Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
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.
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.
Comments
If WoW is so great and you want a game that copies everything it does, go play WoW. Clearly you have no need for whatever is happening here. Ask Blizzard to make WoW 2, if you just want a new look slapped on it.
It's either that, or accept that the formula where every player "gets to" do the same things individually without any meaningful interaction with each other, or impact on the world they play in, is soul-less, and games need to divorce with that formula in order to create something better. Which means giving up some of the things you like.
You can't have something better and also hold on to everything you liked. You'd just get an incoherent mess like ESO.
No need to argue with me, I'll just repeat this point until Ashes releases, because your mindless WoW obsession and status quo preservation sermons are really getting on my nerves and preventing meaningful discussion.
Not every game needs to be aiming to have the most players in the scene. I will say that AoC will NOT be the game for most of the mmo playerbase. It is a different audience.
Again, let’s see how Ashes handle it as they have seem to gone the route of it not being the core PvP aspect so the only way OW fails in AoC is if this is a dead game.
Some of my best experiences were in ranked competitive modes and climbing the ladder
100% agree on this! WAR showed us that PvP makes a lot of fun, instanced or open pvp and WITHOUT a ladder! The only ladder system I enjoied were in GW1 the "Hall of Heroes tournament ladder"
In WAR, there was also an open world pvp mechanic similar (in core) to AoC. I hope that in AoC they can keep it up and bring us a good enjoyable system :-)
AoC Chars: Hammil (Cleric) | Anthara (Ranger)
Server: Lotharia (EU)
WARs pvp lakes were different in that they were portions of the map segregated from the pve. There was no reason to go into those areas unless you wanted pvp. In aoc resource acquisition and traversal must be done in all areas of the world. If the map and it's resources are designed correctly, aoc will have organic arenas formed with quasi balanced combatants both in numbers and progression. This keeps the excitement of of the unknown found in open world games and provides the same small-scale gameplay of arenas.
The sand badlands with open flagging system and zero punishment is constantly dead, yes I know it’s just an Alpha but have you actually run around there, it’s just big groups farming so unless you had a group of 8 then you’re not going to get far in unbalanced PvP, everywhere else is next to non PvP happening
Non corruption areas still have barely any PvP,
Big groups just go kill caravans (not actually fight anyone) and considering how small this map is you would expect constant player interaction, wouldn’t mind some sort of BG to test battling other players at some stage for this Alpha
For a PvX game it is very one sided, a lot of PvP players want a fairer environment where we can just verse players and not have to worry about mobs or the unbalanced masses of players to verse
So stop being so obtuse about it and trying to restrict confirmed content before it’s even released and had a chance
Which ones have been a financial success.
Wonder why that is? Maybe because OWPvP usually ends up being a one sided massacre.
Yes portions of them are. There are some world bosses which can be interfered with but 20% of dungeons are instanced (that is parts of dungeons).
Except it's not a social sandbox it's more like social sandbox lite. The game doesn't commit to anything except OWPvP, and going out of its way to fuck solo players.
@Gandohar Best not to rile up the rabble. The idea of having fun by your self causes people in these forums to burst into flames and shriek at the top of their lungs. They think if they add a BG the game will explode and no one will OWPvP. Which begs the question if that's the case why is it so easy to pull people away from OWPvP is it possibly because most people don't like OWPvP?
Sure, some of them have closed down, but they closed down after making a shitload of money.
There are some PvP MMO's that have been unsuccessful. I would consider Crowfall to fit in to this. However, there have also been some MMORPG's without a PvP focus that have been unsuccessful, with Vanguard being the current poster child there, and Pantheon likely to be the future one.
Point is, some PvP MMO's have been successful, some have not. Some PvE MMO's have been successful, some have not. As such, this is not a direct contributor to success or failure.
It had something to cater everyone inclusive of ranked 3v3/5v5 Arena modes and OW PvP and Hardcore PvE. Doing the the Wrath of Lich King Raid was optional for competitive PvPers, you didn’t have to do it but if you did you got the BIS gear that helped in the Arena as an advantage
My point is you can have all these systems and it still cater to everyone, the only way it doesn’t work is if AoC is literally a dead game, which I doubt it’s going to be
If you are looking for PvP in this Alpha 2 don’t bother atm unless you want to verse overcrowded groups or the occaisnal 1 person here or there an hour
If this is the PvP AoC will has in the release, this game will fail a lot. We need roam, little battles arround the map for small, organized and skilled groups also an instanced BG mode with ELO rating, rankings and special rewards.
A part of this PvP needs some incentive, for example, in Warhammer Online when you kill someone in OWPvP you got XP, XP for PvP rank and possibility of drop like armour/weapons or PvP coins to buy PvP gear.
