World size

Ashes of Creation community empowered Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

1,200 km2 (square kilometers) is the expected total world size of Verra at launch, including land (480 km2) and water/ocean (750 km2), but excluding the size of the Underrealm.[1]

  • This has increased from the previously stated total size of 480 km2 including land and water/ocean[2][3][4]; but excluding an additional ~100 km2 of Underrealm.[5]
    • The Underrealm did not increase "too much" in size.[6]
  • The reason given for expanding the map size was to better accommodate Naval content and to reduce the overall content density in the world.[1]
The purpose of it becoming bigger is as I said to make sure that density isn't overwhelming: that it isn't everywhere I look there is immediately something. I have no opportunity to see areas of the world that are expansive and are just wanderlust adventure feeling. Everything was sitting on top of you, POIs and nodes and houses and everything. It was like an urban area everywhere. But we wanted to expand that because a large portion of the game is a sandbox element; it's coupled with a lot of curated content but it's that sandbox element.[1]Steven Sharif
  • The shape of the continents has also changed and two new large islands have been introduced.[1]

Number of nodes

There will be 85 regular node locations at launch with 15 additional castle nodes (5 castles x 3 castle nodes each)[7][8][9] for a total of 100 nodes.[10]

We have moved from a 103 nodes to 85 nodes; and there's a few reasons for that. One, when we were doing the calculations behind how- in Alpha 2 and in the game- we want these vassal structures to exist, we had more nodes than what felt meaningful and we wanted to condense some of that those curated story arcs and hooks into the environment and realm around the areas to be more bountiful at a lesser node value: meaning bringing down the node count so that we can increase the richness of each of those nodes more than what was at 103.[10]Steven Sharif

World map

Updated Ashes of Creation map.[16][1]

The new world map in all its 1,200 square kilometer glory. So you're gonna see some names here- a little bit of a reveal of some of these locations in these areas- and you're also of course seeing similar biomes that are present as well. But more importantly what you are seeing is the orientation of these continents and these islands that are facilitating specific types of inter-continental trade gameplay; and they support the relevance of these caravans moving across the land mass to locations that will now incorporate these harbor areas, which aren't identified on the map here... But the important part was providing a lot of coastal naval gameplay between these zones and trade routes between land base.[1]Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 work-in-progress map UI.[17]

The world of Verra features an in-game viewable world map. This map is not randomly generated, and begins covered in a fog of war.[18] Players will not be able to see the world until they have explored it or gathered information about it. The world is also full of imperfect information, which will require the player to act on it for verification.[19]

For example, you may hear a rumor in a tavern that tells you the location of a cave full of weak Kobolds, but this was not accurate as the rumor was started by well-equipped bandits in order to waylay overconfident adventurers.[19]
  • Not every server will share the same map, as player decisions will vary between servers.[25][26][21]
Even though we're an open-world that doesn't mean that from a design perspective, especially with the way our economic systems work, that we will want to create Geographic choke points.[28]Steven Sharif
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

World shape

The world of Verra is not flat,[31] but it cannot be circumnavigated.[32]

The Verran planet is not flat. You may not see a curvature on the horizon in this, but from a lore perspective the universe in Verra does adhere to some basic physics and laws of physics that we experience in the real world, which means it is not flat.[31]Steven Sharif
There will not be world wrapping in Ashes of Creation.[32]Steven Sharif

Alpha testing zone

Map of Alpha-1 testing zone.[33][34] Image credit: Axiom: Angelcry

The Alpha One map including nodes, dungeons, quest givers, POI, teleporters, and camps will be explorable! Note that this is only a small portion of the world of Verra.[35]

Alpha-1 testing tropical zone featuring a war beast and a tribe of pigmy goblins.[36]

This is a rather large tropical area; and what we use some of the creatures for is establishing character for different parts of this tropical place. So that even though it's the same biome, it feels different when you are going from place to place based on what's there and how those things are interacting with the environment.[37]Jeffrey Bard

Alpha-1 testing took place in a zone to the north west of the world map.[38] This zone has many islands and a mainland area.[39]

Castle regions

E1G9zelXIAY0WNO.jpg

Guild castles influence a castle region around them.[50]

Economic regions

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. 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.[57]

Economic regions are static areas defined by geographic points of interest.[58][59][60]

