Classes

Ashes of Creation class list. Primary archetype is on the left. Secondary archetype is on the top.

Classes are the combination of a primary and a secondary archetype starting from level 25.

We have a specific terminology when referring to archetypes and classes. Classes are the combination of your secondary archetype with your primary archetype. – Steven Sharif

• Prior to secondary archetype choice, players have the ability to customize their base kit by selecting different build options (on their adventuring skill tree).

• A character can augment a limited subset of its primary skills with passive effects from their secondary archetype. These augments can be rudimentary, or they can significantly change the way the ability works.

• There isn't a trial period feature to preview different secondary archetypes before making a final decision at level 25, but there is a way for players to switch secondary archetypes.

Q: Will there be any trial quest to test out all of the secondary archetypes before making a final decision at level 25?

A: We do not currently have designs that are intended to provide a preview period for players. Maybe that's just more of an old school kind of thing. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of giving players preview, but it's not planned for at the moment. You just make your selection, you go and you do the quest and that's your secondary archetype. And then there's a quest that you can take in order to change it around... The intent that there is some level of investment when you want to choose to change that class identity. – Steven Sharif

Icon	Archetype	Type.	Role.	Resource.
	Bard	Arcane	Support	Themes
	Cleric	Arcane	Support	Divine Power
	Fighter	Martial	Damage	Momentum
	Mage	Arcane	Damage	Spell charges
	Ranger	Martial	Damage	Focus
	Rogue	Martial	Damage	Advantage
	Summoner	Arcane	-	-
	Tank	Martial	Tank	Courage

Class progression in Ashes of Creation proceeds as follows:

• A player chooses their primary archetype at the start of the game.
  • A player cannot change their primary archetype.

• Players receive skill points as they level. These can be used to level up skills within their skill tree.
  • It will not be possible to max all skills in a skill tree.

• A player may choose a secondary archetype when they reach level 25. The combination of primary and secondary archetypes is referred to as a class.
  • The secondary archetype does not provide additional skills.
  • Secondary archetypes may be changed, but not "on-the-fly". Switching secondary archetypes will likely be made easier during Alpha-2 phase-2 for the purposes of testing.
  • Players can augment a limited subset of their primary skills with passive effects from their secondary archetype.
  • These augments can be rudimentary, or they can significantly change the way the ability works.
  • It is possible that some specific augments may be locked to specific abilities.

They're mainly passives that change. So we have some examples probably that we can point to right now. Currently on the Fighter we have, I believe it's Maim that you can take a passive and it turns it into a projectile. So that ability is representative of probably a very low impact version of an augment... Passives live on a scale of intensity from 1 to 10. 10 being radically changing an ability significantly. So, 1 being perhaps touching a specific design spoke on the ability, whether that be cooldown, or mana cost; something along those lines. So in your traditional passive tree structure, you probably want to have passives that range between a power level of 1 and 4, or 1 and 3 in how it can adjust an active ability; and these are passives that specifically touch active abilities. You also have actives that just touch your core character class: Those might be like your mana regeneration rate, or your HP regeneration, or whatever. So when you start exceeding that level 4 power into the 5, 6, 7 category, now you're entrenching on the augment space; and then if you add flavor to that power so that the types of changes it can apply to an ability exist within schools of influence that each archetype represents from a class fantasy perspective, such as teleportation for Mages, or elementals for Mages, that flavor combined with the power aspect of level 5s to 10s is where augments will live. And these will all be a part of your passive tree structure. So as you acquire the secondary class, your passive tree structure is going to start attaching these passive abilities that are linked to active skills; and you're going to be able to choose one of those augments that are linked to the active skill; and they'll serve as passives like I just described. – Steven Sharif

• Class progression does not relate to a player's artisan progression.

• World events do not directly impact class effectiveness but there may be ancillary effects in terms of availability of equipment, enchantments or tattoos.

Classes by archetype combination

With 8 Archetypes to combine, players may choose from 64 total combinations to create their class.

