Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Dev Discussion #35 - Character Inspection
Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.
Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!
Dev Discussion - Character Inspection
What are your thoughts around character and gear inspection, particularly as it relates to settings and options? Should you have the option to allow or disallow others from inspecting your character? Why or why not?
Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion topic regarding User Interface!
UPDATE: Greetings friends - thank you all again for taking the time to join in on this discussion! After putting together a recap for our team, check out some of the top notes you shared with us below:
- Many players feel that should inspecting be added, they would like the ability to toggle it off and on or have a ‘request to inspect’ system with the option of automatic denial and acceptance.
- There are players who do not want their gear to be inspected for many reasons, such as concerns for inclusivity and PvP advantages.
- While some players do not want their gear to be inspected, many would like to see it implemented in a completely open, totally free inspection based system.
- A few players backed the idea of making inspection a skill that can be leveled up, unlocking additional inspection features through progression.
- Some players desire a proximity based inspection system that notifies the individual upon inspection.
While many people shared many wonderful ideas, there was one that stood out in particular:
The game is not a FPS Shooter with a kill cam thank the sandal god
3
Comments
Tl;dr: I think it's a good option to have regardless, since more customization is hard to go wrong in, unless it's done poorly.
I could look at someone from afar and get a general idea they have plate armor and a short sword with a wooden shield. If I were to move closer maybe more details of that would be revealed, and smaller items like rings or something would become known to me as well. If there is a perception type stat, make that increase the range and detail of what we see when we're checking them out.
Also, something I'd like to see is for a guild leader and guild officers (that the GM allows) - to be able to inspect their fellow guild members without having to request, this is important as it saves time and would be another perk of having a higher rank within a guild, since often in games the only thing an officer and a GM can do is kick/ban members... I want to see actual mechanics that display a meaningful hierarchy within a Guild
I second Nova, making them a Supernova. The "request to inspect" is something I've never thought about and it's actually a cool idea. If it's for PvP you may not want the other person to know beforehand what you're wearing, but if you beat them say in a duel, maybe they would want to know and you can show them if you choose to.
On a PvE setting, there could be a guild ruling for it, or if it isn't, and you don't want to show your gear, the party/raid leader may or may not quick you from it if you don't show your gear and they think you're the reason (or one of the reasons) why they're on the 14th wipe.
At the same time, as a whole, the option is there basically, but without any "obstacle" it could be used to prejudge or exploit a mechanic, say in PvP (although who is going to stop, right click, menu scroll, inspect player, check everything, etc. in the middle of a duel/huge siege...)
Edit: I forgot to say, I usually don't care, except someone who is dealing insane amounts of damage/holding insane aggro/etc. or when someone is teaching you, so you inspect to learn-
When I do care, is when it comes to cosmetics. We NEED to be able to inspect costumes/skins/transmogs/glamour/garnments or whatever the name for it you'll choose
This will really help prevent PVP scouting where you find people with low end gear and clap them after making sure you can win against them. The Class Rogue should have the option to be in stealth + Combatant Flagged and inspect the players gear to get those stats and can be interrupted by attacking/increasingly easier to be seen by other players as they inspect.
Info gathering in the game will have to be the main goal of any information chain, Allowing this information to be hidden is a good idea for Late Game once people become settled and during the chaotic middle game.
This should also be a factor when looking at a caravan, and players should be able to spend more or have items to craft a special caravans that hides what is inside possible with boats as well.
Either way I hope to see how you look over Inspection and its implications for gameplay.
I agree with your perspective but disagree with having no inspection. I suggest, you make it a toggle one, if someone likes to turn it on, then you can show off your gear to everyone, if not toggled on, then it will be hidden. Inspection of some cool geared guy in a random place to see what he is wearing is so fun.
I guess I never expected that inspecting COULD be avoided altogether. I would rather we have no inspections if possible. But I would also like to have a common-sense system for being able to share what gear you have with friends. Either sharing all your gear or even piece by piece.
Thinking about it more, if crafting will actually add value to this game (unlike most/all current MMO's) then having an inspect menu with general info and the craftsperson would be nice.
The escrow system and the blueprints will provide the crafters with a platform. Crafted gear will be on par with the best gear (all being legendary), and, you should be able to opt out of blueprints and inspected if you are not willing to let metas form and secrets to escape. I would also hate to have the opt in or acceptance of inspection requests like the duel requests in BDO - People can sneak up and force a duel when you are selling items at an NPC. I do not want to accidentally accept an inspection during markets or fights.
