FAQ

I wish to integrate CMs fairly soon, but I have a passion for the social aspect of what makes the MMO genre so great. Which means I will be directly engaging with the community through development, in the evenings when I am getting home. I will be eating, breathing, and drinking this development and it’s community.

This is the downside of transparency. When I decided that our studios would involve the community in every aspect of our development, we understood that there would be needed a level of trust in the community that what they are seeing is not the final product. It is meant to show our progression and development. All too often, an indie developer moves to crowdsourcing a game, prior to having a working model in any system…Basically with only a concept they manage to raise money. I wanted to show more than that, I wanted to show actual production and investment from our studios, BEFORE we asked the community to bring our project to life. In regards to tab targeting, while our combat system is not completely fleshed out, I can say that our tab-targeting will involve positioning and mobility and that we will have more in-depth blogs on this system as our development progresses.

We don’t want our players to be flooded with bars filled with abilities and skills that they rarely use, or become obsolete. So we will have a skill system that progresses with the player. Like many other aspect of our game, players will choose their skill sets from their chosen archetype and archetype combinations.

We will absolutely go into great depth when we release our blog on the combat system!

I really don’t want to compare our PvP system to anything else on the market, because it is pretty unique. Obviously a flagging system has been done before, but not as effectively as I believe we will accomplish. Our goal is to focus on the concept of Risk VS Reward. And we will get into more detail about our PvP mechanics in the near future.

Localization and translations really depend on the demand for our game in those regional markets. I can say that it is an expensive process, but one that we are wanting to do if the demand is there. The best thing you can do to see this happen, is to help build our community in those markets.

Yes, we will have player housing. And it will be amazing! We already have some content regarding this on our website http://www.ashesofcreation.com But the player housing system is in depth and vital to many systems. It will be far, far more than just a bank vault.
(Note From Chkoupinator : Watch the Q&A Videos for more Details)

Great question! We want to build a wide community. That means making the game playable for casual and hardcore gamers.

The caravan system is designed to be initiated by the player. Which means, information of the caravans launch time and route, should be a closely guarded secret. Routes will also be diverse, and the world is large, so it might behoove you to scout the route ahead before a launch. Fast travel in our game is also limited, which means unless the guild had knowledge of your plans before hand, it is likely that they will be unable to organize and travel to a location. As far as mass guilds securing trade routes, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. Also caravans will have limitations on carrying capacity and launch windows that will segment mulitiple caravans by several minutes, which would space out the caravans, making it difficult to “zerg” a defense.

Farming/breeding/cooking and crafting in general is of EXTREME importance in this world. It is my personal opinion that players who control the economy exert greater influence over the world than those who directly influence PvP. Non-Combat playstyles will absolutely be a full-time option, and will yeild considerable influence.

We are fully aware and agree that the downfall of many of the MMO’s that have come out recently are a result of flagrant pay2win strategies from their monetization process. We will not follow in their footsteps.

We are self-publishing

We are talking about it, Some family system that would tie into the housing mechanics, No polygamy allowed xD.

They would be essential inside the node

NPC’s in the node can only be killed during a siege against that node. Node sieges follow very specific mechanics. For example, a guild may use a difficult to get quest item, to declare a siege against a node at stage 3 (Village) or above, after the siege is declared there is a declaration period. This period is longer for higher stage nodes. During this period, all trade to and from the node is frozen. The Player government of the node is now capable of spending the node taxes on the defense of the node. When the siege begins, there will be objectives for the attackers to secure in order to increase the defenders respawn time. Ultimately the apex of the battle will rely on the attackers securing the town center, and removing the towns flag, while then raising their own. Once a node has been sieged, it cannot be sieged again for a long period of time.

The siege will be open world.

Bonus Discussion :

C: phew, otherwise someone could solo destroy a node
Steven : @C Node sieges have a lengthy cooldown.
G: That would make the role of a Assassin/rogue more interesting, but too OP, i agree.
C: indeed thats why
if they also could be killed normally without the seige an assassin could literally destroy a node solo
B: We’ll have to conquer nodes using different techniques
Steven :Each node has a number of districts, depending on its stage. Each district has an objective that attackers can attempt to take control over. If an attacker takes over a district, they gain that district as a respawn location for attackers. They also increase the respawn for defenders for each district that is taken. Districts are taken by defeating a raid boss Guard NPC in that district.

