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.
I'm new here. I just wanna share my excitement and also my Questions and Hopes :) To talk with ya'll
MRxSQUIGGLES
Member
Ok... For starters, let me say right off the bat when I first saw clips and talks about this game, I was instantly impressed and super excited. MMOs take some time to come out but I'm really hoping that this game truly is the WoW killer. Well, let me be more honest lol. I do NOT want World Of WarCraft to die. But do you how long I have waited for a MODEREN-looking game, which has a more realistic art style but still had my favorite style of gameplay in MMOs? Just updated... Bro, I have waited like a decade, probably more for alot of you reading this now XD 
With that being said tho, I wanna touch up on some concerns, my hopes, and one of the reasons and perhaps the only real reason I would ever come here and stay to play the game. I'm gonna be straight with ya'll, and lord have mercy, I know you guys have heard this before many times. It's a hot topic, but that just proves how important it is. Confused? Allow me to be more specific. Playable races, specifically... One of the most iconic, amazing looking, but also seemingly both rare and highly popular at the same time... THE DRAGON BORN RACE. I know, that there is a shit ton of content, games, or DLC out there that support a dragon-born style race or variation of it. WoW included... You got Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, and even some really old ones out there. But do you know what they all lack? Perfection. Now in the real world, perfection is impossible BUT... You can get pretty damn close. After all, resources, decisions, and stuff like that aside, It's a video game. All things are possible here, especially with a game like this, AND one so heavily inspired by DnD. I remember as a Halo fan, the Bungie Era... Man, I wish games were made with that compassion, care, and most of all, imagination and diversity. Back then, games were more than just games. They were my entire childhood. I grew up and gained inspiration from those games back in the day. Not even really that long ago.
But games have changed. People struggle so badly with getting things right or only care about short-term profit-driven thinking. And let me tell you guys something. When it comes to MMOs, there is only one thing that I truly desire more than anything these days. A TRUE Dragon-Born race... Not a Lizard Man like the Saxheel (AKA Argonian), or hoomans with horns like in Final Fantasy... No, No, No. A REAL Dragon looking character. I'm ok with not having wings, but if there is one thing I cannot stand, is when you make a beast race look way too close to a hooman, or the game that has them is so outdated, you just look like a block. WoW's Dracthyr is honestly pretty damn close to something I would like to see. Only way more customization obviously and also access to standard classes. Having only one overall class for Dracthyr in WoW was a really stupid idea on Blizzard's part, but whatever. That is confirmed to change. Not just for Dracthyr, but all the races have more classes available overall across the board.
Everything that I have seen from this game literally screams EXACTLY what I've always wanted (Literally WoW re-imagined basically with a combat system that isn't like an RTS or card game, or turn-based. It's like ESO or literally WoW gameplay). But it will all be for nothing if you guys don't have a Dragon Born race to play as. That simple. For me, that is a selling point. I will not buy the game if I can't play that race. I just simply won't. You guys have so much potential here and so much ability to absolutely DESTROY WoW, I really hope you guys see that. I seriously do. I really hope you don't end up like my Halo Franchise. Where you do basically everything right EXCEPT add my favorite race. AND many others. We all know how much people love Dragons. I really hope you take this concept very seriously and it's high on your priority list.
With all that being said. Here is my opinion on what I think the best design choice for them is. First off, let's be more realistic about their design. I don't want them to look to hooman. Obviously, the overall shape will be hooman, but I'm talking about the more specific details. Like for example, their legs not looking exactly like a normal hooman but rather make them more like a digitigrade leg structure. Like Elites from Halo. Or for example not giving Female Dragon Born "Breasts". Like WTH? I don't know about ya'll, but have any of you seen a video about Kung Fu Panda and why alot of people like Tigress's design so much as a female beast race? They kept it more realistic. Just because she's female doesn't mean she has to be sexualized from a hooman pov. That makes no sense. They kept the animal side of things more accurate. And I'm not saying this for any political reasons. I'm saying this because it looks FIRE!!! AND WAY BETTER. Don't you agree? I'm talking about their design being more animal-like but still keeping that overall Anthromorphic form. Body thickness and voice are already clear indicators, especially in a video game, to differentiate males from females. It looks good. I'm sure a lot of people here want the Dragon-Born to actually look like a dragon, or from really dope pictures you can find on the internet when looking up Dragon Born. Huge customization options as well would allow for so much flexibility and versatility with a race like this as well assuming they throw a perfect pitch.
