Narrative

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Narratives (Meta-stories, story paths) that play out on each particular server realm are driven by world development, player activity, and story arcs on that realm.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

World building is a big part of what we do, what we're really focused on and my main focus with MMOs has been to make sure that while we're building the world, while we're creating unique systems that we can put in cool quests and cool characters that we always remember that it's the player stories that are the ones that are important... That's what makes MMO stories resonate through time; and we want to leave room for players to take all this cool stuff that they experience within the world and leave room for them to interpret it and tell their own stories and argue about what the truth is in any particular piece of lore. That's the philosophy behind what we're trying to do.[7] – Bill Trost
  • The main story path is something that players are encouraged to participate in.[2]
There is of course a meta-story. That meta-story gets informed by regional stories and regional outcomes; and depending on how players progress within their personal stories, that could be either racially based or could be their class-based. They could be a per-node basis. All of those things support a grand structure of the meta-narrative.[4] – Steven Sharif
Q: What is your vision for the overall player story when comparing the more emergent personal stories versus the more curated story arcs?
A: The narrative keeps in mind what the meta narrative is of the server; and that's something we have generally kept relatively close to the chest. It's something that we don't want to spoil leading up to our testers participating in Alpha-2 and Beta and eventually launch. It is however true that there is a meta narrative that exist within Ashes. There is a purpose why you are on Verra again; and the supporting narrative structures are there to reinforce what that meta narrative is. So, players will have insight into that as they travel and adventure within the world.[3] – Steven Sharif
Don't get me wrong, I love super eccentric cutscenes and voice actors out the wazoo when I'm playing a game where my focus is that story line and progression; and while stories in MMOs are important because they contextualize the world for you: They help to immerse you within the environment of what Verra is intending to be, I'm not sure that a budget for an MMORPG is best spent trying to achieve that level of fidelity storytelling that incorporates those types of cutscenes or voice actors. So my vision for Ashes isn't to invest heavily in those areas. However, the vision does include having really robust quest systems that engage with the player from a player-agency-first perspective that have lots of different predicates that can send stories off in different directions that can result in these multi-server unique storylines and story arc systems that players get to engage with and see a response from the actions that they've communally taken.[1] – Steven Sharif

Story arcs

Alpha-2 early preview of the story arc UI.[13]

Story arcs are like a pre-packaged tabletop campaign. They contain all of the NPCs and quests and monsters- all the things you need to make a cool fantasy story. They're not procedurally generated... We write all the dialogue and we construct all the narrative beats and everything like that, but they will enter the world dynamically depending on the state that the world is currently in; how players have built up specific nodes, what races control various nodes. We have plans to include lots of different things on top of that, but we don't have any quest hubs or anything like that in this game, because players build up all the cities. So we had to get a system that looks at what players are doing and can inject content into the world that makes sense for what they're doing.[14] – Skott B

The Blood Still Due story arc unlocking at Tower of Carphin.[15]

When story arcs come online, they change a lot the environment. They update what monsters are in the world. They create quest NPCs... and then new Pathways can open up through the environment.[16] – Skott B

Story arcs are unlocked by multiple types of player activity within each server realm.[17][15][14][18]

Every stage a node develops it's unlocking narratives, storylines, it's changing the spawn population of the area around it, changing what bosses exist, it's triggering events where you may have legendary dragons attack the city. It's basically writing the story of the server based on the actions and determination of the players. So, you may experience a dungeon one month earlier and have a completely different story that relates to this location the next month, because something has changed either geopolitically or from the node standpoint.[18] – Steven Sharif
Even player driven mechanics will still have story components. There will be a reason why the player driven mechanic is available or required of the player; so every system that's created touches a story.[23] – Steven Sharif
  • If there are too many other major arcs happening at the same time in the same zone, a story arc may need to wait its turn, even if conditions are right for it to be unlocked.[17]
  • Story arcs drive one or more storyline quests within the game.[25][26][27][28][6]
    • Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[25][26]
    • The developers will try to ensure that story arcs in future expansions flow on from existing story arcs, regardless of the different possible outcomes.[25]
  • There will be a variety of different types of story arc content at different scales, with different cooldowns to suit different types of players in the game.[30]
We must provide enough of this content at varying scales such that it isn't worthwhile or economical to control every single story arc in the world. Some will be smaller in scale and production value, and thus, will move faster and have shorter cooldowns before they're reintroduced.[30] – Skott B
  • Story arcs offer content tailored to players at various adventuring levels. Lower level story arc content can influence what higher level players are able to do.[31]
Q: Are the story arcs designed to engage players of all levels simultaneously, or certain segments specifically tailored for high-end or endgame content?
A: We have story arcs that do both. We have story arcs that are catered towards high-end level ranges that are very specific to the types of adventuring levels that we want players to participate in that story arc, and then we have some story arcs that have different sections which cater to a broader diversity of level ranges; and the way we approach players participating in those more broader story arcs is that the activities of the lower level players feed up through the story arc, so what they're doing influences even what higher level players are able to do. And meeting the certain quota of objectives that are necessary to progress the story arc requires participation down the line across the story arc features. So, to answer your question shortly: We have both.[31] – Steven Sharif
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Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Certain story arcs can be unlocked through the bulletin board system. Certain requirements would need to be met in order to access story arc quests.[35]

