Active skills

Alpha-2 Tank action bar (hotbar) user interface.

Players can build their characters with the active skills they want on their action bar (hotbar).

• The maximum number of skills a player can have on their action bar will be around 15-20.
  • Each archetype will have roughly 35-40 skills to choose from on average.
• There will be an option to include multiple action bars (hotbars) on a player's UI. For example: One Fighter will be different from another based on what active skills they have chosen.

Some people like to have a very minimalistic number of hot bars. They don't need necessarily to have three, four, five hot bars that are available; but some people do like that: They want to have all their items listed on their hotbar as well as their abilities, as well as as their mounts, as well as anything that they can essentially interact with as an icon. – Steven Sharif

• Players are not given skills as they level up, they must choose what skills they take.
• There is no spellbook requiring memorization.

There will be multiple hot-bars that you obviously have available, because you're going to have consumables, you're going to have active skills and whatnot. But the number of active skills are not going to overwhelm necessarily the character and be irrelevant especially at certain stages. – Steven Sharif

Primary skills

UI de habilidades e seus espaços de habilidadesAlpha-1 .

A proposta do segundo modelo e do sistema de modificações é misturar um pouco o papel de cada classe. Então enquanto seguimos o sistema tradicional para o papel das classes, nós estamos utilizando o sistema de modificações secundárias para mostrar um pouco da direções que o jogador pode tomar – Steven Sharif

Pre-alpha footage of a Mage using offensive and Habilidades de utilidade, such as Mage's escape and Mage's detection.

Habilidades primárias (habilidades de classe) são baseadas no modelo do jogador. Jogadores poderão personalizar suas habilidades primárias com modificações do segundo modelo.

O design por trás das modificações não vem somente de mudar o estilo da habilidade para que reflita a segunda modificação, mas também fundamentalmente alterar os componentes principais das habilidades. – Steven Sharif

• Cada Modelo secundário oferece 4 esferas diferentes de modificações. Cada uma das modificações afeta as habilidades dos modelos primários de formas diferentes.
  • Por exemplo: Um Mage oferece teleporte e esferas elementais de modificações. Essas modificações vão afetar as habilidades primárias de um Fighter de uma forma diferente de como afetariam a de um Cleric, por exemplo.
  • Cada modificação tem seu nível de requerimento e número de pontos de habilidade necessários para serem adquiridos.

  Haverá um certo limite após o qual você não poderá modificar suas habilidades da mesma maneira que modificou suas habilidades anteriores, então você terá que pegar e escolher cada uma que você quer modificar com muita atenção; certas modificações vão ter maior requerimento de pontos de habilidade. – Steven Sharif

• Escolher o mesmo modelos como primário e secundário aumentara o foco nesse modelo.

• Modificações nas habilidades primárias irão fundamentalmente mudar a forma de como aquelas habilidades funcionam: Adaptando o que a habilidade fazia para incorporar a identidade do modelo secundário.
  • O sistema de progressão para as modificações é muito parecido com o sistema de progressão de classe.

• Para alterar as modificações em suas habilidades será necessário que você fale com um PNJ dentro de uma base em estágio de Vilarejo ou acima.
• Algumas cores e efeitos de habilidade mudam baseado em suas modificações.
  • Habilidades ativas poderão ficar totalmente diferentes depois que uma modificação for aplicada.

Jogadores receberão pontos de habilidades à medida que passam de nivel. Esses podem ser usados para aumentar o nível das suas habilidades, nas árvore de habilidades ativas, passivas ou de combate.

• Não será possível maximizar todas as habilidades na árvore de habilidades.
• Em termos de progressão de habilidades, jogadores poderão escolher diversidade e pegar muitas habilidades, ou se aprofundar em poucas habilidades específicas.

Independente de qual dos oito modelos você escolha como secundário, você receberá uma escolha de modificações que representam alguns dos ideais daquela classe. Sabe, como um tank se especializa em controlar o campo de batalha, em sobreviver. O mago se especializa em dar dano e elementos e habilidades em área. O ladino se especializa em ficar invisível e dar dano crítico. Então essas modificações vão tentar oferecer um pouco dessas identidades. – Steven Sharif

A ideia por trás do sistema é que você está meio que caminhando entre as linhas através dessas modificações do seu papel, sabe. Nós temos a tradicional trindade que está presente no design de classes para MMOs e, no geral, essas classes ou seguem um padrão à risca ou desviam completamente do padrão. A modificação procura oferecer um equilíbrio entre isso, onde você ainda mantém um semblante daquele sistema de trindade enquanto oferece a oportunidade de puxar seu jogo para um dos outros ângulos do triângulo – Steven Sharif

Combat abilities

The aspiration for combat is for abilities to have corresponding counter-play abilities.

• The goal is to have special animations for parrying, blocking and evading.

They can be a challenge to implement sort of really reliably so you might not see them on every evasion or every block, but we do want that stuff to show up. – Jeffrey Bard

Read more...

Combat targeting

Ranger hybrid combat in Alpha-2.

