Animal husbandry

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Screenshot of Dawnbreaker variant achievable through the Animal husbandry profession. Model by Jessica Jennings.[1]

Those variations that were present with the Dawnbreaker: those are examples of how Animal Husbandry surfaces subtle changes- from subtle to extreme. Those were more subtle; those are wing variations, those were fur variations, color variations, eye color variations. All of that kind of stuff gets represented as part of the Animal husbandry system and it's cool to see what's available for players to experiment with.[2]

Rare Flailrunner[3] mount that can only be obtained via breeding two tamable creatures through the animal husbandry profession.[4]

Animal husbandry is meant to be a pretty diverse profession: One that has a significant importance because players in MMOs love their mounts and we wanted to do something unique in that regard.[5] – Steven Sharif

Animal husbandry is a profession within the processing artisan class.[6][7][8]

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.[9]

Taming

Tamable creatures may fit creature templates with pre-defined behaviors.[14]

Hunting (also known as Taming)[15] is a gathering profession in Ashes of Creation.[6][7][9]

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

Breeding mechanics

Gryphon concept art.[17]

These are some concept iterations of exactly how the animal husbandry profession's going to work as you create the offspring of different combinations of animals and you find and discover types of mounts. For example this Gryphon: You will have the ability to open up an in-game character customization screen for the animals; and you'll be able to use certain dials to touch different aesthetic aspects of the actual animal's features: On its wings, on its head, its beak, its armor that's going to be present; the claws and talons. You will be able to actually make a unique representation of this mount, so you're just not a cookie cutter like everybody else.[18] – Steven Sharif

Animal husbandry will have discoverable blends of breeding.[7][19]

  • Pets, Mounts, Livestock, and Beasts of burden can be captured and tamed to breed the best version of that species.[7][10]
    • 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.[20]
    • These mounts are not breedable.[21]
  • Mounts that are bred through animal husbandry may be sold at auction.[22]
    • These mounts can also be applied as certificates toward the construction of caravans.[22]
  • 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.[23]

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][24]

  • Youngling stage: For mammals this relates to baby animals. For lizards (reptiles) this is an egg stage.[24]

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.[25]

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.[25] – Steven Sharif

There is a compendium of acceptable parameters for breeding[26], which isn't going to be known until players discover it.[22][27] This discovery may be different for different players.[27]

  • Animals have a unique ID that is tied to the husbandry chart (compendium) that takes into account possible combinations between animals.[22] There will be odd combinations, but there will be limits to what is possible.[27]
  • Discovery of certain breeding habits and different quests may grant access to slots in the compendium.[27]
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

A modified character creation system allows customization of Summoner pets and Animal husbandry.[18][24]

  • Changes at the Youngling stage affect the appearance of the animal at adulthood.[24]
  • During the Youngling stage there may also be quests for specific types of cosmetic features.[24]

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.[27] – Steven Sharif

Stables

Alpha-1 early example of the first tier of animal husbandry stables on a freehold plot.[28]

Players will be able to place the animals they are trying to focus on from a Husbandry perspective within the stable area and then over the course of time are going to be able to yield some type of results out of those parings.[28] – Steven Sharif

Stables in Ashes of Creation refer to:

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.[30] – Steven Sharif

Genetics

Genetics and Animal Husbandry will follow a Mendelian model of real-life genetics overlaid with magical tools that help understand and influence the process of the breeding of these animals in a fantastical way. Creatures will have characteristics that are determined by their genetics. There will be a multitude of traits that are related to appearance, performance, combat efficacy, even the different abilities that breeders can bring forward in a particular mount or pet. So no two creatures in Verra will be the exact same.[7] – Steven Sharif

Animal husbandry and taming create mounts and pets with unique characteristics that are determined by their Genetics.[7][31][32]

  • There will be a multitude of traits that breeders can bring forward in a particular mount or pet.[7][13]
  • 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][33][22][27]
    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
    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.[34] – Steven Sharif
  • A dominant genetic trait 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][22]
    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
  • Powerful traits will be hidden in rare spawns and through rare mutations.[7][10]

Animal husbandry mounts

Mounts that are breedable in-game via the Animal husbandry profession.[9]

