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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
Some people on these forums be out here stretching information to mislead people all the time lol. Unless you see it working in the game nothing is true.
I didn't say anything about "best drops" or "endgame" content... especially since Ashes doesn't have an endgame.
I'm not making any assumptions about what people want from "instanced dungeons".
What the OP states is...
"The reasoning is to have more single player content that is challenging allows for something to strive for that wont require other players so if you have a small amount of time on your hands you can spend it mastering your class and unlocking a cool cosmetic that only players with your class can use."
That doesn't say anything about "best and repeatable content". That says "unlocking a cool cosmetic".
It also mentions wanting to be able to do something challenging when you only have a small amount of time.
Dunno why anyone would be adverse to that.
No mention of how often the OP wants access to the Mage Tower, but... that's why I said it doesn't have to be exactly like the WoW version.
Sure... if you make up a bunch of crap the OP didn't state and delude yourself into believing that's what the OP asked for, you might mislead yourself.
Maybe I missed the dev quote that states solo instanced content will only ever be available in "your main questline".
I don't even know what you mean by "main questline". What is that? Main Narrative Quests?
Do you have a dev quote you can share with us, please?
1. Reducing the difficulty of mobs to the expectation that you're alone rather than part of a group
2. Have healing readily available if the player in question doesn't normally have the ability to heal themself.
3. Mechanics that'd normally require more than one person (such as pressure plate puzzles) either have a way to bypass them as a solo operator or be removed from the solo version of the instance.
Regardless of the idea of solo versions of instances (which, as I recall, only make up roughly 20% of the planned dungeons anyways, so this wouldn't be a huge increase) I do think solo content needs to exist in the game. MMOs run on social stuff, yes, but having available stuff for players that don't require you to spend a ton of time gathering a party and that can show off your personal mastery are legitimately very good things. They shouldn't be the focus, but having them available at all is important for when players are socially burned out or seeking a challenge that doesn't depend on coordination with others.
That is not 20% of content when you are talking about hand holding and reducing difficulty so someone can spam repeatable tower content. This is literarily the opposite on what AoC is trying to do right down to the game being balanced for groups and not solo play.
I'd rather have a open world tower that is difficult and has a lot of layers to it people can explore and see from the distance trying to get to the top of it, not this single player instanced dungeon none sense they can grind in there all day or for hours at a time.
This right here should end this thread. Intrepid has been pretty clear that this is not an MMO with your traditional "instanced" content. They've said they'll have some instanced content for lore and storytelling reasons, probably simply because they don't want people getting ganked while trying to learn major plot points.
But they've been clear that instanced content will only be about 20% of the game (the remaining 80% will be open world content) and it won't constitute any sort of endgame content, nor will it be any place you can farm repeatedly. All of these points are in the wiki link above with references (thanks AoC Wiki team!).
Even the idea of a repeatable tower for any sort of reward goes against one of the game's main pillars which is Risk vs Reward. There's no risk in instanced PvE content and for that reason alone you won't see it in Ashes. Anything worth having in this game will have some sort of risk associated with earning it.
Nothing in that clarity precludes the solo instanced content the devs have mentioned from being in the form of a "Mage Tower".
Since the risk in solo instanced content is relatively low - "unlocking a cool cosmetic" is a reasonable reward.
Why are you highlighting "farmed repeatedly"?
And what does that have to do with the physical appearance of an instanced dungeon?
LMFAO
Because this is the conversation you are defending for the guy.
Everyone was talking about how dungeons work and he jumped in in the middle of it so excuse me? Please how the core of this thread with replies based on the OP is talking about visuals.
Everyone is replying to statements and you are jumping in when he has already mentioned repeatable content. If you are going to start arguing for him on points against it, in turn you are defending repeatable content.
No form of repeatable casual instanced dungeons, or time wasted on trying to make balance wasted on some single player instanced dungeon over creating balanced group content. 80/20 split isn't' true when things are repeatable with casual content.
Dygz gave information on, "some info on solo instances has already been said" and the opinion, it may not be exactly what you are asking for. And the potential reward.
Mag7spy. "You know what, this can be an argument"
Realize you defending his bad take after he says this after the persons statements. Though where was the same mind set back in the basic attack thread
You are both easily misunderstand-able. So every time you come together, threads become pointless arguments.
Several people responded with something similar to "No to solo content. No to instanced content."
I'm reminding people that the Ashes design includes some solo instanced content.
We know from dev commentary that instanced dungeons are planned to be 20% of dungeons.
Some of that will be solo.
When asked for a source, I researched and shared the source.
The OP states:
"If you have a small amount of time on your hands you can spend it mastering your class and unlocking a cool cosmetic that only players with your class can use."
"There will be times where you have work in 30mins and want to progress your character in something meaningful to you."
That does not sound like repeatable farming to me. Repeatable farming, to me, is typically something you do when you have hours and are trying to acquire gear with excellent stats.
"Unlocking a cool cosmetic" does not sound the same as "farming the best drops".
Sure... remind the original poster of the specific parameters a solo instance would have to meet based on the Ashes game design - if you think what's being asked for doesn't meet those parameters.
An Ashes "Mage Tower" is not going to look exactly like a WoW "Mage Tower".
