Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
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 testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
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
Feedback from a player that's stuck at level 8
The Feedback
1. The only people currently playing this game are people that have been playing this game. What I mean is it is impossible to find people to play with that are low level. I'm a level 8 Bard on all servers (lvl 9 on Lotharia) and I've been stuck at that level since January. Every weekend I log in at different times of day to spam the global chat for about 10 minutes then I log off because I can't find anybody.
2. No scroll wheel hotkeys is kinda weird. Maybe I'm alone on this one.
3. I've given feedback on a hotkey issue since the time I started playing around the beginning of January but its still not fixed. The issue is if you keybind a modifier + a mouse click or mouse button, and you use tab target mode, it breaks the game. You lose your ability of auto attacking even if you switch off tab target and back. Also you lose your ability to back pedal. There's lots of other random weird movement bugs I run into but I lost all hope they'd get fixed because I'm not part of the big clans that spam their problems.
4. The game is boring. All I do when I log on is try to find a group, fail, then kill goblins at the starter area. Wow.
5. Even though I think it'd be a good game if you always had people to play with, I guarantee the majority of people that try this game are going to be turned off within the first hour just like I was. I understand Steven's said many times he wants this to be a niche game, I just think its a weird business decision if that niche community is a little bit too niche.
6. This is a good point of feedback..... So the highest I ever got to was lvl 20 on Bard during Alpha 2 phase 1 in 2024. When I was playing at that time, I didn't have much else to do so I was able to disregard some life responsibilities so I could play, so I was able to group up with other no lifers. This made me realize the combat in this game is pretty good but the mobs at the time were pretty glitchy and the TTK was ridiculously long (maybe its better now, idk).
7. Back to the bad... Based on the previous point, this game seems like it requires too much investment of people to be able to enjoy. But again maybe thats the niche you want. MMORPG's aren't for everyone.
Suggestions
1. Make the game more solo-able at the start. Make some sort of starting questline that eventually culminates in groups being required to group up (maybe around lvl 10) as a means of introducing group play & how its so essential in this game.
2. Add quests in general. This game in its current state is so dull and empty and... boring. Nothing ever happens in the world, I don't see many people playing ever but this is probably because everyone is already at end game or doing whatever the gathering stuff is in this game.
3. Do better with introducing whatever the gathering stuff is. I haven't gone out of my way to learn any of it but I don't want to have to go out of my way for this stuff, and I'm sure plenty others share this sentiment. Make it easier to learn how to do whatever your gathering skills are.
4. Don't apply only to the hardcore gamers. I think lots of people that play these types of games are my age or older (I'm 28) and have lives outside of games. I think the best way of making the game more casual friendly is to make the game more enjoyable right outta the box. The current start of the game is: Kill goblins. Get Commission. Get loadstone or whatever they're called. Get Horse. Kill more goblins. zzz. If it were more like "HEY NEWBIES GATHER HERE FOR A QUEST!!! YOU ALL WILL HAVE TO GO TO KORRA LOCH!!!" or something like that, it would show the good sides of the game IMMEDIATELY to all new players because it wouldn't take such a huge time investment to see the good sides of the game that come with group play.
I think the game has potential and I understand "iTs aN aLFa" like I always hear, but its for that reason that I even took the time to write any of this. I see the potential but its current state is completely unenjoyable for me.
1. The only people currently playing this game are people that have been playing this game. What I mean is it is impossible to find people to play with that are low level. I'm a level 8 Bard on all servers (lvl 9 on Lotharia) and I've been stuck at that level since January. Every weekend I log in at different times of day to spam the global chat for about 10 minutes then I log off because I can't find anybody.
2. No scroll wheel hotkeys is kinda weird. Maybe I'm alone on this one.
3. I've given feedback on a hotkey issue since the time I started playing around the beginning of January but its still not fixed. The issue is if you keybind a modifier + a mouse click or mouse button, and you use tab target mode, it breaks the game. You lose your ability of auto attacking even if you switch off tab target and back. Also you lose your ability to back pedal. There's lots of other random weird movement bugs I run into but I lost all hope they'd get fixed because I'm not part of the big clans that spam their problems.
4. The game is boring. All I do when I log on is try to find a group, fail, then kill goblins at the starter area. Wow.
5. Even though I think it'd be a good game if you always had people to play with, I guarantee the majority of people that try this game are going to be turned off within the first hour just like I was. I understand Steven's said many times he wants this to be a niche game, I just think its a weird business decision if that niche community is a little bit too niche.
6. This is a good point of feedback..... So the highest I ever got to was lvl 20 on Bard during Alpha 2 phase 1 in 2024. When I was playing at that time, I didn't have much else to do so I was able to disregard some life responsibilities so I could play, so I was able to group up with other no lifers. This made me realize the combat in this game is pretty good but the mobs at the time were pretty glitchy and the TTK was ridiculously long (maybe its better now, idk).
