Resource locations

Alpha-1 mine shaft.

Players will be able to move resources and set up shop in other areas to take advantage of the varied markets. With resources spawning dynamically, certain regions will naturally become important trading hubs for the transportation of goods throughout the world.

Verra's map will not be procedurally generated, but starting resource points may be different on each server.

• Some resources will be one-time gatherables that will randomly respawn at a different location once collected.
• Other resources will exist as a cluster (also called vein gatherables). These will last until the full resource is depleted.

  Like a large mine that's present and has a vein of mithril ore in it, or a herd of some type of animal that you can collect fur or wool from. – Steven Sharif

  • There will be moving resources such as herds of animals that are constantly moving around the world.

  Herds are a source of certain types of wild gatherables but they're in animal form and they're animated; and they exist in a group of the golden fleece sheep that might only spawn very rarely in certain hillsides; and only during spring. And if you can find that vein so to speak of resource you can interact with the herd and you can gather from them. – Steven Sharif

  • Once a vein resource is depleted from one location it may respawn in the same location or somewhere else, depending on the type of resource.
• Resources respawn on a cooldown basis.
• Resources won't be locked to the node system.
• Some unique resources may be monsters in disguise or have monsters defending them.

Resources

Gatherable mushrooms found in an underground cave.

We want our players to have a reason to explore the wilderness, to travel with purpose, and much of that will be driven by our resource system. Transporting these goods might just be more difficult than gathering them. Our regional market system allows players to participate in creating pocket economies that will reinforce the stability of goods in particular regions.

Gatherable resources (also known as raw materials and harvestables) occur in locations where you would expect them to be organically.

• Some resources will be one-time gatherables, others will exist as clusters that will last until the vein is depleted.

We really want resources to be persistent and non-renewable. If there’s a mithril vein, that mithril vein will be there until it runs out. The server will manage these amounts on its own, and will repopulate things where and when it desires. You might find another mithril vein in that location sometime later, or somewhere nearby, or maybe never again!

• Players drop resources and other items upon death, based on their applicable death penalties.

• Raw materials (gatherable resources) are not to be confused with crafting materials (processed goods).

Surveying

Surveying plays a key role in helping gatherers identify resources in particular locations through the use of surveying tools.

Surveying is a way that players can check out an area for resources. Players can learn where resources are that are static and that grow back in the same location; but we'll also have resources and Ashes that can spawn anywhere, so surveying will help players locate those those resources. So if they're looking for something specific they can hunt them down. Surveying will also allow players to uncover hidden resources that players wouldn't be able to see with their with their naked eye. Another thing that a surveying would provide is some of the information that we're talking about before, like for instance if you survey- and inside of your survey area there's plants, you might learn what season that plant likes to grow in. You might learn whether it likes to be watered during the winter versus how it likes to be watered in the summer. – Kory Rice

• Surveying can identify the types of resources that spawn statically within an area and also provides information about the seasons and locations they spawn in.
• Surveying can help uncover hidden resources that are not visible to the naked eye.
• Artisan progression unlocks higher level surveying tools that enable better identification of gatherable resources within a location.
  • Unlocking surveying pylons allows the gatherer to adjust the shape and extend the area of their survey.

You'd work with a surveying tool; and you set the surveying tool down, and that tool would have a specific area in which it's able to uncover and extract information about the resources that are in the area. As a starting out gatherer you might end up with one of the tools, but as you as you progress and become more proficient with using the tool you might be able to set up additional pylons and extend the the area of your survey. That allows you to start making shapes and having more strategic areas that you're surveying. If you could connect multiple pylons to create a shape, maybe you could follow the twisting caverns of the cave. Maybe if you're out in the open like we are here you could just try and make yourself a nice widened shape to scan as much of the area as possible. So it'll be up to the player to be tricky with their surveying tool to try and get the most efficiency out of their survey. – Kory Rice

Resource quality

Flanggler (Flower angler or Mimic flower).

Resources will have differing tiers of quality for the same resource type. This is somewhat similar to Star Wars Galaxies.

• Gatherers who are more advanced in their artisan tree will unlock higher level harvesting tools that have a greater chance of collecting higher quality resources or proccing a greater quantity.

You will have an opportunity to proc certain qualities based on your progression in the Artisan tree. So if you are a gatherer; and as you advance in your gathering, you'll have a higher opportunity to collect better resources. – Steven Sharif

This section contains information from Alpha-1 testing. It will be updated when new information is made available.

In Alpha-1 testing there are 4 tiers of gatherable resources across all gathering professions:

• Tier 1 (Common)
• Tier 2 (Uncommon)
• Tier 3 (Rare)
• Tier 4 (Epic)

Gathering

Gathering lumber in Alpha-2.

