Is an age mechanic worth the death of a game?

[Adfax 157]

We're at a point now where the devs are clinging onto a mechanic that much disdain has been expressed toward. They are seemingly determined to twist and malform their game to fit this needless mechanic in the game.

It is the reason FOY is seen as such a problem. It is the reason there has been such an uproar over the debuff. It takes away cosmetic options in the game by making your character look either too young, or too old relative to what you might ideally want. AND it  might take away your character, forcing you to replace them over and over.

All these different groups of people are annoyed by this mechanic.

Would the FOY be such an issue if people did not feel their character was being held hostage? The frustration from the FOY really comes from the stakes; the reason people pursue the fountain in the first place.. It might actually be an enjoyable challenge if it felt more optional.

All issues people have with the age mechanic come to a head when participating in the FOY quest.

-People afraid of losing their characters

-People wanting to be free of the debuff

-People pursuing cosmetics

-People who have lives outside of the game

All of these people just get annoyed by this ridiculous quest, which on the surface seems like it is the problem. In reality? It is the reason you have to pursue this quest that is the real issue.

The age mechanic only takes away; it doesn't put in... In the end, it is just a bump map that progresses over a short period of time, with a debuff on the final 10 years. We don't need it, we don't want it; please stop ruining your game by trying to crowbar it in whichever way you can.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Adfax

[Shintai 117]

FOY concept is so broken and not sure anyone really wants to raise kids.

[Strategos 10]

And why do we age so fast ?! Its ridiculous. If you are going to put in ageing make it feel like we are getting a life time out of it. My character is 75 years old and has been in existence for about 3 years in game time. 

Edit: I know re-spawning ages you, my mate has overtaken me despite starting after me and is now 100. It heavily penalises new players learning the mechanics and forces them into end game content if they want to avoid their debuff WAY too early. 

Edited January 28, 2019 by Strategos

[Realist 504]

43 minutes ago, Strategos said:

And why do we age so fast ?! Its ridiculous. If you are going to put in ageing make it feel like we are getting a life time out of it. My character is 75 years old and has been in existence for about 3 years in game time. 

Edit: I know re-spawning ages you, my mate has overtaken me despite starting after me and is now 100. It heavily penalises new players learning the mechanics and forces them into end game content if they want to avoid their debuff WAY too early. 

Yeah I believe both the aging mechanic and the claim system are both horrible ideas. I smh about it all the time. 

They were trying to be new and innovative and all, but they are good at that kind of stuff. They just shouldn’t have done it.

[Thor Ragnarock 99]

53 minutes ago, Shintai said:

FOY concept is so broken and not sure anyone really wants to raise kids.

I mean your kids will probably die to the extreme heat and cold like baby tames. But the FoY itself isn't broken it was just released prematurely. I managed to do FoY in about 2 hours. Did I find it enjoyable? Not really but it beats having the debuff had I not managed to complete it I would of just lived with it until they expanded on it. I wouldn't quit over it. The stone issue is far more of a frustration to me.

[Bad News Bear 59]

FOY isnt bad if you actually bring gear to fight off the enemies.

[IAmAnEasterEgg 25]

Not broken for me I ran in there and got the buff was only about 10 other guys trying to do it

[Olthoi 65]

They just need to turn it off until they figure it out.  The concept of an age mechanic is cool, if implemented properly.  At the end of the day though, that's not the hook for me.  But the mechanic as it is, is certainly reducing my enjoyment of the game.  So a game "feature" that isn't that important to me is affecting all of my playtime.  Its not fun the way it is.

I spent my entire play session last night on a raft headed to a FOY for death runs.  Only to realize once there the FOY wasn't active.  That wasn't fun.

Grapeshot:  I understand its early access.  But you see how miserable this feature is working?  Turn it off and work on it offline.  Test, test, test.  Because in the interim it affects 100% of the players, whether they like the concept or not.

[Grongash 201]

1 hour ago, Shintai said:

FOY concept is so broken and not sure anyone really wants to raise kids.

Especially with breeding being broken too  I dont really feel like watching them for a few days straight, force feeding them just to watch them freeze to death in the end anyway.

[Wolfrayne 0]

Honestly i like the idea of an aging system but in a more complete state. Give people the option to pursue the FOY if they want to but dont take away from the people who cant/wont go looking for it at least until you have a FULLY working system with other OPTIONS so we are being forced to do something that is to be blunt stupid as shit. Getting to the FOY is a pain in the ass, id rather re-roll my character and start again from lvl 1 than have to go to the fountain all the time. its tedious and dumb.

[azmoodeus 24]

To me it just seems like most features in this game have been more of an afterthought or just "this feature would be cool lets do it". Most if it lacks depth or any considerations to "what if" questions. It feels like an amateur mod that was cooked up without any real playtesting to see if the features were fun or feasible. Examples being sap requirement to stone structures which arctic regions already desperately need for their armor to even remotely survive. I mean just look at the patch notes where in one they buff discovery points to 3 per zone and then just a small hotfix later they reduce it back down to 1 per. It screams a divided development team and everything seems rash and not thought out.

I agree with OP on the aging mechanic on all points. It doesn't belong in a MMO (as the game is advertised as). Also placing the fountain of youth just a few meters in front of the powerstone altars just screams lazy. "Meh fuck it lets just place it here, it'll save us some time"

[KingLlama 24]

Aging would be great later in the EA timespan when more to do with it is added.

[Adfax 157]

9 hours ago, Olthoi said:

They just need to turn it off until they figure it out.  The concept of an age mechanic is cool, if implemented properly.  At the end of the day though, that's not the hook for me.  But the mechanic as it is, is certainly reducing my enjoyment of the game.  So a game "feature" that isn't that important to me is affecting all of my playtime.  Its not fun the way it is.

I spent my entire play session last night on a raft headed to a FOY for death runs.  Only to realize once there the FOY wasn't active.  That wasn't fun.

Grapeshot:  I understand its early access.  But you see how miserable this feature is working?  Turn it off and work on it offline.  Test, test, test.  Because in the interim it affects 100% of the players, whether they like the concept or not.

I'm failing to see why it is a cool concept. 

Infact, no one has explained why it is a good idea... I can't see any implementation of it where it will make the game a better experience. 

[Adfax 157]

7 hours ago, azmoodeus said:

To me it just seems like most features in this game have been more of an afterthought or just "this feature would be cool lets do it". Most if it lacks depth or any considerations to "what if" questions. It feels like an amateur mod that was cooked up without any real playtesting to see if the features were fun or feasible. Examples being sap requirement to stone structures which arctic regions already desperately need for their armor to even remotely survive. I mean just look at the patch notes where in one they buff discovery points to 3 per zone and then just a small hotfix later they reduce it back down to 1 per. It screams a divided development team and everything seems rash and not thought out.

I agree with OP on the aging mechanic on all points. It doesn't belong in a MMO (as the game is advertised as). Also placing the fountain of youth just a few meters in front of the powerstone altars just screams lazy. "Meh fuck it lets just place it here, it'll save us some time"

That seems like an accurate estimation. It is crowbarred in to make the game appear more innovative. In actuality, it is just a bump map and a debuff on a timer. 

You don't just put something in the game because it seems cool, you put it in if it works with everything else. The age mechanic takes away from the game far more than it puts in.

What the devs should practice isn't innovation, but exnovation. Ark's formula proved successful as a base to build from; it should've been set as the standard. The age mechanic messes with this formula, making it worse overall.

Edited January 28, 2019 by Adfax