could cast them whilst moving instead of being animation locked for three stacks
I'll start with the prompts, then move to any other feedback I have afterward,
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Overall, it was a great update. I feel like the team is moving in the right direction.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
The wand flourishes are so smooth, the beams look awesome, I think the feel of using it repeatedly and being rewarded for it just looks so satisfying. I think I'll need to see it in A2 to get a better idea of how to feel about the combo system in action, but I think you're on the right track putting as much effort in as you are. The main thing I'll say about any skill tree is that new animations, new abilities and new ability interactions and effects are what make skill trees worth using. Incremental advancements that are barely noticeable don't excite many people and annoy most of us to deal with slotting points into than anything else.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Overall, it looked decent. I'd be very happy if it was just a bit darker though. For example, let's say the night cycle is 20 minutes. Let's call the nighttime lighting that was shown today Grade 1, and a slightly darker shade Grade 2. I think that once the lighting gradient shifts past dusk and into nighttime, there should be five minutes of Grade 1, ten minutes of Grade 2, five more minutes of Grade 1, then the gradient for dawn kicks in.
The skybox is great, but it's lacking a lot of contrast in my opinion. Part of what makes a rural night sky so mesmerizing is how much it stands out from the darkness below it. Right now, the contrast between the two is a bit too low in my opinion, and it keeps the skybox from looking as bright and sparkly as it should. At the moment, it all just looks a bit muddled brightness-wise. The animated objects in the skybox are awesome though, as well as the new tech for rotating skyboxes.
The new lighting effects with the torches and fires looked fantastic. The contrast on your character while standing in front of a light source compared to what's behind them is looking really good, but could be more intense by further darkening the night just a bit.
Moving on to other feedback:
Mage:
Lightning:
Lightning VFX are looking loads better. I think the animation for Lightning Strike could use a little bit more of a gradient above your character though - right now, the streaks that build up above your head cut off a bit awkwardly, like they're stubby at the ends. I think they should taper a bit more delicately with more fragmenting at the tips.
Ball lightning is great, nice work.
Chain lightning looks sick as hell.
The main thing I'll say about lightning right now is that I think the SFX should be more impactful. Lightning strikes are incredibly loud and powerful - right now, it feels like it's missing that big CRACK/BOOM you'd expect from lightning SFX.
Fire:
Fire animations are the bis miss for me here, honestly. The Fire Bolt itself looked passable (could use some more lively flames dancing around/flying off the back of the projectile rather than just smoke and embers, but it's decent enough. The main issue is the animation of the projectile hitting it's target - that needs a LOT of work in my opinion. Right now, it appears to be this outdated animation of low-res 'fire' textures shifting around on the surface of two inverted flat cones centered on the target. I was really surprised it looked the way it did with how good most other animations were. I don't think I really need to go into detail on what a firey explosion should look like, but I think the Unreal particle system is powerful enough to do a lot better than what's there right now.
Magma Field, in contrast, actually looked quite good to me, it'll just need a bit of programming work to conform to the angle of the ground better. The only other problem I see with it at the moment is the 'target-at-cursor' mechanic. Most of the time when fighting gets intense, I have my right mouse button held down and cursor gone to control the camera and WASD to move so I can strafe more easily. For targeted abilities, I hope we'll have the option to use subtle place-and-click ground decals instead.
Arcane:
Arcane Volley looked awesome.
Bubble shield is fine, I still don't like that it looks like an egg though. I think it should have the same wobbly, energetic looking animation that the Streamweaver's bubble shields have. Maybe slightly less wobbly, since the mage's isn't water, but still. Something.
Frost:
Frostbolt didn't have much impact, but looked good for what it is.
I would've liked to have seen some more polish on cone of cold and blizzard, if the team had any to offer.
Environment:
The desert biome is looking really good so far, but it would be nice to see slightly more action happening on the ground. Either some sand particles shifting across the surface in patches, particles getting kicked up / shifted around a bit under your feet with each step you take, more significant footprints if possible, more little critters like baby scorpions and desert mice popping out and skittering around here and there.
The water and its reflections look fantastic. Can't wait to see some sailing on the river at night with reflections dancing across the surface!
Miscellaneous:
You mentioned other classes who can use wands - I'm curious to know what weapon skills and usage will be like for them when they don't have the elemental empowerment ability that mages do. I see the whole 'any weapon, any class' conversation come up a lot, but I have a hard time imagining that every combo will be equally as fun, complex, or flexible. Perhaps each class's class-skill tree can have a selection of recommended weapon-to-class-ability modifiers to spec into that lend suggestions as to what they can each excel best at?
