Best Of
Re: The Problem With Ashes of Creation Biomes and More
I agree with Jundark I dont think the dev team should be afraid to supersize trees for this region. Go crazy, it's a fantasy world. Giant fantasy trees are a good look for a jungle and spacing out giant trees instead of adding 20 little ones is better for performance.
World of warcraft Feralas--- this zone hit the nail on the head. Ashenvale as well but Feralas is the Jundark equivalent. Giant moss covered trees with swinging vines and stretched out branches.
Now the riverlands... ehh riverlands can get away with being kinda boring. Wide open fields and running rivers and some rocks/thickets. Pretty on brand.
They outdid themselves with the Desert! The ridges and foliage... perfection.
The tropics.... could also use some giant vine covered trees and maybe some nikua architecture... hutts and bridges.
World of warcraft Feralas--- this zone hit the nail on the head. Ashenvale as well but Feralas is the Jundark equivalent. Giant moss covered trees with swinging vines and stretched out branches.
Now the riverlands... ehh riverlands can get away with being kinda boring. Wide open fields and running rivers and some rocks/thickets. Pretty on brand.
They outdid themselves with the Desert! The ridges and foliage... perfection.
The tropics.... could also use some giant vine covered trees and maybe some nikua architecture... hutts and bridges.
Dryadez
1
Re: Character Models
Baldurs Gate Three has one of the best Character Creators ever, as it seems.
Is it Mods/modded if one can set the Muscle-greatness/smallness for the Characters, too ?
Indeed and yes i do have mods but no the muscular body type is not one, some of the face presets tho however and the eyes and hairstyles they are, although bg3 has a lot of options it is never enough 😄
And something i have to point out is the lack of face presets and hairstyles diversity, an issue in most games.
Kallysha
1
Re: I'm Brazilian and I need installments option to buy the game.
I'm Brazilian, and the price of the game for us is half the minimum wage here, it is very expensive in our currency. I'm not asking for a price reduction, just to make this option possible.
Thank you very much!
The game is not live yet.
Currently, the game is still in what is essentisllt a supporter mode - sure people get access to alpha and beta for supporting, but that isn't the game.
While I don't want to speak for Steven, I imagine he would not want financial support from people if they are having to pay via installments - he would simply suggest you hold on to that money and put it to better use.
When the game is released, not only will there not be a purchase price at all, but the subscription will be regionalized to match your local economy.
Oh, I understand. Thank you very much.
ieldan
1
Re: Nodes and guards in a world of magic (huge desire of mine)
Well, if you haven't had a chance to experience it in the Alpha, Ashes is fitting well for me. Basically, the guards and NPC defenders in Ashes are much closer to what I described I normally experience, than your description of what you normally see.
Casters and melee, to be clear. If you get into trouble outside a town or outpost, the best option is to run toward it, or sometimes to run toward the last place you saw a defense patrol. I think that last time I tested seriously, you could even get some exp if it was just 'you got into trouble and had to flee without finishing off a mostly-beaten enemy'.
You still got some of the exp if the guards finished off the Goblin or whatever it was.
Casters and melee, to be clear. If you get into trouble outside a town or outpost, the best option is to run toward it, or sometimes to run toward the last place you saw a defense patrol. I think that last time I tested seriously, you could even get some exp if it was just 'you got into trouble and had to flee without finishing off a mostly-beaten enemy'.
You still got some of the exp if the guards finished off the Goblin or whatever it was.
Azherae
1
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »But what is 'keep up' and why do solos/casuals care about it?
Sure, some of us know, but others don't know what you're talking about.
When I say “keep up,” I’m talking about not getting left so far behind in gear, progression, or access that you can’t meaningfully join in on the fun stuff. It’s not about matching the top guilds, it’s about still having a path to stay relevant without living in the game 24/7. If that path isn’t there, most casuals and solos just peace out.
