Hey, hope you guys liked the video! If you want to check out the VOD it's archived from my Twitch stream, here on UA-cam under my "Live" tab! ua-cam.com/video/nFTb9dt8KMg/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Esfand
Yea, right now this is mostly pve content. Wait until more pvp oriented systems are implemented including the nodes. That's where the real content is supposed to be. If the node system fails, they might as well stop developing the game.
I like a challenge, and actually using my head instead of putting the game on autopilot and watching a youtube video. When everything is already known and spoon fed, getting your hand held all the time is boring. People want the dopamine instantly, its sad. The potential in this game is legendary. Imagine if everyone just got muscles without working out or putting the work in. What a world we live in. Just stop pointless complaining. Every complaint needs a reason, not just blatant hate.
@@ItsYent hmmmm an alpha has flaws and doesn't have a long term effect in gaming you dont say lol its an alpha server testing and this guy wants content smh its true ppl didn't know what they were paying for in the alpha this game is years out from release
@@BackPacMan10 the flaws im talking about are flaws in design philosophy. Didn’t know I had spell that out when the rest of my paragraph explained that
Thank you for sharing a level headed take. I think the number one thing people need to understand is this is not a game in early access, and it’s not even in beta. This game is in an *alpha* state and the developers could not have been clearer in setting expectations. It still needs time to bake and they are actively working on improving it, just now with the addition of actual player feedback now that they feel it’s in enough of a ready-state to handle players. It’s also an MMO, which takes longer to develop than games in other genres, and the team making it was much smaller for over half its development. Do agree on the graphics not being “bad” but maybe seeming too generic with nothing in the style that makes it identifiable as AoC. I think people seem to largely be enjoying themselves playing a game in alpha, which is a good sign, and if you know anything about the road map and gameplay systems they’re aiming for I believe this game has potential. But yes it needs 2-3 more years minimum to flesh itself out, and the devs absolutely have not communicated in any way that they think otherwise. This is not a finished game, the devs know it, don’t be mad at it being not a finished game, or you just out yourself as an ignoramus.
Do devs need to tell players what a alpha is? Do players think that just because they paid to be alpha/beta testers that the game is suppose to be complete? Companies are better off just spending the money to get QA testers to test their game, the average joe shouldn't be testers if they don't know what they're suppose to do.
@@ryuno2097 From a business standpoint, why would Intrepid Studios pay for teams of testers when they have thousands of people so hungry and eager to experience their game that they’re willing to pay Intrepid to test it themselves. Of course they’re going to take the opportunity. And so that involves ensuring player expectations are set, and that they understand what they’re buying into. In my opinion they could not have been clearer about the situation, yet we have people whining anyway about it not being a finished game
@@ryuno2097they clearly stated that they are selling keys both to have more testers as player counts drop throughout the alpha as well as to help fund the game dev.
I was not excited at all about AoC, but this alpha showed me how far they have come, listening to the community and constantly updating stuff, if you look at footage 1 or 2 years ago, it looks disappointing but this update looks absolutely insane, imagine in 2 or 3 more years of constant patching where AoC could get.
how far they have come?? they been in devolpment for 10 years plus and its completely scuffed. TL wasnt in developement for 15 years it was 2011 to 2016 it came to the east in 2022 and its smooth af but because u have to go totally out of your way to p2w none of these sit on their ass streamers play it they play fucking shit show ashes for 88 years
For a game that needs group communication it heavily needs an LFG UI. Currently the best way to level up is grinding mobs, and it's difficult for solo players to level up when almost everyone ignores global chat. I suggest the GW2 style LFG on a regional bases. If you aren't on that region. you can't see what groups are posted for LFG It's basically a UI that creates an ad for people who want to group. For a group based game, it doesn't even have an Add Friend feature so most of the people we meet during groups just vanishes.
@@perilousintent2936 This stuff will likely come in phase 3 of Alpha 2. Server stability is priority number 1 this is why Steven was stressing for months to not treat this as a completed game.
Yeah im giving them a pass rn since while it has been 8 years, they also didnt have a full team. They also had to gather this team together during COVID, and swapped engines from UE4 to UE5 while working remote. I dont think where they are at right now is too crazy
What's crazy is the fact that they wanted to make such a huge scope MMORPG WITHOUT a team. Even crazier that people thought it's possible in less than a decade or more for them to do so. They now have had a big team since a few years already and the game still gives a scam feel, so my guess would be it'll either come out in like 5+ years if everything goes smoothly, or will forever be in development and never finished Star Citizen style.
u say that because u are very new in the AoC world. First of all, they started with UE3, then they said that UE4 would speed up the development, and recently they changed to UE5. The issue is not that they are talking so long for such a simple game, which indeed isnt good, the issue is the permanent delays.
@@seveneternal7988 Pretty sure it was always UE4. At least from what I remember. There was a ton of work that they had to do in order to get the engine up and running to support an MMO since few at the time ever used Unreal for an MMO. That is also why for the first 2 years there was little progress made that was tangible.
@DoctorStrange01 Steven is the one with the big ideas. Also, it is possible in a decade. If you start day 1 with 300 employees and everyone knows what they're doing lmao. First several years of this was literally a handful of devs.
Eight years of development is significant, but it’s important to consider that the team was initially very very small just 15 to 20 people. That’s quite different from eight years of development with a team of over 200! 😊
Small teams are much more efficient in development. When WoW was developed in 6 years, the development team was 20-30 people. The rest of the team consisted of quest designers, level designers, artists, sound designers and project managers, who all contributed to the development but were not classic programmers. This number always grows as soon as the alpha is finished; the entire team was 60-70 people at release.
Nah, it was small for the first year. They have way more devs then Blizzard did when they made WoW. WoW and Burning Crusade only took 7 years together to make. AoC is going to take at min 11 years.
What I'm missing in all the MMOs except WoW and ESO I played in the last 18 years is the exploration aspect. I'm sick of games with big maps/worlds which don't reward exploration.
Finally someone who doesn't need to have a hot take. Ashes needs a lot of work but what they have now is already a great start. Thank you for staying true to yourself Esfand
That quest confused me too not going to lie. They need to rework that quest specifically or just make the marking on where to go more clear, I had to get help from a friend they explained what I had to do over voice then I was good to go, but it should be easy and intuitive.
I think this is the MMO I have been waiting for. I have been searching for the Everquest itch since I stopped playing in 2004. Slower leveling, open and dangerous world, class dependency. I'm in.
@CestPasFaux-kt9zqI just looked it up, probably not a bad game, $50 doesn’t sound too bad, but people saying ashes looks like an mmo from 2008, god damn look at this game 😂
To add, people are judging this game as if it's in an open beta state, to released state. We've got 4 yrs before we see the visual upgrades, systems fleshed out, etc. Right now, for what it is, it's great for an ALPHA
@@nikierien9511 AoC wasn't even a studio when they started. People don't take into consideration how much time and effort it takes to get a well oiled game dev machine up and running, and how much of a benefit it is to have a long time studio make something. Think of FromSoft, they have been honing their skill and efficiency in developing souls-like games, all to culminate in arguably the most grand game ever made(Elden Ring).
@@facundogotmand8368most big games are development phase for 10-20 years dawg 😐 8 years is nothing considering they also had to move to a newer engine with all the shit they already had implemented in the older version
People throw around the word "scam" too casually. The devs are very honest and open about the development and quality of the game at all states for the past several years. There is no decieit here, its a bad value if you are treating it like a product but its not that, its a gamble, an investment that you should only make if you are well informed.
No smart scammer would have a persistent Alpha until launch where they show you every. single. little. update they do. Literally the exact opposite of what you do if you're trying to scam. Star Citizen isn't a scam either, it's a P2W shitbox with a lead designer who doesn't give a single concern to scope creep. Steven at least has had a very consistent and relatively complete vision of the game from the getgo.
