Originally posted by
iareyomz
oh I dont think you are failing at all... I have been following development closely for nearly a decade and I have nothing against you people... I disagree with monetization models but that is personal bias and not a demerit on your part...
I am simply pointing out a fact that the game has measurably performed worse compared to the very first demo you showcased and that is worrying...
this community being full of fanatics that want to shutdown any attempt at pointing this issue out is my problem... I genuinely hate the fact that people in here think trying to downvote and report people who are trying to point out problems in the game is going to help in the end...
game is genuinely good from a game standpoint... from a performance standpoint, game is terrible right now... people trying to hate me for saying that is the problem...
we all want a good game, so why are people actively avoiding performance talks and suppressing others who try to talk about it?
I have one PC with similar specs of the minimum requirements that was published years ago and the game runs like ass on that system... optimization really needs to be pushed way higher on the priority list...
just for reference, Monster Hunter Wilds is on beta right now and so many people have stopped playing the beta because the game is so poorly optimized... Wo Long had the same issue... dont let this game be released with similar issues... this is "the next big MMO" so let the performance of the game represent that too, along with the graphics and gameplay...
From my perspective, I often see a few things from people that could be better informed about either; Game development as a whole, or our project and our goals.
First, while it is true that Ashes has been in development for 8 years, it is important to put into context that nearly the first 4 years was in a different engine and codebase. While we are able to carry over much of the art and gameplay code, we rewrote our backend, which required overhauling the gameplay code that uses that backend. It is also disingenuous to compare the first few years of pace to development to the pace we have now, given that the studio size grew from only a handful of people, to the over 200 developers that now work on Ashes. Much of that growth began after Covid.
Second, many who are unfamiliar with software development, expect that progress always moves in one direction. This is not always the case, as the complexity of the code, and the systems grow new bugs get introduced. And although you may have created very good work in your software that function as intended in automated testing, or controlled environments, when introduced to a real player environments you discover issues/bugs that can make it feel to the player as though things have "gotten worse", when in fact there are bugs that need to be discovered and fixed.
Lastly, I often see people calling some in the community, white knights or fanatics. I think that while those people do/can exist, the majority of instances where I see people responding with ridicule to "haters" is when the criticisms thrown at us instead are about "how long its taking" or "game is dog sh*t". These types of insults/"feedback" does nothing to improve the game. Thoughtful commentary about how a system is intended to work, or how the game performs, is what those "white knights" tend to align better with. It can be kind of discouraging to say "optimization needs to be higher on the priority list", because it assumes it is not already as high as it can be for us as a team.
So, the reality of the situation is, we care deeply as a team for the community we have formed and the world we are making. We have a team of very veteran game developers who are building something that isn't finished yet. If people think that we are building a game that isn't for them either visually or mechanics wise, that is totally cool... there are a lot of games out there for them. If people think that we aren't doing a good job at making Ashes, that is fine too, as there are many other companies out there that create amazing worlds. We will continue to build Ashes, in the best way we know how. And when we are ready to market the game to the masses, the people who stepped away will know about it and can come give their opinion on the finished product. As it stands, this phase of development is to test performance, stability and core loops. We will introduce content at a much more rapid pace once those things have been achieved. And what we look for from our community who want to be here to observe and participate in this phase, is commentary not about how the game is bad, or the state of performance is "bullsh*t" but rather, bug reports, thoughts on mechanics and our gameplay loops, and bodies to stress our tech.
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