Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse to Debut as a F2P Battle Royale Mode in December

SBFord

Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse to Debut as a F2P Battle Royale Mode in December

During a live stream event yesterday, Intrepid Studios wowed viewers with the news that "Alpha One, Phase One" is being renamed as Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse, a stand-alone F2P portion of the game that will launch for everyone to try out in December. The castle siege, horde and battle royale modes will be moving off to become separate from Ashes of Creation the MMO. Current backers are enjoying a month's head start on Apocalypse, but everyone can expect a chance to try it soon.

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SlyLoK

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

sipu

SlyLoK said:

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

It might be the case. Would be similar to Fornite's case creating BR as an alternative to their World invading mode thing to finally bury it alive.

Lusts

sipu said:

SlyLoK said:

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

It might be the case. Would be similar to Fornite's case creating BR as an alternative to their World invading mode thing to finally bury it alive.

While I agree with the comment about Ashes, Fortnite actually updates the PvE mode along with the Battle Royale mode. During Season 5, they added a new zone to the PvE mode and there has been countless quality of life changes to the mode. I currently play it. I will say though, their attention to the mode has died down since the release of the Battle Royale mode, but the mode itself has not been neglected.

malroth67

This is sounding an awful like what happened with Everquest Next and Landmark(think that is what it was called).

Wellspring

Umm, so it turns out BR mode may be sticking around after all and it has caused delays to the rest of the game?

All the people that defended the BR mode, back when it was first announced, can now eat their hats.

MadFrenchie

Torval said:

I'd have to look it up but I thought Alpha 1 Phase 1 was the persistent world. Are they changing that plan to release a F2P game instead? I certainly hope that's not true. I really hate how they've manipulated the wording of the Kickstarter backers package to weasel out of delivering what they promised how they promised it. They were very clear about a few things, and the test phases and access to them was one of those things. It started with "Alpha 0" and now this.

It's the unfortunate side effect of a no holds barred crowdfunding setup.

Many Kickstarter projects were very clear about a few things that all of a sudden became "unclear" after they raked in that Kickstarter round of cash.

Albatroes

Lusts said:

sipu said:

SlyLoK said:

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

It might be the case. Would be similar to Fornite's case creating BR as an alternative to their World invading mode thing to finally bury it alive.

While I agree with the comment about Ashes, Fortnite actually updates the PvE mode along with the Battle Royale mode. During Season 5, they added a new zone to the PvE mode and there has been countless quality of life changes to the mode. I currently play it. I will say though, their attention to the mode has died down since the release of the Battle Royale mode, but the mode itself has not been neglected.

Remember Paragon? Anyway, lets pretend this team is just being ambitious as a best case scenario. Maintaining 2 projects of this caliber is already taxing on a team double their size with equal or more experience. Bugs will still need to be addressed in a timely manner while still actually doing developmental work on both sides. Now unless they are literally just using it to collect data and aren't going to pay it too much attention once it releases, aside from bug fixes, then its fine. However, that is a best case scenario, so only time will tell I guess. I wont be shocked if things get delayed though.

Waan

Wellspring said:

Umm, so it turns out BR mode may be sticking around after all and it has caused delays to the rest of the game?

All the people that defended the BR mode, back when it was first announced, can now eat their hats.

Do I start from the edge or the middle? 

Panther2103

I thought they had said they were only doing a BR mode specifically to test the current combat and servers? I doubt it did amazingly, but somehow they still are justifying releasing it as a BR standalone for the time being? That's a really bad idea.

Mike-McQueen

Dude..

azarhal

malroth67 said:

This is sounding an awful like what happened with Everquest Next and Landmark(think that is what it was called).

It's more like H1Z1:
It started as a MMO survival game called H1Z1.
During early access, it was split into a MMO survival game (H1Z1: Just Survive) and a battle royal game (H1Z1: King of the Hill)
....
Last year, Just Survive lost the H1Z1 tag and King of the Hill was renamed to just H1Z1
Last week, Just Survive was killed off

Zarinh

Panther2103 said:

I thought they had said they were only doing a BR mode specifically to test the current combat and servers? I doubt it did amazingly, but somehow they still are justifying releasing it as a BR standalone for the time being? That's a really bad idea.

Based on the stream, the said having phase 1, 2, etc was causing confusion. So that naming convention was going to stay for the persistent MMO, and the BR, Siege and Horde tests would be called Apocalypse. They would also open that up to everyone because they wanted more feedback and more people to test and break it. It isn't a standalone game, nor is this removing features from the game.

Not exactly sure where Suzie got "The castle siege, horde and battle royale modes will be moving off to become separate from Ashes of Creation the MMO" from. They aren't removing those modes from the MMO, but putting them in a different section of the test. Once they hit the point in alpha to incorporate it all again, it sounds like Apocalypse will fade away.

zigalucard

malroth67 said:

This is sounding an awful like what happened with Everquest Next and Landmark(think that is what it was called).

damn, just when I was starting to forget about Landmark... my feels

squeetee

Video here:

Slapshot1188

Wellspring said:

Umm, so it turns out BR mode may be sticking around after all and it has caused delays to the rest of the game?

All the people that defended the BR mode, back when it was first announced, can now eat their hats.

Yup... damn those Harbinger folk for always being so negative.

