Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about 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 Phase II testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about 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.
đąâđ¤đ March 2025 Development Update Livestream Discussion Thread đđ˘
Glorious community,
Our latest Development Update Livestream has wrapped up, and we unveiled some exciting new content! This showcase featured the stealthy new Rogue archetype, node sieges, relics, and the naval system!
What were your favorite moments from the stream? What new content has you the most excited? Letâs chat below! đ
Our latest Development Update Livestream has wrapped up, and we unveiled some exciting new content! This showcase featured the stealthy new Rogue archetype, node sieges, relics, and the naval system!
What were your favorite moments from the stream? What new content has you the most excited? Letâs chat below! đ
1
Comments
First long time lurker, first time poster:
Just so you guys know, Twitch flagged the video as having some copyrighted content - at least that's how it appears in the Twitch App for FireStick.
The Affected time ranges from 50:52 - 54:00 in the Twitch VOD of today's update.
And maybe have them lean away from the wind. Or at least have them lean the other way when turning. Leaning into the turn and otherwise being perfectly straight looks stupid even to someone who knows very little about sailing physics.
About everything I saw:
Stuff that sound exciting to me:
An attachment that is magical summoning orb summons minions like imps, gargoyles, specters, harpies or whatever for ranged attacks. They hover around the ship, hitting anyone not in your guild or party, and stick around for 10+ minutes. If idle with no targets the specters attack whatever your launchers hit and deal damage, using the launchers like a laser pointer to guide them to the target. You want to direct them with the launcher and make the gargoyles terrorize people cutting wood by the shore, being AFK, attack the enemy ship and players.
The larger the orb, the bigger the minion squad, and the orb has a cooldown, maybe there could be orbs with faster cooldowns and smaller squad sizes and etc.
Instead of an orb, the ship could just launch minions like ammo from its hatch or trapdoor. You could buy minions from a beastmaster and the game would have a player run market for this type of ammunition.
Supervise and patrol wherever you go:
"Oh, you are afk mining by the beach? And you are bot farming?! Get wrecked by demons!"
Sea monster bait: youâd farm it somewhere, haul it to your ship, and throw it like a grenade into the water or onto another ship. After 30 seconds, a sea serpent (or whatever Ashes of Creation has, like a kraken) pops up and attacks the nearest target, even your own ship if youâre not careful. If the enemy captainâs a better navigator, he will maneuver in a way that makes you the closest ship to the bait just to get chomped when the monster shows up.
If you and your guild are ready for it summon a monster by throwing bait into the water when no other players are nearby and simply farm them with your friends. The monster despawns if it doesn't damage anymore for 10 minutes.
Greek fire: set the water on fire using a greek fire flamethrower, great for setting fire behind your ship and leave a trail of flames behind you while you flee, also great for attacking ships
Trade: You should be able to swap cargo between ships on the open sea.
Jettisoning: If the ship's speed is affected by its cargo load, there should be an option to jettison cargo to escape pirates. If the pirates are after the cargo, they'll stop to collect it, otherwise the cargo crates will despawn after some minutes. Even during a battle you could jettison cargo and gain speed for the fight, after the fight you can scoop it back and if the enemy scoops the cargo then his ship will become heavier.
Even if there's no influence on speed, there should still have jettisoning.
Seine nets: for fishing, should create drag and reduce ship's speed. The oldest known net, dating back to 8300 BC, we have modern nets today but the principle remained the same.
Pulling up the net shouldnât happen instantly, if you snooze enemies may catch you, youâll still have to deal with the drag for a few seconds until the netâs fully recovered and then you can be at full speed again.
Ships name: ships must have names so give them funny names. Also, when players own multiple ships, theyâll want to identify each one by name to choose the right since each ship might have a unique configuration..
Ship's names are also important for calling targets, otherwise people will be frustrated because your fleet will start shooting random ships, sometimes they will shoot one ship a bit and then another ship later, and it won't be efficient since there's too many moving pieces in a fleet fight.
You need somehow to click a ship and see it's name and HP, being friend or foe you should be able to see the name of that vessel. The name of the player on the helm could change at any moment so the player name doesn't help at all.
I don't think it is necessary showing the ship's name engraved on the hull.
Flotilla list: the same way there is a party for players, but here you should show the ships controlled by party members. You see only ships health bars in fleet and health bars of the people in the same ship you are in.
