If you lurk around the Ashes of Creation community, you know that this has been a huge week for the game as its alpha one preview test has begun rolling out to high-end backers. While it’s under NDA for now, you’ll be wanting to know more about the classes that backers will be testing out, and thanks to Intrepid Studios, we’re getting an advance look at the Mage class today.
According to the exclusive dev blog, AOC’s Mage is the master of chaos with an assortment of fire, lightning, and energy skills, along with utility spells to round them out. Check out the deep-dive below, along with the new video and screenshots – plus a sampling of spells!
Blazing the Way – Mage Alpha One Preview
As Verra brims with high magic, no party would be complete without a Mage. These masters of the arcane bring terrible elements to bear in devastating spells. If reality needs changing in some fashion, ask a Mage to help.
Mages tend to have the most direct relationship with essence compared to others, and they manage that bond with a singular will. Passive essence is converted into useful forms and patterns under their direction, which can then take the shape of nearly anything imaginable! Mages can bend space, summon light, or set the very air ablaze – applying force in all its rawness, or in any shade of their elemental fury.
Endowed with Essence – A Mage’s Role
Imagination. Destruction. Power. Mages cause devastation across large areas, and can apply elemental energies to break through any defense. While masters of mass chaos, Mages are also adept at focusing in on the foes at hand.
Pure Power – A Mage’s Abilities
As a Mage’s connection to essence develops further, their power will continue to grow, unfold, and take shape. Below is a select collection of the ways a Mage can display their brilliance on the battlefield.
Fireball: Burst forth in a blaze of glory! Fireball unleashes a devastating missile of flame towards your target, dealing instant damage. Further strengthening this spell adds damage over time and an explosive area damage effect.
Lightning Bolt: Your power is shocking! Lightning Bolt shoots an electrifying beam that damages enemies in a line in front of you. As this ability grows stronger, it will knock down enemies and even chain to additional foes.
Black Hole: Warp space to your will! Black Hole summons a gravity-defying void at your target location that slowly draws in your foes. Bolstering your Black Hole increases its pull strength and radius, and eventually adds explosive area damage at the end of the pull.
Drain Essence: Their life sustains yours! Drain Essence saps your target of energy, converting their health into mana for yourself. Developing your Drain Essence will increase its damage and mana conversion percentage, and even allow you to deplete targets near to your foe.
Blink: Now they see you, now they don’t! Blink allows you to bend space, warping you forward in the direction you are traveling. Cover even greater distances by powering this skill up more.
Lava Storm: The battlefield burns bright! Lava Storm creates a swath of molten flame at your target location, dealing additional damage in the center of the ability and area damage around you upon casting. Strengthening this skill increases both its overall damage and duration.
Meteor Storm: Let the heavens rain! Meteor Storm summons forth blazing comets from the sky, dropping several fireballs at your target location that deal large area damage upon impact. Mastering your Meteor Storm increases its damage and the number of impacts, also stunning your enemies as they hit.
Prismatic Beam: Line ‘em up and knock ‘em down! Prismatic Beam shoots forth an enormous ray of energy that can be aimed around you. This ability deals large damage to your foes and slows their movement while being hit, even more so after being developed further.
Gift of the Magi: Sometimes it’s better to give than to receive! Gift of the Magi transfers some of your mana to your targeted ally. Specializing in this skill will increase both the amount of mana transferred and its mana transfer efficiency.
Might and Mastery – Testing the Mage
As you wreak your elemental havoc across Verra, our team will be looking out for your feedback on a few important notes:
● Do you feel like you have enough of a choice between opting to specialize deeply in just a few skills versus broadening your knowledge with a wider variety?
● As you and your abilities grow more powerful, what stands out to you as problematic or unexciting?
● Are there any powers you find absolutely essential, or others you avoid?
While Verra may hold many untold surprises, a Mage’s robust arsenal is always equipped for the task at hand. Be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming Alpha One previews featuring more of the archetypes we’ll be testing!
Meh the combat looks like DCUO….hard pass. The heroic infomercial music didn’t help
There is no doubt in my mind that this is the next big MMO.
Black hole looks OP. Probably got a nice long cooldown on it.
Clearly a pure dps’er with a little utility.
Sigh.
Skill icons are very Guild Wars. Skills are all very Elementalist, Mesmer, and the heal skill icon is blue just like some Elementalist weapon heal skills.
This game looks fantastic, but what is it doing above and beyond what other games are doing to justify a subscription?
That’s not a heal per the description. It’s a mana transfer. Your cleric running low on juice? POOF. I guess it could save a potential party wipe. At the minimum, it’s a nice tool to have to encourage teamwork.
The node system is pretty original.
Is the node system already in and being tested?
Looks nice. I wonder how well the mage will do against moving targets and with others beating on them.
I can see this game filing an mmo void with its slower pace and more activities other than just pvp.
https://youtu.be/V_hsJPB8y7k Also apparently here’s some official footage they released from the alpha 1 weekend test.
🤐
Can’t be a mage without the flashy spells of mass destruction and mayhem.
You can make anything look good when you control what is shown whilst preventing anyone who has seen it as well from challenging anything you say under threat of losing their $500+ game accounts.
And I wouldn’t even say this looks at all special. Unreal Engine 4 comes with “looking good” as a core feature.
Maybe they’ve got something, but none of what they’ve shown means jack squat until players can see it for themselves. It’s not like they didn’t cashgrab a BR game mode and make that “look good” before it bombed like the Hindenburg.
The BR mode was fine and fun to the point where even Shroud was enjoying it. It had little advertising/fanfare and didn’t sit well with many backers/watchers and it was never meant to really stand alone and become its own thing. For all intents and purposes it was a success and they got quite a lot of feedback on it + probably some extra $$$ out of it.
Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse was placed on Steam and billed as a standalone Ashes game that was going to have 3 modes, BR, Castle Siege, and horde. Only the BR was ever completed with months of work wasted on the siege mode, often promised but never delivered. The feedback they got was to cancel it and work on the MMO game, which they only did after APOC was in single digit player counts for months.
All of that is passable for me. Steven not apologizing for one of the biggest boondoggles in crowdfunding history is not. Shows he hasn’t learned anything, as does that alpha test that’s being leaked all over the place.
Im sorry, its a pretty game but the combat is a pass for me. I was really hoping this mmo would be different.
Combat’s supposed to be a mix of action and traditional tab targeting and they intend to make it flexible to where you can choose one preference over the other.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Combat#Combat_targeting