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
dlss 3 frame generation should be a must for any new UE5 game, even for A2 testing, considering how easy it is to implement
There are some things that cannot be properly tested in A2 or in the betas, and that is player behaviour when it comes to scarcity. We won't see that until release. Nothing is on the line for players in A2, because all progress will be wiped anyway. Perhaps several times.
At release all bets are off, and that is the first time we will actually see how freehold scarcity affects the game. That is when the real pressure is applied to the system from players and the RMT companies. That's where the actual test and judgement of the system comes, and by then it might be too late if Intrepid completely misses the mark and can't adjust quickly. One of the things they can't adjust quickly is the amount of available freeholds. Things they can adjust quickly are the amounts of bound currency vs. gold required, as well as things like allowing or disallowing player sales of freeholds.
If you want to limit processing output and make sure the markets aren't flooded, focus on that instead of limiting the amount of freeholds. It's much, much easier and quicker to adjust processing station input and output than it is to add more freehold locations to the game, because you severely underestimated how important they are to the player base.
I think a lot of people want to have a little place they can call their own. Perhaps a little farm. Definitely a lot of people want to do animal husbandry because that is a new, fun and shiny thing, and there are a lot of would-be tavern and business owners. Not things that require the new big freeholds. I don't think a lot of people were going for the processing empires that the larger freeholds seem to be about.
Those that are wise will join crafting guilds, become friends with those with the freeholds to get access the freeholds without having to deal with the upkeep of freeholds.
1. Size and shape inventory management system is very cool. It adds a layer of strategy for bags, planning harvesting runs, looting, etc. Just want to make sure that in game quality of life things like sorting and organizing can be quick and easy. Diablo 4 is fun but after a while, looking through thousands of items for one particular affix becomes tiring and not actually the fun part of the game.
2. Crops look cool. Would this count as more of the "gathering" profession than "processing" profession? My understanding of the Freehold system is that it was mainly intended for end game processors. Maybe a "gatherer" has to have enough skill to gather the seeds and then sell them to a processor to plant. But then the processor might be competing against the gatherer by selling apples from the freehold instead of ones gathered from the open world. Not sure how to balance this but it should be considered. Wouldn't want open world gatherers to be obsolete because of this mechanic.
3. Same as above.
4. I actually would want to be careful about allowing too much building functionality on the freehold to deter non-processors from buying them all up, or don't make it mandatory for high level processors.
5. I like the idea of travelling the open world and stopping off at other people's freeholds and checking them out while adventuring. Maybe getting to know the owners and making deals with them etc.
6. Concerned that this system becomes too important and outweighs other gameplay mechanic/becomes a necessity to have one or be best friends with someone who has one. Would like to be able to meet people who have them in the game and work with them for fun and a little bonus.
Dedication to freehold life style
- should be proved to be able to own a freehold and
- should be required to maintain the ownership
Taxes
The taxes which are supposed to be payed should be delivered as products of the freehold itself to the node.
Freehold owners should not have the ability to pay freehold taxes with income from other activities (like killing bosses in open sea and using gold to buy and deliver meat and eggs to the node)
Maintenance
Not using the freehold would not produce enough to pay taxes. Paying in advance should be limited.
The node should repair the buildings using the collected taxes and well maintained buildings should be more efficient.
Reputation
Players who work actively on the freeholds all the time should get a 10% advantage when they have to do the quests to become eligible to own a new freehold if they lose it due to a siege.
Those quests should be freehold related activities.
Not everybody has the patience to fish or tame and breed animals all day a few months long as their main game-play style so players who become rich by doing other kind of activities should not be able to compete with players who enjoy using freeholds.
IMO a single game just cannot fulfill all players' fantasies. Trying to appease everyone in a game that's all about competition is a recipe to eliminate all competition. These limitations are there specifically to drive the conflict of interest. If a person wants to have a guaranteed corner of their own (and only that), then I'd just recommend a game that has a main focus on such, lest you'll not enjoy your time playing.
I fully agree with this. It's just that Intrepid has sold that specific fantasy for 6 years now in the shop and with how they talked about how everyone can get a freehold if they work really hard for it. Clearly that's not the case. Maybe it never was, and this has been one massive miscommunication from their side from the beginning.
Personally I am not advocating for 50,000 freeholds on the server so everyone can get one. Limits are fine. But definitely way more than the current number, and in different tiers if they want to keep the big freeholds too.
That's why, I think, it's important to remember to look at the bigger picture and the ideas behind, and not just take what you're told at face value. People are terrible at conveying precise information. I personally believe that there were (well, still are) signs of the rough outline of the project.
Though I don't think anyone's really at fault here, we're all just human after all.
I agree, many people will just want a small house to enjoy and I think we shouldn't underestimate the amount of people who will spend countless hours just decorating and enjoying their homes without the need of the highest tier processing.
Keep the big high value high risk free holds but allow everyone to have a home at least to use.
We're all just humans here.
