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
Resplendent Beam
The spell is on par with Consecrating Wave and Communal Restoration. Although In my opinion its a bit lackluster due to the time it takes to hold the spell to get any kind of value out of it. the major downside though, its its 20 second cool-down. The other two group spells both have a 10 second cool-down, and do way more than this spell. Can we see a reduction in its cool-down, or even maybe putting a skill point into it to do this? (if the later is required it should also bounce to an additional target, or always target 2 people at a min hold time)....
Squatch
1
Re: Clerics should not start with Mend.
I like mend - it makes the next spells feel better and if you need strong heals before level 3, the ppl you play with might want to better their gameplay...
Getting it forced also makes you learn to watch your cooldowns - its pretty effective early on if you use it on cd (if there is sth to heal). Not so good when you are already missing 50%
Getting it forced also makes you learn to watch your cooldowns - its pretty effective early on if you use it on cd (if there is sth to heal). Not so good when you are already missing 50%
Re: Can we just get rid of boss/monster drops altogether?
I think the drop rates on named mobs are way too high, and the spawn timers are far too predictable. We shouldn’t be contesting spawns down to the second.
I enjoy the world PvP that comes from fighting over these mobs, but I’d rather be fighting for materials to craft items—not for full items themselves.
As it stands, crafters don’t really need to exist.
We could coast all the way to August just fighting over named mobs on fixed timers, never crafting anything, because no one is motivated to push nodes to the level of the player base.
I enjoy the world PvP that comes from fighting over these mobs, but I’d rather be fighting for materials to craft items—not for full items themselves.
As it stands, crafters don’t really need to exist.
We could coast all the way to August just fighting over named mobs on fixed timers, never crafting anything, because no one is motivated to push nodes to the level of the player base.
Vhaeyne
1
Re: Suggestion: Dynamic supply/demand NPC pricing on caravan goods
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/World_manager
The above suggestion is supposed to be part of the game, along with a lot of other things we just haven't seen implemented yet, most of which you can see in that link from the wiki.
The above suggestion is supposed to be part of the game, along with a lot of other things we just haven't seen implemented yet, most of which you can see in that link from the wiki.
Azherae
1
Re: What keeps me from playing
If this is real and is factual info of how the current client works - yeah, it's a whole messSmileGurney wrote: »Extremely low drop rates from mobs. Crafting recipe drop rates should be improved, especially if crafting is supposed to be THE SOURCE of gear.
No mob should have 335 fucking items on their loot table. And yessss, "it's a work in progress, first pass, basic lvl implementation", but holy hell dude. Even if we go purely by lvl brackets and consider each bracket as its own mob - the fucking lvl<7 Aggressor has 54 god damn items.
If I wanted to 100% a crafting line and wanted to get all the recipes for items, so that I can make those items for myself - how many alts would I need to go through to successfully roll the loot gacha to get the correct 1/54, before I overlvl the fuck out of those mobs?
And sure, one might say "just buy it from a lucky person who managed to get it", but do you really think that majority of people won't overlvl these mobs faaaar sooner than all those recipes drop reliably? And this is not even considering that whichever recipes DO drop won't just go to their guildies or friends, instead of on the market.
Here's a lvl7 mob from L2
He drops money, 2 basic crafting mats (valuable at literally all lvls), a crafting recipe and 2 full items at fairly low chances. And you can spoil him for a specific weapon crafting material and 2 recipes.
He gives 250xp and at lvl7 a player needs 8k xp to level up, so 32 of these dudes would get you to lvl8, where you can still keep killing them for normal drops/xp. These were fairly abundant, so at those rates, on average, there'd be a single drop of each of those items per 3 people who'd level on these mobs. And if you wanted a specific recipe (say, Leather Stockings) - you'd start with that mob and then could move onto just a few others, if you were unlucky
This gives players a direct goal, a direct execution of actions for said goal and a theoretical competition, if someone else has the same goal.
I'd be reaaal damn interested in seeing how exactly Intrepid plan to spread their drop tables across all their mobs. I dearly hope that we do get the promised "nodes control mob lvls", with each region (hell, if not each node) having their own mobs with their own loot table. So the current fifty fucking four items from a single Aggressor could be spread across, say, 15 different mobs (this spread assumes that these mobs will also drop the crafting material for their items and potentially some general crafting mat as well). Which would create an insentive for people to go to other nodes, if they wanna craft smth or get something very particular.
