World size
1,200 km2 (square kilometers) is the expected total world size of Verra at launch, including land (480 km2) and water/ocean (750 km2), but excluding the size of the Underrealm.[1]
- This has increased from the previously stated total size of 480 km2 including land and water/ocean[2][3][4]; but excluding an additional ~100 km2 of Underrealm.[5]
- The Underrealm did not increase "too much" in size.[6]
- The reason given for expanding the map size was to better accommodate Naval content and to reduce the overall content density in the world.[1]
- The purpose of it becoming bigger is as I said to make sure that density isn't overwhelming: that it isn't everywhere I look there is immediately something. I have no opportunity to see areas of the world that are expansive and are just wanderlust adventure feeling. Everything was sitting on top of you, POIs and nodes and houses and everything. It was like an urban area everywhere. But we wanted to expand that because a large portion of the game is a sandbox element; it's coupled with a lot of curated content but it's that sandbox element.[1] – Steven Sharif
- The shape of the continents has also changed and two new large islands have been introduced.[1]
Exploration
Players will be rewarded for exploring.[10][11][12]
- Exploration is a huge part of the game and there are a lot of systems that are dedicated to rewarding exploration..[11] – Steven Sharif
- Utility skills exist that can help players discover hidden paths and entrances and may lead to discovering hidden quests.[11]
- Certain relics can only be discovered through exploration.[11]
- Constellations may only be seen at certain times at specific locations.[11]
- It's widespread how exploration can affect many different progression paths within the game; and it's not just about visiting an area once and never coming back, because timing matters as well.[11] – Steven Sharif
- Travel times are important in Verra, but it will be easy to get lost or distracted by threats and opportunities.[10][13]
- Threats can come in the form of monsters, events, and Open-world PvP.[10][14][15]
- Opportunities include resources (gathering, transporting, storing, and trading), points-of-interest, achievements, and treasures.[10][11]
- It'll be easy for you to get lost in AoC. That is our goal from an exploration standpoint.[13] – Steven Sharif
- Q: Since travel times are important, what is there to discover that will distract you from going straight to your initial destination? What makes traveling adventurous in Verra?
- A: Aside from threat and opportunity, which are probably the two biggest distractions that you can encounter while traveling through Verra- those come in different forms: Threat. in the form of monsters and events. Opportunities, in the forms of resources and POIs. There's also achievements that are based around exploration. There's treasure maps that can be found. There's a lot of different things that intersect with travel: The movement of resources. The storage of those resources. In which locations, what are available to be sold and purchased at different locations. They might make you detour for. All of those things contribute to why I would go somewhere and instead change my direction.[10] – Steven Sharif
Number of nodes
There will be 85 regular node locations at launch with 15 additional castle nodes (5 castles x 3 castle nodes each)[16][17][18] for a total of 100 nodes.[19]
- Previously the developers estimated 103 regular node locations with 15 additional castle nodes for a total of 118 nodes.[20][21][16][17][18]
- This decrease in node count does not affect the amount of available player housing, or the estimated server capacity.[22][23]
- We have moved from a 103 nodes to 85 nodes; and there's a few reasons for that. One, when we were doing the calculations behind how- in Alpha 2 and in the game- we want these vassal structures to exist, we had more nodes than what felt meaningful and we wanted to condense some of that those curated story arcs and hooks into the environment and realm around the areas to be more bountiful at a lesser node value: meaning bringing down the node count so that we can increase the richness of each of those nodes more than what was at 103.[19] – Steven Sharif
- There were 9 node locations in Alpha-1.[24]
- Node locations are subject to change prior to Beta-1.[24]
World map
The world of Verra features an in-game viewable world map. This map is not randomly generated, and begins covered in a fog of war.[27] Players will not be able to see the world until they have explored it or gathered information about it. The world is also full of imperfect information, which will require the player to act on it for verification.[28]
- For example, you may hear a rumor in a tavern that tells you the location of a cave full of weak Kobolds, but this was not accurate as the rumor was started by well-equipped bandits in order to waylay overconfident adventurers.[28]
- Information about the world will be presented directly to players through the world map UI as it is gathered.[29][30]
- Node tax rates will be visible on the world map by hovering over a node location on the UI.[31]
- The map UI will potentially incorporate player created location markers that are visible by other party members.[32]
- Previously, detailed information about the world was only available through the Library unique node building.[33]
- Not every server will share the same map, as player decisions will vary between servers.[34][35][30]
