Discussing one of the most interesting systems in Ashes of Creation: The Corruption System!
WHAT IS THE CORRUPTION SYSTEM IN ASHES OF CREATION?
In terms of lore, the act of performing a heinous crime against the teachings of the seven. Crimes such as murder of the innocents would corrupt your soul and twist the essence within into something sinister and alien. Mechanics surrounding corruption work as a deterrent to discourage players from murdering players in cold blood. Ashes is an open world PVP game, people griefing and murdering each other at random is inevitable.
What corruption does is it places a penalty on you to make you weaker and weaker against other players until you become so corrupted that you are hardly any damage at all which therefore, stops your killing spree. This debuff only applies to damage against other players so despite being corrupted, your damage to other mobs remain unaffected.
PVP COMBAT SITUATIONS IN ASHES OF CREATION
There are three PVP states that your character can be in:
- Non-combatant: Which displays your name in green.
- Combatant: The state you are in after toggling your PVP on and attacking someone and turns your nameplate purple. Also remains purple 90 seconds after your last PVP action.
- Corrupted: Happens only when a combatant murders a passive non-combatant player who does not fight back.
When a combatant and a corrupted attacks each other and one of them loses, neither parties will receive penalties as they were both combatants when one of them were killed.
CORRUPTION PUNISHMENTS
Despite the downside, there are a number of people who enjoy the thrill of being hunted or being able to murder whoever they want.
A non-combatant player is able to attack a corrupted player without toggling themselves as a combatant. Meaning, if a corrupted player tries to defend themselves, they are punished for it. A solution for this is when a non-combatant attacks a corrupted player, immediately flags them as a combatant allowing both parties to fight on even terms with no further consequences.
When you die, you drop a portion of your loot. More specifically, the materials you’re currently hauling around so there is certainly loot for murder gatherers. Though, there is also a chance to fight back rather than just allow people to kill your non-combatant character. When you die as a corrupted player, you lose your loot but four times as much as the normal amount as a non-combatant would lose.
RELIGION (Only A Speculation)
Bear in mind that we are getting religion at least by Alpha 2. Religion will affect corruption in multiple ways. Whether it be worshiping gods to give you bonuses to attacking other combatants or even lessen the corruption received when murdering the innocents. It is possible to worship the three evil gods called “The Others.”
REMOVAL OF CORRUPTION
The only way to remove corruption in the current Alpha is through death. Though, there may be quests that will revolve around corruption to forcefully increase it with religion related quests involving the others. Or just simply remove the corruption you have accumulated from an accidental kill by redeeming your soul at the shrine of your god or goddess.