Markets

Marketplaces are constructed service buildings that are available for placement by mayors of any Town (stage 4) node or higher. These are distinct from a market, which is the unique node building that unlocks at Village (stage 3) of Economic nodes.

• Marketplaces grant certain trade benefits as well as player stalls that the citizens may participate in.

These are buildings that the mayor has agency over determining whether or not they should be a constructed project. Constructible buildings can be selected at open plots that are gained as the as the node advances. If they elect to begin construction of one of these types of buildings- one of which is the marketplace- it'll grant certain trade benefits as well as some stalls that the citizens may participate in. – Steven Sharif

A node's government decides the placement of its marketplace. After that, the community must come together to build it.

Player stalls

Niküan player stall concept art.

If there were ever a cornerstone serving as the bedrock of Niküan trade, then this modest stall would be it. Stacked from floor to thatched roof with all manner of catch, it is prepped for a full day of commerce and trade. Here, haggling is not merely a suggestion, but a requirement.

Alpha-1 player stall 3D renders. 3D model by Adam Will.

Player stalls (also called Kiosks and rental stalls) are rentable locations near the unique building in an Economic node, in Marketplaces (the constructible building available for placement by mayors of any Town (stage 4) node or higher), or as business buildings on freehold plots.

All nodes do have the ability to spawn player stalls. If you're not an economic node and you don't have a market- that's essentially your unique building- then you can construct essentially what is I guess would be called a... marketplace; and that marketplace will then come with certain services and it will come with a certain number of stalls. The economic node as I recall has the ability to construct an auction house and the auction house serves through the economic means the ability to list and sell items and that comes with additional stalls as well for the players. – Steven Sharif

Renting a player stall enables players to sell items as well as provide repair and enchanting services, even when they are not online.

• Player stalls are rentable by node citizens.
  • Player stalls may be utilized for a period of time based on the price paid to rent the stall.
• Player stalls are linked to a player's warehouse.
• Player stalls do not require the attendance of the character or for that character to be online.
  • An attendant NPC is assigned to the stall. This may be an "image" of the player.
• Players are able to input required items for repair and also purchase required materials for that repair.
• Player stalls may still operate during node siege declaration. This is subject to testing.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

• Players are not able to be attacked or robbed while occupying their player stall inside the limits of a node.
• Bulletin boards that list the items available in player stalls can be accessed from anywhere in the region.
  • These give the location of the stall so players can travel there and purchase the items.
• Stall sales are also listed in auction houses.
  • This may no longer be accurate.

Economic node benefits

Economic nodes that have reached the metropolis stage unlock the linked economy superpower. Economic nodes with this superpower share their Auction house listings with all others.

• Up to two economic metropolises may be linked in this manner.
• Metropolis level economic nodes enable worldwide sale prices for auction houses across Verra.
• Items listed in one linked economic node can be bid on from any other linked economic node.
• Linked economies also connect the economic metropolis and its vassal economic nodes.

Economic Nodes that have reached the Metropolis Stage unlock the Superpower “Linked Economy”. Any Economic Node with this Superpower unlocked shares Auction House listings with all the others, meaning that the items listed in one Linked Economy Node can be bid on from any other Linked Economy Node. Linked Economies also connect a Metropolis and any Vassal Economic Nodes belonging to that Metropolis.

The Linked Economy Superpower has the potential to create a massive market that spans the world. This will allow players to attain and sell goods with ease, providing those who have access to these Economic Nodes a faster path to fortune in the lands of Ashes of Creation.

Crafted items

Crafting UI. Alpha-1 screenshot. Image credit: Guild:Overlord

Crafted items (also referred to as Completed items, Finished goods, or Final products) are items produced by crafter artisans using crafting stations.

• Completed items can be accessed by players in warehouses at any node regardless of citizenship or housing ownership.
• Crafted gear is considered best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation.
  • Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with boss dropped items.
  • 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.

Crafted gear in the game is the best gear... One thing that I'm not a fan of is that you develop a crafting system in a game and you've spent a lot of time making this from a material and resource perspective. All the tables that you can receive, all the connectivity in the economy and how crafting is associated with the game; and then you undermine the crafting entirely by presenting a separate route of gear acquisition that is on-par with the crafting efforts. So here you have these people who are acquiring all of the resources getting, all the recipes, leveling up their professions and then everything they make is less or equal to anything you could just have chosen the easier path of and gone down the questing and received the best gear. So what we do focus on is that crafters make the best shit. Excuse me, the best things. – Steven Sharif

• The rarity of crafted 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.
  • Gear appearance is influenced by the rarity of the crafted item.

That plays into our crafting system in and of itself. The idea is for those stats to be variables that can be 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.

Item sinks

It's important for a healthy economy to have item sinks, so that anything that can be crafted can also be destroyed:

1. Over-enchanting carries the risk of destroying that item, rendering it useless for use temporarily.
2. Players gain craftable items and recipes from deconstructing (salvaging) completed items.
3. A portion of resources and materials are lost when caravans or nodes are destroyed.
4. Corrupted players who die can lose gear.
5. Item durability (item decay) does not destroy items, but it acts as a materials sink. Zero percent durability will unequip an item, increasing its repair costs.

An important aspect of a healthy economy is having some item sinks available... There are three kinds of item sinks: You can gain craftable items from deconstructing completed items; You can have decay... and if you want to over-enchant that item there will be a potential to destroy it as well. It's important for an economy to experience those types of emphasis on what can be crafted as well as seeing those items that are crafted be destroyed as well..

The concept there is this is part of the engine that is supply and demand. So the server is constantly generating these materials on tick as they propagate throughout the world and get repopulated, players are going out there and collecting these things. We want to make sure that there is a driving force and factor behind what crafters and gatherers are out there doing: There's constantly going to be a demand for them to supply these things. Whether that death is from PvP or from PvE these are going to be necessities for players to constantly provide. – Steven Sharif

Caravans

Alpha-2 caravan being escorted to the Miraleth node.

The Caravan System is a major aspect of the economy in Ashes of Creation. While the rewards can be great for moving massive amounts of Commodities and other materials across the world of Verra, players can choose to be Caravan attackers or defenders, making these hotspots for PvP battles.

Caravan PvP in Alpha-2.

Caravans are vehicles that facilitate the transfer of cargo across Verra.

Caravans are the induction of emergent gameplay, which means you cannot predict the situation you're going to be in when you use a caravan. That's part of the risk: The risk is the unknown. If you could predict it then your ability to mitigate that risk would unfortunately remove that dynamic- that ratio of risk versus reward. – Steven Sharif

• Personal caravans are used to transport cargo for one or more players.

• Mayoral caravans are used by Mayors to transfer cargo between nodes with established trade agreements or alliances.

• Caravans are initiated from and arrive at caravansary node buildings within Village (stage 3) nodes and above.

• Caravans create an objective-based PvP event in the open-world that players can choose to attack, defend, or opt-out of.

• PvE caravan events can cause roadways to be blocked off or hostile mobs to spawn to attack the caravan.

• It is possible to launch decoy caravans and merchant ships, but there are visual hints of what is contained in a caravan. Decoy crates may be available via social organization progression.

See also

• Economy
• Nodes
• Artisan classes