Alpha-2

Guide to Alpha-2.

Alpha-2 is an alpha. This is an actual Alpha. We are not a game where we're just porting over, or translating to another region. This is a proper Alpha. So, as Steven has stated many times, it's not a game. We are here to test and get things moving along. – Margaret Krohn

Alpha-2 Node wars PI spot test #6 finale. Alpha-2 screenshot. Image credit: User:Lex

Alpha-2 is really the testing grounds for a lot of the more minute details of how a particular system works; and you can change a lot of those details without actually needing to change the feature that's been developed. These are variables that exist within the code that we have control over so that when we want to iterate upon it it's easy to do iterations: and some of those iterations can feel very impactful to the system overall. So Alpha-2 really is meant to gauge this initial approach and then we're afforded the ability to change that drastically by tuning and changing some of the aspects of the specifics of the system. – Steven Sharif

Non-NDA Alpha-2 testing will occur in three phases:

• Alpha-2 phase 1.
• Alpha-2 phase 2.
• Alpha-2 phase 3.

The focus of Alpha-2 testing is on core gameplay loops rather than quality-of-life.

Quality-of-life features and how they relate, I think this is probably the biggest disparity between our player audience right now, our testing audience, and what the purpose of Alpha phase one and two are. It's not to deliver on those quality-of-life issues. That's just the reality. It is truly an alpha, which means that our focus needs to remain on the base gameplay loops- the core gameplay layers that people are interacting on a minute-to-minute basis. – Steven Sharif

The cadence of Alpha-2 updates will vary based on the type of update: Hotfixes will be deployed as needed. Minor updates will occur approximately every 3 weeks. Major updates will occur approximately every 6 weeks.

By the end of Alpha-2, the game is expected to be feature complete, but will not be content complete until launch.

In-game support is expected to be present during Alpha-2 to handle a limited range of support issues. Game masters are expected to be in-game at live launch.

We will have people who will have access to being in-game and helping support if needs be, but our goal for Alpha-2 is we are not going to be assisting at the same capacity that we would be for launch. At launch we do want to have in-game GMS. – Margaret Krohn

The intention of Alpha-2 is to be as persistent as possible, but there may be necessary wipes during testing. There will be downtime for upgrades and patches. Any upcoming wipes to specific systems will be communicated in advance.

I do want to be clear that our goal is to not have server wipes in Alpha-2. We want to have persistence. That is the point of the persistence. We may have times where we come down for updates and things like that, but the goal is to not wipe if we don't have to. – Margaret Krohn

• There was a full wipe leading into Alpha-2 phase 2.

• The placeholder freehold system implemented in early Alpha-2 phase-2 will be wiped prior to the implementation of freehold deeds later in that phase. Existing owners will be compensated.

• Alpha-2 is expected to last until launch and run in parallel with Beta-1 and Beta-2. Alpha-2 realms will then become testing realms for upcoming Beta content, some of which may be covered by NDA.

Q: Will Alpha-2 run alongside with Beta-1 and Beta-2?

A: That's correct. So, when Alpha-2 ends, Beta-1 will start; and then you'll see that those realms will change to be more of a test realm that you can see content that's coming up the line. We may even ask people to join that to test things before it goes to the Beta. – Steven Sharif

• Alpha-2 will morph into a private test realm (PTR/PTS) post-live launch.

Q: Is Alpha-2 access going to result in PTR access?

A: Alpha 2 is still intended to morph into the PTR. And if you have Alpha 2 access, for any of the phases, you will have access to all subsequent Alpha-2 testing phages, which includes when it becomes the PTR. – Steven Sharif

• All server realms will be wiped prior to live launch.

• Beta-1 and Beta-2 will likely not be persistent.

Alpha-2 phase-2 testing schedule.

From January 8, 2025 until January 13, 2025 at 10 PM Pacific (PT), we will continue to keep service up 24/7 with periods of downtime for hotfixes, and daily restarts happening at 2 AM PT for NA realms, and 2 Central European Time (CET) for EU realms.

Going forward, from January 16, 2025 until May 1, 2025, Alpha Two realms are scheduled to be online for 5+ days a week from Thursdays at 10 AM PT to Mondays at 10 PM PT. Downtime will exist on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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. – Steven Sharif

Phase	Release	Estimated/Actual date
Alpha-2	Alpha-2 spot testing (NDA).	November 2023.
	Alpha-2 phase-1 (No NDA).	October 25, 2024.
	Alpha-2 phase-2 (No NDA).	December 20, 2024.
	Alpha-2 phase-3 (No NDA).	May 1, 2025.

• Owners of Alpha-2 access from previous pre-order packs, Kickstarter, and Summer crowdfunding will have access to all phases of Alpha 2 starting from the weekend of October 25th. This includes recipients of key giveaways, but giveaway keys do not grant access to the Beta phases.

