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.
Comments
Myself? I always create characters with roleplay in mind. I don't care for the progression chase/grind or min/maxing, so I take quite a bit of time getting characters just right. So anywhere from 30min to hours in a character creator if its a good one.
That said, here's what I'd like to see:
>>Very flexible sliders for body type, including height, weight, width, and age. Allow us relatively young characters but also really, really old ones. I know a lot of people talk about how "great" BDO's character creator is because it looks fancy, but I'm not fooled by the gimmicks. They did make some really cool decisions on how to customize hair length and overall color pickers, but that's about where the "wow" factor on BDO's character creator ends. Elder Scrolls Online and Riders of Icarus are way, WAY better when it comes to body customization flexibility (I've talked about that before in a video here)
>>It'd be super awesome if we could have some sort of indication or measuring system or something regarding height to know how tall/short our characters will be before we finalize our characters. It could be a number measurement (feet and inches? centimeters?), or maybe we could have some sort of doll/manikin near our characters to give an idea, and that manikin is a certain height like 6'0"?
>>Allow us the ability to save customizations as presets we can load up at any time, to make it easier to do things like recreate a character or come back to it later and finish making it if we need to go in the middle of customizing a character.
>>Also it'd be great to be able to tweak characters' appearances after finalizing creation, without having to spend tons of real world money in a cash shop or some such to do so. I'd even be willing to do some sort of mundane quest to earn an item/token in-game to change appearance if I had to. Just give us the option somehow.
>>I'd like to be able to modify my characters' "default expression" somewhat, like make a character appear happy-go-lucky, sad/depressed, always-angry, etc.
>>A lot more "gender neutral" or "gender passing" options. Allow both genders to not only be customizable to either look like a god/goddess of unmatched beauty OR some sort of ugly troll/hag, but also allow for masculine women and effeminate and "wimpy" looking men. Obviously you don't have to give men straight up boobs and women... other things. But it'd be nice to have characters who don't all fit into the gender stereotype of "Big square box" (male) and "curvy hourglass" (female) and that's all. Old WoW models come to mind.
>>Muscle tone sliders. Conan Exiles' character creator is a good model to look at for how it can be done well for both genders (ignoring the fact that every male on unmodded Conan have the body proportions of He-Man).
>>I find it very unlikely Ashes will have "child-size" characters outside of Dwarves, but if they do, don't just limit it to child-sized female characters like some other MMOs do for some strange and suspect reason (BDO for instance). Its very odd to me when MMOs have "child size/like" character options but its exclusively all female characters.
>>Don't lock character customization options for certain things behind race, gender, or class like BDO does. I'm talking about parts of appearance people are able to change relatively easily, like hair style, beards, tattoos, jewelry, et cetera unless there's a REALLY good reason for it. For example, lets say there's a hairstyle that dwarves have with braids and shaved patterns. Humans, elves, and other similar races should ALSO be able to use that hair style. Obviously however, some traits should be locked to race, like let's say Tulnar having animal tails - humans, orcs, et cetera would not be able to use those customization features. Or orcs and their tusks, would be limited strictly to orc races, and so forth.
>>Seriously, nothing annoys me more than wanting to make a character with a very particular look to them with hair style or tattoos or jewelry than finding out I have to pick "X" race or "Y" class, and that other race or class does not match any other part of the character I want to make (BDO does this with class-exclusive appearances and emotes and minor activities like playing musical instruments and it drove me NUTS).
>>Let us make characters with heterochromia, 2 different colored eyes.
>>Give us RGB color sliders instead of limited "color presets".
>>An option for digitigrade legs for Tulnar.
>>Allow us to preview our appearance with and without clothing/armor
>>I'd love if we had some sort of "Personality" or animation modifier for characters that changed things like in what way they stand, walk, hold weapons, et cetera.
>>Similar, it'd be neat if we could have some sort of customization option in and out of the character creation screen to modify what animations play for certain types of emotes. Maybe a drop-down menu.
