מבוכים

אלפא-0 Dünir Dünheim dungeon design by Michael Bacon.^[1]^[2]

אלפא-1 dungeon concept by Michael Bacon.^[3]

Dungeons in Ashes of Creation will range in size and will be mostly open-world.^[4]^[5]

עולם פתוח dungeons will be populated to facilitate multiple groups within the dungeon.^[6]
- 80% of dungeons will be open world.^[7]^[8]
Instanced dungeons will also be present and will cater for solo and group questlines.^[6]
- 20% of dungeons will be instanced.^[7]^[8]

There are going to be smaller, simpler, linear dungeons. There's going to be bigger, more complex, nonlinear dungeons. So, It's a little bit of both. We want the environment to be a character. In order for the environment to be a character, these places need to be interesting and there needs to be a dynamicism to them.^[4] – Jeffrey Bard

Half the problem won't just be solving the dungeon, it will be solving other players too.^[6] – Jeffrey Bard

Dungeon difficulty will increase the further a player ventures into the dungeon.^[9]

Mobs and mob mechanics will become more difficult.^[9]
Terrain and environmental dangers will increase.^[9]

Deeper darker types of interactions will be found deeper in the dungeon.^[9] – Steven Sharif

List of notable dungeons

List of dungeon bosses

Harbingers

Dillia's diary concept art.^[10]

The Ancients and The Others they found their way to Verra at some point and they came through what we call the Harbingers, which are essentially these celestial bodies- these almost comet-like structures that were traveling through space to find the location of the new creation; and within those harbingers is a very strong source of magic that essentially acts as a bridge between the Void and the Material plane where Verra exists.^[11] – Steven Sharif

The Harbingers are comet-like celestial bodies powered by a very strong source of magic that essentially acts as a bridge between The Void and the Material plane where ורה exists.^[11]

The Ancients and The Others used the Harbingers to travel to ורה, thus beginning the Apocalypse.^[11]
The Ancients flowed out of the conduits that opened at the center of the Harbingers and began conquering Verra.^[12]
Harbingers that exist on ורה as dungeons are where the Ancients are capable of pushing into the material plane. They can continue to do so under the guise of the effects of corruption as it spreads.^[13]
- There are events that lead to the spreading of corruption that players will have to fight back against. Players will need to participate in the events to help fight back the intrusion.^[13]

The worst thing that the Harbingers brought was not the Others, but the corruption that they spread. It twists and distorts everything it touches. It whispers in the ears of men, and guides their hands toward terrible ends. There does not seem a means to stop it - our prayers do nothing, our spells are ineffectual. The awful truth is that the Others could simply watch as we burned Verra to ash ourselves.^[14]

בוסים

אלפא-1 early preview Pyroclastic Wyrm dungeon boss.^[15]

A Lieutenant of The Ancients 3D render.^[16]

These particular two models, with alpha one, they will be animated and present as adversaries in some of the dungeon locations within Ashes of Creation.^[13] – Steven Sharif

בוסים fall into the following types, with increasing levels of difficulty and loot tables, requiring greater numbers of players to kill.^[17]

עולם פתוח

אלפא-1 כניסה למבוך בעולם פתוח .^[18]

80% מהתוכן שיהיה באפר היצירה יהיה בעולם פתוח ויש לכך סיבה ספציפית. בגלל הדרך בה נוצרות חברויות או אויבים במשחק כך שלאנשים יש את האפשרות ליצור חברים או אויבים משלהם, אנחנו רוצים שזה יבוא לידי ביטוי גם מעמדה של תחרותיות. אז הרבה משטחי הציד או הבוסים הפשוטים שלאנשים תהיה ההזדמנות להרוג, יהוו למעשה מוקד תחרות בינך לבין האויבים שיתכן שיצרת במשחק או שתוכל לעבוד יחד כדי ליצור בריתות במטרה להגן על מוקדי התחרות הללו.^[19] – Steven Sharif

אפר היצירה יהיה חוויה של עולם פתוח רציף. ^[5]

אין זמן טעינה או מסכים נטענים במעבר בין סביבות.

