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.
Comments
Its not glasses. Its more like if you lost your eyes, and replaced it with a android eye that tells you all details of information you do instantly and brought it into a game.
Glasses is a disingenuous comparison because you are still sing your eye site to figure things out and not given bonus information. That are you are just so reliant on chrome you are about to take a cyber psychosis hit.
I disagree entierly with this.
The point of combat logs is to be able to look at things after the fact. Any information that players have access to should be included in the combat log.
Also, a mobs nameplate isn't (or shouldn't be) big enough to contain the information you are talking about here.
Well, they're more attentive than usual now so they might just answer you themselves. It's game dependent anyway, and we each like certain games slightly better than others.
As the 'savant with photographic high grade memory', I don't care in either direction. Just changes the amount of time I spend reminding teammates of effects. In a competitive game, this hardly matters because other people will be doing the same.
I am advantaged when the game gives lesser PvE information because I can remember thousands of mobs and their effects whereas most cannot. I am advantaged when the game gives 'average' PvP information because it's enough for me to make inferences but not for people without my skill level to do so without guides.
I don't like having either of these advantages, as I think it's bad for the game long term.
The riveting gameplay of old. Behold! Combat.
I don't see how it matters whether people get information about a game's systems by manually punching numbers into a spreadsheet versus just looking at a log file. People are going to do it either way.
The only thing that making the process more tedious actually achieves is making it harder for people to theorycraft and compare their data, which doesn't exactly help encourage an active community.
You said quite a lot in the past that "a good player is someone who plays the game well across all of its mediums". Having info on people is one of those mediums. Selling such info could be very very profitable and could also lead to internal drama and discord.
The log telling me "this source dealt this particular type of dmg" would completely remove that kind of interaction.
This is where THE MIGHTY POWER OF ICONS comes into play
Being more difficult means people will be more actively doing it or talking to people and sharing things.
Being easier means you just look something up and don't need to talk to people.
That is the short form. IE i need to know something I just search it.
There isn't a desire to rely on your group or community to talk directly and figure out the answers together.
Only if you play simplistic games and record all of your combat to review later.
Not slighting you, but you're still somewhat underestimating the PvE offerings out there. There would be too many icons to keep track of, which is exactly what happens in BDO.
If you have a debuff that reduces enemy damage, then that too, must show as an Icon on the mob so you would have information on 'why it is not hitting as hard'. See image below(? I hope) for 'average number of icons on a World Boss'
I'm not saying this is unreadable, though, but remember that BDO is a simple type game when it comes to this.
To be honest I find the perspective you have on this confounding just because of how incoherent it is. You seem to believe that making the process of gathering data and discussing it more tedious and time-consuming will encourage people to do it? Is that right?
Restricting people from using glasses does in fact tend to make them ask for help with math homework... Until people start calling them stupid or worse lording it over them because OTHER people can see just fine.
"Glasses make you less social and less likely to ask people for help with your math homework." That's what this sounds like.
Having logs doesn't make people "do less homework". There is still homework, it's just the 'bad eye sight' part we are getting rid of. People who are stuck on a problem will still talk with their peers.
So to tie this back to the thread again.
There are build guides on omeda.city for Predecessor. They are the beginner ones. They are the basic thing you need so that you can get used to your character and not be actively making an error and misunderstanding your character's baseline before you even start.
I would expect the same things in Ashes. A 'basic build for a person wanting to try out Acolyte or Duelist'. I would expect the 'basic build for Acolyte' and the 'basic build for Spellstone' to be meaningfully different, just as the 'basic build for Midlane Countess' and the 'basic build for midlane Gadget' are fairly meaningfully different.
And if you just use this basic build, you will be okay in 60-70% of situations, enough to probably know if you enjoy it. And then, you will face 'midlane Greystone' which will seem odd because he's an offlane/tank character. And somehow you will lose to him. And have to go ask someone why.
Or your social, sensible teammates, even people you have NEVER met before, might ask 'hey do you know how to build for midlane Greystone?' if they notice you might not. And they might help you out based on what they know. And maybe there's even a little time for them to come to some sort of middle ground of expectations of 'what you enjoy and know how to do', and 'what you would need to actually win your lane'.
