Events

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The world of Verra is a dynamic and ever-changing landscape filled with wonder, adventure, and danger. One of the many mechanics that allow us to achieve this adaptability is Events. Events are one of the primary ways that players will experience content. Events focus on delivering a reactive world that keeps players on their toes while changing up gameplay in a fun and unique way, providing challenges, and shaping the world around them. Players will encounter events throughout their entire time on Verra - from early progression to high-level dungeons and raids.[1] – Peter Bisulca

Corrupted area in Alpha-1, design by Mia DelCasino.[2]

I think Ashes' whole premise is to incorporate events and changes and evolution that not only represents player activity but also incorporates random story driven interruptions to the normal flow of the world; and whether that be through blocking off specific roadways that are the lifeblood of a particular node's incoming resources, or having random raid boss appear in a zone that never traditionally they did before; and as a result it incurs a complete change of climate that's now affecting crop rotations; and only specific crop can come from that zone; and now the whole economy of the world has been thrown into chaos because no one's been able to down this boss yet, we can't get the corn we need in order to build the reagents on the alchemical side to create this craft- That's the type of domino effect system or event you want that appears in a natural non-injunction way, but it presents a problem to the players to that they have to accomplish something at least if they want to change it back to the status quo. Those I think are compelling events and those I think are ways that the world can introduce an element of randomness that reflects what we experience in the real world.[3] – Steven Sharif

Events are things that happen in Ashes of Creation as the result of development in the world.[3][4] There are several different types of events that are triggered due to certain conditions (predicates) being met.[5][6][1][7] Events are scaled to fit local, regional, and global needs.[8][9]

Events... can be local, regional or global, and consist of boons or banes. They’re triggered based on a lot of different variables, and some may be one-off Events that occur once, and never again. If an Event is handled successfully, then something good happens to the local, regional, or global area. If it fails, then something bad befalls the local, regional or global area. They’ll relate to the overall Narrative, but don’t fall into its overall structure (for the most part). These are the things that will be written into history, and we imagine that as time grows, each server’s history will diverge more and more.[10]
  • Some events incorporate random story-driven interruptions to the normal flow of the world, such as blocking off specific roadways, having a random raid boss or mobs appear unexpectedly in a zone. Some may lead to wider consequences, such as climate change, plagues, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, or other natural disasters.[11][3][12][13][14]
    • There are events that lead to the spreading of corruption that players will have to fight back against. When these events occur players will need to participate to keep the intrusion on the material plane back.[15][16][17]
  • Events that are taken care of successfully have positive consequences and provide rewards based on the contribution of players during the event.[18][9]
There are certain effects that can happen in a world that does not have a proper response from the player population and that's the whole idea behind these events that can happen; that feel like these are natural world progression events if corruption starts to show itself as a response- as a push back to the player's development of nodes in the world itself.[15] – Steven Sharif
There is the ability to fail. I know that is a strange concept for a lot of us nowadays playing more modern games, but there is absolutely a way to fail.[19] – Steven Sharif
  • Events have cooldowns in addition to the predicates that are required to trigger them.[19]
Events absolutely do have cooldowns that cannot be forced to spawn repeatedly over and over again. Those cooldowns are not just something that's based on a timer, they're also predicated on certain actions occurring within the world.[20] – Steven Sharif
  • If events are not triggered within a certain time period, they could occur randomly.[4]
  • There may be one-off events.[10]
  • Events do not target personal belongings such as freeholds.[6]

Event types

"EVENT-ful" livestream teaser.[23]

There are a variety of different types of events that are triggered due to certain conditions (predicates) being met.[5][6][1][7]

World events

World events are pop up challenges that exist within open areas of wilderness or POIs, and anyone can join. They adapt in difficulty to player strength and last around 20-30 min usually (though some can be longer).[33] – Steven Sharif

Triggering a pop-up event through player activity in Alpha-2.[5]

The event system, it can query a lot of different aspects of the dynamic world state. Right now it's actually just tracking player activity in the world; and for this event in particular, it's looking for us to kill some stuff. So we're out here killing some stuff and eventually the event should trigger once it's detected enough player activity.[5] – Clayton Stamper

World events (also called Pop-up events) are small-scale triggered events that exist within open areas of wilderness or POIs.[5][33][1]

