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.
Comments
I would very much like to participate in the similar content Ashes will offer. I am also looking forward to see server first content regarding node development and castle sieges.
I will never forget "Last train to Cairo".
especially if they are related to that character and feel personal...
2: very short and silly quests can also give the player a sense of refreshment ... for example finding a cat or dog or mouse and give them some food in exchange for a silly conversation!
3: epic quests with epic rewards and truly epic stories.
the ones that tend to feel like an achievement when you do them.
and the only way to achieve them requires your own powers not forcing you to make a raid for it
Guild Wars 2 was late to the party with Guild Content, but once they implemented it, they nailed it which made sure that I could grow a community and still to this day have a guild that have grown from the experiences we have had together.
First of all, to unlock the guild content the guild would have to level up: You started with some pretty generic quests to choose from, an example of this could be the Guild Bounties https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Bounty; All information that is given is that you are looking for a Quaggan NPC named "Poobadoo" and that he is in a specific zone.
The bounty themselves moves around in the zone and can be quite hard to find in the limited time you got to complete the quests, so time is of the essence and you and your guild have to spread out to be able to find the target. Once found The guildie would have to communicate with the rest and explain the exact location so everyone could come and try to subdue the NPC together, which was quite hard and required 15+ people.
Once you leveled up the guild you got access to more interesting quests, for example Guild Combat missions, where you and your guild would have to defend a location with mines, turrets and cannons to try and hold back the enemy hordes, or the Guild Race where you and your guild would have to go through a Jumping Puzzle as a transformed animal with special abilities, this was by far the most laughter that we got from the game.
The goal is that X amount of people from the guild complete the "Race"/"puzzle" within the targeted time, but along the way there are enemies which you have no ways to defend yourself against other than the three different transform specific abilities you are added. An example of this was the Spider Run https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spider_Scurry.
You transformed to a spider and could detect traps with a long cooldown and you could "Teleport" with your web. As each cooldown was relatively long you had to utilize these and communicate together with your guildies in order to plan when to use the abilities so each of you avoided the traps and the enemies along the way, it must also be said that one or two hits from enemies in this form was enough to kill you so you would have to start from the beginning again.
Not everyone completed it, but everyone had fun. Once the guild completed a mission, all participants would get a special guild currency that could unlock unique items that could only be bought with the Guild Currency, which were a great way to make people come and join by themselves.
Then there was the Guild Puzzles themselves, this was an epic scale puzzle in which 20 people had to cooperate and talk to each other in order to complete them. I recall one of my favourites were Langmar Estate https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Langmar_Estate_(guild_puzzle). Here you and your guild had to go through multiple rooms where each of them had a puzzle that required all people to participate and to do the specific required task.
A good example is the curtain part of this puzzle.
• 4 people have to jump up and reach four levers
• 6 people have to wait at the outer curtains (which are standing in the same order as the inner curtains)
• 6 people have to wait at the inner curtains
• Once the lever is pulled, the curtain reveal an individual painting for everyone standing at the outer curtains where the painting is doing a specific emote (example: /wave)
• Now everyone at the inner curtains have a very limited time to do the emote which corresponds to the outer curtain painting (which they are unable to see) so here the inner and outer people have to communicate. If everyone manage to do this, they will be able to continue in the puzzle.
I liked this part because it forced people to form at least six groups of two and make sure that each of them are communicating perfectly to each other. I have seen friendships start based on this little communication, and that have been memorable to me and memorable to my guild.
These experiences where communication have been the only way to continue, where we felt we were something greater together have been most memorable.
An MMO does not always have to be about doing most damage or perfectly executing your combos, sometimes doing something together that requires nothing but teamwork is even more fun.
Just to give an idea of the difference puzzles, here is a list of them with a guide on how to complete them, by Dulfy: http://dulfy.net/2013/04/28/gw2-guild-puzzles-guild-mission-guide/
From my player perspective, Guild Wars 2 also added something else that I found memorable; Large winter and Halloween events which had a big impact and intertwined with the history of the world instead of being something plastered on top of. It felt meaningful and had unique content, for example Mad Kings Clock Tower, which bring me to another point:
Guild Wars 2 was not afraid to make some content which they knew would be too hard for some people. There were plenty in my guild that never got to complete the Mad Kings Clock Tower Jumping puzzle, not because they did not try, but because it was too difficult. Sure it bothered them and they cursed about it, but they enjoyed it too. Being someone which held the title gained from completing the Jumping Puzzle felt meaningful because you knew that it was not something everyone could get. Completing the Mad Kings Clock Tower for the first time after four hours of trying non-stop was probably one of the most memorable MMO experiences I have ever had. A video of the Jumping puzzle: Guild Wars 2 Mad King's Clock Tower Jumping Puzzle
Thanks to the team at Intrepid for giving us an opportunity to have an impact on this game!