Defenders would win on timer, or through defeating the NPC Staff and General at the Attackers Encampment, then burning down the Encampment, which is an extended cast (2-5 min)

Dragons are epic mounts that will have strong battle abilities IE AOE Breath Weapons, swooping flyby attacks, and others. They will only be available to Kings/Queens of Castles, and Elected Mayors of Metropolis stage nodes.

There is action based combat, to a degree. We are working on our mage combat vid now, should be done next weekish (Sent Friday 13 January 2017)

Correct

Weekly

Weekly, to users who perform well with referrals and posting content on forums/ participating in discussions etc.

That combat video isn’t anything near end product lol, was meant to show that we have working mechanics already unlike some other developers this early in production.

Our player class advancement follows both a vertical progression in the traditional leveling sense, as well as a horizontal skill customization platform. When players start the game, they will be able to choose from 8 separate Archetypes. These archetypes represent the staple fantasy classes; Fighter, Tank, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Summoner, Cleric, Bard. As the player progresses vertically with their primary class, they will have the opportunity to add a second class. This second class will be chosen again from the 8 archetypes, and will follow more of a horizontal progression. The second class will allow the player to augment their primary skills from their main class, with effects from their secondary class. For example; A fighter has a skill called “Rush”, that allows him to rush towards a target and upon reaching the target, deals x damage with a chance to knock the target down. If that fighter were to choose Mage as his secondary archetype (Spellsword), he would gain access to certain augments that he could apply to his primary skill tree. Let’s use his Rush skill as an example; As a Spellsword, he could choose to apply a teleportation augment to the Rush skill, which would allow the skill to now teleport you to the target, eliminating the charge time on the skill. Each skill in the primary tree will have several augment options from your secondary tree. The secondary skill augment tree will follow a horizontal progression that will be expanded upon further in a developer’s blog.

We are currently looking into this particular topic, and will be releasing an official answer to this question in the coming weeks.

Currently every race in Ashes has a unique mount. Then there are mounts that can be found in the wild, and tamed. As well as quest mounts, epic mounts, and a few other mount specific ideas we will release in the coming weeks.

Nodes will experience atrophy and will require continued player activity in order to grow. If a town loses too much activity, then it may result in a PvE siege against the node. We are still working on this mechanic

There will be a balance. :smiley: Players will have a wide range of cosmetics available through in-game accomplishment and progression, as well as a wide variety of purchasable cosmetics for players who are more casual and would prefer to support the game through the cash shop. Either way, player customization will be achievable from a cosmetic standpoint readily throughout the game.

Inventory space will be tied to a backpack type item, that will be crafted from artisans. The higher lvl backpack, the greater the inventory space. Different backpacks will cater to different players. IE A gatherers backpack will have more space for gatherables, an adventurers more space for consumables and items.

This is looking like a yes.

Depends how you build it. Both options are currently viable.

Currently our flagging system has several lockouts. People whom you may not flag on. This order follows a simple affiliation progression in the system. Party member, Raid member, Guild member, Alliance member. If any of these 4 affiliations are present then the player may not flag on the target.

Ashes of Creation is an upcoming MMORPG, set in a high fantasy open world. We believe in choice, organic events, player narratives and massive communities. All of these come together in what we call our “Reactive World.” Players will shape the world we create through dynamic quests, castle sieges, our Node system, an economy that goes well beyond the auction house, and player housing (among many other systems). We’ll set up the initial state, you decide where it goes from there.

Currently we intend to launch with 8 distinct races. As time goes on we will have in depth developer blogs that discuss the culture and identity of these unique races.

Yes, simply put. Races will affect your stats, and stats will affect your skills and abilities. In addition, races will give unique flavors to your class archetype skills. Classes will not be restricted to certain races.

No. This is a non-faction based game. Players are open to interact with anyone and everyone.

