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Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place five 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.
Why should I continue to Support Intrepid Studios?
skafftaruss
Member, Phoenix Initiative, Hero of the People, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Comments
AoC has been in talk from what I remember before it's kickstarter in 2017. It had a kickstarter in 2017. So that means excluding talk before 2017 that it's been officially in development since 2017 so that is 5 years. Star Citizen released it's alpha in 2016. So only 4 years after it's official announcement. From 2017 to 2021 it's been 4 years and we got alpha one. I think they got "playable" as in persistent-ish alpha in 2020 so that is 8 years. From what I see as expectations from people we wont be seeing alpha 2 at the very least until Q4 of 2022 and that's very optimistic according to people on the forum. More realistic would be 2024. So we'll be getting an alpha 2 seven years after the initial official announcement. Then what? Who is to say Steven wont do the same thing as Star Citizen, just allow players to play in that Alpha 2 for an indefinite amount of time.
The only thing Steven is doing different so far from Star Citizen is that he isn't giving any release dates but that doesn't amount to much. That just shows he himself has no idea when this thing will be done. Which means it's release isn't in the foreseeable. So that means it wont get a full release in the next 6 years for sure I'd say and it's a realistic guess that it'll get a full release in 10+ years.
So to answer your question as a fellow forum dweller and AoC enthusiast - the only reason I keep dwelling on this forum and committed to buying a pack in the near future is that I am okay with all of this. I am okay with AoC being in Alpha/beta for the next 10 years. I see it as a long term investment. I am hoping that I'll be able to play it in these 10 years and that it'll be fun but what I am hoping more is that it'll be game that'll be relevant, alive and very competitive in the market even after 30 years. I hope to still be playing this game when I retire basically and not because it has become my comfort zone game over the years but because it's actually stayed relevant, competitive and fun for that many years. It might not be the answer you are looking for but that's my reason and my answer. Hope you find yours. Hope Steven proves me wrong.
Because you still believe Ashes is the best MMO in development.
A better question is - if you were happy to support the game (not Steven) a month ago, what has changed since then to make you want to change your mind?
If nothing has happened that would see you change your mind, what is the issue?
Aren't we all sinners?
"For what...?"
"Just about everything, really."
They kicked him off Discord. That is why he posts tantrums here.
I have to ask... what did he do to get kicked off Discord?
When one enters a new guild does not know that it will happen, if it will be good or it can be maintained, if the officers or leaders will be able to handle the administration of the guild, people, organize, dialogue, generate friendship, generate a true guild.
The creations of the strongest guilds, with greater synergy, with great friendship, with clear goals are made overnight? or should it be created little by little so that everything works correctly from the foundations to the guild's head?
The same way a new guild starts is how AOC started (obviously on a larger scale).
-AoC has a leader with enormous balls who dared to initiate a project that even he did not know if it would have positive results.
-Intrepid developers started as a few, have been learning, improving and growing as a team. I will not deny that there have been changes in the team but that happens when there is a long way to go.
-Intrepid team have dared to be different in their own way trying to give their community something they are proud of and little by little they are proving it.
*They fixed the image of the dwarves.
*They listened to the feedback from the races.
*They didn't want to rush anything like a certain new MMO.
*etc
-Each month they try to show (as far as they can show) the progress of AoC.
-They are communicative and honest even if they make mistakes as for example what happened last month with character customization.
-Year after year they improve their team, grow and try to improve the development of AoC, such as the move to UE5.
I really see effort, daring and perseverance, for that alone I would support them.
No self-respecting guild would give up at the first wipe, you make mistakes as many times as you have to make mistakes, learn, improve and keep fighting until you get it.
I do not fully understand the legal ramifications of kickstarter if the project fails to deliver on the initial premise. To be fair, i feel the two concepts are separate. However, we are still in development and soon Alpha 2 will be available.
I have not seen any recent updates except the Py'Rai Female. After my zabrak on galaxies I swore to never play a horned character again. I can't rely go against all my build theories, purchases and personal fantasy tastes in terms of wood elves. I have to accept the horn - unless we have options on the creation menu to remove horns.
Sometimes, I do think it would be nice to retrieve the investments for the game. However, I still strive to build a life where I can play the game - however little or long per month.
You won't. Was one of the first things asked on the reveal and Intrepid has said that the horn/antler/head chopsticks are core to the lore of the species (all of the lore is being rewritten also) and while you will have various options as to size and such, you will not be able to remove them completely. "Recognizable silhouette for all races" was also given as a reason.
To put it another way, like the building skins which I've collected to put together, subject to change and lack of real details at the point of purchase does make one want to refund. I certainly don't collect in recent months and I probably won't replace skins which aren't compatible with some current skins I own.
At the end of the day, I haven't bought anything I would miss or anything I'm really attached too.
That's actually one of the most important things in visual design - to make your product stand out, essentially to be iconic.
In the most part that's what made Apple a successful company. They invested tons into the visual design of their products to make them stand out.
This translates well to any type of industry even anime. Very popular animes all have very iconic characters which even their silhouettes stand out.
This is because the main point of good visual design is to have your product stand out above the rest.
For the product to stand out it needs all of it's parts to be iconic.
Just like in anime the MC isn't the whole product. The whole product is the storyline, the MC, the art style etc. but it's the MC and his friends that are made to stand out by the design team.
