Recently, the second alpha test for Corepunk took place. However, due to severe technical issues, proper testing was hardly possible. The developers pulled the emergency brake and ended the alpha earlier than planned.
How did Alpha 2 go specifically? The recent test phase of Corepunk started off with a false start. There were resets of the alpha due to technical problems, several delays, and emergency maintenance. Initially, it was stated that access to the servers would be extended until June 4, 2024.
However, yesterday, on June 1, 2024, the developers announced that they had decided to end the alpha early. It seems they were unable to control the stability issues and connection dropouts. There were also a multitude of critical bugs. About 15,000 interested parties were said to have participated in the test.
What do the developers take away from the alpha? A comprehensive analysis by the developers has been published on the official website of the MMORPG. It states that they were able to gather a large amount of important feedback and identify critical errors through the test.
In the post, the responsible parties also commented on the criticism from some testers regarding the use of AI voiceover. They stated that they are a medium-sized indie studio and cannot currently afford to invest limited resources in actual voice actors.
The use of AI was therefore an option, the devs continued, to present voiced dialogues and ultimately finalize a version of Corepunk in a timely manner that would allow the studio to survive in the current market situation. This, in turn, is the basis for eventually having the money to pay for professional voice actors.
Soon in Early Access despite problems?
What do the developers say about the Early Access launch? There is no specific date yet, but Early Access should start as soon as possible. On one hand, the developers have been working on the MMORPG for ten years and need to pay bills.
On the other hand, the recent test, despite all the problems, showed how efficient it is to receive feedback from numerous players that can be immediately converted into bug fixes and updates. The speed of iterations increases by a significant factor. Also, the revenue from selling the Early Access version is expected to noticeably accelerate the development pace.
But first, another alpha test is planned. Details are expected next week.
What kind of game is Corepunk? Corepunk is a “Top-Down MMORPG” with an open world. Visually and also in terms of controls, it reminds a lot of League of Legends. At the same time, it is a classic MMORPG that, according to the developers, is supposed to resemble WoW Classic in difficulty.
In the game, you can expect six classes with a total of 18 different specializations. Dungeons and raids are said to be comparable to Mythic (the highest difficulty in WoW). In addition, there will be PvE content in the open world, which is, however, shrouded in a fog of war that hides content outside of the field of view.
You can learn various crafting professions, with each character only able to master one perfectly. Moreover, the best recipes are hidden, so you should know the players on your server who master the respective profession best.
There will also be PvP in certain areas of the open world and in arenas. 1v1 and 2v2 deathmatch arenas and leaderboards are planned. By the way, the alpha test in November 2023 did not go smoothly at all: New MMORPG summarizes first test with over 100 players: “Were too difficult and punishing”
