Instanciation

Approximately 20% of content in Ashes of Creation will be instanced.

What we're creating is a PvX game; and what that means is our target audience is the PvX player; and that is our golden cohort. And so to a degree if a player is solely interested in the most elaborate raid boss mechanics within a controlled and curated setting that is instanced gameplay, Ashes might not be the game for them and that's okay. However, with that being said, we do have a division of curated experiences that exist in an 80:20 ratio; and what that means is roughly 20% of the content that players will experience will be instanced, because where we want to have that granular control over the design and mechanics of a particular storyline or encounter we utilize the instance setting to provide that. – Steven Sharif

• Instanced content is meant to provide rails for an experience the designers want to achieve, such as a set party size, specific environment, or storyline, which can include class-based, culture-based, or node-based storylines.
• Instances not intended to be places that can be farmed repeatedly.
• Instanced content will contain scripted and difficult boss fights that drop gear, but the gear drops will not be best-in-slot items.

They won't be best-in-slot type items. You will not accomplish that from in from instanced-based content. Those will be found within the open-world. It'll be a competitive area for you to achieve those things, because other forces will want to achieve them as well; and because it's open-world there will be a limited number of those who can successfully complete on: Whether it be some timer for a world boss, or some condition or other world state predicate. Those are things that people are going to have to contend with each other for. – Steven Sharif

Dungeons and Raids

Alpha-1 open world dungeon entrance.

80% of the content that will exist in Ashes of Creation is open-world and there's a specific reason for that. So because of the way that friendships and or enemies are forged in the game and people have the opportunity to create their own friends or foes. We want that to play out from a contesting standpoint as well. So a lot of these hunting grounds or raid bosses that people are going to have opportunities to kill, they're going to be essentially contested potentially by your your enemies that you've created in the game or you can work together to create alliances in order to defend those contested zones. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation will be a seamless open-world experience.

• No loading time or loading screens between regions.

There will be an approximately 80/20 split between open world vs instanced encounters.

• 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 design of Ashes of Creation.

In situations where we want to contain a particular type of raid, we will utilize instancing; and that can protect certain engagements with certain bosses. But that's really more on the 20% of the scenarios will have instancing protection like that. Around 80% of the content is open-world, where competition is- healthy competition is an instigator for soft player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. So that's an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes. It's a core philosophical point. And just to be clear, that is not for everyone. We are not trying to make a product that appeals to every MMO gamer. That's impossible; and so we've been very upfront and forthright with what we are trying to accomplish and what our core pillars of philosophical design are. – Steven Sharif

• Castle and node sieges may contain instanced locations where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.
• Donjons and raids will maintain an open world feel while also capitalizing on the benefits of instanced mechanics. Instancing is only going to happen in certain dungeons where the desire is to have greater narrative appeal. Outside of these and arenas there will not be too much instancing anywhere else.

There will be some open dungeons that have bosses at the end of the dungeons. There will be some open dungeons that just have a multitude of dungeon bosses, not necessarily world raids or something; and there will be lots of different rooms and they'll be progressive in the sense that in the earlier parts of the dungeon they'll be lower level and then at the later parts of the dungeons deeper down they'll be higher level and more difficult; and that creates again I think an ecosystem of where players across a multitude of levels have an opportunity to coexist within certain areas of the world; and that's good from a social dynamic. It's good from a recruitment dynamic. It's good from just a liveliness and relevance of particular areas. So that you don't end up with these locations that once you pass a certain level like it's empty. – Steven Sharif

• There was no instancing in Alpha-1.

We're probably going to do instancing only in certain dungeons and in arenas. You probably won't see instancing too much anywhere else. What you see is gonna be what you get. – Jeffrey Bard

The PvP flagging and corruption system is in place to safeguard against griefing without limiting opportunities for open conflict.

• Healthy competition is seen as 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 design of Ashes of Creation.
• This friction presents an opportunity to engage in the political aspects of the game, which is the lifeblood of what keeps players interested and invested in the game.

Q: When you reach the bosses in [open world] dungeons can you be jumped?

A: For the most part if there are bosses at the end of dungeons, it is possible for you to get jumped. – Steven Sharif

Q: In an open world dungeon, what prevents others from just waiting until you're at the boss and then killing you and taking your boss's loot? What prevents mega guilds from just owning an area and preventing you from accessing or enjoying it?

A: In a majority of cases, we do not want to prevent another group from engaging potentially in PvP. We disincentivize it by creating safeguards within the flagging system that make that decision very concerning for the people that might go corrupt; and if you're in the large enough group of numbers I doubt you're going to experience that unless there's some rivalry between guilds. In which case there's apparatuses like Guild Wars that are more opt-in. You can drop guild tag if you want. But anyways, the competitive nature of this environment is a PvX element. – Steven Sharif

PvP Arenas

Pre-alpha arena combat footage from PAX West 2017.