Anyways... That is my biggest fear but also hope. I just wanted to mention that as someone who is new here and wanting to get involved. But I need to know that the DEVS are seriously considering this. Again, I know alot of games have Dragon options or Variations. Even like that new game Baldurs Gate 3... HOWEVER, despite the fact that they came really damn close to nailing it, it's not an MMO... or at least, I don't think it's gonna be like this game and it's gameplay is not really something that I like a whole lot. Soooooooo... Yea... But if you think adding Dragon-Born would be a waste of time on this game, well... I'll just say this... It was nice knowing you... lol
With that being said tho, I wanna touch up on some concerns, my hopes, and one of the reasons and perhaps the only real reason I would ever come here and stay to play the game. I'm gonna be straight with ya'll, and lord have mercy, I know you guys have heard this before many times. It's a hot topic, but that just proves how important it is. Confused? Allow me to be more specific. Playable races, specifically... One of the most iconic, amazing looking, but also seemingly both rare and highly popular at the same time... THE DRAGON BORN RACE. I know, that there is a shit ton of content, games, or DLC out there that support a dragon-born style race or variation of it. WoW included... You got Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, and even some really old ones out there. But do you know what they all lack? Perfection. Now in the real world, perfection is impossible BUT... You can get pretty damn close. After all, resources, decisions, and stuff like that aside, It's a video game. All things are possible here, especially with a game like this, AND one so heavily inspired by DnD. I remember as a Halo fan, the Bungie Era... Man, I wish games were made with that compassion, care, and most of all, imagination and diversity. Back then, games were more than just games. They were my entire childhood. I grew up and gained inspiration from those games back in the day. Not even really that long ago.
But games have changed. People struggle so badly with getting things right or only care about short-term profit-driven thinking. And let me tell you guys something. When it comes to MMOs, there is only one thing that I truly desire more than anything these days. A TRUE Dragon-Born race... Not a Lizard Man like the Saxheel (AKA Argonian), or hoomans with horns like in Final Fantasy... No, No, No. A REAL Dragon looking character. I'm ok with not having wings, but if there is one thing I cannot stand, is when you make a beast race look way too close to a hooman, or the game that has them is so outdated, you just look like a block. WoW's Dracthyr is honestly pretty damn close to something I would like to see. Only way more customization obviously and also access to standard classes. Having only one overall class for Dracthyr in WoW was a really stupid idea on Blizzard's part, but whatever. That is confirmed to change. Not just for Dracthyr, but all the races have more classes available overall across the board.
Everything that I have seen from this game literally screams EXACTLY what I've always wanted (Literally WoW re-imagined basically with a combat system that isn't like an RTS or card game, or turn-based. It's like ESO or literally WoW gameplay). But it will all be for nothing if you guys don't have a Dragon Born race to play as. That simple. For me, that is a selling point. I will not buy the game if I can't play that race. I just simply won't. You guys have so much potential here and so much ability to absolutely DESTROY WoW, I really hope you guys see that. I seriously do. I really hope you don't end up like my Halo Franchise. Where you do basically everything right EXCEPT add my favorite race. AND many others. We all know how much people love Dragons. I really hope you take this concept very seriously and it's high on your priority list.
With all that being said. Here is my opinion on what I think the best design choice for them is. First off, let's be more realistic about their design. I don't want them to look to hooman. Obviously, the overall shape will be hooman, but I'm talking about the more specific details. Like for example, their legs not looking exactly like a normal hooman but rather make them more like a digitigrade leg structure. Like Elites from Halo. Or for example not giving Female Dragon Born "Breasts". Like WTH? I don't know about ya'll, but have any of you seen a video about Kung Fu Panda and why alot of people like Tigress's design so much as a female beast race? They kept it more realistic. Just because she's female doesn't mean she has to be sexualized from a hooman pov. That makes no sense. They kept the animal side of things more accurate. And I'm not saying this for any political reasons. I'm saying this because it looks FIRE!!! AND WAY BETTER. Don't you agree? I'm talking about their design being more animal-like but still keeping that overall Anthromorphic form. Body thickness and voice are already clear indicators, especially in a video game, to differentiate males from females. It looks good. I'm sure a lot of people here want the Dragon-Born to actually look like a dragon, or from really dope pictures you can find on the internet when looking up Dragon Born. Huge customization options as well would allow for so much flexibility and versatility with a race like this as well assuming they throw a perfect pitch.
