Alpha Preview Feedback and Future Feedback For Alpha 1

Zargos · July 2021

Long time MMO player since the days of Everquest! Ready to test and make Ashes the best it can be.

PC Configuration:
Windows 10 x64
MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi (MS-7C37)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600Mhz 6-Core
16GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Alpha Preview Feedback:
-Download/installation process: In order to get into the game, I had to completely wipe the launcher and game files from my PC due to the extremely slow update process. I assume this was due to the preview and the spot test files conflicting. Upon a clean install, the download process took less than 20 minutes.
-Client performance: The game client performed stable with minimum issues. I never crashed during the weekend test. However, there were instances that caused me to have to relog to mitigate. Those issues were reported via bug reports. There was also minimal screen tearing. This is most likely due to my low-tier graphics card. While the issue never caused a crash, it was still noticeable.
-Server performance: The server I was on, Resna, never crashed during my play. I was able to play during the times I was on. During the siege tests and the fun at the end in an attempt to crash the servers, it got extremely laggy, but the servers held up.

Feedback Going Into Alpha 1:
-Harvesting: Having specific resource locations really irritated me. The wand quest called for 24 wood. While 24 wood already seems ridiculous for a simple wand, the rarity of "special" trees was causing me literal stress and anger. I had to give up on the quest due to that aggravation. I get the game is trying to be unique, but players are accustomed to MMOs having every tree/rock harvestable. If I see a huge area of trees but am unable to harvest any of them, it just comes off as dumb. As for the tiny rock variations, they need to be bigger and look like the resource you're mining from them. So like, a large rock, a big copper vein, silver vein, etc. Not tiny variations of different hues.
-Character movement: It's just not very fluid and looks rather awkward. I get this is not an ARPGMMO. It's just an RPGMMO. But the characters seemed very clunky with some inhuman movements. I am sure this will get fleshed out over time since we are mainly testing systems rather than visuals at the moment.
-Too much grind: With many of the quests being bugged, the only way to really gain XP was tons of grinding. While I enjoy testing, the grind was abysmal. And the XP gain rate from grinding was very slow. I wanted to test higher-level quests, but just couldn't mindlessly keep grinding mobs to get there.

And now, I'd like to dump some random ideas I had while roaming the Alpha island that are completely "It'd be cool if" thoughts. Nothing to do with Alpha. These are just some of the thoughts I had.
-The statue at the center of a node should copy the appearance and fashion of the Mayor/Leader/Royal in charge.
-There were hidden/secret puzzles or trials scattered around the map (Think Final Fantasy 10/Breath of the Wild).
-There were natural weather events controlled by an AI and based on the biome.
-The world bosses had their own weather events rather than a HUD notification. So when an Ice Dragon spawns, the area nearby starts having blizzard conditions that cause a small debuff. This prompts players to seek out what is causing it. Maybe even cause small minions to spawn in the blizzard and replace what's normally there.
-Have Earth-style hemispherical seasons that last 3 months just like real life. Can be interrupted by world bosses that put out their own weather effects. For example, if a fire dragon spawns during the 3-month winter cycle and it's snowing, the area around the dragon is changed to rain.
-Allow players to terraform their freehold land. Create a sandbox area limited to the freehold plot on the overall world. Let players make ponds or hills to suit their design.
-Minute mount customization to make each mount unique. Create different slots on a mount to display small trinkets. Kind of like shines in other MMOs, but ones you can use. Travel the world hunting for unique trinkets unique to each biome or quest area that you can hand or place on your mounts. Different slots like hanging baubles, saddles, adornments like armor, rugs, trader bags filled with varying goods, the possibilities are endless! Might even be a good addition to the cosmetic shop. Cheap 99 cent trinkets or something.
-Pet breeder tradeskill. A skill where a player can own a small pet farm to breed and raise pets that players can buy. Have an AI determine a blended look based on the parent's features. May be too complicated to have varying pet visual types though.
-Architect tradeskill. Allow players to create custom house designs in a workshop they can sell to others. In order to make a blueprint, the player will need to learn basic parts while leveling up. For more unique creations they will have to search the world for designs or buy them from racial NPCs. The architect quest's home parts given as you complete them should be based on their race. So an elf architect should get elven home parts as they complete quests.