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What MMO world do you want? Does Ashes feel too serious
grizzleface
Member
Minecraft, Fortnite, WoW, etc are some of the most popular games in their respective genres. These games are aesthetically similar in the sense they are colourful, light, fun, cheerful. The characters in WoW for example are so memorable and loveable. FF14 has this too. For Ashes to be successful does it need to have this essence too?
I know it's early, but it doesn't seem Ashes will go in a similar direction. Games like GW2, New World and most other MMOs/RPGs suffer from having boring characters and a lifeless boring world. Do you guys want Ashes to have characters that are funny or silly. Do you want it to be full of humour? Or do you want it to be toned down?
I know Ashes will look great with UE5 and all, but I'm kinda worried I won't enjoy the world or the NPCs in it. I've played many MMOs and the only worlds I truly loved were from WoW and Runescape. Intrepid might create an amazing game with top notch mechanics and gameplay, but will the world just be a generic one with generic characters, lore and environments.
What kind of MMO worlds do you guys love? What do you want in Ashes in terms of NPCs and environments?
I know it's early, but it doesn't seem Ashes will go in a similar direction. Games like GW2, New World and most other MMOs/RPGs suffer from having boring characters and a lifeless boring world. Do you guys want Ashes to have characters that are funny or silly. Do you want it to be full of humour? Or do you want it to be toned down?
I know Ashes will look great with UE5 and all, but I'm kinda worried I won't enjoy the world or the NPCs in it. I've played many MMOs and the only worlds I truly loved were from WoW and Runescape. Intrepid might create an amazing game with top notch mechanics and gameplay, but will the world just be a generic one with generic characters, lore and environments.
What kind of MMO worlds do you guys love? What do you want in Ashes in terms of NPCs and environments?
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I hope to play on a server where I will be Queen and rule over all puns.
Golden Sandal gods??
Ashes is not the game you're looking for.
Oh but it is, because I get to KoS anyone riding a stufferton!
I mean... its just a matter of deciding whether or not its worth the corruption, and to me it is. So how am I wrong in being able to kill stufferton riders?
Even WoW had a dreadful place like that with the Forgotten Crypt and the Upside-Down Sinners room.
Aren't we all sinners?
We shall make the latter world a reality brother!
I mean, its in your head that I am not capable I suppose? Hopefully we are on the same server so we can both find out!
For the Glory of the Kaelar Empire!
Aren't we all sinners?
I have nostalgia for a game I played for 3 months, a couple years ago. Actual nostalgia. I like to occasionally watch flight path videos of WoW classic on youtube. LIke someone flying around on a flight path. There's actually not too many videos of that lol. I guess I'm weird.
But the world charmed me, even though I didn't like the game itself too much. I want Ashes to charm me like that too. Hopefully it does.
Ashes world seems pretty living so far... From the winds breezing through the tree tops to a birds nest in a nearby bush that reacts when you come near + all the seasonal changes that gradually affects environments. I think it's heading in a great direction. As far as aesthetic, it is definitely all fantasy with real life aspects and i am enjoying seeing the mounts, pets, costumes and houses they have been showcasing. I have love for GW2, but feel personally it is too cartoony now. I enjoy the fantasy realism ESO has.
As far as NPC conversations, we have yet to see those. And i do hope myself the world of Ashes will be full of humorous NPC conversations. Maybe overhearing a couple bicker at a nearby farm. Or an NPC recognizing your personal story accomplishments like "Oh wow, isn't that the mage who took down the elder ice dragon?!".
Ashes will not tell the same curated story to everyone, so there is a good chance story telling will be very different from what you experienced in WoW and FF14.
The node system and player decisions (not only your decisions, but also the server's community as a whole) will have a significant impact on how your (and your server's) story will be shaped.
Just wanted to point these out to put story arcs and the narrative into perspective, because I'm not sure what do you expect or know about these aspects of the game exactly.
I personally don't want silly characters at all. I like humor, but I want the game to take itself more seriously than "silly". Also I don't think the silliness of a character is the best way to deliver humor (humorous quests and clever/layered interactions/conversations between characters is much more entertaining to me than just someone who's acting goofy).
