ArcheAge Online

[Angel of Lightning]

A Korean shared some screenshots with us. Very beautiful.

Hello from South Korea

[Angel of Lightning]

Main Website got some updates. Particularly the abilities page.
Game Information | Abilities

The game features abilities instead of the "standard" classes. You can choose to be a Warrior, Priest, Mage, Ranger. Or choose any three abilities and make your own class. Each ability has it's own skill tree. There are 10 Abilities which means tons of possibilities. Freedom of choice.

[Angel of Lightning]

A Spanish ArcheAge Fansite got their questions answered by Jake Song also and were kind enough to share it with the English Website. Here it is.


# Do you plan to have in-game mechanisms that promote role playing?
–> We are trying to improve the class system to make each player’s role in combat (e.g. tanker, healer, damage dealer, etc.) more clear. Social-wise, players will be able to enjoy role-playing by creating families. At a later stage players can form expeditionary forces (called guilds in other games) and engage in extensive role-playing within that group.

# Will be the game cater to hardcore gamers, casuals, or both? Can you tell us something about the leveling curve, whether it will be steep or not.
–> Our initial target was to satisfy both hardcore and casual gamers, but the contents currently available makes the game feel a bit more hardcore. However, we are going to develop the game so that casual gamers with less time to spare can also enjoy the game. We will make the experience curve go up smoothly so that the game progression is not extremely difficult.

# In the videos we’ve seen, it seems most professions, including shipbuilding, were automated. Will these professions have some sort of gameplay, like a minigame? Or is success based on simply pressing a button…as we are accustomed to in most other games?
–> Currently crafting works by simply pressing a button. We intended to combine various minigame mechanics, such as clicking the mouse at certain time, but it was not fun. That is why it has been simplified, like it is now.

# How important will crafting be in the game? A player can devote himself exclusively to crafting and have a good time?
–> In the current design it is impossible to level-up through crafting only. Additionally, certain levels are required for higher level recipes. Gold is also needed. Hence, I think some combat and leveling will be necessary.

# Can a player evolve and prosper without having engage in battle?
–> No, it is not possible.

# About leveling skills….how does that work?
–> In the current system, players gain 1 skill point every 2 level-ups with which they can learn a new skill. In the case of already learned skills, players can upgrade them.

# Will the PvP continent will be entirely controlled by the players? What about the game economy? How do you expect the political states will affect the game?
–> In order to protect fresh players coming into the PvP continent (we call it the original/ancient continent) for the first time, there will by a small area controlled by NPCs. Players can conquer the inner regions, zone by zone. Each zone will have some main resources and the expeditionary force that has taken over the zone will control the resources as well.

# Is ArcheAge a dynamic world? For example, if a city is regularly attacked, can it be destroyed? On the other hand, if people build a small settlement can it become a fortified city/village?
–> We plan to maintain the two southern continents as static worlds for newcomers and players who do not like PvP. However, on the original/ancient continent, players can build villages as well as castles which can also be destroyed by other players. We have not yet considered monster attacks destroying settlements, though.

# Do you have plans about implementing a user-generated content system? Like in CoH/CoV, where quests can be made by players?
–> We have discussed various related ideas, but nothing is concrete as of yet.

# We have seen in the videos that players can destroy structures in the environment (bridges, etc.) the burning question is: will these objects will regenerate automatically after a while or through the work of players rebuilding them? If is possible that players build bridges, roads, etc., can they build it wherever they want or only at specified points?
–> Some structures will be regenerated automatically in specific places such as dungeons, but buildings constructed by users will not be regenerated. We have considered ideas about allowing users to build bridges, roads, and so on, but nothing is concrete at this stage.

# Players can PK, right? If so, do they have some kind of real risk or only the typical death penalty, such as a debuff?
–> Yes, players can choose to PK. It is not final yet, but we plan to have different types of servers. For example, there will be a PvP server where you can even PK characters of your own faction or alliance and a separate server where you can only PK those of the opposing sides. We do not want to make the death penalty too harsh. As of now, we are considering temporary debuffs. If a player chooses to PK, he/she will gain some criminal points. If the criminal point accumulates up to a certain point the player could go to jail for some time. If the player continues to accumulate more criminal points, at certain point he/she will be expelled from his/her faction and become a pirate. A pirate will have some restriction in enjoying some common contents. However, there will be no penalty such as loss of stats. And besides, the player can always rejoin the faction through other activities.