Also, as for the recipe itself, here it is. 2 specific mats and a dozen general ones, with tables of mobs that drop each (up to the lvl of the last mob that drops the specific stuff)
Basic and straightforward, as lowbie crafting should be. And while chance of that loot appears to be low per mob, don't forget that these all were hunted by the hundreds across the entire server, so these mats would be abundant enough to craft stuff.
My assumption this whole time has pretty much been "we'll get something similar, but with much more depth". So far we're barely even one step towards THIS, let alone any amount of depth below it, especially when it comes to player behavior and motivation.
My dream that I posted a while back. Is that loot tables change with Ashes. Mobs should drop fully usable items but what should drop more often is crafting supplies, mats that augment a weapon to be more powerful and much much more. These items should go from low end con right up to Legendary and off the right mob, Red con for Artifact. Even if you are not a crafter, earning these should be so important that become part of the trade system. We should be wanting to bring these things to crafters, maybe even earning all the drops needed to make that Bow you need. So you can say hay crafter can I pay you 50 silver to make me my level 10 bow?
Till that day comes they work out how they want this to work. We should not be suffering trying to level and find gear, unless they are testing something. We have tested the drop rate and our reaction was not good. So IS just made it even harder. I get a game being challenging but thats not what this is. Its unnecessarily complicated. This needs to be balance with fun and not just the hard core player. This game will not make it without casuals. Casual players should be able to earn gear that makes them feel good for the effort put. Casual players get they will never be top tear but they will not be happy with getting level 20 and 90% of their gear is grey with a few greens and getting one shooted every turn. Something needs to be balanced here.
Re: Node Level Confusion.
This is my biggest concern as well. We've gone from not having x level zones to this zone is specifically a level 50 area. That defeats the purpose of using strategy to build up a world based upon your needs and would leave every server being built from the start practically the same.
Some naval/pirate based guilds might want a large city by the sea
Some pve players might want a want a specific dungeon or raid boss unlocked
Some pvp players might want a military node to be a level 6, especially if it is in a region near a castle.
There is enough personal desires already to have node conflicts. We don't need it forced upon us by limiting where people are allowed to make their home
Is this another one of Steven's constant need to put conflict into everything? Is this driving the notion that the starting area nodes in the Riverlands must be sacked first before Jundark can even be built?
As Op pointed out, the Jundark nodes will never be able to compete with the rest of the world. Because of the Vasseling system, a lot of nodes will have to crumble before you ever see a level 5 or 6 node in the Jundark. Again, that's unnatural forced conflict and not organic player-driven conflict.
I'm tired of the constant drive to make everything have conflict when conflict will happen regardless based upon the needs and desires of the players on the server. We don't need forced conflict in every designed system.
Some naval/pirate based guilds might want a large city by the sea
Some pve players might want a want a specific dungeon or raid boss unlocked
Some pvp players might want a military node to be a level 6, especially if it is in a region near a castle.
There is enough personal desires already to have node conflicts. We don't need it forced upon us by limiting where people are allowed to make their home
Is this another one of Steven's constant need to put conflict into everything? Is this driving the notion that the starting area nodes in the Riverlands must be sacked first before Jundark can even be built?
As Op pointed out, the Jundark nodes will never be able to compete with the rest of the world. Because of the Vasseling system, a lot of nodes will have to crumble before you ever see a level 5 or 6 node in the Jundark. Again, that's unnatural forced conflict and not organic player-driven conflict.
I'm tired of the constant drive to make everything have conflict when conflict will happen regardless based upon the needs and desires of the players on the server. We don't need forced conflict in every designed system.
Re: How's the progress going?
I am curious though. You said:
- I am none of those (belonging to a large guild nor someone who can no-life as I have work and family) - yet I think AoC will keep me occupied for years. Many of the issues with large guilds running wild is an issue appearant because the map is "small." If anything, I worry if Intrepid will be able to keep the servers full enough for their gigantic world to feel alive and well when the post-launch peak is dipping.
I do think it has a chance, assuming exploiting can be kept in check and large guild aren't steaming rolling all your groups progress. What do you plan to do? What will exist in the game to keep you engaged? I personally enjoy the feel of combat as an action game, but the rpg aspects (stats, attributes, ect) are severely lacking, so it does get old after a few weeks of play. Outside that I've struggled to find something fresh and fun. The life skills (farming, fishing, craftings ect) were in a sorry state and I fear their 'placeholder' status will become permanent. The other stuff like freeholds, keeps/castles, being something only multiguild groups will be able to engage in.
