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
ya cause i work 40 hours a week if it gets to slow then only BS and rich would be hight lvl
I feel slow leveling allows people to focus on other things. Like making friends and crafting and guilds.. There will always be the new MMO'ers who feel MMO's are a race but the old mmo players like myself enjoy the "Adventure" not the "race. The world is what I enjoy and exploring it. Finding those beautiful spots where I can simply fish or mine while enjoying the sunset or rain. Immersion I guess is really one of the things that makes me enjoy an MMO. I'm a software developer and I like .. when I get home jumping into a completely different world where I can lose myself and of course have fun.
So please keep the progression to a slower pace. For example.. my preferred pace to max level would be around 3 months if the level cap was say 50 or 60. I feel this is long enough that I can focus on other things. If the level cap is less than a couple of weeks I feel every has a little pressure on themselves to simply "get it out of the way". This isn't how an MMO should be played. That I just simply need to get this out of the way. How you got there is the fun.. the journey not the destination. If the level cap is too short.. it loses that feeling.
Also it doesn't really give the developers a chance to breathe. Let them have time to iron out bugs and create new content while people are enjoying the existing content. If the level cap takes 3 months and perhaps the node construction to max in a certain area is maybe another 2 months now you have 5 months of solid gameplay. That will give the devs time to fix issues and add new content.
I don't know what is in the plans but I'd love to be in the conversations or live q&A. Game development is a big hobby of mine and a passion.
My hopes and even dreams .. go with AoC to some degree. I've lost faith in the MMO genre and hope that AoC can bring some of it back.
~ Rhapsody ~
Maybe content of various difficulties could 'cycle' around from place to place and the hot spots for leveling could rotate as the needs in each node change over time. (I know some of the major content will be handled with Node leveling but perhaps even the 'side quest' content could also be handled in a non-static manner.)
Word of what's going on where could be learned from Town Criers, Traveling Merchants, other Players (gasp), Posting Boards, and Tavern Rumors (bartenders).
The experience you get while leveling is probably not a one-time experience, as the world is changig all the time, but for those players who play a primary character (and not alts), it's good that it takes a good while.
one year of physics will always haunt me
"what's the uncertainty percentage in these results?" "what was the velocity of the bullet before it reached the ground?" "when you travel at the speed of light, what do you see?" "Pi is our lord"
er-hem.... anyway
i hope one's artisan level will be visible or somehow relevant to the total level. I think it would be a bit unfair when someone puts a lot of time in crafting without anyone knowing or seeing that. But idk, i'll just wait and see what they make of it.
Yeah the first levels go by fast, you learn a lot and get thrown candies with skills a lot.
Now you learned a bit and have to work harder to learn a bit more.
You start to look like a capable person, you just get upgrades for what you know for pain stacking hours and hours but we promise you bigger better harder numbers, mobs, loot, everything into a Michael Bay exponential explosion.
You know what I would really like to see, something more chaotic like some actual learning progress. You learn for a while to pull that skill off. It will take a while but when you do manage it you have a bit of a surge forward into the next trouble zone.
Rewarding actions, not numbers would be the driving force.
It's a lot to ask and I don't see this happening neither here nor anywhere else in the near future, but hey, one can speak up at least. <shrug>
So for example i can be level 12 ore smelter, level 10 sword crafter, level 13 miner, level 5 breeder, level 10 farmer, level 20 sword fighter, level 20 leather armor user.. at the same time and my overall level would be sum of total exp of all my skills. Numbers were just examples.
I dont know what kind of system we are going to get, but this is one possible option or at least somehow that way implemented.
Regarding the artisan class: AFAIK, the artisan class is part of the horizontal progression (organisations are also horizontal progression, just to name one more), whereas the advanturer class level is the only vertical progression (I'm currently aware of).
On the other hand, people will see your progress in your artisan class. Rather than see, you could say that they will notice. Current information is that the items you create (not sure if this is only for the crafting tree or also for gathering and processing trees) will be branded with your name. People will see that a lot of items will be created by you, eventually buying more from you directly. Yet, the amount of stuff you sell/produce won't directly influence your vertical progression (perhaps: it might give you more resources that'll allow you to buy better gear earlier/more often).
The only requirement for levels is to stage lock sequential quest lines and track individual skill progressions.
