Guten tag my friends, and welcome to a video explaining Contribution and nodes. Now, some of you may Already know how contribution points work, but I’m going to recap just so we’re all on the same page. Contribution points are displayed in the top-left by your level Just underneath the energy bar. Unlike energy, which is gained through new knowledge, Contribution is gained through gaining contribution experience Which is one of the more common quest rewards. Note that I said contribution experience, not points. Contribution works in the same way that leveling does. Again, we’ll compare the contribution bar to the energy bar. The yellow bar beneath your listed energy displays how much energy you have compared to your maximum. The yellow bar beneath contribution Shows how much contribution experience you have. When the bar becomes full, You get one point. How much contribution you have is shared amongst all your characters, So feel free to make a few extra characters for all that extra experience.

In theory, you can have as many contribution points as you want, But there is a soft cap at 300. Contribution can be used for many things. Contribution can be used to rent items from NPCs, Like this gun! Which can be used to shoot the seagulls around Velia When hunting becomes introduced this will be your introduction to it, Though, at the moment, It doesn’t really do anything (when you miss like me).

Purchase houses, which can expand storage in that city, Become workshops for crafting, Or become a house for you to hang out in. And, of course, activate nodes. Any points that you have invested can be removed whenever you want, so don’t be scared to spend a little. Nodes are scattered throughout the map. When you find a node manager and speak with them, you unlock that node.

When you unlock nodes, you do away with all that pesky fog. when you speak to a node manager, you have the option to invest Contribution in that node. Once a node has been invested in, It appears gold on your map. With this, drop rates around that node increase. Nodes can be advanced in level by investing energy. Take note that if you take contribution points from a node, any level it has through energy will be reset. Upon investing in a node, You’ll notice that it might have a few white lines connecting it to other nodes. If you invest in both nodes, they will become connected. Using this, you can connect cities together or make your favorite grinding spots an even better place to farm.

The main benefit of connecting cities comes from trading. Let’s say you’re fishing in Velia and catch yourself a fish worth ten thousand silver. You rush to the trade manager and are about to sell it when you notice something. You see that there is a distance bonus with trade items, Making them worth more to cities further away. So you hop on your horse and ride to Heidel for that little bit extra… Only to find that your ten thousand fish.

Is now only worth three thousand. What happened? When two areas aren’t connected, trading takes a big hit. Anything you catch Will only be worth 30% of its real value if you try and sell it elsewhere. So if you want to start trading effectively, Which is DEFINITELY worth it, Then connect those cities! When trading, I generally go from Calpheon to Altinova in the newly opened Mediah area.

This provides a nearly 40% bonus to the price due to the long distance, making any transaction that much more profitable. A little tip for those in the trading business, In Calpheon there are trade managers at the North, South, And Eastern entrances of Calpheon that all sell different goods from one another. Meaning that if you go to one and find that it isn’t enough to fill up your cart, Always try going to another to try and get that little bit extra. If none of them can give you what you need, Try connecting to Epheria…

Or Kelpan. This is the part that I wasn’t prepared for And I had no idea what to say. I’m so cool..

As found on Youtube