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: For the love of casuals PLEASE
I dunno. All I've done is solo caravans and I haven't lost one yet. I even hopped out of my caravan at one point, left mine on the roadside, to defend another caravan that was being attacked; still didn't lose mine somehow. I really don't enjoy the caravans because of speed, time, and forced necessity. I'd enjoy them less if I were losing loot. When mules are released, I'll probably abandon the caravan system altogether.
They're advertised as this group play event, but the only side that ever has numbers is the attackers, because it's not practical to spam in general or city or anywhere public that I'm about to launch a caravan. It's too risky. Getting a defender group is hard, unless you join a caravan of caravans through a guild. One box of the lowest commodity (3s6c?) from Halcyon to New Aela was about 36s on arrival. If I had a full group of defenders, I'd be making 1.5s in profit for a 3+ hour trip if we split evenly. And any defenders would be making 4-ish silver for a 3+ hour trip. That's not including that you often don't even know what you will make upon arrival. Really doesn't feel worth it for any defenders. Ever. It's scrap change at best.
On the other side, attackers can get groups together without risk. They can attack and overtake the caravan with lowered risk, because of lack of defenders (because of lack of defender incentives.) At worst, they risk armor repair, but so do the defenders, and they don't really risk it if they always outnumber the defenders, and you only attack caravans that you can see that you can out number or overpower (out-level) and will leave well-defended caravans alone. So there's not really any risk when the only attacks happen when there is no risk for the attacker. Then when they win, because they will because they only picked a fight they knew they would win, they can take the caravan to the nearest town with less travel time and less time sink and no gold sink, and make a greater profit than the caravan owner would make. Provided the defense was splitting evenly.
(And if you aren't splitting evenly, how do you expect to win any defenders to your side? When they could just attack you for an even split of the share?)
So say you take the lowered profit as the caravan launcher, you get a full defender group together somehow. You will not encounter an attack the entire trip, because attackers don't attack defended caravans. So I've just paid a bunch of people to be bored with me and RP walk for 3+ hours. A boring trip, a walking simulator, with lowered profits for everyone. It feels like a huge time waste for all involved.
I'd would like the caravan event; if it were a team vs. team PvP event. But it's not that. It greatly falls short of that goal. Burden to get a defender group is too high for the launcher. It comes down to will you risk a loss for full profit and the possibility of an interesting trip, or make chump change for a long, boring trip with no events?
I do like the aesthetic of watching other people pull them along the roads, though. However the caravan defenders need more. Anything to make defending a caravan seem like a decent option would be nice. Commissions so other people would just join of their own volition or you get a 'badge' or something you can turn in at the destination saying you defended an incoming caravan, that the city will reimburse you for with some silver or gold. Maybe you get more reimbursement the longer you were with the caravan. Something that would help the caravan-launcher keep some of their profit and make putting a team together seem reasonable in the first place
Or the attackers need more risk. Something the defender can profit off of them from. Maybe defeated attackers get pulled along with the caravan, and I turn them in as criminals for bounty-profit at my destination xD
It's just not working as a PvP event right now.
They're advertised as this group play event, but the only side that ever has numbers is the attackers, because it's not practical to spam in general or city or anywhere public that I'm about to launch a caravan. It's too risky. Getting a defender group is hard, unless you join a caravan of caravans through a guild. One box of the lowest commodity (3s6c?) from Halcyon to New Aela was about 36s on arrival. If I had a full group of defenders, I'd be making 1.5s in profit for a 3+ hour trip if we split evenly. And any defenders would be making 4-ish silver for a 3+ hour trip. That's not including that you often don't even know what you will make upon arrival. Really doesn't feel worth it for any defenders. Ever. It's scrap change at best.
