The problem with most mmo story, events, quests and npc is.

ArchivedUser

Well problem with most games is story doesn't matter, like legion in wow, the legion is invading! Stop them before they destroy the world bla bla bla, but if no one would do a thing they wouldn't destroy it xD

I hope ashes and npcs and story really do matter in a way for growth or destruction

Since ashes will have those dragons or events that can occur on a node I hope this gets done the right way.

Like if you don't help your node, it will get destroyed. Which they already stated but I hope it will be real, challenging, epic and rewarding.

ArchivedUser

The only way for a node to be destroyed is through a node war, events won't destroy nodes but they may hinder them.

ArchivedUser

Ashes of Creation already has a back story, sort of. I am sure Steven will think of something nice for lore oriented players. 

We have the idea that different races, except tulnar, will appear at their respective world gates. We have ancient races which are extingts, as well as the corrupted bird race that was once a beautiful and noble race.

There already is a lot going on and I am sure the story will only expand further from there, as all actions and ideas Intrepid Studios make, they seem to have a purpose and logic around the world of Verra.

ArchivedUser

Afaik if players fail to defend a node vs attacking monster boss, node will not be destroyed but it will delevel.

ArchivedUser

While you yourself might not be the deciding factor, player action as a whole sounds like it will be a driving force in Ashes.  That evil empire down the road? people made it, and others support it. The local heroes? Have support of the node they are from.  where they go, if they triumph, and how,are all up to those playing and how they come together. 

This is a game where the bad guys can win.

ArchivedUser

if you fail I will take other. do as you will 

ArchivedUser

It's possible that good deal of players might not care about their "home node" and will just relocate often to whichever node is currently the strongest.

They'll just use the new nodes instanced housing (since open world housing will be taken) to become citizens, and use the node bonus.

So I'm not sure how much people will care about particular node being in danger. Sure, there will be some part of people that will care, but it's possible that not huge amount will come to node defense.

I'm quite curious how many people will be needed to effectively defend the node against epic monsters attack.

ArchivedUser

We know that there is going to be a cooldown on citizenship change (2 weeks was the number thrown around, not set in stone). I think moving is going to be a danger filled and ultimately harder decision than "Ohhh, that node is doing better and has a silver spawn currently."
Instanced housing is an option to be built at node level 5, so any place that has it will have gone to considerable effort and been established for a fair few months. They have said that the gold sink via node taxes on housing will be something you feel and not insignificant, including instanced apartments.
Nodes require a constant trickle of resources and exp to stay at their current level, so filling your city with tons of inactive people is not going to benefit beyond the taxes autocollected on their housing.
Since there is no centralized storage bank, established characters are going to have to risk caravaning their net worth or schlep it to the new, more shiny node.
While not balanced in any way, the monster coin video we saw where you have someone in town fighting against Steven and Jeffrey showed them getting rocked to half health from a single hit when the guy running the monster connected. We don't know how it will be in testing and in live, since those placeholder toons from those videos were most likely running close to god mode.

ArchivedUser

No time travel please, for the love of the game!