They can go play Palia so we are all happy, looks like a great game and everyone gets their own land
Freeholds in AoC is a major achievement for the most dedicated 10%
as it should be, there are other forms of housing available that doesn't include owning a piece of land - that should remain very limited and exclusive
- Make the biddable resource for the freeholds a personal certificate/ currency that cannot be traded and is relevant to the node type. These currencies should not be able to be farmed easier or faster with the help of a guild (party size group ok, raid size group not ok).
- Let the guild help with the building of things on a freehold, but obtaining a freehold should be on the hands of an individual.
- Please explain more about the influence a guild has on the barony where their guild hall is.
On Archeage there was a lot of content if you didn't own a house like fishing, killing newbs, simple trade routes, and so on... I haven't cared if I owned a home, castle, mansion, or just a scarecrow 8x8. Everyone in AoC will have an apartment from the big node or a nearby one! For example: do you think countries like Japan that is big asf country in land, own a house or a "freehold"?
There are some guys that want to play only for husbandry. So if you are this guy, play another game try hard and get to 50 asap!
If you don't get there fast, you can buy it from someone willing to sell, or just kill someone until he is!
Or you can make friends; play with friends; or join a guild willing to permit your entrance. Just use your social thing like you are in this forum.
This game, for now, has so many options for playstyles...
This has been a really interesting read. I was very interested in having a freehold, and wouldn't mind to work to get it. I'm not feeling like it's just going to be a matter of hard work from the sounds of it.
I would personally prefer if gameplay wasn't just for the rabid, bloodthirsty no lifers who only play games like they are in a battleground. Balance would be awesome.
I think thats pretty delusional. A Freehold will not be a main goal for sooo many players i think. Even maintaining it will probably be alot of work on your own. Thats time you cant spend raiding or doing pvp or other stuff. Ofc players who are hardcore farmers will probably still want a freehold but they will be able to get one. And i expect that most crafters will just join together in crafting guilds because thats the smart thing to do naturally in an mmo. Why would i leave a server just cuz i cant get a freehold in that month. I mainly want to do pvp and i think many guilds will be able to have Freeholds since it always changes with the nodes etc. The chance to get a Freehold is not that low. Also its the highest form of housing available. If everyone would have a freehold for himself it wouldnt be cool to have one. I mean thats kind of what makes the special houses in the citys cool too. Not everyone can have one at the same time. But since theses things constantly change you can still get one in the future.
Even if my guild had its own freehold, id rather spend my time being the guilds dedicated crafter. Selling items to my guild members and buying their resources in order to further my crafting would be nice.
Building that separation between charecters focusing on progressing combat and those focusing on supporting through trade skills i think needs to be more defined in games.
I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that we do read all of these posts.
It's not just me and @Vaknar reading posts to put feedback reports together. Other members of the team lurk here on the forums.
We appreciate everyone that makes the time to share their feedback and be a part of these player discussions.
The needing of max lvl will absolutely 100% reduce both my fun and investment in the game. let me explain most of my time in archage was on my land and half of the time I wasn't I was fishing in the ocean therefor it is extremely important to me to get a freehold at a node on the coast. I had planed on taking my time exploring the world and interacting with all the things I see along the way but if I might miss out I will rush to cap skipping everything not reading text or exploring much (I was a player that rushed getting 2 16x16 plots then repeated it on 4-5 alts every fresh start) and I know myself once I rush though an area I'm not going to go back and look at everything. And real quick on more nodes opening up I hear its an auction type system so if I don't rush not only will there be more people fighting for the spot but more gold will be flowing in the game so prices will go up and likely every hour of farming for that gold will be less valuable as more and more people get max lvl so rushing feels like the only valid choice.
other related comments: Any game with lvls needs to be fun to lvl up it needs to be a journey worth doing if not why are there lvls in the first place. I like to take my time playing the game (lvl wise not physically less hours played) or taking a break from lvling totally to take advantage of the early game market and make gold in one way or another and often the first few weeks before everyone is at lvl cap is mmo's at there very best I would feel terrible if I felt I needed to rush past it and miss the best part of the game.
Inventory feedback:
I like the theory of the Tetris style inventory but I fear it will feel more of a novelty then a real system and after a month of playing it will be an unfun thing that I have to deal with and not a fun mechanic. It sounds simple but I think a more standard weight system works better and instead of different shapes just have this bag makes iron weigh less. I might be jaded but in almost every game ever micromanaging my bags and limited slots was only in the game as a problem to sale the solution (notable exceptions to EQ and wow and in wow I used a bag mod to make it more bearable) and just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Everything else was mostly great and I hate to only point out the bad but there is soooo much good its hard to single those out keep up making a fantastic game! I only want it to be the best it can be!
I'm absolutley not a casual player but I'm not a super hardcore competative player who minmaxing everything either, but I'm still concerned if I would ever get to own a freehold because I believe the biggest competative guilds will end up owning every single freehold and I don't think that will be fun at all.