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.
HEY INTREPID, THIS ONES ON ME! YOU'RE WELCOME (maybe..?)
Emmortal
Member, Alpha Two
Hello Glorious Ashes Community,
I am a long time vet of many different MMO's and an Alpha 2 backer from 6 years back now. I have had so many great experiences in many different MMO's from theme park to sandbox, and pve to pvp. I am very particular by nature and I feel I have a good grasp on what I like from MMO's and what keeps me interested in playing them. So far I have enjoyed watching the progress come along and I believe things are heading in the right direction. I am extremely excited to be able to participate in the upcoming Alpha 2 and lend any information, thoughts, and feedback that I can to make this MMO one that we can enjoy and be immersed in for a very long time.
With that said, I have opinions on much of what we have been shown so far in the monthly updates. As I said earlier, I approve of most of what we have seen. My initial thoughts are that things are not where they need to be (of course it's alpha phase..), but by seeing the direction, and hearing the thought process and ideas that the devs are implementing, it gives me solid confidence that most things will get to where they need to be. I hesitate to speak on too much or give a lot of feedback for the time being, because I want to reserve that for after I get my hands on Alpha 2 and can have a better understanding of everything as a whole.
However, there is one thing that stands out to me that I would like to share, mention, give my opinion about. This is just one simple recommendation in a sea of thoughts and ideas, but this one seemed almost like a no brainer. It's the simple things that often make experiences more fun and rewarding. To me this seems like an easy "gimme". I would like to give my opinion on the current "Ball Lightning". First off, I think the graphical improvement is much better. It looks more condensed and because of that, more potent and heavy feeling. Good job! The recommendation I have is about the way it moves and attacks. In my opinion, to be point blank, I think this needs to work exactly (or very close to) the way that "Frost Orb" works from a frost mage in WoW. Sorry for the reference, lol. To me this seems like essentially the same type of ability. The way that frost orb works in wow seems much more efficient and rewarding than the current Ashes version. It is a fun way to use the ability and you get more out of it as far as time it takes to get to the mob, time spent hitting the mobs, and less time that feels wasted on the ability. In short, kind of, the orb needs to move to the desired area it is cast toward quicker, and then it needs to slow down dramatically when it reaches something that takes dmg from it. This does a few things. Number one, getting to the mobs quicker feels more fluid and natural. Nobody wants to wait for their ability to slowly crawl to a mob just to get a couple ticks of dmg out before it fades away. If it is built to synergize with any other abilities, speeding it up to get to the mobs allows for more of that synergy time as well. Secondly, when it does hit something for dmg, it should slow for a couple reasons as well. First, to see more numbers and feel like its contributing more to your damage. I don't want my ball to go through what i am attacking, and hit for two or three ticks for the same reason I don't want it to reach them slowly. Get it in there fairly quick and let it do some dmg as it sits in the group of mobs I sent it into. Even if the numbers are smaller, it just feels better to see it get more ticks out. Also, you don't want the orb to continue traveling past the mobs you're attacking too far because then you risk pulling extra mobs that you didn't intend to attack, and that never feels good. I'm not saying it needs to stop, just slow down al lot. It can still continue to travel a short distance slowly, hitting any other mobs that may be in same pack. As far as if the ability should be a cast or an instant, that to me is not as big of a deal.. Perhaps normally it can be a cast, but maybe there are procs that can turn it into an instant. I'm kind of neither here nor there on that yet, until I am able to spend some time playing it in Alpha 2.
Please, anyone feel free to disagree or lend their opinion on this as well. Maybe fill me in if I am missing something with the way the ability works. I am only going off the visuals I have seen in the monthly updates. Maybe there are some things I hadn't considered that are the reasons why it operates the way it does now. Sorry for any bad grammar, spelling, or run-on sentences, lol. It's pretty late here and I just wanted to get my opinion out tonight while I had some time and it was fresh in my mind. I am very passionate about the Ashes project and I only mean for the best!