Secondary
		Bard	Cleric	Fighter	Mage	Ranger	Rogue	Summoner	Tank
Primary	Bard	Minstrel	Soul Weaver	Tellsword	Magician	Song Warden	Trickster	Songcaller	Siren
	Cleric	Scryer	High Priest	Templar	Oracle	Protector	Shadow Disciple	Shaman	Apostle
	Fighter	Bladedancer	Highsword	Weapon Master	Spellsword	Hunter	Shadowblade	Bladecaller	Dreadnought
	Mage	Sorcerer	Acolyte	Battle Mage	Archwizard	Spellhunter	Shadow Caster	Warlock	Spellstone
	Ranger	Bowsinger	Soulbow	Strider	Scion	Hawkeye	Scout	Falconer	Sentinel
	Rogue	Charlatan	Cultist	Duelist	Nightspell	Predator	Assassin	Shadow Lord	Shadow Guardian
	Summoner	Enchanter	Necromancer	Wild Blade	Spellmancer	Beastmaster	Shadowmancer	Conjurer	Brood Warden
	Tank	Argent	Paladin	Knight	Spellshield	Warden	Nightshield	Keeper	Guardian

Balancing

Game balance in Ashes of Creation is group focused not based on 1v1 combat.

Q: As we start to see more talent trees and abilities I wonder how Ashes of Creation will handle unique playstyles and (maybe) "different" builds. For example, will we see (unique) Items and/or enchants which support a "Health instead of mana as resource" build? With class skill trees, augments, and weapon talent trees, won't there be too many playstyles to balance?

A: Will there be a variety? Yes, there will be many varieties. The approach with regards to a player being able to customize how their archetype and how their weapon and choices and gear choices interact with the broader ecosystem of other players and the encounter designs is to provide maximum flexibility for the types of decisions you can make as a player. Those are the types of scenarios I find most intriguing from a balance perspective, where historically what we've talked about is we're not trying to balance everything. That is not the goal. This is definitely not a goal for it to be balanced in a 1v1 scenario. Our balance is definitely more focused around group composition. And when we say 'group composition', what we mean is having present a number of the archetypes; and those archetypes aren't going to stand on equal footing with each other. There is going to be a rock-paper-scissors design when it comes to innate advantages that certain archetypes have over each other; and giving or affording the customization options lets you flirt a bit with where your rock-paper-scissor lines live. Perhaps you are a little bit better against the rock, as a scissor would normally be; and that's because you've made certain selections in either your archetype skill tree, your passives, your weapon selection, your gear choices: Those are all pieces of a puzzle that interact with the overarching balance choices between these different rock-paper-scissor designs. So, I think modern MMO gameplay has has moved away from that. They want everyone to harness the same power from a 1v1 perspective and I don't find that interesting. – Steven Sharif

• 1v1 matchups will have a rock-paper-scissors dynamic, where one build will be superior to another. Different skills, passives, weapon skills, and gear choice selections allows players to 'flirt' the line with rock-paper-scissors balancing.

There will be match ups in 1v1s where one class will be superior to another; and that application should be a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. We want there to be counter-play between the different classes... Instead it's going to be a group focused balance, where as long as you have the diversity of classes present, that's going to be an equal level playing field. It's going to be very dependent on skill and strategy. – Steven Sharif

• Several factors are taken into consideration holistically when balancing combat skills. Player feedback surrounding balancing will be validated against data and design goals to avoid excessive or unwarranted balance changes.

Balance-wise, there's a number of different interactions mechanically that you have within an ability that you can adjust in order to balance its power. The most most common ones are: Cooldown, Mana consumption, Damage done, Effect status conferred, Promotion of that effect status, Range. – Steven Sharif

Q: How will your team look to identify and adjust a skill or class when the rock is no longer beating scissors?

A: It's difficult to give an answer that's specific, because the use-case is a very broad one when we're talking about balancing design. But, I would say that it's done in a holistic environment and it is usually done in concert with some rubric we're using in order to anchor our design choices. – Steven Sharif

• Alpha-1 testing was focused on core functionality rather than combat balance. Balancing for Archetypes, Economy, Nodes, and Combat will be done in Alpha-2 phase-2.

When we move into Alpha 2 and we have a lot of data that's supporting the use of these particular abilities in combat settings, how often they're used, how often they result in death, what the average damage done by this archetype is comparatively to other damage done by different archetypes: All of that data gets logged and all of that data gets queried in order for us to refine the abilities so that they live in the environment we want them to. Now, that's not to mean that we're going to have a perfect balance across the board between the archetypes. Again, we're taking a rock-paper-scissor approach to balance, which means that some archetypes will do better against other archetypes and vice versa; and we're also not creating an environment where we want to have 1v1 balance. We are focused around group balance. Group composition is important. – Steven Sharif

• The sixty four (64) classes are partitioned into eight primary archetypes. Balancing of active skills only relates to these eight primary archetypes.
  • There are four primary groups of augments assigned to each base archetype. Balancing of augments relates to the four augment groups for each of the eight archetypes.

