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.
Improving Social Features to Strengthen Player Connections
swifness
Member, Alpha Two
I've been thoroughly enjoying my time in the Ashes of Creation Alpha and have met several random players with whom I've formed genuine friendships. However, without features like a friends list and private messaging, I have no way to contact them again. This makes it challenging to maintain those newfound connections and feels like a missed opportunity to build a strong community within the game.
I know this might not necessarily be a high-priority task, but I think a friends list and private chat features should be implemented sooner rather than later, and I'd like to explain why from my perspective. Coming in as a solo player with little knowledge of the world, I quickly discovered how group-oriented Ashes is. Some days, I found other solo players looking to group up and explore together, which was awesome. Other days, I encountered more experienced players who gave me advice on where to go and what I should be doing at my level, and some days I had nobody and was lost traveling around.
While the open-world concept is great, it can be a lot to handle as a solo player. You can end up in a high-level area with no idea where to go next. Having friends makes this much more manageable; perhaps you see your friend from yesterday online in a certain place, which gives you a goal of where to go next to meet up and what to do. Sometimes, looking for a group in the public chat isn't effective—you can spend minutes typing and not find anyone.
Anyways, I hope I'm not beating a dead horse by repeating a previous thread or discussing something the devs are already working on. This is my first post, and I just found it really important to say something, as there are already super cool people I've had real conversations with in-game and will probably never get to see again. I'm also wondering if this is a design choice or not.
I'm also curious about what other social features people would like to see implemented to enhance the community and make the game more accessible for solo players.
For example, I feel like some type of guide system would be really cool—having higher-level players be rewarded in some way for helping new players around. Not sure how it would be executed, but just a concept. I had a level 19 player when I was level 4 tell me much about the world and things I should do, places to grind—that kind of stuff—and I feel like it was one of the best things for me at the time. If he wasn't there, I might still not have gotten to level 10 before this weekend ended. Almost like replacing certain beginner NPCs with higher-level players would be cool. Instead of a quest from an NPC, it's like a journey you take with a higher-level player. Rough idea, but I like it a lot because beginner click tutorials don't always really help in games like this.
I know this might not necessarily be a high-priority task, but I think a friends list and private chat features should be implemented sooner rather than later, and I'd like to explain why from my perspective. Coming in as a solo player with little knowledge of the world, I quickly discovered how group-oriented Ashes is. Some days, I found other solo players looking to group up and explore together, which was awesome. Other days, I encountered more experienced players who gave me advice on where to go and what I should be doing at my level, and some days I had nobody and was lost traveling around.
While the open-world concept is great, it can be a lot to handle as a solo player. You can end up in a high-level area with no idea where to go next. Having friends makes this much more manageable; perhaps you see your friend from yesterday online in a certain place, which gives you a goal of where to go next to meet up and what to do. Sometimes, looking for a group in the public chat isn't effective—you can spend minutes typing and not find anyone.
Anyways, I hope I'm not beating a dead horse by repeating a previous thread or discussing something the devs are already working on. This is my first post, and I just found it really important to say something, as there are already super cool people I've had real conversations with in-game and will probably never get to see again. I'm also wondering if this is a design choice or not.
I'm also curious about what other social features people would like to see implemented to enhance the community and make the game more accessible for solo players.
For example, I feel like some type of guide system would be really cool—having higher-level players be rewarded in some way for helping new players around. Not sure how it would be executed, but just a concept. I had a level 19 player when I was level 4 tell me much about the world and things I should do, places to grind—that kind of stuff—and I feel like it was one of the best things for me at the time. If he wasn't there, I might still not have gotten to level 10 before this weekend ended. Almost like replacing certain beginner NPCs with higher-level players would be cool. Instead of a quest from an NPC, it's like a journey you take with a higher-level player. Rough idea, but I like it a lot because beginner click tutorials don't always really help in games like this.
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