Greetings, glorious testers!
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
My turnoff is when I exist only because "the player is special" rather than it just me being apart of the world. I know a lot of people find their unique takes in mmo's to be nice when they can be apart from everyone, and I'm okay with that. I separate myself from everyone else by what I accomplish, what I wear, what class I play, not necessarily the race... So I guess what I mean is..... I want to be able to be a Tulnar and walk up to some city over by the foresty elves or some high stuck up city of humans... And NOT feel out of place or like I'm supposed to be some rare genetic creation that isn't accepted anywhere outside where the lore dictates they're from. I like when a game references that people of EVERY RACE go adventuring, become thugs, become leaders, become these figures that aren't normally associated with. I want to fit in the world I play in and let the stories and adventures I have be what tells me apart from everyone else... Not how I'm an elf over in the dwarves area and that's apparently "not normally what elves do".
You can have a bit of an example of this from FFXIV in how some races are specifically eastern and NO WHERE to be found in earlier maps. Or how Phantasy Star Online 2 does it where there's a race you play that isn't introduced until later because of the story and until then there exists no NPC's of it....
To put it even more bluntly, let me be a Tulnar that owns a mercenary guild. Maybe I am a forgotten but does that mean all Tulnar just don't care about money, economy, power, war, etc? Does that exempt me from having a petty character that just loves to kill or wants to be a commanding leader of a great and powerful army? I like the imagination of that anything, can be anything they want, no matter what they are.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton
I watched your YouTube video with my wife last night (thank you for posting that as we were not able to attend the live stream), and we were impressed by the features discussed. We consequently looked up more information and watched The Lazy Peon’s overview of your game, and were very impressed by his summary. MMORPGs are our favorite genre to play, and we are both very excited and looking forward to learning more about Ashes of Creation as it develops.
Immersion in an MMO is something I think I haven’t considered in awhile. Mostly because my immersion has been related to something that isn’t even connected to the world, it has been connected to damage statistics, gear score, arena rating, raid progression, etc. When I think of being immersed in an MMO, I think of performance. While I think that might actually be an unhealthy development in terms of appreciating the work that goes into what you guys are doing, I don’t think it can be completely disregarded. Systems that rate, or provide some sort of rank of individual players on scales that players care about (PVP, economic, leadership perhaps?) might bring about increased immersion. I know it would for me.
That being said, the current game systems you guys have in place at this time are more than enough for me to become immersed. If the play time to reach max level provided by The Lazy Peon is anything to go on, it’ll take me many months to even reach max level, which I’m fine with. I’ll have plenty of time to be immersed in those systems just through the leveling process alone, never mind endgame content (which it seems like you have been looking to address through implicated raid content).
Keep up the good work.
Kind Regards,
S
i like a combat to feel immersive, and this is easily achieved by having many different auto attack animations, maybe even based on the model of the enemy and the terrain you fight in. in principal i imagine a basic swing with a 2-handed sword to be different, if my foe is super small (hitting low sideways, or hitting from above to the ground) or super big (hitting sideways above your head, stabbing upwards or swinging from ground to heaven)
I would like to see some diversion in basic attacks.
same counts for the mob im fighting with. (a bear has more then 3 attacking movements, maybe giving a faktor of damage calculation based on the animation time?)
take notes from dark souls, because it also concerns blocking and dodging and hitting something that withstands your weapon
2. stiff animations or repetetive idle animations
idle animations should differ from location to location (reading in a library, dancing/singing/drinking in a tavern, etc), and not just some shoulder movements every 5 seconds.
both combat animations (of both mob and player) need to be as fluid as possible, and if airbourne should not be cancelable.
