遊戲性

We like to really refer to ourselves as a PvX game, because in those systems of PvP, PvE, crafting they're all intertwined: They're interdependent on each other... Our system of development really requires some interdependence there between those things. You're going to need a crafter to give you the best items. You're going to need PvPers to secure cities and castles. You're gonna need PvErs to take down those world bosses for those materials to craft.^[1] – Steven Sharif

Ashes is a comprehensive game. It is not a PvP focused or a PvE focused, it is a comprehensive PvX game and as a result these systems are all interconnected and have to coexist with one another with certain types of mechanisms that can provide that give and take, that push and shove.^[2] – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation 是一款 PvX 遊戲。 PvP 和 PvE 的要素都會自然接觸得到，^[2]^[3]^[4] 而玩家將不太可能「純玩」PvP 或 PvE。^[4]

遊戲中 PvP 和 PvE 之間將存在平衡。^[4]
所有數值都會影響玩家的 PvX 戰鬥能力。^[5]
伺服器將不會以 PvE 和 PvP 區分，但有些伺服器將可能較著着重 PvP。^[3]^[6]
裝備將不會以 PvE 和 PvP 區分。^[7]
角色或將需要透過 PvE 才能成長。^[4]

我們有很清晰的目標和理念，也明白不會得到所有人的歡心。然而 PvE 和 PvP 內容相輛相成，它們都是玩家投放時間成長發展的方向，也讓玩家重視隨之而來的得失，從而誘發玩家的感情，而這樣的元素正是由 PvP 帶來的。因此我們很清楚我們的目標就是：風險與回報的關係、以及追求成就的思維。不會每個人都是贏家，而這是沒問題的。^[8] – Steven Sharif

PvP

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Alpha-1 攻城戰 — PvP 對戰實機遊玩影片。^[9]

Alpha-1 — 開放世界商隊 PvP。^[10]

Player combat in Ashes of Creation is both vast and intimate. It spans many aspects of the game itself. From great political battles held on the fields of massive castles, to open world conflicts fought for the pride of Guild Leaders. A player can choose to participate in the fate of the world by swaying the tide of battle with his or her combat prowess. Our PvP mechanics follow a flagging system, as well as static PvP zones at certain points of interest; fight for control over cities, castles, caravans, or hunting grounds. Our PvP is designed to offer the players a well-balanced and fair world to shape through the pen, or sword should they choose.^[11]

PvP (玩家對戰) 是 Ashes of Creation 產生改變的關鍵要素。^[12] 從商隊戰鬥以至在廣闊的世界以國王和王后之名而戰，皆旨在促成有意義的玩家對戰。^[13]

正因為玩家有不同的誘因，正因為玩家有不同的追求，衝突必不可避。不同玩家將會渴求不同的體驗，因而產生的衝突將締造更龐大、更好玩的體驗。紛爭過後，萬物重生 — 是貫徹整個遊戲的核心主題。^[14] – Jeffrey Bard

Ashes of Creation 有很多原因促使玩家參與野外 PvP。^[15]

我們的標記系統雖然會讓 PvP 玩家進入腐化狀態，但 PvP 仍會存在。遊戲有大量原因促使玩家在開放世界參與 PvP：稀缺的資源、位於開玩世界的狩獵場、商隊運輸、攻城戰、公會戰等等。^[15] – Steven Sharif

死亡懲罰將不適用於存在特定目標的活動 (例如商隊、公會戰、攻城戰)。^[16]

商隊 PvP

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Alpha-1 — 商隊 PvP。^[17]

You won't be able to see inside specifically but as part of the caravan structure itself there will be little hints as to what the the cargo is. So for example if you've seen some of our recent footage with caravans you kind of see sitting on top of the caravan there's some gold or some silver or some iron.^[18] – Steven Sharif

商隊週邊會形成一個開放式 PvP 區域，區域內的玩家會被標記成戰鬥員 (紫色)。^[19]

