Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Phase III testing has begun! During this phase, our realms will be open every day, and we'll only have downtime for updates and maintenance. We'll keep everyone up-to-date about downtimes in Discord.
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Best Of
Game instantly closes after it reaches 10-15% on loading screen
I've been having this issue since sunday, I went to sleep on the day before, and when I tried to launch the game on the day after, it just wouldn't open, I've tried a number of differente things, reaching through, uninstalling the new NVIDIA drivers, updating my Microsoft Visual C+++ to 2022, which I didn't have, reinstalling the game about 3 times, each one after I tried to solve any of the things I said above. Still haven't been able to get on the game, and don't know what else to do.
nalu
1
Re: Great Concept, But a Terrible First Impression
Agreed 100%
As someone who started the game few days ago with a similar experience in MMOs as you, this is the first thing I noticed.
To me personally, the first thing that makes or breaks any game for me is movement and combat. The first being the most important factor for a first impression.
Ashes right now feels extremely clunky at best and needs alot of work to make it smooth. This should be one the main things they work on before releasing phase 3.
I can forgive any bad thing in almost any game, but not bad movement and combat (the latter can have exceptions in certain games that focuses on storytelling instead)
I will still play the game a little bit but will only invest more time when phase 3 start and I hope this helps into prioritizing it very soon.
I truly see the love and passion that the devs have put into the game and I hope their efforts are paid off in the end and we have an amazing game.
As someone who started the game few days ago with a similar experience in MMOs as you, this is the first thing I noticed.
To me personally, the first thing that makes or breaks any game for me is movement and combat. The first being the most important factor for a first impression.
Ashes right now feels extremely clunky at best and needs alot of work to make it smooth. This should be one the main things they work on before releasing phase 3.
I can forgive any bad thing in almost any game, but not bad movement and combat (the latter can have exceptions in certain games that focuses on storytelling instead)
I will still play the game a little bit but will only invest more time when phase 3 start and I hope this helps into prioritizing it very soon.
I truly see the love and passion that the devs have put into the game and I hope their efforts are paid off in the end and we have an amazing game.
slonksj
1
Great Concept, But a Terrible First Impression
I’ve been a huge fan of MMORPGs for about 20 years. I remember the golden age of the genre, and I clearly see the stagnation it's been in for the past decade. That’s exactly why I’ve been following this project for a long time. I genuinely want to see a modern MMORPG that still carries the spirit of the old-school games — with open-world PvP, free trade, and tons of exciting features.
And so, after years of watching YouTube videos about the game, I finally decided to join the alpha test… and my first impression honestly shocked me — in a bad way.
Let me describe what shaped my first impression — literally within the first five minutes of gameplay. I understand this is an alpha, and I can see that a lot of work has been done in other areas. But a new potential player joining the game will see this first — not the grand vision that reveals itself later.
1. The movement feels really bad. The character instantly snaps to face the camera with no turning animation at all… I get that this was a thing in WoW and other older MMOs, but in 2025 it just looks awful. If I were to compare, the hybrid target/action mode in Throne and Liberty was implemented much better — at the very least, it doesn’t make your eyes bleed.
2. The walking animations are really poor, and the animation blending is terrible. When changing direction quickly, the character snaps and jitters as their body angle shifts instantly — it all looks extremely rough. This could be easily fixed by properly setting up the blendspaces in Unreal Engine.
3. Additive animation. When the character is holding a weapon, it looks like an additive pose is being applied to the arms on top of the base animation. But it feels like it’s being applied very roughly — maybe to just a single bone (probably the clavicle). As a result, when this is blended with the running animation, the arm movement looks extremely unnatural.
4. The same issue applies to blending attack animations with walking or running. It looks like a simple Layer Blend Per Bone is being used based on a fixed bone like the spine or pelvis. This often results in very unnatural movement — the character bends or twists awkwardly when attacking while moving.
