Next up, for the breakdown of Ashes of Creation flagship feature, we’ll discuss the Economic Node. An Economic Node is the backbone of a server’s economy as these nodes enable players to sell their goods between each other. You are able to use these node services to start shops and businesses. Economic cities will be bustling with MPCs rushing from store to store, checking out goods and trying to pedal their own with market streets filled with various stores full of food, drink and exotic artifacts to spend your coin on. Economic nodes may be the most populated node on all the servers just because of the basic functionality that they offer to the player base and having a house in one of the cities is likely going to be the most convenient. Players will be desperate to become citizens of the most successful economic metropolis and even finding a node with citizen slots available is going to be a rare sight indeed.
ECONOMIC GOVERNMENT
To become a mayor of an Economic node, one must purchase it using the gold they have gathered through their time on Verra. Economic node is likely the most important node on the server, however it could be better if the government took a slightly different take than the other three nodes to prevent any form of monopoly being created for a single player. Instead of an Economic node just having one mayor, instead a council of merchants would suit the economy and growth of the node much better. There can still be a governing leader however any decisions that are made for the growth of the Economic city would be decided by the leader and his merchant advisors. This way, 2 tiers of government status can be purchased by players. The merchant advisors would be at a set price and anyone who placed their earnings into the part would be picked at random. Once the position is decided everyone else is refunded their coin to use next month. Any advisors picked for the month may not be advisors the next month. Meaning the government changes each month to keep the economy balanced. The position of merchant king (governing leader) himself would be auctioned off and the highest bidder after the first 24 hours is granted the title of merchant king and his pool of money is deposited straight into the node’s treasury. This position of merchant king however can be rebought by the same person the next month. Meaning that someone can dedicate themselves to being the merchant king every single month for the life of a server.
AUCTION HOUSES
Auction houses are one of the main staples for an economic node. Each auction house is regional, meaning it is linked to one of the five governing castle regions on the server. Which in turn means there can be up to 5 different market economies on each server encouraging players to move around and search for the best prices they can possibly get for the goods they are looking for. Depending on supply and demand for the regions, Intrepid stated that resources will shift locations around the world when exhausted giving certain areas a higher density of Ore than others. Which will make all prices for one region dramatically different to all prices than another.
UNIQUE BUILDING: THE MARKETS
The unique building available to a level 3 Economic node is the Markets. It allows players first and foremost to sell their materials and processed goods to other players on the server. Additionally, the market acts as the central control for all the unique services the Economic node offers. Similar to the other 3 node’s unique buildings, the other perks available for the market are as follows:
- Stables for Tier 1 Mule Training – acts as mobile additional storage for moving materials between nodes
- Exclusive are for Shops and Stalls – players to set up a personal shop
- Private Property Certificates – players can rent stores at private properties
- Hunter’s Post (Tier 1) – bounties against corrupted players except it’s hunting rare monsters instead
When the Economic node becomes level 4, the Town stage, the market becomes the exchange. This offers all the previous perks plus these additional ones:
- Trade Emissary – allows the Economic node to establish diplomacy with other nodes on the server far across the land. This becomes very relevant later on at the Metropolis stage
- Auction House Expansion – opens up the ability to sell crafted items in addition to the previous materials and process materials too
- Tier 1 Work Orders, Caravan Upgrades and Business Licenses
- The Hunter’s Store (Tier 2)
At level 5, the City stage, the exchange becomes the Galleria. This unlocks the following:
- Tier 2 Work Orders, Caravan Upgrades, Business Licenses and Stables for Mules
- Economic World Map upgrade – additional information of trade routes in real time and current exchange rates for materials per node
- Trade Emissary Expansion
- The Royal Hunter’s Lodge (Tier 3)
- Inventory Space and Weight Upgrades – best feature for the Galleria
ECONOMIC MASTERY: THE EMPORIUM
Once an Economic node reaches its final tier, the Metropolis at level 6, its unique building becomes the Emporium. This ultimate form unlocks Economic node’s full potential:
- Tier 3 Work Orders, Caravan Upgrades, Business Licenses and Stables for highest level Mules
- Server Wide Prices and Regions – access to worldwide prices of Economic regions allowing players to adjust accordingly
- Player Shop Licenses – allows players to set up player shops within their freeholds instead of being bound to just the city
- The Legendary Hunter’s Lodge – unlocks legendary level bounties; this is bound to be the gateway to obtain some of the rarest mount tames in the game
- Trade Skill Mastery
ECONOMIC SUPER POWER
The super power is basically it makes the auction house listings for that Metropolis shared with all other auction houses in the region plus 1 other Economic Metropolis halfway across the world. This gives players 2 regions worth of materials linked to 1 auction house. That basically means it makes all other auction houses on the server barely usable outside of convenience of course. The only requirement for this link to be active is for the Metropolis to be connected using the Emissary system
Video chapters
00:00 Intro
01:36 What are Economic Nodes?
02:39 Economic Government
04:32 Auction Houses
05:49 Unique Building: Markets
08:22 Unique Building Mastery: The Eporium
09:33 Economic Super Power