On the other side, attackers can get groups together without risk. They can attack and overtake the caravan with lowered risk, because of lack of defenders (because of lack of defender incentives.) At worst, they risk armor repair, but so do the defenders, and they don't really risk it if they always outnumber the defenders, and you only attack caravans that you can see that you can out number or overpower (out-level) and will leave well-defended caravans alone. So there's not really any risk when the only attacks happen when there is no risk for the attacker. Then when they win, because they will because they only picked a fight they knew they would win, they can take the caravan to the nearest town with less travel time and less time sink and no gold sink, and make a greater profit than the caravan owner would make. Provided the defense was splitting evenly.
(And if you aren't splitting evenly, how do you expect to win any defenders to your side? When they could just attack you for an even split of the share?)
So say you take the lowered profit as the caravan launcher, you get a full defender group together somehow. You will not encounter an attack the entire trip, because attackers don't attack defended caravans. So I've just paid a bunch of people to be bored with me and RP walk for 3+ hours. A boring trip, a walking simulator, with lowered profits for everyone. It feels like a huge time waste for all involved.
I'd would like the caravan event; if it were a team vs. team PvP event. But it's not that. It greatly falls short of that goal. Burden to get a defender group is too high for the launcher. It comes down to will you risk a loss for full profit and the possibility of an interesting trip, or make chump change for a long, boring trip with no events?
I do like the aesthetic of watching other people pull them along the roads, though. However the caravan defenders need more. Anything to make defending a caravan seem like a decent option would be nice. Commissions so other people would just join of their own volition or you get a 'badge' or something you can turn in at the destination saying you defended an incoming caravan, that the city will reimburse you for with some silver or gold. Maybe you get more reimbursement the longer you were with the caravan. Something that would help the caravan-launcher keep some of their profit and make putting a team together seem reasonable in the first place
Or the attackers need more risk. Something the defender can profit off of them from. Maybe defeated attackers get pulled along with the caravan, and I turn them in as criminals for bounty-profit at my destination xD
It's just not working as a PvP event right now.
keenow
5
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Time To Kill values especially in group play are insane, even before we factor in few other broken systems. This is Phase1 rarity gear situation all over again.
There is no space for player skill expression in the game, there is no space for being an underdog player or guild if stats dominate everything else. There is no space to even start talking about class balance in the context of 1v1 or group pvp.
It's all out damage stat race, which brings up your damage output to insane levels from single ability casts. We are back to a scenario, where you are able to 1-2 shot people.
We had the rarity gear nerfs during Phase 1, those came pretty late. The current issues are equally as obvious. Why aren't those issues closely tracked? Why the math behind the stats, the damage output and defensive stats has not been done?
This should have been hot fixed weeks ago, I mean the power gap between geared and not geared players is surely not intended. I have little interest in a game which allows me to 1 shot my opponents due to stat differences. The life of underdog in Ashes has to offer a sensible access to the game content or the population will just die.
If the power gap is intentional, please can we have a statement about it, so those of us who care about balanced and fun pvp experience can direct our attention elsewhere?
Thanks
There is no space for player skill expression in the game, there is no space for being an underdog player or guild if stats dominate everything else. There is no space to even start talking about class balance in the context of 1v1 or group pvp.
It's all out damage stat race, which brings up your damage output to insane levels from single ability casts. We are back to a scenario, where you are able to 1-2 shot people.
We had the rarity gear nerfs during Phase 1, those came pretty late. The current issues are equally as obvious. Why aren't those issues closely tracked? Why the math behind the stats, the damage output and defensive stats has not been done?
This should have been hot fixed weeks ago, I mean the power gap between geared and not geared players is surely not intended. I have little interest in a game which allows me to 1 shot my opponents due to stat differences. The life of underdog in Ashes has to offer a sensible access to the game content or the population will just die.
If the power gap is intentional, please can we have a statement about it, so those of us who care about balanced and fun pvp experience can direct our attention elsewhere?
Thanks
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
======================
Alpha Two Phase II Feedback - Disclaimer: Basically didn't play this week.