To give an example, maybe you have a "lean back against wall" emote. You can select which animation your game defaults to, such as crossing your arms as you lean back, or resting your arms down at your sides.
Or with sitting, you could pick sitting with your legs straight out and leaning back on your arms, or sitting cross-legged, or sitting with a knee propped up and head rested on it.
For sitting in chairs, you could have a basic square sit with feet on the ground, or crossing one leg on top of the other, or drawing a knee/foot up on the chair, etc.
BDO did something kind of cool with giving you different kinds of sitting, lying down, leaning emotes and such - the problem is, BDO locked it to your class and you didn't get any choice in what you got.
>>An option to have our characters look squeaky clean or covered in dirt!
>>What would also be neat would be something to choose what your "place" or "class" (not gameplay class) was in the world, and dialogue/NPCs will react accordingly to what you choose. Just as some examples, you could have things like "Noble", "Peasant", "Beggar", "Shady Character/Criminal", "Vagabond", etc. NPC dialogue could change a bit depending on that, and maybe affect services even, in a minor way.
Like if you have a "Noble" class chosen, more important or "upstanding" people will be nicer to you and more willing to do certain things, but shady/criminal type NPCs will be less welcoming.
Conversely, if you picked "Shady/Criminal", "good" NPCs will be hesitant to deal with you but Shady NPCs will be more open and willing to talk to you. Guild Wars 2 somewhat touched on this kind of character customization and storyline though I definitely wouldn't do it in exactly the same pigeon-holed kind of way. It would be more just generalities and where a character would fit in with society and interact with the world. (Perhaps so it can't just be changed on-the-fly to Game the system but you also aren't stuck with that choice forever, a way to earn some sort of "reputation" points to change it over time through doing good/bad deeds? Changing your station in life with work, as it were, idk its just an idea)
>>Being able to see our characters in motion and under different lighting conditions in the character creator before finalizing.
>>Also this is more of a "wishful thinking" that probably won't come to pass because of how other people likely feel about this concept, but I think it'd be neat if character strengths/weaknesses weren't purely race-based, but more based on the way your character is customized physically. For instance, a larger, more muscular character would be stronger. A short, not-very-muscular character would be lacking in strength, but may be more agile and stealthy. You would still have ways through gameplay, level and skill acquisition, and gear to fill the gaps a little bit, but not enough to make the small, agile character as potent in an open brawl as a giant hulking muscular character that's built like a tank.
>>Also, for the love of god, Avian features for Tulnar, please! We don't need full wings and beaks and the like. Just some feathers, arm/leg scale plates, and claws would suffice! Also more beast-like leg options (again with the digitigrade legs). I made a much more in-depth video about that here.
-Avian Tulnar (topic video)
-Dwarf-to-tallest race heights for Tulnar
-Crows/ravens for Falconers
-AC:O & AC:V type aerial scouting for Falconer
I already shared my feedback back in September 2021 during Alpha One about the importance of character creation. Sadly, here we are in August 2025, Alpha Two phase 2, and I have to admit I’m very disappointed with the current state of the character creator.
For a game that aims to be unique and immersive, the system still feels way behind compared to other MMOs, even non-AAA ones. The lack of real customization freedom (asymmetry in faces and hair, detailed control over strands, shaved sections, advanced scars/tattoos, fine sliders, color palettes, etc.) makes it frustrating for players who spend hours shaping their identity in-game.
What’s worrying me even more is that Intrepid doesn’t seem in a hurry to improve this tool, despite character creation being the very first step of immersion in a MMORPG. Other games (Black Desert, even indie projects) allow deeper creativity, while here we’re stuck with very limited, prefab options.
Please don’t underestimate this aspect. For many of us, our character is our avatar, our bond with the world, and a strong creator is a key feature, not a “bonus.” I really hope this will become a higher priority soon.