If double-tanks (or literally anyone) can theoretically use wands, and I'm in a group while playing a mage, I'd feel awfully rotten if an awesome wand dropped and everyone rolled on it just because they can all use it, even though I'd arguably make the best use of it. Naturally, this comes down to being careful who you group with, but it opens the door to a lot of "oh, gimme this, gimme that, I can use it all" type of looting behavior.
I loved seeing this showcase without nameplates everywhere. It really helped get the sense of immersion working for me with the night setting. I personally like playing without them anyway. With the skybox actually moving over time i like to think that eventually that bright full moon would be below the horizon in the cycle and ambient light might fade even a bit darker. However i think you've got a pretty good balance between "feel" and "playability". Love the mage updates, looks like a wielder of magic. I did notice that the ball lightning went through some of the rock terrain while traveling instead of following the feature. Maybe a bug or did you change that?
Keep up the good work!! Looking forward to seeing you in A2
Amar
I also really really dislike the base off-pink/red colour hue or design of the targeting reticle around the base of mobs. I know this will be customizable, or should be, but just like anything in this game- the base version of it needs to look good because that's the thing that sells the game.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Overall I thought it was fantastic, from the lighting changes, to the skybox, to the VFX wand wand changes, to the wand weapon tree, it was phenomenal all around.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
The inclusion of the beam was excellent, proccing at various intervals based on the weapon skill tree, and overall, feeling as if my basic attack means something based on the weapon I'm using. The basic attacks felt meaningful, but not moreso or less so than its skill counterparts. It looks fun and engaging to play, with excellent animations and sound FX.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
I could not have asked for something better. The skybox was stunning, and the lighting overall was just perfect. I've rewatched it several times now to just bask in how excellent the nighttime lighting looks, sounds, and feels.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
I am particularly excited to see the desert biome, I've always been a fan of deserts, and be able to roam the area at night to excellent lighting. I'm exciting to test out the mage abilities and wand attacks in A2 as well. The only thing I would be concerned about would be skill balancing with CDs and weapon attacks, but I'm well aware that's not the priority at the moment so I wasn't too focused on that. Get to that whenever you need to.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
I dislike FFXIV's nighttime lighting, it honestly feels pretty cheap and not a true night environment. LOTRO does nighttime lighting halfway decent, it's darker with decent ambience, but overall it's not great. Personally with the combination of lighting, audio, and UE5, I think this was the best nighttime lighting I have seen in an MMO yet.
[*] How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
[*] What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
[*] What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
[*] Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
[*] Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
[*] Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
[/list] Please don’t feel limited by the thought-starters above. Feel free to share anything you’d like about Ashes of Creation’s Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview shown during the April Development Update
The dev team is doing a great job and the environment is coming along nicely. I am super hyped for Alpha 2!
The game looks absolutely stunning. I understand that UE5 has some special lighting abilities and it sounds like some of that is being used already with more to come. I would assume that at some point there may be performance issues with too many sources/reflections/shadows so this is probably a tricky thing to get right for the majority of players and range of PCs.
I actually thought some of the earlier streams were too dark. Well, at least the contrast seemed high. It was a bright day in one of them but the shadows were pitch black. This is a huge improvement.
Everything looked clear and crisp but still had the nighttime vibe. Considering that there is going to be a fair % of nighttime per daytime hours, we don't want to go too dark. With mob packs everywhere running around blind half the time would just be frustrating. It should be just as playable as daytime, with a different vibe. This seemed executed well. We can always have dark caves or other more rare situations if we want to go darker.
I played Rust and it had a 100% pitch black nighttime. However, it served a function in the game as it could be a good time to transfer materials or run across the map without getting seen. After many years, they recently changed it so that you can at least see in a small radius around you. No more getting lost in your base or having random pitch black melee fights. If you had some screen glare it could be impossible to see anything. There were some ways to set monitor contrast so some players could see better in it than others. Overall it was more annoying than good I'd say.
I'm quite happy with the wand combo playstyle. The wand weapon skill tree looks pretty straight forward and easy to understand. The beam looked awesome and the versatility of going proc-based builds is a nice way to introduce capitalizing on randomness during combat while synergizing with allies. In fact, the whole combat system looks like it will be really fun to play and get the rhythm of intermingling weapon attacks, combos, and class abilities.
-love the arcane volley vfx rework, looks more like a purple fire which is awesome
-wand basic attacks look good, beams also are good.
-Charged lightning strike ability is a bit blinding, reduce the width of the lightning and flash surrounding it and I think it will be better.