@@PherPhur I mean you just gotta look at The day before or whatever that scam was called 😂 I saw ONE trailer and told people it's a scam and no one believed me. And the more I saw of the game the more obvious the scam became. Ashes is nothing like this. Having played the alpha myself, it really already feels great to play and I'm having a lot of fun playing with random people you can just sit down with and chat. It's definitely not a game you rush through like most mmos nowadays. Imo the area that needs the most work in this game right now is the overall map layout. I've been getting lost a lot and the map needs a bit more content, which I'm hoping will just be added later
lol I said Madden every week every year and I didn’t realize it until watching it again while reading comments… maybe the development makes it feel like it was done it a week lol
Thanks for the video :) I agree that combat is feeling like it is in a very good place. I cleric main had a blast healing an eight-man group with 3-star mobs. For me everything else is just a basic and at a starting point. I think 2027 is the earliest we see a release and even then it might not be with all of the content originally planned.
By the numbers I think this game is already achieving things that many other games could not even think of, like selling alpha2 access for $100+ or selling cosmetics so many years before release.
do you understand this is not a megacorporation making this game? they are doing what they can do get a little bit of extra cash to use for production of what can become an amazing game.
@@verycoolguy69the issue with this is that there are other games that are not made by megacorperations that I can not spend money on even if I tried. What is the excuse for that
The reality is, i dont think i could tell the difference between a pubg character model, a dayz character model and an ashes of creation human. the world is really cool, but their character models are too generic and it gives me unreal engine store asset store vibes.
people acting like these alphas arent for a stress test literally looking at the website they said the first wave is to test the servers wave 2 is more on game mechanics etc
I feel like two of the main problems comes from setting high expectations when Steven first talked about AoC and a result of Steven announcing that he is making a mmorpg 8 years ago out of the blue, as its only been 2-3 years since he had started forming a studio and able to start any form of real production. I believe AoC as open development and Alpha would be received a lot differently if he announced the game with a development team, early iterations with realistic expectations. This is also the primary reason why studios don't do open development & don't lift NDA until a game is at least feature complete and has the fundamental systems in place. Moral of the story: Don't announce open development too soon & set unrealistic expectations when talking about their end-goals, especially when you don't have the means to do so because it will just leave to disappointment for most people who don't follow the development process religiously. I understand this Alpha was primarily focused on server stability and combat but I really wished Intrepid had used their most recent build or fleshed out the Alpha more with a variety of different content, so people can see it from a more holistic view of what they currently have instead of grinding the same 4 mobs in the same spot because its not a good showing for the average gamer (even in a Alpha state)
i fully agree with the art style comment, it seems vaguely generic, like it reminds me of something I've played but idk what. doesn't stand out with its own identity, i also don't feel immersed very much in the world idk
im sure it will get better with more races and updates, right now no one has dope looking gear, you cant see the metropolises being build in image of the highest contributing race, its bare bones, as ofc its a alpha
@@isaac15752 more races and "dope" looking gear doesn't fix the broader problem of identity or style in the art. AoC has no soul, no identity in their trees, their towns, the grass, the sky, etc.
@@poisonated7467 you forgor that it does, sets give lore of the game, it gives your and other ppls characters, characteristics and looks, the identity graphically speaking is just realism, im not sure what else you want from them, thats UE limitations
@@isaac15752 Those things stem from the identity, they dont stem from each other. As for realism being the identity they're going for, Im not sure. If they are, its a poor choice by the art director. Lore should come first 100%, btw. And UE limitations, thats funny.
The sandbox aspect of it is what sells me to it. It's going to be A LOT of player interaction, including pvp and a ton of drama over limited ressources. Can't wait to see where they go with it, we haven't had a game that focused on that aspect of MMO gaming in decades.
Sandbox MMOs dont really succeed now though. Thats the issue. They are making a game for a playerbase that simply no longer exists. I doubt the studio can survive on just a few thousand subs.
Bro how tf is everyone shitting on the graphics? Everytime someone plays or sees it they say, "The graphics aren't good" bros, the graphics are way better than the two most popular mmo's. Stop comparing it to Cyberpunk ultra raytracing ran on top tier comps. For MMO's, the graphics are great.
@@zletdosent look way worse , not as good sure but as someone who played throne that it felt lifeless and all the colors felt muted but that game is finished after 12 years and using a method that renders more stuff on pc than server to get good performance that still have issues but also gets u a game filled to the brim with bots and especially hackers
The character models do not currently feel like they match the environmental assets. We are allegedly getting characters overhauled in phase 2 though so let’s hope that works out
Just a point to make, the reason he didn't remember the combat all that much from last time is because it was BAD, they heard the community and took a full year to overhaul the combat system, it's also why they fell behind on certain goals. That kind of effort is often unheard of, so hats of to them. If they put in that effort and are willing to overhaul systems that are just not working, I foresee this being a great gaming experience in 2 years time. (they say 1 year, but more realistic to say 2 or 3)
They have scrapped and redone aspects of this game several times now. The visuals have gone from having a relatively distinct style to less of one with each time they overhauled the graphics. I would like to see them go back and rehaul the shading or something, cause right now it just looks like a generic realistic UE game. I thought that before others said it, so I know it's a valid statement
You should just wait and play when it comes out. I got my key through a giveaway so I will continue to test and enjoy myself like last weekend, the game is years away but I can tell you I had fun in a buggy alpha which I expected it to be buggy, the only time I didn’t get to play was during the ddos attack Sunday which hopefully the devs get better at dealing with attacks like that. The communication from the devs during all that was good and they were sending out updates every couple hours on discord to let us know what was going on with the ddos.
Good eyes. There really isn't much different. For what IS different, it's nice and in alpha and needs tweaking. As for the rest(vast majority), it isn't different than your modern MMORPG. Still giving the player objectives, still spoiling the entire map and its topology and POIs, giving away information on basically anything you can mouse over. There's 0 exploration in this game, just like every modern MMO. It's the biggest thing thats been missing for 20+ years.
Many people are comparing the Ashes A2 with WoW, which also had: >5 years dev time >Easier time making stuff, since many things like models, textures etc. were way more simple back then to create, not to mention those very same "graphics" >A already-existing and planned out story and base game which they built WoW off of, aka the Warcraft series And then the 20 years worth of updates, testing, feedback, developer love and money it's had. It's like comparing a baby and a grownup in NBA, it just doesn't compare at all.
Uh, sorry, but it wasn't easier back then, since the technique and tools were much worse so it was a hell lot of effort to build something big and use all kind of tricks to make it look acceptable, especially when focussing on, that everyone should be able to play it (and guess what: majority of people don't have new gamer PCs, not even average ones).
Thank you for a good video! Listening to lots of creators I like critiquing this game like it's a full release or it's been in development for so long it should be a full release has been driving me crazy. There is a lot to critique atm, but at least make it constructive! Hope to see more coverage from you on this game!
As an addendum, there's a sort of 'thing' that happens in software development where it looks like nothing is getting done, and then in a relatively short amount of time, it appears that the software (or game in this instance) comes out of no where. A lot of time was being spent on infrastructure and so there wasn't anything to show, so to speak. I'm only saying this because people might be inclined to think things like the fact that it has been several years in development already and this is all we have. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it makes you want to think that development is linear, and it really isn't.
There are so many haters surrounding this game, it's crazy. Some people really just wake up and say to themselves "no, nothing will be acceptable today".
Were just a bunch of 30 year old boys in desperate need for that next MMO feeling. That playing WoW first time feeling. I don't think it's gonna happen 😢
Id say 5 years at the least. It took them 8 years to get to this. Consider 3 more years to get all the content they want and another 2 to polish it. They could release without doing any polishing but it will flop harder than Bless. It took BDO 5 years to be developed, with some of that development being them creating a complete engine from scratch.
I was only able to play AoC for a few hours yesterday. Something is going on with the servers and website to day. Anyway, when I did log on and entered the game. The good news. The responsiveness of the spells and combat were very smooth. Almost no lag. Better than most released MMOs. Some of the keyboard button choices and targeting/interacting need some polish. Though, the AoC seems to be stable in many ways.
@@TheNichq I have been logging on AoC every weekend of Alpha 2. The first weekend was messy. Though, the subsequent weekends have been solid on server stability. Easy to log in, with little lag and good response time.
That dude at the 5:39 mark would have not even been able to log into EQ. People are so dang spoiled nowadays wanting their little hands held every step of the way. Sad and pathetic.