They'll likely handle it like do with players you join in a year or two after launch. I mean there's no way 10 hour a week players are going to keep up with 40+ hour a week players. And they shouldn't. I think you'd need to explain what staying relevant is to you. If you're solo, than you're only relevant to yourself. If you want to be relevant to your friends or you guild you'll need to figure out how fast and far they're going to progress, gota join the right guild. This is a problem in any mmo, granted more so in Ashes because the competitive nature of the game. They have talked about ways to bridge the gap between the hardcore and causal players. I'd feed any ideas you have to the dev discussions, because this could be a issue, but it's like they are unaware, I think they are painfully aware in some cases.
Volgaris
2
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »But what is 'keep up' and why do solos/casuals care about it?
Sure, some of us know, but others don't know what you're talking about.
When I say “keep up,” I’m talking about not getting left so far behind in gear, progression, or access that you can’t meaningfully join in on the fun stuff. It’s not about matching the top guilds, it’s about still having a path to stay relevant without living in the game 24/7. If that path isn’t there, most casuals and solos just peace out.
Ok but what's 'the fun stuff' for casuals/solos in a game like Ashes? That's the question. You can't just say 'the fun stuff'.
Azherae
1
Re: How Solo Players (Basically) Saved MMOs From Going Extinct
But what is 'keep up' and why do solos/casuals care about it?
Sure, some of us know, but others don't know what you're talking about.
Sure, some of us know, but others don't know what you're talking about.
Azherae
1
Re: Out of video memory Error while entering Cities
Persistent Crashing Resolved - Alpha 2
Wanted to post this somewhere in case it can help others who may be crashing. I am running super barebones minimum specs, lowest settings, so I am surprised I was able to get it going...
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
16.0 GB RAM
Geforce RTX 3050 (6 GB)
Windows 11 Home 64-bit 24h2
Day one, I was getting persistent crashes just trying to load into the starting area. Shut down all start up apps and had all other apps closed to maximize my memory available, but it still crashed. I received a patch update on day two and I also adjusted the Virtual Memory Page File. This was enough to squeeze out and leave 1.2-1.3GB of free memory when the game is running. It has run pretty solid since, a few visual rendering issues. Some snow areas look like blocks on the ground, minor flickers and once in a while I will get an invisible enemy that I can't see to kill it... but for the most part I can play. 3 hours straight on both day 2 and day 3. Happy hunting!
Virtual Memory Page File Location:
System Properties
Advanced Tab
Performance > Settings...
Advanced Tab
Virtual Memory > Change
Check the box:
Automatically manage paging file sizes for all drives
This changed my default from 1024 MB to:
Minimum allowed: 16 MB
Recommended: 2866 MB
Currently allocated: 15872 MB
Wanted to post this somewhere in case it can help others who may be crashing. I am running super barebones minimum specs, lowest settings, so I am surprised I was able to get it going...
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
16.0 GB RAM
Geforce RTX 3050 (6 GB)
Windows 11 Home 64-bit 24h2
Day one, I was getting persistent crashes just trying to load into the starting area. Shut down all start up apps and had all other apps closed to maximize my memory available, but it still crashed. I received a patch update on day two and I also adjusted the Virtual Memory Page File. This was enough to squeeze out and leave 1.2-1.3GB of free memory when the game is running. It has run pretty solid since, a few visual rendering issues. Some snow areas look like blocks on the ground, minor flickers and once in a while I will get an invisible enemy that I can't see to kill it... but for the most part I can play. 3 hours straight on both day 2 and day 3. Happy hunting!
Virtual Memory Page File Location:
System Properties
Advanced Tab
Performance > Settings...
Advanced Tab
Virtual Memory > Change
Check the box:
Automatically manage paging file sizes for all drives
This changed my default from 1024 MB to:
Minimum allowed: 16 MB
Recommended: 2866 MB
Currently allocated: 15872 MB
sorians
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion - Archetype Vibe Check
Which archetype do you find the most fun to play? Why?
