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i think its time for an alpha 2 timeline

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Comments

  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    The devs know what the plan is... they just aren't going to share that publicly until they are 100% sure they can accomplish what the say.
  • Vaknar wrote: »
    We’d also like to inform our glorious community that the unannounced September Pre-Order Packs will be our final Pre-Order Packs. More information regarding this can be found in the FAQ at the end of this article.

    The time is getting close.
  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    Solvryn wrote: »
    Fun fact, Steven likes to bake over cooking.

    And he likes to bake Pies.

    Let the man and the rest of the team bake.

    We have a wonderful alpha pie in the oven and we don't wanna pull it out too early, or too late! <3
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  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    daveywavey wrote: »
    Dygz wrote: »
    hzrdd wrote: »
    Steven said that A2 isn't years away.
    Steven also said the game would release before 2020.

    And if it had done, we'd all have been disappointed with the result. They know what they're doing. People just need to give them time to do their thing.

    ted-lasso-afc-richmond.gif

    Love the gif (and that show!) haha :)
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  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    First of all, we appreciated everyone joining the development journey! Thank you to those who trust the process :)

    The challenging aspect of following a project in open development is exactly this! It's difficult when you can see and smell the *insert delicious dessert here* in the oven, but it still isn't ready to take out.

    Our monthly development update livestreams aim to do exactly that - update the community on current developments! These should give some insight into the status of the project's development :)

    We're just as excited to play Ashes of Creation with the Ashes of Creation community! We can't wait to play it with everyone as soon as we're able to! :)
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  • RazThemunRazThemun Member, Alpha Two
    I certainly would love some sort of roadmap or a timeline... even without dates.

    Just a simple list of what needs to be completed in no particular order. But then us as a player base could tell how close we truly are. So if the list has 10 items and we have seen 4 completed it puts it in better perspective for us.
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    RazThemun wrote: »
    I certainly would love some sort of roadmap or a timeline... even without dates.

    Just a simple list of what needs to be completed in no particular order. But then us as a player base could tell how close we truly are. So if the list has 10 items and we have seen 4 completed it puts it in better perspective for us.

    they probs gonna announce a2 in september ;3
  • ChicagoChicago Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Depraved wrote: »
    RazThemun wrote: »
    I certainly would love some sort of roadmap or a timeline... even without dates.

    Just a simple list of what needs to be completed in no particular order. But then us as a player base could tell how close we truly are. So if the list has 10 items and we have seen 4 completed it puts it in better perspective for us.

    they probs gonna announce a2 in september ;3
    Depraved wrote: »
    RazThemun wrote: »
    I certainly would love some sort of roadmap or a timeline... even without dates.

    Just a simple list of what needs to be completed in no particular order. But then us as a player base could tell how close we truly are. So if the list has 10 items and we have seen 4 completed it puts it in better perspective for us.

    they probs gonna announce a2 in september ;3

    Very possible with packs ending, i hope so!!
  • VeritusVeritus Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I agree that with the packs ending we can expect an announcement on A2 at least in the next couple of months.
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  • CzarcastCzarcast Member, Alpha Two
    Cook, they must. Let them, you shall. The way of the Jedi, this is.
  • VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
    A checklist of thing needed for A2 would go a long way and tick thing off as they are ready, dont need dates or anything on it just an idea on where things stand would go a long way
  • SeptimusQuaylSeptimusQuayl Member, Alpha Two
    I think it is sensible to avoid date setting until absolutely sure of being able to meet them.

    The only way Ashes succeeds is if it is a great gaming experience on release, if it is rushed and subsequently can't deliver then it's game over.

    The latest content videos such as the Cleric gameplay look hugely promising so we can see things are coming on great. I am very happy waiting when we are kept updated, asked what we think and understand the vision.
  • Czarcast wrote: »
    Cook, they must. Let them, you shall. The way of the Jedi, this is.

    Star wars, this is not.
    "Suffer in silence"
  • AbaratAbarat Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Dygz wrote: »
    Abarat wrote: »
    You dont like the game. Not sure any roadmap, other than the road to a pve server, would satisfy you... and others.
    I haven't asked for a roadmap. I don't need a roadmap.
    If the game releases some day with Nodes working according to the original game design, I will be satisfied - regardless of whether I play after launch.

    Also, I don't think I have said or would say that I don't like the game.


    LOL semantics at a @Noaani level. you are a very aggressive specimen. mostly passive, but very aggressive.
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    Abarat wrote: »
    Dygz wrote: »
    Abarat wrote: »
    You dont like the game. Not sure any roadmap, other than the road to a pve server, would satisfy you... and others.
    I haven't asked for a roadmap. I don't need a roadmap.
    If the game releases some day with Nodes working according to the original game design, I will be satisfied - regardless of whether I play after launch.

    Also, I don't think I have said or would say that I don't like the game.


