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Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Best Of
Re: Why make everything so punishing??
I know the standard answer goes, '' Well this game isn't for everyone, so don't play it if you don't like the PVP/Lack of Fast Travel? Death Penalties/Lack of Solo Play, etc.
I say, Why not make it more appealing to more people though?[/b] As an MMO community, we've been hanging out for 'the next big thing' for quite a while now. A lot of us have supported development by buying into the Alphas and giving 'testing' a go. We are entitled to give our opinions. A lot of us are old-time MMO players, so we do have valid opinions. I for example, spent over $700 Aussie Dollars supporting the game, so don't say I haven't been supportive.
Why not tweak things so more players want to play? Why make everything super hard/super punishing? Many of us in RL have enough RL struggles; we just want to escape into a game and enjoy some playtime. We WANT to support a new game—a great game—one we can play for years! One we can solo OR group? Flag for PVP... or not. Quest OR grind.
I agree, don't make things too easy—maybe the difficulty level of say Classic WoW—which yes, is still popular because it's not 'too' easy, people can play PVP or PVE, they can make macros, quests, Spam Dungeons, Battlegrounds, and Multibox (yes, legally, it's ok; don't get your knickers in a knot.) Group or not group, etc.
I really don't get this whole non-fun, narrow-minded approach.
Because its an autistic PvP kids community and only what they say is good; they will never exept any other opinion; you spend money on an outdated project; there is no place for simple players; they will run game; they will have around 200 people playing it; and after die very fast and left only see how this kids will cry in reddit or other forums; 100% any mmo cannot stay alive if have no players
uNworn1
3
Re: GvG/PvP Downsides and AOC's Solutions?
Player tracking: Not suure how much utility that has in Ashes but I guess under certain circumstances - like bounty hunters tracking corrupted players - it makes for an interesting feature. I could imagine a zone wide event maybe giving temporary access to such a system but that would be all. The role of the shady guy in the tavern should be filled by players if at all. Its much more interesting from an RP perspective to have players sell information about another player than having an NPC just relay that kind of information from the code of the game.
Spawn kills: That's easy to mitigate by making respawning player green/non-combatant again. If someone were to spawn kill them, they'd instantly become corrupt.
Guild power: Combat strength is irrelevant in a mayors election unless its a military node. If the policies become too annoying to deal with, people can just end their citizenship and drain the Node of its resources, which will eventually cause it to fall into ruin. It doesn't always take a siege to bring down a tyranny.
Gear & Meta: Meta is not a thing in Ashes at least that is the goal. Since this however is a balancing topic it will only be fully realized during the Beta. With that being said: Ashes will have a rock-paper-scissors system amplified by the augmentation system, which basically can overpower whatever a player thinks is the "meta" in regards to gear. Because ultimately gear is going to account for around 40-50% of a characters combat power. Also no gear is perfect. Steven has been on record saying that he thinks it is stupid to have one gear piece be best-in-slot for all scenarios. So the perfect gear to counter an assassin type class won't help much against a mage.
Spawn kills: That's easy to mitigate by making respawning player green/non-combatant again. If someone were to spawn kill them, they'd instantly become corrupt.
Guild power: Combat strength is irrelevant in a mayors election unless its a military node. If the policies become too annoying to deal with, people can just end their citizenship and drain the Node of its resources, which will eventually cause it to fall into ruin. It doesn't always take a siege to bring down a tyranny.
Gear & Meta: Meta is not a thing in Ashes at least that is the goal. Since this however is a balancing topic it will only be fully realized during the Beta. With that being said: Ashes will have a rock-paper-scissors system amplified by the augmentation system, which basically can overpower whatever a player thinks is the "meta" in regards to gear. Because ultimately gear is going to account for around 40-50% of a characters combat power. Also no gear is perfect. Steven has been on record saying that he thinks it is stupid to have one gear piece be best-in-slot for all scenarios. So the perfect gear to counter an assassin type class won't help much against a mage.
Kilion
1
Re: GvG/PvP Downsides and AOC's Solutions?
Hello, Everyone and welcome to this open discussion. I, ObiWon, your future Tank Extraordinaire
With that said, why continue reading past this opening phrase.
Solvryn
1
Re: GvG/PvP Downsides and AOC's Solutions?
Hello, Everyone and welcome to this open discussion. I, ObiWon, your future Tank Extraordinaire have been playing Black Desert Online for the Past 5 years. And, I wanted to open up some discussion about potential downsides and fixes that I am not sure have been addressed or discussed. They may have been talked about already, and there may very well be other discussions about this specific topic with AOC staff giving solutions however, I am not informed about them so I am making this post here.
