No Rogue for Alpha 2 launch? Universal Skill Tree? Player Shops? Guild Freeholds? Summary of AMA with Steven Sharif
Hot off an amazing AMA with Steven Sharif featuring 4 great Content Creators, we have a whole lot of new information for the game, as well as some sad news regarding the Rogue.
The AMA with Steven Sharif has just finished, and here’s a summary of all the questions and answers that were asked. These questions and answers have various levels of paraphrasing applied, so be sure to check out the full video on the Official Ashes of Creation Youtube Channel when it goes live to get the full context!
Be sure to check out all the Content Creators in the AMA who asked such great questions!
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Vlhadus: Can you give some examples of guild tools that will be available in Ashes of Creation?
Steven: So, one of those is going to be to message guild members offline, either through integrating SMS text as an option, if people wanna subscribe to that feature being, connected to forums so that people have an opportunity to kind of message board within the guild windows of the game. And then they can see the message of the day.
Another thing that we want to do is provide data around player performance in events (or wars) that the guild is participating in. Some of these things include: where they might have their properties located within the game, where they may have their freeholds located within the game, what Families they belong to, etc.
Jamie Kaos: Are the story arcs designed for all levels simultaneously, or are some specifically tailored for high-level content?
Steven: We have story arcs that are catered towards high-end level ranges, that are very specific to the types of adventuring levels that we want players to participate in that story arc. And then we have some story arcs that have different sections which cater to a broader diversity of level ranges. Also, activities of lower level players feed up through the story arc, so what they’re doing influences even what higher level players are able to do.
NyceGaming: With most dungeons and POIs being non-instanced, how large and intricate can we expect dungeons to be in order to accommodate many groups and PvX potential? And how large will the Tower of Carphin be?
Steven: Though vast majority of dungeons are open-world, some are contained within instances. Those instances being either invidual instances, party instances, or raid instances. Part of being a PvX game is natural friction that occurs when scarcity is a real thing. Scarcity in this case means that not all hunting areas are the same quality (loot tables, spawn rates/experience values, different compositions of mobs). Due to these tiers of quality of hunting grounds, this creates a rarity value due to the limited scarcity/limited space. We will create very large spaces that host many groups, and also very small areas, that cater to one or two groups.
The Tower of Carphin is split into two primary sections. The Tower itself, and then the wreckage beneath. The wreckage beneath is catered to groups of 3-5 players. The Tower itself intended for full parties, with 6 total levels, and each of the levels will support anywhere for 3-4 groups.
LoreForged: So by the time the portals reopen, the Tulnar have been down there for an awfully long time. So are they thriving, or are they just surviving? How much civilization are the Tulnar building underground?
Steven: The Tulnar are not centralized, and are more tribe-based. Those factions may not be friendly to each other or other divine races, and there exists a rivalry between those groups. The apex of civilization some of these tribes have accomplished are pretty significant constructions/developments in the Underrealm, such as Metropolis-sized location for the Tulnar. This won’t be present in the start of Alpha 2, but it will be an intended location to see their culture.
Vlhadus: Can you explain the philosophy on why there is a singular option for Tank main players or Healer main players at the Archetype selection screen and how much customization will there be in the base kit and augment system to truly make these different playstyles?
Steven: The secondary archetype classification provides the breadth of variety when it comes to classes. The secondary augments will be providing the broad diversity within those archetypes. When it comes to why we only have one Tank and one Healer class, it’s due to the fact that players expect usually to have one Tank and one Healer within the average raid group, so we wanted to stay true to that game design. Because of the fact that the Tank role and Healer role are only afforded two of the Archetypes, some of the most interesting hybridization is going to come from the Tank and the Healer.
Vlahdus: The concern I’ve heard is how much variety in gameplay will there be in levels 1 to 25?
Steven: As we’ve already seen, there will be options for Clerics to spec more into an offensive role in the earlier levels, as well on the Tank side. You will not be pigeonholed into specifically that role, and there will be hybrid options even in the earlier levels before the augments take place.
JamieKaos: How will Nodes manage when enemies intentionally deplete resources in their land without going corrupt, as they may not be fighting back/engaging in PvP?
Steven: You can engage in Node Wars, in order to force that group of people into a PvP encounter. Also, they will be worsening their reputation within the server, increasing the likelihood they will engage in hostilities with others (e.g, Guild Wars). In the worst case scenario, the citizens can counteract the effects in land management through policies, coordinated efforts, etc.