Anyways... That is my biggest fear but also hope. I just wanted to mention that as someone who is new here and wanting to get involved. But I need to know that the DEVS are seriously considering this. Again, I know alot of games have Dragon options or Variations. Even like that new game Baldurs Gate 3... HOWEVER, despite the fact that they came really damn close to nailing it, it's not an MMO... or at least, I don't think it's gonna be like this game and it's gameplay is not really something that I like a whole lot. Soooooooo... Yea... But if you think adding Dragon-Born would be a waste of time on this game, well... I'll just say this... It was nice knowing you... lol
1
Comments
with that being said, the only beast-like race we are getting is Tulnar, and they have 3 variations one which is similar to dragon born
they will have a tail, inverted knees etc with a lot of customisation, now, if that's not good enough for you, either wait for an expansion or don't play bc they won't be adding any other races for launch, the game is already late and they don't add things that wasn't planned when it was first announced, that would be scope creep.
btw: this game is not* a wow killer, probably not even a wow competitor, this is a pvx game, ou you could say a pvp-centric mmo with a lot of oldschool designs, not a themepark and probably won't make a lot of PVE-only wow players happy
I think those who have kept up with the development would agree when I say that despite avoidable and unavoidable set backs the game at this point is doing very well and the showcased material this year has been very strong.
If this months update goes very well it's going to be the best due to nodes functionality being such a critical step in development. You've come at the right time, but fear not, the only thing that can kill wow is itself. People still play the shit out of osrs. A good game that sticks to what works will always have a base. Ashes isnt catering to all, it's going to be great. Don't feel pressured to play, wow will still be around for ye.
The two communities just don’t line up in a lot of views. I’m sure there’s a large % of WoW players that never once queued up for PvP game modes.
I also think having your enjoyment of a game based around what races are available is odd lol - hopefully you can get close to what you want with the Tulnar that Liniker linked
I wonder if Tulnar will look like that when we cut them in half.
Ok..problem solved.
lmao
You're a funny game m8... I mean if Dragon Born aren't coming then fine. I simply won't look into this game any further... and second. you are putting some pretty nasty words in my mouth. I'm not saying if they don't put dragon born it's all for nothing. That is just the biggest thing for me. and I won't really have an interest in playing. I have every right to have that opinion. And that kind of thing is more common than you realize. Btw, have they actually confirmed that Dragon Born is NOT coming, or just what the current road map LOOKS like... cause there is a huge difference there. (Edit) Nvm, you said at launch. Either way, yes, I will continue to look things over over time. That is why I asked about the future.)
But yea. get off my back bro. it's not that serious. I just really want an MMO that has Dragon Born. But it's obvious that is never going to happen. I don't know why lmfao. It's an amazing race to play as. I just want an MMO that plays like ESO or WoW, but with Modern graphics and has a REALLY good Dragon born race. You're pathetic for trying to demonize what I want to see.
Also one last thing... You said some stuff that gives me hope about their customization, so maybe these guys can look really nice, but I have to wait and see. or perhaps you can elaborate further... in a respectful manner this time.
I mean, why isn't it? It seemed that way tbh... I think that's pretty fair. Who are you to judge? lol
G. How nice of you. See this is why nobody likes to post on forums. You got kids like you that judge take things the wrong way and demonize everything someone says. It's quite simple and not a hard concept to grasp.
I'm sure people will like this game. But without a dragon Born race, I won't play it. Simple. I obviously am wrong about my initial impression and it's clear to me that I wouldn't wanna be apart of this community anyways considering how wrong and incorrectly you are interpreting my post.
All in all, I never said the game will be shit if it doesn't have Dragon Born... That is just a big thing for me. It has nothing to do with entitlement... Which is the problem here. Ya'll are taking my post up your bums without just looking at more casually and just thinking: "Wow. He really wants Dragon Born."
It's not that serious fella's.
Nice post... probably the only nice one I got lol. Thanks, man, but considering people's responses here and misjudging me, and putting fake words in my mouth, I have ZERO interest in this community now. That was extremely immature for these people to assume that I was calling the game a waste of pointless if it didn't have my fav race in the game. Which wasn't at all what I was saying. This is just for me personally. If it doesn't have an actual Dragon Born species, and it tries to do a rip-off, I simply won't look into this game. It's that simple.
really unfortunate... They really should have gone for a real Dragon Born. I will never understand why games that are so close to making a certain group of people happy, just fail completely in a specific area because they wanna do something slightly different, but it's like bro.... Nobody asked for a human-looking Dragon character. We want REAL Dragon Born. Not a hooman with a smudged nose and scales.
