Creation September Development Update
Ranged Combat Reveal, Ranger Class Reveal, Minotaur Race Showcase
Sep. 30, 2022
TL;DR
- AMA with Steven Sharif soon on redit
- There will be some solo content available in the game
- Longbow and shortbow weapons shown
- Ranger's 3 abilities (quickshot, snipe, airstrike) shown
- Tab-targeting vs action combat demonstrated
- Weapons will have their own skill trees
Hihgly anticipated September development update got off to a bit rocky start with one hour delay due to some “technical issues,” but the wait was well worth with ranger class reveal along with ranged combat demonstration. One side announcement thrown in the intro of the livestream is that there will be an AMA with Steven on redit.
Can I Play Ashes Of Creation Solo?
This month’s community highlighted question came from Ashes’ Youtube channel. The community member wanted to know how restrictive the gameplay will be towards the solo-oriented players? Will players be able to finish main story line on their own? Are solo dungeons a thing in Ashes? The answer to this question was kind of obvious as Ashes of Creation’s gameplay intent is pretty clear for quite some time now. The game, being an MMO, is obviously going to prioritize multiplayer aspect of it - encouraging players to play together, socialize, and achieve goals. On the other side, Steven did mention that there will be questlines and parts of the game that can be completed alone. Solo gameplay will not be completely neglected, but it’s emphasized that it will be more challenging to complete certain objectives alone. The game is also going to have a system that kind of pushes players together and eases even the most solo-oriented people into social aspects of the game.
Ranged Attack Combat Reveal
Similarly to melee combat reveal, ranged combat video was also heavily prefixed with all the usual: “work in progress,” “direction of development,” “a lot of stuff still missing” disclaimers. Not to blame Intrepid for being overly cautious with these kinds of updates, since the public can easily take it and twist it around. The showcase’s purpose was to demonstrate the direction of ranged combat, impact of ranged weapons, character movement with such types of weapon, and it will be available in Alpha 2 testing phase.
To set the scene for this video, we can split it into five parts:
Ranger Class Demonstration
A sneak peek at ranger archetype demonstrated ranger’s mobility and survability, with different skills and non-restrictive movement. We got to see only three skills, “not to spoil the entire class.”
Quickshot is an ability with three charges, which can either be qucikly shot, or spread over time with each shot doing more damage. Cooldown still needs to be determined.
Snipe ability a player can press and hold. It roots the character while being charged, and the longer it’s charged, the more damage it does.
Airstrike is definitely the most fun-looking ability. Almost ulimate-like ability launches player in the direaction where they’re facing, firing arrows and damaging any enemies in that path.
The abilities are further explained with difference between holding and tapping attacks. The longbow allows charging each attack, which at the moment just increases damage, but can also be used to time combos. Overall the class feels very light and flexible, allowing player to jump while shooting.
We also had a demonstration of tab-targeting and action-mode combat:
Tab-targeting is pretty straight forward, requiring players to click on an enemy and then fire shots at them. Some abilities, such as airstrike, are indendent and will fire as designed (tempalted) regardless of combat mode.
Action combat gives more responsiveness and flexibility to players who prefer that style with target softlock and hardlock. “Softlock” smartly selects a target based on reticle positioning - the target nameplate has lower opacity. Hardlock happens when player presses right mouse button (can be mapped to some other key) in action mode, locking the target as primary, even if reticle is off the target - nameplate is fully visible.
Two Types Of Ranger Weapons
longbow - which is supposed to be a bit heavier of the two, providing more impact and damage, but also rooting and restricting the player a bit more.
shortbow - is supposed to be a ligther option of the two, providing more movement and fire rate, but also lowering the amount of output damage per single shot. It’s not as powerful, but it’s quicker, trading power and range for movement and speed.
Both of the weapons have pretty nice and elegant design, complemented with very nice audio effects of strings pulling and arrows whistling through the air.
