Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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: Not looking forward to node destruction...
New World ( I know... I know..) had a little element of this where the crafting stations and other town benefits would be degraded after certain events ( I'm not sure what events but PvP had a role in some of it) and after awhile the player population just couldn't stand it anymore and it was eventually stopped and now, at least crafting stations, don't degrade at all. It would not be surprising to see a substantial relaxing of this mechanism in order to respect the players time and commitment to the game overall.
I think that's the problem with trying to build an immersive MMO. You build a world that has mechanics that increase immersion like node destruction, but then you still get mechanics-focused players who just see those mechanics as obstacles to their mechanical gameplay. If those mechanical players are influential enough to the devs, the mechanic will get removed and immersion drops.
Because New World is, as far as I can tell, operated by project managers rather than designers, they often give in to their player complaints regardless of whether it actively hurts their core design. I hope Ashes doesn't end up doing the same thing and end up sacrificing the impact of their most unique mechanic because players see it as an obstacle and not part of why they're playing in the first place.
Re: Not looking forward to node destruction...
This is going to suck for so many players. I mean the level grind isnt really the main bulk of the game, its building your node and gathering and professions. Getting your node destroyed is total garbage.
And i dont know what kind of sadistic ass even wants to do that to someone else. I sure as hell dont. Why do I want to make people feel depressed and quit the game?
I'm all for some friendly competetition, fighting over spots and pvping etc., but this idea is just cruel.
Re: Crafting Professions
Please consider unlocking all crafting professions and no more gatekeeping behind 5 mastercrafting. Since I do not have a crystal ball and do not know what this finish product will be like. At the very least try it during this Alpha phase. Over the weekend, I went to all three desert nodes and checked their store fronts. There was only 2 to 3 pages of items for sale, per node. If a node is to specialize in a certain craft. That doesn't seem like a promising feature when content dries up. I understand what the devs are trying to achieve, and, also understand that this is a Alpha. It is not working as intended. It may never work as intended.
This topic isn't about trying to control the market. Crafting is typically a gathering/money sink that some do not enjoy. It's about being able to play the game in other ways than farming mobs for xp. Once again, no idea what finished product will be like. But, if it stays on this track, as solo, non guild person. It would be more enjoyable to be able to craft gear, food, mounts and so on without the aid of others.
Thanks for reading
Side Note: Started testing/playing Jan 5th as ranger. That char is lvl 9 and felt it was too squishy. Rerolled a cleric, lvl 20 currently. Tried group content once, but found standing in one spot and farming adds a bit boring.
Wait so....you just solo all the time? A big part of the purpose of crafting is to incentivize behaviors between players rather than lone crafters, whether it's coming together to get specific boss loot with fighters or working together with other crafters to make a masterpiece that requires multiple different skills in different stages.
People also specialize in certain crafts. Limiting it enables interactions between players, which is the point of an MMO. It seems weird to push for a feature that explicitly reduces interactions between people...
Please give Judgement seperate Offensive and Defensive casts- like quick wit
Title- it can be frustrating trying to self heal or heal via defensive frames- if judgement were optionally separated in two spells like quick wit it would be perfect!
Re: When Rogue and Summoner Showcase ?
I managed to catch Wind of a Moment where Sir Steven said, that (and why) the CURRENT Ashes right now is the "worst Ashes you will ever see" and so on.
And that apparently to the Middle-point of this Year or maybe a bit further moving onwards to Autumn this Year -> the whole Western Continent could already be finished.
Apparently the Updates which come out now, around monthly or so -> will be huge.
And dear Sir Steven also said the Reason that right now -> the Reason why the Alpha Two looks almost like it is standing still and that it will take an Eternity for new Stuff to come out,
is because the things that are workest most and hardest on, are ingame Updates which are not visible yet. People can not see the Progress -> because the way is being paved for the huge Updates and rapid grow of the ingame World to function when it is supposed to be added to the already available Area's and Content.
Long Story short it appears it will get REALLY exciting the next Months and until now was just the most boring and painful seeming Start of all Time.
The Reason about not a single other Video Game Company ever gave such an early glimpse into a Game's Development is because they wanted to avoid exactly this super-frustrating Moment in time in which it looks like the Development is standing still.
And that apparently to the Middle-point of this Year or maybe a bit further moving onwards to Autumn this Year -> the whole Western Continent could already be finished.
Apparently the Updates which come out now, around monthly or so -> will be huge.
