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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.
Comments
Karthos starts with the strawman fallacy that solo = non-social.
There are many, many ways to be social in MMORPGs without being stuck for hours in a group or obligated to meet requirements for a guild.
He is uses that point as much as possible because people as solo players want a edge over a guild which makes 0 sense. That game literarily makes smaller guilds have a edge over larger guilds.
You can tell a solo player any reason of things to convince them in a guild they will say things that don't make sense, which i think it just comes down to being extremely anti social. To the point even if they join a guild that doesn't have requirements voice chat, etc they will still say no even if they get great benefits.
This is what it should be in a nutshell if you are a solo player that refuses to be in any guild or build relations with a node you are just at a loss simply as that. There is no balancing something if someone purposefully shoots themselves in a foot, and expects handouts for it.
That is one delusional post you wrote there.
You really are trying hard to defend solo players, and its not a strawman by the way solo player = anti social.
Doesn't really matter what you say, since you can say anything of substence to defend a reason why someoen should refuse to be in a guild.
The only delusional thing is your lack of understanding why you are tied to one node. Its actually an amazing idea to have solo players strong armed to interacting with other players and eventually finding a group that matches with them so they can be apart of their guild in time.
Forced social interaction is the fastest way to avoid people never trying or considering and staying and only doing solo content.
This is a mmorpg bud.
I’ve read this five times and can’t really grasp what you’re arguing. What are you trying to say?
Its a long convo so that is just part of it. Main point having a bunch of systems in place that make it as convenient and easy for solo without interacting with other people is not good. Its better to have systems to coax people to have more social interactions, join guilds, etc.
Some examples from eso:
Join guild only way to sell in auction house.
Group finder for dungeons.
Top items (mythics) hidden behind solo minigame.
Top items (arena weapons) hidden in solo arenas.
Fastest way to farm gear is soloing normal mode dungeons.
NPC companions that replace dps/tanks and healers.
Ez solo overland farming for gear.
And small guilds get different perks than large guilds - in a manner such that small guilds are still viable.
You can be highly social in MMORPGs without joining guilds or groups. And Ashes facilitates that.
Ashes has communities and micro-communites that player characters can be part of.
"Doesn't have to be a community that you're super-strongly bonded with." (Steven)
Also:
Steven 😇: @Boy Who Lived The game is built for both the solo player as well as guild oriented players, both large and small guilds.
Steven 😇: Solo players are afterall, still a member of the larger server community 😉
There are just a wide variety of options.
Casual players and solo players join communities because they want to; not because they are forced to.
You are not forced to become a citizen of a Node.
In Ashes, you don't really have to have a connection to somewhere.
It's likely that people will form bonds with what becomes their main hub, even if the don't become a citizen of a Node. Especially if they participate in defending the Node.
But, that's not strong-arming.
It's also likely that people will form bonds with citizens of Nodes because there is open world housing, so we can visit people at their homes. As in, we can walk to their homes and be fairly certain they will be there at the times they are normally there. Don't have to be a citizen to do that.
Even when the person is not at their home, you get to see how they've decorated their home and what kinds of pets they have. Which also helps form bonds.
We can expect more communication with other players in Ashes than is typical in previous MMORPGs because the world is dynamic, rather than static - so people will be asking what happened while they were away from the game.
None of that requires joining a guild or joining a group.
If by not joining a node you have less access and bonuses, no home then you are choosing to stab yourself in the foot for no reason. Strong incentive to be apart of the node is strong arming . Because the positives you are giving up are making everything more difficult for you based on what you are losing out on. By being part of a node when it is attacked your stuff is destroyed and you lose things.
You are using a weird PvE solo mind set which I don't understand why you push for this so much in a MMORPG. Yes you can live homeless without a bathroom, a place to make food, store it, etc. Doesn't mean you will have a good time....
Ashes is an RPG. Hardship from not being a citizen can be great for RP.
But, Node citizenship is not "strong incentive". It's just incentive.
So, there is no strong-arming. That's simply you exaggerating to try to support your playstyle perspective.