That is because there is no situation where a PvP focused MMORPG will ever be as popular as an equal quality PvE MMORPG.
The genre is at it's best when PvE is at the fore - always has been, always will be. Your example of WoW during WotLK is a perfect example of this - the game at that time was all about the PvE, with PvP tacked on as little more than an after thought. There was enough PvP to keep many PvP first players happy, but it was still an not even close to the primary focus of the game.
That is how you make an MMORPG you want to be popular - an MMORPG where you can fill up multiple 10k concurrent player servers.
That isn't what I was saying though, I was saying that an MMORPG being PvP forward doesn't automatically mean it will be a financial failure.
That's exactly my point though, it had a PvP competitive system and the game was at its peak of MMO gaming, this after all is classified as a PvX game, 99% of this Alpha has mostly PvE experince
The OP Has suggested some sort of small instanced thing be in place so atleast PvP players can get their fix
Have you played any of this Alpha Noaani? Are you max level as well? Have you gone to the desert area yet and seen what it's like? What's your experience been in the current state of this Alpha in regards to PvP, did you feel there's enough in place at the moment?
Im agreeing with the OP, that yes can focus on all systems available but just give us SOMETHING to do in regards to PvP other than what's in it would be nice. I know there is Naval Warfare coming into P3 and more classes etc so they have their plates pretty fool. Just saying, would be nice
Il even take /duel at this point
Being corrupted is way to punishing to even risk participating in PvP
The difference is always on open world PvP vs instanced.
A game with open world PvP is a PvP game. End of debate. It can have PvE, players can spend more time with PvE than PvP, but the game is a PvP game.
This is because with open world PvP, you can be forced in to PvP at any time. You could take a break to go for a shit, come back and someone PvP'd you and you're dead. You have to maintain a PvP mindset at literally all times in a game with open world PvP.
There is no actual debate around this - there is just Steven trying to avoid labeling Ashes as a PvP game, and a handful of posters here tagging along for the ride.
The simple fact is, if a game has always on open world PvP, it is a PvP game.
A game like WoW during WotLK (since it was the comparison you used) isn't open world PvP. Sure, it was on PvP servers, but WoW was a game where the open world didn't matter anyway - you would sit in town and teleport to dungeons.
What this means is that in WoW, you only have to PvP when you want to, even on PvP servers. You could turn it off at any time, you didn't have to always be thinking about PvP.
This is a drastic shift in how each game plays, how each game feels, and how popular each game can ever be.
Quite honestly, the best thing Intrepid could do for Ashes is to remove the notion of always on open world PvP and switch corruption over to something gained when attacking caravans.
Did you even play that lol and have you even played this Alpha at all? Or are you just guessing, if you have played this Alpha are you even max level yet? Have you gone to the new desert area yet? Still haven’t answered whether you’re even participating in this Alpha. Il also happily keep contributing to the forums as I’ve done since making The Arena Thread, as someone who has max levelled in both phase 1 & 2. I can give a lot of feedback on the current state and put forward some suggestions. If they get taken or not so be it
If your only experience is watching streamers i can guarantee it’s completely different in the game
No, I have never owned a WoW account, the games actual content always came across as sub-par in relation to other offerings of the time.
That's cool though, if WotLK was pre-LFG system, my point still remains. People would start off their day in town, get their group or raid, run to the content piece they are doing, and then PvP was over - at least it was if that is what people wanted to be doing. WoW always had enough instanced PvE content to keep people entertained and progressing.
The reason my point remains in tact even if I was wrong about LFG being in place or not is because even on PvP servers WoW allowed you to turn off PvP and still play the bulk of the game.
Ashes doesn't have this - and as I am sure you will be aware I have been arguing that it needs it for years.
An interesting point about WoW back then (I only know this from talking so someone that worked on Blizzards server infrustructure for the game) is that PvP servers had lower population caps than PvE servers. Make of that what you will - I just thought it worth mentioning.
I don't watch streamers - if I post my thoughts on how useless I find them just in general as human beings, my forum account will be banned.
No, WOTLK did not have LFG, and you couldn’t turn off PvP either. If you made your character on a PvP server there was zero options to turn it off. You could die anywhere and anytime even in major cities, you just had guards and it was safer only due to the guards but you could still get ganked so I don’t know where ya getting that information from
You had to build groups up or join guilds and work your way up to get into the big hardcore raids, this was inclusive of the Arena, you had to make a 3v3 or 5v5 team charter and only the x amount of players in your signed up team could play the Arena with you, so if any of them weren’t on you could not participate in the Arena, which was more time spent in the open world. Also, a warlock could only summon if 2 other players were there to press it and had soulshards, so best case was 1-2 out of your full party were summoned or just ran there if no SS so the majority had to run there on foot
Please do not compare retail to OG WOTLK, there’s a reason it was the best expansion and had it all, there was so much player interaction but you seem to be arguing something you have absolutely no clue on (or just summarising some facts from more recent expansions, but either way its wrong)
Also, no PvP servers were massively populated including QUE times to even enter the server and the PvE servers weren’t even close to the population of PvP servers LOL
Have you even participated in this Alpha?
