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To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Node Questions
Junastra
Member, Alpha Two
In the recent interview Steven had with @MMORPGcom, he briefly discussed nodes. It was mostly an overview that anybody who's using these forums would likely not need. However, he implied something interesting to me. He implied that if you're into dungeon crawling and combat then perhaps a military node would be suited to you. This might seem intuitive and harmless at first until you recall that Steven has on multiple occasions said that combat is the most immersive gameplay feature for players, both in MMO's in general as well as in Ashes.
So the obvious question follows- does this mean that we're going to see an overrepresentation of Militaristic Nodes?
More generally it's still unclear to me how much control players have over which type of governmental structure will emerge. How does one efficiently contribute to a religious node, for instance? When grinding (materials or enemies) is so easy and traditional, how is this going to be counterbalanced? Or am I just a newb who hasn't looked into nodes enough yet?
So the obvious question follows- does this mean that we're going to see an overrepresentation of Militaristic Nodes?
More generally it's still unclear to me how much control players have over which type of governmental structure will emerge. How does one efficiently contribute to a religious node, for instance? When grinding (materials or enemies) is so easy and traditional, how is this going to be counterbalanced? Or am I just a newb who hasn't looked into nodes enough yet?
0
Comments
Yes.
I really want to give a nicer or more comprehensive answer, but I can't be sure what information you're actually missing.
As of my last knowledge, the type of Node is pre-defined by its location.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Node_types
Most of the corruption/bounty hunter info in relation to military nodes has since been superseded. I don't have a quote for you, but don't expect that in the live game.
to add nuance:
You don't control the type of each node, BUT
You control which node becomes a metropolis ruling over its neighbouring nodes.
So if you want to change the economic metropolis to a military one, you kill the economic node and boost the neighbouring military node which will become the new dominant node in the region.
This may be because one of the unique buildings of military node is a Barrack which is is related to combat and defeating nearby monsters.
As such people who want to focus on combat will focus on making sure the barracks is created (at stage 3 (village)). This building may gives buffs to those who have citizenship to a military node. So naturally if you want to focus on maximizing combat then you would be drawn to a military node.
I believe when he said that he was implying the combat system/mechanics is the most immersive gameplay feature. Which everyone will have access to.
I don't think so. Other nodes have some really cool functions
Scientific Nodes with their ability to fast travel. As well as the Library/College/University/Academy system will be huge with those who want to focus on their artisan class (gathering, processing, crafting)
Economic Nodes with their global auction house.
We know very little about the divine nodes so I will not comment on their benefit.
You can tell which node type a node is very early (if not the very beginning) and thus will know if XP is gained in the general area then that specific node will gain XP. Thus it will be up to the players to decide where they want to give their XP.
If you mean which buildings the mayor choose to create, well that just depends on the mayors.
https://www.ashes101.com/nodes
I was getting at the fact that it's not going to be 75% military nodes.
4 types/102 is closer to 25 of each type, but..
Theoretically, a server could try to only progress Military cities and metros... as much as possible.
Um, no it hasn't?
Not sure where you got any of that.
What I am getting at is you can't turn an economic node into a military node. When it goes from level 0 to level 1 you will see what type of node it is by the type of NPC that come to it. You certainly can spend your effort doing more quests around the node you wish to bolster, but there will be each of the 4 types based on whatever distribution the game determines. I think what Steven was trying to say is that there is something in the game for everyone and people will invest their time in those things which interest them. So, whether you do quests for the church or whether you do escort missions for caravans the developers are trying to make a vibrant game like nothing before.
It just depends on which ones people choose to progress.
So, no, you cannot change an Economic Node into a different Node type.
But, since we will probably know where all the Military Nodes are on the map by the end of Beta 2, a server could choose to try to only progress Military Nodes to the City and Metropolis stages.
As I said, I don't have a quote.
