Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is a profession within the processing artisan class.[6][7][8]
- Pets, Mounts, Livestock, and Beasts of burden can be captured and tamed to breed animals with specific genetic traits.[9][7][10][11]
- Stables are freehold buildings used for breeding animals within the animal husbandry profession.[12][13]
- Public spaces in nodes allow lower-tier animal husbandry and farming activities.[14]
- Mounts, such as horses are an early gateway into the Animal husbandry profession.[10]
- Animal husbandry will affect aquatic mounts.[15]
- Animal husbandry mounts will not degrade over time.[16]
- Animal husbandry will be an exploritative profession.[17]
- Many animals that can be tamed and bred through the animal husbandry profession can be found in herds across the lands of Verra. These herds represent a gatherable resource, of sorts, that masters of the animal husbandry profession may then use to discover lesser-known species variants with untold powers and abilities. Mounts play a large role in Ashes of Creation, and animals like the horse are an early gateway into the unlimited possibilities that await those skilled in the arts of husbandry.[10]
Taming
Hunting is a gathering profession in Ashes of Creation.[6][7][10]
- Animals can be found in herds across the lands of Verra that represent a gatherable resource.[19][10]
- For the purposes of A2, we are going to dual-purpose some NPC monster populations to serve as placeholder hunting targets; but ultimately [the] long-term goal is that these would be unique NPCs within the world that you would track down and hunt in order to collect the materials and resources for.[19] – Steven Sharif
- Genetic lines react to the type of mount or creature that has been captured or tamed.[17]
- Combat proficiency may be required in order to tame wild beasts.[22]
- Geographical location may be relevant for the creation of certain types of breeds.[7]
- One of the big components of Animal Husbandry is going to be taming. We talk about our Artisan system and you guys know this it exists within three main branches of Gathering, Processing, and Crafting. Now of course let me caveat this: anything I say here is subject to change, but with that being said, taming is one of the Gathering professions that players will be able to use to both locate, capture, and tame wild creatures in Verra. Tamed creatures can then be trained and bred- refined with the Animal husbandry profession.[7] – Steven Sharif
- Q: Will creatures creatures be able to be used as mounts or combat pets right after they are tamed, or do they need to go through the animal husbandry process first?
- A: They will have to go through the animal husbandry process first... It's not just taming that introduces mounts and/or pets to players. Those can also be introduced through quests, in which case those particular creatures will not need to go through the animal husbandry system.[23] – Steven Sharif
Breeding mechanics
Animal husbandry will have discoverable blends of breeding.[7][26]
- Pets, Mounts, Livestock, and Beasts of burden can be captured and tamed to breed the best version of that species.[7][11]
- Geographical location may be relevant for the creation of certain types of breeds.[7]
- Creatures will have a wide variety of traits and characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, within their species. The best version of a species will need to be blended from creatures from many places across Verra... For example, the best horse would need speed from desert horses, the coat and the health from tundra steeds, and the size and strength of ones that might be in the riverlands.[7] – Steven Sharif
- Royal mounts (such as Dragons) are dropped as eggs that can be cultivated by Animal husbandry artisans with a high enough stable upgrade on their freehold.[27]
- These mounts are not breedable.[28]
- Mounts that are bred through animal husbandry may be sold at auction.[29]
- There will be a cap on the number of times an animal can be bred. This is defined by the type, quality, and purpose of the animal.[30]
Once an animal is born, there are stages of development to raise that animal from birth to adulthood. Animal husbandry practitioners will be able to specialise their focus into raising and training creatures to maximise the quality of the creature in adulthood.[7][31]
- Youngling stage: For mammals this relates to baby animals. For lizards (reptiles) this is an egg stage.[31]
Once these creatures are actually born there is an element of raising the creature. So animals need to be raised from birth to adulthood and trained for the intended purposes, either as a mount, a pet, a beast of burden, or livestock. Animal husbandry feeds a lot of these different aspects; and you'll be able to specialize your focus as an 'animal husbandrist', if that's a word, to one of those particular ends. Players have a multitude of activities to perform like feeding, cleaning the creatures, taking them out for practice rides, training them to fight monsters, etc. This period is very important however- the training period- because it will have the greatest influence on the resulting quality of the genetically determined stats and abilities of the creature once they reach adulthood. So basically as you're discovering these different genetic paths when pairing different animals, and the offspring is born, it will have a window of where a stat block will land. But where it lands will be determined by the training phase by raising the creature up- and that's going to be an important aspect.[7] – Steven Sharif
