Quests
Quests in Ashes of Creation are divided into three main categories: Events, Commissions, and Story arc quests.[5][6][7][8]
- All three categories of quests will be available from a variety of local, hidden and discovered sources, such as commissions boards and NPC quest givers.[5][9]
- The various questing systems are intended to direct player activity toward content that affects the development of the world.[10]
- Nodes act as a hub; and one of the ways they direct player traffic is obviously through the commissions, the buy orders, things that essentially are supplying that demand of activity or action from the player; and then what the players choose to do is essentially the agency that's provided in helping to dictate how the world state will change.[10] – Steven Sharif
- Every type of quest can be shared with other players in the same party. This may be tuned based on Alpha-2 testing.[11][12]
- Story arc quests and events can be shared within a raid group.[13]
- Other types of quests, or commissions, if allowed within a raid group, may be selectively distributed with members of that raid.[13] For example: kill objectives may be shared, but drop objectives may go to the first member looting the drop.[14]
- If we do allow progression within narrative systems like a quest or commission, I think that's going to be distributed based on the number of raid or party participants. So, killing a particular monster is not going to get everybody a check mark on their progress towards killing 20. It's going to be one person's going to get that progression; and then it'll continue to the next person and so on and so forth. If we're talking about some questlines, like story arcs or events that have phases, or that have overall participation by many members then that progress can be shared at a party raid level. So there's different settings depending on what objective there is within a quest. Some of them will share, some of them will be distributed.[13] – Steven Sharif
- Certain quests, such as story arc quests, may not be able to be turned in after a node has advanced or has been destroyed.[15]
- Dialog choices within the quest UI are intended to affect gameplay, such as unlocking side quests and storylines.[16]
- Q: Will dialogue choices have any impact on the quests in regards to how NPCs respond to you or the overall outcome of that quest, or is it more just a role-playing perspective without any major impact?
- A: No. The dialogue choices are intended to provide an impact, both with the response of the NPC, it might also serve as predicates for other systems. If there are certain paths chosen within the dialogue tree it might unlock different side arcs and story lines that other players may not experience. The dialogue trees are not meaningless. They're meant to provide gameplay related context.[16] – Steven Sharif
List of quests
This section contains potentially outdated information from Alpha-1 testing. |
Quest givers
- Quest giver NPCs in Ashes of Creation have subtle indicators rather than obvious question marks or exclamation marks. Quest givers are identified by a green shimmer on their nameplates.[6]
- Not every quest/quest-giver will originate from within a node.[20]
- Quest giver NPCs cannot be killed by players.[21][22]
- When there is an ability to kill a NPC, there should be a good reason for killing that NPC; and denying content to other players is not necessarily a good reason. So, the quest givers themselves are not killable.[21] – Steven Sharif
Quest markers
There are not going to be obvious quest markers, such as question marks and exclamation marks telling players where to turn.[23]
- There will be subtle ways that players will acquire knowledge that something is to be done in an area.[23]
List of quest givers
This section contains potentially outdated information from Alpha-1 testing. |
- A featureless tome
- Archscholar Denari
- Attendant Wynden
- Captain Quinn
- Chief Nikota
- Corporal Cuhlum
- Corporal Perian
- Darian Laurant
- Eswyn
- Forlorn Hero
- Headmaster Varus
- Jhal
- Lieutenant Griori
- Luna, Alchemist of the Academy
- Maho, Streamweaver
- Meni, Exiled Berserker
- Olexia Fobrasna
- Private Tarston
- Rhondo Hornersharp
- Scholar Lodi
- Scholar Rhea
- Scholar Thompson
- Scout Yorren
- Sergeant Cowles
- Sergeant Landry
- Splint
List of quest rewards
Quest rewards are intended to be commensurate with the difficulty of the quest.[25]
- Scarcity is obviously what can drive the excitement or the dopamine response when that success is had. If something is easily attained then the importance of attaining it is obviously diminished... There will be very rare drop-table items; and we want to ensure that that scarcity is preserved so the importance of attaining the thing feels good.[25] – Steven Sharif
This section contains potentially outdated information from Alpha-1 testing. |
Story arcs
Story arcs are unlocked by multiple types of player activity within each server realm.[30][28][27][31]
- Every stage a node develops it's unlocking narratives, storylines, it's changing the spawn population of the area around it, changing what bosses exist, it's triggering events where you may have legendary dragons attack the city. It's basically writing the story of the server based on the actions and determination of the players. So, you may experience a dungeon one month earlier and have a completely different story that relates to this location the next month, because something has changed either geopolitically or from the node standpoint.[31] – Steven Sharif
- Personal or class-based activity.[35][36][37][38][32][33][39][34]
- It is possible for some storylines to relate to a darker/evil path, if a character should choose.[40]
- Even player driven mechanics will still have story components. There will be a reason why the player driven mechanic is available or required of the player; so every system that's created touches a story.[39] – Steven Sharif
- If there are too many other major arcs happening at the same time in the same zone, a story arc may need to wait its turn, even if conditions are right for it to be unlocked.[30]
- Story arcs drive one or more storyline quests within the game.[41][42][43][44][34]
- Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[41][42]
- The developers will try to ensure that story arcs in future expansions flow on from existing story arcs, regardless of the different possible outcomes.[41]
- Story arcs can initiate world events.[45]
- There will be a variety of different types of story arc content at different scales, with different cooldowns to suit different types of players in the game.[46]
- We must provide enough of this content at varying scales such that it isn't worthwhile or economical to control every single story arc in the world. Some will be smaller in scale and production value, and thus, will move faster and have shorter cooldowns before they're reintroduced.[46] – Skott B
- Story arcs offer content tailored to players at various adventuring levels. Lower level story arc content can influence what higher level players are able to do.[47]
- Q: Are the story arcs designed to engage players of all levels simultaneously, or certain segments specifically tailored for high-end or endgame content?
