Alpha 2 Update 0.18.3 at a glance

Ashes of Creation Alpha 2 Update 0.18.3 is a “polish patch” that still meaningfully changes how the game feels minute-to-minute. The headline items are Summoner stability and pet-control fixes, PvP flagging cleanup after the Harbinger event, and a long list of quest and economy adjustments that reduce early-game friction. If you’ve been dealing with pet jank, broken objectives, or confusing commission and buy-order behavior, this update is designed to make those systems more reliable.

Character and PvP fixes that directly affect daily play

Level reset on login resolved

A severe issue that could cause characters to log back in as level one has been fixed. The problem reportedly hit players who were tracking many commissions, so if you’re active in commission systems, this is one of the most important stability fixes in the patch.

Harbinger event PvP flagging now clears correctly

Players could become stuck permanently flagged for PvP after leaving the Harbinger event area. Update 0.18.3 resolves this so your PvP flag properly clears when you exit. This matters for anyone trying to return to gathering, questing, or settlement activity without unintentionally remaining attackable.

Ranger and Rogue interaction cleanups

• Ranger: A visual issue where bows could remain stuck animating after Barrage or Salvo has been fixed.
• Rogue: Rogues now correctly exit stealth when interacting with harvestables. Additionally, if you attempt to interact with objects while entering stealth, the interaction will be interrupted. This closes an unintended “stealth harvesting” edge case and makes interaction rules more consistent.

Summoner: the biggest winner of 0.18.3

If you play Summoner, 0.18.3 is primarily about making pets stable, responsive, and predictable. Many of these changes won’t look dramatic on a bullet list, but they remove the small failures that compound into constant friction during combat, travel, and group play.

Stability improvements: fewer freezes and crashes while summoning

The patch includes improvements to freezes and crashes related to summoning pets. In an alpha environment, stability is gameplay, and this is one of the most impactful quality-of-life gains for Summoners and anyone grouping with them.

More flexible pet ability usage

• Hovercast support: Pet abilities can now be hovercast, improving usability and reducing misfires.
• Spot-casting without target swapping: You can cast pet abilities on other targets without changing the pet’s current target. This should make multi-target situations smoother, especially when you want to keep pressure on a primary target while reacting to a secondary threat.

Commands and assist behavior feel more consistent

Pets will no longer register damage-over-time ticks as an “assist event.” This improves how responsive follow and move to commands feel while in assist mode, because the pet is less likely to behave as if it’s constantly being pulled back into an assist state by incidental DoT damage.

• Sic works on mounts and vehicles: The sic command now correctly functions with mounts and vehicles.
• Extract Vessel ownership: Extract Vessel will now only work on your own pet, removing odd edge cases and reducing unintended interactions.

Summon reliability and hotbar behavior cleaned up

Multiple issues have been addressed where pets could fail to summon in certain locations, disappear unexpectedly, fail to update hotbars correctly, or overwrite pet skills when swapping slots. These are the kinds of problems that can make a class feel “untrustworthy,” so getting them under control is a major step toward Summoner being a dependable pick.

Combat presentation and targeting fixes

• Death animation: Pets now properly play their death animation instead of instantly vanishing, improving readability in hectic fights.
• AOE targeting: AOE targeting has been fixed so pets no longer bypass AOE settings.
• Dual targeting: Dual targeting now works correctly, which should reduce situations where a pet seems to ignore intended targeting logic.
• Mystic pet healing: Mystic pets will no longer heal themselves instead of the player, correcting a particularly painful bug for survivability and support play.

Smoother movement

Summoner pet movement has been smoothed out significantly. This tends to show up in fewer pathing hiccups, less stutter when repositioning, and a more natural feel when issuing rapid commands during combat.

Caravans: joining works and PvE threats matter more

Attacker/defender participation fixed

Players can now correctly join caravan events as attackers or defenders. This is foundational for testing caravan gameplay loops, since participation bugs can invalidate the entire feature’s risk-versus-reward balance.

Caravan driver defense buff adjusted

The caravan driver defense buff has been changed so it only reduces damage from player characters. NPC enemies will now deal full damage to caravan drivers, which should make PvE threats more meaningful during caravan runs and reduce the sense that only player ambushes are dangerous.

Duels: combat-state blockers removed

Issues preventing duels from starting have been fixed, including a bug that incorrectly reported you were still in combat when you weren’t. This should make dueling a more reliable way to test builds, timing, and ability interactions without unnecessary setup friction.

Questing and early progression: less breakage, less grind

A large portion of 0.18.3 focuses on quest flow. The theme is consistency: fewer stalled events, fewer unclear objectives, and fewer “why didn’t that count?” moments.

