Resources

Gatherable mushrooms found in an underground cave.

Gatherable resources (also known as raw materials and harvestables) occur in locations where you would expect them to be organically.

• Some resources will be one-time gatherables that will randomly respawn at a different location once collected.
• Other resources will exist as a cluster (also called vein gatherables). These will last until the full resource is depleted.

  Like a large mine that's present and has a vein of mithril ore in it, or a herd of some type of animal that you can collect fur or wool from. – Steven Sharif

  • There will be moving resources such as herds of animals that are constantly moving around the world.
  • Once a resource is depleted from one location it may respawn in the same location or somewhere else, depending on the type of resource.
  • Resources respawn on a cooldown basis.
• Resources won't be locked to the node system.
• Some unique resources may be monsters in disguise or have monsters defending them.

We want our players to have a reason to explore the wilderness, to travel with purpose, and much of that will be driven by our resource system. Transporting these goods might just be more difficult than gathering them. Our regional market system allows players to participate in creating pocket economies that will reinforce the stability of goods in particular regions.

We really want resources to be persistent and non-renewable. If there’s a mithril vein, that mithril vein will be there until it runs out. The server will manage these amounts on its own, and will repopulate things where and when it desires. You might find another mithril vein in that location sometime later, or somewhere nearby, or maybe never again!

Players drop resources and other items upon death, based on their applicable death penalties.

Raw materials (gatherable resources) are not to be confused with crafting materials (processed goods).

Loot tables

Alpha-1 dungeon concept by Michael Bacon.

Monsters drop hunting certificates, Items and crafting materials rather than gold.

• Hunting certificates is a term that covers items, such as Pelts that house the value of a mob's death. These certificates are specific to an economic region.

A wolf is not going to be carrying a sack of gold. It may instead drop "pelts" that can be traded for gold.

• Hunting certificates will also drop on a character's death.
• Hunting certificates can be traded with hunter NPCs within nodes.
  • The level of the node and the distance of the node from the drop will determine the value of the certificate. Certificates redeemed from distant economic regions via the caravan system will provide higher returns (4 to 5 times greater in some cases) than certificates collected from the same region.
  • The value of the certificates are also calculated (by the world manager algorithm) based on the volume of certificates being redeemed in each region.
• Hunting certificates can also be stored within node warehouses.

Loot tables of world bosses or dungeon bosses have a small RNG chance of dropping gear (completed items).

• There is a much higher chance that materials and unique recipes are dropped that can be used to craft items of equitable value.
• There is a small RNG chance of looting rare and legendary items or crafting materials from mobs based on the level, status and type of mob. This also applies to harvesting resources with a gathering profession.
• Legendary equipment is only dropped by Legendary world bosses.
• Stats on dropped items will vary based on the rarity of the item.

Loot tables are disabled for player controlled monsters.

Experience debt decreases the drop rate percentages from monsters.

Players drop hunting certificates and other items upon death, based on their applicable death penalties.

Resource quality

Flanggler (Flower angler or Mimic flower).

Resources will have differing levels of quality for the same resource type. This is somewhat similar to Star Wars Galaxies.

• Gatherers who are more advanced in their artisan tree will unlock higher level harvesting tools that have a greater chance of collecting higher quality resources or proccing a greater quantity.

You will have an opportunity to proc certain qualities based on your progression in the Artisan tree. So if you are a gatherer; and as you advance in your gathering, you'll have a higher opportunity to collect better resources. – Steven Sharif

Resource extractors

Resource extractors are potential constructions that can collect resources over time.

• Available to node citizens who own a freehold near a "resource center".
• Requires several people to construct.
• Moving resources from the extractor will likely require a caravan.

List of resources

• Chickens
• Cows
• Crops
• Eggs
• Fish
• Foliage
• Herbs
• Livestock
• Lumber
• Milk
• Mushrooms
• Ore
• Potatoes
• Wheat

Gathering

Alpha-1 gathering.

Gathering in the Alpha-1 early preview.

Gathering is one of the artisan classes in Ashes of Creation.

• Gatherable resources are discovered by trial-and-error and by learning their visuals.
• Gathering requires the creation and use of tools.
• Gathering within a node's Zone of influence (ZOI) will contribute to its experience growth.
• Certain low level gatherables will have a tiered progression into higher level crafting.