People who don't desire to rely on their group are basic. But even the social anxiety people I know aren't thinking to themselves 'I just want to pick the easiest way'. Because it's not the easiest way for them. Because they don't build against Midlane Greystone, and then they utterly suck in the matchup, bring the whole team down, and feel so bad they end up quitting the match/game despite never being toxic and no one being toxic to them.
"I'm sorry"
"My bad"
"Oh dam I messed up..."
Disconnects at minute 14.
Let's all help our 'basic build Spellstones' learn the game without requiring them to send us recorded footage of their fight. I want Ashes to last longer than 'minute 14'.
So you'd only need to take screenshots of it (at worst, record a short video of you hovering over them all). Ideally I'd prefer if those icons were visible after you'd done quests or read lore or spoke to npcs about that mob, but I know that this info would spread through guides/YT almost immediately so that would probably be an exercise in pointlessness.
In other words, you'd have all the info even before the fight (at least on open world stuff), but you'd know its full practical application only after the fight, so the combos and usage of the abilities would still require players to learn them.
And I don't want this kind of knowledge in pvp, cause to me acquiring this knowledge is its own gameplay (kinda like the thing I mentioned for the pve part, except more difficult to acquire).
Oh, I see. FFXI solves this in a much simpler way.
Mobs are exactly the same as players in 90% of situations.
So, I know that a Warrior mob has Double Attack at level 25, Defense Bonus, etc. I just 'need to know that it's a Warrior'. Sometimes the nameplate offers this information directly, sometimes you just need to remember it. I don't really care if it has an Icon to tell you 'this is a Warrior/Monk'.
If you know the passives of a Warrior/Monk player, then you know most of the passives for the mob. A boss might add some special stuff and you need to remember the special stuff, and then think about how that special stuff combines (usually 'unfairly' with the stuff you should know already).
So I didn't think of this, I just 'remember what a Yagudo Herald is' and then 'Remember what Vee Seju the Consumed has that goes beyond a Yagudo Herald'. But sure, icons of that type are fine. I don't know about 'base number values', but whatever works for people, 50% of the game population will pay absolutely zero attention to any of it anyway even if they are trying to play fairly seriously.
However, if we assume it were to be a thing, logs assist in it, they don't defeat it.
If you and I am about to get in to a fight, my combat tracker can't tell me that your arrows deal fire damage. I can only get that information after you hit me with a fire arrow. By the time we are fighting, it is too late for me to do much about that.
Rather, what I would want to do is talk to Mag, or Azherae, or someone else that you had fought recently, and ask them what type of damage you deal.
From there, the logical thing for them to do is to send me a screenshot of a breakdown of the damage you dealt to them from ACT (or, ideally, from an in game tracker). Since combat logs are much harder to fake than just typing poison instead of fire, this is a much more reliable transaction from my perspective. I have an amount of sureity that it is actually accurate information.
In the same way a player in a tabletop game should have any information that their character would have, a player in an MMORPG should have any information that their character would have. If you are hit with a fire arrow, your character would know that it was fire. Thus, players should know that.
I never assumed icons wouldn't be the means to do this - however, I don't understand how you would communicate 30+ mob attributes to players via icons in a manner that is viable.
This is why I think that Lightning Reload is one of the best abilities ever.
When the average Predecessor player queues up, they are doing so because they expect to get to play and do cool things with their character and have a fun match against people who have similar intentions. It's easily possible to break this both by 'opponents not knowing what they're doing' and 'teammates not knowing what they are doing', but there are other ways.
So if you tell me 'there are 64 variations', I'm not expecting that when I log in, I am getting the equivalent of a whole new character', but I am expecting that I'm not going to be 'able to switch super simply from playing full Tank Sevarog to playing Disruption Siege Sevarog' just by changing the way I use abilities.
