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.
Cosmetics, cosmetics and uhh... More cosmetics! Yay!
Is it just me or is there an overload with the amount of cosmetics this game has to offer?
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In modern games, we either deal with pay2win, or we have to pay a sub on top of a cosmetic cash shop. Meh... not a fan. As great as the Ashes devs have been speaking out against pay2win, ultimately the planned monetization model for this game is still a step backwards from the "good old days" of gaming, where you didn't have to deal with any bullshit at all. Just pay a monthly sub, and gain access to 100% of the game content, including cosmetics.
That said, they have come down decisively against pay2win, and that's a good thing. As long as the "it's just cosmetics" cash shop is relatively unintrusive to my gameplay (ie. there is still a good assortment of cosmetics I can earn through gameplay) then it's something I can live with, even if I'm not happy about it. And maintaining a healthy dose of cosmetics obtainable through gameplay is also something Steven has committed to, so now we just have to wait and see how well all of this is followed through on.
Cosmetics are the only reason I'm even considering the apocalypse before the questing pre stories that is...
The simple fact is that a range of cosmetics motivates the behavior of some players.
Yes, there are a lot, but then even if the character customizer is lacking when it comes out ( which no-one expects) then you can still make your toon stand out from the crowd.
I wish that we could all get free cosmetics, but I'm still also wishing for a pony for Christmas.
{A little one to pull a buggy, much more eco friendly and cheaper to run than wishing for a chopper, though (Dear Santa) I wouldn't turn one down.}
In the meantime, I shall buy the cosmetics I think I would use and ignore those I wouldn't.
No one is likely to quit an MMORPG because of having choices open to them.
Its really sad that most are removed already before the game is even launched.
@Grimseethe Removed as in no longer available via cash shop?
As I understood it, and please correct me if I'm wrong, alternatives / similarities to the cash shop items will be available in game.
Yes remove as in no longer available.
Most MMO players are also collectors, I'm not sure why devs don't realise tat by now.
It's not those old MMOs I'm pining for, it's the monetization model.
A monthly sub is an honest business model where the company only bugs you once a month asking for money, and then leaves you the hell alone for the next 30 days. I pay 1 recurring fee and get access to everything the game has on offer. Just a simple, streamlined, honest transaction between the customer and the business. Instead, now every time I open an inventory screen in some free2play MMO I am "reminded" that I could have even more phat lootz if I also open my wallet one more time. Bleh.
Unfortunately, all I see when I look at Apocalypse is something I'm going to be forced to play (despite not really liking the BR genre) if I want to unlock cosmetics for use in the MMO proper. Depending on which cosmetics I want, I might even have to pay to play Apocalypse (if I want something from the Legendary quest path.)
Paying to play a game I don't even enjoy in order to unlock items for the game I actually do enjoy. Not really an ideal situation.
Well I suppose we all have our opinions regardless 'w'
Yeah, as I understood the situation a year ago, cosmetic sold via the cash shop would be available in game somewhere.
Looking at the wiki now, I guess that was wishful thinking.
"That's just life"
And as we all know, video games should function just like real life...
As for the "cosmetics don't matter" argument, that doesn't hold any water. If cosmetics had no impact on a player's enjoyment of a game, then no one would be willing to pay real money for them. The reason cosmetics sell so well is because they do, in fact, matter.
We have examples of entire games built around largely cosmetic customization, like the Sims. In many games, cosmetics are handed out as the main, or indeed only, rewards for completing achievements. Some cosmetics sell for tens of thousands of dollars in games like CS:GO. We created a new word for economies based entirely around cosmetic skins called "skinonomies," that's how popular cosmetics are when sold for real money.
The exclusion of cosmetics from your game negatively impacts the player's enjoyment of the game. That's a fact. The exclusion of cosmetics from your game unless players pay obscene amounts of money for them (such as $100 worth of exclusive new cosmetics released each month before the game has even launched...) has the same effect.
Again, I'll say what I said earlier. Cash shops were supposed to REPLACE subscription models, not be added to them. The justification for cash shops was that the company needed some way to make money once they eliminated their monthly sub. That's how cash shops started in the MMO industry. And as much as I like what I hear from Intrepid with regards to pay2win, their hands aren't exactly clean when they decide to stick a cash shop (of any kind) inside a game that also charges a monthly sub. Don't expect me to start liking that BS any time soon. The best you'll get out of me is, "I hate it, but I can live with it."
That's about the best anyone should be able to stomach saying about a monetization strategy that can't even be bothered to unlock 100% of the game after you've paid them a monthly fee.
There's a lot more to ethical and responsible game design than simply ensuring your game isn't pay2win. Some people act like, so long as a game avoids selling power for cash, then the developer can do whatever else they like and we just have to sit there and take it because, "At least it's not pay2win." I don't subscribe to that belief.
Honestly we knew as far back as A0 that cosmetics will be the only thing in the cash shop, it's nothing new I backed the game expecting them to monetize cosmetics so the impact it makes on me is smaller compared to others, sure the whole Apocalypse thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth but before I see how exactly everything turns out I don't want to bash Intrepid for it.
You don't have to like the cash shop but that won't change the fact that it will be there and we knew about it from the beginning.
As far as the whole 'cosmetics matter' part of this goes, well to me skins/cosmetics don't make a difference when I am playing, they look nice but that's it so this will differ from person to person.
I already said that it is just my opinion and if it disagrees with your views on the matter then let's drop the subject as getting into an argument over it is pointless 'w'
I'm so old school in that sub games should get you everything....and cosmetics are not just "fluff"; however, I've come to accept that game companies have figured out how important appearances are to players and monetized it but say it's not important because it doesn't affect game play knowing that you play the game to obtain those items.
That's how important cosmetics are to people, in that they will jump thru hoops, play game styles they don't like, in order to obtain them. In the old days, you paid your fee and you were able to have all the game had to offer if you were willing to do the requite "quests".