Progression can be a percentage based distribution system. Adding points through adventuring thus enables fine tuning.....rather than power.
Veterans get the opportunity to 'perfect' their builds and playstyles.
The whole gameworld and progression is then eternal, not a rush to bypass all content.
Character Levelling and its level caps are pretty meaningless in my world.
Which is why I'm hoping there are several *seperate* XP *bars* that increases independently from one another. And Even if so, if Level-Cap, I'm truly hoping for each level to be in-depth:
- Level won't be the deciding factor of a Victor
- Gear won't the deciding factor of a Victor
- NPCs Oppenents won't mindlessly stand there and watch itself die ( looking at you BDO & other Hack-n-Slash games )
To this day, i proudly detest how some MMOs put too much Emphasis on Level & Gear.That is why I argued for differentiation.....not power. Power implies getting stronger only. Not sacrificing power in some areas to gain power in others. You can be vastly different, without being vastly more powerful as a whole.
A physicist may be excellent at physics but it came at a price of time. They devoted that time on physics and not chemistry or biology. So their chemistry and biology sucks. And the more they ignore their biology and chemistry skills ...the more they forget. The less of a chemist and biologist they become. Everything has a price. There is no gain without sacrifice.
The scientist in turn, refuses to spend all of their time devoted to one particular subject. So they are not the ultimate physicist, chemist or bilogist, but they are competent with all of them if not the best at one of them.
Modern multiplayer games are broken for two reasons. They still allow people to be gods instead of mere mortals that rely on each other for strength. They dont require any sacrifice....aka CHOICE! They only require a selction of benefits or bonuses. So veteran players move further and further away from the start position in a power sense.
FYI: https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/35381/suggestion-vertical-progression-milestones/
One of Blizzard's biggest failings (They have quite a few, but those are for other topics) was their inability to keep all levels of gameplay enjoyable. Instead, they threw expansion after expansion at us and it became a race to the finish line. The real "fun" was at max level and the leveling process was just a price to pay in order to get to the good stuff.
The only real concern I have about slow progression has to do with the pvp system surrounding caravans and sieges. Unless there is a balancing system in place to bring everyone up to similar stat and class level, the competitive players will grind as hard as they can to reach max level to get that advantage in a fight. Now, this concern has nothing to do with immersion, which I believe is the main issue on the topic, but from a mechanics standpoint, it is a legitimate fear. Still, I believe Intrepid has thought of this and has a plan in place, or several ideas on the table and they just haven't shared that information yet, so this could just be wasted space haha. Either way, it's fun to theorize.
Except you "no-life" for 4 weeks or so, with a decently large group. ^^
The pacing of an MMO is set by the Devs - like a Stage being prepared before the show begins. " Milestones ", will more than likely be interpreted as a Race be most Players:
- " Milestone 1 Completed ? 9 more to go ... "
While its " friendly-like " to ensure that Players are introduced to other Activities with the Milestone idea, I'd rather it not be something that must be done in order to achieve the milestone itself. Instead, it'll ruin the " Exploration & Wonder " vibe ; don't tell Players what to do, just let them find out. And if they miss out , then it'll be something they could go back and do ... without having the feeling of being forced to do so.(i.e. ... If you didn't Craft when you were a low-level ... you'll suck a$$ in PvP/ PvE)
And Account-linked achievements is something i also disagree with. Once its done, it'll be a one-time thing and you'll never experience something like it ever again. Sure, the Nodes beg-to-differ, but they'll be no curiosity nor incentive to do so ... without having the feeling of being forced to do so.
(Deja Vu ?
In short, I don't want Ashes of Creation to mirror none of these Half-a$$ed MMOs where is always P2W - if other Devs focused more on the actual Content itself as opposed to the Cash-Shop items ... then their MMO might actually be worth a damn.
If you go by this definition, you're just replacing the 10 milestones with the 50 levels again
If the leveling curve is set by the developers, people are going to cry that it's way to easy (fast) or way to hard (slow). I guarantee that!
I think it's better to let the player decide when to progress. As said, the other thread is up for discussion. It's just a suggestion on how the player may decide when to progress
But its okay, if Ashes of Creation has this " particular distinction " , you'll immediately understand without a doubt.
You say ...
