Some concerns about finding party and dungeons, and questions to decide if this game is for me :)

Hello everyone!
I'm a big fan of FFXIV and Guild Wars 2, and I absolutely love to play MMOs. If you want to do some crafting an gathering, PVP, PvE, dungeons, play casually, or have some more spare time and be more competitive, both of these games provide everything for everyone!

I'm a disabled person, and it, unfortunately, doesn't allow me to play too long. I loved to be able to just queue to a dungeon with a normal party finder, talk about our strategy, explain some things to newer players, etc. But from what I see, ashes of creation is very different in this regard. After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder that would reduce the time required to enter the dungeon I felt very sad. I do not have more than 1-1.5h of uninterrupted time because of my disability and responsibilities, and if more than 20-30 would be spent on finding the party itself it would be nearly impossible for me to have any time for playing the game itself. Additionally, It almost feels like Ashes of Creation is too competitive and too hardcore MMO compared to any other I played.

Am I mistaken? Maybe the requirement process despite the lack of party finder will not take too long, maybe there is a place for people who just want to relax and enjoy the PvE, dungeons, the environment, and lore, the story, etc and will not punish too much people who will not have as much time to play, or will suddenly need to take 1-2 weeks break from the game? With FFXIV and Guild wars 2 I never felt like I would need to play 20 hours a day to catch up with other people, and there was always something to do. The game is so amazing it would be very sad if after all these years of hype, to put it simply, it was not aimed at players like me.

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Samson1

TheMiziko wrote: »

Hello everyone!
I'm a big fan of FFXIV and Guild Wars 2, and I absolutely love to play MMOs. If you want to do some crafting an gathering, PVP, PvE, dungeons, play casually, or have some more spare time and be more competitive, both of these games provide everything for everyone!

I'm a disabled person, and it, unfortunately, doesn't allow me to play too long. I loved to be able to just queue to a dungeon with a normal party finder, talk about our strategy, explain some things to newer players, etc. But from what I see, ashes of creation is very different in this regard. After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder that would reduce the time required to enter the dungeon I felt very sad. I do not have more than 1-1.5h of uninterrupted time because of my disability and responsibilities, and if more than 20-30 would be spent on finding the party itself it would be nearly impossible for me to have any time for playing the game itself. Additionally, It almost feels like Ashes of Creation is too competitive and too hardcore MMO compared to any other I played.

Am I mistaken? Maybe the requirement process despite the lack of party finder will not take too long, maybe there is a place for people who just want to relax and enjoy the PvE, dungeons, the environment, and lore, the story, etc and will not punish too much people who will not have as much time to play, or will suddenly need to take 1-2 weeks break from the game? With FFXIV and Guild wars 2 I never felt like I would need to play 20 hours a day to catch up with other people, and there was always something to do. The game is so amazing it would be very sad if after all these years of hype, to put it simply, it was not aimed at players like me.

There will always be something to do upon logging into the game, whether it's crafting, gathering, questing, etc. If you are concerned about the time it takes to group and travel to dungeons, there are a couple things you can do:

1. Join a family and fast travel to your family members upon logging into the game so you and your group can begin your adventures quickly.
2. Join a guild/community and plan ahead to do the desired dungeon or activity a day or two ahead to prevent lost time.

Noaani

TheMiziko wrote: »

After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder

I'm curious how it took you that long to find out this piece of information, as it has been known for at least 2 years, and you said you have been following for 3.

Volgaire

noaani wrote: »

TheMiziko wrote: »

After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder

I'm curious how it took you that long to find out this piece of information, as it has been known for at least 2 years, and you said you have been following for 3.

Maybe he means in a way of being aware of the game and the general news about it but not the details? I kind of took a break from all the news for a while but still checked in every so often

Haraxa

@TheMiziko
I can understand your concern. You are not alone. Many people do not have the time playing the game for hours every day. In my experience there are four ways (that add up) to have more fun with AoC (as I understand, how it will look like):

1) Set your expectations carefully
For me, it looks like you already done it, but I mention it anyways. There will be people who literally will live and breath this game. But they are only a small portion of the population (but they seem bigger in a forum of a game 1,5 years from launch :-P). You and me will not be part of this group. But there will be many players like us, and the game allows a slower progress. As AoC has bigger servers, I hope for a good mixture of all gamer-types. If you don't get stressed out by the first Level 50 after 10 days, you are fine.

2) Look for a fitting guild, alliance and node:
In my understanding, there are different guilds possible in AoC. Big casual guilds, small elite squads etc. If you find a casual guild that fits your playstyle, it is very likely, that you don't have to look for groups from scratch, but that you start with 3-4 players already... what makes it much easier to find additional players to play with you. Very important, do not look for the number of members only: Find a guild with players playing at the same time frame, you do.

3) Be active at the start of the game:
My gathered experience of many MMO-starts tells me, that you can make many, many friends in the first weeks of a server. Almost everybody is interested in connecting. If you really want to play for a longer period, you may invest a little more in the beginning. If you are a friendly and helpful person, you will be on the friendslist of many people. Even if they are much more invested than you are, they can help you... and many of them will have alts.

