Weltkarte

Ashes of Creation map. The circles on the map are divine gateways that are located in the ruined cities of the four great races of Verra. The diamonds are the starting settlements for the returning races.

If you have tuned into our live streams and update videos, you may have caught glimpses of Verra. The world is very large and meant to hold around 10,000 concurrent players. With elaborate trade routes and sea-play, the Verran landscapes must provide complex obstacles and intricate passages between its regions. Alpha One will be the first test phase in the actual world map of Verra. For the first time ever, our community will step foot on the world we hope you'll call home. – Steven Sharif

The original Ashes map from my pathfinder world of Ashes made 10 years ago. Obviously some adjustments had to be made for the mmorpg. But the main two continents and their points of interest have a lot of the same. – Steven Sharif

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. 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.

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.

When information is gathered, or the player has successfully explored an area, points of interest are marked on the map.

• These points of interest are determined by Node progression; and not every server will share the same map, as player decisions will vary server to server.

In addition to node progression being a factor on map generation, zones in Ashes of Creation will cater to all levels.

The map will have geographical choke points (such as Mountains) that are not traversable by players.

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. – Steven Sharif

Alpha island

Map of Alpha-1 preview testing zone.

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

This is a rather large tropical area; and what we use some of the creatures for is kind of like 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. – Jeffrey Bard

Alpha-1 testing takes place in a zone to the north west of the world map. This zone has many islands and a mainland area.

• There are 12 different (sub)zones in the Alpha-1 testing location.
• The Alpha-1 zone is almost 100 km² in size. This is approximately 20-25% of the total world size.
  • This was estimated to be 70 km² by Steven Sharif in a recent podcast. Since this was an estimate, the original sizing has not been updated.
  • Traversing the width of the zone (10 km) on a mount would take about 30 minutes.
• Alpha island (also called Alpha-0 island) was the first open-world testing zone for Alpha-1 participants.
• There are approximately 4 biomes in Alpha-1: Flood plains, Sahara (Desert), Snowy mountains.
  • A tropical/jungle zone was added for the December 2020 Alpha-1 preview tests.
• Temporary teleportation points will be present in early tests until ships are introduced later in the alpha testing.

Verra

The name of the Ashes of Creation world is Verra.

• Verra exists in the material plane.

Verra was created to house four separate... divine races and they're called divine races because the remaining seven gods imbued their characteristics within each of these different races. They didn't put all of them into one and make the same mistake. They had focuses really that these races took essentially. – Steven Sharif

Shape of Verra

The world of Verra is not flat, but it cannot be circumnavigated.

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. – Steven Sharif

There will not be world wrapping in Ashes of Creation. – Steven Sharif

Größe der Welt

480 km² (square kilometers) is the approximate world size at launch. This includes water and land content.

• Water area is considered playable area, but the exact area of land versus water is not known at this time.

I don't know the exact the exact amount that is land versus water but the water is playable area as well and it's gonna have content... – Steven Sharif

• An additional 100 km² may be taken up by the Unterreich.

480 square kilometers; which is pretty large comparatively to other MMORPGs out there. Now that does not include the lapped spaces: So that is the Underrealm and the portion of the world that it encompasses, which could probably easily take up an additional hundredish square kilometers I would imagine. – Steven Sharif

• It is anticipated that a mounted player can traverse the entire map in a matter of hours.

• The Alpha-0 map was a 4km x 4km area (16 km²).
• The Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale map was 2.5km x 2.5km (6.25 km²).
  • The Forest of Erinthia map was roughly 1/5th the size of the original map.
• The Alpha-1 zone is almost 100 km² in size. This is approximately 20-25% of the total world size.
  • This was estimated to be 70 km² by Steven Sharif in a recent podcast. Since this was an estimate, the original sizing has not been updated.
  • Traversing the width of the Alpha-1 zone (10 km) on a mount would take about 30 minutes.

The Alpha One map will be many islands and mainland area, roughly 100sqkm. – Steven Sharif

Nodes

There will be 103 regular node locations at launch with 15 additional castle nodes (5 castles x 3 castle nodes each) for a total of 118 nodes.

• There will be 9 node locations in Alpha-1.
  • This was previously stated to be 8 node locations.
  • Normally there would be 18-20 nodes in the same area.
  • The node ZOI's in alpha-1 will be larger than the final map.
  • Node locations are subject to change prior to Beta-1.

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.