• Certain secondary archetypes are capable of "bridging the gap" between their counterpart.

Even though augments do radically change the way your active skills provide you abilities, there's still a primary focus on the base archetype itself and not the 64 whole classes. – Steven Sharif

Certain archetypes are capable of moving the gap between their counterpart per-se. If I am a Tank archetype and a Mage is my counter, I can take a Mage secondary and bridge the divide slightly; and then move my identity that direction ever so slightly. – Steven Sharif

Synergies

Synergies exist between class skills, weapon skills, passive skills, proc effects, and status conditions. These synergies also apply to active skills from other characters.

Different abilities put status effects on creatures and then you can exploit those. Not only you can exploit that, anybody who's fighting with you can exploit them. – Margaret Krohn

Q: How much do you intend for those sort of synergy things to be done within one class, one character's kit, versus how much do you intend for them to be working with the other characters, the other archetypes and specializations to promote their things, or to also make sure you don't step on their feet and accidentally promote something they're trying to maximize?

A: When we talk about status conditions or keyword conditions and the promotion of those effects, there is going to be the bread and butter that each class kid has access to; and when they're creating the type of rotation with their ability system, they're going to want to emphasize those interactions that amplify or promote a particular type of status condition. So they'll have within the kit to their own interactions that they'll be able to leverage. But then in addition to that, they're going to have keyword status effects that help to either promote other classes' keyword status effects, or are the executed promotions of other classes initial status conditions. And when you think about the intent of the design: the intent of the design is that players are servicing themselves from a solo perspective when they want to go out and solo grind and solo experience and fulfill the quests. But when they come together to form a party to encounter group content, or a raid to encounter raid content: that the interconnectivity between those classes synergizes with these keyword promotions and/or effects; and there's a way to execute on that, that is successful and is effective, or a way that's not. And that's the skill ceiling/skill cap that requires interaction and cooperation and synchronization between, because there are limited time windows in which those keywords can get emphasized or executed upon when utilizing the ability. – Steven Sharif

When you think about it, it's very much a musical endeavor. When you think about a symphony or a concert, those instruments working with eachother to formulate this highly effective and very visceral experience of this music chain. When you accomplish that in combat, it's going to be noticeable; and that's the desire, is let's reward- let's dopamine hit when players are effective in their skill when executing on these ideas. – Steven Sharif

Meta

A goal of Ashes of Creation is to emphasise micro metas that work for specific encounters, and de-emphasize macro metas that work for everything.

What we're doing with this approach is we're de-emphasizing a macro meta and instead emphasizing a micro meta. And the difference between the macro/micro is that on the micro level you have metas that might form based on each individual type of encounter or experience. And in those senses, yes, there's going to be a most optimal: There's going to be a best in slot. There's going to be whatever that pertains to that particular challenge rating. But there won't we there will not be an overarching meta that says from a macro level, hey, if you got this shit, you're good to go for everything. That's boring, that's unfulfilling, that is not interesting; and it is just something that dumbifies the experience. – Steven Sharif

• The effectiveness of classes, skills and gear is going to depend on the adversary or the encounter. There will be optimal builds for different challenges and difficulty ratings. This design aims to avoid any obvious meta or "cookie-cutter" builds in Ashes of Creation.​

• Different challenges are presented dynamically to players based on node progression and destruction. Situations that are based on a rock-paper-scissors design will inspire a horizontal gear chase. These dynamic challenges will change from month to month, causing a shift in demand in the economy as different builds are required by the new content.

• Increasing difficulty ratings inspire more of a traditional vertical power progression that is common in other MMOs.

Oftentimes you just have a very vertical power scale and that determines chase, but when you have a variety of relevance across certain types of adversaries and that variety changes over time because of player activity- and then that affects the economy and the crafter system and who was producing what for what demand- and everything gets shaken up. That's a very fun environment to exist in. It presents a more dynamic situation rather than a quote-unquote cookie-cutter type selection. – Steven Sharif

• The intricacies of how nodes interact with predicates in the world means that it may be possible but difficult to achieve meta server builds.

Q: Do you have any concerns on players eventually discovering a meta server build with nodes due to players heading to specific nodes and regions because they find that content more enjoyable; and if so how would you go about getting players to shift around the world to break up the meta?

