Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
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 III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
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.
Impressions from a new player, just about level 10
ouma73
Member, Alpha Two
Hello everyone,
I purchased my way into the alpha after watching a smaller streamer (shoutout to KestonTV) play for a while. I came into Ashes relatively sight unseen, having only caught a few clips online and streams here and there.
For context, I’m a long-time MMO fan. I’ve played EverQuest, World of Warcraft, LOTRO, Aion, Vanguard, Guild Wars 2, Rift, and more recently Monsters and Memories. If I were one of the devs, I’d want feedback from players like me who're stepping in fresh without much prior knowledge or expectations. So, I’m writing this more as feedback for the devs rather than to spark debate (though anyone’s welcome to chime in).
I like the game, I think I will play this long term when/if it comes out.
I say when/if, because early access and very ambitious concepts make me nervous.
Will this game end up like Star Citizen? Perpetually in development and making promises for the future? Will it end up like New World? --Which also had a very strong emphasis on crafting, economy, group play, and PvP, yet fell completely on its face after launch. Will the game be infested with micro-transaction gimmicks like immersion breaking elite armor transmogs that level 1 players can run around in, or otherworldly mounts, or meta items that don't "technically" effect the players power, such as elite crafting bags or crafting tools that would significantly twink a new character crafting-wise compared to others? Ashes also appears to be launching within a similar window as Monsters and Memories. The only reason I even mention this, is because Everquest 2 and WoW both launched at the same time and because of that, EQ2 stood absolutely no chance. (arguments about how good EQ2 was to begin with set aside, if WoW was a couple more years out EQ2 would've undoubtably made it much further than it did.)
From here, I’ll ramble a bit through things that stood out to me while playing, then wrap up with some final thoughts. I completely understand the game is in alpha, and many of these points will likely be addressed later. This is all written with love and excitement, and I’m genuinely supportive of the direction the game is heading.
(Ramblings Phase 1)
I chose to start in the Riverlands. I watched a brief video on Ashes before I hopped in just to see what starting location would be better. From what I watched, Anvils had less to offer content wise, so that's why I went with the Riverlands/Lionhold.
The game did a decent job of showing me how to play. The combat system stands out. It’s different enough from other MMOs to feel a little jarring at first, but in a very good way. I’m guessing things are a bit crammed together right now just to make the alpha playable, but for the final launch, I’d love to see a slower introduction to combat.
It feels odd to spawn in and immediately be told to fight goblins inside a building that’s already full of people, including armed guards, civilians seeking shelter, and what appears to be a massive, invaluable portal used to bring new players into the world. Do none of the guards care about securing the area? Are we being overrun? The goblins seem more like they’re rummaging through trash than invading. What’s the actual story here? I think a stronger narrative hook at the start would help a lot. If I were a soldier in this world stationed near that portal, there would absolutely be someone assigned to greet arrivals, brief them on the situation, and send them on their way with clear instructions. The first NPC you meet should be able to answer a new player’s most immediate questions, such as;
The first quest to collect items from goblins and report to someone else felt a bit unclear. I think in general, quests need an identity that's consistent. I'll explain more about what I mean by that later. But even here, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing or why. It was also unclear that I could pick up random weapons lying around, even though I started with a wand as a mage. Which raised more questions. Did I start with a wand because I'm supposed to be using a wand because mage? Does a mage have a penalty for using a different weapon type? I arrived with a weapon, does that mean I'm a soldier of some kind that came through the portal? Was I assigned to be a mage, or was I a mage that was trained and then sent through? (consider the lore behind the mages in the first Dragon Age game). Sidenote, the object on the cathedral's second floor are hard to see unless you're close enough for the UI prompt. The inventory system was confusing at first. Why can I only carry four stacks of herbs in the herbalism bag, but also haul around thousands of goblin scraps?
The first hour or so of gameplay, in my opinion, is pretty important for new players. You can usually tell within that window whether a game will hook you long term. (go make a character in Pantheon, sorry, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Ashes already has great framework. The attention to detail clearly shines through in the environments, tradeskills, and combat systems thus far. I just hope that same care spreads into other areas like the questing and UI, the inventory and loot systems, and especially worldbuilding and lore. I think the devs are heading in the right direction, even in this state the game feels like something special. I get hints of those feelings I'd get as a kid, logging into original EQ. Those feelings haven't hit me in a long, long time.
