Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Archeage Beta Release Date

People who have been patiently awaiting the release of the closed beta servers to archeage might be wonder when the game will be releasing at least for beta testing since this game looks really amazing. But searching the website and forums for Archeage is a lost cause since trying to find information about release dates sucks. And unless you read between the lines you will miss out on the information that you need to know.

So first is alpha is currently out if you actually shelled out the $150 to purchase the alpha founders account then this won't apply to you since your already playing.  For beta players they need to wait for the release and currently beta will follow the alpha's 1.2 update. The 1.2 update includes more things that need to be translated and tested including updates to experience gained though pvp and crafting and using labor points. The full patch update for the update isn't released yet because they have said that it will take a few weeks for them just to prepare the patch for alpha. Alpha servers will be playing these patches only particially translated.

If we look at the release which was schedualed before which was sapposed to be sometime the end of June many games planned some sort of release for July like for example Tera Online is releasing based on July 8th so next month. Companies usually try to get insider knowledge and since Archeage will likely take many of the players from Tera just because of the open world and incentive based pvp we can assume that the release was planned around the beta for Archeage. And with Archeages delay we can come up with some late release either the end of July or early August. We won't know for sure but it will depend on when the patch comes out for alpha and also how many weeks they will need to finish testing and translating. They also stated that beta will have access to the item shop for testing so this will also require time for them to implement.

All in all it might be worth it for some people to play Archeage now by spending the $150 but that is a lot for a package which is only worth about 120 usd retail aside from getting into an alpha server right away. But alpha servers will still end up being wiped at some point. The beta is a good deal if you feel you want to garrenty a spot in the closed beta.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Introduction to Archeage

So if you aren't someone who's read some of my other gaming blogs I have one for Tera Online and things like Pokemon and so on. But I will be trying the open beta for Archeage and if you have yet to actually see what this game is like it has a lot of really good features which has me interested.

If your new to Archeage this game is a sand box mmorpg. This type of mmorpg means you have a big sandbox to play in without hitting invisible walls and boundries like you do in Tera Online. You can board a ship and sail to the other contient without needing to wait for loading screens.

The games combat system revolves around a fast pace tab target system which isn't as restricting as Final Fantasy 14 and allows you to move while casting spells. Of course it's no action combat system but with all the features the game has to offer even though it is a tab target game it doesn't seem like it will end up being boring or drawn out like some of the more current tab target mmorpgs.

The game makes use of the CryEngine 3 for graphics this means beautiful water animations and a very beautiful game play. The game also includes features we find in real life situations like hitting currents in a river or strong wind in the air and the effects of floating or drifting in water making it more fine detail then a game like World Of Warcraft.



One of the most amazing things about this game is that you have the ability to fly using gliders and also build various types of ships and houses. As a sandbox mmorpg you don't have the same restrictions that most mmorpgs do so you won't be flying into invisible walls or driving your ship and getting stuck on invisible walls while your going from continent to continent. And while building houses is restricted by whether you have patron status and whether you pay your taxes you can still farm outside of farm area's and be sneaky about hiding your farm location.



Player vs Player in Archeage has much more purpose because of the trade system. The way the trade system works is the more often items are turned in at trade spots the less money you will get for the trade supplies this makes it much more desirable to travel to enemy nations or locations which have not been turned into for a long time. But players can gank you and steal your trade supplies traveling with guildies ensures that you'll be much safter then the person with his two friends driving a fully loaded trade ship to the enemy continent. So people playing this type of game will want to work together with friends to make money instead of running solo. You will be much more likely to see larger guilds instead of games like Tera Online where people roll around in five person guilds.



So incentives for stealing and PvP in Archeage will keep people playing for longer amounts of time. If you've been playing Tera Online this is one thing that really kills the game. No incentives for PvP so once you've played for a few months (contient comes out once every 6 months or more) you spend time grinding the same battlegrounds with no incentives and there's nothing that continues to motivate you to PvP unless your epeen level is just over 9000.

The crafting system in Archeage is pretty extensive and has more then just crafting armors and weapons it also includes cooking and the construction of vehicles and furniture. The system does use the newer labor point system which Tera Online just implemented only it can be leveled up to increase the maximum points unlike Tera which makes you pay for more points or makes you wait until they restore naturally. This way instead of being stuck with a maximum of 4k points on your labor you can level it up to 8,000 or higher the more you use points.


The pet and mount system works more like Pokemon allowing a user to capture monsters equip them with gear and use them in battle. Pets and mounts can die and be ressurected and suffer ressurect debuffs which can be healed at stables. You can also breed animals to use as pets or mounts as well giving many different elements to the game.

Pets and armor:



I'm sure some people might be wondering if the game has any mechanics for griefing and the answer is yes. When you kill or steal from other people you get infamy players can choose to report the blood stains from the people you killed or the foot prints of where you stole from there farms this is counted against you. When you finally die you end up in court and the people who reported you are summoned to the court and decide whether your innocent and what your sentance will be. In jail you cannot use skills and even if you escape jail you can't use skills until the jail sentance is over.

Skills in Archeage have a very interesting aspect since they allow someone to mix and match different skills from different classes I've been told this work like Rift if you have played it but if your like me and haven't it sounds more like Final Fantasy 14 in some ways.



Traveling in Archeage is interesting in that aside from different types of ships and also the ability to glide the game also has different types of tractors and car vechicles and also allows a person to build diving equipment to treasure hunt and farm underwater. The game also includes portals as well for quick movement giving players pretty good flexiblity to get around the world very easily.



The game could easily be the next large scale title to catch peoples interests especially being a free to play mmorpg. Since Tera has started to go on the pay to win advantages and Blade & Soul will never be released to NA servers. Meanwhile we have WildStar which is Wow 2.0 great for carebear communities. Archeage is a mature game and so far it seems like it will be much more mature then how Tera Online got watered down. So we can still have our eye candy even if we can't have elins.

But for me and my guild we will be enjoying the pirate faction and if you haven't seen any good pirate videos then I have one which will make you want to check the game out. And if you end up wanting to play archeage with me you know how you can contact me either on google, comment below or email me.