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Untargetable or otherwise glitched mobs
2. Bizarre character inventory behaviors
3. Storage bugs
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Still don't know which way to test even basic economy stuff (went with UBI-Caravans and therefore didn't bother) - https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/64234/econ-friday-ranting-a-reference-post
2. Artisanship system still seems so disconnected from mostgameplay for non-Gatherers that it's painful
3. Still no comfort login triggers to mitigate the first two things - https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/64692/splinter-topic-the-comfort-nostalgia-login
4. Somehow, the current focus on Treasure Map content is just straight up annoying me (entirely a 'me' issue, pretty sure, but mentioning anyway)
======================
Alpha Two Phase II Feedback - Disclaimer: Basically didn't play this week.
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Untargetable or otherwise glitched mobs
2. Bizarre character inventory behaviors
3. Storage bugs
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Still don't know which way to test even basic economy stuff (went with UBI-Caravans and therefore didn't bother) - https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/64234/econ-friday-ranting-a-reference-post
2. Artisanship system still seems so disconnected from mostgameplay for non-Gatherers that it's painful
3. Still no comfort login triggers to mitigate the first two things - https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/64692/splinter-topic-the-comfort-nostalgia-login
4. Somehow, the current focus on Treasure Map content is just straight up annoying me (entirely a 'me' issue, pretty sure, but mentioning anyway)
======================
Azherae
3
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Alpha Two Phase II Feedback
1. Node Stealing, You hit node, another player higher rank hit resource node and completes first and gets item.Way to lock node to the person who hits it first?
2. Ghost mobs, getting hit and chased by mobs you can't see. Many mobs are in rocks, in the ground or are invisible. they attack you and you can't hit them or sometimes even see them.
3. Mob aggro. mobs are too aggressive and attack even when they can't see you. No line of sight. If a mob is green or light blue - why are they attacking - they are just annoying.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Artisan xp / leveling - craafting is just too expensive an cumbersome
2. Copper - Copper - where is that dang node anyways - this has been an issue since day 1 and yet not fixed
3. mob trains - they still happening even after so called fix. Griefing in the game will never allow the game to be a success. This issue was fixed in all other major games - why can't you fix it?
4. Goes with 3 - death looters. need to lock loot for a period after death so we can retrieve n discourage looting. If not in PVP mode, why is our death loot available anyways
1. Node Stealing, You hit node, another player higher rank hit resource node and completes first and gets item.Way to lock node to the person who hits it first?
2. Ghost mobs, getting hit and chased by mobs you can't see. Many mobs are in rocks, in the ground or are invisible. they attack you and you can't hit them or sometimes even see them.
3. Mob aggro. mobs are too aggressive and attack even when they can't see you. No line of sight. If a mob is green or light blue - why are they attacking - they are just annoying.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Artisan xp / leveling - craafting is just too expensive an cumbersome
2. Copper - Copper - where is that dang node anyways - this has been an issue since day 1 and yet not fixed
3. mob trains - they still happening even after so called fix. Griefing in the game will never allow the game to be a success. This issue was fixed in all other major games - why can't you fix it?
4. Goes with 3 - death looters. need to lock loot for a period after death so we can retrieve n discourage looting. If not in PVP mode, why is our death loot available anyways
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. People training mobs onto groups easily
2. Quests that appear to be bugged like quick teddy not spawning (sat around for over an hour even at night and no spawn) A few others that are received early.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Hunting feels very weird as a mechanic at the moment as its not easily understood how it works IMO. Would prefer a typical skin defeated mob thing that perhaps only procs x% of the time. Or use special weapon to hunt.
2. Some gathering nodes around starter level are too high for anyone to get anything interesting. Feels bad to be like ok let me mine and you see all the shiny but got to go a some boring static cluster of basic rocks. Let the starting gathering levels be able to mine or gather more type of nodes even if it means it has a failure rate with it.