Cheers
Raids or fights that keep me on edge, give that "wow" factor, and have good rewards for me and my friends... Things like Molten Core raids back in the early WoW days will always be in my "remember when" stories.
What I miss most about the good ole days of MMO's was the idea that we work together for the benefit of each other, not the extremely self seeking, self betterment drive that most games have now. Remember when we actually became a community with our guild? When Guilds loved to be with each other and help each other, and didn't jump ship to be carried by the next best thing. Man... those were the days.
I find the best quests to be ones that don't send you on a task, but on a journey where you're constantly tempted to stray from the path with side quests/activities, allowing you to really get immersed in the game world rather than feeling like you're just ticking off boxes in a "to do list".
I also like when quests send you past dangerous, higher level areas or dungeons as it gives the player a glimpse of what they'll experience in the future and what to look forward to (and potentially the memorable experience of running for your life from high level monsters).
Another thing I find is important is having actually challenging boss fights, even while questing. There's no bigger buzzkill than having a boss at the end of an epic quest line that you practically one shot, possibly without ever even seeing a single boss mechanic.
I hope Intrepid will make the main antagonists mechanically challenging, regardless of players' level or gear.
Story is also important, but there's only so many times you can save the entire world/region by your lonesome before it becomes a cliche. In that sense I always enjoyed the overall story arch of vanilla WoW, where you weren't saving the world alone, but together with other players.
I think quests should also be rewarding enough to feel worth completing; too often in MMOs you run into the problem where all you get for completing a quest is some low quality item that you wind up selling to a vendor for next to nothing.
Probably the most memorable raid for me is still Molten Core from vanilla WoW, spending weeks/months progressing boss by boss, gearing up the guild & then facing Ragnaros at the end. I remember having to run other group dungeons for gear and actually having to prepare for that fight.
This stands in stark contrast to other MMOs I've played since, where you basically just waltz in and clear a whole raid in one evening.
Also I love special raids or dungeons that are special. I love a raid in GW called Bastion of the Penitent and the boss would hop in and out of the dimension. I love the idea of pocket dimensions and hidden secrets like that. Makes it very unique.
Also with dungeons I hate how ordinary many are. If there were say a Festival of Faries event. it would be so cool to have all these things happen maybe an eclipse that will happen randomly that week which will activate a door to a secret dungeon that will spawn. I hate how dungeons happen year round and people burn out. I would love some dungeons to be rare and pop seasonally, monthly, etc. That way there is more demand and love when they release. like say you have a dungeon that can't be accessed because in the winter the ice freezes all over and you can't open the door. Well if you wait until summer or spring time then that ice may melt making it available to be ventured where a new boss, new rooms, or new items may be available.
Some of the quest that I have best memoir of are those that follow certain lore or take you to a series of actions that change your surroundings a bit, for example, theres this quest that was in a village, you are arriving, and theres no "general goods shop" because the wagon that was transporting it was attacked by zombies, so you have the quest to go where the wagon was attacked, defeat the zombies and return with various packages of merchandise and THEN you have acces to the general shop of the settlement, or maybe you can get rid of a plague of monsters in certain area so some NPC can stablish there and then you have a campment where you can travel to get some sort of items
On another hand you cannot forget about the funny quest, like the ones that have a mini-game, there was this "plant vs zombies" side quest in World of Warcraft that was so much fun!!!
Oh and also the ones that make you go gathering items then melding them of trading them for other things several times until you acquire a very useful item or piece of equipment
I usually had really hard time getting into lore in MMOs, because I know that what I do doesn't matter. In Rift you were Ascended, in GW2 you're the hero, but the thing is that there are another 100 billions heroes, so it doesn't really matter what I do. So I have a really hard time getting into quests that are lore related.
What I really loved was getting to places in different ways. For example in Aion you could skip tons of mobs through gliding, but that required knowing how to do it and practice.
I wouldn't mind for example quests to make the node grow, like collecting stuff, or things related to nodes. If they have to be lore wise, well, keep them concise, and offer other ways to expand on the lore.
Also, I know you will probably have voice overs. I rarely enjoy them, mostly because it's exposition over exposition, and it's NPC you won't ever see again, so it's not likely that I will care what happens to them. Also, usually most mmo (imo even ESO) have way too average voice actors and I don't feel emotion in their storytelling.
