Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III 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 testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III 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.
Can we just get rid of boss/monster drops altogether?
Xeeg
Member, Alpha Two
The way it is right now, players can just mob/boss grind all the way to max level and never even think about crafting. Crafting is mostly a noob trap time waster.
The only way I can see this game working is if they completely stopped all monster/boss drops and only dropped mats. Trying to grind to max level in starter/novice gear will become such a slog that people will actually be incentivized to stop the leveling grind at some point (high teens?) and instead work on getting the professions up and so that leveling becomes more time efficient.
As long as we can gear up/level up without wasting time on nodes/professions then those things are just a noob trap to slow down players who dont know any better.
The only way I can see this game working is if they completely stopped all monster/boss drops and only dropped mats. Trying to grind to max level in starter/novice gear will become such a slog that people will actually be incentivized to stop the leveling grind at some point (high teens?) and instead work on getting the professions up and so that leveling becomes more time efficient.
As long as we can gear up/level up without wasting time on nodes/professions then those things are just a noob trap to slow down players who dont know any better.
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Comments
This is how it should be.
Crafting should be optional.
Using crafted gear should be optimal, but not required.
Why put it in even? Its just a noob trap. Anyone who tries crafting just falls behind everyone else and can't compete in pvp. Might as well play a different game.
Q: Are Alpha-2 bosses dropping full items instead of recipes and mats placeholder?
A: The reward tables are very much in a functional state right now. So, I wouldn't look at these reward tables and say oh this is long-term intended. This is for A2 purposes. However, it is going to be a combination of both. You're going to have full loot drops that are going to occur with world bosses. That is an expectation that should be kept. But, in addition, you will have recipes, you will have unique material components that are used to create those items as well; and you'll also have the ability to deconstruct those items to recoup some of those more unique materials to potentially create more.[13] – Steven Sharif
That is an issue with where crafting is at right now - that is what needs to be fixed.
Low level crafting needs to be simple - add that complexity in later. The problem Ashes has now is that they are trying to have nearly end game level complexity with crafting on low level stuff. Low level stuff results in low level benefits, and so should also require low level effort.
I agree with this. I had one of my friends join this week and one of his biggest complaints is that the game is far from beginner friendly. He doesn’t want the game to be “easier” but easier to follow. We need people to feel engaged and like they are progressing in the game. If they want the game to be more about crafting we need to be able to craft the gear for our level. The way the game is now you will be level 20 before you find enough copper to craft even a full set of novice gear. I think this issue is also exacerbated by the fact you have to wait for the node to level up to even try to craft high level gear.
Yeah, I think it would add more interdependence between levellers and crafters. Make it a social game again!
No, it would add resentment.
Interaction between those fighting and those making should be voluntary, not manditory. People should want to seek out a crafter because they found a rare item they can have made in to something special, or they have saved up enough coin to purchase a specific upgrade - not because they are still using gear that is 8 levels below them with no real hope of finding upgrades any other way.
All of those "wouldn't it be great if MMORPG's were like this again" things need to be done in a way where players feel like they are chosing to do that, not in ways where they feel they are being forced to do that.
If instead the leveling is by exploring/questing/node commissions - you will be able to gather materials for crafting as you level up. Just on your way to complete a quest you will find some materials that you can just spend 20 seconds to collect.
This will allow to keep up with your profession together with your character level.
Will also be a lot more fun/you will see bigger part of the world and more zones in each biome/You will experience AOC story from the quests/Will interact with different nodes and people connected to it which will give you broader picture of the world in the server you are at so you can choose what suits you best
Also this will give advantage to smaller groups (like 8 man) over big raids (40+ man) since they materials the groups find trough their journey will be split among all party members. Which will be great since the average players wont be able to form that big raid groups, they will be with smaller group of friends and this will allow them to be competitive which will greatly increase the fun they have.
And there are enough places for raid groups to shine. Like world bosses, or dungeons/ Node/guild wars/sieges and ect will all be for large scale pvp
another problem at the moment is that the server is too crowded, which means that the total mats are split among too many players, making leveling professions harder.
Hard disagree. But we're not going to change each other's minds, so no point in prolonging everybody's agony.
We probably won't change each other's mind, but I want to be clear on what you are saying.
My take is that you think players being forced to use player crafters for every gear upgrade for the entirety of the game will make the game more social.
This implies that you consider purely transactional interactions to be social.
My opinion is that if you want a game to be more social, you should decrease transactional interactions and increase social interactions.
No.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
I am in the guildless Guild so to say, lol. But i won't give up. I will find my fitting Guild "one Day".