Our desire has always and continues to be how we can create a mixture of tab target abilities and skill-shot oriented positional, directional-based ability usage and make something cohesive in that design. And I think that what we're achieving with that regard may not fully feel like an action-oriented game, but we've always intended to be more hybrid-oriented, leaning towards tab target. So you're going to see a mixture of abilities that require the targets and that don't; and then you're going to have an option as the player's perspective to utilize an action camera mode, which utilizes a soft target lock feature and our reticle. – Steven Sharif

Hard-locked friendly player target.

Hybrid combat refers to the choice between tab and action combat in Ashes of Creation. A toggle button (default Z, but can be re-bound to another key) allows the player to switch between action and tab combat modes.

• The action mode camera is tied to the to the player's reticle (crosshair).
  • There will likely be a hotkey that when held down will allow free camera movement in action mode.
  • In future the user will have the ability to choose from different reticle appearances.

• Targeted skills require either a soft or hard locked target.
  • Soft locking is when the reticle moves over a valid target while in action mode. The targeting plate will appear slightly grayed out to indicate that this is a soft-lock target. If the reticle moves away from the target or the target moves away from the reticle, the target is lost.
  • Hard locking is when the player uses right-mouse on a soft-locked target in action mode, or when the player selects a valid target in tab mode. The targeting plate will not be grayed-out to indicate that a hard-lock target is selected. Unlike soft locking, if the target moves out of the reticle, the target is not lost. Tab will still cycle between hard-locked targets in action mode based on proximity priority.

• Templated skills allow "blind firing" without a target while in action mode. If an entity moves into the path of the attack they can be struck.

Q: Is the development team moving away from action combat, or is action combat more prevalent with the melee classes, and the healing/range classes are more tab-target other than AoE spells?

A: We have not moved away from our hybrid approach to the development of Ashes of Creation's combat; and specifically to reiterate: that approach is incorporating elements of skill shots, fast and reactive gameplay that is situationally relevant, and incorporates the camera mode of both tab-targeting as well as action combat reticle. That's something that is still in progress. We haven't moved away from that however. To note, our approach of that hybridization is going to incorporate things like templated skill-shots, directionally relevant activated abilities, along with the ability to dodge to roll projectiles that can impact collision. Those are elements of action combat that are present. – Steven Sharif

Templated and targeted versions of skills will have different characteristics.

Skill progressions, skill point allocation is determined by the player. The player will be able to choose either more tab-target oriented skills or more action-based skills and customize their playable experience to what accommodates their preference. From a balancing standpoint for us developers, we need to make sure that certain abilities house certain functions so that there's a balance between skill shots and tab-target abilities. – Steven Sharif

• Targeted skills will be greyed out if the target is not within a valid range but templated skills will generally require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.

• Different ranks of the same skill can change the skill from tab to action or vice-versa.
  • Variables will change based on which version of a skill is chosen.
    • Damage.
    • Charge up time.
    • Accuracy.
    • Evasion.
    • Crowd control.
    • Cooldown.
    • Energy consumption.
    • Cost to spec.
    • Attack range will likely remain the same; as it is driven by the weapon or skill itself.

Algumas das informações a seguir não foram confirmadas recentemente pelos desenvolvedores e podem não estar no roteiro de desenvolvimento atual.

• It may not be possible to be able to fully spec into just action or tab targeted skills. There might be a 75% cap on choosing skills from any one type.
• For the purposes of balance, certain skill types will be either tab or action oriented skills.
  • Hard CCs may be housed in action oriented skills because they are skill shots that are more difficult to land.
  • Softer CC's would be housed in tab-targeted abilities.

As an example: Let's say you're playing a ranged class. You could have an action-oriented power shot in your skill tree or you could have a single target power shot that ramps up and does more damage. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse combat targeting

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse combat targeting reticle.

Action combat in Ashes of Creation Apocalypse utilizes a targeting reticle.

• A hot key can be used to toggle reticle mode on and off.
• Left mouse click is used for basic weapon attacks.
• Right mouse click is used as a "focus" button. It can also be used to activate root motion attacks for melee.
• Combat targeting uses hitbox registration in three separate regions: Upper body, lower body and head.
• Certain weapons and skills have ADS (Aim Down Sights) functionality.

There will be aim down sights. You may have seen it that you can aim down sights on weapons; and there will be scopes on like crossbows and stuff that - arcane scopes - that you can use. – Steven Sharif

Some spells do have ADS. There's a long-range meteor blast that can be used from one of the spell books; and that has an arcane zoom in. It lets you zoom into a target. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 will test hybrid action/tab combat.

Headshot mechanics

Headshot mechanics (where there is a specific hitbox for a player's head) are not planned for the Ashes of Creation MMORPG.

• Headshots were a part of Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale.
• Previously it was stated that headshot mechanics may be implemented in the MMORPG along the lines of a higher critical chance and that they would not be one hit kills.
  • Headshots in action combat are equivalent to a critical hit in tab targeted combat.
  • Players relying on tab skills will have a fixed critical hit chance every time they use an ability or weapon.
  • Players using action-based skills are going to rely on getting a head shot or hitting a critical spot on the opponent.
• A Ranger skill called Headshot was introduced leading up to Alpha-2 testing.

Ver também

• Classes
• Combate