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.
Comments
I don't even know anymore. When I backed ashes, steven sold me, but for the past year we have had nothing but problems and it's gotten to the point where I don't trust the devs at all. Hell, the only reason I stay here is because of the comunity, and even that has disappeared. I know I sound entitled and angry and I shouldn't, but after all these years I feel like nothing has moved on if anything its been a step back. I really do hope ashes becomes what everyone hopes it is but for me its over.
If that's truly how you feel then do what I did and leave for a bit. Come back next year when things have progressed further in the development. I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point but I doubt there is much Intrepid can show us right now that isn't "just a concept". Their focus for the past year has been on the foundations. Things like the netcode, servers, game engines, etc. These are things that have a huge impact on gameplay but aren't very presentable to the public.
Do you expect them to show you every line of code they have written this year to prove their progress to you? On a side note, exactly what "problems" are you referring to here? Aside from the website I haven't really noticed anything disastrous in the development so far.
So dramatic. You got sold on an idea. It takes time to translate that into a game. A consequence of having a game with so many new core principles is that it's going to take a while for each individual piece to be ready. More importantly, a game that aims to be as interdependent on its various systems is going to be non-linear... each individual piece will not work without the rest of it. To have a real mmo alpha/beta, they need some finished iteration of the node system (including mayoral stuff ideally), class skills, augments, quests, open world dungeons etc. If they have any single one finished it's hard to get a feel for it still without the rest. This is why the asset development stuff, as lackluster as it is imo, is the best they can do to show us progress. They made a cool parrot, that's something tangible, you can see its progress in a standalone manner. We're stuck with that sort of update I think until most of the core game designs are all near complete (at least some iteration of them).
I know. I think I need to do what wanderingmist said and just take a break from ashes and come back later. I am sorry for my rant I think ive just been to close to ashes for far too long
something like that
It happens to us all when we're following a project that is dear to us.
I know the game (mmo) got push back till next year.. I was thinking Q1, but now feel like it might be a Q2 launch.. So a year out.. Q1 is roughly six months out.. and I don't 'feel' like we are six months out, but a year out.. Just my thoughts. Hope I'm wrong..
It being a testing platform, nothing more, nothing less really depends on where the person is pulling their soundbite from. It has been everything from a testing phase, to a standalone product with its own monetization model.
It can be all of those things at different times. A testing platform now, then later a standalone product. As a standalone product it may have its own monetization scheme. No matter the intentions behind it, apoc will be helpful for AoC mmo. If the question is: is it the optimal way to help further AoC mmo? yeah, maybe not (I don't know) but does it really matter? People will demand things faster even if it is/were optimal.
Side note: truly worst case scenario (for most) is where the mmo is scrapped and IS tries to make money off apoc or w.e. I just don't get the point of worrying about it... will the feeling of "I knew it" or "I told you so" really matter at that point? You trusted an idea, the execution will hopefully satisfy you. Relax and enjoy the ride.
I have faith that IS isn't going to scrap the MMO in favor of APOC, I think the larger issue with APOC is that regardless of whether it's a testing phase or a standalone product, the community backed an MMO, and giving us a BR is a tough sell for a lot of people.
The "community" at any given time consists of those who bitch the loudest. The "community" will never be happy, not if they had no information, a br or a complete mmo. This will continue into launch and beyond.
It's fine to be upset though, you need to represent your opinions for IS to see. I'm just expressing mine
This is very true. Unfortunately games development is littered with examples of companies failing to deliver on their promises, lying to their players and generally just being complete assholes. The result of this is that many players have become very cynical and jaded, not trusting anything until it actually delivers what was promised.
We've just been burned too many times not to fear the fire, as it were. There are actually very few games companies whose word I trust anymore (Fromsoftware and Nintendo being notable examples).
Except it has been called both a testing platform and a standalone product by Intrepid, which is what I meant by when you get your soundbite.
I'm unclear on your point. Whether it is labelled a "testing platform" or "standalone product" currently doesn't change its functional role for the AoC mmo, it only changes its own (apoc's) future. And again, it can be more than one thing over time.
Critically thought out and deep insight is what we need from Steven and his vision. I feel that a desire for there to be less of a sunk cost for testing, is just kind of a pipe dream. The costs of doing APOC poorly will reflect on the marketing for the MMO, which when you think about it, is what all this radio silence is supposed to achieve. However word of mouth is the power they're hoping to utilize here and yet its the biggest risk they're taking by exposing people to APOC and then cutting access to APOC abruptly, is very disruptive to the players they'd hope to gain and this is a pretty niche genre with a tight community of media. Doing stuff like this again is really not a good idea.
