Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
For people looking for a more Solo/Casual experience
Knotti
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
For anyone with concern about AoC not being friendly to a laid back/casual/solo experience I give you this link to this story. We have all read/heard the stories of large scale battles in Eve where massive amounts of the game is destroyed/lost. But this story is about one individual that is too stubborn to team up with people.
Long story short - A person plays for 16 years and has everything he worked for taken away in one fell swoop.
https://pcgamer.com/eve-online-player-thinks-no-one-will-notice-if-he-hauls-dollar5000-worth-of-items-is-wrong/
There will eventually be similar stories written about Ashes, guaranteed.
Long story short - A person plays for 16 years and has everything he worked for taken away in one fell swoop.
https://pcgamer.com/eve-online-player-thinks-no-one-will-notice-if-he-hauls-dollar5000-worth-of-items-is-wrong/
There will eventually be similar stories written about Ashes, guaranteed.
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But unfortunately, for most people who want the sense of progression and camraderie that would be provided by a modern, balanced game that retains depth and also is more of a Fantasy game, there isn't much right now.
If you aren't enjoying FF14, Classic WoW, Retail WoW, or Throne and Liberty, then whatever this game is in the end, is your main 'last hope' for the genre and all that.
Save us, Jake Song! (I really should stop saying this one since I'm satisfied for now)
Ashes was my last hope in 2017 - especially when I thought that Ashes woul release before 2020.
I thought WoW would not be able to resolve the issues I had with their max Level content from 2012 through 2021, but... they found a way.
Obsession with Risk v Reward is the antithesis of my hopes for any video game. (I was intrigued by Meaningful Conflict, which initially seemed to be interchangeable with Risk v Reward... until after Jeffrey Bard left Intrepid.)
Team balance is creative as you have to play to the teams strengths. Someone leaves and the small group dynamics change.
IMO I would love to see content designed for that. Maybe camps that are better designed for small teams. Maybe even things like killing a camp enough times a lower end boss could spawn. Maybe something like the delves in ESO but slightly beefier.
I'm sure IS could come up with creative ways to deal with this. IMO it could add allot of depth. Would also help when the majority are top level. Randoms could still team and level this way.
Btw IS, please please please this, this has been getting 'in my way' as a solo-until-called healer for so long and it hasn't changed mostly so far until TL and even they only do it in certain better/later designed areas.
I don't want an area to be so relatively homogenous in 'ecology' and threat, that when my party comp changes, the best thing to do is change area altogether. At least not immediately.
I guess this is moreso an encouragement to keep doing what you're doing than a complaint or concern, just please keep in mind to build areas with some sort of natural flow to them of this kind, even if it's just Shadowed Crypt tier.
I don't know how to convey why Shadowed Crypt is just 'above' my desired line and Sanctum of Desire/Saurodoma Island is only 'on' it, but the best Ashes-comparison I have is Daragal Estates, which is also slightly below that line.
Let us Mish Mash!
What do you mean regarding SC and SoD? They were both bad implementations of OW dungeons imo. This might be due to the fact that there were only 4 options to choose from, and they were restricted at times as well. I don't get what you find desirable or above or at your line about them. They were a chore to be done, not content to be enjoyed.
In Ashes you drop a little bit of xp and materials (which you have some control over by combat status) unless you are corrupted (which you have full control over) and even then, your biggest loss is still minimal at a piece or two of gear.
I cannot imagine a worse comparison than what you are trying to drama up here.
Building a Node to Metro Status over years just to be sieged and lose it all in ruins - comparable
Having high level gear as Corrupted status and losing all the gear you worked for - comparable
Going out and gathering Legendary materials just to be randomly PKed because you didn't have protection - comparable
Running a Caravan full of the most expensive materials and having it destroyed on the way - comparable
Getting Legendary loot from a boss and being contested for it on the spot - somewhat comparable
Just gotta use your brain. I wasn't making a direct comparison, the moral of the story is that major loss can come at any time and you can lose a major amount of progression. The example I used is just the most extreme case to open peoples eyes to the possibilities.
I disagree, I do not think a corrupted player losing a piece or two of gear or a 'declared' node war is comparable at all to someone out flying around that is ganked for everything they have in game.
I also do not think that losing a small percentage of gathered materials is comparable to someone losing everything they have in a game. 😲
Tip for gathering if you are unable to defend yourself, go to storage more often.