Pre-alpha arenas.

Arènes are instanced JcJ scenarios and are not part of open world PvP.

The arena system as we've spoken about before is going to have ladder systems where people can progress within certain seasons based on their win/loss ratios. The importance of arenas are obviously that players have an opportunity to participate [and] practice out certain builds from a PvP perspective and can compete with one another within the system. – Steven Sharif

• Arènes will have 1 man, 3 man, 5 man and possibly 20 man Free-For-All (Deathmatch) group sizes.
  • There won't specifically be guild vs guild arenas but team-based matchmaking allows teams to face other teams.
• Arenas will have a minimum level requirement to participate.
• There won't be bifurcated brackets with separate player pools.
• There might be some form of an ELO system that gets flushed on a seasonal basis.
• There will be an arena ladder system.
  • Rewards for arena ladders will be revealed at a later time.
  • Titles can be received from arena play.
  • Arena points that can be used to buy gear are not currently in the design.
• Maires of military nodes are chosen from citizens through last man standing (gladiatorial arena style) combat.
• The arena system may support cross-server combat.
• Arena style combat is instanced but spectators may be possible through an interface.

Siège de Château

Gameplay d'un siège de château durant l'Alpha-1.

Tout au long de l'aventure dans Ashes of Creation, les joueurs auront l'occasion de prendre part à de grands affrontements multijoueurs au cours des sièges. Les châteaux, considérés comme l'une des ressources les plus rares au monde, représentent un défi considérable à prendre et conserver. Ces affrontements réuniront des centaines de joueurs sur un seul champ de bataille, intégrant des éléments mobiles et des caractéristiques de conception complexes. En raison de la complexité inhérente à la conquête et à la préservation d'un château, d'importantes récompenses sont offertes aux joueurs en reconnaissance de leurs efforts. La possession de châteaux conférera aux joueurs un contrôle sur les terres avoisinantes et autorisera le développement de constructions uniques dans les environs.

Les guildes peuvent participer à des sièges de châteaux dans le but de capturer et occuper l'un des cinq châteaux de guilde sur Ashes of Creation. Voici quelques points à connaître sur les sièges de châteaux :

• Les sièges ont lieu pendant une fenêtre horaire de pointe du serveur.

• L'objectif minimum est de faire jouer 500 joueurs (250x250) dans un seul et même champs de bataille. Avec le temps, le studio espère atteindre les 1000 joueurs (500x500) sur un seul champs de bataille.

• Il y aura des systèmes qui imiteront certaines des mécaniques des sièges, mais il n'y aura pas de sièges d'entraînement.

• Il peut y avoir des lieux instanciés au sein des sièges de châteaux et des sièges de nœuds en monde ouvert, où des groupes spécifiques peuvent participer à des batailles courtes basées sur des objectifs qui affecteront l'issue globale du siège.
  • Il a été précédemment indiqué que les sièges de châteaux pourraient être partiellement ou entièrement instanciés dans le jeu final.
  • Les sièges de châteaux de l'Alpha-1 se sont déroulés dans une zone en monde ouvert accessible via un téléporteurNPC.

J'adore les jeux basés sur des châteaux. J'aime les trophées. J'aime beaucoup récompenser le risque ; et pour moi, il est très difficile d'imaginer un MMO auquel je voudrais jouer où il n'y a pas cette compétition de prouesse stratégique qui détermine le résultat de ces types d'événements et où il n'y a pas de récompense significative, tant mécaniquement que du point de vue des droits de vantardise, que les joueurs peuvent viser et essayer d'atteindre. Je pense que cela apporte beaucoup au jeu en termes de motivations, d'excellence, de progression, de gagner en puissance, de s'engager dans ces différentes boucles de progression quand il y a un objectif ultime ou un trophée qui n'est pas statique et qui n'existe pas pour toujours une fois que vous l'avez atteint, mais que vous devez constamment performer pour le maintenir. Et c'est vraiment le but de ces châteaux. – Steven Sharif

Une guilde qui capture un château l'obtient pour un mois avant qu'il ne soit assiégé à nouveau.