在決定進攻或防守商隊前，玩家將無法確切看到商隊運輸中的貨物。但會有視覺提示顯示車上的貨物，例如金、銀或鐵。^[18]
- 商隊時裝外觀將不影響視覺提示的效果。^[18]
玩家將可以透過介面視窗決定攻擊、防守或無視商隊。^[20]^[21]^[22]
- 距離商隊多遠視窗才會出現，將取決於玩家先前作為攻擊方或防守方的表現。^[20]
要成功擊毀一個商隊，將需要一個隊伍。^[23]^[24]
在商隊擁有人登出或與伺服器連接中斷 5 至 10 分鐘後，商隊才會消失。^[25]

It's still intended from a design standpoint to be a window that is presented to the player based on proximity; and that proximity it can be greater depending on your performance as either a defender or an attacker in previous raids.^[20] – Steven Sharif

雙方皆有誘因鼓勵玩家加入，並將於 Alpha 及 Beta 階段測試。^[26]

大部分誘因都是社交性的，而且是由玩家之間非正式協議而成。^[26]

The caravan defender role is going to have its own progression questing and rewards associated with it that are going to attract a certain subset of players and then you know vice-versa wise we're going to have incentives that appeal to the more highway brigand type players; and you know you might not always be on one side or the other: that might change depending on what your interests are in the at the time. But obviously you know those types of systems need to have robust you know consequential type rewards and benefits associated with them in order to compel the player; and that's something obviously we're going to test in alphas and betas and see how performant it is in actually attracting players to participate and make sure it's not just one-sided so-to-speak.^[26] – Steven Sharif

Also the hope would be that the people who are running the caravans can offer their own rewards that "Hey if you come help me defend this thing I'll give you some cut", or that these are my friends or these are my guilds- that a lot of the sort of incentive is social and created between players.^[26] – Jeffrey Bard

攻城戰

Alpha-1 castle siege gameplay.^[9]

Throughout Ashes of Creation, the player has an opportunity to participate in massively multiplayer siege warfare. Since castles are likely the world’s most limited resource, it will be a task to secure and hold them. Involving hundreds of players on a single battlefield, our sieges will employ many moving parts and intricate design features. Because of the difficult nature of taking and keeping a castle there are great rewards available to the players for their efforts. Castles will allow players to exert control over nearby lands and allow for the development of unique buildings in the nearby towns.^[11]

行会 participate in 攻城戰 in an effort to capture and occupy one of the five guild castles in Ashes of Creation.^[27]

Sieges occur once a month within a server prime-time window.^[28]^[27]^[29]^[30]

The minimum goal is for 250x250 players to be on a single battlefield. It is hoped that this can be increased to 500x500 over time.^[31]^[32]^[33]^[34]

There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.^[35]

There may be instanced locations within otherwise open-world castle and node sieges, where specific groups can participate in small, short duration objective-based battles that will affect the overall outcome of the siege.^[36]
- It was previously stated that castle sieges may or may not be (entirely) instanced in the final game.^[37]
- Alpha-1 攻城戰 occurred in an open-world zone that was accessible via a NPC teleporter.^[38]^[39]^[37]^[40]

A guild that captures a castle will own that castle for a month before it is sieged again.^[41]^[42]

Each week leading up to the siege week... is a week that's dedicated to one of the three castle dedicated nodes. So around the castle there are three nodes. They represent week, one, two, and three; and then the fourth week is the siege against the castle. Those can only be elevated up to stage three. We've discussed this in the past and there's definitely information out there on the community ran wiki.^[41] – Steven Sharif

In the first three weeks that a guild occupies a castle they will need to level up each of their castle nodes to 村莊 stage through questing.^[41]^[42]
- Each of the three castle nodes have a siege against it at the end of each of these three weeks.^[42]^[43]
The fourth week is declaration week, where other guilds have the opportunity to lay down their declaration flag or to sign up as a defender of the castle.^[41]^[42]
Depending on how well the guild defends their castle nodes results in better defenses for the castle.^[42]^[43]
Different siege weaponry will grant the attackers the ability to destroy walls, doors and sections of the castle in order to gain access to the inner keep area.^[44]
When castles change hands (following a siege), some taxes stay with the castle and some stay with the guild.^[45]

There will be benefits to attracting people... even if they're not in your guild or alliance – kind of a feudal like system, where you can attract other players who are just independent of this whole politic. They will have things to do there - benefits to receive - and there will be a reciprocal relationship between who you can attract, what they do for you; and how that benefits you and them.^[42] – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 攻城戰

