Crowfall - Throne War PC MMO

Pidian · Jun 1, 2016

love it. will undoubtedly still be min-maxing with mixed armor sets but this kind of straightforward design with clear and obvious benefits/costs seems to lead to less FOTM builds since there are usually natural counters to any meta that pops up. i just hope each of these benefits are equally awesome to unlock, i love build variety

Damion Sparhawk · Jun 3, 2016

Pidian said: ↑

love it. will undoubtedly still be min-maxing with mixed armor sets but this kind of straightforward design with clear and obvious benefits/costs seems to lead to less FOTM builds since there are usually natural counters to any meta that pops up. i just hope each of these benefits are equally awesome to unlock, i love build variety
Click to expand...

I agree, and I hope that they can adequately maintain such balance with a minimum of nerfs, I much prefer Warframe's method of dealing with such things, buff everything else instead XD. They can also have innate counters to meta through the use of the hunger and other passive attributes, I'm looking forward to seeing how they manage things ^.^

Solis Obscuri · Jun 3, 2016

http://crowfall.com/en/news/redesigning-power-tray-icons/

Solis Obscuri · Jun 17, 2016

WorthPlaying: The Myrmidon Cometh
has a Crowfall double feature today that includes the reveal of our next playable archetype
, and an exclusive interview with Creative Director J. Todd Coleman.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more information about the Myrmidon, who will join the pre-alpha lineup in the near future as our seventh combatant.

Here’s a look at the character model and his equipment lineup:

In the WorthPlaying interview, Todd gives a wide-lens view of Crowfall and talks a bit about the inspiration that led him to start the project.

“The idea of a virtual world being more than just a ‘digital amusement park’ isn’t new. Players have wanted a game where actions matter, where the players can change the game universe fundamentally.”

Read the full interview

.

So, what do you think of the Myrmidon? Are you looking forward to taking up his axe or simply taking him down?
Click to expand...

http://crowfall.com/en/news/worthplaying-the-myrmidon-cometh/

Dihm · Jun 17, 2016

Man, I'm digging that heavy armor

Solis Obscuri · Jun 17, 2016

Dihm said: ↑

Man, I'm digging that heavy armor

Click to expand...

Yeah, I like that and the scale armor, too.

Solis Obscuri · Jun 24, 2016

Meet the Myrmidon

Tuesday June 21st, 2016

Finishing the feature development of an archetype is always an exciting time for us as it means we are not only giving you something new and fun to play, but it also means we are working on the next archetype. In this case we jumped to the end of the list and have started implementing the Myrmidon!
Whoa! Why pick the Myrmidon? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The Art team really wanted to make one of the monster characters next because they wanted a change of pace after the back-to-back Ranger and Druid females. Also, Engineering had requested a character light on new features since they are knee-deep in the backend work for the next major milestone. So, after much deliberation, the Minotaur was chosen!
So, what role does the Myrmidon play? We already have a slow-swinging, two-handed melee powerhouse in the form of the Champion. One of our goals is to make the base version of each archetype feel unique, so it was important that we find a different vector to explore with the Myrmidon.