So, to get started I will be discussing 6 topics particularly, Player/Guild Tracking, Spawn Killing, Negative Chat Dialogue, Guild Domination, Gear Locking, and PvP Skill/Gear Caps. To get started;
Player or even guild tracking can become very disadvantageous, annoying, toxic, problematic, etc. which can deter players from playing. However, tracking a player and their exact location can be useful, fun, and appropriate given the right treatment. Therefore I personally don't believe Guild Tracking at maximum should ever be a feature within this game. Especially since tracking a whole guild doesn't seem viable as it consists of many players who engage in different activities or parts of the map at different times. For example, in BDO you are able to go to a shadowy figure within the tavern in the Town of Velia who for a certain amount of money will unlock the current location of a player on the same server as you. But, if they move from the initial ping it does not follow them. Giving them a chance, however, it does not notify them that they are being tracked.
This allows players to get PK'd during intense grind sessions or lifeskilling when they do not desire to PvP at all. Now We know Ashes has created a system that lets you indicate whether or not you even want to participate in PvP and if you are killed as a PvE player there are penalties for the PvPer. However, some players will make alts or kills regardless of any penalties. And someone may not always be online or have friends to help them. How do we solve those instances? I have heard of a Sheriff system but, no further discussion has been talked about. Can someone getting spawn killed or farmed even type or ask for aid when they are killed? In, BDO, once you die you cannot type or do anything except respawn allowing you to get continuously killed without being able to ask for aid.
Spawn killing in BDO is so prevalent that even players with good gear or skill can overwhelmed because they cannot repsawn at full health unless they have an item called a fairies tear and those can quickly run out. How is this prevented or mitigated to a certain extent?
Negative Chat dialogue is simple and I know that there is already a system in place but, players will find a way to negatively insult someone that goes beyond a profanity filter or racial remarks. Is this being worked on?
Now, I understand that guilds want to be Number 1 and alliances will play a huge role in that. However, in BDO Console the same guilds have been in the Political Power spot since Launch and players have become sick of it and their politics. Even on PC. When one Guild or Alliance rules for too long with too much power and no one can topple them because they recruit all the strongest players it hinders other guilds growth. Now it's up to an individual to join a guild but, when other guilds are unable to surpass or challenge another for control due to all the strongest players being in one guild how can players seek to overcome this? Assuming any and all new strong players automatically go to join the strongest guild only. Hence Guild domination without challenge.
Gear locking is pretty simple. In BDO, gear is enhanced at a chance rate which is terrible and the bane of all BDO players' existence. This is why I love that gear in AOC is found and has rarity not enhancement-based. However, someone is bound to find the gear that becomes meta and players tend to be followers. Is exploration and gear variety really enough to ensure that players don't become gear locked limiting the player base to just one set that everyone wears? Making gear the PVP or PVE standard without change can lead to players seeking one set of gear that becomes too hard to give people a competitive advantage.
And, finally, PvP skill can always change and adapt, however, gear-wise BDO has this problem where one set gear is the standard and once you max it out you are essentially broken. which means even those with higher skill will die regardless of how close their gear may be to max. Full Pen is full Pen and your skill can be mediocre, but you'll win a majority of the time. Will Skill with a character be balanced to the point where someone with worse gear can kill or dominate someone with better gear? Or will someone with better gear always win out? Is PVP going to be gear-based or skill-based? Of course, it's supposed to be both but, hopefully, you see my point.
Let me know what you guys think bad or good and let me know of your concerns about PvP or Guild fights.
MMMm watching liger run server to server and hunting him down on every shard was amazing lmao. I highly doubt you are goin to have the mysterious npc in Ashes of creation that pings you where people are two different games. Things in BDO shouldn't be assumed to be in AoC as the base ref is more L2 and Archage not BDO.
You are bringing up another point on BDO since you want to run in circles for hours and not pvp. This is AoC not BDO you can't compare both the levels of pk, AoC has a much more dangerous karma system than BDO. PvP in BDO is about losing time not losing items or being set as red after one kill.
What are you talking about you respawn at full life in BDO....You are using weaker tears to get up on the spot instead of resurrecting at the respawn point. So you are trying to make a point of using a convenience item in the game and complaining the low tier version doesn't full heal you as you rez right where you died.
