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.
Early Access Announcement & Trailer
ELRYNO
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Can I gather people's thoughts on going from the current state of alpha 2 testing to "early access" in a month's time? Will this have a detrimental impact on the public's perception of the game if seen in its current form with lack of content & systems compared to when it is titled as "alpha 2 development"?
Also, I was unimpressed with the cinematic. It felt to me like the art style was so disjointed from that of the game that I felt like I couldn't connect with it. Thoughts?
Edit: I was expecting the trailer to involve a lot more gritty scenes of factions fighting, highlighting the conflict people are going to encounter regularly in the world of Verra
Also, I was unimpressed with the cinematic. It felt to me like the art style was so disjointed from that of the game that I felt like I couldn't connect with it. Thoughts?
Edit: I was expecting the trailer to involve a lot more gritty scenes of factions fighting, highlighting the conflict people are going to encounter regularly in the world of Verra
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Comments
But they're the ones with the metrics and/or the faith, to know why it isn't.
Fair, thoughts on the trailer and art style?
I am worried.
I really hope Intrepid is making the right move.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
I actually liked the cinematic. Nothing to write home about, but it was decent, for me at least.
But yeah the first thing I noticed was basically no mention of pvp, or pvx. I was paying attention to that because that's what I expected, and so it was. I have my own theories as to why that is, but none of them are pleasant, or paint a good light so I'm just going to keep them to myself.
That said, the steam listing does have "pvx" and "online pvp" in a couple of different spots. But yeah.
Trailer was misrepresentative.
Art style wasn't appealing to me, but I don't like WoW, so you can adjust based on that.
Enough people have money and can buy the game here too if they are interested.
And so far we seen players leaving after playing a little bit.
If they would keep playing, then the word would spread and people would buy the access keys even if it would not be on Steam.
So going to Steam it makes it a bit more accessible and they also start selling cosmetics while in Early Access.
Can anyone give an example of an MMORPG which went through an Early Access phase and was popular when released?
The issue is not about being on Steam but about revealing the game slowly, step by step as they develop it.
I have no problem with the trailer. I don't care about it.
The trailer was purely for the Harbinger update, which means that they hope people will SOMEHOW level up enough in the game to actually witness it, AND that all the sweaties, who know the game like the back of their hand, will somehow NOT exploits/abuse/destroy anyone who even attempts interacting with the corruption zones.
It's gonna be a bloodbath in more ways than 10.
Steven repeated it, his team repeated it: “No wipe in November, don’t worry.”
And this is the fourth time they pull the same stunt. At this point, it’s no longer a mistake — they’re professionals at last-minute lies.
The game isn’t progressing.
They’ve launched a massive marketing campaign to sell something that simply doesn’t exist yet. They’re making mountains out of nothing.
I took part in P2, P2.5, and played until September, before understanding that yes, we were going to get another wipe in November.
They even delayed their livestream by two weeks just to make this “big announcement”.
And on top of that, their communication is terrible.
They say they’re going on Steam to “get more testers”, but come on… we’re customers first, not free QA staff.
How can they devalue us like that?
We pay for the game, some people pay hundreds of dollars, and we’re treated like volunteer testers.
And when I hear “We need more testers”, it’s pure nonsense.
No you want more customers.
But wanting more customers is not enough: you also need to keep them.
Right now, it’s obvious the goal is simply to sell $50 access packs to survive.
In-game you can feel the lack of resources and that the project was maybe too big for them.
One year of intensive alpha… for what?
Painful crafting, endless farming, mob bashing straight from the early 2000s.
And on the PTR, they’re still balancing level 1-10 after a full year of alpha. It’s absurd.
So yes: I no longer trust the project.
I see chaotic development, terrible priorities, and it’s not for lack of giving feedback.
Too many lies, too little respect, and treating paying customers like volunteers… it drives me crazy.
We know we’re buying an alpha. We know the game has to be developed. Intrepid, you’re not inventing anything new.
I play Star Citizen — I know long, painful development cycles.
But I have a hundred times more trust in CIG, bugs and all, than in you.
