Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
Ah, that’s disappointing then. Gathering and Processing seem as though they should be more general, definitely not comparable to choosing it over any crafting profession. Gatherers can lose their gathered items at any point if they get killed, processers risk losing materials on caravans both while on the way to them and while it’s outgoing to a potential buyer. Crafters have the lowest risk, it should require appropriate tradeoff to have that safety net, and I definitely believe it should restrict each character to a particular type of crafting, maybe not only one, but someone who’s chosen to be a carpenter shouldn’t also be able to master jewelsmithing to the same degree.
I don’t see the sense in saying crafting will be highly valued and require reliance on others, yet those with enough time can absolutely be a master of all.
Also, I'm not aware of any Ashes content that can't be started before Adventurer level cap.
This doesn't fit your definition of endgame, either.
https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/14/working-as-intended-endgame-is-the-worst-thing-that-ever-happen/
As for spending a few alts to do everything yourself, that is more of a play style than a game mechanic. It would be hard to limit enough gathering/processing/crafting options to an account without people claiming IS is dictating what characters they can build.
I like the current proposed state, but it could still change.
You're right, it does. It was just something I thought up off the top of my head to solve the "issue" of having all crafting routes on just 3 characters. Personally I don't think that's a big deal, but meh.
After a brief bit of googling, apparently Ultima Online had skill atrophy at one point, and it was hated by the players. I never played Ultima Online so I don't know if this was a bad idea in general, poor implementation of a good idea, or just the fact that players didn't like change that restricted what they could do.
That feels like it's the equivalent of losing a level - which I know Steven is against, for sure.
I'm OK with gear degradation, I think. Gear breaking could be problematic, but I like how gear repair also keeps crafters active in a way that skill atrophy would not.
Having multiple alts to cover the needs of a strong, focused craft is one thing. Having three alts be able to do everything related to crafting across every discipline is not the same.
I’d argue no player should be able to do that without a veritable army of alts to maintain. It goes against the goal Steven laid out of having crafting be a difficult system to do solo. I know I’d consider someone who’s mastered every crafting profession to be a master of all, which he specifically said he didn’t want in Ashes.
If however the development proves to be slow, players might try to advance by also adventuring with said characters. So then you might not be able to do it with just three.
But the 'right' amount of alts necessary to do this will always remain in the realm of opinion.
We still have to see how easy or difficult to be to trade items between alts.
One player with hardcore time will probably be able to have an alt that is a master in each path.
Each alt will probably have to also depend on adventures supplying them with resources and mobs to harvest.
But... we shall see.
If you think there won't be quests in Ashes that realistically require you to be at the level cap before you start, you will be disappointed. If you think there won't be dungeons in Ashes that realistically require you to be at the level cap before you start, you will be disappointed.
Ashes will have end game content. Intrepid may want to put marketing spin on it so players don't expect the same *concept* of end game content as in other MMO's, but it will still have end game content.
Just because they want to call it by a different name, doesn't mean it is a different thing. If Triumph suddenly wanted o claim that its motorbikes all use rubberized torus-shaped road interface devices, everyone on the planet - other than Triumph marketing idiots and potentially you - would still call them tires.
Steven calls Ashes end game content what it is. Sure, sometimes he corrects himself in order to conform to the company marketing line, but a marketing line is just that, marketing. At the end of the day, if he is calling it that, then that is what it will be even if it is called something different.
How do I absolutely know that Ashes will have end game content? Simple, really - as always. Without end game content, a good portion of players will get to the level cap, see that there is nothing new to do, and just move on to the next game. Without content that can't be started until the level cap, there is no incentive to play at the level cap, and so when people get to that level cap they will simply stop playing.
This may not be what *you* do, but it is what a lot of people would do.
I am interested in seeing how quick character progression for non-adventuring players will be. If there are some players that will focus only on crafting, even if just with alts, will they be able to keep up with artisans that craft & adventure?
In games that level your skills as part of the overall level based on usage, they should be able to keep up. In games that level based on overall xp points earned, if crafting/processing generates a lower return then they would on the low end of the leveling curve. Gatherers I think would be okay, in that they will likely need some adventuring skills.
-- Jeffrey Bard
I would say a decent compromise would be to not allow progression beyond a certain point except in one profession. So you could have everything at level A, but mastery is at level B so when you reach level A you’re then given a quest that will lock you into a certain profession and allow you to master it, while locking you out of the mastery of other ones. Jack of all trades, master of one.
As for keeping up in progression, so far Steven has said pure artisans will be able to keep up with adventuring classes. I’m sure it’ll take a few rounds of adjustment to find the spot that doesn’t tilt the balance too far either way, but I’m confident crafters won’t end up leagues behind a combat-focused players.
It is entirely probable that there will be quests or quest chains that can be started before the level cap, but cant realistically be finished until you are at the level cap, and have spent some time at the level cap working on gear progression.
It is also entirely probably that there will be quests or quest chains that cant be started until you are at the level cap, simply because the NPC required will not offer them to you if you are below the level cap.
I did a google search on this exact quote, and the only hit that came up was this thread. Please either use an exact quote that is typed out somewhere else so I can find the source myself, or link the source.
Without context, a quote is worthless.
Not that the source and quote will matter because you are too stubborn to even understand how the Node system puts an end to endgame...
Precisely because, as I've mentioned several times before, endgame is not just content that starts at max Adventurer level. Endgame content is the repeatable content people do when they run out of new Adventurer content at max Adventurer level.
In Ashes, we never get to that point because there are 103 Nodes, with six stages each, which constantly churn out new content based on which buildings are constructed and which services governments bring online. There is also synergy like how many metros and/or cities exist on the server that dictate which content gets activated.
So, with the Node system itself, we will never get to endgame.
That is the primary purpose of the Node system.
On top of that, the devs plan to add new content monthly and quarterly.
So, while people might hit max Adventurer level and choose to jump ship to a different game, it won't be because they see that there is nothing new to do.
There will still be plenty of new Adventurer content after reaching max Adventurer level.
Debates and such are all good, but do your ground work properly. Referencing your quotes is the first step of basic groundwork.
If you want a comment on that quote, reference it. End game content does not need to be repeatable. EQ2 had a major quest arc in every expansion (prismatic weapons, Of Fate and Destiny for DoF, Blood of the Brood and Mark of Awakening for KoS, Epic weapon series for RoK etc). These quests were the foundation of each expansions end game content, and were only able to be completed once.
Sure, a lot of end game content is repeatable (raid zones et al), but being repeatable is not a required trait of end game content.
That said, end game content in Ashes will be repeatable - but only while that given piece of content is unlocked. There will be some randomness to the content, but Ashes is not the first game to do this (Path of Exile has all of it's end game based on randomness). What content is available will change on occasion (and likely on at least some servers, these changes will be dictated by cooperation between raiding guilds), but while content is available, that content will be repeatable.
Once again, Ashes will have end game content. Steven has said as much when he said that end game content will be where the legendary items and such will drop. While one could argue that him saying that was a slip of the tongue, such arguments are not much use in saying Ashes has no end game content. To Steven, there is content planned for Ashes that is close enough to what we know as end game content for him to outright call it and game content. Sure, it will be a different concept (though notably a mix of different concepts that haven't been mixed before, rather than any singular new concept), but it will still function as end game content.