During the stream, there was some confusion around clarifying that giveaway keys we have done in the past, for example the food contest keys, do not provide access to subsequent alpha/testing phases. However, any keys that have been purchased provide access to subsequent testing phases. So if a user owns a key to any Alpha phase that they have purchased, they also own access to Beta as well. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 bundles.

• Bundles include Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 access, 1 month of Subscription time ($15 value), and $15 in Embers (in-game marketplace credits, NO P2W!). Previously it was stated that Alpha-2 phases grant keys only.
  • Alpha-2 phase 1 bundles grant access to weekend Alpha-2 testing beginning on November 8, 2024.
  • Alpha-2 phase 2 bundles grant access to week-long (5 days at a time) Alpha-2 testing beginning December 20, 2024.
  • Alpha-2 phase 3 bundles grant access to 24/7 Alpha-2 testing, beginning May 1st, 2025 and running until launch.

Q: How did you justify the $120 price for Alpha-2 phase 1 access?

A: Allowing for an environment that is capable of holding over 100,000 concurrent players is a far different cost profile than having an environment that is only holding 20 or 30,000; and then especially when you compound that with the length of time that we expect Alpha-2 to run, which is at least a year's worth of time... We don't have a board of investors that are contributing to the development of the project. This is a personal endeavor of my own. So, in order to make sure that we are providing players an opportunity to participate in that, we came to the cost analysis of what it takes to achieve the levels of players that we're going to potentially see from an interest perspective. – Steven Sharif

• Alpha-2 servers will be live concurrently alongside the Beta servers. Players who own any purchased Alpha keys (including the new phase keys) will also have access to the Beta servers. This does not include giveaway keys, such as food contest keys.

• Alpha-2 does not have a subscription cost.

• Ashes of Creation will not have a box price at launch.

• Pre-order pack upgrades for previously purchased packs will continue to be available.

Alpha-2 phase 1

Alpha-2 phase 1 roadmap .

October 25th we will start with our Phase one of Alpha-2 testing. Phase one is going to consist of weekend long tests that run from Friday to Sunday and will occur every weekend, moving forward until Phase two begins. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 phase-1 is the first phase of Alpha-2 testing.

• This phase is focused on testing scalability, stability, performance, and progression.
• Phase 1 testing will be weekend-long tests running from Friday to Sunday starting on October 25, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific Time (PT). Download instructions will be emailed to those with access to the testing phase.
• There will initially be 6 Alpha-2 testing realms for the NA and EU regions (3 realms each). More realms may be added based on demand.
  • United States will start with Resna, Lyneth, and Vyra.
  • Europe will start with Arioch, Lotharia, and Shol.
• The starting max level at the beginning of phase 1 will be 25 for adventuring and level 25 for artisanship professions.

Especially for phase one, some of these features you will see at the start of phase one and some of them you will see as we expand Phase One with the Cadence updates every six weeks. – Margaret Krohn

World

• 55+ km² (square kilometers) of The Western and Eastern Aelan Riverlands, Sandsquall Desert & Vandagar Tropics.
• 36+ Points of interest.
• Day and night cycle.
• 4 Seasons.
• Dynamic world populations.
• Dynamic reward tables.
• 1 Grand dungeon.
• 4 Pocket dungeons.

Nodes

• 5 Node locations to Village (stage 3) using some systems from Town (stage 4).
• Nodes will only be present in the Eastern and Western Aelan Riverlands in this phase.
• Dynamic Road Leveling (Provide buffs and advance in visual quality).
• 4 Service building plots, 5 Default service buildings.
• 8 Active constructed buildings.
• + 5 Passive constructed buildings.
• Node currencies.
• Citizenship.
• 56 Tax categories.
• Mayorship.
• Buy orders.
• 25+ Player commodities.
• 24+ Mayoral commission types.
• 36 Node resources with T1-T3 recipes.
• Service building expansion voting.. There may be 22 different expansions that are possible within the nodes for those buildings.

At the Phase One level we are going to have five node locations that will be primarily level three however there will be some systems that we will be turning on that are level four systems in order to test during phase one. – Steven Sharif

Races

• Vek, Kaelar, Empyrean.

There's a lot that goes into making a race fully playable and that includes making sure that we have all of the 470 plus unique pieces of armor deformed to each one of the races so that when you equip a pauldron or a curias that it is on a unique race: that it's not interpenetrating the race- that it doesn't have some skin weight issues. – Steven Sharif

Archetypes

• Tank, Fighter, Mage, Cleric, Ranger, Bard.
• ~130+ Abilities.
• ~60+ Passive skills.
• 22 Status conditions.

