I think this will shift with time. When the game launches, I suspect that economic and military Nodes will be the place to be. And while I have no distinct preference in biomes, I either will settle at the coast or near the border to 2-3 different biomes.
In later phases, when players have moved further across the map and have settled in more, I suspect that economic, scientific and religious Nodes become more interesting. During that time, I will either stay at the coast to travel around or go whereever the exploration and story arcs seems most interesting to me.
It's a solid point, I hadn't thought about the node type preferences changing over time, I can def see it. Hopefully though there's enough depth at all levels so there aren't any clear winners/losers.
I'm also kind've assuming that we can make use of some of the other node's facilities? IE: I can wander into a Scientific node for a specialised crafting trainer, etc?
As far as I am aware outsiders to a scientific Node might be charged for their use, but it should be possible, yes.
I have said this in similar posts, so maybe it adds a bit of perspective to this discussion as well: I fully expect there to be a lot of player migration between servers in the first 1-2 years with distinct server "cultures" forming. There will be servers where people who are more interested in PvE activities will gather and servers where PvP is happening much more frequently for less impactful reasons. And these cultures will at some point become something that you simply will not break by deciding to migrate. Mainly because if the number of active players is constantly high, building a new faction that effectively can break through the established culture of the server is extremely difficult.
Why is this relevant for this discussion: Because IF I were to be correct with my assumption it would mean there will be servers where different certain Node types are more in demand thanks to the culture. e.g. on a more "peaceful" server, military node may not have as much appeal as for example a scientific or religious Node; while on servers with high PvP activity successful trade via economic Nodes and fortification through military Nodes may play a much more important role.
In that sense the Server culture will determine what nodes are more or less likely to succeed as they are ultimately expressions of the "most popular" activities of players on the server.
Interesting thoughts. I would argue though that a peaceful server might also lean into a military node style to reduce corrupted players running about and mucking around. Perhaps a series of corrupted activities have led the players to build up a military node so that bounty hunters would increase the risk of going red.
And to further this example maybe a server with high PVP would have players specialize into science or Divine (assuming the crypts can take caravans) to work around constant caravan raids. Maybe the PVP server would have many economic nodes where the top guilds would auction off stolen caravan currency after being sold.
Different servers would have different takes on how to utilize a nodes specific functions. One server culture might see the science node as a utopia for crafters, while another sees it as a tool to get the advantage on others. And some nodes that initially arise due to player activity at launch might find themselves degraded as the culture of the server trends to a different play style once the benefits of a node are realized.
Yours truly wants to be a branchler-elf in the DEEP woods. Am hoping to find a group willing/curious about settling that island in the middle of the woods, in the north-eastern part of the map.
Inland islands seem fairly defensible - and it'd be quite the trek, for any would-be siegers.
Would otherwise be willing to settle in the Underrealm, in some kind of anti-Tulnar settlement - but only if they offer "broken" antlers, for the elves; It'd fit more with an RP of fights and struggles taking place in caves and caverns.
Yours truly wants to be a branchler-elf in the DEEP woods. Am hoping to find a group willing/curious about settling that island in the middle of the woods, in the north-eastern part of the map.
Inland islands seem fairly defensible - and it'd be quite the trek, for any would-be siegers.
Would otherwise be willing to settle in the Underrealm, in some kind of anti-Tulnar settlement - but only if they offer "broken" antlers, for the elves; It'd fit more with an RP of fights and struggles taking place in caves and caverns.
I'm a bit tempted by the island in the middle of the swamp. It'll prob depend on if there's a solid enough squad there, I can see those islands being a hot conquest target a bit later on.
Racially-themed villages are gonna look really odd in the Underrealm. Damn I can't wait to see this stuff though.
Question for the community, do we know where Empyrean homelands will be on the map?
I think it'll be something like this:
Also on the old map there were 4 starting portals, one for each racial set. And then each starting point heads in two directions, one per race.
One of the maps had these two forests marked "Ancient" and "Magical", which probably correspond to Py'rai & Empyrean, respectively.