Story arc chapters

Quest journal showing story arc chapters.[36]

Within the context of these story arcs, there are specific points that they can pivot to tell a different story. That different story can be based on predicates that are in the world: from a player decision standpoint, from a cultural representation standpoint, from situational to which node gets developed. There's a lot of different components that interact with the way the dialogue and narratives play out on a particular server; and what that means is- and I've said this from the beginning many sandbox MMORPGS, they do not create as much curated content as theme-park MMORPGS; and their excuse for doing that is because they incorporate player-driven mechanics. But that's a bit of a cop-out and it's the opposite approach that we've taken with Ashes of Creation; and the reason for that is, if you give the player a door and there's nothing behind that door then opening the door is meaningless. So what we have to do is we have to create a very functional story arc system that provides content in many different ways, but is behind a door of world progress or world development that is then executed by the player population. And that's how we construct our narrative systems.[5] – Steven Sharif

Each chapter (phase) in a story arc can cause changes across the entire server realm, such as environments, monsters, NPCs, Quests, and pathways.[27][16][4][5][6]

  • Players can progress a chapter by completing story arc quests within the timeframe that each chapter is active.[27]
    • Phase timers are shown (in the quest UI) to indicate how much real-world time is available to complete the quests in each phase.[26]
    • If the player completes all quests in a particular chapter, they will need to wait until the next chapter to obtain further quests.[37]
    • Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[25][26]
It's not just a matter of completing the laundry list of things that the NPC has you do, but you pick from a whole bunch of objectives, many of them optional. Some of them, if not most of them, hidden when you first undertake the quest. So go dig up a guide, or blaze your own trail, or whatever; but depending on which objectives you complete, those are the things that help the server aggregate what is going to happen in later phases of the story arc. And that's across all of the players participating during that time frame: what objectives they decide to complete.[26] – Skott B
  • Story arcs can last for days, which reduces pressure to log in daily to remain competitive.[38]
Story arcs normally progress according to the passage of real-time, which is clearly indicated in your quest journals. Even if a zerg guild throws all their resources at a story arc, they can't lock anyone out of participating by doing all the participation on their own. You'll have the time indicated in your quest journal to finish the content available in that chapter.[30] – Skott B
  • Most story arcs will repeat with a cooldown, but major story arcs will only occur one-time: These can be replayed, but in a non-interactive way where any choices made do not impact the world.[38][39]
The cooldowns between arcs repeating will also be quite long- proportional to the length of the chapters, but we're still in pursuit of the right numbers there. You can't do the individual quests again until the entire arc restarts.[37] – Skott B
  • Some events will only be available while story arcs are in certain chapters.[37]

Story arc quests

Story arc quests (Storyline quests/Narrative quests) contain objectives for each chapter of a story arc.[25][26][27][28][6][40]

  • Players can progress each chapter by completing story arc quests within the timeframe that each chapter is active.[27]
    • Phase timers are shown (in the quest UI) to indicate how much real-world time is available to complete the quests in each phase.[26]
    • If the player completes all quests in a particular chapter, they will need to wait until the next chapter to obtain further quests.[37]
  • Story arcs can branch into different stories with multiple possible endings depending on the quest objectives that players complete during each chapter.[25][26][28]
You can't really farm the quests in any meaningful way, because once you've done the quests in a chapter, that's it until the next chapter. Whether 1000 people participate or 10, the chapters will stay active for the same length of time, and as long as you participate in the clearly-marked time frame in your quest journal, you're good. The only thing that a concentrated effort can help with is influencing the narrative paths through the arcs.[37] – Skott B
  • These quests stages can be failed. The ability to retry a failed quest depends on Node progression.[28]
There will be many different quests that actually have stages of the storyline; and these stages can actually be failed. You can actually fail a storyline; which sucks when you think about it, but at the same time that risk makes your investment that much more important.[28] – Steven Sharif

Read more...