On naval battles it is not important knowing how much health each individual player in the party has if he is in the other ship!
In fleet operations you only care about:
The fleet list is extremely important for commanders and fleet ops.
Weâre not talking about 1v1 ship battles in shallow Riverlands waters anymore, now itâs all about fleet battles and guild wars on the open sea!
Lightning rod: prevents damage from lightning strikes coming from the skies. It is a real thing in real life, being hit by lightning simply happens and damage ships.
A storm event: disables your map localization and keeps it off until you reach port or step on land, forcing people to navigate using landmarks and celestial bodies. The storm should blanket an entire sea or even more.
Lightning strikes could hit the ship and damage if there's no lightning rod attachment.
It would be even cooler if the ship got attacked or chased by NPCs, forcing the captain to maneuver the ship and lose all sense of direction.
Lightning cannons: the ship could have a lightning rod attachment that stores power in an orb or in a creature, and later on, you could unleash a lightning strike from the ship, like a Tesla cannon, chaining up to 10 targets. Perfect for fleet battles and AoE damage and high sea farming.
We could store the lightning in an orb or in a big sea eel attached to the hull. Someone would have to farm the eel, or a beastmaster could breed eels.
If we do this, people would have a reason to go after the sea storm event to recharge, and itâd be hilarious because everyone will be there recharging and end up fighting each other with lightning strikes, it will be absolute chaos.
Lanterns: lanterns on the ships that could be toggled on and off (for stealth at night)
Lanterns should really matter at night, how far you can see other ships or get spotted by them should depend on your lanterns and ship size. A tiny raft could pass by a big ship at night if the big ship doesn't turn on it's lanterns, however when he turns on it's lanterns he can also be spotted easier.
Need light to spot others at night, but also helps others spot you, this creates a cat and mouse gameplay.
This mechanic is great for people playing smugglers, sneaking fancy goods at night instead of day. Hunters might need to flick on their lanterns to catch sight of those small ships, but when the big ships light up, theyâll stick out
Fish/Shark bait: pour in the water a bucket of blood and oily fish parts that attracts fish/sharks, you could fish them, however if you don't fish them then sharks may come up and just attack anyone at random. Could be used as an asset in PvP or just to troll people swimming, or maybe you just want to see your enemies be eaten alive by sharks while you give a speech.
Perfect combo would be using fish bait combined with the seine net.
Winch: for pulling players and objects far away in the water, could be manual or automatic when something is attached
Grappling hooks: for holding the other ship so it doesn't gain speed over you, defenders can attack the hooks and free their ship. The grappling hooks could be killed by the defenders and then the hook is lost and eventually the attacker may run out of hooks.
Water Pumps: Hand-operated Pumps that allow crew to drain water from the lower decks of the ship, saves the ship from floodings. Not that AoC has floodings but this could increase the regeneration rate signicantly, maybe 50% in battle and 100% increase off battle.
People could attach a pump instead of a winch, the more battle oriented ships could have a pump since they intend to fight constantly and people who just wants to loot and do funky stuff could have a winch.
Heavy fog event: greatly reduces visibility reducing the distance the ships are spotted, also nobody can see anyone on the map anymore until the fog ends or you leave the area.
It will be even better if during the heavy fog the players get ambushed by NPCs.
Flares: basic stuff, launch a flare like a firework and create pings in the map for your party. Useful for telling people where you are during heavy fog or storm events, also during the night and also important for marking where enemy ships were spotted and other things.
You need some signaling so you can orient your party and your fleet about threats and about what to do. otherwise people will just be furious at each other in coms. It will be like this with flares:
Could be extra useful under heavy fog.
You got to navigate the ship and you don't want to be spinning around looking for things and asking repeatedly in coms if you are going to the right direction, or for the right target, etc.
Ship's death count and sea bosses:
Pirate lord world event: The server tracks player deaths at sea. At 1,000 deaths, a world event triggers: a legendary pirate lord spawn at a random sea, turning the water red, skies ominous and ravenous winds. Players will get the hint he is around and go hunt him for great loot.
Roaming sea people bandits: Bandits should charge in from the horizon, riding seahorses, and launch an attack on the players.
Curses on dark altars at sea: there could be dark altars scattered around the world, sitting on round stone platforms out at sea. If you go to one and activate it, your ship gets cursed. These cursed ships suffer different effects, and depending on the curse, they'll attract more events to deal with. Youâd do it to farm more, but itâs a double-edged sword.