Mount abilities and stats

Noble Warhorn Sprint mount ability.[35]

All mounts will have certain types of abilities: Whether those abilities are utility, or sprint, or some type of combat charge through that knocks down players or something. It just depends on the type of mount and the skills associated with that mount. That's also one component of the animal husbandry system is in creating these mounts you can have unique skill sets associated with them that obviously creates an economy for mount types and and puts some relevancy on the profession of animal husbandry to present unique mounts.[36] – Steven Sharif

Mounts have different core abilities, utility skills and stats that are based on the rarity of the mount and the mount's tier.[30][37][36][38]

  • Mount abilities may provide either horizontal or vertical power gains.[30]
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.[30] – Steven Sharif
  • Based on skill choice, mounts can be used as initiation vehicles, escape vehicles, utility vehicles, and traversal vehicles.[41][42]
    • Jump abilities.[41]
    • Terrain-specific capabilities.[41]
    • Gliding abilities.[41]
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 kind of using them out to dodge and avoid you know 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 kind of speed you use your mount just kind of 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.[42] – Steven Sharif
  • Mounts will have varied speeds.[43]
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.[42] – Steven Sharif
  • A player can dismount and have their mount follow them.[36][44]

Mounted combat

Certain mounts will have combat abilities.[45][46][31]

Mounts will have a variety of effective pvp abilities, some viable in larger scale encounters when organized correctly.[47] – Steven Sharif
  • Mounts will have combat skills based on the breed and rarity. There will also be some RNG to the mount skills.[48]
    • Charging through opponents (to knock them down).[48]
    • Abilities to create a lance while mounted have been discussed as a potential design idea.[48]
    • Specific weapons systems may exist on different riding points on group mounts.[49]

Some crowd-control abilities can dismount a mounted player.[50] In that case the mount would persist with its own health pool and other stats.[36]

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.[50] – Steven Sharif

Mounts can be killed by players, but can be resurrected after a certain cooldown period.[30][44][51]

  • Potions obtained from the Alchemy profession can be used to reduce the cooldown.[30][52][44]
  • 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.[52]
  • 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.[53]

Mounts can be targeted separately from the player while mounted.[44]

  • 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.[54]
  • If a player's mule dies its corpse will contain the same percentage of lootable items as the player.[54][55]

Horses

Horse 3D renders.[9]

In Ashes of Creation, the horse represents one of the first and fundamental animals in the animal husbandry profession. Players can expect to find a wide variety of horse species existing in both domesticated form from stable merchants, as well as in the wild with more exotic features and traits.[9]

Horse 3D renders.[56]

Horses are a type of land mount in Ashes of Creation.[57]

Mules

Moonstrider Mule mount color schemes.

Many species of mules will be breedable.[59]

  • There will be smaller mules.[60]

Hippogryphs

Hippogryph concept art.[61]

Hippogryphs are just one example of how our Animal Husbandry system will allow you to create a variety of creatures to utilize as pets and mounts. Whether you prefer the agile feline limbs of the gryphon or the strong steed-like hind legs of the hippogryph, you’ll be able to enjoy a diverse spectrum of breeding options within Ashes of Creation.[61]

Hippogryphs are mounts in Ashes of Creation.[61]

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.[61]

Gryphons

Gryphon 3D render by Chris Myers and Brad Constantine.[62]
Gryphon concept art.[18]

Gryphons (griffins, griffons) may refer to:

Gryphons can be bred via the Animal husbandry profession.[18]

Pet progression

Combat pets will be levelable and will have gear available to them.[64][65]

  • Combat pets will incorporate some of their owner's power in a way that keeps the power progression horizontal.[66][67][68]
    • Power is delegated to the pet when it is summoned and returned to the player immediately when the pet despawns.[69]

Summoner summons (Summoner pets) do add to the summoner's power when they are summoned.[66]

  • Gear is not available to Summoner summons.[64]

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.[66] – Steven Sharif

Summon appearance

A summon's appearance is determined by in-game choices.[70]

Summoners can change the appearance of their summons.[72]

