On Friday, August 16, 2024, we broadcasted our Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Roadmap and AMA live on Twitch with Steven Sharif (Creative Director), and Margaret Krohn (Director of Communications) where we provided an in-depth overview of our Alpha Two plans. Afterwards, we went over a plethora of questions the community provided.

Reminder that Ashes of Creation is an open and transparent development project. As such, you will see work-in-progress art, systems, and mechanics, and our plans may change as we continue to move forward, but we will try to keep our community informed of what and why.

Alpha Two Roadmap and AMA

For ease, we’ve also provided the images below from the broadcast with additional clarifications. Some of the images have adjustments based on feedback and questions that came up during, and after the livestream.

Note: The below information applies to Alpha Two, and things will change as we head into Beta One, Beta Two, and Launch. As we progress into these other development phases, you can expect that we will provide further information regarding the specifics of those.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:19 Alpha 2 Roadmap Presentation
• 03:29 Scalability, Stability, Fun, and Always Engaged with Our Community!
• 15:08 Alpha 2 Starting Dates
• 26:02 Content Update Cadence
• 32:24 Alpha Two What You Can Expect, and What We Need
• 45:28 Alpha One to Alpha Two
• 48:15 Alpha Two Phase I: Features & Content
• 1:01:49 Alpha Two Phase II: Features & Content
• 1:07:52 Alpha Two Phase III: Features & Content
• 1:14:18 Opening Alpha Two Access
• 1:30:47 Debug Tools for Alpha 2 Testers
• 1:32:16 Population Over Time
• 1:33:52 Expectations For Testers
• 1:36:45 Date Expectations
• 1:41:18 Employment Logistics
• 1:47:14 Character Creator
• 1:49:03 Node Scope
• 1:52:27 Player Corruption
• 1:53:18 Dueling
• 1:53:56 Standout Feature of Alpha 2 and "What feature would you like the most feedback on?"
• 1:56:36 World Bosses
• 1:57:44 Artisan Professions
• 1:58:40 Archetype Updating
• 1:59:49 In-Game Support
• 2:02:07 Studio Culture
• 2:07:09 Game Rating
• 2:07:32 Gameplay Loop
• 2:08:40 Guilds
• 2:09:16 Livestreams
• 2:11:23 Outro

Intrepid Studios' Goals for Alpha Two

• 3K CCU is the concurrent users on a realm, not the total users that can have accounts on a Realm. This is what we expect to support at primetime in any given realm during Alpha Two.

Alpha Two Roadmap

• Phase I - Weekend testing starting Friday and ending Sunday will begin on October 25, 2024, and we plan to continue each following weekend.
• Phase II - 5+ Day testing will begin on December 20, 2024, and we plan to continue each week following that week.
  • The holiday testing week may be extended compared to the weeks following with limited community and customer support.
  • Testing for the 5+ days may fall on a variety of different days. As we head into this phase, we will provide a more detailed schedule for folks to plan around
• Phase III - Starting May 1, 2025, we will be up 24/7, and our aim will be only to have small windows of downtime for game updates.
  • This phase does not have an ending as we will continue to add content and features until we are ready to move into Beta One.
  • Alpha Two will turn into an NDA’d Test Realm when Beta One starts. It will then get access to content prior to the Beta and Launch realms. This Test Realm will continue post launch.

Alpha Two Cadence of Content Updates

• These cadences of content updates apply to ALL Phases I, II, and III.

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Alpha Two What You Can Expect, and What We Need

• We will expand the amount of realms in each of the above regions as needed.
• The NA realms will be located in the central US, but we have the ability to adjust this to eastern and western as needed.
• As we move into other phases of development after Alpha Two, you will see more realm regions come online. We try to keep our FAQ article up-to-date with our Launch plans for realm locations here.

Alpha One to Alpha Two

Alpha Two Phases

• The features and content listed in each of these phases are not all planned at the START of each phase. You can expect that when these phases end, these features and content will be delivered prior to moving onto the next phase.
• As stated many times, things are subject to change, and we may shift things into different phases, but we’ll keep you all informed as those changes occur.
• Alpha 2 Phase III, is expected to last at least 1 year. This is of course subject to change due to active development.

Alpha Two Phase I: Features & Content

Alpha Two Phase II: Features & Content

Alpha Two Phase III: Features & Content

Opening Alpha Two Access

• Thanks to your glorious feedback, we have made some adjustments as you can see in the above image. We appreciate our community beyond words, and we want you to know that we hear you.
• First, Second, and Third Wave have now been changed into Bundles which include Alpha Two, Beta One, and Beta Two access, a 1 Month of Subscription Time ($15 value), and $15 in Embers (in-game marketplace credits, NO P2W!).
• As noted above in this article, Alpha Two will turn into an NDA’d Test Realm when Beta One starts. It will then get access to content prior to the Beta and Launch realms. This Test Realm will continue post launch.
• Purchasing into a phase, grants access to subsequent phases.
• Alpha 2 Phase III, is expected to last at least 1 year. This is of course subject to change due to active development.
• Alpha 2 does not have a subscription cost.
• When the game launches, Ashes of Creation will NOT have a box price.
• The cost behind Alpha Two access accounts for realm and CDN costs associated with a live service product. While this is not a finished game, it will be a live service that we will be updating on a 6 week basis as we build out the rest of the game's content and features.
• We’d like to reiterate, please do NOT consider purchasing testing access to Ashes of Creation, if your intent is to play a completed game. Please wait until Launch.
  • This is not a typical approach of development and marketing. It will be rough, buggy and require dedicated players who are willing to be testers.
  • We have our internal QA teams, along with externally contracted QA testers that are testing right now, every day. We understand that this approach is not everyone's cup of tea, but this is the path we are taking because we believe it will yield a better finished product, and we all have experienced enough MMOs that have not hit the mark when it comes to launching when they are TRULY ready.

We appreciate everyone’s feedback, understanding, and support along our development journey. We can't wait for some of you to join us on Verra!

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