3. conversations with NPC
if interacting with a npc, the character needs a voice and expressions, based on the level of relationship with the npc and the topic they are talking about.
im getting a quest from a friend who is very sad, maybe give the npc a comforting shouldergrip (only visible for you, so it doesnt disrupt the immersion of other players) or if the relationship is bad, giving the npc a grumpy attitude towards you, and the character a proper reaction. (i know it's hard and much work and i could understand if you guys don't actually do that, but we are living in 2020 so i would like to see some advance in gaming industry in that regard)
4. animations for water and air
i just watched the dev update video on youtube and i loved what i was seeing. but there are 2 or 3 things i would like to see some more effort in.
starting with the transistion from land/air to water, i would like to see some splash effects, based on the size of the model of the object, which is submerging. (2 or 3 different looking effects which are chosen randomly would be enough)
next is the transition animation for the model itself. if a player jumps of a cliff purposely to dive into the sea, he/she should get some sort of animation (maybe like a plunge). same goes for an airmount which dives down into the sea, or when dismounting from air to dive into water.
i dont know if this actually possible, or if it is too much to ask for, but i imagine it to be realitvely simple by giving it a script, where location, velocity and direction (and maybe vision) define, if the purpose is getting into water, initializing the animation.
5. repetetive npc-speech
"mornin! nice day for fishing, aint it? huha!
6. unrealistic movements
i dont need to be able to jump vertically out of the water swiming with heavy armor... thats just not possible.
same counts for mounts (yes even aquatic mounts). there is not a single animal, besides certain insects (given their weight and size) that can jump vertically without generating some momentum beforehand.
7. too sudden weatherchanges
if there is heavy rain somewhere, it barely ever ends from one second to the next. sure sometimes it feels very sudden, but its never abrupt. smooth weatherchanges, with maybe a few exceptions makes the world very immersive.
btw a changing position of the moon and the sun and maybe even the stars and clouds, with some dynamic lighting, works wonders.
8. vision
too blurry vision under water (because most of the time it's third person) breaks immersion. i would suggest to have a gradually increasing blurrines, based from the characters position forward, so the blurrines doesnt affect your character.
maybe you can add items that change this effect, like swimming goggles?
depth of field shouldnt be too strong, maybe you can make it adjustable in the options menu?
first person movements allways affects the prespective! give the vision a nod, and give the character some breathing sounds, when in first person view.
a dive on a flying mount is fast... faster then normal traveling speed... and probably would give tunnelvision to the character. maybe even a very fast landmount could give a very minor tunnelvision.
9. idle animations for mobs
Wolves hunt rabbits and other animals in packs, bears go fishing (their cubs play with each other), lions and tigers are mostly lazy but sometimes they hunt for a gazelle, mostly the females ofc.
i think u get where im going with this.
other then this most immersion comes from story telling and meaningful adventurism.
finding treasure by accident, having meaningful quests, etc...
The moment I saw a 12 character multiboxer go into an area I was questing at, roll in and destroy the entire area of mobs in a matter of seconds, then proceed to farm herbs and ore nodes and move on. All characters stacked on each other, moving at the same time, with the same iteration of names with maybe one letter changed.
That, that just made me log off.
- NPCs feel like NPCs (non adaptive AI, predictability)
- Healing, doing damage, or tanking is just watching health threat bars
- Ability physics not aligning with visuals
Adaptive AI will go a long way towards making the immersion feel better, those boars we might kill for hours starting to become smarter and work in groups or run for help from their herd is going to be much more interesting than just whacking at the same stupid boars for endless hours. Likewise, having created a reputation among NPCs for being hostile and rude toward quest givers could be an interesting thing, perhaps taking our time to really read and react to the quests rather than rush through should be something worth rewarding. Basically, the more authentic the reactions, the more immersive the experience. There should definitely be options for players who do not want to spend time doing quests non stop, and likewise there should be options for players who take the time to really interact with the world. Doing all this can be achieved through personalized AI that adapts to the various metrics of time spent on various elements, where the game tries to react based on what you have historically shown to do in the game, and tailors itself to the experience of the individual.
