How long have you been a fan of AE?

Only thing that is not changing is the story, but everything else has room to change and improve. AE has managed to make game less grindy compared to what it used to be when it comes to leveling and unlocking classes and they are going to make gearing less time consuming as well. We have received QoL updates and they going to keep coming. AE can't fix all the problems, but they can at least reduce the amount of them.
There really isn't anything that makes AQ3D stand out besides it being a cross-platform game, but that can also be a downside which has shown to be the case. Can AE think of something that would make AQ3D actually stand out? It might be too optimistic to think that way, but I am willing to wait for that to happen.

This game has its complications and hiccups, but I am still going to give AQ3D its chance to shine and so should you.

 

Leveling up was never really a big problem and if anything, people wanted the last level to require more effort like it used to be.

And they didn't really change much with classes since you still need to do dailies to unlock them; all they really did was inflate the numbers to make it seem like you're making big progress when it's just pretty much the same progress as before. And if anything, they made unlocking classes worse since you can only do one of them per day now, instead of doing multiple of them per day (example, doing DragonSlayer, Pirate, Necromancer, Ninja, and Berserker token quests in one day instead of being forced to just do one).

Also the grind still exists; it just isn't required to progress through the story, but it does create the illusion of lesser content since grind is usually seen as off-putting for many casual players, and casual players want content that they can enjoy. When players say that the game doesn't have much content, I point to them at all of the grind, and they just don't really care for that, and that just says something about the state of the game.

And AQ3D being cross-platform isn't exactly what makes AQ3D stand out. There are a lot of other games entering the cross-platform market, and they have a bigger success. Perhaps the most successful is MineCraft since it's available of almost every platform, but MineCraft itself already stood out before it became cross-platform. In the end, it's really all about managing priorities.

Altogether, I just think AE spent years crafting something that just never worked out quite successfully as their previous games like AQWorlds. It's almost like the downfall of HeroSmash and OverSoul, but this time they're staying committed to the project instead of abandoning it, especially since it holds the "AdventureQuest" brand. I think if they just made mobile games in a variety of genres every 6 months, they'd open more doors to new players. AE's support right now is mostly from all of their fans, not so much from new faces playing the game for the first time.

 

People wanted the last level to require a lot of experience to reach? That would still be the case if people actually wanted that.

AE did make getting a single class faster by reducing the amount of days on average to from 20-15 days to 7-5 days but if you want get all of them now, you need to do class token dailies for 49 days (43 if you are a Guardian) and that is longer compared how many days you needed when you could do all at the same time and the number of days back then was 35 if you did all class token quests every day.

This grind you speak of involves most of the time farming for cosmetic items which aren't necessary, but certainly goals you can set for yourself to do when you don't have anything else to do if you deem them worthy of your time. Things used to be different but now when going for best builds, there isn't as much grinding to do.

Yeah, there are many more examples of cross-platform games and Minecraft is definitely on top of that list. It's pretty much just a niche for AQ3D and that's it.

AQ3D is mainly being supported by fans of AE because its not live yet even though it clearly could have been and AE hasn't taken bigger steps on marketing their game besides having those battle concert events. When it comes to earned media, Youtube mostly consisting of videos that you would expect from a MMORPG; guides, news videos, best of this and that kind of videos. There are a few streamers on Twitch that stream AQ3D somewhat regularly and they will eventually run out of stuff to do and have to come up with something else if they want to keep playing.

AE needs to step up their game if they want AQ3D to succeed. AQ3D could have probably been live already, if AE prepared for it more instead of slowly improving things. They have been more persistent with this game compared to Herosmash and Oversoul and they can't really back out anymore after working on this game for almost 6 years. I want this game to turn out good and I am giving AE a chance to show that they can do it.

 

Levels aren't talked about much since there hasn't been anything too special about them in recent years, but having a large experience gap for the final level was a big topic when they reduced the experience gap for level 15 back in Pre-Beta and when they increased level caps from time to time (when players finished leveling up early with nothing else to do).