And dear Sir Steven also said the Reason that right now -> the Reason why the Alpha Two looks almost like it is standing still and that it will take an Eternity for new Stuff to come out,
is because the things that are workest most and hardest on, are ingame Updates which are not visible yet. People can not see the Progress -> because the way is being paved for the huge Updates and rapid grow of the ingame World to function when it is supposed to be added to the already available Area's and Content.
Long Story short it appears it will get REALLY exciting the next Months and until now was just the most boring and painful seeming Start of all Time.
The Reason about not a single other Video Game Company ever gave such an early glimpse into a Game's Development is because they wanted to avoid exactly this super-frustrating Moment in time in which it looks like the Development is standing still.
Aszkalon
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #73 - Boss Environments 👹
Major Points Discussed:
1. The importance of scale in boss encounters.
2. Making boss fights more immersive by giving players personal responsibility for the fight's success.
3. Shifting from linear boss mechanics to dynamic, unpredictable mechanics.
4. The impact of deadly mechanics versus drawn-out health pools.
5. Shifting the balance away from Zerg guilds and towards smaller, more coordinated groups.
6. The importance of the boss interacting with the environment and players using the environment to their advantage.
7. Making boss fights feel more like the boss is alive in the world, rather than a static encounter.
How can the environment and setting of a boss encounter enhance the challenge and immersion of the battle?
I don’t necessarily expect this from Ashes, but just speaking generally about what I find interesting in boss encounters... one of the biggest things for me is scale. Bosses in MMOs rarely feel as challenging or as impactful as I’d like them to. Most of the time, fights boil down to the same general formula: a bunch of people spamming their rotations, dodging circles on the ground, and slowly whittling away at a massive health pool. It works, but it doesn’t always feel epic.
If I think about the most memorable boss fights I’ve played, they come from games like Dark Souls. Obviously, MMOs can’t directly replicate that experience. Part of what makes Dark Souls bosses so intense is that you’re fighting them alone, which forces a sense of personal responsibility and tension that’s hard to replicate in a large-scale MMO fight. But I do think there’s something to be learned from that: bosses in MMOs could be way more immersive if players felt more individually responsible for the fight's success.
Right now, when you’re in a massive boss fight with a ton of players, it often feels like your presence barely matters. DPS meters were at least one way to make people feel engaged, giving players a way to compete for performance, but outside of that, the actual mechanics often make players feel replaceable. So how do you make a boss fight feel more immersive?
One way is to lean into deadly mechanics over drawn-out health bars. A lot of MMO bosses feel tanky just for the sake of it, dragging out fights rather than making them actually dangerous. I’d rather see bosses that can wipe a group quickly if players fail mechanics, but also don’t take forever to kill if the group executes everything correctly. This creates a much higher skill ceiling and, more importantly, shifts the balance away from Zerg guilds that just brute force content by throwing bodies at it.
Right now, bosses like Firebrand or Tumag are really only killable by massive Zerg guilds, but what if those bosses had mechanics that made coordination more important than numbers? Imagine a fireball that instantly kills a player, then bounces to the next person nearby, forcing everyone to be precise in their movement and positioning. In a system like that, a smaller, well-coordinated guild could have an actual shot at taking down these bosses, rather than just being overrun by sheer numbers.
To me, that's what makes boss fights immersive: a sense of personal responsibility, mechanics that reward skill over numbers, and an environment that forces actual coordination rather than just spamming rotations in a DPS race.
Another aspect of boss fights that I think is really immersive is when the boss interacts with the world around them. I think stage design typically plays a big role in boss encounters. Usually, fights feel very linear, like get the boss to point X, and once you reach that point, the boss transforms or changes mechanics. What would be more interesting, in my opinion, is if the boss mechanics were more dynamic rather than rigid. This would demand more coordination and collaboration, encouraging players to be more aware and adapt during the fight. What I mean by this is that while players definitely need to train on boss mechanics, learning the mechanics should not be so straightforward. Boss mechanics / stages don’t need to be linear they can be dynamic, and this dynamic approach would make the encounter feel far more immersive and challenging than the typical, predictable rotation of actions.
I also love when bosses interact with the environment, using environmental factors to gain an advantage, or even when players can use the environment to their benefit. For example, setting a forest on fire to trap a boss in a specific area. It creates a sense that the boss is alive in the world and responds to its surroundings, rather than just being an animated puppet.
