Lazy Peon x Steven Sharif Interview | Ashes of Creation in 2025
Lazy Peon sat down for a cozy chat with Creative Director Steven Sharif after trying out the Alpha 2 changes
Lazy Peon, known for his MMO Reviews and First Impressions, and “Is It Worth Playing?” series might be responsible for the largest spike in popularity and worldwide attention for this Ashes of Creation since the Kickstarter, sans Alpha 2 Launch. With almost 3 million views, his beginner-friendly video captured the hearts of many.
With his earnest, detailed, and frankly unbelievable-to-many breakdown of the vision Creative Director Steven Sharif had for Ashes of Creation, and the passion and storytelling involved, this magnificently crafted introduction to Ashes of Creation turned many skeptics and disbelievers into lifelong followers. It’s only fitting, that almost 5 years later, Lazy Peon had the opportunity to sit down again with Steven to discuss what has changed, where the team is at, and to answer some questions people still have surrounding the future of the game.
The following will be a breakdown and high-level summary of the hour-long interview. For the full video, check out LazyPeons channel here.
Q1: Where is Ashes right now in it’s Development Cycle?
A1
Steven: With Alpha 2 launching last year in October, we are rapidly iterating on core pillars and designs. We are also rapidly in production of expanding the world map. Approximately 70% to 80% of the core gameplay loops are present within the game, but approximately 20% to 30% of content is in place.
Moment-to-moment gameplay and combat is in pretty representative place. Our primary loops is the Node system, trade, collection and transportation of resources, etc.
We also now have over 30 000 people testing within the Alpha 2 environment. In December, we had approximately 6 000 concurrent on one Unreal Server, which is unheard of on UE5. We still have a long way to go on our backend layer and stability/performance/optimization is still ongoing.
Steven and Peon then proceed to duel in a Mage mirror-match, with Steven falling to Peon.
Score: Peon 1 - 0 Steven.
Q2: What are the Pros and Cons for Ashes of Creation in it’s current Alpha 2 State?
A2
Steven: Cons are we are a testing environment, and the quality of the game in it’s current state tends to mislead people into feeling that it currently is in a game-ready state. The reality is that there’s still a lot more to come with Ashes, and a lot more development necessary.
The open development approach allows us to iterate as we build the game. Other MMOs can spend upwards of $200 million and take 10 years to develop. Throne & Liberty is a beautiful game that had a 12-year development cycle for a titan like NCSoft, whereas we are a brand new studio with nearly 250 developers. So again, one of the cons is that the quality of Ashes at the moment misleads people into assumptions that are incorrect.
One of the pros, however, is the rapid iteration we are doing due to the open-development approach. Many of the changes we’ve implemented are a direct result of us gathering real-time feedback with our testers on a regular cadence every day, actively engaging with the community on multiple levels.
Our combat currently is also a pro, and that’s one of the most important things to get right in an MMORPG. I’ve even approached you, Peon, to author some private videos for our teams to help focus on what it is that players within the MMORPG genre are looking for out of a combat system, and we really take to heart that approach of engaging with our audience.
Duel number 2 commences, with Peon coming out with a commanding victory of Steven once again.
Score: Peon 2 - 0 Steven.
Q3: For the people wanting to play Alpha 2, when is a good time?
A3:
Steven: Definitely sometime into Phase 3. We’ve mentioned that many times before, that Phase 1 and Phase 2 are very much stability, performance, optimization focused phases, whereas Phase 3 will feel much closer to a game.
But if you are a casual viewer of Ashes, even Phase 3 might not be for you, which is okay. Part of the reason the testing is non-NDA is so people can see the exact progress and cadence of the testing and make their own decisions, or choose to not join the testing and still offer feedback based on what they’re seeing alone. A very small percentage of the population is interesting in accompanying a game through its’ development, and a majority of players don’t have the patience or desire to participate in offering feedback over such a long timeframe.
Peon: Absolutely. This process is not something most peopel can really be a part of. Even being an MMO developer is not something most developers I feel can be. The averge development time for a non-ambitious MMO is like 5 years, whereas the more ambitious you’re looking at 7 to 8 years at times. So, as a developer leading a project, surely your mindset might even change over the course of that time, right?
Steven: One of the important things about development of any project is Vision Keeping. Many projects that started with an idea, with a vision, that didn’t last past the first year or made it three years into development, but now the identity of the game that you were making has fundamentally changed to even appeal to a totally separate audience.
We haven’t changed our mind about core tenants, pillars of the design, or the identity of the game. But within systems, we’ve absolutely changed systems. Combat is something that has changed iteratively and fundamentally over time but has never chagned the vision of what we’re trying to deliver.
Duel number 3 starts with Peon on Ranger this time, falling to Steven’s own Mage.
Score: Peon 2 - 1 Steven.
Q4: Are the foundations of the game the most time-consuming part of the game, or are the assets/questing/mobs/etc. more time-consuming? Which foundations still need to be laid?