A: I think it's interesting if players have a concerted effort across a server to interact with one another, learn from their actions, mistakes, successes, and effectuate that on the server. That's interesting, but I don't believe we'll see a meta form. I think that the intricacies are too great when it comes to how predicates are formed in order to elicit world state changes. – Steven Sharif

Class abilities

Alpha-2 Bard primary skills.

If from the eight archetypes whatever you choose as your secondary, you're going to receive a choice of augments that relate to some core ideal of that class. A tank is about controlling the battlefield, is about surviving. The mage is about dealing damage and elements and ability in AoEs. The rogue is going to be about stealth and critical damage. So those augments are going to to play towards those identities. – Steven Sharif

Primary skills (class abilities) are based on a player's archetype.

• A player may choose a secondary archetype when they reach level 25. The player can then augment their primary skills with effects from their secondary archetype.

• Outside of class-specific skills there may be a subset of universal skills, such as active block and dodge.
• Class skills are not affected by the type of weapon that is equipped.

• Primary skills in Alpha-2 are expected to be very different to those in Alpha-1.

Class augments

A player may choose a secondary archetype when they reach level 25. Each secondary archetype offers four different schools of augmentation. Each augment school affects a primary archetype's skills in different ways. For example: A Mage offers Teleportation and elemental schools of augments. These augments will affect a Fighter's primary skills differently than a Cleric's.

When you reach the class phase, which is around level 25 and you introduce that secondary archetype selection to create your one of 64 classes, then you'll have a number of augments that you'll be able to apply on a per-ability basis; and your core ability kit comes from your primary archetype selection; and those augments will change the look and feel of those abilities; and some will have the affect to create more darker thematic aspects to it. Or just generally different aesthetics to the abilities that represent the secondary [archetype] selection. – Steven Sharif

• The player can then augment their primary skills with effects from their secondary archetype.

• Players can augment a limited subset of their primary skills with passive effects from their secondary archetype. Augmentable skills will offer several augment options from the secondary tree. This is an example of horizontal progression.
  • These augments can be rudimentary, or they can significantly change the way the ability works.

The intent behind the augment system is not to provide new active abilities. They're intended to augment existing active abilities that are provided through your primary archetype; and so your secondary archetype selection completes your class selection, of which there's 64 types and you get augment skills that can apply certain attributes and mechanics to your existing active skills. So, if you have certain abilities, like a backstab as a Rogue primary archetype, and you take that healer secondary archetype selection, now the properties of your backstab will still remain the same as an active ability, however it might include things like life steal, or it might include things like susceptible weakness to the target, and reduces their healing because the definition of what those augments are intended to provide based on the archetype selected for the augments is within the schools of magic that live for that archetype: so a Cleric is about balancing life and death and the control of those types of hit points. – Steven Sharif

• Augments are intended to allow each class to feel different, rather than a minor variation on its primary archetype.

When we talk about augments, all we can say right now is what our intent is; and our intent is to execute on it in a way where it doesn't just feel like eight archetypes. So, whether or not we land that intent is something people are going to have to wait and see. But, know that our work is to ensure it doesn't just feel like eight archetypes. – Steven Sharif

• Augments can be rudimentary, or they can significantly change the way the ability works (such as its visuals, audio, and flavor). It is possible that some specific augments may be locked to specific abilities.

Q: How much will a subclass affect the mechanics of your abilities vs the visual and audio flavor?

A: Some of the ideas that we have with regards to augmentation is that they could be very rudimentary mechanics that get adjusted, such as like damage values, cooldowns, mana costs, distance, and range, some targeting changes; but they could also be very fundamental changes, which would include visuals and audios and flavor for a particular ability. – Steven Sharif

• Choosing the same primary and secondary archetype increases focus on that archetype. Choosing different archetypes allows characters to somewhat flirt with their role..

• Each augmentation has a level requirement.

• Augments do not cost skill points. It was previously stated that certain augments will have more expense required on the skill point side.

There's going to be a certain threshold at which you can no longer augment your active abilities based on the decisions you've augmented previous abilities, so you'll have to pick and choose which ones you want to apply the augments towards. – Steven Sharif

• Changing skill augmentations will require visiting a NPC in a Village node or higher. Switching secondary archetypes will likely be made easier during Alpha-2 phase-2 for the purposes of testing.