All experiences involving bars and debuffs being represented by little boxes of information detract of the immersion of the game for me and my wife. We noticed that often our activity is spent just putting these boxes in the middle of the screen and functionally ignoring whatever animations and such are on the screen. This is not playing the game and the immersion of the character in the world is completely lost, we are just moving based on what the little boxes tell us to do. There are examples in some existing games where we are encouraged to watch the animations and respond to what is being done in them. For instance, in Guild Wars 2, there is a fight with a giant in Nageling, the immersion is incredible, we see all the NPCs run to fight it, they see it coming, they respond. Furthermore, we are watching the boss for his movements, we see that right leg rise and know a stomp is coming and to prepare a block or dodge. This is the kind of thing that feels right, not some little box popping up telling us with a debuff that we need to cleanse or dodge, but instead watching the animations and responding. There are other examples of what that game does well too, like audio cues from the character telling you when they are hurt (heal yourself), or when they have been slowed or poisoned. There are boxes, but we do not need to look at them if we are paying attention to the visuals and listening to the game. This is so important, and likewise threat could be a matter of reading the body language of the enemy, if it is looking past you at healers or damage dealers in the back as a tank, that would be an indicator that maybe I need to step up spamming my high threatening move, or a LONG stare at a specific player by the NPC could be a signal that he is about to charge it or move to attack it instead. The more visual and audio information being done, the less need to look at little boxes and bars.
The last is that ability or skill being used and its animation not aligning with the expectation of such an ability. It feels awful for me as a damage dealer in a game to be using a skill that deals damage to a target while having my back to the target unless the animation were to make sense for that. If the animation swings to my left but the target is standing to my right, the ability just should not hit. Aiming skillshots and timing a hit to land based on anticipation feels good, but just tapping an ability and it always hitting regardless of what the animation shows feels boring and not immersive at all. There is much more I could go into on this, but I feel like these small points expand nearly indefinitely if we consider them deeply.
Looking forward to seeing just how far this can be taken and implemented. I know it would be impossible to really make it feel fully immersive right now, but maybe one day we can have such a game, maybe it can be this one or maybe it can grow into that one day.
Most people don't realize the true power of AI....
And this can be a number of things, but one of the things the breaks immersion for me is the clumsy way some MMOs handle the transition from active gameplay to inactive gameplay.
For example, games like Crowfall (which is in Beta), has one of the most awkward transitions when talking to an NPC. As the player is walking around the game world, the game will transition from a 3rd-person perspective to a first-person perspective when interacting with an NPC and locks you in that view. Once talking to an NPC, there is no way to interact with any of the other menus of functions until you exit out of the dialogue sequence. The animation sequence is so sudden, it literally rips the player from one view to the other all for the sake of "flare," which is not done very well to begin with.
Immersion ranges on different levels, but in general, the game's functions should not take complete precedence over the interaction and overall experience.
1. Not being able to play games in first person properly when I want to feel even more immersed.
2. Playing games with little to no consequences to player choices and actions.
I have two requests for the game to address those issues, both these requests require little design effort for their implementation, and they both add huge benefit and replayability for the game, essentially offering entirely different playstyles with no fundamental changes to the game engine required to implement both features into the game.
Whilst many people are asking for 4K, my only two requests for the game which I consider vitally important to make the game feel more fun and for more longevity in content, are:
1. A first person camera mode where the players body and weapons are visible. It doesn't have to be like Elder Scrolls Online's first person mode, and I'm not suggesting inverse kinematics or full body tracking, just a first person mode as long as it doesn't make the players body invisible.(zooms in to the players head and looking around moves the player model head slightly)
Some solo modder managed to remove body invisibility due to camera clipping from being an issue when modding the camera to be in first person position, and made first person combat and camera with visible hands a possibility on the Witcher 3 in a mod.
If one modder can do this on their own, surely it shouldn't take more than a few days at most for a AAA studio to do the same if not better.
This is the mod I'm referring talking about. (disregarding the janky rolling, as there's no rolling mechanic in Ashes anyway)
Doing this would enable the game to run on Vorpx VR software and other flatscreen to VR emulation software like Tridef, and for such a simple camera feature the added benefit could bring intrepid studios a lot more attention in the years to come as it would allow the option for Ashes to have rudimentary VR compatibility as one of the first VRMMOs, as developers shift away from producing games for mobile devices since people don't like to play games on mobile devices due to controller issues and screen size, and AAA studios start to make more games for VR platforms. Abilities in any game can already be bound to vr controllers in vorpx as vorpx has VR controller keyboard emulation as a feature.