However, the original ideas back in 2017 and 2018 that were being thrown around of having either the religious or military node reduce corruption were superseded at some point in 2019 or 2020 with adding in corruption loss on experience gain.
If you can find a quote from Intrepid from 2020 onwards talking about node based means of reducing or lowering corruption, then maybe they still have those plans. However, my understanding is that they don't want to tie corruption gain or loss to nodes at all.
Also, the concept of military nodes being the only way to be a bounty hunter is likely to be altered so that you only need to be affiliated with a military node to be able to get the title, rather than needing to be in a military node.
So, while it is correct that the current plan is still for the quest to gain the title will still be in a military node, the original intention of needing to be a citizen of that node is no longer necessarily the case. This means bounty hunter life isn't a specific reason in itself to pick a military node - which was the point being made.
I didn't go in to detail in the above post about these things because as we all know, everything is subject to change. I just wanted to point out to the person that the info as presented has been superseded - which it has as far as I understand.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Bounty_hunters
I am not sure what you are citing when you are talking about "nodes reducing corruption". All I really know for now is that I don't believe there are any *known* methods aside from dying to reduce your corruption, though reading the Wiki it appears there will also be a gradual loss of corruption through gaining experience, and the potential of quests:
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Corruption#Removing_corruption - See "Removing Corruption".
So there is a quote about there formerly being a "religious quest" so you could assume that refers to a quest within a Religious Node?
He is talking about this errant yes that Steven gave in Discord when people were spitballing ideas about how corruption would work. Was later changed that you could not "afk the bad away" that was used in other games to make pk alts viable. It launched a thousand threads of "See, see, I will be able to get around the system as envisioned!" So they hold onto it as their great beacon of hope that one day, military nodes will allow them to do what is not intended.
Given you can't even reference your own information, I don't even lol. If you'd read everything in my comment I was actually trying to find supporting evidence of your own claims...
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Player_corruption
NPC guards will kill corrupted players on sight.[36]
They changed it when asked how this could work. Now only way to reduce corruption is death or gaining XP.
Reducing "kill count" as the more kills you have the faster you will gain corruption is supposed to be through a quest done after you have removed corruption.
A player’s corruption score increases with each non-combatant player killed.[4][5]
Bounty hunters I thought was a military node only thing till I read :
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Bounty_hunters
Players can acquire the bounty hunter title through a quest available to citizens of Military Stage 4 (Town) nodes and potentially their vassals or affiliated nodes.[1][2]
I thought it was strictly a boon of being a military node citizen.
All this makes me foresee metropolis nodes on a server coming from military nodes.
Because I feel like most of the heavy PvP people will gravitate to military nodes.
Will other nodes have anything to help them in fights?
Picturing an economic node being able to 'hire mercenaries' for a node seige. And if they collectively fork up the money, buying defense for their city?
Otherwise what incentive do PvP players have to take up residence in a economic node?
https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2019-05-32-know-your-nodes-economic-node-type
https://ashesofcreation.com/news/2019-04-10-know-your-nodes-scientific-node-type
Not everyone will have the same goals. Even among the PvP heavy crowd. Perhaps the augments from the Divine Metro will be enough that some will choose to be a citizen there instead.
I think a lot of people will choose different nodes depending on the augments and what is available in the various node type metro. For instance the auction house being only a part of the economic node type.
I'm more interested in generating discussion than slapping down some quote that puts a full stop on things.
That said, the mannerisms in the post of yours that I quoted wouldn't have got any more information from me, regardless. If you want more information from someone, you need to approach it as if you understand there may be more information you do not possess, not from the perspective of thinking you already know all valid information - which is what you did.
Your message actually prompted me to do some research on the Wiki further, which is why I slapped down the links and findings that I came across. I can understand that without me explicitly stating "I didn't know x before but I have just come across this" it may not be clear - but that is the fact. I sincerely hope you're not like the general populace of the MMORPG subreddit. As far as they go in terms of trying to have polite and constructive discussion they slip up there.