יהיו מופעים כחלק מהעולם הפתוח וגם פשיטות. השאיפה היא לשמור על התחושה של עולם פתוח ובנוסף לנצל את היתרונות של מערכת המופעים. ^[20]

מופעים יווצרו רק בDungeons מסויימים איפה שיש צורך יותר גדול בסיפור מסגרת. חוץ מזירות שכאלו לא יהיו יותר מידי מופעים במקומות אחרים. ^[5]
תהיה חלוקה של 80\20 בין עולם פתוח לבין התקלויות במופעים.^[19]^[7]^[8]

אנחנו ככל הנראה הולכים ליצור מופעים רק במבוכים מסויימים ובזירות. ככל הנראה לא תוכל לראות יותר מידי מופעים בכל מקום אחר. מה שאתה רואה יהיה מה שתקבל.^[5] – Jeffrey Bard

מערכת סימון PVP תהווה הזדמנות לסכסוך פתוח.^[21]

Dungeon scale

עולם פתוח dungeon in אלפא-1.^[22]

The intention is that dungeons are going to be "massive" in scale.^[23]

Massive caverns and open world spaces.^[23]
Places to suit larger and smaller commitments.^[23]
- Where people with 30 minutes can participate.
Dungeons are vast and have room for multiple groups.^[24]

Scaling

Levels or skills will not be scaled to allow low level players to participate in dungeons with higher level players.^[25]

Mentor program

There will be a mentorship program where upper-level players are able to benefit from partying and/or helping lower level players; and getting them situated in the game.^[25]

Certain node buildings and organizations offer quests that can be initiated by a mentor to assist new players. Rewards are offered to both the mentor and the mentee upon completion.^[26]
- Leading a mentee through a dungeon.^[26]
- Meeting at pre-arranged locations.^[26]
- Escort quests for NPC caravans.^[26]

There will be activities that are present for higher level players to mentor lower level players. Let's say you have a friend who joins later on and you still want to do things with them, there will be things to do. Will he be able to enter a dungeon of your level and participate? No, because we don't want to inflate or deflate characters and manipulate that type of skill or power. We want that to be something that makes sense for them in a progression standpoint.^[27] – Steven Sharif

The mentorship program provides individual quests that can be initiated by the mentor based off of what node that they are part of. So these are like quests that are determined by either certain buildings and/or organizations or the mayor; and there are specific ones that are available for mentors to provide mentees; and they can also participate in some of those quest lines as well: Whether that be leading your mentee through a dungeon or providing a location for them to arrive with you at, or escort quests for the NPC caravans. These types of things, when done together with your mentor, will provide benefits both for the mentor and the mentee as well, so you're incentivized to participate with new players.^[26] – Steven Sharif

Dungeon locations

Dungeons and other points of interest are located throughout the map in-between the 103 node locations.^[17]

As nodes advance and expand they will influence nearby points-of-interest such as dungeon bosses, regional bosses and Raid bosses.^[17]
The difficulty level and loot tables of these encounters will change based on this influence.^[17]

PvE difficulty

The difficulty of PvE content, such as raids and dungeons will adapt based on the performance of the raid or group against previous bosses in that encounter.^[28]

Higher performance in earlier phases will increase the difficulty of subsequent phases of the encounter.^[28]
The higher the difficulty, the better the loot tables will be.^[28]
בוסים and mobs will not auto-scale based on group size.^[29]

Dungeon content

New points of interest (such as dungeons and world bosses) spawn as nodes develop.^[30] This content adapts to the development of the zone it is in.^[31]

Populations will change.^[31]
Content difficulty will change.^[31]
The content may be different altogether, depending on what is developed and how.^[31]
Different types of antagonists with different story lines.^[31]
Some dungeons will only be unlocked if nodes are developed to certain stages.^[32]
Storyline objectives for players inside dungeons will depend on the story arc paths chosen through the node system.^[32]
Drop tables in areas and dungeons will be tied into the progression of certain areas.^[32]

