Introduction

Welcome to our Definitive Ashes of Creation Guide! Ashes of Creation is a high-fantasy MMORPG in development by Intrepid Studios. The MMO has a vast amount of features planned for release, pushing the boundaries of the MMO genre. The game is mostly self-funded by studio founder and Creative Director Steven Sharif. Steven has stated he started Intrepid after being dissatisfied with the direction of modern MMOs.

Ashes of Creation is heavily inspired by games such as Lineage 2 and Archeage. It aims to bring back a lot of features from those MMOs that newer games shy away from. Ashes of Creation plan on putting a large focus on PvP. This will include a guild alliance system that promotes war and diplomacy. Ashes of Creation will also strive to remain an open-world game with only a small part of instanced content.

The main feature that sets Ashes of Creation apart from other games is the Node System. The Node system places the progression of the game world in the players’ hands. This means that no two Ashes of Creation servers will ever have the same world and history.

The Development Process of Ashes of Creation

The development of Ashes of Creation started in February 2016. In June 2017 the developers ran a highly successful Kickstarter campaign. Intrepid used to spread the word about the game as well as secure additional funding for stretch goals. The game has no box cost but comes with a monthly subscription as well as a cosmetic cash shop. The developers are strongly opposed to introducing “Pay-to-Win” features.

Combat

Ashes of Creation’s Hybrid Combat System

Ashes of Creation has a hybrid combat system that allows players to choose a mix of action and tab targeting.  Players will be able to adjust each skill individually.   Ashes of Creation have mentioned that there are some skills that are only action or only tab targeted.  Tab Target only skills must have a target to use the skill.  Action skills can be utilized through a reticle, ground AOE or directional placement. 

Players will be able to switch between the two combat types by pressing “z”.  Whether you choose action or tab-target style combat, all basic weapon attacks will have a forward attack cone.  For example, daggers will have a short, precise cone whereas spears will have a long, wide attack area. They have stated that they might cap the amount of each skill you can select to be one type. Ashes of Creation gave the example of only allowing 75% of skills of one type. 

Choosing to use the Action or Tab Targeted version of skill will greatly impact the way the skill works. Ashes of Creation stated that there were many variables that could change when choosing between the action and tab-targeted combat. These include damage, charge-up time, CC effect, Cooldown, Energy Consumption, and cost to specialize. It’s important to note that Ashes of Creation has mentioned that the combat system is still a “work in progress”. It has been mentioned that they “might” make all Hard CC skills Action Skills and all Soft CC skills would be available in the Tab targeted abilities. Currently, the planned CC abilities in Ashes of Creation include root, snare, stun, sleep, and slow. 

Combat Skills and Abilities

Ashes of Creation will use the Traditional Trinity system of Tank, DPS, and support/healer.  Your Primary role will be used to determine your Primary Skills and Abilities.  Most tanks will take Tank as their primary role and most healers will need to choose Cleric.  Despite this being true, players will be able to “blur the lines” between roles by using the secondary class system.  

Primary Skills

Your Primary Skills are directly linked to your Primary Archetype Choice. These Abilities will be able to be modified in several different ways using the Augmentation system based on your secondary archetype choice

Augmentation System

Once you make your secondary archetype choice you will get to choose one of four ways to augment your primary skills. For Example, If you are a warrior and you choose mage for your secondary Archetype, you will be able to access both a Teleportation School and an Elemental school of Augmentation.  Based on what school you choose, your Primary skills will be changed in different ways.   

The combat in Ashes of Creation is planned to have Counterplay within the Skill system to prevent spells from being overly effective.  They will have Animation including Parrying, blocking, and evading along with allowing the player to actively dodge some skills as well.  Ashes of Creation has mentioned that some of the most powerful skills in the game will require the caster to remain in place, hinting that mobility will be a big part of the overall balance of combat. These skills will be able to be interrupted by NPC and enemy Players.  

Other Skills

Dodge rolling and other mobility skills will be present in Ashes of Creation but will be tied to your Primary Class choice.  For Instance, Dodge rolling will most likely be part of Agile Classes skill sets such as Rogues and Fighters where magic-based classes are more likely to have a “blink” or teleport effect.  Another important thing to note when it comes to player mobility is Player and ability collision.  There will be ways to body block players and knock players away using abilities.  This ties into classes like the Tank having blocking or defensive abilities as opposed to a dodge. They have mentioned that there will be a Threat or Hate generation system in Ashes of Creation and that the Tank Archetype will have abilities that allow them to generate Aggro/Hate more effectively.

More Ashes of Creation Combat Info

Time to Kill

Ashes of Creation has mentioned that they would like to keep the TTK of the MMO version of the game to around 30 sec to 1 minute.  Steven Shariff has mentioned that he does not want any “one shot” abilities or combos to be in the game.

Utility Skills

All Classes will have at least one utility Skill that will allow them to interact with the world of Verra in a unique way (detect a trap, stealth, tracking, etc). There will be utility Items that will add to player mobility including a Grappling Hook.

Mounted Combat and Combat pets

Some mounts will have combat abilities but no player skills will be used while mounted. Dragons, one of the few flying mounts in the game, will have their own set of strong battle abilities. Mounts can be damaged and killed by players (mounts can also be resurrected on a cooldown). Combat pets may be tamed in Ashes of Creation but will require a sacrifice of power by the player to maintain control/use in combat.  

Naval Combat

There will be both PVP and PVE Naval Combat. Naval combat will consist of different ships with different abilities.  Like Player driven combat, Naval combat will have counterplay between each ship and their abilities

Combat Add-ons

Ashes of Creation is taking a firm stance against add-ons including DPS meters but they have stated they will have leaderboards and combat logs in-game.

Node System

Nodes in Ashes of Creation are pre-set locations that are each wrapped in a zone of influence. There will be 103 regular node locations at launch and 15 additional castle nodes (see below for castle node information). As a player gains experience within that zone of influence, they not only gain experience for their character, but also for the node. 

Node Progression System in Ashes of Creation

As nodes gain experience, they can form into towns of different sizes, totaling 6 variations: 

Stage 0 – Wilderness

Stage 0 of node progression. Every node will be a wilderness at launch. The node will be uninhabited and empty during this stage.

Stage 1 – Expedition (Crossroads)

Stage 1 of the node advancement. When a node transforms into an Expedition node a small group of NPCs and their companions will show up. It will be inhabited by tents, campfires, etc. 

Stage 2 – Encampment (Camp)

Stage 2 of node advancement. Once this stage is reached the number of NPC’s grows and the tents and other temporary structures become more semi-permanent structures. It will be occupied with wagons and simple tools such as a smokehouse. They will have larger tents and buildings constructed from local materials.

Stage 3 – Village

Stage 3 of node advancement. At this stage, the camp becomes a small frontier town. The structures become more permanent, a Government begins to form. Buildings are developed with more advanced materials, and a special building is unlocked at this stage which allows the unique utility to its node type (More on node types below) 

Stage 4 – Town

Stage 4 of node advancement. Structures at this stage become even more permanent and it begins to feel well lived in and developed. Societies and Organizations start to snub the town with ranking structures for players to participate in.

Stage 5 – City

Stage 5 of node advancement. Once this stage is reached the node begins to feel very alive with bustling development and the accommodations of a major player hub. It is populated with every major element of civilization, such as temples, guild halls, and major embassies from other nodes that will be present if diplomacy prevails. At the City stage relics can also begin to appear within the vaults.