• Crate delivery quests: These will no longer break if someone relogs mid-quest. If the situation occurs, the quest should reset cleanly rather than remaining stuck.
• Crafting quest map markers: Several crafting-related quests now have proper map markers, reducing confusion for early crafting progression.

Lawless PvP events tuned

Lawless PvP events were triggering far too often. The patch corrects this, which should reduce disruption for players focusing on PvE progression and gathering routes.

Mayoral commissions and item turn-in conflicts fixed

Mayoral commissions had level issues and item turn-in conflicts. These have been cleaned up so items won’t “double lock” across commissions, making it easier to manage your commission list without accidentally blocking your own progress.

Buy orders across regions corrected

Buy orders across multiple regions have been fixed, including missing orders, duplicated listings, and orders that couldn’t be completed. This is a big deal for anyone participating in the economy loop, since broken listings can distort pricing signals and waste player time.

Broad quest tuning: faster, clearer, less repetitive

Many specific quests were adjusted with a familiar set of improvements: increased drop rates, reduced enemy counts, lowered respawn timers, expanded objective radiuses, and removal of unnecessary repeat kills. Events such as Ankle Biters and Grave Robbers will no longer stall or mismark enemies, which should reduce the number of “dead” event chains that force players to abandon and restart.

Settlements and world presentation updates

Trade bureau construction cost corrected

The trade bureau construction cost has been corrected, which should help align settlement planning with intended resource requirements.

Visual cleanup for roads and settlements

Roads and settlements received visual cleanup so they appear more consistent and less cluttered. While cosmetic, this matters for navigation clarity and overall world readability.

Economy, gathering, and itemization changes

Mining resinite stone now has a 25% chance to proc Zakara gems or Bagindo metal. This adds a meaningful “bonus roll” to a gathering activity and can influence route planning if these materials become bottlenecks for crafting or trade.

Recipe tooltips: known status displayed

Recipe tooltips now clearly show when a recipe is already known. It’s a small change, but it reduces inventory and crafting menu friction, especially when you’re sorting through large lists of recipes.

Mounts, respawns, guild UI, and other quality-of-life fixes

Mount fixes

• Mounts can now properly regenerate HP.
• Low-resolution mount visuals have been fixed.

Enemy respawns restored

Enemy respawns across Vera are working again, addressing reports of unusually empty zones that could disrupt leveling, quest completion, and resource farming loops.

Guild UI cleanup

Guild UI bugs have been resolved so you won’t see guild info for guilds you’ve already left. This helps keep social tools accurate and reduces confusion when managing invites, applications, or roster checks.

Cosmetics and early mailbox access

• Cosmetics will no longer disappear when carrying crates.
• A mailbox was added to Samia’s Hope for easier early access to cosmetics-related functionality.

Rowboat fixes

• No more duplicate boats after logout.
• Rowboats can’t be traded while summoned.
• They now despawn properly when you move too far away.

Harbinger weapon rename and rules

The Harbinger Void Blade has been renamed to the Hourglass Remnant, is now unrepairable, and includes proper lore. If you track items by name or rely on repair loops, note the new behavior and naming.

Lighting transitions at dawn and dusk were improved to reduce harsh flashes and overly dark moments. Collision issues, incorrect notifications, and error messaging across the world have also been cleaned up, contributing to a more consistent play experience.

What to prioritize after installing 0.18.3

• Summoners: Re-test pet hotbars, assist behavior, AOE targeting settings, and any rotation that relies on spot-casting pet abilities.
• Caravan players: Verify joining as attacker/defender works reliably and re-evaluate PvE threat during runs now that NPCs hit drivers at full damage.
• Early progression: Revisit previously annoying quests, especially delivery and crafting tasks, and watch for smoother event completion.
• Economy-focused players: Consider resinite routes if Zakara gems or Bagindo metal become valuable crafting inputs.

FAQ

Is Ashes of Creation Alpha 2 Update 0.18.3 mostly balance changes or bug fixes?

It’s primarily stability and quality-of-life, with the biggest practical impact landing on Summoner pet reliability, quest flow, and PvP flagging behavior.

What’s the single most important Summoner change in 0.18.3?

The combination of fewer summon-related freezes/crashes and improved pet ability control (hovercast and spot-casting without swapping targets) will be the most noticeable in everyday combat.

Why does the caravan driver defense buff change matter?

Because NPC enemies now deal full damage to drivers, PvE threats during caravan runs should feel more dangerous, which can change how you plan escorts and routes.

Are early quests actually faster now?

Many were tuned with higher drop rates, fewer required kills, and larger objective radiuses, so the overall pacing should be less grindy and less prone to stalling.

What happened to the Harbinger Void Blade?

It was renamed to the Hourglass Remnant, made unrepairable, and updated with proper lore, so expect different long-term upkeep and clearer item identity.