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Dev Discussion #55 - Dream Nodes

VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
edited October 2023 in General Discussion
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Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.

Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!

Dev Discussion - Dream Nodes
What type of environment would you like to spend most of your time in? Whether it is in a certain biome or a strategic location, what makes a node desirable to you?

Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion

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Edit: Follow up questions!
  • Do you care more about certain biomes or strategic locations?
  • Do you plan on changing the way you play, based on your node?
  • Do you want the node you choose to determine how you play the game, or based on the way you play the game will you choose whatever node is best for you at the moment?
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Comments

  • LudulluLudullu Member, Alpha Two
    Snowy forest mountains. Wearing a white tanktop as a small stumpy dunir dude.
  • DraktarDraktar Member
    edited September 2023
    a gloomy location using a skin with red effects all over the body, locations such as secret entrances inside a waterfall, dense forests with huge trees, a biome with a heavy climate and it is always raining.
  • Zipp_AdoudelZipp_Adoudel Member, Alpha Two
    A node with different content. Let's go with tons of different gatherables, dungeons or other PvE content, choke points for caravans and a reason for caravans to travel that way, some justifiable meaning of the term in the middle (ie middle of continent, some sort of fast travel to the most places, geographically easy to get in and out of for other content), ability to get to other high level nodes easy, diverse biomes close by, potentially close to the ocean for ship stuff.
  • PlasticLemonsPlasticLemons Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I’ve always envisioned living in a mountain area that has permafrost. I love snowy areas in games and having that to be home and work out of will be so freaking cozy.

    The ambiance of a snowy zone is usually the most relaxing too. That and grinding divine node reputation will be BIS for me
    The Best Vek Cleric(/Rogue or /Cleric) In AoC
    Use this Google Sheet to help plan what Artisan Skills you plan to max in AoC! DM me on discord @PlasticLemons if you have any feedback or questions.
  • DraktarDraktar Member
    @Vaknar could you post the image mentioned in the thread? pls
  • SkylarckTheBotanistSkylarckTheBotanist Member, Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    The ecotone between the dark Underrealm and the thick Jungle.
  • Gaul_Gaul_ Member, Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    My dream node would be in a boreal forest at the top of a cliff with a river passing through it that turns into a waterfall which feeds directly into the ocean. A perfect spot to launch a glider from onto a ship!
  • LawmageLawmage Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I would love a node near the ocean where it can be hub for transporting goods, becomes a massive city, science like city, where all the tech comes from it, also has islands off in the distance for hidden treasures. I'm picturing like a massive capital city that you can see coming from the horizon. Maybe has a statue out on an island, kind of like the Statue of Liberty, game of thrones Braavos, Booty bay World of Warcraft. Or a massive lighthouse. Or some sort of Science building that stands out.
  • DiuraDiura Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Wooooow Is this concept art of an underrealm node or starting area or something?
    I really like this art ^^
    Remember to share with us an image without the text <3
    638l2c56w32d.png
  • AmelAmel Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    An archipelago where the town has many bridges and waterways where districts are on different small islands.
  • NyceGamingNyceGaming Member, Alpha Two
    A coastal node with an adopted harbor for even better and accessible naval content. A home away from the sea for a pirate 🏴‍☠️
  • xDracxDrac Member, Alpha Two
    I always liked lush forests and open fields are the most inviting, just a quaint cozy atmosphere, a nice little village with the merchants I would need, a windmill outside, a river flowing somewhere... perfect!
  • HawkinzHawkinz Member, Alpha Two
    I'd just like to see very unique, memorable landmarks and colour vibrancy across all biomes.
  • Yenn0warYenn0war Member
    edited September 2023
    -Gloomy and dark area full of mud where it rains 24/7 with occasional thunder
    -Swamps and bogs
    -Sulphur fields
    -Salt plains
    -Alkaline lakes that petrify living things, like Lake Natron in Tanzania
    -Bamboo forest
    -Poppy fields or mixed flower area
    -Birch forest
    -Red maple tree forest
    -Gorges
    -Fast rivers (for kayaking)
    -Big waterfalls
    -Sequoia, baobab or dragon blood tree forest
    -A plain area with blustering winds and trees like the ones in Slope Point in New Zealand.
    -Canyon area
    -Basalt columns area like the ones at the shores of Iceland.
  • nonameftwnonameftw Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    I think personally that diversity should be key. It doesn't matter so much if I see the exact building twice in different nodes. Giving that nodes can be from different races there should be enough variety that I won't see to much of the same.
    A node should have an Identity and one should not look like the other. They also do not have to be round all the time. The placement should feel organic.