# Will the shipyards that have been in videos be only in the NPC cities, or can players build shipyards?
–> As of now, we have not considered allowing players to build shipyards. Most of the crafting tools needed are in the NPC city, but small crafting tools (e.g. anvil, mannequin, etc.) can be purchased or crafted by players for them to own and place in their houses.

# Players can build their own fortified settlements/villages/cities?
–> Players can build their own territory, provide it to other players for housing and collect taxes in return. Players can hire NPCs as vendors and build up a city-like atmosphere. But there is no separate system allowing colony or city construction. It is a collection of smaller systems.

# Can all objects in the game be crafted by players? Or will some weapons and armor be achieved only in PvE/quests/dungeons?
–> Most of the items can be crafted by players. However, there are special items that can only be gained as rewards from dungeons, PvE, or PvP.

# Although people often ask about content, we think a MMORPG success stems from the quality of it’s content, not quantity. Should we expect a big game with lots of content and bugs that will be fixed later, or a smaller game with less problems at launch but little content at first and more later?
–> A quality game with contents constantly updated would be ideal and that is what we are trying to do with ArcheAge. Personally, I think players should expect and wait for a fun game. =)

[Angel of Lightning]

A Spanish ArcheAge Fansite got their questions answered by Jake Song also and were kind enough to share it with the English Website. Here it is.


# Do you plan to have in-game mechanisms that promote role playing?
–> We are trying to improve the class system to make each player’s role in combat (e.g. tanker, healer, damage dealer, etc.) more clear. Social-wise, players will be able to enjoy role-playing by creating families. At a later stage players can form expeditionary forces (called guilds in other games) and engage in extensive role-playing within that group.

# Will be the game cater to hardcore gamers, casuals, or both? Can you tell us something about the leveling curve, whether it will be steep or not.
–> Our initial target was to satisfy both hardcore and casual gamers, but the contents currently available makes the game feel a bit more hardcore. However, we are going to develop the game so that casual gamers with less time to spare can also enjoy the game. We will make the experience curve go up smoothly so that the game progression is not extremely difficult.

# In the videos we’ve seen, it seems most professions, including shipbuilding, were automated. Will these professions have some sort of gameplay, like a minigame? Or is success based on simply pressing a button…as we are accustomed to in most other games?
–> Currently crafting works by simply pressing a button. We intended to combine various minigame mechanics, such as clicking the mouse at certain time, but it was not fun. That is why it has been simplified, like it is now.

# How important will crafting be in the game? A player can devote himself exclusively to crafting and have a good time?
–> In the current design it is impossible to level-up through crafting only. Additionally, certain levels are required for higher level recipes. Gold is also needed. Hence, I think some combat and leveling will be necessary.

# Can a player evolve and prosper without having engage in battle?
–> No, it is not possible.

# About leveling skills….how does that work?
–> In the current system, players gain 1 skill point every 2 level-ups with which they can learn a new skill. In the case of already learned skills, players can upgrade them.

# Will the PvP continent will be entirely controlled by the players? What about the game economy? How do you expect the political states will affect the game?
–> In order to protect fresh players coming into the PvP continent (we call it the original/ancient continent) for the first time, there will by a small area controlled by NPCs. Players can conquer the inner regions, zone by zone. Each zone will have some main resources and the expeditionary force that has taken over the zone will control the resources as well.

# Is ArcheAge a dynamic world? For example, if a city is regularly attacked, can it be destroyed? On the other hand, if people build a small settlement can it become a fortified city/village?
–> We plan to maintain the two southern continents as static worlds for newcomers and players who do not like PvP. However, on the original/ancient continent, players can build villages as well as castles which can also be destroyed by other players. We have not yet considered monster attacks destroying settlements, though.

# Do you have plans about implementing a user-generated content system? Like in CoH/CoV, where quests can be made by players?
–> We have discussed various related ideas, but nothing is concrete as of yet.