Those archetypes have a combined 130 plus unique abilities, 60 plus unique passives, 22 different status conditions that live across all of those different archetypes. – Steven Sharif

Weapons

• 2H Greatsword.
• 1H Mace.
• 1H Sword.
• Scepter.
• Wand.
• Longbow.
• Shortbow.
• Spellbook.
• Shields.
• Focuses for offhand.
• Maces, Shortbows, Longbows, one and two handed swords, Wands, and Spellbooks are all expected to have weapon skill trees with ~30+ nodes per nodes per tree.

We have eight unique weapons that each have 30 plus nodes per weapon skill tree. – Steven Sharif

PvP

• Player flagging.
• Lawless zones.
• Corruption system.

Part of any alpha is going to be that people are less disincentivized, or less deterred from doing bad things because it's a temporary alpha: It is not something that's going to persist, so we're probably going to need to overtune the corruption system a little bit during the alpha in order to make it more debilitating so that type of gameplay is more reflective of how people would be apprehensive to gain corruption when the game goes live. – Steven Sharif

• Guild wars.
• Node wars.
• Caravan PvP Event System.

You might see a term here you don't understand and that is 'Lawless zones'. We have talked a little bit in the past about a change we made to the open seas being open areas of player combat. – Steven Sharif

Systems and Economy

• Flying, Ground, and Water mounts.
• Caravans (Management, Cargo, Caravan events), Rafts.
• Mail System.
• Player trading.
• Level 25 for all Artisan professions (Novice, Apprentice and Journeyman tiers).
  • Artisan skill trees will come online in Alpha-2 phase-2.
• 15 Unique Gathering tools.
• 33+ Unique Gatherables.
• Surveying.
• Fishing.
• Hunting (38 Unique Animals).
• Processing (~400+ Recipes).
• Crafting (~600+ Recipes).
• Gear enchantments.
• Party & raid markers.
• Chat (Guild, party, citizenship, global).
• Item deconstruction & repair.
• 45 Caravan components.
• Guild size of 50. This may expand to 100.

Item deconstruction and repair, this is obviously the primary sink for an open economy like ours, those deconstructions are going to provide unique materials that are necessary in order to craft higher level gear so that's something important to keep in mind. – Steven Sharif

Content

• 460+ Unique pieces of gear.
• Node war Godspike event.
• 16 Unique Public events.
• 149 Story driven quests/Commissions.
• 111 Treasure maps.
• 3 World bosses (~44+ Abilities/Behaviors).
  • Additional bosses will be released during later phases.
• 75 Unique Enemy creatures (~280+ Unique NPC Abilities/Behaviors).

On the content side this is something to keep in mind, there is a lot of content here but again, this is from an Alpha perspective. There will be bugs, there will be issues, there will be things that we need to fix and flesh out further. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 phase 2

Alpha-2 phase 2 roadmap.

Doesn't mean all of the things we list as part of those phases are going to be at the start of the phase. It's what we intend to launch during the phase. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 phase-2 is the second phase of Alpha-2 testing.

• As of March 7, 2025, approximately 70-80% of the core gameplay loops and approximately 20-30% of content is in place. Combat is representative of the intended gameplay.

I would say probably like 70 to 80% or so of the core gameplay loops are present within the game. But, I would say roughly maybe 20 to 30% % of content is in place and that's what we're moving towards implementing, is fleshing out those systems: Introducing the story arcs and quests, filling out our artisanship systems. But the moment-to-moment gameplay, our combat, that's in a pretty representative state and people can get a good feeling for what Ashes is going to look and play like from a combat perspective as well as our primary I think loop, which is the ability to build the world up through the node system, to elect Mayors, to let them engage in trade and the collection of resources within the world and moving those resources and generating gold, crafting items and hunting animals and making mounts and whatnot. All of those things are what we're right now testing with over 30,000 uh people within the Alpha-2 testing environment. 130,000 people have tried the Alpha 2 already. – Steven Sharif

• This phase is focused on Node advancement, Economy Testing, and Vassaling.
  • Vassalship has been pushed into phase 3.
• Not everything listed on the roadmap for this phase will be present at the start of the phase.
• It is expected testing will be open at least 5 days a week in this phase.
• There will be a full wipe leading into this testing phase for all realms.
• Archetypes, Economy, Nodes, and Combat will undergo balancing.
  • The adventuring leveling curve may be adjusted, but max level will not be changed during this phase.
  • The artisan leveling curve may be adjusted based on feedback and data gathered during testing.
  • Overhauled economic systems will likely be rolled out at the end of this phase "right before phase three".
  • Balancing changes may involve resetting certain enchantments.
• Alpha-2 phase-2 servers will be restarted daily at 2AM in their respective time zones.
• Skill trees will be adjusted, including adding ranks to certain skills.

