Time to kill

Caravan PvP in Alpha-2.

Generally when it comes to finger in the wind we're around where we want to be for TTK and that's probably on the bit faster side of TTK for MMOs that we're accustomed to, but we're a PvX game. – Steven Sharif

Time to kill (TTK) in Ashes of Creation will be a little bit faster than most MMOs.

• Previously it was stated that the TTK was expected to be around 30 seconds to a minute.
• The developers do not want one-shots in the final MMORPG.
• Average non-elite mob time-to-kill for a solo player is intended to be around 6 seconds.

In the MMORPG we really don't want to see any one-shots. The time-to-kill needs to be strategic and tactical. – Steven Sharif

Health bars

During PvP, detailed information about your opponent's HP is obscured. This means you will not know the exact HP percentage an opponent has.

Health is a stat in Ashes of Creation.

If you are targeting another player specifically, another player not an NPC. If you're targeting another player and that player is not a member of your guild, alliance, raid, or party- those are the four affiliation factors. If they're not a part of those four groups you will not have specific information of their HP level. You will have quarters of information to their [HP] level and you may progress to get that a bit more granular, perhaps to sixths or eighths. You're not going to have exact information about what amount of hit points they have available to them. That level of obfuscation protects a bit of that engagement, that TTK interaction. So you might overshoot a target if you don't know exactly if they're down to their last 20% or 25%. That I think is a very healthy thing to have in PvP, but it is not a normal game design mechanic. – Steven Sharif

• Players that are not in the same party, raid, alliance, or guild will not be able to see other player's exact health bar values or percentages. This information will instead be displayed in quarters. A player may be able to progress to see sixths or eighths.
  • Previously it was stated that a player's name plate would deteriorate to give an indication of how much damage they have taken.

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.

Combat revamp

Alpha-1 split-body melee weapon combat sneak peek.

I can move while swinging on this guy. I can back up then continue to attack him. Just have complete control over my character while attacking. – Steven Sharif

A revamped combat system will be rolled out during and post Alpha-1 testing based on player feedback.

I just want to give kudos to the combat team, because in my opinion having played this and watched this and seen the community's response to it, they've done a great job in moving away from what was our direction prior to Alpha-1 to now having developed for Alpha-2 a significantly revamped combat experience; and I think it feels good and it plays well and it's fun. – Steven Sharif

• The goal is to give more agency to the player and achieve a more fluid flow of combat with greater mobility when using abilities.
• The current hybrid tab and action combat system will remain after the revamp.
• This revamp will not represent the final form of combat, but will set the general direction that combat will be taking.
• The revamp will be iterative and will be rolled out to testers in different phases.
• The developers will be testing whether or not to use global cooldowns GCDs on different types of abilities during Alpha-2.
  • As of July 2023 global cooldowns are not currently in the game.
  • Instant cast abilities are referred to as off-global-cooldown or OGCD abilities.

The revamped combat system will feature split-body animations, where the character's upper body can be locked by weapon attack animations while the lower body is free to continue moving.

You'll be able to move forward while swinging your weapon; and this will allow you complete control over your weapon attacks for melee. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 combat was focused on core functionality rather than combat balance. Alpha-2 combat will include archetypes, significant ability support, augments, split-body combat, weapon attacks, and many additional items, among other things.

• Changes that allow templated abilities to apply to 3D positions in the air or water will be prototyped and may be included in Alpha-2.

Gear inspection/ Threat assessment

You decide to gank the player, but find out that you have been ambushed!

Players will have a buff on their nameplate that indicates the gear set they are wearing. Other players will be able to see this buff by targeting that player at a distance.

• This will indicate the type of armor (cloth, leather, plate) that they are predominantly wearing.

You can target a player. You're going to see what type of armor they have based on a buff they have available to them because obviously cosmetics can change appearance. You might have different silhouettes as a result of that. – Steven Sharif

• The border will indicate the level and quality of the tier set.
  • This also indicates if the gear is enchanted, along with visual effects associated with enchanted items.
• The developers believe that inspecting gear to obtain an exact equipment list or gear score may lead to "unwelcome behavior".

When you see a player approaching you and they're wearing a transmog you don't know if that person is a high damage mitigation against physical damage or against magical damage and essentially the way we overcome that is through you being able to target a player at a distance and they will have a buff that's present on them that you will see, which indicates that essentially the piece set that they are wearing. It is important for players to be able to ascertain from a threat assessment standpoint what they're going up against if they're actively checking that, and that will be available. – Steven Sharif

Zie ook

• Combat
• Skills