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
WoW had polearms too, but most were as ugly as sin and poorly optimised and barely seen.
With every class able to use every weapon, and with crafting being such a huge thing, it will only be up to Intrepid to design the things. Then it will be up to us players to craft them and use them
you think ? hm i see this in other games mixed and i like both of them. as im a japan fanboy i like katanas a bit more but i also like to play a classic knight.
You are right, it was mentioned by Steve that the orcs racial style will be orient inspired both in their buildings, weapons and armour.
I also hope that you can't turn off being able to see my choice of weapon- that could lead to some awkward interactions!
I am with you on the notion of fighting with a weapon cosmetic skin of a flower and a candy cane- that feels a little much (maybe those aren't cosmetic items but are held non-weapon items like in LOTRO?), but I did like the WoW transmog idea so my drunk Dwarf could fight with a broken bottle and a beer stein- both can be effective weapons (as many bar regulars can attest). Candy canes, even magically imbued ones, shouldn't in my humble opinion.
TLDR: Hoping they have cosmetic skins for weapons, and non-weapon held items for RP variety.
I hate skins. It reminds me of the transmog system in WoW. When anything can be anything, the system really loses meaning. I also think it is really lazy game mechanics and quite cack for the game itself (sure you can say they are just illusions, but it is a reach to try and fit in with immersion).
With the crafting ability we will have in Ashes, and I think this sounds a lot like what you can do in Elder Scrolls, we won't have the need for skins. If you like a Dunir motif then you can create a Dunir sword with the specific stats that you find desirable for your character and build.
This is a system that can augment the gear drops in the world, which I dont think should be able to be changed. If you get an item from the world then it should stay looking the same so it is recognisable.
I agree with @Blind_Mouse in not wanting silly stuff to be used as weapons. Sure your character can carry that broken bottle for RP purposes but you can't go into a fight against a dragon wielding it. Silly stuff should not have stats, unless they are also silly stats.
I am primarily thinking of LOTRO when I think of weapon skins. I feel they did it best. You can only skin a weapon of the same type of weapon (1H swords for 1h swords, etc.) This prevents people from turning swords into polearms, for example- and I believe LOTRO keeps a lot of its player base not only due to the loyal fans the universe commands, but also because of how RP friendly it is- and by that I mean how easily people can make their character look and fight the way they envision them. If they want to be a hobbit holding a basket of flowers as they skip through the Shire... they can (that item in their hand is not a weapon... but the non-weapon held item I was describing earlier), but if someone hates the skin of a sword that dropped from a quest as they are leveling but it has the best stats their character can currently use, you can swap it out.
As for the broken bottle- personally, I wouldn't be running around slaying dragons with that either- it was primarily used for PvP duels outside of bars. The ability to skin my weapon though was my point and it was a VERY wonderful tool to allow my dwarf to fight using the weapon her chose /had available for that fight.
I understand how one might assume skins might impact crafting, but if the game requires that the character uses the weapon- thus binding it to them, or even consuming it for the skin, you actually encourage people to buy things from crafters all. the. time. regardless of level. To me, that's a re-usability for recipes that are just placed in the skill tree for crafters to give them content to wade through before they get to "the good stuff".
Did Ashes team also mention that items will show their wear over time? I thought I saw that somewhere- if that's the case, that's an even bigger reason for skins to be weapons that get consumed upon use. The skins can wear down and fail over time... thus creating an even bigger market to produce weapons.
Skins don't have to take the place of weapons- the weapon being wielded should wear down too- so in the end if you don't want a skin, you don't have to... it'd even be cheaper not to have to worry about skins. But if you are so inclined to use them and are willing to basically wear down the durability of two weapons to get the look you want, I say go for it.
Just some thoughts.
This one I'm really excited about:
Epic looking staff? Or epic looking axe?:
We have a big ass, as big as your body sword
As for actual weapons, yeah, spears of various lengths (and consequently ranges/attack speeds), and metal-tipped staves. That's about all I ask for there. Everything else is likely to be covered anyway.
Interesting to see how that would play out for animations.
One of the best I have seen so far plus if you go to the Evilbane Wiki and go through all the images not that many you would see that all their stuff is pretty good. They also have matching sword and shields sets would like to see hammer and shield sets for tanks. I like to tank on my pally. And pallies traditionally have hammers per DnD.
This art style is just awesome and a good goal to exceed or meet.
I've always loved the weapon and not many games use them. Would be bad ass to get my tanking on with a a board and flail! Other than that, this game has a ton of depth that they are aiming for. Changing seasons!?! In an MMO!?! IDK what I would do if they gave me flails too. (But I can dream)
And completely off topic, but being able to pick a run animation in character creation would be bad ass.
Allow us to duel weird our weapons and have one for slashing and the other for wacking, maybe quacking?
I think a shortsword would be nice. It would be cool if it swung faster than a longsword or something or like in D&D it was like a finesse type weapon were you could choose dexterity or strength as the main attribute backing it ! I suppose some reason to choose it over a longsword.
This sword is actually for sale along with all his other works.
http://samouel.deviantart.com/