ArcheAge 3.0: Revelation
Today, ArcheAge releases it’s biggest expansion yet. Revelation introduces two new races to the game, the Warborn and Dwarves. With the inclusion of these new races, there are six new zones for players to explore. The most interesting addition with this expansion is the new “Fresh Start” servers. These new servers allow new players to start on an equal footing with veteran players. If there is a time to start playing ArcheAge, it is with this new expansion.
Today, I am with Lobo, Hippojaxx, and Zemi to ask them some questions and to tell us a little bit about this expansion, on what makes it significant, and why people should be playing now more than ever.
Player Summaries
Lobo started playing early in the game’s history, became leadership in the top pirate guild on Morpheus server but later left and joined the Imperium guild. Now will also be the leader of a guild called <Lagoon> come the launch of Revelation.
Zemi has played the game since alpha and ran one of the game’s largest pirate guilds early on called Customer Support.
Hippojax joined ArcheAge with the initial Imperium launch as part of the leadership to help guide new players. He still plays very casually.
What does the Revelation update mean for a new user who may never have played the game before?
Lobo – The chance to start fresh alongside everyone else. Gear is everything in this game, and starting fresh means everyone has the same opportunity to rise to the top. There is going to be a lot of people returning to the game, so it’ll be easy to find others to play with on the same experience level.
Zemi – The level playing field at every level. There is a big effort being put into separating the legacy servers from the “fresh start” servers, stopping people from bringing old money into the new servers. It’s even to the point where people will not be able to create characters on legacy servers if they have a character on a “fresh start” server.
Hippojaxx – A huge amount of the initial RMT problem that started with Morpheus is gone. Players are mostly limited to cosmetic and very limited labor gains via labor stipend and loyalty tokens as opposed to being able to mass purchase items to get a HUGE head start.
What does ArcheAge offer that not many other games can?
Lobo – It’s a sandbox game with limited restrictions. You can be whoever you want to be. For me, PVP is the best. It’s the biggest draw to the game. You don’t have to do that though, there are even farmers that just farm money. It’s a fantasy version of EVE Online, on a miniature scale.
Zemi – It’s a game close enough to Ultima Online to settle that itch.
Hippojaxx – It offers an unparallelled open world pvp experience. The world is your oyster!
How important is group play in ArcheAge?
Lobo – Group play is everything. You can be on your own, but even on your own you will need to join public groups to do content. You will need a guild to help you through much of the game. If you’re not playing with a group, you will not be enjoying the experience to it’s fullest extent.
Zemi – If you want to play single player, you can. However, the game is an MMO. It is designed for group play. You will not experience the game in it’s entirety if you play it as a single player game.
Hippojax – Group play is required world end game content. You can progress decently as a solo player but it’s a multiplayer game and the best raids and gear will be acquired via a large guild or group.
What are the conflict drivers? Are there things people fight over?
Lobo – The commerce system and world boss system. All major pve content that you need to do is in PVP zones. It’s designed to be contested. You’re forced to fight other players to fight the one boss you need to kill for the best loot. All content forces interaction.
Zemi – Every world boss, player generated content. For instance piracy is it’s own content. It gives content to traders, it gives them risk rather than just going from point A to point B.
Hippojaxx – Every world boss is a conflict driver such as Red Dragon and Kraken. Certain world boss drops are required to progress in quests, and these are contestable.
What Is APEX and how does it affect gameplay?
Lobo – You’re able to buy APEX with real money, which then you’re able to sell on the in game market. With that ingame money, you’re able to buy better gear. Gold is everything, because that is how you get your gear.
Zemi – It’s your quick – pay to win to get money. You’re able to use APEX for more things than just the money, through marketplace credits like RNG boxes (much like creates in CSGO and DOTA2), labor potions, cosmetic items, and items that can upgrade current items. It is also redeemable for the monthly subscription. You’re even able to buy it with gold.
Hippojax – It’s convertible for credits to use on the premium marketplace or sold via gold on the open market. Credits are used for cosmetic items, duration based buffs, consumable items for increased bag space or other various items otherwise very difficult or unattainable. They are also required for a monthly patron subscription if you don’t pay for the account via real money. It’s similar to PLEX in EVE Online.
Are there any specific out of game resources you would recommend for a new player to learn more about the game?
Lobo – Info is a lot of “hearsay”. There’s no central entity that really handles information, most of that you find is out of date and the reason for that is because you benefit from not sharing information in most cases. Guilds will have the most information available to their members. The game is constantly being updated as well, so as the game is updated the old information will become outdated over time. The Imperium forums also have some good information that I have contributed to, that would be useful for anyone looking to start ArcheAge.
Zemi – As a streamer, I provided a lot of information about what I was doing, but ArcheAge is all about being a step ahead. People have “trade secrets”, and they’re motivated to keep the information to themselves because that gives them an advantage. Even on reddit, not many people are willing to share good information. If you find something new out, it’s better to keep it to yourself than to share it, you benefit from it and your enemy does not. That’s a lot of the reason the information is very scarce.
Hippojax – A lot of the information out of game it’s either outdated or in pieces. It’s hard to find a centralized location of information for “best build” or “regrading suggestions”. The Imperium forums has been a great place for us to gather and share the information we’ve learned from our most recent experience in archeage.
Conclusion
ArcheAge 3.0: Revelation is shaping up to be a great expansion, allowing players to get a fresh start on new servers along with many problems being addressed. After speaking with these gentlemen, there is a lot of excitement leading up to this expansion. It seems as though it is a breath of fresh air for the entire community. What’s clear is that it’s a great time to start ArcheAge if you’re interested!
