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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.
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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.
Comments
>I disagree with your framing it as 'forcing people to create a new character'. If someone wants to experience the game in a different way, that's a choice. It's part of their own agency. That choice should have an appropriate level of burden attached to it.
And that burden should be a loss of achievements, name (which they may have even paid for), and potential identity? There's at least 2 people in this thread who believe that burden is too high, and would simply quit, losing paying customers.
>To be clear, I'm defining 'appropriate level of burden' here as roughly the effort it requires one to level up the desired archetype. Why? Because if you want to have a max level character of a given archetype, you should work for it. Not just have it handed to you.
Okay, so? I'm not saying you should have it handed to you, I never did, in fact as I said, I'd be okay with it being HARDER to reroll than to level up an alt. I don't want it handed to me, I just want the option to work for it without losing some of the most important things for me in a game: my character and its name.
>Personally, I disagree with the 'you deserve this just for showing up' mentality that has plagued MMO's in recent years.
I agree but hows that relevant? It seems like you are under the impression I'm suggesting being able to just level up as a Fighter, then swap between a max level Mage, Fighter, Rogue, etc with no additional effort, but thats not even close...
Yep I understand all that side progression exists, I think a moderate case could be made for keeping or not keeping all that side progression though, so I'd most likely accept either one. Religion I'd have the least issue with being reset, then Societies, and then Artisan skills being the one I'd have the most issue with, but I'd still be willing to begrudgingly deal with it.
its not the same because there is also a lot of side progression on a character, your religon, the societies you joined, your artisan skill. If you wanted to switch primary class on the same character all of those would have to go as well. If you wanted to switch your primary archetype like you suggest, then id be fine with it if the ONLY thing you kept was your name. EVERYTHING else is lost.[/quote]
Inventory would definitely have to go. Citizenship, any religious augments earned, and any currency and resources in the warehouse too. Mounts, houses, etc.
I'm ok with someone keeping their freehold though. After all, that's account wide anyway.[/quote]
Nope, a fresh character doesnt have access to a freehold, they need to work back up to it.
A fresh character would have access to your account's freehold, from what I can tell. If that's not the case, then let it be gone, too.
It's funny Arya, because swapping your Primary Class is straying away from IS' Vision for the game. Hence my inception statement earlier.
Why would that be the case? I don't see why all the progress of a person should be housed under the same character. I am not the one saying that my character's name is my online identity.
It is also way harder to handle balancing ALL AROUND the game and shifting its design and mechanics to accomodate the fact that players can switch to a wholy different character basically just like that.
It causes technical problems that are harder to handle.
What if i wanted to have another character and wanted it to look differently, be a different race etc to try out new things? Again, technical problems that are not NEEDED.
It can be done, but it's not needed. It complicates everything else.
>Just make an alt if you don't like your decision
That ignores the point many would have. For a lot of people, the name, the character, and the achievements are too important, and they (and me) don't want to just make a whole new character with a new name and blank achievement page.
> Especially considering that even in games that allow you to change classes like FFXIV, each new class still needs to be leveled from 1 anyway. So why not just make an alt here and level it? I don't think any game exists that let's you change class and have the new class start where the old one left off and for good reason.
I know no game like that exists. And I'm not asking for it. Why does it feel like people aren't reading anything and just responding to the title? Take a peek through a couple things I said.
I support:
Making it more time consuming and more of a pain in the ass than just making an alt
Making it only able to do once every X months, resulting in only doing it 1 or 2 times a year, not at will
I'd be willing to accept:
A full rebirth where only your name, character and achievements persist
Things I'd begrudgingly accept:
Inventory reset
Societies reset
Religion reset
Artisan Skills reset
>Besides, you can share gear and who knows what else with your alt anyway so the effort to level your main won't be totally wasted at least.
You're right, it'd be easier to level and gear an alt. I'm willing to forgo that ease to keep my name, character, and achievements. And this argument is also why I'd be against an inventory reset, but I'd accept it if it was reset, albiet with a bit of bitching and moaning.
@Niraada even though as Leiloni said, if you were to just make an alt you could give it basically everything? You think that should be an option not available when rerolling your main?
