PK Corruption in Ashes of Creation: Should You Fight Back or Not?

Hey everyone!

I've been diving into the PvP mechanics in Ashes of Creation and wanted to get your thoughts on dealing with Player Killers (PKs) or unprovoked PvP. Specifically, is it better to fight back or just let them kill you? Here’s what I’ve learned about the corruption system and the outcomes of each choice. One surprising thing I discovered is that if you fight back and die, the PK won’t get corruption points.

Your Options When Attacked:

Fight Back:

You might win and fend off the attacker.
If you die while fighting, the PK doesn’t get corruption points since it’s a fair fight.
Fighting back can help you get better at PvP.
You will drop less resources if you die.

Don’t Fight Back:

The PK gets corruption points for killing you.
You will drop more resources if you die.
Your gear might take a durability hit.

What Happens to Corrupted Players:

They can’t go into towns without getting attacked by guards.
They can't interact with NPCs.
They’re also attacked by patrolling guards out in the world.
They risk losing more items and experience when they die.
The more corrupted they are, the worse the penalties get.
They can be tracked by bounty hunters

So, what will you do? Does your decision depend on whether you have valuable items you don’t want to lose? Do you fight back to avoid giving the PK more corruption points, or do you let them kill you to ensure they get penalized? I’d love to hear your strategies and thoughts on this!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Frosty_Thundertrod

Fighting back seems pointless, since there is no bounce back mechanics by the time your under attack and the CC where off your already half dead. best hope is try to trigger your get away skills

Vospha

XanderSlaze wrote: »

Hey everyone!

I've been diving into the PvP mechanics in Ashes of Creation and wanted to get your thoughts on dealing with Player Killers (PKs) or unprovoked PvP. Specifically, is it better to fight back or just let them kill you? Here’s what I’ve learned about the corruption system and the outcomes of each choice. One surprising thing I discovered is that if you fight back and die, the PK won’t get corruption points.

Your Options When Attacked:

Fight Back:
You might win and fend off the attacker.

If you die while fighting, the PK doesn’t get corruption points since it’s a fair fight.

Fighting back can help you get better at PvP.

Don’t Fight Back:
The PK gets corruption points for killing you.

You might drop resources or crafted items when you die.

Your gear might take a durability hit.

What Happens to Corrupted Players:
They can’t go into towns without getting attacked by guards.

They can't interact with NPCs.

They’re also attacked by patrolling guards out in the world.

They risk losing more items and experience when they die.

The more corrupted they are, the worse the penalties get.

They can be tracked by bounty hunters

So, what will you do? Does your decision depend on whether you have valuable items you don’t want to lose? Do you fight back to avoid giving the PK more corruption points, or do you let them kill you to ensure they get penalized? I’d love to hear your strategies and thoughts on this!

I personally will always be fighting back, because something to note is whether you are a none-combatant or a combatant you will potentially drop materials. If I recall, if you are none-combatant you actually drop more than if you were a combatant, basically making it so it's better to try fight back. I could be mistaken tho.

Besides, I'd rather not deal with the death penalty and XP loss when I might win anyway.

Vospha

Frosty_Thundertrod wrote: »

Fighting back seems pointless, since there is no bounce back mechanics by the time your under attack and the CC where off your already half dead. best hope is try to trigger your get away skills

If you don't fight back the AOE and CC if I recall won't hit none combatants anyway, I remember something on the wiki mentioned that they wanted to avoid stunning players on a pull for combat. So you'd be able to just run off or hop on your mount assuming they don't have something to dismount you.

Glir

Yes, this is the Lineage 2 mechanics. The only thing I don’t like about Ashes is that I think they should have bring the same from Lineage 2 also. So that if you have PK players, your stats would not weaken, but would remain the same. Let people roleplay their PK.

Githal

Frosty_Thundertrod wrote: »

Fighting back seems pointless, since there is no bounce back mechanics by the time your under attack and the CC where off your already half dead. best hope is try to trigger your get away skills

Wrong.While you are green, you cant be CC-ed. This means you are the first one who can CC the attacker. Which i would say will compensate for the first hit he did.

NoxVost

Needless to say that being attacked you have the disadvantage. The attacker can choose the position, elevation and most alpha skill to go into battle, so by the time to response you may have you HP halved. Also, the attacker is prepared to fight, and it may be unexpected for victim.

Conclusion: to win this sudden attack, the defender must have superior to the attacker skills. With equal skills the victim will loose in most cases.

So either the game mechanics should implement something to make the chances more fair. Otherwise, to surrender and not going to combatant is preferred strategy in most cases

Aszkalon

I feel kinda tempted to let someone like that kill me, should i know that "Bountyhunters" are definitely playing nearby and i have nothing in my Pockets that i would lament being rid of.