7. Back to the bad... Based on the previous point, this game seems like it requires too much investment of people to be able to enjoy. But again maybe thats the niche you want. MMORPG's aren't for everyone.
Suggestions
1. Make the game more solo-able at the start. Make some sort of starting questline that eventually culminates in groups being required to group up (maybe around lvl 10) as a means of introducing group play & how its so essential in this game.
2. Add quests in general. This game in its current state is so dull and empty and... boring. Nothing ever happens in the world, I don't see many people playing ever but this is probably because everyone is already at end game or doing whatever the gathering stuff is in this game.
3. Do better with introducing whatever the gathering stuff is. I haven't gone out of my way to learn any of it but I don't want to have to go out of my way for this stuff, and I'm sure plenty others share this sentiment. Make it easier to learn how to do whatever your gathering skills are.
4. Don't apply only to the hardcore gamers. I think lots of people that play these types of games are my age or older (I'm 28) and have lives outside of games. I think the best way of making the game more casual friendly is to make the game more enjoyable right outta the box. The current start of the game is: Kill goblins. Get Commission. Get loadstone or whatever they're called. Get Horse. Kill more goblins. zzz. If it were more like "HEY NEWBIES GATHER HERE FOR A QUEST!!! YOU ALL WILL HAVE TO GO TO KORRA LOCH!!!" or something like that, it would show the good sides of the game IMMEDIATELY to all new players because it wouldn't take such a huge time investment to see the good sides of the game that come with group play.
I think the game has potential and I understand "iTs aN aLFa" like I always hear, but its for that reason that I even took the time to write any of this. I see the potential but its current state is completely unenjoyable for me.
Palmskee
4
Re: Potential Interface readability improvements
made it so we can also enlarge the text of everything in the UI windows not just the Basic one, literally didnt bother reading any quests when i tried cuz my eyes started hurting
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
I generally lean towards support / augmentation classes in games I play. With that in mind, I'm torn between spell visuals that really have a lot of beauty to them for buffing allies, and mage type spells where giant meteors, ice, electricity, etc. fill the screen (though not to the point where you lose track of players on the field). Let me use my graphics card's full power!
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
Favorite Ability-
Blood for Blood- Elder Scrolls Online.
Why- sacrifice health to do more damage. The more missing health, the higher your damage. Thus, the larger your health pool, the more damage potential you have.
You can build a tank with a lot of health steal potential and as much resistance as you can while doing ridiculous amounts of damage.
It plays out like dancing on the tip of a knife balancing your health and healing to keep yourself from dying, while you try to kill people.
I ran this build in BattleGrounds and was cackling like a madman when the panic set in on the other teams.
Blood for Blood- Elder Scrolls Online.
Why- sacrifice health to do more damage. The more missing health, the higher your damage. Thus, the larger your health pool, the more damage potential you have.
You can build a tank with a lot of health steal potential and as much resistance as you can while doing ridiculous amounts of damage.
It plays out like dancing on the tip of a knife balancing your health and healing to keep yourself from dying, while you try to kill people.
I ran this build in BattleGrounds and was cackling like a madman when the panic set in on the other teams.
Mionikoi
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
In spirit of Megumin, it's not my favorite, but definitely the most fun is Herald of Ice and Herald of Ash from poe 1. Adds cold or fire damage to your skills, any enemy that is frozen or burning, depending on the aura explodes, the explosion of those aura skills are the best.
Favorite is shadow priest's Surrender to Madness artifact weapon ability from World of Wacraft legion. You need to cast to keep up insanity which is a secondary resource after mana, you need to spend it to cast even more. StM stacks haste but you lose insanity more and more over time, if you are out then you are dead, it's a high risk high reward ability bc if you could keep this up long enough your dmg skyrocketed.
Favorite is shadow priest's Surrender to Madness artifact weapon ability from World of Wacraft legion. You need to cast to keep up insanity which is a secondary resource after mana, you need to spend it to cast even more. StM stacks haste but you lose insanity more and more over time, if you are out then you are dead, it's a high risk high reward ability bc if you could keep this up long enough your dmg skyrocketed.
anathek
1
Re: 📝 Dev Discussion #71 - Spells & Abilities ⚔
Hello,
In this development thread, I’d like to talk about two classes that particularly stood out to me:
1- The Bard in Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC), which I played for 6–7 years. For anyone unfamiliar, this was a musician class with healing spells and mana/endurance regeneration. Its main strength lay in its area crowd control, as well as its top-tier speed buff, the fastest in the realm.