Again this idea that APOC is a "product" in its own right. Where exactly are you getting this impression from? Everything I have read suggests that it is nothing more than a testing platform. And quite frankly, if Intrepid need to test their servers and infrastructure, can you think of a better way of doing it?
Maybe they plan on turning it into its own stand-a-lone product/game mode later on down the line, but right now they are using it to stress test the servers and the core combat systems. And yes, of course they are going to expose people to an unfinished product during the testing phases of development. How else are they supposed to stress test their servers and performance in a realistic setting?????
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, so with many games these days charging full price for early access and all that bullshit, which is simply an excuse for companies to release their game unfinished. That is NOT what is happening here with Ashes or APOC. Please, for the love of GOD stop judging Intrepid on the actions of the other shithole companies in this goddamn industry. This kind of stupid paranoia doesn't do anyone any good, so grow the fuck up and wait.
The plan for APOC is still to gather performance data for the MMO, but it will be doing it as a standalone product rather than a temporary testing ground like was the original plan.
From the apoc page on the website "Fight for your survival or die trying! Apocalypse is the standalone prequel to the upcoming epic MMORPG Ashes of Creation. It is both a testing ground for new systems and content in Ashes of Creation, as well as a unique last-man-standing action game where magic, steel, and chaos reign supreme. Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse is a high fantasy, Free-to-Play experience where no two battles are ever the same."
Its a testing ground AND a standalone game. And if I'm not wrong apoc is only going to be the action side of combat, and I believe they have said somewhere it will be balanced separately from the mmo.
Wow that's extremely superficial analysis there. Yes, their greed is so strong that they kept apoc online despite its state and current purpose as a testing platform. Oh wait. And how dare they, a new gaming studio, ever think of funding themselves beyond what we paid them on kickstarter to do? What's that you say? But it's just an innovative idea to try and get some version of the game into people's hands earlier for them to be more engaged with the development process? That is indeed what we wanted BUT IN A BR? How could we possibly accept this?
People really need to stop giving them shit for this. You would be happy if more people supported IS by buying in game mmo skins but not if they did it through BR cosmetics? Wtf is the difference? Sure apoc could become its own thing later but right now, it is undeniable that it serves to better the mmo as well. There were talks originally that apoc might be in-game mmo content, kinda like battlegrounds of some sort. God damn, if they had only said that instead people wouldn't have lost their shit so hard, I have to say that was a marketing misstep. So why don't people just pretend that's the case? You wouldn't have a problem with an in-game mini-game BR would you? Using the same models, the same combat, the same engine, assets, server infrastructure etc (all of which are being tested in apoc)? No you wouldn't complain because if you don't like BR, you wouldn't engage in it, same fucking shit here. The BR cosmetic store could also have existed in-game as an mmo mini-game and people would not have bitched as much about it either.
The reality is that people are upset that they are not pumping out content and information about the game as if they were developing patches for an already existing game. People's expectations of turnaround time is absurd. Karthos has a nice comment on a post to put the speed in perspective (https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/42725/aoc-concerns#latest).
In conclusion: stop being so impatient and relax, take a cold shower or something. Also with this unoriginal, superficial analysis, we get it already, lots of people try to cash in with BRs. There are also people who enjoy BRs and those who try to make fun innovative BRs. There are also those you try to capitalize on the ease of making them for their own purpose. Which one is IS? Who fucking knows so exercise some patience and wait it out.
What's changed from the original plan is that it's currently not intended to be temporary.
We paid for an MMO first and foremost. Secondly. Do you need a change of pants? I feel like you're taking the piss.
Nah, I always wear diapers just incase, don't you worry about me.
You in fact did not pay for an mmo. You paid to support the development of one. Development takes time, do something else with your time while the people you paid work on it. Perhaps growing some thicker skin so you don't devolve into insults when your repost analysis is called superficial.
I do understand why Apocalypse BR mode will be the first round of testing as they need to see how their back end modifications hold up, but if Intrepid monetise this early stage of the testing it will back fire. They need to make it clear this is a test platform. By monetising that clarity is lost and invites the increased negative commentary. Once siege mode and horde mode is up and running by all means monetise the Apocalypse game as a stand alone.
I'm going back through my emails and have found my initial invitation to take part in APOC back in October last year:
Further emails regarding APOC have also made it clear that it is for testing purposes. Even the cosmetics that you can either buy or earn in APOC will transfer to your mmo characters when that game launches. I'm really struggling to see where all the hate and confusion regarding APOC is coming from.
I can't disagree there. Honestly I don't know why anyone would've thought it wouldn't return. I was just putting it out that it is to be a product in and of itself... eventually.