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
Re: TTK Changes Have Shifted PvP Away From Skill — And It Shows
Zergs are so trash. Most of them are super low-skill-cap casual players who are lazy and just outnumber others to win fights — even if that means bringing 100x more people.
This will kill the game if the devs keep making changes that heavily favor zerg gameplay.
This zerg nonsense needs to be addressed somehow, and I think before P3 comes out, a good test will be Fresh — with all the new alliance zerg guilds that will be joining there.
That should clearly show the devs the stupid power of zerging versus skilled players.
We need to favor skilled players over zergs. Legit, fuck zergs.
I understand casuals bring the most money into a game, but catering too hard to casuals is also what kills most MMOs.
This will kill the game if the devs keep making changes that heavily favor zerg gameplay.
This zerg nonsense needs to be addressed somehow, and I think before P3 comes out, a good test will be Fresh — with all the new alliance zerg guilds that will be joining there.
That should clearly show the devs the stupid power of zerging versus skilled players.
We need to favor skilled players over zergs. Legit, fuck zergs.
I understand casuals bring the most money into a game, but catering too hard to casuals is also what kills most MMOs.
Alpha Two Update Notes 0.9.1 - Sunday, April 27, 2025
These are the update notes for changes to the Alpha Two that went to testers on Sunday, April 27, 2025
As a reminder, if you come across bugs during Alpha Two testing, please report them to us in-game using /bug
ALPHA TWO UPDATE NOTES 0.9.1 - SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2025
As a reminder, if you come across bugs during Alpha Two testing, please report them to us in-game using /bug
ALPHA TWO UPDATE NOTES 0.9.1 - SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2025
- Several mayoral commissions that were previously unable to be completed should now progress correctly, as associated enemies will properly fulfill objective requirements.
- Oozes have received a makeover and are now properly textured.
- Crabs have been reminded of their true nature and will no longer reward Grem carcasses.
- After reports of suspicious digging outside New Aela, Dwarven landscapers have filled in a mysterious hole—no word yet on what (or who) was digging too deep.
Re: TTK Changes Have Shifted PvP Away From Skill — And It Shows
So the game went from "I'm a god who can kill several people solo" to "it's all about party pvp"? Sounds like literally what they promised the game to be.
As for zergs, ttk itself has nothing to do with it. We need to limit buffs/heals to party-only and add more mana-based gameplay.
If you can kill groups of people in only a few shots - zerg can literally do the same to you, except now the entire rest of the game is shit as well, because people can kill each other in just a few shots.
Winning against the zerg should be about strategy, tactic and proper movement - not one-shotting masses of people.
As for zergs, ttk itself has nothing to do with it. We need to limit buffs/heals to party-only and add more mana-based gameplay.
If you can kill groups of people in only a few shots - zerg can literally do the same to you, except now the entire rest of the game is shit as well, because people can kill each other in just a few shots.
Winning against the zerg should be about strategy, tactic and proper movement - not one-shotting masses of people.
Ludullu
5
Shield - Symbol of the tank
We all know the tank needs help. One of the key components that hurt the tank is that shields are not helpful. Another piece of the puzzle that adds to the complexity of the issue is, if simply you make shields better all that does is has other classes increasing their mitigation with a shields while still pumping huge DPS. Making better shields or making active block better only creates a new problem with every class receiving the same benefits.
The solution is that the shield should be THE defining feature of the tank archetype. I believe if the shield was made part of the tanks base defensive calculations it would help tremendously without skewing other classes. For example, reflect states "You brace for the next hit, doubling your block mitigation." In actuality Reflect only double your base block mitigation state and then adds that number to your adjusted block mitigation." So a primary shield ability doesn't even take into account the actual shield you are using. So you not better off reflecting with a shield on VS a 2hander.
