Ashes of Creation is considered by many players to be the western MMORPG hope. For a long time, only the developers were allowed to show the game. This weekend, the NDA has lifted and selected players can finally present gameplay of the MMORPG. The reactions, however, are mixed.
What’s going on? Since Friday evening, an alpha event for Ashes of Creation has been running. This event is taking place for the first time without an NDA. Players who have either invested $500 or received an account for the event from the developers may now present all content of the MMORPG that has been available so far.
How is the game’s reception? Very mixed. Ashes of Creation is still in its first alpha and therefore feels quite unfinished. Alpha testers have already noted that a release before 2023/2024 is unlikely.
Still, some players who previously had no access to the MMORPG are disappointed with the presented content. They could now watch the game for the first time through selected people on Twitch or YouTube, who leveled up and completed quests from the beginning.
One of the currently largest streamers for Ashes of Creation is Asmongold, who became known with WoW. He has already streamed 5 hours of Ashes of Creation. You can watch some highlights from the stream in this video on YouTube:
Little content, boring quests, and little progress compared to 4 years ago
What is being criticized about Ashes of Creation? Currently, there are 9 threads on MMORPG-reddit criticizing Ashes of Creation and only one where the original post gives praise to the MMORPG. Criticisms include aspects such as graphics, animations, server performance, and the game’s content.
The user AkoSolius primarily criticizes the feeling he had while watching Ashes of Creation and even calls it a “low-budget Korea MMO” (via reddit):
I know this is a test and not a showcase of the game, but as I watched Asmongold play, I was constantly reminded of my attempts to play Korean MMOs like TERA. I feel that despite the good graphics, the animations still feel like they weren’t properly transitioned, and the UI just looks like a dull fantasy UI number 3.
The user Turbulent-Passenger is particularly surprised at the limited progress of the game over the last 4 years (via reddit):
[…] Now, 4 years later, I honestly don’t see much has changed. If this is what they can present after 4 years – boring quests, clumsy combat, and the main method of leveling being a dull grind of mobs – I feel that they are too ambitious and have taken on too much.
The current servers can barely handle the players who have invested $500, how is this ever going to work with mass battles in PvP, which they boast about?
I want to reiterate that I know it is early in development, but this game has had years, and at this pace, I honestly don’t see this game being finished even in 2 years.
Below these posts, many comments are piling up, mocking how high the hype around Ashes of Creation is and how little the game currently has to offer.
The thread by Neeko2lo, who generally warns against hyping unfinished games and spending $500 on them, made it to the 2nd place on MMORPG-reddit with over 360 upvotes (via reddit).
What is our assessment? We at MeinMMO could already test the alpha a few weeks ago and can confirm that Ashes of Creation is still in a rough phase:
- In addition to technical issues, we noticed primarily the quests that were extremely generic and simple, as well as the rather weak animations during combat.
- However, we found the graphics and design of the environment to be quite successful for an alpha. Potential is already recognizable, which some testers and viewers also confirm.
Ashes of Creation is in a real alpha and has potential
What do the fans of Ashes of Creation say? While there are many negative voices about the new MMORPG in MMORPG-reddit, there is much support for the game in the subreddit for Ashes of Creation and under Asmongold’s video.
- Asmongold’s video even has 98% thumbs up compared to only 2% thumbs down.
- In the subreddit, questions and discussions about the game predominantly dominate the threads, with overall rather positive sentiment.
The YouTuber Playmiś writes under this video:
Looks good for a real alpha and not a promotional tool that so many other companies call alpha. I think the game will be fine in the coming years.
Also, the reddit user KyngKoopa does not understand the major criticism (via reddit):
All these posts [on reddit] are irrelevant and unnecessary. As the title says, it’s an alpha. The developers are still working out the core functionalities. Combat, animations, UI, etc. will be refined later in the development phase.
It’s so disgusting to see posts like this, where the game is hated because it “doesn’t look good”, even though that is to be expected at this early phase. Why do so many people expect to see a polished/optimized game at this point in development? We are still testing. The game has not been released yet.
The point about the “real alpha” has even been emphasized by the game’s head, Steven Sharif. He warns against purchasing alpha access, precisely because the game is still fully in development.
The game’s fans see a great potential in Ashes of Creation overall. The user NovelOtaku describes it as a kind of “ArcheAge 2.0,” where he himself describes ArcheAge as one of the “greatest MMORPGs ever,” aside from things like pay-to-win (via reddit). Other users also frequently draw comparisons to ArcheAge.
The user Aritar1 also reports that Ashes of Creation already has “a soul,” which sometimes other MMORPGs lack (via reddit):
It wasn’t really visible in Steven Sharif’s gameplay, probably because we couldn’t hear the music and sound effects, but through Asmongold’s stream, the game became something special for me. It feels cozy – I can’t explain it, it awakens the desire in me to hop on a horse and explore the world, and I’m not even playing it.
That’s the thing I was most worried about, but they pulled it off, they did the hardest and most important part, now I am very confident about this game.
Ashes of Creation is considered the western MMORPG hope
Why is Ashes of Creation so hyped? For a long time, MMORPG fans have been waiting for a new game that meets their needs. The last major releases here in the West were mainly games from Asia, which could not visually please everyone.
Ashes of Creation promises a lot of freedom and offers an interesting class system with up to 64 classes.
Additionally, it tempts players with the promise that their actions will influence the game world. This is supposed to happen through the node system. The entire game world is divided into different zones, the nodes that can be captured, leveled, and destroyed.
Moreover, there are discussions of mass battles in PvP and strong bosses that can only be defeated with a larger group of players. All of this sounds old-school and adventurous.
The head behind Ashes of Creation, Steven Sharif, has played MMORPGs like ArcheAge himself and saw a huge potential in that title, which, however, was not realized. That is why the millionaire started implementing his own game.
We at MeinMMO had an interview with Sharif. In it, he explains among other things what makes Ashes of Creation different from other Kickstarter MMORPGs: The head of Ashes of Creation explains to us why Kickstarter MMORPGs fail and why that can’t happen to him.