Teleport- still don't like the look of this ability, looks cheesy like something out of OG Runescape. Make it look more like this:
Nighttime
-brightness levels are looking better than before, but I would like it a bit darker so that vision is impaired at the end of line of sight away from your character or on the horizon. Like others have said it feels like dusk and not a true nighttime. Would be great if there can be different brightness levels based on the moon cycles and have darker locations like forests, caves, and dungeons that may require an illumination spell or torch. Would also be nice if clouds covering the moon/sun cast shadows below and make it darker. Also make the night sky darker to help those colors pop. Hopefully there will be some variation in color so it's not always a blend of purple/pink, I feel that this could be a bit much. Just a dark sky with scattered stars would be nice too.
-The new moons look great and the sky looks great. Would like to see less clouds in the desert biome and more often clear skies to match the climate while places like the mountains/forests are cloudy more often than not.
-The Shattered Moon should be overhauled to match quality of the new moons. Right now it looks placeholder but I'm imagining a death of a star like this:
-remove the floating green particles, they are out of place in a Desert biome
-The fire and torches shown in the video should flicker and not have static brightness levels like this -
Comments
The Wand Weapon Combo system is visually appealing so far. The ability to move while casting the beam finisher, much like the blizzard spell, is a great touch. What I did notice is the beam was not AoE. I would like to think anything in the path of the beam should either take damage, mitigate damage based on how many people being hit, or potentially have the beam stop once it hits a target.
The night time lighting was never a concern for me. I appreciate the work done to visually please us. I think the night time looks great still.
I spend the early 2000s playing FFXI and it was a great time. Weapon progression existed and was a huge part of the game. Some classes were able to be proficient in several weapons. Some classes, not all, it was a must to have different weapons leveled up so that you could appropriately combo with your party while leveling or be versatile with your guild in the end game. Warriors while leveling would often main hand a single handed axe that was slow and powerful and off hand something faster, usually weaker, w/ good stats, or hit multiple times per auto attack. End game single handed axes became obsolete and warriors were forced to use a 2 handed axe. Some of the most fun I have had in FFXI was making a party called a skill up party where a group of players gather together and fight mobs to gain levels on either a weapon or type of magic. "Hey this area's mobs have a very low chance to drop some really good gear, lets go skill up a new weapon type while farming for it."
Thank you so much for the incredible spell rework for Mages, it really means a lot! Arcane Volley has been given a great rework, along with ball lightning! With Arcane Volley, the very slight screen shake adds -such- a great addition to the spell cast! Ball Lightning is becoming one of my favorite spell looks in the game! It feels like a powerful, consuming cast and its travel pattern is fantastic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
While at first I was hesitant about using a wand, I think that this preview has actually sold me on its capabilities, especially when it comes to weaving spells and the wand together with one another. It looks very powerful and it allows a player to really open up a gap betwixt the player and the enemy target, allowing for further survivability. Also that elemental beam??? It looks so great - powerful and fun to be able to play with as it changes element based on the spells used.
Overall, I'm impressed. Even with all of these small changes, they matter so much and contribute to the overall gameplay for Mages and players in general. Very well done, Intrepid and thank you for taking our feedback into consideration.
2) The weapon skill points look like they will be separate from class skill points. Maybe I missed it before, but it seems pretty clear now. It was also mentioned that the growth curve will be something 2-3 times faster than adventurer levels. That does bring up a couple questions though: When you get to the higher levels, does this mean that you'll be getting 2-3 times the level 40 experience for a level one weapon if you haven't used it before, or do weapons have their own separate system? How do you determine which weapons get the experience? For example, just by having them equipped, actually using them against the opponent, last hitting the opponent, etc.?
3) A lot of the weapon skills were already claimed during the showcase. You were level 25, and 24 skill points had been gained/used on 24 different perks. Will it be possible to completely master a weapon and get all the perks? Or will the player have to think more carefully about which perks they choose?
4) The beam looked incredibly powerful compared to some of the spells. I know your team mentioned you spec'd into dealing more weapon damage (vs. procs), but the difference was pretty big, especially when you factor in the basic attacks. I'm just eyeballing it, but it looked like the cast times for Lightning Strike and Frostbolt took around the same time as 3-4 weapon attacks, and both did less damage than the beam on its own. The beam didn't cost any mana either. If weapon damage ends up being more than just filler, then some skills will be made obsolete or limited to a burst window.
4a) I did notice that the beam deals lots of little hits rather than a single big hit. If there is a flat damage reduction via armor, skills, augments, etc., this could mitigate the apparent strength of the beam vs spells or skills. I can't wait to see how all the combat mechanics work together.
5) The player's visual effects didn't seem to have any effect on the world in terms of lighting. For example, the fireballs weren't illuminating the ground, and the wand wasn't illuminating the player's clothes. Are there lighting effects from the spells and equipment planned for down the road?
