Grihm wrote: » What i fear the most about any MMO or online based game, is to fall behind. WoW did not become a possibility for me to play up until some years into it´s release, and i never felt i caught up even remotely to everyone else. Here, the Alpha is ongoing, but sadly, it´s quite an investment to have the possibility to help, and in the pandemic at that. This is holding many people back, some for financial reasons, others for time and some for the scheduled tests only as it´s not a fully ongoing Alpha as i understood it. The community is indeed a hugely important aspect of a successful game, and i really hope the community will not be too divided afterwards, as in testers that could afford to cash up right now opposed to others that do not have that extra to spare. There are fans on both ends of the wallet.
Maezriel wrote: » I think the community overall will be fine once people start playing and realize how regional the game will very likely be. Outside of Classic most MMO players likely aren't familiar w/ someone being instantly recognizable based on just a gamertag. For better or for worse you're going to have people making a name for themselves and when you start playing w/ high level people that reputation is going to stick. This creates a plethora of opportunities for further community growth such as people coming together to hunt down a known griefer. I don't foresee people actually traveling that far away from their home node very often so you'll likely become very familiar w/ the people in that vicinity as you play w/ them day after day and week after week.
D3ATHSPARK wrote: » Maezriel wrote: » I think the community overall will be fine once people start playing and realize how regional the game will very likely be. Outside of Classic most MMO players likely aren't familiar w/ someone being instantly recognizable based on just a gamertag. For better or for worse you're going to have people making a name for themselves and when you start playing w/ high level people that reputation is going to stick. This creates a plethora of opportunities for further community growth such as people coming together to hunt down a known griefer. I don't foresee people actually traveling that far away from their home node very often so you'll likely become very familiar w/ the people in that vicinity as you play w/ them day after day and week after week. I come from an Ultima Online background where reputation was everything. Classic WoW also started with this but it diminished every expansion and was pretty much abolished during Wrath. You're right that it never really existed beyond these moments but it is the one thing that kept players in check. One could argue that big streamers like Asmongold could also completely ruin servers with their presence and army of simpletons. That many people catering to a single individual would result in some chaos. I can't imagine it would be fun sharing a server with someone like that. Then again with the flavor of the month style streaming that streamers partake in it will probably be unavoidable at launch. The realm of influence will most likely constantly change. People will get bored if they only visit two nodes and not much changes. People will quickly look to conquer more.
D3ATHSPARK wrote: » It's not even the meta that bothered me in Classic WoW. I've come to expect that as the Theme Park MMOs have taught players to want everything instantly. Those playing TBC are rushing 70 and even maximizing rep grinds and they are only hurting themselves. Not only is that a terrible way to experience the game but they will be bored out of their minds in a week or two. My concern was the general atmosphere of the game. Take the most basic interaction for example: buffing. The most common thing back in the day was the mutual exchange of buffs by two passing players. This was extremely common and even resulting in verbal exchanges. This is nearly non-existent the second time around. It is typically one sided and verbal exchanges never happen. I was leveling a priest and saved dozens of players from death or resurrected them if not near enough to heal. 90% of the time not even a thank you is mentioned. It's a pure anti-social shift that has taken place. These players will gravitate towards Ashes and they will keep these anti-social tendencies until the game forces them to break them. The real question becomes do they quit or actually change?
D3ATHSPARK wrote: » It's not even the meta that bothered me in Classic WoW. I've come to expect that as the Theme Park MMOs have taught players to want everything instantly.
D3ATHSPARK wrote: » I was leveling a priest and saved dozens of players from death or resurrected them if not near enough to heal. 90% of the time not even a thank you is mentioned. It's a pure anti-social shift that has taken place. These players will gravitate towards Ashes and they will keep these anti-social tendencies until the game forces them to break them. The real question becomes do they quit or actually change?
Maezriel wrote: » This might have also been an experience unique to you. When I played Classic it was as a Mage and my buffs were frequently reciprocated. On top of that, unlike Classic, AoC won't be "solved" and so long as Intrepid builds their Nodes correctly it can't be meaning things like buffing and helping others will be more encouraged as people will likely be consistently bumping into the same player over and over while they strive to build their Node.
Jerec Tharen wrote: » That makes sense, and it's a valid worry. I really liked this theory crafting video from a YouTuber I found recently Guilds Are Going About This COMPLETELY Backwards For those who haven't watched it, I'll summarize real quick. The YouTuber theorizes that it will be the regional aspec of nodes that will form guilds, and not as much guilds that find and develop nodes because many may discover they have other priorities or needs than those that can be addressed by their current home. I really liked this idea, and it may serve to fight some of this negative community you are after where you will get thanks for healing others because they realize you are helping them complete their objective of developing the regional community you are both at. In fact, in a healing situation, you will probably be saving them from some other player ganking them. As far as being addicted to instant gratification, I think you are right, those kinds of players are going to either quit, or they will find true pleasure in joining one of these communities and just having fun making friends there. That's my hope anyways.