    Ideas:
    - An Island Node. The whole node is surrounded by water.
    - A Mountain node. A node that can be seen far and wide presiding on top of a hill or mountain.
    - A Gate Node at a Cliff side with a wide open field in front of it. This node literally has a gate in it that bars enemies from not having to take loong route around the mountain range
    - A canyon node. Similar to the Gate Node it lies within a valley surrounded by mountains or is tugged tight into a canyon.
    - A Dynamic Node. Depending on the main occupying race it completely changes its design and the surrounding area. Elves may live within tree houses and the node is surrounded by forst. Humans may have large fields around it. Dwarfs may actually build underground here with the landscape above not even indicating a city underneath except for the occasional small guard post building made of stone that is also an entrance.
    - A Floating Island Node. This Node is literally on a floating island with bridges going across to it which increase in size according to the node level. Extra Idea for it. It sits on top of a active volcano.
    - An underground upside down Node. A node which entrances literally twist around and the city being upside down on a cave ceiling (and the gravity obviously working upwards not downwards.)
    - A ship node. A scientific coastal metropolis can create this node if none exist in the world. It requires gigantic amount of resources (We're talking an Event of the Size of the Gates of Anqirai in WoW) likely taking months to do. This node would be a platform of the size of a metropolis that would be able to sail the seas of verra. Slowly. Very slowly. It would be visible at all times on the map and effectively be the biggest caravan and siege weapon (for coastal nodes) of the whole game. Destroying the node would require a rebuilt of the whole node. Any scientific coastal metropolis can start to build such a node but finishing it needs a component that only exist once per server and cannot be destroyed. This item is so valuable and so rare that factions will literally go to war with each other to gain it. One of the few items with the description "Server Unique".
    - A spire node. A vertical node. A Tower that grows larger and larger with each stage. It has a wide food and the mayors office on top. In its metropolis stage it is the highest point in verra. Depending on race it can also be a tree or a biiig rock with holes in it.
    - An underwater node under a dome of magic. The current design already considers underground nodes. Whether or not its water or rock surrounding doesn't really matter that much, or?
    - A ruin Node. The node starts out with a metropolis of ruins. The progress rebuilds the node. If its destroyed it goes back to its original stage. Ashes to Ashes. Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.


    As these ideas above should illustrate: Nodes should have character and not be boring. Do not make them generic. These ideas are static. They don't interfere with the game design of nodes to much. Would elve buildings look potentially silly on a node above an active volcano when they are made of living flammable material? Sure. But that could probably be fixed with some texture recolouring or other design ideas that don't require to much work.
    As there are 85 nodes, it shouldn't be impossible to make each of them somewhat unique. With some of the features never to be seen on some servers since nodes lock each other out.

    Sieges should be different from node to node and require different strategy. It should be obvious that a siege to an underground node would not be done with trebuches and catapults. It would be done by starving the node because it requires food from the outside. It would be done by fire and smoke.
    “Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality.”
  • BotBot Member
    For a node I lived in and spent most of my time in, I would love something similar to Amegakure in Naruto. A dark and gloomy industrial setting with constant rain. Random high tech (for the time period) and industrial architecture in an urban environment.

    For a node I frequent such as a node my guild operates from, I would prefer either a dark, nightmarish type environment filled with dark energy and maybe ghouls/demons lurking around with black/red colors or a very pristine ice fortress type of environment.
  • HarlowHarlow Member, Alpha Two
    I want warmth - tropical beaches with the cry of seagulls, plenty of palm trees and lush tropical vegetation, the sound of the ocean waves crashing (or lapping, depending on if this beach is in a harbor or not), perhaps a little Don Ho or steel drum music in the background. Flowers everywhere. Peacocks wandering around. (Can you tell I missed my trip to the beach this year??).
    i0xzy5byic4r.png
  • SweatycupSweatycup Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    I would prefer to spend my time in a tropical, or temperate environment. I see in my mind running through extremely dense foliage blocking LoS and using it to run away as well as to surprise unweary travelers or caravans. Kind of like in apocalypto when they are running through the jungle dodging arrows. The location could either be a very dense location with tons of foliage surrounding it, beach location with a port or a cave although im not sure dunir live in caves like most dwarves in other games. A temperate or tropical island would be my top option. The people that run and allocate themselves to a certain node make it desirable. The environment things are more a afterthought.
  • LemonsquidLemonsquid Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I’d like to be walking the cold dark halls that open up to a vast complex kept lit by torches and large fiery furnaces churning out plumes of smoke with the clanging of metal on the forges in the background way up in the shivering cold snow filled mountain ranges
  • TyranthraxusTyranthraxus Member, Alpha Two
    Yours truly greatly enjoys the notion of spending a lot of time in environs that I wouldn't visit, IRL. Where I live? I've been atop snowy mountains, and through barren deserts and salt plains; I'd like to go where there's life-per-square-inches in the deep jungles, the tick-and-bear-laden forests, and the jellyfish-strewn beaches.