NyceGaming: What stat or utility benefits will active block/dodge give players, and what resource or cooldown are associated with them
Steven: The resource will be Stamina, which all Archetypes will share. Active block/dodge will be apart of the Universal Skill Tree, whose points will be shared with their own Arcehtypes Active & Passive Ability Tree. So it will be a decision each player will have to make to put their points into the Universal Skill Tree vs their Class Skill Tree.
Some benefits of the Universal Skill Tree include stat effects, ability to parry attacks, etc. We will go into more detail in the Late Summer on this skill tree.
NyceGaming: Will any class specialize in the Universal Skill Tree?
Steven: No individual archetype will utilize active blocking/active dodge more than others through Universal Skill Tree, but each kit will have a way to engage in them uniquely and synergistically
LoreForged: Can we infer from the chanting of the MuckMaw Goblin Shaman that there is a possibility of discoverable dialects in Ashes of Creation?
Steven: Right now, the incantations are relatively adlibbed. Long term, I would love to flesh out the identity of our cultures through going down that path, but it is just not a priority right now. We also have a foundation that is being laid down for us to make it possible to go down that path in the future by laying down sound-types, etc. for the audio team.
Vlhadus: Will we be able to trial the second archetype choice before committing to it?
Steven: We do allow players to change their second Archetype, but there is no current plan to have players trial a secondary Archetype before choosing. I’m not opposed to this in the future however.
The intent is that there is a level of investment when you want to choose to change that class identity. I want choices to be more meaningful, so players can be fairly certain when they recognize someone, they know what build they’re running
JamieKaos: Could you elaborate on some skills smaller guilds will have to remain competitive to larger guilds?
Steven: It’s a very delicate line, since we don’t want to mandate a guild meta by making certain abilities too strong. And so passives will be delegated to certain groups within the guild, and the core groups will have stronger passive access. So when you first form a guild and you're level 0, you know, you may have 30 guild slots available to you. And that's your core guild group. And you can move people in and out of that group because when you get expansion slots, they form separate groups in the guild structure. That might be a Knight or a Squadron group (or whatever you want to call it).
And then those groups will have access to certain types of passives. Some of the passive types will be horizontal, some will be vertical. And it will be dependent on where you, as a guild member, are placed within those groups. And the placement within those groups are determined by the guild administrators.
Guilds will then spend currency, as well as skill points to invest in those passives for those particular groups. And so what we wanna do is we wanna maintain the strongest passives for the central groups, and allow it to decrease in power going outward from there. So even guilds that select to go expansionist still have some passive or active abilties that they can spec into. But the guilds that choose to stay smaller, they can concert their skill points towards the more central groups leveling up those passives to higher strengths.
Those passive types are things like waterfall stat augments, Crit Rate, regen values, etc. And then they can get a little bit more intricate with the types of effects that they have, like, you know, negating, a spell attack against you as a target every 30 seconds or something. It's it depends on kind of what we're talking about with the abilities. They they are wide ranging, but the intent is for them to be impactful.
NyceGaming: Will players in solo or outnumbered PVP scenarios have ways to defeat larger groups or punish them for stacking too close to each other?
Steven: Average TTK for equally leveled and geared players is intended to be 10 to upwards of 30 seconds depending on archetype for 1v1. Through shorter TTK, it makes it more possible for skillful groups to win against larger groups, by coordinating damage and AoE to target down individuals quickly.
LoreForged: If everything that I have read is true stating that Auction Houses, Markets, Player Stalls are all exclusively economic node buildings. Then what does trade look like in the other 3 Node Types?
Steven: All Nodes will have a Market building, but Auction Houses will be present in Economic Nodes. Market buildings do provide player stalls as well, within the vicinity of the Market (depending on level of node & upgrades you choose), and you will have additional stalls available. These will be available regardless of Node Type.
Player Shops are different, and require certificates to use. Once you have a certificate, you can then sit down within vicinity of a Node Market, and spawn a UI Billboard with an advertisement of your shop. Players can interact with your shop and purchase from you. Economic nodes player shop certificates sold from a Metropolis Economic Node, however, can be placed anywhere in the world, independent of Market proximity (near a dungeon, world boss, etc.)
JamieKaos: Existing node types in A2?
Steven: Only Scientific/election-method type Nodes on launch when it comes to government systems, and that will be the type for all nodes, regardless of what their real type will be on launch. During Alpha 2, this will gradually change and other types will be tested granularly.
