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 "fix" went from few weeks away to "no ETA"
Can't be mad about prioritizing making things work first - plus they're aware of the slanted balancing and very likely hard at work theorycrafting/testing solutions.
It would be great if the community didn't get as hung up on specific dates for specific things as the development team is wrestling this leviathan into shape.
It would be great if the community didn't get as hung up on specific dates for specific things as the development team is wrestling this leviathan into shape.
Re: TTK and Power scaling can be easily fixed.
And I say keep that hardcore grind, but make it fucking harder. Right now it's the easiest damn thing in the world. People who have a ton of time should spend infinitely more time to get an infinitesimal increase in power.
Separate substats from the main enchantment effect and make the substat enchantment insaaaaanely expensive/difficult AND rng-based. Only a select few on the entire damn server should be able to get to the peak of power and only after having spent months of their time and guild-based effort/money.
Separate substats from the main enchantment effect and make the substat enchantment insaaaaanely expensive/difficult AND rng-based. Only a select few on the entire damn server should be able to get to the peak of power and only after having spent months of their time and guild-based effort/money.

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Re: TTK and Power scaling can be easily fixed.
That alone won't fix the problem. Grind never fixes anything, it just sweeps the problem under the carpet, to unearth it yet again after some time.And I say keep that hardcore grind, but make it fucking harder. Right now it's the easiest damn thing in the world. People who have a ton of time should spend infinitely more time to get an infinitesimal increase in power.
Separate substats from the main enchantment effect and make the substat enchantment insaaaaanely expensive/difficult AND rng-based. Only a select few on the entire damn server should be able to get to the peak of power and only after having spent months of their time and guild-based effort/money.
We had almost 3 decades of MMORPG history and emerging player behaviours to show how well those games are doing, especially if mixed in with game systems based on player competition. People just leave, or never join in the first place, if a competitive game turns them into paying losers by design. Give people build, playstyle options to discover and work towards to, but limit their vertical power growth.
Leave the grind in and all those systems which add more and more power, but after hitting a specific point, power growth from stats should be extremely minimal. The same should apply to defensive stats (ironically this is a case to some degree already, like mitigations) also like CON, HP and armour.
That can be achieved only through steep diminishing returns, which apply to ALL power / stat sources: gear, enchanting, scrolls, potions, guild/node buffs, gems&sockets etc.
From PTR comments on the official discord, we still don't have diminishing returns applied to magical and physical power gained from stats. If those comments are remotely accurate, it is pure insanity at this point.
How to check network delay (ping/ms)
Hi everyone,
is it possible and if yes how can I check the network ping/ms delay ?
Unfortunately the current system that shows the FPS and MS does not include network latency. (you can test it if you connect to a very slow internet 0.2MBs the ms number stays the same)
is it possible and if yes how can I check the network ping/ms delay ?
Unfortunately the current system that shows the FPS and MS does not include network latency. (you can test it if you connect to a very slow internet 0.2MBs the ms number stays the same)
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Head Start
Will there be another package that has 2 day head start like the Kickstarter got at any point?
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Re: reconsider race and artisans stats
i know race stats are not ingame yet but if its anything like artisans i would urge the devs to reconsider their approach regarding DMG stats added to this. using artisans as the example, some artisans gear currently adds more damage than other artisans gear. this removes choice from players end game as most players will choose to min max stats. if for example one artisans or a mix of a few artisans boost a noticable amount of damage over all it will be the optimal choice and force more players to choose it for that reason alone. id suggest either giving crafters the option to choose different crafts for artisans gear that will either reward more artisans stats or combat stats but not limit them to either. most players will want to gather on their main character but if the end game artisans benefits a crafter more for damage they will have to choose that path. same goes for race buffs. if one race adds X stat your removing choice from the player. i would prefer to play with X race but if another race provides a buff that more aligns with the play style choice i want ill feel forced to choose said race to be competitive.
edit: im not a dwarf but ive seen all the dwarf cults across different servers and they are not going to be happy when they feel forced to choose a different race because X stats align with what they want to do end game.
I really appreciate this post and agree with the core concern.
When race or artisan gear gives a noticeable combat advantage, it naturally pressures players into optimizing around stats rather than playing what they actually enjoy. That goes directly against the idea of meaningful choice and diversity, we should be able to pick a race or artisan path based on fantasy, style, or roleplay without feeling punished for not min-maxing.
