For people looking for a more Solo/Casual experience

For anyone with concern about AoC not being friendly to a laid back/casual/solo experience I give you this link to this story. We have all read/heard the stories of large scale battles in Eve where massive amounts of the game is destroyed/lost. But this story is about one individual that is too stubborn to team up with people.
Long story short - A person plays for 16 years and has everything he worked for taken away in one fell swoop.

https://pcgamer.com/eve-online-player-thinks-no-one-will-notice-if-he-hauls-dollar5000-worth-of-items-is-wrong/

There will eventually be similar stories written about Ashes, guaranteed.

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BigRamble

Locked is probably a poor choice of word but you don't lose your decorations or furniture.

My grand point is it is not a complete loss at any point akin to the Eve example. Especially to a mechanical area that is in the most communal and dedicated activity of Node development and upkeep.

I get it can be frustrating. I was used to the crowded titan ring as easy solo pickup xp when passing near, only to be running Node to node with a load of epic plus mats when they changed to put minotaurs on the ledge where the afkers lurk and I got slammed and killed and lost most of my legendary copper. I gave away the rest to my Nodeand guild and quit.

But I will be back phase 2, because even that emotion is more than most hobbies and entertainment can give me.

Azherae

Calibix wrote: »

Azherae wrote: »

Calibix wrote: »

Azherae wrote: »

nanfoodle wrote: »

I think IS could address this. There is a part of Ashes that could be expanded. I do enjoy the balanced team content but most often I find as a Bard. I'm playing in mishmash groups. Two fighters and me. A Mage and a ranger and me.

Team balance is creative as you have to play to the teams strengths. Someone leaves and the small group dynamics change.

IMO I would love to see content designed for that. Maybe camps that are better designed for small teams. Maybe even things like killing a camp enough times a lower end boss could spawn. Maybe something like the delves in ESO but slightly beefier.

I'm sure IS could come up with creative ways to deal with this. IMO it could add allot of depth. Would also help when the majority are top level. Randoms could still team and level this way.

Btw IS, please please please this, this has been getting 'in my way' as a solo-until-called healer for so long and it hasn't changed mostly so far until TL and even they only do it in certain better/later designed areas.

I don't want an area to be so relatively homogenous in 'ecology' and threat, that when my party comp changes, the best thing to do is change area altogether. At least not immediately.

I guess this is moreso an encouragement to keep doing what you're doing than a complaint or concern, just please keep in mind to build areas with some sort of natural flow to them of this kind, even if it's just Shadowed Crypt tier.

I don't know how to convey why Shadowed Crypt is just 'above' my desired line and Sanctum of Desire/Saurodoma Island is only 'on' it, but the best Ashes-comparison I have is Daragal Estates, which is also slightly below that line.

Let us Mish Mash!

What do you mean regarding SC and SoD? They were both bad implementations of OW dungeons imo. This might be due to the fact that there were only 4 options to choose from, and they were restricted at times as well. I don't get what you find desirable or above or at your line about them. They were a chore to be done, not content to be enjoyed.

I might not understand what you're saying either.

But I can say that I'm not the type to judge specific content based on its position within the game 'variety wise'.

If I was a person who 'viewed a dungeon as a chore because it was the only dungeon I could do' then I would consider myself a poor tester for an Alpha game.

You didn't specify any other reason why they were a chore and not content, so I don't really think I know how else to engage with the comment. If you explain how they were bad implementations, I bet we can have a productive discussion, though.

I'm still not sure if your talking about level scaling, or you actually enjoyed those dungeons.

On my server, they were always crowded during daytime unless off-hours, and empty during night time because that's one of the spots people could go to PvP. My server had multiple mega guilds, so if you weren't in one of those, you could dive for kills and that's about it.

Daytime was 30-40 people consistently at the bottom doing contracts, joining and leaving without a word. The area by the stairs in SC was occasionally open for a little while for token grinds. But either way, it was boring as hell. The mobs weren't challenging or engaging. Same old gather as much as you can and AOE. Didn't matter whether solo or not. You can't pvp, so you can't fight for the spot. By PVE "competing", your just ruining everyone involved's time efficiency. But that doesn't really matter either since what else would you do to progress your character than dungeons you can only do in limited quantities, and bosses that die in 30s. Just not good content.

Thanks, got it now.

Our experiences are generally very different.

1. Since Shadowed Crypt doesn't close at night, it just becomes PvP, then I just go in, and PvP. I've generally gotten lucky and had more drops during those times anyway, and that's even without being aggressive toward players that I don't have any hostility to yet.
2. The discussion that made me post the first thing was specifically about small groups of 3, and the change in optimal flow that happens when you change members, i.e. if I go to Shadowed Crypt with myself, one Front DPS, one Bow DPS, I don't want that when my front (GS) DPS has to leave and be replaced by Staff DPS, that the best answer is 'leave Crypt' (which it isn't). I want to be able to change target within Crypt (which we do).