Classic WoW took 4-5 years from the CONCEPT stage to release. A lot of ideas were taken straight from EQ and made less punishing to reduce friction. Ashes was announced 8 years ago and its still an alpha. It's using Unreal which should make development faster since they're not working on their own in house engine. I have no faith in western made MMORPGs anymore, too much focus on MTX and maximizing profit instead of building a world people want to live in not just play a game.
I think something as simple as adding a visual shader will go a long way. Bring out more contrast and saturation will help with that "generic look." Also filling out the world more. I imagine they are still working on assets, but more building variety and adding more foliage to the world will also help.
That Soda clip was hilarious, and I think that's the outcome of things like Questie just spoon feeding everything to players so much that they've lost the ability to stop and think, contributing to the term Brainrot. I felt lost as well at first, but changing gears, thinking about where did I get that quest from, what does the vague wording potentially relate to, it actually caused some of the dead brain cells to come back to life. Servers have just been taken down due to DDoS though, so back to the brainrot den til next weekend.
I mean the objective was clearly communicated, but it also took me a bit to realize what it wanted when I got it. You had to go to a node, that was leveled up, to at bare minimum the crossroad stage. For this to make sense, you NEED to know how the nodes work. In-game, they're not explained. It's kind of like the Teldrassil run in WoW.
People are really negative these days was actually a joy to watch your video its refreshing to see you give the game a chance as another MMORPG enjoyer i can only hope we can get a really good game to play in the future even if its not this one.
While it is in Alpha and i understand there is a lot still work on I am disappointed in a lot of aspects from the three years that have passed. Proformance is probably the biggest issues in Alpha 1 I ran the game with no issue but now even with fixes they recommend it runs significantly worse. While combat does seem a lot better the world is really lacking and after three years I expected much much more especially when the time table has been delayed by three years at this point. 8 years is the max average for a MMORPG and to still be in alpha at this point is worrying. I hope the other phases of alpha 2 really flesh the game out.
The main focus of this alpha test is performance, stability & scalability. Disappointment is inevitable because your expectations are not in line with what was promised from this test.
lol! Soda just having an existential crisis "Not even! Not even!". Love it. I think he is haming it up yeah...but he does sounds somewhat frustrated. EDIT- DAMN! We just get some straight Esfand ethics at 9:30....Based. Love it. You absolutely can critique nicely I agree. Also... absolutely "objective" takes are becoming even more rare....and they weren't exactly common before. You know you're in for an actual objective take...when they tell you their biases or they are readily apparent lol. I loved hearing this Esfand. Keep it up brotha. Hope you're doing well and wish you success.
Yes it needs a lot of work and that is fine, I loved the combat, I had a lot of fun and I just can't wait to be next week-end and play again. No other game gives me that feeling nowadays...
The game doesn't have an identity. Probably because they are building the game up from systems first, which is the way to go because that's where the content is. So hopefully, once the lore takes the stage it will reflect visually on the game, probably the UI. FF is very distinct the moment you get into the character creator. The audio and the visuals of the game are unmistakable. Same with WoW and a bunch of others like GW2 (especially GW2 because of it's water color artstyle). I'm hoping to see that come to life through some artwork that just says this is Ashes of Creation. A themed, visually appealing UI. Because as is, it is rough. The font isn't nice, the borders look old and dated. A lot of plain colors, few textures, nothing that feels themed to what I'd think of if I hear "Ashes of Creation". It just feels very cheap. But I'm fairly sure they will touch that up, I do vaguely recall hearing it's a placeholder. Functionally, it's there. Could use a bit more from what I saw. On a positive note, mechanically, it's very cool and it can become something big. A lot of people would love a fun, solid sandbox MMO with that many features in this setting. All the things you ever wanted, housing, personal boats and maritime combat, dynamic world, governance systems with perks tied to the world content and terrain generation, large scale open world PvP, etc, etc. If anything says AoC right now it's the all in one MMO (but remains to be seen once launched). I think once it gets closer to launch, it will attract much more attention. A lot of people still don't know about AoC. It also does look good, but more in a - this is a game made on UE5 and we can make some cool looking stuff on it so have a look at this. Which is fine, it's a good looking game, but there is no character in the art style, to me at least. Nothing that pops out as uniquely appealing. I have some bits where I thought, okay, that looks meh, including interior lighting where it was just shades of badly mixed grey all over. If it becomes what it claims to become, it will be a hell of a fun experience!
NGL, i opened this video thinking this was just another shit take. Someone bashing on the game as if this is a released game. Was VERY happy to see a balanced opinion with worried and concerns about the future and not what your looking at right now. thank you for the breath of fresh air.
I've been waiting for an MMO where you actually figure stuff out and have a higher chance of having a unique experience to other players. Ever since WoW I just couldn't get engaged, it was like Paint by numbers MMO where everything was like you said on a railroad track. This is promising.
I was also lightly frustrated mapping and figuring out what to do. Although I blame mostly myself since I’d rather just mob grind than read quests. Been searching for a cotton farm for two days; also can’t find grem carcass for skinning.
Sometimes the game is designed to be figured out together. You learn where the best cotton farm is and someone else figures out where X thing is on the map(micro exploration) and then you share(or keep that juicy knowledge to yourself). It's a more unique, fun experience.
I know not everyone feels the same especially zoomers but although I think the dynamic lighting and rainbows and stuff are cool, I think what makes MMORPGs fun is the amount of content, and the performance/optimization enabling organic social events to occur. My concern with this game is that the cool looking world and fancy graphics and realtime lighting and stuff is going to make them have to massively reduce the amount of zones/content they can launch with, and the system they want with the nodes and whatever will be a lagfest and how to succeed will deviate very far from what they imagined. I also think MMOs are just never going to recapture the feeling of our first MMO until/unless some new technology happens thats comparable to ....the internet. Maybe when we can convincingly lucid dream into a game like an isekai anime. Or procedurally generated content that's indistinguishable from human-made.
If you go into your appdata local folder and find the ini file and disable motion blur the graphics literally become 4x better. It’s insane. Just alpha things I will say reviewing the game at level 5 is like reviewing classic WoW as a level 3 Paladin haha every class becomes insane at level 12
My whole thing is does the gameplay feel better then b4 and was it fun. Most people have said both those things. They can improve the extras stuff. Ui can be improved easily. I think what they should do is between levels like 1-10 should give you markers to help new players than take them away. They want the game not to have them but until you know what you are kinda doing it can be very confusing. Or they could set up a setting to turn them on or off.
combat is fun so far and yea same thing i said in the discord , guide the player well at the starting zone so when they are out they know what to do , i was so frustrated when i started having no idea what to do and the ui/text being too small with a bad font to read anything without hurting my eyes
The whole point of not having markers is lost if you give them before 10. The game is designed to be played without those markers. It already has enough markers and spoilers.
@poisonated7467 the problem is most people can't just play the game all day to figure everything out. Alot of people have a few hours of gaming with there friends a night if that. So when they load into this game and that few hours is just trying to figure out wtf they need to do they are either going to look it up giving them a spoiler or just not play the game cuz they don't have the time to waste on random shit when every mmo is about end game anyways.
@@34KIN Learning, exploring and having that adventure IS PLAYING THE GAME. If you don't like the challenge of learning and exploring, dying, etc. with other people, then the game isn't for you. You can have fun regardless of how much time youre spending. I'd rather spend an hour in a game similar to this than 8 in one that spoils every step of the way.
alot of potential here, esp looking forward to the node systems and such, alot of streamer andys dont really get that beyond reacting to the starting area, this game is more like eve online than world of warcraft, what starting zone is relevent in eve? good level headed takes esfand
Node system doesnt even work right now lol. Hell, most of the main systems of the game dont even work. They literally showed a character creator 2 years ago, and its STILL not in the game. All of those dev vids they have released have been nothing but "stuff that will maybe come to the game at some point". Not stuff that is actually in the game.
If Ashes figures out that addiction. That feeling that when you log out? You can't wait until you play it again. We had that with World Of Warcraft. (I am talking about how we felt in 2004.) That's our problem. That game is just mixed in somehow with our DNA. And it's like the bar we set in our minds. And that's really not fair for us to do that. We are all guilty of that. Ashes is on the right path. We gotta keep giving them feedback.