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2. My second suggestion that's worth making a post about is giving players the opportunity of playing on a hardcore PvP server ruleset where characters are deleted on death and PvP server ruleset where you lose your items on death and all zones are PvP enabled besides towns and starter zones on the PvP server.
It's possible to implement this by changing server rulesets without changing the games mechanics or engine. It also provides more thrilling and exhilarating content by giving players more player freedom and more choice and more serious consequences to their actions, a reason why Diablo 2 hardcore and runescape is still so popular today, especially the Deadman mode tournaments.
It also provides a way to cater to casual players, regular players, hardcore players, PVP players and PVE players all by just changing server rulesets.
It is important to note that achieving variation in playstyles like this is all possible just by changing server rulesets, and possibly reputation loss amounts and doesn't require fundamentally changing any underlying game mechanics (only changing server parameter values for different server types, such as which areas PvP is automatically enabled; what happens to player chatacters on death on each server type (e.g. item loss or character deletion); reputation loss amounts for pking; and damage, resistance and HP values of non instanced monsters in the game world.)
I'd also like to see regular monsters in the game world all replaced with stronger elite mobs in the game world on such HC-PVP servers, encouraging group play to beat normal monsters in the game world unless you're a particularly skilled solo player looking for a Dark Souls like challenge (instead of mobs in the world being so easy that all the content is a faceroll), really making you question and prepare before you engage in a fight outside a town, and incentivising players to looking to form or join a guild or a player group before leaving town. Incentivising group play is always a bonus. (Which again disincentivises solo PKing abuse)
It's possible to have rare items like resurrection vials which prevent character deletion and only appear on hardcore PvP servers, having regard to blood money in Deadman mode on runescape which is a Deadman mode exclusive item.
I would strongly advise against making ressurection vials a cash shop purchase item, instead making them a very rare legendary item only ordinarily obtainable in the game world, however a one off fundraiser where people could buy 1-3 vials for $100 each to promote hardcore server mechanics could be an idea
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Final comment:
I've played mmos for years, and most end up feeling boring where you end up questioning why the hell am I even doing this and what's the point of playing? Interaction with game worldd often feel pointless when there are no consequences to actions, which is a common theme now in most MMOS as AAA studios design content to cater to casuals (and that's fine, on a PVE server), but as a result most MMO games core gameplay mechanics made by AAA studios have been babied down to cater to casuals way too much. (It's like playing a game where instead of autosaving all the time, it makes a perpetual save every 2 minutes removing all consequence from the game).
Runescape had really good questing implementation similar to Skyrim where quests are actually engaging and interesting and not boring monotonous kill X amount of boar tasks, but games like Skyrim and WoW are detaching and not as realistic, not as immersive, not as exciting or nerve wracking, and it's not as enjoyable playing games which feels like there's no consequences to player actions like Skyrim or WoW in its native implementation is like. (Deadman mode Runescape and Diablo 2's hardcore modes are the complete opposite of this and are popular to this day for that sole reason)
The more serious the consequences such as character deletion, it can have serious repercussions like not being able to interact with society by elevated reputation loss for player killing and guards becoming aggressive as a result, or players having to stick together and screen prospective guild members as imposter assassins before letting them join, disincentivising PKing and PKing abuse by making consequences for it as extreme as dying.
To prevent abuse of PKing mechanics by high levels or PKing clans, a strict level limit could be implemented making it impossible for players to attack other players more than 3 levels outside of their own level range (3 levels higher or lower), and the option to hide your player combat level and prevent item inspection, and those 3 measures would each disincentivise PVPers attacking lower level targets and reduce PKing abuse in general, if PVPers were unsure of a potential targets level which increases the risk to combat engagement exponentially.
Among Us's popularity proves that people love that drama and deductive reasoning in their gameplay, and such mechanics promote group play and guild formation.
I saw a documentary once about an AI that went around terminating people! Terrifying!
Anyway, the thing that I find most immersion-breaking is when people spam the chat channels: guild recruitment, selling things, RL politics, stupid 12yr boy rantings, etc. Massive walls of text continually running up my screen. Annoys the hell out of me. I often end up turning it off and missing out on the rest of the zone's interaction.
