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Questions from a new community member

Greetings! My wife and I are jazzed about this game, so let me get right to the questions on our mind:

1) We are primarily PvE players but we have enjoyed certain types of structured PvP (prime example: ESO's Cyrodil). I love to craft and my wife loves to gather, so we typically enjoy gathering up resources and processing or producing them into products. The idea of a Freehold for processing, fed by our gathering, is very intriguing.

We are very social and have been in many guilds but we don't like the idea of hanging around in Discord listening to young boys making fart jokes so we mostly play as a duo with friendships and *maybe* guilded with the right sort of mature like-minded comrades.We love PvE combat and hope that's a viable possibility for the two of us.

Will it be possible for my wife and I to make a career out of playing as a duo, gathering and crafting, PvE hunting as a co-op duo, doing our part to contribute to our local nodes and neighbors, and making enough gold to reap the rewards of our efforts without being endlessly ganked? Or will survival require guilding up? This is not a deal breaker one way or the other, we are perfectly willing to guild up and make our contribution, including PvP when requested, but we want to know in advance what's possible, so that if we don't find a guild we like, we're still able to have a fun experience.

2) We've tried many games with anti-griefing mechanics, from UO's rep system to the criminal systems of ArcheAge, Albion Online, and many others. In our experience, they NEVER work, primarily because the appeal of becoming an outlaw typically outweighs the cost. And then when heavy costs are employed, players whine and developers back off in order to prevent a revolt. Can someone explain to me why this game's Corruption system is going to avoid what history has taught us?

3) Related to 2) above, the Bounty system seems intended to provide some form of anti-griefing control. But in my experience, bounties never work for the following reason: two players conspire to have one player generate a big bounty, while the 2nd player then kills his friend (the first player) and they then split the bounty. How does AoC intend to avoid this problem?

That's it for now. I LOVE the ideas of this game and look forward to trying it out to see if it's for us. But i'd appreciate any insights regarding the above issues. Thanks!

Comments

  • Wandering MistWandering Mist Moderator, Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Hi and welcome to the Ashes family.

    I don't know how much you know yet but in Ashes there are 3 main paths for the professions - Gathering, Processing and Crafting. Each character can only master (max out) one of those paths, meaning if there were only 2 of you, you would be missing one of the paths. In other words you'll need to collaborate with at least one other person to be self-sufficient.

    Aside from that, as a duo you should be fine contributing towards a node, although again you may need help if you plan on transporting your wares across the world.

    The corruption system in Ashes differs from other open world PvP games in that it encourages consensual PvP, rather than simply punishing it outright thanks to the death penalty. There is a standard death penalty including an exp debt and the chance to drop raw materials from your bags. If you get attacked and you fight back (i.e. become a combatant/flag for PvP), the death penalty is a lot less. And if you become corrupted you get a lot harsher death penalties.

    Of course, this entire system will need to be tested thoroughly before the game launches to see if it works as well in practice as it does on paper.

    There are systems in place to prevent abusing the bounty system, including having corrupt players respawn at a random location on the map rather than a predictable point. Again though, these systems will need to be tested to ensure they work.

    One thing I will say is that no system is in-exploitable and sometimes developers can go down a rabbit hole trying to fix potential exploits that they create even more problems, or lose sight of the vision.

    If you have any further questions, feel free to ask :)
    volunteer_moderator.gif
  • nidriksnidriks Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter
    Welcome to the Ashes community, @MMOJunkie

    Regarding 2 and 3, I would say we don't really know yet. Those systems are very much dependent upon testing. Intrepid are very much open to community feedback though, in fact it is something Steven has said often. I believe I heard the subject of split bounties discussed on the podcast Wandering Mist is on. Ashes Pathfinders. Worth a listen sometime.

    With regard to 1, I think it is very possible to be a valuable duo to the community. I do think you will want to consider a guild though. For one, you are going to want to transfer resources about via the caravan system. Unless you become super wealthy as a duo then I don't think you'll be affording to hire a guild to protect your caravans. That is where a good guild comes in. They'd also be essential for you being the best crafters you can, I think. There has been talk of the best resources being accessible only with cooperation.

    I can understand your conerns with guilds. I am a male that loves a bit of childish humour. I'm British, after all, and I grew up with Carry On films. Even I don't want that all the time though. There are always guilds where a requirement is that the members be of a certain age. I don't know if they're interested in Ashes but I've seen a guild called The Old Timers Guild in many games. There would be plenty of time to find the right guild though. You could easily wait till beta for that. Even waiting till release would not be too late.

    Who knows? You could find the right guild and stay with them for years. I have.

    I think a duo like yourselves would be a valuable asset to any guild.