The first major reveal is that in Ashes of Creation we have now expanded the resource gathering system to include a great many of what the world is showing you of these resources. So when you see a tree, you can chop a tree. If you see a rock, you can mine a rock. – Steven Sharif

Gathering ore in Alpha-2.

Looking at this this rock here, I don't know what that rock is before I actually complete the Harvest. But after I complete the Harvest I see that I collected basalt in the bottom right hand corner. – Steven Sharif

Gathering is one of the artisan classes in Ashes of Creation.

• Many of the visible resources (such as Trees and Ore) in the open world are gatherable.
  • This is a change from Alpha-1 where a limited number of resource locations were highlighted with "sparkles" to indicate they were gatherable.
• The exact type of resource present within a resource node is not known until the node is harvested.

There's a bunch of different things in Ashes that will be gatherable. We have plants and trees and rocks and fish and animals and creatures that can be tamed; and we're thinking to reach the visual fidelity bar and to have things a little bit more rooted in what we know is that it wouldn't really make sense for you to just see gold all over the world in the same way that you would plants and trees; so we wanted to get feedback on what players think about some of the different gatherable types having different things that you would have to know and expect from them. So rocks are a good example of this, where you can see a rock but until you crack that thing open you don't know if it's full of stone, crystals, rubies, gold. So we wanted to try that out with some of our gatherables to have players have to open this thing up- and that's not to say that we players won't stumble on a nice load, or vein, or geode of gold, but most of the stuff that they would they would find to the world, unless they they look hard enough, would require them to crack that stone open. – Kory Rice

• Gathering requires the creation and use of tools.
• Surveying plays a key role in helping gatherers identify resources in particular locations.
• Gathering within a node's Zone of influence (ZOI) will contribute to its experience growth.
• Certain low level gatherables will have a tiered progression into higher level crafting.

Certain low level gatherables will have a tiered progression into higher level crafting. So for example you know if I'm gathering... leaves of the blue petal flower to craft a pigment that's going to be used in the development of a tunic that I can wear at level one, then I may need to collect those in order to craft the pigments to craft a greater pigment that might be present in the in the crafting of a higher level item. So it's going to be kind of a tiered progression so that materials have relevancy throughout the different levels of of crafting; and that's important from an economic stability standpoint. You need to have layered demand from a supply standpoint so that players who are interested in collecting and gathering those materials still are relevant when the later level items are crafted. – Steven Sharif

Gathering tools

Sickle artisan tool in Alpha-2.

Gathering requires the creation and use of harvesting tools that enable the gathering of resources.

• Progression in the gathering artisan class unlocks higher level harvesting tools that enable gathering of higher level resources.
  • Artisan progression unlocks higher level surveying tools that enable better identification of gatherable resources within a location.
  • Higher level of progression can also speed up gathering times, resource yields, and may allow access to resources at earlier growth stages.
  • A gatherer at maximum proficiency will unlock master toolsets that will grant them access to the highest quality gatherables.

• Tools will have durability and tool lifespans.
  • The amount of usages of a gathering tool increases as the gatherer becomes more proficient in the gathering artisan tree.
  • Tools may become non-repairable, requiring re crafting.
• Artisans will not need to rely on other trees in order to make their tools.

Tools do advance within the artisan tree, so your ability to either gather, process or craft will require the equivalent tools necessary at that stage of crafting in order to accomplish the task at hand. So, you could not mine copper and mithril with the same tool. – Steven Sharif

• The developers are considering the introduction of gathering tools that require two players, such as two-person saws that can fell larger trees.

Your progression within the profession will take account what tools you can use. There might even be some opportunity to do some gathering with other players that you know. Typically in other games that I play you usually do the gathering alone. You're venturing around alone; and we wanted to take a look at maybe having a friend to help you with a two person saw on a larger tree. Maybe there's some panning that you could do as opposed to just hitting with the pickaxe. So, we'll have other tools that are part of that progression path and other activities that players can do if they would like to gather together. – Kory Rice

This section contains information from Alpha-1 testing. It will be updated when new information is made available.

Gathering tools for Mining, Herbalism, Lumberjacking, and Fishing are associated with a resource tier. For example: A tier 2 axe can gather tier 1 and 2 lumber and no higher.

Tool rarity	Resource tiers	Vendor price	Vendor location
Common	1	10g	Alpha-1 starting area
Uncommon	1 - 2	100g	Expedition (stage 1) nodes
Rare	1 - 3	500g	Encampment (stage 2) nodes
Epic	1 - 4	2000g	Village (stage 3) nodes

See also

• Resources
• Resource quality
• Gathering