Lost Continent: Lucking into a breezy ArcheAge bungalow

My ArcheAge avatar is pretty fortunate. Last Friday night he became the proud owner of a breezy bungalow, which is that big bamboo marine house that you've probably seen in screenshots, videos, and the like.

The bungalow's blueprint costs a whopping 300 gilda stars -- i.e., no small amount for a guildless guy like me who mostly duos his way through Haranya. I'd managed to save 250 of the character-bound gilda by doing various dailies over the past several weeks, but I had a few days to go before I'd finally be able to afford the plans. How did I come up with the balance ahead of schedule, not to mention the boat load of materials required to actually build the house? That's an interesting story, and it's another example of how ArcheAge's mechanics are a necessary breath of fresh air in a stale genre.

Houses and property are tradeable in ArcheAge, and as you may or may not be aware, there's an active real estate metagame that features buyers, sellers, middlemen, and an endless parade of would-be profiteers. One such seller advertised her bungalow in public chat last Friday, and my duo partner, knowing that I was saving for the house, struck up a convo and sussed out the fact that the seller was actually looking to trade.

As an aside, I was oblivious to the trade as it was being set up, since I opted out of ArcheAge's trollish chat channels shortly after release. But as I said, I'm pretty fortunate in this instance because my partner kept them open!

Anyway, this bungalow trader wanted one of ArcheAge's cutters, and I can't say as I blame her since they're big, beautiful sailing ships the likes of which have never been seen in another MMORPG. Those plans run 250 gilda stars, and my prospective trader said she'd part with the house if I'd get her the cutter plans and pay the one gold appraisal fee, which is required for secure property trades.

Needless to say, I hustled my ass to Mirage Isle, bought the plans, and sealed the deal, which worked out exceedingly well for both of us. On my end, I not only saved 50 gilda stars off the original breezy bungalow price, but I also saved a huge amount of construction materials -- or the gold I would have spent buying them -- since the bungalow had already been built and placed.

The seller made out like the bandit she is, because due to a slip-up on the part of the bungalow's original owner, she had in fact obtained it for a single gold. She told my duo partner and I the full story as we were completing the deal, and what it boils down to is that the house's first owner forgot to specify a player name when attempting to sell the house to said specific player. The current owner happened by and paid the one gold appraisal fee on the publicly listed house, which immediately gave her ownership and eventually allowed her to parlay it into a cutter thanks to our trade.

Interestingly, the seller went out on a limb herself during our transaction, as she was in a hurry to meet up with guildmates and wanted to make the deal anyway. I hadn't yet obtained the cutter plans, but even so she went ahead and put the house up for sale to my character for a single gold and trusted me to mail her the blueprint after I obtained it instead of just paying the gold and not bothering to hold up my end of the bargain.

The deal itself was sorted out while shooting the breeze on the house's front porch, which lent a certain haggler's authenticity to the whole experience and provided yet another example of the virtual world gameplay that's gone missing in this genre over the years.

As for the house itself, hoo boy! It was worth all 250 gilda, let me tell you. Not only is it a salty-looking bamboo shanty that fits my fisherman avatar like a glove, but it's located in a prime spot off the Solis coast near Austere, and it's on the corner of the marine housing area, which allows me to sail right up to my front porch as opposed to swimming my way through the stilt-house subdivision that's cropped up since launch.

Then there's the aquafarm underneath the house proper, which has allowed me to sell my standalone aquafarm and continue to grow coral and other niceties without the additional property tax burden. And let's not forget about ArcheAge's kickass decorating options, which extend outside of the house itself and allow homeowners to trick out their porches and the surrounding areas, all of which are seamlessly integrated into the game's open world.

All in all, it was quite a successful session, as well as quite a departure from the scripted and utterly predictable gameplay on display in my usualthemeparksuspects. ArcheAge certainly has its share of problems -- most of them stemming from external factors like monetization, localization, and publisher/developer snafus -- but it's great to be reminded of why the game itself is worthwhile in spite of the baggage.

This is a virtual world, folks, and an ambitious one that often provides gameplay that other MMOs cannot.

Jef Reahard is an ArcheAge early adopter as well as the creator of Massively's Lost Continent column. It chronicles one man's journey through XLGAMES' fantasy sandpark while examining PvE, PvP, roleplay, and beyond. Suggestions welcome at jef@massively.com.