Certain dungeons and other points of interest across the map will all be affected by the server’s node development. Some dungeons will only be unlocked if nodes are developed to certain stages. The storyline objectives for players inside dungeons will also be dependent on the story arc paths chosen through the node system. The drop tables in area and dungeons will also be tied into the progression of certain areas. For example, let’s say that the humans have developed a node in Region A, and a storyline has opened up that leads players to inspect the ruins (dungeon) of a nearby area. And let’s say that this node was developed in a scientific (crafting) zone… Well before the node developed, this dungeon was accessible… But now the dungeon has propagated new monster assets that include a drop table catering to a crafting emphasis because of the development of that scientific node. And perhaps, a new boss appears in different rooms of the dungeon that includes different adventure quest starts, like a mysterious item with a storyline that can only be progressed if a node develops to the metropolis stage in a certain region, across the world. Our system is so vast, when it comes to interconnectivity and how the world reacts to the players.^[32]

Raid strategies

פשיטות will have elements that can be pre-planned.^[33]

Required composition of DPS, healers and support.^[33]
Key positioning.^[33]

Raids will also have dynamic elements that can change from session to session.^[33]

The types and numbers of bosses and mobs present in the raid and their skill repertoire.
Variables are manifested based on node progression.^[33]
- The number of metropolis nodes developed.
- The types of metropolis nodes developed.

One of the design elements that we're implementing into our raids is that the raid will not be exactly the same every single time. You're going to have variables that can't necessarily be pre-planned out for. You can pre-plan out for a lot of the raid like how many DPS do you need and healers and support; where the key position and all that kind of stuff; but I think the compelling aspect of Ashes raiding will be the difficulty in achieving this content and having that content change from session to session as well. We want there to be variables that get manifested by you know what type of node got developed elsewhere. Is he going to have acolytes or cultists? What will the acolytes have skills [available] to them? What kit is the boss gonna have? What available skill repertoire will the boss be able to [wield]? ... A lot of those systems are influenced obviously by world development. So the raid kind of takes into account at what stage has the world developed: Are there two metropolises now available in the world? Okay well let's activate this skill in this skill. Now you have five metropolises, well now all these skills have been activated. Are there are they all economic nodes? Are they all military nodes? That we can change things based on that stuff. And it really is a threat assessment from the environment against the players.^[33] – Steven Sharif

Group sizes

The minimum goal is 500 players on a single battlefield. I think we will be able to hit 500vs500 but we shall see.^[34] – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation is designed for solo players as well as large and small groups.^[35]^[36]

The party size is eight (8) players for a single group.^[37]
פשיטות will have 40 man groups.^[38]
Content will be tailored for 40, 16 and 8 person group sizes.^[39]
זירות will have 1 man, 3 man, 5 man and possibly 20 man Free-For-All (Deathmatch) group sizes.^[40]
- There won't specifically be guild vs guild arenas but team-based matchmaking allows teams to face other teams.^[41]
מצור על טירה are expected to have at minimum 250x250 players to be on a single battlefield, with the possibility of increasing this to 500x500 over time.^[34]

The idea behind an 8-person group is to allow us to really amplify party roles, and to create a need for each of the archetypes in every party.^[37]

Content isn't locked behind guilds.^[42]

Mechanics exist within larger conflicts for small groups and even solo players to impact the battle.^[43]
This includes systems that will likely focus on single group sized participants while the larger battle is occurring.^[43]

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse group sizes

Group sizes in אפר היצירה האפוקליפסה.^[44]

אפר היצירה באטל רויאל will have party sizes of up to 5.^[44]
Guild mode will have parties of raids of up to 20.^[44]
אפר של יצירה האפוקליפסה מצור על טירות will have parties of 5 within a raid, with 5 raids for each of the two teams.^[44]
אפר של יצירה מוד תקיפה המונית will have a party size of 5 with a total of ten groups, making for 50 players.^[44]

There will be an option in the lobby where you are capable of joining a guild based match that you can link parties together up to a maximum of twenty individuals.^[44] – Steven Sharif