Stage 6 – Metropolis

Stage 6 is the final stage of node advancement. At the metropolis stage, the node is enormous. The Metropolis acts as the central hub for all things in its region. Every organization and religion will be represented, markets will connect the world, mansions and businesses will thrive, and the Metropolis will house a unique and powerful ability called a superpower that is determined by the node type (more on node types below). Due to how nodes relate to one another there can be a maximum of 5 metropolises in existence at any time on anyone server. 

The size and growth of those towns depend on the contribution of the players and how far they have advanced the node. The advancement of a node unlocks its unique content but comes at the cost of locking out an increasing ring of neighboring nodes from progressing to the next stage. This system is the primary driving force for change in the world because it creates scarcity. The more advanced a node becomes the larger the node’s zone of influence grows.

Vassal Node System

Once a node advances to stage 3, the village stage, it begins to encroach on the nearby zones which make those zones into Vassals. Vassal nodes are owned by a parent node and must always remain at least one node stage below the parent node, which ultimately means that the Vassal node can not grow to the next node stage until the parent node advances. 

As vassal nodes gain the experience they first apply that experience earned to the vassal node, but once the vassal node hits the cap and can not advance any further until the parent node advances the experience gained is then given to the parent node. If the parent node advances then the vassal node will then have the ability to advance once again. 

Vassal nodes can advance to the village stage and can also have their own vassals as long as they fit within the parent node’s zone of influence. They are subject to the government, wars, taxes, alliances, and trade of their parent node. 

A Vassal Node can not declare war on its parent node or any of its vassals, and citizens of vassals are bound by the diplomatic states of the parent node. 

Node Types in Ashes of Creation

There are 4 different node types in Ashes of Creation, and each type will be easily identifiable at Node stage 1, or the Expedition stage. 

• Economic Node – Trade and Merchant Focuses
• Military – Combat and Class Training Focus
• Scientific – Artisan and Construction Focuses
• Divine – Faith, Skill, and Equipment Augment Focuses

Each one of the Node types has a superpower that becomes unlocked when it reaches the final stage of development – the Metropolis stage. 

Economic Node

The Economic node is focused on trade and merchants, and the superpower of this node is the linked economy superpower. Economic nodes with this superpower share their auction house listings with all others. This means that items that are listed on the auction house in the linked Economy node can be bid on from any other linked economy node. Linked economies also connect a Metropolis and any Vassal Economic nodes belonging to that Metropolis. 

Military Node

The type of superpower granted to a military node is still being discussed by Intrepid Studios. However, one of the contenders for the Military Metropolis would be access to a “hero” based cross-server competition for specific archetypes. 

Scientific Node

Scientific nodes are focused on artisan classes and construction. The superpower granted to a Scientific node upon reaching the Metropolis stage is the Teleportation superpower. The citizens of a Metropolis scientific node may teleport between the metropolis and any of its vassal nodes, regardless of the stage of the vassal node, as long as the vassal node is not at war. If there are multiple scientific metropolises on a server then an airship will provide fast travel for the citizens of those nodes, and their vassals, between those scientific metropolises. 

Divine Node

The superpowers of a Divine node are not known at this time. 

Node Citizenship in Ashes of Creation

Citizenship into a particular node can only be claimed once that node has reached stage 3, the village stage, of development. House ownership in the node grants the ability to claim citizenship within that node. (There is a possibility of a “citizenship ticket” mechanic in the future that can also grant a player citizenship into a node if player housing alone doesn’t adequately populate the node, but that mechanic will be determined after testing.)

A player can only claim citizenship to one node at a time, and only one citizenship may be declared per account, per server. 

Citizenship within a node does grant the player benefits that would you would not otherwise have, including, titles such as, Mayor, priest, bishop, acolyte, patron guild leader, and chief bounty hunter. You also gain reputation, honor, loyalty, merit, and most importantly, participation in the node’s government. 

Even though you gain benefits of being a citizen, you will also have to pay taxes into the node that you are a citizen of. Mayors and Node Governments allocate resources, taxes, and quests to help develop the node’s defenses. The tax money received by the node can only be allocated towards funding the development of that node. The tax rates scale based on when a player joined the node as a citizen. This mechanic is in place to help avoid placing hard population caps on nodes as they advance. The idea is that as a node advances taxes become increasingly expensive which should, in turn, prevent the population of any one node from getting too large in number. 

Node Governments in Ashes of Creation

Once a node reaches stage 3, the village stage, of development a node government can then be chosen from a node’s citizenry.

Once stage 3 is reached a week-long cooldown period begins. The cooldown period is in place to give players an opportunity to establish citizenship in that particular node, and if necessary relinquish their citizenship in a different node to join the new one.  After the cooldown period, the node elections begin. The election process lasts one week and will be every month thereafter. You will only be able to participate in an election if you are a citizen of the node. 

Each node will also have a Mayor who serves as the leader of the node’s government and a city hall building where big decisions regarding the node are made. (The capabilities of the City Hall will also be available via a mobile and web interface.) It’s the job of the Mayor and the government to allocate resources, taxes, and quests to help develop the node’s defenses, as well as, coordinate the transfer of supplies with citizens operating caravans. Mayors are also in charge of communicating what resources are necessary for a particular node and then provide motivation to the citizens to fulfill those needs, along with a hose of other leadership duties, which include; Building projects, tax allocation, hiring mercenary NPC’s to defend their node during sieges, initiate quest driven systems that non-citizens can participate in, and enter into trade agreements. 

Ways Governors are chosen in each Node Type in Ashes of Creation

• Divine Node governments are chosen from citizens via service-oriented quests that prove their faith and dedication to that node.
• Economic Node governments are able to be bought and sold by the citizens with the most money.
• Military Node governments and mayors are chosen from citizens through gladiatorial arena-style combat. 
• Scientific Node governments are elected democratically.

Castles in Ashes of Creation

There are 5 castles on each Ashes of Creation Server. Once captured by a guild these castles will have 3 adjacent nodes that will level up independently of the traditional node types. These nodes are completely independent and their growth is not affected by the growth of other nodes, and they can not affect the growth of any node around them.  The castle nodes can only be leveled up to stage 3, the village stage, and there is a four-week siege cycle on the castles. (More about castle sieging below)

Races

Aela Humans

Kaelar – High-Class Humans, Structured around Order and Civilization.  Responsible for the longest spanning empire of the “Old World”.  

Vaelune – Desert Dwelling Humans whose civilization is built on hardship, trade, and law.  One of the most wealthy empires of Sanctus. Living in the desert shaped them into a Civilization that bends but does not break.  

Dunzenkell Dwarves

Dunir – Mountain Dwelling Dwarves whose civilization is forged around Tradition and Crafting.  These Dwarves take pride in their Forge works, Jewelry, and Fortresses.  The Dunir are known for being the strongest Warriors in the World. 

Nikua – Seekers of the great hunt, these sea-side Dwarfs moved from the mountains in search of Freedom.  The Nikua look towards crafting as a way of passage and advancement of their Family.  

Kaivek Orcs

Ren’Kai – Honor, Power and Tranquility, The Ren’Kai Orcs believe in the practice and control their abounding power.  When this power is Unleashed, the Ren’kai Orcs are unrivaled in combat

Vek – The Vek orcs  are Astrologlogers who, when they stargaze, find what fate lies beyond our time.  The Vek use this ritual to see how wars will go, which empires will rise and fall, and what path to take. The Vek often ask themselves “are we too late?”

Pyrian Elves

Empyrean – Elite Military forces and Highly structured government. The Empyrean Elves are a force to be reckoned with and have plans to carve their place in the world.

