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.

Marketplaces

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.

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.

Stall features

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

Player stalls have a visually representative aesthetic that indicates the items for sale at that stall.

• For example: Potions, Fabric will be visually represented in a stall.

The number of stalls in a market scales with the node's size.

Renewal

Player stalls must be renewed regularly.

• Renewal is disabled once a Node siege is declared until the siege resolved.

Escrow system

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

• An escrow system is planned to prevent griefing in the crafting system.

We're going to have a UI... you're gonna put the resources in or they're gonna put the resources in. It'll be like an escrow system and then once [the job] is complete you'll get the item they'll get the money.

Economy

Currency concept art.

The economy is usually something that happens in the background of other games. From day one we knew that the economy was going to be something really important to us. – Jeffrey Bard

The economy in Ashes of Creation is regionalized.

• Gatherable resources shift locations as they’re exhausted, this will keep people moving about the world, seeking out the best resources for their crafting builds, and the best markets for their goods.

• There is no central auction house or warehouse.
  • Auction houses in up to two economic metropolises (including their vassal nodes) can be linked with the linked economy superpower.

• There will be item decay (material sinks), deconstruction mechanics and other gold sinks to combat inflation.
  • The developers are considering the use of adaptive price points in merchant shops based on the amount of gold being generated or sunk in the economy.

• There will be player to player trading.

• The primary method to generate gold in the economy is through glint, which is a bound currency that drops from mobs and players, and is offered as a reward for completing certain quests, events, and achievements.

Economic systems require scarcity. And in a game, all scarcity is artificially created in an attempt to simulate supply/demand structures or as we would call them points of player friction. You may progress within your processing profession by being a member of a guild or family of a person who owns a freehold and has setup the infrastructure necessary for t4-5 processing. With the intent that players will be able through effort to find a way of progressing and accessing late game processing. If that is not the case through testing then we will adjust the designs as necessary in order to achieve the systems.

PvP

Players are not able to be attacked or robbed while occupying a player stall.

Player stalls may not be renewed during a siege declaration.

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

Item durability

The decay system is not going to be some worthless "Oh I'm just going to throw some gold into this and it's a simple gold sink". It's actually going to require some base materials in order to repair decayed items; and decay occurs from death and also the destruction and disable system. For the weapons over the over-enchanting will require those materials as well. So creating that dependency I think is healthy for the crafting economy. – Steven Sharif

There is item durability (item decay) in Ashes of Creation.

• Item durability loss occurs on death.
  • Gear stored in a player's inventory (that is not equipped) does not lose durability when that player dies.

• Materials are required in order to restore the performance of decayed items.

• Item decay does not destroy items, but it acts as an materials sink.
  • Zero percent durability will unequip an item, significantly increasing its repair costs.

If you allow it to get to certain stages, or to get to a destructed stage then it requires a lot of material components in order to return back to its former glory. – Steven Sharif

• Over enchanting an item comes with the risk of durability loss if a safety margin is exceeded.

There is durability in the game... It's not going to be a trivial durability. There is a potential to destroy gear (weapons and armor), but there is also an ability to reforge that destroyed gear using a portion of the materials necessary as well as finding an item creator who can reforge it. – Steven Sharif

Item repair

Blacksmithing concept art.

For example: if you have an iron sword and then the sword gets damaged from use, you have to use more iron to repair it; and what that does is... make sure that there's significant sinks in the game for base materials so that you are creating a scarcity and demand that's present on the creation of higher goods as well as supplying the necessary decay components for the world. – Steven Sharif

Item repair will cost crafting materials.

• 0% durability will unequip items, increasing its repair cost.
• Damaged gear can be reforged at a player stall using a portion of the materials that were necessary to craft the item.
• There may be additional constraints for repairing "very unique items", such as having a crafter and recipe to effectuate repairs. This is subject to testing.
• There is no limit to the number of times an item can be repaired.

There will be ways to repair destructible structures (such as walls and gates) and also repair (or re-craft) siege weapons that were damaged during sieges.

• This is a long term design goal that was not present during Alpha-1.

There's a lot of ancillary activities that can be had during sieges... It's obviously strategy and tactics and raid-versus-raid components, but also you want to have individual contributions where players can do things during the siege to aid in the greater effort so to speak; and it doesn't require you having 50 people by your side to effectuate that influence over something. So repairs are great ways to do that. Repairs for walls, repairs for gates, being able to spawn and essentially craft the designs for specific types of siege weapons to provide those to the team. – Steven Sharif

Crafting professions

• Arcane Engineering
• Armor smithing
• Carpentry
• Jewel cutting
• Leatherworking
• Scribing
• Tailoring
• Weapon smithing

Artwork

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See also

• Crafting
• Caravans
• Artisan supply chain
• Economy