Payment model

Game time (subscription time) is included in Alpha-2 bundles and was previously purchasable in Pre-order packs.

This allows us to avoid the pay to win mentality many free-to-play games employ, as well as maintain a steady flow of new content for all our players.

Ashes of Creation (the MMORPG) is a subscription-only game with no box cost.

• The monthly subscription fee is USD $14.99.

• There will be no region locking, but certain regions will have "harmonized" subscription prices that better reflect their local economies. Harmonized regions will be segregated from other regions.

Certain regions will have "harmonized" subscription prices that better reflect their local economies. Harmonized regions will be segregated from other regions. – Ry Schueller

The intent isn't to prevent a player in another region from purchasing access to, let's say North America or Europe if they should so choose, but that in the price harmonization they purchase lower pricing for their region specifically and then they are delegated to those region servers. But, if they wanted to play in North America or in Europe with their friends or whatever they could purchase a North American or European subscription. – Steven Sharif

• Lifetime subscriptions were granted to crowdfunding backers at the Braver of worlds level or higher. These will never be available again.

• Subscriptions will begin at launch or, subject to change, a user may be able to choose to activate their subscription to start at a particular point in time.
  • Game time (earned through crowdfunding and pre-order packs) will not begin counting down until the game is released.

I think a sub cost provides both the barrier of entry to prevent, some not all, but mitigate some gold selling bots and whatnot because there's a cost associated with playing the game, but it's also not too high that it gets on the greedy side or prevents a lot of players from participating and trying the game; and then if the game is good then people will continue to subscribe and that subscription provides funding and revenue for the developers to continue a significant content creation and expansion rollout for the game. – Steven Sharif

• Ashes of Creation Apocalypse was free-to-play.

• The developers do not think battle passes would be a good fit for Ashes of Creation.

Pay to win

Ashes of Creation will not be pay to win or pay to convenience. This is a core philosophy of the game that will not change.

We have a very strong commitment as a team, as a company, as fellow gamers of MMOs, where we believe that achievements within the game that relate to your character power and progression is a paramount thing to keep protected; and not allow for people to subvert those achievements in a method of acquiring through swiping their credit card or whatever. – Steven Sharif

Ashes of Creation will not be pay to win, that is our pledge to the community. One of the core principles we set forth with Ashes of Creation is a very strong desire to maintain the game's even playing field.

A lot of developers and companies have come along in the past- and I've been hit by this too- and they've said we're not going to have pay-to-win and then boom they roll out some pay-to-win. We have consistently said we won't be pay-to-win and in the pre-orders that we provide and even in the Kickstarter there were absolutely zero pay-to-win components whatsoever. So not only will we talk the talk but we will walk the walk as well. – Steven Sharif

Because we are a non-box purchase game, meaning there is no box price to play Ashes of Creation, it is only a subscription; and that's beneficial because it reduces the barrier of entry and we want a high population obviously; but at the same time one of the ways we augment the revenue flows to sustain constant updates and new chapter releases and additional content within the game is through a cosmetic-only marketplace; and that means absolutely no pay-to-win whatsoever; and that will be adhered to forever. – Steven Sharif

• Inventory slots, RNG loot boxes and XP potions are considered pay-to-win.
  • There will not be level boosts or auto-leveling.
  • There will not be a loot box system in Ashes of Creation.

We will not use a loot box system for cosmetics either. We currently have a cosmetic store that offers limited time, limited quantity items to help sustain game development. These items are purely decorative and do not offer any in-game benefits.

• Multiple accounts and multi-boxing on separate computers is not currently considered pay-to-win.

My definition of pay-to-win is really anything that affects the in-game economy, the in-game action pool, your abilities and/or skills... In my opinion the inventory slots and the XP potions would be considered pay-to-win. – Steven Sharif

• Items sold in the store that are also obtainable through gameplay are still considered pay-to-win.

It undermines an achievement when you remove the need to achieve it. – Steven Sharif

Q: Will there be RNG boxes?

A: I dislike RNG. Archeage made me loath rng monetization gimmicks. – Steven Sharif

Cosmetic store (micro transactions)

Ashes of Creation cosmetic store.

There is going to be legendary cosmetics that can be earned and achieved in the game through the game systems, but that's going to take a significant amount of effort and work; and those cosmetics are going to be on-par with the cosmetics offered in the marketplace... What that does is it provides additional revenue to the company so that we can continue to fund the development of content as well and bridge the divide that not having a box cost would have and not having any pay-to-win mechanics whatsoever. – Steven Sharif

The Cosmetic store enables players to purchase Cosmetics for use in Ashes of Creation. The cosmetic store offers limited time, limited quantity items to help sustain game development.

• Equitable cosmetics, both from a quantity and quality standpoint, are achievable through in-game means.
• Nothing in the cosmetic store will be pay to win.