3. Please put more tools in to stop mob training on groups, you made mobs challenging, now solo players can very easily wipe groups by simply pulling a few extra mobs and running them into groups. Maybe create a skill or item that is literally a flag that a group can place down and it creates maybe something similar to the caravan mechanic you have. Its a clearly defined zone, higher tiers have larger radius or maybe some perks, any player that enters that is not part of the group gets a warning that they will become flagged in 15 seconds to that group for pvp. Also for players of that group they can only agro and damage mobs that spawn within the radius and anything pulled into that circle has to meet some other criteria before it can be attacked. Simply put, give a tool that lets the group decide to pvp any player that wants to train mobs but also make it a pain to even try if at all possible to train mobs.
4. I am sure more is planned but would prefer there to be more to a lot of the grind spots such as events, or extremely difficult to clear areas that lead to better grinding spots and bosses. Just need something more to the grind than kill respawns for 50 hours.
1. People training mobs onto groups easily
2. Quests that appear to be bugged like quick teddy not spawning (sat around for over an hour even at night and no spawn) A few others that are received early.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Hunting feels very weird as a mechanic at the moment as its not easily understood how it works IMO. Would prefer a typical skin defeated mob thing that perhaps only procs x% of the time. Or use special weapon to hunt.
2. Some gathering nodes around starter level are too high for anyone to get anything interesting. Feels bad to be like ok let me mine and you see all the shiny but got to go a some boring static cluster of basic rocks. Let the starting gathering levels be able to mine or gather more type of nodes even if it means it has a failure rate with it.
3. Please put more tools in to stop mob training on groups, you made mobs challenging, now solo players can very easily wipe groups by simply pulling a few extra mobs and running them into groups. Maybe create a skill or item that is literally a flag that a group can place down and it creates maybe something similar to the caravan mechanic you have. Its a clearly defined zone, higher tiers have larger radius or maybe some perks, any player that enters that is not part of the group gets a warning that they will become flagged in 15 seconds to that group for pvp. Also for players of that group they can only agro and damage mobs that spawn within the radius and anything pulled into that circle has to meet some other criteria before it can be attacked. Simply put, give a tool that lets the group decide to pvp any player that wants to train mobs but also make it a pain to even try if at all possible to train mobs.
4. I am sure more is planned but would prefer there to be more to a lot of the grind spots such as events, or extremely difficult to clear areas that lead to better grinding spots and bosses. Just need something more to the grind than kill respawns for 50 hours.
Roblight
1
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Mob training / aggro. Currently if a player social aggros a mob by running past them, they get a small bit of aggro. They will then take those mobs to groups actively farming (knowing that AoEs are happening in these locations) and wait for the mobs to wipe the group. They can then loot the ash piles and take off with limited negative ramifications. - Would suggest a stacking PvP timer for ash piles (ex: 30 seconds per pile looted with a cap at X minutes force flagged).
2. Zone workers in high traffic / farm areas seem a bit overwhelmed during peak hours (night time, EST). Areas like Carph / Steel / etc suffer from lag and desync.
3. When desync occurs, spells such as the Mage's Magma Field get stuck in an animation lock. This can happen during server lag or if a mob is in a glitched state (takes 0 damage or stuck). Minor inconvenience but something noteworthy.
4. GPU Usage, it seems that no matter what your graphics card / settings are your GPU is screaming at 80-90% usage.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Character slots - We currently have 5 per server with 6 classes available to test and a 7th around the corner. A nice QoL change would be to add 3 additional slots (1 for each of the planned classes). This way alt lovers and people who genuinely do not know what class they'll enjoy can try them all. Obviously we could start on another server but that has it's downsides as well.
2. Starter quest necklace - Useless item (for now) BUT could be neat if we had a quest line that allowed it to level from Rare to Heroic and add value such as ability to traverse the locked gates near Lionshold allowing easier passage from one side of the map to the other.
3. Carph mobs are all over the place from the bottom floor -> floor 3. It would be nice to see those mobs in their actual spawn locations (Prisma sometimes is vibing in a wall on the stairwell leading to 3, for example).