5. The combat system feels really clunky. When casting a spell, you can turn your back to the target near the end of the cast, and the character will still play the casting animation forward — but the spell will fly backwards toward the target. Melee attacks are also very awkward — they just deal damage in an area around the character. You can be standing sideways or even almost with your back to the enemy, and still hit them, even though the sword swing animation goes in a completely different direction.
6. The camera behaves strangely during jumps, and especially when climbing over obstacles. It feels like the character capsule teleports onto the obstacle, while the character model stays below and plays the climbing animation — during which player movement seems temporarily "frozen".
7. Enemy AI in the starting area. I get that you were aiming for the feel of an outpost under attack by goblins, but in practice, the enemies just run around chaotically. Honestly, it would’ve looked better if they were simply standing around in improvised “camps” on the field.
Sorry for my English — it’s not my native language, and I used a translator in some parts.
I really hope to see a revival of the genre in your project, and I’m looking forward to improvements not only in the depth of the mechanics but also in these kinds of “small details”.
And so, after years of watching YouTube videos about the game, I finally decided to join the alpha test… and my first impression honestly shocked me — in a bad way.
Let me describe what shaped my first impression — literally within the first five minutes of gameplay. I understand this is an alpha, and I can see that a lot of work has been done in other areas. But a new potential player joining the game will see this first — not the grand vision that reveals itself later.
1. The movement feels really bad. The character instantly snaps to face the camera with no turning animation at all… I get that this was a thing in WoW and other older MMOs, but in 2025 it just looks awful. If I were to compare, the hybrid target/action mode in Throne and Liberty was implemented much better — at the very least, it doesn’t make your eyes bleed.
2. The walking animations are really poor, and the animation blending is terrible. When changing direction quickly, the character snaps and jitters as their body angle shifts instantly — it all looks extremely rough. This could be easily fixed by properly setting up the blendspaces in Unreal Engine.
3. Additive animation. When the character is holding a weapon, it looks like an additive pose is being applied to the arms on top of the base animation. But it feels like it’s being applied very roughly — maybe to just a single bone (probably the clavicle). As a result, when this is blended with the running animation, the arm movement looks extremely unnatural.
4. The same issue applies to blending attack animations with walking or running. It looks like a simple Layer Blend Per Bone is being used based on a fixed bone like the spine or pelvis. This often results in very unnatural movement — the character bends or twists awkwardly when attacking while moving.
5. The combat system feels really clunky. When casting a spell, you can turn your back to the target near the end of the cast, and the character will still play the casting animation forward — but the spell will fly backwards toward the target. Melee attacks are also very awkward — they just deal damage in an area around the character. You can be standing sideways or even almost with your back to the enemy, and still hit them, even though the sword swing animation goes in a completely different direction.
6. The camera behaves strangely during jumps, and especially when climbing over obstacles. It feels like the character capsule teleports onto the obstacle, while the character model stays below and plays the climbing animation — during which player movement seems temporarily "frozen".
7. Enemy AI in the starting area. I get that you were aiming for the feel of an outpost under attack by goblins, but in practice, the enemies just run around chaotically. Honestly, it would’ve looked better if they were simply standing around in improvised “camps” on the field.
Sorry for my English — it’s not my native language, and I used a translator in some parts.
I really hope to see a revival of the genre in your project, and I’m looking forward to improvements not only in the depth of the mechanics but also in these kinds of “small details”.
pvpgate
4
Re: Why Summoner should be a melee Archetype
@Shadowcrushers : so in your opinion you would be fine with ur tank just auto attacking from range and never use skills by they cant and thats an intended playstyle? pls expand on it since i dont really see how that would be feasible.
