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
They done one more
Being able to control my appearance. 100% for. I actually love the xmog system in wow it's a lot of fun to go back and farm old content to collect different looks.
Paid cosmetics, not as much of a fan.
A.) I think they should be used more sparingly, unlike intrepids a new one each month.
B.) as long as you can't buy in game appearances so you can avoid having to go do stuff in game. Which they have said is the case so I'm ok with them existing.
I do however understand how difficult it is for MMO's to make a crust & therefore accept it is going to be included in most games in order for cosmetic items to be purchased and used by the community.
Ok so like when the description for this months package of the Ice Ship says:
" Icebreakers have three traits that most normal ships lack: a strengthened hull, an ice-clearing shape, and the power to push through sea ice."
Thats just lore?
Yes. Because it’s only a cosmetic skin. It doesn’t even give you a boat, you need to get one first. Anything that implies power is just a story to make it sound cool.
If that’s misleading, that’s on the marketing team for possibly confusing players into thinking they’re getting more than they are.
See here:
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Cosmetic_store
“All skin cosmetic items are cosmetic items only and do not grant the user any other benefit. The lore text is flavor text, and background of the creatures and items in the world of Verra.”
I don't care about showing off hard attainable armors, I only care about what I think look good on my character.
I love transmog.
I prefer to keep a signature appearance - if we need to upgrade stats by swapping gear, that's OK, but... I still want to maintain the signature appearance of my outfit/costume... similar to Batman, Wonder Woman or Gandalf.
Not really a fan of "Ultimate Shoulders Gandalf".
And I hate seeing mix-matched, clashing outfits cobbled together from what individual gamers consider to be BiS gear. Cover that shit up with some awesome transmogs.
Yes yes yes. That is my main reason for cosmetic items/transmog.
Do you know how hard it was for me to get a decent pair of pants in WoW for my Cleric? I did not want to be a bathrobe wonder.
TBH, from what I've seen of the early state of mounts I already felt like some were over the top and that made me concerned about the direction mogging will go. But I know a lot of people also liked the early mount designs, so...
I'd say having it as an option for players doesn't hurt...especially if you have to OWN the item that you're copying the design. This way you don't have people running around with epic looking gear that never even owned it in the first place.
so just to me, having it in the game doesn't hurt. People can choose to do it or not...I'd personally choose not because I have other things to do in game lol
But...with the use of AI image generation like Midjourney...there is no longer an excuse for subpar looking gear from developers. You can literally get an AI to make all kinds of epic looking gear as a design based on your input criteria...
If you have a set you really like but it doesn't have the stats you want who cars, how does that break your immersion?
Also I know for a fact none of you are going to a see a set and know exactly how to counter the set bonuses or stats.
Why exactly about it do you hate. Other than not liking that other people enjoy it.
I've never seen a solid argument as to why transmogs are bad other than someone whining that they don't like seeing other people in different gear sets and that argument is so God damn weak.
It literally comes down to just wanting to dictate how other people enjoy their gaming experience on something that really doesn't make a difference at all.
It's cosmetic, no stat enchantments, not pay to win and it always seems to come down to others upset that they don't have the disposable income to get the neat fake item others can get.
Intrepid has also stated that in-game armor and earnable cosmetics will always look better or on par with in store items.
Further more, if the current cosmetic on the alpha and beta packs look better than in-game I honestly don't care, it's a way for people to show that they have supported the game during development. It's like having a badge or title as a founder and why shouldn't early backers have something awesome to show for it?
AITA?
yes, yes I am, but i don't think this is why.
I don't care one way or another. I'm just playing devil's advocate. It's an MMORPG for a reason. Some people care about the RP part a lot. Mogging has definitely gotten out of hand in some other games
And it also had the same flagging/corruption system as Ashes will. And when you saw someone running towards you, you could tell at a glance what their rough powerlvl was, so you'd also know how you'd measure up to them if they were to attack you. And sometimes you'd make the first attack purely to ward them off of you and make them run past you instead of engaging.
And while what Neurath said is partly true, iirc Art of War said "Know your enemy". And when you're playing a pvp game (a massive one at that), pretty much everyone around you could be your enemy, so not seeing their danger lvls at a glance is bad imo.
Yes, we'll have the buff icon for what your target is wearing, but that is nowhere close to sightreading that information. And when you're against literal hundreds of people during a siege or just during a guild/node war - knowing your preferred targets benefits both sides.
Which is another point btw, knowing what the opponent is wearing works for both sides, while transmogs only serve those who use them.
I'd suggest chicken suits not be added, but if the devs do so, then they do it knowing trolls are gonna troll. If you want a way to calculate gearscore at a glance, so you don't get ganked or reverse thrashed, that's a different argument, maybe a color con system that takes gearscore into account instead of just the usual level.
My issue with this is crafters can customize the stats, passives, and set abilities on a piece of gear so you will have pieces of gear that looks the same in game but have completely different benefits.
You also won't know the abilities and augments someone has chosen just by looking at their class or the tattoos they are using to modify their attributes.
Yes, in other games, you might be able to get more information from visuals but in ashes, even without transmog, visuals don't mean much.
I will never play a game that makes me look like a peacock in order to be powerful, and I doubt I'm alone here.
And as for abilities and augments, I'm almost sure that there'll be certain gear that works best with particular builds. At which point it'd be about your knowledge of builds and combinations that would give you the upper hand. And unless a crafter can change literally the entire stat/effect side of any given piece of gear - you'll still have most likely builds when you see some gear pieces/sets. But at that stage, what is even the point of transmog if you can literally change your preferred gear's stats and effects to whatever you want and just use that.
Transmoging is an easier way to customize appearance than making a crafter re-craft an item. It also makes it so appearances can be something the player can collect instead of making the crafter collect them.
I guess there's the case of someone liking a low lvl item visual instead of literally all high lvl items, but I dunno how many people would be that way.
In WoW, the transmogs I use for my alts are from sets I have acquired through gameplay.
Transmogs are a much appreciated courtesy from other players - so I don't have to be subjected to the torture of fugly, mis-matched "BiS gear".