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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
What are your Alpha 2 launch expectations?
Toothpaste
Member, Alpha Two
With Alpha 2 on the horizon, I wanted to ask the community what their expectations are for the release of Alpha 2. Intrepid has shown off a lot of amazing looking gameplay-loops and game mechanics over the past 3 years, but do you think everything we have been shown will be ready to test at the start of A2? If you could follow the format down below, that would make it a lot easier to gauge where the audience is at. All of these questions pertain only to the launch of Alpha 2. Also, please add anything that you think will be important if it is not covered in the questions below. Thank you.
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods?
How many biomes present at launch?
Which biomes at launch?
How many / which races will be available at launch?
All Artesian classes available?
World bosses?
Highest level node attainable at launch?
Will freehold exist at launch?
How many players can a testing server hold?
How many servers will be available at launch?
Will there be queues?
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods?
How many biomes present at launch?
Which biomes at launch?
How many / which races will be available at launch?
All Artesian classes available?
World bosses?
Highest level node attainable at launch?
Will freehold exist at launch?
How many players can a testing server hold?
How many servers will be available at launch?
Will there be queues?
The Steven giveth and the Steven taketh away
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Comments
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods? - defined testing period.
How many biomes present at launch? - 2
Which biomes at launch? - riverlands & desert
How many / which races will be available at launch? - 2: Vek and Kaelar
All Artesian classes available? - all that have been mentioned
World bosses? - no world bosses
Highest level node attainable at launch? - tier 4
Will freehold exist at launch? - no
How many players can a testing server hold? 3k
How many servers will be available at launch? 8 per region
Will there be queues? Yes
PvP on or off - on
How can you have an opinion on everything, but not this?
Let’s see how close you are to what they actually announce! It’ll be fun!
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods?
We know that Alpha-2 is meant to be persistent, but I don't know how likely that is.
How many biomes present at launch? Which biomes at launch?
I'm expecting the Riverlands, plus the bay area to the southeast, the encircling mountains, and a bit of the desert across the water to the southeast. That tracks with what they've stated.
How many / which races will be available at launch?
At the opening of Alpha-2? Everything but the Tulnar, most likely. Tulnar rely on the same subsystems as Animal Husbandry
All Artesian classes available?
Nah. Animal Husbandry still needs more work.
World bosses?
Given they were in Alpha-1, I'd be downright shocked if they weren't available.
Highest level node attainable at launch?
Probably only level 4 nodes, which are "Towns". There's just not enough space for a metropolis yet.
Will freehold exist at launch?
Likely, yes.
How many players can a testing server hold? How many servers will be available at launch?
No idea. I have no expectations here.
Will there be queues?
Almost certainly.
1. Bugs
2. Server crashes
3. Performance issues
4. Queues
5. Unfun gameplay because not balanced properly
How many biomes present at launch? - 4-5
Which biomes at launch? - riverlands for sure, probably desert, rest can't rly say
How many / which races will be available at launch? - probably all apart from tulnar
All Artesian classes available? - probably not yet
World bosses? - for sure, some at least
Highest level node attainable at launch? - 3-4 probably
Will freehold exist at launch? - maybe, unfinished
How many players can a testing server hold? - 2-3k
How many servers will be available at launch? - no idea, 10-20
Will there be queues? - in the beginning, definitely
Also lots of bugs, wipes and server crashes
Yeah, of course, but what features will be available to test at launch? Are you thinking that there will be some or most of what they have showed in the showcases?
Persistent but often unstable and broken until 2025.
How many biomes present at launch?
Three, four if we count coastal.
Which biomes at launch?
Riverlands, Shrublands, 'rainforest', coastal.
How many / which races will be available at launch?
All but Tulnar, but not in their final forms.
All Artesian classes available?
Not a chance.
World bosses?
Sure.
Highest level node attainable at launch?
City if lucky, but probably will just break a lot.
Will freehold exist at launch?
