Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
People are looking for thrilling experiences in a game, WoW is just there as a popular really well made and safe game that can receive addons. Classic WoW hardcore is like a thermometer showing what is going on within the community beyond the corporate burecrauts eyes, later on Blizzard wrote in the code a hardcore flag and possibly we will have hardcore servers
Ashes could have permadeath, it doesn't have to be with the main character, it could be maybe with hireable NPCs, they would have lots of limitations tough. Maybe you could hire npc mercenaries, fully control them and if they die, they die... some game have playable companions like that
Yeah the Hardcore wow stuff he is refering to, means you are finished when you die and need to start over with a new level one.
I think you just explained to me why I have never found watching game streaming enjoyable.
I look forward to seeing how and what our players will create from a grassroots origin, and how we (the community team and devs) can interact with those creations
But for Ashes this system is basically as unfeasible as a full loot option on player death.
Have you never played any hardcore?
Even a single player game if it's hardcore or roguelike, it is a thrill
Streamers stream it because they know it is fun, if it was boring nobody would stream
Streamers constantly admit that streaming grinds is exausting and boring for them and for the viewers
Hardcore is top quality stuff and fun, even in single player games is fun
In AoC, hardcore would be feasible for the hired NPCs, specially if you can upgrade these companions and play with them. Also, who knows, in the future a hardcore server could be a thing. In hardcore servers most people have a work alt making gold and the pvp alt that will always die horribly
That's the reality of things, in the past only a few people considered having a more meaninful experience in a game, these people were seen as outcasts in their own niche
Dying in PvP is fine, but I wonder how Blizzard will deal with the terrifying and scary PvE griefing
The same thing can happen to Ashes of Creation, people will ask for a more meaninful experience and PvE griefing will stand in it's way, this is very serious
WoW by its design is a meaningless game - even as far as gaming goes.
Player action has no meaning, player interaction has no meaning.
In Ashes, with no dungeon finder, player interaction is already more meaningful than everything in WoW combined. On top of that, players can meaningfully alter the game world.
People playing Ashes are not going to be asking for a more meaningful gaming experience.
I can see myself hopping into one of them once in a while just for the sheer thrill.
It only adds to the game, unlike PvE servers that would strip parts of it.
It adds churn. Churn meaning a massive sink in the form of death. This sink brings with it the risk vs reward meaning many people have gotten numb to over the years with the standard wow formula. Hc wow cant really get old because it's going to eventually reset your progress. You can always be progressing in it. If you mess up you can try something different.
Comparing it to ashes of creations system, they both are designed to create this churn. Now obviously there are major differences between the two. In hc wow you lose everything when you die, in ashes you lose a significant amount of progress. In hc wow there is no economy until you hit lvl 60 by necessity. In aoc it's obviously from level 1.
I still think that the comparison is valid and a closer representation in modern gaming of the potential churn has for games.
Are they gamers? Sure, but they breadth of experience is so limited is like asking a child if Avatar the last airbender is a good movie when they only saw that movie in their entire life.
HC brings nothing to the table, except more min maxing and knowing every little tiny detail. The game is the same, still dull, still boring.
To the OP's point, what it tells us is that yes high stakes situations are exciting. And low stakes is more boring. Permadeath is not something I'd want in games, but higher stakes, even just medium stakes, more risk vs reward etc, there's a market for it. And it makes games a lot more fun to play and to watch.