Any ETA On When Alpha 1 Begins?

ArchivedUser

I'm not a huge fan of trying to win the lottery, thus I've been debating on purchasing the Intrepid Package from the store so I can test the game. The only thing holding me back is that I also don't want to blow $500 and then wait an excessive amount of time (6+ months) before I can put that purchase to use. If I had to wait a long time, I would much rather just buy a package later when I can actually use it. Is there any estimation on when they're planning to switch into Alpha 1 testing?

ArchivedUser

Common theory is Dec. 2018, but Q3/Q4 is the usual estimate.

ArchivedUser

So, you plan on buying a package, but want to wait until just before Alpha 1 drops? If the current cosmetics are not to your liking I understand the reluctance, but why limit yourself in choice. It isn't like you are going save money by waiting or gain some sort of discount. If you buy now you get the current cosmetics and have the option of purchasing what you like separately from the future cosmetics a la carte. If you wait, those options are never available again. You could just wait until live launch then only spend the $15 on the sub. Also, realize Alpha 1 is not going to be an up 24/7 experience but most likely will have periods where the servers are unavailable. Alpha 2 is the "product" that they are touting to have "persistance" if your mindset is you are buying something to play vs something to test.

ArchivedUser

Q3/Q4 somewhere, as has been mentioned. 

/start personal estimates

I think Q3 looks like a strong candidate for A1 start. A2 shortly after end of A1, somewhere in early Q4. Then we get B0 at the end of the year, moving into 2019.

/end personal estimates

ArchivedUser

I think if we continue to ask on an almost daily basis, it will most definitely increase the speed at which Alpha 1 rolls out

ArchivedUser

TexTHKM said:

Q3/Q4 somewhere, as has been mentioned. 

/start personal estimates

I think Q3 looks like a strong candidate for A1 start. A2 shortly after end of A1, somewhere in early Q4. Then we get B0 at the end of the year, moving into 2019.

/end personal estimates

Seems like a pretty aggressive schedule and only 3 months +/- for A1 is probably optimistic.

Still, if it happens that way it would be nice.

ArchivedUser

Crymoar said:

TexTHKM said:

Q3/Q4 somewhere, as has been mentioned. 

/start personal estimates

I think Q3 looks like a strong candidate for A1 start. A2 shortly after end of A1, somewhere in early Q4. Then we get B0 at the end of the year, moving into 2019.

/end personal estimates

Seems like a pretty aggressive schedule and only 3 months +/- for A1 is probably optimistic.

Still, if it happens that way it would be nice.

It is optimistic, but I still believe it We'll find out who is right whenever they decide to share the A1 start  

ArchivedUser

My guess is they will start A1 when A1 is ready to be started

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

So, you plan on buying a package, but want to wait until just before Alpha 1 drops? If the current cosmetics are not to your liking I understand the reluctance, but why limit yourself in choice. It isn't like you are going save money by waiting or gain some sort of discount. If you buy now you get the current cosmetics and have the option of purchasing what you like separately from the future cosmetics a la carte. If you wait, those options are never available again. You could just wait until live launch then only spend the $15 on the sub. Also, realize Alpha 1 is not going to be an up 24/7 experience but most likely will have periods where the servers are unavailable. Alpha 2 is the "product" that they are touting to have "persistance" if your mindset is you are buying something to play vs something to test.

I don't know anything about this game, outside of that it looks cool. No clue what the outfits look like, no idea exactly what the entire point of the game is. I'm not trying to "save money" by not buying it now, I'm trying to not waste money on something that has little to no real information available and no way for me to try it out.

Don't get me wrong, the game looks pretty cool from the review videos, but until I know that I can actually go into the game and try it out, I am not putting a penny anywhere near it.

ArchivedUser

Do you only play games with early access of free trials?

Most of the money I have spent on video games have been games I have never played before. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Assuming a 15$ sub, trying Ashes for a month at release (give it a week for server issues) wouldn't be a bad route to go. If you are not super concerned about cosmetics, and don't want to invest in a game pre-release (even if alpha/beta are possible) there is no real reason to invest beforehand, except to help IS.

