Alt characters effect on pseudo faction design
I want to highlight a few things about alts and how they impact MMOs. I have a pretty neutral stance on alts. If i like a game I'll play 4 or 5 alts, or max out the slots with all the classes/races maxed. But playing alts does impact the game. I've also found games where I only want to play a single character, and an alt was only made to be a mule. I think Ashes lends itself to be alt friendly, maybe too much so.
The GOOD.
1. Alts give players that spend more time playing the game more content.
2. It will make you a better player for your main class. Going from tank to healer will give you a better sense of what a healer can do.
3. You can play with friends that start late. If I'm level 50 and a friend joins the game I want to play with them, so I can spin up a new character and level with them. Leveling with friends is probably my favorite part of MMOs.
4. Leveling alts will introduce you to new people, the social aspect of the MMO genre can't be ignored. Making new friends is a great thing these games are good at, or were good at, that has changed with recent games, but that's a different topic.
The BAD.
1. Alts in mmos allow a single player to craft just about anything they need without outside support. At launch and the first 6 months this won't be an issue, but as the sweatys pull away they'll be making alt after alt. I will be if I find the game enjoyable. Basically a player with 5 or 6 maxed characters will be able to craft just about anything they want by themselves. And maybe they should be able to. Leveling all those characters took time and effort. But what impact will this have on the games economy? Not as much bots or exploits for sure, but some impact. I've done this in games where all my characters are maxed and I've basically made myself self sufficient for everything I needed. So good and bad depending on your view point, but over all I place in the bad because the intent of the game is to have people rely on each for crafting/progressing. If that core pillar of the game can be avoided it lessens the value of it.
The UGLY.
1. The spy alts. The griefer alts. This is were I see a major problem with alts. An alt gives you anonymity, your alt is in no way linked to your main. So you can spy on other guilds with your alts. You can create an alt to gank people without consequence to your reputation. Steven says the game is a pseudo faction based game, but not faction based. And your reputation will matter, so you'll face consequences for your actions. But if your alt hides your identity will there ever be consequence? Currently there is no game design solution for this. Every guild will have spies in it that are alts. They will literally be everywhere. Those poor souls who just want to watch the burn will be making alts just to gank and harass plays. That person griefing you might be someone from your guild that lost that Need Roll to you or some other petty crap.
Alts are quick to level, you tweak them out with gear from your main and they'll mow down same level mobs with 5 times the efficiency of those without the tweaked gear. I could easy level to 25 in 2 or 3 days with gear handed down from my main. This doesn't even have to be good gear. So after my burner alt had a bad rep I'd have another already ready to go. Rinse and repeat, it won't be long before this is a streamlined process for many.
This is something I could easily see guilds doing to run covert ops against rival guilds... or their own guild.. Who know really what guild they're in, with so much anonymity your identity means nothing, and so does your reputation. Who this works for is that group of 10 players who want to sow chaos and destroy. Overall I say this is bad, the grind to level a guild and node is very massive. You already have to worry about so many ways it can be destroyed and your efforts wasted, why allow so much anonymity? I'm not saying there shouldn't be spying or people running around reeking havoc with their characters, but with so much anonymity there is no player reputation, without player reputation the pseudo faction design pillar will collapse.
SOLUTIONS?
1. A way to curve it that would probably be the most accepted is a Family/Last name tied to the account. All characters on the account will end up with the same last name. This gives the bonus of allowing people to have the same first names. Which is a neat bonus. It doesn't affect any of the items in the Good category either which is critical. Some people will open two accounts to skirt this rule, but at least that's more money for Ashes.
2. This would be less favorable, but reducing the character slots to 2 or 3. Have people pay more for additional slots. I have seen this done in some older games with pretty good success. Probably not a good option here.
3. Guild level solution for spies. Make members or just select leadership stream their character screen. Still doesn't avoid dual account players, and would be unnecessary with family/last names.
Be kind, please rewind.
