Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
-nothing bout ganking though.
I would have to say the MMORPG that has kept my attention the most is World of Warcraft. Yes, I know so cliche but i started playing wow when i was 12 years old on an Vanilla Alpha phase 1 FnF account. The thing that has kept me in this game for over 14 years is a mixture of things. First you have to have a decent story line that makes sense and develops in a real way that connects with me the player. Secondly my player has to have a unique Identity and connect with me in some way so i feel connected to my toon like an alter ego even if I do not RP. 3rd every time i login i need to have something to do otherwise i do not login. This is especially once you experience your way to max level i need continuous new content coming and going. Not too much where i do not get a chance to be the best at it but something repeatable like WoW's raid content with multiple difficulties, in depth crafting, Great housing experience. I would have to say the best MMo to incorporate housing was "Wildstar" you could be killing random things and finding furniture and housing upgrades and things to hang on the walls which kind of tell a story of where you been. Lastly community is everything. However WoW the last few years has lost the community aspect but I want that back to where i make a name for myself and it matters. i do not just want to be another number that logs in everyday.
A player approaches a town with say a "fortune teller" and the teller then displays the ability for the player to shuffle the cards and it is a generic 3 card spread. The player could then choose a card and that card could have an effect for 48 game hours ( offline included for fairness) and this effect would affect wild life, cities, developing nations, dungeons, nodes etc. Perhaps the player pulls the Wheel of Fortune ( the card representing constant change) this could mean for 48 hours the nodes; wildlife; cities; etc would have constant changing variables. Perhaps the level of the mobs may increase for 48 hours making it more difficult to kill ( but not impossible) the dungeons could say change to be easier causing the spoils to be less but perhaps have an increased chance of spell casters learning new skills from books they may discover there. Fighters may find more weapons while farming nodes while the Healers may find the church is having less followers yet their faith rewards are higher....
If you remember the tarot card aspect that i mentioned in the Magic thread, I really think that we could make a tarot dependent class that also is a cross between a Oracle and an Offensive spell caster with the ability to "shift" between roles accordingly. However in this aspect I am thinking the most important aspect being that we give a unique perspective to how a simple "event" that one player triggers can affect the whole community. So in this way the "Event" is trigged once every 2 game days and once the spell is in effect the only way that it could be reversed or improved is through "gold donations" or 'feats of strength" ...
However I still think "Trials" for the classes would be also another important aspect to the MMORPG world that AoC should execute as it gives us a goal. However let us look into the social aspect a little closer with the link provided below
1) Character uniqueness. I can't stand when your character feels the same as everyone else. I want to be able to bring skills and a play style to the group with a class setup that is not cookie cutter and run by everyone.
2) Open world / sandbox feeling. I really like player housing and development of zones that are player driven.
Immersion is what makes me want to stay at the start of the game. Animations are a key part of the immersion. This is the main thing ill mention on this point because you guys have already created a beautiful world with great ideas that help with immersion, but animations are also extremely important. When I run it should not look like I am sliding across the ground. When I swing my sword every limb on my body should react to what im doing and look realistic and natural. When I cast a spell I want to FEEL like a badass lightning wielding wizard. I dont want to grow bored of seeing my lightning spell over and over, I want it to be so good I never get tired of it.
Combat is what keeps me playing the game for months to years after being hooked in by the immersion. My brain should be fully stimulated by advanced dungeon and raid mechanics, as well as the mechanics of my own character. Dps rotations cant be, mash this button til u get a proc then mash this button instead. Procs are great and add another element for you to pay attention to, but my attention should have to be all over the place. Not in a way thats just annoying, but in a way that feels satisfying if I pull it off correctly. Dungeon and raid bosses need to have me moving my feet to dodge an attack or not stand in a damaging element. Save burst dps for a phase when the boss needs a shield bursted off or quickly pushed put of an enrage phase. I should never be allowed to stand in one spot mashing buttons until the boss is dead.
And something they can't control, but a good RP community will keep me around even longer.
PvE raids: I loved WoW mechanics. You can chose difficulties and only the best can finish the hardest level, but you can participate in any fights.