Like we said we have those three week cadences, we have those six week cadences. The six week cadences is when you're going to see those big updates and the three weeks is when you're going to see those bug fixes and things of that sort and you may see little updates here and there with some of the smaller features. But just keeping that in mind, Phase one stuff that's what you can expect as we go through phase one, all the stuff on phase two is what you can expect as we go into phase two, that doesn't mean it's going to be at the start of these phases. – Steven Sharif

Zone Expansion

• Sandsquall Desert expanded.
• Vandagar Tropics expanded.
• Both of these zones will have new soundtracks.

We are going to expand into the sandsquall desert, we are going to expand into the Vandagar Tropics and what this means is POI development is going to land during phase two for those spaces. We are going to have dungeons come online in those spaces for phase two. – Steven Sharif

Nodes

• 2 new unique node layouts.
• 4 node stages.
• Additional nodes will be added to the Tropics and the lower part of the Sandsquall Desert closer to the end of this phase.
• Node sieges.
  • These sieges will be open-world, but there will be a temporary registration and approval process for both attackers and defenders to manage the number of participants during testing.
  • These may include some naval elements.
  • The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) release for node sieges is targeted for the end of March 2025. This iteration will not incorporate node destruction but instead will offer other rewards for successful node attacks/defenses.
• Vassalship. This has been pushed into phase 3.
• Node death.
• Additional Mayoral commissions.
• Relics.
• Player freeholds.
  • Freehold ownership will be wiped prior to the implementation of freehold deeds later in phase-2. Existing owners will be compensated.
  • Guild freeholds are scheduled for a later release.
• Apartments, Inns, and Static housing will be released later in Alpha-2 phase-2 or in Alpha-2 phase-3.
• Additional Service buildings.
• Economic node elections.

Relics are important, we haven't talked about it in a long time but these are node objectives essentially that the citizens communally are responsible to achieve and bring back to the node and they grant benefits. – Steven Sharif

+2 Races

• Vaelune (sometime during phase 2).
• Dünir (sometime during phase 2)..

+1 Archetype

• Rogue will be released in phase 2 but not at the start.
  • ~30 new skill nodes.
  • ~20 abilities.
  • ~10 passives.
  • Stealth system.

+4 Weapons

• Dual wielding Daggers.
• Scepters.
• 2H Mace.
• 2H Axe.

Those weapons obviously come with skills as well, on average around 30 skills per weapon progression. – Steven Sharif

Systems

• Anti-griefing protection in starting areas will be present in Alpha-2 phase 2.
• Siege vehicles.
• Tempering.
• Gems and sockets.
• Gear ascension.
• Repair kits.
• Artisan skill trees.
• Animal Husbandry, Breeding.
• Party gathering.
• Player shops.
• Leaderboards.
• Additional Chat system functions.
• Instanced housing.
• Dynamic gridding is expected to be in place near the beginning of this phase.
• Friends list is expected sometime during phase 2.
• Guild progression in expected late in phase 2 .
  • Basic guild progression is planned for release on January 31, 2025.
• Guild storage is expected late in phase 2.
• Player flagging UI changes.

Content

• Story arcs for Riverlands, Sandsquall Desert.
• Treasure maps/Treasure hunting.
• Dynamic events.
• Dynamic world dungeons.
• NPC ambient behavior.

We are going to start seeing the story arcs come alive. Now, we've seen story arcs in the past as part of our development updates: that was standing up the functional system. Right now some of the story arcs are in a testable state, but we do not believe they will be prioritized to a playable state until phase 2. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 phase 3

Alpha-2 phase 3 roadmap .

Phase three is going to be as we flesh out the world, expand the content and the features and this will run until we reach Beta. This is 24/7 uptime, this is where the game play experience will be much better than what phase one and phase two, at least when it relates to scalability and stability, we are going to have gotten out of the way a lot of the data collection a lot of iteration and reaction towards problems that we would have seen in phase one and phase two and this is going to provide players with now an opportunity and really persistence wipes should not occur in phase three forward. Can they? Yes they can. Should they? No they shouldn't. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 phase-3 is the final phase of Alpha-2 testing.

• This phase is focused on expanded content and features.
• Phase 3 testing is expected to be open 24/7.
• Phase 3 is expected to last at least 1 year. This is subject to change due to active development.
• Persistence is the goal for this phase. The plan is to have new fresh start servers rather than wiping, if possible.
• Level cap is expected to rise during this phase.
• Name reservation is planned for "late" in this phase.
• Other systems, such as monster coins, are expected to come online sometime between phase 3 and the Betas.

Anything that you see that's in phase 3 again pertains to the first few months of phase 3 beginning; and then after that, those additional systems will come online sometime between phase 3 and beta. – Steven Sharif

+2 Zones

• The Turquoise Sea.
  • This may be released in March 2025.
• The Anvils.
• Underrealm content is likely going to be introduced early to mid phase 3.
• The estimated completion of the Vandagar (western continent) is around the middle of 2025.

