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.
Comments
The vast majority of guilds don't have head start so why would we go there? Its not like their levels or accomplishments will count for much in the communities eyes
Those are called eyes.
Also if they swim underwater.... they're swimming. And you're on a ship. They won't catch you.
You know what you did dygz, stop trying to play victim when all you do on the forums is complain and argue :yawn: its becoming a meme, a funny meme, but a meme nonetheless
I didn't find anything on this. I'd appreciate a citation if you do.
I wouldnt mind seeing some lawless zones on the main continents like maybe 2 area's one on each continent or like a small/medium size island like the top middle on on the old map.
oh we did, its glorious. 750sqkm of water, 450-480sqkm of land
If they really wanted to add a free PvP/corruption-less zone, they could've done differently and a lot better. Hopefully Alpha 2 will serve to show this.
his may be a problem for a player of your type, however seems to me to not playtest it would be silly, to look at this situation in black and white, yes i will test it or no i won't based purely on their decision regarding this system is folley, not only that but the likelihood that these systems changes is high, every single thing they introduce to us in the alpha is subject to change based on player feedback. It is very possible that ganking is so bad they make any attack on a non combatant flag you for corruption. There are just so many options and possibilities here that to say no RIGHT NOW seems silly.
I plan to test a few things that relate to thus so i wouldn't be so sure of that yet
But the thing I really don’t understand is why do this? I mean the vast majority of people traveling across the ocean would likely be caravans, which are mobile pvp zones already. So what does this accomplish other than discourage exploration?
That's what was bothering me! Thanks for putting it into words.
I could assume that 'people who just want to explore' can stay near coastlines, but then, if the point of going out to sea is to take a risk (of combat?) to get a reward (of what, good items?), is the naval content going to be 'better' in terms of drops to justify this?
It seems like it may create a level-striation in content that my group felt Ashes was specifically planning to 'avoid'.
Not that I hate this particularly, it just seems to moreso be 'denying Dygz and similar players an option for no reason that we currently know', and the 'obvious' reason that comes to mind doesn't seem 'great' relative to the rest of design at the moment, but who knows.
Rather what they have done is create a Corruption free zone between continents and islands.
Also, Steven said the reason for this is because there are especially lucrative rewards to be gained on the open seas (and likely beneath the seas). Better rewards means higher risk for those rewards.
(Whatever Steven means by unique NPCs and treasure-finding opportunities.)
Pretty sure I already said that work arounds are possible: teleports and family summons.
However, there is also a high probability that exploration will be hindered. And, access to those “lucrative items” will be in areas that are auto-flagged.
”There’s a lot of opportunities in the open seas. And because there’s lots of opportunities that’s unique to that content, that’s unique to that sea, that’s treasure-finding, that’s NPCs, that’s a lot of stuff, there needs to be risk associated with opportunity. We’ve always said that risk and reward. Opportunity and risk. That’s how you weigh actions. And, players now know, when they move into the open seas, they’re doing so in a method that requires them to be cognizant of their surroundings. Who is near me? Who can mess with me?”
—Steven
Um. I said I would not be playing.
I did not say I would not be testing.
It’s not what you claim I did.
You just believe the things you make up in your head.
Right around the 2:00:00 mark in the August development update Twitch stream, Steven mentions that you'll now have to worry about risk vs. reward in the open sea. I'm also honestly confused:
Was there not going to be open world PvP in the open sea before this change?
Was there a problem with the corruption system in the open sea?
What was the difference between the open sea and the dry land, PvP/corruption wise?
Was this decision made to ensure "risk vs. reward" (whatever Steven meant by that in today's stream) in the open sea or really to please "PvP players"?
Does that mean there's no risk vs. reward on land?
Does that mean the corruption system is dogshit and too harsh on PvPers/PKers so the game needs to have a place to actually PvP?
As someone who plans to attack people for fun both on land and on the ocean, why not forget about all that corruption bullshit risky land PvP and only focus on open sea PvP?
Luckily we get to test all of your concerns in the alpha 2. I think it honestly adds flavor.
Part of what I would do is require a harbor to spawn a ship into play, that way you don't just have a bunch of players hiding underwater just so they can spawn a ship when someone gets close. This bit alone would make it so players not looking to be involved in PVP at sea would be able to spot other ships at a distance and maneuver accordingly to avoid getting attacked.
Ibwould say to also make it difficult, not impossible, to board an enemy ship while not on a ship yourself.
I wouldn't be surprised if this changed, game is in active development, they will most likely give people a safe ride around as long as their mount is carrying tons of loot and the player as well. Prob will be added into the system of something players can build.
Dying seems to send you to a respawn spot? I'm kinda expecting that to be at the nearest shoreline.