I despise daily quests. Or weeklies. Anything that forces me to play the game or "I'm losing progression" it's something I don't enjoy. Maybe I wanna play another game with friends who don't play my current MMO, but you always feel that itch when not doing your dailies.
Are there any raids or events that you'll never forget? What made them unforgettable?
For me it was Crucia in Rift. Loved that raid. Took me a lot of time to kill last boss, but when we did (with a pug group nonetheless) it felt great. I don't recall ever getting a piece of loot, it was mostly having killed the boss, more than the loot.
Shadowfang keep
Scarlet Monastery
Etc.
And I really enjoyed the raids, they just felt really epic and places like Naxx put people to the test. Very few guilds ever beat it before the expansion released.
Speaking of expansions. Karazhan may have been one the best raids ever. So many bosses all with unique designs. enter the stage and face a new boss each week, little red riding hood, etc. And the live action chess game before the last boss, so much fun.
As far as a good quest, I understand the kill x // find y. It's not that bad, but when you get into class specific quests that have purpose and a desired outcome beyond just experience, and something that involved teamwork and traveling the world. Those are what I enjoy the most.
I have mixed feeling for those Jumping mission. Hate and love at the same time, with a little flavor of disturbed, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and joy.
Q: Memorable?
A: Yes definitely. I can never forget those jumping puzzles, ever!
Q: Wanna try again?
A: NO. THANK you, sir, I am good.
Another fond memory from WoW was playing through Naxxramas and intentionally taking the route through Heigan the Unclean. Can't count how many times we wiped because someone was a tiny bit slow to react. "Dancing" was a crazy fun mechanic. Wish more games had those kinds of fun and challenging aspects in Raids and dungeons.
As far as non-quest content, FFXIV crafting and gathering is very standout for me. I had all but given up hope in MMO's for having a good crafting system. But allowing me to be a pure crafter really resonated with me.
Now as far as combat was concerned, World of Warcraft still stands as one of my favorites, simply due to how polished most of it was. Say what you will about that game, but the art team and designers behind combat flow usually did a wonderful job, and it showed.
Other stuff I really liked from Everquest 2, which is memorable because I haven't played it in YEARS and I still remember doing these, is the Betrayal questlines, and the Killer/Hunter/Slayer/Destroyer title grinds. Both were very long, arduous processes that gave you a great sense of accomplishment when you were done. For Betrayal, it was very tricky getting started because you were sneaking into enemy territory and performing all sorts of shenanigans to get them to like you, while slowly becoming hostile to your old faction. For the titles, they were simply killing X number of enemies. But if you saw someone with a Destroyer title. That's 10,000 mobs. That's dedication for some name candy.
This lake was a special place, because the spawn rate was very high, the enemies did relatively medium damage and it was a flying zone, so killing the enemies and seeing them was easy.
But such coveted place couldn't go unnoticed, therefore since it was open world PvP, you had hours upon hours of fun defending that spot, fighting other guilds/groups and when you eventually won, it felt great, like you deserved that farming spot, and it added meaning to a menial task like endlessly killing mobs
I guess memorable doesn't always have to be positive.
herotheking's post reminds me that one of the things I hated about EQ2 -once I recognized the design pattern- were the quests that sent us out to kill 50 Brittle Skeletons. After a while you realize that a Brittle Skeleton only spawns after you kill 15 Bloated Skeletons or Crumbling Skeletons.
That's the kind of buzkill grind that causes people to quit playing.
In FFXI I remember some of the early town quests cause they were a one time deal with a piece of gear and some fame. Later I remember the fun of the trading card game and this was a popular quest because you needed to complete it to get the black mages warp 2 spell.
In my ideal MMO there won't be any quests that reward exp or money and would advance the player in their environment this will lead the devs to slow down on quest development and use it where its needed to create more well polished thought out quests
I also love the titles and other items that are time-frame specific. Not only because it ends up being a badge of honour for those that got to participate, but also because then you can show just how long you have been playing that particular game.
I understand you specifically are asking about quests, but by limiting it, you're not allowing ideas to be heared.
That and I'm just so frustrated with you.
What I felt like you were offering with Ashes of Creation as a game was the hope of an online MMORPG that finally bought roleplaying out of the shadows and united differing playstyles, whilst things may have changed since I was locked out and ignored once again in December, I am sceptical that the lack of apparent concern to uphold the implied goals has been addressed, but I would be exstatic to be proved wrong.
I also understand that last time I raised this I was ghosted by you, whist at the same time having my name personally mocked in a broadcast, I'm not sure if you even recognise how wrong doing that was. So I'm hoping for abit more professionalism and instead that you see past any differences in opinions over what counts as valuable RP, and please attempt to see any shred of merit within my ideas.