(Thoughts Phase 1)
The combat system is cool. Like way cool. It's one of the first things I describe to my IRL friends who know I bought into the alpha and have asked me how it's going. Holding down the attack button for the auto attack instead of it being a toggle, and the auto attack having different swings and a finisher proc, and how mobs have abilities that make dodging impactful and sometimes necessary, and the fact you can kite! Holy cow! You can kite! And it feels good! It could use work, but we haven't seen real kiting in an MMO since the original EQ. It would be cool to see longer duration snares/roots, etc, but you guys have nailed down the combat logic to be precise enough that mobs actually kind of have to hit you, instead of just being near you. In a way, combat is almost arpg/souls inspired and is actually functional, which is so cool to me.
At least for the mage, the abilities are cool too. They seem extremely basic for the time being, but being able to spec into an AoE/Kite build or a direct damage bossing/2 star/3 star fight build is cool. The fact that lightning is a charged spell is cool, and unexpected. I'd like to see more abilities like that. A fully charged fireball that takes FOREVER to charge and would do massive damage, but if you get hit once it'll mess up your concentration and cause you to release it in an AoE around you instead that stuns and sets everything on fire? That would be possible, and that's awesome! Please do more with the abilities.
The inventory system is jarring and messy. If this is the intended design, then quest items need clearer notation. For example, which quest they belong to, whether the player currently has that quest, and ideally, the ability to sort inventory items by quest. My quest inventory became cluttered quickly, and I couldn’t tell which items were still relevant. Some were from old quests, some were duplicates, some didn’t clear after turn-in, and I didn’t want to risk deleting something important. Eventually, I just gave up on sorting it.
I would rather corpses open a loot window when looted. As it is now, it’s hard to catch what you just picked up. Maybe make this a toggle option for players who prefer the current system, or allow us to reposition where loot notifications appear in the UI.
The quest system is hard to navigate. There were several times when I forgot where I picked up a quest and couldn’t figure out where to turn it in. Some quests tell you where to go during the task, but not after the task is fulfilled, prior to turn in. Others don’t give any directional info at all. For example, the quest to collect wagon parts for the broken-down merchant north of Lionshold has tiny circles on the map that are extremely easy to miss unless you zoom way in. It also wasn’t clear whether I needed to kill bandits to get the parts or find them on the ground. After nearly an hour of killing bandits and wondering why nothing was dropping, I realized you had to physically pick up the parts inside the camps. The quest system overall feels clunky. I don’t know whether the intent is for quests to hold the player’s hand or to encourage exploration, but whichever direction, it'd be cool if that is communicated more clearly.
Tradeskills are cool, but need more early guidance. Ashes has probably one of the most intricate tradeskilling I've ever seen in an MMO. Help me understand these systems all within the game itself, instead of having to rely on asking a streamer how to do something, or having to look it up online. There doesn't seem to be any information in game about how many tradeskills I can train further in. Can I master everything, or is there a limit? I like how intensive and grindy these systems are. To make progress in it takes some time and work, and it should be that way. I like how the gatherables in the world can drop different qualities. I wish the inventory management side of that aspect was cleaner though. I understand that might not be possible, which is okay.
I am extremely, extremely skeptical about there being a micro-transaction shop. Put bluntly, we as players see through these pretty well, we know what the intent is and we know how it takes away from the game for others regardless of what's offered in the shop. We're already paying a sub per month to play the game and from what I've read and heard about it, you guys are saying there wont be anything in the shop that effects player power. Twink crafting advantages wont effect player power but they will effect the economy and still give advantages to people who buy them, especially with how significant and grindy gathering and crafting already are. Transmogged armor takes away from in game droppable armor designs as well. We know you have to make cash shop armor look better to get it to sell, which means you have to make dropped armor look worse pretty much intentionally.
At the very least, please consider the possibility of a server that disables the micro transaction shop. Just one, for us.
As I get further in the game, I'll make another post regarding my thoughts from 10 to 20, but for now I have to hit send on this. I'm excited to see how the game develops.