There may be a user interface rather than recipes for the animal husbandry system that records successes and failures of breeding attempts.[32]
- I'm not sure that there are going to be recipes per-se. Instead what we're thinking about with the husbandry system is going to be a user interface panel that gives a record of your successes and failures with certain types of breeding attempts; and then from there, if you choose to share that information with other individuals you can of course. But it's not something that's going to be streamlined through an interface that we would use for the player.[32] – Steven Sharif
There is a compendium of acceptable parameters for breeding[33], which isn't going to be known until players discover it.[29][34] This discovery may be different for different players.[34]
- Animals have a unique ID that is tied to the husbandry chart (compendium) that takes into account possible combinations between animals.[29] There will be odd combinations, but there will be limits to what is possible.[34]
- Discovery of certain breeding habits and different quests may grant access to slots in the compendium.[34]
A modified character creation system allows customization of Summoner pets and Animal husbandry.[25][31]
- Changes at the Youngling stage affect the appearance of the animal at adulthood.[31]
- During the Youngling stage there may also be quests for specific types of cosmetic features.[31]
There's definitely going to be odd combinations, whether it's a butterflyger, giraffealope I don't know, but there will be definitely caps that are present.[34] – Steven Sharif
Stables
Stables in Ashes of Creation refer to:
- A workstation used to breed animals within the Animal husbandry profession.[35][13]
- A system that stores active mounts in slots that can be used local to the stable.[36]
- The active mounts are determined based on you having that active mount as part of a slot within the stable that you're within the area of. And what that means is that mounts are relevant in battle; and if you lose your mount in battle it is a detriment. There are ways for you to bring that mount back. There are active potions that you can have available to you to do fast resurrections to reduce that cooldown potentially; and you can also interface with the stable itself if you want to swap that mount out with a different mount.[36] – Steven Sharif
- Q: Will you be able to keep your mounts that you've unlocked on your freeholds plot to move freely about as they please like in a stable or in a little fenced area?
- A: There are a number of different types of ways that creatures can be acquired: some of them in a mount format; and can be utilized in animal husbandry/livestock placements on the freehold. But from a cosmetic perspective, we don't quite have a system in place for that yet. I'm not going to rule that out for the future of post-launch, but right now it's delegated specifically to hunting, taming, livestock, and animal husbandry.[37] – Steven Sharif
Genetics
Animal husbandry and taming create mounts, pets, and livestock with unique traits that are determined by their genetics.[39][9][7][40][41] The genetic system will involve trial and error to determine what yields or combinations are possible. Like real-world genetics this will incorporate an element of RNG.[7][42][29][34]
- You'll be able to breed creatures, study the offspring, and make informed decisions when the features you want to pursue in the next generation become apparent in you in the offspring you've created.[7] – Steven Sharif
- Dominant genetic traits might be discovered with a pairing or there may be a much smaller chance to unlock a specific breed or even an entirely new species.[7][29]
- These chances are improved based on the player's progression within the animal husbandry profession.[7][29]
- Mastery in Animal husbandry will involve unlocking greater cross-breeding potential between species to create more fantastical creatures; and there's even the potential for entirely new species to be unlocked by master breeders who are pushing the limits.[7] – Steven Sharif
- There are elements of recessive and dominant genes; and the discovery of certain types of characteristics that mounts you breed will have based on that RNG element. You can increase the chances there based on proficiency. You can also increase the chances based on method, based on resources, so it's not something that is a pie in the sky RNG number, but rather something that you can hone over time.[43] – Steven Sharif
- Q: You mentioned previously that animal breeding will follow genetics and inheritance. Can you elaborate on how many genetic traits pets, mounts, livestock, and beasts of burden may have?
