Ashes of Creation has a brand new Alpha Two roadmap following a recent delay. The info comes via a new detailed roadmap stream and Q&A with Creative Director Steven Sharif.
Alpha Two will roll out in phases, with the first weekend testing phase beginning on October 25th for anyone with alpha access. For this phase, the servers will be in the central US, but they can adjust this if needed. Subsequent weekends will run Friday through Sunday testing with the goals of scalability, performance, stability, and progression all Intrepid’s core goals.
The second phase will have 5+ day availability, starting on December 20th. This phase adds additional testing goals of node advancement, vassaling, and a focus on the economy. When they say 5+ day tests, the schedule might vary, in particular with the holidays and other reasons. Intrepid will share detailed schedules if there are changes.
Finally, a 24/7 server is currently planned to be live May 1st, 2025 and will add expanded content and new features. Once they reach this milestone, phase three doesn't have an end date. Plans are to continue to run this 24/7 server until the first beta phase is ready, but expected to last at least a year. Intrepid will continue adding new content and features and testing them out with the community. Eventually, this server will become the test realm (under NDA) for future updates down the line when beta and eventual launch are on the horizon.
Now that they've rolled out the timeline, they've also added an update cadence schedule for all phases. Critical updates and hotfixes we'll go out as needed. Every 3 weeks there will be some balance changes, bug fixes and additional minor changes. Every 6 weeks, we can expect a new major version with additional features and content.
The Alpha Two roadmap is full of detailed plans, including what features and content they're looking to add in which phase, and the differences between these alpha phases as a whole.
All of this comes with a reminder that Ashes of Creation is still deep in development, and so you'll be testing things like core gameplay loops and new content and they want any and all feedback.
Intrepid has decided to open up access through three new bundles. The First Wave bundle is $120 and gets you in on November 24th, in addition to access to the first and second beta tests, a month of subscription time and $15 credit to the in-game marketplace. The second and third bundles include access to the alpha in subsequent phases for $110/$100, along with the other goods.
(H/T Slapshot! )
