Ashes of Creation Community AMA - 11AM PT Friday, May 10, 2024

[@VlhadusGaming]

Thank you so much Steven & Margaret for doing this and inviting us content creators on and get some amazing information out to the community! It was a dream come true for a lot of us!

[@AshesofCreation]

Thank you for participating! We hope you had a blast. 🥰

[@davidcerutti8795]

25:59 "You build the world through PvE, you change it through PvP." I must admit, I'm impressed with how well Steven presents an overarching philosophy and the interaction of so many systems. Given, he's been at this for many years, and the questions may have been pre-screened, but as a person who wears the software developer hat and is also invested in grand engineering problems, he displays a remarkable intellect and vision.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Thanks for having us Intrepid. So much information from this!

[@AshesofCreation]

We hope you had a great time! 🥰

[@LoreForged]

Thank you for having us! We had such a wonderful time with everyone involved!!

[@AshesofCreation]

It was glorious! Thank you for attending and asking some awesome questions! 💖

[@MrPhroz]

"The zerg problem is solved through skill". As someone who enjoyed and led small pvp groups focusing on better tactics, communication, coordination and so on, this is music to my ears. Thank you!

[@vojtechstiborsky9522]

the problem is when group of 6 skilled attacks me and my 2 unskilled friends :D

[@WasabithePom]

A wonderful AMA. Thank you Steven, Intrepid and of course our great content creators!

[@Label07]

Breath of fresh air. Stephen actually gives honest in depth responses to questions. Rare to see that in a dev. When AGS does AMA it typically turns into the opposite of an AMA(almost)A, which is antithetical to what an AMA is supposed to be.

[@_Just_John]

Because most of the devs have no idea about what they want to make. Steven is OG player and massive nerd so I love to see the depth he is aiming for.

[@TangentsofCreation]

Thank you guys so much for doing this. It was a ton of fun! Can't wait for the next one! 😉🤣 PS: Guardian/Guardian=Juggernaut 😎😂

[@AshesofCreation]

Who's the juggernaut? 😝

[@TangentsofCreation]

@@AshesofCreation I'M THE JUGGERNAUT BITCH! 🤣❤️❤️❤️

[@sticqeno288]

Enjoyed this a ton. Very proud of the creators on this AMA!

[@spinwardbound]

Thanks for hosting the AMA and the creators. Everyone is great but I love me some Loreforged! Edit: Finished watching and I really enjoyed this event. Please do it again.

[@AshesofCreation]

Thanks for the feedback! We may do some more in the future! 😉

[@diura.]

Fantastic AMA! Well done to all participants! Thankyou to Intrepid for hosting these

[@thegamemattster]

Balancing Tanks and Healing by limiting the archetype choices is actually not a terrible idea. Let the diversity come from DPS. One of the worst things in MMOs is having diverse tank and healers and watching some of the more fun and thematic options just get absolutely sent to the dumpster in terms of power to `meta` comps. If the talent selections are good enough to add diversity, that is such a solid design choice imo.

[@DoingFavors]

I'm just glad they have "Off-Tank" builds in mind with this design philosophy.

[@mlg_maxxi3502]

I am an alt maniac and a healer main, and I know there’s many of us out there. We like to play every healing class and learn the ins and outs of them to be able to play them at a mid-high level. Saying “let the diversity come from dps” just shits on all tank/healer mains. We get to play 2 class while dps mains get to have magnitudes more replayability from just making different dps classes. I quit ESO because while it has other healing “specializations” it all comes down to the 1 healing weapon in the game, restoration staff. Not thematic if I want to play a Druid healer because of all the holy VFX, or any other healer besides a Templar. And it ruins the mojo.

[@thegamemattster]

@@mlg_maxxi3502 you’re not incorrect but a huge reason for tank and healer scarcity is the improper balance of “fun/theme vs good and practical”. Modern MMOs door a poor job with FOTM. If you’re making a game with the trinity in mind the two most important parts of the triangle are the two points adjacent to the ground, the roots of a group: tank and healer. The slew of DPS players will always outweigh the other two roles so in my design opinion, define a balanced specialist role that is both fun and practical that brings the core class fantasy to life. That’s what tanks and healers gravitate towards. It’s a far more responsible class role than DPS. We already dictate the groups pace and success most often. DPS variety ensures you can fill all kinds of players. TLDR: Intrepid going the right direction. You can also balance tank damage and healer throughput way easier without so much class diversity in these two roles.