You need money?
Fine say it.
Say “We need more customers”, add skins, finish your gameplay loops, give us real progress.
Right now, it just looks like you’re trying to sell boxes at any cost.
Only your most blinded fans can’t see it.
Bringing in new players is good.
Losing your old ones is suicide.
New World is the perfect example: a million boxes sold, Amazon behind it… and the lack of respect killed the game in the end.
And once again: it’s not healthy for an MMO to nuke loot overnight.
It’s not healthy to ask players for dozens of hours of grinding for a level 20 item.
There’s a reason people call your game Ashes of Frustration.
This is an alpha: make it fun, enjoyable, and stop forcing your future customers to suffer the way we did.
And as long as you let a toxic minority ruin the game for the majority, you will have exactly the number of players you deserve.
I believed in you.
But I was wrong.
And going to Steam won’t bring you a stable playerbase until you seriously rethink the way you work.
Hope it will be uploaded on YouTube in a Day or Two or so.
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
I am in the guildless Guild so to say, lol. But i won't give up. I will find my fitting Guild "one Day".
twitch.tv/videos/2618317216
- Shaiya circa 2007-2008 - Guild Wars 2 circa 2014-2016 - ArcheAge circa 2016-2018
- Black Desert 2019-2024 - ESO 2021-2024 - FFXIV(fake pvp)2021-2022
'Will be good in the long run' because....? I honestly don't have any ideas, feel free to leave some.
From my perspective it is easy to see how we got here. AoC spent years building up good will with transparency about the state of their game. Their 'open development' strategy was effective back in the day when they were actually being up front and responsive to their community. I think a vast majority of the devs Steven included got used to the relative understanding of how unpolished the game was and how things would take a long time to get to an acceptable place.
But then the studio has slowly eroded that trust over the past 2-3 years by being less and less transparent about the game and it's development as time has gone on. But that give and take stuck with them. They are used to that very line Blaspherian posted meaning something. I think they forgot that they bought kindness with transparency and when you put the game on the open market like this, that response is no longer an acceptable one. No matter how ea you are, if there are problems and unacceptable parts (that you claim are temporary) people are going to attack them because they have no relationship founded on the initial principle.
I know Intrepid said they basically need the money (at least that's what I have been told as I stopped watching the stream once the summoner bit was done.) However, I think this gambit might not be the right one. I think they might be hoping that either the capital gained from this will be enough to finish it off (unless it gets the studio 5-7 years I sincerely doubt it). However, it is very likely that they expect the benefits of that relationship they had (yes it is past tense on purpose) to help buffer some of this. It won't. They burned so much good faith especially in the past year. I think some of the developers don't understand just how much good faith has been burned.
I feel kind of bad for a lot of the devs at Intrepid. I think there are a ton of passionate, dedicated people, who had no say in this, who kind of bought into the environment IS originally developed with it's community. And now their work is going to get eviscerated with the cold uncaring stare of the general market far before the game is ready. This is, and has been for many years now, an act of poor leadership. The only way to save AoC at this point is if said leadership steps down and lets whatever competent people there are left at this studio to make drastically different decisions with a renewed community focused approach. The era of performative community engagement must end if they are going to weather the storm Steam release will cause.
I could be wrong, but honestly? My heart only has enough for an elegy for this company. They earned a song, even as my passion for the project has all been but rendered null and void by the current leadership and overarching design direction (and lack there of in many cases.)
But hey, I could be wrong too. I just don't think it's gonna be the train wreck people are painting it to be.
- Shaiya circa 2007-2008 - Guild Wars 2 circa 2014-2016 - ArcheAge circa 2016-2018
- Black Desert 2019-2024 - ESO 2021-2024 - FFXIV(fake pvp)2021-2022
NW took several years to get to a point where it could be considered a good game (even if different from the initial promise), but it wasn't enough to bring a ton of people back, because your average gamer has seen it on release and said "nah, this is shit" and completely forgot about it.
Ashes will have the same fate, because the game is NOT ready for this. And they 100% do not have the money to pull a NMS or a CP77.
Famous last words.