The way the corruption system is overtuned in alpha, the penalty for killing a non-combatant rarely (if ever) would justify the reward which is why PVP players are complaining about not being able to attack non-combatants.
The amount of material loss on death is a smaller percentage and a player also has the option to flag up when attacked and controlling how much material is dropped on death.
In fact, I do not agree with any of your comparisons as this is not even an apples and oranges issue, this is a flower and Ebola virus comparison issue. 😲
Actually, I would suggest you take your own advice when 'guaranteeing' that there will be similar stories to the Eve comparison where someone will lose everything they own in game to a one time ganking. Well, unless similar to you IS a flower and Ebola virus???
Isn't this like running around screaming the sky is falling and then saying 'see, told ya' when it rains?
I think you would be better off making a solo/casual risk point by leaving out the attempt to connect a comparison to something not remotely close (total loss Eve scenario) to the actual risk involved.
Or I will use an example that shows that the levels of loss can range from mild - which is what we're experiencing in the Alpha. To extreme - which is what will possibly happen in the future once people have played for years. Just letting people know what they are getting into.
🤦♀️
Okay, I will bite, can you provide an extreme example (nothing you have listed so far qualifies) in the future where someone playing ashes will lose everything they have acquired in game during a gank?
Rhetorical question as you cannot even get 'close' to something that would compare to the full loss of everything in Eve. Well, unless you want to pull out your Ebola card and suggest a ban where game mechanics and systems are not the cause.......
The Node your a citizen of is a Metro. You're part of a guild with a guild hall and you have your own player housing. Your Node is sieged and taken by a rival. You're unable to collect much of anything from the ruins and you're looking to make a new home elsewhere. During this time you decide to try some PVP and fail while corrupted losing the gear you're currently wearing and the rare items in your inventory. There you stand with nothing. The Eve example is like ebola, and the Ashes example is like toxic shock syndrome. In Ashes it may be a slow burn but the end result is the same and comparable. Total Loss. I suggest you go change yours if you know what I mean, cuz you stink.
I might not understand what you're saying either.
But I can say that I'm not the type to judge specific content based on its position within the game 'variety wise'.
If I was a person who 'viewed a dungeon as a chore because it was the only dungeon I could do' then I would consider myself a poor tester for an Alpha game.
You didn't specify any other reason why they were a chore and not content, so I don't really think I know how else to engage with the comment. If you explain how they were bad implementations, I bet we can have a productive discussion, though.
You once again failed to meet the request. 😉
You did not demonstrate any type of total loss that is even similar to your Eve example.
You are now tossing in the loss of a piece of gear or two on players that decided to kill a non-combatant knowing the penalty? yikes
No, it is not the same nor comparable.
It never surprises me the depths that some people will sink to when they fail at making and/or arguing a point but I would like to point out that you are now comparing a virus to bacteria, not the same either. 🤣
Loss of Node would suck but everything in your house is locked till you found a new house then can repopulate it. Half of everything in storage sucks but Node war is Node war. Losing of personal items is only if you get corrupted which can only happen by glitch or purpose. And you just can't lose the recipes learned.
I am a casual so I am not expecting to be able to get Metro housing as a solo casual anyway.
Not sure what you mean by locked but player housing can be damaged and/or destroyed. You would not lose the footprint so you can rebuild, but the structure itself can be destroyed from what I understand.
I'm still not sure if your talking about level scaling, or you actually enjoyed those dungeons.
On my server, they were always crowded during daytime unless off-hours, and empty during night time because that's one of the spots people could go to PvP. My server had multiple mega guilds, so if you weren't in one of those, you could dive for kills and that's about it.
Daytime was 30-40 people consistently at the bottom doing contracts, joining and leaving without a word. The area by the stairs in SC was occasionally open for a little while for token grinds. But either way, it was boring as hell. The mobs weren't challenging or engaging. Same old gather as much as you can and AOE. Didn't matter whether solo or not. You can't pvp, so you can't fight for the spot. By PVE "competing", your just ruining everyone involved's time efficiency. But that doesn't really matter either since what else would you do to progress your character than dungeons you can only do in limited quantities, and bosses that die in 30s. Just not good content.
My grand point is it is not a complete loss at any point akin to the Eve example. Especially to a mechanical area that is in the most communal and dedicated activity of Node development and upkeep.