• Secondary archetype specialization will start sometime after the beginning of Alpha-2 phase-3. Every archetype may start with two augment schools.

Archetype resources

Archetype resources (also called Class resources) are utilized by certain primary skills based on selections defined in each archetype's skill tree.

Archetype resource	Icon	Archetype
Advantage		Rogue
Courage		Tank
Divine Power		Cleric
Focus		Ranger
Mana		Universal
Momentum		Fighter
Spell charges		Mage
Stamina		Universal
Themes		Bard

Skill points

Alpha-2 Ranger skill tree user interface (WIP).

What you're seeing at a high level here is just what you'd pretty much expect of a traditional skill. We're doing something a little more advanced than just like a bottom up structure, because we're being a little bit more free-form in this iteration. This will obviously see more UI iterations in the future, but you'll see a mix of active and passive abilities here. Actives are indicated by their square shape, while the circular ones are representing passives; and one thing to note as well is that these passives are aiming to be a little more interesting than just like, this ability does more damage now, or it has a lower cooldown. We do have some of those too, but the goal with a lot of these passives in addition to that is to allow people to lean into unique play styles. So you'll notice that some of them are are changing your gameplay in meaningful ways; and that's the direction we want to take um player and character customization as a whole. – Tradd Thompson

Players receive skill points at specific points as they level. These can be used unlock Active and passive skills in archetype and weapon skill trees.

• Skill points accrue at specific XP milestones, such as 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 progress through the level, so as to avoid creating an imbalance with experience debt.

We do have this concept of experience debt that does accrue and we don't want to create an imbalance between skill points acquired versus experience, so we're going to predicate your skill points acquisition based on benchmarks you reach when leveling through a level. So these are going to be at specific points in the level, like one quarter progress, to half progress, to three quarters progress: you're going to get an influx of skill points and then you'll be able to allocate them into your skill tree. – Steven Sharif

• Skill points can be used to unlock universal skills at the expense of unlocking class-specific skills.

• Skill ranks will be added to certain skills in Alpha-2 phase-2.

• Respeccing (resetting and reallocating) adventuring skills may require travelling to a specific location rather than being able to be done on-the-fly.

• Augments do not cost skill points. It was previously stated that certain augments will have more expense required on the skill point side.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

• It will not be possible to max all skills in a skill tree.
• In terms of skill progression, players can choose to go "wide" and get a number of different abilities, or go "deep" into a few specific abilities.

Universal skills

Universal skills, such as active blocking, sprinting, and active dodging, are able to be unlocked by all archetypes based on a universal skill progression tree.

We are currently implementing, for the purposes of Alpha-2, a universal stamina system that all archetypes share. When it comes to active block, sprint, and dodge: those will be a part of a universal skill progression tree that players can choose to invest skill points into; and those skill points will share with their archetype active ability and passive ability skill points as well. So, if they're going to divest themselves of further progress within their archetype in lieu of investing in the Universal skill tree, they will have access to benefits that those universal skill tree progressions provide; and some of those benefits do include stat bonuses when utilizing those universal skills. Some of them include different types of effects that can only be granted the player through the universal skill tree as well, such as the ability to potentially parry an attack, or something along those lines. We'll be talking about the universal skill tree somewhere probably mids summerish timeframe, or late summerish timeframe, because it's still actively being developed; but the idea is to have that be an additional knob of customization that influences the way your character plays. – Steven Sharif

• Universal skill progression is intended to provide synergy will all archetypes.

Because it's a universal progression tree, the intent is to provide interactions with all the archetypes. So, it's not going to be specifically more beneficial for one archetype over the other. The intent is that each of the archetypes will have some synergy interaction benefit to their general kit identity through the universal skill tree. – Steven Sharif

• Skill points can be used to unlock universal skills at the expense of unlocking class-specific skills.

Q: Will each archetype be equally efficient with universal skills, like dodging and active blocking, or will each of them have their own versions and flavors, or will some people be more powerful than others?

A: We want to provide a progression path that's shared for those universal skills across all the archetypes. So when you spend skill points, you can choose to spend them within the universal skill set and unlock particular ability types for the universal skills as well, but you will be spending them from the skill points that you would normally spend within your class-specific skill tree; and this offers again a different wheel of customization that I think is interesting. – Steven Sharif

Augments

Ashes of Creation hosts a wide array of progression paths that offer augments to a character's active skills.

• Secondary archetypes.
• Social organization augments.
• Religious augments.
• Racial augments.

