# The Anvils: Dunir Nightmare in Ashes of Creation Alpha Two  

Players settling in the **Anvils region** of *Ashes of Creation Alpha Two* — especially the Dunir Alliance — are sounding alarms. On Discord, testers describe the Anvils as a **nightmarish experience compared to the Riverlands**, with broken systems, missing NPCs, poor resource distribution, and relentless mobs making day-to-day gameplay frustrating.  

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## Lack of Points of Interest (POIs)  

One of the biggest complaints is that the Anvils simply **lack major activities and POIs**.  
- Zones like Riverlands offer clear hubs and variety.  
- By contrast, Anvil nodes feel barren, with **few reasons to explore or stay local**.  
- Mob levels are scattered randomly between 5 and 12 with no logical progression.  

As one tester put it:  
> “Nodes in a starting region should have points of interest and activities for every level range.”  

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## Crafting and Profession Roadblocks  

The **crafting ecosystem** in the Anvils is severely underdeveloped compared to other regions.  

- **Stations are too far away.** Unlike the centrally located Riverlands stations, the Anvils have stations placed awkwardly at Vhalgadim and Kal Torhum. This makes crate delivery and crafting far more difficult.  
- **Missing certification NPCs.** Without profession trainers at Hammerrest or Bonefire, Dunir artisans must **travel to the Riverlands** just to advance their professions at levels 10 and 20.  
- **Bugged recipes.** Some Anvil-specific recipes don’t work or are tied to the wrong items.  
- **Lack of materials.** Essential resources like **oak, grems, and weeping willow** are absent, forcing players to farm in other zones.  
- **Commission issues.** Both artisan and adventure commissions often fail to trigger or request resources that don’t exist in the region.  

> “We are in the dwarf zone, home of craftsmanship and artisan excellence… but don’t forget to go to the Riverlands to get mats!”  

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## Resource Imbalance  

Players note a fundamental imbalance in resources available in the Anvils:  

- **Missing T2/T3 resources.** Stone and herb progression is particularly weak despite the Anvils being a mountainous biome.  
- **Buy orders mismatch.** Mayors can post buy orders for resources that don’t even spawn locally, leading to absurd situations.  
- **Vendor price bugs.** Some T2 gatherables sell at T1 prices, making progression pointless.  
- **No Zha’Kara.** Several testers noted they’ve *never* seen this supposed Anvils-specific material spawn.  

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## Mobs Everywhere: The Hawk & Raven Crisis  

If you’re Dunir, chances are you’re **haunted by birds**.  

- **Hawks and ravens spawn too aggressively**, aggroing players constantly and making travel almost impossible.  
- Compared to Riverlands, where roads are mostly safe, **Anvils roads are swarmed**. Entering settlements like Vhalgadim is particularly dangerous, with mobs clustering near gates.  
- Testers joke about “bird nightmares,” but the frustration is real — crafting, gathering, and simple travel are disrupted constantly.  

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## Player Experience: “Hard Mode” Testing  

Feedback highlights that Anvils testers feel like **second-class citizens** compared to Riverlands players.  

- **Leveling 20+ content is absent.** Players are forced to run to Riverlands for higher-level progression.  
- **Unfinished zones.** Areas like northern Vhalgadim are nearly empty, with placeholders instead of resources.  
- **Settlement access is punishing.** Low-level characters often die just trying to walk into a town.  

One player summed it up bluntly:  
> “Anvils being ‘not as polished’ as Riverlands was the understatement of the century. They should have said: Anvils will not be functional.”  

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## What Players Want  

Testers don’t necessarily want a massive overhaul tomorrow. Instead, they’re asking for **incremental fixes**:  

- Weekly quality-of-life patches to add missing NPCs and fix recipes.  
- Adjusted mob density and placement, especially for hawks/ravens.  
- Balancing resource availability so Anvils players aren’t forced into Riverlands.  
- Additional POIs or small dungeons to make the zone engaging.  
- Transparency: a clear message from Intrepid acknowledging the state of Anvils and promising attention.  

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## Why This Matters  

The Anvils region represents the **Dunir homeland** — a starting area meant to showcase dwarven craftsmanship and culture. Instead, it’s become known as the **“Dunir nightmare,”** where testers feel abandoned and misled.  

If Intrepid performs a wipe in November **without addressing Anvils**, players warn that *“you will lose a lot of Dunir testers.”*  

For a game that prides itself on **node diversity and fairness**, ensuring starting regions like the Anvils are functional and balanced is critical. Otherwise, Dunir testers risk becoming frustrated enough to quit entirely.  

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## Conclusion  

The message from the community is clear: **“We don’t need a giant love patch — we need signs of life.”**  

Small, steady fixes — new NPCs, balanced resources, mob tuning, and communication — would go a long way in reassuring the Dunir Alliance and Anvils testers that they aren’t forgotten.  

Until then, life in the Anvils will remain what many are calling the **true nightmare of Alpha Two Phase 3**.