The positives from not being a citizen of a Node does not make everything more difficult. The incentives for citizenship make some things easier.
Having your stuff destroyed when you are a citizen of a Node is not a positive incentive.
It's very clear that you don't understand the solo player mindset and make up all kinds of weird attributes of what solo play in an MMORPG entails.
I'm not aware of needing a bathroom in MMORPGs, but...
Being homeless makes for great RP in an MMORPG.
Being a ronin makes for great RP in an MMORPG.
We don't have to cook our own food in MMORPGs. Taverns are a great place to grab some food while socializing with other players - and you don't have to join a group or join a guild to socialize at a Tavern.
For some people, freedom makes people happier than being formally or systemically tied to other people.
Some people prefer to roam the world without being tied to a location or a group.
Gandalf is a prime example of that. Gandalf typically is not concerned about losing a bunch of stuff he stored in some city.
Again, solo does not mean that you rarely interact with others.
Solo does not mean you rarely help others.
Solo does not mean you rarely fight alongside others.
Solo does not mean you refuse to be a citizen.
Solo means you rarely mechanically join a group or raid.
You can be in a casual guild and still primarily solo.
MMORPGs have many different playstyles.
"Good time" is subjective.
edit: warehouses appear in lvl1 nodes, so that'll be a huuuge benefit to non-citizens. Just store your shit at a lvl1 node that will never get sieged and you're golden. And if you see the node grow, just move your stuff w/o any problems.
A non-citizen might have friends in many Nodes across the map who help them store stuff at their Freeholds.
No reason why you have to store stuff at a Node bank.
You don't have to be a citizen to defend a Node during a Siege. You just have to register as a defender.
Node citizens are auto-flagged as defenders for their Node.
The solution you gave seems to be pretty solid.
But, Ashes is an RPG.
So... you can expect there to be people who focus more on the RP in MMORPG.
Who says that players who choose to be non-citizens will be interested in keeping a shit-ton of stuff?
Several games have the "services", usually they appear as the community grow, often very formal and the price also follows the reputation in third party programs
but what I understand by contract is that both parties agree with that transaction. I also think that putting an arbitrary value in the maximum or minimum limit can be very when you want to pay by other means.
from what I understand he suggested that individually you can have tools to value the time he puts in the character to play all the content that the game may have, this implies that the game can be experienced at any speed
But with all that being said, I am mostly a solo player. And I do like to RP in my own way (that is playing the class/profession/playstyle I chose). I will most likely create my own guild exactly because I want to play alone, but have a possibility to do group content when the opportunity presents itself. I've done so multiple times on several L2 servers and usually I'd get over 100 people in the guild exactly because the whole moto of my guild was "I ask nothing of you so you can't ask anything of me. But I will help you when I can". And people loved that shit. And all the solo people that joined the guild would group up quite often and just have fun. Hell, we even sieged a castle successfully. Hope I can achieve the same kind of thing in Ashes too (though I doubt we'll get a castle here).
But even while being a solo pvp enjoyer, I can still see some potential exploits in the game or gameplay problems that other people might have issues with. There's obviously exceptions to any rule (with you being the hugest example of such to pretty much every problem I've ever brought up), but not all rules should be tailored to the exceptions rather than the norm. And I personally haven't experienced, or even heard, about RPers being the norm in mmorpgs. Usually they'd have a server or two, out of dozens, that is the "rp server". Or at least that's what I've heard from people who've played way more mmos than me.
I'm fine with that so long as it doesnt become mandatory to be in a guild to complete high level content. If me and my homies want to kill a boss but we're not in a guild it should still be possible (I'll accept it would be more efficient to be in s guild)
Why would you not just make a guild for your friends......The idea people will refuse to me in a guild with anyone is a red flag. Like types that will join a guild to try to steal items or information then dip out constantly.
There is no game where you need to be in a guild really to do content. The point of the guild is to have the numbers around you need to do things with more easily. If the content your trying to do recommends like 20 people and you have 5 friends, you just spam in world chat and form a group. Though be ready for people to pk, bring bigger groups, ninjas your group stealing gear, etc.