What I generally do in MMO-RPGs - a little bit of everything. I've played MMO-RPGs since I was 9 years old, and I've always been the kind of player that loves experiencing most of what a game has to offer. I am also a "veteran" ARPG player, so grinding for experience instead of doing questline after questline is something I find refreshing and fun - even though I've done it for many hours already.
Thankfully, the one thing I rarely engage in unless it is mandatory for the game, is crafting. If crafting is of interest, then I can very much see how AoC would perhaps fall short. I am a gatherer at best. I tried both processing and crafting in P1 and I am not doing that again. Ever.
What keeps me engaged in AoC are the following:
* Exploration - while waiting for my friends to make time (I am on maternity leave) I take my time to explore while gathering. AoC has been very fun exploring even in Alpha-state. I was so thrilled first time I found the Oath Bearer, the first time I saw a tamable scorpion or griffon, when I encountered my first named mob (apart from the named bandit south of Lionshold) etc. Finding hidden caves, mysterious ruins etc. Exploration is often what makes or breaks a game for me. The sound team has also nailed their work, making exploration much more enjoyable!
* The group orientation - I enjoy playing both alone and with friends. I like the idea of having to "gather the party to venture forth". Either going exploring together, working for goals like freeholds and whatnot together or just grinding levels/gear etc becomes much more enjoyable when you're doing it with people who can keep you entertained.
* The challenges - I have not played the games that AoC took most inspiration from. I come from the "easy" MMO-RPG era: World of Warcraft, Guild Wars (1+2), Black Desert Online, Aion etc. I have a frightening amount of thousands of hours put into GW2 and WoW, and I've tried most MMOs that came out between the two. When I heard about the death penalties of AoC the first time, I was extremely intrigued. Neither positive nor negative to it; but curious. In the games I've played; participation rewards has almost always been the name of the game. There was definitely some tag-wars in the old WoW days, but definitely not in the way that AoC has. And I ended up kind of liking it. (I still think tanks shouldnt suffer as harsh death penelties as everyone else though.)
Re: TTK changes and impact on dodge
Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to share detailed feedback on dodge and its evolving role in PvP. We’re actively reviewing how changes to TTK are impacting archetype balance and movement mechanics, and your insights are a valuable part of that conversation. Please keep the feedback coming—it’s incredibly helpful as we iterate.
Re: why are you putting the cart before the horse?
The game needs to make crafting a lot easier, simpler, and expedited for 0, 10, 20 gear.
Ruining the adventuring rewards and experience for those players to make crafters feel important isn't a good solution.
AoC instead should shift to an Albion Online system where gear drops on death in pvp or even pve but crafting and replacing gear is very fast, simple, cheap and mostly painless. Probably wouldn't work the way pve difficulty is set currently. But the game would be much more fun if pvp were encouraged and crafters in turn felt valued by making the gear replacements for pvp players. Would need a gear destruction % on drop from death like Albion has.
But neutering adventuring rewards to make crafters feel important just shifts the suck to adventurers. We should be aiming to make all aspects of the game feel good as that's what makes for healthy sustainable populations, not just our preferred focus.
Think of it the other way, should adenturers ask for crafting to be deleted so we can have more fun increased loot drop chance while we farm?
If the level 20 Hawk 'tua' bow as ex. were easily craftable with recipe though and an Albion gear drop on death while in pvp red/black zones system were in place (w/destruction chance) the crafting players could farm those mats and supply the demand.
Without gear destruction systems crafting will have to produce better items than what we can farm in the world as fast as we can level, ie. keep pace.
The game would be much more fun if gearing was 5,000x faster, and cheaper but gear broke or destroyed on death in pvp zones, and scale crafting to keep up. Right now pvp is not engaging, crafting is in a bad place, adventuring is in a bad place. Corruption system and punsihments don't make sense in conjunction with the gear system re-kit cost and time investment. We need solutions to all.
Atm the game is really designed for RMT abuse as the systems are all poorly thought out, and aren't sustainsble, ie. swipe to progress.
Ruining the adventuring rewards and experience for those players to make crafters feel important isn't a good solution.
AoC instead should shift to an Albion Online system where gear drops on death in pvp or even pve but crafting and replacing gear is very fast, simple, cheap and mostly painless. Probably wouldn't work the way pve difficulty is set currently. But the game would be much more fun if pvp were encouraged and crafters in turn felt valued by making the gear replacements for pvp players. Would need a gear destruction % on drop from death like Albion has.
