ArcheAge is an MMORPG, originally developed by XL Games for South Korea. In the final quarter of 2014, it was published by Trion for North America and Europe. The game is based on four races, over two continents, with a third continent for PvP. It’s available to download from Trion’s launcher as a free-to-play game, although there is a premium “Patron” status which can be purchased as a monthly subscription if you wish to have bonuses such as owning land.
The combat system is nothing new, a standard click to lock on an enemy, and then spam abilities. What is different though is the class selection. Instead of your traditional selection of classes, all revolving around melee, archer or wizard, Archeage allows you to mix and match three out of ten skill sets, for a large variety of classes. Do you want to be a stealthy ninja who can use a bow and throw fireballs? You can! Or would you prefer to be a tank who can heal allies and plays the harp? Go ahead!
This game does follow the normal path of go to Point A and kill x amount of monsters, then go to Point B to collect x item with little variation. However, the scope of what you can do really opens up when you reach a moderate level and abandon those mundane storyline quests. One option making your fortune via crafting and delivering trade packs, with rewards that scale to the difficulty.
For example delivering to the other continent by travelling the ocean will give a sizeable reward, but you run the very realistic risk of being chased down by pirates, or sunk by high level monsters, which includes the Kraken as a very difficult boss, which could take an entire guild’s worth of galleons and other ships to defeat. On the other hand, become a pirate and pillage said trade packs in order to sell them for yourself.
For example delivering to the other continent by travelling the ocean will give a sizeable reward, but you run the very realistic risk of being chased down by pirates, or sunk by high level monsters, which includes the Kraken as a very difficult boss, which could take an entire guild’s worth of galleons and other ships to defeat. On the other hand, become a pirate and pillage said trade packs in order to sell them for yourself.
Tired of following the rules, and hungry for conflict? Leaving your faction to become a pirate is possible. Rule the seas terrorising merchants, whilst the NPCs and players on both continents will become your enemies.
That brings me on to my next point; the variety of things to do. Gather the resources to build a boat, and visit the other continent, or simply explore. There is a third continent specifically for PvP, where guilds can own and fight over their own castle. Often guilds do trade runs to dangerous locations in large groups, leading to epic battles between them and awaiting assailants on the shore.
Tired of following the rules, and hungry for conflict? Leaving your faction to become a pirate is possible. Rule the seas terrorising merchants, whilst the NPCs and players on both continents will become your enemies. When players commit offences such as killing those of their own faction or stealing, the jail sentence is decided by a player Court jury. Admittedly the system is flawed (do you really expect anybody to be judged innocent when are the ones deciding your average MMORPG players?) but it’s an interesting concept.
Tired of following the rules, and hungry for conflict? Leaving your faction to become a pirate is possible. Rule the seas terrorising merchants, whilst the NPCs and players on both continents will become your enemies. When players commit offences such as killing those of their own faction or stealing, the jail sentence is decided by a player Court jury. Admittedly the system is flawed (do you really expect anybody to be judged innocent when are the ones deciding your average MMORPG players?) but it’s an interesting concept.
A major constraint, of being a free-to-player user, is a feature called Labour Points. These points build up over time and are required for everything; from crafting weapons to picking berries. As you may have guessed, free-to-play players only accumulate these points at half the rate that the paid Patron players do, making some tasks difficult. In conclusion, Archeage is a fun MMORPG with a myriad of things to do. The players themselves make up part of the fun, I have personally had dozens of hours of entertainment playing this with friends, failing raids, getting stuck in objects and tumbling down huge waterfalls in tiny rowing boats. It is not revolutionary, but that doesn't mean that it is not worth trying out, it’s free after all. Check the Official ArcheAge Website. | System Requirements Minimum:
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by Jasper | |