Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
So - I got 375$
John Gray
Member
So - I have been watching this game among many other things in life and I would be lying if I did not say I am interested - the problem being that my days of devouring every aspect of development has exhausted me. This game drew my interest a few years back and I decided to try something different after deciding that in October when the new spooky pack came out I would do the "big buy in" - so I got 375$ USD ready to go....but I wanted to crowd source wisdom of those who have been following this game with a zeal far more intense then I and so I want to be "sold" on this game.
1. PVP : Is this a game where PVP is inevitable? Or can I drift along like a good boy and never touch PVP and still have a fully gameplay experience. Or am I going to be playing Archage where eventually I will be in PVP zones trying to level or farm and be told "to get the cool stuff you got to join a mega guild and take castles"
2. PVE : I seen the awesome looking dragon fight: is there intended to be a range of end-game pve experiences? or is it like 2 dungeons to farm for some trinket currency?
3. Housing : I seen freeholds mentioned but how is housing going to be handled there; is it going to be a insane landrush with again "join the mega guild or wait 4 years for more land to open up."
4. The world - are we talking a massive world to wander and explore or are we talking about being funnelled in zones by our levels?
5. Character development : I love the idea of the X class design. As I understand it you got a "archtype" with about 8 abilities - you combine it with another archtype to make your final class.. does that mean having 16 abilities? Or 4x4 with 4 new mixed hybrid abilities - I read the initial talk about this and it confused me.
So...aside from that - sell me on the investment
Signed
Someone who significantly invested money in Chronicles of Elyria, Pantheon and Camelot Unchained.
1. PVP : Is this a game where PVP is inevitable? Or can I drift along like a good boy and never touch PVP and still have a fully gameplay experience. Or am I going to be playing Archage where eventually I will be in PVP zones trying to level or farm and be told "to get the cool stuff you got to join a mega guild and take castles"
2. PVE : I seen the awesome looking dragon fight: is there intended to be a range of end-game pve experiences? or is it like 2 dungeons to farm for some trinket currency?
3. Housing : I seen freeholds mentioned but how is housing going to be handled there; is it going to be a insane landrush with again "join the mega guild or wait 4 years for more land to open up."
4. The world - are we talking a massive world to wander and explore or are we talking about being funnelled in zones by our levels?
5. Character development : I love the idea of the X class design. As I understand it you got a "archtype" with about 8 abilities - you combine it with another archtype to make your final class.. does that mean having 16 abilities? Or 4x4 with 4 new mixed hybrid abilities - I read the initial talk about this and it confused me.
So...aside from that - sell me on the investment
Signed
Someone who significantly invested money in Chronicles of Elyria, Pantheon and Camelot Unchained.
0
Comments
Hi
Im gonna try to answer with what I hope and know of the game so far. But sinse its still Alpha1 Phase no know actually know much yet.
1-In my case I hope it can be avoided for most part. I like to do my little thing in peace without beeing ganked. Quite sur it will happen sadly. Im not agains joining castle siege and all. But I like do to my little daily/ crafting work in peace after a day of work and all.
2- Im sure there will be things like that End-game dungeon and world boss even. But we still far from there yet so cant really say how it will work. Cause from my understanding world evolve around you. So maybe the End-game dungeon will move if another node get higher. I really cant say honestly its just my guess at that point.
3- For the housing there is 3 way to do. I know you can buy house in the town stage that grow bigger. So having one will probably be some kind of achievement in itself.They talked about Dungeon style. Like you buy a condo in the town. Its not visible from outside but your housing is there. And third is freehold where you can put it almost anywhere in the node you are citizen from. Thats was the last news I had from housing might been changed.So dont think guilds are really requiered for this. Except if people decide to be rude and destroy your freehold.
4-From the Map concept they showed in the last showcase it seemed pretty big.
5-I was thinking 8 abilities in the bar too. But people pointed out that with Node Ablities and crafting one the spell bar will most likely incrase and have more than 8 spells to choose at once. But you,ll have to choose your augments. Like you can't have them all in augment state and thats where your choices and gameplay will be important.
1. corruption: It's like archeage (or bdo) but no factions. Anyone can attack you but they will be penalized like AA crime system or BDO's karma system. Penalties for killing players who don't fight back include increased death penalty and chance to drop your items.
2. PVE: Supposed to have a lot of pve content with open world dungeons and bosses well as some instances.
3. houseing: There is freeholds, in node housing, and instanced apartments. Freeholds should be a little different than archeage as it becomes available as nodes develop instead of at launch.
4. Map: Map is open from what we have seen and played,
5. Skill wiki
- You get all your abilities from your primary archetype. Your archetype gives you a skill tree you will be able to spend skilll points on to buy and upgrade skills. We don't know how many skills you will be able to get.
- Your secondary archetype gives you augments you can apply to your skills to change them. An example we have be given is a fighter who picks mage as their secondary might be able to change their charge ability so it blinks to their target instead of runs. Your secondary archetype basically changes the flavor of your class but not the role.
It gives a really good overview.
1. Yes, PVP is likely inevitable. You might want to defend your node under a siege for example. You can also be killed by other players while just out and about. Only safe place might be inside your house/freehold. Make friends.
2. There is going to be very little PVE where you are completely free from the possibility of PVP. Maybe some story-related quests and such. Open-world dungeons and world bosses, and yes access to the dungeons depends on the node level in the area. This is not a PVE instance focused game like WOW, FF14, ESO etc. at all.
3. There is a lot of room for freeholds because of the massive world, but we don't know the specifics yet. My guess is you don't have to wait to place a freehold, but you might not be able to find a spot in the exact node you want if it's super popular.