- A: We have story arcs that do both. We have story arcs that are catered towards high-end level ranges that are very specific to the types of adventuring levels that we want players to participate in that story arc, and then we have some story arcs that have different sections which cater to a broader diversity of level ranges; and the way we approach players participating in those more broader story arcs is that the activities of the lower level players feed up through the story arc, so what they're doing influences even what higher level players are able to do. And meeting the certain quota of objectives that are necessary to progress the story arc requires participation down the line across the story arc features. So, to answer your question shortly: We have both.[47] – Steven Sharif
- Corrupted resources are variations of resources that are only available in corrupted areas or during certain story arcs.[48][49][50][46]
Certain story arcs can be unlocked through the bulletin board system. Certain requirements would need to be met in order to access story arc quests.[51]
- Mayors require certain resources.[51]
- Buildings are required within a node.[51]
- Social organization tasks need to be completed.[51]
Story arc chapters
Each chapter (phase) in a story arc can cause changes across the entire server realm, such as environments, monsters, NPCs, Quests, and pathways.[43][29][32][33][34]
- Players can progress a chapter by completing story arc quests within the timeframe that each chapter is active.[43]
- Phase timers are shown (in the quest UI) to indicate how much real-world time is available to complete the quests in each phase.[42]
- If the player completes all quests in a particular chapter, they will need to wait until the next chapter to obtain further quests.[52]
- Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[41][42]
- It's not just a matter of completing the laundry list of things that the NPC has you do, but you pick from a whole bunch of objectives, many of them optional. Some of them, if not most of them, hidden when you first undertake the quest. So go dig up a guide, or blaze your own trail, or whatever; but depending on which objectives you complete, those are the things that help the server aggregate what is going to happen in later phases of the story arc. And that's across all of the players participating during that time frame: what objectives they decide to complete.[42] – Skott B
- Story arcs can last for days, which reduces pressure to log in daily to remain competitive.[53]
- Story arcs normally progress according to the passage of real-time, which is clearly indicated in your quest journals. Even if a zerg guild throws all their resources at a story arc, they can't lock anyone out of participating by doing all the participation on their own. You'll have the time indicated in your quest journal to finish the content available in that chapter.[46] – Skott B
- Most story arcs will repeat with a cooldown, but major story arcs will only occur one-time: These can be replayed, but in a non-interactive way where any choices made do not impact the world.[53][54]
- The cooldowns between arcs repeating will also be quite long- proportional to the length of the chapters, but we're still in pursuit of the right numbers there. You can't do the individual quests again until the entire arc restarts.[52] – Skott B
Story arc quests
Story arc quests (Storyline quests/Narrative quests) contain objectives for each chapter of a story arc.[41][42][43][44][34][8]
- Players can progress each chapter by completing story arc quests within the timeframe that each chapter is active.[43]
- Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[41][42][44]
- You can't really farm the quests in any meaningful way, because once you've done the quests in a chapter, that's it until the next chapter. Whether 1000 people participate or 10, the chapters will stay active for the same length of time, and as long as you participate in the clearly-marked time frame in your quest journal, you're good. The only thing that a concentrated effort can help with is influencing the narrative paths through the arcs.[52] – Skott B
- These quests stages can be failed. The ability to retry a failed quest depends on Node progression.[44]
- There will be many different quests that actually have stages of the storyline; and these stages can actually be failed. You can actually fail a storyline; which sucks when you think about it, but at the same time that risk makes your investment that much more important.[44] – Steven Sharif
- Quests may differ based on the stages of nearby nodes, seasonal influences, and events such as world bosses.[55]
- Quests involving citizens from multiple nodes are unlocked based on the alliances and other relationships between the nodes and their progression.[56]
Events
Events are things that happen in Ashes of Creation as the result of development in the world.[59][60] There are several different types of events that are triggered due to certain conditions (predicates) being met.[45][61][57][62] Events are scaled to fit local, regional, and global needs.[63][8]
- Events... can be local, regional or global, and consist of boons or banes. They’re triggered based on a lot of different variables, and some may be one-off Events that occur once, and never again. If an Event is handled successfully, then something good happens to the local, regional, or global area. If it fails, then something bad befalls the local, regional or global area. They’ll relate to the overall Narrative, but don’t fall into its overall structure (for the most part). These are the things that will be written into history, and we imagine that as time grows, each server’s history will diverge more and more.[64]
