Villages

Node at village stage.

A village is the third stage of node advancement.

Node advancement

Illustration of node advancement from Expedition (stage 1) to Metropolis (stage 6).

Citizen and non-citizen player activity (questing, gathering, raiding, etc.) within a node's ZOI counts toward that particular node’s advancement (progression). There are six stages of node advancement.

1. Expedition (Few hours)
2. Encampment (Many hours)
3. Village (Few days)
4. Town (Many days)
5. City (Few weeks)
6. Metropolis (Many weeks)

Conceptual illustration. Nodes that are in the ZOI of more advanced nodes have their progression capped by the more advanced node.

The advancement of a node unlocks its unique content, which comes at the cost of locking out an increasing ring of neighboring nodes from progressing to the next stage.

• Nodes advance to the first stage quickly. This enables NPC services such as vending or banking items.
• The more advanced the node is, the larger its ZOI becomes.
• Less advanced nodes (referred to as vassal nodes) that fall within a more advanced node's ZOI can still gain XP, but must remain at a lower advancement stage than the dominant node.
• A node does not receive XP from the nodes within its ZOI until these nodes have reached their cap.
• Players are moved to safety if they intersect with newly spawned assets during node advancement.
• Citizens of one node can contribute to the advancement of other nodes.
• The exact percentage of advancement from obtaining items or killing monsters is not going to be explicitly known to avoid "gaming" the system.

Different people have different resources invested in nodes progressing and it would be a little "gamey" if you could know exactly what was necessary at that point because that would disincentivize people from participating. – Steven Sharif

Buildings

Pre-alpha Aela (human) housing by Michael Bacon.

Buildings that offer goods and services, as well as purchasable housing are created when a node reaches village stage.

Player housing

Player housing	Type.	Availability.	Limit.
Apartments	Instanced.	Town stage and higher.	One per server.
Freeholds	Open world.	Village stage and higher.	One per account.
Static housing	In-node.	Village stage and higher.	One per server.

Real estate

Players buy the deeds for housing from the node itself. Players can also buy and sell properties from other players.

• In-node housing will be at a premium, and is expected to be hotly contested.

• The more apartments that have been purchased in a node, the higher the price scales.

Housing benefits

Player housing offers a number of benefits:

• Ability to claim citizenship to a Node.
• Prized items can be displayed within a house.
• Houses can be used to carry out crafting.
• Social activities.
• Houses provide an amount of storage.
• Achievements and trophies may be displayed.
• May provide proximity based bonuses.

Caravans

Caravans facilitate the transfer of goods for players wishing to turn a profit.

The caravan system is an open world PvP system that revolves around opportunity and risk. Caravans facilitate the transfer of goods for players wishing to turn a profit.

• Caravans are for transfer of personal goods and quests as well as supplies for castles and nodes.

• Caravans may only be sent from or arrive at village nodes or above.

• Caravans can transport goods for more than one player.

• The PvP flagging system does not apply to caravans.

Node sieges

Node sieges (Pre-alpha footage).

Node sieges enable players to delevel a node (reverse its advancement) and to ultimately destroy that node entirely. This paves the way for new development and access to the locked content in surrounding nodes. Due to this dynamic, political strife and intrigue play an important role in the structure of the world.

Sieging nodes will not be an easy task for the attackers. Cities and metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage. Automatic PvE sieges may be initiated against nodes that are not continuously active.

If you own a home in a node and you don't want to see that home destroyed, you need to defend that city! – Steven Sharif

Monster coin events

Legion monster coin events are common events that occur for Nodes up to the Village stage. This might include a horde of zombies rolling across the countryside finding something or someone to feast on. Players who wish to keep their advancements will need to be vigilant.

Elite monster coin events occur for nodes that exist between the Village and Metropolis stages. This level of event would include something along the lines of a dungeon level bosses and mobs coming into the world to pillage and destroy specific centers of activity.

Artwork

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See also

• Node advancement
• Buildings
• Player housing
• Node sieges