Different altars could give different curses and effects, like one that increases both damage dealt and damage taken. Curses are basically permanent modifiers.
You could end up with all kinds of curses on the same ship if you sail around all seas out there. Itâd be fun to see people go wild customizing their ships, mixing curses and attachments. Guilds could even have different ships for different activities or farming styles, so every ship you board would make the game feel a little different increasing the replayability of the naval gameplay.
Curses could have effects on the ship, on the players onboard, on events and affect spawn rates and affect loot. A ship with many curses and good synergy with it's attachment should be terrifying to fight against.
Each sea should have an altar with a different curse, if you want all curses you have sail all seas without losing your ship.
When it's time to go big at sea, it's time to get some curses.
FLAK Ammo: It might not sound unique, but itâs essential. FLAK ammo is designed for short-range use, exploding on after two or three seconds to create a spherical AoE damage zone. This AoE destroys all projectiles, like potions, fired from any ship, while also damaging everything nearby NPCs and players. Any potion passing by will be instantly destroyed.
This ammo is vital for defense, especially against flying NPCs swarming your ship. Itâs also a game-changer in close-range ship combat, particularly when an enemy ship has a zerg of players. If your ship has fewer crew members, switching to FLAK ammo lets you deal damage to the enemy zerg wthey they are trying to approach you.
As a key anti-air and anti-zerg tool, FLAK ammo is a necessary countermeasure that must be included in the game. You can't not have this.
Tank: defensive attachments, such as shields, could be added to increase a ship's HP..
Stinkpots: Small pots or bottles containing a pungent, smoky substance, whose fumes would disorient or incapacitate foes, often inducing nausea, vomiting, and uncontrollable retching.
Even though the characters have crowd control abilities, that doesnât guarantee theyâll be able to use them effectively due to distance and on naval combat. Whatâs needed is naval crowd control equipment designed for ship operations, which is why stinkpots are essential.
It could work as ammo for launchers or function like hand grenades, but what Iâd say it is best to allow both options. It would be versatile as ammo that can be loaded into launchers or thrown by hand for shorter distances.
Maybe we could have stun, slow, poison and other types of effects.
Theyâre a great countermeasure against zerg tactics.
Assault and pillage raids: This raid type should begin at sea, with a ship engaging in combat before moving to a port or fortress. Upon reaching the port, endless waves of increasingly stronger and more numerous mobs will spawn.
Players must protect their ship, but the primary objective of the raid is pillaging. A portion of the crew will need to go ashore to steal chests, loot buildings, and defeat mini-bosses scattered throughout the area. If the pillaging process is too slow, the ship risks being destroyed. At the same time, if the entire crew focuses on pillaging, the ship will be left undefended, letting the mob waves to destroy any ship by the port.
The final boss will spawn once all the chests have been touched by players, at which point the crew must rush to the ship and load the loot as quickly as possible. Players donât need to store the chests on their ships; they simply have to interact with each chest at least once, and you can't fight while carrying a chest so people will have to escort and protect you. There is no set timer, the challenge comes from how massive and powerful the mob waves become, which can overwhelm your party and destroy your ship. If you donât touch all the chests, the boss wonât appear, and youâll miss out on the best possible loot, the good stuff comes from the boss. Exchanging the chests will grant you gold, consumables and materials.
This raidâs is a high stakes raid, and you might totally lose your ship if things go south and if you can't flee. Bringing a more people and an extra ship could improve your chances of making it through, since extra ships can deal with any random people trying to sink your ship by the port while youâre busy grabbing chests and fighting mobs. You could even have a second ship out there as a lookout to spot other players sneaking up. The dynamics of this will be interesting, this will be high drama content.
If another party is running the same raid, the rules donât change: the chests just need to be interacted with, and the boss will spawn. It doesnât matter who manages to load the chests or which ship ends up with them. Some players might rush to interact with all the chests after defeating every mini-boss, then leave the chests behind to go straight for the boss. Meanwhile, others might act like seagulls, swooping in to grab the abandoned chests. They could even take the chests, load them onto a mule, and head to a node to exchange the chest there. Random people might show up just to ninja loot and bring conflict between players.