Q: There are 32 augment schools, not including racial/social/religious augments, meaning a total of 8960 (280 spells * 32 augment schools) different variations of spells. How do you guys plan on tackling that, or has the augment system for the classes changed since?

A: It has not changed; and the intent is for us to design relatively templatable effects conferred by each school of augmentation; and those effects will have a lot of shared benefits that get conferred to a particular ability when the augment gets applied. – Steven Sharif

Augments are applied individually to a limited subset of active skills from a character's primary archetype.

• Augment effects are intended to be templatable so they can apply to a range of abilities.
• A character can have one active augment on an ability at any given time.
• Augments do not cost skill points.
  • It was previously stated that certain augments will have more expense required on the skill point side.
• Secondary class augments may be locked to specific abilities.
• The progression system for augments is very similar to the class progression system.

Augments can affect a multitude of things and can (in some cases) create entirely new skills.

• Drastically change the ability itself.
• Change the damage type and value.
• Change the cooldown period.
• Change the distance (of the skill).
• Change the effect from a ranged to melee ability.

Augments can affect a multitude of things. It can drastically change the ability itself. It can change the damage type. It can change the cooldown period. It can change the damage values. It can change the distance. It can dramatically change it from a ranged effect to a melee effect. Augments are essentially can create- they are creating entirely new skills, but they're going to keep obviously some identity with what that primary active ability was. – Steven Sharif

Changing/switching

Primary

A player's primary archetype cannot be changed.

When it comes to the primary archetype, that is a decision you'll want to make and you'll want to make sure it's the right decision, because it's permanent... You are going to create this identity that you can't just change on the fly. This is going to be something that you will know a person and you will know what their base archetype is and they're not just going to change from battle to battle. So that gives some consistency in the engagements and understanding reputation on the server. – Steven Sharif

When players choose their primary class, it’s not just dictating how the next several hundred hours of gameplay will go... It’s only the primary class that cannot be changed. And hey, that’s what alts are for!

Secondary

The secondary archetype of a class may be changed, but not "on-the-fly".

The secondary class choice, which comes after some time getting used to the world of Verra, will be more fluid. If you choose the Fighter and the Rogue to make a Shadowblade, but eventually want to try your hand at Summoning to make a Bladecaller, you’ll be able to do so.

• Players need to complete a quest in a Village (stage 3) node or above to enable them to change their secondary archetype and skill augments.

We don't want you to be able to change your secondary class or the augments you have applied out in the open. We want you to have to make a conscious choice somewhere at a NPC. The level of node necessary for that particular NPC to be available will likely be either at the Village stage or above. So, if you are far out in the wilderness exploring – and we have no instant teleportation in the world – you need to be conscientious of what your choices are; and not be able to change them on-the-fly. – Steven Sharif

• Respeccing adventuring skills may require travelling to a specific location rather than being able to be done on-the-fly.
  • Swapping between multiple saved specs may be able to be done after a suitable cooldown period.

Class-specific quests

There will be class-specific quests in Ashes of Creation.

There's going to be a lot of shared quests but there's also going to be class-specific quests; and the reason for that is that some classes are better at others than doing certain things and that'll play itself out through the general community quests. That's fine, but there are certain periods from a designer's perspective where you want to make an encounter be the antithesis of what a player is good at. It also gives them perspective because we have a more fluid class combination system where you can play the line in your traditional role by adding a secondary class that's different from your primary classes role. The benefit of having these class-specific quests early on especially in an archetype is that you can come to a determination and have greater experience for the things you're not good at. So you know how to progress your class in the future with the things you have access to that are different from what you're good at.' – Steven Sharif

• Those Quests will be influenced by the player's class progression via their choice of primary and secondary archetypes.

So you want to give them storyline that's relevant and make sense for them to their class progression. If I'm a fighter I should be going to a barracks and learning from this dude early on. Later on if I want to take on that mage secondary and I'm more arcane in the things I do, or more based in the essence, then yeah it makes sense for my also again for a catered quest to me that lets me focus on that route in the narrative. – Steven Sharif

Class trials

There will not be a class trial system in Ashes of Creation.

Roles

Ashes of Creation has the traditional trinity of Tank, DPS (damage dealers) and Support (healer or non-healer) roles.

