Ashes of Creation’s world is not static. The node system is the engine that drives it: pre-set points on the map that advance through seven stages based on player activity in their surrounding Zone of Influence. As nodes grow from Wilderness to Metropolismetropolis. The largest tier of a player-grown settlement/node; a major economic and political hub in the world., they unlock services, housing, dungeons, and raid content — and they lock out neighboring nodes from advancing to the same stage. This primer covers how nodes advance, the four node types, the vassal system, and how the player economy is regionalized across economic regions, warehouses, and caravancaravan. A player-driven trade convoy that moves goods between settlements — valuable, and vulnerable to attack. trade routes.

How Nodes Advance

Nodes advance by collecting experience from the actions of players nearby. As players complete content inside a node’s Zone of Influence (the area around the node), they contribute that experience toward the node’s development. When a node reaches the experience required for its current stage, it advances to the next stage. There are seven node stages, each with experience thresholds:

  1. Wilderness (Stage 0) — the default state, no civilization
  2. Expedition (Stage 1) — a small camp, NPC vending and banking
  3. Encampment (Stage 2) — larger camp, more services
  4. Village (Stage 3) — player government becomes available, small houses
  5. Town (Stage 4) — medium houses, more complex services
  6. City (Stage 5) — large houses, advanced services
  7. Metropolis (Stage 6) — mansions, the highest-tier content, superpowers

The more advanced a node is, the larger its Zone of Influence becomes. A node’s advancement also locks out an increasing ring of neighboring nodes from progressing to the next stage, creating a territorial competition that shapes the world map over time.

The Four Node Types

All nodes are assigned one of four types, predetermined and the same across all servers. A node’s type is static — it does not change based on the node’s level or destruction:

  • Divine nodes — focus on faith and skill/equipment augments; NPCs are priests
  • Economic nodes — focus on trade and merchant activities; NPCs are merchants
  • Military nodes — focus on combat and class training; NPCs are guards
  • Scientific nodes — focus on artisan and construction activities; NPCs are scholars

Each node type has unique specializations, services, and buildings. Economic nodes, for example, unlock auction houses and the ability to list and sell items. Scientific nodes unlock teleportation networks at Metropolis stage. Military nodes enable bounty hunters and reduced corruption duration. The node type determines what content spawns and what services are available as the node advances.

Vassal Nodes and the Sovereign System

Beginning at Village (Stage 3), a node enslaves nearby nodes, converting them into vassal nodes. Vassal nodes must remain at least one node stage below their parent node. A Metropolis (Stage 6) can control up to two City (Stage 5) nodes. A City can control one Town (Stage 4) and one Village (Stage 3). This creates a hierarchical vassal network.

Vassal nodes give excess experience to their parent node and may have their own vassals, so long as they fall within the parent node’s Zone of Influence. Vassals are subject to the government, alliances, wars, taxes, and trade of their parent node, and are able to receive federal aid from them. Vassal nodes cannot declare war on their parent node or any of the parent’s vassals.

The vassal system creates political dynamics: being vasseled is not a bad thing — it brings benefits from the sovereign, including access to the parent’s services and trade networks. But it also means the vassal’s development is capped by the parent’s advancement.

Node Atrophy and Decay

Nodes accumulate an experience deficit each day based on the node’s level, called node atrophy. The deficit is subtracted from any experience earned that day. If any deficit remains, it is subtracted from the node’s experience pool. This means a node that is not actively maintained by player activity will eventually decay.

An atrophy system may be implemented where accumulated atrophy points progressively disable services within a node. If not addressed, the node may be destroyed when a significant atrophy threshold is reached. This creates a maintenance burden: a node is not a permanent structure but a living system that requires ongoing player engagement.

The Regionalized Economy

The economy in Ashes of Creation is regionalized. There is no central auction house or warehouse. Instead, economic regions are static areas defined by geographic points of interest, and auction houses exist only in economic nodes. Items listed in one auction house are visible to vassal nodes of that auction house, but players must travel to the auction house to bid.

This regionalization creates pocket economies: resources and goods flow between regions via caravan trade routes, and prices vary by region based on supply and demand. The caravan system is the primary method of transporting goods between nodes. Caravans are initiated from caravansary node buildings within Village (Stage 3) nodes and above, and they create objective-based PvP events — players can choose to attack, defend, or opt out of caravan routes.

Currency and Gold Generation

Glint is the primary method for players to generate gold. Glint drops from mobs and players, and is offered as a reward for completing quests, events, and achievements. Glint is a bound currency — it occupies space within the spatial inventory system and must be transported via crates when in large quantities. Glint can be sold directly to commodities vendors at hunting lodges within nodes to generate gold.

Gold is the general in-game currency. There is no cap on how much gold a player can hold. Monsters do not drop gold directly — they drop glint, which is then converted to gold through the commodities vendor system. This creates a two-step gold generation process that ties the economy to player activity in the world.

Taxes and Node Funding

Mayors are able to set a generalized node tax rate as well as overrides for different activities within their node. Mayors gain additional taxation controls as their node advances. Tax revenue only goes toward funding node development — it cannot be withdrawn by the mayor or any other player.

Citizenship dues and property taxes scale based on the stage of the node when a player became a citizen. The goal is to exert financial pressure on node populations by making taxes increasingly expensive as nodes advance, rather than putting in place hard population caps. This creates a soft population control mechanism: a node that is too large becomes too expensive to maintain, encouraging players to spread out.

What This Means for Players

For a player entering Ashes of Creation’s beta, the practical read is that the world is shaped by collective player activity. Where you quest, gather, and raid determines which nodes advance, what services are available, and what content unlocks. The node system means the world is not a static map but a living, reactive system — and your participation in it matters.

The economy is intentionally regionalized. There is no global auction house, no central trade hub. If you want to buy or sell, you go to an economic node’s auction house, and you transport goods via caravan. This creates trade routes, PvP opportunities, and pocket economies. The node system is the framework; the player economy is the engine.