Minotaur Faction In Action
Minotaur faction was teased in the previous update, but now we got to see them in action. The three in-game models of the shaman “Terrorgore Raincaller,” the guard dog “Guard Drudger,” and the bruge “Terrorgore War Horn” looked pretty close to what we saw in previous stream’s concept art reveal. This minotaur hunting party, although not elite, still delivered quite a punch putting Steven’s HP to 0 a couple of times. We also got brief background of minotaurs, describing them as chaotic faction that profited as the human declined. Now, they got organized, equiped, and they want revenge.
Riverlands In Morning Spring Glory
This livestream, as probably any future gameplay livestream, further showcased the power of Unreal Engine 5 coupled with Intrepid’s season changes technology. We saw part of Riverlands area in a morning Spring setting, with sun shining, morning fog rolling around, and ambient particle effects completing the immersion. To constrast this “peaceful” environment, we also saw a huge tower in the distance called “The Tower of Carphin.” The tower is going to be one of the big dungeons available in Alpha 2.
this is riverlands -> heart of alen empire, which was the biggest empire at the time of cata. Carphin tower -> is a big structure that emits evil aoe. it was the focus of mages study of ealien empire. there were unis there. things went bad there during the last days of the fall. there’s an interesting questline there.
Ranged Combat Questions Answered
The theme with ranged combat, and combat overall, in Ashes of Creation is to not be a game where it’s frustrasting to attack and move. “There should be freedom in combat.” Steven described combat as fluid and not cumbersome, with players keeping a lot of agency in both longbow or shortbow spec. To make combat dynamic, differentiate feel and mechanics, and more interesting the team plans to define skill trees for each weapon. Bottom line is “build your character how you want,” and don’t follow predefined classes. An example example for this combat direction was presented in ranger class, where players can spec into longbow or shortbow. On top of that there’s intention to give auto-attacks a bigger purpose than serving as a fillter in rotations. Auto-attacks will have separate part in skill trees, providing synergy between rotation and weapon type chosen. As players progress, they can influence things like number of attacks, procs, status conditions, etc.
The demonstration was accepted quite possitively, with quite a few questions...
Will rangers have to carry arrows?
There’s No ammunition in the game, because it would be cumbersome. However, the team is thinking about buffs to be applied to weapons per instance basis of attack. For example, a quiver that can apply some type of effect like posion arrows.
Are bows hitscan or projectile based?
Bows are projectile based. When a player switches to action combat, they can fire bow as blind fire without the need for target. If an enemy moves in the meantime, it can be hit, meaning it’s possible to lead shots. That’s one difference between action/tab targeting.
Can ranger use abilities without a bow?
Some abilities require some weapon types - “shield bash” requires a shield. On the other hand there are non-weapon bassed abilities. Additionally, there’s main hand and off-hand weapon slot, which will allow players to automatically use abilities from two weapon types without the need to switch weapons in order to activate an ability.
Can players swap bows between combos?
It is always possible to hot-swap weapons, but it’s not possible to armor swap. Therefore, players can min/max long and shortbow abilities.
How can melee catch up to ranged classes?
Depends on melee class. There are gap closers, chains, lockdowns, and a lot of other skills that can counter different scenarios.
Do I have to have a target in crosshair for quickshot?
Depends on ability. Yes, the target is required for abilities such as snipe. On the other hand, if it’s a tempalted attack (“line atack,” cone atk), it can be fired anticipating movement of the enemy.
Long vs short bow difference?
Weapons are not just stat sticks. Changes between them can result in pacing, speed, crit. rate, base damage, charge up on atcks, etc. Each weapon type has associated tree for progresion, and each weapon group should feel different.
Tab-target is easier? Why use action combat?
Action combat allows blind fire - no target requirement. It’s also a playstyle accomodation, as there are players who much more prefer action combat. Other advantage of action-based combat is that is allows quick target picking in mass brawls, as players do not have to click on enemies. In general, action combat should give better responsiveness.
Zombies And Ghost Monsters
Character art section showed us a couple of already familiar models, along with some new designs of zombie and ghost type monsters.
Ranged combat demonstration showed Ashes of Creation's combat to be going in a very promissing direction. If you want to watch the update you can check out the VOD here.