Ashes 101 Ashes of Creation Guilds

Overview

Like all MMORPGs out there, Ashes of Creation will be using a Guild System. What we know about guilds is limited, so this page will not be as satisfying as the others; however, what is lacking in overall content is made up with some key design philosophies that players should start to consider long before the game launches.

Allegiance

Before we begin a discussion about the guild mechanics, first we must talk about allegiance. In most MMORPGs loyalty to your guild is supposed to be absolute; it is supposed to be your highest allegiance. In a faction vs faction game, you still often choose to side with your guild’s interests before your factions’ interest. Of course, you may have loyalty to a small circle of friends in that guild (usually your static raiding group) but overall you maintain an allegiance to the guild.

This will not be the case in Ashes of Creation. While you of course will have guilds, by mechanics and design, your highest relationship is your Node Citizenship. The status of your Node will trump the status with your guildmates, to a point where it is possible to be flagged as a legal combatant to the members of your guild if your Node and their Node are at war.

Guild Size

As of right now the maximum size of a guild is set to be 300, however, this is tentative and not only subject to change but probably will change as the other mechanics in the game shake out; however, guild size will come at a price. For a guild leader to increase their guild size to maximum, they will have to sacrifice all the other guild bonuses that can be selected instead of size.

Guild Bonuses

So, we know that these will exist, we just do not know what they are. We do know that guilds will be able to offer passive abilities and guild specific augments are a few of the things that are possible. Stay tuned for more on this.

Benefits of Guild Membership

There are going to be benefits to being in a guild. Obviously, the guild bonuses from not being a maximum size guild are one of the bonuses. Another bonus is that the Guild Leader can do payouts to Guild Members if the guild is especially financially successful. Again, we know this is a mechanic, we just do not know how it applies or functions.

Castle and Economic Regions

Verra is divided into five static geographical regions. Right now, the map we have does not show these regions, but we know the regions are fixed and static. Their size and location are not influenced by player actions and they cannot be moved, bent, twisted, or destroyed. This is not to say the people inside these regions are not influenced by player actions. The seat of power in each region is the regional Castle and the castle is ruled by a player character (PC) Monarch.

The Monarch is the leader of the guild in control of the castle at the end of each four-week siege cycle. Whether you like it or not, you will be living in a region ruled by a PC Monarch. The Monarch has some governmental powers including the ability to levy taxes on all Nodes in the region. Most of this tax money goes to the Castle and Regional Development, but a small portion of it can be removed by the Monarch and devoted to any endeavors the Monarch chooses.

Overlapping with the Castle Regions are Economic Regions, and since they overlay the castle region they are also fixed and static geographic regions. While we do not know everything about them, we do know that they operate hand in hand with the Castle Regions and represent the zone that the king has economic control over.

All of the castles are going to have proper names. So far we know of a Dünzenkell castle named Milnar, and an Aelan castle named Korgan.

Castle Sieges

There is going to be a Castle Siege Mechanic in Ashes of Creation.

Given the complexity of the topic, I am going to defer you to the Castle Siege Page.

Guild Halls and Guild Fortresses

Guild Halls and Guild Fortresses are focal points for Guild Activities.

Guild Halls may be placed on Guild Freeholds or they may be placed inside the boundaries of the Nodes; however, this option is only available for the Patron Guilds for that Node. To have a Guild Hall on a Guild Freehold, the guild must first reach a certain level (currently unknown) and then the Guild Master is granted a certificate to place the guild hall. While Guild Halls can become part of Guild Wars and objectives involving them may be part of a Guild War, they can only be destroyed as a result of a successful Node Siege.

Guild Fortresses are a concept in Ashes of Creation that are not 100% guaranteed to remain above the development line. These may end up getting shelved in the core viable build, and may or may not return after launch. Guild Fortresses would act as contested objectives during Guild Wars, similar in some ways to Guild Halls and similar in other ways to the Guild Castles. These would be strongholds that would be able to be sieged during a Guild War. There has not been much information given about Fortresses since 2019, so these may have been put under the line for the time being.

Guild Wars

Guilds will be able to engage in wars against other guilds. These will not be simple matters of a one-hour clock where you simply try to kill each other. These will be engagements that take place over the course of days, and involve objectives such as raiding enemy Guild Halls to sieging Fortresses.

Given the complexity of the topic, I am going to defer you to the Guild Wars page under PvP which can be accessed here.