Py’Rai – Nature, Balance, and Fury, the Py’rai Elves are often found wielding a bow or a spear.  Known for their ferocity, these wood elves rarely take Prisoners.  

Tulnar

The Tulnar fled the Underrealm to escape the Corruption that befell Verra.  The Tulnar have varying appearances from mammal traits to reptilian.  

Class System

Ashes of Creation has 8 Base Classes (also known as archetypes) that you will be able to choose from at launch.  At level 25 you will then choose a secondary archetype, in which combined with your primary archetype, will create one of 64 unique subclasses.

All of your character’s skills will be determined by your primary archetype, but those skills can be augmented in different ways depending on your choice of secondary classes.  Augmentations will fundamentally change the way your primary skills work from its function to even their animation.  Unlike your primary class, you can go to an NPC inside of a Village node(or above) to change what augmentations you’re using on your skill or change your secondary Class entirely.  It was mentioned that this will most likely require a quest.

Each secondary archetype will present four different types of augmentation schools for each of your primary skills. Players will have the choice to go “wide” with augmentation progression, choosing many augmentations to learn, or to go “deep” into a few select augmentations, mastering them to perfection.  The example often used to explain the augmentation system is with the Spellsword subclass (fighter primary/mage secondary).  The fighter comes with an ability that allows them to “charge to their target, closing the gap in combat.  A Spellsword would have the choice to change this ability to a teleport allowing the Fighter to instantly close the gap between its target or have the option to add elemental damage to the skill, causing a DOT at the end of the charge.  

Class Balance in Ashes of Creation

 Ashes of Creation has mentioned that Classes will be balanced around groups rather than individual classes, comparing class balance to “Paper-Rock-Scissors.”  Steven Sharif, the creative director, did state that the secondary archetype system could be used to bridge the gap between individual classes in 1v1 situations.

PvE

Ashes of Creation centers itself around player-made experiences and claims to be a “sand park” MMO.  Ashes of Creation approach at PvE seems to follow this claim as they boast both open-world and Instance content.  AOC currently has two types of PVE experiences currently planned for launch, Dungeons and Raids.  

Dungeons in Ashes of Creation

As mentioned before, Ashes of Creation will have both open-world dungeons and instance dungeons.  They have mentioned the number of instance dungeons will be limited(20% or less) in an effort to maintain a sandbox feel.  Dungeons that are instanced will be centered around single or group questlines.   Open world Dungeons are said to be Massive areas with bosses and mobs that will support multiple groups at once. 

Ashes of Creation has also mentioned that they want to create varying lengths of Dungeons as well so that some take less of a “time commitment” than others.  The access and content of some of these dungeons may be based on surrounding node progression, so some dungeons may be hidden from player access unless the surrounding node reaches a certain level.  Ashes of Creation has also mentioned that the loot in these dungeons will also change with the progression and type of the node.  

Ashes of Creations dungeons also adapt to player behavior and performance.  As players move through a dungeon the difficulty of the content will increase based on your group’s ability. As the enemies and the environmental hazards become more difficult, the better the rewards will become as well.  This, along with the way dungeons change with a nodes progression, should present a new experience every time you attempted a dungeon

World Bosses in Ashes of Creation

World bosses will be an open world, raid-like encounter that will require a large group of players to take down.  These Spawns, like a lot of things in Ashes of Creation, are tied to Node Progression and player Progress.  These boss fights will have many “stages” of different adds, leading up to the final world boss spawn.  There will be around 12-15 raid type world bosses in Ashes of Creation. Legendary World Bosses are the only way to get Legendary gear drops.  

Raids in Ashes of Creation

Raids are the premier PVE experience in Ashes of Creation. They will challenge large groups of highly skilled players.  This content will require the cooperation of a group filled with DPS, Healers, and Tanks.  Like Dungeons, Raids will change depending on node progression and player performance within the raid itself..  Raids will have some features that remain static allowing players to “prepare” for some parts of the raid. Raid Bosses will have traditional mechanics such as Multiple boss phases, adds and telegraphed animations. 

PVE Leader Boards

Ashes of Creation will have a competitive leaderboard for both Raid and Dungeon Content.  These will keep track of both server-wide and game-wide times. 

PVP

Arenas in Ashes of Creation

Ashes of Creation will have instanced based Arenas featuring 1v1s, 3v3s, 5v5s, and potentially a 20 person free for all deathmatch mode. This is the only form of PvP in Ashes of Creation that is instanced. There will be a matchmaking system and you will be able to group with friends and go into the arena with a premade group. 

Participating in the Ashes of Creation arenas will reward you with things (not currently on the roadmap) such as cosmetics, special titles, and arena points that can be used to purchase gear. 

The arena system is also how mayors of military nodes are chosen. This is done through the last man standing arena-style combat mode. As of now, the idea behind the last man standing mode is to allow players to build out a champion that they will fight within the arena. The purpose behind this vs using your actual character is to help balance the fight out since Ashes of Creation is not going to be balanced around 1v1 gameplay.

The Corruption System in Ashes of Creation

The corruption system in Ashes of Creation is a penalty system for killing “innocent” or non-combative players in Verra. It’s based on a PvP flagging mechanic but does not apply to PvP events such as sieges, caravans, guild wars, and battlegrounds.  There are 3 different types of PvP Flags: Green, Purple, and Red. 

Green: Non-Combative

All players are initially flagged as green or non-combative players. Essentially a Green flagged player is innocent and free from corruption. 

Purple: Combative

A player is flagged as purple or as combative if they attack another player. If the player that is attacked fights back then they too are flagged as purple. If the player who is attacked chooses not to engage with their attacker then they will maintain their green or non-combative status. Also, if a green player heals, buffs, or tries to aid a combative player then they will also be flagged as purple. If you’re flagged as purple then you are free game. You can be killed without your killer receiving any penalty. However, if you die as a combatant your death penalty is less than if you die as a non-combatant. 

Red: Corrupt

If you decide to outright murder a non-combative player, which means you kill them without them fighting back, then you will be flagged as Red or corrupt. Every time this happens your corruption score will increase. Being corrupt multiplies your death penalties, as well as, reveals your location to bounty hunters. If you’re red and encounter a bounty hunter you may kill them without receiving any more corruption. You are not penalized for killing a bounty hunter as a corrupt player. However, you will be killed on sight by NPC guards if you are corrupted. 

The corruption system in Ashes of Creation is in place to help to prevent player griefing. You will also gain more corruption the larger the level disparity is between you and the Green player that you kill. This is in place to deter max-level players from killing low-level players and promoting more balanced and meaningful open-world PvP. 

It is possible to remove the corruption you have obtained. However, the primary means by which you will get rid of corruption is through death. Dying will remove a significant portion of your corruption score, but it may require several deaths to remove the corruption completely depending on how high your corruption score is. 

You can also reduce your corruption by gaining experience. This is a much slower process and provides a good opportunity for bounty hunters to catch you while you’re trying to work off the corruption. 

Death Penalties in Ashes of Creation

As mentioned above, each different PvP Flag comes with varying degrees of penalty upon death. They are as follows:

Green:

If you’re a non-combative player and you die then you’ll suffer the normal death penalties of the game which include, experience loss, skill and stat dampening, lower health and mana, lower gear proficiency, a reduction in drop rates from monsters, durability loss, and you’ll drop a percentage of any raw materials that you’re carrying. 

Purple:

If you’re flagged as a combatant then you’ll suffer the same penalties as a Green player but at half the rate of a player that’s flagged Green.