Sorta, I am gonna bet they won't actually be 'properly usable', so the Freeholds themselves would be available but most of the detailed playloops around them, not.
How many players can a testing server hold?
1800 before instability starts to kick in within Nodes.
How many servers will be available at launch?
28, 2 for most sub-regions.
Will there be queues?
Only for the first few days.
How many biomes present at launch? Which biomes at launch?
Probably 3-4 (Riverlands, Badlands, Sandsquall Desert + possibly the Jundark)
How many / which races will be available at launch?
Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs
All Artesian classes available?
Hahahahaha, no.
World bosses?
Yes, but not all.
Highest level node attainable at launch?
Tier 3 cause that'll be enough for the things they will be concerned about in the beginning.
Will freehold exist at launch?
No chance.
How many players can a testing server hold?
I'll say they could in theory go to full capacity right away, but with the limited accesible regions, I say the limit will probably be 2000-3000
Will there be queues?
No doubt about it.
Riverlands/dessert was always mention
3rd one that changes has been badlands/jungle and tropics
So i feel it safe to say we will get atleast 3 biomes and 2 of them are riverlands/dessert and third one could be any of the 3 if not more.
Wouldnt surprise me if we get bottom half of the western continent so badlands, riverland, dessert and jundark i dont think we see tropic since it very islandy and were not getting boats start of A2 so i feel it might not make it till boats happen
Edit: Optimisticly this is what im expecting at best, Also new dragon boss they mention might be in the volcano area potentially)
Not optimistic Riverlands/Dessert probaly minimum (Steven in fighter showcase said closer to alpha he let us know what Biomes (plural) will be in A2 so pretty garanteed atleast 2, he also mention assets for 7 are done (But content for 7 most likly not done of course)
Persistent world with targeted tests for things like sieges.
How many biomes present at launch?
3. They've shown the desert, riverlands, and snowy mountains (unreal 5 annoucement). The original targeted landmass was 220km vs the alpha 1 being only 70km.
Which biomes at launch?
They've shown the desert, riverlands, and snowy mountains (unreal 5 annoucement) .
How many / which races will be available at launch?
All the ones shown, not all body types in.
All Artesian classes available?
Some bits for all of them with basic loops to see how people like them.
World bosses?
Already seen in a1, I'd expect 12 or so of these.
Highest level node attainable at launch?
4
Will freehold exist at launch?
Yes with a basic loop in place to test land acquisition
How many players can a testing server hold?
6k
How many servers will be available at launch?
20+
Will there be queues?
yes
Yea, but what content will be available at the launch? Intrepid has shown us a lot of great looking in game systems. From all of the showcases they have shown us over the last 3 years, what content from those showcases do you think will make it to the launch of Alpha 2?
Fair Point. 🫡
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
I get what you are saying, but you are just dodging the question. How can you have 1.5k posts in under a year and not have an opinion on what you think will be included at the launch of Alpha 2??
I've been wrong on every expectation I had when it comes to dates
I'll give it a try
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods? - starting in September as NDAed week long tests with A2 folks, and opening in October as a persistent alpha
How many biomes present at launch? - 4
Which biomes at launch? Riverlands, Desert, Badlands and Tropics
How many / which races will be available at launch? - Kaelar, Vek, Renkai, Dunir, Empyrean, Pyrai
All Artesian classes available? - Yes but limited in scope
World bosses? - 3 or 4 bosses like Tumok, dragons, ancients, the scorpion
Highest level node attainable at launch? - 3
Will freehold exist at launch? - yes
How many players can a testing server hold? - 2000
How many servers will be available at launch? - less than 10
Will there be queues? - yes, big ones
How many biomes present at launch? However many they have ready and feel they need.
Which biomes at launch? Which ever ones they have ready.