Rogue or Bard. Most versatility and depth to their ability trees. There are multiple ways to play each and different spec options that are viable. Almost all abilities function well for each and offer something of value. Both are probably also op in all seriousness and overloaded.
Which archetype do you find the least fun to play? Why?
Ranger. Very static binary game play. There is extremely little build variety options. Nearly all Rangers will play near the same identical spec build for ability tree for pve and pvp as everyone else. Using a bow is not unique to Ranger. Every class nearly uses one so you don't have a range advantage nor a unique playstyle as everyone is shooting arrows regardless of class (not a fan of the any class any weapon design with primary and secondary weapons. Feels bland and takes away from the fantasy class identity on the world).
Ranger also has severe mana problems and can't use more than a single rotation without going OOM. Ranger is either OOM constantly if using its aoe abilities or lacks sufficient burst to secure a kill with its single target combo. Ranger lacks utility so it has to excel in burst. Its movement is among the worst of all classes where it should be its trademark it excels at. Bear traps are not reliable as a cc. I agree with others comments that Ranger plays more like a weak aoe caster than a Ranger. Ranger's mana regen on auto attacks is very weak and not functional in pvp. Way too much down time just auto attacking in combat. Ranger plays like afk Runescape combat. Very boring. A ton of passives (half the tree are passives you activate for buffs rather than abilities).
Are there any combat systems or mechanics you feel need more development or refinement? Please explain.
Pve combat in general is dreadfully boring in nearly all instances. Standing still for hours mob grinding while you barely move your character is not entertaining. Half of class kits you can't use because the areas we fight in are too small and you'll pull/tag mobs so you stand still and mentally go afk. Its poorly designed layouts for mob grinding areas. There should be more open area farming locations groups can maneuver during combat like the volcano island in the Tropics.
Rogue is bloated, Fighter and Ranger are starved for functional abilities in pvp, build diversity, and general Quality of Life.
The overall combat design even at early levels is overly convoluted and has way too many layered status effect interactions. Idk who wants this type of combat layering but it is not going to appeal to the masses. Rather than having fun abilities that are solid alone, everything is about weaving and stacking status effects. Strange design. Game is only in Alpha and I'm already tired of the anal conversations about status effect monitoring. So tedious. This is the opposite of the action combat design I was hoping for. This is full tab-target pve ocd debuff bar monitoring. Not a fan.
All weapon trees are about as uninteresting as it gets. I'm not sure what value they have. The game would be improved by consolidating the weapon trees entirely by asking players do you want to run Crit version of class, attack speed version, attack power version, mana regen version, etc.
I still find the base idea of physical wand, magic bow, physical orb to be lame. No class identity. Everyone's the same. Rangers using bow getting shot by a mage for as much with their magic bow or a fighter. Its dumb.
Solo mob grinding to level needs to be viable for all classes not just high sustain ones. 1* mobs should not crush classes five level above them.
Fighter - in general most of its kit has way too long of cast animations. This class has the longest cast animations and is a melee class. It makes no sense. It has to be much more fluid. It also has to receive abilities or a large stat boost to its mitigation so it can engage without getting blown up immediately. Even in pve 80% of the mobs damage is to melee aoe in a 360 degree area, especially Forge.
My feedback would be to remove the secondary weapons from the game and classes only to use a primary weapon. Way too much every class pew pew with bows in pvp. Very Asian mmo boring design. Rangers don't have a single melee ability. Why do they need a melee weapon. What purpose to secondary weapons have other than being stat sticks and pvp auto attack spam by all? Can the whole idea and use one weapon only or develop melee and ranged class ability trees for every class.
During group combat or grinding sessions, do you feel any core features or gameplay elements are missing or underdeveloped? If yes, please describe.
