Alpha island

Map of Alpha-1 testing zone.^[1]^[2] Image credit: Axiom: Angelcry

The Alpha One map including nodes, dungeons, quest givers, POI, teleporters, and camps will be explorable! Note that this is only a small portion of the world of Verra.^[3]

Alpha-1 testing tropical zone featuring a war beast and a tribe of pigmy goblins.^[4]

This is a rather large tropical area; and what we use some of the creatures for is kind of like establishing character for different parts of this tropical place. So that even though it's the same biome, it feels different when you are going from place to place based on what's there and how those things are interacting with the environment.^[5] – Jeffrey Bard

Alpha-1 testing takes place in a zone to the north west of the world map.^[6] This zone has many islands and a mainland area.^[7]

The Alpha-1 starting area is set in the ruins of an Pyrian divine gateway.^[8]
There are 12 different (sub)zones in the Alpha-1 testing location.^[5]
The Alpha-1 map was approximately 70 km² of playable area.^[9]
- This was previously estimated to be approximately 100 km² in size.^[5]^[7] This is about 17% of the total world size.^[10]
- Previous estimates range between 20-25% of the map.^[5]^[11]^[12]
- Traversing the width of the zone (10 km) on a mount would take about 30 minutes.^[13]
Alpha island (also called Alpha-0 island) was the first open-world testing zone for Alpha-1 participants.^[14]
There are approximately 4 biomes in Alpha-1: Flood plains, Sahara (Desert), Snowy mountains, Forest.^[15]^[16]
- A tropics biome was added for the December 2020 Alpha-1 preview tests.^[6]^[4]^[5]
Temporary teleportation points will be present in early tests until ships are introduced later in the alpha testing.^[17]

Alpha-1 starting area

Alpha-1 alpha island starting area.^[18]

There's been some significant lighting changes here in this area. There's been some work on the foliage, on the trees that are available, toned down some of the ruins, rearranged some of the tents and it's starting to look pretty good.^[18] – Steven Sharif

The Alpha-1 starting area is set in the ruins of a Pyrian divine gateway to the south of alpha island.^[8]

Divine gateways

Empyrean divine gateway concept art.

When you play the MMORPG you're going to be stepping through what are called these divine gateways from a planet called Sanctus and Sanctus was really a safe haven that was forethought by the Goddess of Fate and Creation as a sanctuary to provide the people of Verra who could survive the fall, the apocalypse, the exodus essentially.^[19] – Steven Sharif

Divine gateways are portals located in the ruined cities of the four ancient races of Verra.^[20]

Divine gateways are where players first arrive in Ashes of Creation.^[21]
- Each divine gateway is in proximity to one or more starting area.^[20]
Players can choose their starting gateway.^[22] This choice is not restricted by their choice of race.^[23]
- Tulnar characters have the same option of starting at any of the divine gateways as other races.^[24]^[23]^[25]
The divine gateways were created by the Goddess of Creation in response to a warning from the Goddess of Fate that The Ancients and The Others would return from exile and seek retribution for their defeat at the hands of The Seven gods.^[19]^[26]

Where players start, they enter this portal from another world called Sanctus. Sanctus is a place of no magic, low technology; and players are the first expeditioners that are coming through this portal into the world of Verra.^[27] – Jeffrey Bard

Alpha-1 nodes

There will be 103 regular node locations at launch with 15 additional castle nodes (5 castles x 3 castle nodes each)^[28]^[29]^[30] for a total of 118 nodes.^[31]^[32]

There were 9 node locations in Alpha-1.^[33]
- Normally there would be 18-20 nodes in the same area.^[34]
- Node locations are subject to change prior to Beta-1.^[33]

World map

Ashes of Creation map.^[35] The circles on the map are divine gateways that are located in the ruined cities of the four great races of Verra. The diamonds are the starting settlements for the returning races.^[20]

If you have tuned into our live streams and update videos, you may have caught glimpses of Verra. The world is very large and meant to hold around 10,000 concurrent players. With elaborate trade routes and sea-play, the Verran landscapes must provide complex obstacles and intricate passages between its regions. Alpha One will be the first test phase in the actual world map of Verra. For the first time ever, our community will step foot on the world we hope you'll call home.^[35] – Steven Sharif

The original Ashes map from my pathfinder world of Ashes made 10 years ago. Obviously some adjustments had to be made for the mmorpg. But the main two continents and their points of interest have a lot of the same.^[36] – Steven Sharif

The world of Verra features an in-game viewable world map. This map is not randomly generated, and begins covered in a fog of war.^[37] Players will not be able to see the world until they have explored it or gathered information about it. The world is also full of imperfect information, which will require the player to act on it for verification.^[38]

For example, you may hear a rumor in a tavern that tells you the location of a cave full of weak Kobolds, but this was not accurate as the rumor was started by well-equipped bandits in order to waylay overconfident adventurers.^[38]

When information is gathered, or the player has successfully explored an area, points of interest are marked on the map.^[39]

These points of interest are determined by Node progression; and not every server will share the same map, as player decisions will vary server to server.^[39]