  • World events adapt to the strength of the participants. The more players participating in an event the more challenging the event will become and the higher the rewards will be for completing the event.[34][5][33]
    • Participation is not based purely on numbers of players joining the event.[35]
    • Player power and NPC power is not scaled up or down, rather the number and types of NPCs in the event will be affected.[35]
We're not talking about scaling up the player's power, scaling down the power of the NPCs, but rather how many additional spawners start to activate, what different types of NPCs start to join; are they going to be elites? Is there a boss? Those types of things are scalable as part of the event system.[35] – Steven Sharif
  • Any player can join a world event.[33]
  • Joining a world event as a party will merge the party into the event's raid group.[36]
    • Players can remain in the raid group after the event or convert back to a party if they choose to do so.[37]
  • World events last around 20 to 30 minutes, but some can be longer.[33][38]
  • Some events incorporate random story-driven interruptions to the normal flow of the world, such as blocking off specific roadways, having a random raid boss, or mobs appear unexpectedly in a zone. Some may lead to wider consequences, such as climate change, plagues, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, or other natural disasters if they are not addressed.[11][3][12][13][14]

Event levels

The level of a particular event can be based on the level of the content that triggers it, or it can be set to a higher level in order to drive traffic back to lower level zones.[8]

For example, if the event takes place in a zone that has a base population of let's say average level 25, then one of the trigger conditions might be that 10 monsters of level 25 have been killed recently in that zone and the level 25 event will now spawn additional content designed for level 25 players. So these events aren't always going to be end-game they're going to be obviously appropriate based on the content in which the predicate system is informing, but they also could be something completely top level that is introduced at a lower-level area and brings population traffic of the players back to those types of things.[8] – Steven Sharif
  • The more players participating in an event the more challenging the event will become and the higher the rewards will be for completing the event.[34][5][33]

Event rewards

Event rewards from The Hills Have Knives world event in Alpha-2.[39]

We had a toast saying that the event has progressed from its original state as a group event to a raid level event that was a veteran or better level; and of course that comes with more challenges, more optional objectives; but also more rewards. So, it's never going to be a bother to have other people join you. It's all part of being in a multiplayer environment is the more friends going up with you, the better.[34] – Aimi Watanabe

Event rewards are calculated based on the contribution score of each individual player during an event. This is subject to change based on testing.[18]

We'll just count up the contribution however we end up balancing that and then we have different tiers of rewards that are given to each individual player based off of their contribution score in the event.[36] – Clayton Stamper
  • Event rewards will be classified into gold, silver, and bronze tiers based on a player's individual contribution to the event. This will produce reward tables that each player can independently roll on.[18]
That's just going to determine the reward table that they're going to get; and then each player is going to roll their own reward table independently.[36] – Skott B
  • The more players participating in an event the more challenging the event will become and the higher the rewards will be for completing the event.[34][5][33]

Failing events

Events that repeatedly reach a fail condition may lead to negative consequences.[40][19][15][9]

It's a cascading foundational system that serves to predicate how other instances of dynamic reactive world activities respond to player choices, player efforts, player successes, and failures.[40] – Steven Sharif
  • Local events that have not been addressed successfully may start to expand regionally or even globally.[41]
There's things that happen that have a domino effect on other things happening; and depending on how that thing happened it may change; and it doesn't always have to be the same things that are always happening. This is why when we said that every server will pretty much be very very different from another server it would be very very unlikely that they will be exactly the same and in the same state, because you'd have to take very specific actions at the same time to make those things line up that way.[40] – Margaret Krohn
  • Natural disasters may be triggered.[42]
Some of the events that spawn have consequences that lead to node attacks; and enemies have a particular type of hate list on certain buildings that a node may have access to when they attack during an event; and that hate list might relate to- or that building choice might relate to something that is indicative of the storyline for that particular event; or it could be something that is more pivotal to the defense of the city. If the city doesn't respond to these types of things that might weaken them for potential player attacks afterwards.[27] – Steven Sharif

