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.
Development Update Stream/Play Video (3/26/21) - What did you see?
Lughlaoch
Member, Alpha Two
Thank you to the team for taking time to duckdate the community.
First off, the game is looking amazing! I can feel my cautious excitement/anticipation to get behind the wheel of my cleric...ahem, cough, character. I've seen recent news, streams, and vids about the hope resting on AoC's shoulders to bring MMORPG back into MMORPG. The last great hope for the genre - no pressure.
In watching the stream and video back some of my observations. (Yes, I understand that this is in development with MANY MANY changes to be made). I'd like to hear what others saw/felt.
Character Animation-Movement, rolling/dodging, looked fluid and natural. So impressive and exciting.
Will the stowing of the weapons/shields lay across the back or be sheathed at our sides? I saw Steve's animation to put the weapon away, but then it disappears completely. Will the jumping animation see more attention? It seemed a bit floaty. Jump, hang time, land. ESO release was similar and was tweaked at some point past release - so maybe that will be a similar case. Certainly not deal breakers, but what I noticed. This DOES NOT outweigh how amazing it all looks so far.
Character Attire-Jeff's character's robes/tunic moved fluidly and perfectly. So amazing. Loved it! Will we be able to dye our clothes/armor within reasonable colors?
Lighting-Superb. The character shadows and environment lighting is immersive, realistic, and awe-inspiring! So great.
Environment-Immersive, beautiful, and detailed. Incredible. One question, in the "starter city" what are the specs floating in the air? Is that ash from the volcano?
Structures-The scaling of the buildings is spot on. The size creates an epic-feel that I miss in other games. The bigger the better.
UI-Will there be UI option to have more than one skill bar? In many other MMORPGs (WoW, Tera, Rift, SWTOR) I play with skills on 4+ skill bars with 10 skills per. Some players would use ctrl, alt, or shift in combination with other number keys to change the skill bars and/or have them ALL on their screen at one time. I noticed that Steve had ONE bar of maybe 11 skills. I like to have access to ALL my abilities.
The idea of corruption growing as the humanoid cities grow, will there be a story that explains the corruption lore?
In listening to the Q&A, it feels like you've fleshed out ALOT. So jazzed! BTW: LOVED the death/disintegrate/ash animation-to think it's not finished - I wish I was that talented.
As I've mentioned, YOU'RE ALL doing an incredible job and all eyes are on you.
P.S. Someone help Steve with his mic settings, we can hear his PC/AC running
I know it's not the ducks.
First off, the game is looking amazing! I can feel my cautious excitement/anticipation to get behind the wheel of my cleric...ahem, cough, character. I've seen recent news, streams, and vids about the hope resting on AoC's shoulders to bring MMORPG back into MMORPG. The last great hope for the genre - no pressure.
In watching the stream and video back some of my observations. (Yes, I understand that this is in development with MANY MANY changes to be made). I'd like to hear what others saw/felt.
Character Animation-Movement, rolling/dodging, looked fluid and natural. So impressive and exciting.
Will the stowing of the weapons/shields lay across the back or be sheathed at our sides? I saw Steve's animation to put the weapon away, but then it disappears completely. Will the jumping animation see more attention? It seemed a bit floaty. Jump, hang time, land. ESO release was similar and was tweaked at some point past release - so maybe that will be a similar case. Certainly not deal breakers, but what I noticed. This DOES NOT outweigh how amazing it all looks so far.
Character Attire-Jeff's character's robes/tunic moved fluidly and perfectly. So amazing. Loved it! Will we be able to dye our clothes/armor within reasonable colors?
Lighting-Superb. The character shadows and environment lighting is immersive, realistic, and awe-inspiring! So great.
Environment-Immersive, beautiful, and detailed. Incredible. One question, in the "starter city" what are the specs floating in the air? Is that ash from the volcano?
Structures-The scaling of the buildings is spot on. The size creates an epic-feel that I miss in other games. The bigger the better.
UI-Will there be UI option to have more than one skill bar? In many other MMORPGs (WoW, Tera, Rift, SWTOR) I play with skills on 4+ skill bars with 10 skills per. Some players would use ctrl, alt, or shift in combination with other number keys to change the skill bars and/or have them ALL on their screen at one time. I noticed that Steve had ONE bar of maybe 11 skills. I like to have access to ALL my abilities.
The idea of corruption growing as the humanoid cities grow, will there be a story that explains the corruption lore?
In listening to the Q&A, it feels like you've fleshed out ALOT. So jazzed! BTW: LOVED the death/disintegrate/ash animation-to think it's not finished - I wish I was that talented.
As I've mentioned, YOU'RE ALL doing an incredible job and all eyes are on you.
P.S. Someone help Steve with his mic settings, we can hear his PC/AC running
I know it's not the ducks.0
Comments
I mean...the cash shop skins confirmed a transmog system a long time ago.