Red: 

If you die while corrupt you will significantly reduce the corruption you have accumulated but at a very high cost. You will suffer 4 times the penalties of a non-combatant and will have a chance to drop any carried or equipped items based on your current corruption score. This means you can, in fact, drop your weapons and gear which can then be looted by other players. You will then respawn at a random location within the vicinity of your death vs a regular respawn point. 

It’s important to note that the death penalties suffered are the same when you die to PvP or to PvE. 

Guild Wars in Ashes of Creation

There will be wars between guilds in Ashes of Creation, but the exact mechanics are unknown at this time. The Developers have stated that they are going to be highly objective-based and will occur during the prime time of the Server you are playing on. 

There will be guild fortresses, which are seigeable Guild Halls. These are different from node and castle sieges. 

There will also be guild ladder and ranking systems, as well as, PvP seasons tied to the Guild War Mechanic. 

Caravans in Ashes of Creation

The Caravan System allows players to commute goods from one node to another in an open-world PVP system. The Caravan system in Ashes of Creation revolves around risk and reward.  The need for the use of the Caravan system comes from the limitations placed on personal inventory.  Rather than a weight-based encumbrance system, Ashes of Creation will limit the number of items in a player’s inventory.  Mules and Caravans will help players go beyond these limitations.  Mules can carry 10 times more items than Backpacks. Caravans will be able to carry 10x more items than Mules. 

 A caravan can be started via an NPC in a Village level node or higher.  Once initiated, players will need to make choices involving the resources the caravan will carry. They will also need to choose if the caravan is for a specific quest, if the goods are intended for trade or warehousing within a market, and the recipient of the caravan.  Caravans can be destroyed in the route and will drop a portion of the goods that it is transporting. The Caravan will drop certificates for “heavy items”. These items will be redeemable in the node in which the caravan was initially launched.

  Caravans come in 3 different variations: Mayoral caravans, Quest driven caravans, and Personal Caravans 

Mayoral Caravans

These Caravans are launched by Mayors and are used to establish trade routes or obtain resources by doing a caravan quest.

Quest Driven Caravans

These are system-driven caravans that are used for trade routes between routes.  These are started by players and have a diverse choice of routes and launch windows in an effort to prevent counter groups.  Initiating a caravan from one node to another will create a PVP objective that players will need to defend while it moves along to its selected destination.  These caravans scale with the advancement of the starting nodes advancement.  The roads of routes will also upgrade based on the node’s level which will increase speed and diversify the type of caravan that’s required for transport.

Personal Caravans

Personal caravans are initiated by the player.  Once a personal Caravan is started, the player that activated it becomes the caravan.  These can be land and water-based vehicles that the player can control.  These can be launched from any storage point in the game and will come in varying sizes and capacities.  These caravans will have a racial appearance by default, but players can apply caravan skins to them if acquired.

Sieges

There are 2 types of sieges in Ashes of Creation – Node Sieges and Castle Sieges

Ashes of Creation Node Siege

A node siege can be declared by any player in the game and will occur during a prime time window somewhere between 3 PM and 9 PM server time (subject to testing). The node must be at level 3, the village stage, or higher in order to be sieged. The siege itself is a very difficult task for the attackers, and Cities and Metropolises will have a considerable defensive advantage. 

Siege Scrolls

In order to declare a node siege in Ashes of Creation, the player will need to first obtain a siege scroll. The siege scroll is obtained through a quest that scales in difficulty with respect to the level of the node. Obtaining a siege scroll will not be an easy task, and substantial investment is required in order to obtain a siege scroll.

Siege Declaration Period

Once the siege scroll is brought to the node and activated, the declaration period begins and a countdown is initiated notifying players within the region. The countdown runs for the number of days equal to the stage of the node being sieged as follows:

Village – 2 Days

Town – 3 Days

City – 4 Days

Metropolis – 5 Days

During this declaration period the player who initially declared the siege can not exclude anyone from joining the attack, and many services are shut down during the siege declaration window. The services are replaced by preparation quests or services for the siege. Also during this time individuals and/or guilds can register to attack or defend in the node siege, but only if they meet the criteria to do so.

• Citizens of the node or provincial nodes being attacked are automatically registered as defenders. 
• Citizens of allied nodes can not register to attack.
• Players are not required to be a citizen of the node in order to register as a defender, but they can not be citizens of the node that is at war with the node they are trying to defend. 

Siege Defense

Once a siege has been declared, players can not move any items out of depositories within the node, which includes resources, materials that are stored in warehouses, chests in player houses, storage containers in guild halls, or within processing buildings or freeholds. This mechanic is in place to further incentive the necessity of players to contribute to the defense of a city, and also elevates the need for that city to politically gain allies among nodes.

Both castle owners within the node and the mayor of the node can purchase and allocate defense mechanisms to bolster the siege defenses. This can be done by utilizing treasure funds in order to improve the strength of walls, gates, traps, and defensive siege equipment.  Once the countdown ends the siege begins. 

The Siege Begins

Once the siege begins it occurs over several phases, and certain siege mechanics may be gated for specific size groups during sieges. In order to obtain a siege weapon, it must be crafted utilizing the proper materials, recipes, and craftsmanship, or purchased from an NPC. 

Siege NPC’s or quartermasters serve as a defense point and the attackers will begin to gain an advantage as they kill the NPC’s. Killing a quartermaster will increase the respawn times of the defenders while reducing the respawn time of the attackers. The NPC guards are meant to be a significant presence during the siege, and mercenary NPC’s can be hired to participate in objective-based situations. Mayors can allocate funds to hire these mercenary NPC’s and players will assign the NPC’s but won’t be able to micromanage them. 

Siege Objectives

The primary objective of the siege is for the attackers to win and take over the node. In order to accomplish this, they must capture districts within that node. The number of districts in a node is based on the stage of the node. The higher the stage the more districts the attackers will have to capture. In order to take a district, the attackers must defeat a raid boss guard NPC that’s defending that district. If the attackers are successful in defeating the boss that district then becomes a respawn location. 

The attackers must make their way to the central point of the node and channel a 5-minute cast on the defender’s flag in order to win the siege. The only way for the defenders to interrupt the channel is to kill the player that’s channeling the cast on the flag. 

Seige Results

If the attackers are successful in the siege then the node is destroyed and a portion of all materials and gatherables that were stored in the destroyed node will then become lootable to the victors of the siege as their spoils of war. This includes stored gatherable and materials that were stored in housing and apartment chests. 

Upon a successful siege, the node is also brought back down to level 0, the wilderness stage, and anyone who was a citizen of that node is no longer a citizen.  

Defenders can also assault the outposts of the attackers. If the defenders make it all the way to the attacker’s headquarters and destroy it then the defenders win and successfully defend the node. 

However, along the way, if the attackers destroy some service-oriented buildings then those buildings are out of commission until they are rebuilt. 

If the node is successfully defended then there’s a cooldown that is activated before the node can be sieged again as follows:

Village – 20 Days

Town – 30 Days

City – 40 Days

Metropolis – 50 Days

Ashes of Creation Castle Siege

Castle sieges are 250 x 250 player battles that will last for 2 hours and occur once every four weeks during the prime time of a server. Ashes of Creation will have 5 castles on each server initially. The castles will be inhabited by NPCs. While the castle is inhabited by NPC’s (this will only occur when the server first goes live), the players must fight their way to a raid boss and kill it in order to take control of the castle. If there’s more than one guild fighting for control then the guild that dishes out the highest DPS will win the fight and will take control of the castle. 