- Some events incorporate random story-driven interruptions to the normal flow of the world, such as blocking off specific roadways, having a random raid boss or mobs appear unexpectedly in a zone. Some may lead to wider consequences, such as climate change, plagues, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, or other natural disasters.[65][59][66][67][68]
- There are events that lead to the spreading of corruption that players will have to fight back against. When these events occur players will need to participate to keep the intrusion on the material plane back.[69][70][71]
- Events that are taken care of successfully have positive consequences and provide rewards based on the contribution of players during the event.[72][8]
- There are certain effects that can happen in a world that does not have a proper response from the player population and that's the whole idea behind these events that can happen; that feel like these are natural world progression events if corruption starts to show itself as a response- as a push back to the player's development of nodes in the world itself.[69] – Steven Sharif
- Events that reach a fail condition can have negative consequences.[73][69][8]
- There is the ability to fail. I know that is a strange concept for a lot of us nowadays playing more modern games, but there is absolutely a way to fail.[73] – Steven Sharif
- Events have cooldowns in addition to the predicates that are required to trigger them.[73]
- Events absolutely do have cooldowns that cannot be forced to spawn repeatedly over and over again. Those cooldowns are not just something that's based on a timer, they're also predicated on certain actions occurring within the world.[74] – Steven Sharif
- If events are not triggered within a certain time period, they could occur randomly.[60]
- Some events will only be available while story arcs are in certain chapters.[52]
- There may be one-off events.[64]
- Events do not directly impact class effectiveness but there may be ancillary effects in terms of availability of equipment, enchantments or tattoos.[75]
Event types
There are a variety of different types of events that are triggered due to certain conditions (predicates) being met.[45][61][57][62]
- Calendar events.[57][77][78]
- Caravan events.[79][59]
- Monster coin events.[57][80][81]
- Narrative events.[57][82][62][8]
- Node war events.[83][84]
- Node attacks.[57][80][69]
- POI events.[57][82]
- PvP events.[57][82][85]
- World events.[45][57][62]
Monster coin events
Monster coins enable players to play as monsters within the monster coin event system. This ranges from playing as a horde of zombies, to becoming a massive dragon.[89][80][81]
- During a Monster Coin Event, players will be able to activate Monster Coins, allowing them to become monsters and wreak havoc! These Events can be triggered in a variety of different ways, and in some cases they may even provide cosmetic rewards.[57]
Monster coin events are system spawned events that will occur even if players do not participate in controlling a monster.[90][80][91]
- The events themselves occur regardless of if coins are at play. A coin allows players to control some of these creatures during the events.[90]
- They are structured in a way to prevent groups from gaming the system.[91]
- Monster coin events are triggered by activity in the world, such as node advancement, defeating a boss or constructing certain types of buildings within a node.[92]
- Server messages appear for players in the vicinity of these dynamic events.[93]
- The player will have a number of potential objectives they can choose to attack during the event. This may include node buildings, points-of-interest, dungeon, NPC, or other open-world objective.[86]
- When you're playing as a as a monster from the monster coin use as part of an NPC event that might be targeting a node, or other some other open-world objective or POI, or dungeon, you get to participate as a monster and your focus is completing objectives that have already been prescribed as part of the event.[86] – Steven Sharif
- Drop tables are disabled for player controlled monsters.[94]
- Monster coins only allow a character to participate in events on their own server.[95]
- NPC hate lists do not affect monster coin events.[86]
The Ancients are not going to be part of the monster coin system.[96]
- Traditionally, the Ancients are not going to be part of the Monster Coin system. These are the primary antagonists of the story. From a lore perspective, and one of the reasons why they're not a part of the Monster Coin system, is because their souls have really developed almost to the point of perfection in manipulating the Essence for more corrupt uses. They haven't quite gotten there, and who knows if they ever will, but that attunes them out of the possibility: The reason why the monster coin system is possible with other creatures.[97] – Steven Sharif
Side quests
Side quests are quests with a variety of objectives that can pop-up while adventuring in the world.[99][98]
- Side quests give a variety of rewards and can lead into larger quest chains.[100][98]
- Some side quests can be hidden.[98]
- Side quests- these are a variety of quests with a variety of objectives that exist in the actual world itself: so they can be hidden in various ways; and so during your adventures, you want to pay attention around you cuz one might pop up on your map and if you're lucky you might notice it and be able to obtain it and it might lead into a really big quest chain.[98] – Tony Garcia
- Side quests will spawn based on player activity and world states in a similar manner to commissions.[99][100]
- Just like any of our spawning systems, like with what Tyler is getting at with the commission board, they all are reading world states to determine what is allowed to spawn and where it should spawn and things like that. So, different side quests can appear depending on the world state.[100] – Skott B