I am a long time vet of many different MMO's and an Alpha 2 backer from 6 years back now. I have had so many great experiences in many different MMO's from theme park to sandbox, and pve to pvp. I am very particular by nature and I feel I have a good grasp on what I like from MMO's and what keeps me interested in playing them. So far I have enjoyed watching the progress come along and I believe things are heading in the right direction. I am extremely excited to be able to participate in the upcoming Alpha 2 and lend any information, thoughts, and feedback that I can to make this MMO one that we can enjoy and be immersed in for a very long time.
With that said, I have opinions on much of what we have been shown so far in the monthly updates. As I said earlier, I approve of most of what we have seen. My initial thoughts are that things are not where they need to be (of course it's alpha phase..), but by seeing the direction, and hearing the thought process and ideas that the devs are implementing, it gives me solid confidence that most things will get to where they need to be. I hesitate to speak on too much or give a lot of feedback for the time being, because I want to reserve that for after I get my hands on Alpha 2 and can have a better understanding of everything as a whole.
However, there is one thing that stands out to me that I would like to share, mention, give my opinion about. This is just one simple recommendation in a sea of thoughts and ideas, but this one seemed almost like a no brainer. It's the simple things that often make experiences more fun and rewarding. To me this seems like an easy "gimme". I would like to give my opinion on the current "Ball Lightning". First off, I think the graphical improvement is much better. It looks more condensed and because of that, more potent and heavy feeling. Good job! The recommendation I have is about the way it moves and attacks. In my opinion, to be point blank, I think this needs to work exactly (or very close to) the way that "Frost Orb" works from a frost mage in WoW. Sorry for the reference, lol. To me this seems like essentially the same type of ability. The way that frost orb works in wow seems much more efficient and rewarding than the current Ashes version. It is a fun way to use the ability and you get more out of it as far as time it takes to get to the mob, time spent hitting the mobs, and less time that feels wasted on the ability. In short, kind of, the orb needs to move to the desired area it is cast toward quicker, and then it needs to slow down dramatically when it reaches something that takes dmg from it. This does a few things. Number one, getting to the mobs quicker feels more fluid and natural. Nobody wants to wait for their ability to slowly crawl to a mob just to get a couple ticks of dmg out before it fades away. If it is built to synergize with any other abilities, speeding it up to get to the mobs allows for more of that synergy time as well. Secondly, when it does hit something for dmg, it should slow for a couple reasons as well. First, to see more numbers and feel like its contributing more to your damage. I don't want my ball to go through what i am attacking, and hit for two or three ticks for the same reason I don't want it to reach them slowly. Get it in there fairly quick and let it do some dmg as it sits in the group of mobs I sent it into. Even if the numbers are smaller, it just feels better to see it get more ticks out. Also, you don't want the orb to continue traveling past the mobs you're attacking too far because then you risk pulling extra mobs that you didn't intend to attack, and that never feels good. I'm not saying it needs to stop, just slow down al lot. It can still continue to travel a short distance slowly, hitting any other mobs that may be in same pack. As far as if the ability should be a cast or an instant, that to me is not as big of a deal.. Perhaps normally it can be a cast, but maybe there are procs that can turn it into an instant. I'm kind of neither here nor there on that yet, until I am able to spend some time playing it in Alpha 2.
Please, anyone feel free to disagree or lend their opinion on this as well. Maybe fill me in if I am missing something with the way the ability works. I am only going off the visuals I have seen in the monthly updates. Maybe there are some things I hadn't considered that are the reasons why it operates the way it does now. Sorry for any bad grammar, spelling, or run-on sentences, lol. It's pretty late here and I just wanted to get my opinion out tonight while I had some time and it was fresh in my mind. I am very passionate about the Ashes project and I only mean for the best!
3
Comments
Can't have one nice thing.
@Dygz Can you explain the nice part of something slowly moving towards your target and it being dead by the time it gets there to only hit for two ticks before it dissipates? I don't think anything is fun about casting a spell that doesn't seem to contribute much. Maybe you can change my mind?
How fun it is will depend on individual player, how many mobs are in the area, what Augments are placed on that Active Skill and how group mates synergize their abilities to it.
Can a Rogue Kite a mob through it?
I would love to see the FX of Ball Lightning with a Cleric or Summoner Augment applied to it.