Confused about “nodes” and how they feature into Ashes of Creation? Your poor schooling probably is not to blame, as Intrepid Studios only started to explain it a long time ago and then stopped to focus on development. Well, now the studio is starting up once more with a series that aims to explain and educate on one of the core features of the game.
In the first part of its “Know Your Nodes” series (which totally sounds like a health class elective, by the way), Ashes of Creation tackles the basics of how these pre-set and fixed points in its game world can be influenced and evolved via player activity. The studio said that there will be 103 nodes at launch, with each able to transform from plain wilderness into settlements as basic as a camp or as elaborate as a metropolis.
There are four types of modes (economic, military, scientific, and divine) that each offer specilized services and NPCs. Gradually, evolved nodes will establish parent-vassal relationships with other nodes to form de facto countries.
“All quests, dungeons, raids, events, NPC spawns, resources, and narratives are determined by both the node stage and the influential race,” Intrepid Studios said. “Additionally, the layout and architecture within a node’s development area are determined by influential race.”
