Best Of

This is obviously another butthurt propaganda post by another alt account from the same person who made the previous post about a the "extortionate" "Alpha subscription". They're obviously just posting to rile people up against the game, or at least against certain development/publishing decisions, and push some sort of agenda that ends up being more stupidly incoherent than obscure.

Don't spend more than 2 lines of text to dispute this childish troll-whining.

Phoenix77 wrote: »

I know what I’m discussing here is years away of being relevant but I would like to have my concerns heard now that we are still in development and the team can create things with having some of the following in mind.What kind of content can the team release post launch that doesn’t disturb the balance of the game? To clarify, a common addition of expansions is to add:
1) new zones which makes the world feel emptier and emptier, look at wow for example, 70% of the world or more nobody visits, it’s just a forgotten land of an old expansion barren and lifeless.
2)new classes which disrupts the balance of roles and the 8v8 party balance the game was designed upon. For example if the 9th class is a dps now there is lack of healers.
3)new level cap makes previous gear accomplishments irrelevant, messes up with intended time to level to max and creates inflation of numbers, look wow for example at some point a single hit would do hundreds of thousands of dmg which is silly.
4)new systems I can’t see any problem with that if they are evergreen systems and not placeholders for an expansion
5)new race no problem here but prolly a lot of development time? Maybe with the rise of the ai systems not a big deal? I don’t know.
6) something I haven’t thought(maybe you have?let me know)
Possible solutions:
1) release new zone while simultaneously destroy equal amount of zones but because this will make a lot of ppl upset another way to do it would be to have a rotation where not all zones are playable and at all times the maximum amount of playable zones remains the same. How that would work with the in game narrative? I don’t know maybe a zone is occupied by void forces and another one takes its place
2)this is basically a math problem that if taken into consideration before release it would be easier to tackle later. Also check the statistics if parties are struggling to find healers release a healing class etc.
3) to be honest I can’t think of a way an increase to level cap won’t create problems in the long run but feel free to tell me if you have a solution.

Anything else you can think of in terms of content post launch and a way to integrate it to the game without disrupting its balance please enlighten me!

These are exactly the kinds of concerns Intrepid should be thinking about now, and from what we’ve seen, they actually are.

1. World Bloat & Forgotten Zones

You nailed it. One of the biggest issues in other MMOs (WoW cough) is that the world becomes bloated and disjointed with every expansion.
But Ashes already has a built-in system to fight this: nodes. Since the world evolves based on player activity, zones will naturally shift in relevance depending on politics, economy, and events.
This means even “older” zones can become critical again, depending on what’s happening in the world. That kind of organic recycling is a genius way to keep the world alive long term without relying on artificial rotations.

2. New Classes & Role Disruption

Adding new archetypes later could be tricky, for sure. But with the current 8 base classes and 64 combinations, the system is already extremely deep.
What I hope (and expect) Intrepid to do is focus more on expanding the depth of existing archetypes (new augments, new questlines, horizontal systems) rather than adding new full classes post-launch.
And if they ever do add one—it should be with clear intent and stat tracking, like you mentioned (healer shortage? Add something support-oriented).

3. Raising Level Caps

Agreed—this is the most dangerous one. Level squishes, stat bloat, invalidating gear... we've all seen it.
The good news is Steven has said that they’re considering horizontal progression as a primary path post-launch. That could mean adding things like class mastery quests, skill augments, social progression, or even territory-based perks without having to increase the level cap.
It’s tricky, but it can be done if handled carefully.

4. Evergreen Systems

Couldn’t agree more. If they do add systems post-launch, they need to be meaningful and lasting—not expansion gimmicks that disappear a patch later.

5. New Races

Definitely a cool thing for the long-term future. Yeah, it takes dev time, but if the game is healthy, and tech like AI helps streamline some of that work—it could be a great way to keep things fresh without breaking balance.

Final Thought

What I love about Ashes is that, unlike many MMOs, it’s designed from the ground up to be dynamic. Zones rise and fall, economies shift, politics evolve.
That kind of system, if maintained properly, allows for long-term content growth without needing constant power resets or stat inflation.

Your concerns are totally valid, and the fact that you’re thinking this far ahead tells me you’re exactly the kind of player this game needs.

Ashes of creation has a robust variations of life skilling, and after about 20 hours of gameplay, I feel like I am ready to provide my first suggestion.

When accessing a processing station you will default to the top of every list, for lumber milling this is Oak Wood into Oak Timber.
My suggestion is when a player right clicks the resource in their inventory, the job will update to pertain to the context of the inventory.
An example of this at a novice skill level, I have 100 eastern hemlock of uncommon rarity in my inventory, by right clicking the eastern hemlock in my inventory, the UI of the lumber mill could update to Eastern Hemlock, Uncommon rarity.

I do believe introducing intuition of the desired quantity may add more complication or complexity to the development of such a system and have chosen to leave it out of the basis of this suggestion.

I think this quality of life adds satisfaction to the user experience while alleviating some of the tediousness of the current system.

Thank you,
An enthusiastic player!

Ludullu wrote: »

daveywavey wrote: »

Did that read like an AI answer to anybody else?

Rehoc's? Oh yeah, I've been thinking they're using some form of AI for all of their responses. Now I hope it's just a person, who doesn't know english too well and just uses AI as a crutch, and not a bot, but these days I wouldn't be surprised.

Ludullu wrote: »

daveywavey wrote: »

Did that read like an AI answer to anybody else?

Rehoc's? Oh yeah, I've been thinking they're using some form of AI for all of their responses. Now I hope it's just a person, who doesn't know english too well and just uses AI as a crutch, and not a bot, but these days I wouldn't be surprised.