Reflect is a 3 second reactive ability that has to be perfectly timed, and the attacker has a huge glowing blue shield as a warning to cancel their big attack. Where is the love for the tank actually filling in their intended role of using a shield? Why would having a shield and using a skill shot type ability not even account for the shield used in the icon for the activated ability?
The shield is part of the tank, intrepid literally made it the symbol of the class, it needs to be part of base defensive stat calculations for tank in order to offset the HUGE amount of DPS you give up by using a shield. This is just one of a number of changes that is needed but it would be a very good start.
The solution is that the shield should be THE defining feature of the tank archetype. I believe if the shield was made part of the tanks base defensive calculations it would help tremendously without skewing other classes. For example, reflect states "You brace for the next hit, doubling your block mitigation." In actuality Reflect only double your base block mitigation state and then adds that number to your adjusted block mitigation." So a primary shield ability doesn't even take into account the actual shield you are using. So you not better off reflecting with a shield on VS a 2hander.
Reflect is a 3 second reactive ability that has to be perfectly timed, and the attacker has a huge glowing blue shield as a warning to cancel their big attack. Where is the love for the tank actually filling in their intended role of using a shield? Why would having a shield and using a skill shot type ability not even account for the shield used in the icon for the activated ability?
The shield is part of the tank, intrepid literally made it the symbol of the class, it needs to be part of base defensive stat calculations for tank in order to offset the HUGE amount of DPS you give up by using a shield. This is just one of a number of changes that is needed but it would be a very good start.
Mordune
1
TTK Changes Have Shifted PvP Away From Skill — And It Shows
Before the recent TTK (Time to Kill) changes, PvP felt dynamic and rewarding.
Yes, there were isolated cases of players one-shotting others, but in general, if you were skilled and geared properly, you could 1v2, 1v3, and occasionally even 1v4 depending on your opponents' gear and mechanical ability. There was a real sense that good play — timing, positioning, smart cooldown usage — made the difference.
Now, post-TTK update... things feel very different.
Even with better gear and significant mechanical advantage, it is incredibly hard to 1v2, let alone 1v3+.
The healing output is still absurd, even after "adjustments," and it’s no longer a matter of "outplaying" someone — it's about who can outlast the other in a drawn-out, skill-diluted slog.
It's not that I'm suddenly bad at PvP. I'm still difficult to kill — it takes groups a long time — but without the ability to burst players effectively, the odds of killing a moderately coordinated duo (healer + anything) are near-zero unless you're in a properly built group comp yourself. Worse, it feels impossible to isolate and punish misplays: even if someone badly misuses a skill or gets caught out of position, you simply can’t capitalize fast enough before healing or CC recovery bails them out.
This shift overwhelmingly favors:
Zerg groups.
Lesser-skilled players who can now simply outlast and overwhelm.
Group compositions over individual skill expression.
In short:
PvP is no longer about who plays better — it's about who brings more people.
And frankly, that’s a step backward.
I'd much rather a system where if I misuse a skill or misposition, I lose — and likewise, if they do, they lose. That’s what skill-based PvP should feel like. Instead, we have a system where individual mechanical play barely matters unless you already have the right comp behind you.
It’s frustrating because it's not a skill issue or a gear issue — in fact, it's the opposite. Superior skill and gear are getting negated simply by mechanical TTK limits and insane sustain.
Suggestion: Bring back meaningful burst windows.
Let good players punish mistakes again.
Reward mechanical skill, not numbers stacking.
PvP should be thrilling, fast, and rewarding for mastery — not a heal-tank-zerg parade.
I do understand devs are still balancing the stats/classes out, and that is another issue. We only have access to lvl 25, missing a class, and missing archetypes, as well lvl 50 gear etc. Meaning, they will have to rebalance the game once we get these things... I don't get why they did the TTK changes before summoner at least to properly balance all base classes at least right?
BUT DO YOU WANT THIS GAME TO FAVOR OR PUNISH ZERG LIKE GAME PLAY????
DEATH TO ZERGS!
