Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
I understand both sides of the coin here. A shift in terminology can, indeed emphasize and push towards a different aspect of expectations. It's much of how politics is played. Using terms such as "undocumented immigrant", rather than "illegal alien", can start to change and form a different mindset as it negates the legality of the issue. Semantics may not seem that important, and may come off as a trivial point to some, but the fact is-it works.
If people started referring to "end-game content" as something else, it could potentially help shape the future endeavors of gaming.
I agree with play the way you like to play.
It's OK to rush to max level.
I'm not sure what "alpha" means. Rushing to max might be hardcore.
No way to tell whether or not such a person is a roleplayer. They might start roleplaying at max level, for all I know.
It's also possible they're a gamer rather than a roleplayer.
But, as far as I've seen, the focus of the labeling is on the content.
Specifically for a game where max level content is distinct from endgame content.
The main difference I see with alpha and beta test servers will be the need for manual or scripted intervention, so that as much the event and narrative content can be tested in a reasonable timeframe.
There will still be plenty of other content to focus on - like constructing the buildings that will provide the desired city perks... and bringing the node to max level...and bringing the ultimate Metropolis perk(s) online.... In addition to defending the city.
It takes months to level a node to max. There is no way to rush that.
Even without other people laying siege to your node.
Prepping for war really has nothing to do with max level, though. We will likely be prepping for sieges well before we reach max level in the Adventurer role and well before a node reaches max level.
Sieges become possible at Stage 3. Nodes max at Stage 6.
It's common for gamers to blame other playstyles for the perceived ruination of their fun, even though often it's primarily the limitations of the tech and the game design.
Not only will we have alt characters to keep us busy - for those of us who love to explore classes and races and genders in addition to geography- we will also have alternate servers to explore.
Because even though a node in the same geographic location on a different server will be the same node type, that node might never be developed on different servers - and even when they are, they could be developed by a different race - and even when it's the same type in the same location developed by the same race, the citizens may have chosen to construct different buildings - for certain the freeholds will all be different.
So, sure, people can "rush" to max their Adventurer level if they want to. But, it really doesn't have much meaning - that's just a fairly tiny portion of the overall gameplay in Ashes.
That is expensive though in terms of production.
"What motivates the game" is irrelevant.
Ashes isn't simply about making the node stronger - rather it's about developing the nodes in a manner that it provides the perks and story content we want.
That includes both strengthening and weakening nodes. Attacking and defending nodes.
Typically people want to create a guild with the mindset of dominating the server and any opposing guilds / factions. I have done this and literally killed a server including pvping the GM's who came into the pvp area with no rules set wo there were fair game. After getting thumped they made me stop but the point is eventually we ran everyone off the server and that was the end. Pretty Dismal and the game itself deserved to be ended.
That aside The NODE system should provide us with continuous events that change the world even to the point where there is a catastrophic event(s) that destroy a major city (node) by either pvp or the will of the gods as the earth swallows half the city and turns it into an underground labyrinth that must be rediscovered and developed. I can think of endless permutations that would challenge players, who would then have to progress back through a different method ( questing, Archeology, religion, discovery etc..) than just the brute force supplied by their epic/legendary end game items. As an example i remember in Asherons Call when the dev's had a world event that destroyed Arwic which was a major hub in the game. The destruction was devastating and New Arwic took a long time to rise back up. Don't limit the dev's or your selves by settling for the typical "end game" garbage. Immersive play that involves only 10 to 20% of the best players groups (typically the absolute end games is only accomplished by that number in MMORPG's) won't keep your game alive in this generation. A changing world that needs everyone will keep it alive and flourishing
The endgame* objective by design then was only ever achieved by 0.1% of the population until its design duration expires.
Now it just feels forced like a carrot dispenser after they chucked out the 10ft pole and string.
all summed up by the "you think you do, but you don't." development cycle.
Your second paragraph, specifically "Immersive play that involves on 10 to 20% ..."? I think that's dead on, but I also think time spans have a lot to do with what's happening in themepark MMOs. I mean, we're talking months to build up a node to a metropolis, right? So that's months of character building, node building, so on and so forth.
How many of today's MMORPG players are willing to commit themselves to months of gameplay for an objective, when so many have been conditioned to be level capped & raid-ready within days?
Just curious. Are there many new games that have characters level capped and raid ready within a few days early into launch? Or is trend to this from older games trying to drum up interest by boosting new players
I ask this because can't think of any but I must admit that I haven't been playing many of the recent Mmos.
Hardcore 1-2 months...In WoW anyway.
I believe FFXI has a far more intricate raid structure in comparison.
As for being raid ready... with the LFG tool implementation you can literally stand in once place and just join queue till you kill the last boss without ever interacting in a global environment.
Gw2 you can do raids in common gear with skill. But the gear elitists will kick you out for trying.
And yes the are all themeparks...but the only Sandbox i can think of that's relevant is Minecraft.
Just downloading Elysium WoW legacy server currently as all my referencing might just be tinted glasses.
So going to spend a little time with leveling up in some nostalgia.
Ashes isn't planning to have an endgame.
Just lots of continual, fun, gameplay.
I'm a casual challenge player. I am chaotic good. I play according to the beat of my own drums. I don't join guilds with bylaws and commitment rules.
I think the first guild I joined was with co-workers from Activision at the beginning of WoW. We played together for about 3 weeks, but I remained a member of that guild for over 4 years. That guild message from that last week never got updated.
I finally switched when I ran into a guild of folks on the Carebear challenge.
Their one rule was your character had to reach Level 25 or 30 without making any kills.
Wizard101 didn't support guilds, but we formed what was essentially a loose guild from social media: Skype, Spiral Radio podcast, the Petnome Project, and Twitter.
In NWO, the streamer channel I followed formed a guild so all the followers could take advantage of in-game guild perks. The only rule was that you had to be a follower of that stream.
Landmark didn't have guild perks. People formed guilds, but mostly we gathered together via daily or weekly twitch events. Swap meets, after parties, Voxelmancy tutorials, creation tours, gladiator challenges, etc.
I generally don't pay attention to guilds other than ones that become notorious for causing other players grief. Sometimes there will be guilds large enough to recognize the name just from visiting town. So many members that the name of the guild becomes relatively commonplace.
In Ashes, guilds will make an impact on the towns where we have citizenship.
We will know where their guild houses are because they will take up space in the towns. We will know which guilds are fighting over nearby castles.
We will also know who lives in a city's mansions even if they aren't part of a guild.
In Ashes, I plan to focus more on being associated with a Thieves Guild than with a player-run guild, but I also expect to join a player-run guild comprised of head start twitch streamers.
Not so much to dominate a server, but rather to ensure that I'm playing with like-minded people I already enjoy hanging out with - rather than playing together because there are bylaws saying we have to play together..
I can also speak to my experience of expansion launches; this time, there are whole guilds who push themselves to the new level cap, just so they can be the first into the new raids.
It's that mindset that I think people speak out against; the rush to "end game" or whatever you want to call it, just to be the "first" and to be the most prepared and first to achieve things in raids, so on and so forth.
1: That there is even an endgame, which lasts for 12-24 months.
2: That because endgame is so prevalent, there is a whole generation of gamers who think endgame is intended to be the "real game".