There is no worse feeling than dying to someone and not being able to understand why is it that your fireball is doing absolutely no damage to an opponent or why they just crit you for over 9000 damage.
I actually REALLY like this answer. Seems to make the most sense from a RP/realism sense.
Not everyone will be able to inspect gear if you base it off a stat. So you’ll have dedicated weapons/armor experts or even scout/recon type players who can provide info to leaders and commanders in fights.
Think about Legolas at Helm’s Deep: “Their armor is weak at the neck, and below the arms.” Not everyone could do that. Only an Elf with enhanced sight and senses.
Imagine the possibilities.
Also, it could be used to prevent players from joining a group, despite how able the player might be.
I'm definitely in the "toggle" camp, but it would be pretty awesome to have a sort of card popup on being killed by a player. What it shows could be up for debate, but knowing whether you had a chance in the first place (or getting the name of the jerk who just ganked you) would be pretty fantastic. Maybe just the highest couple stats and the specific skill that killed you? That would leave some mystery but give a bit of useful information to extrapolate from.
Edit: It would also be interesting to combine this idea with the "investigation" stat @TomTrustworthy mentioned. Whether the card pops up and how much info it divulges, for example.
The game is not a FPS Shooter with a kill cam thank the sandal god.
It should be in-game as an option to share. imo.
Reasoning: In everyday, you can plainly see certain articles people/players are wearing, but to see personal items you would have to get permission (FOR IT TO BE LEGAL) prior to inspecting them.
Implications: You could then tell the general armor type of a player with just a glance, and get a hint of their playstyle, but no outright tell. Players wishing to share their builds could still do so, but it still provides that edge in PvP or even PvE when comparing performance to other groups.
If there is no inspection system, players will be forced to create a profile on a third party site for cutting-edge groups to confirm minimum gear or achievement requirements.
I certainly understand the wariness by some, for fear that a gear-score like mindset may infect the playerbase. This is not desirable, but if inspection can be implemented in a manner that strongly discourages or prevents this, I fully support it. I would not support the conditions that bring about constant and strict gear requirements in regular groups where it is not necessary.
That way, if you are against someone inspecting you, you can just kill them.
This gives people the ability to inspect those they really want to inspect (which should be a given, imo), but means these with something to hide from random people have a means of doing so - that means just has a cost associated with it.
One downside of it is that if a person's gear isn’t up to par, groups might use that as a reason to remove them from their PVE group content because they aren't "good enough". But for PVP situations, the option should be allowed for others to inspect gear.
*IF* we get a "private" mode implemented, we should still be able to inspect a player to see what their appearance gear is; I want to know what to look for/to look up, when trying to put together appearance suits.
Otherwise, 'no' for at least PvP settings, like areans and while engaged in owPvP.
It won't matter if you see a cosmetic and inspect it, you can't get them again once the fomo hits. We will have armour buffs as indicators in pvp which is not my preferred playstyle either. You could argue inspection will be useful for transmogs and normal armour but the top militaries in the world don't understand each others weaponry unless that weaponry is captured and reverse engineered.
Sometimes I wonder what the point of theory crafting is when I could just let someone else theory craft and just copy them. I don't like the idea of putting 100% in and having it all on view. I thought the stance was no inspections and I'm not sure how the topic has come about.
Obviously some assholes will be judging others by their gear, but that would've happened either way just because they're assholes. But I want to know how strong my enemy is so I can judge whether I want to fight them or not. Transmog took that ability from us, so at least let us have this.
Also, I'd love for the gear set (or score or whatever) icon to be easy to read at a glance once I target a player. Pvp judgement usually happens in splitseconds and by just sightreading the enemy, but with transmogs I want to be able to see how powerful the person is as soon as I click on them. Ideally make the icon color-coded (green - weaker, yellow - same power, red - spoopy boi) and let us set those colors and the icon's size in the UI. Imo that would be the perfect gear indicator for Ashes.
It would bring that surprise factor, instead of choosing a fight because you inspected this guys gear and he is too powerful, or his build is better than yours, whatever, you would have to commit to the fight first before making that realization.
On a side note, I am incredibly hyped for this game and appreciate the way it's being developed, and the transparency throughout. I hope to be exploring Verra with you all soon