The map UI will potentially incorporate player created location markers that are visible by other party members.^[40]

In addition to node progression being a factor on map generation, zones in Ashes of Creation will cater to all levels.^[41]

The map will have geographical choke points (such as Mountains) that are not traversable by players.^[42]

Even though we're an open-world that doesn't mean that from a design perspective, especially with the way our economic systems work, that we will want to create Geographic choke points.^[42] – Steven Sharif

World size

480 km² (square kilometers) is the approximate world size at launch.^[43] This includes water and land content.^[44]

Water area is considered playable area, but the exact area of land versus water is not known at this time.^[45]

I don't know the exact the exact amount that is land versus water but the water is playable area as well and it's gonna have content...^[45] – Steven Sharif

An additional 100 km² may be taken up by the Underrealm.^[46]

480 square kilometers; which is pretty large comparatively to other MMORPGs out there. Now that does not include the lapped spaces: So that is the Underrealm and the portion of the world that it encompasses, which could probably easily take up an additional hundredish square kilometers I would imagine.^[46] – Steven Sharif

It is anticipated that a mounted player can traverse the entire map in a matter of hours.^[47]

Testing phase	Map size (approximate)
Alpha-0	16 km².^[48]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale	6.25 km².^[49]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale Forest of Erinthia	1.25 km².^[50]
Alpha-1	70 km².^[9]
Alpha-2	220 km².^[9]

Castle sieges in Alpha-1

Alpha-1 preview castle.^[51]

Trebuchets in the Alpha-1 preview castle siege attackers headquarter camp.^[52]

Alpha-1 preview castle siege gameplay.^[53]

Alpha-1 castle sieges are based on Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle sieges.^[54]^[55]

Players will be able to join guilds. These guilds can register for the siege events.^[52]
Castle siege events will be 100v100 battles that occur daily and will last for three hours.^[52]
Attackers will start on the opposite end of the map (from the defenders).^[52]
Attackers will be able to use trebuchets to drive to and assault the castle.^[52]
- Trebuchets have a single primary fire that does a small amount of damage to players and heavy damage to buildings.^[52]
- Trebuchets will be fully physical when they are being driven.^[52]
When the attackers have breached the castle they will be able to channel a cast on the relic in the throne room to try to capture the castle from the defenders.^[52]
The victors of castle sieges will receive benefits, such as cloaks, flying mounts for guild leaders and potentially also for guild officers.^[52]
Alpha-1 castle sieges are in a separate zone that is accessible via a NPC teleporter.^[56]^[57]^[58]
Currently the siege zone is actually in the open world, but separated by mountains and off in the sea a bit. There is actually no instancing in A1, although the siege zone will only be accessible in A1 through a registration NPC teleporter.^[56] – Steven Sharif
- This zone includes the following raid bosses.^[54]
- These bosses will also appear in the open-world (outside the siege zone) with slightly different mechanics.^[57]
The opposing team is notified when these raid bosses are being attacked.^[54]
Teams who get the last hit on these bosses will receive buffs that will help them in the siege battle.^[54]

Last year, I spoke of attempting to incorporate sieges into the Alpha One experience. This has obviously been a goal of mine because it provides considerable data and a consistent event within the world that players can participate in to help stress test the deployment. Well, I am happy to say that it is appearing more and more likely by the day! Initial implementation of the Apocalypse siege code has been migrated into the Alpha One client, and we should begin internal testing next month. I will caveat this expectation with the fact that we are cutting it a bit close from an internal QA standpoint, but I have some confidence that the system will be online and capable of inclusion for the Alpha One test in the month of June. The siege component will obviously not be representative of what the siege system will be at launch, or even in Alpha Two.^[55] – Steven Sharif

Destructible structures (such as walls and gates) are present in Alpha-1 castle sieges.^[59]
- The ability to repair structures (and siege weapons) is a long term design goal that will not be present during Alpha-1.^[59]

Alpha-1

Alpha-1 Teaser.^[60]

This is a true development alpha. This is not a marketing alpha; and what that means is as you know part of the process here in developing Ashes of Creation is being open with that development so you guys can see that progress; and it is a double-edged sword. There are going to be a spectrum of people that exists who are very involved with the game's development and those who are just completely at an arm's length away in understanding the process; and they may look at alpha one- the people who don't really understand the development process or haven't been a part of it- they may look at it and they may think oh you know this is trash, looks like trash, you know whatever it's the end-product. But at the end of the day what's important for us and what yields the best possible product is for us to include as much as possible the community in that development process with no NDA so that you guys give valuable feedback; and as we go through the iterative process in further defining the game and fleshing out that content were doing so with the player in mind and their voice in our ear. That is I think one of the key distinguishing factors between our development and many developments that you guys may have seen in the past.^[61] – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 preview ancients mobs.^[62]

What this experience for Alpha one is going to be- that month-long experience- it is not intended to be a content experience... It is not intended to be a game experience. It is not intended to be a fully-fledged content experience. So keep that in mind.^[63] – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 PvE combat.^[64]

Alpha-1 is a testing release of the Ashes of Creation MMORPG.^[65] Alpha-1 will test:

