Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III 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 testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III 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.
Great Concept, But a Terrible First Impression
pvpgate
Member, Alpha Two
I’ve been a huge fan of MMORPGs for about 20 years. I remember the golden age of the genre, and I clearly see the stagnation it's been in for the past decade. That’s exactly why I’ve been following this project for a long time. I genuinely want to see a modern MMORPG that still carries the spirit of the old-school games — with open-world PvP, free trade, and tons of exciting features.
And so, after years of watching YouTube videos about the game, I finally decided to join the alpha test… and my first impression honestly shocked me — in a bad way.
Let me describe what shaped my first impression — literally within the first five minutes of gameplay. I understand this is an alpha, and I can see that a lot of work has been done in other areas. But a new potential player joining the game will see this first — not the grand vision that reveals itself later.
1. The movement feels really bad. The character instantly snaps to face the camera with no turning animation at all… I get that this was a thing in WoW and other older MMOs, but in 2025 it just looks awful. If I were to compare, the hybrid target/action mode in Throne and Liberty was implemented much better — at the very least, it doesn’t make your eyes bleed.
2. The walking animations are really poor, and the animation blending is terrible. When changing direction quickly, the character snaps and jitters as their body angle shifts instantly — it all looks extremely rough. This could be easily fixed by properly setting up the blendspaces in Unreal Engine.
3. Additive animation. When the character is holding a weapon, it looks like an additive pose is being applied to the arms on top of the base animation. But it feels like it’s being applied very roughly — maybe to just a single bone (probably the clavicle). As a result, when this is blended with the running animation, the arm movement looks extremely unnatural.
4. The same issue applies to blending attack animations with walking or running. It looks like a simple Layer Blend Per Bone is being used based on a fixed bone like the spine or pelvis. This often results in very unnatural movement — the character bends or twists awkwardly when attacking while moving.
5. The combat system feels really clunky. When casting a spell, you can turn your back to the target near the end of the cast, and the character will still play the casting animation forward — but the spell will fly backwards toward the target. Melee attacks are also very awkward — they just deal damage in an area around the character. You can be standing sideways or even almost with your back to the enemy, and still hit them, even though the sword swing animation goes in a completely different direction.
6. The camera behaves strangely during jumps, and especially when climbing over obstacles. It feels like the character capsule teleports onto the obstacle, while the character model stays below and plays the climbing animation — during which player movement seems temporarily "frozen".
7. Enemy AI in the starting area. I get that you were aiming for the feel of an outpost under attack by goblins, but in practice, the enemies just run around chaotically. Honestly, it would’ve looked better if they were simply standing around in improvised “camps” on the field.
Sorry for my English — it’s not my native language, and I used a translator in some parts.
I really hope to see a revival of the genre in your project, and I’m looking forward to improvements not only in the depth of the mechanics but also in these kinds of “small details”.
And so, after years of watching YouTube videos about the game, I finally decided to join the alpha test… and my first impression honestly shocked me — in a bad way.
Let me describe what shaped my first impression — literally within the first five minutes of gameplay. I understand this is an alpha, and I can see that a lot of work has been done in other areas. But a new potential player joining the game will see this first — not the grand vision that reveals itself later.
1. The movement feels really bad. The character instantly snaps to face the camera with no turning animation at all… I get that this was a thing in WoW and other older MMOs, but in 2025 it just looks awful. If I were to compare, the hybrid target/action mode in Throne and Liberty was implemented much better — at the very least, it doesn’t make your eyes bleed.
2. The walking animations are really poor, and the animation blending is terrible. When changing direction quickly, the character snaps and jitters as their body angle shifts instantly — it all looks extremely rough. This could be easily fixed by properly setting up the blendspaces in Unreal Engine.
3. Additive animation. When the character is holding a weapon, it looks like an additive pose is being applied to the arms on top of the base animation. But it feels like it’s being applied very roughly — maybe to just a single bone (probably the clavicle). As a result, when this is blended with the running animation, the arm movement looks extremely unnatural.
4. The same issue applies to blending attack animations with walking or running. It looks like a simple Layer Blend Per Bone is being used based on a fixed bone like the spine or pelvis. This often results in very unnatural movement — the character bends or twists awkwardly when attacking while moving.
