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How alive will the world feel?

I recently started playing Black Desert Online.  I was mostly drawn in by the combos and spell effects, but that doesn't make a game.  They did a great job at making the attacks seem as though they carry weight, even magic.

For me...there are many things that could make the game better, but, they chose static NPC camps, that respawn and respawn and respawn and respawn and, well, you get the idea.  This does not contribute to a living world that, I would imagine, future games should be able to produce.

Secondly, the combat is still against dumb AI, and it really does feel like a shooting gallery instead of an actual fight.  Even fights against other players has this feeling, which isn't good.  This can be fixed with programming that doesnt even require the AI to think about what to do next.  It can be fixed globally, for all combatants, players and AI alike.

Third problem is that nothing really changes.  Quest hubs exist, complete, move on, complete, move on etc etc.  Same crap as WoW.  Very disappointing.

The real MMOs of the future will have RTS incorporated at a grand scale, in a living world.  Kingdoms vs Kingdoms... territories, many AI controlled to counter those of players and prevent them from achieving complete dominance.  There can always be something to fight, the world can continually change.

Crowfall has another means to this, and that is to completely allow players to win each campaign scenario.  You start a campaign, it lasts 3 months or whatever time frame the campaign has been selected by its players, and one side will win... that world dies... you go back to your own realm, which can never be destroyed, and you select the next however month long campaign to participate in.  Pretty cool how aspects of RTS games have been added to an MMO with PvP in mind, but once the campaign is over, that aspect of the game is removed and no longer persists.  The world is not alive, as the world you have done battle on dies off.  You cannot establish meaningful trade routes on worlds that die in 3 months time.

Is Ashes going to tackle this ongoing plague of mindlessness?  IMO, You guys need AI realms to counter player realms.

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