Yeah, what I mentioned above. And variety in game play. Stagnant mob grinding statue game play is like watching paint dry. Where is the engagement in game design? Mob random target 1-shot mechanics are uninteresting. Just random ko's and xp debt without any logic (pyromancer's, snipers in HH). Tanks consistently do not hold aggro well in pve and ranged aoe dps classes will constantly gain aggro even if they waited properly. Tanks must have stronger aggro management so classes can use their aoe abilities. A lot of times you feel forced to only auto attack or use single target abilities because you know you'll pull aggro if you cast an aoe because for whatever reason Tank class taunts are not competent for the job. Makes for boring paint dry mental afk game play.
The level range limiters for parties for xp and loot drops is too restrictive and makes a lame culture in the game. The whole game revolves around no lifing during the rush after a phase launch with a set group. If you become detached from a levelling group its a pain in the ass. I just want to play a game, not jump through so many tedious hoops just to level during the early part of a game. Its very tiring just trying to find groups if you start a new character after the initial phase launch due to the loot and xp bracketing limiters set in place. You're letting people level up by chopping trees and hitting rocks. Why do we care to make solo levelling via mobs brutal? And if someone is going to spend their time in a group who cares if they are power levelled? You'd rather they go hit rocks instead? This is a guild game. Guild's are going to funnel gear to them regardless. Unsure why forcing harsh level range brackets is healthy. A lot of testers I've seen get upset with others because they don't know about the level range bracketing rules. Ie. The system causes more problems then its worth.
Rogue or Bard. Most versatility and depth to their ability trees. There are multiple ways to play each and different spec options that are viable. Almost all abilities function well for each and offer something of value. Both are probably also op in all seriousness and overloaded.
Which archetype do you find the least fun to play? Why?
Ranger. Very static binary game play. There is extremely little build variety options. Nearly all Rangers will play near the same identical spec build for ability tree for pve and pvp as everyone else. Using a bow is not unique to Ranger. Every class nearly uses one so you don't have a range advantage nor a unique playstyle as everyone is shooting arrows regardless of class (not a fan of the any class any weapon design with primary and secondary weapons. Feels bland and takes away from the fantasy class identity on the world).
Ranger also has severe mana problems and can't use more than a single rotation without going OOM. Ranger is either OOM constantly if using its aoe abilities or lacks sufficient burst to secure a kill with its single target combo. Ranger lacks utility so it has to excel in burst. Its movement is among the worst of all classes where it should be its trademark it excels at. Bear traps are not reliable as a cc. I agree with others comments that Ranger plays more like a weak aoe caster than a Ranger. Ranger's mana regen on auto attacks is very weak and not functional in pvp. Way too much down time just auto attacking in combat. Ranger plays like afk Runescape combat. Very boring. A ton of passives (half the tree are passives you activate for buffs rather than abilities).
Are there any combat systems or mechanics you feel need more development or refinement? Please explain.
Pve combat in general is dreadfully boring in nearly all instances. Standing still for hours mob grinding while you barely move your character is not entertaining. Half of class kits you can't use because the areas we fight in are too small and you'll pull/tag mobs so you stand still and mentally go afk. Its poorly designed layouts for mob grinding areas. There should be more open area farming locations groups can maneuver during combat like the volcano island in the Tropics.
Rogue is bloated, Fighter and Ranger are starved for functional abilities in pvp, build diversity, and general Quality of Life.
The overall combat design even at early levels is overly convoluted and has way too many layered status effect interactions. Idk who wants this type of combat layering but it is not going to appeal to the masses. Rather than having fun abilities that are solid alone, everything is about weaving and stacking status effects. Strange design. Game is only in Alpha and I'm already tired of the anal conversations about status effect monitoring. So tedious. This is the opposite of the action combat design I was hoping for. This is full tab-target pve ocd debuff bar monitoring. Not a fan.
All weapon trees are about as uninteresting as it gets. I'm not sure what value they have. The game would be improved by consolidating the weapon trees entirely by asking players do you want to run Crit version of class, attack speed version, attack power version, mana regen version, etc.