    Am hoping to hook up with a branchler-elf-centric or science node-centric group right before or right after launch, and settle deep in the forests. Time to establish a new elven capital....
  • el_boleoel_boleo Member, Alpha Two
    I would instantly settle either an underground node that occupies caverns and builds within them, or a cliffside/mountainside/canyon settlement that digs into the terrain as it expands. I just really like the idea of incorporating dug/carved out structures into a township (much like utilizing negative space in artwork)
  • LeiloniLeiloni Member, Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    I love northern forests. Lush, cozy, absolutely beautiful forests, some hills and mountains and open fields.Think Jackson, WY/Yellowstone area in the Fall/Summer. Not when there's snow but when there's lots of colors and life and vegetation. Love that.

    I also love some of the really fantastical looking concept art you have for the Underrealm - except would love something like that above ground.

    a3evsijidyo8.jpg
  • NeurotoxinNeurotoxin Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I intend to have a home at a nice coastal Nikua/Py'Rai dominant Scientific node, where the focus from the Metropolis down is to develop anti-corruption weapons and materials for the Great Hunt against the Ancients and the Others.

    What's funny to me is the thought that end-game isn't getting max level and BiS gear, but complete purgation and mitigation of corruption to the point where the devs have to respond with new content to handle the condition we've created.
  • boblikesoupboblikesoup Member, Alpha Two
    edited September 2023
    The Vaelune desert cities are so beautiful. I like the idea of nodes generally being far apart with lots of wilderness between.

    Where I actually settle is hard to tell without a lot more context: guild, node community, profession and resources available, local supply & demand, proximity to other nodes (trade hub), and node type.

    Overall I'd like a central Scientific metropolis that is a hub for travel, or a difficult to access cut-off node with special resources that feels like our own little corner of the world. The science hub would make traveling to it easier circumventing some mountains/ravine/dangers or something
  • PromptlingPromptling Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Windy Rainy Stormy Mountainous Coastline Metropolis
  • superwafflefrysuperwafflefry Member, Alpha Two
    For me, where I want to settle down in is the spot that best supports the 1200-person gaming clan Dark Star Imperium that I'm an officer for. We as a group have been giving this much thought recently since the latest dev update, since we would need a location that can be viable for worldwide trade as well as have enough local real estate for all our freeholds. Honestly, those numbers I would be leery of throwing around if we didn't have 287 people in our Starbase in game group the day it released, so planning out logistics for asking ~300 people (the currently proposed AoC clan limit) to base somewhere is not out of the question.

    From an environment perspective, we were looking at locations that offer either extreme "flatness" or crazy verticality for defensive purposes since only mayors and maybe a few others will be able to fly. Aesthetically, it would be cool if the town in the node matched the local environment, not just necessarily the racial identity of the owners. As an example, if humans built wooden towns akin to medieval architecture, but the node was somewhere where the trees have purple wood, then that should be reflected in the buildings' color, even if the architecture itself remains "human".

    My personal preference would be a node in a valley surrounded by mountains with crest snow-laden peaks above but a rich lush river-basin in the valley below. Or an island, gotta love islands.
  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    As requested, here is the Dev Discussion - Dream Nodes image without the Dev Discussion text! ;)

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  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    edited September 2023
    Draktar wrote: »
    @Vaknar could you post the image mentioned in the thread? pls

    There ya go, friend! <3 ☝
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  • FiddlezFiddlez Member
    My Favorite Zone in New World was Brightwood, the creepy and dark atmosphere with the undead and ghosts was awesome.

    I haven't seen anything like it yet in AoC but man do I really hope we have some haunted forests, maybe at night the Elite Undead come out(think Kithicor forest in EQ1). Obviously something different but an event that changes the way the way players interact with the zone ( Don't go in at night vibe)
  • Yenn0warYenn0war Member
    Forgot the most important ones for me.
    -plains that suddenly cut off and turn into steep cliffs (White Cliffs of Dover)
    -Gorges with fast rivers and dwarven faces carved on cliffs (Rock sculpture of Decebalus)
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