Patron guilds
Whether an organization is the patron of their node means it contributes the most amount of work to the node from its members.[1]
Patron guilds unlock the following benefits for their members.[2]
- Emblems can be applied to guild armor that can be purchased from the node.[2]
- Participation in the node's stock market.[2]
- Ability to participate in specific guild-based missions that will progress the guild's leveling and development.[2]
- Allocation of guild points to unlock specific node abilities for guild members.[2]
- Ability to claim an in-node guild hall. These have different perks and benefits to halls placed on freehold plots.[2]
Any number of guilds can be in a node, but the number of patron guilds within a node is limited by node stage.[3]
- Villages and lower do not have patron guilds.[3]
- Towns can have up to 1 patron guild.[3]
- Cities can have up to 2 patron guilds.[3]
- Metropolises can have up to 3 patron guilds.[3]
Guild halls owned by partron guilds may have the ability to confer benefits to surrounding estates within that node by speccing into passives in their guild skill tree and carrying out a lengthy quest line.[4]
- The stronger the citizens or homeowners of a node, the higher the likelihood you will be able to withstand a siege or compete for scarce resources.[5]
Guild benefits
Guild benefits that are being considered by the developers:[6]
- Gear enhancements.[7]
- Passives.[6]
- Questlines.[6]
- Guild halls.[6]
- Guild castles.[6]
- Guild activities.[6]
- Name of guild displayed next to character name.[8]
- Guild tabards.[8]
- Guild mounts.[8]
- Guild coats.[8]
- Guild barding.[8]
Guild halls

Guildhalls are the ultimate expression of a guild's power! In Ashes these structures will serve as focal points for a guild, offering any guilds who construct them a whole host of benefits as well as customization options.[10]
Guild halls serve as a focal point for a guild, offering a host of benefits and customization options.[10]
- Baronies are parcels of land that are reserved specifically for the freehold and guild hall systems.[11]
- A barony can only have a single guild hall.[11]
- The number of baronies that can have an active guild hall is determined by the node's stage.[12][13]
- Only a limited subset of the guild halls available around the node are available concurrently... So you might only have two that might be available at fifth level and then three at sixth level of a node; and the guilds have an opportunity to select from the six available which three are going to be active.[12] – Steven Sharif
- The design of guild-halls is currently subject to active iteration by the developers.[14]
- Guild halls owned by partron guilds may have the ability to confer benefits to surrounding estates within that node by speccing into passives in their guild skill tree and carrying out a lengthy quest line.[4]
- Guild halls may be placed on guild freeholds or within nodes.[15][16][2]
- In-node guild halls may only be claimed by patron guilds of that node. These have different perks and benefits to halls placed on freehold plots.[2]
- When a guild reaches a certain level, its guild master is granted a guild freehold certificate to enable placement of a guild hall.[15]
- Guild halls are objectives in guild wars.[17]
- Guild halls can only be destroyed by a successful node siege. This contrasts with guild fortresses, which can be sieged in a guild war.[15][17][18]
- A guild hall only houses a single guild.[19]
Guild progression

As you're leveling up the guild and you're getting these points to either allocate towards expanding the guilds member count or allocate towards adding certain passive abilities that your guild members can gain by being guild members. You're also going to see as you're leveling up the guild through different type of quest-based, participation-based, node-based, organization-based systems and ways that those quests hook into the world. You're also going to see perhaps some augment abilities at the upper tiers of the guild levels become unlocked for certain members that have a classification of officer or knight, will have access to those different types of augment abilities that might get unlocked should you go down the non expansive member lane; and the idea there is to offer these benefits to smaller groups.[20] – Steven Sharif
Guild progression occurs through participation in different systems.[20]
Guild progression grants skill points that the guild can allocate to unlock aspects of their skill tree, such as passive skills, augments and membership count.[20][22][23]
- Passive abilities increase certain stats relating to a guild member's ability to perform in combat or in other aspects of the guild, such as the economy.[20]
- Augments may apply at the upper tiers of guild progression.[20]
- Guild members do not need to be citizens of the same node in order to benefit from passive skills and augments.[24]
- Guild size can be traded off for guild progression.[20][25]
- The higher the guild's member cap, the fewer available skill options will be available to that guild.[26]
- Guild alliances may be a key part in creating a larger "guild".[25]
- Guild halls can be unlocked at a certain stage of guild advancement.[22]
- Guilds cannot respec their skill points once allocated. This is subject to testing.[27]
- It's not always going to be combat. You could have an economic focus guild. You could have a trade oriented guild; and there's all sorts of things that you can put together and give your guild its own identity.[20] – Jeffrey Bard
Guild size
Guild size of 300 is currently the maximum cap that can be attained by leveling the guild and selecting the path of size as opposed to the path of guild skills.[26]
- What we're trying to create is an environment where there's a duality between guilds that try to go towards population and then guilds that choose to forego population in exchange for a deeper access to passive skills that the players have access to. Will the meta be for many smaller guilds to co-locate with each other? Yes, I'm sure that will be utilized by some number of smaller guilds in order to try to combat the numbers that other guilds might have access to. I don't think that that's a bad thing. I don't necessarily know if that's a meta either, because it's going to be beneficial for larger guilds to be allied with smaller guilds that might have access to those passive abilities that they don't have access to. So, what I think the meta will actually be is probably a mixture of large guild and small guilds that exist within the alliances so that they can overcome the types of challenges that occur in objective-based gameplay for events, where you need the smaller guild with the passives to overcome the challenge rating, but you also need the numbers from the larger guilds in order to engage with the opponent at the choke points.[28] – Steven Sharif
- Guild size can be traded off for guild progression.[20][25]
- Guild alliances may be a key part in creating a larger "guild".[25]
- Q: What’s the minimum guild size to really have a meaningful impact on the realm?
