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.
The game is designed to be frustrating, not fun
Brilogy
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Bored of playing A2 at level 17 because the core game design is intended to be punishing and frustrating, not fun. Want to PvP? You're going to lose XP and potentially even items with little to no reward. Want to grind? It's going to be slow as shit as you battle server lag and instability, and other players for the same few mobs. Die due to a lag spike or a weird game bug? Say goodbye to XP and your glint. After leveling for hours you'll maybe get one item drop in your name? Assuming you're at one of the few humanoid spots, anything else and you'll get nothing useful at all. If you want to go check one of the other spots, have fun spending 15 minutes slowly going there on a horse to spend 30 minutes trying to assemble a group only to realize the service worker is nonfunctional, the spots are overly contested, or there are griefers running around dragging mobs onto you. Then you can spend another 15 minutes walking back with -2% XP to show for your troubles. Want to go collect resources? Have fun running around blindly looking for resources that haven't already been claimed. Intrepid is designing an MMO where the "massively" in the name makes the game less fun, rather than more, and the game tries to make you miserable every second you're connected.
I'm sure people are going to say "it's just an alpha, it's not supposed to be a fun game yet!" but these are core game design decisions that paint the picture of the game Intrepid is making.
I'm sure people are going to say "it's just an alpha, it's not supposed to be a fun game yet!" but these are core game design decisions that paint the picture of the game Intrepid is making.
5
Comments
Currently its not solo friendly. i hope they fix that
Frustration does not a game make.
A key question for you, though:
Is Alpha 2 about you having an optimized XP grind experience … or is it about testing game systems and giving your feedback?
That's the point. Some days A2 feels like a game, other days it does not. IS needs feedback on what's fun and what is not. Steven is clear he won't budge on the main vision but that not mean these things can be adjusted to have the best impact on the players. My guess the next 1-2 years of A2 will shape the game. Testers are here to help work that out. Sometimes the changes will be good, other times it will not and IS will need to course correct. What won't happen is this changing overnight. This process is not for everybody.
Most players have enough self-awareness to know they signed up for A2 to test the game … not play the game.
Seeing how fast you can get to the level cap probably isn’t testing the game.
I doubt players grinding levels are even giving any feedback.
Could the grind length be adjusted? Sure.
Is it a high priority for Phase 2? Definitely not.
There are very few games that are fun to one demographic without being frustrating to another.
So, even though most of your critiques are about 'problems with the bugginess of an Alpha which are then amplifying the issues with the design', I'll go ahead and accept that you don't like the design.
However for those that do, the bugs are, at worst, in the way of the enjoyment of the design, and that incentivizes us to report them as such.
Do I want to PvP for the hell of it whenever? No, therefore I don't have problems with xp or item loss related to that.
Do I want to grind for something? Yes, but I don't see how server lag has anything to do with design.
XP and glint gone because of bug? Obviously?
If you wanna be helpful, and are somehow constantly racking up exp debt, I have a thing for you to check actually since I gotta try to reproduce one that may or may not be an actual bug.
Get really close to leveling, I mean like, 1 mob away, then go PvP a ton so you have lots of exp debt, then go kill the last mob and see if you level and it wipes all your exp debt.
Helpful and fun!
I think there is allot of people that have no clue what it means to Alpha test. Market flooding with early access games. Many thinking that's what they getting here.
Yes. However, it's clear there are very specific changes that could blunt the impact of bad faith testers that are actively decreasing the will for good faith testers to test. Here are three: mob leashing, node war declarations, and server pop size.
Couple this with a lack of public punishment for player-testers that clearly violate the rules, you then have a perception problem as tacitly condoning the behavior you need to deter; meaning folks that want to make Ashes great spending their time elsewhere.
I get that feedback can be given. I'm not happy with the things you listed as well. I was mostly responding to the OP when he said
"I'm sure people are going to say "it's just an alpha, it's not supposed to be a fun game yet!" but these are core game design decisions that paint the picture of the game Intrepid is making."
It is an alpha and alpha often not always about enjoying the game. I have given my feedback but I have a perspective of what we're doing here. We're only partly here to play a game we're mostly here to test and get this game in a direction that we will enjoy and will also make Steven money
Layered on top of that is players with a ton of free time (holiday vacation) and intrepid on vacation. Leaving just Steven to try and manage the mess. Lack of communication about what comes next only amplifies all of this...
The current state is terrible and for many this was the first impression. Sure it's alpha but at the end of the day, it's still the first impression. A lot of folks are sitting home regretting dropping $110 on what looks like a game that won't survive 2025.