5. The combat system feels really clunky. When casting a spell, you can turn your back to the target near the end of the cast, and the character will still play the casting animation forward — but the spell will fly backwards toward the target. Melee attacks are also very awkward — they just deal damage in an area around the character. You can be standing sideways or even almost with your back to the enemy, and still hit them, even though the sword swing animation goes in a completely different direction.
6. The camera behaves strangely during jumps, and especially when climbing over obstacles. It feels like the character capsule teleports onto the obstacle, while the character model stays below and plays the climbing animation — during which player movement seems temporarily "frozen".
7. Enemy AI in the starting area. I get that you were aiming for the feel of an outpost under attack by goblins, but in practice, the enemies just run around chaotically. Honestly, it would’ve looked better if they were simply standing around in improvised “camps” on the field.
Sorry for my English — it’s not my native language, and I used a translator in some parts.
I really hope to see a revival of the genre in your project, and I’m looking forward to improvements not only in the depth of the mechanics but also in these kinds of “small details”.
4
Comments
No they won't.
A new tester will see this, but testers should expect things like this. The game is perhaps two years away from having players.
It is worth pointing out - you may have been playing MMO's for 20 years (as is the case for many of us here), but you have never been able to log in to an MMO as early in its development as Ashes currently is - unless you have been involved in developing an MMO.
I understand that many things will change by release, but even now, everyone who bought access to the alpha is, first of all, a potential future player — and secondly, someone who will talk about the game to their friends, stream the gameplay in Discord, and so on. In other words, they’re either a potential promoter or someone who might end up discouraging others from trying the game.
I believe that when developing any game, it makes sense to polish the core mechanics first — and only after that, start working on things like "caravan heists"
But getting proper base-lvl mechanics and features working is waaaay more important, because THAT is what people play.
If you can't separate a proper alpha from the release presentation, then treat Ashes as you would the release version of No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 2077. Both games were utter shit on release, but fixed themselves in a few years. Ashes is in the worst state it'll ever be. And its main playerbase will be built on release (or right before it), rather than during an alpha test with no promotion, no ads, no huge twitch streamers (well, one, who, I bet, repeats over and over and over that this is a true test) and no proper presentation of the game to players.
The fraction of a fraction of people, who think that the current version of the game is the stopping point of development and will keep that as their entire opinion on the game, is nothing compared to what the game can (and hopefully will) garner closer to release.
If you go and tell your friends "yeaaah, this totally not an alpha test looks totally like not a full release game" - that's on you, not on Intrepid.
I couldn't agree more with you. I'm even starting to doubt whether the character motion designer of this game is really qualify to create the character motion animations for this game.
I agree that many things you said will change in the future. However, the core content of an MMO, that is, a smooth and silky combat experience, is something that will never change. This is also the purpose of them inviting us to participate in the testing: to identify the flaws and assist them in improving the game, instead of taking it for granted that all the flaws are acceptable just because it's in the internal testing stage and not actively reporting the bugs you've found.
The so-called internal testing means that we, from the perspective of players, discover the problems that the game development team can't detect, so as to help them make improvements.
I believe that a smooth and silky combat experience is the core of the core of an MMO, and significant efforts should be devoted to perfecting it first. It's like the skeletal structure of our human body. Once we have it in place, filling in other game content will make the testing process much easier. A smooth combat experience is also the first thing that new players can feel when they start playing the game.
These experiences will provide players with a great initial experience, which will encourage them to actively test the more in-depth game content, rather than coming in, feeling that the combat experience is terrible, and then leaving the game.
please remember smooth and silky combat experience is the everything in MMO Game !!!
But you did not talk about mechanics in your Initial post, but animations. And polishing existing animations at a stage when your focus is to design new animations for archetypes, races, monsters, weapons, etc. which are under active development and need to be released for testing wouldn't make much sense.
Polishing starts when the foundation has been layed, and animations are either way not of any mechanical significance at this stage of development. I would starting to get concerned if I got the impression that Intrepid is pleased with the current state of the character animations - or even character design, which looks horrible (the faces!) - but I don't have that impression, because we're still so early in development, despite the game being under active development for quite some time.
As someone who started the game few days ago with a similar experience in MMOs as you, this is the first thing I noticed.
To me personally, the first thing that makes or breaks any game for me is movement and combat. The first being the most important factor for a first impression.
Ashes right now feels extremely clunky at best and needs alot of work to make it smooth. This should be one the main things they work on before releasing phase 3.