But, also keep in mind:
"Social organizations are going to have questlines that players participate in which some will include sabotage, espionage, intrigue... While it's not necessarily player versus player in the combat sense, it is player versus player in pitting communities in those organizations kind of against each other in a competitive atmosphere, where only some things can be accomplished by certain communities; and not everybody can succeed at a particular task. So, I think that that's a unique way to involve meaningful conflict that doesn't necessarily have to relate to PvP, because obviously we have a lot of PvP systems in the game and and there are many ways for players to participate in player versus player combat; but we also want to make sure that from a progression standpoint, from a system standpoint there are going to be abilities of individuals to follow these questlines, these tasks that will pit organizations against each other, specifically from an organizational standpoint."
---Steven
The use of the word "inidividuals" leads me to think some of that could be solo quests.
And some of that could include a solo instance.
"If you are part of a town that has been developed and the Scholar's Academy has the most amount of work from the players, that becomes a patron organization of the city so will grant certain benefits and services to players that they can participate in, that relate to their position within the Scholar's academy. Augments are a huge thing that these different societies will offer. They're not going to be a lot of augments within the society's progression: It will probably be around 3 or 4 that exist per organization. So, you'll have to really investigate and study which organization is most beneficial for the path you've chosen with your archetype or whatever role you wish to have in the world.
But, there's also going to be... you know... you'll get special lures, you'll have special cosmetics you can get from a certain society (maybe you'll want to change the appearance), you can get specific furniture for your home that you're going to build, you can get certain mount certificates for breeding...
The whole idea behind these societies is that they are a mechanism for progression that do not have to rely on your level progression. These are different progression paths that plyers can participate in.
We want to offer players diverse methods of progression and these systems house those benefits."
---Steven
mark 25:25
I would expect that some of the quests related to a Scholar's Academy might take place in a Mage Tower.
And some of those could be a 30 minute solo quest that help unlock a cool cosmetic.
Doesn't have to be repeatable farming. The 30 minute solo quests associated with a Mage Tower don't have to be available daily 24/7.
Only available once per week meets the criteria that's been stated by the OP, so far:
"If you have a small amount of time on your hands you can spend it mastering your class and unlocking a cool cosmetic that only players with your class can use."
"There will be times where you have work in 30mins and want to progress your character in something meaningful to you."
I'm just reminding people that solo instanced content is already in the game design.
I'm not aware of a restriction to only "your main questline".
For all we know, Social Org progression could include some solo instanced content.
It's not going to be "repeatable farming".
I'm not defending "best drops". It's not something the OP asked for.
I'm not defending "repeatable content". I didn't see the OP ask for that.
I'm not defending "repeatable farming". I didn't see the OP ask for that.
What I have said is that some of what the OP asked for may already be in the Ashes game design in some fashion.
Instead of the knee-jerk reaction of "Hell No to any solo content!!!"... you should keep in mind that Ashes has solo content in the game design. And, yeah, if you wish to remind the OP of what the parameters would have to be... that's great.
But, you know, no need to straw man argue crap that people didn't actually say.
Clarifying is good because based on the OP response that 30 minutes before work thing sounds much more repeatable. I'm fine and sure there will be repeatable quest but everyone doing repeatable instanced dungeons solo is another story...
Will Ashes have some solo instances? Yes. Would they be anywhere near a "mage tower instance"? From what I understand of that thing - no.
And to me when someone says "I only have 30 mins to play, but want meaningful drops from a solo instance" - that's not a small cosmetic, that's a good piece of gear for barely any work. And I'm assuming that's Mag's take on that line too. Obviously Dygz' take is different. And this brings even more disagreement on the issue.
Um. Are you claiming George_Black is a nobody?
He isn't being literal.... I will say the same thing when you give a strong response to the sound of something instanced and repeatable.
Just because something sounds repeatable to you doesn't mean that it is.
Better to ask for clarification, rather than assume.
It is pretty clear what people are getting at here and people are aware there is some instanced content. They are talking about akin to other games and mainly at the op mage tower idea / concept. People can alk in exaggerations it shouldn't be taken as literal.
Ie I thought this was a mmo.
I'm sure he is fully aware there is instanced content but here is a discussion of more instanced content that is repeated.
I thought this was a mmorpg (why is there talks of even more instanced content that will make it feel like a single player game at times.)
The OP literally stated: "Unlock a cool cosmetic". But, you wish to assume they didn't mean what they said.
What I didn't see is the OP state "repeatedly".
That is something you infer from the concept of "Mage Tower".
Instead of assuming how often the OP expects to repeat content... ask... or... sure point out that in Ashes there won't b repeatable content. But... you shouldn't put words in people's mouths and then act like they actually said something they didn't really say.
When i hear 30 minutes before work, that doesn't sound like something that is based around one time...Even then what is a "cosmetic" that you would want and value. For me it be a mount, weapon or armour. Its not out oft he world to do it fairly and offer some but I feel that would be taking away from the cash shop potential sales at the start of release.
And, yeah, I expect cosmetics might include mount, weapon and armor SKINS.
No it is up to the OP to make a better example that doesn't sound or is linked to anything repeatable....his following statement leans on the repeated side.
You are taking words and response too literal on a forum. If they were going into depth in a post and talking about certain mechanics etc then that would be fine to take it point to point. But it is just a quick naa post people are fine to exaggerate a bit for impact.