Best Of
Re: High quality AoC memes
Drama of Creation is still around ... ...
... ... meanwhile - i am just glad and happy we get Daggers and the Rogue.
... ... meanwhile - i am just glad and happy we get Daggers and the Rogue.
Aszkalon
2
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
I disagree. Solo players haven't kept genre alive, the success of games like WoW and FFXIV have kept publishers trend chasing trying to grab a market share. I won't say solo players have no affect, but I'd say little affect. If a game is good I'll play it. Pre OG WoW I was playing mmos, Pre EQ I was too. Post WoW we started to see cash shops, RMT, mass exploits, casino style reward systems, ect... All those things had much more impact on the health of MMOs than solo players. Then we players were hit with scam after scam and trash game after trash game. We became jaded. There were some good ones. Asherons, FFXI, DAoC, and so on, to be fair. But it only takes being burned once to make someone hesitant to try another.
I'm confused to on what you're actually asking for. It all reads as platitudes. There's no details. You're just asking for more, or "widen the doors a little". But what do you want actually? A questing system with ? and ! and quest hubs that power level you to 50 in 2 days? Access to all content with auto queues to dungeons/raids ect? You said you want to explore, gather, craft, and engage in the economy, and you can even as a pure soloist. But will you be as good as a blacksmith that's in a guild that spends just as much time in the game as you do? Probably not. I'll feed my blacksmith materials and patterns just like everyone else in the guild. There's no way you can keep up with that pure solo. You could get lucky and find a rare pattern that others don't have, but then do you sell it or use it? What materials does it take to make it, can you get them all? Crafting is going to be interwoven, so armor smithing might rely on tailoring for some recipes. This will be a big focus in P3 (I think). A lot of these "accessibility" things like quest hub power leveling, or auto queue dungeons and raids, people are actively against. I think about the success of WoW classic. Blizzard kept telling players they didn't want vanilla wow, but they were dead wrong. Classic was massively successful, and I still think WoW is carebear difficulty. No perma death, no corpse run, no full loot drops, quest hubs and quest markers, fast travel?!? Easy easy easy.
In the end, no (pure) solo players didn't save the genre, it would be fine without them. The genre has always been in trouble with the exception of peak WoW era. This is just my thoughts on it. But if you actually got something to add, ideas, mechanics, ect for solo activities make a post about those. They might in the queue and if it adds value to the game without sacrificing other aspects of the game maybe they'll add it. They're always looking for ideas. But make sure you know the core pillars the game stands on. Check out the wiki for what their take on PvX is, the balance of instance vs open world content and so on. No game is for everyone, it's not a bad thing to say, 'this game might not be for you", it might not be for me either. Can't please everyone.
Yeah... I’m not saying WoW and FFXIV didn’t carry the genre, obviously they did. But a big part of why they stayed alive so long is because solo players always had stuff to do between the big group content. They kept the worlds feeling alive when raids weren’t happening and guilds weren’t online.
I’m also not asking for WoW-style power leveling or insta-queue dungeons. I’m talking about making sure people who start solo don’t just bounce because they’re not in a massive guild on day one. That doesn’t mean making the game “easy”, it just means giving them a way to feel useful and make progress until they find their crew.
Right now, Ashes looks amazing but very guild-heavy and grind-heavy. If the only way to keep up is being in a 300-person Discord, a lot of potential long-term players will never stick around. People think Ashes will “turn the tide” for MMOs, but if it’s only built for the biggest guilds, it’s gonna drown in the same issues other games have faced.
Character voices
Are there any plans to add character voices during combat?
It looks unnatural when a character swings a big sword without making any moan or ground.
Some sound for inspiration:
https://youtu.be/cbsdf5FwBtA
https://youtu.be/MeMe71wcxa0
Aja1984
1
Re: High quality AoC memes
I Just Keep Moving Forward. Until the Tulnars Are Destroyed
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
I disagree. Solo players haven't kept genre alive, the success of games like WoW and FFXIV have kept publishers trend chasing trying to grab a market share. I won't say solo players have no affect, but I'd say little affect. If a game is good I'll play it. Pre OG WoW I was playing mmos, Pre EQ I was too. Post WoW we started to see cash shops, RMT, mass exploits, casino style reward systems, ect... All those things had much more impact on the health of MMOs than solo players. Then we players were hit with scam after scam and trash game after trash game. We became jaded. There were some good ones. Asherons, FFXI, DAoC, and so on, to be fair. But it only takes being burned once to make someone hesitant to try another.