In Ashes I'd somewhat assume this meant 'I will always be set within a range of things that Shadow Disciples do unless I go do a full respec of my Skill points/secondary'. I wouldn't like a design where I would need to review just to even figure out 'how' a certain thing happened every time. So if they want to hide PvP information, that's fine, but at that point I'm asking for it to be 'clamped'. Don't 'make multiple items that let a Guardian's special stuff available on a Spellshield'. Let that stuff be legendary, scary, confusing but notable.
You are missing the point.
Technology allows you to communicate faster an find more answer easier. The stronger the took is the less you rely on other people because it increased your capability and weaknesses. Rather than relying on others you are more empowered to just do things yourself causing less social elements to happens.
How are you getting so far from the point and talking about people being bullied for glasses like what? That sounds like some elementary school stuff.
I get what you are saying but i feel moba's are an extreme example where no other game can compare to the level of how toxic people are in those games.
I'm pretty sure almost every single mmorpg won't even touch near how toxic those types of games are. And people in mmorpgs are a lot more cooperative in helping each other out. So that scenario should not be nearly as common even more so when you aren't getting stuck on numbers and people are just playing together liek the old days.
If anything that was introduced more so in mmorpgs do to trackers and people trying to watch what you were doing and posting it online.(still doesn't reach to toxic level of mobas though). With numbers less of a focus and more people focused more on doing content together it will create a better environment.
Guides and such will still exist eventually as well so people that aren't as socially capable will be able to still get some information. Granted AoC is a very social game so if people have social issues they have other things to worry about first. But if we aren't in the boat of kicking people for numbers or that element of toxic level we should be mostly fine imo.
*edit
For pvp i don't feel you should know the element of dmg you take from players but I'm hardcore and don't want people making counter builds from one engagement. Finding out their strengths and weakness should be a big deal in itself. Though I'm sure plenty don't agree since that makes it a lot more challenging.
Last edit continued
Reasoning is because gear investment should be a big deal / enchanting. It will make it harder to pivot and make you work towards doing that for different types of content as well.
I'm just speaking to the level of behavior I see on forums like this. Whether or not you consider your behavior is elementary school level is an issue you can discuss with yourself later.
Let's put it a different way. You shouldn't use a computer to look up a book in the library. Because that makes you less social because you don't have to talk with the librarian as much. Oh and DEFINITELY don't use your phone to google stuff so you can refine your book search better. Do I have that right? Slowing down people checking out books so they can actually talk to the people that matter later seems like a poor decision and a poor facsimile of human interaction. I'm glad you don't run my local library.
Ok so ill take that as you are trying to take my words, twist it around and do a passive aggressive insult towards me?
My comment on your glasses argument is that is not a reasonable thing from adults as any form example to be used. I don't know how you twist that into suggesting that is the conversation going on.
Using that as an example makes 0 sense because we are adults not childrens, that is not going to happen on a general level.
If you go to a library and are trying to find information on a book and you have two ways.
1. Turn the data base on, turn the pages to find the chapter and tell them to give you information on that chapter you have gone through with any detail you want. Doing so will finish up your assignment and you will get you A+
2. Yes talk to the librarian to find the book or learn a bit about it, work in your group of 3 on the assignment. Go through the chapters together and share information on the chapters you guys find. Fill in the answers but end up getting a b+ on your assignment.
Sure 1 will give you a high grade and be easier. But method 2 that takes long and is not as much of a 100% accurate way. From talking to people you gained bonds, you help each other with your own weaknesses and grow together with a overall better understanding of the topic do to your own work. And not just finding the pages and getting the answer given to you.
So basically, without statistics or evidence, you 'think a certain thing is true because you feel it is correct' and you have drawn some conclusions based on that.
This is obviously my fault for using the RL equivalent of a combat tracker, i.e. 'statistics' to draw my conclusions.
Big 'Old Man Yells At Cloud' energy.
You ever thought about 'why' MOBAs are more toxic than MMORPGs? You really can't figure it out beyond 'believing that going back to the old days' would somehow be better? I'll give you a hint, it's related to matchmaking and reputation.
Anyways, at least try to give me a prompt to tie it back to classes/class design next time. I couldn't manage from this one.
He was right after all.