Once a guild takes control of a castle, three adjacent castle nodes will then become active. These nodes are independent of regular nodes and will level up at a much faster rate. They are always considered military nodes and are capped at stage 3. These special castle nodes can not influence their neighboring nodes by stopping their growth, nor can they have their growth stopped by neighboring nodes. They are completely independent and tied only to the castle. There’s no housing or elections for government in these nodes. 

Castle Siege Windows in Ashes of Creation

Each week during the 4-week castle siege cycle one of the castle nodes is scheduled for development. This means that the members of the owning guild and their allies must perform the quests and other tasks necessary to level up the node. Each one of the three nodes contributes to the defense of the castle during the siege event, and if they aren’t leveled up then this puts the defenders at a disadvantage. This creates a big opportunity for PvP as the guilds that are wanting to take the castle will want to disrupt the castle nodes from developing, thus making the castle easier to siege. 

At the end of each week that leads up to the castle siege, there will be a specified period of time that NPC caravans will begin to move toward one of the castle nodes carrying taxes from the nodes that fall under the castle’s purview. During this time the owning guild and allies have to protect and escort the caravan to the castle node. Citizens of nodes that fall under the purview of the castle are automatically registered as defenders of the caravans and can’t participate in the siege against them, but the enemies of the guild definitely have an incentive to attack the caravans. A successful attack against the caravans will result in the enemy guild or guilds reaping the reward from the caravan, as well as, sabotaging the tax collection which will reduce the defensive capability of the castle nodes and the castle itself. 

Seige Scroll Quests in Ashes of Creation

In order to declare the siege guilds must register for the siege scrolls quest, but have to be of sufficient level. Once registered a scroll creation quest is initiated that guild members can participate in. Once the quest is complete the siege declaration scroll may then be laid down. It should be noted that multiple guilds may register to attack, but the guild to first complete the quest and lay down the scroll will be able to have their members register to attack. 

Deployment of a Siege Scroll in Ashes of Creation

The deployment of the siege scroll is a 5-minute rooted cast that will alert the region once the cast begins. The guild leader must be the player performing the cast, and the scroll can only be placed in a specified ring around the castle. There will be different qualities of the scroll, and the quality of the scroll determines how close you have to be to the castle to perform the declaration cast. After the declaration is complete, the defenders then have a one-week grace period to prepare for war, which includes, approving defenders, hiring mercenary NPCs, and setting up defensible positions. 

Once the siege begins, the attackers have to capture waypoints in the castle that also reduce their spawn timers while at the same time increasing the spawn timers of the defenders. The defenders can counter by attacking the siege headquarters of the attackers which will then reduce the defender’s spawn timers while increasing the attacker’s spawn timers. There will also be legendary NPCs that the attackers have to defeat. If defeated they will drop certain items that grant benefits to either side. 

The ultimate objective of the siege is for the defenders to successfully defend through the entire 2-hour duration of the siege and maintain control of the castle, and for the attackers to reach the inner keep of the castle and perform a 3 to 5-minute cast to seal ownership of the castle. Once the attackers reach the inner circle there is an opportunity for any guild leader in the attacking alliance to capture the castle as well, so you’ll want to ensure you have trustworthy friends!

Siege Mounts – Wymlings

Another important factor for leveling the nodes is the reward of under mounts or Wymlings. These Wymlings are flying mounts usable only on siege day and give the defenders an advantage during battle. Wymlings can only be obtained if the castle nodes are successfully leveled up. The first node will grant 1 Wyrmling, the second node will grant 2 Wymlings, and the 3rd node will grant 2 Wymlings, totaling a possibility of obtaining 5 flying mounts for the siege. The guild leader of the owning guild can grant these Wymlings to the officers to utilize during the siege.

Housing

There are 3 forms of housing in Ashes of Creation, Apartments, Freeholds, and Static Housing. Players can own up to 1 type of each housing simultaneously with apartments and static housing being restricted to one each per server and freeholds being restricted to one per account. 

Owning a house provides the player a number of benefits that include the ability to claim citizenship to a node, the ability to place decor and furniture to customize your home, storage containers, crafting benches, and the option to display prized items in your home, achievements, and social activities. 

There will be security methods available to the players for their home that include a permission system that will enable an owner to grant access to specified parts of their house. Players can give the ability to other players to open the door and enter their home, access to the homeowners’ crops, and can give permission to decorate the house without taking any decorations out. 

Apartments in Ashes of Creation

Apartments are internal or interior-only instanced spaces within a node that offer some housing functionality. Once a node hits level 3 or the village stage 50 apartments will then become available for purchase. Additional apartment buildings can be built once the node hits level 4 or the Town stage which will allow for more than the initial 50 apartments to be purchased. However, the mayor must choose to construct them and there must be a plot available for the construction of the new apartment buildings. 

There will be different price points for different sized apartments, and owning an apartment will offer the player node citizenship. Apartments are instanced and are only limited in number by the increasing price. 

So, although there are only 50 available units the number of players that can rent or own the units is unlimited. Multiple players can own the same apartment. However, the price for the apartment will increase as more apartments are sold in the node. Therefore, if there has been an influx of players to a particular node and a large portion of those players own an apartment in that node it would then be rather expensive to purchase an apartment there vs a node that has very few people owning apartments.

Losing Your Apartment in a Seige 

If the node is sieged it is possible to lose your apartment during the siege. There are 3 possible scenarios that could happen during a siege:

• If the defenders successfully defend the node and your home was not targeted/destroyed during the siege then once the siege is over you’ll begin living life as if nothing happened.
• If the defenders successfully defend the node but your house was targeted and destroyed during the siege then you will be able to rebuild your house. You will have to invest materials into your home in order to rebuild it, and you will not lose anything beyond what it costs to rebuild the home.
• If the attackers win the siege and the node is returned to stage 0 then you will lose your home and any processed goods or gathered goods stored in the home will be lost and will become part of the spoils of war for the attackers who won the siege. However, any finished goods (armor, weapons, potions, and other crafted goods), and your home furnishings will be returned to you. 

Freeholds in Ashes of Creation

Freeholds are sizable player housing that can be placed anywhere within the zone of influence of a node. However, the freehold placement can’t block certain pathways or be in close proximity to certain points of interest. For example, you can’t place a freehold too close to a dungeon or block a pathing route or a roadway. 

The node must be at level 3, the village stage, or higher for players to be able to place a freehold within that node’s zone of influence. Freeholds provide the player with a large plot of land, approximately a half acre, and the footprint of the freehold does not automatically change as the node progresses in level. So, the freehold land plot does not automatically grow if the node advances to the next stage. However, expanses and upgrades do become available as the node progressions allow, and the number of freehold plots that can be placed within a node’s zone of influence does automatically scale with the progression of the node. 

Players are limited to 1 freehold per account, and a freehold can not be sold or traded to other players. 

How to Place a Free Hold in Ashes of Creation

In order to place your freehold plot you must first obtain a freehold certificate from the parent node, and different types of buildings can be placed on the freehold plot. There are various sizes of buildings that can be placed and some of the bigger mansion-style buildings could take up more than half of your freehold plot. 

The types of buildings that can be placed consist of:

• Blacksmiths
• Forges
• Freehold Farms
• Guildhalls
• Homesteads
• Inns
• Lumber Yards
• Mills
• Personal Shops
• Shrines 
• Smelters
• Stables 
• Taverns

All buildings are empty upon placement but can be decorated or players can purchase an upgraded version that comes pre-decorated. Players can place artwork, furniture, storage, and other decor items within their freehold. 