  • Castle regions are larger and encompass multiple economic regions.[58]
  • Nodes are the glue that hold castle and economic regions together in potential synergy or chaos.[61]
    • Node ZOIs are fluid and change their area based on the progression of the node and its neighbors.[58]
  • Castle regions, Economic regions, and Node ZOI (Zones of Influence) can overlap.[53]

The whole map would be under the influence of 1 of 5 castle regions. However, castle regions aren't the only TYPE of region - there are also economic regions, among other things.[59]Sarah Flanagan

Zones of influence

Nodes are pre-set locations, wrapped in a zone of influence (ZOI).[62]

Every Node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of Influence (ZoI). No matter where you go in the world, whether you’re questing, gathering, or raiding, you’ll be helping determine which nodes will develop, and what Zones of Influence will expand. Any area that a Node controls is considered its Zone of Influence, including Vassal Nodes, and all Vassal Nodes exist within the Zone of Influence of their Parent Node.[11]Margaret Krohn

Every node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Zone of influence (ZOI). Player activity within the ZOI is weighted and counted toward a particular node’s advancement.[62]

The main thing that differentiates us from other MMOs is that we have a living, breathing, reactive world... Our world is separated into zones, which are then separated into what we call nodes. Nodes are sort of invisible zones of influence that listen to everything that a player does; so as players gain experience from killing things, gain experience from doing quests, gain experience through crafting things, the node is also gaining that experience. Once a node gains enough experience it levels up and then starts to attract NPCs to it .[63]Jeffrey Bard

Each Node can form into towns, but are limited by their neighbors. The Nodes have different levels of advancement. There can only be so many of each level. Think of this as advanced settlements needing more elbow room. Nodes encompass more land as they grow and will require more effort to be sustained. This system is a main driver for change in the world because it creates scarcity. As Nodes advance in stages of growth they will lock out neighboring Nodes from progressing, and will absorb their zones of influence.[62]

There is not a space where you will move in to do something and no node will get that experience.[65]Steven Sharif

Server population

Population limits will be enforced on each server.[70]

  • Around 8-10k concurrent users per server is projected.[71][72][73][74]
  • Initially there will be a limited number of registered accounts (approximately 15,000) per server to help mitigate login queues.[75]
    • This limit will increase over time to around 50,000 registered accounts per server.[75][76][77]
  • There may be queues to get into high population servers, but the aim is to avoid excessively long queues.[77]
  • The developers intend to carefully manage server populations via the use of character creation throttles to avoid the need to merge servers.[76][78]
  • The developers may occasionally release stats relating to server populations and archetype/class makeup, but there isn't going to be an official page that surfaces this information.[79]

Exploration

Exploration in Alpha-1.[80]

We want to put things in the world that are dynamic, so there are reasons to keep going out and keep exploring.[81]Akil Hooper

Players will be rewarded for exploring.[83][84][85]

Exploration is a huge part of the game and there are a lot of systems that are dedicated to rewarding exploration..[84]Steven Sharif
  • Utility skills exist that can help players discover hidden paths and entrances and may lead to discovering hidden quests.[84]
  • Certain relics can only be discovered through exploration.[84]
  • Constellations may only be seen at certain times at specific locations.[84]
It's widespread how exploration can affect many different progression paths within the game; and it's not just about visiting an area once and never coming back, because timing matters as well.[84]Steven Sharif
It'll be easy for you to get lost in AoC. That is our goal from an exploration standpoint.[86]Steven Sharif
Q: Since travel times are important, what is there to discover that will distract you from going straight to your initial destination? What makes traveling adventurous in Verra?
A: Aside from threat and opportunity, which are probably the two biggest distractions that you can encounter while traveling through Verra- those come in different forms: Threat. in the form of monsters and events. Opportunities, in the forms of resources and POIs. There's also achievements that are based around exploration. There's treasure maps that can be found. There's a lot of different things that intersect with travel: The movement of resources. The storage of those resources. In which locations, what are available to be sold and purchased at different locations. They might make you detour for. All of those things contribute to why I would go somewhere and instead change my direction.[83]Steven Sharif