@Azherae : bards dances are like midrange while most targeted skills are ranged so theres not much incetive to get in melee to be hit more easily. in my experience, when you can play something in range or melee people tend to choose range most of the time.
i would also be totally fine with bards skills being changed in range so they become more incentivised to be melee so summoner can be that range fantasy.
my whole point is still just that mmos tend to have a ranged meta and they suffer from it.
really nice to have this conversation ongoing btw
@Azherae : bards dances are like midrange while most targeted skills are ranged so theres not much incetive to get in melee to be hit more easily. in my experience, when you can play something in range or melee people tend to choose range most of the time.
i would also be totally fine with bards skills being changed in range so they become more incentivised to be melee so summoner can be that range fantasy.
my whole point is still just that mmos tend to have a ranged meta and they suffer from it.
really nice to have this conversation ongoing btw
Birqa
1
Re: Why Summoner should be a melee Archetype
My other question to this thread would be... why are we treating Bards as 'Ranged'?
Azherae
2
Re: Why Summoner should be a melee Archetype
Making the Summoner melee because it fulfill some OCD notion that there needs to be 4 ranged and 4 melee classes seems ill considered.
Even just the difference in how much space there is for players around a target vs how much space there is for players within casting range of a target should tell you that the kotion of balancing melee and caster is a foolish notion to even consider, let alone design around.
Even just the difference in how much space there is for players around a target vs how much space there is for players within casting range of a target should tell you that the kotion of balancing melee and caster is a foolish notion to even consider, let alone design around.
Noaani
1
Re: Last day to purchase wave 3?
May 27th or "until supplies last".
https://ashesofcreation.com/news/alpha-two-wave-bundles
I personally think they'll prolong that near-indefinitely, but there's been no info on that afaik.
https://ashesofcreation.com/news/alpha-two-wave-bundles
I personally think they'll prolong that near-indefinitely, but there's been no info on that afaik.
Ludullu
1
Re: It's not about losing, it's about how losing feels.
War dec's are just a way to circumvent the corruption mechanic. A short warning, and maybe a longer timer on it to allow retaliation, would be very easy ways to help regulate the abuse.
Cimarb
2
It's not about losing, it's about how losing feels.
Let me set the stage. My guild and I decide to take an 8-man to Forge today. No particular goal in mind, just exploring and getting some XP. Things are good for a while. We're clearing mobs and getting deeper into the dungeon. We get done with a fight and are taking a rest on our way down a staircase.
Suddenly I turn around and see about 14 players from a guild known for being hardcore PvPers about to come down the same stairs. I notify my party and boom! The PvP guild declares war on us. before I can say "ah shit" we're all dead. It felt like we had been smited by some mysterious force. There was no fight, no back and forth, just instant ash piles. Literally an entire 8-man party killed in probably less than 2 seconds.
I'll be the first to admit to not being good at PvP. It's never been my focus in MMO's. I don't mind losing. However, this kind of loss just feels bad. I worry that moments like this will turn too many players off of the game and lead hardcore PvP guilds being kings of a dying game.
Suggestions:
- TTK obviously still needs work and I know Intrepid is still looking at it.
- War declarations should come with a little bit of warning. I'm just talking about 5 minutes or so. Enough time for my party in this instance to either prepare ourselves (without having enough time to call for reinforcements) or decide to surrender to the dominant force and leave the area.
Suddenly I turn around and see about 14 players from a guild known for being hardcore PvPers about to come down the same stairs. I notify my party and boom! The PvP guild declares war on us. before I can say "ah shit" we're all dead. It felt like we had been smited by some mysterious force. There was no fight, no back and forth, just instant ash piles. Literally an entire 8-man party killed in probably less than 2 seconds.
I'll be the first to admit to not being good at PvP. It's never been my focus in MMO's. I don't mind losing. However, this kind of loss just feels bad. I worry that moments like this will turn too many players off of the game and lead hardcore PvP guilds being kings of a dying game.
Suggestions:
- TTK obviously still needs work and I know Intrepid is still looking at it.
- War declarations should come with a little bit of warning. I'm just talking about 5 minutes or so. Enough time for my party in this instance to either prepare ourselves (without having enough time to call for reinforcements) or decide to surrender to the dominant force and leave the area.