Regarding the fight itself, I would see some randomness to make the fights less countable.
Outdoor events: I loved rift events in Rift. I always tried to participate in any opened rift. Lot of zones have different events, for example undeads want to attack a city we need to destroy all siege weapon. But I would really loved if there would be a consequence if we fail this event. Maybe lose a town what we should reclaim in a later quest. I also loved if there would be world bosses, but also with consequences. If we do not defeat that boss, it would attack our town. Maybe there would appear a sick wizard who curse a land and you will have debuff until you dispell this curse, but of you need some preparation for it.
Open world PvP: I WoW BC there were many territory where we were able to play PvP with goals. Controll a towers, bombarding/defending a place. If you won your fraction had some buff. I adored these games, but unfortunately on my server only a very few people liked these games, but I was on a PvP server.
Caravan system: What I saw in Archeage was terrible. Very long and boring travels, just for gold. Usually, I watched a movie in split screen. There were many exploit as well so I stopped to do it anymore. You should add some meaning for the caravans not just gold.
Travelling: I hate the flying mounts, but I also hate the too long travel time where you just sitting on your mount and can't do anything just turn left/right. So we need some transportation system. I vote for carriages what may can be robbed. So you can do something while you are travelling, but you can't let your character AFK without risk.
So what aspect of MMO do I hope AoC caputre?
I hope AoC captures the hundreds of thousands of people who love MMO's and brings them together in a stable and well made game.
1. The meta is the main part of the game if you let it be. Old Classic WoW feels _so_ much more fresh and interesting with the changes than any version since, just because of the expanded options you get.
2. Forced PvP does not work. It is only a perk for those who want it, none for those who don't. And yes, it attracts asshats. I have doubts over my backing.
We need things like fishing, board games, outside games of some sort if possible. Side activities like drinking, mount racing, pet collecting, fishing, unique hidden events, or natural occurrences to visit/appreciate/talk about, uniquely fantasy activities that set this world appart. Things like special floating platforms that transport you between locations like WoW had with a train, blimps, boat. Maybe something like they had that transforms your person as well to look like other things and so on cool things to find. Just really pack a culture and difference into the life of the world and make sight seeing elements that are interactive and possibly even gameplay wise helpful in some way on occasion even if only for travel rather than just being visually interesting things you see and just move on.
Things could even add to a players identity as a veteran if they have all this knowledge of things to do and better ways to travel or find teleports or alternate capsule dimensions and so on. You could show off to new players or less experienced onces. Sucks though that the internet would help make these common knowledge. Maybe making them exist or not or in different locations depending on the nodes developed or not so every server would have different secrets and it would be more difficult to set in stone where these places are.
Idk if I can really explain it well enough, I hope I got the idea out though... I want to feel like I am living in that world that has interesting things to discover beyond just seeing a new enemy or landscape, but actual unexpected activities as well. WoW had these things too, and it played really smooth I loved the feeling of Classic WoW's character controller compared to all other mmo's.
In WoW you jsut get the recipe, the mats and press create... nothing exciting. just grind till you are "Grandmaster"
Having unique items and abilities (special armour enhancements, weapon enchantments, engineering boosts, etc.) started making the different professions feel unique and useful but even that has fallen by the wayside.
I hope that having a combination of:
- Large amount of customisation options especially hairstyles, facial hair, tattoos, and body sizes to choose from
- Racial differences and augments
- Class combinations and augments
- Artisan classes differences and augments
- Religion differences and augments
- Weapon and armour customisation
..will mean that characters will have a lot of flexibility and mean that they won't have the same issue as WoW where you could get 20 max level warriors and you'd see the same dungeon/raid gear, same tier pieces, same weapons, same races overrepresented etc. over and over.The Ashes of Creation landscapes look beautiful, but I want their to be a risk in exploring this beauty. I want to feel endangered upon leaving the safety of the town, having the risk of being PKed.
The aspect Im mostly looking from AoC is eq competitive arenas with action combat.
Gearing up would be purely for the fun of it.
Pvp would be done purely for the enjoyment.
And I could do either depending completely on which I crave more on chosen day.
Freedom?