Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Phase III Overview

Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Phase III is live and runs with 24/7 realms, a fresh start, and no NDA on the main Alpha realms. You can pick from two starting zones, try a large new area called the Anvils, and test big system updates such as Dynamic Gridding, settlement changes, guild progression, guild storage, crates, and an economy/stat refactor. PTR remains under a visual NDA and is used for feature staging and iteration. Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

Phase III Release Highlights

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• 24/7 testing with short maintenance windows; fresh characters required. Realms at launch: Shol (US‑East) and Lotharia (EU‑West). No region lock. PTR comes online as needed and keeps a visual NDA.
• Two starting zones during character creation: Ruins of Aela and the new Anvils region. Both include a streamlined FTUE that introduces core systems and content loops.
• Dynamic Gridding debuts as a world‑first server tech. It adjusts server workers on a single realm based on player activity to increase population capacity and smooth performance.
• “Nodes” are now called Settlements. The Metropolis stage is removed, reducing stages from six to five. Early leveling is faster; service building plots are redistributed; service building skill trees are updated to match plot counts; Vassalship begins earlier at the Village stage.
• Guild progression shifts from a fixed tree to a flexible point‑spend model. Any upgrade can be unlocked with any skill point. Spending points also unlocks a secondary specialization track (e.g., size, PvP, PvE). The guild XP curve is rebalanced to speed early levels while keeping high tiers meaningful.
• Guild Storage launches. Item storage is shared across settlements (permissions‑gated); soulbound items excluded. Material storage uses settlement‑specific tabs that can be specialized for stack size by material type; soulbound materials excluded; tabs must be empty to specialize. Storage is claimed at a level 3+ settlement and cannot be relocated after claiming.
• Crates replace the abstract cargo system with physical items you can carry. Types: Personal (inventory), Construction (building materials), and Commodity (trade). Rewards scale with distance, cargo type, and local economic status.
• The economy and stat rebalance touches crafting, gathering, recipes, drops, vendors, and quest rewards. Cosmetics entitlements begin rolling out (mounts/costumes from pre‑orders) starting Aug 27, 2025. Keybinds received adjustments.

Known Issues

Official source: Alpha Two | Known Issues List – Read Me First!

Top issues called out by the team:

• FSR is not yet upgraded for UE 5.6; AMD FSR support is planned for a future release.
• Changing DLSS during gameplay causes crashes.
• Using “unstuck” kills a character by design for now to prevent abuse.
• Some recipes have incorrect crafting‑location requirements.
• Settlement XP sometimes displays incorrectly (apparent level‑ups or stuck XP); these are display‑only and not actual progression errors.

Troubleshooting highlights

• Verify minimum specs; install the Visual C++ Redistributable if you crash at launch; antivirus can block launcher auto‑updates; EAC can be installed manually from the game directory; some Intel CPUs show a known stability message from Epic.
• Large crash logs can fill disk space; delete older logs from %Localappdata%\AOC\Saved\Crashes.

Cosmetics:

• Some cosmetics render incorrectly, have incorrect names, or change behavior unintentionally.

Quests, events, and commissions (selection):

• Map markers may show incorrect numbers; several specific quests are currently blocked or mis‑spawn objectives (e.g., Seek the Source, Set to Motion, The Last Moot, The Old Smith, Heartstone Vault chain, Stones of Tura’Madu, The Warhelm Curse optional).
• Some quest‑critical NPCs fail to spawn depending on settlement state.

Lighting:

• Over‑bright or too‑dark scenes in certain dungeons and exits; various flicker/blur issues.

Characters:

• Customizations may fail to appear to others; appearances can be wrong after a crash; lobby can list characters out of order.

General gameplay/world (selection)

• Vendors selling unintended items in regions; caravansary “Collect Cargo” can lose materials from packed crates on return; some epic materials do not stack; several recipes currently uncraftable (to be removed or fixed); road buffs missing in some Anvils roads; overlapping stations/boards at Hammer Rest Trade Outpost; missing guards or incorrect spawns in specific settlements at Town stage; event flicker on world map; floating service building plots; environment collision issues; and road intersection issues near certain settlements.

PvE – Zones, Quests, Dungeons, Events

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• The Anvils zone arrives as a major PvE addition and the Dünir homeland. It ships with new quests, dynamic events, and pocket dungeons. The guide spotlights a broader world expansion since Oct 2024, with more POIs, biomes, and environments that will continue to grow through Phase III.
• The revised FTUE in both starting zones teaches systems and sets expectations for the content loop. The team calls this a refreshed “first‑time user experience” with a short introductory tutorial.
• Events and dungeon content in the Anvils emphasize new challenges while testers provide feedback. The guide asks for reports via /bug and on forums to iterate during the phase.

PvP – Lawless POIs and System Focus

Official source: Development Update with New Races, Economy Updates, and Dynamic Lawless POIs

• The team highlights Dynamic Lawless POIs as a Phase III focus area. These POIs rotate areas into “lawless” states to increase risk and tension in contested spaces. The update places them alongside node progression refinements and guild system work.
• The broadcast frames these POIs and related system updates as part of Phase III’s push toward meaningful conflict points, with testers encouraged to give feedback while the team iterates.

