What you need to know about Archeage Online

Every game is going to have some type of "Grind" to keep players logging in every day or else it won't succeed as an MMO.

 

Still waiting on this game to come out... Gliders look tight along with the rest of the game. Actually the only game right now that I want to play other than possibly Wildstar.

 

The longer it takes the more iffy I am getting about Archeage. It has been out for awhile in Korea now and seems to be stalled in transition. It is going to have to contend with Wildstar/ESO/and WoD which doesn't bode well.

 

The problem with ESO is it's old and outdated and PvP is lacking. From what I've heard PvP isn't 24 hour anytime you want PvP. It's more like Wintersgrasp from WoW where it happens at certain times. Wildstar is the only game I see being a contender possibly Camelot Unchained...

 

I cannot for the life of me see the big appeal of Wildstar.
That game doesn't look interesting to me at all, and none of its features make me go "OH EM GEE, DO WANT!"

 

Wildstar reminds me of a hybrid between WoW fundamental systems and action RPG combat (Tera/GW2/etc). It is doing what WoW did to Everquest. Update it with a new engine and world.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/warlords-of-draenor/

Which I'll be playing until CU comes out most likely unless Wildstar pulls a rabbit out of its hat (thought I'll play beta). Between full-time work, serious girlfriend, social events (work+friends), sports I doubt that I will ever play MMOs like I did in the past (6+hr/day). Wildstar is looking to attract old vanilla wow players with 40 man raids, siege, and some serious time investment to build your character. Slowly over the last year I have become a casual gamer managing an hour or two every other day maximum. Which is good because my life is much more well rounded than before but old school MMOs aren't a good option now.

Two Notable Features:

New World PvP Zone

For players looking to engage in PvP combat on an epic scale, Warlords of Draenor introduces a new world PvP zone off of the north east coast of Tanaan Jungle. This new experience involves a raging battle that has no distinct beginning or end—instead, it offers constantly evolving objectives for participants to take part in. There will be items to gather, creatures to summon, and tons of action on multiple levels. While you can enter the fray sooner than level 100, you may find yourself biting off more than you can chew—enter at your own risk!

When first joining the battle, you’ll be presented with objectives based on the current status of the battle. The closer you get to your opponent’s base, the more difficult your tasks will become. Objectives will change at a moment’s notice based on events within the zone, and you may quickly find yourself switching from offense to rebuilding your fortress and gathering the materials needed to do so. There will also be faction-based vehicles—and some Iron Horde war machines—at your team’s disposal.

To provide a truly epic world PvP experience, the number of players and the amount of faction members allowed in the zone won’t be capped. Don’t worry, though—with cross-realm technology, the pool of potential allies (and enemies) is wider than ever.

and

Trial of the Gladiator

If you’re looking for some great Arena action, then Trial of the Gladiator is for you. Building on the same system used for the Arena Tournament realm, players who take part in Trial of the Gladiator will be able to enter and purchase gear, enchants, and gems from a vendor, and then match skills with other players. Similar to the Arena Tournament realm, an array of equal-quality gear and items will be available to all players, putting everyone on the same footing from the start of competition.

Any player will be able to queue for this new feature once it’s available, but you’ll only be able to earn a rating during specific days and times of the week that rated competition opens up. This will help make the pool of serious combatants more concentrated, allowing the system to match players more accurately based on skill and helping ensure rated battles provide a highly competitive experience.

You’ll be able to practice whenever you like outside of those times, but if you want to earn the prestige awards, you’ll need to hone your skills and climb to the top of the ladder at the appointed times. We also don’t want to penalize people too heavily for missing a scheduled combat or two, and we’re looking into ways to make sure the system strikes the right balance between flexibility and cutting-edge competition.

 

I wish WoW had a persistent-PvP Server. I've been asking for a zone like that for at least 5 years, I won't be buying two expansions to PvP in WoW though.

 

You know that WoW was 15 dollars total a few days ago for the complete package.