(this take is getting worse and worse im sensing a bad solo pve grinding BDO player when bdo pve is utter trash).
I don't think i can read much more of this....BDO with guilds are just going to have top players in their guilds so people can do content around that. There is very little reason to group in the game and do pve content together it is a very solo orientated game. No one really builds connections actively like other mmorpgs leaving certain guilds on top that have played for ages and have a huge gear gap on others. Drawing people to join with those guilds as there aren't really social elements. People just want to join the strongest guilds and will eventually leaver weaker guilds to do so. Those members of yours where you ran almost 0 content with wont have connections to want to stay with you. There are other reasons as well but im not going to detail all of them.
BDO is gear > Skill > Class. Like most mmorpgs gear does matter, though in BDO if you are skilled enough you can overcome certain degrees of people with more gear than you to an extent. Maybe more so than in most mmorpgs tbh, but the levels of gear in BDO get so high eventually you are fully gear checked in more so 1 on 1 or small fights. (groups less gear will show a lot more and you die to aoe)
So in all honestly you already have that in BDO but I see you are complaining still but im guessing you don't liek the high levels of gear you can't reach. AoC gear and your level will matter, but I don't expect there to be as big as a difference as BDO if you are of the same level. Though skill will matter less in AoC than BDO so gear will weight more heavily as an advantage.
Mag7spy
1
Re: GvG/PvP Downsides and AOC's Solutions?
I will be discussing 6 topics particularly, Player/Guild Tracking, Spawn Killing, Negative Chat Dialogue, Guild Domination, Gear Locking, and PvP Skill/Gear Caps.
1. Player tracking: I see no issue with what you said. The tracker doesn't follow you around and it is an Open world PvP game. If you didn't know, now you know. You even have a combat flag, corruption mechanics, bounty mechanics and maybe even more as I am not up-to-date with the games development. Complaining about this anymore before the game is even released falls squarely in the snowflake category and is pretty telling that maybe the game isn't for those peeps.
2. Spawn killing is easily resolved if it ever becomes an issue. I don't know if it is possible or addressed at the moment in the game.
3. Tbh I don't get the need for a negative chat dialogue filter. No technology currently exists that can do this effectively. I mean how do you make a machine understand context? Its very simple to insult someone in a roundabout way than to create a filter for it. Better to know your enemies than getting backstabbed imo and why do you have be so sensitive as to be offended by text? Ignore and move on.
4. Guild/Alliance domination: This will definitely be a thing. I don't care for arguments against it until we can see how the game progresses 4-5 months after it is released. There can be 5 highest tier nodes and an alliance can have maximum 4 guilds each with 300 members maximum, afaik. So its very doable for 4 guilds to rule the entire world of Verra. The only reasonable obstacle I can see is the lack of fast travel which again can easily be worked around by hacking family summons. If you are gonna introduce a cheat, players will use it as a cheat.
5. Gear locking: Well the hundreds of different skill augments should take care of the diversity wrt gear/skill builds. There probably wont be a meta because some augments/gear will not be possible for everyone to get due to one reason or another. AoC is awesome like that.
6. PvP skill: Gear provides 50% of the players stats. So unless there are broken set bonuses, I don't see why a low geared highly skilled player wouldn't be able to overcome a better geared mid skilled players unless they are secretly low skilled as well. FYI, the game isn't balanced for 1v1s but rather group combat.
Sylvanar
1
Pvp Event Death Penalties
I dunno how the hell I missed this during last year's May dev stream, but Pvp Event Death penalties got changed into "you just gain smaller XP debt", while all the other penalties remain.
I'm beginning to feel like a boiling frog at this point. The entire point of pvp events has always been "you die a fuckton, so the penalties are near non-existent". They were meant as the main source of pvp for people, because open world has Corruption and that will always decrease the pvp drastically.
I didn't pay enough attention to that stuff during P1 cause I was mainly playing solo and for any other situation just thought "oh, it's not fully implemented yet". But today I was discussing how shitty the current war design is and thanks to Legendary Neurotoxin pointing this change out to me, I've learned that I've been sitting in boiling water for almost a year now and have not noticed.
Now here's my question about this. WHY?! FOR WHAT REASON!? Who does this help?
Pvpers? Nope. Way less of a point in even attempting to participate in a war, cause a stronger force will not only roll over you, but also loot everything off of you as well. And if you're the stronger force - why in hell would your enemy not surrender immediately?
