Do you feel like Ashes is missing races?

Our 9 races might be enough for most, but I heard of some people feeling like they don't click with any of them. Do you feel like there are not enough races? Are they too similar? What kind of races do you feel are missing?

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Atama

I like what we have, because I feel like we have a lot of diversity. The races hit on the primary fantasy tropes (humans. elves, dwarves, orcs). They also were designed to resemble real life historical cultures from around the world, rather than just being exclusively European like many games.

I can't really comment on the Tulnar since we've seen practically nothing about them, and what info we have is sparse and sometimes conflicting. But given the variety from the races we've already seen, I expect yet another distinct type of character to add even more diversity.

As said by others, nine races is a pretty good amount, especially at launch. World of Wacraft only had 8 at first. Other games have had more; EQ had 12. Lord of the Rings Online only had 4 (they have expanded to 7 since then). So the amount we have to me seems fine, it's about average for an MMORPG.

Caww

It seems to me that more races would only work if there were more character slots available, otherwise, all the extra choices are just wasted from a personal perspective once real leveling starts. The wiki guidance is "There will be a "comfortable" number of character slots on launch." I'm "comfortable" with the number of slots equaling the number of races (ESO had upto 18 slots with most free and the remainder paid).

CROW3

JustVine wrote: »

CROW3 wrote: »

No pandas.

Couldn't bear it huh?

Nah, I just thought that the Vulpera out foxed them.

Aeskill

I am absolutely convinced of the planned races. Rather really pay attention to culture, nodes, architecture and other individualities, than the 100th race with minimal visual difference (compare WoW subraces). Just the idea of discovering a settlement in unexplored areas and you know directly: nice that must be the Vek. I can't imagine how awesome that will be combined with the node levels, organic terrain options (as steven mentioned in the last stream) and cultural influences.

1 or 2 new races in the future would be fine, but always put quality over substance!

Tyranthraxus

Yours truly feels that 9 is an ample amount of races, for launch. I guess I just took it for granted that more would eventually be added, down the line.

NO FEATURE CREEP!

CROW3

Tyranthraxus wrote: »

NO FEATURE CREEP!

Tulnar.

Done

Atama

CROW3 wrote: »

Tyranthraxus wrote: »

NO FEATURE CREEP!

Tulnar.

Done

Hey now, the request was not to have feature creep. We can still have creepy features.

I say, bring on the Tulnar in all their glory!

Voidwalkers

CROW3 wrote: »

No pandas.

I hope husbandry can let us breed pandas though.

Dygz

More likely to be a Pandaconda.

Voidwalkers

Dygz wrote: »

More likely to be a Pandaconda.

I heard the secret command for doing exact that is "conda install pandas"
wait, I think I've seen that command somewhere before .....

(steers back onto topic)

Anyway, 9 races feels enough for now IMO.

234Graph

Love the interactions here ❤

Janaos

I mean I’ve found my race (I think) and I think that 9 is plenty adequate for a start. But obviously as the game develops it would perhaps be nice to see a few minor races being added. Or even some exclusive non starter races, that could only be unlocked by actually playing the game. You could also (might already be in game) but have like an option to evolve race or something, elf to arch-elf sort of thing. This is obviously not as much work as creating a full on race but would be a cool addition as long as evolving races isn’t compulsory, as in you get x2 power if you evolve or something cause that kinda forces you, instead it should just be another path with perhaps it’s own benefits but not a must.

SirChancelot

I would also say you should keep in mind the variance you have within a single race. That each vek can look can different from other vek.

The issue with not having enough races would be not seeing diversity as you roam around. I really don't see that being a problem with ashes when you think about how much they have planned.

SongRune

Janaos wrote: »

I mean I’ve found my race (I think) and I think that 9 is plenty adequate for a start. But obviously as the game develops it would perhaps be nice to see a few minor races being added. Or even some exclusive non starter races, that could only be unlocked by actually playing the game. You could also (might already be in game) but have like an option to evolve race or something, elf to arch-elf sort of thing. This is obviously not as much work as creating a full on race but would be a cool addition as long as evolving races isn’t compulsory, as in you get x2 power if you evolve or something cause that kinda forces you, instead it should just be another path with perhaps it’s own benefits but not a must.

I don't like the idea of an "alts only" race. (i.e. one I can only unlock by already having chosen something else on my main.) They would just feel like they are "denied to me", more or less, in an entirely arbitrary way. If I had an affinity for one, I would have to go do extra work in a form I didn't like as much just to unlock the one I preferred. Specifically not investing in my character along the path to that, would kind of sour my initial experience with the game, and poison future interactions. It would feel like a chore, and I would have the beginning of the game "spoiled" when the time came for my "real" playthrough. I think that I would end up simply not choosing the race I preferred, if that happened to me, and that would feel bad too. There'd be no way for me to win.

Janaos

SongRune wrote: »

Janaos wrote: »

I mean I’ve found my race (I think) and I think that 9 is plenty adequate for a start. But obviously as the game develops it would perhaps be nice to see a few minor races being added. Or even some exclusive non starter races, that could only be unlocked by actually playing the game. You could also (might already be in game) but have like an option to evolve race or something, elf to arch-elf sort of thing. This is obviously not as much work as creating a full on race but would be a cool addition as long as evolving races isn’t compulsory, as in you get x2 power if you evolve or something cause that kinda forces you, instead it should just be another path with perhaps it’s own benefits but not a must.