[@mlg_maxxi3502]

@@thegamemattster I agree and disagree lol respectfully. Without enough knowledge to form a full opinion on there only being 1-2 healing classes in AoC, I will just say I hope there is 'enough' variables in the augments and dual-spec systems. Enough that it won't be super easy to counter healers in pvp because they all use the same stuff AND enough that there are a sufficient amount of choices to prolong the fun of the class before boredom sets in. By that time maybe we will get new classes :D :D

[@Ukulisti]

Spoken like a DPS player. Yeah who cares about the Tank and Healer players? They're just NPCs the DPS players need to play. Game is ruined if augments do not provide meaningful differences for Healers and Tanks. Who wants to play if all Tanks and Healers are the exact same?

[@LunarSky07]

Lots of nice information in this AMA. While I am disappointed I won't see summoner right away, I am more surprised by staves not being initially fleshed out. Great AMA though! My hype levels are back up.

[@blueknight8709]

I think it would be a good idea for an arena of some type so players can PVP in a safe place and doesn't affect player corruption.

[@stephenmessana5712]

Totally agree, hopefully there is at least a battlegrounds or something. Or maybe it’ll just be castle sieges and caravan trips being the main source of “allowed” PvP but idk

[@MikeKibby]

Great Job content creators. Best AMA ever. Really thoughtful questions, which got at many previously unknown things. Your passion for the game is very evident.

[@VlhadusGaming]

Thank you for the comment! All of us did our best to try and ask questions that we knew community wanted to know. Can't wait for A2!

[@Antid0te87]

Fantastic AMA! great questions and thorough answers, everything we could have hoped for!

[@VlhadusGaming]

We wish we could have had more questions.... like Nyce did LOL

[@Antid0te87]

Strategery bro! smart man. :)

[@ael2579]

Truly an amazing AMA ! Thanks a lot for these great questions and pieces of information!

[@Antid0te87]

I love that you can respec but only with significant effort. Makes decisions meaningful, gives unique feeling to your character. Each person can't be everything is fantastic!

[@DanteSyx]

What an amazing AMA best one yet! We need MORE!

[@Grimdewulf77]

Lineage 3 ladies and gentlemen, 13:15 tower of insolence

[@ZybakTV]

Lots of great stuff here!

[@KaashUp]

This AMA was such a treat! I’m eagerly looking forward to the eventual release date and grateful to have a leadership as dedicated and inspired as the AOC community itself ✊🏽

[@warn1ng854]

Ashes your our only hope.

[@larkwyll7351]

Would love to hear more about the vision for Naval combat at some point. If it will be casting spells, swimming over to other ships to do melee combat and board them, or if naval combat is intended to only be ship abilities without our roles being able to interact with other ships hit points or occupants. I haven't played the older mmo's like Lineage used for inspiration. So it would be nice to hear more about what pvp zone combat will look like on the waterways.

[@ojpdayz]

40:50 Just want to point out that the TTK question Steven replied with "skill over number with lower TTK" it's not exactly what the reality tell us. Because he didn't consider multiple targets attacking you at once so your TTK in a 1 vs 3 doesn't work in your favor if the fights don't last as long or CC spam. Throne & Liberty has this issue and don't think Ashes will be any different. Long was the time that zergs were that desorganized. The way TL is currently trying to handle this is by having a faction based anonymous combat in some pvp events.

[@NabuKasy]

Some great answers thanks to the great questions ;) waiting for the A2.

[@Farkraus]

Ashes is our hope for a good MMO, best team ever

[@VlhadusGaming]

Couldn't agree more with you on this one!

[@HankHill-st3jb]

you are gaonna take a cold shower xD

[@blueknight8709]

Because the summoner and Rogue won't be there for the start up of alpha 2 . Can the other classes acquire a few skills of the rogue and summoner skills like stealth, lockpick, treasure finding, and summon some creatures to fight alongside them in battle. Skills that may not be as powerful as their counterparts skill and once you do release those two classes then you can give them a few more skills. The Rouge can have a grabbing hook skill, a rope skill or a climbing skill that allows them to climb any walls, a passive skill that allows them to enter magic shield or barriers, and a skill that allows the rogue to steal anything that is in their line of sight that is laying out. The Summoner could have summoning contracts that allows the summoner to summon anyone who has a contact with them wither it be players, npc, or tame beast. The summoner could also summon a master key to unlock things, summon a portal for your allies and guilds mate to come, summon a workshop, summon a cabin, summon a chest to store stuff, and summon copys of anything you want to copy.