The idea of letting crafters choose between stat directions (combat-focused vs artisan-focused gear) sounds like a solid compromise. Same with racial bonuses, keeping them utility-based or flavor-driven instead of directly tied to DPS or defense would help preserve player freedom.
Endgame diversity is only meaningful if players feel free to build their character how they want, not just how the meta dictates. Thanks for raising this.

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Necromancer - Class and boss mob Idea
As we know the necromancer will become a class in AoC so i thought i would come out with some ideas on how to make it unique, since i have used alot of time with different type of necromancer classes in games and such!.
(its split up into 2 parts one for the class and one for a possible necromancer-type boss)
so first of we have the archetypes summoner + cleric, basically means it should have some kind of a supportive set of skills aswell from the cleric.
Part 1: necromancer class
so we could give it a skeleton bannerlord that will buff your minions aswell as party/raid members within its buffing area.
aswell as we could give it a skeleton priest, that are able to revive players after they have been dead for a set time, with a big delay between each revive, but is also able to heal your minions aswell as party/raid members within its ability reach.
so thats almost everything for the supportive part of the necromancer, but we could also give the bannerlord some upgrades, like increased buffing area, or higher % of buffs it gives, like speed, regen, mitigation or whatever that would be decided for this.
for the more damage dealer part
we could give Skeleton warrior, with a possibility to be evolved with enough points into a Skeleton Revenant, an ''Elite Bruiser-type" summon, that maybe have some lifesteal, and a berserk-mode when it hit 50% hp, that will increase its damage and attack speed maybe not 100% sure and also a death knight aswell, but it also need some ranged minions like skeleton archer or skeleton mage, if we used skeleton mages they could be able to evolve into an skeleton archmage, with a limit of 1 summon, and if the necromancer have like 5 or so summons possible or maybe a bit more, we could make it able to also have something like a skeleton commander, that boost the base stats of the summons, aswell as a buff called ''enhance troops" that will for a short time enhance your minions even further, to be able to do harder solo content but we could also give them skeleton assassins, since they could be good in PvP if they get a stealth skill, and increase damage on backstab or something with maybe a poison DoT if they get a critical hit.
but if we could make minions have attached minions to them, that doesn't affect the player summon limit, we could have a skeleton summoner that can summon an additional like 3-5 lesser summons that are weaker than the normal summons that the player summons, like a fiend, evil spirit or something that would seem less strong than the summons the player make.
For something like siege we could make the necromancer able to use something like a bone dragon or bone golem, where they choose which to upgrade into, and only 1 summon limit with a max of 3-5 bone dragons or bone golems per side in total so the attacking party can have up to 3-5 and the defending party can have up to 3-5, that will also show the power of necromancy into the world, that they're strong but not impossible to win over, maybe the bone dragon have a bit lesser hp than a 2 or 3- starred elite mob, but have higher magic damage, but the bone golem might have higher hp than a 2 or 3-starred elite mob but lesser physical damage on player but higher on buildings and fortresses
there could also be made a special ''army syngergy tree" Like a skill tree, but each node enhances how certain units interact (e.g., Archers + Bannerlord = Fire Arrow buff).
but ofc the necromancer should also have skills outside of summons
we could give them something like
- "bone armor" gives higher resistances or mitigation,
- "despair" a curse/debuff,
- "Aegis Of Death" gives a barrier/shield that reflect a portion of the damage dealt to the mob or player while affect by it,
- "withering touch" affected mobs or player get drained their life over X seconds, and heal player for 70% of drained amount
- "blight burst" unleashes corruption on the ground in the designated area, slowing, decreasing defenses and a small DoT to the mob or player in the affected area
- "fear of nightmare" makes a mob or player get affected by a fear debuff making them run in the oppeside way away from you
- "death seal" when a player or mob is affected by this seal they will get slowed, get a DoT and when the mob or player gets to 5 or 10% hp they will die BUT if a player is affected and died and the necromancer dies, the player would get revived as a 2nd chance
- "soul scythe" a big soul scythe dealing damage in a swinging area infront of you dealing massive damage to mobs or players hit
The necromancer is mostly meant to be using its summons so thats also why, everything is mainly either defensive or a form of curse/debuff or DoT and not a actual physical attack like soul scythe that deal magic damage
and ofc All summons scale with INT + CON, and also maybe add a formation system for the minions
formation system like this
*Place summons in “Formations” that grant bonuses:
- Shield Wall (Warriors + Bannerlord): Bonus mitigation
- Hellfire Line (Mages + Archers): Fire AoE
- Phalanx (Commander in center): Quick reposition & cleanse
- Hollow Bastion (Skeleton Priest + Skeleton Warriors) Sustain and aggro
- Deathguard Formation (Death Knight + Commander) higher CC and reflective defense
- Revenant Rush (Skeleton Revenants + Assassin) leap attack and crit stacking debuff (doom: +5% damage taken (5s max stack: 3))
- Bone Storm (Archmage + Commander) Pulsing AoE and higher cast speed
- Echo Legion (Skeleton Summoner + 2 of any type) chance to summon temp minion (only if skeleton summoner gonna be a thing)
- Commander's Circle (Skeleton Commander + any 3 units) Formation skill access based on active units (warriors - shield slam, archers - arrow rain, mages - soul nova)
- Pale Choir (Skeleton Priest + Mage) Bonus AoE DoT every 6th spell (necrotic echo) and healing apply Wane (enemy healing debuff)
and ofc more could be added, and it also make some unique setups of the minions that make it so players need to change between setups depending on content and more
Part 2: Possible boss mob
*Legendary Raid Boss – Vharon, Bone Sovereign of the Hollow Court
Location: Deep within a Node's dungeon, Vharon guards an ancient crypt-city where knowledge of life, death, and undeath was hoarded.
