The monthly development update for Ashes of Creation was broadcast on Friday, and Intrepid is still at work towards the eventual readiness for alpha 2. The plans for the events system, including the Point of Interest system, seasonal events, and dynamic PvE.
There were some community requests for additional character creation options, including more hairstyles and they’re definitely open to requests and feedback. In development and engineering progress, there is some extent of reworking going on with the node system, and changes to the AI to incorporate some of the additional behaviors and features Intrepid is looking to add as development continues. They’ve also been working on getting combat prototypes fleshed out and developed, including new animations. Considering this is so early and in the prototype stage, they’re not ready to offer a peek just yet.
However, what Steven and Margaret were ready to talk about were events, including “dynamic PvE events”. There will be a wide variety of these events happening all over, from NPC spawns, weather events, to resources springing up. One example is that goblins might be around, in a small number, but if no one moves to take them down, their settlement will continue to grow in size, and within that node they affect, they’ll have an impact on the world in stages. And they won’t just increase in numbers, they might get to the point of attacking the node. To give these events more character, the NPC groups that spawn may rely on a lore-based hate list so that they will attack particular targets within the node.
The Point of Interest system is related, and will be open world events that could lead to PvP battlegrounds. There will be some kind of notice that there is a point of Interest somewhere nearby, without further details, but because a point of interest could mean a miniboss that will reward you or perhaps a mount you can get, everyone in the area will know that it's open season on whatever the prize is, so be prepared to fight.
Seasonal events will vary, and there may even be resource renewability at stake, meaning that you might not be able to gather from the same spots with the same frequency, leading to a need to explore a lot more. The team is also asking for feedback on the events system.
And if you're in the mood to feel small, the new scorpion boss previewed in the stream is ready to take care of that for you.
For more, you can watch the full April development update stream and visit Ashes of Creation.
