Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
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 Phase III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
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: Steven, Please Rethink “Not for Everyone”
A better way to word the same sentiment would be to say "We are working to include as many players as possible into our game environment and hope you will enjoy our efforts, now and in the future as we evolve".
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I believe they've essentially said that. With the caveat, "but the game is still not going to be for everyone."
For me personally, I want them to be as brutally honest about it as possible. Right now, the game is abysmally failing at the two things I care about most. Pvp and RMT/p2w. Pvp ranges anywhere from nonexistent to gimicky, zergy nonsense designed for mega guilds to dominate. And RMT is completely out of control and I haven't heard anything substantial from them so far about how they're actually going to stop Ashes from becoming the most p2w "non p2w" mmo ever.
Still plenty of time to come up with the very easy solutions to these things. But if and when they throw in the towel on these two issues, I don't want to hear half solutions, pleasantries or corporate nonsense. Just tell me this is the way it is and the game aint for me. I will appreciate the honesty.
Okeydoke
5
Idea - Co-product in Process
Hi,
I would like to formalize an idea/proposal here regarding the arrangement of some processed materials.
Some processes seem to make little sense and have a cost that appears disproportionate (considering the amount of raw materials consumed). I'm particularly thinking about "saw dust" and "sand".
These elements could be considered as co-products of plank manufacturing or stone cutting, either generated during large quantity processes or associated with a chance of proc.
On this basis, we could also imagine some supports between processes : "droppings" could be a co-product of animal husbandry, "powder" a co-product of weaving, etc.
I have no idea about the feasibility of this notion of co-product, and the consequences on the econ modeling (and the rework already on-going) ...
I'm just putting it out there, to have your feedback on this
I would like to formalize an idea/proposal here regarding the arrangement of some processed materials.
Some processes seem to make little sense and have a cost that appears disproportionate (considering the amount of raw materials consumed). I'm particularly thinking about "saw dust" and "sand".
These elements could be considered as co-products of plank manufacturing or stone cutting, either generated during large quantity processes or associated with a chance of proc.
On this basis, we could also imagine some supports between processes : "droppings" could be a co-product of animal husbandry, "powder" a co-product of weaving, etc.
I have no idea about the feasibility of this notion of co-product, and the consequences on the econ modeling (and the rework already on-going) ...
I'm just putting it out there, to have your feedback on this
Nabuuu
2
Re: Steven, Please Rethink “Not for Everyone”
the “Not for Everyone” statement is a defensive throw-away line meant to push aside any critique that is not welcome.... and does imply a "we ain't gonna change a damn thing so take it or leave it" attitude.... It's hard to imagine a game company that needs MONTHLY sub'ers to be openly callous towards the general gaming public but there it is...
A better way to word the same sentiment would be to say "We are working to include as many players as possible into our game environment and hope you will enjoy our efforts, now and in the future as we evolve".
You nailed it with this!
Request: remove menu when right clicking mobs
I use the right mouse button to auto attack. It's something I'm very used to from every other MMO I've played. Using the right mouse button when hovering over a mob in AoC also bring up a menu with the "Mark" option, which has been really frustrating for a long time now. This menu also shows up if you right click on the unitframe. Could this menu not be assigned to the unit's unitframe only? It's been really intrusive on my gameplay in the past because it pops up right on top of the mob.
thermalx
1
Re: Steven, Please Rethink “Not for Everyone”
And the... counterpoint, I guess?
This game is too competitive, at too many points of its function, to not make sure people understand this.
Building a complicated competitive game almost guarantees that people need to approach it from the 'not for everyone' mindset from the beginning because certain styles of play appeal to vastly different types of people, and an MMO is among the most complex of these.
I still agree that even MMOs should generally design to fit as many as their core vision can reasonably fit in, but there are people out there who seriously say things like 'I had to grind for nearly a whole week to get to max level in this MMO so I quit, not for me', and it helps when those people know beforehand that they shouldn't try to get into your game, if your game is longterm/grindy, and the other side of that exists too.
