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Alpha-0
Alpha-0 was a NDA[3] pre-alpha[4] release of Ashes of Creation.[5] This was the first of many internal tests of the networking, backend and node system.[6]
- Establishing core technical features for the back-end solution.[7]
- Connecting many players into a single zone with 4,000 NPCs.[7]
- Getting good server framerate performance.[7]
- Making the connection through the launcher end.[7]
- Establishing the core node system collection cultural experience.[7]
This release was also known as the "friends and family alpha".[8][9]
- Alpha-0 was the invite-only "raffle" alpha that also grants access to some media and influencers.[10]
- Alpha-0 is a part of Pre-alpha testing.[4]
Alpha-0 gameplay footage
- 2017-10-31 Video - Alpha-0 Work in progress
- 2017-12-15 Livestream
- 2018-01-23 Video - Alpha-0 Underrealm Preview
- 2018-02-09 Livestream
- 2018-02-24 Video - Alpha-0 Dünheim Dungeon Lore
- 2018-04-04 Video - PAX East Pre-Alpha Gameplay
- 2018-05-04 Livestream
- 2018-06-04 Livestream
Alpha-0 participation
1,200 to participate in Alpha-0 starting Friday 15th of December 2017.[12]
Alpha-0 nodes
The alpha-0 map is divided into three Nodes, each with a ZOI.[5]
- Only one node was capable of reaching the Village stage (at one time).
Alpha-0 starting area
In Alpha-0, players started at an Empyrean divine gateway.[14]
Alpha-0 environments
There are four over-world environments (climates/biomes) in Alpha-0.[15]
Alpha-0 has a bio-luminescent Underrealm environment.[19]
One of the important aspects of color play is going to be the distinguishing factor between different Underrealms and the regions that exist in the world: Their color influences set them apart from different regions.[20] – Steven Sharif
Alpha-0 classes, races and genders
There was no active character creation screen in Alpha-0, but there were several options for players to choose from.[5]
- Four playable archetypes: Cleric, Mage, Ranger, Tank.[22][23]
- Two playable races: Kaelar, Empyrean.[22]
- Gender selection.[22]
Alpha-0 progression
Players experienced a degree of progression in Alpha-0.[5]
- Leveling was from level 1 to 10.[25]
- New equipment dropped.
- There was a tier-based skill progression where players applied points into individual skills.
Alpha-0 artisan classes
Gathering and crafting was originally intended to be in Alpha-0,[5] but due to time constraints these were not included.[26]
Alpha-0 combat
The weapon use ability (precision combo/quicktime event) system is in Alpha-0 but it is a different iteration to what was shown at PAX West 2017.[27] Due to time constraints leading up to Alpha 0, the success range of this system was widened and the UI component was disabled. The plan moving forward is to continue to evolve the system in a fun and more engaging direction based on community feedback.[28]
- Many animations at the moment are first pass, and will be further fleshed out as development continues.[29]
We want combat to be engaging, fun. What you're seeing in our pre-alpha we honestly have not spent a lot of time on combat. Most of this pre-alpha has been spent on establishing core technical features for our proprietary back-end solutions for making a MMO in Unreal.[7] – Steven Sharif
Weapon use ability status
The weapon combo system plays heavily into the weapon skill trees, which are planned for Alpha-2 and beyond.[30]
- The weapon use ability that was originally shown at PAX West 2017 was reduced to a basic form in Alpha-0.[31] The new combo system will not have the quicktime event that was seen in PAX West 2017.[32]
- A revised weapon combo system was present in Alpha-1.[32][33] This was referred to as Combo system[32], Combat skills[34], and Combat tree[35].
Alpha-0 dungeons
- There were three open-world dungeons in Alpha-0.[5]
- Mobs scaled with node advancement.[39]
Alpha-0 party size
The party size in Alpha-0 is six (6).[40]
World size
1,200 km2 (square kilometers) is the expected total world size of Verra at launch, including land (480 km2) and water/ocean (750 km2), but excluding the size of the Underrealm.[41]
- This has increased from the previously stated total size of 480 km2 including land and water/ocean[42][43][44]; but excluding an additional ~100 km2 of Underrealm.[45]
- The Underrealm did not increase "too much" in size.[46]
- The reason given for expanding the map size was to better accommodate Naval content and to reduce the overall content density in the world.[41]
- The purpose of it becoming bigger is as I said to make sure that density isn't overwhelming: that it isn't everywhere I look there is immediately something. I have no opportunity to see areas of the world that are expansive and are just wanderlust adventure feeling. Everything was sitting on top of you, POIs and nodes and houses and everything. It was like an urban area everywhere. But we wanted to expand that because a large portion of the game is a sandbox element; it's coupled with a lot of curated content but it's that sandbox element.[41] – Steven Sharif
- Alpha-2 phase-1 will include 55+ km2 (square kilometers) of The Western and Eastern Aelan Riverlands, Sandsquall Desert & Vandagar Tropics.[47]
- The shape of the continents has also changed and two new large islands have been introduced.[41]
Alpha-0 NDA
The Alpha-0 NDA restricts the sharing of visual elements from Alpha-0 testing.[48][3]
Alpha-0 easter eggs
There may or may not be a pair of sandals; if found will grant you some major boon or benefit... You might need a utility skill to find them.[49][50]
Alpha-0 release schedule
Phase | Release | Estimated/Actual date |
---|---|---|
Alpha | Alpha-0.[4] | December 15, 2017.[51] |
Alpha-0 key raffles
When getting real-time feedback, we want a wide sample of opinions from people that cannot afford to spend four or five hundred dollars on the Braver of Worlds, to the people that can... We want to get a wide, diverse audience from a purchase standpoint, even people that aren't even invested in the game at all, that's why we raffle out to registered users, or just on stream..[52] – Steven Sharif
Alpha-0 end date
Alpha-0 may end eventually... or morph into something else.[53] – Jeffrey Bard
Alpha-0 security systems
Security systems will be in place to combat cheating, exploiting, botting, gold selling/real money transactions (RMT), item duplication and other things that affect the economy starting from Alpha-0.[54][55][56][57][58][59][60]
- A broad spectrum of approaches are going to be utilized in order to try to protect the integrity of the game once it launches. Testing of these systems will begin leading up towards Alpha-2.[55]