Until we get into Alpha 1, 2 and Beta 1, 2 there's no real way of knowing the amount of playtime that we will be getting or the level of play we will have access to.

If you haven't watched all of the developers videos on their twitch feed you might want to check that out. If you have, and are still undecided, you might as well wait until you can see in-game footage during the alpha.

Welcome to the community!

ArchivedUser

"Soon"

Official statement by Intrepid.

ArchivedUser

I got the feeling it will be sometime around Sep. maybe Oct. but i could be wrong, depends on how the work goes at Intrepid maybe we get lucky and it will be sooner then we thought.

ArchivedUser

Azathoth said:

Do you only play games with early access of free trials?

Most of the money I have spent on video games have been games I have never played before. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Assuming a 15$ sub, trying Ashes for a month at release (give it a week for server issues) wouldn't be a bad route to go. If you are not super concerned about cosmetics, and don't want to invest in a game pre-release (even if alpha/beta are possible) there is no real reason to invest beforehand, except to help IS.

Until we get into Alpha 1, 2 and Beta 1, 2 there's no real way of knowing the amount of playtime that we will be getting or the level of play we will have access to.

If you haven't watched all of the developers videos on their twitch feed you might want to check that out. If you have, and are still undecided, you might as well wait until you can see in-game footage during the alpha.

Welcome to the community!

I like trying out MMORPG's. That's basically my hobby, and it never ends because there are a lot of them. I've lost count of all the different ones that I've played so far but it's in the hundreds. Bless Online and Ashes of Creation are two games I'd really love to play, but for now I'm just biding my time in other games that are on my list of games to try. I do intend to get that $500 starter package but I am not rich by any means, so I'd rather wait until I can make use of it to purchase it. Never know what's going to happen in life, so I'd rather keep that money in my bank in case I need it than regret blowing it on something I cannot even use.

 BCGiant said:

I got the feeling it will be sometime around Sep. maybe Oct. but i could be wrong, depends on how the work goes at Intrepid maybe we get lucky and it will be sooner then we thought.

Damn that's a long time from now.  I thought they were farther along than that! Guess there's no reason to rush buying it then.

ArchivedUser

amazingazda said:

Azathoth said:

Do you only play games with early access of free trials?

Most of the money I have spent on video games have been games I have never played before. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Assuming a 15$ sub, trying Ashes for a month at release (give it a week for server issues) wouldn't be a bad route to go. If you are not super concerned about cosmetics, and don't want to invest in a game pre-release (even if alpha/beta are possible) there is no real reason to invest beforehand, except to help IS.

Until we get into Alpha 1, 2 and Beta 1, 2 there's no real way of knowing the amount of playtime that we will be getting or the level of play we will have access to.

If you haven't watched all of the developers videos on their twitch feed you might want to check that out. If you have, and are still undecided, you might as well wait until you can see in-game footage during the alpha.

Welcome to the community!

I like trying out MMORPG's. That's basically my hobby, and it never ends because there are a lot of them. I've lost count of all the different ones that I've played so far but it's in the hundreds. Bless Online and Ashes of Creation are two games I'd really love to play, but for now I'm just biding my time in other games that are on my list of games to try. I do intend to get that $500 starter package but I am not rich by any means, so I'd rather wait until I can make use of it to purchase it. Never know what's going to happen in life, so I'd rather keep that money in my bank in case I need it than regret blowing it on something I cannot even use.

 BCGiant said:

I got the feeling it will be sometime around Sep. maybe Oct. but i could be wrong, depends on how the work goes at Intrepid maybe we get lucky and it will be sooner then we thought.

Damn that's a long time from now.  I thought they were farther along than that! Guess there's no reason to rush buying it then.

well if you want the current skins you should buy in now :P they wont be around again after :P

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

well if you want the current skins you should buy in now :P they wont be around again after :P

After what? Are you saying when Alpha 1 begins they're going to remove all the packages from the store or something?

