The new MMORPG “Ashes of Creation” is considered by many to be the most exciting Western MMORPG not developed by Amazon or Riot Games. The founder Steven Sharif announced a Christmas message at the end of 2023: The next big alpha without NDA is planned for 2024, but that will still take some time.
What kind of MMORPG is this?
- Ashes of Creation is the passion project of self-made millionaire Steven Sharif, who believes that MMORPGs need to awaken from their long slumber.
- Essentially, after the end of the development of Everquest Next in 2016, Sharif adopted many from the team and even more ideas from the failed Everquest 3: Ashes of Creation is supposed to offer a world that continuously changes through a “Node System”.
- The development of the MMORPG began as early as 2015 and is generally open. However, there are always phases where nothing is heard about the MMORPG because everything is behind a curtain of NDAs. The last major milestone was Alpha-1 in August 2021. At that time, there was also strong new gameplay emerging.
Next Alpha without NDA not until Q3 2024
What is the next milestone? In a Christmas message to fans on Discord, Steven Sharif dated the next major testing phase of his MMORPG for Q3 2024. Here, Alpha 2 is supposed to start and again take place without NDA, then we will hear and see more from the game again.
This message encourages fans: As Sharif announced, the developer has now grown to 170 people – there is a tremendous amount of manpower behind it.
Sharif says 2023 was a year of setbacks for the gaming industry, many lost their jobs. He says Intrepid has tried to give some of the laid-off a home who are looking for a new MMO.
In 2024, the MMORPG wants to continue to grow and employ people who lost their jobs in 2023.
Pre-sale for packages granting access to Alpha 2 ends
How can you play this? Anyone who wants to participate in Alpha 2 will probably have to hurry. Sharif, being the marketing man he is, says that they actually have enough players for Alpha 2 and therefore do not want to offer any more pre-order packages that secure access to Alpha 2. The current offer ends on January 17.
The cheapest package that grants access to Alpha 2 costs $250 – this may also always be the catch with the project that sounds so great: The business methods behind the game have been questioned critically more than once. Anyone who wants to test and be part of the Ashes of Creation community has to invest as much as for several full-price titles: The 5 most promising new MMORPGs for 2024 and beyond
