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Family System - A fun idea

So the devs have given us some basic information on plans for player-player marriages. This has opened up alot of discussion about a family system. They've also shared there likely won't be any NPC-babies that players can make since.. well, killeable NPCs. Below are some thoughts and suggestions I have to develop a family system into a meaningful feature of the game that supports the objective to promote group-play and engagement.

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A player can choose to create or join a family. If the player creates a family, they become the Matriarch/Patriarch (M/P). As the head of the household, its your responsibility to complete the necessary quests to obtain the family's heirloom. The heirloom is an item that all the family members can use. The M/P also provide a passive familial buff to all family members based off the M/P's race. The family interface will show a traditional, familiar family tree complete with player's portaits, levels, races, and classes. Families will have a finite number of slots (but more can be unlocked, keep reading): children or sibling slots. By finite I mean a cap of like.. 7.

The heirloom: An accessory slot. The heirloom can be augmented and customized to suit the needs of the family. Perhaps your heirloom provides a free, instant cast teleport to the M/P's node on a 12 hr cool down. Perhaps it removes 1 tier of corruption every 12 hrs. The M/P can complete extensive quest lines to upgrade the effect of the heirloom.

Now, being the M/P is not all about giving. Your family members will generate small amounts of EXP for you while they go about their daily Ashes lives. You will gain exp in the activity in which the family member is participating in (crating, combat). A small portion of the EXP generated will be applied towards the family tree's "growth". As new branches are unlocked, more family member slots become available and additional perks can be purchased.

Throw in long cooldowns, extensive quest lines, and the proper checks and balances and it might be a solid system. Re-reading it seems like a mini-guild system *sigh*. Perhaps that's okay, it can replace a guild for small groups. It'd be great for RPers as well :).


Also, my first post. Hello!

Comments

  • I quite like this implementation of family. Would things such as "take overs" be possible though? As in, a member of the family wants to take over the position of M/P, so they either A: inherit it from the current standing M/P, B: they do a quest where they "assassinate" the current M/P. Say the pretender tries to scheme to depose the current family head(like the Scheming mechanic in Crusader Kings), but if they and their plot are discovered by the head the quest fails and they are disowned/receive some type of punishment? or C: each contender gathers supporters from the family(or maybe even hired swords) and there is a Lineage 2 Castle Siege type of scenario, like a coup, the end of which depends on the victor.

    And to possibly have the way the position can be passed down depending on the reputation of the character, be it Blood or Tears(like from Heroes Of Might And Magic 6).

    I discuss that mechanic more in my <a href="https://www.ashesofcreation.com/forums/topic/petmountcompanion-obtaining-quest-idea-some-mechanics-related-to-it-2/" target="_blank">thread</a> where I also discuss the implementation of pets/mounts/companions, as well as suggesting a few other mechanics. May I ask your opinion on them?
  • One additional thing that I would love to see in a marriage system is a SHARED bank/item storage system.

    So for instance, as a single player you have a bank that can hold 100 items. When you marry you gain the benefit of your spouse's bank plus a few extra say 10 for instance. So as a married couple you would have 210 bank slots but with this system it would put a whole new meaning to marriage in that you would actually need to trust your partner as you do in real marriage because they have access to your items as well as you having access to theirs.

    So you wouldn't see people marrying just any Tom, Dick, or Henry that is out there because if you don't know them from Adam then why would you trust them to have access to your bank?

    This would however provide a very pragmatic solution to married couples because they would be able to share said items between the two of them easily.
  • What this man said.
  • Appreciate the comments guys! I think its a system that could potentially be really neat!
  • Sounds interesting if there is some give and take behind it.
    I do think it's a worthwhile thought to expand on, but as you presented it I think it has quite some issues.
    Before that tho, (I think you took it for granted and just didn't write it down)just a little addition, there should be two slots for the family head"s". It's a family after all.
    So my main issue is this, one/two players recieve double benefits, unlocked perks and the return exp, while others only ever be able to recieve the perks. I assume that the return exp will be marginal, but it's a benefit that the rest will be locked from and encourages to make your own family instead.
    Now it would make sense that everyone can be part of 2 families, once as a head, once as a child, which on a larger scale would be ridiculous to behold how everyone in the same generation is related to each other.

    You want it to encourage teamplay and I would think, shift the focus away from all purpose perks you always have, to active group play based ones.
    For example, you group up with family members to go farm, hunt, gather in the wild you may feel enthusiastic through the presence of your family and gather more.
    Maybe your food and drinks taste even better with all the family laughter around you and give a tiny bit more stats. Your farms in the wild can be accessed by your family to help out while you can't log in.
    Besting a dungeon together has a slightly higher chance for the rarer loot that could drop.
    Stuff like that could still be unlocked the way you described it. The heirloom is a great idea, unlocking those benefits throught effort is perfect. I really like that.
    In that regard I like the shared bank and additional 10 slots. It gives something back for the trust you put into your partner.

    What do you think about this change?
  • Wow, this was definitely carefully thought out. I can say that the Mods are honestly impressed O_O
    I know for a fact that the team over at Intrepid is looking at their forums for feedback all the time, and I think this will definitely hit them hard knowing that the community would like to see this type of thing. Keep it going! D:
  • Generally a fan. I like the way AA did it where families were limited to 8 characters and all the 'stuff' (aka banks, chests, land access, etc.) could have access set to 'family'. Forced people to be in guilds for most content, but allowed super close people to do farming as a group.
  • @Grisu:
    In my original post, I meant there would be one person in the "head of household" slot. Their married partner would be the spouse, but not a secondary head of household. The degree of difficulty and time investment I imagined the quests requiring to upgrade the heirloom would be pretty hefty- hefty enough that some people would think "No way I'm doing all that work". The M/P would definitely have a commitment to the family, so they aren't soaking all that exp for nothing, which wouldn't be an OP amount.

    The exp gain the M/P receives could be switched out with other buffs though, or special access to a family npc that gives consumables or something.

    @Saru:
    :)

    @Glavus:
    I'm not too familiar with AA, but shared banks and stuff would be neat to incorporate as well!
  • To propose a little addition to the family system: How about political marriages?
    There could be a little bonus in trade income or something like that, when two people in different trade nodes, or people in the families of them, are married. This could move people to form arranged marriages as in the middle ages, which could be a cool addition to the RPG aspects of the game.
  • Hih


    [quote quote=8055]To propose a little addition to the family system: How about political marriages?
    There could be a little bonus in trade income or something like that, when two people in different trade nodes, or people in the families of them, are married. This could move people to form arranged marriages as in the middle ages, which could be a cool addition to the RPG aspects of the game.

    [/quote]

    That would be interesting if a little village is attacked my a group of bandits and the Mayor decides to marry of his/her pretty daughter or handsome son to the head of the bandit group.. making them in the end to be the villages newly recruited guards and protectors. =)
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