@blat Your guess on the starting portal raises a question for me. Say I am a Py'rai but my friends play as kaelar humans who show their ancient homes on the other continent, if their portal is on the other side how will I play with him in the first couple hours of the game? Or will I have to change my race to play with friends?
@blat Your guess on the starting portal raises a question for me. Say I am a Py'rai but my friends play as kaelar humans who show their ancient homes on the other continent, if their portal is on the other side how will I play with him in the first couple hours of the game? Or will I have to change my race to play with friends?
The starting points are grouped along racial lines but you can choose to start from any of them, no matter your race.
So you and your mates can all choose the same portal.
@GreatPhilisopher oh great provider of images, I am wondering can you find some interesting underground city art? What a Tulnar or Dunir city might look like.
You should go on ahead so we get the Ren'Kai architecture.
Btw @Azherae, I think that little corner may just be the new Orc starting portal. <speculation alert>
Judging by the old map, with portals marked:
The portal is kind've between 3 zones; starting in the north then leading south into either 1) swamps or 2) mountain area.
So I'd guess the new map equivalent of that might be our little patch; starting in "Asian" and leading north into the same two zones, swamps & mountains.
@GreatPhilisopher oh great provider of images, I am wondering can you find some interesting underground city art? What a Tulnar or Dunir city might look like.
we dont have anything on how tulnar architecture looks like so ima just send u smthn that could maybe look like a tulnar and some dwarfish stuff that is also underground
I am wondering can you find some interesting underground city art? What a Tulnar or Dunir city might look like.
I think this - NEEDS - to be a Live-Stream Presentation. Hopefully even before Alpha Two, but i doubt that to say the least.
We see and know about nothing about the Underground/Underworld of Verra, right ? And the Underground Cities. What for cool "Landscapes", Ressources, more or less flat Planes or probably Mushroom-like Woods await under the Surface ?
No kidding. If Intrepid does this right to mostly perfect - it might even let the Underdark from Dungeons and Dragons look almost like a Joke in Comparison.
Shameless bump, want to hear more about people's node/biome choices.
Also, do people plan to make a beeline straight for their node/biome of choice?
Considering the map featuring starting portals with two routes coming from each (one per race); do we think the intention is for us to follow these routes initially, or free to wander across the map?
Shameless bump, want to hear more about people's node/biome choices.
Also, do people plan to make a beeline straight for their node/biome of choice?
Considering the map featuring starting portals with two routes coming from each (one per race); do we think the intention is for us to follow these routes initially, or free to wander across the map?
Going straight there, for sure.
My group isn't the 'explorer' type, we're the 'City Builder' type.
Generally, it'd be better to get to know other people who are interested in the same location earlier, not come in later.
Since we have full group, or almost full (depending on if a certain person still plays), we can probably level really quickly and not have problems reaching the location.
I'm not sure we care about the Node Type, in the end, actually. It's moreso the type of player it attracts, and we're used to that from our Sector in Elite already.
You should go on ahead so we get the Ren'Kai architecture.
Btw @Azherae, I think that little corner may just be the new Orc starting portal. <speculation alert>
Judging by the old map, with portals marked:
The portal is kind've between 3 zones; starting in the north then leading south into either 1) swamps or 2) mountain area.
So I'd guess the new map equivalent of that might be our little patch; starting in "Asian" and leading north into the same two zones, swamps & mountains.
Yeah, actually, this was predicted, too.
So technically, while the biome is nice, there was also a period where we kinda 'decided we wanted to be Empyreans that live with Ren'Kai', and then I just had to 'reverse engineer where the Ren'Kai should live based on the lore and design' and hope that the world designer used the basic conventions.
So, barring any 'trying to be different for the sake of it', should be good there. Fingers crossed. I'd somewhat expect the node to be either Military or next to military (with the Military node nearby being at a higher elevation and acting as an outpost against... whatever lives in the mountains/hills).
You should go on ahead so we get the Ren'Kai architecture.