Why not dragging others into the Chaos as well ?

Effah

can you have a trader alt and a pirate one ?

Dolyem

I wasnt actually going to post this outside of discussion with guildies and friends but heres a little pro/con (risk/reward) analysis of corruption as it is currently described. As is, engaging a OWPvP fight or just immediately fighting back seems the least optimal option. The pros section I was realllllllyyyy stretching to add as much as possible, but they are a reach.

As it is I would likely have an alt bounty hunter or guildy bounty hunter just convey the whereabouts of my killer, and go kill them to get 4x the reward as opposed to fighting back right then and there. And as far as PKing, the current set up seems so punishing for just even a single PK that I would rather use work-arounds like training mobs around to kill players encroaching on areas I am gathering as opposed to outright engaging and risking corruption.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OhNVD43t_4qUGuR1gG8cv5VXIlyKTopw0MbD7tMVVF8/edit?usp=sharing

Ludullu

Dolyem wrote: »

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OhNVD43t_4qUGuR1gG8cv5VXIlyKTopw0MbD7tMVVF8/edit?usp=sharing

I'd add "killing bots" and "saves time" to the rewards list.

"Potentially saves time" is also a pro on the victim's side if they fight back. I've saved way more gameplay time by fighting back and securing my spot than by dying, rebuffing, coming back to the same spot, trying to attack the PK (who could potentially no longer even be a PKer), and either try to outfarm him or pull mobs onto him.

And if you prove through pvp that the attacker is weaker than you - the chance of them coming back is way lower than you just dying to him in the hopes of him remaining a PKer when you manage to come back.

Also, don't forget that quite a lot of PKing for spots will be happening in group vs group fights, which would make it even harder to easily kill the PKer.

Dolyem

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OhNVD43t_4qUGuR1gG8cv5VXIlyKTopw0MbD7tMVVF8/edit?usp=sharing

I'd add "killing bots" and "saves time" to the rewards list.

"Potentially saves time" is also a pro on the victim's side if they fight back. I've saved way more gameplay time by fighting back and securing my spot than by dying, rebuffing, coming back to the same spot, trying to attack the PK (who could potentially no longer even be a PKer), and either try to outfarm him or pull mobs onto him.

And if you prove through pvp that the attacker is weaker than you - the chance of them coming back is way lower than you just dying to him in the hopes of him remaining a PKer when you manage to come back.

Also, don't forget that quite a lot of PKing for spots will be happening in group vs group fights, which would make it even harder to easily kill the PKer.

The list is purely measuring the risk vs reward of gaining corruption, mostly to try to measure the worth of risking any PK, griefing or not.

Killing bots is definitely a good one I will add. Saving time I dont see applying to gaining corruption in any way?

Ludullu

Dolyem wrote: »

Killing bots is definitely a good one I will add. Saving time I dont see applying to gaining corruption in any way?

Pulling mobs would take more time. Trying to measure out your attacks so that the mobs kill the victim also takes time. Neither even assure a kill. And both can lead to backup coming to help the victim and you lose in pvp.

PKing would remove all of that time wasting. Especially in a group setting. And dying as a Red is never assured either, so half of the cons depend on a possibility rather than a 100% situation. And the probability of death highly depends on the final balancing of the system and the location where the PK happened.

Dolyem

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

Killing bots is definitely a good one I will add. Saving time I dont see applying to gaining corruption in any way?

Pulling mobs would take more time. Trying to measure out your attacks so that the mobs kill the victim also takes time. Neither even assure a kill. And both can lead to backup coming to help the victim and you lose in pvp.

PKing would remove all of that time wasting. Especially in a group setting. And dying as a Red is never assured either, so half of the cons depend on a possibility rather than a 100% situation. And the probability of death highly depends on the final balancing of the system and the location where the PK happened.

Yes but this is a measurement of risking corruption being gained, not engaging in PvP in general. And the time you are saying that you are saving is negated by the time it would take to remove the corruption. I'll add them both to the list

Aszkalon

XanderSlaze wrote: »

PK Corruption in Ashes of Creation: Should You Fight Back or Not ?

What is funnier ?

I am not kidding or trolling here. It depends on the Circumstances. But what would get me the bigger Laugh out of it ? No matter if i fight back or let my Attackers slaughter me like a good atta-boy (lol),

any sane Player should always choose the more entertaining and funny Experience. Nobody sane plays a VideoGame to get bored or annoyed after all.

What would get me the craziest Laugh, possibly even dragging my Gankers into the Chaos as well ?