Alpha-1 preview castle.^[46]

Trebuchets in the Alpha-1 preview castle siege attackers headquarter camp.^[47]

Alpha-1 preview castle siege gameplay.^[48]

Alpha-1 攻城戰 are based on Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle sieges.^[49]^[40]

Players will be able to join guilds. These guilds can register for the siege events.^[47]
Castle siege events will be 100v100 battles that occur daily and will last for three hours.^[47]
Attackers will start on the opposite end of the map (from the defenders).^[47]
Attackers will be able to use trebuchets to drive to and assault the castle.^[47]
- Trebuchets have a single primary fire that does a small amount of damage to players and heavy damage to buildings.^[47]
- Trebuchets will be fully physical when they are being driven.^[47]
When the attackers have breached the castle they will be able to channel a cast on the relic in the throne room to try to capture the castle from the defenders.^[47]
The victors of castle sieges will receive benefits, such as cloaks, flying mounts for guild leaders and potentially also for guild officers.^[47]
Alpha-1 攻城戰 are in a separate zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.^[38]^[39]^[37]
Currently the siege zone is actually in the open world, but separated by mountains and off in the sea a bit. There is actually no instancing in A1, although the siege zone will only be accessible in A1 through a registration NPC teleporter.^[38] – Steven Sharif
- This zone includes the following raid bosses.^[49]
- These bosses will also appear in the open-world (outside the siege zone) with slightly different mechanics.^[39]
The opposing team is notified when these raid bosses are being attacked.^[49]
Teams who get the last hit on these bosses will receive buffs that will help them in the siege battle.^[49]

Last year, I spoke of attempting to incorporate sieges into the Alpha One experience. This has obviously been a goal of mine because it provides considerable data and a consistent event within the world that players can participate in to help stress test the deployment. Well, I am happy to say that it is appearing more and more likely by the day! Initial implementation of the Apocalypse siege code has been migrated into the Alpha One client, and we should begin internal testing next month. I will caveat this expectation with the fact that we are cutting it a bit close from an internal QA standpoint, but I have some confidence that the system will be online and capable of inclusion for the Alpha One test in the month of June. The siege component will obviously not be representative of what the siege system will be at launch, or even in Alpha Two.^[40] – Steven Sharif

Destructible structures (such as walls and gates) are present in Alpha-1 攻城戰.^[50]
- The ability to repair structures (and siege weapons) is a long term design goal that will not be present during Alpha-1.^[50]

節點戰

節點戰 (Pre-alpha footage).^[51]

As some areas in the world grow, others will fall. This is the foundation of the living, breathing world that is Ashes of Creation, where players will have the ability to make important decisions that matter in the longevity of an area becoming a city, or whether to siege a rival town. Rise above the ashes, create the world around you, and be a part of the story that unfolds because of your actions and decisions.^[52] – Margaret Krohn

節點戰 enable players to destroy nodes starting at

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[[{{{2}}}|⧼{{{2}}}⧽]] (階段 3).^[52] This paves the way for new development and access to the locked content in surrounding nodes. Due to this dynamic, political strife and intrigue play an important role in the structure of the world.^[53]

Sieging nodes will not be an easy task for the attackers. Cities and metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage.^[53]

There will be systems that mimic some of the mechanics of sieges, but there won't be practice sieges.^[35]

Death penalties do not apply to objective-based events such as node sieges.^[16]

If you own a home in a node and you don't want to see that home destroyed, you need to defend that city!^[14] – Steven Sharif

The majority (~80%) of content in Ashes of Creation is open-world but there may be instanced battles within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in small, short-duration objective-based battles for specific waypoints.^[36]

公會戰

Guild war features are currently still in the design stage, but the overall goal is for guild wars to be objective-based with great risk for each side.^[54]

Guild war objectives are designed to be more fluid than castle siege objectives.^[55]
Guild wars can be declared at any time, but the objectives will only spawn during server prime-time.^[56]
- Players can kill each other at any time during the war (not only during server prime-time).^[56]
Guild wars will not be permanent. Definitive victory conditions exist that are based on the level of the warring guilds and the assets that those guilds have.^[57]
Guild wars are considered a core system of Alpha-2.^[58]