Btw @Azherae, I think that little corner may just be the new Orc starting portal. <speculation alert>
Judging by the old map, with portals marked:
The portal is kind've between 3 zones; starting in the north then leading south into either 1) swamps or 2) mountain area.
So I'd guess the new map equivalent of that might be our little patch; starting in "Asian" and leading north into the same two zones, swamps & mountains.
Yeah, actually, this was predicted, too.
So technically, while the biome is nice, there was also a period where we kinda 'decided we wanted to be Empyreans that live with Ren'Kai', and then I just had to 'reverse engineer where the Ren'Kai should live based on the lore and design' and hope that the world designer used the basic conventions.
So, barring any 'trying to be different for the sake of it', should be good there. Fingers crossed. I'd somewhat expect the node to be either Military or next to military (with the Military node nearby being at a higher elevation and acting as an outpost against... whatever lives in the mountains/hills).
Would be sweet. I'd be happy to settle the nearby Military node. No guild though yet, kinda hoping to just find some good people in-game. Plus I'm a bit of a filthy casual in terms of time I'm able to commit.
Btw, do we know roughly what the downsides are to finding yourself in a vassal node?
They'll be preventing from levelling ahead of the parent node, and pay taxes etc.
But are there reasons to prevent people just packing up and heading to the parent node for citizenship?
You should go on ahead so we get the Ren'Kai architecture.
Btw @Azherae, I think that little corner may just be the new Orc starting portal. <speculation alert>
Judging by the old map, with portals marked:
The portal is kind've between 3 zones; starting in the north then leading south into either 1) swamps or 2) mountain area.
So I'd guess the new map equivalent of that might be our little patch; starting in "Asian" and leading north into the same two zones, swamps & mountains.
Yeah, actually, this was predicted, too.
So technically, while the biome is nice, there was also a period where we kinda 'decided we wanted to be Empyreans that live with Ren'Kai', and then I just had to 'reverse engineer where the Ren'Kai should live based on the lore and design' and hope that the world designer used the basic conventions.
So, barring any 'trying to be different for the sake of it', should be good there. Fingers crossed. I'd somewhat expect the node to be either Military or next to military (with the Military node nearby being at a higher elevation and acting as an outpost against... whatever lives in the mountains/hills).
Would be sweet. I'd be happy to settle the nearby Military node. No guild though yet, kinda hoping to just find some good people in-game. Plus I'm a bit of a filthy casual in terms of time I'm able to commit.
Btw, do we know roughly what the downsides are to finding yourself in a vassal node?
They'll be preventing from levelling ahead of the parent node, and pay taxes etc.
But are there reasons to prevent people just packing up and heading to the parent node for citizenship?
Its complicated.
As an Econ-focused player, I'd actually say with no solid evidence whatsoever...
There are not yet any reasons not to pack up and leave.
Intrepid hasn't shown us any design of that level of depth yet. It takes quite a lot of work to get there, in my opinion.
Right now, Vassal nodes basically have a master-slave relationship.
Comments
Interesting thoughts. I would argue though that a peaceful server might also lean into a military node style to reduce corrupted players running about and mucking around. Perhaps a series of corrupted activities have led the players to build up a military node so that bounty hunters would increase the risk of going red.
And to further this example maybe a server with high PVP would have players specialize into science or Divine (assuming the crypts can take caravans) to work around constant caravan raids. Maybe the PVP server would have many economic nodes where the top guilds would auction off stolen caravan currency after being sold.
Different servers would have different takes on how to utilize a nodes specific functions. One server culture might see the science node as a utopia for crafters, while another sees it as a tool to get the advantage on others. And some nodes that initially arise due to player activity at launch might find themselves degraded as the culture of the server trends to a different play style once the benefits of a node are realized.
Inland islands seem fairly defensible - and it'd be quite the trek, for any would-be siegers.
Would otherwise be willing to settle in the Underrealm, in some kind of anti-Tulnar settlement - but only if they offer "broken" antlers, for the elves; It'd fit more with an RP of fights and struggles taking place in caves and caverns.