I can forgive any bad thing in almost any game, but not bad movement and combat (the latter can have exceptions in certain games that focuses on storytelling instead)
I will still play the game a little bit but will only invest more time when phase 3 start and I hope this helps into prioritizing it very soon.
I truly see the love and passion that the devs have put into the game and I hope their efforts are paid off in the end and we have an amazing game.
But when it comes to movement, turning, leaning, etc., that’s a core mechanic that won’t need to scale later on.
The same goes for how player actions are handled and how animations interact with each other. Character rotation, orientation relative to the enemy during attacks — all of that is part of the game’s fundamental foundation. That’s exactly the kind of thing that should be getting polished even at this stage.
They need to make a game first and then smooth it out as much as possible. We've already seen race models reworked and even the current ones aren't final. What exactly would happen if they "polish" animations for the current models, but then decide that these models don't fit the rest of the game they've built? They'd need to make new models with new animations.
Here's the history of updates of combat animations up until 2022 (when the current version was only starting out really)
And the current animations will change further as well. But not now or anywhere soon, because that is not the focus of these tests. Like I already said, anyone who will judge the future final product by the current state of the game will have only themselves to blame for doing so.
You should.
This is an alpha test. The idea of it is to assist in getting the game ready to go live. Ready for when people come to the game to play it.
A test is supposed to have broken and unfinished things. There would be nothing to test if that wasn't the case.
Based on what you are saying, your issues with the game can be summed up in total as being your misconception as to what an alpha test is.
That is probably because you have no idea about game development.
The way movement feels is literally a last minute adjustment. It could be made between the beta servers going down and the head start servers going live.
While it is a last minute thing, it can't (or shouldnt) be made until literally every aspect of all character models has been created, polished and finalized. It is literally the last thing to be done in regards to characters.
An alpha test is less about how movement feels, and more about "does your character actually move around the game world?".
This is why your expectations are so out of whack.
About first impression i know it's an Alpha and that's why i bother giving my feedback im not saying the game is bad im giving an opinion about the current first impression and then in a second part i will give potential solutions or suggestions that i came with.
1 Connecting to the game and creating the Character feels bad it look like im connecting to a 10 years old indi game.
2 The place you spawn in is bad: Don't like the fact that im spawning in a crowded place npc's look bad.
Sorry for the guys who design gobelins but i think it's a super bad design for gobelins. Agree on the animation of the gobelins they are just running around and doing flotty animations.
3 The flotting pillars with no animation or effect just look like a lvl designer put it here, it's not immersive. Also having a huge ruin like this crowded with only one type of npc that look super bad doesn't feel right.
4 LionHold design is good but the NPC's Guard look super bad and there is 24 000 of them mooving around for no reson in a non believable way. Also arriving in a "city" that big just at the beggining feel's bad. (overwhelming)
5 Questing is bad. But it's not just questing in AOC Questing as a game design is super bad, even in games where they do it good like FF14 or WOW most people just skip them anyway because no one care. The only good thing about quests are cut scenes. Even low budge cut scene like in Archeage with 2d pictures can do the job. So in my opinion quest is bad design so when it's a bad questing it feel's terrible and confusing and making you interact with the game in a clunky way it's just super bad. Other issue with quests is that if you don't do them you feel bad because you feel like you are missing something and playing the game the wrong way.
6 Lighting is wrong. Turning lighting and shadow setting down to middle allow me to see properly, wich is a shame i'd like to play on epic settings but lighting and shadow just act like a bluur like if the light was in fact smoke with light. Also at the morning the light come from below my character like he is standing on a LED ...
Now Suggestions to improve the first impression.
1 just redo it more pretty and modern
2 Change the spwaning location and rework the npc designs. When i wolked a bit i found a small place in the country side whith some crafting stations that look super nice and i thought that it would be a lot better to spawn in a place like this.
For the gobelins i think it's very important to redesignt it before launch and stop with the unrealistics animations standing still will always be better than a bad animation. For good inspiration of gobelins you have Black desert online or you can go with the basic green gobelin it work's just fine.
3 Add a small effect to the pillar and a small animation to make it belieavable.
4 redesign the Guard outfits and delete the actual one and put them in believable place around the area same for animations you can have two guards walking throught the city but why every guards to 3 steps lefts then stop then 3 steps right. again BDO is super good exemple of well populated citys with npc.