Owning a Freehold in Ashes of Creation

Owning a freehold will give the player a number of benefits. Just like other housing, you can claim citizenship to a node if you own a freehold within that node, and as mentioned above you can freely decorate and customize your plot. There are also certain crafting stations available in certain building types that players can utilize, as well as achievements and social activities that are tied to the freeholds. 

Players also have the ability to place multiple buildings within the freehold plot which will allow the owner to sell consumables that are only purchasable from select freehold buildings. The freehold buildings can be leveled up based on the length of time and the productivity of the freehold. As the buildings level up this unlocks new bonuses, abilities, and capabilities.

Having certain buildings on your freehold plot allow you to have certain professions run from your freehold. If you own a tavern then you can provide quests to players that can only be obtained from a freehold tavern and can provide meals to visitors that grant a buff to that player once they exit the tavern. Taverns may also provide recipes that can only be obtained from specific freehold taverns. There will also be freehold farms, fisheries, and animal husbandry professions available, as well as being able to craft and sell from your shops from the specified buildings that were listed above. 

Losing Your Freehold in a Siege

If the node is sieged it is possible to lose your freehold during the siege.

• There’s a 2-hour window after a successful siege that makes all freeholds that were previously tied to the node vulnerable to attack. If during that window, a freehold is attacked and destroyed, then it is permanently destroyed and you will lose your home and any processed goods or gathered goods stored in the home will be lost and will become part of the spoils of war for the attackers who won the siege. However, any finished goods (armor, weapons, potions, and other crafted goods), and your home furnishings will be returned to you. 
• If your freehold is either not attacked or successfully defended during the 2-hour window then your freehold will enter into a grace period. During this grace period, if the zone of influence your freehold resides in is then progressed to the village stage, stage 3, then your freehold will remain and will function just as if nothing happened. If the zone of influence does not reach the stage then the freehold will be destroyed as if it were attacked. 

Static Housing in Ashes of Creation

Static housing, also known as in-node housing, is static non-instanced housing. Each player is allowed to have 1 static house per server. These differ from freeholds in several ways. First, in-node housing serves only as a house. A Freehold is a plot where many buildings can be placed. It can serve as housing and can have shops and other structures built on the plot. Static housing is in the actual node itself, and not within the node’s zone of influence. This means a static house is in the city. 

Players can begin to purchase small 1 room houses called cottages at stage 3, the village stage, of a node’s development and will progress into mansions at the final Metropolis stage of the node’s development. There will only be 8 cottages available at the village stage, however, the number available will increase as the progression of the node increases. The amount of static houses available at the Metropolis stage is unknown at this time, however, they will be limited. 

The static house style will follow the same racial style as the node. So if the node has advanced by an elven race, the buildings in the node including the static houses will be elven-style structures. Players can however decorate the inside of the static housing just as you can the apartment and freehold buildings, and like other housing, static houses provide the option of citizenship to the owner of the house.

Buying and Selling Houses

Static houses can be bought and sold by players to other players. Once the static housing becomes available at the village stage there will be an auction mechanic that allows players to bid on the houses to give everyone an equal opportunity to purchase the house. Once the house is purchased the player can sell it then or wait until the node has progressed into a higher stage and sell it for potentially more value. There will be no cap placed on the amount you can sell a house for. The housing market will be completely player-driven. 

Losing Your Static House To Siege

If the node is sieged it is possible to lose your static house during the siege. There are 3 possible scenarios that could happen during a siege:

• If the defenders successfully defend the node and your home was not targeted / destroyed during the siege then once the siege is over you’ll begin living life as if nothing happened.
• If the defenders successfully defend the node but your house was targeted and destroyed during the siege then you will be able to rebuild your house. You will have to invest materials into your home in order to rebuild it, and you will not lose anything beyond what it costs to rebuild the home.
• If the attackers win the siege and the node is returned to stage 0 then you will lose your home and any processed goods or gathered goods stored in the home will be lost and will become part of the spoils of war for the attackers who won the siege. However, any finished goods (armor, weapons, potions, and other crafted goods), and your home furnishings will be returned to you. 

Guild Halls in Ashes of Creation

Guild Halls fall under the Freehold system and work just as a freehold. However, a guild freehold certificate to place a guilde freehold plot can only be obtained once a guild reaches a certain level. Having a guildhall unlocks certain actions that guilds can perform within a node, as well as allows guilds to participate in a shareholder system, or a stock exchange system. This will allow guilds to buy and sell shares of stock. 

Items & Gear

Itemization in Ashes of Creation will be centered around the player-driven economy and complemented by the gear earned in PVE and PVP activity.  The design of this equipment will be centered around the different racial cultures in Ashes of Creation.  Each Character will have the following equipment slots: helmet, shoulder, gear, belt, pants, boots, cape, wrist, 2 earrings, amulet, 2 rings, and 3 weapon slots (2 melees or shield and 1 ranged).  

Ashes of Creation will have a “set” based system in which players will receive bonuses for the number of pieces of a particular set they have equipped.  Ashes of creation that these bonuses will be centered around certain enemies or activities.  This will mean that the best gear will be subjective to what activity will be participating in.  Gear can also have altered effects by being enhanced or enchanted.   These two systems will allow players to further customize their gear and the way their character performs in combat.

Gear in Ashes of Creation will have a traditional tier system.  Tiers will range from common to Legendary Gear.  Legendary gear will not only have a unique, outstanding appearance, but it will also have its own abilities and Lore as well.  Legendary gear can be obtained by killing legendary bosses and be Crafted by the best crafters in the game.  The materials necessary to craft Legendary items will be extremely rare and difficult to obtain.  

Weapons in Ashes of Creation

All Classes will be able to equip all types of weapons but certain skills will require certain types of weapons.  Here are the following weapons available in Ashes of Creation: axes, bows, clubs, crossbows, daggers, hammers, lances, maces, orbs, polearms, halberds, potion launchers, scepters, shields, spears, spellbooks, staves, swords, rapiers, and wands.  It has been noted that weapons, unlike armor, will have a unique look to them that will not be tied to Racial appearances

Weapons will have their own progression system that will unlock new abilities that are independent from your class abilities.  These abilities, along with your class abilities, will allow you to build and complete unique combos.  This System will be based around passive skills allowing players to “master” a certain weapon type.

Armor in Ashes of Creation

There are three types of Armor in Ashes of Creation: light(cloth), medium(leather), and Heavy(plate)..  Every Class can wear all types of armor, but some classes will be more efficient at certain types.  Players will be able to obtain “bonuses” or additional stats or passives from wearing an entire set of one type of armor.  The appearance of armor will be centered around the different races in Ashes of Creation.  

Gear Appearance and Transmog in Ashes of Creation

Ashes of Creation has stated that they want all of their end game gear to look “realistic” and that most armor will be tied to a style of one of Verra’s racial cultures.  Each piece of gear will have an appearance slot allowing players to equip a piece of gear that will visually take the place of an equipped item.  These will be able to be toggled on and off by the player.  There will also be a dye system in Ashes of Creation.  

Ashes of Creation will also have a system in place that will allow you to display some of the items in your inventory on your character including 

Artisan Classes

Players must choose a path in the Artisan skill tree for each character. The Artisan classes consist of gathering, processing, and crafting. A character can only ever master one of these paths. 

It is possible to perform gathering, processing, and crafting at a beginner’s level in order to determine which path suits you character best before proceeding down that path Choosing one of the paths allows the player to specialize in that skill tee enhancing the artisan experience. 