Given his distinct look, we felt he was a good fit for the canonical berserker-style character. This is the kind of warrior that wades into melee, rampages around, destroys everything and, when the dust settles, looks down and notices that his guts are spilled out over the battlefield. Raging should be powerful, but risky… too close to the fire and you just might fall over dead from your injuries.
Using that as a vision statement, we sat down and started pulling together the pieces.
First, he’s a tank. That normally equates to a lot of effective health and crowd control. The crowd control was easy; we can tackle that with stuns and knockdowns. How do we then mix the durability of a tank with the feeling of a berserker?
We came up with a solution that we believe fits both goals.
Berserker Frenzy
We chose to not go with the standard “large tank of health” model and instead make it a more active mechanic… When the Myrmidon activates his Berserk power he will instantly heal all damage done to him as it is applied to him. Hit him for 8k, he heals for 8k, hit him for 4k, he heals for 4k, hit him for 7k, he heals for 7k. As he takes damage, he also increases his capability to deal more damage.
After Berserk wears off, though, he will pay a price: he takes a large portion of the negated damage in one lump. In the above example, he could take up to 19k damage in a single hit. We call this the Berserker Crash. Managing this process, timing that crash in a way that proves less-than-fatal, will be a unique challenge for this archetype.
To that end, we’ve added a few ways for him to mitigate the Berserker Crash and indicators to let you know when it is coming. I won’t go into the details right now, but (as usual) the goal is to make this system skill based. A skilled player with great timing can use other powers to mitigate some or all of the Crash Damage. A less-than-skilled player will cut an impressive swath of damage across the battlefield, but then crash to the ground in a bloody, lifeless heap.
Since the Champion already has the “heavy hitting, slow moving” thing covered, we decided to go the opposite direction with this guy. His increased movement speed, coupled with his charging powers, will make him feel like a crazed bull charging all around the battlefield.
More details on the Myrmidon will be coming in the near future, as soon as we can get him working in the game and see how he feels.
That’s it for today! As always, happy to hear your thoughts…
Thomas Blair
Design Lead, ACE

Myrmidon Weapon Creation: Character Artist Eric Hart shows how he created the Minotaur Mymidon’s axe in ZBrush. The time-lapsed video follows the process—high and low poly sculpting, adding textures—from start to finish.
Click to expand...

Solis Obscuri · Jun 24, 2016

Wow, really sounds like my kind of playstyle...

Pidian · Jun 24, 2016

fricken sweet

Solis Obscuri · Aug 8, 2016

Myrmidon powers and UI

Tuesday August 2nd, 2016

Howdy, everyone, Blair here!

We have already shown you some of the bits and pieces of the Myrmidon animations and art over the last few weeks during the Crowfall livestreams. Today, I am going to reveal his power kit in detail!

As with the previous archetypes, the standard caveats apply: We are still building this archetype, so things are liable to change. In fact, they are almost guaranteed to change!

Before we start, let’s review some of the development basics we use on Crowfall.

Our approach: minimum viable powers
We have been building each archetype with what we think would be a ‘minimum viable power’ kit for that archetype to be useful and fun in combat. This means that the current list isn’t final and that some of the powers might even jump to other archetypes (or be cut entirely) as we continue development.
We are leaving ourselves room on the powers tray for the player to eventually slot additional combat powers (i.e. the ones that the player will acquire via disciplines, advantages or class promotions). We also assume there will be another non-combat related power bar when we start building those systems.
In other words, don’t freak out about the interface.

Each new power we build often has a set of new (and different) components that would be useful not only in the construction of that particular power, but that would also open up a new area of design discovery. The goal is to build reusable elements that we can repurpose in other powers. Like the Druid, the Myrmidon is another archetype that benefits from previous archetypes; we didn’t have to build that much new tech for him.
Myrmidon musings!

As I said in the Meet the Myrmidon update, we felt the Myrmidon was a good fit for the canonical berserker-style character (the phrase “bull in a china shop” leaps to mind…!)

He is the kind of warrior that wades into melee, rampages around, destroys everything and, when the dust settles, looks down and notices that his guts are spilled out over the battlefield. Going berserk should be powerful, but risky… step too close to the fire and you just might fall over dead from your injuries.

With this vision statement we also had to incorporate his base role of tank, which means a plethora of crowd control in his powers. Since we have been building modular pieces for the powers system for over a year now, we have finally reached the point where our tool kit is pretty robust. We have a lot of flexibility when it comes to how we want to design and build new powers. (If you’ll recall, this was the plan all along. And as Hannibal from the A-Team says, “I love it when a plan comes together.”)

We only needed two new features to support the Myrmidon: “proc accumulators” (which is the basis for the Berserk power) and some minor variants on movement-charge and chain-pull style attacks. As a nice side effect, the “proc accumulator” work unlocked some of the functionality of the food & hunger system, which is why we were able to pull that work forward on the schedule.