4) Pick a role that's needed or self-sustaining
This tip only applies if it fits your playstyle, of course. Every game I played, that used the trinity of Tank-Healer-DD (or Tank/Healer/Support/DD) shows a lack of Tanks and/or Healers. So if your main concern is to find groups and you like to Tank or Heal, that may be a good way to shorten the search process.

The other route would be a self-sustaining class, a class that can explore the world on its own. In this case having a group is a nice-to-have. As AoC will most likely have a leveling experience of months for casual players, this may be an option for having fun with the game, even if finding a group does not work at a day.

These are my experiences. Have a nice day.

Haraxa

Noaani

autumnleaf wrote: »

noaani wrote: »

TheMiziko wrote: »

After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder

I'm curious how it took you that long to find out this piece of information, as it has been known for at least 2 years, and you said you have been following for 3.

Maybe he means in a way of being aware of the game and the general news about it but not the details? I kind of took a break from all the news for a while but still checked in every so often

Being aware of the game for that long and not knowing details like that makes perfect sense.

Following the game for three years and not knowing a key feature you want is known to not be in the game doesn't.

Phlux

Pretty much what Samson wrote. The only caveat is that the family system is still kind of "under review" and could change a lot before launch; specifically the teleport option. While the single best thing you could do would be to find a group/ guild of people that also like to take things slow. There are always tons of these groups in every game.

This game will have a much stronger community interaction level than pretty much any of the other MMO's that have been released in the past decade. As long as your goal is not to be one of the "best/ most powerful players on the server", you should be able to spend your time generally enjoying whatever goals you set out to accomplish as long as you find a group of like minded people to hang with when those goals need more than just you.

Drag13

TheMiziko wrote: »

Additionally, It almost feels like Ashes of Creation is too competitive and too hardcore MMO compared to any other I played.

Am I mistaken? Maybe the requirement process despite the lack of party finder will not take too long, maybe there is a place for people who just want to relax and enjoy the PvE, dungeons, the environment, and lore, the story, etc and will not punish too much people who will not have as much time to play, or will suddenly need to take 1-2 weeks break from the game? With FFXIV and Guild wars 2 I never felt like I would need to play 20 hours a day to catch up with other people, and there was always something to do. The game is so amazing it would be very sad if after all these years of hype, to put it simply, it was not aimed at players like me.

Ashes of Creation is designed so players will get out of it with how much someone puts into it. This game may not be for you, but it depends on how you approach it.

First of all Ashes of Creation will require many hours of play to fully enjoy all of its content. Leveling is supposed to take around 45 days with 4-6 hours of play a day (That is supposedly just for your characters adventuring class, not including the time for your side professions). To use high level gear so you can be more effective in higher level content you have to be able to source gatherables, get those gatherables processed, and finally have a crafter with high enough ability to make and repair those pieces of gear. These are fundamental parts of the game that will consume a large portion of your time.

THAT BEING SAID!!!

This is a very social game, and just like yourself not everyone can play games for 4 hours everyday. You should try to find or create a guild or a social group that will communicate when each of it's players are available. Use a calendar and a sign-up sheet (Microsoft open office has a feature capable of this) so individuals can find times to meet up for group events like dungeon runs. When your characters are maxed out, and professions decided things will even get a bit easier. World events and castles sieges are events that will have advanced (4-5 days) notice so as many people that want to participate can.

So yes this game is a little more hardcore than the games you mention, but the philosophy of the designers is that you will get out of it what you put into it. I recommend finding the right social group in game (maybe even out of game) to help make the most of each other's time.

I wish you luck and prosperity !

TheMiziko

phlux wrote: »

This game will have a much stronger community interaction level than pretty much any of the other MMO's that have been released in the past decade. As long as your goal is not to be one of the "best/ most powerful players on the server", you should be able to spend your time generally enjoying whatever goals you set out to accomplish as long as you find a group of like minded people to hang with when those goals need more than just you.

I sincerely hope it will be the case

@Haraxa @Drag13 Thank you for explaining everything so clearly! Now I know much better what to expect, and I'm sure there will be at least a portion of the game I will absolutely love!

@noaani Exactly what @autumnleaf said. I was aware of the game but did not want to spoil myself any more than that. In fact, I did not know anything about, for example, Death Stranding or The Last of Us 2. I'm very good at avoiding any spoilers, especially in case of MMO where I wanted to feel like 2006 me, playing for the first time this huge vast world. It's an indescribable experience I did not want to ruin for myself, unfortunately in this case it backfired. I saw occasional twitter/Facebook updates and some gameplay videos, but the update/info about this specific feature apparently I missed until now. I knew that the development process will take years to complete, and I did not want to get my hopes up, so I was just "aware" the game existed and occasionally checked new information out. Maybe "following" was the wrong word to use and it gave a different meaning to my sentence, but I'm still learning English as my second language and probably don't know any better word to describe my situation, so I apologize, it was a mistake on my part

Andy

TheMiziko wrote: »

Hello everyone!
I'm a big fan of FFXIV and Guild Wars 2, and I absolutely love to play MMOs. If you want to do some crafting It almost feels like Ashes of Creation is too competitive and too hardcore MMO compared to any other I played.

