Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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
“Test your might” “Test your knowledge” “Test your mastery”
It was actually something that struck me again listening to Shi Heng Yi being interviewed. So then I had to make the reference :P
A game with similar mechanics seems to be Mortal Online 2. It is PvP, has player driver economy, localized to cities, siege mechanic will be added soon... It has a huge map and only one server which is enough because only 1500 players play. They want to increase support to 10k but I cannot imagine the game becoming better when density increases.
Could be that AoC will end up having one server too and game to be balanced for a smaller player count.
My first MMO was Asheron's Call.
(A grew up on a farm in the ruruals, TVs weren't that common in our house, let alone PCs)
What made it great to me, beyond the nostalgia of a new world?
One you master the rotation, get your island t-shirt, make an Atlan, have a Holtburger, what keeps you there?
What makes MMOs Great (according to me and not in any particular order):
Excellently executed story, depth of game mechanics, and community.
In my opinion with nostalgia, while it is a positive feeling, and reminds you the original feelings, you do not end up feeling as strongly as the first time. Being the first is the reason why it was special.
AoC could be great for those who will play it now as their first MMO in their life.
An MMO to be greater than previous MMOs we played,
- it should bring new features never seen before without removing existing traits of what define the game as an mmorpg
- and those new features should be more than 50% of the whole set of features. Then it could have the same impact as when we played our first mmo
If I had to compare it to something else I would say such as the adventures in the Lord of the Rings. Many of the traveling companions were far more skilled than others lets say their levels were higher. But everyone still made the journey they all supported and build bonds and memories together.
The magic is thinking, "Whats over there?" Or, "Lets see what items and components we can discover here!" Discovery, and comradery is what will make it great. Make it more fun to experiment with mixing plants into new potions or breeding two animals from completely different regions. Rather than, I need this sword so I can farm these boars to X level then get the wyrm scales for this node quest so I can prepare to unlock this raid.
Solving the mysteries of the world and finding bits of lore hidden in the vastness of the realms. Make the game about the experience, one that is magical to share with others. Rather than incentivizing the end game carrot. The world needs feet upon it to form trails of memories and not just marching path down into a dungeon's depth.
I might be rambling a bit, but I want it to feel like after a day or so if you don't care if you got a level or a new sword, only that when you log off you are still thinking about the world and not statistics or shortcuts. Don't have it all catered the finish line, but so much more about the start and the journey.
1. Passion
2. Resources
3. The guts to stick with a niche game, as mainstream crowds (tends to) kill off uniqueness
4. Ask the players where the problems are, but never ask the players what the solution is
5. Don't cater to the instant gratification crowd
6. Healthy monetization with no P2W
No mods, no FPS-meter, no LFG-feature, no battlegrounds, no queue system, no market, no bazaar and no gearscore. Reward knowledge and exploration.
Enable and reward player interaction, without disabling solo content.
Reward group play. Dont punish it.
Make character progression, quests, and gameplay content more rewarding when in a group.
Everquest 2 had a fantastic system where abilities between classes had synergies. You could play "off" the other members of the party to gain huge benefits in combat, for added buffs, damage bonus, debuffs etc when players got it right. It was a fun little minigame during combat that could have profound impact on the outcome of an encounter.
Basically, do make it an old peoples game.