It's just like Argonians... Altho, I think I like them more than this Tulnar that people are talking about. Man... What BS. Welp, there's my answer. No true Dragon Born, probably not gonna play. but that's alright. I have WoW Dracthyr.
Some day there will be an MMO... hopefully with the gameplay mechanics that I like, that has a real Dragon Born... ONE day...
(( I also think having your enjoyment of a game based around what races are available is odd lol - hopefully you can get close to what you want with the Tulnar that Liniker linked[/quote] ))
With all due respect, it's my opinion. nothing odd about it... Second, the ability to play as a known race and actually look like what people would typically expect is kinda significant. Especially these days for many reasons. In the case of Dragon Born, being able to play as a beast race is very rare or much more uncommon compared to playing as a hooman style race. And they also for some dumb reason, always create spin offs of the original concept. Which I don't know about you, but true Dragon Born, like straight outta DnD looks way better than this Tulran or whatever. It's kinda sad that DEVS keep doing this. But, tbh, it could be my mistake.
I was under the impression that Ashes was gonna be like eso or WoW. Apparently, I'm dead wrong. It's completely different. But when I saw the gameplay, it seemed very much like WoW, but I didn't really look into it much, just a quick couple of clips. Either way, it's gonna be an MMO yea? Games like this are not made every year. They are built to last a long time and with that being said, it kinda sucks because I will probably never see a game, in my lifetime, where Dragon Born in the way that I think alot of people would like to see them, will EVER be in a modern MMO that is done in a way that people like me enjoy. Which is alot. it's in the millions but still. DEVS will still make their own choices and have their own plans. Which is perfectly fair.
It's just a major bummer that we get SOOO close to nailing something really important to someone like me, and it just ends up being false hope.
There is alot of people who play MMO's purely because they get to play as a really cool race. My cousin plays MMO's because he can be an Elf... Like, if elves weren't in the game, he wouldn't have nearly as much fun. He is also a big Tolkien and LOTR fan... So naturally, this is right up his alley.
So again, calling that Odd is just... Idk man. That is FAR off.
I don't know what part of what I said hurt you so bad friend, but all I said was your post sounded entitled, which remains true.. on your last message you just said its "dumb" for a game not to have the exact race you want lol
nah I'm good, you sound a little lacking in the intelligence department, I'd rather not engage any further.
Yours was so hurtful he just had to forget about it to survive
it is an updated L2, not an updated WoW.
also, you are right. you are free to like what you like and have preferences. im just curious, why is it such a deal breaker for you if you cant play as a dragonborn?
what type of games did you play before you played any games as a dragonborn?
really unfortunate... They really should have gone for a real worm-born crab-born, and a fox-born, and a wolf-born and a chimera-born and a sphynx-born. I will never understand why games that are so close to making a certain group of people happy, just fail completely in a specific area because they wanna do something slightly different, but it's like bro.... Nobody asked for a human-looking worm, crab, fox, wolf, chimera and sphynx character. We want REAL worm-born, and crab-born, and a fox-born, and a wolf-born and a chimera-born and a sphynx-born. Not a hooman with a smudged nose and scales.
games should make everybody happy and include every possible race in existence, and those that dont exist as well. i dont understand why they dont do that omg
Ok then.
In WoW there is no always on open-world PvP.
In WoW you don't go into XP debt when you die.
In WoW you don't drop gatherables when you die with the chance of dropping gear if you're corrupt.
In WoW you can't permanently destroy gear by overenchanting it.
In WoW your home City can't be destroyed which results in you losing your player housing and a ton of the resources inside the node and housing can be looted by other players.
In WoW the dungeons and raids aren't open-world meaning other players can't disrupt you or stop you from doing a dungeon/raid.
In WoW flying mounts aren't restricted to 20~ people on the entire server.
In WoW legendary gear is given out like candy. In Ashes there's certain gear that is only 1 per server.
In WoW you can teleport around the map with next to no restrictions. In Ashes fast travel is extremely limited.
I could go on but I think you get the point.