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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.
Accessibility for old timers ?
Dagera
Member, Alpha Two
Hello,
I'm a software developer reaching my 40s that have played a lot of video games (especially MMOs). My hand are getting very injured ...
It feels like MMOs are getting more and more demanding on the hands.
Example:
- In DaoC you could queue your spell and have a stick command to automatically follow the enemy
- In WoW Vanilla, there were a non-reduceable 1.5s GCD, and you had to take a drink break between pulls
- In WoW today, the GCD can come down to almost 1s, and when going to Mythic+ it's a almost continuous pull for the whole run (~30min) where you have to spam abilities from the 1st pull to the last boss
It's almost becoming a health hazard
I'm not asking for the game to become casual/easy, but to have alternative or mechanics to chill :
- Have a break between pull to have some rest
- Have a decent controller support to switch setting when grinding / exploring / gathering
- Have a minimum GCD (maybe not for all spells)
- Have a rotation where the main goal isn't spamming. Missing/being late on a GCD shouldn't be worst than casting the wrong spell
- Be able to have a more passive build that is less efficient but more chill, and make it not too hard to change it
PS: If you have any tips to take care of our hand / wrist it's welcome
I'm a software developer reaching my 40s that have played a lot of video games (especially MMOs). My hand are getting very injured ...
It feels like MMOs are getting more and more demanding on the hands.
Example:
- In DaoC you could queue your spell and have a stick command to automatically follow the enemy
- In WoW Vanilla, there were a non-reduceable 1.5s GCD, and you had to take a drink break between pulls
- In WoW today, the GCD can come down to almost 1s, and when going to Mythic+ it's a almost continuous pull for the whole run (~30min) where you have to spam abilities from the 1st pull to the last boss
It's almost becoming a health hazard
I'm not asking for the game to become casual/easy, but to have alternative or mechanics to chill :
- Have a break between pull to have some rest
- Have a decent controller support to switch setting when grinding / exploring / gathering
- Have a minimum GCD (maybe not for all spells)
- Have a rotation where the main goal isn't spamming. Missing/being late on a GCD shouldn't be worst than casting the wrong spell
- Be able to have a more passive build that is less efficient but more chill, and make it not too hard to change it
PS: If you have any tips to take care of our hand / wrist it's welcome
6
Comments
While I did enjoy BDO combat, it didn't lend itself well to long grind sessions for me. A couple of hours maybe before my hands needed a break. I would be completely fine with slower and more tactical combat in Ashes.
Hopefully Intrepid knows there's a huge 40+ (and 50+) MMO player base out there, who were there from the beginning of MMOs, just longing for a game they can sink their teeth into.
I used to zone out so bad grinding in BDO I'd get lost and wander off my rotation. You know you have zero focus when you get lost running in a circle lol
taxes ?
You are a software developer?
Along with hardware developers do your job and come out with a product (controler/keyboard/mouse) to help the situation.
Dont ask for the games to lower the bar.
nah growing younger xDD
If you bother with eye-strain a software called f.lux that adds yellow tint to the screen helps. Just to throw that in there as we're on topic.
My advice to the youth would be to take care of your posture, and nothing replace some breaks, especially frequent short ones
I'm still trying though ...
I
While you probably won't get many of the other things on your list, controller support is going to be there. I have been involved with every NDA and public test Ashes has had over the years, and I have used a controller with varying levels of success in all of them. Some tests have keybinds, some don't, some the jump was better with controller, sometimes the primary attack was smoother. Don't let the keyboard warriors get you down with their normal "Must play my way!" reeeeee. Steven has taken shit over the years from the chest thumpers about his clicking on abilities, and his "casual" state of play in livestreams. And yet, nothing changes. Once you realize that he is making the game he wants, not what you want, you will be able to let your constant worry about what is coming go.
Is being in your 40s considered being an old-timer now?! Going to need @Roshen thoughts on this LOL
Controller support is a feature we would love to add at some point
We're planning on doing a Dev Discussion in the future on the topic of Accessibility Features, which I look forward to seeing all of your inputs on
Giving examples along with your thoughts is very helpful. Nicely done, OP!
Hard to say how much of a button masher it will be vs practicality with input relay and latency.
Dont let those angst gamers fool you about how fast or frequent one needs to execute the ability efficiently. They probably dont even know lol
There is always the classic "try exercises" dedicated to what you use. Sometimes it's jus a simple stretch to loosen up for a more youthful experience. I know of pro's and ex pro's that still do exercises to maintain their skill set.
ESO has done some work on this front by making heavy attack rotations viable for some specs. A heavy attack is a 2-3s channel, then the animation of the heavy attack is clipped by a skill cast just as the heavy attack ends, so there is some timing skill involved. The channel causes slow movement.
An ESO light-attack rotation uses a light attack and a skill every second, and is more of a combination of timing and rhythm as you weave light attacks between skills. This has full mobility.
This (theoretically) results in encounters where you light attack weave during mobility, then get a break doing heavy attack rotation when you don't have to move.
Several key presses per second isn't "Accessible", by which people mean handicap accessible. Especially if you need to do it every second for a 3-10 minute boss encounter.
AoC likely won't have weaving, so it's a non-concern. My point is that when you make long duration attacks like Snipe, heavy attacks, etc viable/necessary, then you reduce the keypress-per-second load on the player, even when it's just a part of the rotation. It runs counter to the "I want to mash my buttons as fast as possible" crowd
AoC looks like it may have an answer that satisfies both high and low click per second players. The flash-heal that can be instant cast in the middle of hard-casting another spell. Player A can spec to get max healing out just that one big cast. Player B can spec to have better/cheaper flash heals, and possibly cast 2-3x as often as player A. Better healing throughput and reactivity, but lower efficiency.
The same thing could be done for damage classes. IE, spending a little more mana (and an extra keypress) during Snipe to power up the attack with more damage or an effect.
It's literally just alternating things into your rotational flow to maintain output efficiently regardless of procs/burst. Unless they're one of those who just sit there waiting for cool downs.. haha
In ESO it’s one per second with a light attack in between , it’s about 58 - 60 Bpm .
I’m hoping for controller support , but I did see people had bound them in alpha 1 , so should be doable for alpha 2