Live on Twitch: twitch.tv/nycegamingtv Discord: discord.gg/EsfdACR7J9 Ashes Of Creation Voices Of Verra Discord: discord.gg/tNHaDmqgTz

I actually dream of the day when a developer makes a game focused around how you're NOT the main character and it tries to drill it into you. And your struggle is actually trying to prove the game wrong. You're just one small part of something bigger and you gotta work to make a name for yourself. I think there are tons of people out there who really need that ego check.

The problem is if you want to have PvE with important bossfights and drive players towards them, the most effective way so far has been to use the story. And if you allow players to defeat bosses that pose a massive threat in small teams of 8-15 players but doesn't recognize them as heroes after then your story isn't going to make much sense. I think that's why the player end up as a champion or main character in most mmo even though it often doesn't start as one. Like in wow or even ffxiv you are neither Azeroth champion nor the warrior of light when you just created your character but npcs recognize you as such later after you defeated world ending threats. Without important threats to the world i don't think an rpg is going to be as compelling for a lot of people.

Very interesting, there really hasn’t been a game where teamwork is more important soloing

That reminds me the early WoW construction of plot, when the main characters were notable NPCs and players were just helping them. Players were literaly jumping into the roles of the units that are produced in RTS warcraft games. The no named footmans etc. Similar feeling can be seen in Elder Scrolls games, where the community is much more interested in the universe itself, immersing in the world, discussing the side quests. Main quest is there just because there must be some main quest. The pinacle of that approach was presented in TES2 Daggerfall, that was more a simulation of the common citizen of Tamriel, than a specific story, that was told (compare it to for example Bioware games, that has a strong main story and very little side quests or possibilities to be someone else, than this strict main hero) Also, good notice of the aspect of people want to cooperate, to do something more as a group, add something to the common goal. There are people saying that such feeling is one of the success factors of Helldivers. I hope, that Ashes will keep it that way. That challenges will be overcome not by the super hero, who is mention in some ancient prophecies, but more of ogranizesd effort and determination of common folks, who are no so different from the normal NPCs.

You can thank WoW for making everyone THE "Hero"

Wait a minute... You mean that I...TheLordofMurder...am NOT the center of the universe!???? HERESY!!!!!!!! 👹 The node system seems amazing btw... Awesome concept and implementation by AoC... Excellent video Nyce!

I like to be an adventurer in a fantasy world. If I become a hero, that's nice but not necessary. It makes the world, though fantasy, feel more relatable

Great video as usual! This has been one of my biggest issues with modern mmorpgs

I love the idea of not being the hero. Just another character, but much cooler and the one you just let do my thing because you don't know what I might do if you piss me off, but you quietly suspect I might be insane ;) Quiet power is the best kind of power.

The only people who will get to fulfill their MCS are going to be top 5 guild leaders, players who manage to retain mayorship over a long period of time and no life artisan players if their artisan system is really as good as intended. If you want to become "that guy" you will have to do "that guy" things to be known and remembered. Not just finish a story line and feel like people should know you. I have no chance against no life gamers to be a top and renown crafter/processor but my hope is that alchemy/scribing are the least maxed out artisan skills so i can become a go to player for any one in my immediate area. Im ok with being well known or even just known across 1-3 nodes instead of well known and actively sought out by all the top guilds/players because only i can craft the first legendary bow from a world boss blueprint

I think it's fine for MMOs with "main character syndrome" to exist, and a lot of them are fantastic, but I also would like to see more games with other types. I think it's wrong to say that MMOs with "MCS" are bad is wrong, though. xD

I completely agree. There is something very immersion-breaking when some NPC approaches you as if 100,000 other players haven't already saved the world 🤣

I'm the main character in all of your lives . Quality content brother !

Everything ashes has put forth so far seems so interesting, hopefully the final product is still in the same vision. Guess we'll see in 2030

This is a problem irl not just gaming

Nodes videos are still my favorite. Also if I name my character Kratos, will the world revolve around me? 🤣

The fable music 🩵

The video was good but that ending felt kind of abrupt 😂

Cool thumbnail mate 👍

Hopefully the nodes also decrease over time so players constantly have something to do besides pvp and pve. I know it would probably be a master crafter's dream to feel like their mats farming means something more than just making a set.

Can i collect disability for main character syndrome

The node thing is not new nor does it typically work. AT all...

Nyce

You've gotta look more into the history of MMOs. The idea that Ashes of Creation "fixed" this, as if they invented the sandbox MMO, sounds incredibly silly. This video and the comments here are just filled with people saying "imagine..." and then they say a thing that has already existed for decades in multiple huge games. MUDs were structured more like this, without treating you as a "main character", since the EIGHTIES. UO was like this. SWG was like this. There have been a bunch of sandbox MMOs. There are still a bunch of sandbox MMOs. BDO is a sandbox MMO. EVE is a sandbox MMO. New World is a sandbox MMO. And even the less sandbox-y MMOs that have less of a focus on player economy still tended to be more "open world" than "Main Character story". EverQuest had more focus on quests and linear progression, but it wasn't all about you being the chosen one. You were just some guy. Hell, World of Warcraft itself was more like that until later. Early WoW was not at all about you being the Chosen One. There's not necessarily even anything to fix. WoW found great success with making you the Chosen One. FFXIV leans probably the hardest into the Main Character dynamic, and it's incredibly successful, and there are relatively few complaints about that aspect of it. In fact, this has proven much more commercially viable than sandbox MMOs, which are much more niche and tend to be very hard to sustain, especially given the budgets that MMOs still require. Look at how New World decided to try to cram a story in at the last second - the most consistent feedback they got was that there wasn't one. Sandbox MMOs with deep social play are very niche, and the successes are far fewer than the flops. I hope Ashes of Creation is good! I love sandbox MMOs and would love to see another great one! But it's another sandbox MMO, not a radical reinvention of the genre. It didn't come down from on high and "fix" this problem - the fixes have already existed for decades.

I dont care about all that 🤣. I just wanna pew pew get lewtz!

Ashes Stan.

Also, it's very immersion-breaking to "save the world" but nothing in the world actually changed. I think that players are way too comfortable with this incongruity these days, but they're being ripped off and letting game developers off way too easy.

MMORPG no long means what you think. Now Penance is a totally different breed and a complete emersion back into a world where yes you can be the hero but you are going to have to earn it. I am sorry I do not agree with you here. As a creator the mechanics are not designed as you say. If you can heal yourself tend to wounds make your own potions craft your own items lets face it you are the chosen one. This idea it isnt focused on you isnt reality. The world is being advanced yes but there has to be a goal and destination. In everquest it was not this way and the never ending quest was your character itself. Lets hope for the best because more good titles is better then bad titles. In Penance you make your own name or be forgotten. The true next gen is coming but are you open to it?