6) The sandsquall desert was beautiful, but I didn't see any footprints in the sand or movement in the water. Just thought I'd mention it, as we've seen footprints and water physics in other areas before
In games I have played in the past you only gained skill points when you landed a successful hit. Also if your skill wasn't high enough you couldn't just go kill mobs that you were accustom to fighting. You had to go fight mobs around the current level of the weapon you were trying to skill up. This makes sense because if you aren't proficient with a weapon you shouldn't be able to strike a foe who is higher in level to the skill you posses. I like this approach, it will be interesting to see what their plans are.
I really enjoyed it, the mage updates, the skybox, the desert, the seeing feedback being implemented, a lot of information hinted at and dropped as well. Lots of solid steps in the right direction and I am already frothing, eager to get my hands and mind into the alpha and help make this an even better game for my mates and our communities. And as always since UE5 it was stunning.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
Playing around with different combinations to see what I like more, shorter or longer combos for faster status effect stacking for crowd control vs more burst perhaps. The beams and their different elemental types, different spell combinations. Steven mentioned that wet targets take more lightning damage, super curious to see what wombo combos we can create as solo & in group play.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Its better then the first showcase but I really liked the dark dark, its way more atmospheric. It can definitely affect things but the gameplay elements of moving in under the cover of dark, creatures coming out of it. The fear of the dark is a real and terror inducing thing and I'd love to see it in Ashes. It was good in this stream and I'd be happy with that, its better then say wow where the night is just a different skybox and everything is still fully lit up and visible from across the zone.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
I absolutely loved some of the animation and spell updates, the tortoise animations were great, it walked like it was falling each step, stumbling forward slowly like a real tortoise, very nice. Then we saw the updated lightning ball, I loved it. I suggested making it look like the inside of a tesla coil ball without the outside sphere and thats pretty much what you did and it looks fantastic, even better as it pulses with energy. The lightning strike charge up as well starting with thinner sparks getting larger then wham, the strike hits. And the sound effects on all the lightning spells was incredible, like it was tearing the air and I loved that. It just sounds like you're playing with something dangerous and unleashing it on your enemies. The arcane volley update was great, and the fire spells looked awesome too, the molten ground effect looked very hot haha. Can't wait to see more spells like meteors. The beams on the wands looked awesome too, Steven mentioned they can be tweaked so they become thicker and more powerful with the skill tree. I hope they pierce their target and become an AoE of sorts, hitting all in the line. The updates to the tooltips with colour coding for spell types and effects was great too. The attention to detail is fantastic too, the texture in the leather when close to the light was fantastic too. I can't wait to see it all in game.
I did think the campfire light was too bright, cast too much light around them. And when when mobs or bushes were really close to the fire, it looked almost like daylight. Just too bright. It should be brighter but still dim, it also doesn't flicker but I imagine that would be a nightmare for fps in an MMO? I used to fish at night and hiking back to campfires is something I saw a lot and it just looked a bit not right.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Basic wand attack is boring, and thats mostly what I'm used to. This is already way beyond that with the element of your attacks changing the spell and x hits triggering status affects. Wombo combos are something stupid fun to pull off, particularly in team play where one persons applies a status effect like wet and another does a lightning attack for mass damage. Or one person grips someone in and another person stuns them and the combo makes them vulnerable for more damage for a moment. A little coordination for a little result.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
WoW has really bland night time lighting. New world is better but I was hoping for more darkness as an element of gameplay.
7 Days To Die's night times are some of the best I've experienced. Its not completely dark, you can see shapes of trees, of mountains, still find your way, but you can't clearly see into the dark, whats lurking, it gets truly intense, it makes some creatures more dangerous as well, you can see details on things as they get light on them, otherwise its like a shadow moving in the darkness, a black wolf in a grassy field became very difficult to spot, you could hear it and see the movement between the bushes occasionally, bigger creatures bumbling out of dark or the mist were great too.
Dragons Dogma 2's nights do look fantastic but seem problematic of not seeing anything beyond the edge of your own light, mind you this is how it is in reality, its black outside the light you produce, away from the cities. Nights with low moonlight, are pitch black.
Perhaps that could be an element, with the rotating skybox there are parts of the night that are really, really dark, then other parts where its lit up quite nicely. Full moon light is very walkable with no other light. Perhaps make it part of some events, an eclipe for total darkness or once every part of the lunar cycle, a small group creatures starts attacking you out of the dark, you can only see their eyes as they circle your party, initally just one or two, then you attack and more eyes light up all around you. Or a full scale army of orcs or other bandits take advantage of the darkness and sneak up to your base before being noticed, giving you less time to react. Or on the darkest nights the darkest spells are cast, creating items or summons out of it, or vice versa, a sun elemental can only be brought to life and bound during the brightest parts of the day.