EDIT: Example of 3v3 customizable Arena Team Charter
Example of PvP and PvE server populations
No on PvP servers you are not able to unflag. You are always able to be attacked. PvE servers your able to unflag but it takes a bit and if you are attacked or attack someone else it stops the process.
If you re-read my two posts on this matter, you will (hopefully) see that I am talking about entering instances.
Have you played this game at all?
Wtf entering instances? You had to travel to it? Then it becomes an instance, the entire trip from wherever you were wasn’t it was open world?
What you say about wrath is at best stretching the truth.
What rep did you need for pve/pvp? From my remembrance you needed SoH for shoulder and one other for your helm. Both of these took a week at max to get. Also lfg dungeon finder came in 3.3 during the ICC dungeons. Wows success in wrath had little to do with it's terrible content and more to do with the cultural phenomenon that it was. For pve naxx, togc and ICC were terrible raids. For pvp season 5, 6, and 7 were faceroll dk seasons and season 8 was SM and DBW. There's a reason wrath players were referred to as wraith babies.
Your obfuscation of information should lead people to take your opinions with a grain of salt.
I completely agree no MMO should be spent in major cities just looking for group, that’s completely destroyed the MMO feeling and social interaction, you couldn’t pug ICC or you wouldn’t go anywhere, it took some mechanics to get passed so saying it “terrible content” is a bit rough considering the numbers were there, dungeons were fun and for the Arena you clearly forgot spell cleave, lsd, tsg, wld… they took away double healer later on and made it only one healer per team comp which was lovely
I disagree that the ICC raids were terrible,
I started in Vanilla, I remember other than TBC that WOTLK was an amazing expansion. Im yet to understand why AoC can’t take the best aspects of other mmo’s and put it together in there game? I also can’t believe you said Naxx was a terrible raid 🤦🏻♂️
Have you played this Alpha? Have you gotten to max level and actually experienced anything yet? Most of the dungeons is literally sitting in a corner and afk damaging. Have you any experience in ow PvP other than getting corrupted or versing mass hordes of groups?
You’re very quick to undermine my points but give back zero solutions or ideas?
I'm not sure what it is you don't get about this. You are the one that is saying WoW was great at this time. I am simply pointing out the major difference between WoW then and Ashes - the fact that the bulk of the game was not subject to PvP, even on PvP servers.
I want to add to the above; I have been arguing on these forums for years (almost 7 years in total) that Ashes needs instanced PvE content that is located away from cities and such. Instances that you need to run to the bottom of an open world dungeon in order to enter, for example.
Many people - you included - have argued against me when I make these suggestions. Fact is though, they are exactly what this game needs.
Please define for the discussion what lfg means as the communication has dipped to the point where it is difficult to understand what you are talking about.
Naxx 25 was a a terrible raids. Outside of immortal/undying it was a total chore to get people to show up once they had GT and kt weapons. The sentiment from the guilds i played in was that it was a boring easy rehash. ICC was panned for the last 8 months (it was around for something like 14) when it was current content. As for arena please look up the percentage of dks that hit glad in s5, s6, and s7. If I remember correctly it was over 50% of glads were dk in s5.
I have leveled 4 toons to max levels across the two phases. You are complaining about fight size in an area of the world intended for 1-2k players max. The servers currently have over 6k. The crafting and resource acquisition system is not done. The nodes themselves are samey outside of of 1-2 building differenced. There are no relics, lawless areas are tiny or not worth going to, no unique resources, no guild objectives, etc. All of these things effect the amount of people in areas and what they are doing.
Ashes pvp structure is based off eve. You are complaining that there isnt pvp in high sec. The only solution to your "points" is to wait for the game to be developed. Come back in a year and see where it's at.
Yeah I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying you can turn off PvP on PvP servers. but you you were saying you could play the majority of the game without PvPing.
OWPvP is unbalanced and one sided, it can stay in WoW.
PvP wasn't a focus for WoW so pretending that WoW is peak PvP anything is short sighted.
Saying I don't like PvP instances because WoW is like saying I don't like story telling because WoW. It wasn't trying to be the best it was trying to have something.