For more check:
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Story_arcs
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Narrative
Expect a mix of everything in Ashes - except P2W.
Steven seems quite humorous to me so I would imagine there will be healthy doses of humor in the storytelling and adventures if he has any say, which he does.
As to the overall mood it's hard to say, certain parts of the environments are very modern and others very fantastical and whimsical. I hope the game keeps going away from a cartoon direction that gives some prior mmo's their less than serious feel.
As far as the world goes, Im not a huge fan of mounts cause I really enjoy travel in games and feel like it gives the world a sence of being big. Classic Ever Quest comes to mind, having to run 3 zones away to catch a boat that takes 30 minutes (if you just missed it) to get to the docks and having to ride it for another 15 minutes to get to the other continent, content like that was very impactful.
I want the world to feel big and punishing at times. In EQ if you died in a dungeon with your group you'd have to run from your bind spot which was often times atleast 10 minutes away if not more in some cases. Youd lose exp and all your armor and inventory would stay on youre corpse for 7 days before it rotted and disappeared forever. So youd have to loot your kwn corpse to get your gear back. Yes their was rez's eventually, but you didnt always have a cleric in your group. So it was critical not to make any big mistakes like pulling a room with 5 mobs in it all at once. Youd need to have somone split them, or lull them so you could pull them one at a time.
Idno im rambling at this point.
Basically serious = good
potty humor/cartoony stuff = bad
childish stuff = bad
I dont understand the need of people to want to be surrunded by comedy all the time. Plus, most of the times the result isnt a laugh. Just annoyance and breaking the illusion that you adventure.
And this is the 4th or so topic asking for a 'funny' world. Is life that hard?
For RPG, Mmo or anything with an idea to exist as a world, should have themes that make you invested. If it's just laughter and nothing serious, then it won't be taken seriously. You won't have deeper emotions and investment in it. Final Fantasy being good example. It's got light topics and themes in some matters, but it's world is rather serious in the deeper story and that story made people cry. Won't spoil anything obviously.
I at least am hoping for seriously thought out world and themes. Serious and invested sense of what can be interpret to be "real" and have some attachments to characters, their stories and the world lore matters in my opinion. I want some grim themes. Either extreme of fun / sad pays off that much more when there is effort involved and counterbalance. Simple example is that without effort rewards won't have as much meaning and impact. Without hope pure despair and darkness will feel just depressing and off-putting. And so on forth.
Though I enjoyed it, it's not what I expect or what I want.
The game is going to be heavily player driven so I see NPC taking a backseat to some things but would occassionally like to see NPCs reference world events or player driven events.
eg. "Glad those goblins were dealt with." / "I hear there is a new mayor again."
I'd like to see something more serious like Dragon Age or Neverwinter where they do occasionally sway but is predominantly serious.
Most ridiculous that I wouldn't mind is closer to the League of Legends lore, where most things are deep in politics and traditions but every so often there is more of a trickster vibe rather than just jokes for the sake of jokes.
And while we're on the subject, let's bin off the That Fricking Corgi and Stuffertons.
A world that continues, even if you're offline. This always gets spoken about, but just because a game continues, doesn't mean the world continues. I stopped WoW quite a few years ago. But I'm sure the NPCs are still all very much in the same place. There was a video on Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion I saw a while ago, it had certain things that I would absolutely love to see. I'll give a short synopsis.
Basically, all the traditionally "nameless" NPC's (City Guard) for example, but citizens too, and shopkeepers, thieves, etc. They were assigned, (some at random) certain stat values. A whole range of them. They wrote an AI that used these hidden attributes to determine what an NPC would do. They'd have hunger/energy bars like the sims (in the background) So they'd have to eat and work. What happened and made them cancel the idea, was certain NPCs with good stats were buying up all the food to sell at a huge profit, causing the most lawful of people to starve or leave town completely, the ones with less stats in lawfulness were okay with trying to steal food, which made them get arrested and or killed by the guards. The whole town died out. They had no time to fix it so they went with the more traditional. But I adore the basic idea and principle. Gives even the NPCs some personality, have goals, go to work etc etc. That is what makes the game feel alive to me. My ideal MMO world would have systems like this and have it work in MMO format of course.