I purchased my way into the alpha after watching a smaller streamer (shoutout to KestonTV) play for a while. I came into Ashes relatively sight unseen, having only caught a few clips online and streams here and there.
For context, I’m a long-time MMO fan. I’ve played EverQuest, World of Warcraft, LOTRO, Aion, Vanguard, Guild Wars 2, Rift, and more recently Monsters and Memories. If I were one of the devs, I’d want feedback from players like me who're stepping in fresh without much prior knowledge or expectations. So, I’m writing this more as feedback for the devs rather than to spark debate (though anyone’s welcome to chime in).
I like the game, I think I will play this long term when/if it comes out.
I say when/if, because early access and very ambitious concepts make me nervous.
Will this game end up like Star Citizen? Perpetually in development and making promises for the future? Will it end up like New World? --Which also had a very strong emphasis on crafting, economy, group play, and PvP, yet fell completely on its face after launch. Will the game be infested with micro-transaction gimmicks like immersion breaking elite armor transmogs that level 1 players can run around in, or otherworldly mounts, or meta items that don't "technically" effect the players power, such as elite crafting bags or crafting tools that would significantly twink a new character crafting-wise compared to others? Ashes also appears to be launching within a similar window as Monsters and Memories. The only reason I even mention this, is because Everquest 2 and WoW both launched at the same time and because of that, EQ2 stood absolutely no chance. (arguments about how good EQ2 was to begin with set aside, if WoW was a couple more years out EQ2 would've undoubtably made it much further than it did.)
From here, I’ll ramble a bit through things that stood out to me while playing, then wrap up with some final thoughts. I completely understand the game is in alpha, and many of these points will likely be addressed later. This is all written with love and excitement, and I’m genuinely supportive of the direction the game is heading.
(Ramblings Phase 1)
I chose to start in the Riverlands. I watched a brief video on Ashes before I hopped in just to see what starting location would be better. From what I watched, Anvils had less to offer content wise, so that's why I went with the Riverlands/Lionhold.
The game did a decent job of showing me how to play. The combat system stands out. It’s different enough from other MMOs to feel a little jarring at first, but in a very good way. I’m guessing things are a bit crammed together right now just to make the alpha playable, but for the final launch, I’d love to see a slower introduction to combat.
It feels odd to spawn in and immediately be told to fight goblins inside a building that’s already full of people, including armed guards, civilians seeking shelter, and what appears to be a massive, invaluable portal used to bring new players into the world. Do none of the guards care about securing the area? Are we being overrun? The goblins seem more like they’re rummaging through trash than invading. What’s the actual story here? I think a stronger narrative hook at the start would help a lot. If I were a soldier in this world stationed near that portal, there would absolutely be someone assigned to greet arrivals, brief them on the situation, and send them on their way with clear instructions. The first NPC you meet should be able to answer a new player’s most immediate questions, such as;
- Why am I here?
- What is my purpose?
- What is happening currently and what should i be doing right now?
- Why are there hundreds of sick goblins right outside?
- What is that giant portal? Did I come from it? Can I go back through it?
The first quest to collect items from goblins and report to someone else felt a bit unclear. I think in general, quests need an identity that's consistent. I'll explain more about what I mean by that later. But even here, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing or why. It was also unclear that I could pick up random weapons lying around, even though I started with a wand as a mage. Which raised more questions. Did I start with a wand because I'm supposed to be using a wand because mage? Does a mage have a penalty for using a different weapon type? I arrived with a weapon, does that mean I'm a soldier of some kind that came through the portal? Was I assigned to be a mage, or was I a mage that was trained and then sent through? (consider the lore behind the mages in the first Dragon Age game). Sidenote, the object on the cathedral's second floor are hard to see unless you're close enough for the UI prompt. The inventory system was confusing at first. Why can I only carry four stacks of herbs in the herbalism bag, but also haul around thousands of goblin scraps?
The first hour or so of gameplay, in my opinion, is pretty important for new players. You can usually tell within that window whether a game will hook you long term. (go make a character in Pantheon, sorry, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Ashes already has great framework. The attention to detail clearly shines through in the environments, tradeskills, and combat systems thus far. I just hope that same care spreads into other areas like the questing and UI, the inventory and loot systems, and especially worldbuilding and lore. I think the devs are heading in the right direction, even in this state the game feels like something special. I get hints of those feelings I'd get as a kid, logging into original EQ. Those feelings haven't hit me in a long, long time.