A. Immersion is one of if not the most important things to encourage long term playability and investment of one's time into a game.
Q What were some moments in an MMO that broke your immersion?
A. The biggest immersion breaking factors for me have occured when I've felt that there is not enough player freedom in game mechanics, and games without any consequences to gameplay, making the game feel like a "gamey" game which is catered to casuals which carries no meaning to my invested time as everything is overly standardised with no consequences in such games, which make me feel that way.
Q. How much did those moments affect your perception of the game?
A. Whenever I've felt limited in player freedom or that my choices have no meaningful impact or consequences (not just consequences for the world through story driven plot, but actual consequences and negative implications for my character because of MY actions in the game world), it has strongly put me off the game, and made me feel like I was playing a game with a limited scope towards what I can do rather than a compelling simulation which allows for absolute player freedom whilst still having consequences to actions and severe negative implications, such as for dying or for PKing (character deletion or not being able to engage with your faction due to being kicked out for losing too much reputation with your faction)
Q. How do you avoid, solve or address those immersion breaking problems, in your opinion?
A. In order to give players more player freedom and more meaningful consequences to gameplay, make hardcore pvp servers and option for players to play on, as it allows for more exciting immersive gameplay due to the greater player freedom and greater player consequences. Having said that PKing should be heavily penalised and disincentivises to prevent abuse on such servers.
Looking at Deadman mode tournaments on Runescape and considering their servers are always packed and there's a huge demand for it every year, and Diablo 2 is still popular to this day in part because of its hardcore mode
There surely needs to be systems to prevent PvP mechanic abuse and higher to lower level banking on permadeath servers, but that can be done pretty easily just by changing server rules and not fundamentally changing game engine or any mechanics.(like how much reputation is lost when killing players, or what happens to players on player death, hiding player combat levels, only allowing attacking in a level range of + or - 3 levels, preventing gear inspection, having faction guards become hostile to you for repeated PKing)
All those systems prevent PKing abuse from guilds and individuals, but the games which have the greatest levels of player freedom as well as severe consequences for severe actions are the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating in my experience. Permadeath servers also encourage group play and guild play, to prevent that happening, and I daresay there would be a lot more guilds who would want to stay alive and work together compared to PKing guilds.
Games with no consequences to player actions and games which have limited player choice to create safe spaces and cater to casuals aren't fun, they don't feel realistic and it feels pointless playing those games a lot of the time when there's little to no consequences to player actions and choices, it just makes games feel boring.
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Many people would also probably like to see a judicial system like archeage has, although such a complex system isn't needed. Giving players an empty courtroom and a filler quest obtainable from a court officer NPC like archeage has (complete jury duty 10 times, although it can be any somewhat related legal task to find apprehend criminal NPCs or something, and when you find them it spawns sherrif NPCs which have a dialogue script with the NPCs you have to find before the quest and sherrif NPCs despawn) to get court garb opens up the possibility for players to use that space to conduct mock trials on PKers and guild members, which is something people have been doing in games, albeit appropriating spaces and outfits, for a long time.
Normally land assets just get looked over but this is one of the instances where room design carries meaningful benefits for player freedom.
The idea is more for guild members who have pked members of the community or other guild members. It's a good idea for hardcore servers, as even if you didn't show up your absence would be taken as guilt by the community members seeking to have a mock trial against you, and you could be removed from a guild as a result of your non attendance (convicted in absentia), if you killed a guild member on a hardcore server, or members of the community and you were reported to your guild, for example, and if you were notified by PM or in game mail well in advance of the community's intention to have a trial against you.
It would actually encourage PKing guilds to stay quite secretive about their motives lest they become exposed and become targets for other guilds.
My underlying point is you wouldn't need a complex judicial system to give players that additional player freedom (in fact such a judicial system could prove to be restrictive by forcing players to engage in trials and to engage with them in a specific way), players have proven they can and are willing to do that on their own for fun.
