Steven Sharif Interview Breakdown: Ashes of Creation Insights

Everything Steven Sharif said about Ashes of Creation in last interview.

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📖 Lore & Origins

Worldbuilding inspiration

• Started from a Pathfinder homebrew campaign after being inspired by a Warhammer fantasy campaign that deviated from canon.
• First town was Marosme, launching point to explore ruins of Vandagar.
• Star Trek: DS9 influenced the meta-narrative structure (as opposed to episodic TNG).

Lore connections

• Some Ashes lore has “Easter eggs” inspired by DS9.
• Skeletons exist because they were “creatures not granted the blessing of Ira.”

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⚙️ Economy & Crafting

Gear progression

• Gear is grouped into grades tied to level ranges (Initiate 1–10, Adept 11–20, Radiant 21–30, etc.).
• Each grade has low/mid/high tiers with stats and bonuses scaling up.
• Low-tier = drops, quests, vendor gear (“candy”).
• Mid & high-tier gear = crafted by artisans, requiring recipes and rare materials.

Dichotomy of play

• Adventurers → provide materials and basic drops.
• Crafters → produce the best items (mid/high-tier).
• Nodes/buildings unlock crafting stations needed for advanced gear.

Recipe experimentation

• Planned system where using different material compositions (more/less resources, alternative materials) can unlock variants (e.g., a magical version of a sword).
• Crafting/processing location may also affect results.

Economy team

• Currently balancing spawn rates, drop rarity, and recipe requirements.
• Actively hiring a Principal Economy Designer to set high-level goals and ensure MMO-wide interconnection.

Current focus

• Fixing early-tier crafting (novice/initiates felt too grindy).
• Balancing quantities, spawn rates, and recipe requirements.

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🌍 World Systems

Nodes & settlements

• Serve as checkpoints for progression.
• Advancement unlocks vendors, reagents, crafting stations.
• Act as soft/hard gates for pacing.

Atrophy events

• PvE events that hit inactive nodes → monsters attack, disable buildings, force player defense.

Relics

• Can trigger large-scale changes (e.g., permanent winter affecting harvests, spawning bosses/dungeons).

Lawless zones & corruption

• Harbingers: Corruption tendrils invade the world, creating PvX objectives.
• PvE players clearing corruption reduces lawless PvP zones.

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⚔️ PvP, PvE & Risk/Reward

PvP design

• PvP and economy both rely on risk/reward.
• PvP shouldn’t always dominate → PvE events also bring risks.

PvE risks

• Node atrophy events, Harbingers, relic events create danger.
• PvE can disrupt PvP, e.g., PvE objectives tied to corruption zones.

Scaling encounters

• PvE events may scale by player numbers/difficulty.

PvP leaderboards

• Seasonal rankings planned to encourage competition.

No donkey-cart mounts

• But mules exist for transport.

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🎣 Gathering & Fishing

Sports fishing revamp

• Will overhaul fishing into open sea sport-fishing.
• Caught fish go into visual crates with physics (bits hanging off).

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🏡 Housing & Roleplay

Housing decoration

• Players will get granular control (rotate, height adjust, stack).
• Initial system = simple modular → later, more flexible.
• Goal = player creativity (e.g., turning furniture into custom designs).

Roleplay features

• Planned backstory system (visible if player opts in).
• RP profiles, icons, emote macros tied to abilities (like WoW).

Guild UI

• Possible pre-made insignia/icons for ranks.
• Full custom images unlikely (would clutter UI).
• Ships & nameplates will support custom insignia.

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🏹 Classes & Combat

Augments

• Adventure archetypes get augments.
• Artisan augments not planned (though tech exists).

Class fantasy

• Steven values balanced party comps.
• Likes pushing groups to attempt content they “shouldn’t be able to do.”

PvP/PvE balance

• Mage detection of stealth is not just Steven “hating rogues” (though he admits he dislikes being killed by them).

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📦 Expansions & Content Roadmap

Future expansions

• Core launch story is set.
• First updates planned.
• Later arcs depend on community engagement.
• No rigid roadmap → backlog of ideas.

Upcoming milestones (November 2025)

• Harbinger corruption events.
• Sports fishing revamp.
• Summoner class updates.
• Possible Dungeon System (DS) if ready.

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🏪 Taverns & Immersion

Tavern systems

• Narrative objectives (e.g., tavern keeper cleans floors after X visitors).
• Long-term polish: muddy boots affect floors.
• Focus on environmental storytelling & interactables.

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👥 Community & Development Approach

Open development

• Community feedback heavily influences design.
• Transparency is double-edged: subject to change.
• Reminder: don’t expect 1:1 delivery from early roadmaps (e.g., Kickstarter 2017).

Core philosophy

• MMO is about history, reputation, and player-created stories — not just rushing endgame.