Overall positive.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
As someone who loves to make hybrids in any game, wands seem to be perfect for me. Hopefully other weapons will have similar mechanics.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Nice balance between darkest dark and too bright of a lighting.
What I would love to see how does night looks during different types of storms or when its cloudy.
Is it even darker? Does lightning flashes come in bursts of light?
Torch lights are a tad bit desaturated imo. Bring a bit more orange into the mix.
As far as avoiding Hollywood blues for your nighttime-I get it. Its overdone, but I wouldn't mind different hues appearing randomly for different night. Light blues when its snowing, dark teal hues for some ominous atmosphere etc...
If you need a good example of stormy night, IMO, this is how it should be done, check
Witcher 3
RDR 2
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Skills.
I would like to point out of how good of a feedback you got for telegraphed spells with two mechanics like Scattershot. We NEED more of that types of skills for a mage.
Things that I dont like about the mage currently:
-Fireball has NEVER been 3 missiles in any game. It was usually the spell with most casting time in almost every MMO, unless you have something like Pyroblast in your game.
IMO, Fireball should be charged telegraphed shot or a one quick throw cast ( Dark Souls fireball animation). Nothing in between.
-Magma field should be instant cast, but with burst delay. Check out Eruption and Lava Flow from Guild Wars 2 for reference.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Nope, but I have seen it in single player game (Kingdoms of Amalur) and it was fun to use. If anything, that game had fun combat.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
1.Red Dead Redemption 2, Ori and the Blind Forest, Witcher 3 all have good looking nighttimes.
2.Witcher 3, Dark Souls 2 and Elden Ring sunsets are top notch.
3.Witcher 3 has the best dawns.
Anything that reminds me of Romanticism paintings vibes with me.
Seems like it's not effected by the clouds and the shadows are way too distinct as opposed to soft, makes the overall environment feel disconnected, lack of atmosphere.
Too bright at areas where it shouldn't be like under a big tree or shadowy areas. (Could be ok for a full moon but should be much darker otherwise)
As if the black levels are not starting from 0 but 255 (video levels).
I would like to see utilization of illumination elements in a form of spells or items such as torches or wands, used when an area gets too dark, out in the open on a new moon or inside of a cave.
Skybox way too vibrant and too bright of a shade.
Fireball VFX, the final explosion when hitting the target looks too displaced (21:27 timestamp)
The bubble shield should burst progressively like a bubble with some soap-like derby falling instead of instantly disappearing.
Beam should be an AOE hitting multiple targets that interact with it.
- The beams are nice, we didn't really see anything else. Overall it seems too powerful compared to the actual class skills. It is of course part of balancing, and we can only give real feedback once we can actually test it ingame.
- very nice, dark enough and you got rid of the full black areas, don't go any darker!
- sky is nice too
- Spell effects, please..
1. Turn those flashes down. No bright white flashy effects or distortions, it's super bad.
2. No weird fog on the ice effects please, the core ice effects are so nice, the fog is too much. (Frostbolt and also Blizzard and Cone of Cold from Commissions Preview)
I really liked seeing the new damage in tooltips when mousing over the skills, great addition. Also happy to see ToT make an appearance.
The sky looks good, but I liked the sky during the day night cycle stream as well.
The night time light level is looking good where it is with that very large moon. The few times that Steven was away from other lighting sources it was just about perfect. Since its the desert at night we know that forests will end up being a little darker. So the light level shown here in the desert is right where it should be.
The fire pits and lighting staves scattered through out the area were an eye sore. Shining like a noon day sun in the water at midnight. I'm assuming they will be part of the lighting overhaul that's happening.
There were some good and bad moments.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
Only that It makes me excited about other weapons and what will you do with them based on this showcase.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
It doesnt feel like a night to me. Its more like a moment right before the dawn.
You shouldn't really showcase nighttime if you are only going to show it in one biome.
Nighttime in desert is different to the one in forest.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha ]Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Mages abilities don't have variance. Almost all of them are tab targeted-I thought this was a hybrid combat?
What happened to Scatter Shot type of abilities? What happened to targeted abilities.
Skills feel dull and very outdated mechanics wise. Visually, they are improving.
Are there similar systems to the Wand Weapon Combo system you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Yeah, but they were all action based games like Black Desert.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
Black Desert, but its too dark for some people.
Atmospheric fog is too bright. Things in distance are too visible.
Clouds are all the same too. Some of them also have a rim light based on position of the moon, which is not seen in the showcase.