List of events

Event Type Location Objective
A Chill in the Night World event
A Scarlet Illusion World event
Ambush, Caravan Down! World event
Angry Harvest World event
Attack on Briarmoor Farms World event
Bandit Toll Bridge World event
Beneath the Stone Shadows World event Titan's Ring
Beyond City Limits World event
Bloomwatch Bridge Blockade World event
Carphin Blooms POI event
Cleanse the Ritual Grounds World event
Crushed Caravan World event
Demon's Horn Tavern Scuffle World event
Dottie's Rules World event
Escort the Caravan Caravan event Riverlands Escort the caravan
Eye of the Titan World event
Firebrand, the Devouring Flame World event
For Argument's Sake World event
Fungal Fury World event
Goblin Counterattack POI event
Goblin Graverobbers World event
Goblin Roadblock World event
Goblin Tactics World event
Grave Robbers World event
Groundskeeper's Bane World event
Grumpy Grem Outbreak World event
Harness the Godspike Node war event Highwaymen Hills Empower the godspike
Honorswalk Post World event
Hunter's Mark World event
In the Fanciful Mire World event
Innocent Favor World event
Invasive Species World event
Larceners' Pact World event
Lionhold North POI event
Murmuration POI event
Mushroom Circlet World event
Necromancer's Seal World event
OakenBear Narrative event
Perilous Roads World event
Phylactery Dredge World event
Pilgrim's Piety POI event
Pillars Among Beasts World event
Raving Rabids World event
Recovered Losses World event
Rest In Plunder World event
Ring of Mourning World event
Risen Ranks World event
Ritual of the Raven Lord World event
Riverfolks Reprieve Narrative event
Roadside Ambush! World event
Rosefall World event
Rosewater Has Been Taken World event
Securing the Lowlands World event
Skeleton Rush World event
Skla'Risha, The Mother of Pain World event
Spider Hill World event
Spider Pond POI event
Spider Valley World event
Spirits of Chivalry World event
Spore Tender World event
Summoning the Sodden POI event
Survival Guide for New Recruits World event
The Astral Circle Narrative event
The Carphin's Lantern Narrative event
The Crew of the Wreckless POI event
The Disgraced Headmistress Narrative event
The Disgraced Ritualist Narrative event
The Forsaken Envoy World event
The Hills Have Knives World event Highwaymen Hills
The Horns of Betrayal World event
The Idol of Ozok World event
The Phantom Tower World event
The Unkindness of Ravens World event
Timber! World event
Tracks in the Mud World event
Unleashed Hunger World event
Vengeful are the Knighted World event
War Spore World event
Wishing Well World event

Cinematic events

Thanksgiving seasonal trailer.[43]

Ashes of Creation will have in-game cinematics (as opposed to pre-recorded cinematic trailers), utilizing tools to help tell the game's story from the player's perspective.[44][45]

Q: I have been wondering how you will capture the storytelling from a casual point of view. Arguably one of if not the best trailers out there is "Star wars the old republic" where they spend tons of money on capturing an audience through some phenomenal trailers. Are you looking to do the same or what trailers can we expect from Ashes of Creation?
A: There are certain budgetary requirements in order to afford very high-end cinematics and voice actors... and what that means is: how we want to implement on that front is really going to be in-engine, in-game- how we capture those scenes, how we capture those elements of story; and the good thing is that from a lore, narrative, and questing perspective, we have some functionality and tools that we're going to be utilizing to help tell the story from the player's perspective, because so much of the story is derived from player action, from community engagement, from the social interactions and decisions made along these different story arcs that can occur; and each server is different.[44] – Steven Sharif

GM run events

There will not be Game master (GM) run events initially, but the systems are in place to add these in the future.[46]

Event states

There are five types of states that exist for events.[47]

Events are driven by what we call a state machine; and there are essentially five types of states that exist for events: There's the in-progress state; there's the active state; inactive; on cooldown; or disabled. And that is essentially a way that we inform what types of elements- what stage of activity things are coming online based on what event state is currently active at the moment. We talked a little bit about triggers. We have world conditions like node levels. We have seasons and climates and calendar; the service building activation relics; and completed raids. All of these things can be part of what informs- I'm not going to go into what everything can be. I don't want to dish out the nitty-gritties of the system per-se, but I'm just giving you an idea of what essentially allows events to become a thing; and then once those things are addressed or not addressed, certain cooldowns get triggered. Other conditions might trigger: It could form as a predicate for an additional event- there could be concurrent events.[47] – Steven Sharif

Announcements/Notifications

Goblins attacking a Town (stage 4) node due to a triggered event.[1][11]

