Talk:2020-07-20 Discord Q&A

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Underwater nodes?

Steven: No they're not underwater nodes, there are coastal nodes and those, the coastal nodes activate the spawn tables and change them for different points of interest that are out in the underwater areas and island expansion options

I do have one question: did you ever play destiny the first one?

Steven: Yeah I played a little bit of destiny

How did you feel about it?

Steven: I thought it was a good game

It wasn't his destiny to continue

yeah we got a calm comedian over here

my dad's a chad

So the different years of nodes can you like explain like which each tier will unlock I guess in like an example

well that's yeah because though you can get mostly just information as far as like level 10s will be one level 20s will be two and that's not really too much to go on

yeah we haven't really gotten like a good quality like answer

Steven: so the question is what do each of the stages unlock

yeah

[Inauble nonsense]

Just like just like some examples you don't got to name everything just like

Steven: Okay I was like how late are we going to stay up

[Laughs]Like are there gonna be stronger enemies as far as like is there gonna be respawned enemies and the other ones despawn to where they're gonna be stronger are they gonna be different are they gonna have different actual attack patterns?

Steven: Yes so essentially what happens is at least on a spawn front the areas around nodes they have what are called stat tables and the dynamic spawn tables are tied too are usually housed around points of interest or dungeons and different types of encounters so when the node advances depending on the type of the node that inherits the area with the point of interest or different dynamic spawn tables that can influence the the breed of NPC essentially the the faction the race of the NPC it can also influence the types of AIs that the NPC's will employ and it will increase the level of the NPC's as well.

Is that random?

Steven: No this is structurally built with some

So there's like a brain behind it?

Steven: Well yeah we call them parameters so essentially, you know, we want there to be a variable variance so it's not the same thing each time if that node levels up differently, you know, and within those parameters are acceptable NPC classes that can be selected for the different progressions.

So it has to make like check in order to be spawned basicly

Steven: Sort of yeah but like if you think like, you know, systems and buildings that come online I mean, you know, at the third stage is when all the government becomes active it's when they're siegeable this is when mayors can get elected and then at the the fourth stage, you know, additional apartment buildings come online that the can, you hear me still?

Yeah

Steven: Oh, Okay. At the fourth stage the mayor has the option to like build up additional apartment buildings and that's when you're gonna see, you know, nodes start to expand significantly the other thing is like, you know, housing at the third stage is only going to be small size housing that's available fourth stage becomes the medium size become introduced the fifth stage the large becomes introduced and at the six stage the mansions start to come online and, you know, your housing can advance in each of those stages. I mean there's a lot of stuff that there's eight stage is a significant by a factor of additional systems that start to activate.

I have one question with that if a person like comes from a level one node and wanders over to our node that's like level three or four would the enemies just destroy him?

Steven: No, no no no no. So think of nodes as like NPC cities that you would normally experience in an MMO right, nodes are not like hostile to just independent players. The only time a note is hostile to a player is if that player is a declared citizen of a node and in which the node you're entering has declared a war against and then there's a set period of time where those there were those citizens are flagged for PvP against each other with no with no corruption consequence.

I think he's not saying like the little area

Yes I'm talking about the actual AI that you fight

Steven: Like NPC monsters?

Yeah yeah like the monsters in tier three. would it be too high because he came from a level one zone where he wasn't getting a lot of xp now the enemy is strong?

Steven: I see. Okay yeah so remember I was telling you there's static spawn tables and then there's dynamic spawn tables? So the regionality of the game still adheres to a a traditional inward circle difficulty that you might experience in other games right? And that reflects on these static spawn tables so regions are always going to have static spawn tables that allow that normal progression in difficulty. And then the dynamics bond tables those get more difficult as the node levels. So if you're a level one person in a level one area and a node gets to the size of a metropolis you're still going to have static spawn tables that reflect the content appropriate for that level one person but PoIs are going to come online around that region because the node has advanced to a higher stage and when those POIs dynamic spawn tables come online they're going to spawn higher level creatures.

Oh so he can be randomly walking around and you see an enemy that's not really supposed to be there he restricts you, that's part of the dynamic right?

Steven: Exactly and that's if you choose to go in those certain areas you can stay with this with the static ones and that's relevant to your experience. Now this is all beneficial because, you know, as I talked about earlier. MMOs suffer from that starting zone emptiness later on and if there is content that's relevant for the end game players for a new player that comes in six months later at least they're going to be introduced into that social dynamic which is such an important part of keeping players interested in the game.

Follow-up question on nodes: How long do you think it would take a node to go from nothing, to the like fully upgraded metropolis?