Nodes

• 4 new unique node layouts.
• 5 Levels.
• Vassalship has been moved from Alpha-2 phase-2.
• Military & Divine election types.
• Node atrophy.
• Node policies.
• Node happiness.
• Additional Mayoral commissions.
• Additional Service buildings.
• Nodes will have an XP counter.

+4 Races

• Py'Rai.
• Ren'Kai.
• Niküa.
• Tulnar (earlyish to mid phase 3).

+1 Archetype

• ~20+ abilities.
• ~10+ passives.
• ~30+ skill nodes per archetype tree.
• Stealth system.
• Summoner.
• Secondary archetype specialization will start sometime after the beginning of this phase.
  • Every archetype may start with two augment schools.
  • The first two secondary archetypes will be Cleric and Tank then others will follow.
  • Switching secondary archetypes will likely be made easier during this phase for the purposes of testing.

We will have some elements of the secondary archetype specialization within the Cleric and Tank, these are going to be examples of how augments work, it is not going to be fully fleshed out but it is going to be some examples as we begin to move forward there. – Steven Sharif

Weapons

• Orb.
• 1H Axe.
• 1H Sword pierce.
• Staves and other weapons are expected to come online in this phase.

Other weapons and the staff are going to come online at some point throughout phase three of Alpha-2. – Steven Sharif

Systems

• Guilds are fully functional.
  • Guild storage is now scheduled for sometime in late Alpha-2 phase-2.
• Guild freeholds.
• Castle sieges.
• Naval/Ocean content will be introduced late in this phase.
  • This will include the Eastern continent.
• Aquatic mounts.
• Gliding mounts.
• Underwater combat.
• Instanced content.
• Transmog & Dying gear system.
• Pets.
• Aerial combat.
• Titles.
• Religions.
• Auction houses and improvements to the Marketplace system.
• Alliances.
• Family system is targeted for mid to late phase 3.
  • Family summons.
• Dueling.
• Mail system.
• Caravan progression.
• Seasonal variations will be implemented later in this phase.

When you think about what is going to be guild available for phase one, these are going to be the ability to stand up guilds, going to be the ability to invite players to the guilds, to kick players from the guilds, to participate in certain guild content and quests. But when we talk about gaining guild skill points and investing those into certain passive abilities and having guild levels, that's not going to be available until phase three. – Steven Sharif

Content

• Castles
• Turquoise Sea (including The Anvils).
• Treasure maps.
• Dynamic events.
• Unique story arcs.
• Dynamic world dungeons.
• Kickstarter cosmetics.

As always, development is moving and subject to change. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 patch notes

• 2024-11-01 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-11-07 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-11-14 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-11-22 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-06 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-13 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-17 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-18 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-19 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2024-12-20 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-08 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-09 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-10 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-11 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-16 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-17 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-18 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-19 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-23 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-30 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-01-31 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-01 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-06 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-08 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-13 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-14 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-15 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-20 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-21 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-22 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-27 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-02-28 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-01 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-06 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-07 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-08 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-13 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-14 Alpha-2 Update Notes
• 2025-03-15 Alpha-2 Update Notes

Alpha-2 map

Alpha-2 map.

This map shows the initial area that players can explore and adventure in for the start of Alpha Two. We will add more POIs and biomes as we progress through the testing period.

Alpha-2 will encompass a subsection of the world map.

• Alpha-2 phase 1 will occupy 55+ km² (square kilometers) of The Western and Eastern Aelan Riverlands, Sandsquall Desert & Vandagar Tropics. It will have 5 Village (stage 3) node locations, 36+ Points of interest, 1 Grand dungeon and 4 Pocket dungeons.
• Alpha-2 phase 2 will expand the Sandsquall Desert and Vandagar Tropics zones; and will include additional open world dungeons.
• Alpha-2 phase 3 will add The Turquoise Sea and The Anvils zones and will add all remaining systems and content.

Alpha-2 starting areas

Alpha-2 divine gateway in the Aelan ruins to the south of the in the Riverlands.

The Aelan ruins in the Riverlands houses the Aelan divine gateway in Alpha-2.

• From there, players can choose to travel to the Kaelar starting area Lionhold, or the Vaelune starting area Samia's Hope.

Alpha-2 biomes

Alpha-2 will encompass the following biomes.

• Riverlands (Western and Eastern), Sandsquall Desert, and Vandagar Tropics will be present in Alpha-2 phase 1.
• The Turquoise Sea and The Anvils will be added in Alpha-2 phase 3.

Alpha-2 node locations

Nodes present in Alpha-2.

