Archeage Alpha Review

So here it is friends my first review! I will be reviewing ArcheAge which is an upcoming F2P Korean MMO (also has patron status available) that is being released here by Trion. Now i just want to mention that I am level 50 which is the max level so I have experienced quite a bit in the last couple of months. As there is so much to this game I will try to go over every aspect as best as i can to give you a good insight into the game that is ArcheAge!

The game is beautiful

So i purchased the $150 Archeum pack which gives you access to the ArcheAge alpha but this game is far from alpha! It is the full game as it has been out for quite a while in Korea and is just being translated into english/voiceovers with a couple of extra changes for a western audience. ArcheAge is a 'sandpark' game which blends the content styles of a sandbox & theme park game into a hybrid of the two.

 

Overlooking Marianople

The character selection screen is beautiful there are four races to pick from. Nuian & Elf on the west continent and the Hariharan & Firran on the east continent. The west continent races are pretty much humans and elves their side is based on a medieval layout. The east continent consists of an Asian race and a cat like race their side is based on a middle eastern layout. The character creation screen is quite in depth which is good but i must say i think the 4 races are very alike and when in combat or just travelling there isn't THAT much of difference in what each looks like. Each races has some starting bonuses e.g Elves can hold their breathe for 20 seconds longer than other races. The game is built on east vs west so if you are going to play with friends you will need to both create characters on the same side.

Race selection

Classes consist of 10 skill sets with 11 active spells and 5 passives in each. You can then pick any 3 to form your class which gives a huge amount of customisation! You can switch out any class to form a new combination so you can eventually have all classes at level 50! So you could be an archer with healing if you so wish. Not every customisation is great but it gives you a lot of choices though you do see a lot of the same cookie cutter builds. e.g Archery/Shadow/Auramancy becomes the class 'Primeval' There is no "which class is better" as it is entirely up to who you are fighting, who you are with, your skill etc

Class selection screen

The Questing in ArcheAge is very monotonous just kill X amount of mobs or collect Y amount of things. You have the option to overachieve where instead of killing say 8 mobs you kill 10 this will give you a higher XP reward. You get introduced to farming via quests at a low level and you will get your first mount that you breed around level 7. Questing is easily the best way to earn XP as grinding mobs give you very little reward. The best part about ArcheAge is that crafting gives you experience so if you get bored of levelling you can go off and craft for a while. There are so many things to do in this game so you will never get bored!

You can put custom crests on your cape and ships!

Every race has a specific mount but you are able to acquire all of them in game via gold. Each has its own unique spells and most mounts can have up to two people on them. Mounts level up as long as you have them out with you or you are riding them. As they gain experience you will unlock spells e.g the elf elk mount at level 25 unlocks a giant leap ability. Also as they level you will be able to purchase armour for them which increases movement speed/health. Combat pets can be used when fighting each pet has specific abilities and learns more as it levels up. Combat Pets are able to be captured with specific crafted items. Gliders are also a huge part of the game that allow you to glide for a limited amount of time, as you level you will be able to craft better gliders with more abilities that can launch you even further into the air!



Gliding

Elf Elk Mount

Levelling can be quite boring but as you gain higher levels more of the 'sandbox' world will open up for you. The 30+ questing zones are where everything changes as they are all PVP enabled. You may kill your own faction by enabling blood lust mode or kill the enemy faction in these areas. This can be fun but also annoying as there are people that love to camp one area and just kill you as you spawn! This would be a great time to leaving questing for a while and go do some crafting! You accrue crime points by killing your own faction though and if you have enough crime points you will become an outlaw. If someone kills you when you are an outlaw you will go to jail and have the option of going to trial which players will see what crimes you have committed and judge you accordingly or you can take your sentence. I have seen people go to jail for up to 24hours!! This means they cannot do anything and will have to sit in their jail cell for that allocated time! If you gain enough infamy points you will become a pirate this entails you being sentenced to pirate island!

