I tend to leave MMORPGs that have too much forced grouping. It's an MMORPG; not an MMO Grouping Game. There are should be lots of ways to be social in an MMORPG without being in a group. Which was part of what Fantm was saying about Nightingale. Ghostcrawler alluded to this as well in Episode 7 of Word On The Street: asynchronus social play. The example being like in Valheim where one player might Gather Resources for their offline buddies, who then use those Resources to Craft or Build when they finally come online. One thing I love about LEGO Fortnite and Nightingale is Cooking food that will provide survival stats for specific Biomes. Like a Spicy Burger that provides protection from freezing in the Arctic or a Snowberry Shake that provides protection from overheating in the Desert. I would love to RP as the Tavern Owner who Cooks and provides meals to Adventurers as they explore specific Biomes - even if I'm not grouping with them. Being Social and contributing significantly to the welfare of other players on the server should not be restricted to Grouping. And, then, finding other players should be easier if you can travel to their Open World home. In Ashes, you should know where the players who are online when you're online live. You also should not have to formally join a Group in order to protect your Village or Town from a natural disaster, like an earthquake, or from a Goblin Raid. In Ashes, everything you do in the vicinity of a Node contributes to the progression of the Node. Even when you're not in a group. Unless you're supporting a Siege in one fashion or another. MMORPG should not mean that you have to be in a Group. You can't progress a Node by yourself.
But, in Ashes, you aren't stuck in the Starting Zones until you reach a specific Level. The entire world is at Starting zone in terms of available content, until Nodes begin to progress. You can immediately leave the Starting Zones at Level 1 - you are not going to end up running into a Level 20 Zone until some Nodes reach Stage 2 or Stage 3. At that point, there will be Nodes locked at Stage 0, Stage 1 and Stage 2. And newbie players can travel to those Nodes instead of adventuring in the Starting Areas. Also, we can freely choose the Starting Area we enter from Character Create, so we can plan which Stage 0 or Stage 1 Node we want to travel to once we enter the world.
Fantm was a little off when it comes to my Ultimate Carebear Challenge at launch: Not just no PvP... 0 Kills 0 Gathering And minimal progression - just whatever xp comes from exploring. The primary goal being to explore the entire map with the lowest possible Level and 0 Kills. But, I will be testing everything during the Alphas and Betas. I hope most content creators are able to give feedback like, "This does not suit my playstyle, but it should be great for gamers with a different playstyle." Just because I don't like drinking coffee doesn't mean that I have to advise others to avoid drinking coffee.
I don't think it can be as simple as, "If the world is beautiful, people will keep playing." All UE5 games have beautiful worlds. That does not mean that the game will have the gameplay an individual is hoping for. I don't play RPGs for the combat. I'm typically wanting to use my character skills to avoid combat as much as possible because I'm a Carebear. So, most likely any MMORPG I play will have to have other compelling activities for my character to do besides just great combat. That being said... Even though I'm typically a Carebear, the garotting animations in KOA: Reckoning for the Rogue/Thief was so over the top graphic - I truly felt like a Stealthy Rogue/Thief and loved Sneaking up on stuff and slitting throats. And it's definitely fascinating to me when a game can signifcantly change my Carebear playstyle. The main challenge I see for Ashes is that there will be many other UE5 games competing with Ashes by the time Ashes releases. When Ashes was planned to release before 2020, those of us who typically play on PvE-Only servers thought we might have to compromise with "PvX" in order to play the next great MMORPG. But, now there will be other UE5 MMORPGs available with good combat where we don't have to compromise as much with the PvP. Plus, WoW as added options since 2022 that has me back to playing WoW after a hiatus of 10 years. And I enjoy playing New World - especially via the Battlepass. And I enjoy playing LEGO Fortnite - especially via the Battlepass and Seasonal Chapters. And I enjoy playing the Nightingale Early Access. And I love, love, love the design for Ghost - with no hint yet of a need to compromise by tolerating non-consensual PvP of any kind. My expectation is that Ashes will be very niche because it's designed very specifically for Steven's playstyle, rather than having a broader target audience. I think Casual-Challenge players and Casual-Time players will be playing other MMOs. And those other MMOs will also have beautiful environments and good combat.
There is a 50/50 chance they push it out early and without a lot of those systems and just drop it in Free update patches over about a year. And that is the most realistic expectation by far. I am team “Fine with that” 😂
I hope most people will use their own critical thinking to decide whether they want to play a game, rather than just sheepishly hop on or off of a hype train. I stopped playing WoW after Cataclysm because I got tired of reaching the end of Questing in 6 weeks and then waiting 18 months for the next expansion. Once I was able to make this avatar I have for my TH-cam pic in Landmark in 2014 - I pretty much will only play RPGs that allow me to make a character who looks like me. Which is another reason I would not play WoW until Shadowlands. The Shadowlands story was different enough to entice me to continue playing. And... I love the Dragonflight gameplay. Doesn't matter to me how many people complain about WoW. I either enjoy it or I don't. I'll try stuff I'm pretty sure I won't like just to play with Fantm or Neuro. But... if I don't like it, I'll be done with it in a few weeks. Neuro and the DOP Crew love playing Destiny 2 and Star Citizen. That's not enticing me to play. I think I can say that Fantm seemed to enjoy Bitcraft for a while - didn't look enticing enough for me to enjoy playing it... yet. Hopefully most people are not sheep or lemmings.
Long Live the Fighters!
What game, other than wow, have you played well into “end game”?
I tend to leave MMORPGs that have too much forced grouping. It's an MMORPG; not an MMO Grouping Game.