Node	Thumbnail	Type	Location
Aithanahr		Economic	Sandsquall Desert
Azmaran		Divine	Sandsquall Desert
Djinna		Lawless	Sandsquall Desert
Halcyon		Divine	Riverlands
Joeva		Academic	Riverlands
Miraleth		Academic	Riverlands
New Aela		Economic	Riverlands
Squall's End		Lawless	Sandsquall Desert
Sunhaven		Military	Sandsquall Desert
Windansea		Lawless	Tropics
Winstead		Military	Riverlands

Alpha testing system requirements

Alpha-1 stress testing, March 17, 2021.

These are fully operational NPCs. They have behavior trees, they have AI blackboards; they are functioning as an NPC would; and to my surprise, to everyone's surprise actually, the server handled it quite well: 5000 entities all within a very dense area. – Steven Sharif

Minimum and recommended computer specifications for Alpha-2.

Minimum Specs - 1080p

• Processor: Intel i5 8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 2600
• Memory: 12GB
• Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1070 or equivalent
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 100GB SSD Storage
• Windows 10/11

Recommend Specs - 1440p

• Processor: Intel i7 8700 | AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 16GB
• Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3070 or equivalent
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 100GB SSD Storage
• Windows 10/11

Please note that these requirements will change throughout our testing phases.

Alpha-2 NDA

Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-1, Beta-2 releases are not covered by NDA (non-disclosure agreement).

• Alpha-2 phase 1 with no NDA was released on October 25, 2024.
  • A visual NDA will remain in place on PTR realms.
  • Some Alpha-2 testing after the start of the Betas may be covered by NDA.

• Alpha-2 testing prior to the full release of Alpha-2 will be mostly covered by NDA.
  • The verbal NDA on Alpha-2 Node wars spot testing with the Phoenix initiative was lifted on May 31, 2024.
  • The verbal NDA on Alpha-2 Firebrand spot testing with the Phoenix initiative was lifted on August 30, 2024.
  • The verbal NDA on Alpha-2 spot testing was lifted specifically for the Discussion Round: Episode 200 interview.
  • Verbal and written NDA on Alpha-2 spot testing was lifted by Steven Sharif on October 20, 2024.

• Alpha-1 testing prior to the full release of Alpha-1 was mostly covered by NDA.

• The developers will not necessarily announce when NDA testing starts.

We may not always announce when the NDA testing is, because we're not definitive how that testing is going to influence the future testing schedule; and we don't want to set the wrong expectation from a broader audience perspective on what they should be expecting with regards to testing. – Steven Sharif

Participation

• Alpha-0 had over 2,500 participants.
• Alpha-1 testing had approximately 9,600 participants as of August, 2018. There were slightly over 13k participants as of May 31, 2021. There were 5,300 unique logins during the 3 day weekend test of May 27, 2021.

• As of March 7, 2025 there were 30,000 Alpha-2 phase-2 testers. 130,000 people have tried Alpha-2. Alpha-2 was previously expected to have over 100,000 participants. Previously Alpha-1 and Alpha-2 were expected to have 10,000 participants.
  • In December 2024 there were upwards of 6,000 concurrent users (CCU) on a single realm. Alpha-2 phase-1 was previously expected to support 3,000+ CCU per realm.
  • CCU is expected to ramp to 8-10k per realm as testing progresses.

We've obviously hit a pretty high concurrency when we initially launched in the Alpha-2 in October of last year. That December we saw upwards of over 6,000 people that were logged in on one Unreal server... I don't know of any other Unreal Engine 5 game that's out that has hit that level of concurrency, so we're very proud of the backend systems we've built to facilitate a massive seamless open-world in Unreal Engine 5 with our custom backend layer; and we're continuing to solidify that to work on performance and optimization as well as stability. – Steven Sharif

This section will be updated as soon as information is made available by the developers.

• Beta-1 and Beta-2 were originally expected to have 27,000 participants.
• Alpha and Beta participation was expected to grow with the sale of pre-order packs.

Alpha-2 goals

Alpha-2 testing goals.

Intrepid is NOT under pressure from publishers, using our own technology and support services, delivering on our vision, and we're hellbent on shaking up the MMORPG genre in the best way possible! – Margaret Krohn

The overall goals for Alpha-2 testing are scalability, stability, fun (in that order) while always being engaged with the community.

• Start with over 3k concurrent users (CCU) per realm, with Dynamic gridding and Server meshing IntrepidNET technology. This number is expected to ramp up to the server population target of 8-10k CCU over time.
• Ensure that our realms and our clients rarely crash, and if they do, they do it gracefully.
• Deliver a next-gen MMORPG to an audience that is hungry for high-quality experiences and service.
• Involving the community while developing Ashes of Creation.