Reminder to alpha testers to do actual bug reporting by typing /bug if they encounter a bug. The whole purpose of an alpha is to break the game if you want the game to improve
seems promising, the graphics do need work but to be fair, these are all probably placeholder assets since its alpha, we prob won't get a vibe of the art style in-game until beta if i had to guess.
This isn't inspired by wow. It's inspired by lineage2. As a lineage player who could never get into wow I haven't been this happy playing a game since 2008
The issue is that literally no one wants to play a Lineage2 style game now. They are building a game that is going to cap out with a few thousand players max. That is not sustainable.
@@TheNichq literally noone is not correct considering im personally having the time of my life playing this alpha. and btw the numbers have been extremely good weekend to weekend, we arnt geting player drop offs. if anything, the current player count is going up. i think this is just not for the current wow mmo playerbase. but there is alot of us who quit mmos along time ago, waiting for this
the one problem i feel like its bad with mmo's is that, because of the mmo's takes very long time to make by the end of the production ussualy most of them feels like old and unfinished, cuz by the end it would pass like 10 years and the meta of gaming will be different when u begin the creation, and by later 10 years people might not like your game anymore, so thats why i think its crucial to the mmo's to have stable connection with the fanbase throught of the production, u have to have feedback for every major update, thats why im kinda afraid that riot mmo wouldnt hit like they hope, they used to go dark about their games after the announcment but that work only for their 1 - 4 year project games, but when making mmo if they gonna go dark, they will drop some info after 6 7 years people would have forgoten it
When people say the game looks bad I think they’re talking about the character models. Which they are bad the characters don’t even fit into the environment the way that they’re designed visually.
People need to be reminded what alpha is supposed to be. Items in other peoples alphas are literal white blocks. The game is amazing in alpha. Give it time.
I don't know why . But in a year from now I think soulframe it's gonna be on a better alpha than this game . Ok nevermind I know why it's because Warframe have aloot more money 🤑💰 and more people.
they deved like one 3rd of 18 maps they want done from full release its a long way out and its really early build we looking at 6 years more with there currently time map with no delays
i think what it comes down to is people want something other than wow to play in this genre. the player base is so starved of new and revolutionary. and when something new does arrive and it doesn't meet expectations it sucks really hard.
If combat is the highlight, then there are more problems then we even thought. From what people have said, the combat feels ok BUT it looks like shit. Thats a major issue.
the fixation with graphical fidelity hurts the overall aesthetic since the design is too tailored around realism and it is also difficult to make a world feel cohesive when it has for example hyper detailed armour alongside more simplistic vegetation. Slightly more exaggerated proportions and common design motifs possibly with saturated colours could help with cohesion.
The game looks really promising, I'm especially liking the combat actions and healing animations. Graphics could be better but graphics are NOT what drive good MMO content. If they can really nail down the base building and dynamic world pvp aspects, I think they'll get a substantial player base. I've played every single MMO out there and none of them scratch that itch like classic wow pvp because the character movement is always janky and they don't flesh out the balance between class interactions. Hopefully they can "borrow" from the best examples in the industry - WoW for combat, FF14 for storytelling, GW2 for exploration, etc
GW2 has no exploration, they spoil the world just as much as any other MMO. And FFXIVs storytelling isn't suited for an MMO. Remember, FFXIV is a JRPG first, MMO next.
I feel like in order to make a MMO have enough mass appeal to warrant the budget that an mmo needs, it has to be based on an already established IP. Brand new IP MMOs don’t really work.
Definitely needs a lot of work, however of course it does. It's an MMO being developed by a very small indie studio. I am just gonna chill and wait, it will come out when it's ready (hopefully). I think they are less than 100 people still. It's like saying "this isn't that good" when you take a bite out of a cake that was baked only halfway. Put the cake back in for another 7 minutes, then try it. It will be much better. I like cake.
Small teams are much more efficient in development. When WoW was developed in 6 years, the development team was 20-30 people. The rest of the team consisted of quest designers, level designers, artists, sound designers and project managers, who all contributed to the development but were not classic programmers. This number always grows as soon as the alpha is finished; the entire team was 60-70 people at release.
I wasnt enjoying the game at all. Couldnt figure out the questing, bobs were bugged, couldnt figure out crafting, didnt know where to go. Until i invited a random bard who saved me, then slowly built a little team and we set off to a higher level zone, grinded for hours while chatting on discord and having a great time trading drops with eachother. That was fun.
that is what MMOS miss nowadays, thats why i quit WOW, couldnt handle FF and was disappointed in GW2, it lacks that, the MM part of MMO, to build friendships out of no where, to have fun in groups, you just dont have that nowadays
Many who know nothing about development around MMO games. Wow classic took 7 years to build approximately plus 1 year of Alpha/beta then released in 2004 US. 2005 EU.
Hey, hope you guys liked the video! If you want to check out the VOD it's archived from my Twitch stream, here on UA-cam under my "Live" tab! ua-cam.com/video/nFTb9dt8KMg/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Esfand
Saying an alpha needs work.. is like. no shit. :| who would have thunk it
Yea, right now this is mostly pve content. Wait until more pvp oriented systems are implemented including the nodes. That's where the real content is supposed to be. If the node system fails, they might as well stop developing the game.
It just looks boring tbh idc about graphics
I love chicken! :D
I like a challenge, and actually using my head instead of putting the game on autopilot and watching a youtube video. When everything is already known and spoon fed, getting your hand held all the time is boring. People want the dopamine instantly, its sad. The potential in this game is legendary. Imagine if everyone just got muscles without working out or putting the work in. What a world we live in. Just stop pointless complaining. Every complaint needs a reason, not just blatant hate.
Yes 100%
Proper critique is constructive, hate is destructive
mister mixing metaphors
This game still has many flaws and core ideas to think over because the current state of the game doesn’t have a long term effect in gaming rn
@@ItsYent hmmmm an alpha has flaws and doesn't have a long term effect in gaming you dont say lol its an alpha server testing and this guy wants content smh its true ppl didn't know what they were paying for in the alpha this game is years out from release
@@BackPacMan10 the flaws im talking about are flaws in design philosophy. Didn’t know I had spell that out when the rest of my paragraph explained that
Thank you for sharing a level headed take. I think the number one thing people need to understand is this is not a game in early access, and it’s not even in beta. This game is in an *alpha* state and the developers could not have been clearer in setting expectations. It still needs time to bake and they are actively working on improving it, just now with the addition of actual player feedback now that they feel it’s in enough of a ready-state to handle players. It’s also an MMO, which takes longer to develop than games in other genres, and the team making it was much smaller for over half its development.
Do agree on the graphics not being “bad” but maybe seeming too generic with nothing in the style that makes it identifiable as AoC.
I think people seem to largely be enjoying themselves playing a game in alpha, which is a good sign, and if you know anything about the road map and gameplay systems they’re aiming for I believe this game has potential. But yes it needs 2-3 more years minimum to flesh itself out, and the devs absolutely have not communicated in any way that they think otherwise. This is not a finished game, the devs know it, don’t be mad at it being not a finished game, or you just out yourself as an ignoramus.
Do devs need to tell players what a alpha is? Do players think that just because they paid to be alpha/beta testers that the game is suppose to be complete? Companies are better off just spending the money to get QA testers to test their game, the average joe shouldn't be testers if they don't know what they're suppose to do.
@@ryuno2097 From a business standpoint, why would Intrepid Studios pay for teams of testers when they have thousands of people so hungry and eager to experience their game that they’re willing to pay Intrepid to test it themselves. Of course they’re going to take the opportunity. And so that involves ensuring player expectations are set, and that they understand what they’re buying into. In my opinion they could not have been clearer about the situation, yet we have people whining anyway about it not being a finished game
@@ryuno2097they clearly stated that they are selling keys both to have more testers as player counts drop throughout the alpha as well as to help fund the game dev.
Means it will come out in 10 years plus?