# We have seen in the videos that players can destroy structures in the environment (bridges, etc.) the burning question is: will these objects will regenerate automatically after a while or through the work of players rebuilding them? If is possible that players build bridges, roads, etc., can they build it wherever they want or only at specified points?
–> Some structures will be regenerated automatically in specific places such as dungeons, but buildings constructed by users will not be regenerated. We have considered ideas about allowing users to build bridges, roads, and so on, but nothing is concrete at this stage.

# Players can PK, right? If so, do they have some kind of real risk or only the typical death penalty, such as a debuff?
–> Yes, players can choose to PK. It is not final yet, but we plan to have different types of servers. For example, there will be a PvP server where you can even PK characters of your own faction or alliance and a separate server where you can only PK those of the opposing sides. We do not want to make the death penalty too harsh. As of now, we are considering temporary debuffs. If a player chooses to PK, he/she will gain some criminal points. If the criminal point accumulates up to a certain point the player could go to jail for some time. If the player continues to accumulate more criminal points, at certain point he/she will be expelled from his/her faction and become a pirate. A pirate will have some restriction in enjoying some common contents. However, there will be no penalty such as loss of stats. And besides, the player can always rejoin the faction through other activities.

# Will the shipyards that have been in videos be only in the NPC cities, or can players build shipyards?
–> As of now, we have not considered allowing players to build shipyards. Most of the crafting tools needed are in the NPC city, but small crafting tools (e.g. anvil, mannequin, etc.) can be purchased or crafted by players for them to own and place in their houses.

# Players can build their own fortified settlements/villages/cities?
–> Players can build their own territory, provide it to other players for housing and collect taxes in return. Players can hire NPCs as vendors and build up a city-like atmosphere. But there is no separate system allowing colony or city construction. It is a collection of smaller systems.

# Can all objects in the game be crafted by players? Or will some weapons and armor be achieved only in PvE/quests/dungeons?
–> Most of the items can be crafted by players. However, there are special items that can only be gained as rewards from dungeons, PvE, or PvP.

# Although people often ask about content, we think a MMORPG success stems from the quality of it’s content, not quantity. Should we expect a big game with lots of content and bugs that will be fixed later, or a smaller game with less problems at launch but little content at first and more later?
–> A quality game with contents constantly updated would be ideal and that is what we are trying to do with ArcheAge. Personally, I think players should expect and wait for a fun game. =)

[Angel of Lightning]

1. We have heard that the Syncopate company is negotiating with XLGames to purchase the distribution rights of ArcheAge in Russia. Many gamers would like clarification on this and if there are any other companies which would are potential suitors to distribute the game in Russia. Do you plan to release ArcheAge in other countries at the same time as in Korea or will gamers in other countries have to be patient and wait?
–> We have not initiated any discussions with any Russian publisher. We have no launch schedule as of yet, but we will continue to diligently develop the game. =)

2. The second question is related to ArcheAge’s revenue model. Is it going to be P2P or F2P? If you are not ready to answer this question now please let us know what payment way you personally think is preferable.
–> We have not made any decision regarding the business model, but we are open to each market’s needs. Enjoy!

3. We do not know much about the PvP system. We just know a little about the PK system and castle sieges. Please tell us more about castle ownership and if there will be any bonuses related to this? What kind of penalties should we expect from death in PvP?
–> Players can take over a territory and build his/her own castle. Even players who are not a member of the landlord’s guild or similar group can build houses and live in the territory. A little bit of tax will have to paid in this case, and this will be the income of the landlord. Other guilds or groups can take over the landlord’s territory through sieges. If taken over, the players who have been living in the territory will, depending on the landlord’s decision, continue to live there as is or have to pay higher taxes. There is no penalty for PvP between different guilds or groups (there may be certain rewards in some cases). But there will be strict penalties for PvP between groups within the same faction (e.g. going to jail for a certain time, being expelled from the faction and becoming a pirate faction if continuously repeated). A pirate faction can be an enemy force of all factions.

4. We would like to clarify if there will be any battlegrounds in ArcheAge?
–> This is just in an idea stage. We are thinking of implementing a battleground system so that more players can easily experience PvP. But the aforementioned landlord/territory system will be separate from this battleground system.