We show what we do, we talk about why and how, and we care about your feedback to the point of changing our game with you, for you. – Margaret Krohn

Alpha-2 server wipes

Alpha and Beta server realms will be wiped prior to launch.

• There was a full wipe leading into Alpha-2 phase-2 for all realms.

As we progress in phase 2, this data helps us with balance, feature prioritization, loop iteration and more. While this period may be a bit painful, it is important to remember that we are watching and making changes to address issues the testing audience is experiencing. At this stage, it is more beneficial for us to allow the current state of phase two rather than wipe. As we approach phase 3, we will try to have addressed most of these pain points, so that a wipe will be beneficial in creating "new data". – Steven Sharif

• Persistence is the goal for Alpha-2 phase-3. The plan is to have new fresh start servers rather than wiping, if possible.

To be clear; The goal from this day forward with Alpha Two will be not to wipe. For phase 3, the goal is to have fresh start servers. This of course may change depending on what issues we find throughout testing. – Steven Sharif

• The ongoing goal is to wipe as little as possible during testing.

Q: How often do we think we'll wipe in Alpha-2?

A: As little as necessary. That is the goal. – Steven Sharif

Testing phases

Alpha and beta key concept art.

Ashes of Creation testing phases.

• Alpha-0 was the invite-only "raffle" friends and family alpha test phase.
• Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 were available for purchase during the Kickstarter and Summer crowdfunding campaigns.
• Alpha-1 was available in the Intrepid pre-order pack and the Adventurer pre-order pack.
• Alpha-2 and Beta-2 were available during PAX West 2017.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 were available in Pre-order packs on the cosmetic store.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 packs that were purchased through Mail.ru can gain access to the testing periods they were entitled to by registering an account with Intrepid Studios and submitting a support ticket.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 are currently available in Bundles from the cosmetic store.

In-house testing

Intrepid Studios utilises in-house QA teams as well as multiple contracted QA testing houses to test Ashes of Creation.

We have two contracted QA testing houses that we work with: One in Europe and one in Mexico; and then we have our internal QA teams that are a dozen strong right now as well. So you know, there are many QA testers that we use on the project. – Steven Sharif

• Bots are utilized to assist internal QA testing as required.

We're finding issues that at scale become much easier to find; and even with real players more so than what we find with our bot testing and or with our QA testing, because QA works in conjunction with our bot testing as well. – Steven Sharif

• The developers will not necessarily announce upcoming NDA testing periods.

• All server realms will be wiped prior to launch.

History

This article contains historical references relating to what was intended to be in Alpha-2.

• It was stated that Ashes of Creation's core game systems were expected to be in place at the start of Alpha-2.

World

• Seasons and climates.
• Events.
• Story arcs.
• Quests.
• Points of interest.
• Zones are expected to be around 60-70% complete before they are ready for Alpha-2. The developers will publish a list of starting biomes closer to the start of Alpha-2.

  The starting biomes will be announced when we are confident which ones will be ready. Environmentally and asset wise, there are 7ish biomes created. Content wise (PoIs, narrative/quest, creatures etc) is a decision that will be evaluated for A2 entrance as testing continues. When we are ready to share this info we will. – Steven Sharif

• The eastern continent may not be included until later in Alpha-2.

Character

• Character creator.
  • Some aspects of the character creator will not be present at the start of Alpha-2.
• Character progression up to level 30 (subject to change). Previously this was stated to be level 35.
• Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Mage, Ranger, and Tank primary archetypes are expected to be present at the beginning of Alpha-2, along with some secondary classes and augments. Rogue and Summoner are intended to be included in the first update to Alpha-2.
  • Secondary selections will be released individually, rather than all at once.
• Tulnar race.
• Family summon mechanic.
• Religions.
• Mounts.
  • Mount skins may not be available until after the start of Alpha-2.

Combat

• Combat revamp.
  • Active and passive skills will be re-architected.
  • Primary skills are expected to be very different to those in Alpha-1.
  • Weapon skill trees will be present to augment the combo system.
• Weapon types that will be present at the beginning of Alpha-2 include: One-handed maces, Swords (one and two handed), Wands, Spellbooks, Longbows, Shortbows, Two-handed spears, Dual wielded daggers. Other weapon types may also be present, but may not have complete weapon skill trees.
• Sieges.
• Guild wars.
• Node wars.
• PvP seasons will likely be in an Alpha-2 update, likely 2.1 or 2.2.

Nodes

• Academic nodes are likely the only node type that will be fully implemented at the beginning of Alpha-2. Aspects of other node types will be tested within the framework of the academic node election system.

We will likely be testing and reflecting different cultural aspects of the node type through commissions that are available through the different narrative types that are available. That will be Military, Divine and Economic, but when it comes to the government systems, that will be scientific to start. – Steven Sharif

• Node progression to City (stage 5) and potentially Metropolis (stage 6).
  • At the beginning Town (stage 4) assets may be utilized for city nodes.
• Relics and the Reliquary node building.
• Player housing.
• Crop rotations.

