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
Like I feel most people have formed an opinion at this point, and its constantly being bumped to the top because its controversial not because there's anything really evolving idea-wise. It doesn't help that there's a lot of kind of pushy takes about how 'only people who are in line with my opinion are any good at mmo's'.
Its completely possible for players to land on either side of the issue and that does not reflect skill level, it just reflects a playstyle preference.
That really doesn't seem like an issue to me. Switching classes is the same as making an alt. You wouldn't have any religious connections when class switching. Everything would have to be pursued from scratch as if it was an alt. Easy
If - and that is a big if - Intrepid did allow primary class switching, organization standing would be tied to your character, not your class. It makes no sense at all to make it otherwise.
This does mean that the notion of being able to switch between any build can't happen, but that seems to be by design - and by intent.
Pros:
- You can have multiple characters in different locations for different tasks.
- You can have different races and looks for your characters.
Cons:
- Finding names for all of them.
- Swapping gear between them can be a pain depending from their locations.
- I think Alts are not bound to the same guild/position, I would prefer if this was account based (please correct me if I'm wrong).
I don't see an issue with keeping equipment since most will not be bound, but if you start a new class, you should start at the start. No keeping your level or ability points.
It can be designed any way they like obviously. If they ended up seeing the value in what I'm proposing they can implement it any way they see fit. Having alt characters tied to one Creator name makes perfect sense. The name of a content creator is our entire brand and surprise surprise, it means a lot to us. And of course we all know how important it is to create a platform that supports the creators. Its a win win for everyone
Be a player, or a content creator.
One or the other.
If you are a player, then play as you want.
If you are a content creator, stick to your brand.
myself i have played FF14 for about 7k hours and being able to have every class on 1 character deff was a boon there. but ff14 was all about its narrative, pvp wasnt a good thing in there (because thay also partly dropped the ball with that)
so being able to have everything on 1 character is a good idea for that game, but for ashes its about investment, agency, player markets and most importantly being dependent on others for their roles, for theirs specs and espionage.
on top of that, social organizations, while available to all classes do have some definite benefits to certain classes (ex, thieves guild and rogues class) and you cant just step out of 1 to join the other, systems like these are why it would not be a good idea.
"so why not design it differently then?"
because this is stevens mmorpg, not yours, you dont get a say in this without the majority agreeing with you (and im not saying that you said so). this game is made with steven shariff at the helm, we players help him towards to make his mmorpg that we want to play because we love his goal for this game and agree to it.
i will say it very plainly, this game might not be for you.
just here with popcorn
good to know, saves me the time from debating with a person like that, thank you very kindly patriot:)
You were winning me over till you said this.
"I'm a content creator and they need to cater towards me!!" Nonsense 99.9% of the players don't give a damn about your content. I had never even heard of you till you started posting here. Personally I hope there are no content creators on my server so we don't have to deal with them and their marry band of sycophants messing up the place.
First we get the click-bait title in all caps paired with the standard more than 1 explanation point. Making it clear from the start, the following thread will not be for a discussion but a demand that you accept and support what will be said. No opposing opinion will be viable or accepted.
Next we get an opening paragraph, where the very first sentence is meant to make you think this person is an understanding and reasonable person. Which is then immediately followed up by a strawman position and his declaration to show why the strawman is an inferior position to the poster's correct position.
Following this up we get a wall of text. None of which, supports or is even in relation to the opening paragraph. The first two sentences are another opening paragraph. Where the discussion is changed from, why Ashes of Creation wants players locked into single classes, into, why name recognition and branding is important.
While doing this, he tries to boost his credibility by declaring that he is an "insane hardcore player that maxes out an alt for every class." And he has a history of two years of unbeatable WoW PvP experience.
Then we hit the second half of the wall of text; where he starts to show the true intent of his post. Which is a jumbled mess of complaints about how it is a terrible waste of time to be forced to play on "stupid alternate names...that no one knows." And how it makes it hard to have name recognition.
Ending it off with a closing paragraph that has no connection to anything posted before it.
After which, he edits in his response to "common Fears." Most of which can be boiled down to, no you are wrong and I am right, or my name recognition is more important.
Then you get to see his signature, which is a massive advertisement for his "content creator" links.
This entire original post is merely a whine post about, "why can't Ashes of Creation make it easier from me to grow my brand name and name recognition."
All the while, ignoring there are many well know "content creators" that have alternative names across many different games that still get recognized.
Manipulative, self-serving, and pretentious elitism like those presented in this tread piss me off like nothing else.
Which means players will be roleplaying different characters.
When you change class, you change roles...which includes names.
I'm an actor/singer/dancer, so...I always have alts. People do not have difficulty recognizing the alts I want them to be aware of. It's not unusual for people to refer to my alt by my player name.
"Hey, look! Dygz is here!!"