I'm sure one of the defenders will pop in to assure us that this is great news and we just don't follow the game closely enough to appreciate how awesome it is.

BillMurphy

Torval said:

I'd have to look it up but I thought Alpha 1 Phase 1 was the persistent world. Are they changing that plan to release a F2P game instead? I certainly hope that's not true. I really hate how they've manipulated the wording of the Kickstarter backers package to weasel out of delivering what they promised how they promised it. They were very clear about a few things, and the test phases and access to them was one of those things. It started with "Alpha 0" and now this.

Phase 3 I believe is persistent world with level 20 and all that. Basically the first test of the MMORPG. In Q2 next year. Q1 next year is the siege mode and horde mode stuff that will be part of the Apocalypse free version as well. 

Slapshot1188

Torval said:

Lusts said:

sipu said:

SlyLoK said:

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

It might be the case. Would be similar to Fornite's case creating BR as an alternative to their World invading mode thing to finally bury it alive.

While I agree with the comment about Ashes, Fortnite actually updates the PvE mode along with the Battle Royale mode. During Season 5, they added a new zone to the PvE mode and there has been countless quality of life changes to the mode. I currently play it. I will say though, their attention to the mode has died down since the release of the Battle Royale mode, but the mode itself has not been neglected.

The difference here is FN is privately funded and launched. The company has already delivered on its promises for any "prepurchases" or "preorders" they had. This company hasn't delivered a thing and they're already shifting directions not having delivered what they promised.

This is just like the bullshit ArtCraft pulled with Crowfall and their "unity engine API" project. Great, do it after you launch what you promised and sold. Or that other go nowhere indie MMO that tried to launch of voxel game alongside their MMO then realized that's just as hard and dropped it. Don't even mention the spacefaring game that shall not be name ffs.

These projects can't stay on track. At this point I have zero confidence that any of them will deliver anything of any use at all. AT this rate they're all going to end up like Shroud, Albion, Project Gorgon, and so on.

Damn... you are the positive one in the group. You keep this up and you may start to get tossed in with us Harbingers...

Utinni

Odd that someone bunched Project Gorgon up with the rest of these games. 

JeffSpicoli

Utinni said:

Odd that someone bunched Project Gorgon up with the rest of these games. 

How is PG now ? So much potential.

Tiamat64

Good grief, did this game get derailed.  I've been constantly stating that crowdfunding was a terrible platform by design for MMORPGs but I wasn't expecting it to get to the point where the promised MMORPG ended up mutating into a battle royale.

(yea, I know the real game is supposedly still in the works but more and more it's looking like this will be what people will end up getting)

Panserbjorne39

This indicates the development producers lack focus and passion for the game. They are getting greedy trying to jump on the bandwagon for some fast cash. This is why I only buy completed games and never fuck with any crowd funding, alpha, beta nonsense. Give me a dope game I can play. I don't care at all about what happens behind the scenes or along the way.

Kyleran

Torval said:

Lusts said:

sipu said:

SlyLoK said:

I know this will give them data but it worries me that they are doing this to see how it sticks as a standalone game. If it is popular I can easily see the MMO going to the back burner and possibly never releasing.

It might be the case. Would be similar to Fornite's case creating BR as an alternative to their World invading mode thing to finally bury it alive.

While I agree with the comment about Ashes, Fortnite actually updates the PvE mode along with the Battle Royale mode. During Season 5, they added a new zone to the PvE mode and there has been countless quality of life changes to the mode. I currently play it. I will say though, their attention to the mode has died down since the release of the Battle Royale mode, but the mode itself has not been neglected.

The difference here is FN is privately funded and launched. The company has already delivered on its promises for any "prepurchases" or "preorders" they had. This company hasn't delivered a thing and they're already shifting directions not having delivered what they promised.

This is just like the bullshit ArtCraft pulled with Crowfall and their "unity engine API" project. Great, do it after you launch what you promised and sold. Or that other go nowhere indie MMO that tried to launch of voxel game alongside their MMO then realized that's just as hard and dropped it. Don't even mention the spacefaring game that shall not be name ffs.

These projects can't stay on track. At this point I have zero confidence that any of them will deliver anything of any use at all. AT this rate they're all going to end up like Shroud, Albion, Project Gorgon, and so on.

Hey now,  at least those 3 actually launched, and 2 out of 3 didn't really stray that far from the promised vision,  unlike the others on your list. 

Kyleran

Panther2103 said:

I thought they had said they were only doing a BR mode specifically to test the current combat and servers? I doubt it did amazingly, but somehow they still are justifying releasing it as a BR standalone for the time being? That's a really bad idea.

Clearly that was pretty much bullshit despite what the knights said to the contrary.

I used to have a fairly good opinion on this studio,  but I'm thinking it's now time to go Full Harbinger.

Who's with me?

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

sausagemix

I used so excited for this. The MMORPG. Before BR was the latest fad. They don't NEED more BR data. BR is successful primarily because of its self perpetuating play, mostly running around a HUGE open space trying not to die. Thats not going to help you develop the best scripted boss battle in the final room of a dungeon. They haven't even proven how accessible or enjoyable this 'hybrid' battle system is cause... surprise surprise... thats still not done. I really wish I had never made this my one KS pledge. Im just tired of this BR mode, its in no way, shape or form anything that they outlined as important to them years ago.