(Thoughts Phase 1)
The combat system is cool. Like way cool. It's one of the first things I describe to my IRL friends who know I bought into the alpha and have asked me how it's going. Holding down the attack button for the auto attack instead of it being a toggle, and the auto attack having different swings and a finisher proc, and how mobs have abilities that make dodging impactful and sometimes necessary, and the fact you can kite! Holy cow! You can kite! And it feels good! It could use work, but we haven't seen real kiting in an MMO since the original EQ. It would be cool to see longer duration snares/roots, etc, but you guys have nailed down the combat logic to be precise enough that mobs actually kind of have to hit you, instead of just being near you. In a way, combat is almost arpg/souls inspired and is actually functional, which is so cool to me.
At least for the mage, the abilities are cool too. They seem extremely basic for the time being, but being able to spec into an AoE/Kite build or a direct damage bossing/2 star/3 star fight build is cool. The fact that lightning is a charged spell is cool, and unexpected. I'd like to see more abilities like that. A fully charged fireball that takes FOREVER to charge and would do massive damage, but if you get hit once it'll mess up your concentration and cause you to release it in an AoE around you instead that stuns and sets everything on fire? That would be possible, and that's awesome! Please do more with the abilities.
The inventory system is jarring and messy. If this is the intended design, then quest items need clearer notation. For example, which quest they belong to, whether the player currently has that quest, and ideally, the ability to sort inventory items by quest. My quest inventory became cluttered quickly, and I couldn’t tell which items were still relevant. Some were from old quests, some were duplicates, some didn’t clear after turn-in, and I didn’t want to risk deleting something important. Eventually, I just gave up on sorting it.
I would rather corpses open a loot window when looted. As it is now, it’s hard to catch what you just picked up. Maybe make this a toggle option for players who prefer the current system, or allow us to reposition where loot notifications appear in the UI.
The quest system is hard to navigate. There were several times when I forgot where I picked up a quest and couldn’t figure out where to turn it in. Some quests tell you where to go during the task, but not after the task is fulfilled, prior to turn in. Others don’t give any directional info at all. For example, the quest to collect wagon parts for the broken-down merchant north of Lionshold has tiny circles on the map that are extremely easy to miss unless you zoom way in. It also wasn’t clear whether I needed to kill bandits to get the parts or find them on the ground. After nearly an hour of killing bandits and wondering why nothing was dropping, I realized you had to physically pick up the parts inside the camps. The quest system overall feels clunky. I don’t know whether the intent is for quests to hold the player’s hand or to encourage exploration, but whichever direction, it'd be cool if that is communicated more clearly.
Tradeskills are cool, but need more early guidance. Ashes has probably one of the most intricate tradeskilling I've ever seen in an MMO. Help me understand these systems all within the game itself, instead of having to rely on asking a streamer how to do something, or having to look it up online. There doesn't seem to be any information in game about how many tradeskills I can train further in. Can I master everything, or is there a limit? I like how intensive and grindy these systems are. To make progress in it takes some time and work, and it should be that way. I like how the gatherables in the world can drop different qualities. I wish the inventory management side of that aspect was cleaner though. I understand that might not be possible, which is okay.
I am extremely, extremely skeptical about there being a micro-transaction shop. Put bluntly, we as players see through these pretty well, we know what the intent is and we know how it takes away from the game for others regardless of what's offered in the shop. We're already paying a sub per month to play the game and from what I've read and heard about it, you guys are saying there wont be anything in the shop that effects player power. Twink crafting advantages wont effect player power but they will effect the economy and still give advantages to people who buy them, especially with how significant and grindy gathering and crafting already are. Transmogged armor takes away from in game droppable armor designs as well. We know you have to make cash shop armor look better to get it to sell, which means you have to make dropped armor look worse pretty much intentionally.
At the very least, please consider the possibility of a server that disables the micro transaction shop. Just one, for us.
As I get further in the game, I'll make another post regarding my thoughts from 10 to 20, but for now I have to hit send on this. I'm excited to see how the game develops.
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