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.
Playing Time & FOMO - Can we enjoy AoC as a Working Adult ?
KloWh
Member, Alpha Two
Hi Glorious Ashes community!
I come before you today to ask questions and possibly some concerns about the typical playing time each player as to commit into the game to fully enjoy it, and possibly the fear of missing out content or important moments in AoC.
English is not my main language, so please forgive me if my English is a little approximative at times.
AoC is a massive in development game, with huge ambitions, I am really looking forward to play it, but when I see the world and all the possibilities I wonder if I will have the time to fully enjoy it.
I love MMO’s, but i love also video game as a medium in general too, I began MMO’s in the late 90’s and I grew up with MMO and video game as a hobby for as long as I remember. Fictive universe, fantasy, roleplaying are a part of my life which I allow time to enjoy. But I am also an individual with a work, chores, family and all the package of our busy nowadays lives.
AoC as a crossover between a Themepark and Sandbox MMO with vertical and horizontal progression are something I was eagerly anticipating for years. I think and feel that it can be; if the game is successful, a door step to a whole new era for MMORPG’s and Persistent worlds.
But will I have the ability and time to play it and enjoy it for a long period of time?
I fear that if I am not totally committed to playing the game nearly each day for months and months exclusively I can’t enjoy it in his full extent, that if I take a break, I could miss about the next big change in the world, in a really important world storyline quest, or that my home will be destroyed and all my efforts ruined just because I wanted to play for some time another game just released.
I have the feeling that it is “Try hard” or “Do not try at all” type of game.
And even for a game who would possibly be one of the milestone of the decade in the MMO Genra. I don’t want to make that type of commitment about a game, over my family and social life, and I suppose that I am not alone in this case. Core MMO players getting older day by day, with a job and a family.
My question(s) then is can I enjoy Ashes of Creation without it become a second job ? Can I take breaks without regretting to miss content ? Can I just play it for one hour and still have the feeling to progress and do something meaningful without the fear of missing out ? How much time should I dedicate to AoC a week to enjoy it to his fullest ?
Thanks a lot for your insight and answers about this,
KloWh
I come before you today to ask questions and possibly some concerns about the typical playing time each player as to commit into the game to fully enjoy it, and possibly the fear of missing out content or important moments in AoC.
English is not my main language, so please forgive me if my English is a little approximative at times.
AoC is a massive in development game, with huge ambitions, I am really looking forward to play it, but when I see the world and all the possibilities I wonder if I will have the time to fully enjoy it.
I love MMO’s, but i love also video game as a medium in general too, I began MMO’s in the late 90’s and I grew up with MMO and video game as a hobby for as long as I remember. Fictive universe, fantasy, roleplaying are a part of my life which I allow time to enjoy. But I am also an individual with a work, chores, family and all the package of our busy nowadays lives.
AoC as a crossover between a Themepark and Sandbox MMO with vertical and horizontal progression are something I was eagerly anticipating for years. I think and feel that it can be; if the game is successful, a door step to a whole new era for MMORPG’s and Persistent worlds.
But will I have the ability and time to play it and enjoy it for a long period of time?
I fear that if I am not totally committed to playing the game nearly each day for months and months exclusively I can’t enjoy it in his full extent, that if I take a break, I could miss about the next big change in the world, in a really important world storyline quest, or that my home will be destroyed and all my efforts ruined just because I wanted to play for some time another game just released.
I have the feeling that it is “Try hard” or “Do not try at all” type of game.
And even for a game who would possibly be one of the milestone of the decade in the MMO Genra. I don’t want to make that type of commitment about a game, over my family and social life, and I suppose that I am not alone in this case. Core MMO players getting older day by day, with a job and a family.
My question(s) then is can I enjoy Ashes of Creation without it become a second job ? Can I take breaks without regretting to miss content ? Can I just play it for one hour and still have the feeling to progress and do something meaningful without the fear of missing out ? How much time should I dedicate to AoC a week to enjoy it to his fullest ?
Thanks a lot for your insight and answers about this,
KloWh
2
Comments
There will be content for you if you don't play a lot and many progression systems can advanced solo.
If you leave for a while, the world will probably change. How this effects you is up to you. Will you see it as a new opportunity to explore or worry about everything you missed?
There will be a lot of content to enjoy so you can spend a lot of time in this game. Hard to tell how much time will be needed to participate at the highest level and will be dependent on the guild you are in. I imagine you want to get to max level as fast as possible but after that, i'm not sure.
"Maybe I'm not the target audience for not just MMOs, but video games in general, anymore"
And that's a depressing realization. BUT, we still play them, and it's made us be much more "choosy" about what we spent our time doing.
I feel the responses you've received so far are pretty much on the money. It's really a question only YOU can answer, and the best we can do is answer the question for ourselves and let you compare/contrast your answer to our's.
Will you be able to play for 1hr a day and feel like you're making progress? I dunno, do you feel like 1hr will feel like progress to you? Would that change if you did 2hrs? 3? 6?. Do you still enjoy your time in the game? If not, maybe you should decide if that game is for you, considering you can't dedicate the time YOU need to feel like you are enjoying it and it's worthwhile to you.