Loot tables

אלפא-1 dungeon concept by Michael Bacon.^[3]

Monsters drop hunting certificates, חפצים and crafting materials rather than gold.^[45]^[46]

Hunting certificates is a term that covers items, such as Pelts that house the value of a mob's death. These certificates are specific to an economic region.^[47]

A wolf is not going to be carrying a sack of gold. It may instead drop "pelts" that can be traded for gold.^[46]

Hunting certificates will also drop on a character's death.^[45]
Hunting certificates can be traded with hunter דמויות ללא שחקן within nodes.^[45]
- The level of the node and the distance of the node from the drop will determine the value of the certificate. Certificates redeemed from distant economic regions via the caravan system will provide higher returns (4 to 5 times greater in some cases) than certificates collected from the same region.^[47]^[45]
- The value of the certificates are also calculated (by the world manager algorithm) based on the volume of certificates being redeemed in each region.^[47]
Hunting certificates can also be stored within node warehouses.^[45]

Loot tables of world bosses or dungeon bosses have a small RNG chance of dropping gear (completed items).^[48]^[39]

There is a much higher chance that materials and unique recipes are dropped that can be used to craft items of equitable value.^[48]^[49]^[50]
There is a small RNG chance of looting rare and legendary items or crafting materials from mobs based on the level, status and type of mob. This also applies to harvesting resources with a gathering profession.^[51]
Legendary equipment is only dropped by Legendary world bosses.^[17]
Stats on dropped items will vary based on the rarity of the item.^[52]

Loot tables are disabled for player controlled monsters.^[53]

Experience debt decreases the drop rate percentages from monsters.^[54]

Underwater dungeons

תת-מימי dungeons are part of Ashes of Creation naval content.^[55]

Zergs

For every play, there should be a counterplay. We often see Castle Sieges turn into zerg-fests, which really doesn’t capture the epic, back-and-forth battles we wish to see in Ashes of Creation. One of our key pillars is that Choice Matters^[56], and that applies to tactics and strategy as well. A well-formulated battle plan should win out over stat sheets and bodies. Zergs will generally be difficult to pull off, and will be eminently counterable through siege weapons, traps, and other battlefield tricks.^[57]

Zergs are empowered by fast-travel. Meaningful travel times are intended to prevent zerg play from being so much of an influence.^[58]

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.^[59] 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".^[60]

Raid and dungeon bosses have specific mechanics and abilities that players need to learn and react to.^[60] Zergs that are not aware of these mechanics or react to them appropriately will be wiped.^[59]
There may be environmental hazards and AoE effects that cause more damage based on the number of players present.^[60]
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.^[61]

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.^[61] – Steven Sharif

Mechanics that encourage political intrigue will play a role in destabilizing zergs.^[62]

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 kind of want that political intrigue to be present in the game.^[62] – Steven Sharif

Objective-based game play helps to balance the zerg mentality.^[63]

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 you know 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.^[63] – Steven Sharif

לוח מובילים

There will be dungeon and raid leader boards.^[64]

Some leader boards will be across all servers.^[65]

Jumping mechanics

Jumping puzzle in early אלפא-1 dungeon entrance.^[66]

Jumping puzzles will occasionally feature in the world.^[67]

Jumping puzzles are present in early אלפא-1 dungeon gameplay footage.^[66]
Jumping were present in the אלפא-0 Dünheim dungeon.^[68]

Announcements/Notifications

There will be global (server-wide) announcements/notifications of important events.^[69]

New citizens of a node may be announced in a dedicated node citizen chat channel.^[71]

Election notices will be mailed to the accounts of citizens.^[71]

Local node events, such as קרוואנים will not be announced. These will rely on player word-of-mouth.^[69]

Whether it be like a siege or a triggered event against a city or like a unique dungeon opportunity... those types of things are going to involve notifications. Especially to the citizens of the city; where you'll be informed of an impending event. Basically it will give you time.^[70] – Steven Sharif