How many / which races will be available at launch? As long as the Vek is ready I don't care
All Artesian classes available? No, but they'll have the main gear ones at least functional
World bosses? Yes a few but not all or polished, we've already seen some in livestreams
Highest level node attainable at launch? probably city
Will freehold exist at launch? Yes, they showed us working freeholds quite a long time ago
How many players can a testing server hold? less than the 10k planned for launch since we won't get the full map. Once more of the map is ready and kinks get worked out the numbers will go up
How many servers will be available at launch? Probably somewhere around 10
Will there be queues? Day 1 yes, after the first week doubt it. Most of us will call out sick or take vacation day 1, by the end of the week everyone will be back to work and many will decide they don't want to test a broken game, they'll wait until they can play a more polished version.
It is not a game launch, not even a beta, it is the first iteration of a consistent non NDA game state with barebone systems so that devs can verify if their assumptions about what they think players would find fun, is indeed so it's easy to change early if needed, and continue to flesh out systems.
Once both players and devs are happy and satisfied about the core systems and basic gameplay loop, then they'd get to add content, more races, biomes etc..
So even if there's just 1 race, 1 node type I would be satisfied as updates roll out
Definitely wont see snowy mountain at start that will come i suspect when naval system comes seeing as there no reason to have a biome that on the other continent without the naval content to go along with the ocean.
Welp. Thanks for keeping at it. I personally think/hope for the Start of Alpha Two - we get :
- All Races to play. Maybe that or one or two will be hopefully added sometime later. In the monthly Presentations we kinda saw pretty much every single Race already, did we ? Last Presentation even had a Dunir Tank. Now we are only missing the Nikua, or ?
- All different Node Types. Same as with all the Races - > if not at the Launch, then hopefully somewhat later.
- A hopefully mostly or finished Artisan Craft ingame.
- Maybe Freeholds already ? I am aware Nodes would need to be Stage Three at least to have some.
- Shipyards/Dockyards ? Like You know - > a tiny Pretaste and Appetizer to look forward to the later added Naval Content ?
- " Coastal " Nodes ? Nodes which can be Port Cities ?
- Parts of the Underground Realm of Verra.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)
ok we all know that this is not true and not going to happen. These people are just misinformed.
Persistent Alpha or defined testing periods?
Persistent.
(Although I wish it wasn't because it seems like an unnecessary resource sink from Intrepid's side.)
How many / which biomes present at launch?
3 - Riverlands, Sandsquall Desert and one of Tropics/Badlands/Jundark, with the other 2 probably coming shortly after launch. (Q1-Q2 2025).
How many / which races will be available at launch?
6 - Vek, Ren'Kai, Dünir, Py'rai, Empyrean, Kaelar
All Artisan classes available?
Yes, some in a more basic form than others.
World bosses?
Pass, no idea about this, between 2 and 20, lol.
Highest level node attainable at launch?
4 - Although Steven said stage 5 will be available less than a year ago, but I think that's too good to be true.
Will freehold exist at launch?
Yes.
How many players can a testing server hold?
Concurrently? ~3k.
How many servers will be available at launch?
~20
Will there be queues?
Yes, queues are necessary to mitigate the amount of server merges needed later.
Not having them would be a huge issue.
I hope queue numbers will be displayed BEFORE trying to join a realm, that way you can pick a realm based on how many are in queue.
That's funny because snowy mountains were shown 2+ years ago.
Then strict testing parameters, as in "This is whats currently in A2, go test!" and we leave our feedback, etc. and then it expands as we go.
Myself I hope to test the Bard on every level. Help find where skills work and don't. Help find feedback to get the Bard to synergize with the other classes. I hope to find at least one exploit
PvPing will be my reward for filling out bug reports
Yes, I definitely agree that there will be some uptime and some downtime in the first couple of weeks.
But I’m talking content wise. From everything that Intrepid has been showing us for the past 3 years, what content do you expect to be at the launch of Alpha 2?
Could be that hitting close to Q3 is more important than the criteria he set down internally in Jan 2024.
So... he's just gonna go with all the stuff we've already seen in the Livestreams.