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.
Player Feedback Alpha 2 Weekend Nov 15-17 2024
AquaParvis
Member, Alpha Two
Hello Intrepid Team and Fellow Adventurers!
I have tried to do my best to remember that while Alpha 2 is fun, it is in Alpha testing and so needs us who are in Verra on these weekends to do our due diligence and submit bugs/feedback for the developers to make it even better.
This is the first time I have been able to experience Verra since I started watching the videos and livestreams back to Kickstarter. My feedback so far is as follows:
Pros:
* WOW! The environment is spectacular. Running the game on Ultra and just sitting on a road in the riverlands, under some trees, I saw leaves falling and heard the wind blowing. For not being virtual reality like the Oculus, it was pretty immersive. As I waited for my companion to figure out our next task to perform, I physically expected to receive a chill down my spine with the sound of the wind. Then I remembered that this was only a game. Pretty neat stuff the environment team has going on. Please keep going! The architecture of the buildings is next level as well. Finally, the water graphics and effects (when not in places they should not be) are epic. Probably the most beautiful water effects I've experienced.
* Lighting. The shadows, light tricks, and times of day are awesome. This is yes, part of environment, but I wanted to give lighting it's own category because, frankly, it deserves it. Paired with the other elements of the environment, Ashes is setup to look pretty cool as a finished game. Especially if work progress continues and polish is done well before launching.
* The spells and abilities (when working properly) are pretty cool as well. I tested a Ranger and Tank yesterday. Both had their luls, but these were short lived. I felt a sense of "I'm kicking a**" when using the low level abilities themselves as well.
* The random weapons laying around in the initial starter area. That was just awesome. It gave freedom to choose what weapon I want from the start instead of auto forcing me to "deal" with one and hope I get another I like more later. Small thing, but stuck out to me pretty powerfully.
* Guard, Sprint, Default Attack, Dodge - Very cool. Good Job.... that's all I can say. Also has some room for expansion if you guys wish to go that direction.
Areas I see for improvement: (I want ashes to succeed)
*** Lore:
The first and foremost area I see that can use some improvement is Lore integration. (role playing as a brand new person to the Intrepid fan base) As a new player, with not having read the last seven years of updates/wikis/news alerts etc... why am I here on Verra? Why did we leave the place we came from? How long have the ones who are here before me been here? What are the current threats and why are they threats? (this could be fixed with an opening cinematic, a lay of the land if you will)
I want the game to tell me more heavily what the benefits are to me doing commissions, quests, and the like without having to rely on what I have seen in the development updates outside of Verra. By benefits, I do not mean the statistical outcomes so much (while yes that will be necessary) but the *lore outcomes. I will admit that I am a little biased to cinematics, so, this will be the last area in this post that I would say a cinematic of node progression in game might be helpful. Help my character understand what they are doing, and more importantly, why they are doing it in their new home.
(I know this is alpha, and so the remainder of lore feedback I have I will table to see what the future brings us).
*** Action
In the starter area, we find out we are being attacked by sickly goblins and that we must make it to Lionhold. We have the option to kill 3 goblins or not. (I do like the optional element, that was cool - can we have more of those?)
I would love to see a battle going on so much that walls are having some debris fall maybe when the goblins are using a makeshift catapult. I want to hear screams of pain, terror, or anger. There is chaos, we just landed and there is a fight going on outside. If masterfully done, feeling a minor sense of rush and being informed can happen simultaneously. Maybe even have an event right at the start? Like say, if the people just logging on can withstand a lvl 1 goblin assault for 5 minutes X happens, if they cannot Y happens, and it has some cool, albeit minor effects either way. Maybe even use a baby node effect? Not for a full city but a newbie node that has effects on the initial area! Full on with degrading effects would be even better.
That's it for my feedback on the areas of improvement for this post. I want more Lore* and more Action*. I want a sense of danger and story immersion that doesn't necessarily have to wait for me to accept it.
Note: I have intentionally left out apparent bugs that I experienced. I believe in-game /bug is the proper avenue for those so I purposefully did not mention them here. I have also left out the want for more interactive tutorials for the abilities, as I understand that those MUST come further down the line as things can change between now and then.
Overall, I am happy with my purchase and preparations I have made to play this game. I do think this can be one for the generation(s) to speak of. More feedback to come later, but first, I must return to exploring Verra... and the servers just came back up...
