and Creation’s Ash Alpha 2-phase 3 was finally the launch band, when developer Intrepid Studios lifted the lid with perhaps the most important features, towns and wooden frames. The highly ambitious MMORPG is trying to make its settlements bigger and more impressive, introducing new in-game representations of goods transport that become an important part of the player guild that builds and manages these towns. To talk about this feature, Creative Director Steven Sharif and Communications Director Margaret Clones will be joined by Design Bill Torost director and senior game designer Chris Justy.
As Intrepid continues to polish the ashes of creation, the next step in the alpha test will make a bigger jump with the introduction of Level 4 nodes (individual areas of each server’s area). This allows players to build a full-fledged town, even the developer-made equivalents found in many of our best MMORPGs. LiveStream starts with a discussion of the continuous improvements mentioned previously when announcing phase 3 delays, including Anvils’ starting area, server performance, time to kill, and first-time user experience. But the real meat we are here starts with the hour mark.
“This is exciting as there have been no updates to the node stage for quite some time,” Sharif said. The team recently cut “Metropolis,” one of the planned tiers from the progress of the settlement. So the town was ultimately penultimate to the penultimate stage before reaching a full-fledged city. From the beginning, the town will soon become a major change from the current village, as an in-game preview begins outside the towering stone walls of a place named “Cartohum” and outside its impressive main gate.
“The town is significantly larger,” says Jas, doubling the size of up to four of the town from the “cell” within the two villages. If factoring in a static, intranode housing, that number will again double. When the developer passes through the entrance, I’m immediately taken to scale. Stone buildings line the cobblestone streets, making them a strong reminder of visiting the old medieval towns of England. Sharif has something else in mind, but everyone brings quick attention to the pack carrying their backs.
This is the crate system in action, a fundamental new part of the ashes of creation, a more grounded overhaul of cargo. These boxes range from personal wooden boxes to those that store their own gear, to wooden frames of construction wood filled with building materials, and items that can be brought to ports, other nodes, or Lawless Zones where rewards are required. The crate is designed to “make it feel like it’s happening in the real world,” explains Trost, adding that it comes with the warning that “always prefer gameplay over reality.”
Crates represent resources physically moving around the Verra and come in a variety of sizes. It can be transported on your back or placed on a ship or caravan during your trip. They are what you see in the game. That is, while other players can see what you have, killing someone to kill someone is considered a hostile PVP action, giving the same corruption dynamics as normal examples of trouble in the ashes of creation.
The team is carrying construction timber today, and Jusco leads them to a town lab wrapped in scaffolding and tarpaulin. The expansion is approaching completion, and the menu indicates that only three crates are required to complete the project. In total, it appears that three different resource types have already been delivered – one one, another 33 boxes, and 64 of 67 are required from the currently sent variant. Once everything is submitted, there will be a short period of time while the upgrade is finished.
Sharif then opens the node menu and can inspect Kal Torhum’s Bulletin Board and inspect all building plots individually. Here you can see the weekly maintenance costs required and the large upgrade tree for each structure. This allows you to choose how to specialize. “We’ll need more crates,” jokes Trost. You will also see small “Node XP” construction projects that will automatically appear around town.
Next, we look at the wooden frame of the product, more specifically the “juicy fruit frame.” This can be sold for gold by delivering to market product vendors on a particular node, as explained by the tooltip. Click to get Sharif pulls out a price comparison, indicating how far each node is, and that it is ready to pay for the item in question.
The town is certainly impressive, offering a level of player-driven creativity that surpasses what you’ll find in the new World of Warcraft Housing or FF14’s Island Sanctuary. Building a guild base in Neverwinter on a larger and bold scale reminds me of my time. There’s still a long way to go before Creative Ashes reach full release, but what’s already here is what I want to see if Intrepid can pull it out.
Ashes of Creation Alpha 2 Phase 3 will be available on Tuesday, August 26th. You will need a key starting from $100 to join the ongoing Alpha. This includes Embers, the in-game market currency for future beta access, a month’s game time and $15 worth of creation.
In the meantime, the best architecture games will allow you to practice those construction skills. Want to make sure you can do all justice on that scale? Perhaps it’s time for 2025 to grab the best graphics card for your budget.
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