We have our eight base archetypes; and the trinity is a pretty strong influence with regards to the eight base classes. However the area in which we actually begin to play with that line between the trinity is in the secondary classes that you can pick. That's where we begin to blend those spaces and allow people a little bit of influence over their role and whether or not they fit perfectly within a particular category within the trinity. – Steven Sharif

• Although traditional roles are present, players should not feel branded by their primary archetype.
• Skill augments available through the class system allow characters to be personalized outside of their primary role.
• Players can also double down on their archetype choice to strengthen their primary role.

There is a significant amount of flavor change as well as mechanics change that exists when adopting a secondary archetype as we implement that in the future. That is the intent behind the augment system that it very much changes the class fantasy and adopts one that's more representative of those of combinations. – Steven Sharif

PvX

We like to really refer to ourselves as a PvX game, because in those systems of PvP, PvE, crafting they're all intertwined: They're interdependent on each other... Our system of development really requires some interdependence there between those things. You're going to need a crafter to give you the best items. You're going to need PvPers to secure cities and castles. You're gonna need PvErs to take down those world bosses for those materials to craft. – Steven Sharif

Ashes is a comprehensive game. It is not a PvP focused or a PvE focused, it is a comprehensive PvX game and as a result these systems are all interconnected and have to coexist with one another with certain types of mechanisms that can provide that give and take, that push and shove. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation is a PvX game. Players will naturally encounter both PvP and PvE elements. It is unlikely that a player could purely focus on just PvP or just PvE.

Ashes is a PvX game; and so in that regard, your ability to wholesale disconnect from the PvP elements of the game are likely not going to be entirely successful. Now, does that mean that you can reduce your exposure to PvP? A hundred percent; and there are multiple play paths and progression points that players can elect instead to be more PvE focused, but by the sheer nature of risk-versus-reward, and risk including not being able to predict how other players might impact your gameplay, that is an element of the innate risk that exists in the multiplayer environment of a PvX setting. So, not everybody is going to like that and we accept that; and we're not trying to build a game that everybody is going to like, because everybody it's doing that is not going to be successful, because there're just people with different interests; and you know we accept that and we're very on the nose about what we're trying to achieve. The idea is not to create a gank fest, is not to create a grief fest. That is not what PvX is; and so because of that we have certain mechanisms and systems that govern the way players engage in PvP and the majority of those are opt-in, but there is always that element of risk that's governed by the flagging system. And so, if you're interested in that I would take a look at the Wiki and look up what flagging is, and look up what corruption is. My experience tells me- and my expectations of the system are that they will signal significantly reduce a player's exposure to non-consensual PvP, but that risk is always going to be present to some degree. – Steven Sharif

• A defining principle of Ashes of Creation as a PvX game is that PvE builds the world, and PvP changes the world.

• Around 80% of the content is open-world, where healthy competition is an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX game design.

• There won't be separate PvE and PvP server realms but some servers may be more PvP focused than others.

I think what's important for a developer is to focus on the identity you want to have and not to try to have every identity possible- because when you do that you get to service a core audience and servicing a core audience is a strong metric of success, meaning that you can't appeal to everyone; and the games that are choosing to double down on the PvE content, there's a large PvE crowd of players out there that just want to have PvE content and they're going to succeed with those groups and I wish them the best and I hope that they do a great job in delivering the promise of a strong central PvE focused mmorpg, because that just makes the genre better. But for Ashes, we are a PvX game. We are focused on PvX and we have been completely unabashed about that approach throughout the development history. We have been upfront and personal about what PvX means so that when we are speaking to our audience, our audience knows who they are and whether or not that's something that interests them. – Steven Sharif

• PvX players are the core audience of Ashes of Creation.

We're very clear with our objective and philosophy on the game and we understand that they may not appeal to everybody. But it is an important reciprocal relationship between the content that's related to PvE and the content that's related to PvP and they feed off of each other. They're catalysts for change: Their progression, their development. It's things that people can value when they see something earned and they see something lost. That elicits an emotional response from the player: That they've invested time in to either succeed or fail; and PvP allows for that element to be introduced into gameplay. And we're very clear that is our objective: That risk versus reward relationship, that achievement-based mentality. Not everybody's going to be a winner and that's okay. – Steven Sharif

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

• All stats relate to a player's combat effectiveness in PvX.
• There will not be different PvP and PvE gear types.

Community guides

• Ashes101 - Classes.

See also

• Roles
• Races
• Religions
• Artisan classes
• Skills
• Combat
• Weapons
• Armor
• Alpha-0