Steven: I would think that would take months. And that's kind of the way that we're structuring the experience thresholds. Now obviously the nodes employ a algorithmic, you know, heuristic approach to kind of taking set segments of time and adapting the necessary thresholds to reflect this server population and density but the idea is to incorporate in in each of those interstitial stage advancements a significant period of time so that the effort is reflected as an investment from the player's side.

I got a quick question about nodes. So we know that there's been some information on say like scholar notes having the ability to build like fast travel when they're metropolis to areas with their zone of influence. Has there been ideas that are being kicked around about the unique benefits for say a military node or an economic node that could kind of rival the utility or the power of that scholar node feature?

Steven: Absolutely so we call these the essentially the node superpowers. And the superpowers differ from node type so the superpower that is the, you know, the teleportation ability for connecting all the vassal nodes with the scientific metropolis that's a that's a pretty significant change in in the way that the game exists essentially for players and it will reflect in that region since metropolises encompass about one-fifth of the world's total surface area. Let's say for example on the economic front, you know, one of the the major, oops can you still hear me? (yeah yeah) one of the major benefits of essentially creating this economic metropolis is the ability to connect all of the vassal state nodes into essentially a connected auction house system (Ah, Okay) so without that economic metropolis there is no connected auction house with all of those lesser nodes and I think didn't we put out didn't I put out an economic node?

Yes I'm thinking I'm linking an AoC discussion right now the scientific and economic node blogs, which will give you the full picture.

Steven: Yeah, so we haven't released the blogs yet on the military and the divine node benefits for the superpower stuff but it they're pretty significant.

All right I have two questions number one for a divine note any possibility of calling divine power upon another no for a battle?

Steven: So Not exactly like that.

But it's not a 'No' so there's still a chance?

Steven: But yeah I mean you could role play some divine power if you declare war on another node

So you can't use the arc of the coventant to strike us down?

Steven: If i was to think of ways you could of that maybe. The reliquary system does provide certain benefits that can be used during node sieges and they are proximity based and some of them could have lore behind it that is more divine in nature. But there's no specific like divine.

Right, yeah, obviously yeah. So my other question regarding nodes would be so: let's say I were to get a group of eight players, you know, the general like, you know, group size you've stated how long, or is it possible per se for a group of eight people to let's say they start out in the starting zone together they like try and just, you know, get as far away as possible and set up their own encampment and let's say try and get it to maybe not a metropolis but like one or two stages before how difficult would that be for only like eight players or would they have to expand to like, you know, 16 32?

Steven: That'd be relatively impossible so, you know, the eight players could maybe if they were to, you know, stay in a certain area over a period of maybe a few days get to stage one but when you think about the general zone of influence that exists which is roughly a one and a half by one and a half kilometer surface area. There needs to be a significant population from a heat mapping standpoint in order to actually advance the node so, you know, it's going to require some significant number of people I don't think eight is is sufficient in that regard

Would you say like on on day one would you say that like we'll have level one nodes on day one or is that something that's more?

Steven: Yeah yeah absolutely no no that's absolutely. There will be stage two nodes on day one probably and the reason for that is because, you know, day one you're gonna have you're gonna have thousands of players, you know, running around certain areas not just eight and those thousands of players are going to contribute significant experience to the node's advancement.

Because there's only four spawn points right?

Steven: So there's there's four spawn points. And those those spawn points segment off into different starting areas so because each primary race has two sub races essentially, you know, when you're returning to the. yeah yeah so originally in the lore of ashes, you know, there were four primary races that existed they were the Aela humans the pyrian elves the Düznkell dwarves and the Ren'kai, not the Ren'kai I'm sorry the Orcs can't remember what was the parent race?

The left side of the tree, right?

Right. So those four parent races each had capital cities and when the Ancients and the Others assaulted Vera with the apocalypse essentially. the goddess of creation helped form these these divine gateways, these portals that left the planet for a certain portion of the population of these different races and they went to a planet that's kind of void of the essence of magic sententially and that kept them safe for, you know, multiple millennia and then after a period of time and this is where the player character, you know, comes into the storyline after a period of time those divine gateways opened up again and nobody knows really why but these civilizations after a long period of time kind of divided into different sub-races and as you return to Vera you're returning through these divine gateways that exist within one of the four capital cities of these great old civilizations. So that's why there's four starting points but because there's different subsets of these races now they kind of divide out and they get split into different starting kind of areas once you return to the planet through the divine gateway.

That's one of the helping reasons why.

Is there any faction barrier with them?

Steven: Say that again.

Is there like a faction barrier between them like like the first humans and elves and orcs and dwarves hate the other side?