I'm confused to on what you're actually asking for. It all reads as platitudes. There's no details. You're just asking for more, or "widen the doors a little". But what do you want actually? A questing system with ? and ! and quest hubs that power level you to 50 in 2 days? Access to all content with auto queues to dungeons/raids ect? You said you want to explore, gather, craft, and engage in the economy, and you can even as a pure soloist. But will you be as good as a blacksmith that's in a guild that spends just as much time in the game as you do? Probably not. I'll feed my blacksmith materials and patterns just like everyone else in the guild. There's no way you can keep up with that pure solo. You could get lucky and find a rare pattern that others don't have, but then do you sell it or use it? What materials does it take to make it, can you get them all? Crafting is going to be interwoven, so armor smithing might rely on tailoring for some recipes. This will be a big focus in P3 (I think). A lot of these "accessibility" things like quest hub power leveling, or auto queue dungeons and raids, people are actively against. I think about the success of WoW classic. Blizzard kept telling players they didn't want vanilla wow, but they were dead wrong. Classic was massively successful, and I still think WoW is carebear difficulty. No perma death, no corpse run, no full loot drops, quest hubs and quest markers, fast travel?!? Easy easy easy.
In the end, no (pure) solo players didn't save the genre, it would be fine without them. The genre has always been in trouble with the exception of peak WoW era. This is just my thoughts on it. But if you actually got something to add, ideas, mechanics, ect for solo activities make a post about those. They might in the queue and if it adds value to the game without sacrificing other aspects of the game maybe they'll add it. They're always looking for ideas. But make sure you know the core pillars the game stands on. Check out the wiki for what their take on PvX is, the balance of instance vs open world content and so on. No game is for everyone, it's not a bad thing to say, 'this game might not be for you", it might not be for me either. Can't please everyone.
I'm confused to on what you're actually asking for. It all reads as platitudes. There's no details. You're just asking for more, or "widen the doors a little". But what do you want actually? A questing system with ? and ! and quest hubs that power level you to 50 in 2 days? Access to all content with auto queues to dungeons/raids ect? You said you want to explore, gather, craft, and engage in the economy, and you can even as a pure soloist. But will you be as good as a blacksmith that's in a guild that spends just as much time in the game as you do? Probably not. I'll feed my blacksmith materials and patterns just like everyone else in the guild. There's no way you can keep up with that pure solo. You could get lucky and find a rare pattern that others don't have, but then do you sell it or use it? What materials does it take to make it, can you get them all? Crafting is going to be interwoven, so armor smithing might rely on tailoring for some recipes. This will be a big focus in P3 (I think). A lot of these "accessibility" things like quest hub power leveling, or auto queue dungeons and raids, people are actively against. I think about the success of WoW classic. Blizzard kept telling players they didn't want vanilla wow, but they were dead wrong. Classic was massively successful, and I still think WoW is carebear difficulty. No perma death, no corpse run, no full loot drops, quest hubs and quest markers, fast travel?!? Easy easy easy.
In the end, no (pure) solo players didn't save the genre, it would be fine without them. The genre has always been in trouble with the exception of peak WoW era. This is just my thoughts on it. But if you actually got something to add, ideas, mechanics, ect for solo activities make a post about those. They might in the queue and if it adds value to the game without sacrificing other aspects of the game maybe they'll add it. They're always looking for ideas. But make sure you know the core pillars the game stands on. Check out the wiki for what their take on PvX is, the balance of instance vs open world content and so on. No game is for everyone, it's not a bad thing to say, 'this game might not be for you", it might not be for me either. Can't please everyone.
Volgaris
1
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
ill elaborate more later, but basically, since there is a limited space of players per server, the more you make the game solo friendly, the more solo players will join, and the less space will be for group oriented players. that's not to say the game should be 100% party/guild oriented though.
If Ashes shall be Nodes versus Nodes though - then the Game can't be "too Solo Player friendly". The MOMENT you do make it too well appealing to play Solo - you have the same Situation like in Worst of Warcraft and incompetent Bunglers are in every Node except probably a single One -> which will "magically" dominate the whole Server.
. Aszkalon
1
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
We have differing opinions of what "a real mmo" is. To me, if you can clear the game and majority of its content w/o uttering a single word in chat - that's a single player game. Afaik both ESO and GW2 are exactly that. Hell, i'm pretty sure this video itself said so about ESO.TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »Nah, I don’t agree. Games like GW2 and ESO prove you can be solo-friendly and still be a real MMO. GW2 is one of the most active MMOs in 2025, super chill for solo play but still full of group content and community.
This is why I said that mmos are just single player games with chat-spam npcs in them. There's an illusions of something going on, but you don't need to interact with that illusion to experience the game.
And my biggest example of this kinda being true is Genshin's release. A shiiiitton of people thought Genshin was an mmo, because it had a multiplayer component, even though it was a completely solo game. If that's not an indication of "people think that mmos are just soloable games with other people in them" - I dunno what is.
Ludullu
1
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
True, I should've been clearer in that statement. By "single word in chat" I meant "no interaction with any other player in any way, including the forums, social media, audio apps, etc". You literally only log into the game, say nothing, but still clear the game just fine.Even back in 2004, if you were in a guild that was organized, you didn't need to use in game chat at all. You could complete quests, dungeons, raids, everything that is the core of an MMORPG, all without needing to use chat at all.
This is what it took what you said to mean. I understand thst from a certain perspdcrive this is just a rewording of the same notion, but to me, the difference is quite major.
Noaani
1