Naval content will be introduced as an Alpha-2 update.

• Naval warfare.
• Three ship classes.
• Ships will have functioning cannons but the ship building UI may not be complete.

Economy

• Artisan classes (Gathering, Processing, Crafting).
  • Artisan gear sets.
  • Potential gameplay layers such as surveying and land management are being considered for gathering.
• Auction houses.
• Crates used to transport supplies between storage points and caravans.

Other

• Voice over IP will be introduced during an Alpha-2 update.
• Guild management tools.
• Unreal Engine 5.
• Some of Bear McCreary's music will be in Alpha-2.
• User interface and tutorial systems.
• Emblem, logo and symbol editor (tentatively).

Q: What systems are still needed to be rolled out before Alpha two?

A: I don't think it's at a core level that there's a particular system that has yet to be feature developed. Right now, it's more along the lines of expanding on those features, getting UI support for those features... UI, VFX, audio effects: Those are all big bottlenecks because they tend to occur at the end of the pipeline of content development; and then also ensuring that the interactions are polished and working. So from a large feature perspective- let me think about that, what large feature endeavor is still outstanding on the Alpha-2 front? A lot of it is content. I'm not sure that it's a feature one. I can't think of any large system features that haven't been stood up from a core functional perspective that don't just need expanding on, slash content development on. – Steven Sharif

Q: And when you say content, that's like art and implementation and so on?

A: Narrative quests, the assets, the modelling, the particular types of buildings, the armor sets, the creatures, the visual effects, audibility systems. Those are all content that accompany what the code is creating from a mechanical perspective. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 core features list.

Alpha-2 videos

• 2022-03-31 Video - Ashes of Creation First Look of the Alpha Two Character Creator in 4K
• 2022-05-27 Video - Ashes of Creation Dynamic Seasons and Weather Developer Chat
• 2022-05-27 Video - Ashes of Creation Seasons in the Riverlands
• 2022-06-30 Livestream
• 2022-06-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Basic Melee Weapon Attack Update
• 2022-07-29 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Desert Biome Preview
• 2022-09-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Basic Ranged Weapon Attack Update
• 2022-10-28 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Gathering Updates
• 2022-12-02 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Night and Day and Other Heavenly Things
• 2022-12-23 Video - Meet the Devs and Year-in-Review
• 2023-01-27 Video - Alpha Two Tank Preview
• 2023-03-31 Video - Alpha Two Story Arc Systems Preview and the Lore of Carphin
• 2023-05-31 Video - Alpha Two Cyclops Combat Preview
• 2023-06-30 Video - Alpha Two Freehold Update
• 2023-07-28 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Cleric Archetype Update
• 2023-08-31 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Village Nodes Update
• 2023-09-29 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Event Update
• 2023-10-31 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Caravan Preview
• 2023-11-30 Livestream
• 2023-11-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Artisanship Preview
• 2023-12-19 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Ranger Update
• 2024-01-31 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Caravan PvP Update
• 2024-02-29 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Commissions Preview
• 2024-03-29 Livestream
• 2024-03-29 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Fighter Archetype Preview
• 2024-04-30 Livestream
• 2024-04-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Midnight Magic Preview
• 2024-05-31 Livestream
• 2024-05-31 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Node Wars Preview
• 2024-07-03 Livestream
• 2024-07-03 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Server Meshing Technology Preview
• 2024-07-31 Livestream
• 2024-07-31 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Bard Archetype Preview
• 2024-08-16 Livestream - Alpha Two Roadmap Showcase and AMA Livestream
• 2024-08-30 Livestream
• 2024-08-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Citadel of The Steel Bloom and Firebrand Preview
• 2024-09-27 Livestream
• 2024-09-27 Video - Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Lionhold Preview
• 2024-09-30 Video - Ashes of Creation Guide To Alpha-2
• 2024-10-25 Livestream
• 2024-11-27 Livestream
• 2024-11-27 Video - Giants and Demons
• 2024-12-20 Livestream
• 2024-12-20 Video - Alpha Two - Befallen Forge Playthrough
• 2025-01-02 Ashes of Creation - Steven QnA Livestream
• 2025-01-03 Ashes of Creation - Alpha-2 Steven Sharif Q&A Livestream
• 2025-01-05 Ashes of Creation - Steven Livestream
• 2025-01-05 Video - Steven Sharif - Asmon response
• 2025-01-11 Ashes of Creation - Alpha-2 Steven Sharif Q&A Livestream
• 2025-01-31 Livestream
• 2025-02-28 Livestream

See also

• Alpha-2 update notes
• Development
• Release schedule
• Ashes of Creation