Sincerely,
Aqua Ferryman
I have tried to do my best to remember that while Alpha 2 is fun, it is in Alpha testing and so needs us who are in Verra on these weekends to do our due diligence and submit bugs/feedback for the developers to make it even better.
This is the first time I have been able to experience Verra since I started watching the videos and livestreams back to Kickstarter. My feedback so far is as follows:
Pros:
* WOW! The environment is spectacular. Running the game on Ultra and just sitting on a road in the riverlands, under some trees, I saw leaves falling and heard the wind blowing. For not being virtual reality like the Oculus, it was pretty immersive. As I waited for my companion to figure out our next task to perform, I physically expected to receive a chill down my spine with the sound of the wind. Then I remembered that this was only a game. Pretty neat stuff the environment team has going on. Please keep going! The architecture of the buildings is next level as well. Finally, the water graphics and effects (when not in places they should not be) are epic. Probably the most beautiful water effects I've experienced.
* Lighting. The shadows, light tricks, and times of day are awesome. This is yes, part of environment, but I wanted to give lighting it's own category because, frankly, it deserves it. Paired with the other elements of the environment, Ashes is setup to look pretty cool as a finished game. Especially if work progress continues and polish is done well before launching.
* The spells and abilities (when working properly) are pretty cool as well. I tested a Ranger and Tank yesterday. Both had their luls, but these were short lived. I felt a sense of "I'm kicking a**" when using the low level abilities themselves as well.
* The random weapons laying around in the initial starter area. That was just awesome. It gave freedom to choose what weapon I want from the start instead of auto forcing me to "deal" with one and hope I get another I like more later. Small thing, but stuck out to me pretty powerfully.
* Guard, Sprint, Default Attack, Dodge - Very cool. Good Job.... that's all I can say. Also has some room for expansion if you guys wish to go that direction.
Areas I see for improvement: (I want ashes to succeed)
*** Lore:
The first and foremost area I see that can use some improvement is Lore integration. (role playing as a brand new person to the Intrepid fan base) As a new player, with not having read the last seven years of updates/wikis/news alerts etc... why am I here on Verra? Why did we leave the place we came from? How long have the ones who are here before me been here? What are the current threats and why are they threats? (this could be fixed with an opening cinematic, a lay of the land if you will)
I want the game to tell me more heavily what the benefits are to me doing commissions, quests, and the like without having to rely on what I have seen in the development updates outside of Verra. By benefits, I do not mean the statistical outcomes so much (while yes that will be necessary) but the *lore outcomes. I will admit that I am a little biased to cinematics, so, this will be the last area in this post that I would say a cinematic of node progression in game might be helpful. Help my character understand what they are doing, and more importantly, why they are doing it in their new home.
(I know this is alpha, and so the remainder of lore feedback I have I will table to see what the future brings us).
*** Action
In the starter area, we find out we are being attacked by sickly goblins and that we must make it to Lionhold. We have the option to kill 3 goblins or not. (I do like the optional element, that was cool - can we have more of those?)
I would love to see a battle going on so much that walls are having some debris fall maybe when the goblins are using a makeshift catapult. I want to hear screams of pain, terror, or anger. There is chaos, we just landed and there is a fight going on outside. If masterfully done, feeling a minor sense of rush and being informed can happen simultaneously. Maybe even have an event right at the start? Like say, if the people just logging on can withstand a lvl 1 goblin assault for 5 minutes X happens, if they cannot Y happens, and it has some cool, albeit minor effects either way. Maybe even use a baby node effect? Not for a full city but a newbie node that has effects on the initial area! Full on with degrading effects would be even better.
That's it for my feedback on the areas of improvement for this post. I want more Lore* and more Action*. I want a sense of danger and story immersion that doesn't necessarily have to wait for me to accept it.
Note: I have intentionally left out apparent bugs that I experienced. I believe in-game /bug is the proper avenue for those so I purposefully did not mention them here. I have also left out the want for more interactive tutorials for the abilities, as I understand that those MUST come further down the line as things can change between now and then.
Overall, I am happy with my purchase and preparations I have made to play this game. I do think this can be one for the generation(s) to speak of. More feedback to come later, but first, I must return to exploring Verra... and the servers just came back up...
Sincerely,
Aqua Ferryman
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