We have a unique and detailed class system, which we will discuss further in a developer’s blog. For now, I can say that we have 8 archetypes. You will choose an archetype as your primary class that you will level from starting level to max level. Along the way, you will choose a secondary class from the 8 archetypes. That secondary class will augment your primary class’ abilities and skills. In total, our class system will have 64 distinct classes, of which there will be a wide variety of customization in skills and abilities based on the player’s choices.

Our land owning system has an integrated personal housing and farming system to allow players to claim land in the open world. This land is the same static size for all players. You may then acquire blueprints for structures to build on that land, such as a home, stables for animal husbandry, crafting stations and more. In addition to open world housing, you will also be able to own homes within a Node itself; these homes will grow as the Node does, from a small cottage to a sprawling mansion! Certain Nodes will also have instanced housing.

PvP in Ashes of Creation is intended to be both organized and organic. We want to create an atmosphere where PvP is meaningful by utilizing different systems that create fluid PvP events including: Castle Sieges, City defense/assaults, Caravans, and a scenario-based Arena combat. For our open world, we have designed a flagging system that severely deters people from griefing other players. Much more will be explained in great detail, in our upcoming developer blogs.

One of the main philosophical pillars behind our design was that PvE must be impactful and inclusive. We want solo players, small groups and large groups to all have a home within our system. With monsters throughout the world, challenging raid bosses, new dungeons spawning as your world develops, and scalable challenges, we know that each player will have a complete PvE experience. Our Node system allows the constant generation of new PvE content such as questlines, monsters, dungeons and even raid bosses as well!

Yes, and Yes.

We are using the Unreal 4 engine for development. Most of the artwork of the game is optimized to play on mid-range hardware made within the last six years. Additionally, we are exposing many optional settings which will improve performance on lower-than-minimum-specification hardware.

Unreal Engine 4 is designed to create small, fully-functional projects right out of the box. Since an MMO is a literal culmination of every extreme in game design, one might, quite understandably, balk at the idea of using UE4 for such a project. Fortunately, UE4 is easily modified at a source code level to allow for custom or extensive divergences from the default, small project functionality. We have identified what we need to change – most notably, the network communication and level loading code – in order to get the gaming experience that is expected of a modern MMO.

Our studio was founded by a gamer. Someone who spent many years of his gaming career settling for lesser MMO’s. He pulled together a team of veterans and fresh talent to create the foundation for what we know will be the next big (and finally done right) MMORPG. Our team comes from many different studios and projects like; Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 1, Everquest 2, Everquest Next, Vanguard, Bioshock, Gears of War, Planetside 1 and Planetside 2, Call of Duty, X-Com.

In AoC we are really focusing on allowing the community to drive their own paths through players making guilds and that kind of stuff. AoC is also going to put in things that will help players create their identity and making their character grow. For example, the node system, people will be setting up in cities and that will be kind of a faction of its own. It is going to be way more nuanced than “red vs blue” though the shifts of the game, players will create new cities and you might join another city than your starting city and that creates a whole new faction for you to play and interact with.

Absolutely, the world was inhabited before, but it has been left untouched hundreds of years. Things that happened on this planet before the players came are going to be parts of the poi system.

“It is less of a fact that there is a black canvas, it is more of the fact that you have a lot of paint to work with in order to create your own picture.” -Steven.

Players are not moving into emptiness. They’re moving into a world with a backlog of lore, storylines that you can uncover, exciting treasures and items you can find.
There are also going to points of interests in the world like dungeons, wizard towers and mines.

It has been common in a lot of mmo that guild activities have been focusing on large guilds, we want to bring content that focuses on small guilds, medium guilds and of course the large guilds. That is shown through the guild mechanism, like leveling up the guild to get certain abilities, sieging castles, and founding nodes and towns.
There is going to be a lot of focus on the “local gameplay” and “global gameplay”. Guilds will fight guilds; some guilds might recruit other guilds to help them fight.

It will also be possible for single players to participate in events that are just as influential and as fun as these large guilds participating in these world events.

Guilds will have levels and skills, the guilds participation in the world will help level the guild. Guilds will be able to have guild halls in nodes. There will be guild specific buildings and guild specific quests inside a node.