- A: This is a tough question to answer. Single individuals can have a large impact on the realm without guild support, in the form of mayorships, Artisanship, economic opportunities, etc. We’re also balancing guilds through guild levels, where guilds must choose between size and effectiveness - smaller guilds will have an opportunity to get a leg up through abilities that larger guilds can’t afford to take. At the end of the day, having clear goals and organizational structure will likely matter more than raw numbers.[30] – Sarah Flanagan
There are mechanics that are geared towards larger and smaller guilds.[25]
- Larger guilds can siege fortresses.[25]
- Larger guilds won’t have access to power boosting guild ability slots.[25]
- Small groups can do some things better than larger groups.[25]
- Sieges will have things that smaller groups have an advantage in.[25]
- It's important to note that the 300 is the maximum cap that is attained by leveling the guild and selecting the path of size as opposed to the path of guild skills. So the larger you choose to allow for members to join your guild, increasing that member cap, the less focused and honed the available skill options will be from a guild level up perspective for guild members. So the way that works is it plays as a balance/counterbalance to larger guilds versus smaller more honed and focused guilds. It gives them an equitable edge of participation.[26] – Steven Sharif
- If you have more objective-based combat that revolves around high mobility and agility strong focus, organization I would expect the smaller guild to outperform the larger guild with regards to that. If you're speaking purely a numbers game and they're meeting on the field then I would expect the larger guild to perform in that. The balance comes in our play scenarios. Do we offer solely a field based combat system where you show up with the numbers you have in which case you lean heavily towards zergs or do you implement designs that feature both components of objective based combat that involves organizational rule as opposed to just having that field presence; and we intend to offer both.[26] – Steven Sharif
- There are absolutely guilds out there that have a large following and good organizational leadership and can structure their raids well; and I think those will be the most performing in the game obviously; and that's where then guild sizes come to play creating the opportunity for division in the game to allow for this subterfuge to play a role and politics and stuff like that. But our focus is making a place for smaller guilds to be competitive with larger guilds as well.[31] – Steven Sharif
Guild emblems
The user interface will allow emblems, logos and symbols to be designed in-game.[33][34][35]
- Emblem editor functionality is tentatively planned for Alpha-2.[35]
Stock exchanges (also called Stock markets and Share markets) enable players to buy and sell shares in Nodes, Guilds and Social organizations.[39][40][41]
- Stock exchanges were a Kickstarter stretch goal unlocked for reaching the $3 million dollar mark.[41]
- This is a planned feature for the launch of Ashes of Creation.[39]
- The value of stocks is influenced by world events and the performance of nodes, Social organizations or guilds.[42]
- Hard metrics, such as quest lines, nearby resources, citizen progression, and purchases of local real estate, will determine the value of purchasable shares.[41]
- There is no regulatory commission to restrict the purchase and sale of stocks.[42]
See also
References
- ↑ Podcast, April 23, 2018 (24:47).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Livestream, February 28, 2020 (1:06:51).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Livestream, June 28, 2019 (1:27:23).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
- ↑
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Livestream, May 5, 2017 (31:08).
- ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (14:22).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Livestream, May 22, 2017 (51:00).
- ↑
- ↑ 10.0 10.1
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Blog: Exploring the Boundless Opportunities of Freeholds.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Podcast, July 15, 2023 (6:25).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, June 30, 2023 (1:48:17).
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Interview, April 21, 2019 (45:45).
- ↑ Podcast, August 18, 2018 (1:12:34).
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:54:15).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, May 22, 2017 (56:48).
- ↑ 20.00 20.01 20.02 20.03 20.04 20.05 20.06 20.07 20.08 20.09 20.10 20.11 20.12 Livestream, September 27, 2018 (55:39).
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Livestream, May 19, 2017 (22:10).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Interview, July 19, 2020 (36:07).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, June 26, 2020 (1:31:53).
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 25.6 25.7 25.8 Livestream, May 5, 2017 (23:26).
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 Interview, August 8, 2018 (9:36).
- ↑ Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:11:13).
- ↑ Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:28:14).
- ↑ Livestream, June 28, 2019 (1:25:24).
- ↑ February 8, 2019 - Questions and Answers.
- ↑ Interview, August 8, 2018 (11:52).
- ↑ Livestream, July 30, 2021 (53:15).
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (55:40).
- ↑ 34.0 34.1
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Livestream, October 31, 2018 (47:44).
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Interview, October 20, 2018 (3:35:54).
- ↑ Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:06:39).
- ↑ Livestream, July 29, 2022 (1:06:15).
- ↑ 39.0 39.1
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 Livestream, May 17, 2017 (11:27).
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Interview, October 20, 2018 (5:51).