A4:
Steven: Yes, for the most part the foundations are the longest part. We’ve definitely had some reset on systems as we moved from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. That was particularly true when it came to the map of the world as well. But now we’re in a position where we’re filling out these systems with content.
One example of that is the recent Desert Expansion. Between the months of January and February, that whole peninsula near the bottom has been added and fleshed out. We’re bringing the Rogue archetype to a level that’s up to where the other archetypes are at. The other archetypes took a while longer because we’re still answering some fun questions, and people will see that the Summoner will also be implemented in about a three-month timeframe as well*.
*Author’s note: This is in Steven-Time. Everything is subject to change. Especially Steven-Time.
Steven: We are establishing the pipelines and these core features and filling them out froma content development perspective. Now, if we have to re-examine a core system and take into account something we learned from Alpha 2 that makes us question it, that’s going to tkae time to do. But so far, we haven’t seen that.
Peon: So on the foundational side, what would you say is left before it’s full focus on content?
Steven: Outstanding feature development on Artisanship Skill Trees and Professions. We’ve decided to take a more active approach in these skilltrees, whereas we originally decided to have more passive options in the skill trees. That is going to be big, and is still outstanding.
The same is true for our Freehold Feature. We currently have a very MVP (MInimum Viable Product) version of Freeholds implemented. We also need to have the Estate and Barony system implemented. That is something that is in the process of testing actually, and is in a lower development branch, which would allow players to free place and deploy Freeholds within the world to carve out their stake of the land, as we’ve designed. Vassalship is also an outstanding feature, as well as Relics.
At the end of this month, we have the Rogue, Turquoise Sea, and some Naval elements. These are still outstanding core features of the game that will be continue to be worked on.
Duel number 4 ends with Steven’s Mage decimating Peon’s Ranger again, with Peon lamenting at the brokenness of the Mage Archetype.
Score: Peon 2 - 2 Steven.
Q5: Will the Graphics improve closer to launch? Is there something you’re unhappy with currently about the visuals?
A5:
Steven: I want to make sure we distinguish between style and graphical fidelity. We’re not a highly stylized game, we don’t have heavy saturated colors. We are more realistic. If we’re looking for a signature style, that’s something that is going to be introduced over time as we continue through Phase 3.
That might take the form of a race of Sherpas that assist in the Warehouse, or our Heartwood Trees that exist within the Node due to Glint and it’s magical properties.
From a graphical fidelity perspective, we are actively iterating through the lighting system and the interior of spaces. Our lighting team has worked on Hogwarts Legacy and other big games with great examples of lighting.
Other parts of the world that will be added are vastly different than the Riverlands from a visual perspective. Where the Riverlands can be kind of dreary, the Turquoise Sea & Anvil Mountains, or the Jundark will convey a completely different feeling.
Duel 5 has Peon switching to the Figher Archetype, rushing Steven’s Mage down and obliterating him mid-cast.
Score: Peon 3 - 2 Steven.
Q6: People critique the “Lack of Artstyle” for Ashes of Creation, is that something that’s possible to add later in development?
A6:
Steven: I touched on that briefly before, but to elaborate, we’re not going to be a World of Warcraft environment when it comes to visuals of the game, that won’t change. But we will add signature fnatasy element theming that you could point to as our signature style. These elements will come online as we go down the content creation pipeline towards prop sets that are uniquely identifying for Ashes of Creation.
Unique foliage in some biomes, unique NPC Factions, high-fantasy NPCs that aid or hinder players in unique ways. These will all come online as we go deeper into the creation of assets and content within the world.
Peon: I don’t think people necessarily want something super-stylized like World of Warcraft, but just have the ability to look at a picture and think “That’s Ashes of Creation” similar to how people can do that with Black Desert Online, while it still being a realistic-looking game.
Steven: Yes, those are signature fantasy elements that give the game it’s own distinct visual, and that’s something our art team plans to incorporate as we do multiple passes for these environments. Incorporating narrative structures, quest structures, prop sets, etc. will grow the world, and you’ll see these signature fantasy stylings be more pronounced.
The sixth Duel shows the benefits of using your CC break as a Fighter, and what happens when you don’t. Steven takes the win on his Mage.
Score: Peon 3 - 3 Steven.
Q7: How do you plan on fulfilling your intention of not having any 2 identical nodes? What is the current status of your Node Tool?
A7:
Steven: The existing Node Tool works off acork system that allows for the dynamic changing fothe landscape and terrain that the Node proper sits on from a footprint perspective. As a callback to your question about foundational production paths, this is a good example, as we had to rewrite our approach to our node tool about four years ago, due to siege constraints and considerations. A highly procedurized tool would have created an inequitable amount of siege tactic considerations for that tool’s implementation.
Now, we will maintain the basic siege constraints and requirements for all node layouts, while still allowing our environment team to populate the layout and define spaces where buildings exist. This all exists within the cork, where the cork can exist on the edge of a peninsula or cliff, with a river running through it, etc.
So right now our focus has not been diversity, it’s been about the fundamental core mechanics of the node feature structure. Right now we’re working on Node Stage 4, the Town stage. We also are developing the building sets that are meant to reflect the culture of the node.