Economic regions are static areas defined by geographic points of interest.

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

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. – Sarah Flanagan

Castle regions

Castles have direct power over the Nodes that belong to it, but also have soft power across the entire region it belongs to. All Nodes belonging to that region pay fealty to the Castle in the form of taxes paid directly to the Castle. The Monarch sets the rate, and can use those proceeds to upgrade defenses, maintain the Castle’s direct Nodes, or provide buffs and benefits to the citizens of that region, as the magnanimous ruler that you are.

Gildenschlösser influence a castle region around them.

• A castle's region is 1/5th the game world.
• Castle regions, Economic regions, and Node ZOI (Zones of Influence) can overlap.
  • A castle could have a metropolis beside it.
• Castle region boundaries are static.

Gildenschlösser impose a tax on all revenue for the nodes within its region.

• Castle taxes are carried via NPC generated caravans from the nodes that fall under the castle's purview to one of the castle nodes at the end of each week leading up to a castle siege.
• In addition to taxes, Castles also influence crop yields, resources and events within its region.
• Part of the tax and resources gathered are applied to the castle for improvements.
• The remainder of tax income can be used by the guild for whatever they want.
• When castles change hands (following a siege), some taxes stay with the castle and some stay with the guild.

Castles have the ability to allocate taxes collected from nodes under them toward certain benefits that go back to the node. Or they can be more selfishly governed that treasury more towards the guild that owns it and that obviously is going to have some political implications, because it could- if you're not using it for the benefit of the people in the region they might rise up and help take you out from that that position of owning that castle. – Steven Sharif

Roads

Alpha-1 early preview roading.

Our road system in-game is essentially driven by pre-placed routes that that lead to this main artery of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra; and from there there are roads that become exposed when nodes advance; and we call those veins. They come off the main artery and then as nodes advance there are points of interest as Jeff was discussing earlier. These POIs that exist around the world and some of them share coverage with multiple nodes, but depending on which node advances to the stage that activates the point of interest it'll create these capillary roads so to speak that then stem off of the node itself. So you go from the main artery ancient road that's large- that kind of runs through different zones and whatnot- and that breaks down into the veins that lead to the specific encampments and villages and towns that then spawn off separate capillaries that lead to the points of interest in these areas that are hunting grounds. Those are not exposed initially and they come online as players advance the world. – Steven Sharif

Roads in Verra are both pre-generated and player influenced.

• The largest roads are referred to as arteries. These are remnants of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra.
• As nodes advance smaller roads, referred to as veins, connect the arteries to the nodes.
  • Roads will upgrade as nodes advance. Different roads will dictate the speed and type of caravan required (off road vs on road).
• Depending on the stages of node advancement, capillary roads will stem off the node to connect to points of interest.
• Roads or pathways are not worn into the landscape by repeated traffic over the same area.

Different seasons and events may affect access to various roads.

• Pathways that are open during summer may be closed during winter.
• Seasonal affects may cause obstacles or blockages to the transit of goods via caravan.
  • Some events may cause specific roadways to be blockedoff.
  • Obstacles may present barriers on roads that players must remove to allow transit of goods.
• Water turning to ice in winter, enabling players to walk over the water but blocking access to what is underneath.
  • Ice will make roads bumpy and slippery.

Unterreich routes will open or close dynamically (based on node states).

Grundbesitz may not be placed in close proximity to roads.

Interessante Orte

Neue Points of Interest (wie z.B. Dungeons und World Bosse) spawnen, wenn sich Nodes entwicklen. Dieser Content passt sich an die Entwicklung der Zone an, in der er sich befindet.

• Die Population wird sich verändern.
• Die Schwierigkeit des Contents wird sich ändern.
• Der Content ändert sich vielleicht Grundlegend, abhängig davon, was sich wie entwickelt.
• Verschiedene Arten von Antagonisten mit verschiedenen Storylines.
• Manche Dungeons werden nur freigeschaltet, wenn sich Nodes zu einer bestimmten Stufe entwickeln.
• Die Ziele einer Storyline innerhalb von Dungeons hängen davon ab, welche Story Arcs durch das Node System gewählt wurden.
• Drop Tables in Gebieten und Dungeons werden in die Entwicklung von bestimmten Gebieten eingebunden sein.