The rest is just the way most people experience MMOs and I'm almost certain anything else I say about that will touch a nerve.

So yeah, I'm very specifically talking about 'times where only 3 of my guild members feel like poking a Dungeon, but that trio of people rotates a bit'.

I don't mind 'changing dungeon' in TL because it's mostly easy. I would mind in Ashes, because it would not be, so I ask that they have at least Shadowed Crypt tier of encounter diversity.

EDIT: On that note, hey NiKr, I'm about to be even more busy, so IF this continues in the direction of PvP discussion, can I leave it to you?

TheDarkSorcerer

Intrepid will end up adapting the game to casuals and solo players as well. Casuals move the growth of game, the fans who play everyday will sustain it. Rinse and repeat.

Nemeses

Knotti wrote: »

For anyone with concern about AoC not being friendly to a laid back/casual/solo experience I give you this link to this story. We have all read/heard the stories of large scale battles in Eve where massive amounts of the game is destroyed/lost. But this story is about one individual that is too stubborn to team up with people.
Long story short - A person plays for 16 years and has everything he worked for taken away in one fell swoop.

https://pcgamer.com/eve-online-player-thinks-no-one-will-notice-if-he-hauls-dollar5000-worth-of-items-is-wrong/

There will eventually be similar stories written about Ashes, guaranteed.

What a dumb assed post.

nanfoodle

You can check the wiki. Steven has said they have things in mind for casuel players. Just won't be the game on easy mode. Thought will be required, right don't to what class you play to what content you can play. No MMO will make it without casuel players, that's a fact.

TheDarkSorcerer

nanfoodle wrote: »

No MMO will make it without casuel players, that's a fact.

Many people on this forum seem to be missing that key point.

Will there be marketing around this product? Yes, just like any other game. But will ads be targeted at players who are already actively playing Ashes of Creation? No, because those players are already converted. Instead, ads will be directed toward individuals who have shown interest in Ashes or gaming in general.

Now, will those people be hardcore gamers? Likely not, because hardcore gamers already know about Ashes of Creation. These ads will primarily reach people who are either new to the game or to gaming itself. Most of these individuals will start as casual players.

The critical task for Ashes will be to convert these casuals into long-term subscribers and, ideally, hardcore players. However, if the new player or casual experience isn’t engaging, and the gap between casual players and hardcore players is too wide, those new players will likely drop off quickly.

Additionally, we need to recognize the challenges of the modern gaming landscape. We live in a time where many people are more introverted than before. Years ago, kids played together outside, fostering natural group dynamics. Today, most people are glued to their phones, and group content can feel much harder to jump into than it did 10–15 years ago.

The new and casual player experience is a crucial piece of the puzzle, and getting it right will determine whether these players stick around and evolve into dedicated fans of the game.

Knotti

This topic was made to highlight the hardcore nature embedded into this game. The player in the story of the Original Post had a fairly casual outlook on the game for 16 YEARS. Then, one day it all came crashing down. Similar possibilities will exist in Ashes, as loss is a major pillar of the game. Can't have a PVX game without major loss for one side. There will be all sorts of types of players involved in this game - The casual, the hardcore, and the exceptionally toxic just to name a few. Doing anything solo will have its difficulties.

Lodrig

This is a silly and flawed comparison by the OP.

In Ashes a casual indivdiual player can not a aquire 'their own node', that is definitionally group content in Ashes. It is an nonsensical as postulating that casual player Billy has aquired one of the 6 CASTLES in game and held it for years to then SUDDENLY LOSE IT due to PvP and rage quits.

EVE is unquie in that it allows almost unlimited accumulation of in game mateerials and for them to then all be 'worn' at once and put at risk of total destruction. You can't get anything comperable to that in a Fantasy RPG unless you introduce perma-death for characters, aka 'Hard core' mode as in Diablo or Path of Exile. Even the gear loss in Ashes is miniscule in comparison (and I'm in favor of rapid gear durability loss are crafting of replacements so even that is lessened, rapid cycling of materials through the economy was one thing EVE did right).

The realistic senario is one in which casual players has managed to get a freehold (I again think they will be common enough to be aquired by casual players that pool their efforts) and this gets destroyed in a node siege. Their are currently mechanisms intended to help folks rebuild from that, the saving of all their customizations being the most obvious. But other options could exist, such as.

* Reduced restrictions on removing gear/items from the Freehold in the time leading up to the siege. It makes sense that the in node housing and warehouses get locked before a siege. But it makes more sense that a farmer in the country side can just flee.

* Auctions of Freeholds that are restricted to 'Refugees' aka people who Freehold was destroyed within the last 3 months only so their is an easier path to getting a replacement Freehold if you lost one.

* Possibly some mechanism to 'surrender' to the besiegers which locks the Freehold residents from being part of the defense but also spares them from destruction (but perhapse not a good pillaging) by the attacking side.

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