    My final point is that Ashes is far from release. We've not even entered alpha yet. There is plenty of time to watch the game develop, to chat to the community and make up your minds whether this game is for you. Tune in to the livestreams, listen to the community podcast(s) andhave a chat here or on the discord.

    If you're not already there: https://discord.gg/ashesofcreation

    As Steven has publicly said, there is plenty of time to decide whether Ashes is for you. When the game releases you don't even have to buy it. Pay a month's sub and try it out.
  • MMOJunkieMMOJunkie Member
    edited August 2020
    Thank you Wandering Mist and nidricks for the welcomes and the insights, I appreciate it! (I wonder how many players remember the Carry On movies, I sure do!)

    We bought a package called "PAX exclusive Alpha Package" back in 2017 based on our excitement of the vision and our general desire to fund Steven's ambitious project, we were very impressed. If it doesn't work out, that's fine, I'll be glad to have contributed anyway. How do we determine if we are eligible to participate in Alpha 1 vs. 2?

    Thanks, and we look forward to learning more about the game as it develops. Thanks for the good advice and suggestions.
  • nidriksnidriks Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter
    From the look of things you get access to alpha 2 with that package. Expect alpha 2 in 2021 - middle to late. Might be earlier, but I would expect summer at the earliest to not be disappointed.

    Assuming, of course that this is what you bought? https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/37362/limited-pax-exclusive-alpha-package

    I don't recall the ackage as I had kickstarter. I don't know if there was just the one.
  • Wandering MistWandering Mist Moderator, Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited August 2020
    @MMOJunkie If you log in to your intrepid account here: https://accounts.ashesofcreation.com/login And then go to "Profile Home" (at the top) and then click on "View Inventory" (box on the right) it will bring up all the items that you get with the package you bought, including what kind of testing access you have.

    If your package isn't visible you may need to contact customer support, but it should be there. When it's your time to test the game you should receive an email with instructions for downloading the client and getting into the game.

    Customer Support page - https://ashesofcreation.zendesk.com/hc/en-us
    volunteer_moderator.gif
  • Thanks, Wandering Mist. When I choose "View Inventory", I see a list of items including this one:

    LIMITED - PAX Exclusive Alpha Package

    I can't tell by reading this what i actually have. Does this package include access to Alpha 1 or only Alpha 2?

    Thanks,
  • MMOJunkie wrote: »
    Greetings! My wife and I are jazzed about this game, so let me get right to the questions on our mind:

    1) We are primarily PvE players but we have enjoyed certain types of structured PvP (prime example: ESO's Cyrodil). I love to craft and my wife loves to gather, so we typically enjoy gathering up resources and processing or producing them into products. The idea of a Freehold for processing, fed by our gathering, is very intriguing.

    We are very social and have been in many guilds but we don't like the idea of hanging around in Discord listening to young boys making fart jokes so we mostly play as a duo with friendships and *maybe* guilded with the right sort of mature like-minded comrades.We love PvE combat and hope that's a viable possibility for the two of us.

    Will it be possible for my wife and I to make a career out of playing as a duo, gathering and crafting, PvE hunting as a co-op duo, doing our part to contribute to our local nodes and neighbors, and making enough gold to reap the rewards of our efforts without being endlessly ganked? Or will survival require guilding up? This is not a deal breaker one way or the other, we are perfectly willing to guild up and make our contribution, including PvP when requested, but we want to know in advance what's possible, so that if we don't find a guild we like, we're still able to have a fun experience.

    2) We've tried many games with anti-griefing mechanics, from UO's rep system to the criminal systems of ArcheAge, Albion Online, and many others. In our experience, they NEVER work, primarily because the appeal of becoming an outlaw typically outweighs the cost. And then when heavy costs are employed, players whine and developers back off in order to prevent a revolt. Can someone explain to me why this game's Corruption system is going to avoid what history has taught us?

    3) Related to 2) above, the Bounty system seems intended to provide some form of anti-griefing control. But in my experience, bounties never work for the following reason: two players conspire to have one player generate a big bounty, while the 2nd player then kills his friend (the first player) and they then split the bounty. How does AoC intend to avoid this problem?

    That's it for now. I LOVE the ideas of this game and look forward to trying it out to see if it's for us. But i'd appreciate any insights regarding the above issues. Thanks!

    From what i can tell so far, there is no such thing as the bountyhunter profession etc. Its just viable option to become one, as location of players with high corruption score will be visible to whole server. And you are not rewarded for killing corrupted player with gold, but corrupted player on death might drop his gear, so thats the biggest incentive to chase after them. That being said, getting Pk'd is gonna be very rare if you stay out of peoples way, when big party comes you move to other hunting ground etc etc.
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