Pvers? Obviously no, for the same reason. And additionally, previously if you were in a war with a guild that was contesting a boss - any pvp happening between you two would've barely affected you. This change simply forces people into karmabombing and the counters to that action, which inevitably leads to the kind of toxicity we've seen on Vyra in P2.
Casuals in small guilds? Hell no.
Why was this change implemented? Hell, I'd even argue that zergs do not benefit from this, because they're fractured in small guilds, so either a stronger group of people gets to punish some 15th sub-guild of the zerg or the zerg just inevitably resorts to PKing their enemies, because (hopefully) they can't wardec the same guild from all of their sub-guilds. And if by some chance they can all wardec - again, why would the victim not immediately surrender instead of losing mats as soon as they exit a node (that's assuming that the dumbass "feature" of "you can be killed in a node for free" goes away).
How is this NOT an all-around worst situation for everyone involved?
I'm beginning to feel like a boiling frog at this point. The entire point of pvp events has always been "you die a fuckton, so the penalties are near non-existent". They were meant as the main source of pvp for people, because open world has Corruption and that will always decrease the pvp drastically.
I didn't pay enough attention to that stuff during P1 cause I was mainly playing solo and for any other situation just thought "oh, it's not fully implemented yet". But today I was discussing how shitty the current war design is and thanks to Legendary Neurotoxin pointing this change out to me, I've learned that I've been sitting in boiling water for almost a year now and have not noticed.
Now here's my question about this. WHY?! FOR WHAT REASON!? Who does this help?
Pvpers? Nope. Way less of a point in even attempting to participate in a war, cause a stronger force will not only roll over you, but also loot everything off of you as well. And if you're the stronger force - why in hell would your enemy not surrender immediately?
Pvers? Obviously no, for the same reason. And additionally, previously if you were in a war with a guild that was contesting a boss - any pvp happening between you two would've barely affected you. This change simply forces people into karmabombing and the counters to that action, which inevitably leads to the kind of toxicity we've seen on Vyra in P2.
Casuals in small guilds? Hell no.
Why was this change implemented? Hell, I'd even argue that zergs do not benefit from this, because they're fractured in small guilds, so either a stronger group of people gets to punish some 15th sub-guild of the zerg or the zerg just inevitably resorts to PKing their enemies, because (hopefully) they can't wardec the same guild from all of their sub-guilds. And if by some chance they can all wardec - again, why would the victim not immediately surrender instead of losing mats as soon as they exit a node (that's assuming that the dumbass "feature" of "you can be killed in a node for free" goes away).
How is this NOT an all-around worst situation for everyone involved?
Ludullu
3
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #73 - Boss Environments 👹
1. Destructible and interactive environment. That goes for both boss and players...
Examples:
-Boss hits the ceiling of a cavern and stalactites or stalagmites fall down on players.
-Player in ruins hits the pillar in at the bottom to knock it down on boss.
-Fighting a boss at the top floor of a tower, but with each phase he destroys the floor beneath you. Leading you all the way to the basement area.
-Boss is a vampire type creature and the room is in dark, but entire area has mirrors that you can rotate and reflect the beam of light that is coming through cracks to damage him.
-Boss is too mobile and it flies off, but if you shoot enough chained harpoons at it and pin him down the fight is easier.
-Boss is sensitive to sound and there is a giant gong in the room that you must hit to weaken it.
-Solving environmental puzzle or performing a ritual to summon the boss.
-Visible marks when boss, for example, cleaves the ground. Different results if you are, for example, fighting in a tall grass (cutting it) vs stone pavement (slight slash on ground)...
-If boss falls over near the wall it knocks it down. Same goes if it rushes through if its big enough.
-If the boss, for example, sets fire to an area and you use some water/ice based AoE magic it extinguishes it with visible steam coming from the ground.
2. Storytelling through environment.
Environment and boss should always compliment each other stories.
Maybe the boss area is tied to tragic tale of a character or boss is literally fused with the walls. It changes your reason to fight in a game.
Fighting a boss who lost everyone next to their loved ones graves in cemetery vs fighting with the same person in tavern will have different emotional impact-Don't you agree?
Yes, some people don't care about that, but there are some who do.
3. Introduction of the bosses is very important because it sets up character for the thing you are fighting. It hypes you up and immerses you. Soulsborne games do it perfectly with 1 short scene when you first encounter the boss. I doubt it would cost a lot to animate 5-10 second introduction with maybe 2-3 lines of sentences. Environment can play the key role in that, especially if boss interacts with it in a cutscene...
