Ashes will be too ungrounded and NPCs will be too lackluster
Too much sand and sand manipulating toys, not enough props.
I've read much of the wiki and watched countless previews, but there's always been something I felt like was missing or was going to be missing from the game. Something always seemed.. off.
I'd read through the wiki and get so hyped, the game is so well thought out with so many great ideas, so many. It's made by a publicly funded studio headed by an MMO vet who is ready to be patient in development, they take player feedback, the games got no pay to win, no box cost, only sub and cosmetic MTX, how could you not be hyped(genuine question, some people got dropped on their head as a child I'm sure of it, bless their hearts).
But still, something seemed off. I could put what I thought it was into words sometimes, things that have gotten worked on over time like the combat or the seriousness of attention towards and against RMT. But even then it still persisted, I was able to just speak about some issues I could see, but whatever this was I couldn't put my finger on.
So I pretty much just stopped bringing anything up because it's hard to tell if I'm being overly critical when this mysterious issue seems to be obfuscating my view.
Anyways, today I was watching Xillin and Virteks new video about PvE lacking in the game and it got me thinking about this issue, something I personally also think is an issue. I got to thinking you know... what specifically do people think is missing regarding PvE, this umbrella term that encompasses so many aspects of an RPG?
I'm not sure, but It got me to thinking what is missing for me, it's more than just PvE, but it comes back to the PvE. It's that the games too ungrounded, everything is too variable, the game(creating it in my mind from the wiki) will have no vibe. One day you log in and things are one way and then another day you log in and the storyline is different and cities are moved around.
There will be hardly any real notable factions or characters and only a couple static cities(which I don't expect will be very involved). The notable characters that does exist will die and it appears that some won't even respawn(the supposedly major story arch character that initially guards a castle right when the servers are started).
I get it, there is this vision of Ashes that the worlds super dynamic with interdependent systems, which is great, but it's still lacking something, a vibe. That feeling where I step into the game and I feel like I'm stepping into a different world. Yes, visuals do play a part in that, in both style(This has been widely criticized about this game, that it lacks style and it's absolutely true. That's completely fine, unless you have the issue we're talking about and can't fix it) and environmental story telling, but that's not enough IMO.
It needs some substance, some props in the world, some involved relevant static cities, some fun, engaging ELABORATE major storyline arcs(we're told right now most storyline arcs will by the repeatable dynamic sandbox minor arcs). It needs some notable friendly characters that stand out and have character.
And it would do well to have faction NPCs that play a part in the world. Some NPCs that interact with the players and environment and systems. Such as a previously neutral scavenger NPC faction you can temporarily align with by a mayoral commision(an offering to them that also acts like a citizen vote), allowing them to reside in the area and to harvest some your nodes resources for the added benefit of becoming hostile to any non-citizen who gathers resources in your nodes sphere of influence. Permitting them to harvest even more than that will do the same thing except it triple the leashing range and/or aggro radius when they become hostile.(an option for mayor with the commision, or make it dependant on the size of the offering players are able to come up with)
If your mayor doesn't decide to post the commission and align with them, and you have particular gatherables they like, they might come to your node at night and harvest stuff which will further deplete your available resources(immediate loss, but also an increase risk of overharvesting and messing up land management).
I know they want the players to be the content, and they will, especially with the help of all these systems, but players are too dynamic to act any considerable vibe to the world. There's no reason that strong and important themepark elements can't exist in the game without compromising hardly any of the vision Stephen has for the game as it stands. Actually, like the example I gave, it can just add to it in some circumstances.
And in fact we were told this was suppose to be a SandPark, but as it stands it is not, it's 95% a sandbox. They're trying to be that next gen MMO and really bring some unique or improved systems to the table, I'd like to see them do it in this regard as well.
Instead they're talking like NPCs are added to just do things like facilitate basic systems(like a currency converter or a merchant.. wow a merchant), be a body guard, and to make the world feel less empty... that ain't gonna cut it, I'm sorry but I think that's misguided, a bad design decision, unnecessarily basic and potentially extremely damaging.
This is suppose to be a long lasting next gen MMORPG, that means people are gonna need to want to come back many times and spend a long time here, a lot of that time doing slower repetitive tasks, okay that's an MMORPG for ya, nothing wrong there.
Of course the game needs to be fun, but I think a large and underacknowledged part of why MMORPG players will stay on one for such a long time is that vibe that they like or grow to like and become so familiar with which gives them a "home in another world" feeling. I am absolutely undoubtedly sure that is a major major aspect of most long term MMORPG enjoyers.
