Bill Trost, one of the original designers on EverQuest, and most recently at Amazon Games, is the new Lead Designer on Ashes of Creation.
He made the announcement this afternoon on LinkedIn, saying that “After over six years at Amazon Games, working with several awesome teams on quite a few exciting projects, especially New World, it’s time for me to embark on a new adventure!
I’m happy to be able to say that I’m now the Lead Designer on Ashes of Creation at Intrepid Studios!”
Trost joins Intrepid Studios after over six years at Amazon Games, working on titles that include New World. Though he says that he has known Ashes of Creation’s Creative Director, Steven Sharif, for more than seven years, it took Trost some time to lean into truly believing in the vision and the project that the team was creating.
Now, it is clear, that he’s all in.
“[Sharif] laid out his detailed vision for this crazy ambitious MMO he wanted to build. I’ll admit, at the time I was skeptical.
But I watched with growing excitement as the team Steven has built at Intrepid Studios gained steam, blasted through my skepticism, and started to deliver on his vision! The beautiful, deep world, the gamer-first attitude, and the openness of the team were all things I wanted to be a part of and so when the opportunity arose, I jumped at it.”
He goes on to also say that the new opportunity will also reunite him with some other colleagues that he’s worked with before.
It's a significant get for the Intrepid Studios team, as Trost’s credits not only include being on the EverQuest team, but EverQuest II, as Creative Lead on Defiance, and of course, work on New World and more.
Ashes of Creation has shown off some progress as it moves towards playtesting, including the debut of the large world boss cyclops fight recently.