Player driven narrative

One of the major goals I feel like we have is to allow player decisions to have consequences and to have meaningful results from the decisions that they make, so it seems like people can really create their own stories.[43] – Aimi Watanabe

The world of Verra will be the same on each server realm, but Nodes will develop differently. Different servers will have different narratives. Things that happen on one server may not happen on another.[44]

We want as many people as possible to experience the main server Narrative. These will branch at different scales, but largely at the personal level. Where things change is at the Node level – different parts of the story will be unlocked based on where and when Nodes grow. Unlocking a part of the story in a certain way locks out progression of the story in a different way. You’ll see different antagonists, different NPCs, and different calls to action depending on what’s happening with the server at that time.[46]

It redefines what the players will experience in an MMORPG to come into a wilderness that is devoid of really any structure outside of what the community creates themselves; and then what can be created can be changed, if they want to experience a storyline that's been seen on another server, but you're fighting a dragon because you're near a mountain and the other server's fighting a Kraken because they're near the coast and you want to fight that Kraken because of its drop table. If you want to meta it or because you just want that under your belt: to be the server first to take out that Kraken and you have yet to develop the node there, it's incumbent upon you to manifest that in the game.[47] – Steven Sharif

Narrative events

Narrative Events help shape the story of Verra based on the choices that players make during key questlines. While narrative story arcs take time to develop across a server, Narrative Events will show players that their choices play a bigger part in shaping the world around them through individual actions.[48] – Peter Bisulca

Narrative events allow players to shape the story arcs that unfold on their server realm through the choices they make in key questlines.[48]

Server history

Map concept art.[52]
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Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

The history of each server realm will be tracked and visible to players in a node's library.[50][53]

  • This design may have changed.[54]
We're gonna keep track of the history of the world so that we can tell people the story up to the current day. A player who's brand new, who's come in at the six-month mark can take a look at each server, what each server has done, how each server has tackled the storyline; and they can decide for themselves what community they want to join; what version of the world that they want to take part in.[53] – Jeffrey Bard
  • Scribes may be able to collect and record information about the events of the world as they see it from their point of view.[55]

Cinematic events

Thanksgiving seasonal trailer.[56]

I don't think we're ever going to be a game where we focus and spend a lot of our effort on fancy cinematics where everybody sees the same thing, because that's not what this game is about. This game is about everybody's experiencing the world and having an impact on the world and seeing that impact; and it being different from server to server and from person to person.[7] – Bill Trost

Ashes of Creation will have in-game cinematics (as opposed to pre-recorded cinematic trailers) and story arcs to tell the game's story from the player's perspective.[1][10][11]

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.[10] – Steven Sharif

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Livestream, February 28, 2025 (1:41:19).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Livestream, September 27, 2024 (1:47:04).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (1:23:07).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Livestream, April 29, 2022 (1:05:37).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Livestream, March 31, 2022 (1:15:29).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Livestream, January 18, 2018 (39:08).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Livestream, February 28, 2025 (1:43:53).
  8. ↑ Livestream, September 27, 2024 (1:43:05).
  9. ↑ Video, September 27, 2024 (4:39).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Livestream, January 27, 2023 (4:18).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Livestream, September 27, 2018 (43:21).
  12. ↑ Interview, October 20, 2024 (32:38).
  13. ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (14:14).
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Video, March 31, 2023 (3:32).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Video, March 31, 2023 (1:22).
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Video, March 31, 2023 (6:30).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 skotty-story-arc-2.png
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Video, April 5, 2018 (35:01).
  19. ↑ Livestream, April 7, 2023 (55:22).
  20. ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2023 (1:00:16).
  21. ↑ Livestream, October 28, 2022 (32:52).
  22. ↑ Livestream, June 1, 2017 (37:39).
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Livestream, May 30, 2019 (1:18:16).
  24. ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (15:37).
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (58:39).
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 26.7 Video, March 31, 2023 (14:20).
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 Video, March 31, 2023 (12:47).
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 Interview, October 20, 2018 (2:36:25).
  29. ↑ Video, September 29, 2023 (2:59).
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 skotty-story-arc-1.png
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Podcast, May 10, 2024 (8:54).
  32. ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (47:05).
  33. ↑ Livestream, March 31, 2023 (59:10).
  34. ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (16:42).
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 Livestream, October 31, 2017 (29:50).
  36. ↑ Video, January 27, 2023 (9:43).
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 skotty-story-arc-3.png
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (49:32).
  39. ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (25:20).
  40. ↑ MMOGames interview, January 2017
  41. ↑ Livestream, March 26, 2021 (1:12:51).
  42. ↑ Livestream, July 25, 2020 (1:50:20).
  43. ↑ Video, March 31, 2023 (28:11).
  44. ↑ Livestream, May 19, 2017 (37:03).
  45. ↑ Livestream, December 17, 2019 (1:10:30).
  46. ↑ Interview: Ashes of Creation on Building Their Virtual World, 2017-04-13.
  47. ↑ Livestream, May 22, 2017 (28:02).
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Types of Events on Verra.
  49. ↑ Interview, July 9, 2023 (59:31).
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Blog: Know Your Nodes - Scientific Node Type
  51. ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (15:37).
  52. ↑ Kickstarter packages.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Interview, April 20, 2018 (9:20).
  54. ↑ Livestream, September 29, 2023 (1:14:29).
  55. ↑ Livestream, May 26, 2017 (51:37).
  56. ↑ Twitter - From big to small, Thanksgiving is a holiday for all!
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