I was not excited at all about AoC, but this alpha showed me how far they have come, listening to the community and constantly updating stuff, if you look at footage 1 or 2 years ago, it looks disappointing but this update looks absolutely insane, imagine in 2 or 3 more years of constant patching where AoC could get.
how far they have come?? they been in devolpment for 10 years plus and its completely scuffed. TL wasnt in developement for 15 years it was 2011 to 2016 it came to the east in 2022 and its smooth af but because u have to go totally out of your way to p2w none of these sit on their ass streamers play it they play fucking shit show ashes for 88 years
For a game that needs group communication it heavily needs an LFG UI. Currently the best way to level up is grinding mobs, and it's difficult for solo players to level up when almost everyone ignores global chat. I suggest the GW2 style LFG on a regional bases. If you aren't on that region. you can't see what groups are posted for LFG It's basically a UI that creates an ad for people who want to group. For a group based game, it doesn't even have an Add Friend feature so most of the people we meet during groups just vanishes.
yeah, AoC really went far in those past 8 years since announcement. At this rate, the game will fully release in only 6+ Years!
@@perilousintent2936 Yeah, if you're looking for LFG, this game is not for you.
@@perilousintent2936 This stuff will likely come in phase 3 of Alpha 2. Server stability is priority number 1 this is why Steven was stressing for months to not treat this as a completed game.
Yeah im giving them a pass rn since while it has been 8 years, they also didnt have a full team. They also had to gather this team together during COVID, and swapped engines from UE4 to UE5 while working remote.
I dont think where they are at right now is too crazy
Yeah these are really fair points that I didn’t bring up on stream
What's crazy is the fact that they wanted to make such a huge scope MMORPG WITHOUT a team. Even crazier that people thought it's possible in less than a decade or more for them to do so. They now have had a big team since a few years already and the game still gives a scam feel, so my guess would be it'll either come out in like 5+ years if everything goes smoothly, or will forever be in development and never finished Star Citizen style.
u say that because u are very new in the AoC world. First of all, they started with UE3, then they said that UE4 would speed up the development, and recently they changed to UE5.
The issue is not that they are talking so long for such a simple game, which indeed isnt good, the issue is the permanent delays.
@@seveneternal7988 Pretty sure it was always UE4. At least from what I remember. There was a ton of work that they had to do in order to get the engine up and running to support an MMO since few at the time ever used Unreal for an MMO. That is also why for the first 2 years there was little progress made that was tangible.
@DoctorStrange01 Steven is the one with the big ideas. Also, it is possible in a decade. If you start day 1 with 300 employees and everyone knows what they're doing lmao. First several years of this was literally a handful of devs.
Eight years of development is significant, but it’s important to consider that the team was initially very very small just 15 to 20 people. That’s quite different from eight years of development with a team of over 200! 😊
Small teams are much more efficient in development. When WoW was developed in 6 years, the development team was 20-30 people.
The rest of the team consisted of quest designers, level designers, artists, sound designers and project managers, who all contributed to the development but were not classic programmers. This number always grows as soon as the alpha is finished; the entire team was 60-70 people at release.
Nah, it was small for the first year. They have way more devs then Blizzard did when they made WoW. WoW and Burning Crusade only took 7 years together to make. AoC is going to take at min 11 years.
What I'm missing in all the MMOs except WoW and ESO I played in the last 18 years is the exploration aspect. I'm sick of games with big maps/worlds which don't reward exploration.
play gw2
Omg. Play L2, best and first real mmorpg.
AoC does that, I found a few treasure maps and packages containing a blue crystal hidden in hard to reach or out of the way places this weekend.
@@xecor4450wanted to comment the exact same thing
there hasn't been exploration reward in wow in like 10 years, I agree with you about eso though, even now eso exploration is rewarding.
Esfand always hits; level-headed, conscientious, honest and critical, compassionate, and fun perspective. Hard balance to strike, but he's got "it"
Finally someone who doesn't need to have a hot take. Ashes needs a lot of work but what they have now is already a great start. Thank you for staying true to yourself Esfand
Soda raging is prob some of the most valuable feedback in less then a minute about how most people will interact with the systems involved :D
Unfortunately.
That quest confused me too not going to lie. They need to rework that quest specifically or just make the marking on where to go more clear, I had to get help from a friend they explained what I had to do over voice then I was good to go, but it should be easy and intuitive.
Looking great Esfand, keep going 🦾🦾
I feel like it is going to take about 5 more years.
HAHA SODA raging is amazing. Also ever seen rainbow in rain system, really cool! Thanks for the video
Thanks for staying level in sharing your opinion. Your feedback approach is exactly what I look for.
I think this is the MMO I have been waiting for. I have been searching for the Everquest itch since I stopped playing in 2004.
Slower leveling, open and dangerous world, class dependency.
I'm in.
@CestPasFaux-kt9zqI just looked it up, probably not a bad game, $50 doesn’t sound too bad, but people saying ashes looks like an mmo from 2008, god damn look at this game 😂
The only thing missing is a sense of adventure and exploration. Game spoils to much of the game loop for the player.
To add, people are judging this game as if it's in an open beta state, to released state. We've got 4 yrs before we see the visual upgrades, systems fleshed out, etc. Right now, for what it is, it's great for an ALPHA
More than 8 years in alpha, and milking money from the testers... I think I saw this movie before.
@@facundogotmand8368 throne and liberty was in development hell, started all the way back from 2011, only took 13 years lol
@@nikierien9511 yea because it went very very bad lol? this is not an arguement lmao.
@@nikierien9511 AoC wasn't even a studio when they started. People don't take into consideration how much time and effort it takes to get a well oiled game dev machine up and running, and how much of a benefit it is to have a long time studio make something.
Think of FromSoft, they have been honing their skill and efficiency in developing souls-like games, all to culminate in arguably the most grand game ever made(Elden Ring).
@@facundogotmand8368most big games are development phase for 10-20 years dawg 😐 8 years is nothing considering they also had to move to a newer engine with all the shit they already had implemented in the older version
People throw around the word "scam" too casually. The devs are very honest and open about the development and quality of the game at all states for the past several years. There is no decieit here, its a bad value if you are treating it like a product but its not that, its a gamble, an investment that you should only make if you are well informed.
No smart scammer would have a persistent Alpha until launch where they show you every. single. little. update they do. Literally the exact opposite of what you do if you're trying to scam.
Star Citizen isn't a scam either, it's a P2W shitbox with a lead designer who doesn't give a single concern to scope creep. Steven at least has had a very consistent and relatively complete vision of the game from the getgo.
@@PherPhur I mean you just gotta look at The day before or whatever that scam was called 😂
I saw ONE trailer and told people it's a scam and no one believed me. And the more I saw of the game the more obvious the scam became.
Ashes is nothing like this. Having played the alpha myself, it really already feels great to play and I'm having a lot of fun playing with random people you can just sit down with and chat.
It's definitely not a game you rush through like most mmos nowadays. Imo the area that needs the most work in this game right now is the overall map layout. I've been getting lost a lot and the map needs a bit more content, which I'm hoping will just be added later
The generic look of this always been my main issue with this project. BTW, this is not a complain about the graphics, but the designs.
I can agree on that. I don’t really see anything that screams “Ashes”. That can be very detrimental for a game
Horse: **Lobotomized**
Esfand: LOOK AT THE RAINBOW
LMAO the over fixation on the rainbow when the horse is stuck in movement is peak glad I didnt pay 250-500$ for this
lol I said Madden every week every year and I didn’t realize it until watching it again while reading comments… maybe the development makes it feel like it was done it a week lol
Thanks for the video :) I agree that combat is feeling like it is in a very good place. I cleric main had a blast healing an eight-man group with 3-star mobs. For me everything else is just a basic and at a starting point. I think 2027 is the earliest we see a release and even then it might not be with all of the content originally planned.
By the numbers I think this game is already achieving things that many other games could not even think of, like selling alpha2 access for $100+ or selling cosmetics so many years before release.
lmao
do you understand this is not a megacorporation making this game? they are doing what they can do get a little bit of extra cash to use for production of what can become an amazing game.
@@verycoolguy69 I understand that.. my comment was not against them. It’s more a way to say that they are a step ahead compared to other mmos.
@@verycoolguy69the issue with this is that there are other games that are not made by megacorperations that I can not spend money on even if I tried. What is the excuse for that
@@cynthiahembree3957 it's only to be part of the testing and development. Not for everyone. no issue. There's no fomo.
Thank you for being honest. I too feel reviewers often polarize games to get more views.