Enemies can only really grow stronger as the node grows, becoming outposts essentially for exiled or rivals of the existing order.[41] – Steven Sharif

There will be local, regional, or global (server-wide) announcements/notifications of important events.[41][48]

Event notifications will utilize different methods depending on the stage (scope and level) of the event.[41]

  • Local events
    • Local events (such as caravan PvP)[50][51][52] may prompt players via the UI asking if they wish to participate or not.[41]
    • Other local events may offer audible or visual cues without any UI notifications.[41]
    • Local events that have not been addressed may start to expand regionally or even globally.[41]
One important thing to note about events in general is notifications are sent to the players. Players can opt into these events in a similar way that you would into a quest. You're going to be presented with a 'would you like to participate' but they might not always be that way. You might hear trees falling in the forest and that may be an audio cue to tell you something's happening over there. It's out of the ordinary. This is not normally an audio cue that I hear in this area and i'm gonna go investigate that thing. So it might not just be always that UI window represented with a 'participate or not' but I'm going to go investigate and in that sense it could be stage driven. So you might have the more local stage where it is just the visual or audio cues and you get to go participate in that stage; and then when it advances, or if you don't answer the problem in time, then it starts to expand regionally and then it might send out particular notifications to either citizens of the node from which it falls under its purview or even broader than that. It could be global driven events and then it could have things that are are visual cues that are really big like a giant blizzard that's affecting the zone, because the event hasn't been addressed; and that can affect the crop rotations or it can affect passages and roads and how caravans move. There's a lot that the predicate system informs to the event system and then the event system reacts to those types of predicates.[41] – Steven Sharif
Whether it be like a siege or a triggered event against a city or like a unique dungeon opportunity... those types of things are going to involve notifications. Especially to the citizens of the city; where you'll be informed of an impending event. Basically it will give you time.[49] – Steven Sharif
  • Regional or global events
    • Wider events may be broadcast regionally or even globally.[41][48]

Visuals

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Types of Events on Verra.
  2. ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (23:33).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Podcast, April 11, 2021 (23:36).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Livestream, May 3, 2017 (46:18).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Video, September 29, 2023 (2:59).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (37:56).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 kickstarter events.png
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (44:13).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 MMOGames interview, January 2017
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Interview: Ashes of Creation on Building Their Virtual World, 2017-04-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (32:29).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Livestream, June 26, 2020 (1:29:06).
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Our immersive world - Environments.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Livestream, May 8, 2017 (20:27).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:13:30).
  16. ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (50:03).
  17. ↑ Livestream, November 8, 2020 (12:47).
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Video, September 29, 2023 (9:40).
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Livestream, September 29, 2023 (42:55).
  20. ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (43:47).
  21. ↑ skotty-story-arc-3.png
  22. ↑ Podcast, April 11, 2021 (54:35).
  23. ↑ vak-map.png
  24. ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (36:51).
  25. ↑ Livestream, May 10, 2017 (40:36).
  26. ↑ Video, October 31, 2023 (34:12).
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (39:00).
  28. ↑ kickstarter monster coins.png
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (40:21).
  30. ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (21:14).
  31. ↑ Video, May 31, 2024 (17:03).
  32. ↑ Livestream, April 29, 2022 (41:30).
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 33.6 steven-world-events.jpg
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Video, September 29, 2023 (12:18).
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Livestream, September 29, 2023 (41:16).
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Video, September 29, 2023 (5:56).
  37. ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (40:34).
  38. ↑ Video, September 29, 2023 (21:58).
  39. ↑ Video, September 29, 2023 (15:05).
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 Livestream, September 29, 2023 (44:54).
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 41.7 41.8 41.9 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (42:31).
  42. ↑ Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:32:12).
  43. ↑ Twitter - From big to small, Thanksgiving is a holiday for all!
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 Livestream, January 27, 2023 (4:18).
  45. ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2018 (43:21).
  46. ↑ Livestream, June 4, 2018 (22:27).
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 47.4 47.5 47.6 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (44:58).
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 Livestream, May 4, 2018 (48:14).
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 Interview, August 17, 2018 (24:48).
  50. ↑ Interview, March 27, 2020 (16:19).
  51. ↑ caravan UI.png
  52. ↑ Livestream, May 22, 2017 (40:40).
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:01:10).
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:01:00).
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