After thinking about it a while, I thought I would try to paint a picture about that reality and whose version of it the players might expect. Which IMHO can be divided broadly into two camps. Those who love the commercialised version of an MMO and those who love a true version of an MMO.
I found your opinion very well-spoken, and I understand the concern here. I do not think the choice is as binary as you propose however. "Children's toys" have been a thing since forever, even in medieval times. The bear mount might be a little over the top, but other things like the candy store or Swan boat are well within the realm of what someone in that world could create if they were willing to. I am very willing, and in theory, everything in the world is pretty much built with our hands.
Remember, even in LOTR Gandalf had his absurdly over the top fireworks. Let us not push the needle so far into pure realism that we forget people did know how to have fun, even in a high fantasy setting such as this.
OH KNOW! @Gigabear is speaking with facts. CRUCIFY HIM!!! GET THE TORCHES AND PITCHFORKS!!!!
I'm no stranger to forum controversy lol. But I definitely want to do everything in my power to avoid a repeat of last week on the WoW forums.
And honestly, I do find the community here very reasonable. We've discussed this issue in discord as well, and disagreement was had, but it was civil. Although I did learn that a few plan to murder me in game if they see the mount. But he's so cute that a few deaths is a small price to pay for all the joy he'll bring me.
@Rune_Relic I agree completely. I would much rather Intrepid take a more Tolkien like approach to world design. I am hoping that the bear's design in-game is adapted more towards the realistic side. That being said, I didn't buy the mount skin because it does not interest me and honestly I do not care about cosmetics all that much.
When I invested in this game in kick starter, it was made clear there would be no princess dresses ...no tiaras...no manga..nothing cutesey with hearts and now I see Teddy bear mounts..really? Is this what you're doing with that 3 mil?
After thinking about it a while, I thought I would try to paint a picture about that reality and whose version of it the players might expect. Which IMHO can be divided broadly into two camps. Those who love the commercialised version of an MMO and those who love a true version of an MMO.
I found your opinion very well-spoken, and I understand the concern here. I do not think the choice is as binary as you propose however. "Children's toys" have been a thing since forever, even in medieval times. The bear mount might be a little over the top, but other things like the candy store or Swan boat are well within the realm of what someone in that world could create if they were willing to. I am very willing, and in theory, everything in the world is pretty much built with our hands.
Remember, even in LOTR Gandalf had his absurdly over the top fireworks. Let us not push the needle so far into pure realism that we forget people did know how to have fun, even in a high fantasy setting such as this.
Oh @Gigabear /sighs I dont want to sap the joy and fun out of the game either. I dont thing anybody really does. You need humour to break up the dark and foreboding when things get too intense. It just has to be handled with care. And to that point I will expand on what I am trying to get in regard the imaginary world feeling real.
For the force to be accepted in star wars, they knew they had to create a serious world, to have any chance of making it believable. They had to make an alternate reality where disbelief could be totally suspended for just an hour or two. The magic worked for years. The franchise arguably becoming the most successful in the history of film making. But the magic only worked because it was believable because it took itself seriously.
Then came the final film with the leader of the empires forces, turned into a clown. Somehow this clown became leader of the most deadliest and ruthless force in the galaxy. Or they decided to make someone who should have been the most deadliest and ruthless person a clown. Either way, at that very moment, what was a serious subject matter became a parody. The effect ....jarring. At that very moment, the spell that was essential for the force to be believable, and the world to have value and meaning, was broken.
And so what was probably the most profitable IP in the world was trashed. Merchandise just sat there on the shelves, bypassed by anyone and everyone. Loyal fans of the franchise left speechless and stunned at how anyone could be so stupid and frivolous. All because they wanted to poke fun at themselves and lighten the mood.
The same is happening with many film franchises. It has become fashionable to take something serious and turn it into a parody. Destroying the very thing that enabled it to be what it was. Would superman have ever been accepted and successful, if it was portrayed as a parody in film, even though it was built on the impossible ?
There was even a time when the wow franchise was taken seriously. But it became more and more of a parody. More and more of a joke. All they have now is the cash shop as ever more people turn their back on them. A cash shop full of instant gratification offers is the only thing they now have to offer. Even going as far as to build a whole expansion upon a fluffy cuddly wuddly bear. They tried taking the franchise seriously again with the film, but you cant close pandoras box. You cant turn back the clock. There is no delete. There is no undo.
ESO always portrayed the Khajit as the shiftiest beast folk you were ever likely to meet. But one was an exception to the general rule that everyone loved. Razum Dar. Probably one of only a handful of khajit driven by honour and integrity. So when they decided to introduce the RNG boxes to scam people with. Guess who they chose to deal the cards ? Not only were the RNG boxes a complete betrayal of the playerbase, they actually used the most beloved character to ram it down the players throats with a pound or two of salt. Thumbs up Bethesda. Loki would be proud.
TL;DR If you want to be taken seriously, dont make a joke. If you want to make a fantasy world believable, make sure you take it seriously.
TL;DR If you want to be taken seriously, dont make a joke. If you want to make a fantasy world believable, make sure you take it seriously.