Ashes can't help but give the impression that it is hardcore, as it is right now. It may never be able to 'escape' from giving that impression.
here is where the problem is " 'I had to grind for nearly a whole week to get to max level in this MMO so I quit, not for me'
its not about leveling being slower ,its about "i had to grind" grinding is unfun and boring, if the leveling was fun no one would bother , grinding for a week to craft a low level bow is not fun on top of the crafting system being horribly complicated and overblown and very solo/casual unfriendly on top of grouping being forced on everything where u cant do ,progress or achieve anything on your own, same with the rest of the game.
pvp is fine and all other games that ashes trying to copy many systems from had open pvp and were fine they died mostly for greed and terrible decisions but they worked for a reason there, a good mmo is one that gives u a choice and for a sandpark mmo ashes takes away the choice from all of these systems "caravans being one big example compared to AA system" ,one of the most things most if not all people hate is being forced to do stuff non the less angry gamers, any forced grouping and grind should be done in small and rare situations like certain quests or parts of them , getting some hard mat or two for a craft from a dungeon boss/room not ..etc and crafting should be in steps where even highest tiers of craft should consist of easy,medium hard to get mats and piece or two or so of a really hard to get mat that you would need a group to go on adventure to get it like from a dungeon boss where you risk dying to get to it or fighting it or by other players where you need to grind boss a couple of times to get the mat from him, not grind 1000 trees to make 2 logs for a lvl 10 bow , not to say "REMOVE GROUPING" no it should be encouraged and more convenient to group up not forced and an example of that would be once again "AA pack runs" or "GW2 leveling where during my leveling that i did 3 times i had some quests that i straight up instantly tried to party with anyone i saw there cuz it was more convenient for me and cuz that was fun so i did party up a lot more even when i didnt need to"
a good game is one that you can log into and play for how much you want was it 30minutes or 13 hrs and you'd leave it feeling that you progressed , accomplished something and most importantly had fun
Re: Can we just get rid of boss/monster drops altogether?
That is a pretty bad list.But that has only worked for a single game though.
There are games on that list that should not be there, games not on that list that should be there, and if we include franchises rather than individual games, there are even more that should be on there (Final Fantasy, Guild Wars and EQ have all bought in over a billion in revenue, when combined).
That notion of having a plan but not knowing what will happen is the exact thing I am saying Ashes should be. The basic plan should be node, castle or guild based, with caravans in there as well. The "see what happens" should include unpredictable boss spawns, as well as other forms of PvP (wars especially come to mind).Because every damn night turned from "let's figure out what we're doing and then see what happens then" to "let's do this instance then this instance, then each of us can do the soloable content and then that's pretty much it for the night".
Noaani
1
Re: Can we just get rid of boss/monster drops altogether?
We have a differing outlook on this. To me that is THE best design possible, exactly because of the stuff you mentioned. The big bois would be preoccupied with their own important content, so the weaker players would have the time to do the stuff that they couldn't do before due to attacks from the big bois.Having content like that takes players out of the aspects of the world that set this game apart.
But that doesn't make for a good experience in Ashes, it works in TL, which is why you want it. You know your own preferences already.
The quote is 'set the game apart', not 'are/would be the best'. Unfortunately those two things are often not aligned, even if they're not directly opposed.
(also, ESO 'is P2W' in the 'usual annoying way that sparks endless internet arguments about P2W')
Azherae
1
Re: ⛰ May 2025 Development Update Livestream Discussion Thread ⚒
I really liked this stream, and it really made me feel 'reconnected' to what Ashes of Creation is trying to be.
Not really much to say on it because it was just good, and I'm sure everyone on the BI side knows my biggest concern with this sort of thing, due to my longterm biases in the BI 'industry'. I'm sure you don't need to hear this:
"Please don't fall into the trap of building things based on the data of only the interactions, when there are always so many chances for players to purposefully ignore systems because they're pain points."
I want to say 'I don't think this would happen' but I bring it up to pre-empt(?) those I know who do absolutely believe this is happening based on the state of certain things that have been allowed to go live.
Anyway, just do your best, it really was a great stream, especially for this stage. We definitely won't be sad to see the 'cool update + Devs having fun ingame' return in a bit (even the next perhaps) if you have something to show off, but these have a meaningful place too.
EDIT: Also FF11 SMN is the best.
Not really much to say on it because it was just good, and I'm sure everyone on the BI side knows my biggest concern with this sort of thing, due to my longterm biases in the BI 'industry'. I'm sure you don't need to hear this:
"Please don't fall into the trap of building things based on the data of only the interactions, when there are always so many chances for players to purposefully ignore systems because they're pain points."
I want to say 'I don't think this would happen' but I bring it up to pre-empt(?) those I know who do absolutely believe this is happening based on the state of certain things that have been allowed to go live.