- The map will have geographical choke points caused by non-traversable obstacles (such as Mountains).[36][37][38]
- Even though we're an open-world that doesn't mean that from a design perspective, especially with the way our economic systems work, that we will want to create Geographic choke points.[37] – Steven Sharif
- Zones in Ashes of Creation will cater to all levels.[39]
Server population
Population limits will be enforced on each server.[40]
- Around 8-10k concurrent users per server is projected.[41][42][43][44]
- Initially there will be a limited number of registered accounts (approximately 15,000) per server to help mitigate login queues.[45]
- There may be queues to get into high population servers, but the aim is to avoid excessively long queues.[47]
- The developers intend to carefully manage server populations via the use of character creation throttles to avoid the need to merge servers.[46][48]
- The developers may occasionally release stats relating to server populations and archetype/class makeup, but there isn't going to be an official page that surfaces this information.[49]
Zones of influence
Every node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of influence (ZOI). Player activity within the ZOI is weighted and counted toward a particular node’s advancement.[50]
The main thing that differentiates us from other MMOs is that we have a living, breathing, reactive world... Our world is separated into zones, which are then separated into what we call nodes. Nodes are sort of invisible zones of influence that listen to everything that a player does; so as players gain experience from killing things, gain experience from doing quests, gain experience through crafting things, the node is also gaining that experience. Once a node gains enough experience it levels up and then starts to attract NPCs to it .[51] – Jeffrey Bard
- By undertaking familiar activities, such as questing, gathering and raiding, players have agency in determining which nodes in the world will develop.[52]
Each Node can form into towns, but are limited by their neighbors. The Nodes have different levels of advancement. There can only be so many of each level. Think of this as advanced settlements needing more elbow room. Nodes encompass more land as they grow and will require more effort to be sustained. This system is a main driver for change in the world because it creates scarcity. As Nodes advance in stages of growth they will lock out neighboring Nodes from progressing, and will absorb their zones of influence.[50]
- Zones of influence connect fully across the world without any gaps.[53]
There is not a space where you will move in to do something and no node will get that experience.[53] – Steven Sharif
- Underrealm nodes and nodes directly above them are considered adjacent but do not exist in the same ZOI.[54][55][56]
- Up to one fifth of the world will be encompassed within the ZOI of a Metropolis. The many vassal nodes within a ZOI's "border" could end up looking like a country or nation.[57]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (46:52).
- ↑ Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:18:12).
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Interview, August 17, 2018 (10:43).
- ↑ Livestream, April 7, 2023 (22:48).
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, November 17, 2017 (36:22).
- ↑ Ashes of Creation wallpapers - April 2022.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (1:09:04).
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Livestream, February 24, 2023 (6:51).
- ↑
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Livestream, July 9, 2018 (1:00:00).
- ↑ Livestream, October 28, 2022 (24:28).
- ↑
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (15:14).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:05:47).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
- ↑ Interview, August 24, 2018 (3:44).
- ↑ Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:18:54).
- ↑ Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:06:42).
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (37:16).
- ↑ Blog - Development Update with New Map and Feature Discussions.
- ↑ Video, January 27, 2023 (4:39).
- ↑ Interview, May 22, 2017 (22:54).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 The mighty beard!
- ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (1:14:29).
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 MMOGames interview, January 2017
- ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (1:11:22).
- ↑ Livestream, May 27, 2022 (2:33).
- ↑ Blog: Know Your Nodes - Scientific Node Type
- ↑
- ↑ Livestream, May 19, 2017 (37:03).
- ↑ Livestream, August 26, 2022 (53:26).
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Livestream, June 26, 2020 (1:25:11).
- ↑ Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:19:13).
- ↑ Livestream, May 15, 2017 (30:53).
- ↑ Livestream, May 17, 2017 (59:25).
- ↑ Livestream, October 29, 2021 (1:14:00).
- ↑ Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (26:41).
- ↑ Video, September 6, 2018 (4:25).
- ↑
- ↑ 45.0 45.1
- ↑ 46.0 46.1
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (12:56).
- ↑ Interview, July 18, 2020 (10:04).
- ↑ Livestream, November 19, 2021 (52:35).
- ↑ 50.0 50.1 50.2 Node series part I
- ↑ Interview, April 20, 2018 (7:22).
- ↑ Ashes of Creation FAQ.
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 Livestream, July 9, 2018 (39:32).
- ↑ Livestream, March 29, 2019 (58:14).
- ↑ Livestream, March 29, 2019 (29:17).
- ↑ Livestream, May 5, 2017 (37:52).
- ↑ Interview, May 11, 2018 (55:16).