[@Bootsgamesforever]

i also really enjoy the resource scarcity and restrictions steven put on crafting and on resources in general. it gives the whole world and players a better identity. for example with the crafting at one node question. it gives the node and the actual player crafter identity like "oh that node produces a lot of steel weapons" and the crafter saying " oh i make all my money off of steel greatswords" because the node is surrounded by ore/iron nodes so the node is famous for steel products and then the specific crafter is known for making weapons with that metal so it makes every node feel like its own real entity.

[@R173Y]

Someone may have brought this up, but the point of zerging a boss is to guarantee your group gets the reward even if the reward is finite, your chances of that reward grows exponentially with numbers. The amount of people you have to slice off the pie for may grow, but the reward is still there. The zerg is not against other players but against the system.

[@Stevethebeast08]

Based on my experience in every mmo that have a blend of PvP in PvE areas, the PvP will likely be completely phased out because 99% of MMO players are pve players that do not want their pve interrupted by PvP. This just happens in every single MMO that try’s to blend the two experiences. Honestly, as I’m getting older, I find myself to fall into the straight PvE category more.

[@empire5235]

Some great questions with a good deal of new information. 👍

[@repkar5828]

I genuinely hope that Intrepid chooses quality over quantity of button bloat so the port to controller will be easier, I also hope controller support will be given from day 1 and they don't make the same mistakes as New World. There is an incredibly large audience they miss out on by not releasing on multiplatform/controller support.

[@blueknight8709]

To me shields can be used as a weapon if you know how to use them right along with another weapon.

[@blueknight8709]

Will there be unique free holds or magical ones that could be a portable magic bag that players can take with them or a floating island and will there be different rankings of freehold?

[@Bootsgamesforever]

One of the most attractive things about this game to me is that steven DOES NOT forget about us PVP players. so many games focus only on the PVE player like new world and then the game dies hard. It gives be great hope for the game and i can't wait to fight in Ashes!

[@windhammer1237]

I'm super mega ultra stoked for release!!! It's gonna be dank af!!!

[@DoingFavors]

As someone who loves to off-tank support I really hope we can get the ability to hybrid properly when running something like Siren or even Sentinel, I would love to see some real variety in this game. The universal skill tree gives me hope for hybrid class options. Can't wait to see what we can cook up.

[@wegbored]

Thanks for the AMA everybody. Enjoyed every part of it!

[@marcussundholm8727]

"I'm the Juggernaut B#$TH!" is that sick power fantasy I have always wanted to feel in an MMO, I CAN'T WAIT!

[@FaustV1]

There are DPS, Tanks, Healers, and Support like bards but are there classes that specialize in CC?

[@TheWildBois]

What Steven said about visually being able to see the tank and that he uses best gear is what made vanilla WoW epic for me. With transmorg and cosmetics that killed MMO:s for me. I hope Ashes somehow manages this and keeps that old school feeling of walking into the capital and recognizing skilled players based only on looks.

[@mrBok]

Its Vlhadus, not Vlahdus :D Love the Show great questions

[@VlhadusGaming]

Just fyi, Margaret apologized to me about my name being misspelled. Honestly, I was just glad to be there lol!

[@HankHill-st3jb]

nobody cares he will be forgotten soon

[@TheCopiumClinic]

Best AMA to date! Thanks guys

[@kilrmonjaro]

Will the auction house have bids as well as asks? as in can you put in a buy order? I felt some games lack when they don't have a complete orderbook.

[@alexanderhamilton8107]

A2 supporter here, can't wait to play! Keep up the amazing work!!!

[@dbau_]

I can't find Vlahdus by searching his name, can anyone furnish me a link to his content? Thanks! e: nevermind its Vlhadus the graphic is wrong

[@warlocksk8ter2005]

did you end up finding his link?

[@dbau_]

@@warlocksk8ter2005 yes i just had to google "Vlhadus" spelled correctly and found his twitter/youtube as top results

[@_Just_John]

37:20 - Are we talking about combat only passives? Or can guild expand and invest resources to get some passives related to crafters for example for specific group within the guild?