2- The Tomb Warden in ArcheAge, combining the Tank, Virtuoso, and Spiritual specializations. This class excelled at standing in the thick of melee combat while continuously playing songs that boosted ally damage, resistance, and attack speed, and simultaneously debuffed enemies in the same way.
Both of these support classes had next to no DPS, yet they provided some of my best gaming experiences. Why? Because they played an essential support role. In DAoC, for instance, a group without a Bard was at a clear disadvantage: the Bard’s numerous utilities could turn the tide in 8vX battles. In ArcheAge, the Tomb Warden’s powerful debuffs had a decisive impact on the enemy line, making the gameplay both dynamic and strategic.
The Bard in Ashes of Creation
Compared to those examples, the Bard in Ashes of Creation feels too DPS-oriented. Currently, you choose one buff every 30 seconds (whether physical/magical, flat or critical damage, etc.), an attack speed buff, and maintain a background music. There are indeed some interesting crowd control abilities, but many combos focus primarily on dealing damage.
DPS Path vs. Support Path
Some players like this offensive angle to become stronger duelists. Personally, I chose Bard for its pure support style (given my 20 years of experience playing such roles), and I find that the support/control aspect isn’t as developed as the DPS side.
- Healing spells are fairly balanced: they’re useful without being overpowered.
- However, I’d love to see more AoE buffs/debuffs instead of damage spells.
- I also would have preferred continuous songs (buffs/debuffs over time) rather than mechanically reapplying a 30-second buff. This would introduce a more dynamic, strategic element reminiscent of the classic Bard/Support playstyle from DAoC or ArcheAge.
The Importance of a True Support Role
Finally, I’d like to emphasize that, in my view, a Bard isn’t meant to one-shot an enemy by stacking passives or dominating a fight through an overpowered wand. A weapon’s strength should really adapt to the class using it, because a Bard’s true job is to support and protect its group, not to deal massive damage.
But please… A Bard isn’t here to one-shot an opponent with a fully stacked passive and an OP wand. I would love to see the Bard (or any support class) regain the essential role it had in games like DAoC or ArcheAge: a cornerstone of any group, not for its damage output, but for its ability to control, buff, and debuff, thus greatly influencing the outcome of battles.
Thank you for reading. I remain available for any further discussion.
In this development thread, I’d like to talk about two classes that particularly stood out to me:
1- The Bard in Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC), which I played for 6–7 years. For anyone unfamiliar, this was a musician class with healing spells and mana/endurance regeneration. Its main strength lay in its area crowd control, as well as its top-tier speed buff, the fastest in the realm.
2- The Tomb Warden in ArcheAge, combining the Tank, Virtuoso, and Spiritual specializations. This class excelled at standing in the thick of melee combat while continuously playing songs that boosted ally damage, resistance, and attack speed, and simultaneously debuffed enemies in the same way.
Both of these support classes had next to no DPS, yet they provided some of my best gaming experiences. Why? Because they played an essential support role. In DAoC, for instance, a group without a Bard was at a clear disadvantage: the Bard’s numerous utilities could turn the tide in 8vX battles. In ArcheAge, the Tomb Warden’s powerful debuffs had a decisive impact on the enemy line, making the gameplay both dynamic and strategic.
The Bard in Ashes of Creation
Compared to those examples, the Bard in Ashes of Creation feels too DPS-oriented. Currently, you choose one buff every 30 seconds (whether physical/magical, flat or critical damage, etc.), an attack speed buff, and maintain a background music. There are indeed some interesting crowd control abilities, but many combos focus primarily on dealing damage.
DPS Path vs. Support Path
Some players like this offensive angle to become stronger duelists. Personally, I chose Bard for its pure support style (given my 20 years of experience playing such roles), and I find that the support/control aspect isn’t as developed as the DPS side.
- Healing spells are fairly balanced: they’re useful without being overpowered.
- However, I’d love to see more AoE buffs/debuffs instead of damage spells.
- I also would have preferred continuous songs (buffs/debuffs over time) rather than mechanically reapplying a 30-second buff. This would introduce a more dynamic, strategic element reminiscent of the classic Bard/Support playstyle from DAoC or ArcheAge.
The Importance of a True Support Role
Finally, I’d like to emphasize that, in my view, a Bard isn’t meant to one-shot an enemy by stacking passives or dominating a fight through an overpowered wand. A weapon’s strength should really adapt to the class using it, because a Bard’s true job is to support and protect its group, not to deal massive damage.
But please… A Bard isn’t here to one-shot an opponent with a fully stacked passive and an OP wand. I would love to see the Bard (or any support class) regain the essential role it had in games like DAoC or ArcheAge: a cornerstone of any group, not for its damage output, but for its ability to control, buff, and debuff, thus greatly influencing the outcome of battles.
