Seasonal cycles

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Right now we're getting some rain which will usher in springtime and so you'll see all the flora that's growing up right now out of the ground.[1]Brian Gans

Seasons change on a regular basis, but may also be triggered or elongated by certain events.[2][3][4]

  • Each season will be approximately one or two IRL weeks long.[2][3][4]
They might last longer if you don't deal with the dragon, or if you keep that relic active, but these on a cycle on a cyclical perspective as a normal season transition might be exist within a one week timeframe right and then it transitions over a period of hours.[3]Steven Sharif
  • The final duration of seasonal cycles is subject to testing during Alpha-2.[5]
The weather systems, the season systems, that's going to be a obvious point of testing for Alpha 2 of course. We're going to play around with the different cycles and and times and how they impact the economy, the rotation of resources, the movement of goods: all of those things play into the purpose- one of the purposes of having seasonal systems. So that is something that we are going to play with during our Alpha 2 testing and will land on what feels both most comfortable- is visually appealing, but also has the impact on the economy that we desire to see on the design side.[5]Steven Sharif
  • Environmental seasons are not to be confused with PvP seasons, which last for six months.[6]
In Ashes of Creation the world will change on a regular basis. Zones will progress in a seasonal cycle, which will alter the very nature of the environment around you. Snow may block pathways that are accessible in warmer months, spring may encourage creatures otherwise unseen to come to the surface, and fall might be the only time that certain crops thrive. This cycle can then take in the state of the world’s Nodes and shift depending on their progression.[7]

Seasons

Ashes of Creation Seasons in the Riverlands.[8]

Part of the triggers that can create seasonal change is not just time related for each of our biomes, but they are also indicated by events that occur on the server. Whether that be certain raid bosses forming, or a relic being acquired by a particular node and being activated to change potentially the weather out of a winter state into a spring state: and the reason why a node might have interest in doing that of course is because weather and the seasons also affect skills and abilities.[9]Steven Sharif

Seasons affect different zones (environments/biomes) based on their location in the world.[10][11]

  • A majority of environments will experience either two or four seasons, excluding corrupted areas, which is considered a "season" itself.[12]
  • Some biomes will have seasons that are less (or more) temperate. For example: Northern, Southern and Tropical regions.[13] Other biomes will have fixed climates.[14]
    • Biomes that are affected by seasonal cycles may experience drastic visual differences between seasons.[10]
  • Events may radically change the current season a zone is in, or elongate it.[15][16] This includes weather changes.[11]
  • There will also be magical seasons where you might be in a tropical zone and suddenly it's snowing.[13]
  • Items, crop cycles, buildings, and crafting mechanics might gain certain buffs or debuffs in certain seasons.[15][17][11]
  • Ocean and underwater areas will not have seasonal changes.[18]
Winter might have a spawner that activates on a road that spawns at large fallen tree and players who see that will have an opportunity to go up and exert some type of one-time action that helps in removing that tree and it might require X number of people to do that before the tree gets removed; and that as an example is not beneficial for the transit of goods because as caravans require- well they don't require but they move better on roads and if that tree were present let's say blocking a road that led to a bridge per-se that they would have to off-road.[11]Steven Sharif
  • Different seasons may affect access to various roads.[15][16][11]
    • Pathways that are open during summer may be closed during winter.[11]
    • Seasonal affects may cause obstacles or blockages to the transit of goods via caravan.[15][16][7]
    • Water turning to ice in winter, enabling players to walk over the water but blocking access to what is underneath.[11]
      • Ice will make roads bumpy and slippery.[19]
    • Seasonal flooding is something the developers are talking about internally, but will not be present in Alpha-2.[20]

Seasonal variations

Timeless Terrapin seasonal variations.[21]

Mounts being one of those things that you own will interact with the seasons and the time of day.[21]Steven Sharif

We're just using this example, but we could use this type of tech for a lot of things not just mounts.[22]Margaret Krohn

Seasonal variations or time of day may affect certain objects in the world, such as mobs and mounts.[24][25][26][22]

  • Different creatures will spawn based on the season.[24]
This alcove might now have a bunch of new types of monsters that are AoE focused and you might want to bring your AoE team there during winter because you can get that spot in this hunting ground; and you can pull really easily all the creatures into that little spot. But in summer maybe that population isn't as close and it's no longer a viable hunting ground.[24]Steven Sharif
Mounts will have rarities and those rarities will be, I think, respective not only of their skill selection that they were either bred with or acquired with, but also as it scales in rarity you're going to see effects like these come online: The ability for that mount to represent. But as Margaret said, this is not just on the mount front, this is something that I think allows us to integrate both the visual component of an environment that you see but also incorporate effects as part of that environment and that change accordingly to other things that are going on in the world.[26]Steven Sharif
  • It is unlikely that seasonal variations will affect player armor.[28]

Visuals

See also

References