Ace Attorney online and Ultima Online immediately come to mind when talking about games which don't innately have a judicial system but people reappropriate areas in game to have mock trials, or games where people set the structure of trials on their own and don't have any underlying mechanic to do so, just a platform to enable trials to happen but not force them to occur in any specific way.
Something that is really holding me back from playing FFXIV. When I'm traveling between zones there shouldn't be loading screens. Dungeons i can understand but please no loading screens in the open world.
#2 Lack of vivid colors
I understand that that's a preference and may not be the same for everyone but the milky colors of FFXIV are also holding me back from playing the game. For reference GW2 has very vivid colors, looks really nice.
#3 Too much realism
I want to see a stunning world. Something that I would have thought was not possible. Flip the world, turn it in itself, make an infinite loop? (Maybe that's a bad idea)
#4 Lack of RPG Elements/Iconic moments
Hang with me, I need to explain what i mean.
For Night Elves WOW players, the run to Stormwind, taking the ship, then dying to OP monsters because you are low level, then waiting patiently until newbies would walk before you so you could run and watch them die.
For Horde players, searching for the wife of this orc but nobody has a clue where she is because the quest gives you like 0 information. Barrens chat (Lovehate)
Those were iconic moments that will make the world come alive because everyone is talking about them.
I think this one is the most important!
#5 Lack of cinematics/lore
I think we can all admit that the only reason wow is still alive, is because of the awesome cinematics they produce. They are astonishing! And not only that, the lore was until a point actually really good!
Keeping me hyped up! For reference: GW2. Good game but bad / non existent cinematics.
Best regards
Karfunkel
The moment I saw this month's cosmetics.
I've got a lot of love for the Intrepid art team. This months pack and their art in general is mind blowing in its quality. But when I look at the hat and cauldron carriage it feels like shoehorning Halloween into the game. Whenever I see references to real world festivals/holidays, it breaks my immersion.
Having an NPC who's name is close enough to a "celebrity" that everyone knows who the reference is.
A. I think muted color tones, pale lights, mist and snow. The dark Diablo 2 or Diablo 4 color scheme, as well as a more vivid and psychedelic color scheme, is the most immersive. Going too bright and light on the color schemes can make things look cartoony, which reduces immersion for me unless I'm playing a cartoon game or a game with a notably cartoon like or anime like art style, which is why I suggest darker colours even when using vivid color profiles.
Elder Scrolls IV shivering Isles did it really well with Dementia / Mania and the differences between the art styles in those two areas, in terms of muted dark colors for dementia and dark vivid colors for mania.
Elder scrolls V Skyrim does pale lighting, mist and snow really well in terms of realism which is very immersive.
Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning also uses dark vivid color schemes really well which were immersive.
Multiboxing is so unfair! down with the multi boxers!
We are going to have to find a way to merge with AI, i.e. Ellon Musk's neurolink or we will be left behind in the dust.
Scary eh?
A. Give players more choices and more options, more player freedom, not less, but with the appropriate penalties, as consequences to player actions, not just player actions having consequences to the world but player actions sometimes causing severe consequences to the player as well, are just as important as player freedom for building a sense of immersion and sense of realism, and exhilarating game experiences. (High or intense levels of freedom to impede on other players should come with high or intense levels of consequences) Make systems which synergies and are symbiotic with other systems, such as the one I'm about to suggesg. To increase immersion and make the bounty hunting system feel more realistic, I suggest Intrepid makes a simple reverse auction house system for actual player bounties to complement the bounty hunter system. This system doesn't have to be incredibly complex and should be easy to code and implement into the game.
You go to an NPC, insert the amount of gold you want to pay them, and then insert a player name in the text field below, the NPC then takes the gold and generates an auction house or "bounty auction house" listing (they could be seperate auction houses or on the same auction house) seeking that players dog tags or ear. If there is no player with such name you would get an error and no listing would be made.
Implementing it would require the developers to have all players generate and drop a specific item code on death (an item code for dog tags or the players ear) with the players creation tag on it or the item description reads "These tags/This ear belonged to (Player Name)".
The Bounty Overseer Auction NPC would generate a reverse auction house listing, whereby a player would have to have the appropriate dog tags or ear in their inventory to be able to "purchase" the listing.
