Website: http://www.archeagegame.com/en/
Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/ArcheAge
Release Date: September/October 2014 (Estimated)
Beta Period: Early June 2014 (Estimated)
Hey guys, I haven't posted on the forums in awhile. I did a forum search and I know a good number of you mentioned looking forward to several upcoming games including ESO and AA. I didn't actually see a thread dedicated to ArcheAge yet so I figured now was a good time to make one. The closed beta events are reliably rumored about to start within the next few weeks. They just released founder packages which allow you to buy into closed betas (or even play today in the alpha if you wanted to drop the cash), or you can sign up here and hope you are randomly emailed a code when they start giving them out.
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So I wanted to start off saying that I've been playing for right around 3 weeks. I was a bit skeptical due to it being a korean MMO so there is an expected grindfest or worry of pay to win. The past three weeks have probably been one of the best experiences I have had in a game almost right next to when FFXI was new. I've played several older and recent games including Secret World, Guild Wars 2, Mabinogi, Asda2, Raiderz, Elder Scrolls Online, and Fantasy Earth Zero (god rest it's soul lol). I haven't really been happy with any of them enough to stick with them like I did for FFXI for so long. ArcheAge has it completely right, but I'm not entirely sure yet what has me hooked on playing this like I have been.
So some quick things to note:
The game has been out for a little while in Korea and Russia. The game is developed by XLGames in korea and is going through Trion Worlds and their Glyph client. The game is going to be free to play with optional monthly subscription called Patron Status. It's estimated to cost between $10-$15 for a 30 day subscription. I'll get to what that's likely for in a moment. There will be a cash shop similar to those in other games, but it's good to note that you can buy the patron status item and buy/sell it on the in-game auction house. I guess you could say similar to how EVE online operates in that area. Trion Worlds has addressed many concerns and stated that they are making it so the cash shop is not a pay to win situation. Purely for cosmetic changes, minor boosts, vanity items, mounts, gliders, and whatnot.
One of my favorite features in the game so far:
You can actually create your own 256x256 png icon complete with transparency, and upload it directly to the game servers. You can then put this picture on your sails, cloaks, and personal pictures or posters in your own personal home. Of course I've already seen a few troll faces, dickbutts, and brony related images. But overall a lot of people use it for good purposes. They do indeed suspend/ban over bad images and actually DELETE whatever items you have the image on. Ships, houses, and other stuff take a LOT of resources to create and it would be totally stupid of you to break the terms of service to lose your hard work.
With that being said, here is a break down:
1) Housing. You can build your own houses and farms in the designated areas of almost any zone in the game, even dangerous hostile zones. You have to earn the blueprints to construct the home/farm, and then you have to go on a material hunt to collect the wood and resources needed to finish it. There are bigger homes and farms that require better and more expensive blueprints with even more material requirements. The houses are NOT instanced and actually exist in the world where you build them. You can also plant trees that take several real life days to grow for decoration around your house. You have to pay land taxes every real week or risk losing your land. I'm not 100% sure but if you build in hostile zones I think the enemy faction can try to use artillery to destroy your area during times of war. You can completely customize your furniture and pictures on your walls. Some of the huge houses have a ton of space too.
2) Ships. You can build your own ships. They give you a crappy rowboat from a quest for free, but a better ship works the same as houses. You must purchase the blueprints, which then require materials depending on the size/type of ship.
3) Guild/FamilyYou can designate not only guild members, but family members who are allowed to use your house/ship/farm/ect.
4) Guild Benefits. Extremely large and fairly experienced/wealthy guilds can actually build castles and design them however they want. Including your custom guild logo you upload yourself. You can even build artillery and siege weapons to attack said strongholds.
5) Crime. If you kill members of your own faction, assault them, destroy peoples unprotected property, or other various crimes, you will gain crime points. If you gain enough you get a debuff called wanted status. If another player kills you, you are sent to a holding cell where you await trial. When your trial comes up 5 other players who accepted jury duty can determine if you are guilty or innocent and your prison time is determined based on your crime points and infamy (total crime points ever). If you continue to be a menace to your faction, you will eventually be kicked out of your faction and become a full blown pirate. There is a small island for pirates to co-exist on, but you are also placed with problem children... have fun with that. At point of becoming a pirate you now have BOTH factions against you. You can still be arrested and put in prison based on your crimes. You can escape prison, but your prisoner debuff will still be there until your sentence is served, which causes major complications lol.
6) Crafting. I'm not sure how to explain crafting as I've only done a little bit of it. Basically you have labor points which count as a type of stamina. It comes back slowly over real life time, so you have to spend it wisely. Basically you can log trees, dig ore, alchemy... basically a good amount of different crafts. Probably around double that of FFXI. Fishing is there and there is even a fishing ship dedicated to holding the fish you catch.
7) PVP/Duels. You can duel anyone at any time, they just have to accept the request. PVP works a LOT like Fantasy Earth Zero if anyone ever played it. Basically random areas on both continents both occasional fall under state of war, or peace time. During that time the enemy faction can come over to your continent and attack you or even low levels trying to do quests at any time. Killing the enemy during wartime gives you honor points which I believe you can spend on things.
8) Trade Routes. This is a huge part of the game actually. You can craft trade packs which you must carry a very very long distance in attempt to gain the currency used for blue prints. The more danger you put yourself in with your trade route, the more profit. But enemy faction, your own faction who are ***, or pirates can kill you and steal your trade pack for their own profit. Thankfully only areas in states of war or unrest can you be robbed. There are safe routes but the gain is very little.
9) Pets. You can raise several pets and name them whatever you want. You typically get them for free through your questing a little at a time. The donkey is super helpful for moving trade packs. You can level your pets up with you and they have their own levels and abilitys. Some can even fight with you as attack pets. You get to raise them from a child to adult. It's brief but cute.
10) Gliders. These are really way more awesome than I thought they could be. You can basically take flight if you jump off a large mountain or cliff. You can take fall damage so you have to be careful, but you can fly usually consistently for around 3 minutes. Some gliders have stealth ability, some can attack the ground and bomb below you. I've only had two gliders.
There is probably a ton of stuff I'm forgetting lol... like color dyes, submarines, underwater diving for sunken treasure... It's just so much.
I've been extremely happy as an Alpha tester. I'm sure there are other people here who may have even played the Korean or Russian version for a little bit who can give you their insight. There are some important differences from what I heard between the different region versions. I just figured I would give you guys some insight in case you didn't hear anything else about the game by now.
I'll probably post some of the really cool videos in a reply I saw that prompted me to get into the game. I'm basically full on ArcheAge bound at this point. Even if you cap out on gear, ships, housing or whatever pleases you. You can still terrorize the other faction in PvP or even hunt pirates or wanted criminals. You can also own a ton of land but the taxes raise to be extremely expensive if you get rich enough. You can even purchase chests for your house to actually store things in. Sky is the limit it seems.
Feel free to ask any questions if you want. I'll answer to the best of my ability.