It's Alpha, of course it needs work. Had a great time this weekend. As a kickstarter participant, this was a step in the right direction.
Love this video I would love to see more game opinion videos
The reality is, i dont think i could tell the difference between a pubg character model, a dayz character model and an ashes of creation human. the world is really cool, but their character models are too generic and it gives me unreal engine store asset store vibes.
people acting like these alphas arent for a stress test literally looking at the website they said the first wave is to test the servers wave 2 is more on game mechanics etc
Yeah it's Alpha, and it's going to be Alpha forever. Any issues you have now will still be there 8 years from now.
I feel like two of the main problems comes from setting high expectations when Steven first talked about AoC and a result of Steven announcing that he is making a mmorpg 8 years ago out of the blue, as its only been 2-3 years since he had started forming a studio and able to start any form of real production.
I believe AoC as open development and Alpha would be received a lot differently if he announced the game with a development team, early iterations with realistic expectations.
This is also the primary reason why studios don't do open development & don't lift NDA until a game is at least feature complete and has the fundamental systems in place.
Moral of the story: Don't announce open development too soon & set unrealistic expectations when talking about their end-goals, especially when you don't have the means to do so because it will just leave to disappointment for most people who don't follow the development process religiously.
I understand this Alpha was primarily focused on server stability and combat but I really wished Intrepid had used their most recent build or fleshed out the Alpha more with a variety of different content, so people can see it from a more holistic view of what they currently have instead of grinding the same 4 mobs in the same spot because its not a good showing for the average gamer (even in a Alpha state)
I agree 100%, you nailed it.
i fully agree with the art style comment, it seems vaguely generic, like it reminds me of something I've played but idk what. doesn't stand out with its own identity, i also don't feel immersed very much in the world idk
im sure it will get better with more races and updates, right now no one has dope looking gear, you cant see the metropolises being build in image of the highest contributing race, its bare bones, as ofc its a alpha
@@isaac15752 more races and "dope" looking gear doesn't fix the broader problem of identity or style in the art. AoC has no soul, no identity in their trees, their towns, the grass, the sky, etc.
@@poisonated7467 you forgor that it does, sets give lore of the game, it gives your and other ppls characters, characteristics and looks, the identity graphically speaking is just realism, im not sure what else you want from them, thats UE limitations
@@isaac15752 Those things stem from the identity, they dont stem from each other. As for realism being the identity they're going for, Im not sure. If they are, its a poor choice by the art director.
Lore should come first 100%, btw. And UE limitations, thats funny.
Thats the one word I use to describe this game. Generic. I simply dont see anything they are going to be able to do that is going to change that.
The sandbox aspect of it is what sells me to it. It's going to be A LOT of player interaction, including pvp and a ton of drama over limited ressources. Can't wait to see where they go with it, we haven't had a game that focused on that aspect of MMO gaming in decades.
Sandbox MMOs dont really succeed now though. Thats the issue. They are making a game for a playerbase that simply no longer exists. I doubt the studio can survive on just a few thousand subs.
Bro how tf is everyone shitting on the graphics? Everytime someone plays or sees it they say, "The graphics aren't good" bros, the graphics are way better than the two most popular mmo's. Stop comparing it to Cyberpunk ultra raytracing ran on top tier comps. For MMO's, the graphics are great.
Yeah they need to stop comparing it to single player games or Korean MMORPGs.
Looks way worse than Throne and Liberty.
@@zletdosent look way worse , not as good sure but as someone who played throne that it felt lifeless and all the colors felt muted but that game is finished after 12 years and using a method that renders more stuff on pc than server to get good performance that still have issues but also gets u a game filled to the brim with bots and especially hackers
The character models do not currently feel like they match the environmental assets. We are allegedly getting characters overhauled in phase 2 though so let’s hope that works out
It’s because the best part of the graphics are just features of Unreal Engine 5.
Just a point to make, the reason he didn't remember the combat all that much from last time is because it was BAD, they heard the community and took a full year to overhaul the combat system, it's also why they fell behind on certain goals. That kind of effort is often unheard of, so hats of to them. If they put in that effort and are willing to overhaul systems that are just not working, I foresee this being a great gaming experience in 2 years time. (they say 1 year, but more realistic to say 2 or 3)
They have scrapped and redone aspects of this game several times now. The visuals have gone from having a relatively distinct style to less of one with each time they overhauled the graphics.
I would like to see them go back and rehaul the shading or something, cause right now it just looks like a generic realistic UE game. I thought that before others said it, so I know it's a valid statement
Am I crazy? I don’t see this game being great. It has yet to show me anything that lets me know this time will be different.
You should just wait and play when it comes out. I got my key through a giveaway so I will continue to test and enjoy myself like last weekend, the game is years away but I can tell you I had fun in a buggy alpha which I expected it to be buggy, the only time I didn’t get to play was during the ddos attack Sunday which hopefully the devs get better at dealing with attacks like that. The communication from the devs during all that was good and they were sending out updates every couple hours on discord to let us know what was going on with the ddos.
Good eyes. There really isn't much different. For what IS different, it's nice and in alpha and needs tweaking. As for the rest(vast majority), it isn't different than your modern MMORPG. Still giving the player objectives, still spoiling the entire map and its topology and POIs, giving away information on basically anything you can mouse over. There's 0 exploration in this game, just like every modern MMO. It's the biggest thing thats been missing for 20+ years.
Many people are comparing the Ashes A2 with WoW, which also had:
>5 years dev time
>Easier time making stuff, since many things like models, textures etc. were way more simple back then to create, not to mention those very same "graphics"
>A already-existing and planned out story and base game which they built WoW off of, aka the Warcraft series
And then the 20 years worth of updates, testing, feedback, developer love and money it's had.
It's like comparing a baby and a grownup in NBA, it just doesn't compare at all.
Uh, sorry, but it wasn't easier back then, since the technique and tools were much worse so it was a hell lot of effort to build something big and use all kind of tricks to make it look acceptable, especially when focussing on, that everyone should be able to play it (and guess what: majority of people don't have new gamer PCs, not even average ones).
Game development was not easier back then, it was WAY harder. The tools they have now make game dev sooooooooo much simpler.
Thank you for a good video! Listening to lots of creators I like critiquing this game like it's a full release or it's been in development for so long it should be a full release has been driving me crazy. There is a lot to critique atm, but at least make it constructive! Hope to see more coverage from you on this game!
As an addendum, there's a sort of 'thing' that happens in software development where it looks like nothing is getting done, and then in a relatively short amount of time, it appears that the software (or game in this instance) comes out of no where. A lot of time was being spent on infrastructure and so there wasn't anything to show, so to speak. I'm only saying this because people might be inclined to think things like the fact that it has been several years in development already and this is all we have. The problem with that kind of thinking is that it makes you want to think that development is linear, and it really isn't.
There are so many haters surrounding this game, it's crazy. Some people really just wake up and say to themselves "no, nothing will be acceptable today".
@CestPasFaux-kt9zqok you got a lot to say for someone playing a game that has graphics from the early Stone Age 😂 salty salty
@CestPasFaux-kt9zqa game with good graphics is better than a game with bad graphics
@CestPasFaux-kt9zq it's a fact
I had so much fun
Some people say cucumber taste better pickled, but Esfand will always say it like it is YEP 👍
Were just a bunch of 30 year old boys in desperate need for that next MMO feeling. That playing WoW first time feeling. I don't think it's gonna happen 😢
Rather have that EQ2, SWG first time feeling. AoC might deliver.. if the many can muster some more patience
Go play osrs.
Id say 5 years at the least. It took them 8 years to get to this. Consider 3 more years to get all the content they want and another 2 to polish it. They could release without doing any polishing but it will flop harder than Bless.
It took BDO 5 years to be developed, with some of that development being them creating a complete engine from scratch.
This game will not be out before 2030
I was only able to play AoC for a few hours yesterday. Something is going on with the servers and website to day.
Anyway, when I did log on and entered the game. The good news. The responsiveness of the spells and combat were very smooth. Almost no lag. Better than most released MMOs.
Some of the keyboard button choices and targeting/interacting need some polish. Though, the AoC seems to be stable in many ways.