Hello my dear friend! @Ludullu 😊 I hope you're doing well. I don't use AI or anything like that—I just really love forums and Discord 💬❤️ So I write all my responses with care and heart. Big hug! 🤗

I admit i don't need to see Character Names like " Long Dong Silver " or " Longest Schlong " or whatever.


There is only so much Moments, Seconds, Occasions and so on where it is still funny -> and where the Joke becomes old fast and it's only annoying and immature from there on.

The cringe I feel for the people when I see something like McEdgyGAMING or some other social media plug makes we want to put them on ignore, I normally do. Or a barcode name like IIIIIlllIIllIllIlIl, at least a barcode name I get that warning that their a jerk and probably going to try ganking me or someone else pretty soon.

But don't under estimate the RP dedication of someone with a goofy name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjfxMaMpID0

Azherae wrote: »

SmileGurney wrote: »

Azherae wrote: »

SmileGurney wrote: »

daveywavey wrote: »

What I'm reading is that everybody wants a bigger nerf to Enchanting?

Enchanting power scaling issues is just a symptom of the wider problem. Intrepid hasn't done sufficient work around power balancing and it has been showing since Phase1.

What I want is a game which advertises itself as a sandbox experience with a lot of pvx content, which is accessible to everyone who plays it, and not just 1% of the rejects who will literally live and breathe it, are interested in pvp and are willing to accept the mindless pve grind required to enjoy the pvp content.

Too many of my past sandbox MMOs with open and semi-open pvp have failed because the game studios behind them disregarded concerns about pvp balance and grind, and few moths up to a year after the launch lost majority of their playerbase.

PvP balance and grind/farming satisfaction are almost directly opposed, though. It's incredibly difficult to get away from that fact and have it still feel like an MMO at all.

I say this only because sometimes it isn't 'disregarding', it might be 'choosing their poison' or even just 'giving up after a long battle with it'.

Intrepid's philosophy is basically 'fail faster but never the same way twice' (paraphrasing) so, if you had to give up most of one or the other, which is it?

You can maintain a sense of progression without basing it solely on stat advantage. This has been successfully done, Intrepid isn't even reinventing the wheel here, they are literally repeating the mistakes made by multiple MMORPGs in the past.

Why do you think multiple MMORPGs made these mistakes?

Are the entire game industry generally idiots? No. It's simply that whatever you feel best playing seems like the correct answer to you.

So if 300 people leave a game because 'farming regular enemies doesn't feel good and the game feels like it doesn't respect their time', and the remaining players respond with any equivalent of 'their problem'/'players too soft'/'game isn't about that', then the devs have chosen their poison. Will it kill their game? Depends on if they know the correct combination of poisons to drink.

Right now, Ashes feels bad to me and Throne and Liberty felt good, but I know that TL needs to cater to less invested/immersed casual players soon (or technically, already has done so for this update) and will feel worse to me.

Not because 'the game is worse', but because it stops doing the thing I like in order to do something someone else likes.

A sandbox PvP MMORPG is a buffet of 'poisons'. You can't tell the devs 'just make the food good'.

Anyway, I guess I'll assume you 'prefer that progression feels bad to most people' until you clarify otherwise. I too, 'prefer that progression feels worse but Devs focus on enjoyability of the game whole' (ArcheAge) over 'progression feels good but the MMO part falters' (Black Desert).

Ashes is currently on the BDO side, and so far, it seems intentional. I'm just gonna pray that TL works a bit harder and falls on the other side.

"Making common mistakes while innovating/combining things is not a matter of laziness in design."

Interesting take, Azherae. I appreciate your perspective, and I think you're right about one thing, MMOs are full of trade-offs, and every design decision caters to a different player type. But I don’t think Ashes is 'repeating mistakes' so much as it’s making intentional choices for the kind of game it wants to be.

🔹 Ashes isn’t trying to appeal to everyone—on purpose.

Intrepid has been pretty transparent from day one: Ashes of Creation is not meant to be a fast-paced, convenience first themepark MMO. It’s a long-term, high-investment sandbox, where risk vs reward and player agency define the core gameplay. That means sometimes progression feels slower or more demandin, but that’s exactly the point.

🔹 Progression isn’t only about stats.

Yes, gear and power progression exist, but Ashes aims to create meaningful progression through exploration, social interaction, politics, and territory control. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about how your place in the world evolves over time. That’s something a lot of modern MMOs don’t even try to offer anymore.

🔹 On 'mistakes' from past MMOs:

Sometimes what feels like a mistake to one playerbase is actually a deliberate shift in direction. Games like Black Desert or Throne & Liberty cater to different priorities. Ashes is going for depth over instant gratification, and naturally, that’s going to alienate some players who prefer a different style of progression.

At the end of the day, it’s okay that not every game is for everyone. The important thing is that Intrepid stays consistent with their vision, and from what we’ve seen, they’re doing just that. Whether that vision succeeds will depend not on avoiding all “mistakes,” but on attracting the right audience that shares the same values in gameplay.

daveywavey wrote: »

Did that read like an AI answer to anybody else?

Rehoc's? Oh yeah, I've been thinking they're using some form of AI for all of their responses. Now I hope it's just a person, who doesn't know english too well and just uses AI as a crutch, and not a bot, but these days I wouldn't be surprised.

Good post.

Flying in Sieges=not bad/interesting gameplay that allows players to focus on leading the groups around to objectives

Flying literally anywhere else is garbage for the game. It allows for massive advantages in Open World PVP, and even huge advantages for getting around to different resources to gather quickly.

Gliding down from elevation can be fine within reason.