- Side quests are completed by turning the quest in to the designated quest giver NPC.[101]
Commissions
Commissions (previously called Tasks) are simple types of system-generated quests with singular objectives that enable characters and nodes to gain XP.[99][5][103][104][105][106][107][108]
- Commissions are posted on commission boards in nodes, which refresh approximately every 30 minutes (subject to change based on Alpha-2 testing). Everybody in the node can see and access the commissions relevant to their level and node reputation.[109][99][10][110][5]
- Everyone sees the same commissions relevant to their level range. Some commissions you see are more rare than others and will require sufficient reputation within the node in order to accept.[109] – Steven Sharif
- Commissions fall into categories based on node type, buildings constructed, social organizations, religions, and node policies.[111]
- Node commissions have dedicated commission slots that are categorized by such things as; node type, buildings constructed, social org, religion and policy.[111] – Steven Sharif
- Commissions are assigned rarities, which scale the rewards for their completion. More developed nodes will offer rarer commissions that are available to players with sufficient node reputation.[109][99][5]
- The rewards basically grow quite a lot depending on the rarity of the commission that gets dealt; and these get dealt for everybody... You can improve your chances of getting rare commissions for your node depending on how you develop your node.[5] – Skott B
- Commissions respond to (and can influence) different conditions in the world, such as weather, time of day, story arcs, and events. Commissions (along with other Node systems) attempt to lead players into areas where relevant content can be found.[10][110]
- Every 30 minutes or so the board will refresh. The server will query a bunch of different information about the world; and this is from ranging from story arcs that are active, story arcs that have been completed, weather, time of day- a whole bunch of different range of factors. The board will attempt to deliver commissions that are relevant to these areas and they will try to lead you into areas where more content can be found.[110] – Tyler Carroll
- Player characters may only have 20 active commissions at one time (subject to change based on Alpha-2 testing). This does not include other quest types, such as side quests, or story arc quests.[112]
- The types of commissions available in a node will be representative of the identity of that node, such as its social organizations, religious organizations, and node policies.[113]
- Q: Will commissions include tasks or quests that are reflective of the node type that they are issued in, or the nodes affiliation with a specific social organizations?
- A: Yes. The answer is yes. Nodes will reflect the theming that the node has and that theming can be influenced by things such as the identity of the node from a node type perspective, what social organizations, what religious organizations, even what policies the node has chosen to enact. Those will all be represented in the types of commissions that the node has to pull from; and so in that way you are solidifying the identity of that node; and again the dynamic state of the world that gets represented.[113] – Steven Sharif
- Commissions are similar to mayoral commissions but they are system-generated rather than initiated by Mayors.[105]
- Mayoral commissions are specifically chosen by the mayor, which is similar to the regular commission system, but that system is more system generated.[105] – Chris Justo
Mayoral commissions
Mayoral commissions are simple types of quests with singular objectives that are able to be initiated by mayors.[117][118][119][120]
- There are a limited number of commission slots available to be set by the mayor at any one time.[117][105][119]
- The list of commissions available to the Mayor resets daily. Completed commissions will go on cooldown and won't be able to be selected again until the cooldown period has ended.[121]
- More mayoral commissions will become available as the node progresses; and the commissions that are available will change based on how the node is built.[117]
- Access to commissions is based on node type, location, building choices, and predominant node race.[118][119]
- There will be a cap to the number of commissions that can be accepted by a single player.[105]
- Completing mayoral commissions will reward the node with node commodities, node-to-node reputation, mandates, and temporary buffs to buildings or zones.[117][118][119]
- Players will receive experience, node reputation, node currency, and other miscellaneous rewards.[118][119][120]
- Important commissions, such as War Preparations, will require large numbers of dedicated players to successfully complete.[122]
- It has not yet been confirmed by the developers if these will be restricted to node citizens.[123]
- My inclination is that for certain types of node actions that grant the mayor certain node powers that we will expect only citizen participation at a certain threshold, but it's something that obviously we're going to be testing in A2.[123] – Steven Sharif
- Mayoral commissions can be conducted by both citizens and non-citizens, but only citizen contribution will generate mandates for the node.[105][119]
- Mayoral commissions are selected by the Mayor, whereas regular commissions are system-generated.[104][105]
- Q: Is participation always going to be greater for larger nodes by default, or can a small node with close to 100 participation still greatly benefit from them?