I still find the base idea of physical wand, magic bow, physical orb to be lame. No class identity. Everyone's the same. Rangers using bow getting shot by a mage for as much with their magic bow or a fighter. Its dumb.
Solo mob grinding to level needs to be viable for all classes not just high sustain ones. 1* mobs should not crush classes five level above them.
Fighter - in general most of its kit has way too long of cast animations. This class has the longest cast animations and is a melee class. It makes no sense. It has to be much more fluid. It also has to receive abilities or a large stat boost to its mitigation so it can engage without getting blown up immediately. Even in pve 80% of the mobs damage is to melee aoe in a 360 degree area, especially Forge.
My feedback would be to remove the secondary weapons from the game and classes only to use a primary weapon. Way too much every class pew pew with bows in pvp. Very Asian mmo boring design. Rangers don't have a single melee ability. Why do they need a melee weapon. What purpose to secondary weapons have other than being stat sticks and pvp auto attack spam by all? Can the whole idea and use one weapon only or develop melee and ranged class ability trees for every class.
During group combat or grinding sessions, do you feel any core features or gameplay elements are missing or underdeveloped? If yes, please describe.
Yeah, what I mentioned above. And variety in game play. Stagnant mob grinding statue game play is like watching paint dry. Where is the engagement in game design? Mob random target 1-shot mechanics are uninteresting. Just random ko's and xp debt without any logic (pyromancer's, snipers in HH). Tanks consistently do not hold aggro well in pve and ranged aoe dps classes will constantly gain aggro even if they waited properly. Tanks must have stronger aggro management so classes can use their aoe abilities. A lot of times you feel forced to only auto attack or use single target abilities because you know you'll pull aggro if you cast an aoe because for whatever reason Tank class taunts are not competent for the job. Makes for boring paint dry mental afk game play.
The level range limiters for parties for xp and loot drops is too restrictive and makes a lame culture in the game. The whole game revolves around no lifing during the rush after a phase launch with a set group. If you become detached from a levelling group its a pain in the ass. I just want to play a game, not jump through so many tedious hoops just to level during the early part of a game. Its very tiring just trying to find groups if you start a new character after the initial phase launch due to the loot and xp bracketing limiters set in place. You're letting people level up by chopping trees and hitting rocks. Why do we care to make solo levelling via mobs brutal? And if someone is going to spend their time in a group who cares if they are power levelled? You'd rather they go hit rocks instead? This is a guild game. Guild's are going to funnel gear to them regardless. Unsure why forcing harsh level range brackets is healthy. A lot of testers I've seen get upset with others because they don't know about the level range bracketing rules. Ie. The system causes more problems then its worth.
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion - Archetype Vibe Check
Roundtable Discussions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNd2fXKgiNs&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Cleric)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8AyHv0gSNI&t=300s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Bard)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtumHZyny18&t=6s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Ranger)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9b-RGaI_PA&t=242s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Fighter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXwdKLq28r8&t=1138s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Mage)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKamYorGzC0&t=2950s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Tank)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivf5n6PKpqY&t=117s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Rogue)
Which archetype do you find the most fun to play? Why?
I find the Rogue to be the most fun to play in a PvE setting. The interactions between abilities feel more meaningful than the other classes (maybe besides Bard but I haven't played Bard myself, just from what I'm told). Although I don't want to play a Rogue as my main class as the two classes that I want to main aren't in a good state.
Which archetype do you find the least fun to play? Why?
Ranger by far for me. I played Hunter in WoW for almost 13 years straight so I know I'm a little biased here, the current state of the Ranger feel really bad. Almost every single ability is a cast time which feels bad and the interactions of the abilities are either non-existent or not as meaningful as I would like. You need to do a make over of the passives in pretty much every class tree to make interactions between abilities fun and engaging to play with as a player. If we are supposed to have 30-40 abilities per base class than having at least 3-5 passives per ability would be ideal to truly make your own rotation/set of abilities you want to play with. That would lead to a big class tree so I made this video a while back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIHb9njnabc&t=209s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming
This video goes over how I would remake the current talent tree in a way that would better serve us, the players and give the most flexibly to you the devs.