And even if the game's grind is for cosmetic items, it's still grind, and it's still content that most casuals won't bother with. It's grind that caters to a subset of players instead of to most players. And there is grind that requires killing bosses a lot just to craft leveled gear, so it isn't all just cosmetic gear that players are grinding for.

But even if AQ3D did go live, what plans do they actually have to open the game to newer fans? Advertising wouldn't be enough since there are a lot of games in competition, and presentation of the game as is just wouldn't be as spectacular (for instance, 3D games are focusing more on realism). There just needs to be some gimmick that stands out from other games, and cross-platform isn't enough.

 

Levels were talked about when AE set experience required for level 15 to 738k and back then it wasn't a big deal because we had very little content. It would certainly be something to do even now, but I doubt that AE is going to go back to that.

That's AE fault for not making all grinding meaningful that everyone would do and that would be pretty unrealistic to even ask for. When you are done with gearing and leveling, you can just close the game and pick it up again when level cap increases and that is a problem if AE wants to keep players interested in AQ3D. We don't really have many other alternatives to grinding when it comes to activities that you can do and that is something AE should work on like PvP for example.

AQ3D really does need a gimmick that would pull in players and we haven't really seen AE come up with anything else besides it being a cross-platform game. AQ3D going live with all the features that they promised wouldn't be enough to make it stand out either because things they promised are standards which you should expect from a MMORPG.

 

It's not so much about making grinding meaningful, but actually adding the right balance (length, pacing, etc.). The way I see it, the game has too much grind compared to content for everyone to enjoy. Having grind that takes 5 hours wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but it's almost like they try to squeeze in too much grinding whenever they put up a new release, especially grinding that could take days rather than hours).

The real problem goes back to their schedule... in AE's vision, to keep their fans interested in the game, they need to add filler content, and they just don't have other plans. But even when you look at it, not every fan plays through the new grind content AE adds, and some still say that the game lacks content because there's nothing reasonable to do. I bet if you poll every fan of the game, most will say that they don't care for the grind, because what they really care for is a game that they've devoted to that they just cannot quit because they've already given their initial support. It's almost like some fans are carrying a white elephant; or to put it bluntly, they care for the game, but they don't care for its progression.

 

It's kinda hard for them to balance grind if AE keeps pushing for content like the way do currently and they aren't really making it easy for themselves because of that. A lot of content that involves grinding doesn't feel rewarding to do compared to the time spent on it.

Wouldn't it be better for AE to just make more constructed content instead of we getting just filler content? That's what I believe in, but would it work when considering the fact that AE has conditioned us to expect an update a week?

 

Especially ridiculous RNG-based grinds... it may take you months to grind for something while it may take someone else a day. There really needs to be some sort of innovation in the way grinding works, like rewarding skill and effort more than just luck. Having filler content just about every week isn't going to help innovate these things that the casual players would really want.

And I don't think it's necessarily about AE "conditioning" players to expect an update every week. They'd probably have more players if they had a different approach, but I do think they're trapped in a shell because they can't buy in new players in the state their in, and they don't want to lose the players who do expect a release every week. In the short term, changing the formula will affect them, but the long term is unknown, and it's really about risk at that point. They'll want to play it safe, but they won't really get anywhere new from playing it safe.

 

AQ3D is lacking in skill based content and it really needs it. Filler content does hurt the game when comes to getting innovate content out. It's hard to tell if changing their content release schedule is actually going to help currently and it does feel like a risk that AE isn't willing to make.

 

Only way to know if a new schedule would help them is to actually do it. It worked for them before when they slowly released Ashfall without much content being released, and Ashfall just had a lot more discussion going (players creating theories, talking more about Ashfall, anticipating what the next part would be like, creating fan arts and fiction stories, etc.). Now, AE just releases parts of a saga, forgets about them for a while, work on fillers, and then work on new sagas, and it just seems like they're clueless on the direction of the story and only care about throwing in something for players to do, even if it's not as good.