- A: That's gonna come down to what commissions the mayor is initiating. Level three nodes aren't going to be initiating mayoral commissions that require thousands of players to participate, because they don't have access to those; where Metropolises that have a huge citizenship base will get access to those kinds of commissions. So the rewards will be proportionate to the node level and the expected amount of citizens.[124] – Chris Justo
List of commissions
This section contains potentially outdated information from Alpha-1 testing. |
PvP quests
There will be PvP quests in Ashes of Creation.[125]
- There are quests that interact with PvP. PvP is not a secondary component of the game. PvP is an equitable component of the game. Remember we are a PvX game, which means that we emphasize both PvE quest lines and story modes and content as well as PvP. It is an intended design theory for Ashes of Creation that the world is not filled with just your friends. The world is also filled with adversaries; and because of that we will provide opportunities to encourage social friction; and that may be in the form of these PvP oriented questlines.[125] – Steven Sharif
Daily quests
Daily quests will not be prevalent in Ashes of Creation.[126][127]
- We don't really have dailies.[126] – Steven Sharif
- Story arc chapters/quests can last for days, which reduces pressure to log in daily to remain competitive.[53]
- There will not be an obligation to login each day.[127][128]
- Will likely not be RNG based.[127]
- Focused around how changes in the world relate to a player's opportunities.[127]
- Location matters due to the lack of fast travel.[127]
- I don't think those will be RNG based. Those will be probably- you will see the reward structure for those types of quests. Will they be dailies? No they won't be in the sense of what we've experienced dailies in the past where you feel so obligated to log in and like you'll miss these things. It's more gonna be focused around like how the world is changing and how the changes in the world relate to your opportunities; and then if your location's gonna matter because fast travel is not a thing, where you're located at is going to determine your the risk versus reward opportunities that are present; and then depending on the time that those occur.[127] – Steven Sharif
Grinding
Repetition will not be part of progression in Ashes of Creation.[129][130]
- There will be no "grindy" quests.[130]
- There will not be repetitive quest lines through a single dungeon to obtain gear.[131]
- The aspiration is to have more things to do in the game than a player has time to do.[130]
- There's a lot of different systems that I think leverage the art of deduction and gathering more information, rather than just smashing your face into the keyboard repeatedly.[129] – Steven Sharif
Racial quests
Quests may be based on a character's race.[132]
Different quests may relate to who the primary cultural contributor is to a node. This won't lock out content, but will add flavor to the quests.[132]
There might even be different directories of the quest that exist for specific races, and even though you're sharing a quest to kill a boss, if you're human and I'm an elf, I will have a different arc potentially that leads in a different direction than you, even though we took the same quest; and this can relate to who the primary cultural contributor is to a node unlocking different arcs for cultures that share the primary culture of a node - not that locks out content but it gives a flavor in a different direction so that not everything is so cookie cutter.[132] – Steven Sharif
Race matters because narratives have paths that also are influenced based on the primary contributing culture to the node... If you're a Niküa and you have you're in a Niküa node that's predominantly Niküa, you're going to have certain services and/or abilities as a member of the Niküa race that other races may not have access to... They may have alternative quest lines, but they won't have specific ones. Now those specific Niküa quests will then relate to the meta-narrative that's present in the world and they'll start to direct some of that meta-narrative; and that'll be beneficial for your kind because it will unlock certain content for your race that other races haven't unlocked yet. So there is an incentive there to see progression along that line now in order to curb the progress of a dominant race.[133] – Steven Sharif
Quests that are race specific, title specific, or guild specific will likely be less than 10% of the total number of quests. 90% of quests should be able to be shared by everybody.[134]
NPC races
- NPCs will react differently to different character races.[132]
- Languages will be distinct between NPC races and in the lore.[135]
- Certain quest givers and NPCs may only be present at nodes with certain cultural influences.[136]
- Depending on the cultural influence of the node activates certain types of quest lines and/or sponsors. Some of those are shared, some of those are general. Some of those relate to a progression path that is a first time user experience. Those will be constant across all culture types. Some of them, however, are predicates that spawn when certain story arcs and/or events, or commissions or buy orders become present within the node; and those might change based on the cultural influence of the node. So there is a separation between those populations.[136] – Steven Sharif
Class-specific quests
There will be class-specific quests in Ashes of Creation.[137]
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.'[137] – Steven Sharif
- Those Quests will be influenced by the player's class progression via their choice of primary and secondary archetypes.[137]
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.[138] – Steven Sharif
Solo quests
Ashes of Creation provides gameplay options for solo oriented players.[140]
- For those solo players who don't really care about finding a community to play with but they want to have one when they need it, there's going to be a lot of opportunities from a dialogue perspective, in-game chat options; you can join as part of citizenships: there's a lot of pseudo factions there- social organizations that give you an in to other players without the strong bonds that typically come with guild-oriented organizations; and I think that that's a comfortable medium between the two.[140] – Steven Sharif
- Certain quest lines and hunting grounds are devoted towards solo players.[140][2]
- Node citizenship and social organizations provide the ability to interact without the strong bonds that typically come with guild-oriented organizations.[140][141]
- Mechanics exist within larger conflicts for small groups and solo players to impact the battle.[142]
- This includes systems that will likely focus on single group sized participants while the larger battle is occurring.[142]
- A shorter TTK is expected to help solo players and smaller groups compete with larger groups or zergs.[143]
Epic/legendary quests
Epic and Legendary quests affect the narrative of the game.[7] These quests will unlock gated content.[144]
Voice acting
- NPCs will have voice acted audio greetings and incantations.[145][146][147]
- Narrated quest lines are not currently planned for launch.[146] It has been stated that adding voice acting into the game at a later point will be a fairly cosmetic change.[146]
- Is it difficult to add voice acting later? No, it's definitely not... It's a fairly cosmetic change.[146] – Steven Sharif
