Ashes of Creation Alpha Two Phase Three is officially live, but that doesn’t mean the updates stopped! The next major milestone Intrepid Studios is working towards is known as the “Harbingers – Engines of Chaos” update, which is expected to be released on November 18, 2025.
What Changes are Coming with the Harbinger Update?
This upcoming update has a wide range of new content coming to the game, including the following:
- Official launch of the Summoner archetype (currently available on the PTR)
- Introduction of the new “Harbinger” system
- Open-sea fishing (with Sport Fishing)
- New Ren’Kai race
- New world bosses
- Addition of mules (support the new crate system)
- Quality of life updates (zones, lighting, performance, etc.)
- And more!
What’s the New “Harbinger” System?
The new “Harbinger” system in Ashes of Creation is a display of how the powerful ancients can harm the world of Verra! This new system introduces a handful of new PvE and PvP objectives, where the failure in some of these challenges will actually result with a negative impact of certain regions.
The new Harbinger system is also considered to be a form of replayable and varied content, providing a unique twist to new activities you can do throughout Verra.
The Harbinger event itself is triggered once a specific region meets a certain threshold of corruption. A region gains corruption over time through the following activities:
- Players killing other players
- Settlement buildings getting constructed
- Settlements level-up
- World bosses killed
- New crafts completed
- Wars and sieges initiated
- Corrupted elites reaching the portal inside the Harbinger
As you can tell, whether you like it or not, the Ancients or coming! Luckily, the playerbase can somewhat impact how quickly these events may or may not get triggered. Once it happens though, they must consider joining forces with their fellow Verrans to take down the Ancients!
The image below highlights the Harbinger system in more detail, including what triggers the events, and what happens if certain events aren’t completed!
How to Play Ashes of Creation
If you are interested in joining in on the fun and playing Ashes of Creation, then create an account here and visit the “shop” section of the Ashes of Creation website to purchase your key. Upon purchase, you will receive access to play the rest of Alpha Two, along with a key for Beta 1 and Beta 2. Additionally, you will receive your one month of gameplay for Ashes of Creation upon launch, and $15 worth of embers (in-game marketplace credits).