Steven: No they're I see so there's there's definitely story related tension that exists between the races, but there's no hard factions and (okay) additionally the races (Just agaisnt Tulnar). Well there is a ninth race the Tulnar is essentially the logical evolution of the many minor races that remained on Vera after the apocalypse as well as the major races that all cohabitated within the underrealm area and resulted in this very odd race that was born out of that commingling and that's the Tulnar.

I was really curious about that other games haven't done is. if I'm level one and I see a level five we were talking about the the spawns being stronger in certain areas if I'm able to skillfully kill that without it killing me will I get the appropriate XP for killing it because it's level five and I'm level one or would it be level, you know, one or two XP?

Steven: So there's definitely one thing I hate about other games that they do which is exactly what you just described where they essentially they nerf your accomplishment (yeah) I think it's really cool, and I always love doing it as a player trying to bat outside of my league [Laughs] and, you know, if I if I accomplish it then I want to get the reward for it so we're not going to be artificially suppressing the rewarding experience gain (Thank you!)

In regards to that.

Sorry, this is all PvP orientated. I'm just worried about the crafting orientated. Is there going to be like. So you mentioned that this might be a weapon or relic that there might be one per server is there something similar for like tools for crafts, like there's a blacksmith hammer that will give you a slightly better chance to craft that item or?

Steven: So there's yeah. So the legendary actually the unique legendary drops that exists which are at any given time there will only ever be one of these different types on the server so there was. In Lineage 2 one of the inspirations that I had there was this sword called the 'Zariche sword'. the Zariche Sword' was awesomes it was such a troll item but it was, it created a lot of interesting experiences so it's not the the difference there though is that it like it flagged you red and you could be killed by anybody and then you dropped it and they got it and, you know, it's kind of weird, you know, the idea though of having that unique legendary drop occur is I think a really cool one and, you know, it's not going to exist for the tools side of things we want to house that in more of a progression that can be a little predictable as opposed to an RNG chance where you have to craft up to the to the legendary equipment in order to harvest the legendary gatherables. But on the gear front I think it's a really fun idea to essentially have those unique legendary drops.

Yeah just like it to make it as more as like you go to the tier five node because there's a crafter there that craft like a certain type of way that makes you look slightly better but he's known for crafting that better than anyone else, you know, what I mean like it's?

Steven: Right yeah I mean because. so if you're talking on the crafting side of the artisanship tree which is three branches gathering, processing and crafting the gathering is where the the tool making is is really housed for harvestables but on the crafting side when you're completing, you know, gear the idea there is that like becoming a master crafter or a master processor or a master gatherer should be a significant time investment and resource investment and because of that it should also be something that is when you achieve that status it's like people on the server know who you are. And that's like a status and title that is just unique to the achievement you have.

Is that gonna be shouted server wide?

Steven: No but it is represented on the gear that's created and the process material that gets created and on the gatherables so people will know you by those things.

So it's like the armor that's tagged by the person who created it like?

Steven: Correct, Yep so you'll see you'll see their username, exactly ,you'll see their name on the description.

That's really cool

So one thing when I'm thinking about that is this a little bit concerning maybe is like so if there's, you know, legendary materials right and you have to refine those down to, you know, ingots or whatever legendary ingots and those into legendary weapons let's say right? Since ideally the final product is going to require multiple resources that are also rare I feel like being able to become a legendary like crafter or blacksmith per se is a lot easier or sorry a lot harder than a gatherer because you need so much more investment if those items are going to cost a lot of money per se.

Steven: So I would say that that's an astute observation and it's intended in the design that the difficulty of acquiring and completing certain things actually elevates from gatherer to processor to crafter. The crafter will be the most difficult branch of the artisanship tree in order to achieve the highest type of essential performance, but that's intended. And the reason why is because it's it's sort of built on a on a how do you describe it a foundational system where this this, I hate to use the word pyramid, but where this pyramid of supply chain exists from the gatherer to the processor to eventually then the crafter at the top and it does become a little bit more difficult in that regard.

So in that regard continuing on that. So then I feel like from like a money-making aspect because obviously you've mentioned that money is a heavy influence into the end game since, you know, a legendary weapon requires X amount of legendary materials that are still pretty hard to get I think wouldn't the gatherer be able to charge really as much as they they like and make it but wouldn't they be the absolute like controller of the market?

Steven: Not necessarily and the reason why is because. So let's if we're talking about the rare gatherables to the rare processed goods to the legendary equipment that's then spawned out of it on the gathering side in order to achieve that rare proc on the gatherer, on the harvestable you need to have a high quality tool that you create, so there's a barrier there. And then on the processing side when you receive that raw gatherable that is higher grade quality, you cannot process it with the same infrastructure that you would the lower grade material. So if I have let's say rare mithril ore I cannot process that mithril ore in the same stage and level smelter on my freehold, it has to be an advanced stage of that building type. So each building that requires a blueprint to process goods also has advancements that must be made. So at each stage from gatherer to processor to crafter, you are required to have certain prerequisites before those elite types of materials can be essentially gathered, processed or crafted. On the crafting side in order to implement the rare. Gosh I'm probably giving way too much information I'm going to get killed!

