Fast travel
Fast travel is limited in Ashes of Creation.[1]
- Mounts provide "faster travel".[2]
- There is not going to be any "go to waypoint" (auto-pathing) mechanics.[2]
There is very little teleportation in the world. Some of that does get unlocked through metropolises of a certain type. Additionally there are mounts that are faster travel and there are services that are fast travel between nodes.[2] – Steven Sharif
Scientific nodes
Academic nodes (also referred to as Scientific nodes)[5] are focused on artisan classes and construction.[6]
- Scholar NPCs are present from the first stage of development (Expedition).[6]
- Upon first glance at a Scientific Node, players will find Scholars on an Expedition out in the wilderness, requesting aid in finding alchemical or natural reagents. If you should choose to help them, you may progress a Scientific Node beyond a lowly Expedition into something magnificent.[4]
- Specialization in Artisanship and Construction mechanics are granted through many of the NPC merchants and through the ancillary quest points within the Scientific Node Type. This will unlock abilities within many professions and allow specialization in the Gathering, Processing, and Crafting aspects of the Artisan system.[4]
Public transportation
There are multiple types of public transportation services where players can go AFK and be driven somewhere.[7][8]
- Players can visit a node building and pay a fee to be driven via road to another node on their land mount of choice.[9]
- Airships between metropolises.[10] This was previously stated to be between scientific metropolises.[11][8][4]
- It is possible that some public transportation services could be player-driven.[7]
- One of the nodes has the idea of an airship that can go from node to node and I'm certain that we will have harbors that do similar things with other node types... It might be something that could be player-driven... We're sure to have a taxi system where you load up a couple people and you drive them somewhere while you AFK.[7] – Jeffrey Bard
Zergs
Zergs are empowered by fast-travel. Meaningful travel times are intended to prevent zerg play from being so much of an influence.[15]
Encounters are designed to have meaning in terms of how boss skills and abilities relate to group compositions, tactics and strategies. Zerging is not experiencing content.[16] There are different ways to make a fight more difficult for larger sized groups without relying solely on stat buffs or making the boss a "damage sponge".[17]
- Raid and dungeon bosses have specific mechanics and abilities that players need to learn and react to.[17] Zergs that are not aware of these mechanics or react to them appropriately will be wiped.[16]
- There may be environmental hazards and AoE effects that cause more damage based on the number of players present.[17]
- There is a give-and-take for guilds that want to see a larger number of members as opposed to a more focused group that may be a part of an alliance.[18]
We're very cognizant of the fact that we don't want to see zerging be a mechanic that's utilized by guilds to accomplish content or just to steamroll over sieges... There are specific mechanics that we are working on that will be seen through the testing phases that relate to a degree of understanding of certain systems that can't just be overrun with numbers.[18] – Steven Sharif
Mechanics that encourage political intrigue will play a role in destabilizing zergs.[19]
The best way that I found in games I played previously to take down a zerg is to cause drama from within... It's that conflict inside of the politicking that happens in that big organization. If we provide opportunities for division to occur then it also provides stability to keep a server healthy away from that zerg mentality also... If we approach the castle siege and we've destroyed the walls and we're in the throne room and we're about to cast on the penultimate thing and I at this time am just so excited from what's happening that I'm like "screw it I'm gonna go for it". It's gonna be mine. I'm gonna take the taxes for the next month. I'm gonna take all the gear from the castle. I'm gonna take everything... We want that political intrigue to be present in the game.[19] – Steven Sharif
Objective-based game play helps to balance the zerg mentality.[20]
I always feel that if you balance based on groups that in your balance focus is to incorporate features that play well from a player versus player perspective as well as a player versus environment perspective: Having support classes, having DPS and tanks that can obstruct movement and/or create bottlenecks on the field and stuff like that. I think a well-rounded raid it will perform better against a non well-rounded raid, however then you incorporate the second aspect of numbers; and that's where again mobility, organization, leadership tactics. Having objectives in gameplay that make those important helps to balance the zerg mentality that a lot of guilds can tend to have.[20] – Steven Sharif
Instancing doesn't play a major role in limiting zergs, due to 80% of content in Ashes of Creation being open-world.[21]
- There may be instanced locations within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[21]
Zerging is always a problem in a lot of these MMORPGs where you really can't control the number of participants in certain open-world systems; and in that sense instancing is a great tool that designers can sometimes use to curate a particular number of participants that you want. But the predominant amount of content within Ashes of Creation, over 80% of which is is open-world content, so instancing is very limited.[21] – Steven Sharif
See also
- ↑
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Livestream, May 4, 2018 (51:57).
- ↑ Livestream, March 29, 2024 (2:23:41).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Blog: Know Your Nodes - Scientific Node Type
- ↑
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Livestream, June 4, 2018 (45:30).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (50:52).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (45:31).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Livestream, August 28, 2020 (2:06:42).
- ↑ Interview, August 17, 2018 (24:48).
- ↑
- ↑ Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
- ↑ Livestream, May 5, 2017 (23:26).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Livestream, May 19, 2017 (25:18).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (1:16:09).
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (57:37).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Interview, May 11, 2018 (44:20).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Interview, August 8, 2018 (11:52).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Livestream, January 28, 2022 (17:50).