The nice thing about getting so much tech reuse is that we were about to spend some time working on improving our root motion functionality. This is something that we’ve been needing to address for a while so that characters can perform a lunge without sliding past the target. This is a component that we wanted to add back in December, but too many things on the combat fix list were deemed to be higher in priority. Now that we’ve added it for the Minotaur, we need to go back and mirror those changes to the Knight, Legionnaire, Ranger and the Champion, as well. These fixes that we’ve added into the Myrmidon’s powers really give him a great feel that we wouldn’t have gotten using our previous methodology.
Enough musings, onto the Myrmidon!

Myrmidon power resource
The Myrmidon uses a new resource type called Fury. This resource type regenerates very quickly and the Myrmidon has a very small pool to fill. This gives his resource pool a very “bouncy” feel, and that feeling is reinforced by all of his attacks, including his left-click basic attack, having a Fury cost.

Since the Myrmidon doesn’t use a traditional build-to-spend mechanic, it is possible to run out of resource and have to wait a few seconds. With a bit of skill, however, this scenario can be easily be avoided.

iFrame powers
I’m going to reiterate the definition of iFrame powers again in case anyone forgot or missed it from previous updates:
iFrame powers, on activation, typically remove the player from the physics simulation and render them invulnerable to damage while performing the power (a very, very short duration, obviously!)

This means if you use a physics impulse on a character performing an iFrame power, they won’t get pushed around. We are putting all attacks we designate as iFrame powers on the C key.

We generally try to associate powers that use this property with those powers that send a player into the air. We are also limiting both use and availability of these powers, since they step outside the simulation. In other words, we only plan on giving some of the archetypes access to these powers.
This power is what we like to call an “Oh Sh..!” power.

Raging Bull is the Myrmidon’s iFrame power. When this power is activated, the Myrmidon rapidly charges multiple times in a small area and knocks down any (and all) enemies. While he is executing this power he is also (briefly) invulnerable to damage.

Passive powers
Every Crowfall archetype gets an archetype-specific Retaliate passive power that can only be used when stunned or knocked down. This power, when activated, will leap the character back to their feet from the stunned or knocked-down state and will then generally deal damage to everyone in the area.
Retaliate powers are treated like a hidden combo, so the player never sees it on their powers bar… the button to activate it only appears when you are stunned or knocked down. The cooldown is lengthy, so you might have to eat a full stun or knockdown in some cases if crowd control immunity hasn’t kicked in on you yet. The Myrmidon’s retaliate power is a leap to his feet and deals damage to nearby enemies.

The Myrmidon’s primary passive power is Taste for Blood, which has a high chance to proc a 20-second buff any time the Myrmidon hits a bleeding target. This buff grants the Myrmidon a 75% damage bonus to his left-click basic attack whenever he damages a bleeding target.

Sprint is technically a passive ability, but we don’t display it on the power bar. Depressing the Shift key will increase the speed of the character (currently by 30%) and rapidly drains his Stamina bar.

Left- and right-click powers
The left-click powers for the Myrmidon are fast, deal damage and advance him forward as he is attacking. The third basic attack also applies a Moderate Bleed effect which, like all Moderate Bleeds, can stack up to three times. Unlike other archetypes, the Myrmidon must spend resources (Fury) to use his left-click attack. This means the Myrmidon must pay careful attention to his Fury pool.

His right-click power is a short (10m) Leap similar to the Champion’s right-click. The Myrmidon Leap also deals damage in a small radius when he lands.

SIDE NOTE: We recently went through and normalized all the melee right-click Dodge powers to traverse 10m, which should enable them to get out of an incoming AoE but not be used as a primary method to close distances.
Click to expand...

