Alpha-1 testing

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Hail and well met glorious Ashes of Creation testers. My name is Sean Farrens. I am the manager of quality assurance on Ashes of Creation and on behalf of the Ashes QA team I would like to extend a deep and heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in testing Ashes of Creation during the weekend of May 14 through May 16th for our Alpha 1 build. In spite of instability and uncertainty you have all proven to be invaluable in regards to your feedback and bug reports; and for that I cannot express my gratitude enough. As many of you know, developing an MMORPG is an epic endeavor that is filled with trials and tribulations that no other game will ever encounter; and your illustrated dedication has proven to our team that we are on a high road to the best MMORPG gaming experience to date. During this most recent testing period we received over 2,600 bug reports, which have been an absolute boon to our testing process. We review each report individually and I continue to be impressed with how detailed and helpful each of these reports has been. Like seriously you guys give repro steps and everything. Super duper handy. I greatly look forward to your feedback in the future and hope you enjoy our content so far, so thank you so much everybody.[1] – Sean Farrens

While we will have specific spot tests for certain systems as we develop them post the Alpha one month, it should be expected and understood that after this Alpha one month there will be probably a significant amount of downtime where there won't be spot testing as we break apart a lot of systems, take what we learned from alpha one month and implement and iterate upon those learnings. So there's gonna be several months probably worth of significant downtime where there will not be access to spot testing, where we are going to go in and really rejigger a lot of systems[2] – Steven Sharif

Phase Release Estimated/Actual date
Alpha-1 Alpha-1 early preview livestream.[3] March 27, 2020.[4]
Alpha-1 limited QA testing (NDA).[5][6] May 28, 2020.[7][8]
Alpha-1 preview pre-test 1 (NDA).[9] Dec 18 - Dec 21 2020.[9]
Alpha-1 preview pre-test 2 (NDA).[9] Feb 19 - Feb 22 2021.[10][11]
Alpha-1 preview intermittent spot testing (NDA).[12][13] Mar 19 - Jul 9 2021.[12][13]
Alpha-1 preview weekend (no NDA).[12] July 9 - July 11 2021.[14][15][12]
Alpha-1 (no NDA).[12] July 14 - August 15 2021.[16][17]

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The term "alpha" is a tricky one, and it typically has 2 meanings in gaming. The development meaning for alpha is a point in the process where we are ready to test the fundamental systems in their core form, without polish and without much of the content. Then, there is the external or "marketing" term for alpha. This is typically applied to Eastern-ported MMORPGs, when in fact that is a completed game being localized for a region, and not really indicative of a true development alpha. As you may know by now, game development has many stages - from the initial tech demos to the pre-production and pre-alpha states, then on to the alphas and betas and eventually launch.[9] – Steven Sharif

I want to make emphatically clear, our alphas and betas are true development alphas and betas, and some have said I am crazy to allow these phases to be seen without an NDA…maybe I am crazy? lol… But I am trusting the community of gamers out there to get a glimpse into the process, and understand the long road ahead for what will eventually be worth the wait. Given time and talent, amazing things can happen, so make sure you help us in communicating that we are in open development which means people get to see the bare bones before the meat. And look, I know people see our 4K footage and say, "This looks better than most released games!", but trust me when I say, you ain't seen nothin’ yet.[9] – Steven Sharif

Release schedule

Alpha Two is coming in Q3 2024! We have not announced specific dates or testing schedules for Alpha Two, Beta One, or Beta Two yet.[18]

The Ashes of Creation release schedule is subject to change.[19]