Players could organise all auction house dog tag/ear listings by price, or search the names of the killed players of which their dog tags are in the players possession, in order to see if there's an active listing for the dog tags or ear you can redeem. (Simply make the auction house search through item descriptions instead of just the item names, so that the search can identify the player name tags which would be generated in the item description for each dog tag/ear)
Once a bounty is redeemed, the item is removed from your inventory and the amount of gold that was on the listing for that item gets sent to your in game mailbox from the Bounty Overseer/Bounty Auction House.
Think of it like the auction house system in Wow, except instead of buying items for gold you're buying gold for items, or rather "redeeming" the dog tag/ears for gold, and the listings would appear exactly the same (the principle of the auction house is the same but it's reversed to how it's conventionally implemented)
Also certain character names. They don't have to be ideal, but at least they shouldn't have numbers or most special characters.
For me the most immersion breaking thing I was ever subjected to was being targetted pvp wise, didn't matter where I went I would get ganked by the same people over and over again even so far as to following me onto other servers I transfered to, I enjoy pvp usually but that was just too much tbh.
Personally I would prefer the ability to make yourself incognito even to your own alliance, so that you can atleast avoid meta gamers who want to gank you repeatedly when they are bored and its late night, you know the kind who have like 3 accounts so that they can avoid the faction lock (if there is one) and look up your location via player lists.
I don't like limited pvp I prefer for things to be open and ganks to be viable anywhere, but players finding you via some ingame player search that lists your location etc, it's just a bit much tbh.
how the f did we go from immersion to elon musk? xD
Immersion isn't really a big deal to me, but this stuck out more than anything I guess. This and a good flow of combat animations. Clunky animations and slow paced combat is a turn off in immersion and the game as a whole.
I've had in a game and what brought that immersion about?
A. I find that games require good lore to be immersive, but a foundation of lore helps but cool characters with good voice acting, and significant features on costume design which make the characters stand out as unique, help create memorable experiences and good lore which is immersive. Statues help as well, and stone artwork or heiroglyphics with lore, good lighting, shadows, cinematics and colors help a lot too with making enjoyable characters that you want to know the lore of and helps induce immersion.
Environments in games and themes, points of interest which are immersive
And this one might be obvious. Jawdroppingly beautiful environments. Snowy mountains, caves, mines, valleys filled with mist, black volcanic sand and scorched skies like Mordor as it's depicted in LOTR movies, towers or windmills, lighthouses (viewpoints), canyons of rock that stretch as far as the eye can see and are incredibly wide and amazing to look at, canyons of rock formations by the ocean and cliffs (no one does this), unique points of interests (lighthouses, eye of Sauron, portal to outland/another dimension/time travelling to earlier times, are very immersive experiences or in my opinion are conducive to creating the feeling of immersion in players. (Caverns of time instances which required going back time to try and change history were some of the most if not the most popular instances in WoW.)
Music In WoW and Skyrim and why it's immersive
Good music is also vital for inducing and creating the feeling of immersion, it's why wow is so immersive, and why Skyrim is so immersive. Epic music usually has drums and chanting, from my experience. (case in points below)
Mordhau also implemented a lutebot system which allowed people to play their in game lutes with a MIDI keyboard. Allowing people to do this with flutes (recorders, duduks, other cool flutes), drums, harps and lutes would be hilarious and pretty immersive (with the option to mute it as some players might not like it but hey)
Archeage and why it was immersive
Archeages sailing system was quite immersive, because of the consequences that came with it when trying to do trade routes risking losing your trade packs and getting your ship destroyed in PVP with pirates.
The judicial system in Archeage was also really cool and immersive, and made it feel like there was much more risk and player consequences to player actions. Many people probably would like to see a judicial system like archeage has, although such a complex system isn't needed. Giving players an empty courtroom and a filler quest obtainable from a court officer NPC like archeage has (complete jury duty 10 times, although it can be any somewhat related legal task to find apprehend criminal NPCs or something, and when you find them it spawns sherrif NPCs which have a dialogue script with the NPCs you have to find before the quest and sherrif NPCs despawn) to get court garb opens up the possibility for players to use that space to conduct mock trials on PKers and guild members, which is something people have been doing in games, albeit appropriating spaces and outfits, for a long time.