This isn't even remotely true. You believe this, because thats what Modern MMO Devs are doing to their MMOs
In fact my first imo was not like that at all. You never had to be at a High Level to ensure the win - particularly in PvP. MMOs is about socializing & exploring ; to see what the world has to offer.
" Racing to get to the next level " ... should never had been a thing
... is something that instanced-based MMOs possess ; each area you go to, loading screens. Practically no diversity in Character Armor - " everyone looks the same " , etc ...
Level 1 must mean something ( besides Newb, Nuub, Noob >~< )
- How far can i go ... by just being Level 1 ?
- What can i do as a Level 1 ? Will everything be blocked off until i get to level {insert level here} ? ... Or will i be able to increase my Combat-Effectiveness by doing Tasks thats entirely unique to my Class/ Role/ Race/ Weapon(s) Proficiency (etc ... ) ?
- What sorts of things i can learn/ do at Level 1 ? What sorts of Quests can I do at Level 1 ; will it be the cliche ... " Slash-Kill-Reward " ? Or will there be other types of Quests ?
- What CAN I do to be different/ better without needing to Level Up ? What can I do to make myself different from other Level 1 Players ?
Because " this " is a little taste to whats different about ... " Racing to the Next Level " - nothing should be " gated " off to you because of your level. Instead,Having the option to " add Emphasis " to your Level ; to allow yourself to be different in more ways than one without increasing level
[ Obviously to an extent ]
This way ... the next Level will feel good ; you'll actually feel like you've earned it because you'll be able to distinctively know the difference & have Good Memories of what you achieved
... as opposed to Leveling-up after doing 2 or 3 Short-Quests/ Short-Missions
the transition from Level 1 to Level 2 sets the tone of the Game ; you'll have an idea as to how leveling will be
And you won't find that in an P2W MMOs because they're always too busy with their Cash Shops
WoW is taken as a negative example for trivial pre-endgame content, but I'd like to remind all of you that we as the players decide where the game is heading. WoW once had a rich pre-endgame world. Some people were faster and some were slower, but everybody was able to enjoy himself in his current stage of the game. There were people who put in hundreds of hours but still never reached the levelcap until the expansion hit. The game became a race to the endgame when the players made it a race to the endgame. The developers just caved in to this demand. They allowed players to skip content, increased XP gains and put more work into the endgame content instead of the leveling experience. People spent more time in vanilla for 1-60 than they do now for 1-110. New players felt they had no chance to "catch up" to the veterans, and instead of working on the idea that "catching up to the veterans" is not really the point of the game and adding more meaningful content in the lower levels, Blizzard decided to make leveling easier and faster to allow new players to skip the pre-endgame content so they could "catch up" with the veterans. The players wanted it this way and Blizzard delivered.
TL;DR: It's up to us whether we view the game as a race or rather a journey. For me it's both in equal parts, although I'm not as competitive as I used to be.
I don't ming grinding for a month or two to get to max level, wouldn't be the first time and such games were actually more fun to play instead of rushing to max level within a day, seeing everything within a week and quitting again within a month.
An actual gear requirement for grinding would also be nice, so you actually have to stop grinding for a bit and work on your gear instead, so you can continue grinding.
I think they should separate Level and gear so this will not make players "rush" for better equipment. As i said it should give you Stat Points (if you can spend them by youself (like in D&D games (Neverwinter Nights) ) ) and Skill Points for unlock/enhance your skills.
Someone can say "So the gear will not be level based?"
I say hell no,
It should be based on Proficiency level.
Example:
I have 63 lvl, and i used one-handed weapons so far, but i want to play with tho-handed weapons, so i must use low-tier weapon to level up my Proficiency in this type of equipment.
This would be applied in these categories:
- Weapons ( one-handed, two-handed, bows, scepters, staffs etc.) or (swords, axes, long bow, short bow, etc. maybe even dual wielding)
- Armor (Light armor, Medium armor, Heavy armor) not like (headgear, gloves etc.)
This will make game a bit better, because players will wanted to max out all the proficiency types.
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As for progression system i dont like long type, because it makes me bored ( thats why I stopped playing Black Desert Online) and thats why I propose Proficiency system so i can always change my fight gameplay style.
clearing a raid in 2h gameplay is stupid
slowly slowly