Are there any combat systems or mechanics you feel need more development or refinement? Please explain.
Ohhhh yes, the basic weapon attack. I really don't know how you would redo it but currently the basic weapon attack after you have all your abilities on CD just feels completely not engaging and not fun at all. I understand that its Ashes version of auto attack but it doesn't have any weight to it. I would personally rather have a spam-able class ability than rely on the basic weapon attack. I am not saying to get rid of it but I can't really think of a way that would better serve the players to be more fun to use in combat and not feeling like I can't do anything for 6 seconds so.... just swinging my sword around lol.
During group combat or grinding sessions, do you feel any core features or gameplay elements are missing or underdeveloped? If yes, please describe.
I would say that mobs in general feel need more interactions and mechanics to them to really make decision based call outs more meaningful. Right now, every thing is just gathering them up and AoE them down. There are certain mobs that have priority cause they can one shot players so you just focus them down and still AoE everything down. Again, feels very one dimensional. As a fighter, I want to provide more for my group than what I do now which is just more AoE damage. Give me options within my passives to transform some of my abilities to have more of a group dynamic than just myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNd2fXKgiNs&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Cleric)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8AyHv0gSNI&t=300s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Bard)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtumHZyny18&t=6s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Ranger)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9b-RGaI_PA&t=242s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Fighter)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXwdKLq28r8&t=1138s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Mage)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKamYorGzC0&t=2950s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Tank)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivf5n6PKpqY&t=117s&ab_channel=VlhadusGaming (Rogue)Which archetype do you find the most fun to play? Why?
I find the Rogue to be the most fun to play in a PvE setting. The interactions between abilities feel more meaningful than the other classes (maybe besides Bard but I haven't played Bard myself, just from what I'm told). Although I don't want to play a Rogue as my main class as the two classes that I want to main aren't in a good state.
Which archetype do you find the least fun to play? Why?
Ranger by far for me. I played Hunter in WoW for almost 13 years straight so I know I'm a little biased here, the current state of the Ranger feel really bad. Almost every single ability is a cast time which feels bad and the interactions of the abilities are either non-existent or not as meaningful as I would like. You need to do a make over of the passives in pretty much every class tree to make interactions between abilities fun and engaging to play with as a player. If we are supposed to have 30-40 abilities per base class than having at least 3-5 passives per ability would be ideal to truly make your own rotation/set of abilities you want to play with. That would lead to a big class tree so I made this video a while back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIHb9njnabc&t=209s&ab_channel=VlhadusGamingThis video goes over how I would remake the current talent tree in a way that would better serve us, the players and give the most flexibly to you the devs.
Are there any combat systems or mechanics you feel need more development or refinement? Please explain.
Ohhhh yes, the basic weapon attack. I really don't know how you would redo it but currently the basic weapon attack after you have all your abilities on CD just feels completely not engaging and not fun at all. I understand that its Ashes version of auto attack but it doesn't have any weight to it. I would personally rather have a spam-able class ability than rely on the basic weapon attack. I am not saying to get rid of it but I can't really think of a way that would better serve the players to be more fun to use in combat and not feeling like I can't do anything for 6 seconds so.... just swinging my sword around lol.
During group combat or grinding sessions, do you feel any core features or gameplay elements are missing or underdeveloped? If yes, please describe.
I would say that mobs in general feel need more interactions and mechanics to them to really make decision based call outs more meaningful. Right now, every thing is just gathering them up and AoE them down. There are certain mobs that have priority cause they can one shot players so you just focus them down and still AoE everything down. Again, feels very one dimensional. As a fighter, I want to provide more for my group than what I do now which is just more AoE damage. Give me options within my passives to transform some of my abilities to have more of a group dynamic than just myself.
Vlhadus
1