Its not the servers. Thats just how the game is currently. THeir netcode is horrible.
@@TheNichq I have been logging on AoC every weekend of Alpha 2. The first weekend was messy. Though, the subsequent weekends have been solid on server stability.
Easy to log in, with little lag and good response time.
It's still very bare but I think the basics and fundamentals are there and they are going in the right direction
That dude at the 5:39 mark would have not even been able to log into EQ. People are so dang spoiled nowadays wanting their little hands held every step of the way. Sad and pathetic.
The combat is solid.
It is Alpha, new features can be added, and all existing aspects can and should improve.
cope
It's.. never coming out.
Yes, it is alpha, after 6+ years of development. Everything is going smoothly.
Clearly someone doesn't know how developing an MMORPG is like @@DoctorStrange01
@@DoctorStrange01 8 actually lol.
looking good big bro
It looks like Dark Age of Camelot and New World had a baby.
Classic WoW took 4-5 years from the CONCEPT stage to release. A lot of ideas were taken straight from EQ and made less punishing to reduce friction. Ashes was announced 8 years ago and its still an alpha. It's using Unreal which should make development faster since they're not working on their own in house engine. I have no faith in western made MMORPGs anymore, too much focus on MTX and maximizing profit instead of building a world people want to live in not just play a game.
Hell, WoW released their first xpac quicker then AoC has taken so far lol.
I think something as simple as adding a visual shader will go a long way. Bring out more contrast and saturation will help with that "generic look." Also filling out the world more. I imagine they are still working on assets, but more building variety and adding more foliage to the world will also help.
Alpha needs work... You dont say..
Surprisingly there’s a lot of people that need to hear that lol
@@EsfandTVAlpha is alpha. They are not afraid to show the game in its current state because they want it to improve
@@EsfandTV crazy to think there will be so many biomes and races and class augments, we have just scratched the surface
That Soda clip was hilarious, and I think that's the outcome of things like Questie just spoon feeding everything to players so much that they've lost the ability to stop and think, contributing to the term Brainrot. I felt lost as well at first, but changing gears, thinking about where did I get that quest from, what does the vague wording potentially relate to, it actually caused some of the dead brain cells to come back to life. Servers have just been taken down due to DDoS though, so back to the brainrot den til next weekend.
I mean the objective was clearly communicated, but it also took me a bit to realize what it wanted when I got it. You had to go to a node, that was leveled up, to at bare minimum the crossroad stage.
For this to make sense, you NEED to know how the nodes work. In-game, they're not explained. It's kind of like the Teldrassil run in WoW.
People are really negative these days was actually a joy to watch your video its refreshing to see you give the game a chance as another MMORPG enjoyer i can only hope we can get a really good game to play in the future even if its not this one.
While it is in Alpha and i understand there is a lot still work on I am disappointed in a lot of aspects from the three years that have passed. Proformance is probably the biggest issues in Alpha 1 I ran the game with no issue but now even with fixes they recommend it runs significantly worse. While combat does seem a lot better the world is really lacking and after three years I expected much much more especially when the time table has been delayed by three years at this point. 8 years is the max average for a MMORPG and to still be in alpha at this point is worrying. I hope the other phases of alpha 2 really flesh the game out.
The main focus of this alpha test is performance, stability & scalability. Disappointment is inevitable because your expectations are not in line with what was promised from this test.
lol! Soda just having an existential crisis "Not even! Not even!". Love it. I think he is haming it up yeah...but he does sounds somewhat frustrated.
EDIT- DAMN! We just get some straight Esfand ethics at 9:30....Based. Love it. You absolutely can critique nicely I agree. Also... absolutely "objective" takes are becoming even more rare....and they weren't exactly common before. You know you're in for an actual objective take...when they tell you their biases or they are readily apparent lol.
I loved hearing this Esfand. Keep it up brotha. Hope you're doing well and wish you success.
Yes it needs a lot of work and that is fine, I loved the combat, I had a lot of fun and I just can't wait to be next week-end and play again. No other game gives me that feeling nowadays...
The game doesn't have an identity. Probably because they are building the game up from systems first, which is the way to go because that's where the content is. So hopefully, once the lore takes the stage it will reflect visually on the game, probably the UI. FF is very distinct the moment you get into the character creator. The audio and the visuals of the game are unmistakable. Same with WoW and a bunch of others like GW2 (especially GW2 because of it's water color artstyle). I'm hoping to see that come to life through some artwork that just says this is Ashes of Creation. A themed, visually appealing UI. Because as is, it is rough. The font isn't nice, the borders look old and dated. A lot of plain colors, few textures, nothing that feels themed to what I'd think of if I hear "Ashes of Creation". It just feels very cheap. But I'm fairly sure they will touch that up, I do vaguely recall hearing it's a placeholder. Functionally, it's there. Could use a bit more from what I saw.
On a positive note, mechanically, it's very cool and it can become something big. A lot of people would love a fun, solid sandbox MMO with that many features in this setting. All the things you ever wanted, housing, personal boats and maritime combat, dynamic world, governance systems with perks tied to the world content and terrain generation, large scale open world PvP, etc, etc. If anything says AoC right now it's the all in one MMO (but remains to be seen once launched). I think once it gets closer to launch, it will attract much more attention. A lot of people still don't know about AoC. It also does look good, but more in a - this is a game made on UE5 and we can make some cool looking stuff on it so have a look at this. Which is fine, it's a good looking game, but there is no character in the art style, to me at least. Nothing that pops out as uniquely appealing. I have some bits where I thought, okay, that looks meh, including interior lighting where it was just shades of badly mixed grey all over. If it becomes what it claims to become, it will be a hell of a fun experience!
NGL, i opened this video thinking this was just another shit take. Someone bashing on the game as if this is a released game.
Was VERY happy to see a balanced opinion with worried and concerns about the future and not what your looking at right now.
thank you for the breath of fresh air.
I've been waiting for an MMO where you actually figure stuff out and have a higher chance of having a unique experience to other players. Ever since WoW I just couldn't get engaged, it was like Paint by numbers MMO where everything was like you said on a railroad track. This is promising.
If you want to figure things out and truly explore, try EQ Project 1999 or EQ Project Quarm. Much better than Lineage II.
Games like that dont exist anymore for a reason. Its not what the average gamer wants. Those games dont succeed anymore.
@@TheNichq Your premise is false.
nah the games just bare bones.... remember its been in development for 8 years
I was also lightly frustrated mapping and figuring out what to do. Although I blame mostly myself since I’d rather just mob grind than read quests.
Been searching for a cotton farm for two days; also can’t find grem carcass for skinning.
i think u get the grem carcass from hunting (aka petting) the passive grems to death lol as for the cotton i tihnk i read that u have to craft it lol
Sometimes the game is designed to be figured out together. You learn where the best cotton farm is and someone else figures out where X thing is on the map(micro exploration) and then you share(or keep that juicy knowledge to yourself). It's a more unique, fun experience.
I agree about the art style, its look very generic looking at the moment but I hope that is something they have planned when everything else is done
As his horse is sliding on the ground with an annoying blue circle.. hope for the best but uuuh we'll see
I know not everyone feels the same especially zoomers but although I think the dynamic lighting and rainbows and stuff are cool, I think what makes MMORPGs fun is the amount of content, and the performance/optimization enabling organic social events to occur. My concern with this game is that the cool looking world and fancy graphics and realtime lighting and stuff is going to make them have to massively reduce the amount of zones/content they can launch with, and the system they want with the nodes and whatever will be a lagfest and how to succeed will deviate very far from what they imagined.
I also think MMOs are just never going to recapture the feeling of our first MMO until/unless some new technology happens thats comparable to ....the internet. Maybe when we can convincingly lucid dream into a game like an isekai anime. Or procedurally generated content that's indistinguishable from human-made.