*Encounter Mechanics:
- Players fight waves of his undead army first.
- Vharon changes summoning “formations” mid-fight.
- Bone Dragon is summoned at phase 3 (flying mechanic + AoE fire).
- Killing his Skeleton Commander weakens the army’s morale (debuffs).
- He can resurrect dead players into temporary undead who fight against their allies (until cleansed or defeated).
*Rewards that could be dropped from only the boss
- Bone Sovereign’s Crown (light helmet)
- Tactical Summoner's Grimoire (spellbook)
- Vharon's Staff Of The Hollow (scepter or new item staff)
- Sword Of The Unholy Knight (great sword/spellsword)
- Bow Of The Legendary Undead Hunter Kalaphian (short bow/spellbow)
(more items can be added)
*possible set item to get called "Regalia of the Hollow Court"
- Crown of the Sovereign (head)
- Mantle of the Deathmarch (shoulder)
- Vestments of Command (chest)
- Grips of the Revenant (hands)
- Tassets of the Hollow Guard (pants)
- Boots of Silent Dominion (boots)
*Set bonuses
- 2-Piece – Court Presence (+5% summon health and resistances)
- 3-Piece – Battlefield Pact (When 3+ summons are active, gain a personal aura: nearby allies receive 2% reduced damage)
- 4-Piece – Death’s Rally (Every time you cast a spell that damages an enemy, your summons gain +10% haste and movement speed for 5 seconds)
- 5-Piece – Vharon’s Authority (Death of a summon triggers a small AoE fear or slow around its location)
- 6-Piece – Crown of the Bone Sovereign (Unyielding March or Throne of Dread)
*either one of these as the 6-piece bonus
name: "Unyielding March"
(While your ultimate summon is active:
All your summons gain +10% lifesteal
You generate Grave Momentum every second (stacking buff up to 10 stacks)
On reaching 10 stacks, your next basic spell causes all active summons to leap and strike, dealing bonus damage.)
or
name: ''Throne of Dread''
(When you summon your ultimate, a Necrotic Throne forms at your feet for 12 seconds:
While standing within its radius (10m), you gain:
+20% summon speed and damage
+50% health regen for your summons
Enemies within the throne’s radius have reduced cooldown recovery and reduced healing)
(its split up into 2 parts one for the class and one for a possible necromancer-type boss)
so first of we have the archetypes summoner + cleric, basically means it should have some kind of a supportive set of skills aswell from the cleric.
Part 1: necromancer class
so we could give it a skeleton bannerlord that will buff your minions aswell as party/raid members within its buffing area.
aswell as we could give it a skeleton priest, that are able to revive players after they have been dead for a set time, with a big delay between each revive, but is also able to heal your minions aswell as party/raid members within its ability reach.
so thats almost everything for the supportive part of the necromancer, but we could also give the bannerlord some upgrades, like increased buffing area, or higher % of buffs it gives, like speed, regen, mitigation or whatever that would be decided for this.