Peon: A misconception for players is that they judge the progress of an MMO based on what we can see in-game, like how many biomes there are or node layouts. It’s more out of just being uninformed more than anything and not really understanding how development goes.
Steven: Yeah, it’s an unrealistic expectation to expect that a group of players are going to fully understand the development process, and we can’t explain everything that goes into the decisions around the creation of the game. We try to be, but there’s a reason as to why we are doing the things that we do. It’s a matter of resource allocation, and our resources are allocated right now to the more difficult questions.
Peon jumps on the Bard for Duel 7, showing everyone just how much an OP Archetype can look completely balanced in the right hands.
Score: Peon 3 - 4 Steven.
Q8: Do you plan on speeding up EXP Rates in Alpha 2 considering the levelling process isn’t fully implemented, and players are only mob grinding to level 25?
A8:
Steven: The Alpha 2 environment is intended to be a more soak-related environment test where we want these systems to soak over time. We want players to go through the leveling process so that we can identify bug reports for these things. So on the Alpha 2 realm it is unlikely we are going t odo something different until we come up against a period where we might wipe the servers for the next phase. In that situation, we might introduce some unique behaviours or activities in the final weeks.
We also plan on incorporating more Pre-Order Pack holders into the PTR environment, which gets wiped frequently and is more intended to quickly test things over and over again.
Duel number 8 saw Peon adapting quickly to the Bard, but still falling short to Steven’s Mage.
Score: Peon 3 - 5 Steven
Q9: As someone who started with no game development experience, is thsi how you thought things would go? What was the biggest setback you had to overcome during development?
A9:
Steven: No, I didn’t expect this at all. It is much harder than I thought. While I did go in eyes open, meaning I knew what I was signing myself up for as something very difficult, I don’t think I knew exactly how difficult it would be. I knew it would be the most difficult thing that I had done in my life.
I am very impressed with both the progress and the quality of the team we’ve built, the community we fostered, and the experience we have right now in Alpha 2.
The biggest setback also coincidentally happens to be the most rewarding part of it: the open-development process. While there are many strengths to it, there are negatives as well. There are people that doubt or try to take away from what we’re trying to accomplish. Some of the abrasive interactions that is unhelpful can affect the passion of the team and the community surrounding us.
Right now, Ashes is the worst that it will ever be. Going forward, it will improve due to the efforts that the community puts in when it comes to providing feedback and how to course correct, make changes, and iterate.
We will continue to improve and add addditional content, such as the Sandsquall Desert these past two months. In March, we’re introducing the Turquoise Sea. In April, we’re going to introduce the Jundark, and in May, the Anvil Mountains. The Western Continent will be near completed from a landscape, foliage, and gatherable perspective, probably around the halfway point of this year*.
*Author’s Note: Steven-Time once again. Everything subject to change
Peon: If I were in your shoes, and people were to critique the game that heavily and call it a scam after putting so much of my own money, I would be quite annoyed and find it hard to deal with. So I think you deal with that quite well.
Steven: I won’t lie and say it doesn’t affect me on a personal level. However, I am a relatively competitive gamer, and I have said some shit in the games I’ve played, and I’ve had some shit said back to me, so I’ve developed a relatively thick skin.
People will develop opinions basde off hearsay, and that’s fine. The game will speak for itself.
Duel 9 shows Peon switching to the Cleric to try and heal some of the pain from the last few losses, but to no avail. Winner is Steven.
Score: Peon 3 - 6 Steven
Q10: What are you most excited for the community to see from Ashes of Creation in 2025?
A10:
Steven: I am excited to see the Monster Coin system, where players can inhabit NPCs and can interact with other players during those events as those NPCs. Players can progress within the Monster Coin system and unlock abilities and even cosmetics. Coins will drop from events, and have different rarities as well.
Another thing I’m looking forward to is Node Sieges. With the acquisition of Relics being housed within nodes, and other nodes wanting to take the relics that are scarce in commodity from other nodes will create interesting political divide within servers that’s unique to each server.
While the siege functionality will be coming at the end of March, Node Destruction won’t come for another month or so, which is where there is a sort of ruin phase that’s open PvP and people can try and find loot predicated on the node’s wearhouses and accomplishments.
Final Duel turned into a war of attrition, with Peon’s Cleric attempting to outheal Steven’s Mage until his mana depleted, but a timely Lightning Ball ended up sealing the deal.
Final Score: Peon 3 - 7 Steven
Interview Conclusion and Peon Combat Breakdown Teaser
The interview reached it’s conclusion with some promises of Muay Thai lessons in San Diego from Peon as payback for the loss in the duel. Peon also teased an upcoming video where he got the opportunity to test all the existing archetypes at max level, so look forward to that on Peon’s channel.
Hope you enjoyed this breakdown! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Ashes Moments Newsletter for more content, and check out our latest Top Ashes Moments Episode that dropped earlier this week! Follow me on twitter @AshesMomentsYT for community news, events, drama, leaks, and more. I’m your Host Ily. Take it easy.