My feedback is not about either of those, but about the terrain. The sand everywhere is rippled, suggesting there is wind. Seeing some sand blow along the ground would probably enhance the desert effect. Also, would it be possible to have a small trail of your footprints left behind in the sand while you are walking?
DD2 and Valheim are not MMOs. MMO's shouldn't be dark as DD2 with complete blackness. Nighttime is never that dark in real life, especially when TWO moons shining in the night sky like we have in Ashes.
I liked the darkness personally, as Steven said, it did elicit that vibe, while not obscuring vision. I liked how the shadows at night were particularly dark, I could see this having gameplay implications (NPCs, players hiding in the shadows).
I didn't, and still don't like the shield/bubble on NPC mobs. It feels somewhat low quality, I'd like to see this on a range of enemies to understand if it's shape and size is dynamic to the NPCs, or it has set dimensions. I think it's something with the horizontal wavy lines of the shield that make it look a bit low quality, especially compared to say the clean visuals of the mage bubble.
The mage spells overall were great, no real callouts for me other than a big thumps up. The elemental empowerment and associate visuals were nice.
In terms of other games, I've experienced issues with night-time lightning being too dark, and not being able to distinguish or see changes in terrain (e.g. edges), or things like gathering nodes. I don't have any issue if this is in shadows areas, as long as there is potentially a counterplay such as a torch or something to address it.
Also, whilst not necessarily specific to night-time, I've experienced issues in games with dark areas/dark floors, are similarly colored/dark tone enemy AOE effects, making it hard to distinguish and react to these ability (dodge or stack, for example).
Whilst brightness settings may change visuals at an individual level, other games, such a WOW have an item which changes the skybox and lighting (inky black potion), I like such an item (with maybe a limited time on use), as it can help address issues with the player experience. This doesn't address the root cause of what can be an individual issue, but provides players with some counter to visual challenges, if they themselves are having issues.
• I think the midnight darkness and especially the skybox looking real good right here.
Overall a big W for visuals and gameplay with the wand/mage.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
• Yeah, im not usually playing mage classes and probably wont here either but it starting to look better and better. I guess I might check out wand weapon because of how nimble and powerful you might feel with it.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
•The main thing I feel meh about is the "ball of lightning"s lack of usefullness and the fact that wands are not very cool. I don't like BoL ability because of it's seemingly limited use, how dependant it is on positioning and how slow it is.
•Here is a list of things that would make wands cooler:
1. Could go all in and make something really cool like be able to change your hole arm into the element you choose. Maybe a stance thing.
2. Or the element creeping up on your arm dependant of what spells you cast from the wand.
3. Or maybe create an illusion so it looks like your wand is something else.
4. Create a magic transparent offhand dependant on what stance you are in. Glowy transparent Shield for defensive, totem for offensive and so on.
These things would make wands a bit cooler option I think.
• The "lightning strike" ability is like a self flashbang.
I mean what is this. lol
hmm, the picture i posted above was gone when I came back here today. Here is a link if it goes away again.
https://imgur.com/yU9fuVZ
Everything looked beautiful. That I had no trouble seeing anything means It could be a good bit darker.
I really like the way Arcane Volley looks now. It'd definitely be a skill I want to use if I play Mage (though I don't currently plan to)
I like the way the wand looks, but I'm not sure if enough thought was given to non-mage wand users. The greatsword had a lot more nods to the way a mage would want to use it already implemented. Expect that there will be rangers who use wands instead of bows unless you explicitly lock it for whatever reason (which doesn't fit with your stated design goals of ranged weapons for ranged powers and melee weapons for melee powers). Also be very clear if you intend Perfect Timing to work with any ability (such as Ranger skills) or just spells. As worded it can work with any ability - even a melee ability after it is procc'd, and it should work how it reads, so if that's not intended be explicit.
I plan on playing Rogue and will likely want to use a wand or orb as my ranged weapon for style reasons unless there are very clear reasons not to.
I really hope the moons have different orbits and that it's not a 'static skybox' for all the work you are putting into a realism of a rotating sky.
How do you feel about the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
Overall, it was a great update. I feel like the team is moving in the right direction.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
The wand flourishes are so smooth, the beams look awesome, I think the feel of using it repeatedly and being rewarded for it just looks so satisfying. I think I'll need to see it in A2 to get a better idea of how to feel about the combo system in action, but I think you're on the right track putting as much effort in as you are. The main thing I'll say about any skill tree is that new animations, new abilities and new ability interactions and effects are what make skill trees worth using. Incremental advancements that are barely noticeable don't excite many people and annoy most of us to deal with slotting points into than anything else.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
Overall, it looked decent. I'd be very happy if it was just a bit darker though. For example, let's say the night cycle is 20 minutes. Let's call the nighttime lighting that was shown today Grade 1, and a slightly darker shade Grade 2. I think that once the lighting gradient shifts past dusk and into nighttime, there should be five minutes of Grade 1, ten minutes of Grade 2, five more minutes of Grade 1, then the gradient for dawn kicks in.