Am I mistaken? Maybe the requirement process despite the lack of party finder will not take too long, maybe there is a place for people who just want to relax and enjoy the PvE, dungeons, the environment, and lore, the story, etc and will not punish too much

The base of the game is hardcore but it doesn't mean a casual won't be able to do the content, it'll just take him more time than someone who play 10h/day, nothing abnormal here.

OP is the type of player i'm the most afraid of.
He is used to FastFood MMORPG where you can just click on a button and do everything. If the hype around AoC is big enought, we'll see a lot of thread like this one from players used to MMORPG released after 2010.

Can you enjoy this game even as a casual ? Of course yes
Will you progress slower than the players who invest a lot of time in the game ? Yes, and this is what we are excepting from this game
It just an oldschool way to enjoy the game where both investissement & skill matter.

This game look really promising, please don't destroy it with thoses "convenience" features

Damokles

I can just recommend to find a solid guild that knows about your disability.
If they are good people, then they will accept it and you will have a group of people to just goof around and have a good time.

FuryBladeborne

OP,

The lack of a dungeon finder is specifically to spur community interaction. So take advantage of the people looking to do the same. If you can play at a stable time, then you can get a group to do regular runs during your playtime.

Additionally, while Ashes looks like it will be challenging, it may not be that difficult for casuals in dungeons since dungeon difficulty will self adjust to the party. i.e. If a group does well on the 1st boss, the 2nd boss will be buffed and if the group does well there, then the 3rd boss will be further buffed. This allows more difficult dungeons for the hardcore, but also gives the casual player an experience that is better suited for them.

Of course, loot drops are impacted by difficulty though.

Hansrutger

Most people have already responded to it, to find a guild that suits you but I really wanted to highlight to do that early on so that you can find a nice community. Someone who is min maxing is not going to find it fun in a guild that will only require casual effort. Someone who is casual will not find it fun in a min maxing guild. Its important to find the balance and its also important to acknowledge that both are acceptable and fine, but by themselves. So try to find a guild, take this from someone who is currently helping 9-10 players finding "the perfect guild" in WoW, it's not easy but you avoid so much future problems by knowing what you want and by searching early on.

Best of luck, never stop trying to find the perfect one!

TheMiziko

@Hansrutger @FuryBladeborne @Damokles @Andy and everyone who replied to this post, thank you for your input! All my concerns disappeared by simply getting a completely different view on the subject. I'm glad to know that I will be a part of such an amazing and helpful community! I hope that in the future when the game releases I will be able to find a good and supportive guild and create longlasting relationships with other people!

FuryBladeborne

DeJoke

TheMiziko wrote: »

Hello everyone!
I'm a big fan of FFXIV and Guild Wars 2, and I absolutely love to play MMOs. If you want to do some crafting an gathering, PVP, PvE, dungeons, play casually, or have some more spare time and be more competitive, both of these games provide everything for everyone!

I'm a disabled person, and it, unfortunately, doesn't allow me to play too long. I loved to be able to just queue to a dungeon with a normal party finder, talk about our strategy, explain some things to newer players, etc. But from what I see, ashes of creation is very different in this regard. After 3 years of following the development of the game, when I heard on Peon's video that the game will not have any accessible and convenient party finder that would reduce the time required to enter the dungeon I felt very sad. I do not have more than 1-1.5h of uninterrupted time because of my disability and responsibilities, and if more than 20-30 would be spent on finding the party itself it would be nearly impossible for me to have any time for playing the game itself. Additionally, It almost feels like Ashes of Creation is too competitive and too hardcore MMO compared to any other I played.

Am I mistaken? Maybe the requirement process despite the lack of party finder will not take too long, maybe there is a place for people who just want to relax and enjoy the PvE, dungeons, the environment, and lore, the story, etc and will not punish too much people who will not have as much time to play, or will suddenly need to take 1-2 weeks break from the game? With FFXIV and Guild wars 2 I never felt like I would need to play 20 hours a day to catch up with other people, and there was always something to do. The game is so amazing it would be very sad if after all these years of hype, to put it simply, it was not aimed at players like me.

Hiya! I think the best thing for you would be to join a guild and have set times to do things like dungeons. That way you can jump in and already have a party of people ready to go! That way you won't have to wait 20-30minutes to gather people up. It might take a while to find a good guild but once you do you'll be sweet as by the sounds of it.

3am

@TheMiziko If you're playing at launch or beta hit me up and we'll throw something together! Either a discord or forum to help. Or I'll just run with you when I'm on. The community does better when every member does better!

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