The other cool thing about the you know summoner that we want to implement is kind of a summon creation suite where you can customize the appearance potentially based on what you found in the world. Something that's already going to be implemented with the animal husbandry system; and there's no reason why we can't take that technology- that you know system and apply it elsewhere such as with the Summoner.[73] – Steven Sharif

Underrealm resources

Resources will be different in the Underrealm, including unique species of fish.[74][75][76]

Visuals

  • 2022-05-02
  • 2022-03-08
  • 2022-01-30
  • 2021-11-03
  • 2021-11-02
  • 2021-11-02
  • 2021-11-02
  • 2021-09-30
  • 2021-07-31
  • 2021-05-03
  • 2021-03-29
  • 2021-02-27
  • 2020-10-03
  • 2020-05-29
  • 2020-05-29
  • 2019-11-23
  • 2019-08-09
  • 2019-06-01
  • 2018-08-18
  • 2018-08-07
  • 2017-11-18
  • 2017-11-08

See also

References

  1. ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (30:34).
  2. ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (37:34).
  3. ↑ Livestream, April 30, 2021 (56:43).
  4. ↑ Steven Sharif Twitter, April 17, 2021.
  5. ↑ Podcast, November 15, 2020 (35:42).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (32:38).
  7. ↑ 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).
  8. ↑ Livestream, June 16, 2017 (28:07).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Blog: A noble steed
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (1:04:12).
  11. ↑ Livestream, May 29, 2020 (39:02).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (33:17).
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Livestream, June 1, 2017 (28:42).
  14. ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (33:07).
  15. ↑ roshen-hunting.png
  16. ↑ husbandry.png
  17. ↑ stevengryphon.png
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Livestream, August 17, 2018 (12:27).
  19. ↑ husbandry discoverable.png
  20. ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (49:46).
  21. ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (46:43).
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 Livestream, May 29, 2020 (43:19).
  23. ↑ Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:06:15).
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:22:24).
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (34:00).
  26. ↑ Twitter - Verra's lush creatures.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 Podcast, May 11, 2018 (1:02:02).
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Livestream, May 29, 2020 (39:02).
  29. ↑ Node series part II – the Metropolis.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 30.6 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (1:11:24).
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 31.5 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (12:34).
  32. ↑ Livestream, February 9, 2018 (39:42).
  33. ↑ Interview, February 7, 2021 (39:30).
  34. ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (33:05).
  35. ↑ Video, February 26, 2021 (20:25).
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:08:10).
  37. ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (51:48:).
  38. ↑ mount stats.png
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:25:36).
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 mount abilities.png
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 Livestream, February 25, 2022 (1:14:21).
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:10:04).
  43. ↑ mount speeds.png
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 Interview, July 19, 2020 (1:05:41).
  45. ↑ Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:16:02).
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Livestream, May 5, 2017 (22:44).
  47. ↑ steven-mount-pvp.png
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:15:30).
  49. ↑ Livestream, January 28, 2022 (1:11:40).
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:01:02).
  51. ↑ Livestream, May 10, 2017 (38:27).
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 Podcast, September 29, 2021 (32:35).
  53. ↑ Livestream, February 25, 2022 (1:06:45).
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Livestream, January 29, 2021 (1:24:27).
  55. ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2018 (47:46).
  56. ↑ Ashes of Creation Twitter: Perhaps the most quintessential mount, the horse is a tried and true companion.
  57. ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (57:18).
  58. ↑ royal horses.png
  59. ↑ mule breeding.png
  60. ↑ mule sizes.png
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 61.3 61.4 Lore of the Hippogryph.
  62. ↑ Video, June 27, 2019 (3:42).
  63. ↑ Alpha-1 screenshot.
  64. ↑ 64.0 64.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:26:00).
  65. ↑ Pets.jpg
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 Interview, January 14, 2022 (42:18).
  67. ↑ Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:21:14).
  68. ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (1:24:27).
  69. ↑ Livestream, July 30, 2021 (1:15:29).
  70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 70.2 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (1:07:55).
  71. ↑ summoner summon.png
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 72.2 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (0:58).
  73. ↑ 73.0 73.1 Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:26:09).
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (27:30).
  75. ↑ Transcript, November 5, 2022 (10:46:47).
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 76.2 Livestream, June 1, 2017 (24:30).
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