ArcheAge: Catch-All

Officially Alpha, and the NDA is lifted as well.

I want to play this game but it just seems like they are twiddling their thumbs.

For what it's worth. There's been more movement the past two months than the last 2 years combined.

And no I did not get into the alpha. I do think they should allow all of us who played in NK and RU launch games passes into beta since we've already shown we're ready to spend money on the game

Anyone else?

Welcome to ArcheAge Alpha
We would like to invite you to join us on the Alpha server to participate in ArcheAge testing.

I know I grumbled about it, but I was actually glad I didn't get it now. They're evil for giving it to me now.

Not me, it has been so long I don't even remember what account info I used to register.

Yeah, no for me too.

I registered for it some time last year but all they've seen fit to send me are constant updates and video clips saying "We're working on it!" with a random shot of some character staring heroically off into the distance.

I'm trying to max out on TESO still!

Anyway i'll start updating the OP with appropriate info when I get in and start seeing the changes the made.

Massively has an hour+ long stream. Argh, I want in so bad.
Not that the streamer was all that wonderful but she was better than the stuff I've seen from others regarding Archeage and streamers in general.

The kitty cat play animation was so freakin adorable. And I do love the sprint of the cat race. It will be hard not to play as one.

I'll be starting on the human/elf side at the start. I played the other side in KR.

So hopefully ran you can answer some questions for me:

I have been looking up equipment and stats trying to determine how hybrids work in AA. Well I guess everyone is a hybrid but I wondered what the plan is as you level.

For instance, should I focus on one damage type (ranged, melee or spell) and use the other 2 trees for support, utility and empowering that one damage type? Or is it possible to be able to do melee damage and spell damage, spell and ranged damage or ranged damage and melee damage, effectively? Is it as simple as making a build strong in each damage type and then swapping the weapons focused on one or the other in order to become effective in either? I understand it is possible to craft items with the stats you want on them whether it goes against their inherent damage type or not. So you can create a bow with melee and spell power if I understand correctly. I am in error? It doesn't sound like it would be wise to do so but would it be wise to make a bow with its inherent ranged power and add spell or melee power?

Does this also apply to armor such that I can make plate armor with spell power or cloth armor with melee power stats.

I am also curious about the finesse tree which seems to have a bow and melee focus. It seems unique to the other trees in that way. Is it more powerful or gimped?

I'm going to have to dig in and refresh my memory, but armor is there and has specific uses. Right now cant remember the specifics, but it falls under the normal break down of Heavy for health/tanking, Medium for range/crit, light for magic/mana. While you can mix pieces together I seem to remember that there were set pieces you wanted to go for and/or bonuses (similar to ESO) when you had more of one type.

As for skills and builds... that's a massive ball of wax. Like you said everyone will be a hybrid of some sort it comes down to synergies. I'll post an old photo of all the combos available. It's in Russian, but i'll look for an English one later. There's always a meta game at play on which combos are the most effective. Since I've been out of the loop i'm not sure what the best ones are anymore. I'll of course be an archer of some sort again.

Finesse(I guess that's the new name for Calling, its going to take a bit for me to get used to the new names again. It'll be the 3rd set of names I've gone through for the classes) is the Stealth/Assassins class and is one of the most used ones. Seems like 80% of the most popular builds use it.

IMAGE(http://archeagegame.ru/media/k2/galleries/186/aaetoprostov111900.jpg)

Edit: oh and I don't remember how the crafting bits played out. I only had a small farm and didn't do much of it.

I have been looking at archeagesource and elsewhere found an english skill builder to mess with.

I am totally salivating over the possibilities. One of the things I'd like to try is probably something not that unique but has interesting upsides for me. I'd like to try a stealth healer. I am not super competitive when it comes to pvp but I have found I really enjoy the scout role and this game seems to be ripe for it, especially with naval battles, and a few of the types of gliders (stealth, bomber, kamikaze).

The "necro" tree and the artist "bard" tree also look really interesting.

ran, is it still possible to play on the Russian server? I saw the instructions for it but the comments seemed a toss up whether it worked or whether you needed an IP spoof to fake a Russian IP.

Are they cracking down even more since the announcement of the US alpha?

You can p.m. me with the details if you have to...

fangblackbone wrote:

ran, is it still possible to play on the Russian server? I saw the instructions for it but the comments seemed a toss up whether it worked or whether you needed an IP spoof to fake a Russian IP.

Are they cracking down even more since the announcement of the US alpha?

You can p.m. me with the details if you have to...

Not sure if you have to go through a 3rd party or not. I know for awhile they were blocking ips but that was changed, but not sure if changed back.

fangblackbone wrote:

the artist "bard" tree

Well, that means I'll be playing this game at some point. Me and bards. I don't think I've ever ended up with a bard main on any MMO but I always play them in every game that offers the class.

They have an instrument slot that you use to increase regen during downtime whether you take the artistry/bard tree or not. They have different instruments for a different blend of how much of each regen you want while playing =)

They are blocking ips at least for registration so far. reddit had a link to a browser plugin at hola.org that did the trick.

So I am registered and downloaded and installed but when I launch the game it gets to the cutscenes and crashes with an

"memory could not be written" error

And I can't figure out how to change the configuration to see if changing from dx11, resolution or windowed mode will fix the crash. The english patch did not seem to work as everything is still in Russian.

English version of the option screen when you first click on options.