Gathering in Ashes of Creation

Gathering in Ashes of Creation requires the creation and use of harvesting tools. The tools will have durability and break and will have to be recrafted, but as you get more proficient with a particular gathering skill you’ll be able to gain more uses for your tools. The  Gatherarable resources are discovered by exploration and trial and error. As you gather resources in a certain node’s zone of influence that node will gain experience that contributes to its growth. However, once a resource is depleted it will not respawn in the same place, but randomly respawn elsewhere in the world. There are five gathering professions in Ashes of creation as follows:

Fishing

To fish in Ashes of Creation you will need, of course, a fishing pole. As you level up your fishing you will be able to catch higher tiers of fish, but you can’t do it AFK because there’s no AFK fishing in Ashes of Creation. 

Fishing for small fish will be relatively simple and mindless, but as you try to fish for larger fish by deep-sea fishing you’ll have to engage in a mini-game and have special equipment in order to be successful at catching any fish in the sea. 

Herbalism

Not many details are known about herbalism at this time other than it will be used to harvest herbs in Ashes of Creation. 

Lumberjacking

Lumberjacking is used to gather wood in Ashes of Creation. 

Mining

Mining is used to gather ore in Ashes of Creation.

Taming

Animals can be found in herds across Vera, and can then be tamed. However, not all tameable creatures are docile so you may have to defend yourself during the process. Mounts can also be found and tamed in the wilderness. 

Processing in Ashes of Creation

Processing in Ashes of creation consists of the refining of raw materials obtained from gathering and item deconstruction. This requires blueprints for the construction of buildings that are needed to process resources. These buildings can be placed in freeholds and players can process materials at their freehold if they have the right building type. 

Types of Processing

Crafting in Ashes of Creation is when processed goods are turned into finished goods. There will be several crafting professions in the game, including the following:

• Alchemy
• Armor Smithing
• Blacksmithing
• Carpentry
• Cooking
• Jewelcrafting
• Scribes
• Ship Building
• Siege Weapons
• Weapon Smithing

It is likely that there will be many more crafting professions in the future, such as tailoring, leatherworking and potentially many more. 

Crafting in Ashes of Creation

Crafting in Ashes of Creation is Recipe based. This means that RNG does not play a role in crafting, and you will always succeed in crafting the item that you set out to craft. 

There will be dials within a crafting recipe that allow the players to customize the crafted item. For example, you could increase one stat on the item at the expense of another stat, or make an item more magical based vs physical based. This dial will allow the crafter to decide skills, abilities, and stats that gear will have. 

In order to craft an item, you must first obtain the recipe, and this can be done through various means. Recipes will drop from monsters, and quests, becoming mayor of a specific node can unlock certain recipes, killing a legendary boss, progress within social organizations, gain certain titles, and construct certain buildings. 

Players will be able to specialize within a certain crafting branch and will be able to master multiple crafting trees, but not all of them. 

Once the recipe is obtained, in order to actually craft the item a player must make their way to the specific crafting station they are wanting to use. There will be different tiers of crafting stations that will be tied to the quality of the items that can be crafted. 

Economy

Ashes of Creation will have a player-driven economy built around independent regional marketplaces. These Regional Markets will change as time goes on as resources in these regions will be limited. Once a resource is emptied from a select area, the resource will become available in a different region of the map.  This will keep gathers moving around the map to find the best location to farm their selected resource.  In turn, this will also keep players constantly monitoring each regional market to see which is the most profitable place to sell said resource.  

Though Ashes of Creation will not have a “server-wide” Auction House, there will be a way to link two Auction houses together. In order for this to occur, Both Economic Nodes must be Advanced to a Metropolis.  Only two Economic nodes can be linked at one time.  Nodes linked in this way allow players to view and buy from both Inventories at once. For more on Economic nodes check out the Node section of this article.  

“Gold sinks” in Ashes of Creation

There will be several “gold sinks” or continued expenses in Ashes of Creation in order to maintain a steady economy.  The first to mention is the tax system.  There will be a node-based taxed system in Ashes of Creation.  All taxes will go towards funding Node development.  The tax rate of a Node will continue to increase with the population. This will help prevent one node from getting too large.  There will be taxes on items purchased and sold in a node, as well as on player housing.  

The next way players will spend their hard on money is on item decay.  Here are the ways item decaywill add to player Expense in Ashes of Creation.

• All equipped items will take a durability hit on death.  If an Item reaches zero durability, the item will unequip and the repair cost significantly increase 
• There will be a chance for a decrease in the durability of an item during the enchanting process.
• Along with the currency cost of repair, Base materials will also be required to repair a damaged item.  
• Players will also be incentivized to deconstruct items to gain recipes for crafting. 

Economic Player Interaction in Ashes of Creation

Ashes of Creation will have several ways in which players can interact with each other.  Economically, the ways players will be able to Interact will include

• Trading – At this time, Ashes of Creation will have an open player trading system.  They have mentioned that “most” items including armor and weapons will be tradable
• Exchange of Goods – The primary way players will exchange goods will be the Auction house system (mentioned above)
• Player Owned Businesses – Players will be able to own businesses in Ashes of Creation including Taverns.  These player-owned taverns can sell meals that provide players with buffs, sell Crafting Recipes, and even host quest givers.
• Real Estate – Players will be able to buy and sell properties from other players. The pricing of this type of transaction is completely controlled by the seller of the Real Estate.  See below for further details on Real Estate

Real Estate in Ashes of Creation

In Ashes of Creation, players will be able to buy the deed of a house. They can buy it from the node itself or from its prior owner (from a player).  As the population of a node increases, so will the value of its real estate.  Real Estate value will also be directly impacted by location.  In-node housing will be more expensive and therefore be more desirable.  There will be property tax on all player owner Real Estate.  If a player fails to pay taxes on player housing, the house will default back to the node.  

Guilds

Ashes of creation will have a guild system in the game. In order to form a guild, a player must pay a certain amount of materials and currency. There will also be a minimum level (not known yet), and a questline to complete. 

Once the guild is formed the guild must maintain a minimum of 5 players within the guild. Pplayers can only be members of one guild at a time. If you have alternate characters they can join different guilds. Guilds are not account-based, but character-based. 

Guilds will be capped at 300 players, but in order to obtain that cap, guilds must be leveled up. The Guild must then select the path of a larger guild cap vs guild skills. The specific guild skills that will be available are not known at this time. 

There will be benefits to joining a guild. These benefits could include gear enhancements, passives, guild castles, guild activities, guild mounts, guild questlines, and guild halls. 

There will also be guild halls (see housing section) and guild sieges (see siege section) in the game. Guild alliances will also be available.

Your allegiance to your guild is a little different in Ashes of Creation than in most MMORPGs. Typically you guild allegiance is the highest form of allegiance in the game. However, in Ashes of the Creation, you node citizenship will trump your guild allegiance. It’s possible that you’ll have to fight your guild members in a war if your guild attacks a node that you are a citizen of. 

Mounts

Ashes of Creation will have a vast amount of Mounts and Mount Appearances.  There are three types of mounts in Ashes of Creation: Land/Aquatic Mounts, Gliding/Jumping Mounts, and Royal/flying Mounts.  Each Mount will have a unique set of stats and abilities.  These characteristics will include resistance, attacks, mobility, defense, and even active skills.  Most mounts in Ashes of Creation will be obtained by Animal Husbandry or drops from world bosses.  