MMOs are "time waster" games. They really are designed to be played long term, and thus much have content that takes time to complete. I think the balance that game studios struggle with is making content that is both Accessible to casual players, but Satiating/Satisfyingly enough for more hardcore players.
Given the information we have now, my answer to your question would be:
Yes, you can play AOC with limited time, but you probably won't be able to do everything, or even a wide range of the activities available. You will have to budget your time, and temper your expectations about progress some. You will likely have to specialize in certain areas of the game, and things that require hours of constant game play (raiding for example) might be out of your scope.
I wish you luck in answering this for yourself
I don’t think that reflects badly on you. Good for you, you’ve got a life.
That being said seems like there will plenty of things you can do more casually like being an Innkeeper, animal husbandry, or exploring some dungeons with your friends. And what’s stopping you from taking part in a node siege here and there? Ok you won’t be top damage but you’ll still have fun. And when the game is turned off, you’ll have your real life to get back to.
Maybe it happened because of the internet. These days 100'000 people are watching one guy every day who plays the game 24/7, and feel that they are "missing out", whatever that even means. It use to be that you just play as much as you want, and get as much as you get.
As I am writing all this it got me thinking - maybe the internet was one of the things that ruined the genre for all of us and eventually brought us all here. The internet created that fear of "missing out", and to battle that fear developers started to offer solutions. "Don't worry, you won't miss out" should be an offisial moto of modern MMORPG's.
Level boost in Burning Crusade Classic is one example. The idea of paying real money to get to the max level is insane to me - but in the context of this "what if I am missing out" thinking it makes sense. What if I don't have enough time to get to the max level? THEN YOU DON'T GET TO THE MAX LEVEL FOR GOD'S SAKE JUST LIVE YOUR LIFE IT'S OK I PROMISE.
Sorry
One of the biggest changes that happened is everyone following guides and playing the exact same build because it’s meta according to icy veins or whatever. That will undoubtedly happen in ashes as well. The launch will be a blast but within 3 months a guide will be composed saying that X class is the best dps as long as it does X, Y and Z. At that point you’ll see a lot of the “competitive” players and FOTM followers switch to that build/class. Similar to how when WoW classic launched tons of people were playing warrior and mage.
It isn’t the game’s fault. It’s the players’
I just hope the toxic anti social behavior that’s become prevalent in mmos lately will be kept to a minimum in Ashes.
I am 48, so I understand your worries.
I have a lovely wife who let me enjoy gaming, so I can put quite a few hours/week on it.
However, I have choosen to view AoC as some sort of second life, in the virtual world.
Might even get my 75 year old mother to play, she want to make a tavern, grow crops and supply players with foodbuffs
Anyway, this virtual world of AoC will be huge and ever evolving, so I doubt anyone of us will be able to take part in everything that will be going on, so I will enjoy this world, as I see fit and as much that I can in the time I have available.
There wont be any "end game" to rush for, so play at your own pace.
Its a virtual fantasy world, enjoy it
Hopefully the world is constantly changing and things don't settle down into a super static position.
As others have the rest of your questions are personal. Some might feel an hour a day is plenty.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Log in and play your game the way you want. Don't allow others to own you and determine what you want.
I've missed entire chapters of MMO development before due to concerns and circumstances beyond my control. I was always super active in my guilds when I could get on, and that's a nice feeling, to say, "'sup, everybody?", and spend the next ten minutes listening to cheers and whistles and my player name being shouted in the chat, after being gone for six months.
So, make an effort when you're there. When you can be there. Be supportive and friendly and do social things. Make RL friends with guildies, and they'll keep a spot warm for you. The right people won't write you off because your hours are weird.
It seems that there will be many opportunities to still be in a good group and have a good time, even if you can't be on for long. It looks like there will be things that you can do on your own time that will help your groups or guilds. I focused on that, when I couldn't do anything else. I'd go dump money from rewards or materials from farming into the guild, just so people knew I was there still. It helps.
If you want to juggle an MMO, work and family then you need to sleep less and be more prepared.
Do your dailies at 6am before work, if there's queues then leave your pc on and queue via team viewer ready for when you get home, find and follow guides to the letter to make the most of your time in game and be efficient, plan pre launch your routes and intentions, work out at home to save time on one less commute, eat meals with small amounts of cooking time or do meal-prep.
It may sound crazy or too much but this is the standard now if you want to "keep up", if you want to just play casually and enjoy at your own pace then 1h a day is fine if that's your speed.
But you can't do both.
If you don't like the game and it doesn't suit your lifestyle then there are plenty of other cheap thrills out there for your entertainment, just drop the subscription and you lose nothing else.
Nothing has changed, it has ALWAYS been that way so I must wonder if people who write these posts have even played the games at all.
It is impossible to experience everything because Verra is a dynamic world.
