ARCH AGE Beta

[CA$H]

Guess who is in?!?



"WELCOME TO ARCHEAGE CLOSED BETA EVENT 4: CONFLICT AND CONQUEST
Congratulations, you’ve been invited to our fourth ArcheAge Closed Beta Event: Conflict and Conquest!

The adventure begins at 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7) on Friday, August 22 and runs through 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7) on Wednesday, August 27. Prepare today by downloading the game and catching up with our latest news, FAQ, Founder’s Packs, and forums.

Join us in-game on Friday for a journey through ArcheAge with no NDA. (Really! Streaming, screenshots, and videos are all good by us.) This is a game focused on the stories you will tell. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do, where you’ll go, and what you’ll like best.
Get Started
BEGIN YOUR ADVENTURE!"


MUAHAHAHA- I will start the DL tonight!

[CA$H]

So my thoughts.

It has a solid feel, and the art direction and style is great. It has an Asian look, but they did westernize it some to make it more palatable. But that is just graphics - and that never determines if a game is good or not.

Play mechanics : What can I say here? I tried a caster type, as I knew already that weapons was open. So I use a sword/shield and bow. I tab-target mobs, cast a ice spell to slow the mob, then either DD spell or shoot arrows. When it gets close, I melee with the sword.

Weapon damage scales with level/gear, and only increases with "styles" or skills. So as a "Occultist" mage type, I swing a sword and hit as hard as a warrior, just without the warrior styles to increase effects or damage. It is a neat system but it feel very comfortable, very familiar. I didn't see anything in my first 10 levels that I haven't seen before. Arguably, I saw less, as the combat was the same as any game in the last 10 years- Tab target, activate abilities, wait for cool-downs, then activate "auto swing" and loot.

The quests were laid out just like WOW - exclamation points and questions marks, fetch, kill, etc. Nothing new there. Yes you can sail ships (I got a row boat at level 6) but it just feels like a slow mount..and is operated as such. Perhaps the larger ship battles will be better?

The game will be Free to play, and also free to download - so no cost to get in and try it out. However, you will require a "Patron" account (read subscription) to actually own land a build things like houses, ships, etc. I will spend some more time tonight messing with it a little, but so far, it is decent - but not really a "WOAH - YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!" kind of game.

All the spells and abilities are tried and true, and work well. Combat just feels slow and simple compared to the more action based combat of Guild Wars 2 and especially Wildstar. It's almost dull to just stand there, tab target another mob and start cycling abilities between cool-down. No dodging, no dynamic blocking or parrying.

The Open Beta is only a few weeks out, so you guys will be able to try it out, but for me, Wildstar so far proves to be more "fun" in the game play department, although it has "poorer" graphics (well, the style is anyways).

Just my thoughts,

Cheers!

[Matt Varnish]

Good. Hope to get some deeper into Wildstar tonite.. to see if I need to bother resubbing to it

[lothlann]

i have a bunch of mats for you, my alt is now my gatherer and my toon i play with you guys is outfitter (med armour) and weapon smith

[Matt Varnish]

Bah had other cdap to do last night.. no online time ))

[CA$H]

I was on for a bit, just gathered some mats and started doing some basic crafting. I didnt do any quests or anything.

[Joyous_Oblivion]

Is arch age another MMO?

[Matt Varnish]

Of course it is, its a port of a Korean MMO where once you get out of the beginner zones, think EVE but on foot (and on gliders, cars, ships, etc) I saw some reviews and it seems pretty grindy. BUt if its free at least I wont be out 60 bucks <coughWILDSTARcough>

[Joyous_Oblivion]

Of course it is, its a port of a Korean MMO where once you get out of the beginner zones, think EVE but on foot (and on gliders, cars, ships, etc)  I saw some reviews and it seems pretty grindy.  BUt if its free at least I wont be out 60 bucks <coughWILDSTARcough>

Ah ok. Grindy and EvE-like, pass lol.

EvE's redeeming quality is flying cool ships, not sure I could do it without the pew pew.

[lothlann]

you can sail around ships and shoot cannons at each other instead.

[Joyous_Oblivion]

you can sail around ships and shoot cannons at each other instead.

Really? That is interesting then. I wasted hours in assassins Creed 4 doing just that.

[lothlann]

the game does look interesting, its very open world, but its fantasy instead of open space like eve, that was it's biggest problem, it takes too long going from jump gate to jump gate ect. This game has player made buildings and cities that you can raid and destroy as well as air ships, water ships, gliders, cars ect. (I think air ships are just for transport for now like griffins in wow). My only problem is does the game open up after a certain level or does the game lead you by the nose until your max level.

[CA$H]

1-10 is quest hub, lead by the nose so far....nothing of note really..........

[Joyous_Oblivion]

Keep us apprised!

[CA$H]

Found this:

ArcheAge is a game full of depth and excitement, there is so much to do and so much to see. Below you’ll find twenty tips for starting players to help understand the core mechanics of ArcheAge and help pull away some of the confusion from things like piracy and PvP.

