NODE SIEGES | An Overview and Comparison | Ashes of Creation

We’ll be discussing how the node sieges in Ashes of Creation are started, how they’re played out, also the rewards and consequences of succeeding a node siege!

WHAT ARE NODE SIEGES IN ASHES OF CREATION?

Nodes are basically the selling point to this game. The whole MMO is based around these nodes and the dynamic nature surrounding them. Next on our list will one of the most talked about and most controversial topics involved with them. The ability to take your friends and guildmates and bring havoc to an existing node on the map and that is to completely wipe of its existence.

In years to come, where there is going to be an instance where there we be few to no players to play the game, the drama and intrigue that will come out of this kind of system will be talked about all over the internet.

1. To begin a siege on a rival node, a player must complete a series of quests that scale depending on the level of the node they would want to siege. Completion of this quest rewards a siege scroll. The quest is likely going to gather or hand in an unknown amount of materials or tribute, rather than go out and murder a bunch of boars. It is stated that the price of a siege scroll will be roughly equal to how much the node itself costs to develop. Meaning, its likely to require multiple guilds worth of people to gather the materials in the first place.
   
2. Once the scroll is obtained, the player is then required to go to the rival node and activate it. Once the player completes that, a declaration period begins giving the server time to react to this act of war. This countdown changes depending on the stage of the node that has been targeted. A village offers 2 days of preparation time and a metropolis gives 5 days. Note that you may not declare you may not declare a node siege when it is below village stage. Also, there is a 21-day grace period after a village has advanced before it can be declared upon.
   
3. When the declaration period starts, moving goods such as raw and processed materials out of the treasuries becomes prohibited. The treasury NPCs become replaced with quest NPCs to prepare the node for the upcoming siege. These treasuries include warehouses from the node itself, storages in player houses, and freehold processing buildings within the region.
   
4. Also, players and guilds are able to either attack of defend the node. The signup requirements are heavily tied to the citizenship system. Citizens of that node and also neighboring nodes are automatically signed up as defenders. However, everyone else is free game. They can either attack or defend.

The attackers for a node siege are required to spend the declaration period building their headquarters to command their attack from. This building will likely be place-able anywhere within a certain distance away from the node’s walls giving enough battle space to PvP on. Kind of making it into a temporary battleground to strategically maneuver their siege vehicles when they’re going to attack the city in the best way possible.

Once the attackers have breached the wall, they are required to move their siege vehicles into the streets themselves and breaking down the defenses of multiple districts until getting to the central objective for the node’s defeat. The amount of layers the attackers would push through would still depend on the size of the node in question. A village has basic defenses with one center point to capture. While the metropolis has many layers.

For the attackers to actually win the siege, they are required to channel a 5-minute cast on the defender’s central flag. This channel is not interrupted by crowd control. However, it is interrupted by death. Movement during this cast would likely be possible as having one person just stand there, not needing to react to anything, is similar to WoW’s content in the game. Well, no one wants that.

In order to successfully defend the node, the defenders have two options: they can hold out until the siege timer runs out (which currently stands at two hours) or push out into the attacking army’s headquarters to kills the forces and destroy the buildings that are stationed inside. Once they destroy all the opposing guild forts, they win the node.

When a node is destroyed it is completely removed from the server and all progress that citizens have made with that node are deleted. This actually pushes citizens of a node that is under siege to invest some commitment to defending their node. It may seen like such a drawback to the months you have committed into progressing, however, it does give the players a real sense of danger that their whole civilization is about to crumble if they don’t defend it. The crushing pressure that the system gives for it to give back the feeling of actually caring for something…

This system gives the players something to care about that’s not completely tied to them alone but tied to the whole civilization they’ve built up in that corner of the world. Of course the systems open to griefing and to be completely. Defenders also have the upper hand involving situations in node sieges. Hopefully Intrepid could get the balance right.

As for the attackers rewards, they are free to take a portion of what’s stored in the treasury to take back to their node to further help its development. The possibilities of this system is infinite.

A note to remember: if a node survives a siege, it becomes immune for another declaration for a period of time. Villages going to 20 days and Metropolis’ going up to 50 days of immunity from survived sieges.

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VIDEO CHAPTERS:
00:00​ Intro
00:48​ What are Node Sieges?
01:47​ Starting the Siege
04:29​ The Attackers
06:15​ The Defenders
07:14​ Consequences
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