Normally land assets just get looked over but this is one of the instances where room design carries meaningful benefits for player freedom.
Runescape and why it was immersive
In terms of what I found the most immersive experience in Runescape whilst playing that for over 15 years, I always found Deadman mode Tournaments the most immersive experience in Runescape, in the over 15 years I've been playing Runescape on and off, most likely due to how exhilarating and meaningful each player action becomes.
The way runescapes classless system is structured whilst allowing for a lot of development of different skills, and more importantly how it's quest system was structured (e.g. not arbitrary kill X boar tasks but much much more creative tasks) made it very immersive to play. Seriously, do some research and study Runescapes different quests and its most famous ones. It really has a unique and the most immersive questing system of any game.), and how completing those quests relied on developing your skills (you can't just take this quest, you need 300 smithing and alchemy first) is what made Runescape so appealing and it's quests so immersive, but more importantly what kept people so engaged through the mindless numbing grind of skills (because you were excited to level up those skills just a little bit to make you eligible to do X quest.)
Ashes can do the same even whilst having a class system, just format and make your quests in the same style Runescape did, and make some hefty requirements to engage in the more epic quests (e.g. 300 smithing and mining, as 300 mining is required to obtain a special ore in the quest and 300 smithing to smelt it, and the quest either doesn't appear or isn't acceptable unless you have the prerequisite skills to complete the quest in full.)
I'd like to see seasonal fresh start permadeath/Last man standing servers in Ashes for that reason, as a seasonal tournament 2-4 times a year as an event, and if you die your character is transferred to a regular server. I feel like even a seasonal server permadeath tournament fresh start server every few months or every year would be a great idea for increased immersion, though and those players that die could have their characters transferred to a regular server.
Hiding player combat levels and preventing item inspection, and limiting combat between players to only those of the same level or higher, or 3 levels higher or lower, unless in a specific wilderness zone reduces PvP abuse and eliminates higher levels ganking lower levels
I think combat levels in Ashes should be hidden from other players (unless you elect to make it visible), it allows for more robust PvP mechanics and more player freedom by disincentivising PvP abuse by making it more risky to attack players.
I think there should be a limit that you're only allowed to initiate a flight with someone your level or higher unless you're in a specific wilderness zone, to eliminate higher levels ganking lower levels entirely.
The idea of limiting player attack level range to 3 above or below levels, preventing gear inspection, and hiding player combat levels is to curb, or at least severely reduce higher levelled players ganking lower level players and to eliminate or severely reduce PKing guilds ganking lower levelled players by making it far more risky.
Eradicating PVP system abuse and eliminating ganking from higher levels to lower levels with preventative systems to allow for increased player freedom with increased consequences to balance it, and systems which disincentivise PvP abuse by making strong consequences to PvP abuse
Player attack level limit ranges on combat levels could even just be limited to players only being allowed to initiate combat with other players of the same level and 3 levels above, eradicating and preventing higher levelled players ganking lower levelled players entirely and preventing all abuse of the PKing system such as higher level players spawn camping new players, unless a lower levelled player wants to take the risk and engage a player potentially up to 3 combat levels higher than them.
The strong penalties and consequences for PKing would disincentivise abuse, such as loss of ability to interact with faction and bounty hunting systems, which makes ganking by higher level individuals and guilds not a problem and "falling behind", then ceases to be an issue in terms of new players who start after the permadeath server starts.
Most importantly: actually drop a loot item on the ground after kill! Don't force me to press 'F' on a glowing corpse to pick up items from a UI screen. I want to see my glorious drops hit the ground and show up visually on my screen! Also, let me drop items from my inventory on the ground; not some invisible black hole that destroys them instantly.
Drop uniqueness: Don't make it so that every legendary monster can drop every type of legendary weapon or crafting material. Have some drops that only drop from one or a few! Also, don't drop 5 different garbage items.