The skybox is great, but it's lacking a lot of contrast in my opinion. Part of what makes a rural night sky so mesmerizing is how much it stands out from the darkness below it. Right now, the contrast between the two is a bit too low in my opinion, and it keeps the skybox from looking as bright and sparkly as it should. At the moment, it all just looks a bit muddled brightness-wise. The animated objects in the skybox are awesome though, as well as the new tech for rotating skyboxes.
The new lighting effects with the torches and fires looked fantastic. The contrast on your character while standing in front of a light source compared to what's behind them is looking really good, but could be more intense by further darkening the night just a bit.
Moving on to other feedback:
Mage:
Lightning:
Lightning VFX are looking loads better. I think the animation for Lightning Strike could use a little bit more of a gradient above your character though - right now, the streaks that build up above your head cut off a bit awkwardly, like they're stubby at the ends. I think they should taper a bit more delicately with more fragmenting at the tips.
Ball lightning is great, nice work.
Chain lightning looks sick as hell.
The main thing I'll say about lightning right now is that I think the SFX should be more impactful. Lightning strikes are incredibly loud and powerful - right now, it feels like it's missing that big CRACK/BOOM you'd expect from lightning SFX.
Fire:
Fire animations are the bis miss for me here, honestly. The Fire Bolt itself looked passable (could use some more lively flames dancing around/flying off the back of the projectile rather than just smoke and embers, but it's decent enough. The main issue is the animation of the projectile hitting it's target - that needs a LOT of work in my opinion. Right now, it appears to be this outdated animation of low-res 'fire' textures shifting around on the surface of two inverted flat cones centered on the target. I was really surprised it looked the way it did with how good most other animations were. I don't think I really need to go into detail on what a firey explosion should look like, but I think the Unreal particle system is powerful enough to do a lot better than what's there right now.
Magma Field, in contrast, actually looked quite good to me, it'll just need a bit of programming work to conform to the angle of the ground better. The only other problem I see with it at the moment is the 'target-at-cursor' mechanic. Most of the time when fighting gets intense, I have my right mouse button held down and cursor gone to control the camera and WASD to move so I can strafe more easily. For targeted abilities, I hope we'll have the option to use subtle place-and-click ground decals instead.
Arcane:
Arcane Volley looked awesome.
Bubble shield is fine, I still don't like that it looks like an egg though. I think it should have the same wobbly, energetic looking animation that the Streamweaver's bubble shields have. Maybe slightly less wobbly, since the mage's isn't water, but still. Something.
Frost:
Frostbolt didn't have much impact, but looked good for what it is.
I would've liked to have seen some more polish on cone of cold and blizzard, if the team had any to offer.
Environment:
The desert biome is looking really good so far, but it would be nice to see slightly more action happening on the ground. Either some sand particles shifting across the surface in patches, particles getting kicked up / shifted around a bit under your feet with each step you take, more significant footprints if possible, more little critters like baby scorpions and desert mice popping out and skittering around here and there.
The water and its reflections look fantastic. Can't wait to see some sailing on the river at night with reflections dancing across the surface!
Miscellaneous:
You mentioned other classes who can use wands - I'm curious to know what weapon skills and usage will be like for them when they don't have the elemental empowerment ability that mages do. I see the whole 'any weapon, any class' conversation come up a lot, but I have a hard time imagining that every combo will be equally as fun, complex, or flexible. Perhaps each class's class-skill tree can have a selection of recommended weapon-to-class-ability modifiers to spec into that lend suggestions as to what they can each excel best at?
If double-tanks (or literally anyone) can theoretically use wands, and I'm in a group while playing a mage, I'd feel awfully rotten if an awesome wand dropped and everyone rolled on it just because they can all use it, even though I'd arguably make the best use of it. Naturally, this comes down to being careful who you group with, but it opens the door to a lot of "oh, gimme this, gimme that, I can use it all" type of looting behavior.
That's all for now, thanks for the great stream!
Keep up the good work!! Looking forward to seeing you in A2
Amar
I agree with a lot of this, though skimmed it.
I also really really dislike the base off-pink/red colour hue or design of the targeting reticle around the base of mobs. I know this will be customizable, or should be, but just like anything in this game- the base version of it needs to look good because that's the thing that sells the game.