1. Mob training / aggro. Currently if a player social aggros a mob by running past them, they get a small bit of aggro. They will then take those mobs to groups actively farming (knowing that AoEs are happening in these locations) and wait for the mobs to wipe the group. They can then loot the ash piles and take off with limited negative ramifications. - Would suggest a stacking PvP timer for ash piles (ex: 30 seconds per pile looted with a cap at X minutes force flagged).
2. Zone workers in high traffic / farm areas seem a bit overwhelmed during peak hours (night time, EST). Areas like Carph / Steel / etc suffer from lag and desync.
3. When desync occurs, spells such as the Mage's Magma Field get stuck in an animation lock. This can happen during server lag or if a mob is in a glitched state (takes 0 damage or stuck). Minor inconvenience but something noteworthy.
4. GPU Usage, it seems that no matter what your graphics card / settings are your GPU is screaming at 80-90% usage.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Character slots - We currently have 5 per server with 6 classes available to test and a 7th around the corner. A nice QoL change would be to add 3 additional slots (1 for each of the planned classes). This way alt lovers and people who genuinely do not know what class they'll enjoy can try them all. Obviously we could start on another server but that has it's downsides as well.
2. Starter quest necklace - Useless item (for now) BUT could be neat if we had a quest line that allowed it to level from Rare to Heroic and add value such as ability to traverse the locked gates near Lionshold allowing easier passage from one side of the map to the other.
3. Carph mobs are all over the place from the bottom floor -> floor 3. It would be nice to see those mobs in their actual spawn locations (Prisma sometimes is vibing in a wall on the stairwell leading to 3, for example).
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Alpha Two Phase II Feedback
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Non combat Aggro (training on people and getting aggro not fighting that mob)
2. INVENTORY and bank not updating/ Glint pickup bug
3. Quests not having items needed or being able to finish due to length of text on quest info
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Attackers of caravans need a major 'risk' such as becoming flagged for long times / reputation in that zone and becoming KoS by guards for long timer
2. Body looters only having to hide for 1 min is rather short should be like 10 mins.. incorprate some risk to being a killer/looter. Unable to kill/loot anyone like 5 levels different. Both ways so 20x level 15s cant gank a lvl 25... but also a lvl 25 cant just run around killing noobs.
3. Make copper and iron a 50/50 chance on that node spawn or something to have more t1/t2 'needed by all' resources like zinc and copper more available. Otherwise it just stagnates as people slowly get nowhere crafting and a ton of iron nodes etc just sit untapped and uneeded due to crafting bench tiers not being at that level anyway let alone players having that high of skill
======================
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Non combat Aggro (training on people and getting aggro not fighting that mob)
2. INVENTORY and bank not updating/ Glint pickup bug
3. Quests not having items needed or being able to finish due to length of text on quest info
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Attackers of caravans need a major 'risk' such as becoming flagged for long times / reputation in that zone and becoming KoS by guards for long timer
2. Body looters only having to hide for 1 min is rather short should be like 10 mins.. incorprate some risk to being a killer/looter. Unable to kill/loot anyone like 5 levels different. Both ways so 20x level 15s cant gank a lvl 25... but also a lvl 25 cant just run around killing noobs.
3. Make copper and iron a 50/50 chance on that node spawn or something to have more t1/t2 'needed by all' resources like zinc and copper more available. Otherwise it just stagnates as people slowly get nowhere crafting and a ton of iron nodes etc just sit untapped and uneeded due to crafting bench tiers not being at that level anyway let alone players having that high of skill
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Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1. Caravan Cargo does not appear immediately upon delivery.
2. Cargo once it decides to appear, has zero value.
3. Commodities Vendor will not buy this Cargo either.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Caravan Drivers are being hit by NPC and Player AoE, taking negative XP loss.
2. Caravan Drivers are killed by players AoE, and caravan left untouched, Drivers left to run back as harassment.
3. Caravan Drivers are taking AoE damage while Driving the Caravan. There is zero chance a low level Driver will survive.