Almost every boss in Soulsborne works in perfect symbiosis with environment either to enhances introduction of the boss, to set up the mood or as game mechanics.
...I know, Steven said no cutscenes, this is not a story sandbox mmo, but 5-10 sec introduction for some bosses would do wonders for your game.
Examples:
-Boss hits the ceiling of a cavern and stalactites or stalagmites fall down on players.
-Player in ruins hits the pillar in at the bottom to knock it down on boss.
-Fighting a boss at the top floor of a tower, but with each phase he destroys the floor beneath you. Leading you all the way to the basement area.
-Boss is a vampire type creature and the room is in dark, but entire area has mirrors that you can rotate and reflect the beam of light that is coming through cracks to damage him.
-Boss is too mobile and it flies off, but if you shoot enough chained harpoons at it and pin him down the fight is easier.
-Boss is sensitive to sound and there is a giant gong in the room that you must hit to weaken it.
-Solving environmental puzzle or performing a ritual to summon the boss.
-Visible marks when boss, for example, cleaves the ground. Different results if you are, for example, fighting in a tall grass (cutting it) vs stone pavement (slight slash on ground)...
-If boss falls over near the wall it knocks it down. Same goes if it rushes through if its big enough.
-If the boss, for example, sets fire to an area and you use some water/ice based AoE magic it extinguishes it with visible steam coming from the ground.
2. Storytelling through environment.
Environment and boss should always compliment each other stories.
Maybe the boss area is tied to tragic tale of a character or boss is literally fused with the walls. It changes your reason to fight in a game.
Fighting a boss who lost everyone next to their loved ones graves in cemetery vs fighting with the same person in tavern will have different emotional impact-Don't you agree?
Yes, some people don't care about that, but there are some who do.
3. Introduction of the bosses is very important because it sets up character for the thing you are fighting. It hypes you up and immerses you. Soulsborne games do it perfectly with 1 short scene when you first encounter the boss. I doubt it would cost a lot to animate 5-10 second introduction with maybe 2-3 lines of sentences. Environment can play the key role in that, especially if boss interacts with it in a cutscene...
Almost every boss in Soulsborne works in perfect symbiosis with environment either to enhances introduction of the boss, to set up the mood or as game mechanics.
...I know, Steven said no cutscenes, this is not a story sandbox mmo, but 5-10 sec introduction for some bosses would do wonders for your game.
Re: Mouse sensitivity?
Add another bump for this.... The sluggish response is really annoying... I'm honestly a little shocked that there isn't an option for camera/mouse sensitivity adjustment.... I think that's a relatively common thing that everyone winds up customizing to one degree or another.....
Warehouse Storage for Others to Obtain
I feel like one of the big issues with logistics is having to be in the same place to trade with others, where it seems feasible that I should be able to leave a package of gold and materials for someone to pick up when they're there. It could use the crate system or some other method, and cost a small fee, in fact that'd be great since a fee would mean more income for nodes.
So WTF do I mean? Let me give you an example:
I am a multi-gatherer, and I have a pile of threads that I want guild JM weavers to run, so I run my thread to the node with journeyman weaving and create a warehouse package with thread, some silver to cover the fees, and a some fuel wood to run it. I can choose the names or guilds who may pick it up, in this case I'd add the names of the JM weavers I trust.
When they are finished, they can then create a warehouse package for me to pick up using the same steps. Next time I'm online and in the area, I can pick those materials up. If I have a trusted materials runner, I may ask that their name be added as well so they can bring the materials to the thread to the stoneworks where the weapon molds are being made.
The idea that players have to be in the same place at the same time just makes the crafting system more encumbered, and when you need an herbalist, a miner, a woodcutter, a weaver, a lumbermiller, a stonemason, JUST TO MAKE ONE COMPONENT, there needs to be some relief added to the system so all that coordination can be done asynchronously for an extra fee.
Is this a system you'd like? Is there anything you'd want to see added or different?
So WTF do I mean? Let me give you an example:
I am a multi-gatherer, and I have a pile of threads that I want guild JM weavers to run, so I run my thread to the node with journeyman weaving and create a warehouse package with thread, some silver to cover the fees, and a some fuel wood to run it. I can choose the names or guilds who may pick it up, in this case I'd add the names of the JM weavers I trust.
When they are finished, they can then create a warehouse package for me to pick up using the same steps. Next time I'm online and in the area, I can pick those materials up. If I have a trusted materials runner, I may ask that their name be added as well so they can bring the materials to the thread to the stoneworks where the weapon molds are being made.