There Will be Mounted combat in Ashes of Creation.  Mounted combat will be based on mount abilities and skills.  Class Skills will not be able to be used while mounted.   Mounts will have their own unique set of equipable to help increase their stats such as speed and hit points.  During Combat, Mounts can be targeted separately by non-mounted and mounted players and can be killed during combat.  At that point, players will be required to resurrect their mount. 

Flying Mounts in Ashes of Creation

Flying Mounts in Ashes of Creation will be tied to very rare drops. These will come from Legendary Bosses, to Metropolis Nodes, or to Guild Castles.  All of these are available for limited times which has been cited to be around 15-30 days of real life.  After this time period, the mount will pass away.  They have stated that the number of available flying mounts present on a server will be between 10 and 20.

Naval Content

Ashes of Creation is set to have a vast diversity of Naval Content.  Along with naval mounts and underwater content, Ashes of Creation will have naval-based professions and combat.  Ashes of Creation will have both PVP and PVE Naval content.  Naval PVE content will include Open Sea world bosses and even Raids. 

There will also be a group of Mariner Classes that will allow players to become more proficient in naval-based skills. These include Gunnery, Ship piloting, navigation, boat repair, Ship components, Defensive Skills, and utility-based skills.  

Oceanic Nodes in Ashes of Creation

There will be Coastal and Island-based nodes in Ashes of Creation.  These will be home to ports in Harbors that will be the center of Naval content.  Progression in these nodes will be linked to the spawn of naval world bosses and raids.  

Ships in Ashes of Creation

There will be three different classes of Naval Ships in Ashes of Creation. Each will have a specific usage for participating in naval-based content.  Small ships will be used for “solo” content and support from 1- to 3 players.  Medium Ships will be needed for group-based content and can hold up to 8 crew members.  Large ships, or Galleons, will be able to hold a Raid-sized group and will be used in PVE raids.  These ships will be summoned from Harbor ports and, occasionally in “deep” rivers.  

Ship Building

Ship Building is one of the professions in Ashes of Creations.  As players progress in this trade, they will have access to blueprints for different ship components.  These ship components will allow players to customize their crafted ships. These customizations will allow ships to become more proficient in movement, durability, speed, turn rate, and damage-dealing abilities.  

Lore

Ashes of Creation Lore is broken up into three different sections: Origins, The Fall, and The Return.  

Ashes of Creation Origins

There is little that is known pre Fall Lore at this time. Here is a direct quote from Steven Sharif relating to the origins of the world of Verra.  “The story of creation tells us of a race of beings known as The Ancients. Created in the likeness of what was once The Ten. The Ten imbued all of their qualities into one race to have stewardship over all of creation.

The power of the Ancients grew and a rift divided the Ten in how to accommodate their new creation. Three of the Ten separated from the others and began to teach the Ancients the Secrets of the Essence. When the Seven learned of this, a great celestial battle ensued.

Eons passed and you watched as the fight continued within the celestial kingdom. Some say it was the fight that created the stars and heaven we see today. With every blow between the Ten a star was born. When the battle was complete, the others and the Ancients were banished by the Seven into the Void. The Seven found the error of their ways and decided to split their qualities into four races instead of one; and this is how the Humans, Elves, Orcs and Dwarves came to be. You watch as the Seven created Verra and placed each of the races within their respective locations. As the story came to an end, a dark figure at a distance grew closer to you. Until all you could see was the darkness. And you wake up in a sweat after a nightmare.”

The Fall

Before the current era of Verra was the time of the Great Calamity.  During this event, corruption came upon Verra causing Great destruction and spawning powerful enemies.  All would have been lost if not for The Goddess of Creation. She spawned in a gateway for the citizens of Verra to Escape to a world called Sanctus.  During this exodus, not everyone made it out.  These people would eventually become the Tulnar race and would learn to survive in the Underrealm of Verra.  There is not a lot known about the story of Sanctus at this time. Ashes of Creation has stated it will be revealed in the key story arc once the game launches.

The Return

Ashes of Creation will take place just after this phase of Lore.  Players will spawn in as the Gateways reopen and the people of Sanctus return to their original home, Verra.  Ashes of Creation lore from this point will be controlled by the players.  Each server will have its own unique stories that will be documented separately.  

Religions in Ashes of Creation

Verra is home to 7 different religions.  Players will be able to (not forced to) choose one of these religions to progress in a unique ranking system.  After choosing a religion, players will be able to choose a path of light or darkness. These benefits include unique titles, unique items, discounts, and the ability to participate in unique events. These events will revolve around a player’s chosen deity, and recipes.  Religions can also provide a unique set of augmentations to a player’s primary class skills.   

The Order of the Seven is a group of religious organizations in the world of Verra.  These represent the 7 Grand temples.  There are many Demi-gods in Ashes of Creation. These include the Goddess of Love, Goddess of Creation, Goddess of Fare, God of Hope, and God of Truth.  The Underworld will also have its own form of religion.

World Map

Ashes of Creation will be set in the world of Verra.  They have stated that the map will be approx. 480km x 480km. This estimate includes both landmasses and the surrounding oceans. There will be another playable zone in the map called The Underrealm that will add approx 100km x 100km.   The map will be made up of 118 nodes, 103 normal nodes with 15 castle nodes.  Below is an image of the current concept of the endgame map.

Kickstarter

The Ashes of Creation Kickstarter campaign launched on May 2, 2017, with a $750,000 funding goal. The campaign ended on June 3, 2017, with 19,576 backers and raised $3,271,809. 

Even though the project was kickstarted it is primarily being self-funded by Steven Sharif. Steven is the Creative Director and Founder of Intrepid Studios.

Testing

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse was a battle royale game mode made as a stand-alone game and released on Steam. The purpose of the battle royale was not to replace the MMO, but to test certain aspects of the game. These aspects included combat and sieges. Apocalypse ended on March 10, 2020 and is no longer available on steam.

Ashes of Creation Alpha

In a Creative Director’s letter dated October 16, 2020, we received the dates for the upcoming Alpha phases. The Alpha schedule includes a 4-day stress test starting on December 18, 2020. This is the first of two tests. This test will remain under NDA, as there will still likely be some considerable polish and bug fixing necessary. There will, however, be recorded footage of the testing provided after the event for the entire community to view. 

The second test period will begin on February 19th and last until February 22nd. This test will also be under NDA as well. Then, in March a 1-week test will begin on March 19th and last until March 26th. This test will not be under NDA and will be available to all Alpha One Testers and Official Content creators.

The 1 month long Alpha One testing phase will then begin on April 6th. It last through May 6th and will be available to all Alpha One Testers and Official Content Creators. 

In March, due to some data that was collected in the first two test phases, the team decided to delay the last two test dates

Ashes of Creation Beta

Ashes of Creation Beta dates are not known at this time. Beta is speculated to be sometime in late 2021 or early 2022.

Ashes of Creation Release Date

There is no release date for Ashes of Creation.

Engine

Ashes of Creation is using Unreal Engine 5 and will utilize a custom Unreal Engine backend. The MMO will have proprietary networking code in order to enable mass combat in the open world. 

Ashes of Creation System Requirements

Ashes of Creation minimum system requirements for Alpha

• Operating System: Windows 10 64-Bit
• Processor: Intel Core i3-2125 3.3 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 3.3Ghz
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon 6870 HD with 1GB and DirectX 12
• Memory: 6 GB RAM
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 15 GB of available space
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

Recommended system requirements

• Operating System: Windows 10 64-Bit
• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz / AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon R9 Fury with 4GB and DirectX 12
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 15 GB of available space
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card