World
- The Alpha-1 map (Alpha island) consists of a mainland area and several islands. This was approximately 70 km² of playable area.^[9]
- Alpha-1 takes place in the north west part of the map.^[66]

Character
- Progression to level 15.^[67]^[57]
  The composition of class skills or archetype skills has to tread a fine line between two roads: One we wanted to be representative of skills not just that would traditionally be found 1 through 15 but we're actually introducing some skills that might be found later, because we want to test those particular ideas and how the skill functions.^[67] – Steven Sharif
- Character creator (basic).^[68]^[69]^[70]^[71]

Archetypes
- Cleric, Mage and Tank archetypes.^[72]
- Ranger may be added later in Alpha-1.^[73]
- Fighter, Bard, Rogue, and Summoner archetypes will follow in later in development (after Alpha-1).^[73]^[72]
- Secondary archetypes will not be present in Alpha-1.^[74] These are planned for Alpha-2.^[75]

Races
- 4 playable races Kaelar, Vaelune, Dünir, Empyrean.^[76]^[69]
  A lot of times people ask well why haven't we seen the other races and stuff? We want to establish the quality bar and process with these races first and then when we move into further content production for the other races we have have those pipelines in place and we have the processes in place and we know how to approach them.^[77]

Combat
- Hybrid action/tab combat.^[69]
- Revamped combat systems will be rolled out during and post Alpha-1 testing.^[78]^[79]^[80]

The weapon attack is an important component of the combat system, so we want to make sure that as we're doing this combat revamp that we are essentially taking into consideration player feedback and sentiment about how they want a reactive and more mobile weapon attack system.^[78] – Steven Sharif

Nodes
- Node advancement to Village (stage 3).^[81]^[71]
- There are 9 node locations in Alpha-1.^[81]^[33]
- Normally there would be 18-20 nodes in the same area.^[34]
- A basic vassal system is in place.^[81]
- The node ZOI's is larger than the final map.^[82]
- Node locations are subject to change prior to Beta-1.^[33]

Economy
- The economy present in Alpha-1 is not reflective of the final state of the game.^[83]
- Merchant systems and player to player trading.^[83]^[84]
  We have an economy but it's not really going to be reflective of the final how the economy is going to work. It'll work for alpha one and there'll be plenty of things to trade and buy and exchange, but it's not going to be really super representative what the final state is. So keep that in mind as well it's a stubbed-in system. It's not a complete or really finalized system at all.^[83] – Jeffrey Bard
- Approximately 10 percent of the artisan system.^[57]^[85]
  - The core basics of the artisan gameplay loop is facilitated via the merchant (NPC) system.^[57]^[85]^[86]
- Gathering, Processing, Crafting is expected to come online in Alpha-2 and the Betas.^[85]^[86]
- Previously this was targeted for Alpha-1.^[87]^[69]
  What's present in Alpha-1 doesn't even really scratch the surface for crafting.^[86] – Steven Sharif

Gear
- Approximately 49 unique gear sets.^[57]
- These are unique sets with different stats, but some may be similar in appearance.^[57]
- Daggers (Dual weapons).^[88]

PvE
- Approximately 6 or 7 dungeons with one almost raid-level difficulty.^[89]
- Two world bosses requiring party-sized groups.^[89]
- One true 40 person raid boss.^[89]
- Over 200 quests.^[57]
- Questing is placeholder until Alpha-2.^[90]^[69]

Guilds.^[54]^[69]
- Alpha-1 castle sieges and Castles are in a zone accessible via a NPC teleporter.^[56]^[57]^[54]^[55]^[91]^[92]
- This zone includes three Elder dragon raid bosses.^[57]^[54]
- These bosses also appear in the open world (outside the siege zone) with slightly different mechanics.^[57]

Naval content
Ships for "island hopping".^[17]^[93]
- Temporary teleportation points are present in early tests until ships are introduced later in the alpha testing.^[17]

Other
- There is no instancing in Alpha-1.^[56]
UI and tutorial systems are placeholders until Alpha-2.^[94]^[90]

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Alpha-1 availability

Pre-order pack upgrades are possible for current pack holders for the difference in price.^[96]^[97]^[98] Upgrades to Kickstarter and Summer crowdfunding packs are also available in the store for the difference in package price.^[99]

August 15, 2018 was the last day for purchases of Alpha-1 through Intrepid pre-order packs (History).^[69]

Sales of Alpha-1 resumed on May 5, 2021 through the Adventurer pre-order pack.^[100]^[101]^[96]^[55]

August 13, 2021 was the last day for purchases of Alpha-1 through the Adventurer pre-order pack (History).^[100]^[101]^[96]^[55]

Coastal nodes

Pre-alpha naval concept.^[102]

There will be nodes along the coast and on islands.^[103]

These nodes will have specific water oriented influences and abilities, services, questlines, that relate to the seas.^[103]
Coastal nodes change the spawn tables of the nearby water content and can also trigger specific events.^[104]
Harbors in coastal nodes will have quest lines that relate to the ocean and nearby islands.^[104]
It may be possible to siege a coastal city by sea.^[105]