Solis Obscuri · Aug 8, 2016

The powers bar

Let’s look at the powers bar in detail.
The first power in the powers tray is Bull Rush, this power charges the Myrmidon forward 23m as the input key is depressed. It is very similar to the Knight power Pursuit. The Myrmidon version uses slightly different tech, however, which we call a sticky charge. Any enemy player the Myrmidon touches as he is charging forward is stuck to the Myrmidon (like glue) and gets dragged along with him. If the Myrmidon charges more than 66% of the power, enemies who are being dragged get violently knocked into the air at the end of the charge. The effect looks like he is scooping up enemies on his horns and tossing them like rag dolls at the end of his charge. It looks spectacular!
The next power is Pulverize. This is a charged power; the longer the Myrmidon charges the power up, the more damage it will deal. It also plays a key role with the Berserk Crash mechanic; while he is charging this power, he is considered berserk crash immune. This will prevent him from taking any of the crash damage he was dealt when his Berserk power wears off. The timing aspect can be tricky, and it sounds easy -- “Just start doing this 2 seconds before you crash!” However, in practice, it can be difficult to accurately time during the adrenaline rush of PvP combat, and that means you can be much more (or less) effective at playing the Myrmidon, depending on your level of skill.
The first combo series in the power tray is the Bloodied Swipe series. Bloodied swipe is a damage power that chains into either Gore or Colossus Smash. Gore deals damage and applies the “Hunter Hunted” buff to the Myrmidon, adding Fury into his Fury pool every two seconds for 20 seconds. This buff is integral to maintaining Fury generating in combat when the Myrmidon isn’t Berserking. Colossus Smash deals damage and applies a Stun effect to three enemies.
Arcing Slash is the next power in the tray. It deals damage and is the set up power to Whirlwind. Whirlwind is a channeled power; while it is active the Myrmidon spins and hacks wildly with both of his axes, dealing AoE damage every second and applying a moderate Bleed effect to all targets hit, every second they are hit. In a manner similar to the Champion’s Whirling Pain power, only spinning much faster, the Myrmidon can move while he is spinning.
Next up we have our first real root-style power in the game with Cast Net. It fits very well with the Tank roles in Crowfall that are generally themed around crowd control. The Myrmidon can root a single enemy up to 30 meters away from him for a few seconds via throwing a net at them. (Note that this is a raycast, not a projectile.) The Myrmidon has two potential combos for this power: he can either Net Pull, which instantly pulls the rooted target to the Myrmidon’s feet, or he can Charge and the Myrmidon instantly slams forward into the target. If the Myrmidon missed with Cast Net, the combo portion of the power will do nothing.
The final power in the tray is really the core of his gameplay: it is aptly named Berserk. When this power is activated, all damage that is taken is healed back over a series of one second ticks, and a portion of that damage is converted into the damage bonus stat. (Roughly 75,000 damage taken would convert into 100% damage bonus for the duration of the Berserk buff.) The Fury regeneration rate is also doubled when Berserk is active. (By the way, our FX artists made a really awesome shader effect for the Myrmidon’s head and upper torso while this is active. His eyes are made of nightmare fuel! I really can’t wait for you to see it!)

The downside to Berserk is that when the power ends, the Myrmidon will be hit with the Berserker Crash. When the crash happens, the Myrmidon will instantly take all the damage that was dealt while in Berserker mode! (So, continuing the example from above: If the Myrmidon took 75,000 total damage while Berserk, he would crash for 75,000 in one tick and instantly die.)
That said, the crash can be avoided if you play it right. There are currently three methods to mitigate or eliminate the crash damage:

Charge the Pulverize power when the damage is dealt. The Pulverize method completely reduces the crash damage to 0, or

Be using the C power, Raging Bull, that renders the Myrmidon damage immune and also covers crash damage, and, finally

Hit a bleeding target with any attack within three seconds of the crash mitigates 50% of the crash damage.

You will know you have done this as we have a special widget which appears on the Myrmidon Berserk UI meter, which can be seen below.

