Ashes of Creation alpha two is rolling on unabated, as Intrepid Studios continues its weekend testing for the ambitious, long-awaited MMORPG. After a recent change introduced the ability to make duplicate items, creative director Steven Sharif has delivered a response. In particular, he notes that egregious bad actors have seen all their materials wiped or reset, with some particularly severe cases leading to character deletion. He cautions the community to “let this serve as a warning” for the game’s future.
“As many testers are aware, last weekend we introduced a bug into the game that allowed for several dupes to exist,” Sharif writes in a post shared to the Ashes of Creation Discord. Such exploits can be particularly damaging, threatening to spoil the progression and even the economy of the best MMORPGs. “As I have said in the past,” Sharif continues, “our velocity to deploy fixes is a direct correlation to the possibility of introducing new bugs into the live version of alpha two.”
Obviously, given that this is an alpha test, such bugs are to be expected at times, and finding them is in many regards part of the plan. But there’s a distinct difference between noting a bug and reporting it, and taking advantage of it for your own gain. “Unfortunately, some testers took advantage of this situation, attempting to exploit these bugs in an effort to dupe materials, gain gold, generate node treasury funds, and craft legendary equipment,” Sharif says.
“Some testers did the right thing and reported the issues to us, but the damage was already done.” As such, Intrepid has responded by taking action and wiping all duplicated materials, removing any legendary item IDs created with said materials, and reset the treasury amounts for offending nodes. It has also “initiated emergency elections in nodes where buildings were created with ill-gotten treasury and supplies.”
Finally, some serious troublemakers have had their whole progress wiped. “I have deleted over 100 characters that were found to have participated in the exploitative activity numerous times,” Sharif confirms. “If you purchased or received items from these exploits you will find those missing. If you gained gold via the exploits, your gold was reduced to zero.
“The testers who participated in this activity must understand that doing this harms the game. A game which you obviously care about.” With early access keys to the current alpha priced at $120, it’s fair to say that anyone currently playing is reasonably well-invested in the future of Ashes of Creation. “I have warned in the past, and it exists in our EULA and ToS, that cheating, RMT (real-money trading), and exploiting will be dealt with harshly,” Sharif reaffirms in the post, shared by ‘Narc’ on YouTube.
“Everyone should be happy to know that, as a company, we care for the integrity of our players’ achievements. And as such it is necessary for us to stay vigilant in the tools we create that help us monitor and address these issues,” Sharif concludes. “Let this serve as a warning. And take it from someone who themselves has been banned from games. Ashes will be different. So don’t partake. Instead, report it. And play safe, my friends.”
Sharif himself hasn’t just been hard at work clamping down on potential troublemakers – he’s also been having fun with the community. Recently, the director appeared in game as a PvP raid boss, before unleashing both riddles and a plethora of tiny ducks upon one of its most-watched Twitch streamers.
If you’re not ready to jump in and check out the ongoing tests, there are even more of the best new MMOs to try. Or consider another of the best multiplayer games on PC instead.
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