- I think that some of the technology and the advancements that we've seen, not just within the gaming industry but a broad scope of AI influence, is something that we are keeping a close eye on and we have some plans to investigate and inspect a few of the designs and approaches that we've taken, particularly as it relates I think to this question and AI voiceover potential to influence our narrative loops and how players interact with general AI dialogue; and there is an opportunity there, but it's not one that we have fully explored yet, although it is on the docket for the first part of next year for us to analyze what potential exists from a leveraging standpoint for this new tech; and I would say, stay tuned next year as we give updates. You'll likely see some things, perhaps even in Alpha-2 that could relate to that, we'll see. But, it is something we are aware of and we are keeping close tabs on how to integrate and leverage as part of Ashes.[149] – Steven Sharif
System driven caravans
System driven caravans (also referred to as Quest driven caravans) are system spawned caravans that are used for trade routes between nodes.[151][152][153]
- These are initiated by players with a diverse choice of routes and launch windows, making them difficult to zerg.[154]
- Initiating a caravan from one node to another will create a PvP objective that players will need to defend while it moves along its chosen route to the selected destination.[2]
- Roads will upgrade as nodes advance. Different roads will dictate the speed and type of caravan required (off road vs on road).[155]
- 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.[154] – Steven Sharif
Mayoral caravans
Mayoral caravans (also referred to as Trade caravans) are launched by Mayors to obtain needed resources from other nodes.[45][151][152]
- Nodes answering these resource requests must have a trade agreement or alliance with the requesting node.[151][152][156]
- Once the requesting mayor accepts a fill order from another node, a system driven caravan is spawned to transit the goods.[151][152]
- Players can participate in helping to defend the caravan if they wish.[151]
- Trade caravans can initiate world events.[45]
- Mayors who need certain resources that either they don't have enough of, or that they're prospectively investing in: they will initiate a mayor request, and any node that sees that request on the mayoral caravan drop-down menu will have an opportunity to attempt to fulfill the trade request. In order to fulfill a trade request, a node must have a certain level of relationship with that requesting node. At a minimum it has to be a trade agreement relationship; and then there's a limited number of those trade relationships that you can have; and that scales up to eventually alliance perspective. And then, once the node requesting mayor accepts a potential fill order, then a system spawned caravan is generated and the transit is completed. Players can participate in helping to defend that or not.[151] – Steven Sharif
Escort quests
Escort quests will require different movement speeds based on the challenges being faced.[157]
There are going to be different speeds that are going to be utilized. So you might be walking through one area and then they might start running and you might have to keep up and that might be time for certain ambushes that are intended along the design path. If you don't address that ambush in a quick manner your escortee has already started running off to the next thing and now he's getting ambushed by the next thing.[157] – Steven Sharif
Quests and reputation
Good actions, such as completing buy orders, commissions, and caravan trips, can cause a character to gain positive node reputation. Bad actions taken, such as failing certain quests, may result in gaining negative reputation. This reputation is gained or lost on a per-node basis.[99][158][157]
- Whether you're a citizen or not, you can establish reputation within a node; and the way you establish that reputation is by completing buy orders, completing commissions and quests, and even completing caravan trips there or out of there. Different interactions that you would do with the node can yield you reputation within that particular node.[99] – Steven Sharif
- Node reputation applies to both node citizens and non-citizens.[99]
- Excessive negative reputation may cause a character to be deemed enemy of the state of a node.[157]
- Negative reputation may open up certain quest lines that the darker, seedier side of the world are interested in.[157]
- The more good aligned or civilization building aligned tasks that you complete, you get higher positive reputation. But if you get low or bad reputation you could be deemed enemy of the state of a node. You could be deemed a bad actor and it might raise prices for you, but it also might open up certain quest lines that the darker, seedier side of the world are interested in.[157] – Steven Sharif
Certain NPCs and node vendors will react differently to player characters based on their reputation within the node or with "factions" within the node (such as social organizations).[159][160][157][161]
- Node reputation affects access to certain node vendors, specific goods or services that they sell, and the pricing of those items.[158][157]
- Higher node reputation can unlock rarer commissions.[99]
- NPC guards will kill corrupted players on sight.[162]
- Node reputation is a separate mechanic that also deals as a predicate for the vendors that you have access to as a player. And so you can establish that node reputation by doing certain activities within the node, by progressing within certain social organizations, or certain religions within the node; and then that predicate serves as your access either to items granularly within a vendor's access table, or to just vendors as a whole. It just depends; and there's different thresholds you have to meet across different vendors.[158] – Steven Sharif
- NPCs will add a player to their hate list if that player heals, buffs or otherwise assists any player on their hate list.[163]
Collection quests
There will be collection quests.[164]
Quest sponsorship
Players can sponsor quests on a bulletin board.[165]
Removing player corruption
The primary means to remove corruption is through death. Multiple deaths may be necessary to remove all corruption.[167][168]
- Dying removes a significant portion of a player's corruption score.[169]
- Gaining experience will also slowly reduce a player's corruption score.[170][171][167]
- Any experience that's gained by the player, whether it be through achievements in crafting, or in adventuring, or through other types of achievements: All of that experience goes towards your adventuring class experience gained; and then some experience can dual purpose towards professions as well. So if I reach an achievement in my crafting profession and that grants me additional experience within that profession to rank up, it will also grant the same amount of experience over in my adventuring level; and to that point, anytime you gain adventuring experience you tick away at the corruption.[170] – Steven Sharif
- A quest may be utilized to reduce the player kill (PK) count of a corrupt player in order for them to accumulate less corruption score in the future.[172][169]
- Corruption duration is reduced in military nodes.[174]
Screenshots
2024-03-02 2024-03-01 2024-03-01
See also
References
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2020 (6:25).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 About Ashes of Creation.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Video, January 27, 2023 (9:43).