Edit: Still is.
https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/game/wow

 

Damn about that WOD, for me WOD = World of Darkness. Epicest MMORPG to be released in 2085 probably.

About the korean grind, i mean, last game i really played was L2 and it was a grindfest (worst being the gladiator class quest where i had to kill like 600 mobs i think). Tera was less grindy but it was bad too.

What i meant by grind is that K-Games have a very bad mechanism to lvl up, it's either kill mobs by the zilion or crap 2cents quests that are the same than in the 2000s. They don't have funnier stuff like the dynamic events in Rift / GW2 or the daily stuff, whatever things that make lvling feeling less of a chore.

It's true for most mmorpgs tho, hell, even FFXIV bored me to death after, like, a week and it's quite a good game for mmorpgs standards.

 

The problem with your mentality (and many MMOs players nowadays) is that leveling up feels like a chore no matter what to get to end game. And in some games it is because of the unjustified mechanics if GW2 had a level cap of 30, it would have been exactly the same since you didn't receive anything new (other than trait points which were minor). A lot of Korean game it is hard to get to level cap but at the same time it doesn't make you invincible. Two level 90s in Ragnarok Online could defeat a level 99 player since very few equips had a level requirement over 80 and gear didn't have stupid power scaling that was exponential (WoW's method). Hell even WoW is offer free max level characters (90s) on the next expansion because they realize how long it takes to play with your friends. To be honest, the best level systems will always be one with horizontal progression like Planetside 1 and EvE Online (thought Planetside 2 gets a B- it isn't that bad if you are willing to pay).

 

TERA was not grindy it was just plain shit quests that a 10 years old could've written.

The best lvl up is UO, period. No levels, that's it, no overpowered character, pvp was epic it was about you knowing the environment. Your leveling was about what you were using and ur playstyle. U could change ur character as much as u wanted.

I really wonder why no game managed to redo something as good as this. It's 16 years old now and nothing came even close to being as fun, challenging and enjoyable, along with the best community too. EVE comes second but it's realy a different kind of gameplay.

For me "grinding" is also running the same freaking dungeon 500 times once u hit level cap, just to get ur gear. It makes no sense, it's linear, u don't learn anything from it. On ur first 2, 3 runs u get to know the bosses, how to beat em, how to do the dungeon faster but after that, it's like reading the same book over and over.

I guess it's why many people are overly hyped at star citizen as it's realy a player centric game, like EVE and UO. Many other games called themselves "sandbox" but it just meant they were lazily developped with no mechanic whatosever and and empty world.

Same goes for K-Games like L2 or TERA where u get castles and whatever and some guilds "own" some area but it's useless, it's nothing compared to the intricate level of intrigue and politics that bring games like EVE or UO where some regions ACTUALLY have something useful like very rare resources, good source of income, etc... Not to mention the whole PK in UO and Pirate in EVE where we had to develop a parallel economy and be united to survive against other players.

Hell in UO i managed a damn CASINO, ever heard of something close to that in a mmorpg ?

So, sorry for misusing the word "grinding" for me it just means repetitive stuff, but i guess u get my point still ->> Freedom in MMOS ! RAWR, Revolution ! Put the players in the center of the game ! Create a rich ass world of opportunities ! REMOVE LOOT (other than $$ and some rare crafting stuff maybe) !

SWG had all these ideas and could've turned exactly into that game until some retards at SOE wanted to hit WoW's numbers and turned it into a roadkill. UO2 has been cancelled Shadowbane was born dead, darkfail failed, mortal online was crap... since then, i'm waiting for the right mmo !

To go back on Archeage i just don't think that the economy is player driven and that the keeps and all are meant to have leverage on that economy and secure strategic items. Maybe i'm wrong tho, i'd be happy to be.