4. Massive world to explore, with varied level content within all areas. Zones won't just be lvl 1-10 for example. It depends on nodelevel and even then, it'll vary a lot.
5. You only get your primary archetype abilities BUT, and it's a huge but, the secondary archetype allows you to augment/change them into what may be almost a completely new skill essentially. So two characters with primary of tank may play quite differently depending on the secondary archetype.
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Oof that's a huge yikes, I'm sorry to hear that. Now I definitely understand why you're worried about backing Ashes after having backed scams other games.
Like @Steven Sharif has said in the past: don't back Ashes unless you want to help Intrepid and/or care about the skins.
If you like the skins and/or have FOMO and you don't need the money now, I'd buy whichever pack you think is more appropriate. You also get some money worth of subscription depending on how much you spend, so there's that.
However, based on your 5 questions, I'd advise you to do a bit more research about the game, watch some videos, there have been some great Q&As in the past, some nice content creators and all that good stuff. Most of what we know is based on Q&As and Alpha footage, so many things might change.
Generally speaking and somewhat answering your first two questions, I believe the game won't be very casual friendly, it won't be comfortable for carebears and there won't be such a thing as PvE or PvP content, except for some rare instanced dungeons, it's virtually always going to be PvX since PvP is enabled almost everywhere. Some of these things might change, and I actually think there's a chance of changes being made to make the game more casual friendly, but at the moment it isn't.
Regarding question 3, this is somewhat speculation, I believe there will be some rush to get your freehold, but not like in other games (definitely NOT like in ArcheAge) because people won't know which regions will be worth investing early on and which node will be the eventual main node of each zone of influence. However, once things start settling down, then there'll definitely be a rush for land. I don't think there will be a shortage of land, but the best freeholds will probably be the ones closest to nodes and/or the main node. You can buy land from other players, by the way. You also don't need to be part of a mega guild to buy your freehold. As far as I know, they (mayors) won't be able to control who can or cannot buy land or what's the price of the land, there'll be systems in place to decide that (you must be a citizen of that node, the land price might be pre-defined, etc).
The answer to question 4 is: it's huge and I don't think there is a way to avoid at least some "funneling" based on levels, but remember: nothing is static, zones might drastically change overnight.
Regarding question 5, nobody really knows the answers, it's all speculation at this point in time.
In summary, Ashes will launch regardless of new backers, so if you are unsure about the game, wait until more information comes out (alpha 2, betas, more Q&As, etc).
In my case, I know exactly what I like and what I dislike about the game, it won't be perfect, but I hope to be a lotta fun.
1. Depends on what you consider "a full gameplay experience". Ashes is planned to have very deep game systems from artisan systems to node wars. If you want to focus on things that don't directly require PvP or PvX, then look at processing (Animal Husbandry, Smelting) and crafting (Alchemy, Armor smithing, Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Cooking, Jewel crafting, Scribes, Ship building, Siege weapons, Weapon smithing). You can get all of the raw materials needed for these from people doing the gathering professions. Also, since it's a player driven economy, you can make money by trading with other players, and buying whatever you need, including items that would normally be hard to get without PvP. Beyond that, there's political struggles, tavern businesses, and player trading. You have to decide if mastering these systems constitute a "full gameplay experience" for you.
2. End-game PvE is basically mastering the systems above. If you're looking for end-game PvE combat, then we do not know much at this time about how world boss dungeon mechanics work. This is a PvX MMO, so I imagine that end-game world boss dungeons will involve PvX. Honestly, if you only want end-game PvE, then play WoW, FFXIV, or any of the other hundred WoW clones. They already exist and are currently playable. This game does not intend to be a WoW clone.
3. You can build freeholds on any designated land areas in nodes. Also, you can have housing within cities. With 103 nodes, I don't think you'll have any issues finding housing at all.
4. Massive world. You're free to explore wherever you want. Mob levels are affected by the node level, so they will change dynamically based on players. If you invest in leveling up your node, then you can probably even see the mobs evolving into higher level mobs as you progress all in the same node.
5. Currently, your secondary archetype only modifies the primary archetype's abilities. It alters these abilities to fit the strengths of your secondary archetype.
There is enough information on the game out there for you to make a decision on your own. if you aren't looking over that information yourself to decide if this game is for you, don't put money in it.
If you have looked over what is out there and are unsure, don't put money in the game.
If you have looked over what is out there and like the sound of the game, then sure, put some money in to it if you have it to spare.
I'm not sure what you intend to gain by going to a community of people that are heavily skewed towards having put money in to this game now and asking if you should put money in to it. It seems to me that you want to put money in, but want someone else to blame if it doesn't work out.
1 - Yes, because an angry man is an enemy, and a satisfied man is an ally. The riskier the road, the greater the profit.
2 - Steven seems to think there will be lots. If that's what's written, then that's what's written.
3 - War, expansion, and economic incentives are key elements that Steven is hoping make housing a constant shifting thing. Home is where the heart is... but the stars are made of gold.
4 - It's big and the node system makes zone levels shifting and different per server.
5 - Sometimes, the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer. There is a lot of information but not enough to make a fully informed decision on. Steven seems to be relying heavily on the 39th and the 243rd Rules of Acquisition, 'don't tell customers more than they need to know' and 'always leave yourself an out.' I personally would not invest in this game solely based on the combat concept at this time. Invest for other reasons.
But as Noaani pointed out in more crude terms: Always inspect the merchandise before making a deal. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
Satisfaction is not guaranteed. Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to.