AA
Latest
The Daily Grind: Which style of crafting do you prefer?
I enjoy crafting in ArcheAge, but XL's fantasy sandpark leaves a little to be desired when it comes to the actual item-making process. Like many MMOs, AA opts for a basic collect-subcomponents-and-press-the-button approach to crafting, whereas older titles like Final Fantasy XIV, EverQuest 2, and Vanguard gave crafters an actual crafting process with options that affected the quality of the finished product. Assuming you're an MMO crafter, which style do you prefer? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Why I Play: ArcheAge
Addicted may be too strong a word when talking about my relationship to ArcheAge... but not by much! Have I logged in every day since the early access? Do I look forward to logging in? Have I said, "I'll go to bed right after I plant a couple more things" only to find more hours have slipped by before I finally do sleep? Do I get excited about the next trade run? Have I set alarms to wake up to try and nab a prime piece of land? Have I had dreams about ArcheAge when I sleep? The answer to all of these is yes. ArcheAge may not have everything I have ever wanted in a game (entertainment classes should be a requirement), but it checks more than a few of my boxes. I haven't had this much fun throwing myself into a game in a very long time. I look forward to each play session, and I tend to spend hours in game each day enjoying whatever I happen to be doing, be it sailing, trade runs, sneaking into enemy territory, or even just staring at my plants waiting for them to grow.
Watch ArcheAge's leviathan raid boss smash a player ship
Curious about ArcheAge's endgame? 2P has published a partial look at it in the form of a level 50 leviathan raid. Unlike most MMO raids, though, this one features seven phases of PvE action followed by a PvP portion that pits pirate players vs. non-pirate players for the right to claim the beast's body. It's worth noting that 2P's information comes from the Chinese version of ArcheAge. You can watch a Chinese-language trailer featuring the leviathan after the break.
Lost Continent: Living a fisherman's life in ArcheAge
Fifteen years ago, I was floundering around southern Florida in a rudderless post-graduation haze. I rented this dinky apartment across US1 from the University of Miami, and my summers were equally divided between a series of forgettable jobs and a series of lengthy fishing excursions around the Keys and out into the Atlantic. The fishing was basically something to do; I didn't dislike it, but neither did I wake up thinking wow, I can't wait to get that gooey chum all over my shorts and bake in the sun for 10 hours. Now, in an odd but enjoyable art-imitating-life moment, I'm revisiting the experience in ArcheAge.
Lost Continent: Carebearing your way through ArcheAge
ArcheAge is, in part, an open PvP MMORPG. "In part" is the key phrase there, and I've had a few people ask me if it's possible to play XL's sprawling sandpark opus without getting ganked or otherwise forced into an ill-fitting playstyle. Not only is it possible, but PvE has made up the overwhelming majority of my gameplay for the past month.
Trion responds to ArcheAge's 10 percent patron discount controversy
Things are never dull in the ArcheAge community. The latest brouhaha, as exemplified by this 100-page (as of press time) threadnaught, has to do with the fact that patron account holders haven't received the 10 percent cash shop discount that was promised pre-release. Massively contacted Trion to see if it could shed some light on the controversy as well detail any steps it's taking to provide patrons with one of their perks. Click past the cut to view the firm's response.
Jukebox Heroes: ArcheAge's soundtrack
ArcheAge is well-known for being one of the more beautiful MMO game worlds out there, but does its music stack up in comparison? The answer to that is a little yes and a little no. I got ahold of it several months ago, well before I was even paying attention to this game or its strong following. I felt that it was decent: pretty in spots, but short and not significantly better or worse than a lot of fantasy scores out there. It's certainly an Asian-style soundtrack with similarities to the Final Fantasy series and TERA. The score was composed by Music Director DaMeAte and reportedly garnered a few awards over in Korea. Good for it, I say! Let me present to you six of the best offerings from this album and let you make up your own mind as to whether they exceed or disappoint expectations.
Trion explains why ArcheAge uses Hackshield
Ever since ArcheAge's launch, Massively has been deluged with queries about Trion's use of Hackshield, an anti-cheating toolkit created by Korean company AhnLab, Inc. Western gamers aren't traditionally fond of such security programs; as of the time of this writing, even Hackshield's meager entry under AhnLab's English Wikipedia entry has been vandalized, presumably by disgruntled internet denizens. ArcheAge's Hackshield implementation recently provoked one Redditor to issue an open letter essentially accusing Trion of illegally and secretively installing a third-party rootkit on every computer that runs Glyph. We spoke to Trion about the legalities and efficacies of the program. Specifically, we asked about five topics: Whether the program is being installed without permission, Whether it is legal to install it in in this way around the globe, Whether it is causing technical problems for users as claimed, Whether it is fully uninstalling when ArcheAge/Glyph are uninstalled, And whether it actually works, given weekend reports about exploits.