[@blueknight8709]

Can you have throwing weapon as your long range weapon like ninja stars, throwing knifes, or chakram?

[@dscox8568]

As a kickstarter from 2017, happy that the world and interactions are the focus not the latest “hero class”. Very happy that only limited immersion of the world for 2024 alpha . Having entire gameplay prior to launch has ruined another mmo. Very good update guys.

[@stephenmessana5712]

I don’t really fully understand what he described about the raid bosses but them being dynamic based on what is in front of it?! Like if more players are pvping it takes different actions? Holy shit lol

[@blueknight8709]

I feel like there needs to be a portable crafting workshop.

[@wandererbard8993]

what stops some one from opening a stall for trading outside a dungeon and the first group of people coming by to do said dungeon doesn't just gank the trader and take all their wares?

[@Drakengard65]

PvE v PvP raids can already be seen in Wow Classic and such. Most (ofc not all) people will in the beginning of the game be gungho and go all out and try to frack eachother over, BUT what you see in Wow is that guilds takes turns on taking on the bosses. Because people CBA to take the path with most resistance. People will allways default to the path of less resistance. Its just a matter of time.

[@sumasaum]

Forgive Narc. Haven't seen those undies in a while lol. Would love to see him on one of these!

[@PhurPher]

I love Narc, but he is a brand risk if there ever was one lol

[@sumasaum]

No one has worked harder on Ashes content and information than Narc. There's no one even close.

[@PhurPher]

@@sumasaum For sure, and I think it would be great if he had an AMA with Steven. But the public.... eh... the public isn't ready for Narc.

[@belphdiesalot4172]

those market stalls sounds like tales of pirates ones, pretty good!

[@blueknight8709]

Can players or Guilds take control of dungeons after achieving a score of SSS on hell mode.

[@Pontos420]

Griefing is going to be such a big part of AOC

[@VlhadusGaming]

Just think of the drama....

[@Auldus]

Honestly I agree. I'm worried about the prospect of becoming a celebrity or being generally prolific and getting targeted in cities or in the wild. I already deal with enough of this in ESO as is. Getting bagged by zergs, hate mail after every battleground by the same pool of players. Imagine being a streamer and having no fast travel. You'd need an enterage everywhere you went to prevent PKers from griefing you night and day.

[@MuslimGamerTV]

1:02 Ok, I am typically [not] into quirky fashion or clothes that stand out too much, but I give it to Vlahdus, that is a simple, catchy, and cool cap with an important, noble message. 😂

[@sirbonobo3907]

Never saw some of those CC before. What about NARC?

[@yeahhsp]

Never saw Narc before

[@MikeyPaper]

Looking forward to this game coming out in 2036! Cant wait!

[@mrkery9235]

problem is i dont want the paste eater to be in control of my loot. i just simply wont ever do any content that has a feature like that, if i que or join a group my loot should be mine not what someone decides for me.

[@niso7154]

Will there be an internal, Activity Combat Tracker for DPS, Heals ETC?

[@arashnozari4042]

im waiting for this game so badly

[@andylarkin5779]

34:00 is such a good take.

[@Auldus]

I am so relieved that Rogue is getting true stealth, my main pick between rogue and summoner is decided now. That was a huge worry for me. Because that active camo spell is nice but insufficient for a true rogue playstyle. I'm equally happy that the other classes get a camo option too but rogue needs that identity to line up damage and set up combos. My Shadowmage/Corvo Attano dream is nearly a reality!

[@7onyga]

Will you bring two handed hammers? ❤

[@tearsien]

Balacing 1v1's in pvp is the key to balancing all of pvp.

[@DiamonBash]

I would like to challenge you to recreate the bubble animation. Maybe not necessarily a bubble but maybe an energy force field.

[@TheRealTrucido]

Cruma Tower

[@andyh4747]

The telling tale i got from this was after the risk/reward raidboss zerg question. You can clearly see NONE of these streamers are familiar with this risk/reward game mechanic that is going to run through the whole game in lots of the functionality, equalising a lot of these game mechanics so m any are worried about. Steven, you have a lot of work convincing these people of your vision, but you are doing a great job. It's shame so many of streamers only have WOW raid simulator experience rather than REAL openworld socially dynamic pvp games.

[@lolcat5303]

Really hope the tank gets renamed to something like guardian or something else in the future. The name isn't what you'd expect such a class to be called in the actual world.