1. You will receive your glider (used for flight), mount (which you will raise yourself), rowboat for crossing water, and various other tools by level 10 through the starting quests.

2. The starting quests are a major giant tutorial, pay attention at each step. Even things that involve killing monsters and seem like a fedex quest usually turn into something better.

3. The game is only as hard as you make it, if you’re having trouble doing something, find something new. That’s the best part of a sandbox, you’re not tied down to one specific area.

4. The glider quest is easy to miss, so do every quest in every starting area. It’s so super important your first time to learn everything and get all the tools you need to succeed in the world of ArcheAge.

5. Trading is ultimately on of the only things you can’t avoid because you need Gilda Stars to build anything.

6. Mirage Island should be one of the first places you learn how to get to after you have a grasp on the game, it’s where all of the plans for most of the major items are sold.

7.If you plant anything in the open, it can be stolen or destroyed by other players.

8. You have two days of protection on public planting areas.

9. You can obtain a Scarecrow through Blue Salt Brotherhood trade route quests. If you have Patron status, you can plant them yourself. You can have one large and one small.

10. Everything costs labor points, be sure to manage your labor points well.

11. Patron status increases the rate you earn labor points, making you much more effective at building and doing things within the world.

12. If you’re confused on what there is to do in the world, you can trade to earn gold or Gilda Stars, build a house and decorate it, farm crops to sell on trade routes or use in crafting, grow animals to ride, explore the ocean, piracy on the ocean, crafting in general, PvP sieges, open world PvP, and lots more stuff but that’s the big ones.

13. Thunderstruck wood is literally… wood struck by thunder. Plant trees out on the islands to make it easier to obtain.

14. Like many eastern sandbox games, there is a prison. If you kill enough players of your own faction or harvest enough crops that aren’t yours and enough crime points (5) are established from the blood trails or footprints, when you die you’ll go to court where the community can judge you (most likely put you in jail).

15. Infamy and crime are two different resources. Infamy gets you kicked out of your own faction, at which point you become a pirate and will respawn on pirate island. Infamy stays with you forever,

16. During a jail sentence you can sit in jail or escape, but if you escape you’ll get a debuff that greatly limits what you can do. Which is fine! Because you can just use that time to travel somewhere.

17. To escape just dig and break creates to get the tower key, then glide away from prison. The maximum sentence right now is 20 hours, but for most things it’ll be an hour or two.

18.You need 3000 infamy points to become a pirate at which point you’ll be teleported to pirate island and welcomed by the pirates. Your old faction will disown you and you will be kill on sight for all players. The pirate life lets you kill anyone without punishment and it takes a long time to redeem yourself. It’s kind of the ultimate endgame, after you’ve done everything else. You can stop being a pirate by working hard to redeem yourself.

19. Vehicles exist in the game and the car can carry multiple trade packs, this is why it goes so slow.

20. Buying into patron status, like in Defiance, will make your life so much easier in the game. The rewards are endless.

21. There is so much crazy depth to the game, don’t ever feel bad reaching out in faction chat for help. You’re going to echo about 20394823 other people, but it’s okay, because everyone is at the same point you are.

22. PvP works like this - if your in faction controlled area, you’re safe from other factions from attacking you. If you’re in enemy territory, you can’t attack anyone unless they attack you first, and only you can attack them, your allies can’t (until or unless its changed). Oceans, islands, non-faction controlled area, the pvp continent, etc. are all open PvP.

23. Building things takes a lot of time and effort. Do not put a construction plot down until you’re ready to build and mind how many resources and labor points it’ll need. If you can’t do it within 3 days, it will be destroyed.

24. Labor points regenerate a lot faster for Patrons. If you’re F2P, you’ll have to be online for them to regenerate. Patrons have their LP regenerate not only faster, but while offline too.

25. Finally, resources: Gold is earned from quests and trade routes, Gilda Stars is earned from trade routes, and honor points are from PvP in a PvP zone, sea, or anywhere that allows you to attack the opposing faction. Crime and infamy is gained from PvPing your own faction or stealing. Honor can also be gained from quests.


All in All, seems like "grindy" is the way to describe it..........

[Matt Varnish]

Seems interesting, but only if you are at higher lvls and are a Patron, which I assume is Subbed? But yeah Grindy as heck. My plan to build and paint my Vandoos by Gamesummit would suffer geatly if I played this lol.

[CA$H]

ARCHEAGE ARRIVES SEPTEMBER 16

Trion and XLGAMES are proud to officially announce that ArcheAge will launch on Tuesday, September 16!

Our road to launch starts with Open Beta (running 10am PDT Thursday, Sep. 4 through 10am PDT Monday, Sep. and culminates in a 4-day Head Start on LIVE servers for all ArcheAge Founders beginning at 10am PDT Friday, Sep. 12.


Open Beta is free for all players!

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