There are should be lots of ways to be social in an MMORPG without being in a group.
Which was part of what Fantm was saying about Nightingale.
Ghostcrawler alluded to this as well in Episode 7 of Word On The Street: asynchronus social play.
The example being like in Valheim where one player might Gather Resources for their offline buddies, who then use those Resources to Craft or Build when they finally come online.
One thing I love about LEGO Fortnite and Nightingale is Cooking food that will provide survival stats for specific Biomes. Like a Spicy Burger that provides protection from freezing in the Arctic or a Snowberry Shake that provides protection from overheating in the Desert.
I would love to RP as the Tavern Owner who Cooks and provides meals to Adventurers as they explore specific Biomes - even if I'm not grouping with them.
Being Social and contributing significantly to the welfare of other players on the server should not be restricted to Grouping.
And, then, finding other players should be easier if you can travel to their Open World home.
In Ashes, you should know where the players who are online when you're online live.
You also should not have to formally join a Group in order to protect your Village or Town from a natural disaster, like an earthquake, or from a Goblin Raid.
In Ashes, everything you do in the vicinity of a Node contributes to the progression of the Node.
Even when you're not in a group.
Unless you're supporting a Siege in one fashion or another.
MMORPG should not mean that you have to be in a Group.
You can't progress a Node by yourself.
But, in Ashes, you aren't stuck in the Starting Zones until you reach a specific Level. The entire world is at Starting zone in terms of available content, until Nodes begin to progress.
You can immediately leave the Starting Zones at Level 1 - you are not going to end up running into a Level 20 Zone until some Nodes reach Stage 2 or Stage 3.
At that point, there will be Nodes locked at Stage 0, Stage 1 and Stage 2. And newbie players can travel to those Nodes instead of adventuring in the Starting Areas.
Also, we can freely choose the Starting Area we enter from Character Create, so we can plan which Stage 0 or Stage 1 Node we want to travel to once we enter the world.
Fantm was a little off when it comes to my Ultimate Carebear Challenge at launch:
Not just no PvP...
0 Kills
0 Gathering
And minimal progression - just whatever xp comes from exploring.
The primary goal being to explore the entire map with the lowest possible Level and 0 Kills.
But, I will be testing everything during the Alphas and Betas.
I hope most content creators are able to give feedback like, "This does not suit my playstyle, but it should be great for gamers with a different playstyle."
Just because I don't like drinking coffee doesn't mean that I have to advise others to avoid drinking coffee.
I don't think it can be as simple as, "If the world is beautiful, people will keep playing."
All UE5 games have beautiful worlds. That does not mean that the game will have the gameplay an individual is hoping for.
I don't play RPGs for the combat. I'm typically wanting to use my character skills to avoid combat as much as possible because I'm a Carebear. So, most likely any MMORPG I play will have to have other compelling activities for my character to do besides just great combat.
That being said...
Even though I'm typically a Carebear, the garotting animations in KOA: Reckoning for the Rogue/Thief was so over the top graphic - I truly felt like a Stealthy Rogue/Thief and loved Sneaking up on stuff and slitting throats. And it's definitely fascinating to me when a game can signifcantly change my Carebear playstyle.
The main challenge I see for Ashes is that there will be many other UE5 games competing with Ashes by the time Ashes releases. When Ashes was planned to release before 2020, those of us who typically play on PvE-Only servers thought we might have to compromise with "PvX" in order to play the next great MMORPG. But, now there will be other UE5 MMORPGs available with good combat where we don't have to compromise as much with the PvP.
Plus, WoW as added options since 2022 that has me back to playing WoW after a hiatus of 10 years.
And I enjoy playing New World - especially via the Battlepass.
And I enjoy playing LEGO Fortnite - especially via the Battlepass and Seasonal Chapters.
And I enjoy playing the Nightingale Early Access.
And I love, love, love the design for Ghost - with no hint yet of a need to compromise by tolerating non-consensual PvP of any kind.
My expectation is that Ashes will be very niche because it's designed very specifically for Steven's playstyle, rather than having a broader target audience. I think Casual-Challenge players and Casual-Time players will be playing other MMOs. And those other MMOs will also have beautiful environments and good combat.
There is a 50/50 chance they push it out early and without a lot of those systems and just drop it in Free update patches over about a year.
And that is the most realistic expectation by far. I am team “Fine with that” 😂
Haha!
It's a full 3 years since Alpha One started. I think Alpha One ended in August 2021.
I hope most people will use their own critical thinking to decide whether they want to play a game, rather than just sheepishly hop on or off of a hype train.
I stopped playing WoW after Cataclysm because I got tired of reaching the end of Questing in 6 weeks and then waiting 18 months for the next expansion.
Once I was able to make this avatar I have for my TH-cam pic in Landmark in 2014 - I pretty much will only play RPGs that allow me to make a character who looks like me. Which is another reason I would not play WoW until Shadowlands.
The Shadowlands story was different enough to entice me to continue playing.
And... I love the Dragonflight gameplay.
Doesn't matter to me how many people complain about WoW.
I either enjoy it or I don't.
I'll try stuff I'm pretty sure I won't like just to play with Fantm or Neuro.
But... if I don't like it, I'll be done with it in a few weeks.
Neuro and the DOP Crew love playing Destiny 2 and Star Citizen. That's not enticing me to play.
I think I can say that Fantm seemed to enjoy Bitcraft for a while - didn't look enticing enough for me to enjoy playing it... yet.
Hopefully most people are not sheep or lemmings.