The idea that players have to be in the same place at the same time just makes the crafting system more encumbered, and when you need an herbalist, a miner, a woodcutter, a weaver, a lumbermiller, a stonemason, JUST TO MAKE ONE COMPONENT, there needs to be some relief added to the system so all that coordination can be done asynchronously for an extra fee.
Is this a system you'd like? Is there anything you'd want to see added or different?
Re: Minor suggestion to make low quality resource still useful
Right, that's partly how TL works now.
There's a whole subsystem.
You don't 'Trait Up' common Traits on your Purple gear by constantly trying to get another Purple (it's def faster, but you don't need to). You get or make (in Ashes case or in a hypothetical TL with artisanship) Blue gear with the desired trait and fuse it in, for a chance to Trait up.
Then you have Blessing when you fail, which is basically 'Failstacks but sane'.
I have no issues with that part actually, I know there's a way it can go poorly if mishandled, but I would give a dev the benefit of the doubt when it came to that (and in TL this has paid off, but that's another long story about them and their skill).
If TL introduced Artisanship and disabled the up-trade on certain things we wouldn't all suddenly 'be stuck'. We'd switch to making Blue Gear, which they actually make very DIFFICULT and unnecessary to do right now.
But the slots for it are all there.
Technically, TL specifically makes sure that you can't do the last thing you said, though, to maintain the competition and 'gear chase'.
You have to earn the Purple yourself, but once you've done it, the 'Artisans' put in work in other ways toward your improvement of it. If they added Jewelry Making, I would still need to go fight bosses or use the AH to buy one of the low supply of Purple Rings, for example, but once I have it, I either 'only need two more' or need something else I can farm, and then after that I only need Blues and Greens with the same qualities (Traits) to min-max it.
Honestly I barely use the up-convert as is, I use the down-convert more often (except for progression type items, which I think Ashes doesn't even have, and Throne and Liberty doesn't even need - they're about to drastically reduce the requirement for most of them, I think they realized this too).
I've had enough time to gather data on this actually, since game start. The number of people who 'expect to be able to upgrade their Green Gear into Blue gear seems to be about 10%. The number of people who I've seen be confused about the inability to combine Green Gear directly into Blue gear is about 20%-ish.
The few I've seen get the actual explanation of 'it wouldn't be much of an MMO if you didn't have to group up to get good gear and could just upgrade into it', and then reject this explanation, is pretty high, true... but Ashes isn't really marketing to that subset anyway.
There's a whole subsystem.
You don't 'Trait Up' common Traits on your Purple gear by constantly trying to get another Purple (it's def faster, but you don't need to). You get or make (in Ashes case or in a hypothetical TL with artisanship) Blue gear with the desired trait and fuse it in, for a chance to Trait up.
Then you have Blessing when you fail, which is basically 'Failstacks but sane'.
I have no issues with that part actually, I know there's a way it can go poorly if mishandled, but I would give a dev the benefit of the doubt when it came to that (and in TL this has paid off, but that's another long story about them and their skill).
If TL introduced Artisanship and disabled the up-trade on certain things we wouldn't all suddenly 'be stuck'. We'd switch to making Blue Gear, which they actually make very DIFFICULT and unnecessary to do right now.
But the slots for it are all there.
Technically, TL specifically makes sure that you can't do the last thing you said, though, to maintain the competition and 'gear chase'.
You have to earn the Purple yourself, but once you've done it, the 'Artisans' put in work in other ways toward your improvement of it. If they added Jewelry Making, I would still need to go fight bosses or use the AH to buy one of the low supply of Purple Rings, for example, but once I have it, I either 'only need two more' or need something else I can farm, and then after that I only need Blues and Greens with the same qualities (Traits) to min-max it.
Honestly I barely use the up-convert as is, I use the down-convert more often (except for progression type items, which I think Ashes doesn't even have, and Throne and Liberty doesn't even need - they're about to drastically reduce the requirement for most of them, I think they realized this too).
I've had enough time to gather data on this actually, since game start. The number of people who 'expect to be able to upgrade their Green Gear into Blue gear seems to be about 10%. The number of people who I've seen be confused about the inability to combine Green Gear directly into Blue gear is about 20%-ish.
The few I've seen get the actual explanation of 'it wouldn't be much of an MMO if you didn't have to group up to get good gear and could just upgrade into it', and then reject this explanation, is pretty high, true... but Ashes isn't really marketing to that subset anyway.
Azherae
1