I can't really define exactly what those features are yet because that design stage is still up in the air from a discussion standpoint. There's a lot of different ideas that relates to how those two can come into play, but I will say that in every MMO I've ever played guild wars are very binary. They're very like 'Okay you've declared, you have a number of kills to deaths and the guild war's over, thank you...' My objective to kind of change that dynamic is to include greater risk for the sides to initiate the war and also to make it more objective-based than just a binary kill death ratio; and the fortresses and guild halls come into that type of facilitating that change.^[54] – Steven Sharif

狩獵場

You are on the prowl, and notice an unsuspecting player chopping trees. What would you do?^[59]

狩獵場 are open-world PvP corruption-enabled areas that encompass most of the map.^[60]

Hunting grounds refer to killing monsters or NPCs in the open-world.^[60]^[61]
This also refers to contesting resources.^[62]

One of the interesting components of Ashes of Creation and our flagging system is that it presents the potential for two conflicting parties to have open conflict in the open world over pretty much anything that they may want or disagree with; and if that pertains to a hunting ground, not just the caravan or the castles or the nodes or whatever, it can exist in that area.^[63] – Steven Sharif

Outside of PvP for certain things like caravans, sieges of nodes and/or castles is that you're going to have those open-world hunting ground fights that may occur. You're going to have resources fights that may occur. You're going to have political fights that may occur between members of guilds; and we're taking the guild politics to a whole new direction in regards to playing those conflicts out.^[62] – Steven Sharif

Our PvP mechanics follow a flagging system, as well as static PvP zones at certain points of interest; fight for control over cities, castles, caravans, or hunting grounds. Our PvP is designed to offer the players a well-balanced and fair world to shape through the pen, or sword should they choose.^[64]

海上 PvP

Operators of a ship's weapons platform can initiate naval PvP against another ship in the following three cases.^[65]

Another important change that has occurred is the open seas is now an automatic flagged location. So when you move off of land we have a flagging system that protects and the open seas are international waters where you need to be careful; and there is a lot of opportunity at Sea; and because there's a lot of opportunity that's unique to that content- that's unique to that sea: that's treasure finding; that's NPCs; that's a lot of different stuff there needs to be risk associated with opportunity.^[66] – Steven Sharif

When the ships move into an open sea (open waters/deep ocean) area. This will automatically flag players as Combatants (purple).^[67]^[66]^[65] Corrupted (red) players will remain red while in the open sea.^[68]^[69]
- Players entering an open seas area will be notified by the UI ahead of time.^[70]
- Open sea zones have better resources in more abundance to compensate for the added level of risk.^[71]

We have a very intuitive UI that that as you approach the border between open sea and coastal area you are notified of that. You are warned ahead of time. There's a countdown when approaching. We interpolate the distance travel and speed you're moving and you get to see "I'm entering open waters"; and when you do you have this big trophy call out on screen that says "You have entered the open sea. Territory fraught."^[70] – Steven Sharif

The result of events (such as guild wars or node wars) between the parties.^[65]
As the result of open-world PvP, utilizing the flagging and corruption system.^[65]

競技場

Pre-alpha arena combat footage from PAX West 2017.

Pre-alpha arenas.^[72]

競技場 are instanced PvP scenarios and are not part of open world PvP.^[73]^[74]

The arena system as we've spoken about before is going to have ladder systems where people can progress within certain seasons based on their win/loss ratios. The importance of arenas are obviously that players have an opportunity to participate [and] practice out certain builds from a PvP perspective and can compete with one another within the system.^[73] – Steven Sharif

競技場 will have 1 man, 3 man, 5 man and possibly 20 man Free-For-All (Deathmatch) group sizes.^[75]
- There won't specifically be guild vs guild arenas but team-based matchmaking allows teams to face other teams.^[76]
Arenas will have a minimum level requirement to participate.^[77]
There won't be bifurcated brackets with separate player pools.^[77]
There might be some form of an ELO system that gets flushed on a seasonal basis.^[77]
There will be an arena ladder system.^[73]^[75]
- Rewards for arena ladders will be revealed at a later time.^[78]
- Titles can be received from arena play.^[79]
- Arena points that can be used to buy gear are not currently in the design.^[79]
市長 of military nodes are chosen from citizens through last man standing (gladiatorial arena style) combat.^[80]^[79]
The arena system may support cross-server combat.^[81]
Arena style combat is instanced but spectators may be possible through an interface.^[82]