1. The importance of scale in boss encounters.
2. Making boss fights more immersive by giving players personal responsibility for the fight's success.
3. Shifting from linear boss mechanics to dynamic, unpredictable mechanics.
4. The impact of deadly mechanics versus drawn-out health pools.
5. Shifting the balance away from Zerg guilds and towards smaller, more coordinated groups.
6. The importance of the boss interacting with the environment and players using the environment to their advantage.
7. Making boss fights feel more like the boss is alive in the world, rather than a static encounter.
How can the environment and setting of a boss encounter enhance the challenge and immersion of the battle?
I don’t necessarily expect this from Ashes, but just speaking generally about what I find interesting in boss encounters... one of the biggest things for me is scale. Bosses in MMOs rarely feel as challenging or as impactful as I’d like them to. Most of the time, fights boil down to the same general formula: a bunch of people spamming their rotations, dodging circles on the ground, and slowly whittling away at a massive health pool. It works, but it doesn’t always feel epic.
If I think about the most memorable boss fights I’ve played, they come from games like Dark Souls. Obviously, MMOs can’t directly replicate that experience. Part of what makes Dark Souls bosses so intense is that you’re fighting them alone, which forces a sense of personal responsibility and tension that’s hard to replicate in a large-scale MMO fight. But I do think there’s something to be learned from that: bosses in MMOs could be way more immersive if players felt more individually responsible for the fight's success.
Right now, when you’re in a massive boss fight with a ton of players, it often feels like your presence barely matters. DPS meters were at least one way to make people feel engaged, giving players a way to compete for performance, but outside of that, the actual mechanics often make players feel replaceable. So how do you make a boss fight feel more immersive?
One way is to lean into deadly mechanics over drawn-out health bars. A lot of MMO bosses feel tanky just for the sake of it, dragging out fights rather than making them actually dangerous. I’d rather see bosses that can wipe a group quickly if players fail mechanics, but also don’t take forever to kill if the group executes everything correctly. This creates a much higher skill ceiling and, more importantly, shifts the balance away from Zerg guilds that just brute force content by throwing bodies at it.
Right now, bosses like Firebrand or Tumag are really only killable by massive Zerg guilds, but what if those bosses had mechanics that made coordination more important than numbers? Imagine a fireball that instantly kills a player, then bounces to the next person nearby, forcing everyone to be precise in their movement and positioning. In a system like that, a smaller, well-coordinated guild could have an actual shot at taking down these bosses, rather than just being overrun by sheer numbers.
To me, that's what makes boss fights immersive: a sense of personal responsibility, mechanics that reward skill over numbers, and an environment that forces actual coordination rather than just spamming rotations in a DPS race.
Another aspect of boss fights that I think is really immersive is when the boss interacts with the world around them. I think stage design typically plays a big role in boss encounters. Usually, fights feel very linear, like get the boss to point X, and once you reach that point, the boss transforms or changes mechanics. What would be more interesting, in my opinion, is if the boss mechanics were more dynamic rather than rigid. This would demand more coordination and collaboration, encouraging players to be more aware and adapt during the fight. What I mean by this is that while players definitely need to train on boss mechanics, learning the mechanics should not be so straightforward. Boss mechanics / stages don’t need to be linear they can be dynamic, and this dynamic approach would make the encounter feel far more immersive and challenging than the typical, predictable rotation of actions.
I also love when bosses interact with the environment, using environmental factors to gain an advantage, or even when players can use the environment to their benefit. For example, setting a forest on fire to trap a boss in a specific area. It creates a sense that the boss is alive in the world and responds to its surroundings, rather than just being an animated puppet.
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
Dev Discussion - Spells and Abilities
What is the best ability or spell you’ve used and why? Which spells or abilities stand out the most to you from games you’ve played in the past? What made them special to you?
Combo-ability has been what made abilities special to me. Whether that is with my other abilities or with teammates' abilities. Especially if it with a teammate.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles had it so that if you cast 2 spells at the correct timing you could combine them for greater or even new effects. Like casts 2 fire spells would make a stronger fire spell or casting 3 different elements would make a gravity spell. With different timings affecting the strength of the spell.
Or in League of Legends. I don't find Malphite's R ability all that great, nor do I find Orianna ult ability all that interesting. However, combo-ing the two abilities makes them both far more interesting.
Then you have Final Fantasy 11. Where if you time your weapon skills properly you create a skillchain. And if you setup a team with supporting weaponskills you can have all the team members participate.
In addition, a skillchain would not only increase the damage of the weaponskill, but also active a magic burst. Where a mage class, that doesn't normally use weaponskills, can time their spells, of the according element, for strengthened effects.
So for me, cool abilities are nice and all, but if I cannot use them in interesting ways or in coordination with others, then the abilities won't be interesting no matter how awesome their effects are.
