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.
The February 9 Playthrough video
Watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7d8BpYix4 , a couple of things popped out at me. I know, it's a couple weeks old: I've been busy ok.
1) mob spawn timers. They are waaay too short. Groups need to consider tactics, and people need chicken
. There is literally nothing more annoying in an MMORPG than mobs respawning too quickly. Better to err on the side of too long. People will wait if they really want the loot. I would think that Ashes of Creation should encourage tactical play, part of that is giving people time to actually come up with tactics.
2) another part of encouraging tactical play, is toning down spell effects. They are waaay too big. If mobs are going to be tuned so that you can't pull the whole room and smash them down (which is how Ashes of Creation needs to be if it's going to live up to your promises) then melée need to see their target before they press their ability. If they can't, they are very likely to pull extra mobs. The fire arrow in particular was egregious, you could basically see nothing else. At least once in the dungeon you wiped from pulling extra mobs, probably for exactly this reason. Don't change their overall design: just make the particles die quicker and make them take up less of the screen. This is also good for reducing lag. If parties are going to be eight people, there's going to be a lot happening on the screen. I've played a melée class in a tab-targeting MMO (World of Warcraft) for ten years now, this may not seem like a big thing: but it's actually a huge deal. No group likes being screwed up by something they can't control, especially their own spell effects.
1) mob spawn timers. They are waaay too short. Groups need to consider tactics, and people need chicken
. There is literally nothing more annoying in an MMORPG than mobs respawning too quickly. Better to err on the side of too long. People will wait if they really want the loot. I would think that Ashes of Creation should encourage tactical play, part of that is giving people time to actually come up with tactics. 2) another part of encouraging tactical play, is toning down spell effects. They are waaay too big. If mobs are going to be tuned so that you can't pull the whole room and smash them down (which is how Ashes of Creation needs to be if it's going to live up to your promises) then melée need to see their target before they press their ability. If they can't, they are very likely to pull extra mobs. The fire arrow in particular was egregious, you could basically see nothing else. At least once in the dungeon you wiped from pulling extra mobs, probably for exactly this reason. Don't change their overall design: just make the particles die quicker and make them take up less of the screen. This is also good for reducing lag. If parties are going to be eight people, there's going to be a lot happening on the screen. I've played a melée class in a tab-targeting MMO (World of Warcraft) for ten years now, this may not seem like a big thing: but it's actually a huge deal. No group likes being screwed up by something they can't control, especially their own spell effects.
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Comments
Not to say that you shouldn't think critically about the game, however, if anyone should recieve an alpha key I recommend sticking primarily to bug reports and writing down what you were doing before the bug occurred (it really helps the developers).
As for the particle effects I think it might be good to start off a bit flashy and then scale it back as they recieve feedback (this is all still an iterative process and the best feedback will be from those that experience it).
The reduced time on spawn tables will most likey be for alpha testing as a way to consistently provide targets for various movement/rotation bugs that are going to occur.
I know that we long time MMO players have a lot to say about the feel of the game; once we get our hands on the first beta we can truly provide insightful feedback.
I must also reiterate what I have said before elsewhere. If the gameplay is anything less than excellent, no amount of innovation or prettiness will save the game. Intrepid did not make things easy for themselves in this department: they have chosen to try and beat the reigning monarch at it's own game. Ashes of Creation is taking the design philosophy of WoW, but running with it to a place that Blizzard would never go. However, if they are going to do this successfully they must execute that philosophy flawlessly. WoW has had thirteen years to refine that core philosophy and has made many mistakes along the way. I witnessed that journey, as did many others. Ashes of Creation does not have the time to take that journey for itself: it has to learn from WoW's mistakes before it even launches.