Certain low level gatherables will have a tiered progression into higher level crafting. So for example you know if I'm gathering... leaves of the blue petal flower to craft a pigment that's going to be used in the development of a tunic that I can wear at level one, then I may need to collect those in order to craft the pigments to craft a greater pigment that might be present in the in the crafting of a higher level item. So it's going to be kind of a tiered progression so that materials have relevancy throughout the different levels of of crafting; and that's important from an economic stability standpoint. You need to have layered demand from a supply standpoint so that players who are interested in collecting and gathering those materials still are relevant when the later level items are crafted. – Steven Sharif

Gathering professions

• Farming
• Fishing
• Herbalism
• Lumberjacking
• Mining
• Taming

Seasonal resources

Seasons affect the crops (resources) available for planting as well as how crop rotation is managed.

Underrealm resources

Resources will be different in the Underrealm.

• This will affect Farming and Animal husbandry professions.
• Since players may only have one Freehold, they must choose their Artisan specializations accordingly if they wish to place it in the Underrealm.

Resource locations

Verra will not be randomly generated, but the starting resource points may be different on each server.

Alpha-1 mine shaft.

Players will be able to move resources and set up shop in other areas to take advantage of the varied markets. With resources spawning dynamically, certain regions will naturally become important trading hubs for the transportation of goods throughout the world.

World manager

The World manager is an algorithm in Ashes of Creation that controls dynamic world elements. It acts as both a throttle and an incentive system for various activities to ensure certain parameters are within acceptable thresholds.

• Prices of hunting certificates.
• A heatmap of experience being gained to apply to node advancement.
  • The territory expansion algorithm takes into account the nearest coast, neighboring nodes, and the heatmap of players in surrounding areas over the last weeks or month.
  • Due to the way the progression algorithm calculates territorial (ZOI) expansion during node advancement, there is a small possibility that two nodes of the same stage end up being close to each other.
• Transit of resources and goods between regions to drive quest rewards for nodes.

For example if you know iron is being used as a raw resource for a specific crafting path that might drive up the price of mithril or silver; and that will incentivize the market to course correct a little bit. The idea is to provide soft incentives that help to alleviate the demand and also to prop up the supply that might not be present from the economic systems. – Steven Sharif

Castle regions

Castles have direct power over the Nodes that belong to it, but also have soft power across the entire region it belongs to. All Nodes belonging to that region pay fealty to the Castle in the form of taxes paid directly to the Castle. The Monarch sets the rate, and can use those proceeds to upgrade defenses, maintain the Castle’s direct Nodes, or provide buffs and benefits to the citizens of that region, as the magnanimous ruler that you are.

Guild castles influence a castle region around them.

• A castle's region is 1/5th the game world.
• Castle regions, Economic regions, and Node ZOI (Zones of Influence) can overlap.
  • A castle could have a metropolis beside it.
• Castle region boundaries are static.

Guild castles impose a tax on all revenue for the nodes within its region.

• Castle taxes are carried via NPC generated caravans from the nodes that fall under the castle's purview to one of the castle nodes at the end of each week leading up to a castle siege.
• In addition to taxes, Castles also influence crop yields, resources and events within its region.
• Part of the tax and resources gathered are applied to the castle for improvements.
• The remainder of tax income can be used by the guild for whatever they want.
• When castles change hands (following a siege), some taxes stay with the castle and some stay with the guild.

Processing

Furnace that can be placed on a freehold.

Processing is one of the artisan classes in Ashes of Creation.

• Processing involves the refining of raw materials obtained from gathering and item deconstruction.
• The bulk of the time spent in the artisan system resides in the processing branch. The processing time varies based on the quality of the processed goods.

• Blueprints are required for the construction of the feehold buildings that are used to process resources.
  • The amount of goods that can be processed while unattended by the player is based on the rating of that particular processing station.
  • The time spent processing can be reduced by upgrading the capabilities and quality of the processing station via a progression tier system.

That's going to be very important as you get to very late game processed materials that are required. Because some of these things might have days to process within a station, but if you have spent the time and done the work to advance that processing station you could cut that down considerably, perhaps even greater than 50 percent; and that's going to have a significant impact on your ability to either control markets or to create goods. – Steven Sharif

Materials

Materials (also known as processed goods and crafting materials) are obtained in the following ways:

• Processing raw materials.
• World boss drops.
• Item deconstruction.