Were you speaking of RotJ, or the prequel trilogy? I never saw Palpatine as "a joke" though, in any film. Now Jar Jar Binks? That was an example of going overboard on the comedy for the film. BUT, the very strong fan theory is that he was actually a sith lord being intentionally annoying to throw off any suspicion. If George Lucas had stuck to his guns on that, it would have been pretty good I think. He chickened out though from what we understand. Writing in Doku, who was played by Christopher Lee. An actor I knew best from a Dracula parody after his part as Suraman.
WoW? Well it always did have a self deprecating quality to it I think. What is killing it our a myriad of problems, but pretty much my take on it is the company and team are too big to function smoothly. I do agree on the shop though. I got massive heat from calling tokens Pay to Win as they were announced. Today, you can buy max level items with the gold from those tokens, along with buying boosts to skip all leveling content.
I didn't play ESO pre-crown crates. If it had been dropped on me in the middle of my game I might have been more upset about it I suppose. From my understanding, Intrepid is deadset against them, and especially any pay to win.
In short, I don't think a single mount that is going to be very rare not long after launch will harm the immersion too much, especially if he's implemented well into the world. I dare say he has done more good than harm for Ashes. The controversy over him is how I found the game.
And honestly, I wouldn't mind more of a cute aesthetic as some pretty exclusive cosmetic skins, but after the backlash on this guy I'm not counting on it.
I am a firm believer that anything can be funny, so I disagree that making jokes lessens the seriousness of the world (as long as it is done right that is). There is no need to be so polar. I find wow lore to be fascinating, always have. Pandas didn't kill it for me, they are another part of the lore and they have been in it since the RTS series. Just because something is dark doesn't mean it can't have elements of humor and levity. It only goes too far when the game/universe starts to joke around in moments where it should be serious (many recent movies suffer from this mistake) and/or when they do something at the expense of the lore of the universe (I refused to watch the Warcraft movie, despite how much I love the Warcraft universe, for this reason). Otherwise, I have no problem with the universe containing silliness because that is more realistic to me than an uber uptight and serious one.
When I invested in this game in kick starter, it was made clear there would be no princess dresses ...no tiaras..
One of the kickstarter packages explicitly had a princess dress and crown/tiara.
I don't know enough about how KS went down, but it seems to me that it would be a given that some stuff available in the shop would be a bit more wild than what was normally available. If the Swan boat looked just like every other boat, who is going to drop $500 onto a pack for it?
Going forward I expect to see other cosmetics which push the limit on what fits in the world, and we'll just have to trust Intrepid™ to implement them in such a way that the line into the ridiculous is never crossed. Crossing that line is my job!
I can accept the stufferton as a part of Verra although the lore is a bit of a stretch. What I don't quite understand is why we, the players, are given access to these mounts. Will we be able to play as children characters? Why would adults in Verra run around with items intended for children? Would an adult wear a child's clothes? Or use a child's weapon? Is this not the equivalent of an adult in the real world riding a 6 volt toy vehicle?
I can accept the stufferton as a part of Verra although the lore is a bit of a stretch. What I don't quite understand is why we, the players, are given access to these mounts. Will we be able to play as children characters? Why would adults in Verra run around with items intended for children? Would an adult wear a child's clothes? Or use a child's weapon? Is this not the equivalent of an adult in the real world riding a 6 volt toy vehicle?
Dwarves are basically human children size, so for them it isn't a problem xD
Why would adults in Verra run around with items intended for children?
Because it's a fantasy game, and doing whatever crazy thing that pops into our head that we can't do in reality thanks to social conventions is very appealing to some of us. The phrase "child at heart" comes to mind.
Stuffers is plenty big enough to carry even the biggest of us besides, don't worry.
Why do people buy ridiculous expensive cars to drive in a city, never even using it's horse powers? Why do people risk their lives diving into caves, oceans, lakes? Why do people run around in pink body suits and act ****?
Because we are strange creatures with a multitude of reasons that half the time don't make sense to anyone else. You really question why someone would ride a stuffertoon in a made up world? Heck I can think of a 100 things more ridiculous than that happening somewhere in our actual world right now.
The gallion swan skin is more out of place than stuffertins. Im suprised noones flipping out about that. Personally i think both are fine for the game even though i like neither.
Ok this post made me have to log in and post for the first time because I love it when people complain about immersion breaking things that are added to a game. This game literally has magic so what makes you think someone isn't going to make a magitech type mount? I on the other hand am going to buy it just to make people mad and "break their immersion"
Ok this post made me have to log in and post for the first time because I love it when people complain about immersion breaking things that are added to a game. This game literally has magic so what makes you think someone isn't going to make a magitech type mount? I on the other hand am going to buy it just to make people mad and "break their immersion"
I have actually been considering doing the same thing, and if people choose to attack me, I'm just not gonna fight back so that they gain corruption
The gallion swan skin is more out of place than stuffertins. Im suprised noones flipping out about that. Personally i think both are fine for the game even though i like neither.
It's fair to point out that, as the players who found out about the game because of Stuffertons start showing up, the general consensus on this mount will shift a bit even before the final "less cutesy" in-game model is shown.
