Things appear to be going rather swimmingly for Ashes of Creation. During the game’s most recent developer livestream, the team touted an eight hour-long playtest with its Phoenix Initiative testers, which reportedly went “incredibly well.” Things have gone so well, in fact, that the pre-alpha NDA has been partially lifted and PI testers have been given the go ahead to share their impressions in voice and text form, something that at least one tester has eagerly done.
As for the rest of the stream, it discussed a variety of things related to AoC’s Freehold open world housing system. Players will be able to put a house on their Freehold (naturally), but there are also farming plots, fisheries, and stables for animal husbandry that can be placed as well. Speaking of animal husbandry, the stream went over that as well, explaining how a genetic system and a bit of RNG can yield increased chances in a special mount. Overall, the Freehold is intended as place for players to process raw materials, and parts of a Freehold’s land can be devoted more to farming if that’s a player’s primary focus. For those who would rather have a place to call home, however, that will certainly be possible, and there will even be a furnishing profession, with higher tiers of furniture providing characters with various buffs.
Another topic touched on in the livestream was caravans. The stream outlined that players hauling caravans towards a body of water will see their land caravan enter a conversion structure and transform into a naval caravan. For the record, the conversion structure can be attacked by others, and any added damage mitigation and bonus hit points added through caravan customization won’t be factored in to the conversion structure’s stats.
A synopsis of the stream, as well as its Q&A segment, is posted in both text form and video form thanks to the Paradox Gaming Network. That video is below the cut, along with the full original livestream.