- ↑ Livestream, February 24, 2023 (42:20).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Video, February 29, 2024 (2:19).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Video, May 31, 2020 (5:25).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Livestream, May 15, 2017 (20:58).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:22:01).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Video, February 29, 2024 (13:11).
- ↑ Livestream, February 29, 2024 (54:42).
- ↑ Livestream, February 29, 2024 (51:51).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Livestream, March 29, 2024 (2:34:43).
- ↑ Livestream, March 29, 2024 (2:37:02).
- ↑ Livestream, February 29, 2024 (53:58).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (1:10:08).
- ↑ Blog: Creative Director's Letter, October 16 2020
- ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (9:21).
- ↑ Forums - Livestream Q&A 2022-08-26.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (53:17).
- ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:32:45).
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (52:39).
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Livestream, February 24, 2023 (37:11).
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (1:24:31).
- ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (14:14).
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Video, March 31, 2023 (3:32).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Video, March 31, 2023 (1:22).
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Video, March 31, 2023 (6:30).
- ↑ 30.0 30.1
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Video, April 5, 2018 (35:01).
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (1:05:37).
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:15:29).
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 34.6 Livestream, January 18, 2018 (39:08).
- ↑ Livestream, April 7, 2023 (55:22).
- ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:00:16).
- ↑ Livestream, October 28, 2022 (32:52).
- ↑ Livestream, June 1, 2017 (37:39).
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 Livestream, May 30, 2019 (1:18:16).
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (15:37).
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (58:39).
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 42.6 42.7 Video, March 31, 2023 (14:20).
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 Video, March 31, 2023 (12:47).
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 44.4 Interview, October 20, 2018 (2:36:25).
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 45.5 Video, September 29, 2023 (2:59).
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (8:54).
- ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (47:05).
- ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2023 (59:10).
- ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (16:42).
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 Livestream, October 31, 2017 (29:50).
- ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 52.3 52.4 52.5
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (49:32).
- ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (25:20).
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (1:12:51).
- ↑ Livestream, July 25, 2020 (1:50:20).
- ↑ 57.00 57.01 57.02 57.03 57.04 57.05 57.06 57.07 57.08 57.09 57.10 57.11 Types of Events on Verra.
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (23:33).
- ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 59.3 Podcast, April 11, 2021 (23:36).
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 Livestream, May 3, 2017 (46:18).
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (37:56).
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (44:13).
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 Interview: Ashes of Creation on Building Their Virtual World, 2017-04-13.
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (32:29).
- ↑ Livestream, June 26, 2020 (1:29:06).
- ↑ Our immersive world - Environments.
- ↑ Livestream, May 8, 2017 (20:27).
- ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 69.3 Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:13:30).
- ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (50:03).
- ↑ Livestream, November 8, 2020 (12:47).
- ↑ Video, September 29, 2023 (9:40).
- ↑ 73.0 73.1 73.2 Livestream, September 29, 2023 (42:55).
- ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (43:47).
- ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (54:35).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (36:51).
- ↑ Livestream, May 10, 2017 (40:36).
- ↑ Video, October 31, 2023 (34:12).
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (39:00).
- ↑ 81.0 81.1
- ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (40:21).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (21:14).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (17:03).
- ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (41:30).
- ↑ 86.0 86.1 86.2 86.3 Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:20:24).
- ↑ Video, May 25, 2017 (0:02).
- ↑ IGN: Ashes of Creation first look: An MMO that lets you be the boss.
- ↑ Livestream, June 30, 2023 (1:50:52).