Anyway, just do your best, it really was a great stream, especially for this stage. We definitely won't be sad to see the 'cool update + Devs having fun ingame' return in a bit (even the next perhaps) if you have something to show off, but these have a meaningful place too.
EDIT: Also FF11 SMN is the best.
Azherae
2
Re: Steven, Please Rethink “Not for Everyone”
the “Not for Everyone” statement is a defensive throw-away line meant to push aside any critique that is not welcome.... and does imply a "we ain't gonna change a damn thing so take it or leave it" attitude.... It's hard to imagine a game company that needs MONTHLY sub'ers to be openly callous towards the general gaming public but there it is...
A better way to word the same sentiment would be to say "We are working to include as many players as possible into our game environment and hope you will enjoy our efforts, now and in the future as we evolve".
A better way to word the same sentiment would be to say "We are working to include as many players as possible into our game environment and hope you will enjoy our efforts, now and in the future as we evolve".
Caww
9
Re: Please Fix Cooking you need a forest to make a sandwich
From my group then:
This is fine up until the farming, and nothing has been said about that part because it was simply assumed that this was more in line with the 'we need a way to make people actually care about rarer trees before furnishings and other stuff come in'.
So if you say 'go make 100 sandwiches', we're expecting to need to gather those 100 Salt, those 200 Pepper and Daffodils, and somewhere around 400 Wheat.
What we aren't currently expecting is that the Wheat phase is crushingly hard outside of 'what farming feels like'. As a processor I personally would also greatly appreciate that if you (the devs) know a food Step-1-processed ingredient is nearly never going to be used 'raw' in singles (think wheat/grapes/processed eggs becoming flour, juice/extract, mayo) that you just don't put the raw ingredient to be '4 in, 4 out' individually and then require multiples of the Step-1.
Basically, if you know all the 'end' uses of wheat will take maybe 5 flour each, just make the processing be putting in 10 wheat and 1 Fuel and take 1 minute to get that 5 flour (if you want to have an alternate method that makes it take long, maybe a free version at the windmill or something).
Simply because taking 10 ingame minutes, which is at LEAST a game-hour if not more, to make just the Flour to start making the sandwich, will result in the BDO outcome for processors. It doesn't need to be as 'short' as TL or 'exactly match Fairyland/FF11/etc', but we would much like it to not be BDO.
As for the Farming aspect, we would definitely prefer to wait to see what is actually implemented in terms of 'fertilizer and similar in->plants out', since we're too used to FFXI's Gardening glory to have any fair assessment of anything current (and probably even anything in the upcoming revamp). But ofc it would be nice, as always, to very roughly know in August if the revamp is also intended roughly toward the direction/state of Farming.
Ofc, we'll just ask again then.
This is fine up until the farming, and nothing has been said about that part because it was simply assumed that this was more in line with the 'we need a way to make people actually care about rarer trees before furnishings and other stuff come in'.
So if you say 'go make 100 sandwiches', we're expecting to need to gather those 100 Salt, those 200 Pepper and Daffodils, and somewhere around 400 Wheat.
What we aren't currently expecting is that the Wheat phase is crushingly hard outside of 'what farming feels like'. As a processor I personally would also greatly appreciate that if you (the devs) know a food Step-1-processed ingredient is nearly never going to be used 'raw' in singles (think wheat/grapes/processed eggs becoming flour, juice/extract, mayo) that you just don't put the raw ingredient to be '4 in, 4 out' individually and then require multiples of the Step-1.
Basically, if you know all the 'end' uses of wheat will take maybe 5 flour each, just make the processing be putting in 10 wheat and 1 Fuel and take 1 minute to get that 5 flour (if you want to have an alternate method that makes it take long, maybe a free version at the windmill or something).
Simply because taking 10 ingame minutes, which is at LEAST a game-hour if not more, to make just the Flour to start making the sandwich, will result in the BDO outcome for processors. It doesn't need to be as 'short' as TL or 'exactly match Fairyland/FF11/etc', but we would much like it to not be BDO.
As for the Farming aspect, we would definitely prefer to wait to see what is actually implemented in terms of 'fertilizer and similar in->plants out', since we're too used to FFXI's Gardening glory to have any fair assessment of anything current (and probably even anything in the upcoming revamp). But ofc it would be nice, as always, to very roughly know in August if the revamp is also intended roughly toward the direction/state of Farming.
Ofc, we'll just ask again then.
Azherae
2