The Daily Grind: Do you deal with publisher shenanigans for a game you love?
I love ArcheAge. It's basically rekindled my passion for MMOs, and despite its design flaws and a godawful business model, it's easily my favorite genre title in quite some time. That said, Trion's acting like it's never done this before. The company's customer service is flat out terrible, as the only response I've received to a ticket filed on September 25th has been a form letter asking me if I still require service. And I won't even get into the botting and exploiting issues that remain unresolved and that bode ill for the future of the game's player-driven economy. All that said, I'm in a bind because there's no other MMO like ArcheAge, so I can either quit or I can deal with Trion's indifference. What about you, Massively readers? Do you put up with similar shenanigans because you love your game, or do you vote with your wallet and take your business elsewhere? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Here's some of the exploiting currently happening in ArcheAge
How's Trion's war against ArcheAge botters, exploiters, and cheaters currently going? Not so well if a recently released player video is an accurate barometer. A YouTuber named EraChanZ published a four-minute clip showing players abusing a teleport exploit to appear inside of a specialty workbench before crafting their trade packs and teleporting out again, presumably to deliver the packs far quicker than usual and make a lot of gold in the process. Click past the cut to watch the full clip.
The Daily Grind: Have you ever enjoyed a grind despite the grind?
I've been fishing my ass off in ArcheAge. You kinda have to if you want to make a virtual career out of it, because it takes a while -- and a lot of clicking -- to get your fishing skill from newb to 10,000 and thus to the real meat of the system. This is clearly a grind, and ordinarily I loathe MMO grinds. For whatever reason, though, I'm really enjoying this process. What about you, Massively readers? Have you ever found yourself enjoying a grindy activity even though you hate grinding? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
ArcheAge restricts chat for low-level characters
Papa Trion is lowering the boom on naughty chat in ArcheAge, as the studio announced recently that it will be restricting chat accessibility for low-level characters. From now on, players will need to reach level 15 to access faction, shout, trade, need party, and nation chat channels. Presumably this is intended to combat gold-selling spam and other unwanted advertisements from free accounts. Other changes for build 4.11 include a tougher Kraken, healer weapons as quest rewards, and larger warehouses. Trion says that over two million players registered for the sandpark MMO. [Thanks to Varth for the tip!]
ArcheAge boasts two million registered players
ArcheAge's local launch has gone pretty well, according to producer Scott Hartsman. A recent letter to the players confirms last week's whispers that over two million players have registered for the game, which certainly goes a long way to explaining those launch queues. Between North America and Europe, the game currently has 21 active servers in total, and Hartsman stated that character creation restrictions are being rolled back as the populations begin to stabilize. The letter goes on to address the issue of bots, many of which have already been unceremoniously ejected from the game. The game's most recent patch restricts chatting in several channels (Faction, Trade, Nation, Shout, and Need Party) to characters who are level 15 or higher, and a learning anti-spam feature is on track to be integrated into the base game. There's also discussion about catching up with holiday content and the like, so those two million registered players should have plenty of stuff to do.
Norrathian Notebook: Seven things EverQuest Next and Landmark really need
What do I want to see in EverQuest Next and Landmark? I know that is a question that all of us have asked ourselves and each other. Heck, even the developers ask us this! It's a key component in the open development process; it is the discussion of these answers that lead to some great ideas. So in the hopes of sparking another meaningful conversation (and hopefully giving the devs a few ideas!), I'm going to detail five things that I desperately want to see in these upcoming titles. While most of these items are a wish list for both games, there are a couple that are title-specific. I am not going to dwell on those desires I have brought up in the past or things I have already talked at length on, such as player-written books, theme-enforced Islands, and larger landmasses of multiple islands for more seamless experience. Instead I hope to present seven more morsels of food for thought, and hopefully you'll add your ideas in as well.
The Daily Grind: Do you theorycraft or do you heed others' advice?