5 Here i would suggest to focus on few importants quest and making them great with cut scenes and instanced dungeons. To really tell a storry.
6 New world have good lighting and scenery, also just keep it realist and conviniant light never come from the ground.
Sorry for my english im not fluent and again im not a hatter ill play the Alpha and reports bugs and play the betas and all the rest i just want the game to be good.
It's still a rough draft. Think of alpha/beta like this.
Alpha = “Does it work?”
Beta = “Is it fun and fair?”
Alpha is building the features and making sure they work, beta is the polishing and balancing of those features. The features we have at the end of alpha are basically what they will be at launch. So as you test alpha I'd recommend focusing on those features in the game that you care about. Leveling, stats, quests, caravans, pvp ect. When we're in beta the animations will be polished, that's when your comments on animations will probably get more attention from the devs. But with the current level of communication between the devs and the 'testers' I question if they are listening at all. At one point they say "yeah we care about what you thing", but then Steven will say something like "we just need you to play the game so we can collect "data"". So who really fn knows at this point.
The Core Gameplay Experience Feels Off
Like the original poster (pvpgate), I believe that the core combat and movement systems are the backbone of any MMORPG. And frankly, they are not in a good place right now. Many of the issues pointed out by pvpgate are absolutely valid, and I commend him for articulating them so clearly:
- Lack of proper animation blending (e.g., abrupt direction changes, unnatural transitions)
- Clunky additive animation layering (especially while holding weapons)
- Inconsistent hit direction and combat feedback (e.g., attacking in one direction and hitting behind you)
- Character rotation and targeting logic that breaks immersion
- AI and environmental setup that feels unpolished and unintentional
After spending a lot of time in the Alpha, I can confirm that the core gameplay experience — especially combat and movement — currently feels off. Animations lack weight, transitions often feel abrupt, and character responsiveness isn't where it needs to be.
To be clear: I don’t expect final polish in Alpha, and I fully understand this is a work in progress. But these aren’t just minor polish issues. They feel foundational — the kind of elements that, if not addressed early, will shape lasting impressions and be much harder to fix later.
Unreal Engine Is Not the Problem
With some background in CGI and animation workflows, I’ve seen firsthand what’s possible in UE5. Even publicly available example projects from Epic Games — offered for free on the Unreal Marketplace — demonstrate how fluid, grounded, and immersive combat and traversal can feel.
That’s what makes the current feel of Ashes so confusing. UE5 clearly supports the quality level needed — so it doesn’t seem like a limitation of the engine, but more a question of how animation blending, timing, and responsiveness are implemented.
A powerful tool like Unreal gives developers the ability to integrate robust animation systems and iterate on them quickly. And while I’m sure there are internal reasons for the current state, the contrast between Ashes and other UE5-based experiences is striking.
Alpha Expectations vs. First Impressions
I understand the project is in Alpha and the team has repeatedly stated that feedback is welcome. But when players pay to access the Alpha through pre-order packs, they naturally form early impressions.
That doesn’t mean the game needs to be finished — but it does mean the experience needs to show a strong core. Players are looking to see whether the foundation is solid, and currently, many of the fundamental elements (combat feel, animations, responsiveness) raise concerns.
Constructive Feedback Should Be Encouraged
The passion within the Ashes of Creation community is undeniable and a great asset. However, for Alpha testing to be most effective, it's crucial that this enthusiasm doesn't inadvertently lead to a feedback environment where specific, well-founded criticisms are downplayed or lost amidst general praise.
In various discussions, I've noticed that detailed, technical feedback — like pvpgate's post — can sometimes be met with responses that shift the focus away from the issue itself. While it's great that many are enjoying their experience, a healthy and productive test phase also requires the courage to highlight areas that need work, especially when supported by clear reasoning.
Fostering a space where this kind of critique is welcomed and thoughtfully discussed benefits everyone. It ensures developers receive clear, actionable insights and helps align community expectations with project realities.
Conclusion
I say all of this because I care about the project. The world-building, the scope, and the ambition behind Ashes are incredible. But to truly deliver on that promise, the core gameplay — movement, combat, animation, responsiveness — must feel satisfying.
This kind of feedback doesn’t come from negativity. It comes from players who want to see Ashes succeed. I hope the team continues to listen closely, and that the community remains a space where honest, constructive feedback is not just allowed — but encouraged.