So, you should play with the expectation that you will miss some stuff.
Your home might be destroyed even if you play 24/7.
So, it will be the same in the game and you will have a lot of fun.
Bad example, because most people live bland and unfulfilling lives. If you're giving someone encouragement that they can play AoC and have the role of a generic NPC, that isn't good.
Tbh, I think everyone is overestimating the game. The PVE will probably be on par with New World, and the PVP will probably be worse than Warhammer Online.
idk about pvp because you haven't been able to see or experience the full combat and I'm sure you'll see more down the road. Probably one of my largest concerns
But for pve nothing will be as bad as NW. NW all pve content was tacked on within about a year including the healing staff and a lot more. The dungeons and raids might not compete with savage raids from ffxiv or maybe stuff from WoW but WoW is just a bad mmo. All they have to do is meet expectations and will do better. Granted I would hope they exceed
I do not consider myself a casual player, i play video game about 15 to 20 hours a week. And i play mostly MMO's for the past 18 years more or less. But i like also play some other game when they release, and often take little break to clear those games then come back to my current MMO.
Anyway my point is, the game is made for players, and more precisely for a type of players who will represent the core audience.
Which is the main audience intended ? Is it adult players like myself, or is it younger / more free players with more time ?
I suppose a game of this caliber have a "Typical time spent" in the game by session and by players to caliber the time each activities / tasks take and how much time poeple must invest in it, the devs must have thought about this, right ?
The game is made to allow a large range of player to take part and enjoy, i understand that.
Who will be the typical player of AOC ? How much does he play each week ? Within this time which range of activities can be done In a game design and development perspective of course.
This post is not only to answer that question for myself. But i think that is a question worth to ask.
What do you think about that ?
Stephen, the guy behind it all, has commented that he is designing a game like he would most like to play. So, if the game is designed for him, what kind of person is he?
Somewhat older, perhaps late 30's, dedicated gamer, smart, likes PvP, seems to enjoy technically complex fantasy worlds, hates cheaters, likes raiding, loves large and beautiful game worlds. He has a background in D&D, Lineage2, ArchAge (and other games, but those are mentioned as his favorites). He enjoys guilds. He likes being immersed in the game world. He has the ability to stick with projects for a long time (thank God!).
Other people who post here will probably have more (and better) insights than I do about his personality.
The world of Ashes is a dynamic world. A player cannot do everything and will miss out on some stuff.
So...what is it that you think casual players will think they are missing out on?
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Game_difficulty
"I think our target demographic, obviously we have a very high graphic fidelity in the game that's attractive to younger players, but at the same time we have a very roleplay game orientation - a kind of a play back to that pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons feel that perhaps younger generations may not know but is very near and dear to the hearts of older gamers. So I think we have a broad appeal from a demographic standpoint."
---Steven Sharif
"There are events that are happening in the world in the game that you won't need to be a hardcore player to impact and join. For example, the triggered events from the PvE standpoint against the cities; the trades of the caravans; those natural battlegrounds that exist; the castle sieges you can login for. There is a lot of systems that are at play where a person can simply log in, participate, have fun, be impactful and then log out."
---Steven Sharif
"People who put more time and effort into it are definitely going to get more out of it but that doesn't mean that person who logs in once a week won't be able to have fun so it's just a matter of the scale of stuff that you're going after... Running a caravan is not gonna be the same thing every time you do it. You might be able to find like a super secret path that nobody knows about... and you exploit it for a while and nobody knows and then eventually somebody sees you and suddenly that route becomes a lot more difficult so you know that's kind of the way we really want that emergent gameplay to kind of come out of those options that we give you guys; and a lot of it is gonna come down to other players making it more or less difficult for you."
---Jeffrey Bard
"Traditionally in MMORPGs you're going to see a larger population of casual players than you do of hardcore players; and that's just the way the cookie crumbles from a population standpoint. And because of that and the way that nodes collect experience and advance as a result of player activity, those casual players will actually have more impact on node progression than the hardcore players will: at least as I predict, because of the sheer quantity disproportionate between the two different groups of people... You may see in Ashes the smaller hardcore group of players progress further into the late-game content, right. But they don't have the numbers to influence the nodes in those locations as quickly as the more casual... larger population has near the outskirts."
---Steven Sharif
Besides that, straight up use your PTO for important events if you know dates far enough in advance.
I just hope there are some elements of beeing lucky exploring the world, getting a slightly unique item. That not every single cool item is behind big raids and sieges.
But we are old, got less time. To enjoy it, we need to set other goals now, not like we were 20 and had all the freetime we wanted.
Farming consumables and gold takes time, but only if you want the maximum efficiency, which I don't. In Ashes it will be the same. If you want the best in slot you will have to farm.
Caravans for example might take time, and you will only do them on the weekends. Maybe you won't get to explore as much because it takes time. The fact that node wars happen so sparingly it's a good sign, because you can time your free time.
If alts are hard to level, this also means that people won't be self sufficient, which help us people with more limited time because your professions will matter a lot more.