PvE

Alpha-1 Elder Dragon of the Tundra raid boss.^[83]

The environment in Ashes of Creation is a visually stunning realm, with fantastical beasts and creations designed to both inspire awe and instill fear. The world is harsh and unforgiving, presenting a clear and present danger to the players. Dungeons, demons and dragons, oh MY! Our unique and adaptive AI means that an encounter with similar creatures will yield a completely different experience to adapt to as a player. Keeping you on your toes for constantly changing responses from your adversary. The world awaits its heroes.^[11]

Elder Dragon of the Wood raid boss gameplay.^[84]

Whenever you have a player versus environment setting you don't want a stagnant kind of overly repetitive because its lackluster. It does not have that a component that engages.^[85] – Steven Sharif

The Node system facilitates the generation of new PvE content such as 任務, 地下城, 大型副本 and 怪物金幣.^[13]

There is going to be a lot of PvE content for all portions of the playerbase... Part of that risk versus reward: Your risk is your time you're putting in to having a chance at getting the reward and successfully completing; and that should feel good based on how much time you devote. Now I know that there's a spectrum of casual and hard-core players in the time there, what we can do, but that's why we have many different content paths that play towards how you affect the world around you.^[86] – Steven Sharif

PvE content adapts to the development of the world to avoid repetition.^[85]

Alpha-1 PvE 內容

PvE content in Alpha-1:

There are over 200 quests in Alpha-1.^[39]
- Questing will be placeholder until Alpha-2.^[87]^[88]
Approximately 10 percent of the artisan system will be online in Alpha-1.^[89]^[90]
There are approximately 49 unique gear sets obtainable in Alpha-1.^[39]
- These are unique sets with different stats, but some may be similar in appearance.^[39]
There is no instancing in Alpha-1.^[38]
Approximately 6 or 7 dungeons with one almost raid-level difficulty.^[91]
Two world bosses requiring party-sized groups.^[91]
One true 40 person raid boss.^[91]
Alpha-1 攻城戰 occur in a zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.^[38]^[39]^[37]^[40]
- This zone includes three Elder dragon raid bosses.^[39]^[49]
- These bosses will also appear in the open world outside the siege zone with slightly different mechanics.^[39]

There's over 200 quests in the game right now. There's a bunch of dungeons. We've retooled all of the boss fights. Those dragons that you see in the siege are also in the world- part of the open-world too. There will be a slightly different- there are some extra mechanics in the siege versions versus the ones that are in the world, but there's plenty of cool things to get on both of them, so make sure you check them out and hunt them down.^[39] – Jeffrey Bard

任務

Alpha-1 early quest user interface.^[92]

Questing in our world combines the best elements of traditional MMO’s as well as the introduction of our unique player driven experiences. Ashes of Creation offers area quests, public quests, and quest chains that change dynamically and in real time based on the player’s experiences and choices. Players will have the ability to directly alter world events and change the landscape through their actions, as an individual and as a community. Server quests will allow political rivals to compete for the fate of the world.^[11]

Alpha-2 quest journal user interface early preview.^[93]

We actually used the journal as one of our test cases for the style guide because it's a very complex screen. There's a lot of things that are going on, where we have different tiers of story arcs that might be available for players; and so we wanted to make sure the color denoted different information for them. We also have iconography to support that as well; and we have a little bit of a twist on what a traditional quest system would be like. With these story arcs we wanted to make sure that it was organized in a familiar way, but also something that supported all of the designs needs.^[94] – Colby Marchi

任務 in Ashes of Creation are divided into three categories: Events, 任务 and Narrative quests.^[95]^[96]^[97]

All three categories of quests will be available from a variety of local, hidden and discovered sources, such as bulletin boards and NPC quest givers.^[98]

We’re going to be breaking up what is traditionally called ‘questing’ into three different categories: Narratives, Events, and Tasks. We want to avoid going down the path of trying to force narrative into gameplay where it doesn’t really fit (ie: filler stuff that doesn’t really relate to what’s happening in the world).^[97]

Dialog choices within the quest UI are intended to affect gameplay, such as unlocking side-arcs and storylines.^[99]

Q: Will dialogue choices have any impact on the quests in regards to how NPCs respond to you or the overall outcome of that quest, or is it more just a role-playing perspective without any major impact?