Also Rogues/Tanks/Bards are still OPOP . Nerf more thanks.
zbitango
2
Re: inventory upon reset
If you want access to something right after the merge move it to lionhold or Samira hope bank otherwise you will have to wait for node to rank up enough for warehouse guy to come back to access the items but they should all still be unless it breaks on merge which would be something that will need to be reported if it does occur
Veeshan
1
Re: The Problem With Ashes of Creation Biomes and More
I guess I'll actually disagree outright, even if not very strongly.
One of the jobs of a Director (and in some cases Producer) is to make the work that the staff is capable of doing as efficient as possible. For a product that has an endpoint, there's not a lot you can change, but for software, especially games, you have a lot of freedom if your Director knows how to maximize interim 'profit'.
"Everything looks the same' is the obvious first step, and giving that first step to testers to keep them engaged is among the best things you can do, I think. Even with the weird reputation Ashes has, it's still better. Even live MMOs do this.
Because if there is any way to both entertain your playerbase and collect some money with a half-finished product, you should do that.
Some games call it 'Open Beta' of the feature (Elite Dangerous), some games stick their indev stuff into playable instances or events (Throne and Liberty, Black Desert Online), some games use modular approaches where a boss has some abilities that they need to get a lot of data on for some other boss or more indepth thing (Final Fantasy, Throne and Liberty again, Neverwinter).
And so, an Alpha which has already told people it's an Alpha, just one that is possibly entertaining enough to be worth $$ upfront, should probably give their tester-players 'whatever won't break and won't make the game less fun unnecessarily'.
Some will see the potential in the spaces left bare/repetitive, some won't. You apparently clearly see the potential, @GreatPhilisopher, but from the perspective of someone who has been (and sorta still is) in the role I mentioned, it's not a helpful post, it basically seems to either be saying 'hurry up' or 'I can see all this unfinished stuff is unfinished'.
One of the jobs of a Director (and in some cases Producer) is to make the work that the staff is capable of doing as efficient as possible. For a product that has an endpoint, there's not a lot you can change, but for software, especially games, you have a lot of freedom if your Director knows how to maximize interim 'profit'.
"Everything looks the same' is the obvious first step, and giving that first step to testers to keep them engaged is among the best things you can do, I think. Even with the weird reputation Ashes has, it's still better. Even live MMOs do this.
Because if there is any way to both entertain your playerbase and collect some money with a half-finished product, you should do that.
Some games call it 'Open Beta' of the feature (Elite Dangerous), some games stick their indev stuff into playable instances or events (Throne and Liberty, Black Desert Online), some games use modular approaches where a boss has some abilities that they need to get a lot of data on for some other boss or more indepth thing (Final Fantasy, Throne and Liberty again, Neverwinter).
And so, an Alpha which has already told people it's an Alpha, just one that is possibly entertaining enough to be worth $$ upfront, should probably give their tester-players 'whatever won't break and won't make the game less fun unnecessarily'.
Some will see the potential in the spaces left bare/repetitive, some won't. You apparently clearly see the potential, @GreatPhilisopher, but from the perspective of someone who has been (and sorta still is) in the role I mentioned, it's not a helpful post, it basically seems to either be saying 'hurry up' or 'I can see all this unfinished stuff is unfinished'.
Azherae
1
Re: individual shop
Like most things you may think are missing or have not been discussed. Please look at the wiki if you believe that there is something needed. There are player rented stalls, and personal shops planned through various systems. https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Player_stalls
Re: Intrepid... Devs.. Steven... Corruption needs to be addressed...
Archeage guild wars were never 'big' events. They were rarely ever about anything other than that actual war - you didn't have a war over something in game, you had to fight for those things using the games regular PvP.
However, that PvP had no penalty cross faction - at all.
This is the reason I have always assumed boss mobs in Ashes will eventually be set up like caravans, it is the only way to achieve what Steven has said he wants.
Noaani
1