You don't have to like me, but it would be nice as a customer / gamer, if you could hear me out.
So yes anyway ... real life interactions with other players. Player led story lines and player created /run content.
Whilst you, Intrepid are creating the story and the game, just like a book, everyone will personally experience it differently. There are a significant number of players who are interested in embellishing and bringing your story to life through RP.
There are significant challenges that any 'hardcore' rolepiayer encounters, the largest of which are trolls and those who take pleasure in deliberately interupting others harmless enjoyment.
Reworking what an MMORPG is, you have the chance to actually unite everyone and bring an end to the frustrations of many who are just trying to enjoy your game, the way that they want.
- Issue 1 - Roleplayers being trolled at events -
Past solution, agree on a server that works as a main rp hub. - Declined "officially" by Intrepid because of not wishing to split the population. So the RP community will solve this by agreeing a non-official server, though this has meant in the past that the RP population can lose those who are unable to locate the non- Intrepid based location announcement.
The other result of trolling is to drive what can be a great art underground, which only adds to its 'freak/wierd' reputation.
How could this issue be solved by including an inclusivity of non- roleplayers?
The vast majority of gamers are mature enough to find roleplayers harmless and let them get on with things.
So I would love to be able to 'hire' non-rpers as security at RP events to handle trolls, holding events in a non-safe zone would only add to most stories, and having the security decide to suddenly turn on the RPers because of a better offer, great!
This would mean being able to have some sort of automated contract system, probably with the ability to give reputation points on it, so you can see the trustworthy security and who's out to just be a twonk.
As I understand it this kind of contract system will be available in at least one other upcoming MMO out there, but my Dodgy brain fails me as to who.
No ongoing support needed, benefits to all playstyles.- IE help if having to gather resources in a dangerous zone/ caravan protection.
Issue 2 - Finding Roleplay.
Logging onto any new game, finding other roleplayers is easy, but sadly once the game has been up and running a while it can truly get tricky.
Having a Roleplay finder tool would help a great deal. You want us to be able to play how we'd like? Then help us to make is easy.
Lets have RP flags.
I'd personally have not just a tool like historic group finders, but also have a 'text gps service' so if you wander within the same 'zone' as a fellow rper you get a message.
Now how to mix the non rpers and make rp more mainstream?
One idea that individuals often come up with in many MMO's, but has been transferred to a live game best in my opinion by the text adventure 'discworld'.
In game newspapers.
You click on an in game item and a list of text of the 'newspaper' comes up. Whilst graphics would be great, KISS.
It's overseen and managed by trusted in game players, possibly voted for in a similar manner to the mayor, and each 'article' comes with a report function in case of spam etc. A certain number of unique reports, and the article is automated to be withdrawn. No requirement for official mods involvement. More importantly no need to leave the game and hunt around for an external site.
Why is this useful? Not only would it help it normalise RP, but I would guess that the RP section would be one of the smaller against the 'help wanted' or general advertising section. (Making set options for this might avoid lowering the tone of the game)
Issue 3 - Roleplay props.
As has been mentioned on multiple occasions, having personalised emotes would be beneficial to rp: whilst personalised graphics and animation would be great, just being able to change the text on existing emotes has been around since some of the earliest MMO's.
Lotro managed to allow you to:
/laugh = Brings up an laughing avatar animation and a set 'x laughs' text
but also to:
/laugh chuckles sardonically = Brings up an laughing avatar animation and an 'x chuckles sardonically' text.
In game chat bubbles, in a crowded room of rpers and non rpers things can get confusing, chat bubbles helps sort things out.
Actually being able to emote 'pay' someone. This has been lacking!
ACTUAL in game items!!!!
I don't know how many random world items that you plan to have. Items that you are, able to pick it up and have your avatar looking like their holding it.
But given the brain ache that even thinking about that causes, I doubt it'll be too many, non game relevant items.
It was made very clear to myself that whilst some rpers can overlook 'imaginary items' that other rpers bring out of their imagination, others will shrug and think that if they can't see it in the game world, it doesn't exist.
So wouldn't it be wonderful to prevent friction and add to the immersiveness of the world if you could get more holdable items?
Ok, this would be require more work from Intrepid, I was personally thinking that this would likely require a cash shop purchase, to buy say a parcel of five differently looking containers that you could show being held in game and pass around.
Heck, I'm sure that you've worked on enough asset in game items that you could add / charge for to the 'hold' bundle.