Loading into Archeage

The crafting system is crazy! I really love the way that you can craft all your own gear or specialise in a certain thing then sell it for profit on the auction house. You will receive your first farm by doing a series of quests then later you will unlock your advanced farm which is just a bigger version of your small farm. There are allocated areas allover the map where you may place farms, houses, aqua farms etc. The more properties you own the more tax you will have to pay on your land. All of there are Non-instanced so the allocated areas can become quite messy but i do love the fact that there are literally no loading screens in this game! All craft is based on RNG so you will never know how good the item will be that you craft but as you gain more proficiency in that particular profession you have better chances of crafting rarer items. One of the most popular professions is fishing where you can eventually get a fishing boat and sail out to catch the big fish which sell for $$$. Lastly the best items in the game are crafted!!

Farming

The game is built on trade runs where you make a certain pack in a certain town then travel to another location to trade in for either gold or gilda stars. This usually is high risk as there will be other players wanting to kill you and steal your packs and turn them in for themselves! This is by far one of the most fun parts of ArcheAge getting a group of friend and doing trade runs with a trade ship full off supplies! The further you travel the more reward you get for your trade packs. Mirage island is an instanced area where you can go to buy items with gold/gilda stars be it houses, castles, submarines or even a racing car! They are not cheap though so you will be doing a lot of saving for the items you are after.

Crafting stations

There is a cash shop being implemented into the game but from what i have seen there is nothing game breaking. You can either sub for patron status or play for free patron players can own land (to build farms, houses etc) free plays cannot. There are also other restrictions for free players such as labour points. Labour points are generated over real time and are capped at 5000 labour. At the beginning you start off with far lower and the more points you spend the more your cap is increased. You need labour points for: crafting, farming, building & fishing etc. Patron users will get a much higher regen rate than F2P players and F2P will not regen while offline.

Housing

Dungeons; I have played for a couple of months and have done one dungeon when i first started. They were fun yes but they are not necessary and are not the main focus of the game. There are a lot of world bosses which need a RAID to take them down, the most famous being the kraken which is in the middle of the ocean. These bosses drop great rewards though one being the best glider in the game from the kraken!

Travelling the seas

Endgame for me so far has been going to the northern continent which is for level 50's and grinding mobs with the chance that northern items will drop that you can sell for a lot of gold. Now this can be tedious sometimes but it isn't the only aspect of end game. On the north continent it is player driven so the big guilds can own land in certain areas and build castles. Players can siege these castles  which enable huge wars between factions.

Tradeship Runs with the guild

Closing Thoughts

I have fallen in love with this game it pays particular attention to detail being able to light up lamps on your ships to sitting in your house with the fire place going.You really feel like you are immersed into a huge world and are a big part of it! The music is just great in every area and really does the game justice. Sea battles are one of the best aspects of the game especially when you set out on a voyage with friends. I think I have had some of the best times in this game be it attacking a group of players with trade packs on the seas, diving down with scuba gear to retrieve them then travelling to hand them in for profit. This game is heavily team based though so if you are not part of a guild you may suffer greatly.

Price

The $150 price tag is quite large for an alpha game but you do get a lot for your $$. I don't think it would be worth buying the alpha pack anymore as beta should be a couple of weeks away. There are also $100 & $50 packs that give you access to the beta events.

Latency

Latency from Australia is usually around the 230ms mark which can mean a lot when PVPing American players with 50ms. In saying that I haven't had much of an issue when PVP but I do know melee sometimes suffers when attacking other players. Friends with cable internet have 160ms which would be a huge improvement and have said they don't have any issue with PVP. Lastly i would recommend using ping reducer software either WTFAST or Battleping.

PROS

Open world PVP
In Depth Crafting System
Huge Persistent World
Territory Control / Keeps
Naval Warfare
Non-instanced Housing
Crafted Housing, Boats & Farming
Gliding, Sailing, Mounts, Combat pets

CONS

Need a guild to do most things
Forced to interact with other players

 Game is not heavily PVE focused
Endgame has a lot of grinding
Limited housing land
A lot of cookie cutter builds used
Zerg Guilds

 
Score: 90/100

Here are some moments i captured while playing ArcheAge