Some of the takeaways:
- New weapon: Ice Gauntlet (Intelligence based)
- Two new (high end) expeditions/dungeons
- Gunpowder doesn't require fire motes anymore! (It's easier to make; requires saltpeter)
- Stat thresholds = passive bonuses like having a chance to deplete a node in one swing
- Trade interface between players
- Locking items to prevent salvaging them
- Multiple PVP incentives.
So they finally have the game type they want? Seemed to switch around a lot previously. Now they seem settled and adding stuff quite quickly. Though seems to be more in tune with typical mmo, instead of the kind of odd mix of cotent it was previously.
They seem to be making solid changes but PvP centric games like this really make the worst decisions post release. WAR and EQ2-Nagafen come to mind where they simply can't live with the masses being unhappy or something and they begin greasing the squeaky wheels. If they can stick to their guns and not try to appease some of the butt hurt people that want instant gratification, it might just work. I've always wanted to see if a PvP game could get it right and witness what those rules truly looked like.....
So they finally have the game type they want? Seemed to switch around a lot previously. Now they seem settled and adding stuff quite quickly. Though seems to be more in tune with typical mmo, instead of the kind of odd mix of cotent it was previously.
They must be seeing results and feedback that are positive. I bet you anything they're testing the waters until they find a design that 'hooks' their playerbase, and then doubling down on it so they don't commit to something that is one of the following:
a) something their team doesn't want to make
b) something that isn't going to be successful (AGS is pretty notorious for cancelled projects)
c) something that has a core game loop / high retention
No, I think they had some backlash from folks complaining about the native american 'appropriation' part, and others complaining about slavery connections somehow.
Should just add giant warehouses ingame and a system where you can run packages. Much more Amazon's style.
Yeah, rapier has one of the coolest looking move sets I've seen in an MMO. The Riposte move they have is super cool too. You basically put your sword up daring some one to hit you for like 1 second and if they touch it you stun them and fuck them up. The other weapon sets are cool too, but the rapier is fast as fuck boi and it's actually an evasive/tanky pvp tree with a shit ton of movement and evasion so 1v1 it's a fucking nightmare to fight.
I think it's at six total, two weapons(down from 3?) with three abilities each. I was curious why the player didnt weapon swap at all. Like everyone else said, looks very fucking clean. There is still 3 months plus a launch patch (my guess) and each month it's looking better and better. The notes mention an an achievement system along with player trading is in, all good shit. It's definitely going to be a functional MMO on release.
Lets hope their core systems hold out long enough for content patches to follow.
I think it's at six total, two weapons(down from 3?) with three abilities each. I was curious why the player didnt weapon swap at all. Like everyone else said, looks very fucking clean. There is still 3 months plus a launch patch (my guess) and each month it's looking better and better. The notes mention an an achievement system along with player trading is in, all good shit. It's definitely going to be a functional MMO on release.
Lets hope their core systems hold out long enough for content patches to follow.
It is currently three abilities slots per equipped weapon and you can only equip two weapons. Each weapon has 6 total abilities (3 in each tree) to chose from. All three ability slots are unlocked when you unlock the weapon slot. The first weapon slot [ 1 ] is unlocked from the start, and the second [ 2 ] is unlocked at 15 (I think it was).
In the video the rapier weapon is equipped in the second weapon slot under hotkey [ 2 ] and the rapier abilities are on hotkeys [ Q ], [ R ], and [ F ]. They never try to change their weapon, so all you are seeing is the rapier. In that clip, you can see all the hotkeys, on screen, in the UI.
For most of the game development (that I have seen), you got 3 weapon slots, but using a 12 second cooldown ability on, lets say [ Q ], put the other two weapon abilities mapped to [ Q ] on a 12 second cooldown. In December (I think?) they made it so all weapon cooldowns were separate so using a long cooldown on one weapon, didn't fuck your other weapons. Then, in the last major update (a couple months ago when they wiped characters), they made the third weapon slot unlock at level 999, as a quick game-play change without needing the UI department to work on it (they also remapped consumables to be [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], and [ 6 ]).
As for weapon changing, it takes ~1 second to play the animations to change weapons (if I remember right), in which time you cant use anything. So if the current weapon has fast cooldowns, it doesn't seem worth changing to another. I'm not sure how it will play out with high levels, optimal gameplay may involve just having one weapon slot for ranged, and one for melee; only switching when the range of your combat changes.
This weapon swap gameplay mechanic was awful to play with when I tried the game (June 2020), it felt like everytime you'd want to access the other skills, it tells you "look at me, I'm the global cooldown now". It's such a shitty design. It's like designing a flying car and replace the brakes with an anchor.
I didn't mind the weapon swap so much but the restriction to 3 abilities seems slim. There is also no 'ultimate' abilities or anything that builds up. According to natch potes over the months they've made subtle adjustments to the combat system to allow a more seamless experience. Curious to try the current implementation.
This weapon swap gameplay mechanic was awful to play with when I tried the game (June 2020), it felt like everytime you'd want to access the other skills, it tells you "look at me, I'm the global cooldown now". It's such a shitty design. It's like designing a flying car and replace the brakes with an anchor.
Building any system around arbitrary cooldowns is inherently shitty design, yet it's the basis for practically every game's combat mechanics over the past two decades.
In it's current implementation you basically have CDR on nearly every tree and you basically can stay with one weapon set out and switch to the other one as needed. They do not share cooldowns so you're good to swap whenever. There is wombo-combo potential, but I think they want you to switch weapons more as a response to your situation changing (more mobs, ranged mobs, CC debuff).
