So I have been playing New World as a way to cover up the time until Ashes releases. After 60+h I can list a few things I hope ashes is wary about to not copy as I think they are bad designs
- Crafting is good. Everyone can do everything is not. I know ashes has a system that is interdependent and I hope they can make gatherer and processing skills rewarding enough to not be monotone.
- Having ways to make starter gold than just trading. The beginning is just "throw-away items" that no one will buy so as a crafting profession I don't see you doing any money early on
- Having other reasons to destroy cities: NW has factions that create the desire to take over another faction's territory be it due to animosity or benefits of said land. I love the large-scale battle that ashes will bring but if everyone aims for peace, then I can see a problem in having a reason to do war in the first place.
- Implement the caravan system strongly. I loved the system in Silkroad Online. It sadly wasn't the core feature but has so much potential for unique Guilds, reputation, and conflict if the focus is strongly on that either via land or sea. Thieves vs Traders & Protectors is an amazing concept
- Lore pieces: what I LOVE about NW is the bits and pieces you get about the island and its inhabitants when you walk around via letters and papers. It makes exploring a real adventure. You go to a cave and find a random letter about some people trapped there which is connected to a bigger story about them that you find bits and pieces earlier of is just amazing.
The more I play New World the more I think about ashes and what it tries to achieve and the more hyped I get. NW is doing quite a few things right but lacks on so many corners that ashes tries to avoid which shows how much thought Steven put into this project. He is not rushing this to make a profit. He is not scared of competitors releasing sooner and NW is a good example of why. While doing a lot of things right, I don't see their end-game being focused on people staying. It's too one-dimensional. Even the monsters you face are copy past and hardly have variety. Ashes is right in taking its time. It should definitely take some ideas from NW (the scripts with lore lying around for example) but shouldn't rush anything now. Ashes is by far the most promising MMORPG atm and I can't see any other MMORPG existing or releasing that could hold its own against the idea of ashes.
I start to ramble. Can I fast forward time to get to the release date?