for the more damage dealer part
we could give Skeleton warrior, with a possibility to be evolved with enough points into a Skeleton Revenant, an ''Elite Bruiser-type" summon, that maybe have some lifesteal, and a berserk-mode when it hit 50% hp, that will increase its damage and attack speed maybe not 100% sure and also a death knight aswell, but it also need some ranged minions like skeleton archer or skeleton mage, if we used skeleton mages they could be able to evolve into an skeleton archmage, with a limit of 1 summon, and if the necromancer have like 5 or so summons possible or maybe a bit more, we could make it able to also have something like a skeleton commander, that boost the base stats of the summons, aswell as a buff called ''enhance troops" that will for a short time enhance your minions even further, to be able to do harder solo content but we could also give them skeleton assassins, since they could be good in PvP if they get a stealth skill, and increase damage on backstab or something with maybe a poison DoT if they get a critical hit.
but if we could make minions have attached minions to them, that doesn't affect the player summon limit, we could have a skeleton summoner that can summon an additional like 3-5 lesser summons that are weaker than the normal summons that the player summons, like a fiend, evil spirit or something that would seem less strong than the summons the player make.
For something like siege we could make the necromancer able to use something like a bone dragon or bone golem, where they choose which to upgrade into, and only 1 summon limit with a max of 3-5 bone dragons or bone golems per side in total so the attacking party can have up to 3-5 and the defending party can have up to 3-5, that will also show the power of necromancy into the world, that they're strong but not impossible to win over, maybe the bone dragon have a bit lesser hp than a 2 or 3- starred elite mob, but have higher magic damage, but the bone golem might have higher hp than a 2 or 3-starred elite mob but lesser physical damage on player but higher on buildings and fortresses
there could also be made a special ''army syngergy tree" Like a skill tree, but each node enhances how certain units interact (e.g., Archers + Bannerlord = Fire Arrow buff).
but ofc the necromancer should also have skills outside of summons
we could give them something like
- "bone armor" gives higher resistances or mitigation,
- "despair" a curse/debuff,
- "Aegis Of Death" gives a barrier/shield that reflect a portion of the damage dealt to the mob or player while affect by it,
- "withering touch" affected mobs or player get drained their life over X seconds, and heal player for 70% of drained amount
- "blight burst" unleashes corruption on the ground in the designated area, slowing, decreasing defenses and a small DoT to the mob or player in the affected area
- "fear of nightmare" makes a mob or player get affected by a fear debuff making them run in the oppeside way away from you
- "death seal" when a player or mob is affected by this seal they will get slowed, get a DoT and when the mob or player gets to 5 or 10% hp they will die BUT if a player is affected and died and the necromancer dies, the player would get revived as a 2nd chance
- "soul scythe" a big soul scythe dealing damage in a swinging area infront of you dealing massive damage to mobs or players hit
The necromancer is mostly meant to be using its summons so thats also why, everything is mainly either defensive or a form of curse/debuff or DoT and not a actual physical attack like soul scythe that deal magic damage
and ofc All summons scale with INT + CON, and also maybe add a formation system for the minions
formation system like this
*Place summons in “Formations” that grant bonuses:
- Shield Wall (Warriors + Bannerlord): Bonus mitigation
- Hellfire Line (Mages + Archers): Fire AoE
- Phalanx (Commander in center): Quick reposition & cleanse
- Hollow Bastion (Skeleton Priest + Skeleton Warriors) Sustain and aggro
- Deathguard Formation (Death Knight + Commander) higher CC and reflective defense
- Revenant Rush (Skeleton Revenants + Assassin) leap attack and crit stacking debuff (doom: +5% damage taken (5s max stack: 3))
- Bone Storm (Archmage + Commander) Pulsing AoE and higher cast speed
- Echo Legion (Skeleton Summoner + 2 of any type) chance to summon temp minion (only if skeleton summoner gonna be a thing)
- Commander's Circle (Skeleton Commander + any 3 units) Formation skill access based on active units (warriors - shield slam, archers - arrow rain, mages - soul nova)
- Pale Choir (Skeleton Priest + Mage) Bonus AoE DoT every 6th spell (necrotic echo) and healing apply Wane (enemy healing debuff)
and ofc more could be added, and it also make some unique setups of the minions that make it so players need to change between setups depending on content and more
Part 2: Possible boss mob
*Legendary Raid Boss – Vharon, Bone Sovereign of the Hollow Court
Location: Deep within a Node's dungeon, Vharon guards an ancient crypt-city where knowledge of life, death, and undeath was hoarded.
*Encounter Mechanics:
- Players fight waves of his undead army first.
- Vharon changes summoning “formations” mid-fight.
- Bone Dragon is summoned at phase 3 (flying mechanic + AoE fire).