Thank you for reading. I remain available for any further discussion.
Imanek
1
Re: 🌼👋 Dev Discussion: Gatherable Spawning System
I was more or less just adding feedback. Only thing I was clarifying with what you said was the raptors not having anything to do with fixed rarity.
I dont think you really made any bad suggestions, however I would say that even with the surveying bit, youd still have people finding and basically hiding resources from others if fixed rarity is a thing. Personally I dont even like the resource rarity route due to power imbalances of same level tier gear which is very apparent right now regarding TTK, but thats a whole other rabbit hole.
Generally though, if conflict over resources is truly what Intrepid wants, just have a players character faintly glow the color of the highest rarity resource item they have on them. That right there would give allllll of the conflict they could ever want, even with corruption. But as for wanting conflict in specifically gathering, you have to have some sort of "carrot" to guide that conflict. And any sort of static rarity where the locations arent discernable in some way to allow for the consideration to fight for it, that just doesnt cut it for promoting conflict.
I dont think you really made any bad suggestions, however I would say that even with the surveying bit, youd still have people finding and basically hiding resources from others if fixed rarity is a thing. Personally I dont even like the resource rarity route due to power imbalances of same level tier gear which is very apparent right now regarding TTK, but thats a whole other rabbit hole.
Generally though, if conflict over resources is truly what Intrepid wants, just have a players character faintly glow the color of the highest rarity resource item they have on them. That right there would give allllll of the conflict they could ever want, even with corruption. But as for wanting conflict in specifically gathering, you have to have some sort of "carrot" to guide that conflict. And any sort of static rarity where the locations arent discernable in some way to allow for the consideration to fight for it, that just doesnt cut it for promoting conflict.
Dolyem
1
Alpha Two Update Notes - Saturday, March 1, 2025
These are the update notes for changes that went to Alpha Two realms on Saturday, March 1, 2025
As a reminder, if you come across bugs during Alpha Two testing, please report them to us in-game using /bug
Added to Known Issues:
ALPHA TWO UPDATE NOTES - SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2025
As a reminder, if you come across bugs during Alpha Two testing, please report them to us in-game using /bug
Added to Known Issues:
- When accepting a quest or commission, sometimes the on-screen notification will not appear
ALPHA TWO UPDATE NOTES - SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2025
- Fixed a bug causing characters to be invisible in both the lobby and the game
- Fixed a bug causing AOE abilities to unexpectedly cause players to become combatants
- Fixed an economy bug allowing commodities to be sold back to the same Node for a profit
- Fixed a bug causing it to appear like your guild has disappeared - Players impacted by this bug have not actually lost their guild data and are expected to have their guilds restored as part of this update.
"Out of video memory" Type messages after today's update
So last week i had 0 problem with the game, no crashes, nothing, same goes for the entirety of alpha 2 wave 1, but after today's patch (2025.02.20) the game started to crash every 5 minutes with the
"Out of video memory trying to allocate a rendering resource. Make sure your video card has the minimum required memory, try lowering the resolution and/or closing other applications that are running. Exiting..." error message.
Others experience similar problems, but i guess its not as big of a problem that enough people is affected.
I play on 1440p with 16gb of ram and an rtx 3080 10gb, if anyone from intrepid will see this post.
"Out of video memory trying to allocate a rendering resource. Make sure your video card has the minimum required memory, try lowering the resolution and/or closing other applications that are running. Exiting..." error message.
Others experience similar problems, but i guess its not as big of a problem that enough people is affected.
I play on 1440p with 16gb of ram and an rtx 3080 10gb, if anyone from intrepid will see this post.
Re: Crafting stations and node loyalty
If I'm a tank and live on the western continent, but my BiS gear drops on the eastern one - I'd need to either travel there each time I wanna farm the gear, or I'd need to just live there for a while until I get fully geared out.You can do any dungeon of appropriate level, you don't need to level any specific skill to farm any specific dungeon. But spending weeks to level a specific skill and having no station to use it i imagine would be a deal breaker. It's something you just can't compensate for.
Gathering can be leveled anywhere. Best processing stations will be in freeholds. Crafting is a one-and-done thing that simply requires movement of resources. Movement of resources is one of the biggest pillars of the game (caravans and all that).
If anything, I personally foresee caravan market journeys where you go from your node to the node with the top crafting station for your profession, and you buy more resources along the way and throw them into your caravan. You craft everything at your destination and then come back home with the spoils.
Considering that Metros will have the best crafting stations by default, whole guilds from the vassal systems will be doing those kinds of caravan runs to Metros every now and then. And this action in itself will create more guild-based content, cause it's prone to backstabbing, guild politics and just general highwayman pvp.
To me that seems like the design is "working as intended".
Ludullu
1