- A: The traits that we intend to do for Animal Husbandry are going to relate to some stat on the animal stat block; and then they're also going to interface with ability selection as well. So, you have the the option of active abilities, passive benefits, and waterfall stats and stat trees. All of those things are going to be tied in some way shape or form to unique genetic traits.[39] – Steven Sharif
List of genetic traits
Genetic traits that can be manipulated through breeding.[39][9][7][17]
- Appearance.[7]
- Combat efficacy (for mounts and combat pets).[9][7]
- Abilities.[7]
- Endurances.[7]
- Stats.[7]
Animal husbandry mounts
Mounts are breedable in-game via the Animal husbandry profession.[10]
- Animal husbandry mounts will not degrade (or die) over time.[16]
Horses
Horses are a type of animal in Ashes of Creation.[45]
- Royal horses will be able to fly.[46]
Mules
Many species of mules will be breedable.[47]
- There will be smaller mules.[48]
Hippogryphs
Hippogryphs are mounts in Ashes of Creation.[49]
- Hippogryphs can be bred via the Animal husbandry profession.[49]
Since ancient times, the hippogryph has been a symbol of noble and majestic strength for numerous cultures. They are cunning and fiercely independent creatures. A rarity it is, for one to have the opportunity to get close enough without being torn apart by their piercing beaks and talons. However, those fortunate enough to form a bond with a hippogryph will find them to be loyal beings, almost to a fault. It is a sight to see a hippogryph and its rider leading the vanguard of a prestigious army. Such is the inspiration they bring.[49]
Gryphons
Gryphons (griffins, griffons) may refer to:
- A type of mount in Ashes of Creation.[25]
- A type of mob in Ashes of Creation.[51]
Gryphons can be bred via the Animal husbandry profession.[25]
Mount abilities and stats
Mounts have different core abilities, utility skills and stats that are based on the rarity of the mount and the mount's tier.[54][36][55][53][56]
- Is it intended that mount abilities are providing a matrix of choices options or strategy to the player? The answer would be yes. Because we have these abilities and different stat blocks that are governed through the Animal Husbandry system, the desire is to make sure, like any other piece of equipment or itemization choice, that strategy is carefully considered when determining the appropriate mount choice.[54] – Steven Sharif
- Mount abilities may provide either horizontal or vertical power gains.[36]
- Mounts can have up to four abilities, including speed boosts, offensive and defensive abilities.[57][58]
- Mount abilities are unlocked via the animal husbandry profession.[54][57]
- Tier one mounts will have certain type types of abilities that are unique to the tier ones and the tier twos will have certain abilities that are unique to the tier twos. In some cases those will be horizontal; in other cases they'll be vertical power gain. So it just depends on the situation. It's a situational element.[36] – Steven Sharif
- Based on skill choice, mounts can be used as initiation vehicles, escape vehicles, utility vehicles, and traversal vehicles.[59][60]
- Mounts have obviously many different applications and that's also going to speak to its identity when it has a skill selection choice too. Like do you- are you more aggressive in initiation with your mount? Okay well you probably want the ones that are going to be able to charge through and do some type of CC effect on players in front of you. Are you more about using them out to dodge and avoid different types of things? Well then you probably want some type of invulnerability skills or some type of protective skills that you can activate at certain times. Are you going to be more traversal and focus on speed you use your mount just go around the world and you don't really care about the combat aspect? Well then you probably want some skill sets on your mount that reflect that.[60] – Steven Sharif
- Mounts will have resistances.[58]
- Mounts will have varied speeds.[62]
- With some exceptions, mounts are able to be summoned during combat in the open-world.[60]
- There's definitely a difficulty from a balance perspective obviously on the design side when you're having to incorporate speeds that are so radically different from the normal player movement speeds; and mounts do have a obviously a significantly faster component there. But that's why you build into the to the skill sets that players have obviously those types of cc's which can either, as we spoke about previously, knock the player off of their mount, kill them with some massive damage, or stun the player. Those are components that are taken into account when balancing out these skill selections.[60] – Steven Sharif
List of mount skills
Skill | Icon | Mount | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Battle Roar | Dragon | The mount rears up in a stance of dominance, emitting a thunderous roar whilst flapping its wings forward twice. The first wing flap applies a 25% mitigation buff on allies, and the second applies a 25% power buff on allies, each buff lasting for 15 seconds.[64] | |
Charge (Mount) | Land mount | Mount charges forward.[ citation needed ] | |
Divebomb | Dragon | Launch into the air and then dive toward target location, dealing (100%メ) physical damage and applying Tripped to enemies around you upon landing.[65] |