FRANÇAIS / FRENCH
J’avais déjà partagé mon retour en septembre 2021 pendant l’Alpha One sur l’importance de la création de personnage. Malheureusement, nous sommes maintenant en août 2025, Alpha Two phase 2, et je dois avouer être très déçu de l’état actuel du créateur de personnages.
Pour un jeu qui se veut unique et immersif, le système est largement en **** par rapport à d’autres MMO, même ceux qui ne sont pas AAA. L’absence de vraie liberté de personnalisation (asymétrie des visages et des cheveux, contrôle détaillé des mèches, côtés rasés, cicatrices/tatouages plus poussés, sliders fins, palettes de couleurs, etc.) est frustrante pour ceux qui passent des heures à façonner leur identité en jeu.
Ce qui m’inquiète encore plus, c’est qu’Intrepid ne semble pas pressé d’améliorer cet outil, alors qu’il représente le premier pas vers l’immersion dans un MMORPG. D’autres jeux (Black Desert, voire des projets indés) permettent bien plus de créativité, alors qu’ici on reste coincés avec des options très limitées et préfabriquées.
Merci de ne pas sous-estimer cet aspect. Pour beaucoup d’entre nous, notre personnage est notre avatar, notre lien avec le monde, et un créateur solide est une vraie fonctionnalité clé, pas un “bonus.” J’espère sincèrement que cela deviendra bientôt une priorité.
And it doesn't even properly carry over into the game!
What you see on your screen isn't what the other members of your party see!
- inzoi i do say is quite peculiar over the face customization, you can modify a lot about it, make it even asymmetrical; body wise pretty good but not exactly to the levels of dd2; jewellery/piercings and nails, can change color (also a good range of colors), or even the shape/size in case of the nails that is; makeup wise, prestige, highlighter and glitter is a thing and we do appreciate, the eyeshadow you can change the color by steps (from the bottom eyeliner to the top one then each section/layer of the eyeshadow), various lipstick applications presets as well
- bg3 i love the female muscular body type (the slight appearance of veins in the arms 👌), well face wise and body wise very limited, just extremely few presets, but then compensates in other regards, with quite an immense palette of colors to choose, be it skin or hair (although still not enough 🙃 so i got more with mods ahaha); makeup wise pretty much all of them (dd2/bg3/inzoi) got good amount-diverse options, love the metalized slider for the eyes/eyeliner/lips
- dragon age the veilguard had good options/diverse presets of makeup as well, eyeshadows with a nice shimmer effect]
dd2 cc /dd2 cc showing range quantity
bg3 cc
*there is actually a cc demo on steam for both dd2 and inzoi for whoever wants to see/try/create (and add later to game)*
If i want to create a dark skinned elf or with 'asian' features, why couldn't i?
And what if i want to create a pale orc!?
why cant i?
(bg3 was not afraid to provide diversity to us...)
Ofc there should be some limitations in the character creator so people dont go over the board with it, otherwise abominations will be created.
asian mmos tend to always go for the stereotypical/standard doll, kpop and (massive red flag) anime/child face presets, which im quite not a fan at all (and this comes from a female who used to play with dolls when was a kid, so seeing nowadays grown up men pulling tantrums over it when females (in game...) dont look like dolls is quite hilarious/even somewhat disturbing... also dispense the exaggerated/unrealistic boob jiggles, since it doesnt contribute in nothing to gameplay (only there to sexually appease/appeal male audiences), also hate high heels (clearly shows those males devs never ever in their lives tried to walk how much run or do anything with such on in the most uneven terrain and once more/again only there to appeal male audiences)) i mean there is so much i hate about asian mmos...(and how much my immersion gets ruined as well)
I just want to see some face presets out of the ordinary, usually the standard is nordic/slavic, far east asian (aka korean/japanese) and as for african features go, mainly western sub-saharan; what about south european, middle east/levant, northern and eastern african, central native american, central and south asian or even western chinese?
*some faces and tattoos (also body/face painting)/adornments (aka jewellery/piercings) of some cultures/tribes*