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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
I think there may be a case for Alpha 2 to drop in late December, early January.
If that prediction becomes true, a Beta 1 in fall 2022, could be feasible I think, not knowing the first thing about game development.
I would thus expect the full launch in late 2023? God it feels so far away.... and it might be even farther away.
Sure, the month-long test has also been pushed back, but we're still supposed to get some more testing in in-between.
That's better than having all the testing pushed back 2 months.
I doubt that this is true. Not because Blizzard would ever do anything like that (they totally would) but because I doubt that Ashes is seen as a threat or is really even on their radar.
But if you're right that would be awesome, because it would mean that Ashes is making waves enough for the behemoths in the industry to not only take notice, but to make decisions around it. Especially around an alpha milestone for a game. That seems extremely far-fetched and is either a coincidence, or it just happens to be a good day to release stuff.
I hope you're right, but I think it's wildly optimistic at this stage.
Considering their TBC pre-patch launch landed exactly on the Alpha 1 NDA drop, and that the full launch landed on ESO's expansion's launch; and this against everything WoW Classic players have been asking/telling Blizzard, it seems very clear that they chose those dates specifically to mess with any and all possible competition. At least in terms of publicity and presence in the public eye through Youtube and Twitch
(testing....)
Aren't we all sinners?
Occam's razor, but vigilant.
Bliz's idea of content is, grind, time sinks out of this world, and repetitive daily quests. The problem with most game companies is they forget they are supposed to provide that dirty little three letter word. F U N. But as large corporations go, they can't seem to focus on anything other than quarterly earnings statements, and totally shoot themselves in the wazoo for the future. The second you forget about your employees, subscribers, or people in general, you have sealed your own coffin.
That said, i know aoc will be a good game when its complete as it encompasses many features and ideas from many other games. While i'm not overly elated over this delay, i do respect Steven's transparency, which is a very rare character trait now days. Lets hope the delays doesn't become habitual.
Shigeru Miyamoto
Take some time off Intrepid and come back stronger then ever.
Much love ❤️
Just a little more time baking...
Someone you otter know.
PERFECT GIF!!
You should immortalize it in the memes thread.
- There will always be new shiny things that will take aways some testers. (And i still think the TBC move isn't against AoC, Blizzard struggle with Shadowland, if TBC classic was release later it will shadowed the release of 9.1 of Shadowlands. And Activision want probably some thing to release for this part of the year, just for monetize it).
- Maybe it show the limit of use only testers that paid the entry fee. If they want more available people maybe they should open it a bit.
I mean, it sucks, yes, but for the long game it was the perfect choice.
I mean, the other choice was to sabotage Wow and Eso launch, but I guess that would've been harder
The fact, however, is that most would-be players do not have exposure to game development and alpha testing (not to be confused with what some other game developers call Alpha, Beta or even release). That drives a lot of unrealistic expectations. Expectations like “playing” the game during Alpha 1. I get the desire to provide the testers with some form of game experience, but it’s still an alpha. You need some room for experimentation, in my opinion, to rule in what works and rule out what doesn’t.
One thing I was hoping from AoC was a much earlier look at the alpha testing process and some of the thinking behind the decisions that will lead to Alpha 2, the Betas and eventually initial release. That kind of exposure, while some might argue could be negative, can actually be a win-win if Intrepid can demonstrate the relationship between the CEO/visionary, development team, and players. I think there is a lot of that that may already be there, but just needs to be shared more broadly.
NDAs can be a great thing to protect proprietary information, certain code, structures and design, but can be applied too broadly. And I realize it is far easier to slap down a global NDA than to break things out to more granular details.
Exposure may also be the only way to level out the hype associated with this game. At the same time, such exposure could provide the supporting evidence to back such hype. Plus we’re at an odd point in game development history where hype can be viewed as a negative. Most likely due to other companies hyping up their recent cash grab - looking at you Blizzard and Todd Howard.
Blizzard moved TBC date to June 1st for a reason and we all know what that reason is: AoC and ESO. I am happy that Steven is transparent and honest enough to say it as is.
Some say, and it may be backed by research that I don’t have an exact citation for, that it takes 20 impressions after the first to change people’s perception.
Recent criticism of the game, not that I really care about their opinion, are still referencing the visuals in Apocalypse and don’t seem to know how Intrepid has toned that down.
There is also a built in mistrust of demos from developers due to players being burned previously by less reputable developers.
Intrepid has to overcome impressions from Apocalypse plus the failures of other developers even though they don’t control what other companies do or have done in the past. It is more or less the inheritance of an industry that has dropped the ball far too many times to count. I happen to believe that a steady stream of positive player experiences from multiple independent sources is the best way to overcome whatever impression any given individual may have.
Those who have already bought in, whether with actual cash or with their intention to buy upon release, are already in and experience has show the willingness of players who are sold on a game to put up with a bad experience and a lot of abuse. In fact that seems to be the driving reason Steven started all of this. Not saying AoC is like any of these past experiences, but indicating player perception and behavior. It is not enough to tell them it will be better, you have to show them. Much like writing a good story.
Steven will be the best judge of all of this. Whether or not the May 14 testing will be positive or a hot mess. An emphasis on quality is never a bad decision. I also happen to believe there is no such thing as a bad test provided you get useful data. But I feel there may be an opportunity to build confidence over time for those players who are not yet sold on this game. One month delay isn’t the end of the world though, especially if people’s attention will be drawn away in multiple directions.
At the moment, A1 is building the basic, expected features of the game - this isn't something you build hype about.
It's like trying to tell people that a prototype of the revolutionary toothbrush you're inventing can currently brush teeth. GET HYPED.
It's too early to hype the game.
You can have hype about a feature of it but never the full game, that road leads to disappointment
Honestly with how the games already looking and what they Have shown us, shows good dev progress and there is a ton They have been working on that we haven’t seen, depending on how things go with the NDA drop session I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the start of alpha 2 near the end of the year
And, they've barely scratched the surface of that.
There is no evidence that there is a ton that hasn't been shown.
We'll have to see how far along sieging is based on what was supposed to be in APOC.