This is your rage meter. Yes, it’s a pulsing heart. Props to Billy, this element not only looks cool, but it does a great job of conveying how much damage has been taken and how far away from the crash you are.
In both of the cases above, timing is critical. (And, as a reminder, I’m pretty sure both of these powers will be tweaked after we see the Myrmidon in action. It may take us a few iterations to get the timing just right!)
Enemies will definitely try to knockdown or stun the Myrmidon when they are about to crash, thus stopping the Myrmidon from using a power to prevent the crash damage. The crafty Myrmidon player will have saved their Raging Bull as an emergency backup method to prevent the crash damage. Raging Bull is on a very long cooldown so it will be difficult to bank on it.
TL;DR Summary
The Myrmidon is definitely going to bring a fun new archetype to the field of battle! His crowd control tricks, bleeds and unique method of dealing and avoiding damage is going to take some getting used to, even for seasoned players. Those who can’t figure it out will be sad pandas and should pick a different class.
One thing I like to say about each new archetype is, “We made this archetype too awesome!” We can’t wait to see the Myrmidon in action when he comes online next month!
As always, excited to hear your thoughts and ideas,

Thomas Blair
Design Lead, ACE
Click to expand...

http://crowfall.com/en/news/myrmidon-powers-and-ui/

Solis Obscuri · Aug 8, 2016

Next up is the duelist!

Tuonela · Aug 8, 2016

Has anyone been playing the alpha lately? I downloaded it at one point but didn't really have the time / patience to dive into it.

Pidian · Aug 8, 2016

Tuonela said: ↑

Has anyone been playing the alpha lately? I downloaded it at one point but didn't really have the time / patience to dive into it.
Click to expand...

i played a bit but that was months ago, was understandably rough but i liked what i saw. been busy with other games lately, haven't even downloaded the new updates

Solis Obscuri · Aug 27, 2016

Meet the Duelist

Thursday August 25th, 2016

Hard to believe it has already been six weeks since I introduced the Myrmidon to everyone! Now that he is what we consider “feature complete” (meaning he is in the final bug fixing and tuning phase), it is time to turn our gaze to our next up-and-coming archetype: the Duelist!
Yes, he is a giant, intelligent guinea pig… or, as we call them in Crowfall®, a Guinecean. (pronounced guh-KNEE-shun. It rhymes with “venetian blinds”.)
If I recall correctly, the entire development team was pretty excited to build this guy… at first. Todd ruined that. The Art team thought he would be super fun (but Todd wasn’t happy with the look), the Design team was excited to build the powers (until Todd disagreed with our vision) and the Engineering team was relieved to find out that he didn’t require any new tech (which, of course, changed as soon as Todd clarified the vision.)
In retrospect, this guy was almost as painful to create as the Legionnaire.
BUT LUCKILY, after banging our heads against the wall for a few weeks (especially our character artist Eric, poor Eric!) we finally nailed it. The result is an archetype that will be a fantastic addition to the Crowfall archetype lineup.
So what does the final vision look like now that it is fully formed? Well, he’s an interesting mix: he looks like a guinea pig, moves like Reepicheep from Chronicles of Narnia, has the mannerisms of Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride and fights with both melee and ranged powers.
Oh, and he’s “bouncy”. (“But don’t make him too cartooney!” Todd added, as if this was an obvious goal for a talking rodent.)
Translating this mix into a playable character was challenging. It’s still challenging, to be honest. We’re not done yet. (Poor, poor Eric. Poor, poor Doggett and Cook!)
The Duelist will join the Ranger as one of our Specialist role archetypes.
In the case of powers and resources we decided his power tray has no power combos, instead he…

uses a traditional rogue style combo point resource system,

which drives quick melee and ranged attacks,

only has a single power tray, and

can go into burrow mode. (let the speculation begin!)

We’re still early in the process, and (as always) some of this is exploration. We will try him to see what works, and what doesn’t and then adapt the vision to what is actually possible (and fun) in the game.
Here are a few quick renders to show badass this guy looks!