Comments
Remember, even in LOTR Gandalf had his absurdly over the top fireworks. Let us not push the needle so far into pure realism that we forget people did know how to have fun, even in a high fantasy setting such as this.
But jokes aside giga you bring up a very valid fact that most people seem to have forgotten.
And honestly, I do find the community here very reasonable. We've discussed this issue in discord as well, and disagreement was had, but it was civil. Although I did learn that a few plan to murder me in game if they see the mount. But he's so cute that a few deaths is a small price to pay for all the joy he'll bring me.
I agree completely. I would much rather Intrepid take a more Tolkien like approach to world design. I am hoping that the bear's design in-game is adapted more towards the realistic side. That being said, I didn't buy the mount skin because it does not interest me and honestly I do not care about cosmetics all that much.
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/38547/breaking-immersion/p1
Let's do the time warp again! Looks like you got relocated to where the action is.
/sighs
I dont want to sap the joy and fun out of the game either. I dont thing anybody really does. You need humour to break up the dark and foreboding when things get too intense. It just has to be handled with care. And to that point I will expand on what I am trying to get in regard the imaginary world feeling real.
For the force to be accepted in star wars, they knew they had to create a serious world, to have any chance of making it believable.
They had to make an alternate reality where disbelief could be totally suspended for just an hour or two.
The magic worked for years.
The franchise arguably becoming the most successful in the history of film making.
But the magic only worked because it was believable because it took itself seriously.
Then came the final film with the leader of the empires forces, turned into a clown.
Somehow this clown became leader of the most deadliest and ruthless force in the galaxy.
Or they decided to make someone who should have been the most deadliest and ruthless person a clown.
Either way, at that very moment, what was a serious subject matter became a parody.
The effect ....jarring.
At that very moment, the spell that was essential for the force to be believable, and the world to have value and meaning, was broken.
And so what was probably the most profitable IP in the world was trashed.
Merchandise just sat there on the shelves, bypassed by anyone and everyone.
Loyal fans of the franchise left speechless and stunned at how anyone could be so stupid and frivolous.
All because they wanted to poke fun at themselves and lighten the mood.
The same is happening with many film franchises.
It has become fashionable to take something serious and turn it into a parody.
Destroying the very thing that enabled it to be what it was.
Would superman have ever been accepted and successful, if it was portrayed as a parody in film, even though it was built on the impossible ?
There was even a time when the wow franchise was taken seriously.
But it became more and more of a parody.
More and more of a joke.
All they have now is the cash shop as ever more people turn their back on them.
A cash shop full of instant gratification offers is the only thing they now have to offer.
Even going as far as to build a whole expansion upon a fluffy cuddly wuddly bear.
They tried taking the franchise seriously again with the film, but you cant close pandoras box.
You cant turn back the clock. There is no delete. There is no undo.
ESO always portrayed the Khajit as the shiftiest beast folk you were ever likely to meet.
But one was an exception to the general rule that everyone loved. Razum Dar.
Probably one of only a handful of khajit driven by honour and integrity.
So when they decided to introduce the RNG boxes to scam people with.
Guess who they chose to deal the cards ?
Not only were the RNG boxes a complete betrayal of the playerbase, they actually used the most beloved character to ram it down the players throats with a pound or two of salt.
Thumbs up Bethesda. Loki would be proud.
TL;DR
If you want to be taken seriously, dont make a joke.
If you want to make a fantasy world believable, make sure you take it seriously.
WoW? Well it always did have a self deprecating quality to it I think. What is killing it our a myriad of problems, but pretty much my take on it is the company and team are too big to function smoothly. I do agree on the shop though. I got massive heat from calling tokens Pay to Win as they were announced. Today, you can buy max level items with the gold from those tokens, along with buying boosts to skip all leveling content.
I didn't play ESO pre-crown crates. If it had been dropped on me in the middle of my game I might have been more upset about it I suppose. From my understanding, Intrepid is deadset against them, and especially any pay to win.
In short, I don't think a single mount that is going to be very rare not long after launch will harm the immersion too much, especially if he's implemented well into the world. I dare say he has done more good than harm for Ashes. The controversy over him is how I found the game.
And honestly, I wouldn't mind more of a cute aesthetic as some pretty exclusive cosmetic skins, but after the backlash on this guy I'm not counting on it.
Going forward I expect to see other cosmetics which push the limit on what fits in the world, and we'll just have to trust Intrepid™ to implement them in such a way that the line into the ridiculous is never crossed. Crossing that line is my job!
Stuffers is plenty big enough to carry even the biggest of us besides, don't worry.
Hope we get some nudity then as well
Why do people risk their lives diving into caves, oceans, lakes?
Why do people run around in pink body suits and act ****?
Because we are strange creatures with a multitude of reasons that half the time don't make sense to anyone else.
You really question why someone would ride a stuffertoon in a made up world?
Heck I can think of a 100 things more ridiculous than that happening somewhere in our actual world right now.
http://legogenre.com/lord-rings-lothlorien-swan-ship-lego-ideas/
I for one welcome our new Teddy Bear overlords.