4. Clicking Defend Caravan does not give you a Defend Caravan Quest, or Give any rewards upon delivery.
5. There is no Caravan Defense Commission in LionsHold or Samia's Hope.
1. Caravan Cargo does not appear immediately upon delivery.
2. Cargo once it decides to appear, has zero value.
3. Commodities Vendor will not buy this Cargo either.
Top 3-5 Most Important Feedback Topics:
1. Caravan Drivers are being hit by NPC and Player AoE, taking negative XP loss.
2. Caravan Drivers are killed by players AoE, and caravan left untouched, Drivers left to run back as harassment.
3. Caravan Drivers are taking AoE damage while Driving the Caravan. There is zero chance a low level Driver will survive.
4. Clicking Defend Caravan does not give you a Defend Caravan Quest, or Give any rewards upon delivery.
5. There is no Caravan Defense Commission in LionsHold or Samia's Hope.
Re: Weekly Feedback - 01/20/2025
Alpha Two Phase II Feedback
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1) Players camping near high-traffic group camps, training mobs, onto AOE mechanics, running off, then coming back to loot dead players stash and only having to run a few feet away to lose their purple PvP tag.
Player that get flagged for PvP due to looting another player's stash - those players are untargetable for retaliation (literally cannot target them to cast spells).
2) Income of coin vs gear and repair costs before level 10 is unbalanced. gear and repairs are far too expensive for how little money there is to be made, let alone having a surplus of coin.
3) to echo Arkazon's comment -- it feels like the game design has not factored in griefers.There are no encounters for mobs, so they freely pull, and can be easily dumped on a group of other players with the sole purpose of having the other group die to mobs, and then stealing their stash after they die. Mixed that with the length of time it takes to run back to a camp (think upper floors of Church at level 9-10), and there's no real way to retaliate against them because you simply cannot return to the area fast enough to do anything about it. Honestly this part of the game is a MAJOR turn off and unsolved will leave you a MOBA-like community of toxic players.
Top 3-5 Most Important Bugs:
1) Players camping near high-traffic group camps, training mobs, onto AOE mechanics, running off, then coming back to loot dead players stash and only having to run a few feet away to lose their purple PvP tag.
Player that get flagged for PvP due to looting another player's stash - those players are untargetable for retaliation (literally cannot target them to cast spells).
2) Income of coin vs gear and repair costs before level 10 is unbalanced. gear and repairs are far too expensive for how little money there is to be made, let alone having a surplus of coin.
3) to echo Arkazon's comment -- it feels like the game design has not factored in griefers.There are no encounters for mobs, so they freely pull, and can be easily dumped on a group of other players with the sole purpose of having the other group die to mobs, and then stealing their stash after they die. Mixed that with the length of time it takes to run back to a camp (think upper floors of Church at level 9-10), and there's no real way to retaliate against them because you simply cannot return to the area fast enough to do anything about it. Honestly this part of the game is a MAJOR turn off and unsolved will leave you a MOBA-like community of toxic players.
mdk10k
1
Re: Exploitation Action Promises
That's all fair, but there is a problem. The test / game has to be enjoyable and sufficient amount of sand in the sandbox for people to be willing to take part in these tests. Otherwise retention is going to be a massive problem. Its hard to help Intrepid with testing economy, finding bugs and performance issues without a playerbase.Keep in mind, you aren't supposed to be playing or feeling like you are playing Ashes. You kind of aren't supposed to be enjoying it.
Intrepid are getting valuable data from players right now, and their staff are all working on things. Rather than fixing bugs that are a result of systems only being partially implemented, the developers are working on finishing those systems.
Re-tasking developers to perform a short term fix for something that has a long term fix planned is not a good idea in a testing environment. It may be a good idea if the game were live, but not during a test.
That is what you and I should want them to be working on, even if it means there are bugs in the test that go unattended for a while.
Our goal here is to get the game as good as it can be for launch, not to make the game better tomorrow.
The current build is affected by multiple critical issues from the playerbase retention perspective and those issues remain not addressed.