- Security is always at the top of any concern when you have a closed system like an MMO is... We've seen a lot of MMO is launch without security in place and the economy gets ruined as a result thereafter. And every band-aid that's slapped on top of that wound is just making things worse. And so part of why you take the time in order to ensure that things are done correctly is also the security component of things; and that's where testing with a live audience is a bit different also than testing with a Q&A audience as well, because you're going to get those bad actors- and we call them bad actors because ultimately they're attempting to destroy the fun for others... So what we've done is we've hired some security experts who've worked on massive other MMOs like World of Warcraft and other games, and they bring with them lot of experience; and we're going to be testing that in leading up towards Alpha-2. It's a very important part of Alpha-2. It's not something that we really addressed with Alpha-1 because again, that was a much more barebones functional testing experience. We did see some issues during Alpha-1 and we made it important for Alpha-2 to test those systems. We have a broad spectrum of approaches that we're going to be utilizing in order to try to protect the integrity of the game once it launches.[55] – Steven Sharif
- These systems collect user data and flag abnormal activities for investigation. This combined with player reporting functions generates a live "heat map" that draws attention to unusual behavior.[54][56][57][60]
- We do have already built into the game on the outset is essentially behavioral metrics. So in the game, as a player does normal things and they acquire normal gold, that's all good and well, but if there starts to be item IDs that appear on the player account that are out of the norm, like either a large amount of gold, or significant legendary items, what it does in the back-end it flags the account for view so that we can take a look at where did this item come from. Is it coming from a known gold seller or a flagged bot, or whatever; and then we investigate. So we're going to be pretty hard on the ability for players to subvert the natural economy systems by RMT or botting.[57] – Steven Sharif
- Botters, cheaters, gold sellers, and RMTers, will face severe penalties from the active GM/community team.[54][61][62][60]
- It's important to note that there is a sanctity that must be protected within the game from RMTing; and let me just go into a little diatribe about this: But in games that I've played where the company or the publisher does not enforce rules, it becomes the standard that you buy gold if you want to be competitive. If you want to compete at the top tier levels in certain games, and everyone's buying gold, you almost either have to buy the gold or you're just not going to be able to compete with those people and that's a really shitty feeling to have. Excuse my French, I apologize. That is sucky; and in order for that not to be the case it is the responsibility of the publisher or the developers both to make sure that we have stringent practices from a CS- from a customer customer service perspective- to enforce our rules and to make sure that players are aware if they partake in this there is a huge risk in doing so. It's not going to be a slap on the hand. It's not going to be a "we told you once, we told you twice, we told you three, four, five six times okay. We're just taking some gold away", that thing. We have got to ensure that it is feared to do those things because that ashes has active GMS, it has active customer service, it has an active community team.[62] – Steven Sharif
Alpha-0 graphics system
Alpha-0 will utilize DirectX 11 or DirectX 12.[63]
UE4 allows us to do from a graphical fidelity standpoint is create a beautiful world on the front end.[64]
Alpha-0 screenshots
2018-01-19 2017-10-31
See also
References
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (3:48).
- ↑ Livestream, October 20, 2017 (50:20).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Livestream, September 3, 2017 (30:31).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (4:52).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (41:44).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (15:00).
- ↑
- ↑ MMOGAMES Interview, 2017-09-8.
- ↑ Livestream, October 31, 2017 (24:19).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (30:34).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:11:52).
- ↑ Livestream, September 3, 2017 (33:28).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Livestream, October 16, 2017 (11:41).
- ↑ Livestream, October 16, 2017 (11:51).
- ↑ Livestream, October 16, 2017 (12:08).
- ↑ Video, January 22, 2018 (0:01).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:36:53).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (14:00).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (14:57).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Livestream, September 3, 2017 (37:10).
- ↑ Video, August 30, 2017 (3:36).
- ↑ Livestream, May 4, 2018 (47:57).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (58:48).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:02:22).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:02:50).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (22:50).
- ↑ Official Livestream - May 4th @ 3 PM PST - Q&A
- ↑ Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:19:17).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (22:46).
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:28:40).
- ↑ Podcast, May 11, 2018 (57:42).
- ↑ Interview, July 19, 2020 (53:59).
- ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (1:07:51).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (16:34).
- ↑ Livestream, February 9, 2018 (4:42).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (17:50).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:33:13).
- ↑ Livestream, October 16, 2017 (49:28).
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (46:52).
- ↑ Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:18:12).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Interview, August 17, 2018 (10:43).
- ↑ Livestream, April 7, 2023 (22:48).
- ↑ Livestream, August 16, 2024 (49:14).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (17:34).
- ↑ Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:34:41).
- ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (2:48).
- ↑ Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (44:11).
- ↑ Livestream, May 4, 2018 (40:47).
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 Interview, July 9, 2023 (1:47:04).
- ↑ 56.0 56.1
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 Interview, July 19, 2020 (1:12:37).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (38:35).
- ↑ Massively OP, 2017-06-1
- ↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 Livestream, February 9, 2018 (20:40).
- ↑
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:32:45).
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (28:06).
- ↑ Livestream, May 3, 2017 (27:21).