The quality of crafting materials will influence the quality of the crafted item.

Players drop materials and other items upon death, based on their applicable death penalties.

Crafting materials are not to be confused with raw materials (gatherable resources).

High-level materials

Materials for crafting high-level items are obtained from world bosses and through the deconstruction of other high-level items.

Many end level items with crafting will require mats from world bosses etc. we want those systems intertwined. However. There may be opportunities to deconstruct high level items and replace those needed materials as well. We will be testing the crafting trees in alpha and beta. – Steven Sharif

Crafting

Alpha-1 Forge concept art.

Crafting and gathering is a very important component of the economy that players will have direct control over. Whether you wish to build a sprawling plantation around your house, or wish to travel the vast wilderness in search of treasure and resources. There are many tools available to the crafters of our world. Regardless of how you gather your resources, we believe that every item that exists in the world should in some way reflect its creator. As such, there will be extreme versatility in our crafting system – giving crafters the ability to create unique items that represent their strengths and weaknesses.

Crafting is one of the artisan classes in Ashes of Creation. It is a driving force for the game economy.

• Crafting requires the acquisition of recipes in order to craft items.
• Crafting stations are located on freeholds or within nodes.
  • Higher tier crafting stations are unlocked with node progression.
• There will be gear that boosts artisans in gathering or crafting stronger items.
• Crafting times may vary between professions but the bulk of the time spent in the artisan system resides in the processing branch.

Anything that you want to bring into existence in the world is going to be built by players: Whether that is Ships, Siege engines, Weapons, Armor, etc. – Jeffrey Bard

There will not be a labor or energy system in Ashes of Creation.

There is no labor or energy system in Ashes. However, that's not to say that crafting will not be difficult. Crafting is very difficult; but it is because it is difficult that it will be very rewarding as well. – Steven Sharif

Recipes

Crafting in Ashes of Creation is recipe based, not RNG based.

• Recipes that are obtained must be committed to a player's recipe book prior to that recipe being able to be used for crafting. This "consumes" the recipe.
  • Recipes can be traded or sold prior to them being committed into a player's recipe book.

• Within a crafting recipe, there are dials (based on artisan specialization) that are used customize crafted items, such as:
  • Increasing one stat at the expense of another.
  • Making an item more magical versus more physical.

• Crafting does not have mixing and matching (of arbitrary materials) in the manner of animal husbandry.

I think Star Wars Galaxies had a great crafting system... The resource gathering and the crafting system altogether as a whole really was I think way beyond its time. That's kind of the direction we want to go, where there's choices to be made in the crafting system and those choices change what you end up with... It's not just about doing X recipe to get Y item. You know, there's actually thought involved in it and there is you know a market to be captured based on those decisions. – Jeffrey Bard

Crafted items

Crafted items will be on par with best in slot items.

• Highest tier items will be a combo of both crafted and boss dropped.
• Crafters will be able to assign different skills/abilities and stats on gear.
  • Master crafters will be able to influence several (but not all) stats on their crafted items.
• The rarity of the items will be commensurate with the effort required to gather, process and craft the items.
  • Stats on crafted items will vary based on the item's rarity.

That plays into our crafting system in and of itself right. The idea is for those stats to be variables that can be kind of dictated based on the mastery level of the particular crafter; and the higher they become a master of those professions, whether it be for armor or for weapons or for accessories, they're going to have some agency and put their mark on essentially what items they're introducing into the economy. – Steven Sharif

Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items will look like.

• At the moment, harnessing corruption to warp items into demonic or decayed things is not on the cards.
• A crafter's name is embedded in the items they craft.

We believe that every item that exists in the world should in some way reflect its creator. As such, there will be extreme versatility in our crafting system – giving crafters the ability to create unique items that represent their strengths and weaknesses.

Crafting and World Bosses will be the main way to obtain high-level gear. There are some exceptions to this in the form of Legendary items (single server drops or discoveries), and other equipment that may drop wholesale, but we want Artisans and top tier raiding to produce the lion’s share of high level, high effectiveness equipment. – Sarah Flanagan

See also

• Economy
• Crafting
• Gathering
• Farming
• Crops
• Seasons
• Artisan classes