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\pard\sa200\sl276\slmult1\f0\fs22\lang9 What's
up guys, back with some ashes of creation
content for you all. As always today we're
using ashespost.com for the info on screen,
they basically take the hour plus livestream
and condense it down into a text format and
then I use that text format to put it into
a video and slap my opinion onto it.\par
Before we get started, the footage you'll
be seeing in the background is split between
the old streams and this new one, this new
stream has Steven showing off some of the
action combat, it is pretty early still so
take it with a grain of salt as always. \par
Quick updates\par
Ashes of Creation has been moved from Unreal
Engine 4.23 to unreal engine 4.25\par
They've delayed the move to their new actual
physical studio space until 2021 to focus
on alpha 1 in 2020.\par
Intrepid has parted ways with my.com and mail.ru
as their eu and CIS region publisher, link
on screen if you want my in depth opinion
on this move.\par
Studio Update: \par
As of yesterday we have filled 16 of the 24
open positions, we are incredibly grateful
to all of you for helping us spread the word
and reach out to people. We\rquote re going
to be postponing the move into the new studio
until the start of next year as I\rquote d
like to have the team focused on pushing out
the Alpha 1 client.\par
So nothing super new here to talk about since
we already knew about the studio move delay
I think from last stream, besides of course
that they have filled 16 new positions which
is really impressive to be fair. Especially
since they're operating remotely and they
only posted about those listings a little
while ago. One of the things that has impressed
me about this project the most recently is
just how much quickly they seem to be growing.\par
Design Team Update: \par
We\rquote re going to be talking about our
current work in progress for the Hybrid Combat
system. Your skill tree will be split across
3 categories, Passives, Actives and Weapon
skills. Pressing Z allows you to switch between
Action and Tab target, doing so brings up
a reticle allowing you to play in action combat
or switch to the good old tab target. All
weapons have a forward cone to a degree, so
for example polearms would have a wider arc
while daggers would have a smaller fine-tuned
arc. However as we have said in the past,
action and tab are two combat systems with
different rythm/tempos. Combat NEEDS to feel
good, it needs to flow, it needs to be tactile
and responsive- and we\rquote ve got a long
way to go before we get to where we want to
be. Combat will be changing continually throughout
development. Regarding skills, the goal is
not to overwhelm people with hotbars, but
with that being said it\rquote s also a build-based
game, so you will decide how you fill your
hotbar. No add-ons, however the UI will allow
customization, resizing, colour changing,
etc.\par
Okay so this has a few things to latch onto
and talk about right away. As we can see from
the footage that will have been on screen
for a bit and will be later, the combat doesn't
look that good for now and thankfully they
do say that themselves. It's really early,
they're open about it being early and it is
refreshing that they're saying this because
while admitting the obvious should be standard
it usually just isn't. One of the things I've
seen people say about the action combat that
has been shown is that it seems to be missing
the impact or weight you would expect, so
it sort of looks like how elder scrolls online
would feel which totally makes sense to me.
It just seems a bit floaty , to use a totally
intangible term.\par
Weapons having different arcs, different reach
is a good start to making choices of weapons
meaningful, being able to swap on the fly
seems like an interesting choice...My problem
with the double combat system is that it's
likely going to be a balancing nightmare but
it's way too early to even start talking about
that I think. As for the no addons, this is
going to be a topic of much debate, I personally
don't mind not having UI type addons so long
as there is enough customisation built into
the interface already so we'll see what they
wind up with before we make a call on that
being good or bad.\par
Now for the Question and answer portion of
the stream. Some of these are transcribed
from the website very simply and doesn't include
the whole answer but it does answer the question
pretty effectively.\par
QnA Session\par
Q: Will you be allowing add-ons?\par
A: No.\par
Pretty simple answer here. I'm still not sold
on the idea of having complex raids without
having combat log addons but we'll see what
happens.\par
Q: In the aftermath of a siege, can only the
attackers/defenders attack buildings? Or can
anyone come in and attack things?\par
A: In the current design, during the vulnerability
period, anyone can attack freeholds and buildings.
There will be a grace period mechanic and
more.\par
This makes sense entirely since it's called
the vulnerability period and the game isn't
fixed in terms of combatants but nothing we
can really go in depth in this.\par
Q: Does gear held in your bag lose durability
when you die? (Not equipped)\par
A: No.\par
Q: Are artisan crafts affected in any way
by Race/Religion/Archetype?\par
A: No.\par
Q: Plans for level 50 to be a soft cap to
level beyond it?\par
A: No. Hardcapped. Soft caps cause balancing
issues.\par
I actually agree with this, soft cap is something
that just doesn't feel great in a lot of games,
while I'm sure they could figure something
out I just don't think we need it.\par
Q: Steven mentioned flight paths in his interview
with Asmongold, is that for scientific nodes?\par
A: No, that\rquote s for all metropoli. The
system I was talking to Asmon about was to
travel from Node A to Node C if players have
built the system for it.\par
Someone will have to clear this up for me
if I get it wrong but I assume this means
that flight paths within the zone that has
the metropolis cities and not before.\par
Q: You mentioned in PvP you could identify
classes by icons. Will each of the 64 classes
have icons?\par
A: Yes. You will also be able to see buff
icon for gear grade/type.\par
I still at this point have to say that identifying
someone's class and gear strength by icons
is less ideal than identifying it from visual
gear but I'm waiting to see how well this
is indicated before making a big deal about
it.\par
Q: Will you move to Unreal Engine 5?\par
A: Unreal offers a lot of support from Epic
Games. Regarding UE5, Epic does keep in mind
the various projects that would be interested
in moving over to it. If you look at other
games, when they take an extended period of
time to release (many years) they go through
significant changes, Ashes will be one of
those games. \par
This is pretty exciting, if you guys haven't
seen what UE5 is capable of I suggest you
go take a look because it at least from the
outside looks incredible. Not sure what tangible
changes this would have for Ashes specifically
but that's great to hear it's on the table.\par
Q: Will the beta be the full game?\par
A: No you will not get the full game in beta.
For example, you dont have to have every single
combination to test whether a system is working.
So we plan to disable lots of selections/variety
and just to test out things while mitigating
how much we reveal.\par
This is probably the best way to do it and
I just hope they also have data mining prevention
in some form since one of the worst things
about mmorpgs in this era, at least in my
opinion, is the fact we know literally every
single detail about a game before 
it launches. I know I'm part of that problem
covering games in depth but I just supply
what has a demand while understanding that
too much being revealed too early is not a
good thing for a lot of people. I want some
surprises, I want some sense of discovery
and wonder in my worlds.\par
Q: Can I keep a house cat in my freehold?\par
A: It\rquote s not outside the realm of possibility,
it\rquote s rather easy to implement. We\rquote
d have to scope it out.\par
So a firm maybe.\par
Q: Do freeholds take on the appearance of
the predominant racial structure or do they
take on the owner\rquote s race or choice?\par
A: It\rquote s based on the blueprint. The
freehold is your space, you make it look like
what you want it to.\par
Best way to do it, more choice is always nice.
\par
\par
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