I'm a bit tempted by the island in the middle of the swamp. It'll prob depend on if there's a solid enough squad there, I can see those islands being a hot conquest target a bit later on.
Racially-themed villages are gonna look really odd in the Underrealm. Damn I can't wait to see this stuff though.
See you there.
You should go on ahead so we get the Ren'Kai architecture.
Maxres: https://i.imgur.com/JAh8WDo.jpg
I think it'll be something like this:
Also on the old map there were 4 starting portals, one for each racial set. And then each starting point heads in two directions, one per race.
One of the maps had these two forests marked "Ancient" and "Magical", which probably correspond to Py'rai & Empyrean, respectively.
Wherever we put them.
Alternately acceptable answer 'all of it'.
The starting points are grouped along racial lines but you can choose to start from any of them, no matter your race.
So you and your mates can all choose the same portal.
mhmhmhmhmhm
Btw @Azherae, I think that little corner may just be the new Orc starting portal. <speculation alert>
Judging by the old map, with portals marked:
The portal is kind've between 3 zones; starting in the north then leading south into either 1) swamps or 2) mountain area.
So I'd guess the new map equivalent of that might be our little patch; starting in "Asian" and leading north into the same two zones, swamps & mountains.
we dont have anything on how tulnar architecture looks like so ima just send u smthn that could maybe look like a tulnar and some dwarfish stuff that is also underground
Node type: Military
Biome: Swamp/Asian borders
And then tell us a little about your playstyle and why you fancy these node/biome combos
Node type: Religious
I think it will attract likeminded people. My kind of people. More social and open.
Biome: Desert
I live in constant cold dark winters. We have no deserts were we live. Its exotic.
I think this - NEEDS - to be a Live-Stream Presentation. Hopefully even before Alpha Two, but i doubt that to say the least.
We see and know about nothing about the Underground/Underworld of Verra, right ? And the Underground Cities. What for cool "Landscapes", Ressources, more or less flat Planes or probably Mushroom-like Woods await under the Surface ?
No kidding. If Intrepid does this right to mostly perfect - it might even let the Underdark from Dungeons and Dragons look almost like a Joke in Comparison.
Also, do people plan to make a beeline straight for their node/biome of choice?
Considering the map featuring starting portals with two routes coming from each (one per race); do we think the intention is for us to follow these routes initially, or free to wander across the map?
Going straight there, for sure.
My group isn't the 'explorer' type, we're the 'City Builder' type.
Generally, it'd be better to get to know other people who are interested in the same location earlier, not come in later.
Since we have full group, or almost full (depending on if a certain person still plays), we can probably level really quickly and not have problems reaching the location.
I'm not sure we care about the Node Type, in the end, actually. It's moreso the type of player it attracts, and we're used to that from our Sector in Elite already.
Yeah, actually, this was predicted, too.
So technically, while the biome is nice, there was also a period where we kinda 'decided we wanted to be Empyreans that live with Ren'Kai', and then I just had to 'reverse engineer where the Ren'Kai should live based on the lore and design' and hope that the world designer used the basic conventions.
So, barring any 'trying to be different for the sake of it', should be good there. Fingers crossed. I'd somewhat expect the node to be either Military or next to military (with the Military node nearby being at a higher elevation and acting as an outpost against... whatever lives in the mountains/hills).
My preferred Node would be an ambitious one, that favored access to where I would rather be.
Would be sweet. I'd be happy to settle the nearby Military node. No guild though yet, kinda hoping to just find some good people in-game. Plus I'm a bit of a filthy casual in terms of time I'm able to commit.
Btw, do we know roughly what the downsides are to finding yourself in a vassal node?
They'll be preventing from levelling ahead of the parent node, and pay taxes etc.
But are there reasons to prevent people just packing up and heading to the parent node for citizenship?
Its complicated.
As an Econ-focused player, I'd actually say with no solid evidence whatsoever...
There are not yet any reasons not to pack up and leave.
Intrepid hasn't shown us any design of that level of depth yet. It takes quite a lot of work to get there, in my opinion.
Right now, Vassal nodes basically have a master-slave relationship.