5. What about clan politics? Is it possible to influence the world any other way besides sieges?
–> We call clans expeditionary forces. They can conquer territories and engage in war. Whether an expeditionary force is an enemy or ally depends on how the relationship is built between them.
In the beginning, players will belong to the NPC’s faction, but later on players can build their own expeditionary force and create a new faction.

6. We do not know anything about the dungeons. Could you please tell us about PvE system and about the dungeons in particular.
–> We are developing dungeons, but we are trying to make them slightly different than that of other games. Of course, PvE specialized contents such as raid will be possible in these dungeons.

7. Our gamers were very impressed by the video with sea battles. Again we do not know much about them. What type of ships will be participating in the game? Is there going to be any motivation to explore the ocean and islands?
–> Diverse ships will be added over time (e.g. fishing boats, large sailing boats, etc.). There will be unknown creatures living in the sea, undiscovered islands, and there may be something deep down the sea.

8. End-game content is a big headache for all developers. What kind of activities you offer for high-level players?
–> Taking over the resources that are only available in the original continent, the profit that can be made through them, and the castle sieges to fight over such profits are all continuously recyclable content. Of course, we will constantly provide additional dungeons, items, and so on.

9. Achievement systems are a main feature of many games. Do you plan to implement it in ArcheAge?
–> We are developing a territory achievement system and fame/title system depending on players’ activities (these will be achieved through both PvP and PvE).

[Angel of Lightning]

Another patch of questions about ArcheAge answered!
I like the sounds so far, finally a high budget Sandbox MMO.
I think I want to run my own Faction, have Two plots of land and two island for pirating purposes.


One of the hottest topics for ArcheAge followers is how factions will work. Can we call ArcheAge a RvR game or is your idea of factions different from what we’ve seen before? How do factions fit within the concept of a sandbox at all?

The biggest difference is that players will belong to a default faction in the beginning, but will be able to create their own factions later on. PvP and RvR content, such as castle sieges, will occur between factions that have declared war on each other.

How many factions are there in the game? Does a player choose the faction while creating a character or he can switch later? How do factions interact with each other?

There will be various factions, but when creating a character in the very beginning of the game you will ally yourself to one of two factions which are hostile to each other. However, later on, players can either continue their activities within the same faction or create their own faction. And although it may take some time and effort, players will be able to change the side while playing.

Would you please give some details about the clan system? What role will clans play? Are we going to have clan wars and PvP within one faction?

(For convenience sake, we call the concept of “clans” or “guilds,” “guilds.”) Guilds can build guild towns and engage in crafting together, share items, and so on. But for example, players will engage in PvP and RvR activities as a different community unit, which we call an expeditionary force. This expeditionary force can only be formed by players of the same faction, contrary to guilds which can be separately joined regardless of their affiliated faction.

Expeditionary forces can conquer territories and engage in war. Whether an expeditionary force is an enemy or alliance depends on how the relationship is built between them.
It is not final yet, but we plan to have different types of servers. For example, there will be a PvP server where you can even PK characters of your own faction or alliance and a separate server where you can only PK those of the opposing sides.

There is no penalty for PvP between different guilds or groups (there may be certain rewards in some cases). But there will be strict penalties for PvP between groups within the same faction (e.g. going to jail for a certain time, being expelled from the faction and becoming a pirate faction if continuously repeated). A pirate faction can be an enemy of all factions.

Can we develop a clan? If so how it’s done and what bonuses do we get from clan upgrades?

Yes, players can develop guilds in a similar way as in other MMORPGs. We do not have any concrete plans as of yet on specific details such as guild skills or upgrades, but we do plan to add such content. Guild houses, for example, can be upgraded and improved.

Do you plan to have clan halls in NPC cities or in player built castles? Are there going to be a clan warehouses?

Yes, and players will also be able to freely build guild houses, guild cities, and other kinds of buildings inside the castles too.

Can clans make alliances? If so, do clans have to belong to one faction? What game facilities and advantages do alliances get? A chat channel, alliance buffs, alliance auction house, etc.

As mentioned above, there is a difference between guilds and expeditionary forces in ArcheAge. A player can join a guild and expeditionary force separately, and in contrast to guilds, expeditionary forces can only be formed by players of the same faction. Hence, expeditionary forces can form alliances but we have not decided on how to support such alliances system-wise as of yet.

