Trials of Ascension, Shady Practices and the Big Crowdfunding Debate

[Osoroshii]

BTW. Trials of Ascension will be bringing their website down on Sunday and when it comes back up, they will have all their ´fully transparent´ plans laid out. * grabs popcorn*

If it comes back up at all... Honestly, this would be a good way for them to simply vanish before they dig themselves into an even deeper hole that ends with a lawsuit.

[Kotori125]

"This update will also herald a new level of transparency between us, the team, and you all, the community."
Oh yes because lying is very transparent for ToA.

Which is funny, because all they really say about transparency is that they have been completely transparent (especially in the 'stick-it-to-mmoc' posts). When, you know the whole no-compromise investors that they were chirping on for years had nothing to do with compromise to the game and only about money/company ownership. Completely transparent, I tell ya...


They just continue the laughs. And they continue the facedesks; facedesk- where facepalms just can't quite represent the level of face-to-object you want, if there is no desk use a table or other suitable replacement *warning, facedesking may be accompanied by uncontrollable fits of laughter that may cause temporary pain in the user, Use with Caution.

Hey, maybe they will finally tell the public where the other half of allocated 'donations' went to, in a new level of completely transparent detail, because being 'completely' transparent isn't being transparent, it seems. But who knows, maybe for the first time in 12 years they will start to develop this game in a completely serious fashion, compared to how they have been (because being 'completely' serious in past experiences likely isn't being serious at all compared to the level of seriousness of the now). We'll see Sunday. Probably. Maybe. If they feel like it.

[Azrile]

yeah... new buzzword. transparent.... must be used in every paragraph. Funny though, Brax said last year that they were already completely transparent. Then when Fornax called him after the KS about them not having game making skills, they said they had always been transparent about that.

this must be double secret transparency ( another Animal House reference).

I can see the 3 stoogies and Elyssia in some IRC chat going over the strategy.. ´use the word transparent whenever possible´.. ´don´t mention the 2 KS, the Cash-shop of the investors in the past.... just emphasis that we are not taking any money except for the actual game ´

I still don´t get why they need money at all. Demo Island wasn´t anything that cost money, and most of what they are planning to do you can just follow free tutorials on youtube and actually make ToA...

The fact that Brax has now lost two teams and basically everyone following the game now showed up in the last few months should give him some kinda clue that he is not capable of leading anything.

[Kyanion]

yeah... new buzzword. transparent.... must be used in every paragraph. Funny though, Brax said last year that they were already completely transparent. Then when Fornax called him after the KS about them not having game making skills, they said they had always been transparent about that.

this must be double secret transparency ( another Animal House reference).

I can see the 3 stoogies and Elyssia in some IRC chat going over the strategy.. ´use the word transparent whenever possible´.. ´don´t mention the 2 KS, the Cash-shop of the investors in the past.... just emphasis that we are not taking any money except for the actual game ´

I still don´t get why they need money at all. Demo Island wasn´t anything that cost money, and most of what they are planning to do you can just follow free tutorials on youtube and actually make ToA...

The fact that Brax has now lost two teams and basically everyone following the game now showed up in the last few months should give him some kinda clue that he is not capable of leading anything.

Oh don't worry as long as they still have suckers...err 'fans' to show up and praise their amazing game and look forward to anything they are doing...they'll keep suckering the community.

I love how many 30 post people post in some of those threads, always someone different responding. Or you get fanboy posts like these "Wait, do I feel... Is that? Yup, it's renewed hope! Exciteddddd!" Hope for what? You people are so sad.

[Azrile]

As if they couldn´t get any more pathetic.. Elyssia is now referring to him as ´Lord Brax´ .. Lord of what? failure to accomplish anything? Not surprising her latest post is letting both fans know that Lord Brax will not be able to update the forums on Sunday like she said he would... imagine that...

[Kyanion]

As if they couldn´t get any more pathetic.. Elyssia is now referring to him as ´Lord Brax´ .. Lord of what? failure to accomplish anything? Not surprising her latest post is letting both fans know that Lord Brax will not be able to update the forums on Sunday like she said he would... imagine that...

Lord Brax? I think I threw up in my mouth. Lord of Double KS Failures? Lord of Transparency? Lord of 12+ years of no Game? Awesome.

[Taojnhy]

Not surprising her latest post is letting both fans know that Lord Brax will not be able to update the forums on Sunday like she said he would... imagine that...

What, did Brax get the sniffles (henceforth known as proctoritis) too?

- - - Updated - - -

Lord Brax? I think I threw up in my mouth. Lord of Double KS Failures? Lord of Transparency? Lord of 12+ years of no Game? Awesome.

Well, considering Elyssia is the same person who advised supporters for ToA to "pretend the last two Kickstarters didn't happen", I guess if you can think like that then calling Brax "Lord" isn't much of a mental hurdle.

Does Brax think he's Richard Garriot as well?

[Deleted]

Fuck yeah. Weekly fails incoming!

[lawow74]

Does Brax think he's Richard Garriot as well?

Does that mean we can kill him on Demo Island?

[Azrile]

Does Brax think he's Richard Garriot as well?

Yes, because creating UO and playing UO are exactly the same thing..

