Zone of influence

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Nodes are pre-set locations, wrapped in a zone of influence (ZOI).[1]

Every Node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of Influence (ZoI). No matter where you go in the world, whether you’re questing, gathering, or raiding, you’ll be helping determine which nodes will develop, and what Zones of Influence will expand. Any area that a Node controls is considered its Zone of Influence, including Vassal Nodes, and all Vassal Nodes exist within the Zone of Influence of their Parent Node.[2]Margaret Krohn

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.[1]

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 .[3]Jeffrey Bard

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.[1]

There is not a space where you will move in to do something and no node will get that experience.[5]Steven Sharif

Node advancement

Citizen and non-citizen player activity (questing, gathering, raiding, etc.) within a node's ZOI counts toward that particular node's advancement (progression) to a higher node stage.[11][12]

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.[13]

  • Nodes advance to the first stage quickly. This enables NPC services such as vending or banking items.[14]
  • The more advanced the node is, the larger its ZOI becomes.[15]
  • 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.[16]
  • Certain quests, such as story arcs, may not be able to be turned in after a node has advanced.[19]
  • 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.[20]
    • 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.[21]
The way that the algorithm expands the territories takes into account a few things: One it takes into account the coast like where's the closest coast. Two it takes into account the neighboring nodes so it can take over and essentially vassal state those nodes, but what's more important is essentially the initial population based on like how players choose their races. Because we have nine different races and four different starting points that branch out, each server's population density is going to dictate essentially the first few nodes that are highly populated and then that initial seed is what's going to determine the node structure as it moves inland into the into the world essentially; and based on the performance and successes of different sieges will determine which nodes that got locked out from the previous the initial advancements what nodes can now be available to advance further. So I really think that with so many variables that are present in the equation of how nodes advance and stay existing with the more variables you have, the higher likelihood there is for there to be a significant diversion in world progression.[20]Steven Sharif
Normally the algorithm that's applied to the node territorial expansion will prevent significant nodes from being in close proximity to each other... There could be a perfect storm where all of the algorithmic progression of territory leads to having these nodes very close to each other because there's certain requirements that should that need to be available to satisfy node vassal takeovers; and it's possible that two nodes would never take each other over as vassals and end up close together and spanning their territories in opposite directions: The Tale of Two Cities thing.[21]Steven Sharif
  • A node does not receive XP from the nodes within its ZOI until these nodes have reached their cap.[16]
  • Citizens of one node can contribute to the advancement of other nodes.[22]
  • Node experience gain opportunities will be equitable across the four node types.[23]
    • The exact percentage of advancement from obtaining items or killing monsters is not going to be explicitly known to avoid "gaming" the system.[24]
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.[24]Steven Sharif

Node advancement spawns a series of animations and visual effects (within the footprint of the node).[25][11]

  • Players within the node are teleported to a safe location, likely a respawn area near the node.[25][26]
  • Supplies will spawn around the node and system driven caravans are spawned to bring these supplies into the node. These caravans are not able to be attacked.[25]
  • NPCs will begin construction activities.[25]
  • Players outside the node will see the new facade of the node pop into existence as the node advances in stage.[25]
The Development Area of a Node is where civilization will appear as the Node advances. As the Node Stage increases, different buildings, NPCs, and services will become available in the Development Area. The higher the Node Stage, the more complex and populated the Development Area becomes. Development Areas will also vary depending on the Node Type - Economic, Military, Scientific, or Divine.[11]Margaret Krohn

Zones and progression

Dungeons, Raids, World bosses, Mobs, Quests, Events, Resources, Narratives and other content within a node's ZOI will have a diverse level range; but will scale with the advancement of that node and its racial influence.[27][28][2]

  • Portions of the spawn tables (for mobs and resources) are static and other portions are dynamic and adapt to node development.[29]
We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for.[30]Steven Sharif

Underrealm nodes

Underrealm nodes and nodes directly above them are considered adjacent but do not exist in the same ZOI.[6][7][8]

  • There will be "bleed over" between underrealm nodes and surface nodes in terms of influence and interaction.[7]
    • There may be visual cues above ground that indicate influence from underrealm nodes in that area.[7]

That might be a little bit of a departure from our design in the past. I know originally like two-plus years ago we were discussing how those would be independent of each other, but I think as we further defined the layout of the world map itself it made more sense for those to have some interaction and influence that's combined.[7]Steven Sharif

Castle regions

E1G9zelXIAY0WNO.jpg

Guild castles influence a castle region around them.[34]

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.[41]

  • The reason given for expanding the map size was to better accommodate Naval content and to reduce the overall content density in the world.[41]
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.[41]Steven Sharif
  • The shape of the continents has also changed and two new large islands have been introduced.[41]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Node series part I
  2. 2.0 2.1 Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
  3. Interview, April 20, 2018 (7:22).
  4. Ashes of Creation FAQ.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Livestream, July 9, 2018 (39:32).
  6. 6.0 6.1 Livestream, March 29, 2019 (58:14).
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Livestream, March 29, 2019 (29:17).
  8. 8.0 8.1 Livestream, May 5, 2017 (37:52).
  9. Interview, May 11, 2018 (55:16).
  10. Video, February 29, 2024 (33:57).
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Blog - Know Your Nodes - Advance and Destroy.
  12. A reactive world - Nodes.
  13. Video, April 20, 2017 (0:02).
  14. Npc vending.jpg
  15. Node series part II – the Metropolis.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Livestream, October 16, 2017 (50:20).
  17. steven-quote-neighboring-nodes.png
  18. jahlon-steven-vassal-nodes-quote.png
  19. Livestream, February 29, 2024 (53:58).
  20. 20.0 20.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (10:04).
  21. 21.0 21.1 Interview, July 8, 2020 (1:00:15).
  22. node xp.png
  23. Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:21:23).
  24. 24.0 24.1 Livestream, May 26, 2017 (28:16).
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Livestream, October 14, 2022 (55:13).
  26. Livestream, November 17, 2017 (55:27).
  27. Interview, July 19, 2020 (19:35).
  28. Livestream, May 15, 2017 (30:53).
  29. Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:28:50).
  30. Interview: Ashes of Creation on Building Their Virtual World, 2017-04-13.
  31. Livestream, May 26, 2017 (31:44).
  32. Livestream, May 26, 2017 (42:45).
  33. Livestream, May 24, 2017 (31:39).
  34. castle-influence.png
  35. castle-taxes2.png
  36. 36.0 36.1 castle-region.png
  37. region-overlap.png
  38. castle-metro.png
  39. Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:01:10).
  40. castle-taxes.png
  41. 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (46:52).
  42. Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:18:12).
  43. world size.png
  44. waterlandsize.png
  45. Interview, August 17, 2018 (10:43).
  46. Livestream, April 7, 2023 (22:48).