Chaque semaine menant à la semaine de siège... est une semaine dédiée à l'un des trois nœuds dédiés au château. Ainsi, autour du château, il y a trois nœuds. Ils représentent la semaine un, deux et trois ; et puis la quatrième semaine est le siège contre le château. Ceux-ci ne peuvent être élevés qu'au stade trois. Nous avons discuté de cela dans le passé et il y a définitivement des informations disponibles sur le wiki géré par la communauté. – Steven Sharif

• Dans les trois premières semaines où une guilde occupe un château, elle devra faire évoluer chacun de ses nœuds de château au stade de Village en réalisant des quêtes.
  • Chacun des trois nœuds de château sera assiégé (tout à tour) à la fin de chacune de ces semaines.
• La quatrième semaine est la semaine de déclaration, où d'autres guildes peuvent déposer leur parchemin de déclaration ou s'inscrire comme défenseurs du château.
• La qualité de la défense des nœuds de château par la guilde propriétaire se traduira par de meilleures défenses pour le château.
• Différentes armes de siège donneront aux attaquants l'opportunité de détruire les murs, portes et sections du castle pour atteindre l'intérieur de la forteresse.
• Quand les châteaux changent de guilde, (suite à un siège), une partie des taxes perçues est conservée par le château lui-même, tandis que l'autre partie revient à la guilde qui en a pris le contrôle.

Il y aura des avantages à attirer des personnes... même si elles ne sont pas dans votre guilde ou alliance – un système de type féodal, où vous pouvez attirer d'autres joueurs qui sont juste indépendants de toute cette politique. Ils auront des choses à faire là-bas - des avantages à recevoir - et il y aura une relation réciproque entre ceux que vous pouvez attirer, ce qu'ils font pour vous ; et comment cela vous profite à vous et à eux. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 castle sieges

Alpha-1 preview castle.

Trebuchets in the Alpha-1 preview castle siege attackers headquarter camp.

Alpha-1 preview castle siege gameplay.

Alpha-1 castle sieges are based on Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle sieges.

• Players will be able to join guilds. These guilds can register for the siege events.
• Castle siege events will be 100v100 battles that occur daily and will last for three hours.
• Attackers will start on the opposite end of the map (from the defenders).
• Attackers will be able to use trebuchets to drive to and assault the castle.
  • Trebuchets have a single primary fire that does a small amount of damage to players and heavy damage to buildings.
  • Trebuchets will be fully physical when they are being driven.
• When the attackers have breached the castle they will be able to channel a cast on the relic in the throne room to try to capture the castle from the defenders.
• The victors of castle sieges will receive benefits, such as cloaks, flying mounts for guild leaders and potentially also for guild officers.
• Alpha-1 castle sieges are in a separate zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.

  Currently the siege zone is actually in the open world, but separated by mountains and off in the sea a bit. There is actually no instancing in A1, although the siege zone will only be accessible in A1 through a registration NPC teleporter. – Steven Sharif

  • This zone includes the following raid bosses.
    • Elder Dragon of Flame
    • Elder Dragon of the Tundra
    • Elder Dragon of the Wood
  • These bosses will also appear in the open-world (outside the siege zone) with slightly different mechanics.
• The opposing team is notified when these raid bosses are being attacked.
• Teams who get the last hit on these bosses will receive buffs that will help them in the siege battle.

Last year, I spoke of attempting to incorporate sieges into the Alpha One experience. This has obviously been a goal of mine because it provides considerable data and a consistent event within the world that players can participate in to help stress test the deployment. Well, I am happy to say that it is appearing more and more likely by the day! Initial implementation of the Apocalypse siege code has been migrated into the Alpha One client, and we should begin internal testing next month. I will caveat this expectation with the fact that we are cutting it a bit close from an internal QA standpoint, but I have some confidence that the system will be online and capable of inclusion for the Alpha One test in the month of June. The siege component will obviously not be representative of what the siege system will be at launch, or even in Alpha Two. – Steven Sharif

• Destructible structures (such as walls and gates) are present in Alpha-1 castle sieges.
  • The ability to repair structures (and siege weapons) is a long term design goal that will not be present during Alpha-1.

Instanced apartments

Complexe d'appartements dans un Nœud Métropole pendant la Pre-alpha.

Les Appartement sont des espaces internes (instanciés) à l'intérieur d'un Nœud qui offrent certaines fonctionnalités de logement. Il y aura 50 appartements disponibles à l'achat à l'étape Village (étape 3) d'un Nœud si le maire choisit de construire un bâtiment d'appartement et s'il existe un emplacement de terrain disponible.

• Le nombre d'appartements disponibles augmente en fonction de l'Avancement de Nœud.
• Il a été dit précédemment que les appartements seraient disponibles à l'étape Ville (étape 4) ou au-dessus.

Le maire peut construire des bâtiments d'appartements additionnels lorsque le nœud atteint l'étape 4 sur l'un des terrains de construction à l'intérieur du nœud, en même temps que les cités gagnent des habitations statiques et des appartements par défaut en tant que partie intégrante du processus de gain de niveau. – Steven Sharif

Server instancing

There won't be server channels (sharding) on a server.

Voir également

• Serveurs
• Encounters
• Arènes
• Habitation de joueur
• Serveurs