    LOL semantics at a Noaani level. you are a very aggressive specimen. mostly passive, but very aggressive.
    It isn't semantics when someone claims you said something that you didn't, and you simply correct them.

    The problem isn't semantics at all, the problem is that some people here simply can't understand words.
  • Tahiti02Tahiti02 Member, Alpha Two
    hzrdd wrote: »
    Steven said that A2 isn't years away. Regardless, we are in a unique situation where a game has an open development and there is significantly more coverage and exposure of content prior to a beta or release.

    If we apply the typical MMO development to AoC, the last thing you would have seen is maybe some brief sections of gameplay in UE5 on twitter but with the last public test was of course, Alpha 1. If the last full public gameplay was A1, that is what people would be primarily basing their opinions on.

    I can tell you now that significantly less people would be following the game if A1 was the primary content source. In fact, it would probably come under stupid terms like "scam" and "vaporware".

    I know this reads like a tangent on the pros of open development but it relates to the original post. We need these updates to keep the player base hooked while the game develops because, and lets face it, the game is not ready yet. Even the livestream gameplay is glammed up purposefully to show content but the whole world isn't put together.

    AoC has a lot of moving parts but they clearly aren't yet working all together. When A2 comes around, they will be working together. The livestreams are great for showing them individually and also because we get to give feedback on individual systems as opposed to the game as a whole. This is only going to be a benefit for the game.

    Waiting for a muchly anticipated project like this is painful at times because testing the big step - that I agree with. But it isn't the NEXT step.

    A2 will be here when it is ready. Public testing can't be rushed because regardless of what you may think, the public perception of A2 when it releases, really matters. If it were rushed, it could seriously effect the health of the game. Don't underestimate the herd opinion. It has broken more games in recent times than anything else. I'd wait another year for A2 to be near perfect for testing than rush it out in "several months"

    I'm curious to know if anyone else feels this way.

    Absolutely agree, no matter how much Steven and the team spam "This is a WIP"; 75% of people wont be able to comprehend that concept. So having an amazing launch of A2 will set the public expectation and as such it needs to be in a really good state for the overall health of the game.
  • xephitaxephita Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited August 2023
    We had a roadmap 5+ years ago, and we've not even got to persistant alpha 2 yet. Pretty much lost all interest at this point I just pop up every year or so to see whats changed. It seems like lots of effort is going into making cash shop cosmetics monthly to keep milking the cash cow but very little into actually releasing any kind of persistent alpha.

    See you next year :)
  • NoaaniNoaani Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    edited August 2023
    xephita wrote: »
    We had a roadmap 5+ years ago, and we've not even got to persistant alpha 2 yet. Pretty much lost all interest at this point I just pop up every year or so to see whats changed. It seems like lots of effort is going into making cash shop cosmetics monthly to keep milking the cash cow but very little into actually releasing any kind of persistent alpha.

    See you next year :)

    Actually, very little effort is going in to cosmetics (in comparison to the game as a whole).

    We did indeed have a roadmap a few years ago, and then Intrepid hit an issue and got roasted by some in the community for not following their roadmap.

    Between the three points from the above situation (roadmap existing, problem arising, community reaction) the existence of a roadmap is literally the only part of it that Intrepid can control.

    So, their response to that - understandably - is to not put out another roadmap.
  • xephita wrote: »
    We had a roadmap 5+ years ago, and we've not even got to persistant alpha 2 yet. Pretty much lost all interest at this point I just pop up every year or so to see whats changed. It seems like lots of effort is going into making cash shop cosmetics monthly to keep milking the cash cow but very little into actually releasing any kind of persistent alpha.

    See you next year :)

    Selling cosmetic packs for a fortune without a single road map gives the impression of a studio in urgent need of money to finish its game.

    But if the game is good, why not? And a large part of the MMO community spends its time spitting on the big studios (Blizzard etc.) for their business models, which aim to fleece the customer for mediocre content.

    So in the end, financing production with cosmetic purchases to get a game that isn't P2W at the end of the day is defensible.
  • SolvrynSolvryn Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Sylvanar wrote: »
    - Gamers follow a game because of passion. Unfortunately passion has a timer. Some know this and some will figure this out in time.
    - "let him cook", "takes time", are all well and good BUT till when needs to be asked. Why? Because I doubt all the chefs in here would say the same thing if the game ended up cooking for 10 more years.

    I bought a PC specifically in late 2021 because AoC was estimated to be released by late 2022 or early 2023. That didn't happen. I was disappointed but didn't really mind cuz - let him cook, takes time - but I had hoped that it would be released by 2025 latest. I mean 2 years is a long time to catch up, even including the time delay due to moving the game to UE5.

    I doubt we would having A2 anytime this year. Consequently, the game release feels further away than it did when I came across this game 2 years back.

    At the end of the day, I feel many of AoCs early followers and well wishers would not get to or be able to enjoy the experience regardless of their patience.