JamieKaos: Could you explain if there are mechanisms particularly during boss fights that protect players from PVP interactions such as room locks or are all raids intended to remain fully open to PVP?
Steven: Some boss rooms are instanced. In those locations, yes, they will be serviced either through a room lock or some other mechanism that protects the the engagement to who is intended to be there. But the majority of our encounters can be interrupted. They can they are open world.
In those events where you have 2 groups that are coming together that might be at war with one another, where open flagging is not necessary, then they are just flagged combatants with one another. They're gonna have to manage the battlefield between what they're achieving in the PvE encounter, versus now what they're experiencing in the dynamic PvP encounter. And some of the effects that we have are things like stat dampening through the death debuff. And the death debuff when activated multiple times for the losing party will continue to stack, and it will gain over time. Eventually, their ability to interrupt you is decimated through these stacks of debuffs they’ve received, through continuously losing the fight.
NyceGaming: Do you feel risk such as death penalties or the threat of being PK'd during dungeon content will lead to players zerging world bosses and dungeons to minimize said risk, thus trivializing some content and experiences regardless of that planned difficulty scaling?
Steven: Well, I think another part of our design that is more old school, but speaks exactly to this thought, is that the reward is finite. And what that means is, in a lot of modern MMOs, each person gets their own reward for participating. And back in the day, the one person was the loot master.
They would interact with the raid boss, and then there would be some guild driven system or alliance driven system that would determine who's next on the list to get this bow. Or who's the crafter that deserves this master legendary recipe? Or where does this, you know, legendary material go? Right? It's not that, oh, everybody got your loot box because we all completed the boss together.
Everyone gets the auto granted reward from the quest of completing the boss together. Right? What people came for was that reward, the reason why alliances and guilds organized the raid to go defeat the dragon was because the dragon boat dropped, and there was only one that dropped. Right? Due to the rewards being finite, the amount of people don’t scale the reward. The more people you take, the more slices of the finite reward reduces the reward structure. Therefore, if you reduce the risk, you reduce the reward.
JamieKaos: We all know that the freeholds will be difficult to attain, but one of the alternative ways that we've heard of is, to experience the freeholds is the guild freehold. Is there anything that you can tell us about the guild freehold system?
Steven: Guild freeholds will have expandable plots, where members can have access to, where players can have their own plot of land to do various livestock, farming, etc.
Vlhadus: Any updates on Rogue, and how will the Rogue stealth mechanic work?
Steven: Rogues will have True Stealth, and will not be proximity-dependent, unlike Camouflage.
Unfortunately, Rogue won’t be in Alpha 2 on launch, as we decide to focus on expanding existing classes. Rogue and Summoner will be in the first update post-Alpha 2 launch. The other 6 classes (Tank, Ranger, Cleric, Fighter, Mage, Bard) will be available.
JamieKaos: Could you provide insight on the flexibility of the crafting system Specifically, whether or not crafters can utilize grandmaster stations outside of their home node or if they are confined to the stations within their own node.
Steven: So, crafters can use stations at any node. The difficulty is transiting the materials you need to the Node where the station exists. The benefits of being a citizen where that station exists is significantly reduced fees, access to unique enhancements to the craft, etc.
NyceGaming: Full list of weapons planned, and update on dual wielding?
Steven: One-handed mace/swords, wands, spellbooks, longbow, shortbow, two-handed swords/spears, dual-wielded daggers. There may be other weapon types, but these will be the weapon-types that have their skilltree fleshed out. Other weapon models will be categorized as one of these weapons, until they eventually get their own skilltree.
Eventually, you will be able to dual-wield many different 1-handed weapons. They will all use the same dual-wielded weapon progression tree. They will occupy both mainhand/offhand, and you will have a specific recipe that will include the previously completed one-handed weapons that are intended to be dual-wielded.
Though shields do not have their own weapon progression, Archetypes and Universal Skill Trees will have options that are specific to shields
That ends the summary of the AMA with Steven Sharif! Make sure to check out the full video on the Official Ashes of Creation Youtube Channel once it’s live. Thanks again to all the Content Creators for their amazing questions, and be sure to check them out!
We’re currently working on a list of information passed from Steven in various videos, comments, and discord comments that aren’t heavily publicized yet. Subscribe to find out when that goes live below, and see you next time!