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.
thoughts so far
Chicago
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
curious to see what some of your thoughts on the alpha is now that we can see footage
for an alpha in my opinion the game looks amazing, the combat looks alot more fluid than i previously thought and the graphics are incredible, the team really has done an amazing job
obviously there are a couple of things i dont like the main one being, something about the world feels really un immersive, almost as though you are playing in a painting, however it does look alot better on the version in the live streams and i definitely understand this is just an alpha.
the ranged auto attack seems a little fast, but the mage blink looks incredible!
what are some of your thoughts on the alpha so far!
for an alpha in my opinion the game looks amazing, the combat looks alot more fluid than i previously thought and the graphics are incredible, the team really has done an amazing job
obviously there are a couple of things i dont like the main one being, something about the world feels really un immersive, almost as though you are playing in a painting, however it does look alot better on the version in the live streams and i definitely understand this is just an alpha.
the ranged auto attack seems a little fast, but the mage blink looks incredible!
what are some of your thoughts on the alpha so far!
0
Comments
As far as your concerns for it having a feeling of being in a painting, I think it might be something a viewer will feel watching streams or videos. In my own experience I never felt this and I felt like the graphics match quite well with the feeling and ideology of Ashes.
For me, seeing the big dust dragons just outside the starting area and having them die to a level 1 with a wand immediately kills the feeling of immersion and progress. But, I believe these are just placed out in the world so that we can see fighting and death animations and make sure everything is all the way it should be. I would hope these cooler creature would be towards the higher level node areas.
Sill, There are moments while playing I will look around me at the people running next to me and the views and see the GREAT potential for immersion.
P.S. Yes mages are OP lul
im super pumped for the alpha 2 so i can jump in and test some stuff, all in all it looks incredible for an alpha 1
This single thing helps a lot to immerse yourself while discovering a MMORPG
There is other thing : the simple fact we are focused ourself "only a alpha1 test, not even a combat, class and other thing like this test, all will be wiped soon enough"
When you first played other mmorpg you wasnt with such mind.
When i tried FFXIV ARR beta, i had 0 immersion, but when i did the release, and came back to my character already lvl 20 (the open beta allowed to go to lvl 20 without wipe after it) yes i managed, without "trying" to begin to immerse myself.
I dont say "dont worry all will be good" but just "now we can't have a good opinion about it"
With all that said, IMHO, it looks bland.
Its missing a unique style. The world wants to feel real but gives me old game vibes, i dont know if its a graphic, aesthetic or artstyle thing. For me New World had no personality but atleast looked like a new game.
The interaction between the characters and the world felt odd. It was like puppets moving before a picture. The mobs had animations, but it didnt felt that these movements had interaction with the surroundings.
The basic attacks are super not satisfying. On target they make a sound but the feeling of the impact is off with the wide aoe swings (imo BA should be single target but thats another story), on random objects they just go through wich is super off putting.
UI is super ugly, although its 100% a placeholder.
Every stream i saw is laggy.
Once again i know the focus is on the infrastructure and performance, for sure these things will get better, i just wanted to say what i disliked.
Alpha over all looks very promising, im excited for the continuous development.
IMO they are headed in a great direction I can not wait to try it in alpha 2. For alpha footage even with the glitches and bugs here and there that they never try to hide witch is great. What they show looks amazing I can only imagine what the final polished launch will look like. I try not to watch to much of the videos my Copium kicks in and I get so excited to play.
These developers, artist, animators, and many others, are out doing themsleves in every aspect of the game, every updated video they show just keeps getting better. The combat, and spells are starting to come together invironment looks phenomenal, and weather effects so amazing. A truly ambitious game on its own.
If you feel the same as I do give a like, or what you do not like - keep in mind as they say everything is a work in progress, but you have to admit what they do show is heading in a great direction.
I think combat and scalability has always been a top concern, but this year has been especially great in my eyes for those two points.
The Fighter and Bard reveals are when it clicked for me that combat in this game will definitely be more engaging than the typical tab target/hybrid combat MMO so I am only believing more and more that this game will be successful. Still plenty of time until a launch, so I personally believe we are in a great spot.