I know how to get out good questions I've been here before sorry

Steven: You're going to get me in trouble I actually stop that thought, I know we haven't released the blog yet on the crafting stuff but there's a lot of stuff there that people don't know and now there's gonna probably be some video and then Margarets' gonna kill me so let me stop there.

I'm calling you out like

Steven: Just to give you

It's all good, but if you need notes I'm sure Chase is in the chat

Steven: Oh no my gosh

Shadowplay

Steven: How did you, you so easily walked me into that, you lead me by my nose

I really did I'm so sorry.

Steven: Unbelievable, I can't even trust you.

Okay well, then let's we'll drop the subject then I'll go to my previous question that I want to ask which was regarding PvE kind of stuff and somebody had mentioned like. If you were a level one fighting a level five. How easy is it to let's say be a level one character and like let's say you're an archer and just cheesing something with ranged targeting like how how draggable are mobs.

Steven: So there's certain systems within the behavior tree of the NPC's that takes into account the ability of certain classes to kite. (Loveley, Okay) And this has been seen I mean this has been seen in other games as well but essentially, you know, there's a tick on the NPC's AI blackboard and as that tick is recurring and it's the the NPC is noticing: "Hey I haven't succefully hit against it and it's still dealing damage to me". It will have certain responses such as: pull tactics or CC effects or (super) essentially a fastest, yeah, fast speed that it can catch up. And then additionally if you, leash if you. Obviously you move too far it's gonna lose as well so, you know, those are those are thought out we're designing the AI especially within complementing the different classes that are arranged, not to make this a a boring experience it should be it should be as difficult for a ranged player

I'm glad I heard that now because I would have done they'll switch it up on youtube obviously obviously that makes sense a system where people can cheese it easily but is it possible to skillfully, like outmaneuver something without getting hit?

Steven: Is it possible to skillfully outmaneuver something without getting hit? Yeah, I think that that some of the mechanics in both the mobility skills that are present as well as the dodge mechanics or, you know, some other things that might be employed during your normal skill rotation it would make it possible and I mean it should be possible for you to evade certain key attacks, yeah. I think that's that's part of the design.

Yeah cool, that makes me feel a lot better.

Just say can i go invisible and attack and then go back invisible and attack?

Steven: I mean it's like those ability, is going to come off, it'll have a cool down period so you can't just repeatedly do it but, you know, you will be able to go invisible and then when you attack it does take you out of invis. I gotta take, I can take one more question but.

Okay final question for me sorry this is what I was I have to make sure I get out as a contract creator how can I reach out to inquire about content creation things (Yeah, that's good) regarding Ashes.

Steven: Okay that's a good question. So at the moment because we're not yet in the alpha one phase of testing, the content creation program is currently, it doesn't accept any additional content creators. But we will be revamping the content creation program before the launch of alpha one and we will release that information for applying and getting accepted into the program, around, before that time.

Is there requirements on that or is there?

Steven: Yes there's gonna be certain requirements of course I reserve the right to do whatever the hell I want and invite anybody who might not live up to those rights.

Don't forget my name.

That's how I become a content creator

Thank you for all you're doing man this is yeah thanks man thanks guys we've been waiting for you for like years and it feels like you're just like literally a fresh breath of air man we've been wanting all this stuff and these crazy advanced features that you're like.

Steven: I just wanna let you guys know that, you know, it means a lot to me and the developers on the team to hear you guys say that and to see you type it and to see you post it, you know, it is the biggest motivating factor for us when we get to see the positive reaction on our theories and design philosophies so we're happy you guys are part of the community and we look forward to a really fun time together so.

Give bacon a hug for us.

Steven: I will I give bacon a hug whenever I see him, unfortunately corona has derailed that a little bit but I I try to.

We need a corona stick in the game

On the content creation thing is that something we should keep an eye out on twitter for or is there like.

Steven: Oh yeah there's gonna be twitter. this kind of list so once you're registered.

I'm following you right now.

Steven: Once you're registered on the on the website you're part of the newsletter, when we do roll out the new content creator program it will be done through the newsletter through, twitter through everything, discord all that.

Okay cool so we'll know about it?

Steven: Absolutely

Okay good

Steven: All right I'm gonna go to bed guys have a good night

Have a good sleep take care enjoy the meetings

Steven: Later