I don't like the idea of an "alts only" race. (i.e. one I can only unlock by already having chosen something else on my main.) They would just feel like they are "denied to me", more or less, in an entirely arbitrary way. If I had an affinity for one, I would have to go do extra work in a form I didn't like as much just to unlock the one I preferred. Specifically not investing in my character along the path to that, would kind of sour my initial experience with the game, and poison future interactions. It would feel like a chore, and I would have the beginning of the game "spoiled" when the time came for my "real" playthrough. I think that I would end up simply not choosing the race I preferred, if that happened to me, and that would feel bad too. There'd be no way for me to win.

That’s fair enough though the initial idea behind this was to provide additional content to play. Although alternatively the race could be unlocked without losing any progress concerning your account, in which case your fears of having to do 2 play through would be unfounded. It could work with a similar mechanic to evolving races.

Noaani

SongRune wrote: »

Janaos wrote: »

I mean I’ve found my race (I think) and I think that 9 is plenty adequate for a start. But obviously as the game develops it would perhaps be nice to see a few minor races being added. Or even some exclusive non starter races, that could only be unlocked by actually playing the game. You could also (might already be in game) but have like an option to evolve race or something, elf to arch-elf sort of thing. This is obviously not as much work as creating a full on race but would be a cool addition as long as evolving races isn’t compulsory, as in you get x2 power if you evolve or something cause that kinda forces you, instead it should just be another path with perhaps it’s own benefits but not a must.

I don't like the idea of an "alts only" race. (i.e. one I can only unlock by already having chosen something else on my main.) They would just feel like they are "denied to me", more or less, in an entirely arbitrary way. If I had an affinity for one, I would have to go do extra work in a form I didn't like as much just to unlock the one I preferred. Specifically not investing in my character along the path to that, would kind of sour my initial experience with the game, and poison future interactions. It would feel like a chore, and I would have the beginning of the game "spoiled" when the time came for my "real" playthrough. I think that I would end up simply not choosing the race I preferred, if that happened to me, and that would feel bad too. There'd be no way for me to win.

As an argument, this applies to literally everything in an MMO.

So, maybe you really want to play that race. Cool, what ever.

What about people that really want to have a freehold? They need to put time and effort in to the game (and likely need to start out with a lower tier property that they have no long term interest in) just to get the thing they want.

Same can be said of gear. All players will replace the gear in every slot many times before they get the gear they actually want there. Since this is players having to put work in to something they don't want - but that is a part of the journey to the thing they do want - this is deemed acceptable.

There is literally no reason at all that this can not apply to a selection of races as well. I have played a number of games that have done this - and no one has complained in the manner you are complaining here.

While I am not specifically saying Intrepid should add such a race, I absolutely am saying that you should not whine about the possibility - you should make the conscious decision to unlock said fictional race as being a part of the journey in that game to get the thing you want to get.

Making a decision to look at it in that manner is literally nothing more than a decision for you to make.

SongRune

Janaos wrote: »

SongRune wrote: »

Janaos wrote: »

I mean I’ve found my race (I think) and I think that 9 is plenty adequate for a start. But obviously as the game develops it would perhaps be nice to see a few minor races being added. Or even some exclusive non starter races, that could only be unlocked by actually playing the game. You could also (might already be in game) but have like an option to evolve race or something, elf to arch-elf sort of thing. This is obviously not as much work as creating a full on race but would be a cool addition as long as evolving races isn’t compulsory, as in you get x2 power if you evolve or something cause that kinda forces you, instead it should just be another path with perhaps it’s own benefits but not a must.

I don't like the idea of an "alts only" race. (i.e. one I can only unlock by already having chosen something else on my main.) They would just feel like they are "denied to me", more or less, in an entirely arbitrary way. If I had an affinity for one, I would have to go do extra work in a form I didn't like as much just to unlock the one I preferred. Specifically not investing in my character along the path to that, would kind of sour my initial experience with the game, and poison future interactions. It would feel like a chore, and I would have the beginning of the game "spoiled" when the time came for my "real" playthrough. I think that I would end up simply not choosing the race I preferred, if that happened to me, and that would feel bad too. There'd be no way for me to win.

That’s fair enough though the initial idea behind this was to provide additional content to play. Although alternatively the race could be unlocked without losing any progress concerning your account, in which case your fears of having to do 2 play through would be unfounded. It could work with a similar mechanic to evolving races.

The thing is, I don't like the idea of changing my race mid-game either. My race is an important part of my character, and it's hard to imagine "race changes" that aren't fundamental shifts to my self-perception was a whole. You might manage a smaller one through story, but even with a solid story, a more significant one would just feel wrong. I'm not looking to suddenly become a different person, nor deal with the "body morph" storyline overall. Even well executed, such a shift would be jarring at best. I can't solve the problem that way.

Deftly

I think right now is fine for launch. Races is something you can always build upon.

Dygz

I thought the idea was to unlock advanced sub-race alts?
And, yeah, it would be very odd for a character to evolve into a different race.

Alice

YES, because 7/9 of them are just boring humans, compared to GW2 or WoW which has Undead, Goblin, Werewolf, Troll, Dryad, and Furry(Fox/Panda/Bull). Where are all these races?

Kaelar = Fully humans.
Vaelune = Fully humans.
Dünir = Fully humans.
Niküa = Fully humans.
Empyrean = Humans with pointy ears.
Py'Rai = Humans with pointy ears and antlers.
Ren'Kai = Disfigured humans, not even green skinned.

That leaves only Vek and Tulnar.

Changing race should be possible if new races will be added in the future.

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