Certain dungeons and other points of interest across the map will all be affected by the server’s node development. Some dungeons will only be unlocked if nodes are developed to certain stages. The storyline objectives for players inside dungeons will also be dependent on the story arc paths chosen through the node system. The drop tables in area and dungeons will also be tied into the progression of certain areas. For example, let’s say that the humans have developed a node in Region A, and a storyline has opened up that leads players to inspect the ruins (dungeon) of a nearby area. And let’s say that this node was developed in a scientific (crafting) zone… Well before the node developed, this dungeon was accessible… But now the dungeon has propagated new monster assets that include a drop table catering to a crafting emphasis because of the development of that scientific node. And perhaps, a new boss appears in different rooms of the dungeon that includes different adventure quest starts, like a mysterious item with a storyline that can only be progressed if a node develops to the metropolis stage in a certain region, across the world. Our system is so vast, when it comes to interconnectivity and how the world reacts to the players.

Dungeon locations

Dungeons and other points of interest are located throughout the map in-between the 103 node locations.

• As nodes advance and expand they will influence nearby points-of-interest such as dungeon bosses, regional bosses and Schlachtzugbosse.
• The difficulty level and loot tables of these encounters will change based on this influence.

Corrupted areas

Work-in-progress Alpha-1 preview corrupted area on Alpha island by Mia DelCasino.

How the world kind of reacts and changes to the nodes, you see these intrusions of corruption beginning to pervert and infest the lands; and these are obviously going to be sources by which NPC events are driven based on player progression within the world. And these sources of evil need to be addressed by the players, or else they'll grow out of hand. – Steven Sharif

All of our POIs and kind of just the world in general can react to the node- we don't have to but we can- and this is one of those places where as civilization grows this will grow kind of in contest with it. – Jeffrey Bard

Corrupted areas (zones/points of interest) can dynamically evolve with the progression of nodes.

• These are sources of NPC events that players need to address before they grow out of hand.

Wahrzeichen

200 foot tall Pyrian statues in Alpha-1.

Wahrzeichen are scattered throughout the world, allowing players to judge their position on the map.

From a lore perspective these statues have been around for a long time; and they are representative of the civilizations that existed once on this world before. – Steven Sharif

Major visual landmarks. You can look all the way across the horizon have an idea where you're going or where to meet friends or where to meet just based on these huge landmarks in the world. – Mat Broome

Prozedurale Generierung

Verra will not be randomly generated, but the starting resource points may be different on each server.

Positionen von Ressourcen

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.

Minimap

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale mini-map UI. Image credit: The Ashes Post

There is an in-game mini map and compass user interface in Alpha-1.

• The goal is to allow pings and other forms of communication tools via the mini-map.

Schlachtkarten

Schlachtkarten allow players to strategize, gain bonuses on planned attacks, and see the blueprints of attackable points. Whether attacking a node or castle, players will be able to discern defenses, analyze possible weak points and gain tactical advantages before the battle begins.

• Battle maps might not fit into lower level or smaller sized taverns.
• Battle maps are not currently on the official roadmap for launch.

Verwendung

Schlachtkarten offer an interactive command map instead of the standard World map. The system would be accessed through Rathaus or battle planning center. Battle maps work similar to a Risk board, with the node siege map laid out with moveable pieces that would represent defenses. Moving pieces would create buff zones that would give active siege players access to special items or perks. The map does not show the currently active battle: pieces will have to be moved before the battle commences. The idea is to make sieges more strategic and avoid simple zerg tactics.

Kopfgeldjäger-Karten

Spieler mit genügend Verderbnispunkten sind auf der Weltkarte und auf Mini-Karten sichtbar. Diese Spieler haben eine eigene Markierung auf der Weltkarte, die von einem NPC eines Militärknotenpunktes von mindestens der Stufe 4 (Stadt),und wird nur an jene Spieler verteilt, die den Kopfgeldjäger Titel besitzen. Die Genauigkeit von Kopfgeldjägerkarten wird vom Fortschritt eines Spielers im Kopfgeldjägersystem bestimmt.

Tavernen sind Orte, an denen Kopfgelder ausgehängt werden. Gewinnen Spieler viele Verderbnispunkte, kann es sein, dass Tavernen ein Kopfgeld auf diese Spieler aushängen. Oder sie verlangen, dass ein spezifisches Gebiet von Problem-Spielern gereinigt wird. Dies lässt einen Indikator auf der Weltkarte erscheinen.

