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.
[Poll] What did you think about the August Dev update?
AnansiLostChildren
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
With as many updates, interviews, and videos as we received in July-Early August, many new players have come to the AoC train, boosting it's hype. I am curious as to whether or not the update lived up to your expectations & hype: https://www.strawpoll.me/20847481
Let's discuss what you were either happy to see, sad you didn't see, or the Dev Update in general.
Let's discuss what you were either happy to see, sad you didn't see, or the Dev Update in general.
1
Comments
@Gengerbred Yes, this update lived up to my expectations but what I fear is delaying the game so long that it losses hype. I personally can't stand being shown texture models as an update but I know some people do so I respect that. I just want my hands on it and feel like I am being punished for not hearing about it during kickstarter haha.
@Daedrik45 I watched it on Twitch. Add the AoC discord and you will get updates and links when they show us new content.
They usually end up on YouTube.
Personally wish they'd simulcast both Twitch and YouTube at the same time.
https://www.strawpoll.me/20848375
https://knightsofember.com/forums/members/winner909098.54
I also enjoyed the Castle and look forward to seeing what a full castle siege attempt will look like (with the closed gates, mobs outside and the use of siege equipment)
@AshesOfCreation keep it up; it is looking great
But, I disagree with Steven 100% on active and tab targeting. Action combat has always felt more robust and skill based than tab targeting will ever feel to me. Because you have to actually pay attention to your opponent and your surroundings as well as your reaction and pre-emptive actions to anticipate opponents while you maneuver and position your character and damage/cc abilities.
Dont know how others feel there, but combat is so very important to me because it dictates how invested I feel in every single part of the game.
If the combat doesnt feel good for action or if its removed, its going to severly hurt the game for me.
My point is that I enjoy interacting with the community and finding out where people's state of mind is on the game and the results facilitate discussion. I assure you, if the people aren't feeling it they won't respond and I will fade into nothing at the bottom on the forum.
@NelsonRebel I think there is a fear with going all in on action combat as sometimes it becomes a ping war. Correct me if I am wrong but, then what one player sees, another player sees something different. It essentially gives a very slight, unless you are playing cross continent at which point it is massive, advantage to one player over another.
Thats not specific to action combat.
Ping war is determined by several factors that actually have nothing to do with action combat.
The most common cause of ping is the Servers quality and quantity for players, as well as the location of players from those servers and how good their internet connections and speeds are.
The rest of the root of skill delays and ping/lag for the remainder can usually be located in the following 2 areas from what I've read and experienced in WoW, ESO, etc...
1. Player population stacking and ability spamming. This ones probably the more common of the two since the server has to calculate all the damage for all the players and all the buffs for how many people are being affected by them all in these small areas which for some reason then lags everyone else in that server. I dont fully understand why and I admit that shortfall in knowledge.
2. The games coding structure in relation to travel time skills, and character movements with abilities effects and additional functions to display to everyone the actual location of the players and projectiles/abilities as well as proper calculating the damage and effects. This is a complex issue because players have little to no control in this area. The Developers have to nail down making sure their code for their game will accurately display the location of players and their respectively launched attacks and buffs. This can also lead into issue #1 with too many players stacked too tightly that the server and code structure cant track them all in such short distances or buff quantity numbers within the space. I'm fairly sure this is one reason why New World severly restricted their server populations to just over 1000 players.
Keeping numbers low across the board for low calculation as well as health boss numbers will probably help
Players action combat though wont have a signifigant impact since you're going to see the same problems with all tab target passive combat if the servers and code are't built right.
I noticed this on July's update with the Troll, his claw swipe had weight to it, and it just looked awesome. I noticed the added weight to Steven's toon today. The combat even feels more visceral to me as well with the improvement they've made.
The whole action combat vs tab doesn't really matter to me as long as it's fluid and fun.
I'm hoping someone noticed the laser beam spell they showcased last month was used by both Toast and Margaret today. It did look stellar.
The turtle mount looked awesome as well, and so did the environment around it on the coastal encampment setting.
I'm sure not many people noticed or paid attention to the two guys behind the turtle in the cinematic...they weren't just standing there, they were actually doing something and that all adds to the immersion...nothing kills immersion for me more than seeing a npc just standing there doing nothing. Same thing goes with a boss just sitting there standing still.(But that is a whole other topic)
I do know we all want to see all the stuffs but they are right in only showing us a few things...I along with Intrepid want to be awed when I log in for the first time.
I CLEARLY asked you to post it on reddit so that more people would vote on it. Its only when you didn't respond/do it, that I decided to post it myself. And when you replied in the comments, I made the appropriate changes. So you have no reason to complain.
Professions is a poll topic. A dev update isn't, its more of a discussion topic.
Great work Intrepid team.
For someone that would prefer them just go with 100% tab target combat, I did like what I saw in terms of melee combat. Would really have to see more of actual action skills, and most importantly, ranged attacks, but still awesome.
The only thing that was a pity IMO, was the small amount of Q&A. Would have loved for them to go on a little longer, because we learn something new from almost every question answered (unlike most Q&A's)
"Let's discuss what you were either happy to see, sad you didn't see, or the Dev Update in general"
I'm not even sure what we are doing here. If you want to participate in the discussion I made the space and encourage that you do and/or do the poll, if not then that's cool too. In proper forum etiquette, the fact that a poll is present is in the title. Not everyone is comfortable writing posts or engaging in forums/reddit, so I like to provide a space to do both. But coming by just to put the post down is a waste of both of our time. I hope you have a good weekend.
@Atiqa That's something I talked to a couple people about actually. I was happy to see the hybrid system working because it means they are making progress. But in the same vein, you are right, the few questions they answered seemed a pity, and that they were more clarifications rather than giving us true new information. With so many people investing money into the game we are all so eager for information.
@Balrog21 You make some good points. Having a dynamic world is important. It reminded me a bit of Skyrim, though I know the world manager AI will be more advanced than that of course. Turtle was dope and the fire fox mount cosmetic Steven leaked was also stellar. Though I think I've always been comfortable on the art side of the game, I would like to see more mechanics. I personally gave it a 4 outta 5 because I would like to see some more lvl 5/6 node art or overviews, and at least given the 4 augment school names for each class. Doesn't have to be how it impacts the skills exactly, but at least the school names.
Now that I slept on it...
The turtle was cool. I liked the outreached neck and grunts. We giggled 😁
The volcano was awesome!
I was actually impressed with action combat.
I noticed Steven zoom way out. Reminded me of an isometric game, like Diablo.
Have you noticed; if you put "the" in their names, what does that imply?