I doubt that they'll make it so that mogs will be on during pvp or untoggleable.
And how will it ruin immersion? If anything, people will actually be wearing matching sets instead of random pieces of equipment from different places.
I personally like the transmog system, because almost certainly there's going to be gear thats good for your class but will make your character not look the way you want. I enjoy playing my character more when it looks cool, and i think this goes for many people. I hope they'll make it a toggle thing, so that people who don't want it, can turn it off.
It will be always visible if the player choose to make it so, but for PvP they have other thoughts on how they're going to address that - https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Appearance_slots#Gear_inspection.2F_Threat_assessment
I echo Steven's enthusiasm that the relative server stability with so many entities in one place bodes well for the massive engagements planned in the future. I cut my MMO teeth playing the original Planetside, so large player engagements are a key feature that I am looking forward to in Ashes. I have heard cynical views that such battles could turn into zergfests. While that is true, a smart, objective-based system should mean a few cohesive groups of people could have a huge influence on the battle; a zerg that runs into overwhelming AoE from a properly placed siege weapon, or losing crucial weapon and armour buffs because their blacksmith got destroyed/captured is going to have a bad day.
- Movement in general is bad, needs a lot of improvement, characters don't match the floor, feet doesn't match the speed, everything, specially jumping is very floaty as you said. Mount movement is not fluid at all, specially in diagonal. Combat needs a lot of work to feel fluid and to be enjoyable for thousands of hours.
- Graphics look amazing, the world, characters, armors... All the artstyle looks very beautiful.
- Personally I don't like turning to ashes in death, I like to recognize and see what gear people have equiped when dead, not just piles of ashes. Tho for me is no big deal at all and not a strong point.
The game looks good, but we need superb gameplay, very fluid and enjoyable, that's gotta be their focus and they need to get it right.
I really liked the fox, looks amazing, they are really putting a lot of care in the animations of all the mounts, I love it!
I still dislike how skinny the dwarves are, they should have bulkier backs, but that's a nitpick tbh.
The corrupted areas look cool, I would prefer if those crystal trees harmed you if you get too close, as a way to present how harmful is the corruption. I still hope they keep adding more corrupted elements, because gray grass and dead crystal trees are not enough to sell the corrupted vibe.
There maybe an option to turn cosmetics off for 1. yourself, 2 your allies, 3 enemies. Maybe have the option to only see cosmetics in safe zones if you decide to toggle them off. That way you can identify a gearset a player is wearing from afar
I did mental note the dwarves also...but, I thought maybe I was accustomed to the type of dwarves where they're tanky & bulky (more wow-like). Tolkien/Norse dwarves, to me, just look like stocky small humans with much more hair. If one Googles dwarf mythology, there's ALOT of images that fill the spectrum. HOPEFULLY, there will be a character creation "slider" that will allow for girth, height, musculature, etc. as in games such as BDO. (crosses fingers).
From the Wiki Character Creation Section, "The goal is to have a character creator that is on par with if not much better than what BDO provided. ' If I had to give a comparison, I would use BDO as an example of what our Character Creation is going for.' – Steven Sharif
For the ENTIRE game, if the Intrepid Team can pull this off, it's going to be amazing. It's a tall order. The goal is to incorporate all the best elements of many of the games we've all played and loved. It's probably not going to have Souls-like combat or Skyrim-type exploration, but that might be too much to ask. - besides, not everyone likes either of those elements. I think overall, games are defined by standards that the majority of players like and the fringe-folk are left to find a way to fit in...such is life. Tell someone you don't like milk, hamburgers, or puppies (not necessarily in that order) and watch their reaction.
-Marcel said, "- Movement in general is bad, needs a lot of improvement, characters don't match the floor, feet doesn't match the speed, everything, specially jumping is very floaty as you said. Mount movement is not fluid at all, specially in diagonal. Combat needs a lot of work to feel fluid and to be enjoyable for thousands of hours."
Agreed, this is what I have noticed too...you stated it better with "characters don't match the floor."
Again, for me, this is constructive observations for change and not meant to disparage anything that is RIGHT with the game - I think, for what it's worth, that the it's progressing monthly and I welcome the transparency.
Transmog was confirmed years ago.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Appearance_slots
That'd be so cool! The thing you said with the corrupted trail. That's a dope idea.
Hope thats not a direction they are going towards.
Rather have more skill rotations.
0dbea148-8cb8-4711-ba90-eb0864e93b5f
How cheerful would you be if your hook hand kept deflating you?
There's a dirty joke in there, somewhere...
Skill rotations is not what they are aiming for.
They have said a few times they want combat to be more reactive and require you to use the right skill for the right job.
This is good because it allows more player agency in build customization.
The downside is that you will likely spam moves sometimes, especially at lower levels.
To me the trade off is worth it for build freedom and playstyle freedom.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.