- Killing his Skeleton Commander weakens the army’s morale (debuffs).
- He can resurrect dead players into temporary undead who fight against their allies (until cleansed or defeated).
*Rewards that could be dropped from only the boss
- Bone Sovereign’s Crown (light helmet)
- Tactical Summoner's Grimoire (spellbook)
- Vharon's Staff Of The Hollow (scepter or new item staff)
- Sword Of The Unholy Knight (great sword/spellsword)
- Bow Of The Legendary Undead Hunter Kalaphian (short bow/spellbow)
(more items can be added)
*possible set item to get called "Regalia of the Hollow Court"
- Crown of the Sovereign (head)
- Mantle of the Deathmarch (shoulder)
- Vestments of Command (chest)
- Grips of the Revenant (hands)
- Tassets of the Hollow Guard (pants)
- Boots of Silent Dominion (boots)
*Set bonuses
- 2-Piece – Court Presence (+5% summon health and resistances)
- 3-Piece – Battlefield Pact (When 3+ summons are active, gain a personal aura: nearby allies receive 2% reduced damage)
- 4-Piece – Death’s Rally (Every time you cast a spell that damages an enemy, your summons gain +10% haste and movement speed for 5 seconds)
- 5-Piece – Vharon’s Authority (Death of a summon triggers a small AoE fear or slow around its location)
- 6-Piece – Crown of the Bone Sovereign (Unyielding March or Throne of Dread)
*either one of these as the 6-piece bonus
name: "Unyielding March"
(While your ultimate summon is active:
All your summons gain +10% lifesteal
You generate Grave Momentum every second (stacking buff up to 10 stacks)
On reaching 10 stacks, your next basic spell causes all active summons to leap and strike, dealing bonus damage.)
or
name: ''Throne of Dread''
(When you summon your ultimate, a Necrotic Throne forms at your feet for 12 seconds:
While standing within its radius (10m), you gain:
+20% summon speed and damage
+50% health regen for your summons
Enemies within the throne’s radius have reduced cooldown recovery and reduced healing)
Re: Why Summoner should be a melee Archetype
In general: "Summoners can shift their roles easily to fill gaps in a group's composition based on the role of the summon they are utilizing coupled with their choice of secondary archetype, which influences the role the summons perform best at." (Ashes Wiki)
so to answer some of the comments, by the way thanks for the input, i assume that in a best case scenario summoner will be the archetype that can be melee or range depending on their summons.
"Abilities from the summon appear on the summoner's hotbar"
having 4 archetypes for melee and range each would also influence the class building since you would have 4 options for secondaries to get some melee or range capabilities together with their augmentation schools.
if your character is ranged or melee comes from the abilities @Azherae. you can use a range weapon with any character but killing something with only auto attacks vs having abilities to help with that is a massive difference.
as for class fantasy. thats why i had this sentence in my original post already: I am aware that most people think of a summoner as a range class with their pets being melee or range but that would lead to 5 range Archetypes and only 2 and a half melee.
i would love summoner to be the hybrid that can fit all roles, only one at a time, so we could have them in melee and range. but game design wise i disagree with myself
at the end i agree with what @REHOC said: "It’s a tricky balance, and in the end, only the devs know what direction they’re aiming for in terms of combat roles and class identity. I’m really curious to see what they come up with"
lets hope they cook something reeeeaal cool for us
thx again for all the input
so to answer some of the comments, by the way thanks for the input, i assume that in a best case scenario summoner will be the archetype that can be melee or range depending on their summons.
"Abilities from the summon appear on the summoner's hotbar"
having 4 archetypes for melee and range each would also influence the class building since you would have 4 options for secondaries to get some melee or range capabilities together with their augmentation schools.
if your character is ranged or melee comes from the abilities @Azherae. you can use a range weapon with any character but killing something with only auto attacks vs having abilities to help with that is a massive difference.
as for class fantasy. thats why i had this sentence in my original post already: I am aware that most people think of a summoner as a range class with their pets being melee or range but that would lead to 5 range Archetypes and only 2 and a half melee.
i would love summoner to be the hybrid that can fit all roles, only one at a time, so we could have them in melee and range. but game design wise i disagree with myself

at the end i agree with what @REHOC said: "It’s a tricky balance, and in the end, only the devs know what direction they’re aiming for in terms of combat roles and class identity. I’m really curious to see what they come up with"
lets hope they cook something reeeeaal cool for us

thx again for all the input


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