Just like in Apple the product isn't a holding case for phones. The products are smart phones and computers. Apple's products stand out mostly thanks to the outer appearance which is again the job of the design team. In most other aspects like performance-wise they have actually been proven to be worse than it's competitors.
It's a good design choice to have races to stand out.
What you are talking about isn't design. It's UX. You want even greater customizability. That's UX. In terms of customizability we've been promised more customizability than most other MMOs give. You just want even more than that. I think that's unnecessary, we are already promised a ton of customization. Even for role play purposes it'll be enough to allow there to be only 1 horn or 1 horn and a damaged horn. Anything more than that is catering to childish demands imo because we already have tons of customizability and if you want your character to NOT have horns then choose one of the other many races available in the game. It's not like AoC has a small amount of chooseable races.
I don't give a shit about character customization. Not one little bit. Every one of my characters will be a default appearance - and I am fairly well on record on these forums for this opinion.
The reason it is a pointless design goal is because by the time players start equipping gear, the silhouette of races will fall by the wayside.
Why even have a design goal if that design goal ceases to be a thing the minute players get gear? Focus that attention elsewhere.
Why even have that design goal? Because having distinctive races is a big part of fantasy RPGs. If they make the races barely distinguishable from one another that makes for a poor fantasy RPG. If race options don't feel like choice of race matters visually then it defeats the purpose of having races.
Just because you play RPGs without regard to how your character model looks and how your race looks doesn't mean that's true for everyone. That's actually not true for a lot of people who play RPGs and it's especially not true for the role playing part of the community.
I said trying to have distinct silhouettes is a pointless design goal.
There is no reason at all why two races can't be distinguished purely via color palette, as an example.
There is a reason. Same reason why Apple invested tons into making iPhone into a specific shape. Shape and thus inherently silhouette matters otherwise companies wouldn't be spending tons of money into these things. If it didn't matter then corporations wouldn't be spending the money to do it. They'd just find the most economical, in terms of money, shape and just color it different as per your suggestion but what you are saying isn't true and so they are forced to spend money not only on color but on shape as well in order to make their product stand out.
Anyway nice job derailing from the thread's original topic again Noaani the troll.
Like you said before " please don't insinuate or suggest that I said something unless I actually said the thing."
I am not an apple user. Never had anything Apple.
Yes I can make those comparisons between what I said and what other companies are doing with their product because in the end Intrepid is a company, it's creating a product and just like any product it's sales depend on everything including it's visual esthetics. So yea distinct silhouettes being part of esthetics is a good design goal because the easier it is to recognize your product the easier it'll be for people to remember it, not to mention it'll be easier to advertise.
The thread has a topic and it's was easily recognized by the first 11 replies, excluding yours which again was aimed at derailing the topic.
The topic is obviously "Reasons why to continue to support Intrepid Studios".
You are obviously a troll.
Once again, you just said that I said something that I did not actually say.
If you want to go on about other products by other companies in other industries, have at it, I guess. I am unsure who you are in a discussion with at that point, because I am just saying that Intrepid wanting to make the races in Ashes have unique silhouettes is a pointless design decision - I don't much care about those other companies or their products.
Why would you think that?
hahahahaha nice one. You got it quite right.
Jokes aside you Noaani are either a very very top-end hardcore competitive player and care mostly about the parts that are vital to top-end competitive players or don't understand simple things like the fact that a lot players nowadays still base their decision on whether to buy a game or not on if the game is visually appealing to them.
Distinct silhouettes are part of that and also like I said they help with product recognizability and marketing. So if you are a top-end player I admire your zeal but in the end it's not top-end hardcore players that keep a game alive. It's the casuals due to them being the majority. So Intrepid has to make the game desireable and marketable for them too.
To add to this, I am apparently a rare gamer species, "The Hardcore Casual"? My main goal will be to become the top 1% of PvPers (and one of the good ones that'll protect you, not kill you! ;D) I did this in the MMO before this, and honestly don't feel that motivation and drive would've existed if the game didn't look/play good and my character didn't standout in some way, skill alone got me noticed, but my character is what people recognized even when I'm idle.
I get nameplates are a thing, but when you see someone wearing the same set of their favorite gear/costume/hairstyle/pose/mount/pet all the time, you start to see that character as the player themselves without even needing to read the name, and I love that in mmos.
Keeping this response post relevant, I'd keep supporting the game specifically because even without them having launched yet, I personally already have a rare, distinct, and visually appealing look for my character and their accessories (mount/pet/etc.) To look forward to, that will allow players to recognize me as a player and not just a character the moment i log in for the first time and make myself known ( vine vestment costume exclusive for a pyrai elf).
As to better explain the "hard-core casual" bit, I'm someone who loves competitive pvp, but also loves to get lost in the world I'm in through activities and roleplay. I don't ignore any part of the game and respect casuals and hard-cores alike, because I fully understand you need BOTH for an mmo to thrive.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuU1txumPQ5PqdU1D9cPhIg
https://twitch.tv/trusivraj
High level gear having distinct silhouettes is entirely reasonable. But I cant imagine a scenario where I am only able to see the silhouette of a person and not their color, except for maybe when a rogue is employing stealth as Steven has said that stealth wouldn't completely make someone invisible.
Tbh implementing distinct silhouettes for every race is a relatively simple thing but its real application wouldn't be in game but rather in the cinematics which will be made as part of the lore of Verra.
Considering the level of uniqueness possible, I am pretty sure this is implicit in AoC.