Bounty hunter Pathfinding ability

Skill	Icon	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3
Pfadfinder		Reveals corrupted player locations on the bounty hunter's map. Activating this ability will flag the bounty hunter for combat only to corrupted players for a period of one hour from the time of activation. The pathfinding ability can be toggled on or off.	The accuracy of the pathfinding skill is determined by a player's progression in the bounty hunter system.	The accuracy of the pathfinding skill is determined by a player's progression in the bounty hunter system.

Startgebiete

Alpha-1 preview reworked alpha island starting area.

There's been some significant lighting changes here in this area. There's been some work on the foliage, on the trees that are available, toned down some of the ruins, rearranged some of the tents and it's starting to look pretty good. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-1 early preview starting area.

There is no railroaded driven theme park experience here. You will have the opportunity to create your own destiny in that regard, which means you don't have to necessarily follow the quest line nor do you have to participate in events or experiences around the starting area. Now it may be more beneficial to do that; and in that regard I guess there could be a meta around doing that, but you could branch out proceed to other areas and do different content. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-0 Empyrean starting area concept art.

Startgebiete (starting zones) are located in the ruined cities of the four ancient races of Verra.

• Starting areas are located near one of the four divine gateways where players spawn into the world.
  • The Tulnar have a starting area without a divine gateway. They have the same option of starting at any of the divine gateways as other races.
  • Starting areas have some distance between them.

• Each race has its own starting area.
  • Players may choose their starting gateway regardless of their choice of race.
  • Interessante Orte exist that represent Tulnar NPC structures in a similar fashion to the starting areas around divine gateways.

• Starting areas include expeditionary NPC settlements that serve as initial quest origination points. Überlieferungen-wise, these settlements represent scouts that were sent ahead of the main expedition back to Verra.
  • These settlements are designed to acclimatize new players entering the world.
  • While it may be advantageous to do so, there is no requirement for players to play through any specific starter zone content.

• Starting areas are not tied to the node system.

A problem that a lot of MMOs have is that those starting areas become just kind of vacant of players and it's so sad because the greatest aspect of an MMO is that community that you get to experience, so one of the great things about the node system is that it really works from new player acquisition standpoint, where these nodes tend to develop larger near the starting location areas around the world; and it brings these players back to those locations if they're citizens and want services within those cities. So, as new players enter the world they're going to actually be surrounded most likely by more population because people are coming back to those larger nodes. – Steven Sharif

Divine gateways

Empyrean divine gateway concept art.

When you play the MMORPG you're going to be stepping through what are called these divine gateways from a planet called Sanctus and Sanctus was really a safe haven that was forethought by the Goddess of Fate and Creation as a sanctuary to provide the people of Verra who could survive the fall, the apocalypse, the exodus essentially. – Steven Sharif

Divine gateways are portals located in the ruined cities of the four ancient races of Verra.

• Divine gateways are where players first arrive in Ashes of Creation.
  • Each divine gateway is in proximity to one or more starting area.
• Players can choose their starting gateway. This choice is not restricted by their choice of race.
  • Tulnar characters have the same option of starting at any of the divine gateways as other races.
• The divine gateways were created by the Goddess of Creation in response to a warning from the Goddess of Fate that The Ancients and The Others would return from exile and seek retribution for their defeat at the hands of The Seven gods.

Where players start, they enter this portal from another world called Sanctus. Sanctus is a place of no magic, low technology; and players are the first expeditioners that are coming through this portal into the world of Verra. – Jeffrey Bard

Einflussbereiche

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

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. – Margaret Krohn

Every node is given purview over a predefined geographic area called a Einflussbereich (ZOI). Player activity within the ZOI is weighted and counted toward a particular node’s advancement.

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 . – Jeffrey Bard

• By undertaking familiar activities, such as questing, gathering and raiding, players have agency in determining which nodes in the world will develop.

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.

• Zones of influence connect fully across the world without any gaps.

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

• Unterreich-Knotenpunkte and nodes directly above them are considered adjacent but do not exist in the same ZOI.
• Up to one fifth of the world will be encompassed within the ZOI of a Metropole. The many vassal nodes within a ZOI's "border" could end up looking like a country or nation.

Zonen und Entwicklung

Dungeons, Schlachtzüge, Weltbosse, Mobs, Abenteuer, Events, Ressourcen, Narratives and other content within a node's ZOI will have a diverse level range; but will scale with the advancement of that node and its racial influence.