Given that these wouldn't have any in game benefit other than RP, I am unsure of any hurdles to this.
Maybe it's not something that your character can graphically/animatedly be seen holding in game, but a box added to (I hope we have) the players inspectable character bio, in which the item can be seen and taken for your own personally 'box'
This would make the standard pickpocket roleplay a lot more valid, just send a message saying 'x is attempting to steal y' and let the player with the item decide to let them take it, not succeed, or choose a dice roll to let fate decide.
Intrepid has the chance to make a real difference to rpers gaming experience, from what I had seen so far, it hasn't been considered worthy of addressing.
To date my memorable content for AOC is all negative.
I came into the game happy and optomistic, attempting to do what I could to bring about a positive community, but after being ignored and personally demeaned, one kind of loses hope.
You know why I no longer trust your word, but please, please change my mind about your morals, and show me that you are truly devoted to making Ashes an Inclusive, outstandingly immersive game that it had the potential to be.
Please stay true to your word of bringing RP back into MMOrpG's again.
A good looking environment by itself ISN'T enough - look at BDO.
I understand this may not be the "memorable content" that you are seeking, but I need to finally put it somewhere.
I woud really like to see those Open World Bosses mechanics/spawners in AoC too.
Uniqueness. Story. And often, a challenge.
A long time ago, in the game Nexus TK: The Kingdom of the Winds, I remember my first quest to get a legend mark for my character: Slay the Ice Beast.
In terms of story, it had to do with collecting the heart of the ice creature for a medicine to help heal some guy's son... or something like that (can't remember to be honest).
You had to craft special shoes to walk across lava (could only use them twice: once across to the ice beast, then back - then they burn up and are gone.) Then, to "fight" the ice beast, you had to get him to attack you and trick him in to trying to cross the lava to attack you. Even a max level, crazy stat character would practically get 1-shot if the ice beast hit him... but one or two steps in the lava, and he would die and leave behind his heart for you to collect. So even a new adventurer with a wooden sword would be able to defeat him.
Without a walk-through or help, this seemed like an impossible quest, especially for a new character - but the challenge and critical thinking made it super enjoyable and memorable! And all of the quests back then had to be player-prompted with chat. You had to type a key word the NPCs would respond to just to get the quest pop-up. Otherwise it's just a normal NPC vendor. Some times just finding the secret word to the right character to start the quest was part of the adventure.
Are there any raids or events that you'll never forget?
Karazhan in World of Warcraft.
What made them unforgettable?
This was my introduction to raiding, but what made if unforgettable was it showed me the possible skills-gap between players, and how a skills-gap could actually make the game more fun. Playing with unfamiliar people, the place (at the time) was crazy difficult. Then playing with people who knew what they were doing (with the same level of gear), could pull multiple packs and literally say "Alrighty people, we're going for a happy face with the dead bodies!" This instantly became a metric for the level of "fun" I had in the game. A blend of challenge and competency.
i‘m happy to receive my goods for crafting 🙃
Go to the forest and hunt some deers, i could need 20 greater deer skins. as your reward you‘l receive my stinky sandals.
That was my Favorite End Raid boss ever in WOW.
What makes a quest memorable? Are there any raids or events that you'll never forget? What made them unforgettable?
I loved the Class Quests in SWTOR. You became hooked on the story line and trying to figure out what was going on. You had options on how to do each quest. Light or Dark, Good or Bad. And those decision molded your character. I found myself caring about the NPCs in my story. The back stories felt real and the immersion was awesome!!
I would love for Ashes to have Area Storyline quest. Where we could decide to help the Goblins reach their evil goals or try to prevent it. Quests that relate to developing the Nodes. Where we can support different NPC Contagonist and fortify their positions or spy on them and secretly support their opponents.
I don't mind gather 100 item quests if they have a reason and story behind it that is affecting the balance of power in the area.
Also I like the idea of traveling quests for exploration. It would be cool if MOBs would relocate to other Nodes based on player decisions and actions.
I think if we don't focus on the lowest denominator but raise the bar. We may find out that the lowest denominator might get inspired and step it up a bit.
I'm not really a raider so I'll pass on the other two.
2. Not about quests maybe but secret locations or locations that are hard to get to. I've said this many times but I love how you have all these secret places and hidden jumping puzzles in guild wars 2 that take you to cool or beautiful locations underground or something.
3. Quests that turn out to end up completely different from what you thought they would be. Like, some basic quest to deliver apples that turn out as a chase in the mountains because of bandits, the NPC actually being a bad guy in disguise or whatever.
Necromancy is when you raise the dead. Necrophilia is when the dead raise you.