Animal Husbandry 102
Hi friends,
People liked my last animal husbandry video so I thought I would add a second one, because there are some topics we didn’t talk about last time, and also I’d like to clear something up.
In my last video it sounded like I was saying we wouldn’t be able to breed Mounts until we had combat experience. I need to clarify that. That’s only the more dangerous mounts. We will all get access to mounts early in the game after a few quests, but we won’t be given them at level 1. We have to do some stuff to get them, but we will have them early in the game. It’s only the more dangerous mounts that will require combat experience. We might get a horse or llama early in the game, but if we want to breed a Snow Leopard with a Polar Bear, those might require some combat experience.
You know how in some games you have to go through a tutorial to get your starting kit? Like, you do a quest to get a sword, then another quest to get money, and then you start your adventure? That’s how Mounts will work. You’ll get a basic Mount near the beginning of the game after you do some small quests to get one. But I think it will just be a basic mount, like a horse or a llama. I think you’ll need combat experience to get the more dangerous mounts, and I base that on this quote by Steven.
“If you need to tame a giant beast for husbandry as an example, it will be nice to be able to handle yourself in combat should that beast want to eat you instead. – Steven Sharif”
So I thought about that and I think it means that some mounts will be easy to catch while the more dangerous ones will require combat experience. At least I hope that’s how it works. If we can just find animals anywhere in the world and catch them I think that will be too easy. I don’t really want to catch a Snow Leopard on Day 1 and breed it with a Polar Bear. I would like to work to catch it. Like, it’s too tough for me until I level up. I think that would be more satisfying and feel more like an accomplishment.
Anyway, now that that correction is out of the way, let’s talk about Skins. If you sign up on the website you will see that animal skins go on sale every month. These are just skins. They are not animals. Another way to think of it, is to think of them as costumes, or disguises. Let’s use chickens as an example.
Let’s say you breed a Black Chicken with a White Chicken to get a happy little Gray Chicken. If you put the Nobel Warhorn skin on the Black Chicken and then breed it with a White Chicken you will not get a White Rhino. You will still get a Gray Chicken, because the Black Chicken is only wearing a costume. It’s still a Black Chicken. It just looks like a Rhino because it’s wearing a disguise.
Another thing you should know about skins is that they can’t be sold or transferred to other players. This is because these pre-game skins will be very rare once the game is released. Only people who joined the site early will have them. Stephen didn’t want people selling the skins later for big bucks.
“I don't want cosmetic items that can be purchased from the marketplace to be transferable... because it is in a way a transfer of money for potentially something in-game. – Steven Sharif“
Let’s keep talking about chickens. Some animals, like chickens will have several layers. Get it? Layers? Heh. There will be the egg stage, chick stage, and adult stage. You can sell the eggs, or hold them until they become chicks and charge more, or wait and sell the adult chickens. I’m not sure which other animals will have 3 layers this way but chickens is a safe bet.
Another thing about chickens and every other animal is that breeding them will change their statistics. That means that every time you breed an animal it will lose Stamina, or Health Points, so it will take longer, or be harder for it to breed. The reason for this is because you can’t have immortal chickens. If you buy a chicken on day 1 and still have that same chicken 10 years later that would be a bad thing. Chickens lay eggs every day. If chickens were immortal the entire planet would be overrun with chickens. Eventually, chickens need to become too old to breed and be sold to restaurants, or just die. Pets and Mounts will also die, which is pretty sad but it needs to happen to keep the game running smoothly.
Is there anything you can do to keep your animals alive? Well, some animals will be able to wear armor. That should help. Mounts and Battle Pets will probably get armor, but will pets get sweaters? Will cats get bowties? I don’t know but that would be adorable so maybe. lol.
Speaking of Mr. Fluffy Poopoo Pants, yes, you will be able to name your pets. Which will be really sad when they die. However, you won’t be able to set them free when their stats get low. You can’t ride your mount into the forest and then dismount and run away leaving it to live free in the wild. It will just go back into your inventory.
“Mounts are going to be items that you will be able to carry on your character and activate to summon the mount in front of you or near you; where you can then ride the mount. – Steven Sharif“
Now let’s talk about something mind blowing. Group Mounts. Who will use these? Will guilds all get on the same mount to attack a castle? Like, get on the elephant guys! Let’s attack! What? I believe in teamwork but I don’t think that will be a thing. That’s too nerdy. Will group mounts be a city thing? Like taking the Greyhound bus from Las Vegas to San Diego? I don’t think so either because there’s no fast travel. What would be the advantage?
The only thing I can think of is when one of the people in your guild finds something interesting and wants to share it with everyone. Like, “Hey guys, I found a secret cave!” and then everyone gets on the mount and you can take them to it.
But here’s the mind blowing part. Will we be able to breed Group Mounts? Will we sell them to guilds? Will we sell them to city Mayors? That’s some big bucks. Get a government contract and you’re rich. Will we be able to breed Group Mounts and start our own tour group? That would be interesting. How do you think Group Mounts will be useful? Leave a comment below.
Speaking of what’s down below, if you haven’t signed up already, please use my referral link so I get some credit when the game starts. My next video will be about all the cool skins you’ve been missing out on by not being registered on the site. I hope you like this video and thanks for watching! :) New store items are releasing on Friday so the new video will probably be up on Saturday, if I hurry. Don’t forget to ring the bell so you’ll be notified when it’s up. And don’t forget to sign up on the Ashes of Creation website so you can take part in the open Alpha coming this October. Thanks! :)