    So basically what @Dygz said but in more words. I think.

    So you built a PC when you didn't have a time table?

    I don't care if it takes five more years, people can say they will lose interest, but they will come back when the game nears A2, Beta, and release readiness.

    A time table for Ashes with the sheer amount of code it has isn't realistic.
  • FantmxFantmx Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I don't think the end of preorder packs signifies anything with alpha 2. They have probably reached capacity just as they said. I would image the last pack goes through all of October and maybe some or all of November due to the apparently Halloween nature of the cosmetics.

    I also can't image a world in which Steven has his employees launch a live service alpha over the holidays.

    I also don't know why they would suddenly change their mind on telling us dates after resisting for so long.

    I would imagine the target is still q2 or q3 of 2024.
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  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited August 2023
    Solvryn wrote: »
    So you built a PC when you didn't have a time table?

    I don't care if it takes five more years, people can say they will lose interest, but they will come back when the game nears A2, Beta, and release readiness.

    A time table for Ashes with the sheer amount of code it has isn't realistic.
    2 years ago we were just ending Alpha 1.
    We knew that the release date was no longer before 2020 and we knew that we would not be given date until 100% sure they could meet the dates, but...
    It still seemed as though Steven would be trying to release relatively soon rather than "when it's ready - even if it takes 6 or 7 more years."
    I don't think many of us anticipated that there would be a 2 year gap between Alpha 1 and Alpha 2.

    Even when Steven mentioned upgrading to UE5 at the beginning of 2022, he made it seem as though that would give the dev team the tools to work faster, thereby not causing much of a delay for Alpha 2.

    I think by March 2023, we began to realize that Steven was likely going for a 8-10 year release schedule.
    Most people seemed to still be hoping for Alpha 2 by Summer 2023.
  • ChicagoChicago Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited August 2023
    Myosotys wrote: »
    xephita wrote: »
    We had a roadmap 5+ years ago, and we've not even got to persistant alpha 2 yet. Pretty much lost all interest at this point I just pop up every year or so to see whats changed. It seems like lots of effort is going into making cash shop cosmetics monthly to keep milking the cash cow but very little into actually releasing any kind of persistent alpha.

    See you next year :)

    Selling cosmetic packs for a fortune without a single road map gives the impression of a studio in urgent need of money to finish its game.

    But if the game is good, why not? And a large part of the MMO community spends its time spitting on the big studios (Blizzard etc.) for their business models, which aim to fleece the customer for mediocre content.

    So in the end, financing production with cosmetic purchases to get a game that isn't P2W at the end of the day is defensible.
    i agree with this, however what i dont agree is the fact that intrepid keep telling us that we don't have to buy cosmetics in order for the game to be completed,

    the problem with this logic is that no games in the history of mmo's have said '' you need to buy cash shop items for the game to be completed'' so realistically they are no different than other companies using the cash shop to fund their project, this in its self is fine and i have no problem with it but i think if a company is funding a project through a cash shop they need to give the community a road map of where the funding is going, what mile stones are still to meet etc, you can pretty much guarantee without the cash shop, even if the game 'is' funded to completion, that you can add another 3-5 years development time
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff
  • ChicagoChicago Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Depraved wrote: »
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff

    what core features? nothing core has been completed
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    Chicago wrote: »
    Depraved wrote: »
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff

    what core features? nothing core has been completed

    whatever they deemed as core features. i think steven said in one q&a that the core features were ready, they just needed to add content and polish.
  • Depraved wrote: »
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff

    It's naive to think that the only reason the game has been delayed is because they're perfectionists and wanted to take their time. When in fact it's due to a lack of funds.
  • DepravedDepraved Member, Alpha Two
    Myosotys wrote: »
    Depraved wrote: »
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff

    It's naive to think that the only reason the game has been delayed is because they're perfectionists and wanted to take their time. When in fact it's due to a lack of funds.

    I never said or thought that. features take time do develop.
  • MyosotysMyosotys Member
    edited August 2023
    Depraved wrote: »
    Myosotys wrote: »
    Depraved wrote: »
    the core features are funded by steven himself. the cash shop is for extra stuff. i guess they want to release the game with some of the extra stuff instead of waiting until they start making money from subs to develop these extra stuff

    It's naive to think that the only reason the game has been delayed is because they're perfectionists and wanted to take their time. When in fact it's due to a lack of funds.

    I never said or thought that. features take time do develop.

    You think the game is already funded because Steven told it. But of course it's not true. But I understand that he prefers to lie about this, it's certainly the best communciation to have.
    Or maybe it's kind of all funded today but certainly not when he told that the game is funded.
  • Solvryn wrote: »
    I don't care if it takes five more years, people can say they will lose interest, but they will come back when the game nears A2, Beta, and release readiness.

    I wish life was as static as you believe it to be that 5 years seems so irrelevant.
    "Suffer in silence"
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