For housing, there will be three primary focuses in that regard. First and foremost, housing that’s buildable by the players themselves, static housing within nodes, and instanced housing.

Housing build by the player
It will be possible to lay down your claim to a piece of land out in the world. On that land, you have space to build a home, grow a farm, build all kinds of different workstations and so much more.

Static housing within a node
There will be a finite number of houses per node. You can build a house in the early stages of the development of a node and reap benefits from it if that nodes progresses later into development. Houses will grow along with the node.

Instanced housing
Basically housing for politics within a node. Houses for government and other political housing.

Intrepid wants to reward players and say thank you for bringing others into their game, and that is done through the referral system. You invite a person to join the website, and if they sign up and use money on the game, you will recieve 15% of what they have used, wether that’s via. the in game shop or through subscription. This is in order to make it easier to pay for subscription without bringing a free to play model into the game and to make sure that the p2w aspect will never enter it.

The logo of Ashes of Creation is a phoenix. The phoenix is known for dying and resurrecting itself, and it is a major symbol for the entire theme of the game. When going into Ashes of Creation we will rebuild and repopulate, destroy and build from the ashes of our creation. Taking the node system as an exampl; you will be building a node up from scratch and it may get destroyed and rebuild in a new way.

Definentally. There will be a lot of different types of dungeons, catering to both smaller and larger groups of people, but dungeons will be open world for the most part. Some dungeons will also be unlockable via. the node system, meaning that some servers may unlock dungeons that other servers haven’t or will never unlock. This also means that the loot within the dungeons may vary from server to server, depending on how you have progresssed in the world.

Yes they have. Depending on the demand in certain regions of the world, servers in that specific place will be taken under consideration. Intrepid will be very aware of latency issues .

Steven: I’m a story guy myself, and I love the depth our world has… We will begin to slowly release lore content in the coming weeks. (answered: 2.1 2017)

There will be Arenas, and they will vary in team composition. From 1v1’s to team based instances. Rankings will be an integrated feature.

Currently when players die to other players, the death penalties incurred will include a portion of the deceased player’s resources/gatherables dropping. Player’s will have a very limited space for these types of items in their inventory, as we intend the caravan/mule system to be the primary mode of transportation in regards to these goods.

We really want players to explore. And we want them to be rewarded for finding things. And new things will spawn all the time in the world as areas get developed. So in short, Yes, exploration will be rewarding.

We will look into crafting some fun mini-games for sure.

If there was a game to compare it to, Intrepid Studios would say very similar to how Black Desert Online has their character customization set up. There are plans to make it more in-depth for the players however. More information coming soon.

Static housing – There will be a finite number of houses per node. You can build a house in the early stages development of a node and reap benefits from it if that node progresses into later stage. Houses will grow along with the node.

Instanced housing – Basically housing for politics within a node. Houses for government and other political housing.

Open world land ownerships – You will lay claim to a piece of land out in the world. On that land you will have space to build a home, grow a farm, build all kinds of different workstations and so much more.

The main goal of the game is to ensure the community that there will be ZERO tolerance for Pay To Win features. Expect none to be implemented in the game, the cash shop or Kickstarter.

There will be 8 playable races and 8 playable classes on release. The classes are Tank, Fighter, Summoner, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Cleric, and Bard. The confirmed races are:

Aela Humans

– Kaelar

– Vaelune

Pyrian Elves

– Empyrean

– Py’rai

Kaivek Orcs

– Renk’kai

– Vek

Dunzenkell Dwarves

– Dunir

– Nikua

It is a Subscription Based MMORPG, at $15 a month. There will be an in-game mall/cash shop available for players with only cosmetics, skins and dyes!

There are 4 alphas currently known;
Friends and Family (Technically Pre-Alpha) will be this year (2017).

NDA Alpha Q4 of 2017, and this is the weekly key giveaways access as well.

Alpha 1 available on KS, 2018.
Alpha 2 available on KS 2018 (Will become PTS)

It is a hybrid between Tab-target and Action Combat. The combat is going to be a combination of targeting method and positional mechanics that will dictate and determine the ability of skills to land and the efficacy of those skills. Included in the plans for combat is fluid chain attacks and animation cancels.