ArchivedUser

amazingazda said:

BCGiant said:

well if you want the current skins you should buy in now :P they wont be around again after :P

After what? Are you saying when Alpha 1 begins they're going to remove all the packages from the store or something?

Nope, the cosmetics on offer in the packages are meant to change monthly. The necromancer stuff will be going away soon™ and will not be available again. Once Alpha 1 has ended or is close to finish they most likely will remove that tier and have just the lower packages that correspond with each phase being removed all the way up until launch. So basically you could wait, you just won't be able to take advantage of the current cosmetics on launch, or be able to purchase future ones that match your package level a la carte until you have bought in. Or you could just wait until live launch, pay your $15 sub and skip the whole buying a package at all. If you are someone that cosmetics are not a big deal to, and don't care about testing phase participation, then that will be by far the cheapest option.
Edit: They could also decide to keep the Intrepid Pack available after Alpha 1 ends and just change the tagline from "Access to Alpha 1" to "Access to current testing phase." while adding an exclusion for Beta 0. Once Alpha 0 winds down you can expect to see the key drawings to shift to Beta 0 access, which will be the next "free" access phase.

ArchivedUser

Karthos said:

"Soon"

Official statement by Intrepid.

I think officially it's: "Soon"™️

ArchivedUser

Karthos said:

"Soon"

Official statement by Intrepid.

I think officially it's: "Soon"™️

ArchivedUser

BCGiant said:

I got the feeling it will be sometime around Sep. maybe Oct. but i could be wrong, depends on how the work goes at Intrepid maybe we get lucky and it will be sooner then we thought.

What about when they finally announce it. Then all this stupid speculation will cease.

ArchivedUser

It's already been said that it will be released during Q3/Q4 of 2018, people have been asking this so many times already so I suggest that you should be patient and simply wait

ArchivedUser

AutumnLeaf said:

It's already been said that it will be released during Q3/Q4 of 2018, people have been asking this so many times already so I suggest that you should be patient and simply wait

I wouldn't have asked if I knew that, it's not like they have it posted anywhere. If it were 'asked so many times', I'm pretty sure they would have put it in an announcement or something by now. Granted, I just found out about this game so I haven't looked that hard, but I haven't seen anything from glancing over these boards and from reviews and content that I've seen.

ArchivedUser

@amazingazda, you are right in saying that this isn't a commonly posted fact on the forums. The question does show up at least once a month I believe.

That said, I would like to welcome you to the forums and encourage you to be a part of the forum community. However, most all information is distributed through Discord, Twitch, and sometimes you can gain knowledge watching the Ashes YouTube Page.

I don't frequent those places often, but that might be a good place to look for statements from IS. There is also a "Quotebin - Quotes of Intrepid Team from Discord" thread in the general discussion area, that information might be there.

ArchivedUser

Soon.   

ArchivedUser

GMSteven said:

Soon.   

Soon has been officially confirmed !!!

ArchivedUser

GMSteven said:

Soon.   

ArchivedUser

soon

suːn/

adverb

1. 1.

   in or after a short time.

   "everyone will soon know the truth"

   synonyms:

   in a short time, shortly, presently, in the near future, before long, in a little while, in a minute, in a moment, in an instant, in a twinkling, in the twinkling of an eye, before you know it, any minute (now), any day (now), any time (now), by and by; informalpronto, in (less than) no time, in no time (at all), in a jiffy, in two shakes, in two shakes of a lamb's tail, before you can say Jack Robinson;  informalsharpish, in a tick, in two ticks;  dateddirectly;  archaicanon;  literaryere long "she'll be there soon"

ArchivedUser

I like two shakes of a lamb’s tail. 

ArchivedUser

ArchivedUser

GMSteven said:

I like two shakes of a lamb’s tail. 

I like it when i am wrong :P