@Neurath You're right, that's why I specified "too far" from the vision.
In my opinion, what I'm suggesting is straying no further away than permitting alts. You might disagree, and that's fine, but I'm simply arguing that Matts suggestion would likely be too far from the vision to be considered, and see way more upset/uproar than mine.
It feels unclear to me, sorry.
I am saying the opposite. Handling alts is easier to handle than storing essentially all of the alts a person wants to make into a single character like OP suggests - having primary class be changeable anytime you want.
If thats something you want to suggest, go right ahead. But that's not what I'm suggesting, and I believe your suggestion is infinitely less likely to be implemented than my own, and personally have some issues with it myself, sorry
Ah, ok. That makes sense. Sorry, got a bit lost in that.
And i believe there is a 0% chance that your suggestion is getting implemented. Thats just not how class based games work. If you could change your primary class, why not be able to change your race as well? or at least your sub-race right? after all i should be able to do everything with one character. Matter of a fact, why shouldnt i be able to change my characters name as well????
Or belong to multiple guilds simultaneously, master all artisan classes, be mayor and citizen in multiple nodes, and possess all of the houses and freeholds on the server.
After all, you shouldn't be forced to make a new character just so that you can do those things.
(This is hyperbole to illustrate a point.)
That's fine to think, you're okay to have that opinion.
That said, it kinda is how some class based games have worked in the past, or at least somewhat similar veins.
Name changes have existed in quite a few games, and race changes have been something people have asked for a lot in some games too.
I'm not wanting to be able to do everything with 1 character, I want the ability that if I change my mind about what class I want to play, I wont lose something I potentially paid $375 dollars for. Which would likely be the case were I to buy it.
I don't like having my argument strawmanned out like that though.
I can understand not having name changes.
I can understand not having race changes.
I don't want to just "do everything on 1 character"
But I do want the ability to, if I believe I made a mistake when selecting my class, change it, without losing the probably most important part of playing a game for me, my investment into that character.
You can always just delete your main if you want to use the name. It's not like we haven't seen all of these issues in other games before.
I've seen some games have issues with deleted characters and names, some games kept them cached for a while to block impersonation, etc. If that works, *maybe* I'd be able to begrudgingly accept it, but only if I wouldn't lose anything I spent $$ on, like skins/costumes/etc (some games store them in inventories, some in account storages, so I'd have to see how AoC handles them)
Then delete your character and start a new character with the same name.
So, I think your whole "I don't want to lose something I paid $375 for" argument is completely off base, and frankly smacks of "I spent money, so I'm entitled."
If you make a decision that you're unhappy with, nothing entitles you to being protected from the consequences of that decision. Heck, consequences are one of the core tenets of the design philosophy.
Further, you do have the ability to play a different base archetype by starting a new character. It's not as though the previous character you were dissatisfied with for whatever reason immediately vanishes into the ether.
Since you bring up the preorder, I think there should be a more than sufficient amount of time for you to determine the type of playstyle that suits you, and if one archetype is just too much of a commitment for you to live with, the option to create alts does exist.
Choices matter.
I'd rather have the developers spend more time refining core game functionality like combat/classes/crafting/etc... then spend time creating a process to change core classes or name changes or other things like that. (which end up as a paid service for most other games)
Make choices matter. You make a mistake, pick a new class, create a new character, start in a totally different region and experience almost a different game as nodes and areas are almost guaranteed to be nothing like the last time you started. Writing this almost makes me want to ensure I create a different character in each of the starting areas to see how different each character progression can be, even though I'm normally a 1 character person.
If 45 days after launch we realise the split is 3% healers you might want some people to be able to change their class
Thats just not going to happen
I'd say start a new character.
Choices must matter, if everyone can either roll new characters with ease, or change that classes, the game will just become meta focused. "Oh you're not the flavor of the month Tank, sorry you can't come on the raid" making character class impactful and a choice, not easily changed helps prevent the meta chase.
The population that will level all the classes to max level to chase the meta will be small, and thus will have a lower likelihood of creating a toxic elite meta culture.