BTW, I really think there is some kinda conspiracy going on to keep us entertained, it seems like GreedMonger and Trials of Ascension just take turns with this type of thing so that we never go very long without entertainment. The 6 weeks while ToA was quiet, GreedMonger lit it up.. now GM is dead, and ToA takes over.

I still am laughing about their inclusion of a roadmap as part of their transparency. Like I said before, Brax doesn´t know enough to know what to include on a roadmap or have any idea how it should go. For instance, in the last version they were not able to get ´a spell´ into the game.. something that would be a few hour job. To do a fireball, or flamestrike or basically any spell from WOW (except stuff like mind control) would take a couple hours. Yet Brax couldn´t get that done.. instead, he was messing around with a hacked version of physically based shaders while it was 3 months away from being built into Unity 5. (and really, everyone and anyone was already using Unity 5 beta anyway). So he wasted that time with PBR and now doesn´t have ´a spell´in the game and also hasn´t upgraded yet to Unity 5 which allows the low-cost PBR. Most of the stuff included on the last roadmap was at 100%, but not a part of demo island. Their naming system never worked, they never had the ´growing´ system working. All the stuff they said they had at 100% were done on single player games.... and they had ´networking´ at 100% even though they were never able to have more than a handful of people online at the same time.

I wonder if ´a spell´ will show up on the new roadmap.

- - - Updated - - -

Does that mean we can kill him on Demo Island?

Greatest moment in the history of MMORPGs... and the greatest learning experience for developers of all time... never underestimate what players will try to do. It really is a flaw a lot of developers make. You design a game around the way you expect or want players to play it... instead, you always need to have a devil on your other shoulder ( another animal house reference) that is telling you how players will ACTUALLY play it.

For those that don´know. Very early in UO, Lord British ( Richard Garriot) showed up in game to give a speech... and a player was able to kill him

[Deleted]

BTW. Trials of Ascension will be bringing their website down on Sunday and when it comes back up, they will have all their ´fully transparent´ plans laid out. * grabs popcorn*.

Looks like I decided to check in here just in time

[Pizzaman199]

So I think Elyssia's most recent post speaks volumes about what they think about their fan base. When asked why they were merging two sub-sections of the forums...

Nothing will be deleted. It's a matter of activity. As you can see, the Lore Discussion forum hasn't received any new activity for months. By merging it with Fungal Muck we reduce the number of forums players have to look through for information.

And when they say reducing the number. That'd take it from 8 sections to 7. So they don't think their fan base can handle looking through... 8 sections. I think they basically just called their fan base a bunch of plebs.

[Deleted]

New roadmap makes me curious though.

No more donations or Kickstarters, so once the roadmap has reached 100% for every category, what exactly does that make ToA? Will it then be finally out of pre-pre-pre-pre alpha and actually be the ordinary alpha, ready to opt in for early access? I wish it was Sundays already

[Azrile]

New roadmap makes me curious though.

No more donations or Kickstarters, so once the roadmap has reached 100% for every category, what exactly does that make ToA? Will it then be finally out of pre-pre-pre-pre alpha and actually be the ordinary alpha, ready to opt in for early access? I wish it was Sundays already

Yeah, that is why I am betting they go with pre-orders right away (we take your money now, you play the game in 3 years), but I am curious how they can do early access since they won´t be able to get more than 20 people on the server at the same time AND those players will be able to actually play the game. Certainly the early adopters will be the kool-aid drinkers..but it won´t be difficult for real players ( or us) to get into the game.. and then the fun really begins. What would be great, and par for the course, would be if early access required a box purchase and a monthly subscription.. Hey, this is the same guy who sold an eye-patch on a cash-shop before having a character model in the game, and then did a ´making of the eye patch´ video... his stupidity and lack of realism is bottomless.

[Azrile]

You know what else there is Sunday!? E3, Coicidence?!?! I think not!
Think about it, what else is there with a 3 on it?! Half Life 3!
Half Life 2 was released in 2004, 2004 - 3 = 2001, what did started in 2001?! trialsofascension.com domain!
Do you get it yet? No?! Aight! I'll make it even clearer...
What was one of their biggest accomplishments up until now? The EYEpatch...
Hopefully you haven’t forgoten about the 3... Because:
http://s1.postimg.org/3pbvgm60v/SF3_ES_W.jpg
Half Life 3 confirmed to be announced by Forged Chaos at E3, Trials Of Ascension was merely a codename.

Illuminati Inside Information ( I-cubed)

[lawow74]

Half Life 3 confirmed to be announced by Forged Chaos at E3, Trials Of Ascension was merely a codename.

I'm one of your alts, and I think you're crazy.

That said, I love how they claim transparency and updates and plans and then...nope, sorry, not gonna update the website yet. *George Bush* Wouldn't be prudent at this juncture. Read my lips. No new Kickstarters. No new Kickstarters.

[Bodoh]

Trials of Ascension...

- Bad concept art.
- Mostly stock models
- Not even multi-player.

[Kyanion]

Trials of Ascension...

- Bad concept art.
- Mostly stock models
- Not even multi-player.

Lol not even a game you can play.

[alduron]

Am I the only one that to this day still hears "yer help yer help yer help" every time I see this (supposed) game mentioned?

[Bodoh]

I came late to this thread.

I'm an illustrator and concept artist.


The concept art is terrible. This is done by amateurs, not done by professional artists.