 

First update in awhile: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/...-English-Friends-and-Family-Alpha-Begins.html

The Holiday season marked a significant milestone for ArcheAge at Trion Worlds: the Friends and Family Alpha, up 24x7 minus any patches and maintenance is in full swing. That’s right folks: English Language ArcheAge is running, roughly translated, being played and devoured by Trion and its employees’ friends and family. If you know someone at the company... now’s the time to bug them for an invite. We caught up with CEO Scott Hartsman to talk about the milestone and all the other things Trion’s been working on with ArcheAge... as well as when we could possibly see alpha and beta expand to other testers. Read on!

Scott began by telling me that he gets about one week of truly guilt-free game marathon time a year. “No joke?” he said, “I spent about 75% of my vacation time just playing ArcheAge. Not kidding, honestly.” And it’s like that across the company. They all knew what sort of game AA was when they decided to publish it in the West. They knew it was a huge, sprawling sandbox with an incredible amount of things to do. But what they didn’t realize was just how much that point would be driven home once translation was in place. The UI is now about 80% readable, and much of the quest text has been given at least a first pass at translation (with just a few here or there still in Korean). As with any translation, the first pass is a sort of a “raw, make it English” pass, and now the focus is on refining it all and making it ring true.

I asked about what that sort of translation progress means for beta and launch, given how it’s one of the biggest pieces of bringing the game to the US. Scott said they’re trying to figure that out right now, so it’s not set in stone. But he did divulge the process they’re going with, which is: get in-game ourselves, and then make an assessment on what parts need to be working before they can take the game to a larger alpha. They put all these items on a spreadsheet that lists the must-haves and so forth. An example would be the world map translation: right now it’s all Korean still. Then the beta has it’s own set of blockers that must be taken care of before it opens up. An example here would be to get the In-Game Store working.

To that end Scott mentioned our own Victor Barreiro’s recent ArcheAge column which talks about recent changes to the Korean and Russian monetization models. In essence, Victor noticed how similar the stores were to Rift’s model here in the US. Scott said this was no coincidence. The XLGAMES team in Korea, the Mail.RU team in Russia, and Trion talk every week about ArcheAge. The teams in both foreign markets loved the way Rift’s store is set up and how it performed, and ergo? All three are going to try and model ArcheAge’s store after the one you find in Telara. Now obviously, things like purchasable “catch-up” gear for raids and dungeons won’t be a thing that’s needed or wanted in ArcheAge, as so much of the game depends on crafting. So the big hurdle with the store is figuring out just what will work and what won’t. But you can bet there will be convenience items, cosmetic stuff, mounts, and so forth.

We then got on to talking about Scott’s recent week-long binge on ArcheAge and he offered up his views, though he knows many will say he’s biased, as to why ArcheAge is going to be such an important entry to the genre. That said, here are Scott Hartsman’s three big reasons to look forward to ArcheAge:

1.) Player choice, Player agency - AA let’s you ask: “What do I want to do today?” Instead of telling you “Here’s what you do today, quest down this line.” The gam’es very much a sandbox, and all about what you feel like doing, working with or without others. You can be a hermit on an island all your own, or a merchant prince, a pirate, a treasure hunter, a killer, an explorer... or all of the above. He’s found that the more you dig in, the more you want to learn, and more you want to do and take part in.

2.) The Massive Scope - Scott’s in awe of the sheer number of things you can DO in this game. There’s no MMO that exists or will exist in 2014 that can beat AA in number of things you can do. You can hang glide, spelunk, scuba, pilot ships, siege castles, farm cattle, plant trees and flowers all over the world, become a merchant, a mercenary, a thief, a pirate, a builder.

3.) The Looks - Scott’s own words about ArcheAge’s visuals: “it’s absolutely f**king gorgeous and ridiculously detailed.” Once you do something as simple as walking up to a quest camp, realize you can turn on lights... or first piloting your boat and see the water, the sails. Or when you see a fire on your ground, and that you can take logs from the stack of wood. ArcheAge is gorgeously rendered but also very interactive. Lots of content pushes you to find cool stuff, guiding you to sandbox elements without hand-holding.