Spot testing has begun, some limited NDA'd testers are participating in spot tests and December will see more, including some major headless client testing. Also those of you that still have the A1 launcher may see an update in the next couple weeks.[20] – Steven Sharif
The NDA spot testing that will be before Alpha-2: We will have first one with our PI members, then we'll have some with our Alpha-1 users, and then our Alpha-2 users; and of course Alpha-2 will not be NDA, but that spot testing will be NDA.[21] – Margaret Krohn
Phase Release Estimated/Actual date
Pre‑alpha Alpha-0.[22] December 15, 2017.[23]
APOC Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale stress test (NDA).[24] September 7, 2018.[25]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale stress test (NDA lifted).[26] October 19, 2018.[26]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale open beta.[27] December 18, 2018.[28]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale early access.[29] September 24, 2019.[30]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse castle siege mode PI closed testing.[31] December 19, 2019.[31]
Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale testing ends.[32] March 10, 2020.[33]
Alpha Alpha-1 early preview livestream.[3] March 27, 2020.[4]
Alpha-1 limited QA testing (NDA).[5][6] May 28, 2020.[7][8]
Alpha-1 preview pre-test 1 (NDA).[9] Dec 18 - Dec 21 2020.[9]
Alpha-1 preview pre-test 2 (NDA).[9] Feb 19 - Feb 22 2021.[10][11]
Alpha-1 preview intermittent spot testing (NDA).[12][13] Mar 19 - Jul 9 2021.[12][13]
Alpha-1 preview weekend (no NDA).[12] July 9 - July 11 2021.[14][15][12]
Alpha-1 (no NDA).[12] July 14 - August 15 2021.[16][17]
Alpha-2 spot testing (NDA).[21][34][35][36] November 2023.[20]
Alpha-2 (No NDA).[21][35][37][38] Q3 2024.[18][21][39]
Beta Beta-1. To be announced.[17]
Beta-2. To be announced.[17]
Pre‑release Head start for crowdfunding backers at the Founder level and above.[40] 1-2 days before launch.[40][41]
Release Launch (live) release. To be announced.[17][42]
Post‑launch Major releases (DLC expansions). Quarterly or six-monthly.[43][44]
Minor releases. Monthly.[43][44]

Alpha-1 NDA

Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-1, Beta-2 releases are not covered by NDA (non-disclosure agreement).[45]

We may not always announce when the NDA testing is, because we're not definitive how that testing is going to influence the future testing schedule; and we don't want to set the wrong expectation from a broader audience perspective on what they should be expecting with regards to testing.[34] – Steven Sharif

Participation

  • Alpha-0 had over 2,500 participants.[47]
  • Alpha-1 testing had approximately 9,600 participants as of August, 2018.[48][49] There were slightly over 13k participants as of May 31, 2021.[48] There were 5,300 unique logins during the 3 day weekend test of May 27, 2021.[48]
info-orange.pngThis section will be updated as soon as information is made available by the developers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Livestream, May 28, 2021 (1:36:43).
  2. ↑ Livestream, July 30, 2021 (20:30).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 March 2020 newsletter.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Video, March 23, 2020 (0:01).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 alpha-1-nda-2.png
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 alpha-1-nda-1.png
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 steven-a1-testing-start.png
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Creative Director's Letter, 2020-04-1.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Blog: Creative Director's Letter, October 16 2020
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Livestream, February 26, 2021 (14:58).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Blog: Creative Director's Letter, January 2021.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 Alpha One Schedule Update, May 10 2021.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 An Update on Alpha One Schedule, March 12 2021
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 steven-a1preview-end.png
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Ashes of Creation Twitter - Alpha-1 Preview Weekend Begins
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 alpha-1-end.png
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 release-dates.png
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Intrepid Studios Support - What are the Alpha/Beta Release dates?
  19. ↑ kickstarter release schedule.png
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 steven-a2-spot-testing-started.png
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Livestream, September 29, 2023 (55:34).
  22. ↑ alpha-0 pre-alpha.png
  23. ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (2:48).
  24. ↑ Livestream, September 1, 2018 (54:06).
  25. ↑ alpha-1-stress-test-3.png
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 alpha1-phase-1-update.png
  27. ↑ Press release - Ashes of Creation Apocalypse Launches December 18.
  28. ↑ apoc-beta.png
  29. ↑ Blog: Ashes of Creation Apocalypse heads into early access.
  30. ↑ @AoCApocalypse on Twitter.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Livestream, December 17, 2019 (18:33).
  32. ↑ Blog: Early Access for Ashes of Creation Apocalypse Battle Royale Testing Ends.
  33. ↑ apoc-offline.png
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Interview, July 9, 2023 (26:35).
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (5:57).
  36. ↑ Livestream, October 14, 2022 (17:05).
  37. ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (25:22).
  38. ↑ alpha and beta phases.png
  39. ↑ vaknar-a2.png
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 founder.png
  41. ↑ braver of worlds.png
  42. ↑ Livestream, March 8, 2019 (57:26).
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Interview, February 7, 2021 (21:57).
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Livestream, May 8, 2017 (11:14).
  45. ↑ Livestream, January 18, 2018 (49:26).
  46. ↑ Livestream, May 29, 2020 (31:37).
  47. ↑ Interview, August 24, 2018 (12:18).
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 steven-a1-participation.png
  49. ↑ Livestream, August 17, 2018 (24:07).
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 Livestream, November 17, 2017 (28:50).
  51. ↑ a2-participants.png
  52. ↑ Livestream, January 27, 2023 (11:05).
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