Ashes Of Creation Releases A Tasteful Video To Explain Nodes

Ashes of Creation's node system has not been the most easily understood touted feature for the game, so the devs have made a tasteful video explaining the system. Around the game's world you'll discover Nodes, which players then contribute to help it grow. Here's the zinger paragraph explanation (or jump to the video below if you're a visual learner):

Nodes are a pre-set location, wrapped in a zone of influence, in our world that can form into towns of different sizes. These sizes range from a small camp to a sprawling metropolis. The size of the towns depends on the contribution by players and how far they’ve advanced the Node. Players do not create the footprint of a Node, but within that footprint they do have the ability to own land. Players who are part of the government for a specific Node will have the ability to modify building types and services further, but for the most part, a Node will grow along its own specific path (think about this more as NPCs building these towns out, rather than PCs individually putting buildings and walls up). A Node’s contribution area is larger than the actual town itself, allowing for players to adventure while building upon the town. We call the contribution area the Node’s “Zone of Influence,” and it’s the area where players help to advance the Node they are in.

It's less to take in than it looks like.

Gathering resources and performing other activities within a Node's sphere of influence will not only grant the player experience, but the Node will also earn XP until it evolves into the next developmental stage, with rippling ramifications as the Node levels up.

Ashes of Creation's Nodes are an interesting system and I look forward to seeing them implemented.