Zeric
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
Whilst it was SciFi Anarchy Online had some amazing abilities and the implementation was excellent
Follow the links for the massive array of sklils these classes had, upgrades constantly being earned as you leveled up, so they managed to get away with very few "lines" of abilities
some had to be crafted, and earning or crating these improvements made leveling actually feel meaningful to your abilities not like in ashes where its anti climactic.
Ashes abilities really don't scale well but AO having seperate upgrades to each skill line every few levels let them render a power law curve of growth rather than a linear one
I will focus on Tanks because having played every current class in ashes I can say they are the ones that feel nothing like their archetype and honestly are not really that fun to play
Aggro control is Binary in ashes
Tanks ( Enforcers )
Here are some of the others i played them all and they all felt like their archetype from level 1
Summoner ( Meta Physicist / Engineer / Adventurer )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=meta-physicist
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=engineer
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=adventurer
Rogue ( Shade / Agent )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=shade
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=agent
Ranger ( Agent / Shade )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=agent
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=shade
Fighter ( Soldier / Keeper / Martial Artist )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=soldier
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=keeper
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=martial+artist
Mage ( Nano Technician )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=nano-technician
Cleric ( Doctor / Fixer )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=doctor
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=fixer
Bard ( Beurocrat / Trader )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=bureaucrat
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=trader
Follow the links for the massive array of sklils these classes had, upgrades constantly being earned as you leveled up, so they managed to get away with very few "lines" of abilities
some had to be crafted, and earning or crating these improvements made leveling actually feel meaningful to your abilities not like in ashes where its anti climactic.
Ashes abilities really don't scale well but AO having seperate upgrades to each skill line every few levels let them render a power law curve of growth rather than a linear one
I will focus on Tanks because having played every current class in ashes I can say they are the ones that feel nothing like their archetype and honestly are not really that fun to play
Aggro control is Binary in ashes
Tanks ( Enforcers )
- Long Temporary Health & Entity Scale
- Short Massive Temporary Health & Entity Scale
- Scaling Absorption Shields
- Scaling Damage shields
- Scaling AOE Taunts
- Detaunt
- Fear
- Remove Debuffs / CC Break
- Change Element of Weapon Attack ( improve aggro control )
- Taunt Procs for when AOE taunt is death
- Initiative Buffs
Here are some of the others i played them all and they all felt like their archetype from level 1
Summoner ( Meta Physicist / Engineer / Adventurer )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=meta-physicist
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=engineer
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=adventurer
Rogue ( Shade / Agent )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=shade
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=agent
Ranger ( Agent / Shade )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=agent
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=shade
Fighter ( Soldier / Keeper / Martial Artist )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=soldier
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=keeper
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=martial+artist
Mage ( Nano Technician )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=nano-technician
Cleric ( Doctor / Fixer )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=doctor
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=fixer
Bard ( Beurocrat / Trader )
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=bureaucrat
https://auno.org/ao/nanos.php?prof=trader
debuggin
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
What is the best ability or spell you’ve used and why?
ASHES: In Ashes I really like chain lightning - I feel that it is magical, ambient, but still minimalistic and concentrated. It doesn't arbitrarily take up space it doesn't need to.
I feel that many of the abilities in Ashes are going down a path where everything looks like it's tied into magic, and it sort of makes the kit seem over the top, especially with classes like ranger or fighter where there are many many colors and visual effects for simple attacks. I literally played both classes to ten then quit because I just didn't feel immersed in the class fantasy given the animations were truly outrageous.
These attacks make me feel way too powerful and take away from my class fantasy as a physical damage dealer. Things like the hunter marks that shoot a giant necrotic bolt or the snipe ability where there's a giant green weave of magic, just seem too over the top for my taste.
Which spells or abilities stand out the most to you from games you’ve played in the past? What made them special to you?
1. Yasuo
Yasuo I think is one of the most tasteful melee champions I've ever played. His abilities are understanded in terms of visual effects, but you can still totally feel his connection to wind and the swiftness of his movement / style. He is in my opinion the pinnacle of balance for a fighter weaving magic / elements into his abilities.
2. Aurelion Sol
I think kit is interesting as a cosmic magic set, but I think it would also be an incredible representation of arcane magic using darker blues and purples.
3. Darius
I wouldnt say his kit is one of my favorite abilities, but I think it aligns well with what I imagine a fighter would feel like in a game. I like that his animations aren't so exagerated, they are intention, devastating, and powerful.