- ↑ 90.0 90.1
- ↑ 91.0 91.1
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (22:19).
- ↑ Livestream, May 3, 2017 (36:25).
- ↑ Livestream, May 3, 2017 (35:25).
- ↑ Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:36:05).
- ↑ Podcast, November 15, 2020 (47:12).
- ↑ Podcast, November 15, 2020 (51:22).
- ↑ 98.0 98.1 98.2 98.3 98.4 Video, February 29, 2024 (6:07).
- ↑ 99.0 99.1 99.2 99.3 99.4 99.5 99.6 99.7 99.8 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (57:27).
- ↑ 100.0 100.1 100.2 Video, February 29, 2024 (8:32).
- ↑ 101.0 101.1 Video, February 29, 2024 (26:17).
- ↑ Video, February 29, 2024 (4:18).
- ↑
- ↑ 104.0 104.1
- ↑ 105.0 105.1 105.2 105.3 105.4 105.5 105.6 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (42:05).
- ↑ Alpha-1 screenshot.
- ↑ Alpha-1 screenshot.
- ↑ Livestream, May 12, 2017 (42:17).
- ↑ 109.0 109.1 109.2
- ↑ 110.0 110.1 110.2 Video, February 29, 2024 (5:11).
- ↑ 111.0 111.1
- ↑ 112.0 112.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (50:29).
- ↑ 113.0 113.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (1:18:21).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (10:02).
- ↑ Livestream, August 31, 2023 (43:07).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (0:46).
- ↑ 117.0 117.1 117.2 117.3 117.4 Video, May 31, 2024 (5:42).
- ↑ 118.0 118.1 118.2 118.3 118.4 Blog: Development Update with Village Node.
- ↑ 119.0 119.1 119.2 119.3 119.4 119.5 119.6 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (39:17).
- ↑ 120.0 120.1 Interview, July 8, 2020 (1:04:05).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (12:16).
- ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (11:13).
- ↑ 123.0 123.1 Livestream, July 3, 2024 (1:57:57).
- ↑ Livestream, August 31, 2023 (43:27).
- ↑ 125.0 125.1 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (1:06:47).
- ↑ 126.0 126.1
- ↑ 127.0 127.1 127.2 127.3 127.4 127.5 Interview, August 17, 2018 (23:47).
- ↑ Livestream, May 30, 2017 (9:34).
- ↑ 129.0 129.1 Livestream, July 31, 2024 (2:28:04).
- ↑ 130.0 130.1 130.2 Livestream, May 15, 2017 (26:13).
- ↑ Interview, August 24, 2018 (4:15).
- ↑ 132.0 132.1 132.2 132.3 132.4 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (29:56).
- ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (1:00:19).
- ↑ Livestream, July 26, 2019 (1:13:23).
- ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2022 (4:57).
- ↑ 136.0 136.1 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:35:28).
- ↑ 137.0 137.1 137.2 Podcast, April 11, 2021 (44:29).
- ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (46:10).
- ↑ Video, September 30, 2022 (23:13).
- ↑ 140.0 140.1 140.2 140.3 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (2:40).
- ↑ Livestream, May 8, 2017 (28:48).
- ↑ 142.0 142.1
- ↑ Podcast, May 10, 2024 (40:31).
- ↑ Livestream, May 8, 2017 (50:32).
- ↑ Podcast, May 10, 2024 (28:43).
- ↑ 146.0 146.1 146.2 146.3 Interview, October 20, 2018 (2:22:09).
- ↑ Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (25:12).
- ↑ Livestream, May 31, 2023 (45:26).
- ↑ 149.0 149.1 Livestream, December 19, 2023 (3:59).
- ↑ Forums - Livestream Q&A - May 31, 2023.
- ↑ 151.0 151.1 151.2 151.3 151.4 151.5 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (2:10:23).
- ↑ 152.0 152.1 152.2 152.3 152.4 Video, July 15, 2019 (2:12).
- ↑ Livestream, July 28, 2017 (19:43).
- ↑ 154.0 154.1
- ↑ Livestream, February 9, 2018 (45:48).
- ↑ City hall.
- ↑ 157.0 157.1 157.2 157.3 157.4 157.5 157.6 157.7 Livestream, December 23, 2021 (1:26:36).
- ↑ 158.0 158.1 158.2 Livestream, August 31, 2023 (1:06:01).
- ↑ Livestream, July 28, 2023 (1:19:55).
- ↑ Livestream, February 24, 2023 (1:22:04).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, February 28, 2020 (1:14:38).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (29:45).
- ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (48:48).
- ↑ Livestream, October 31, 2017 (30:34).
- ↑ Livestream, July 9, 2018 (20:41).
- ↑ 167.0 167.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (44:35).
- ↑ Interview, April 27, 2017 (0:17).
- ↑ 169.0 169.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (30:51).
- ↑ 170.0 170.1 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:27:18).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, June 4, 2018 (2:18).
- ↑