Then I asked Scott to sort of clarify the way ArcheAge uses both a traditional quest structure and mixes it with the sandbox to ease people into the freedom it presents. There is a content path, a main story from 1-50, but you’ll only see about half the world while progressing through the story. You start out in an area with quest hubs, quest progression, in your own racial starting area. This is intended as a way to introduce you into the world. Within one or two quests, you wander into a mine, and you start picking away at rocks, start leveling up that tradeskill.

Then you start seeing vegetation in the world, notice you can pick it. Then you find you can chop trees down, and realize you’re carrying all of these bits and pieces to aid in tradeskilling. It all opens up as you progress. There’s a whole other quest overhead for tradeskills, and farming, which leads you quickly into owning your own farm. So you’ll get a safe place to make your own, pull up water from a well, and water your crops. Or if you want to just plant stuff in the wild, be ArcheAge’s version of Johnny Appleseed (or Joe Sunflower as Scott called it), you can. Right from level 1, you could ignore the quests and story, and just go off and work on your own. Scott mentioned that Amary (Associate Producer on AA, formerly Rift) went from 33-40 JUST tradeskilling over the break.

As if that wasn’t enough, Scott wanted to make sure to drive home why AA will be unique among the many MMOs set to launch in 2014. You’ll get your own hang glider, customize it, kit it out to make it bigger and faster, but also make it shoot other gliders out of the sky. You’ll raise your own pets and livestock from babies, effectively becoming a master at husbandry if you so desire. The first time you summon a boat you’ve spend hours working towards will leave you breathless. You’ll see that there are air tanks to go scuba diving with, even two for guests or friends. You’ll find a harpoon gun, portable harpoons for protection underwater. What other modern MMO lets you build your own plantation, drydock, and craft a boat from scratch? Lastly Scott brought up treasure hunting. You’ll quickly find just how much importance is tied to crafting once you find a treasure map but realize you need to head underwater to get at the booty. You need a sextant (crafted), a dive-helmet (crafted) and other supplies. And when the day’s over, and all the adventuring is done, maybe you’ll find a local pub and cozy up with friends while a guild member plays you one of their own arrangements on his or her hand-made instruments.

ArcehAge is shaping up to be the quintessential sandbox, a game many have long been waiting for. The standard MMO trappings like dungeons and quests are there, but it’s what goes beyond those details that will draw you in and capture your imagination. Scott’s a gamer through and through, and his excitement for AA is absolutely palpable. If his fervor for XLGAMES’ magnum opus is to believed, then we have a lot to look forward to this Spring as development progresses on ArcheAge. Be sure to head over to ArcheAgeGame.com (Trion’s official site), sign up for the newsletter, and keep an eye out for beta updates.

Bill Murphy / Bill Murphy is the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, RTSGuru.com, and lover of all things gaming. He's been playing and writing about MMOs and geekery since 2002, and you can harass him and his views on Twitter @thebillmurphy.

 

lol


From what is said TRION has it all ready and was just finishing up the voice overs.... or something like that.

Also they are prob waiting for Russia's full release of AA

 

Na... FFXI was the best.

Sadly AA isn't all the great... -_-

I just installed Tera and starting playing that again instead. Sadly, every mmo is just shit, or maybe the world itself is turning into shit. Idk, either way, I thought AA would be better.

 

Well I am enjoying my time...... might be a bit meh since Mail.RU kinda forces you to pay 9.32 USD for a 30 day VIP account if you pay with Paypal since the Work points for a Non VIP is 1 per 5min and only if your online whereas VIP gets 5pt per 5min online and offline. Work points are needed for farming/ gathering and building/crafting. Hopefully TRION does not go this route

Now AA will be a RPers dream since it has A LOT of RP elements. Also it seems to be a mmo that is better played with friends then solo..........


As I said I do not think RU AA has all of the Korean updates since from what I read that XL either added or is making the earlier lvls speed up a bit since what the 1st 30 lvls is like a tutorial