[@Yukira839]

This was soo good!!

[@valadexd]

It will be a game exactly what I want, I can't wait :)

[@Kamtudaddi]

So basically the rogue resource/abilities you had were absorbed into the Universal Skills? Good. I hate it when games make everyone but rogues have arthritis. Like, why can't my mage run? Did they not cover P.T. in Hogwarts ?

[@AdamicBomb]

It's been 4 years since I preordered, when can I play?

[@lol13lol94]

almost all mmo's i know have certain weapons and armortypes asigned to their classes. Like Rogues wear leather and can use daggers and swords while a warrior wears plate and wields a twohander or a sword and a shield etc. from what ive heard aoc wont work like that while you can wear whatever you want. Armorwise ive seen that the armortypes do grant diffrent benefits like plate has deffence stats and phisical dmg reduction while cloth is more of a magic resistance thing. now my question, if we take a casterclass, lets take the summoner and take a closecombat class as the second...what are we aiming for gearwise, how are we going to increase the our dmg output? with strengt or with spellpower? and as an extra, how are summons going to scale? based on your mainstats? Lets say i pick a summoner and cleric could i go heavy armorbuilds while fighting in melecombat or are both classes more of a castertype so it wont be competitive dmg wise since my spells scale based on spellpower? I would love to see that classes can be played diffrent and still be competitive.

[@chrisreid4030]

Hopefully I will still be alive when this comes out. I’d like to play it.

[@Natemi80]

At this rate, I think it'll be our great-great-grandchildren playing it.

[@kibba5595]

When is release?

[@DoingFavors]

When ready!

[@dnf_dudu]

non-NDA A2 starts in july at the earliest and september at the latest this year.

[@HankHill-st3jb]

@@dnf_dudu you are still dreaming

[@breakaway716]

WE NEED A RELEASE DATE ZOMGUH

[@Aehaze]

BARD FINALLY, LETS GOOOOO

[@StephaneDugas-tech]

No longer chances to pledge?

[@bl33k11]

what about gold (currency sellers ) I don't think any game delt with them. you know your going to have them from day 1

[@zomgneedarandomname]

gotta say a lot was answered and nothing was found out

[@vmantx_3189]

LETS GOOO VLADDY DADDY

[@emoney9979]

will we have competitive arena type games? So it go esports

[@dermosquitor9984]

where is the guy with the bathrobe and the pepsi cans?:(

[@BIGTIPPIN]

I wish they would have asked about arcane engineering

[@Nightowl5454]

I'm still concerned about the caravan system and not enough risk for the attacking side. If a game's goods and materials can't reasonably flow then it will cause a lot of problems for the economy of the server and could eventually cause the server population to prematurely collapse.

[@brizzli]

Rogue isn't going to be available right away :(

[@HankHill-st3jb]

nothing will be available right away time to realize

[@GunGuner-l6o]

When we wil can play this game?

[@HankHill-st3jb]

half past never

[@Dobertson]

Oh just take my money already! I.NEED.IT.

[@Aphos-yw9wx]

Will the game be too hard for a casual player?

[@Grox44]

Tulnar! Better allow us to play a tiny amphibian Tulnar :) ! Tulnar should come in all sizes.

[@user-me7iw6ft8z]

The risks seem to be higher than the reward

[@3renegade3]

Personally I'm very glad to hear that rogue won't be available at the start of alpha. Broken stealth mechanics can break a game, let it cook so they can make sure they get it right.

[@crizzlee_]

Not going to lie, I'm not a huge MMO player (maybe 160hrs in total playtime), but the ideas you guys have and the things you are implementing into this game are so interesting to me. It's truly a unique experience following the development, imagining what the gameplay will be like and all its possibilities, imagining how I'm going to immerse myself into it, and being able to give my opinions during the development process to help make it the best it can be. It's something I don't think I'll ever experience with a game again (AND THE THING AIN'T EVEN OUT YET). Thanks for all that you're doing!

[@niftea7060]

There is going to be a big problem with this "friction". The idea that low risk low reward being a mic drop fix doesn't make much sense to me. All that means is that low player groups and God forbid your a solo player isn't going to realistically be able to do anything effectively without being annihilated by groups of people going boss to boss, dungeon to dungeon getting gear across the whole zone for their entire group.

[@Smootier]

I'm so glad Narc was not part of this.

[@thecrokk]

where is Narc??!!