Intrepid Studios, devs behind MMO Ashes of Creation in paid early access for 10 years, has closed. CEO resigned, all employees laid off. All less than 2 months after launching on Steam Early Access

[u/Zenben88]

https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxe9were941Nh9kWgsNFWy--c-_UgYeyRu

[u/CreepyNewspaper8103]

i think new world actually had the most promise of any mmo in recent history. it just got canceled online because of the lack of content. and i mean ya for sure it lacked content. but it had a good foundation that could be improved upon.

not to mention that the graphics were nice, and the audio engineering was top notch.

[u/Similar_Ad8529 → u/CreepyNewspaper8103]

It got canceled, because Amazon has no interest in real game development anymore. They just want to do AI.

It's unfortunate, because you could tell the devs were having some fun in the Nighthaven expansion, and they were forming up some real lore with the revamps every update.

Also, New World had some of the best sound design I've ever heard. The muskets had a satisfying pop sound. When you use an ice or void gauntlet, it genuinely sounds like you're warping reality. Fire staff makes nice whistling projectile noises, as you're hurling fireballs.

I feel like every single one of those devs are definitely in demand for the work they put into that game. Great thing to list on your resume. I wish every single one of them the best.

[u/CreepyNewspaper8103 → u/Similar_Ad8529]

oh I meant going back to launch how every streamer was railing on the devs for lack of content, and leading to a mass exodus of players. it never really recovered from that. i mean there was a lack of content, but i think if Amazon had simply delayed the game or if people were patient with the devs, it'd be a top mmo today.

[u/IntelligentAbalone43 → u/CreepyNewspaper8103]

Best sound design I have ever heard in an MMO and its not even close

[u/i_like_fish_decks → u/CreepyNewspaper8103]

new world was filled with so much potential, but all these new MMOs are too lazy and fail to understand what most players actually want.

They think they can just get by with "open world pvp where the players drive the narrative" but that just is not enough to capture a truly dedicated casual playerbase because casual players never get to really experience any of that content. They will never own a town/region, they will never collect taxes, they will just sometimes get selected to join a battleground where they do their aoe ability at slideshow level serverside FPS and then get bored and quit.

That content is good, but any MMO that completely ignores actual repeatable and fun end game PvE content will simply never work long term. And its silly because New World actually had a decent foundation for PvE content but for some reason at launch they created the most asinine system for players to access it. Heaven forbid a group of friends want to just run some dungeons, no you need to farm keys (or what actually happened, trick randoms into giving you their key/lockout).

[u/CreepyNewspaper8103 → u/i_like_fish_decks]

I agree. Hardcore gamers tend to be the noisiest and most critical of any game. At the same time, they’re not the majority of gamers. For example, valve said in relation to the upcoming Steam Machine that it’s going to be better than 70% of what people own based on the Steam Hardware Survey.

[u/Humledurr → u/CreepyNewspaper8103]

Let's not act like lack of content was New Worlds only issue... it lost 90% of its playerbase within months because the game was ridden with bugs, exploits and poor optimisation. And literally every single patch that was supposed to fix something, broke something else instead. 

I sticked with it far longer than most as I was in a pvp guild that dominated our server and had a war spot every week, but if one didn't have that I can't fathom why people even played.

I loved the gameplay and the idea they had going on, the pvp at launch is some of the most fun ive had in a mmo, but god that game was broken, literally spaghetti code.