Looking back at the past, I'd say there was better reception for the game. Fans understood that the game was in development and they knew that releases during that time would have a bit more quality, especially features that weren't really thought about by players. The releases they have now don't really create as much excitement, and AE doesn't strive on innovating as much as they did during early days of development. For instance, when Ashfall was released, the cinematics were all the craze, and people enjoyed doing things like finding the keys to unlock the chests and playing the challenges (which were completely new at the time).

Now, AE just borrows the success of their past ideas and implements them in abundance to their newer content, and it really muddles the game, because the things people enjoyed back then aren't as spectacular now. New fans playing Ashfall might just think it's okay, but the older fans would have a stronger connection with the saga because what they experienced back then was different. If every saga had their own unique features and gimmicks, and those features weren't borrowed into other releases, the game would definitely have a stronger foothold and a larger fanbase.

 

Trying a new schedule would by progress. Good point! Things did turn out very well for Ashfall and its a template AE should follow at least loosely. Innovation is what everyone wants to see.

 

Even if it takes 6 months to see a saga that presents all-new features, all that work will pay off. It could easily mean more players enjoying the game, and willing to pour out their entire wallet onto the game. It's always about getting the first impression, and that's something that should always be prioritized. It's not exactly about pleasing the current fans, but rather about pleasing as many people as possible. In other words, the only way to earn fandom is to strive for it.

 

When it comes to the amount of filler and then thinking what a release could be when there is no filler in between... how amazing would that be? AQ3D is player funded so we should get quality over quantity. A good first impression is what AE should aim for, and not just for already existing AE fans, but for new ones too.

 

I think quality would be a priority, if the game was set up differently, such as being pay to play, because then the game starts to matter more to the consumer, and AE would have more money to employ more people. But because the game has a diversity of players, they don't really have the urge to focus on that. Personally if quality was the major difference between a pay to play game and a free to play game, I'd take the pay to play game anytime just because the experience would be well worth it.

 

That's how it should be, but AQ3D is F2P and I really doubt that AE would just make it P2P because that isn't their style.

 

Well even if the game is free to play, the game sort of encourages you to buy things to really get a somewhat fulfilling experience, so their free to play model, in reality, doesn't really give any excuse on quality, though it could be used as a marketing ploy to the consumer as an excuse because they've already set the bars. For instance, when you're a free player, you are severely limited (inventory space, bank space, etc.), and that can really deter the point of a free to play game, especially when you've progressed through so many storylines and don't have space for more items. In other words, I can think of several other free to play games that are actually worth playing just for the free experience without severely limiting the user. And to think of it, the free to play model that AE uses is sort of like a trial (but without an end date)... almost like you get a feel of the product and then purchase it. Likely, most fans aren't going to be free players, but rather fans that have invested money to get a full experience.

 

AQ3D using a F2P model makes it feel that quality isn't a priority and that's just an expectation to look for on games using such a play model. AE isn't a corporation, they are an indie gaming company so they should be thinking more about the players of their game.

 

But that doesn't necessarily mean all free-to-play games follow that procedure. There are definitely some "goldmine" games and hidden "gems" out there that really do focus on quality rather than throwing strings of content every week. If the game's captivating enough, there wouldn't need to be constant weekly releases, because people can find things to do that'll last them a long time. It does partly depend on the genre of the game (e.g. any genre with PvP and competition is likely to remain engaging, even without many updates to the game). AE just hasn't found the thing that works best in keeping players engaged so that their workload can be more manageable, and focused on quality. So rather than the free-to-play model, engagement plays a huge part in what keeps players interested in the game.

 

It's not a requirement to run a game on such a model, but it will definitely keep players in assuming the game itself is overall well made. AQ3D has a problem with keeping players in because we don't have much side content to spend time on. AE just keeps making weekly content releases to keep players in and that makes the overall quality suffer compared to what it could be if they knew how to players engaged in their games without having to resort to their old ways.

 

It's all about new, long-lasting features, especially features that no other games of the genre have done before that would easily make the game even more engaging for fans. Weekly releases don't last as long, and if they do, they're filled with things players don't really want to do. There's always a bunch of innovation out there in the game industry.