ArcheAge's founder packs will run you $49.99 to $149.99; closed beta to start in June

While Trion Worlds is still being coy about a release date for ArcheAge (the official line is still "2014"), the studio announced today during its livestream the details behind a trio of founder's packs for the upcoming fantasy sandbox. Here's what each of the packs contains:

• Silver ($49.99): Beta access, four-day head start, Founder title (with stats), 30-day patron pass, experimental hang glider, and 2,500 credits.

• Gold ($99.99): Beta access, four-day head start, Traveler title (with stats), 60-day patron pass, 10 evenstones, 10 hereafter stones, glass phoenix hang glider, desert assassin platemail, and 7,500 credits.

• Archeum ($149.99): Alpha access, beta access, four-day head start, Trailblazer title (with stats), 90-day patron pass, Daru Chests, 10 evenstones, 10 hereafter stones, glass phoenix hang glider, desert assassin platemail, Founder's cloak with customizable logo, personalizable crest, 10 pet healing potions, and 11,250 credits.

We spoke to Trion earlier this week about these founder's packs and upcoming closed beta test expected to begin in June -- read on!

We sat down with Trion Producer Victoria Voss to discuss the packs. Voss said that she is eager for fans to get into the alpha and beta testing programs. Out of all of the bonuses offered with the founder's packs, the glider was a favorite of hers, as it requires some measure of skill to fly correctly.

We asked Voss how the team would be handling the testing process, especially considering that Trion doesn't have the power to make changes to the game outside of localization issues. Currently the English localization is complete and the team is hard at work wrapping up the French and German versions. The latter two will be rolled into the beta test when finished.

Unlike some other MMO testing periods, ArcheAge's alpha and beta test won't be done sequentially; it will instead overlap. The alpha server will be an ongoing 24/7 test, while the beta server will be used for focused, limited-time events. Trion declined to comment on the expected or hoped-for size of the alpha and beta testing crowd, although Voss said that the team has discussed several scenarios.

Voss said that the team has scheduled some flexibility in case any issues crop up, but she was not too concerned as ArcheAge's rough spots have been smoothed out by its Korean run. The goal of the tests, she said, are mostly to iron out localization glitches, make sure the servers are handling the influx of players, and to identify any issues that need to be brought to XLGAMES for tweaking.