A raid like this should be be a little chaotic when people show up. Just ensure the mobs and spawn nests adjust properly if the mods get overwhelmed by a huge number of people, maybe even bring in the mini-bosses, with no extra chests, to spam AoE on everyone.
It should be possible for the party to disembark at the port while the shipâs captain takes the ship back out to sea alone, itâs their risk to handle solo out there. Once all the chests have been interacted with, the boss will spawn, and the captain will have to face it alone.
Maybe the captain just wants to drop off the crew and sail away with the ship, leaving the people on land to grab some chests and escape on mules. Weâre not here to dictate how people should play. Maybe the mule boys just paid a ferry fee for this captain who doesnât want to deal with any of that.. This raid can range from a well-organized operation to a chaotic free-for-all. Maybe the captain is just deploying troops to help someone running the raid and he doesn't wanna risk his ship... who knows what's going on, only the people in coms know!
The smallest version of this raid could involve robbing a tiny village with a small ship and a crew of four, while the largest might target a fortress with a 40-person crew. Either way, you should always have the option to abandon the raid and escape for any reason, maybe the party isnât dong their job, or an enemy guild has been spotted, or another party is already there. Players will need to figure out what to do and why on their own.
The vibe of this raid is a bit like the Payday 2 heists, grab stuff and get in the van.
I expect nothing but madness at the sea, the typical player who hangs out at sea long enough should act and talk so differently that landlubbers find them from weird to fascinating.
As requested during the livestream, youâre looking for feedback on fun activities players would like to experience at sea once maritime content is introduced into the game. After spending countless hours on the seas in ArcheAge, I wanted to share some features that I hope to see in Ashes of Creation as well.
1. Shipwreck Hunting & Salvaging
One of the best features in ArcheAge was the ability to search for sunken shipwrecks scattered across the oceans. Sailing in search of treasure, recovering wrecks, transferring loot to your ship, and trying to get it back safely â all while avoiding or fighting off other players â made for some of the most exciting and memorable guild nights.
2. Trade Islands & Resource Turn-in Zones
Having specific islands where players can turn in trade goods would encourage exploration and PvP encounters. Whether it's land-based packs (like Liberation in ArcheAge), salvaged wreck loot, or fish crates, turning them in on these islands could create dynamic risk-vs-reward zones across the seas.
3. Oceanic Raid Bosses
Imagine epic battles at sea against massive raid bosses â krakens, leviathans, or even more unique sea monsters. Upon defeat, they drop crates that must be delivered to specific island POIs, adding both PvE and PvP pressure to the encounters.
4. Node vs Node Naval Events
What if there were large-scale node-wide naval events, open to all nodes, where participants score points by destroying objectives or ships on the high seas? Think of it as a naval siege. With the vassal system in place, this could promote community-wide participation rather than only focusing on large guilds. It would also help prevent a single mega-alliance from monopolizing the seas.
5. Underwater Points of Interest
This is already planned, but I'd like to echo how exciting it would be to have underwater POIs with chests, bosses, and exploration mechanics.
6. High-Sea Fishing with Turn-ins
Deep-sea fishing could become a real group activity. Catch rare fish in PvP zones, pack them in crates, and sail them back to port. Itâs similar to ArcheAge, sure, but it created a lot of fun attack/defense moments and community outings.
7.Ship Size and Customization
I feel that frigates are currently a bit too small, making combat difficult. The planned galleons could offer more space for boarding and ship-to-ship combat, which would be really enjoyable.
It would also be great to have player-usable options such as a crow's nest, different types of sails, an anchor, and various cannon types with different ranges and firing speeds. Customization options like skins and accessories in a shop would also be a lot of fun.
Off-topic but important considerations for feature development:
8. Caravan/Naval Loading System
The current caravan system, where you load it directly with resources, may be too limiting in the long run. Crafting or buying a trade pack and manually loading it into a caravan or ship would offer more flexibility. It also allows resource costs (like Glints) to be shared across a group â for example, four players each loading one crate onto a ship â and sharing the profit more naturally.
9. Destruction System Is Too Punishing
The destruction mechanics make sense, but the cost of losing a fully loaded caravan or a crafted ship can feel demoralizing. It discourages experimentation with the system. Some form of soft-loss mechanic, insurance, or partial recovery could encourage more players to engage with this content regularly.
Canât wait to see what youâre building. Keep up the great work and thank you for involving the community in the development process!
A passionate fan of the seas