But neutering adventuring rewards to make crafters feel important just shifts the suck to adventurers. We should be aiming to make all aspects of the game feel good as that's what makes for healthy sustainable populations, not just our preferred focus.
Think of it the other way, should adenturers ask for crafting to be deleted so we can have more fun increased loot drop chance while we farm?
If the level 20 Hawk 'tua' bow as ex. were easily craftable with recipe though and an Albion gear drop on death while in pvp red/black zones system were in place (w/destruction chance) the crafting players could farm those mats and supply the demand.
Without gear destruction systems crafting will have to produce better items than what we can farm in the world as fast as we can level, ie. keep pace.
The game would be much more fun if gearing was 5,000x faster, and cheaper but gear broke or destroyed on death in pvp zones, and scale crafting to keep up. Right now pvp is not engaging, crafting is in a bad place, adventuring is in a bad place. Corruption system and punsihments don't make sense in conjunction with the gear system re-kit cost and time investment. We need solutions to all.
Atm the game is really designed for RMT abuse as the systems are all poorly thought out, and aren't sustainsble, ie. swipe to progress.
Re: Amazing world, painfully dull grind
TheDarkSorcerer wrote: »Amazing world, painfully dull grind
The "Grind" was the very Reason for my Burnout about Three or Four Weekends after Alpha Two began last Year. In the Middle of November, i just couldn't put pressure onto my brain anymore.
How many Thousand Goblins do i need to slay, for a single Level or so ? Am i freakin' Goblin Slayer or what ? lol
Part of me wonders if i could still do this, if i would be still in my Twenties or so - but i doubt even that. This is just to dull. To jaded. I wanted to be part of a Node - and the first thing i get to know is that i need to be LvL 10 to get anywhere in the World of Verra.
Then i level until i almost want to kill "myself" instead of the Monsters of Verra.
Only to then find out, that after i finally became a "Citizen" -> i still can't understand Jack-shxx what the NPC's of the Node actually want from me.
I see a few Menu's,
a few Lists,
a few Items i have absolutely no Idea what to use for,
i see i can get a few of them for "Glint" if my Memory serves correctly,
then i see that i need like 300 to 3000 of them for a Cape or something or anything else -> and i find out that i would need to play ("GRIND") at least several Hours for the likes of 3 to 7 - or 9 to 15 or that or something.
Oh, neat. Just what i needed. More Grinds until i think i might be a Servitor in the Warhammer40K Universe instead of a Node Citizen in Verra that actually wants his Node to get somewhere.
While i am 100% confident that i will understand more about WHAT to do, with exactly WHAT from which Node, as soon as the Game nears it's completion and a German Client/Version of all the Text will one Day be available,
right now i have like +90% more missing, non-existing Oversight over everything, than i had in WoW Vanilla during the middle 2000's or something. Even there i knew exactly WHAT was going on "where" exactly and what i could do and/or attain by doing what for Content.
This here ? Hell i am too stupid to even get my APPRENTICE Pickaxe somehow. I think i managed with the Apprentice Axe for chopping Tree's somehow - but this is just ridiculous. I feel more like a Liability for my fellow Verra Re-Explorers and Adventurers, than being an actual help.
Welp. At least i slaughtered countless Goblins around Aela to never even get all the Items full which i was supposed to get from them and deliver to an NPC Questgiver which i completely forgot wherever that Guy was standing when he gave me the Quest,
and at least i destroyed numerous Undead ontop of that Structure of Aela plus killed a huge bunch few Griffins which i think look absolutely majestic and which i think i was told to exterminate because they were told to have killed and eaten a Child or something.
Not bad at all. But the only thing which made the State of all that somehow acceptable was the fact, that this was EARLY Alpha Two and that things are still mostly a Placeholder compared to how it is all supposed to be during Launch.
Embrace the fact that MMO Players get older and older, Everyone. And i doubt really hard that "Gen-Z" or Millennials or whoever else will have the Patience and Span of Attention and/or Stamina to endure this never-ending Grind.
For THAT kind of Grind, the MMO Gamer World is truly about 20 Years too old by now. With one of the few, cool Exceptions being Peon/HiddenDaggerInn, who levelled amazingly and most of the time - because he also deeply craves a Place for RP and hopes he can own a Tavern someday in the Game - should it finally release by then.
. 
Aszkalon
1