Dygz playing as Neela: "Oh cool! Wait! I don't see Dygz around? Did he go Invisible??!!"
If you want your alts to be instantly recognizable by other gamers - just use some variation of a known name in the names of all your alts.
Combat trackers are the best way to combat lying content creators. They say a thing, someone uses objective facts to prove them wrong - enough of that cycle and the content creator loses their audience.
Actually I just want my name. Roleplay has been a massive part of my life and my name is what I want. Plain and simple. I don't know what you are on about with this crazy rant. I just want a persistent name. I've wanted it since way before I became a content creator
If I started posting on these forums with a different account, it would take maybe three or four posts before people realize it is me.
People may like how I post, or they may not. They may agree with what I have to say, or they may not. One thing that is certian though, is that people will know a post is from me if they read it.
Your argument in regards to a content creator was a better argument than wanting a system built in to the game to overcome your lack of personality.
I don't know why you feel the need to spew toxicity and hate for no reason at all to someone you don't know anything about. That's pretty insane sir but if that's what makes you happy you do you lol
Not really hate, nor toxic.
Literally all I am saying it what I said - people don't need to see my forum handle to know a post is from me - like it or not. Why do they need to see your name to know you are you?
Rather than trying to change the game, wouldn't you be better off working on that?
This is especially true if you are a streamer - be a person that people recognize without needing the name attached.
Well, yes, it is.
Sometimes the forums are about discussion on the game, sometimes they are about spreading information on the game, sometimes they are just about entertainment.
I take pride in the fact that I have provided more entertainment to Stevens playerbase so far than he has.
One might have a char they play alone and another they play with a friend.
In Swtor they have or had (i haven't played the game in some years now). You get a "legency" title. When you unlocked it, you got to name it yourself and you could use it as a sub title. I don't know if others could name it the same. As later you also unlocked new legency titles
This just seems like such a selfish and actualy stupid idea
It could be fun to see a pull about this. My guess the vote against it would be in the 90+%
siiiiiiiigh
Strawman, Ad hominem, complete avoidance to any points made, and complete dismissal of the people making the points. And no, adding a smiley face doesn't make your post more charming or friendly. It makes you look pretentious. I don't think you could get more pretentious, at this point, even if you actively tried.
You don't even realize that you own demands are contradictory.
"Roleplay has been a massive part of my life and my name is what I want."
"Because I don't want to segregate my accomplishments."
What you are doing is not ROLEplaying, but ROLLplaying. Everything you have said in this thread, proves it more, and more. You don't want "accomplishments," you want bragging rights. You want to lord your "elitism" over the "peasants." And you want them to know it was VASH that did it.
I am waiting in, eager anticipation, for you next set of strawmen and ad hominems.
Good day.
that hypocritical and narrowminded, you ARE hurting altoholics with this system. i dont want my tank to look skinny like my mage or my amge to look bulky like my tank. in addition to that theres enough people that hate looking at the same character all the time so they use alts even for the same class simply for variation of onscreen pixels. also your system would make specialising in classes useless regardless of skill, the whole playerbase would just be a blur of classes with no distinction. players would be asked to pick certain classes for certain types of content and they would be told how to skill slot/spend and what mindless rotations to use.
A BIG NO!! from me, however i dont think it would hurt if they make you pick a last name for all your characters so youre still recognisable. but what you want is completely drastically change the way this game and an mmo works to suit your own hardcore needs. this isnt a shooter where you just switch classes in a second with barely any investment or knowledge.
But I think forcing people to commit to a decision from minute zero makes that decision a lot more important. The decision of class forms much of your character, and I shouldn't have the ability to change it on a whim.
I always hate to bring in WoW anecdotes but the game and community is massive so it's hard not to-- WoW has very little connection between alts, and you cannot switch your class at a whim. You can see the effect of this in its creator community, which you seem to be very concerned about. When you think about Asmongold and WoW, you think about how diehard he is for his warrior. McConnelRet's entire brand is Retribution Paladin, as is Esfand's. Venruki is a mage, and Reckful was insane with his rogue. For me-- I'll always be a rogue and I take a good amount of pride in my fluency with every random ability that they have.
That amount of diehard class loyalty and consistency is more valuable for the game's fun and longevity than some vague notion of completionism or username consistency will ever be.
But wouldn't the better solution to this would be that an account can have multiple characters with same name. That a name is not unique to a character but an account. That way you want to play another class? Login from your alt which has the same NAME!!!
How would you differentiate my character named Sylvanar with your character, Sylvanar? Any other form of account bound identifier promotes meta-bullying which isn't something I think people would appreciate.
Names would be "Account bound". I have my 'Sylvanar' rogue lets say and I make a mage in the same account then I should be able to name that mage as 'Sylvanar' too. As the name would be account bound to my account, you wont be able to use this name. Ofc I would have to do everything in the mage character starting from level 1. I dunno what meta-bullying is.