Ludullu

Dolyem wrote: »

Yes but this is a measurement of risking corruption being gained, not engaging in PvP in general. And the time you are saying that you are saving is negated by the time it would take to remove the corruption. I'll add them both to the list

Clearing the corruption in this context is "I'm farming mobs that I came to farm".

If the PK was for a mobless location - yeah, the situation is completely different. But both still depend on your ultimate goal. If you wanted to get the resource and PKing let you get it - you still saved time, because both searching for another resource spawn and trying to bring mobs to the mobless location would've taken longer.

Removing corruption wouldn't go towards the goal's timer calculation, because it happens after the fact, rather than before it.

Dolyem

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

Yes but this is a measurement of risking corruption being gained, not engaging in PvP in general. And the time you are saying that you are saving is negated by the time it would take to remove the corruption. I'll add them both to the list

Clearing the corruption in this context is "I'm farming mobs that I came to farm".

If the PK was for a mobless location - yeah, the situation is completely different. But both still depend on your ultimate goal. If you wanted to get the resource and PKing let you get it - you still saved time, because both searching for another resource spawn and trying to bring mobs to the mobless location would've taken longer.

Removing corruption wouldn't go towards the goal's timer calculation, because it happens after the fact, rather than before it.

potentially, but if its an area with high traffic youd likely have to go somewhere less populated to remove your corruption and return, in which case you will likely have to do it again. Its too niche of a situation to really call a benefit without also considering the negative. I tossed them on the list regardless, but they cancel each other out.

Ludullu

Dolyem wrote: »

potentially, but if its an area with high traffic youd likely have to go somewhere less populated to remove your corruption and return, in which case you will likely have to do it again. Its too niche of a situation to really call a benefit without also considering the negative. I tossed them on the list regardless, but they cancel each other out.

Imo a location that has a ton of foot traffic would not be worth a PK. Most of the time when I'm talking about PKs for a location it's about the deepest parts of a dungeon.

This assumption also depends on gameplay loops in Ashes, of which we know nothing, so I might be completely incorrect here. We'll have to see.

Dolyem

Ludullu_(NiKr) wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

potentially, but if its an area with high traffic youd likely have to go somewhere less populated to remove your corruption and return, in which case you will likely have to do it again. Its too niche of a situation to really call a benefit without also considering the negative. I tossed them on the list regardless, but they cancel each other out.

Imo a location that has a ton of foot traffic would not be worth a PK. Most of the time when I'm talking about PKs for a location it's about the deepest parts of a dungeon.

This assumption also depends on gameplay loops in Ashes, of which we know nothing, so I might be completely incorrect here. We'll have to see.

Oh I agree, but like I said, this spreadsheet is purely to weigh against whether or not its worth to PK at all. For me personally it isn't as it is currently explained with the information we are given. I could go into more detail and actually score each individual thing listed based on severity but at that point there would likely be a MASSIVE disparity in the scoring, and I didn't want to seem biased in doing so. We will see how it ends up after enough testing.

ReLamas

When considering the best approach to handle Player Killers (PKs) in Ashes of Creation, there are several nuanced strategies and additional considerations that can enrich the discussion beyond the initial overview:

Group Dynamics and Guild Support: The decision to fight or avoid PKs can significantly change if you're with a group or guild. Being in a group can provide a tactical advantage, making it riskier for PKs to engage. Guild alliances can also offer protection and act as a deterrent.

Bounty Hunter Mechanic: The corruption system makes PKs susceptible to bounty hunters. Choosing not to fight and allowing the PK to accumulate corruption points could strategically invite bounty hunters to target them, serving as a form of indirect retaliation. This can deter PKs from further aggressive behavior.

Resource Protection: In high-value areas or during events where rare resources are at stake, players might be more inclined to fight to protect these valuable assets. The risk of losing rare items might push players to confront PKs despite the potential danger.

Impact on Future PK Behavior: The corruption system not only penalizes current actions but may also influence future behaviors. Highly corrupted players might adopt a more cautious approach in subsequent interactions, aware of the heightened risks.

Dynamic PvP Mechanics: The game's evolving mechanics mean that strategies may shift over time. Intrepid Studios might introduce updates or balance changes affecting corruption or PvP, which could alter the decision-making process for dealing with PKs.

Veeshan

Frosty_Thundertrod wrote: »

Fighting back seems pointless, since there is no bounce back mechanics by the time your under attack and the CC where off your already half dead. best hope is try to trigger your get away skills

xcept you cant be CCed by players unless ur a combatant or corrupted last i checked, which means u get the first oppotunity to CC if u fight back and if they used a skill that had a CC tied to it while attacking initially thats now on CD for them.

Child Item