Utility skills

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Alpha-2 Ranger Camouflage skill.[1]

We have what are called utility skills and a lot of MMORPGS really only focus on active combat skills, but some of the favorite things that I've had as a gamer is tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons, and there are skills in those games that are relevant to either your environment or the quest line; and they're a little bit sometimes "story mode".[2]Steven Sharif

A utility skill is a typically non-combat skill that interacts with the environment and offers counters and horizontal progression against other archetype abilities.[3][4][5][6] Utility skills lend themselves toward how classes navigate and deal with hazards in the world.[7]

When we think about utilities, some of the examples of those utilities might be a Rogue has invisibility. How do you address invisibility? Well, a Ranger might have a utility ability that spawns a Hound that trails invisible targets within an AoE radius of the Ranger and you get that location. Whereas, a Mage might have an Arcane Eye that actually reveals them to the party of the raid. Those are the types of utility skills that we want to create. They offer counters and horizontal progression against the other archetype abilities.[3]Steven Sharif
  • Classes will have different utility abilities, such as detecting traps and other hazards.[4][5][7] For example: The Mage's detection spell casts light and reveals magical explosive hazards.[8]
    • Certain classes are able to climb/parkour in certain areas.[9][10] This is not a free-form ability. It will likely be restricted to certain quests, locations or objects.[11][12]
    • Certain classes (such as Rogues) will have stealth abilities.[13]
Q: What kind and how many special or unique activities can we expect classes to perform outside of combat, such as rogue's opening locks, tracking enemies as a ranger, or removing corruption from the ground as a cleric?
A: Just thirty minutes ago I was talking about those utility abilities like finding tracks, or cleansing poisons, arcane eye to reveal secret passages. The idea is how do we blend the traditional tabletop RPG role of utility and/or skill checks into the setting of a graphical MMORPG; and I think that it's both a complement of the skill kit that's available and how it interacts with the world for those curated or special designs within these locations. So to answer that question: that is intended- we've shown a little bit of that in the past and it is something that we want to make feel compelling and rewarding and viable as a use-case scenario in many different settings that you might find yourself in within the world.[4]Steven Sharif
  • All classes will have maneuverability/traversal utility abilities.[14]
  • Utility skills exist that can help players discover hidden paths and entrances and may lead to discovering hidden quests while exploring.[5]
  • Certain objects exist in the world (such as ladders and slides) that aid player mobility.[15]
We don't just have the approach of your class being reflected in your combat abilities but also there are utility abilities that certain classes have that other classes don't have.[16]Steven Sharif
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.
  • There will be a grappling hook utility skill or item.[17]
  • Rogues may also have a spyglass utility skill.[7]

List of utility skills

info-orange.pngThis section contains information from early testing phases. It will be updated as soon as new information is made available.
Skill Icon Base skill
Arcane Eye Arcane Eye Icon.png Conjure a magical eye that reveals any camouflaged enemies within a 20 meter radius around you to you and all party members over the next 8 seconds.[18]
Blink Blink.png Instantly teleport a set distance in the direction you are moving.[19][20]
Camouflage Camoflague Icon.png You become harder to see and cannot be directly targeted. The further you are from an enemy, the more difficult you are to spot. Any outgoing combat actions cancel this effect, as well as incoming damage or other negative effects.[21]
Collect Cargo Collect Cargo Icon.png Pick up cargo nearest the mouse location and add them to your caravan's storage if there's enough room.[22]
Convert to Caravan Convert to Caravan Icon.png Allows the raft caravan to turn into a vehicle that can traverse land.[ citation needed ]
Convert to Raft Convert to Raft Icon.png Allows the caravan to turn into a vehicle that can cross calm waters.[23]
Family summon Long duration cast (30 seconds to a minute) with an approximate 30 minute cooldown that slowly summons each of your family members to your location (up to eight members).[24][25] Players cannot be summoned in the following cases:
This will be tested in Alpha-2.[28]
Pathfinding Reveals corrupted player locations on the bounty hunter's map.[29][30] Activating this ability will flag the bounty hunter for combat only to corrupted players for a period of one hour from the time of activation.[29] The pathfinding ability can be toggled on or off.[29][31]
Shell Shield.png Create a protective magical shell[32] around yourself that absorbs a large amount of damage before breaking.[33][34]
Stealth This does not render a player completely invisible.[35] Instead, there will be indicators that can help players "feel out" where stealthed individuals may be.[36]

Jumping puzzles

Jumping puzzles will occasionally feature in the world.[38]

Underwater breathing

Mechanics for breathing underwater:[41]

Death by drowning is possible.[42][43]

  • Players that drown will respawn on shore.[42]

Darkness

Alpha-2 Winstead node at night.[44]

You guys will probably notice that the nighttime is significantly darker than when you guys last saw our nighttime update. We saw feedback from the community that bringing in the field of vision through the lighting in the environment was something you guys wanted to see; and that's what we have adjusted a bit.[44]Steven Sharif

Darkness as an environmental obstacle is being considered as part of the game mechanics.[45][46]

  • The developers are requesting feedback on the intensity of illumination and darkness that will be present in Alpha-2.[44][47][45]
In more survival oriented games you're expected to have really dark night times because you utilize instruments like torches and lights that can be present, but when you think about an MMORPG and you think about the types of player numbers and player count you're expected to have in certain locations and dungeons, you need to be able to accommodate those types of visibility lines and those mechanics around that large multiplayer environment. So when you guys are giving feedback think about whether or not you want the outside night time to really be very dark, or if you want that to be reserved for specific locations in game, like certain dungeons and towers where we can utilize mechanics like different types of lighting mechanisms in order to facilitate that more dark feel.[45]Steven Sharif

See also

References