"I don't know dude, I think it's pretty good" he says casually as the horse on screen forgot how to horse
If you go into your appdata local folder and find the ini file and disable motion blur the graphics literally become 4x better. It’s insane. Just alpha things
I will say reviewing the game at level 5 is like reviewing classic WoW as a level 3 Paladin haha every class becomes insane at level 12
My whole thing is does the gameplay feel better then b4 and was it fun. Most people have said both those things. They can improve the extras stuff. Ui can be improved easily. I think what they should do is between levels like 1-10 should give you markers to help new players than take them away. They want the game not to have them but until you know what you are kinda doing it can be very confusing. Or they could set up a setting to turn them on or off.
combat is fun so far and yea same thing i said in the discord , guide the player well at the starting zone so when they are out they know what to do , i was so frustrated when i started having no idea what to do and the ui/text being too small with a bad font to read anything without hurting my eyes
The whole point of not having markers is lost if you give them before 10. The game is designed to be played without those markers. It already has enough markers and spoilers.
@poisonated7467 the problem is most people can't just play the game all day to figure everything out. Alot of people have a few hours of gaming with there friends a night if that. So when they load into this game and that few hours is just trying to figure out wtf they need to do they are either going to look it up giving them a spoiler or just not play the game cuz they don't have the time to waste on random shit when every mmo is about end game anyways.
@@34KIN Learning, exploring and having that adventure IS PLAYING THE GAME. If you don't like the challenge of learning and exploring, dying, etc. with other people, then the game isn't for you. You can have fun regardless of how much time youre spending. I'd rather spend an hour in a game similar to this than 8 in one that spoils every step of the way.
alot of potential here, esp looking forward to the node systems and such, alot of streamer andys dont really get that beyond reacting to the starting area, this game is more like eve online than world of warcraft, what starting zone is relevent in eve? good level headed takes esfand
Node system doesnt even work right now lol. Hell, most of the main systems of the game dont even work. They literally showed a character creator 2 years ago, and its STILL not in the game. All of those dev vids they have released have been nothing but "stuff that will maybe come to the game at some point". Not stuff that is actually in the game.
If Ashes figures out that addiction. That feeling that when you log out? You can't wait until you play it again. We had that with World Of Warcraft. (I am talking about how we felt in 2004.) That's our problem. That game is just mixed in somehow with our DNA. And it's like the bar we set in our minds. And that's really not fair for us to do that. We are all guilty of that. Ashes is on the right path. We gotta keep giving them feedback.
Reminder to alpha testers to do actual bug reporting by typing /bug if they encounter a bug. The whole purpose of an alpha is to break the game if you want the game to improve
An alpha needs work? This dude is so insightful
Lots of people crap on the health / mana bars, but one snapshot and you know, it's AoC. See, it already has its own "style".
seems promising, the graphics do need work but to be fair, these are all probably placeholder assets since its alpha, we prob won't get a vibe of the art style in-game until beta if i had to guess.
This isn't inspired by wow. It's inspired by lineage2. As a lineage player who could never get into wow I haven't been this happy playing a game since 2008
You should try EQ Project 1999! I know it looks rough, but the gameplay is superb!
The issue is that literally no one wants to play a Lineage2 style game now. They are building a game that is going to cap out with a few thousand players max. That is not sustainable.
@@TheNichq literally noone is not correct considering im personally having the time of my life playing this alpha. and btw the numbers have been extremely good weekend to weekend, we arnt geting player drop offs. if anything, the current player count is going up. i think this is just not for the current wow mmo playerbase. but there is alot of us who quit mmos along time ago, waiting for this
Keep it real Esfand. Live that high road and done let the trogs drag you to their level.
i think its very promising, but there is a strong franchise missing, i hope they can built up an epic and immersive universe
Until they sponsor him and he will say it's amazing because he's being paid to say it.
the one problem i feel like its bad with mmo's is that, because of the mmo's takes very long time to make by the end of the production ussualy most of them feels like old and unfinished, cuz by the end it would pass like 10 years and the meta of gaming will be different when u begin the creation, and by later 10 years people might not like your game anymore, so thats why i think its crucial to the mmo's to have stable connection with the fanbase throught of the production, u have to have feedback for every major update, thats why im kinda afraid that riot mmo wouldnt hit like they hope, they used to go dark about their games after the announcment but that work only for their 1 - 4 year project games, but when making mmo if they gonna go dark, they will drop some info after 6 7 years people would have forgoten it
holy shit... is that how soda is all the time? how does anyone like watching his content if so?
When people say the game looks bad I think they’re talking about the character models. Which they are bad the characters don’t even fit into the environment the way that they’re designed visually.
generic is the word that comes to my mind.
The negativity addicts are really ruining discourse around games these days. It's so exhausting.
I don't care for the pvp focus. I like pvp in mmo's, but not as a main focus. But I hope it is good for the people that have been waiting for this.
People need to be reminded what alpha is supposed to be. Items in other peoples alphas are literal white blocks. The game is amazing in alpha. Give it time.
that rainbow was craaaaaazy
I don't know why . But in a year from now I think soulframe it's gonna be on a better alpha than this game . Ok nevermind I know why it's because Warframe have aloot more money 🤑💰 and more people.
they deved like one 3rd of 18 maps they want done from full release its a long way out and its really early build we looking at 6 years more with there currently time map with no delays
i think what it comes down to is people want something other than wow to play in this genre. the player base is so starved of new and revolutionary. and when something new does arrive and it doesn't meet expectations it sucks really hard.
It’s a good sign that the combat is the highlight imo. So far the critique of Ashes has been “cool concepts, but will the combat be worth a damn?”
If combat is the highlight, then there are more problems then we even thought. From what people have said, the combat feels ok BUT it looks like shit. Thats a major issue.
I hope they give a way to increase mouse sensitivity. Movement was so slow trying to turn with it.
the fixation with graphical fidelity hurts the overall aesthetic since the design is too tailored around realism and it is also difficult to make a world feel cohesive when it has for example hyper detailed armour alongside more simplistic vegetation. Slightly more exaggerated proportions and common design motifs possibly with saturated colours could help with cohesion.
The game looks really promising, I'm especially liking the combat actions and healing animations. Graphics could be better but graphics are NOT what drive good MMO content. If they can really nail down the base building and dynamic world pvp aspects, I think they'll get a substantial player base. I've played every single MMO out there and none of them scratch that itch like classic wow pvp because the character movement is always janky and they don't flesh out the balance between class interactions.
Hopefully they can "borrow" from the best examples in the industry - WoW for combat, FF14 for storytelling, GW2 for exploration, etc
GW2 has no exploration, they spoil the world just as much as any other MMO. And FFXIVs storytelling isn't suited for an MMO. Remember, FFXIV is a JRPG first, MMO next.
I feel like in order to make a MMO have enough mass appeal to warrant the budget that an mmo needs, it has to be based on an already established IP. Brand new IP MMOs don’t really work.
@Esfand, much better take than a few other UA-camrs. Like that your not NARCacisstic about stuff...
Definitely needs a lot of work, however of course it does. It's an MMO being developed by a very small indie studio. I am just gonna chill and wait, it will come out when it's ready (hopefully). I think they are less than 100 people still. It's like saying "this isn't that good" when you take a bite out of a cake that was baked only halfway. Put the cake back in for another 7 minutes, then try it. It will be much better.
I like cake.
Small teams are much more efficient in development. When WoW was developed in 6 years, the development team was 20-30 people.
The rest of the team consisted of quest designers, level designers, artists, sound designers and project managers, who all contributed to the development but were not classic programmers. This number always grows as soon as the alpha is finished; the entire team was 60-70 people at release.
I wasnt enjoying the game at all. Couldnt figure out the questing, bobs were bugged, couldnt figure out crafting, didnt know where to go.
Until i invited a random bard who saved me, then slowly built a little team and we set off to a higher level zone, grinded for hours while chatting on discord and having a great time trading drops with eachother. That was fun.
that is what MMOS miss nowadays, thats why i quit WOW, couldnt handle FF and was disappointed in GW2, it lacks that, the MM part of MMO, to build friendships out of no where, to have fun in groups, you just dont have that nowadays
@@isaac15752I dislike this take. Just talk to people. It can be done in any MMO. It's a you issue.
@@MrCarlWax a you issue that is globably deemed to be reality, the mass majority of MMO fans agree with me, you are just weird trying to sound smart
@@isaac15752 Agreed. 100%.
Many who know nothing about development around MMO games. Wow classic took 7 years to build approximately plus 1 year of Alpha/beta then released in 2004 US. 2005 EU.