Nothing in our shop will ever be pay to win as we believe this practice greatly hurts the MMORPG genre.

• Cash shop cosmetics will offer a diverse selection of unique looks.

I want to incentivize purchase in the cosmetic shop for sustainability of what expansions we have intended, since we are not a box cost. I want to incentivize purchase by offering limited items: limited time, limited quantity, so you have confidence that when you purchase them, they won't be offered later on in some other way. – Steven Sharif

• All cosmetic store items will be non-tradeable. There will be no gifting mechanism for cosmetic items.

I don't want cosmetic items that can be purchased from the market to be transferable... because it is in a way a transfer of money for potentially something in-game. – Steven Sharif

Skins

Cinderhorn Steer pre-order pack cosmetic mount skin.

Providing these limited options that collectors out there like when it comes to achieving and/or purchasing cosmetics. It means something I think when players make that decision to purchase or they go through the rigorous portion of achieving those things in game that it is not just everywhere around them and becomes meaningless at that point. – Steven Sharif

Cosmetic skins are Accessories, Buildings, Caravans, Mounts, Pets, and Ships that are sold in the cosmetic store.

• Skins are cosmetic items that do not grant the user any benefit.

• Cosmetic skins are only be able to be applied to things that have already been earned, crafted or found within Ashes of Creation.
  • Certain cosmetic skins require specific items or item tiers have been achieved in-game before they can be used.

Owning cosmetics does not guarantee the acquisition of the item the cosmetic can be used on. Players must still achieve the corresponding item/building. – Steven Sharif

• The lore on store cosmetics is flavor text.

• Caravan skins change the appearance of an in-game mount and in-game caravan that are hooked up to each other.
  • The caravan and mount skin components are not able to be utilized separately.

• The best cosmetic skins will be in-game achievable.

The best skins will be in-game achievable (obviously “best” is subjective, so I’d say the most ornate and detailed/unique). – Steven Sharif

NFTs

Intrepid Studios does not plan to introduce NFTs or any other type of play-to-earn mechanics into Ashes of Creation.

To be really clear, we have no plans to have NFTs in Ashes of Creation, or any other "play-to-earn" mechanics.

Box cost

There is no upfront box cost associated with Ashes of Creation.

Nobody should feel that they have to back the project to see it come to life. It's coming to life regardless of that. You do it because you want to support us and that's fine; and if you don't want to, that's also fine as well. We want to hear your voice and we want you to be part of the community, so that's a very important aspect. Nothing we offer in the pre-order packages are power driven. They don't give any competitive advantage to an individual who backs the game. – Steven Sharif

Publishers

Intrepid Studios will self-publish Ashes of Creation in the NA (North American), and EU (European Union) regions. Previously it was stated that Intrepid will also self-publish in OCE (Oceanic), SEA (Southeast Asia), and CIS regions.

• Regions with harmonized subscription pricing will be managed by publishers for those territories.

We want to make sure that the price harmonization is handled by a publisher for a territory. – Steven Sharif

• The Ashes of Creation MMORPG will not be published on the Steam platform. Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale early access testing ended on March 10, 2020. It was previously available for download on the official website and on Steam.

Testing phases

Alpha and beta key concept art.

Ashes of Creation testing phases.

• Alpha-0 was the invite-only "raffle" friends and family alpha test phase.
• Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 were available for purchase during the Kickstarter and Summer crowdfunding campaigns.
• Alpha-1 was available in the Intrepid pre-order pack and the Adventurer pre-order pack.
• Alpha-2 and Beta-2 were available during PAX West 2017.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 were available in Pre-order packs on the cosmetic store.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 packs that were purchased through Mail.ru can gain access to the testing periods they were entitled to by registering an account with Intrepid Studios and submitting a support ticket.
• Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Beta-2 are currently available in Bundles from the cosmetic store.

Expansions

DLC expansions (post-launch releases) are planned on a monthly, quarterly, or six-monthly basis.

• The frequency and size of expansions will be based on the popularity and subscription base of the game.

• DLC will not cost anything more than the normal subscription.

• Larger expansions will add new content and increase various aspects of the game.
  • Increased level cap.
  • New gear sets.
  • New zones.
  • New bosses.
  • New skill levels.
  • Increased power levels.
  • Gear upgrades.

• New content will primarily be introduced through the node system. The goal is for existing content to remain relevant alongside the new content.

• Expansions provide an opportunity for the developers to evaluate ways to unlock content that was not readily experienced by players in the previous release.

Each inflection point, which is those updates as expansions... you get to go back reevaluate. Hey, it seems like 89% of the servers out there never opened this door. Well, maybe the predicates were too granular. Maybe they were too focused. Maybe there's a reason why that didn't happen? Let's expand on that for the next expansion so that this content has an opportunity to come out and see the light of day. – Steven Sharif

See also

• Release schedule
• Ashes of Creation