Are inter-clan relations going to play an important role in the game? Do you think we can expect active and emotional political wars and intrigues?

We are considering, for example, allowing players to create new factions or become high rank within a certain faction depending on the political activities with NPCs. We currently do not plan to show system-wise the relationship between different expeditionary forces, but since relationship between factions is shown in figures, players can assume that such relationship is the same between expeditionary forces.

The relationships will change through player activities.

What will players and clans fight for? Will it be possible for one clan or alliance or faction to be dominant on a PvP server or the developers are going to artificially limit such force?

There will be conflict between expeditionary forces in order to take over a region and possess the resources available within. The expeditionary force that conquers a region can build a castle to protect such resources. It is also possible for one expeditionary force to conquer more than one region. However, since there will be a couple dozen regions, it may be difficult for one expeditionary force to conquer all of them, considering the defense overload. We will not restrict the number of regions that can be conquered. Therefore, it may be possible for an alliance to conquer all regions.

Is a castle going to be always available for sieges or there will be siege schedules? Are players able to set a siege time?

Basically, it will only be possible during the agreed schedule between the castles. Players can select from the available schedules (e.g. 1 hour from 7 to 12 during the weekend). At the beginning, we considered allowing players to engage in castle siege whenever they wanted, but we changed our plan since it would be of too much burden for players.

Editor note: health problems due to heavy gaming are a very real social and political concern in South Korea.

Is there a limit of participants for a siege? Are sieges instanced? In general, how large-scale can fights get while providing a comfortable playing experience?

Sieges can only take place in the field, not in instances. Our current target for comfortable battles is about 50 vs. 50, and we are considering ways to provide a pleasant environment even if more players join the siege. The number may change due to technical constraints, but we will try to fashion the content so that it can be enjoyed together by as many players as possible.

Ships, sea battles, and everything that goes with them: how important are they? Is it a compulsory activity for those who want to achieve something in the game?

Ships are basically a means of transportation, but can also be owned by players to freely travel across the sea and engage in naval battles and castle sieges. On the open ocean players can engage in PvP without any PvP penalty.

Also, we will provide regions which can only be reached by ship. PvP points that can be gained through the use of ships can be used to acquire various items.

Will there be some sort of logistics in the game? We mean goods transportation by sea or by land. If so, can we expect caravan robbers and pirates?

We have yet not thought of trading using ships, but as mentioned earlier, since there are PvP contents related to ships, there will be pirates. Players can also gain some financial reward by destroying enemy ships.

What kind of PvE content are we getting in ArcheAge? Are there open and instanced dungeons for groups and raids? Will the rewards for outdoor bosses be higher than for instanced bosses since you will probably have to fight for them?

Yes, we will provide both open and instanced dungeons for groups and raids, and there will be instanced as well as field bosses. The rewards will of course be good, but we have not yet finalized the balancing between these rewards.

Do you plan to have epic raid bosses with rare drops and random respawn times (like in L2)?

Yes. The world of ArcheAge is humongous, so if players are attentive to detail they may be able to find such epic raid bosses.

What can you say about mobs and raid bosses AI? Is it going to be a complicated AI that requires tactical thinking from the players?

We are designing the A.I. in various directions. At this stage, we cannot comment on this in further detail.

[Angel of Lightning]

The Date for the 3rd Closed Beta has been set for sometime between March or April.

“The third closed beta test is going to be in March or April. With regard to the first and second tests, even though general direction was good, they were criticized for the game’s lack of completion. We will show off a higher quality (more complete) version of the game during CBT3. It took 5 whole years but by this November there will be public version of ArcheAge (which has been in development since 2006). ‘Too many cooks spoil the stew,’ so limited access closed beta tests will continue until that point.”

[Angel of Lightning]

New Video a Presentation from the Chinese Publishers and some talk about the game itself.

[retroblast]

Game is out. looks nice and it works on low setting on my craptop. looks really nice. que times are lone. que up in the night to play in the day...

[samurailos]

Not sure who else is playing but so far its a decent game
IGN : Techlos on the Enla Server (chinese or cat nation)
Also on the server are Kazwin, Jahkal (who is 10amp on league), Mugii, Bladewalker (who is Phalax on league)