Mounted combat
Certain mounts will have combat abilities.[66][67][40]
- Mounts will have a variety of effective pvp abilities, some viable in larger scale encounters when organized correctly.[68] – Steven Sharif
- Mounts will have combat skills based on the breed and rarity. There will also be some RNG to the mount skills.[69]
- Charging through opponents (to knock them down).[69]
- Abilities to create a lance while mounted have been discussed as a potential design idea.[69]
- Specific weapons systems may exist on different riding points on group mounts.[70]
- Some crowd-control abilities can dismount a mounted player.[71] In that case the mount would persist with its own health pool and other stats.[53]
- There is danger to traversing areas with enemies nearby; and there are specific abilities that knock a rider off of their mount should they venture too close to enemies.[71] – Steven Sharif
- The intention is for players to gain knowledge about mount abilities through observation rather than having that information provided to them in advance.[72]
- Q: How will it be evident to players in a PVP scenario what types of abilities they might anticipate from an enemy's mount if its owner has a skin of another breed applied to it?
- A: Mount abilities are really meant to be a learned information source. This is not meant to be something that I can look at a mount and know without interacting with that individual- that player what that mount is capable of doing; and as such, when they have skins applied, whether it be through in-game earned or through cosmetic purchase, you will get a learning for what that mount does by observing its use-case and taking that knowledge that you have learned forward with you.[72] – Steven Sharif
Mounts can be killed by players, but can be resurrected after a certain cooldown period.[73][36][63][74]
- Potions obtained from the Alchemy profession can be used to reduce the cooldown.[36][75][63]
- Mounts that die a certain number of times within a set period might gain a debuff that requires a different material component to assist with their resurrection.[75]
- Fall damage that occurs while mounted will be first applied to the mount; and if the mount dies as a result, then the remaining damage may overflow onto the player, but this will be determined based on testing.[76]
- Royal mounts that are killed during an event, such as a siege or war, will incur an additional cost to use the mount when the cooldown period has expired.[77]
Mounts can be targeted separately from the player while mounted.[63]
- If a player dies there will be a period of time before their mule despawns. Other players must kill that player's mule to be able to loot it.[78]
- If a player's mule dies its corpse will contain the same percentage of lootable items as the player.[78][79]
Pet progression
Combat pets will be levelable and will have gear available to them.[80][81]
- Combat pets will incorporate some of their owner's power in a way that keeps the power progression horizontal.[82][83][84]
- Power is delegated to the pet when it is summoned and returned to the player immediately when the pet despawns.[85]
Summoner summons (Summoner pets) do add to the summoner's power when they are summoned.[82]
Combat pets, which can be acquired by any archetype- and this is essentially an item that exists within your backpack- you cast the item to summon your pet. When it is summoned it's not intended to be a vertical gain of power, because when you make combat pets a vertical power gain, then it becomes a no choice solution: you must have a combat pet if you want to play efficiently- you must have a combat pet; and I wanted to steer clear of that because the way I wanted to approach combat pets was more of a horizontal power choice; meaning: depending on the type of encounter you're facing, depending on the threat assessment you have, a combat pet might be relevant, or it might not. One combat combat pet might be more relevant than another combat pet and that's part of your gear acquisition, your item chase to attain this more comprehensive selection of combat pets that you can have available to you and can be summoned in the event that you want to engage an encounter with a different aspect of your power curve: Not vertical, but horizontal.[82] – Steven Sharif
Summon appearance
Summoners can change the appearance of their summons.[86][87]
- Through in-game items.[86]
- Through cosmetics.[88][86]
- Potentially through a summon creation suite, based on the Animal husbandry system.[89][90]
- The great thing about the animal husbandry tech that we're creating and the idea of having customization options is that there might be some opportunity there to really create a more customized experience for the summoner and the types of visual representation that their creature has that's more to the players definition. But we will see about that. I think you guys will be getting some updates in the future about that.[89] – Steven Sharif
A summon's appearance is determined by in-game choices.[87]
- Class specific appearance.[87]
- For example: Summoner/Rogue (Shadowmancer) may have shadow summons.[87]
- Race specific appearance.[87][91]
Visuals
2022-02-26
See also
References
- ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (30:34).
- ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (37:34).
- ↑ Livestream, April 30, 2021 (56:43).
- ↑ Steven Sharif Twitter, April 17, 2021.
- ↑ Podcast, November 15, 2020 (35:42).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (32:38).
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (25:24).
- ↑ Livestream, June 16, 2017 (28:07).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Video, June 30, 2023 (7:37).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Blog: A noble steed
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (1:04:12).
- ↑ Livestream, May 29, 2020 (39:02).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (33:17).
- ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (51:26).
- ↑ Twitter - The animal husbandry system will affect aquatic animals as well!
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Interview, July 9, 2023 (56:37).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Livestream, June 1, 2017 (28:42).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (33:07).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:12:52).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, January 31, 2024 (1:28:46).
- ↑
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Livestream, August 17, 2018 (12:27).
- ↑
- ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (49:46).
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (46:43).
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 Livestream, May 29, 2020 (43:19).
- ↑ Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:06:15).
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:22:24).
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (34:00).
- ↑ Twitter - Verra's lush creatures.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 Podcast, May 11, 2018 (1:02:02).
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Livestream, May 29, 2020 (39:02).
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 36.4 36.5 36.6 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (1:11:24).
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Livestream, June 30, 2023 (1:38:39).
- ↑ Node series part II – the Metropolis.
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Livestream, August 30, 2024 (1:22:35).
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 40.5 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (12:34).
- ↑ Livestream, February 9, 2018 (39:42).
- ↑ Interview, February 7, 2021 (39:30).
- ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (33:05).
- ↑ Ashes of Creation Twitter: Perhaps the most quintessential mount, the horse is a tried and true companion.
- ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (57:18).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 Lore of the Hippogryph.
- ↑ Video, June 27, 2019 (3:42).
- ↑ Alpha-1 screenshot.
- ↑ Video, February 26, 2021 (20:25).
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:08:10).
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Livestream, March 29, 2024 (2:39:07).
- ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (51:48:).
- ↑
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:25:36).
- ↑ 58.0 58.1
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 59.3 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (1:14:21).
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:10:04).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2023 (1:10:08).
- ↑
- ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 63.3 Interview, July 19, 2020 (1:05:41).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:16:02).
- ↑ 67.0 67.1 Livestream, May 5, 2017 (22:44).
- ↑
- ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:15:30).
- ↑ Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:11:40).
- ↑ 71.0 71.1 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:01:02).
- ↑ 72.0 72.1 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (2:21:08).
- ↑ Livestream, April 30, 2024 (1:13:50).
- ↑ Livestream, May 10, 2017 (38:27).
- ↑ 75.0 75.1 Podcast, September 29, 2021 (32:35).
- ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (1:06:45).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2024 (1:54:00).
- ↑ 78.0 78.1 Livestream, January 29, 2021 (1:24:27).
- ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2018 (47:46).
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:26:00).
- ↑
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 Interview, January 14, 2022 (42:18).
- ↑ Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:21:14).
- ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (1:24:27).
- ↑ Livestream, July 30, 2021 (1:15:29).
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 86.2 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (0:58).
- ↑ 87.0 87.1 87.2 87.3 87.4 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (1:07:55).
- ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:08:13).
- ↑ 89.0 89.1 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:10:46).
- ↑ Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:26:09).
- ↑