Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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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.
What are your crafting ideologies in MMO?
VekoKrava
Member
1. Do you like crafting to be simple or complex?
2. Do you like sandbox crafting or more systematic like theme park MMOs where you change piece of gear every few levels?
3. Do you want materials to matter even in early zones similar to New world crafting, or like retail WoW.
4. Do you like transmog as crafting profession and vials to paint your transmog?
What are your ideas to crafting approach, mine is more sandbox where even at 40level you could craft piece of gear and not change it until end game dungeons or expensive crafts, I like slower yet meaningful and simlple progression where I can feel progression and not be systematic like business model to replace gear with each level.
Are there any more ideas of yours that can have better impact on game design? Lets discuss this matter properly with constructive criticism.
2. Do you like sandbox crafting or more systematic like theme park MMOs where you change piece of gear every few levels?
3. Do you want materials to matter even in early zones similar to New world crafting, or like retail WoW.
4. Do you like transmog as crafting profession and vials to paint your transmog?
What are your ideas to crafting approach, mine is more sandbox where even at 40level you could craft piece of gear and not change it until end game dungeons or expensive crafts, I like slower yet meaningful and simlple progression where I can feel progression and not be systematic like business model to replace gear with each level.
Are there any more ideas of yours that can have better impact on game design? Lets discuss this matter properly with constructive criticism.
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Comments
My personal preference is the third hidden option 'Insane'.
2. Do you like sandbox crafting or more systematic like theme park MMOs where you change piece of gear every few levels?
Everything devolves into the latter anyway, but I like it to slow down as you get further.
3. Do you want materials to matter even in early zones similar to New world crafting, or like retail WoW.
Just make it not BDO.
4. Do you like transmog as crafting profession and vials to paint your transmog?
Not as a profession.
Are there any more ideas of yours that can have better impact on game design?
That depends entirely on the game I'm trying to make/help with. The creator's goals have priority, so you'd have to define 'game design'. I have only three 'ideas that work for Ashes' and I wouldn't be able to say 'better impact' because I'd have to say 'better than what'. They're probably already doing them anyway, so it's not 'better than' anything you would find on the Wiki.
I already proposed a system that's linked to crafting, but that suggestion is kinda pointless cause it stands on very shaky legs of 0 info about the game.
Well, I am EVE Online player who actually can do T1, T2, T3, planetary, faction and capital industry... that is the most complex industry game ever. I have a few bilions of units altogether from many levels of materials stockpiled through many different solar systems.
I also crafted in WoW, GW2 and Ultima Online.
EVE Online is the only game that has complex industry, all other games are very vanilla and simple. Whatever you guys think it's complex, I must say it's not complex at all.
So don't be affraid of making a semi-complex industry system, industry is great when it is abount managing stockpiles, industry lines and blueprints.
What really matters is this:
So don't make me craft a pile of "short-bow strings" and then make me craft "long-bow strings"... just have strings and then I can use strings for making all kinds of bows, all kinds of crossbows, furtnire, acessories, etc.
Having too many tiny components it's just for filling all slots in inventories if the inventories aren't based on size (cubic meters for example).
So inventory management, stockpile management, recipes and blueprints management is the painful part if you have too many specialized tiny parts.
2. Do you like sandbox crafting or more systematic like theme park MMOs where you change piece of gear every few levels?
Kinda yeah.
3. Do you want materials to matter even in early zones similar to New world crafting, or like retail WoW.
Random materials everywhere, I should be able to find a diamong in the starting area even tough spawning it in the starter area should be extremely rare!
Finding diamonds should be much easier in a dangerous volcanic area for high level players, but i should still find a few boring iron and copper over there.
4. Do you like transmog as crafting profession and vials to paint your transmog?
I don't care about those things.
5. Are there any more ideas of yours that can have better impact on game design?
Those days we grinded crafting in WoW, GW2, Skyrim and others were really sad... sad... sad. Craft 30 of this in a row... then craft 50 of that in a row... now craft 120 iron daggers... now craft 80 copper daggers...
Please no, do anything that is different than this!!!
How about something like certificates?
This also counters having an absurd quantity of daggers in the market
This certificate idea is not great, it's just an inlustration about something that counters the repetitive crafting grind of the same items by everybody
Crafting a variety of items is ok, crafting grind of the same stuff is not
1. Do you like crafting to be simple or complex?
It doesn't matter how simple or complex. The most important thing is that crafting is meaningful and not just an activity to lighten the server with useless items.
2. Do you like sandbox crafting or more systematic like theme park MMOs where you change piece of gear every few levels?
I don't know
3. Do you want materials to matter even in early zones similar to New world crafting, or like retail WoW.
Yes, that the materials matter. But especially not like New World which has the most useless crafting system I've experienced in 20 years of MMOs.
4. Do you like transmog as crafting profession and vials to paint your transmog?
I have never experimented but why not.
If you all prefer crafting to be meaningful, how can intrepid pull that off?