We don’t have a strictly level 25 zone. Instead, that zone might have some level 10 creatures near the road, some level 20 creatures deep in the forest, and some level 30 creatures up the mountain. These ratios will change based on the Nodes that inform them, becoming generally more dangerous as the Node grows. All this civilization attracts the attention of Things-That-Should-Not-Be. This does not mean that wilderness areas are safe, by any means. Some may be safe-er, but all will have dangers that even the most experienced traveler needs to watch out for. – Steven Sharif

Knotenpunkte an der Küste

Alpha-1 coastal node.

Es wird Nodes entlang der Küste und auf Inseln geben.

• Diese Nodes werden wasserorientierte Einflüsse haben. Zudem stehen Fähigkeiten, Dienstleistungen, und Questlinien zur Verfügung, welche in Verbindung mit der See stehen.
• Küsten-Nodes verändern die Spawntabellen des umliegenden Wasser-Contents und können auch bestimmte Events auslösen.
• Häfen in Küsten-Nodes werden Questlinien haben, welche sich auf den Ozean und nahe gelegenen Inseln beziehen.
• Es könnte möglich sein, eine Küstenstadt über den Seeweg zu belagern.

Inselketten sind ein Teil des Ashes of Creation See-Inhalts.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse map

Forest of Erinthia map

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale Forest of Erinthia map.

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale Forest of Erinthia map locations.

• Breakwater Quarry
• Chillmouth Outpost
• Coldwind Township
• Dream Spire
• Erinthia's Shame
• Glimmerbrook
• Hallowed Vale
• Icebound Lookout
• Icecap Thicket
• The Spirit Vault
• Winstead

Original map

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale map. Image credit: The Ashes Post

Ashes of Creation Apocalypse battle royale locations.

• Brighthold
• City of Alerynn
• City of Gant
• Creation's Rest
• Crystal Canyons
• Farstrider Outpost
• Fionne Vale
• Fort Ryll
• Harbinger
• Karthmere Keep
• La'sai Village
• Nyliann Academy
• Rotweald Forest
• Sa'kaan Fens
• Sky Mesa
• Spire of Eremus
• Stoneharbor
• Town of Grimsale
• Town of Valenn
• Unterreich

Klima

Pre-alpha winter wonderland environment.

Einige Gebiete (Biome) haben ein beständiges Klima, andere ein wechselndes.

• Wetterbedingungen verändern sich mit den Jahreszeiten. – Jeffrey Bard
• Es wird dynamisches Wetter geben, welches auch in der Intensität variiert.
  • Zum Beispiel: Nieselregen zu/von Sturm, oder Schneesturm zu/von Schnee.

Treasure hunting

Pre-alpha Magier finding hidden treasure.

Treasure hunting is not exactly "cartography", but it does involve maps that help to pinpoint the location of hidden treasures throughout the world.

• The more treasure a player finds the better maps they can create.
• Hints are given through rumor mills, interaction with different NPCs, and gaining access to potential dig sites.
• Treasure hunting will be a "way of life" rather than a profession.

Treasures may also be obtained through fishing and by exploring naval content.

Server

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

• Server will be named after the champions of the great battles that led up to the fall of Verra.

There will be a multitude of servers located throughout the various regions of the world.

• Post launch, users will be able to select their server by the ping or the region that's notated next to the server.
• Ashes of Creation Apocalypse server selection is driven by the party leader. Whatever region they have selected will apply to their friends and squad.

We'll have a multitude of servers located throughout to the various regions of the world; and those servers will be good connection points for- and will be driven by- I mean there's two types of servers I'm sorry: For the alpha-1 arena those will be driven by the party leader right; and wherever whatever region they have selected if they invite friends to their squad or whatever, they'll be able to play on that region. With regards to live launch when the server's go live, you'll be selecting a server to play on; and that will be your character's home; and that server you'll be aware of where that server is located usually by either a ping or a region that's notated on next to the server. – Steven Sharif

Kunstwerke

• 

  2020-12-20
• 

  2020-12-20
• 

  2019-12-31
• 

  2019-12-31
• 

  2019-12-16
• 2019-01-12
• 

  2018-12-21
• 

  2018-09-27
• 

  2018-02-15
• 

  2017-10-13

Community guides

• Ashes101 - The World of Verra.

Siehe auch

• Nodes
• Einflussbereich
• Divine gateways
• Umgebungen
• Exploration
• User interface