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (46:52).
  2. Livestream, January 30, 2020 (1:18:12).
  3. world size.png
  4. waterlandsize.png
  5. Interview, August 17, 2018 (10:43).
  6. Livestream, April 7, 2023 (22:48).
  7. 7.0 7.1 Blog: 10 facts about castle sieges in the MMORPG.
  8. 8.0 8.1 castle nodes.png
  9. 9.0 9.1 Podcast, April 23, 2018 (15:14).
  10. 10.0 10.1 Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:05:47).
  11. 11.0 11.1 Blog - Know Your Nodes - The Basics.
  12. Interview, August 24, 2018 (3:44).
  13. Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:18:54).
  14. Livestream, August 26, 2022 (1:06:42).
  15. 15.0 15.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (37:16).
  16. Blog - Development Update with New Map and Feature Discussions.
  17. Video, January 27, 2023 (4:39).
  18. Interview, May 22, 2017 (22:54).
  19. 19.0 19.1 The mighty beard!
  20. Livestream, September 29, 2023 (1:14:29).
  21. 21.0 21.1 MMOGames interview, January 2017
  22. Livestream, September 29, 2023 (1:11:22).
  23. Livestream, May 27, 2022 (2:33).
  24. Blog: Know Your Nodes - Scientific Node Type
  25. roshen servers.png
  26. Livestream, May 19, 2017 (37:03).
  27. Livestream, August 26, 2022 (53:26).
  28. 28.0 28.1 Livestream, June 26, 2020 (1:25:11).
  29. Livestream, October 30, 2020 (1:19:13).
  30. Livestream, May 15, 2017 (30:53).
  31. 31.0 31.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (44:51).
  32. 32.0 32.1 Livestream, September 30, 2020 (55:15).
  33. Alpha-1 screenshot.
  34. toast-a1map.png
  35. Guide to Alpha One.
  36. 36.0 36.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (12:09).
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (22:43).
  38. 38.0 38.1 Livestream, November 30, 2020 (9:51).
  39. 39.0 39.1 alpha-1-map-size.png
  40. Livestream, March 26, 2021 (16:05).
  41. Interview, January 14, 2022 (3:50).
  42. steven-a1-map.png
  43. Interview, July 19, 2020 (1:21:49).
  44. Podcast, April 11, 2021 (53:01).
  45. Livestream, November 30, 2020 (25:45).
  46. steven-pi-not-alpha-island.png
  47. Livestream, January 29, 2021 (26:38).
  48. Livestream, October 16, 2017 (12:08).
  49. Livestream, November 30, 2020 (24:51).
  50. castle-influence.png
  51. castle-taxes2.png
  52. 52.0 52.1 castle-region.png
  53. 53.0 53.1 region-overlap.png
  54. castle-metro.png
  55. Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:01:10).
  56. castle-taxes.png
  57. About Ashes of Creation.
  58. 58.0 58.1 58.2 economic-regions.png
  59. 59.0 59.1 economic-regions1.png
  60. Unreal Engine Interview, 2017-05-23.
  61. economic-regions-static.png
  62. 62.0 62.1 62.2 Node series part I
  63. Interview, April 20, 2018 (7:22).
  64. Ashes of Creation FAQ.
  65. 65.0 65.1 Livestream, July 9, 2018 (39:32).
  66. Livestream, March 29, 2019 (58:14).
  67. Livestream, March 29, 2019 (29:17).
  68. Livestream, May 5, 2017 (37:52).
  69. Interview, May 11, 2018 (55:16).
  70. Livestream, May 17, 2017 (59:25).
  71. Livestream, October 29, 2021 (1:14:00).
  72. Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (26:41).
  73. Video, September 6, 2018 (4:25).
  74. server population.png
  75. 75.0 75.1 steven-jahlon-accounts-per-server.jpg
  76. 76.0 76.1 steven-server-accounts.png
  77. 77.0 77.1 Interview, July 18, 2020 (12:56).
  78. Interview, July 18, 2020 (10:04).
  79. Livestream, November 19, 2021 (52:35).
  80. steven-a1-exploration.png
  81. Livestream, November 17, 2017 (36:22).
  82. Ashes of Creation wallpapers - April 2022.
  83. 83.0 83.1 83.2 83.3 83.4 Livestream, May 31, 2023 (1:09:04).
  84. 84.0 84.1 84.2 84.3 84.4 84.5 84.6 Livestream, February 24, 2023 (6:51).
  85. exploration.jpg
  86. 86.0 86.1 Livestream, July 9, 2018 (1:00:00).
  87. Livestream, October 28, 2022 (24:28).
  88. pvp meaningful.png