Simple example from vanilla WoW - There used to be recipe for mana potions from few dungeons on very low drop chance, some people manage to get drop and they were the ones that were crafting mana pots that were quite expensive and profitable. Do you think this is the way to go if we want meaningful crafting or just give everything to everyone and let community decide prices. Also is there another way? New world economy failed immensely, there are potions that sell for 2g each and you can farm around 5k gold per hour in lower lvl zones.
Is there a possibility for intrepid to decide how much something costs? Simple way of doing is if you put vendor to sell bags (4slot-7silver, 8slot-15silver, 12slot-50silver and leave 15slot for profession only for example) same way goes for potions or any sustainable craft from cooking/alchemy and so on. In WoW devs did something similar to this, although for potions they did not give unlimited seller vendor, instead they limited it with x5 potions for example.
The only possibility to regulates prices is to add merchant NPC who can buy all materials/ingredients. Then no one will sell things cheaper than they can get at the NPC. New World made the choice of a game without NPC merchant, I dont know about AOC.
Complex. With solid cross-dependent components.
Sandbox. I liked Valheim’s approach.
Yes. Materials matter, and low volume to create conflict (but not so low that people give up).
No. I don’t want to pay another player every time I want to transmog an item.
1) doesnt matter. As long as it's fun, meaningful, ENGAGING.
2) this is where I see it as a different topic. I don't believe an mmo needs to follow WoW route. Classic WoW had maybe 10,000 weapons and armor item IDs. And it scaled insanely as the game continue to expand. We ended up focusing that GEAR mattered to a player strength/progression.
I come from the EQ mindset. Classic EQ maybe had 500 total weapon/armor item IDs. Your strength came from leveling, items were just icing with very small boost.
It followed the D&D ruleset. +1 +2 +3 unlike wow giving you 4-5 stats and passives and these attributes stats are +5 +10 +30 +88, etc.
It wasn't weird to be level 20-30 in Everquest with maybe 3 good items that gave a bonus. Everything else was basic that provided AC only.
EQ failed in the crafting dept however other than Jewelcrafters / Enchanters which made bank. The rest wasnt meaningful or impossible to craft and make it meaningful, viable.
UO - was along the lines of EQ / D&D with itemization and crafting was meaningful. Simple, attainable, reasonable, I think all profession were viable.
so as long as AoC NPCs provide just basic white items with only AC and crafters can provide the bulk of 1-50 gears that would be great. I hope there isnt 10,000 item IDs of armors and weapons but maybe 500 spread out with a stupid low drop rate ala EQ.
3) I am torn. I get the New World approach, 4 iron = 1 steel, 4 steel = 1 Something, 4 something = 1 something else.
That make sense and makes all areas meaningful, high lvl players back to low level zones to farm is nice to see. For that, I tend to lean in this light as opposed to
once you out level those mats, you go to higher level zones to get higher level mats. Eventually the low level mats becomes meaningless. This will incentives people racing and to monopolize the real stuff that matters. I am usually against that design.
4) Against it. Against the entire concept of Transmog. EQ Mentality - it was so hilarious seeing people wearing some janky ass look. If you wanted to look CLEAN, you buy a set from a crafter.
WoW kinda had this in classic - Certain sets dropped, if you got the entire set, you had the look + a bonus for owning all the set. I believe toons should always be progressing in look. Only exception that we have is the cosmetics stuff we can buy.
I am already guilty of buying cosmetic stuff. I only wish these cosmetic would auto turn on in towns only, I highly doubt I will people in support of that tho.
I dont think cosmetic should hide your gear look in PvP, I wanna know what your wearing to engage your strength. This was something we did in EQ PvP Servers. Since items were limited, we could recognize what item u got and determine your strength visually. In WoW - you can attempt to do that, chances are you will only recognize the pvp gears and end game raid items. No way in hell you are gonna remember 10,000 items in your head.
Believe it or not Vanilla wow had similar approach to gearing like EQ that you described. Items had different stats, but really does it matter if you had 4 items crafted on level 40ish which gave you some 25agility more depending on class. Its only like 30dmg per attack more, you could outplay that person in pvp.
Difference is warlord gear to every other, you would get so much more stamina that you would have 1k hp more and that has big impact. They balanced pvp gear to have more stamina to increase hp and raid gear had bonus stats like crit, hit or agility, strenght for more dmg. Although you are stronger 1v1 with warlord gear, it doesnt matter in group content if you had healers, it has impact, but it is so grindy... only small precentage of people manage to get warlord/marshal, because you must grind 15hours a day for few months...
Vanilla was very sandbox gearing although I would prefer gearing as you mentioned in EQ, I believe in simplicity and sandbox design, usually what is complex doesnt end well. You would need briliant mind to balance complex stuff.
I would like to see hit stat on crafted gear that is expensive and grindy to get, just because if you had hit chance capped you would have bigger impact in pve/pvp. Also stamina/hp for pvp, crit for pve... i would design it simple.
For tmog I agree, its stupid and I hate it, you can say I am very old fashioned. This is why I cant decide if having same EQ gearing as you described is better or similar to vanilla wow at what I am used to.