I get it can be frustrating. I was used to the crowded titan ring as easy solo pickup xp when passing near, only to be running Node to node with a load of epic plus mats when they changed to put minotaurs on the ledge where the afkers lurk and I got slammed and killed and lost most of my legendary copper. I gave away the rest to my Nodeand guild and quit.
But I will be back phase 2, because even that emotion is more than most hobbies and entertainment can give me.
Thanks, got it now.
Our experiences are generally very different.
1. Since Shadowed Crypt doesn't close at night, it just becomes PvP, then I just go in, and PvP. I've generally gotten lucky and had more drops during those times anyway, and that's even without being aggressive toward players that I don't have any hostility to yet.
2. The discussion that made me post the first thing was specifically about small groups of 3, and the change in optimal flow that happens when you change members, i.e. if I go to Shadowed Crypt with myself, one Front DPS, one Bow DPS, I don't want that when my front (GS) DPS has to leave and be replaced by Staff DPS, that the best answer is 'leave Crypt' (which it isn't). I want to be able to change target within Crypt (which we do).
The rest is just the way most people experience MMOs and I'm almost certain anything else I say about that will touch a nerve.
So yeah, I'm very specifically talking about 'times where only 3 of my guild members feel like poking a Dungeon, but that trio of people rotates a bit'.
I don't mind 'changing dungeon' in TL because it's mostly easy. I would mind in Ashes, because it would not be, so I ask that they have at least Shadowed Crypt tier of encounter diversity.
EDIT: On that note, hey NiKr, I'm about to be even more busy, so IF this continues in the direction of PvP discussion, can I leave it to you?
What a dumb assed post.
Many people on this forum seem to be missing that key point.
Will there be marketing around this product? Yes, just like any other game. But will ads be targeted at players who are already actively playing Ashes of Creation? No, because those players are already converted. Instead, ads will be directed toward individuals who have shown interest in Ashes or gaming in general.
Now, will those people be hardcore gamers? Likely not, because hardcore gamers already know about Ashes of Creation. These ads will primarily reach people who are either new to the game or to gaming itself. Most of these individuals will start as casual players.
The critical task for Ashes will be to convert these casuals into long-term subscribers and, ideally, hardcore players. However, if the new player or casual experience isn’t engaging, and the gap between casual players and hardcore players is too wide, those new players will likely drop off quickly.
Additionally, we need to recognize the challenges of the modern gaming landscape. We live in a time where many people are more introverted than before. Years ago, kids played together outside, fostering natural group dynamics. Today, most people are glued to their phones, and group content can feel much harder to jump into than it did 10–15 years ago.
The new and casual player experience is a crucial piece of the puzzle, and getting it right will determine whether these players stick around and evolve into dedicated fans of the game.
In Ashes a casual indivdiual player can not a aquire 'their own node', that is definitionally group content in Ashes. It is an nonsensical as postulating that casual player Billy has aquired one of the 6 CASTLES in game and held it for years to then SUDDENLY LOSE IT due to PvP and rage quits.
EVE is unquie in that it allows almost unlimited accumulation of in game mateerials and for them to then all be 'worn' at once and put at risk of total destruction. You can't get anything comperable to that in a Fantasy RPG unless you introduce perma-death for characters, aka 'Hard core' mode as in Diablo or Path of Exile. Even the gear loss in Ashes is miniscule in comparison (and I'm in favor of rapid gear durability loss are crafting of replacements so even that is lessened, rapid cycling of materials through the economy was one thing EVE did right).
The realistic senario is one in which casual players has managed to get a freehold (I again think they will be common enough to be aquired by casual players that pool their efforts) and this gets destroyed in a node siege. Their are currently mechanisms intended to help folks rebuild from that, the saving of all their customizations being the most obvious. But other options could exist, such as.
* Reduced restrictions on removing gear/items from the Freehold in the time leading up to the siege. It makes sense that the in node housing and warehouses get locked before a siege. But it makes more sense that a farmer in the country side can just flee.
* Auctions of Freeholds that are restricted to 'Refugees' aka people who Freehold was destroyed within the last 3 months only so their is an easier path to getting a replacement Freehold if you lost one.
* Possibly some mechanism to 'surrender' to the besiegers which locks the Freehold residents from being part of the defense but also spares them from destruction (but perhapse not a good pillaging) by the attacking side.