I've been playing with various skill builds in ArcheAge lately, and I think I've narrowed down one, maybe two, that I'm going to play for the duration. For the first time in a long time, I haven't looked at forum discussions or heeded flavor-of-the-month advice and am opting instead to test things out and arrive at some sort of personal happy medium between PvE viability, PvP survivability, and looking badass in my armor. What about you, Massively readers? Do you do your own class or skill testing in your favorite game, or do you make use of theorycrafters and their research? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
ArcheAge's Auroria continent is on the way
Although players can see the continent of Auroria on the map in ArcheAge, they can't access it. All that, however, is about to change: Junkies Nation reports that Trion says the third continent will unlock within the next couple of weeks, rather than months, before the release of Patch 1.7. The 1.7 patch itself has no ETA; it's currently being translated. The opening of Auroria will usher in not only new adventures but more land for player homes and farms. The exact date will be announced soon so that guilds can prepare for castles, and the release time will be region-specific. Trion also confirms that fishing tournaments are coming, that the 10-man Dahuta raid is purposefully being held back but may release with Auroria, and that there's no ETA on new races. Additionally, for those who prefer to keep all their games organized on Steam, Trion is working on getting the game back on that platform. For more details, check out the report on Junkies Nation.
The Daily Grind: What do you think of ArcheAge at this point?
A little over a week ago I asked what you thought of ArcheAge's PvP. As a few commenters pointed out, it was a premature question since founders were the only ones with game experience at that time. Now that AA has been live for a couple of weeks and the queues are (sorta) becoming more manageable, let's expand that original question. What do you think of ArcheAge in general at this point? If you're a patron, do you feel it was a wise use of your gaming money and will you continue to be? If you're F2P, will you continue playing and/or consider paying in the future? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
ArcheAge addresses AFKers in patch; new servers added [Updated]
A patch delivered to the ArcheAge EU servers last night and en route to NA today should further address queue problems players have been experiencing during this beleaguered launch, albeit in a roundabout way. Idling or AFKing during character creation or selection will now boot you from the server rather than hold your place in line. Better still, "available character slots (via Character Slot Expansions or deleted characters) will now be recognized prior to logging into a game world." Massively's MJ confirmed yesterday's lifting of the character creation embargo as announced via Twitter. The full patch notes are on the official forums. [Update: As of this afternoon, the patch has arrived on NA servers and three new European servers have been opened: Nui, Janudar, and Nebe.]
Massively interviews Trion's Scott Hartsman on ArcheAge's rocky launch
ArcheAge's server issues, endless queues, and housing woes are the subject of hot debate in comment sections across the MMO world this week as players wonder just how in the heck the sandbox's launch went so awry. Massively spoke to Trion Worlds' Scott Hartsman to ask him exactly what went wrong with the launch and what the studio is doing to fix it. Massively: Prior to the head start, Trion seemed to be aware of the huge interest in ArcheAge, citing a million signups for beta and knowing of the launch problems faced when the game launched in other countries. And yet Trion has seemed largely unprepared for the deluge of players for the head start and even for the F2P launch. Why? Were there really far more people trying to play than expected? Scott Hartsman: Yes. There's a lot of science that goes into forecasting how many people are going to show up for a new game, when they're going to show up, and how long they'll stick around. Beyond that, external factors such as what else is going on in online games can also have a huge impact.
ArcheAge opens still more servers, promises compensation [Updated]
Trion's Scott Hartsman has delivered a "progress report" following another shaky weekend for ArcheAge's servers. He writes that patron queueing changes and three new North American servers (Ezi and Lucius Saturday and Calleil yesterday) have helped alleviate some though far from all of the login issues and queue times. To Europeans, he issues an apology, saying the new hardware for that region is still in customs and should arrive Tuesday. Daily restarts will also "flush out AFKs clogging the server," and he claims that around 10,000 botters and fraudsters have been recently banned. What about the reportedly long customer service wait times? "Our CS capacity has continuously been increasing even in the short time since launch. Chat wait times are about two thirds faster than what they were last week, even though the weekend's been the busiest time ArcheAge has seen as a whole. We're still pushing hard here to make sure even more people are wanting to help, and the next group of folks ready to help starts work first thing Monday morning." Hartsman notes that players will likely be compensated for last week's problems. "We are continuing to look into ways to make sure that everyone's made good for their troubles during this launch," he wrote. We have reached out to Trion to follow up. [Update #2: Hartsman has spoken to us about the game's launch troubles here.] [Update #1: Trion says the EU hardware has cleared customs early and is currently being set up.]