…and as a reminder for those who don’t read our site as often:

As this is one of our “monster” archetypes, there is no corresponding female version of this archetype (…yet?!)

Yes, we will ABSOLUTELY allow for full appearance customization in the game at launch!

That’s it for today! Keep an eye here for more information about the Duelist’s powers and playstyle!
See you on the forums,
Thomas Blair
Design Lead, ACE
Click to expand...

http://crowfall.com/en/news/meet-the-duelist/

Pidian · Aug 27, 2016

so apparently we have the option for melting portions of our package now for store credit. i just got an email earlier today about this (haven't been following closely), and apparently prices for strongholds/castles/forts/whatnot are jumping significantly next thursday, 9/1. i guess they're basically just taking the current pre-packaged buildings that are currently being sold and splitting them into selling those pieces individually, which will ramp up the cost significantly if you were to re-create the packages currently being sold. or something.

i did a bit of forum digging and since the monthly VIP tickets that came with our various packages are "worth" $15 in store credit each and with devs confirming there are no plans to change that $15/mo price for VIP, that equates to a heelllluva lot of buying power if one were so inclined. for example, a quick look at my account notes that with my amber package i'd have over $1000 in credit if i were to melt all 70+ of my VIP tickets. from a $275 pledge. granted this is all just pixels on a screen, but that's pretty nuts i can take my measly Knight title and medium wooden fort ($40 currently) and turn myself into a Duke with a goddamn large castle if i wanted ($800 today, $2200 after 9/1), just because we backed early. hell, buy a tshirt with the credit, why the hell not? can always buy the VIP tickets back again with the credit!

not saying everybody should go nuts, but you know...go nuts...weeooo!!

http://crowfall.com/en/news/temporary-item-redemption/
http://community.crowfall.com/index...-redemption-official-discussion-thread/page-2
http://community.crowfall.com/index...official-discussion-thread/page-5#entry287455

Solis Obscuri · Aug 27, 2016

Why the fuck would they jack up prices 10x?

Audit · Aug 27, 2016

Yeah, I have over $1000 in store credit if I melt all my VIP Months. Tempted to melt all of them and get a 2016 pledge, then melt all the VIP on that one and just keep upgrading...

Pidian · Aug 27, 2016

Solis Obscuri said: ↑

Why the fuck would they jack up prices 10x?
Click to expand...

no idea whatsoever at all. but you can basically upgrade your package for free at this point, which is nice. i suppose?

Audit said: ↑

Yeah, I have over $1000 in store credit if I melt all my VIP Months. Tempted to melt all of them and get a 2016 pledge, then melt all the VIP on that one and just keep upgrading...
Click to expand...

they've restricted some of the things you can do with the system because they're definitely aware of that kind of loophole, haha - people in their forums were asking why the restrictions and that was basically the exact answer

Audit · Aug 27, 2016

Pidian said: ↑

they've restricted some of the things you can do with the system because they're definitely aware of that kind of loophole, haha - people in their forums were asking why the restrictions and that was basically the exact answer
Click to expand...

Yeah, it doesn't look like they're letting you purchase above your current package with store credit. I could only go up to Amber 2016, because I'm Sapphire KS. Bought a Large Castle and another Collector's Addition though, and still have a couple hundred left over for when they come out with more shit.

Log in or Sign up

Crowfall - Throne War PC MMO

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Damion Sparhawk The Missing Link Viking

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Dihm Speaker of the Word Staff Member Gothi SC Thane

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Tuonela Well Liked Berserker

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Audit Moderator Viking

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Audit Moderator Viking

Log in or Sign up

Crowfall - Throne War PC MMO

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Damion Sparhawk The Missing Link Viking

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Dihm Speaker of the Word Staff Member Gothi SC Thane

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Tuonela Well Liked Berserker

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

Audit Moderator Viking

Pidian Well Liked Thrall

Audit Moderator Viking

Useful Searches