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.
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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.
This game is progressing well, so whats in the magic sauce?
This game seems to be progressing very very fast, just from the time of the kick starter announcement to the time we get to see videos from pax and the alpha getting announced all later on this year, looks to be very fast progress.
We see many other games in the same genre struggle and take a lot longer to accomplish similar feats.
So what is in the magic sauce here at AoC? Is it the engine? Is it the dev team?
I know other games are making their own engine to be able to support large scale PvP with better performance, is AoC doing something differently?
This makes me happy because im honestly surprised at the work that is being produced by the AoC team as of right now, hopefully they dont run into any issues down the road, but as of right now the progress they have made is very good (in my opinion) and i hope they can keep trucking and hit their deadlines unlike other games out there that seem to be very comfortable constantly pushing things back time and time again.
We see many other games in the same genre struggle and take a lot longer to accomplish similar feats.
So what is in the magic sauce here at AoC? Is it the engine? Is it the dev team?
I know other games are making their own engine to be able to support large scale PvP with better performance, is AoC doing something differently?
This makes me happy because im honestly surprised at the work that is being produced by the AoC team as of right now, hopefully they dont run into any issues down the road, but as of right now the progress they have made is very good (in my opinion) and i hope they can keep trucking and hit their deadlines unlike other games out there that seem to be very comfortable constantly pushing things back time and time again.
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"...while someone digs. Everyone just picks up a shovel and start digging. If you say look somebody's filling in the hole in, then everyone will run over start filling in and solving the problem." - Matt
They haven't really shown us anything innovative yet.
The innovative stuff is still mostly theoretical so far.
We've waited way too long for the Nodes Part 3 vid.
Some dev stayed home from PAX West to work on completing that vid, so we should be seeing that relatively soon.
I'm coming from Landmark and Revival... Ashes could still become vaporware.
Have hope, and have faith in those who strive in our stead and do what we cannot, in our name. You are weary. Rest. Rest, and have faith that your wishes and dreams may once again step into the realm of possibility. Rest and save your strength - for the day is fast approaching when we will step into this new world and forge for ourselves a place within it, a place that has only existed in our memories for far too long.
A home.
Like he contradicts himself every minute... basically he is complaining that AoC hasnt shown anything special while being in Alpha 0, following that by saying its under NDA, yet still bitching about it and assuming that they(the devs) owe us this in some way.
I dont know, something about his pompous attitude in that video really annoyed me... Like he knows its super early in the development, most games dont even show you a dungeon run while being this early in alpha... let alone everything they showed in pax.
He got a response from one of the GM's, he has it as his first comment, but i dont know if its just me or if i am making too much out of it, it was just what hit me while i was watching his video(dont know who he is, just random vid i found on youtube).
Priceless.
But i am really annoyed by this video
Firstly this guy seems to contradict himself constantly about the NDA which means dev's cant share things with us, while at the same time wanting the dev's to showcase all the new features... Im sure that even the basic noob knows what an NDA is, and especially how it applies more so throughout an alpha then anything else.
Yet here we are, this guy is semi flaming the devs/throwing a tantrum because he did not get to see any of the so called "special" features while watching the Pax demo....
To me he seems to be forgetting how early in the development process we currently are.... Not even at alpha 1 yet...which is many months away....
Maybe im looking into this too much, but overall that video just seemed to rub me the wrong way, all the way through it he just seems to be throwing snarky comments at the dev team for not showing *him* special features...
He did get a comment from one of the GM's i think and its his first comment linked on his video, but frankly, i think hes lucky to of gotten that and that AoC guys are very nice for doing that, i dont think he deserved that at all from the content of that video, which was extremely unfair, and uneducated from someone that is supposed to be involved in this genre overall.
But, the purpose of the demos is to allow people who know nothing about Ashes to experience some of the combat while the devs explain the concepts. And for those of us who know more about the design to get a bit of hands-on while the devs review the basic concepts.
And to demo how the current combat design feels. Most people at PAX enjoy the combat and enjoy the demos immensely.
At PAX West, I was disappointed that we couldn't explore the villages.
I want more details about nodes and how they affect villages and cities.
It would be great to get a greater view of that, but...
The game is still Alpha 0. The devs are still focused on Humans.
I would not be surprised to find that the nodes do not yet represent the racial style of the "dominant" race that progresses the node.
The demo at PAX East gives people a taste of dungeon design and highlights the utility skills and shows the basic concept of a node progressing from an encampment to a village. And, probably still includes a tiny taste of the caravan system.
In 6 months, Alpha 1 will start.
No NDA.
I'm not expecting to start with much past what we've seen so far in the PAX demos.
Hopefully more classes and races will be available.
Some artisan classes would be nice.
But, it's too early to be uber-hyped by the concepts in Steven's head.
And Fevir is correct that most people at PAX are being snowed by the great art and the ease of developing basic RPGs with the Unreal Engine.
And Steven's salesmanship.
Um yeah, we all know they are hard at work, its why seeing any footage this early on is a simple bonus to everyone, most games dont even show you that.....Everything at Pax is a bonus, nothing should be expected and no one should have such unrealistic expectations to be disappointed from Alpha 0 footage....
Fevir's video is a poor representation of his knowledge of MMO's and the development process they got through to show the content. He is out there crying and moaning and complaining about the game not showing him all the fancy new mechanics even though he knows they are being worked on as we speak, yet still putting on the show making himself look like a victim out there...
It was bad video and bad content and these kind of videos simply do not help the game grow while its being developed.
BUT, I am not expecting the devs to be so far along with nodes and races that Alpha 0 currently changes based on the dominant race. I expect that the racial style of the node(s) is either Aelar or Pyrai based on starting location.
That is not a contradiction.
Seeing/playing demos is what it is.
I was able to purchase a house and decorate it some in Revival - that was a bonus. That game is vaporware.
I was able to play the Alpha and Beta for EQNext/Landmark - for months. That was a bonus. That game is vaporware.
Fevir did not cry and moan about the game not showing him new mechanics.
He simply stated the facts that Ashes has not shown us revolutionary new mechanics... yet. Those are mostly still in Stephen's head
So, there isn't really much reason to be super hyped by what has been shown in the demos - it's mostly just showing us how easy it is to develop beautiful RPG gameplay with the Unreal Engine.
For some reason, some people get butt hurt when people share a realistic perspective of the progress rather than an overly hyped perspective of the progress.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Just an attempt at a shitty joke
These guys know what they are doing...