A: No. The dialogue choices are intended to provide an impact, both with the response of the NPC, it might also serve as predicates for other systems. If there are certain paths chosen within the dialogue tree it might unlock different side arcs and story lines that other players may not experience. The dialogue trees are not meaningless. They're meant to provide gameplay related context.^[99] – Steven Sharif

Questing will be placeholder until Alpha-2.^[87]^[88]

地下城

Dünzenkell Crypt open-world Dünir dungeon in Alpha-1.^[100]

Half the problem won't just be solving the dungeon, it will be solving other players too.^[101] – Jeffrey Bard

Alpha-0 Dünir Dünheim dungeon design by Michael Bacon.^[102]^[103]

地下城 in Ashes of Creation will range in size and will be mostly open-world.^[104]^[105]

開放世界 dungeons will be populated to facilitate multiple groups within the dungeon.^[101]
- 80% of dungeons will be open world.^[106]^[107]
Instanced dungeons will also be present and will cater for solo and group questlines.^[101]
- 20% of dungeons will be instanced.^[106]^[107]

Different tiers and types of dungeon content will be more or less relevant to specific groups or class compositions.^[108]

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.^[104] – Jeffrey Bard

Dungeon difficulty will increase the further a player ventures into the dungeon.^[109]

Mobs and mob mechanics will become more difficult.^[109]
Terrain and environmental dangers will increase.^[109]

Deeper darker types of interactions will be found deeper in the dungeon.^[109] – Steven Sharif

There were 13 dungeons in Alpha-1.^[110] Originally this was estimated to be 6 or 7.^[91]

大型副本

Alpha-1 Brood Queen raid boss.^[111]

Entering an Alpha-1 open-world raid.^[112]

大型副本 will either be based on triggered events or more traditional systems. Traditional world bosses will change based on node development.^[113]

We want things to be more fluid and one of the ways that we make them more fluid is through our triggered event system. That is one of the methods by which we make these more spontaneous. We make them more accessible to a wider audience. You can be just in the city and not normally be a part of a raid team, but now get to participate in this organic event that's kind of popped up around the city and if you are not participating then buildings are gonna get destroyed and NPCs are going to die... It's not just how fast can we do it, how will we get it done in its schedule, but oh my god this thing popped up if we don't kill it we're not going to access to our stables this week and we can't get our animal husbandry certificates... It's that risk versus reward that gives you a sense of adrenaline.^[114] – Steven Sharif

世界頭目

Alpha-1 preview Sorrow's Hunger world boss in the Underrealm.^[115]

世界頭目 will spawn at variable locations at variable times.^[116]^[117]
- Bosses may also spawn based on predicates that can be met at any time, such as when a story arc or an event begins somewhere in the world.^[117]

The general philosophy is that respawns will be variable. We don't want to have set specific times in which respawns will occur, so that they can be camped and farmed. But there'll be variable location respawns as well as variable time respawns. And then that provides opportunities for different parties to engage at different times and locations.^[116] – Steven Sharif

World and regional bosses will scale based on the types, locations, and progression of nodes.^[118]^[119]
- World bosses will not scale to adapt to player levels.^[118]

Some world bosses will have stages of progression, such as defeating acolytes, then lieutenants, then generals, then the world boss itself.^[120]
- At each stage there is increasing difficulty. This may be parsed out into different time periods and be behind a wall of development.^[120]

A single digit percentage of the population will be capable of defeating certain content.^[120]
There will be ancillary effects that happen as a result of downing certain world bosses.^[121]
- This can positively impact the land management in that area.^[122]

Around 80% of the content is open-world, where healthy competition is an instigator for player friction; for potential cooperation; for the ability to yield alliances; and the political theater that comes with it. This is an intended part of the PvX design of Ashes of Creation.^[123]^[124]^[125]^[126]^[8]