Doesn’t seem to truly provide fast travel.
I’ll look for the quote so we can see the exact phrasing.
mark 1:08:42
Q: If a ship is destroyed whilst out at sea, Will the player need to slowly swim back to shore? Or get a ride? Are they just stranded out there?
A: There's a real fast ride they could take. Typically that would involve them just swimming under the water and letting life just, you know... take 'em away...
(I do not advise anyone doing that in real lif, by the way...)
I'm just saying... in the game world... there's a fast way and a slower way, but those are kind of your options at that point.
No. We don't have a recall. There's a consequence for losing the means of your mobility. And if you lost the means of that mobility, then those consequences are it's going to take you longer to get to where you need to go or you're going to have to suffere some experience debt.
---Steven
I hear you, @Dygz on the deal-breaker. Sad we won’t play together in Verra, but I understand & respect your perspective. Glad you’re still testing with us.
Good to see all the carebears that for years tried to change the game, getting a good reality check
It's all about the Higher Risk for the Higher Reward.
Aren't we all sinners?
Will all water be auto-flagged?
I have no problem with full loot areas, I enjoy them, I spend most of my time solo roaming and exploring in the Outlands (full loot zones) in Albion Online and have become pretty good at escaping and avoiding.
I think it is a bit hasty to call this a deal breaker unless you are against the idea of PvP in general. In which case, I kinda wonder why you would be interested in Ashes when it's clear that it will be a central component of the game.
It was interesting to hear more about the Under realm and when hearing the little we did, it reminded me a bit of the Roads of Avalon in Albion Online, a shifting network of tunnels that allow faster and relatively safer travel throughout the world. Could be really cool.
Having a large, auto-flagged open sea sounds great, but it will honestly be made or broken by the different systems that surround it. Will they facilitate fun and dynamic encounters? What will the catch and escape mechanics of ships be like? Will ships get invisibility cloaks? Or perhaps weather effects such as heavy fog or storms provide routes where it would be very hard to be detected.
There are just so many variables that it is impossible to say whether this will be good or not. We haven't even really seen any naval content or mechanics as of yet. There are so many possibilities when it comes to oceanic content. There are just so many questions. But I'm excited.
"Take what you can and give nothing back! Yaaar"
Surely in that scenario, you would just use the "Family summon" option and insta-port to your friend?
There will be major warning messages alerting players that they are approaching such areas.
Objective-based, opt-in PvP combat for Caravans and Sieges.
Corruption as the compromise for random, non-consensual PvP combat in the open world.
That's what has been stated for the 5 years the game has been in development.
I enjoy objective-based, opt-in PvP combat - sometimes. When I'm in the mood for PvP combat - that's what I enjoy.
I've been skeptical about all playstyles on the same server because, even though I would typically begin with characters on PvP-Optional servers, I would always eventually rage-quit to PvE-Only servers.
When I'm not in the mood for PvP combat, I want to be free to explore and gather without being pushed into PvP combat.
Playing the game with the Corruption mechanic was always at the edge of my comfort zone - but testing would determine whether Corruption works well enough as a deterrent for unwanted PvP for me to be willing to play.
Lineage II players assured me that Corruption would be sufficient because it's harsher than Karma and Karma works well in Lineage II, so... it's really just been, "Sure. Let's test it and see."
The change to having Corruption free zones with unique NPCs and treasure-finding opportunities is a deal-breaker for me. It's too close to EvE online and ArcheAge. I didn't like the naval combat in ArcheAge - too cutthroat - so I chose not to play it.
Don't like what you don't play. If I recall correctly, I asked Steven when he was first on the Ashen Forge if the PvP in Ashes was similar to EvE Online and ArcheAge, knowing that if it were, it would be a dealbreaker for me.
So, no, it's not a hasty decision. It's just the natural response for someone who doesn't like the naval combat of ArcheAge when learning that Ashes will have naval combat similar to ArcheAge.
People who enjoy the PvP in EvE Online and ArcheAge should love this gameplay addition. That's great.
There should be no surprise if it's a dealbreaker for people who do not enjoy the PvP in EvE Online and ArcheAge.
Corruption as the compromise for random, non-consensual PvP combat in the open world.
That's what has been stated for the 5 years the game has been in development.
Which is still the case.
The world is large, no need to have 100% of it dedicated to what you consider to be optimal. Seems a bit extreme to approach it as "Yeah, the entirety of the land mass is how I want it, but the fact that it isn't 100% of the game is a dealbreaker for me" that doesn't seem reasonable. In fact, it comes across as pretty petulant considering we haven't even seen a single piece of Naval gameplay as of yet.
But you do you.