For base stuff like atk/def/etc stats it can be a table in one icon. And any special passive/active stuff can have their own. We're yet to see proper mob complexity, so I dunno if we'll ever have mobs that have 20+ special passives and actives.
Talking about why mobas are more toxic would be a large discussion in itself. I don't think either of us would get that into it as there would be much of a point. Us agreeing on it i feel is good enough.
Technically from how I played it, you wouldn't know exactly what happened to you in Dnd just cause something hit you. But fire would be pretty clear. You still would need to make checks to see what happened to you.
Granted people play it different some for fun, some as a board game, some just letting you know what goes on. For me I played it dead blind cause that is how my dad and uncle played it. Though that was like 10+ years ago.
You seem like the sort of person who doesn't have friends, or doesn't talk to them. Information isn't the end of a conversation, it's the start.
Strategy and tactics are how you apply what you learned, not 'managing to learn it' in the first place.
Information gives you something to talk to your friends about. "How do we approach this challenge?"
Guides can't answer that for you in any reasonably deep game. Everyone's party is different, everyone's styles and skillsets are different from their counterparts in the next group over.
Maybe you've never played a game that's complex enough that every group's solution is different. Maybe you only play games where every party's style & composition are the same. Guides give you the bare minimum.
But if you have friends, and you talk to them, you surpass that minimum by discussing the information, and using it to build a plan that suits you, and a good game rewards or generally even requires this.
Maybe your games don't require this. Maybe you've never had friends to do it with.
That's the bare minimum that the rest of us are used to. I hope Ashes is at least that deep.
Option 3 exists. Turn the data base on, turn the pages to find the chapter and tell them to give you information on that chapter you have gone through with any detail you want. Work in your group of 3 on the assignment using the information you got from the library. Go through the chapters together and share information on the chapters you guys find.Get an A+ if you exhibit good teamwork.
You seem to think mmos are about 'fill in the answers'. Complex mmos that have strong teamwork and social elements don't have 'fill in the answer' style problems. Maybe that's what you are missing. A problem can be so complex/difficult that having all the information in front of you isn't enough to solve the problem. That is the sort of games I like to play and am used to. It's very possible you've just never played the kind of content we are even talking about here that Ashes has said they want to add.
I still feel I would know the difference between being hit by a fire arrow or an ice arrow if they hit me in the back.
I seem like the type that has no friends because I want people to be able to talk and not trackers to give all information.
I run a guild, I have friends, and I'm competitive. What are you even going on about.
Its funny you are starting things off assuming i have no fronts as your fore most point. Yet you start talking about guildies cant answer things for you.
I have all types of friends and people I met that figure things out, do the work, research and talk to people in order to improve their own understanding. I'm unsure what guild members you talk to if they are not capable of figuring anything out, that is not a issue I have had.
Yes you can talk about information and you can talk and work TOGETHER you know do that thing called socializing to work towards figuring it out. And talk on the information after.
What I'm seeing is laziness where you seem to want to skip some steps and just talk about the end results. At the same time not acknowledging what it means to figure things out and be excited for it. And a lack of understanding that to talk about things to figure it out you aren't just doing it alone.
And you are trying to go in on with "You have no friends" how is this even a point in any kind of opinion and has literally nothing to do with the topic at hand.
We don't actually know how much the secondaries will be able to push our effect the primaries. I'm hoping it's enough to make this system with while.
Wait, that's an important question...
Are you the type that ever reviews your logs yourself?
Cause it's not like I don't know people like that, who are extroverted and social and rely on people like me to do all the number crunching and find the answers for them...
I just don't tend to hang around the type that then takes that 'hey my team is good, we work stuff out' and then argues against the stuff that would make it easier on their teammates. Not saying that your teammates actually do any analysis or checks either, it's just a thought, I've never seen you do it, and you've established yourself firmly in my mind (fairly or not) as a person who doesn't believe in the meanings of data.
So, who in your friend group is actually doing all this work for you, that you can come on here and act like that? I definitely have seen people who 'act like this is a social thing' when what they mean is 'oh yeah I chat with the person who does the analysis in my group when they're done, it's really social'.