Overall I thought it was fantastic, from the lighting changes, to the skybox, to the VFX wand wand changes, to the wand weapon tree, it was phenomenal all around.
What excites you about playing and interacting with the Wand Weapon Combo system?
The inclusion of the beam was excellent, proccing at various intervals based on the weapon skill tree, and overall, feeling as if my basic attack means something based on the weapon I'm using. The basic attacks felt meaningful, but not moreso or less so than its skill counterparts. It looks fun and engaging to play, with excellent animations and sound FX.
What are your thoughts on the night-time lighting shown during the livestream?
I could not have asked for something better. The skybox was stunning, and the lighting overall was just perfect. I've rewatched it several times now to just bask in how excellent the nighttime lighting looks, sounds, and feels.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown during the Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview?
I am particularly excited to see the desert biome, I've always been a fan of deserts, and be able to roam the area at night to excellent lighting. I'm exciting to test out the mage abilities and wand attacks in A2 as well. The only thing I would be concerned about would be skill balancing with CDs and weapon attacks, but I'm well aware that's not the priority at the moment so I wasn't too focused on that. Get to that whenever you need to.
Are there other games with night-time lighting that you like or dislike? If so, what are they and why?
I dislike FFXIV's nighttime lighting, it honestly feels pretty cheap and not a true night environment. LOTRO does nighttime lighting halfway decent, it's darker with decent ambience, but overall it's not great. Personally with the combination of lighting, audio, and UE5, I think this was the best nighttime lighting I have seen in an MMO yet.
The dev team is doing a great job and the environment is coming along nicely. I am super hyped for Alpha 2!
The game looks absolutely stunning. I understand that UE5 has some special lighting abilities and it sounds like some of that is being used already with more to come. I would assume that at some point there may be performance issues with too many sources/reflections/shadows so this is probably a tricky thing to get right for the majority of players and range of PCs.
I actually thought some of the earlier streams were too dark. Well, at least the contrast seemed high. It was a bright day in one of them but the shadows were pitch black. This is a huge improvement.
Everything looked clear and crisp but still had the nighttime vibe. Considering that there is going to be a fair % of nighttime per daytime hours, we don't want to go too dark. With mob packs everywhere running around blind half the time would just be frustrating. It should be just as playable as daytime, with a different vibe. This seemed executed well. We can always have dark caves or other more rare situations if we want to go darker.
I played Rust and it had a 100% pitch black nighttime. However, it served a function in the game as it could be a good time to transfer materials or run across the map without getting seen. After many years, they recently changed it so that you can at least see in a small radius around you. No more getting lost in your base or having random pitch black melee fights. If you had some screen glare it could be impossible to see anything. There were some ways to set monitor contrast so some players could see better in it than others. Overall it was more annoying than good I'd say.
I'm quite happy with the wand combo playstyle. The wand weapon skill tree looks pretty straight forward and easy to understand. The beam looked awesome and the versatility of going proc-based builds is a nice way to introduce capitalizing on randomness during combat while synergizing with allies. In fact, the whole combat system looks like it will be really fun to play and get the rhythm of intermingling weapon attacks, combos, and class abilities.
Can't wait to try it out!
-new lightning ball looks better
-fire balls looking good
-magma field looks good
-love the arcane volley vfx rework, looks more like a purple fire which is awesome
-wand basic attacks look good, beams also are good.
-Charged lightning strike ability is a bit blinding, reduce the width of the lightning and flash surrounding it and I think it will be better.
Teleport- still don't like the look of this ability, looks cheesy like something out of OG Runescape. Make it look more like this:
Nighttime
-brightness levels are looking better than before, but I would like it a bit darker so that vision is impaired at the end of line of sight away from your character or on the horizon. Like others have said it feels like dusk and not a true nighttime. Would be great if there can be different brightness levels based on the moon cycles and have darker locations like forests, caves, and dungeons that may require an illumination spell or torch. Would also be nice if clouds covering the moon/sun cast shadows below and make it darker. Also make the night sky darker to help those colors pop. Hopefully there will be some variation in color so it's not always a blend of purple/pink, I feel that this could be a bit much. Just a dark sky with scattered stars would be nice too.
-The new moons look great and the sky looks great. Would like to see less clouds in the desert biome and more often clear skies to match the climate while places like the mountains/forests are cloudy more often than not.
-The Shattered Moon should be overhauled to match quality of the new moons. Right now it looks placeholder but I'm imagining a death of a star like this:
-remove the floating green particles, they are out of place in a Desert biome
-The fire and torches shown in the video should flicker and not have static brightness levels like this -