Settlements (formerly Nodes) and Sieges

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• Terminology: Nodes are now Settlements.
• Stage reduction: the Metropolis stage is removed; progression now uses five stages instead of six.
• Early pacing: settlement leveling speed is tuned up in early/mid stages to make growth more dynamic and rewarding.
• Vassalship: introduced earlier at Village stage to bring strategic considerations forward.
• Service buildings: plot distribution changes across stages; service building skill trees are updated to match the new plot counts.
• Goal: better pacing, clearer choices, and more accessible high‑level settlement gameplay.

Caravans, Crates, and Trade Flow

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• Crates replace abstract cargo with physical objects you carry. Types include Personal (inventory), Construction (building materials), and Commodity (trade).
• You can transport crates between settlements for gold. Value scales with distance, cargo type, and the economic status of origin and destination settlements.
• The guide positions crates as a core piece of how settlements develop and how logistics interplay with economy and node growth.

Crafting, Gathering, Processing, Economy, and Stats

Official source: Economy and Stats Forged Anew

• Recipes rebuilt from the ground up to match time investment across gathering and processing. Artisan levels correlate with gear grades; each grade includes tiers. From level one, at least one baseline set is always craftable with plentiful materials.
• Powerful gear requires broader, rarer inputs: rare components, vendor reagents, specific mob drops, and region‑specific materials.
• Resource spawns, yields, and timers are overhauled so biomes feel distinct. Examples given: more metals/gems in caves; dead coral on coasts; Acacia/Agave at altitude; willows/date palms/rividium in water‑rich regions.
• Drops, vendors, and quests rebalanced to keep crafting central to progression. Enemy gear drops are substantially lowered. As a rough guideline, one hour of crafting equals about seven hours of mob grinding in terms of progression, though player knowledge and skill still matter.
• Vendors become key sources of reagents needed for advanced crafting.
• Many quests now offer reward choices (including materials or gear). Commissions better reflect effort and award boxes with randomized contents.

Guilds – Progression and Storage

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• Progression: swap from a rigid skill tree to a flexible point‑spend system. Points also unlock a secondary specialization track (size, PvP, PvE, wars/encounters), which can grant capacity, stat bonuses, war enhancements, and extra skill points. Early XP levels are quicker; higher tiers remain meaningful.
• Storage: shared item storage (cross‑settlement, permission‑based) and material storage (settlement‑specific tabs; specialization for larger stacks by material type; tabs must be empty to specialize). Soulbound items/materials are excluded. Storage is claimed at a level 3+ settlement and cannot be relocated once placed.

UI/UX, FTUE, Keybinds, Cosmetics

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III

• FTUE updates in both starting zones guide new testers through systems and content with a short tutorial.
• Keybinds have been adjusted; players can customize through in‑game menus.
• Cosmetics entitlements: starting Aug 27, 2025, select mounts and costumes from pre‑order packs can be delivered via in‑game mail and equipped on Phase III characters.

Performance, Engine, and Testing Structure

Official source: Path to Alpha Two Phase III

• Dynamic Gridding, server worker, and realm improvements continue to be a core backend focus. The team reports successful on‑the‑fly worker split/removal in PTR runtime and ongoing efforts to support larger, more stable play spaces.
• Unreal Engine 5.6 transition improves lighting, stability, and overall polish.
• The team’s stated testing focus includes TTK analysis, early game flow, node progression/behavior tracking, and guild storage system testing.
• Schedule context leading into Phase III: Shol on a Thu–Mon cadence before Aug 26; PTR 24/7 with updates; continued in‑game events; post‑Aug‑26 updates resume on Alpha Two realms.

What Changed in Phase III vs Phase II (officially noted)

Official source: Guide to Alpha Two Phase III and Path to Alpha Two Phase III

• 24/7 Alpha Two realms with fresh start and two live realms (Shol, Lotharia); PTR remains for staging under visual NDA.
• Dynamic Gridding introduced for higher capacity and smoother performance; ongoing backend optimization called out.
• Settlements overhaul: Nodes renamed to Settlements; Metropolis stage removed; five‑stage progression; faster early leveling; service building plot redistribution and matching skill tree updates; Vassalship now begins at Village.
• Guild progression moved to flexible point‑spend with a secondary specialization track; early guild XP pacing is faster.
• Guild Storage system added with item/material storage rules and settlement claim requirements.
• Crates system replaces abstract cargo with physical, carried items across Personal/Construction/Commodity types and trade values tied to distance/economy.
• Economy & stats refactor: recipes rebuilt, biome‑specific resource logic, tuned drops, vendor reagent roles, quest/commission reward structure changes to keep crafting central.

Conclusion

Phase III is a systems‑heavy update meant to test stability, capacity, and core loops at scale. It adds a large new zone and FTUE paths, moves logistics and trade to physical crates, reworks settlements and guilds, and rebuilds the economy around crafting. With Dynamic Gridding and the UE 5.6 transition, the team is asking testers to pressure the servers, try the new loops, and file clear reports so iteration can continue throughout the phase.