IMAGE(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm272/ranalin/options_zps298cad1d.jpg)

Can't even get there unfortunately. The launcher loads and I click "play" and it goes to the mail.ru splash then the xlgames splash then crashes =(

edit: figured it out... went into windowed mode and spammed the esc key until it got me to the server select.

Played a little and progressed quite well considering I can understand a lick of text. One of the real pleasant surprises so far is simple but in my mind not trivial. You can climb trees! Or at least one of the elf quests has you climbing a tree. And no it is some giant construct that is really more edifice than arbor. It was just a simple pine tree about 25 feet tall.

It gives me high hopes that they really went the extra mile with the details in this game. It is the kind of stuff that turns a game into a world.

I have one cat person that is a sorceror/occultist that is almost level 10 and I get the feeling that my mount is going to be coming soon. The other char is an elf that is level 8 finesse/necro. Occultist is a little difficult to understand what the base skills are doing. The others are super easy to pick up and I really like the finesse and necro so far.

I need to find translations for the settings of this game. It runs fine at default settings that are pretty high but it just pegs my processors so the jet turbine fans are screaming constantly.

It runs on CryEngine 3. So that can tell ya what to expect to change or look for when doing config. Archeagesource has a RU section and they should have a link in there somewhere with the translations. They did for the KR version. I would say post, but they're a bit on the brusque side, almost rude in typical EU mmo fashion. So put on your flame {ableist slur}ant pants if you plan to post.

I'm only to level 10, and yea if you don't have your mount by then you've probably missed a step. I was like level 14 when I realized I should have a mount already and had to back track in the KR version. You also get a rowboat around the same time. There's a lot of detail in this game. It's just after heavy doses of Wildstar and ESO it feels weird going to a MMO that doesn't have action oriented combat. Even WoW fields off for the same reason.

I would play more but I have like 10 more levels to go to max out on ESO.

Well, it looks like they are ho'n out Trove for $20 for alpha access now. So I wonder if Archeage is going to follow suit soon. They claimed on the last dev chat that founders packs were going to be announced (available?) in weeks not months.

I will definitely be dipping in when that becomes available based on what I have seen. It is definitely worth a couple months of play.

Thought climbing a tree is cool. This was new to me. Had to cross a moat.

IMAGE(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm272/ranalin/crossing_zps0010ff3d.jpg)

I would like to see more of it. But I know you run the risk of the trappings of the WoW Cataclysm expansion where the novelty wore off after the 8th time and because it was everywhere it was a cluttered mess. Some days I may want to spend my day on strafing runs, jumping puzzles, and artillery practice. I didn't/don't want it to become 40-50% of the required content to level 1-60...

I am now level 13 with my mount/pet. I guess you have to level the pet up a bit more in order to have it fight with you. (bummer)

I started a nuian character because I am checking out the different starting areas. She is level 8 archer/finesse. It is harder to equip the non magic users because it is difficult to tell which weapons raise the stats I want and which weapons are 2 handed or 1 handed. I am pretty much choosing upgrades by selecting the one that increases the most stats I currently have with the least amount of stat downgrades.

I am having a lot of fun and I feel 13 is pretty far for not being able to understand a lick of what is written in the quests, items and skills especially. I think it is a well designed game that should be all that much more accessible in our native tongue.

Oh sorry meant to clarify something about armor and stats! The gear are carriers for stats. Off top my head I cant remember what they're all good for but once I started looking at the gear I remember I was stacking agil as much as I could, and of course medium armor tends to have the most agil on it.

Mounts level up very slow unless you keep them out when you fight. Otherwise they tend to lag about one level behind you unless you farm heavy.

Be careful though they can die and have a rez sickness for awhile and not usable till it clears.

So I guess you can make only 3 characters =(
And it takes an hour to delete a character?

Right now it seems that sorcery is very strong. The ice arrow opener combined with the massive damage of the fireball is lethal at range and in melee.

The finesse tree seems like it would be strong on the surface because it has ranged and melee abilities. The melee abilities are strong but the ranged abilities are much weaker than the sorc's so you take many more hits than the cloth wearer.

I have also found the combat tree to have great melee abilities and the charge attack is quite good.

The archery tree has a nice dot and a good damage single shot but both have 6-10 second cooldowns. Plus the dot while nice does not do a ton of damage. It probably does about a fireball's worth of damage over 9 seconds.

I have found good balance with a finesse/sorc build with a 1 handed and shield. I don't know if it provides block or damage reduction but I take far less damage and don't sacrifice much killing speed.

The necro's basic attack is a lot of fun and allows you to kite but it uses much more mana than the fireball and does ~20% less damage.

Take all of the above with a huge grain of salt. It all is going to change as I get higher than level 15 and I don't have a character to 15 yet for the first look at 4th tier skills. Plus I could quite possibly be gumming up my stats since they are all in Russian.

I cannot wait until I get a key for alpha or the founders program gets detailed/released.

I will say that I am actually getting a strong UO vibe from this. Some of the skill systems is refined, segmented and more restrictive than UO, but the crafting has a similar vibe in that it is extensive and accessible.

fangblackbone wrote:

So I guess you can make only 3 characters =(
And it takes an hour to delete a character?

Right now it seems that sorcery is very strong. The ice arrow opener combined with the massive damage of the fireball is lethal at range and in melee.

The finesse tree seems like it would be strong on the surface because it has ranged and melee abilities. The melee abilities are strong but the ranged abilities are much weaker than the sorc's so you take many more hits than the cloth wearer.

I have also found the combat tree to have great melee abilities and the charge attack is quite good.

The archery tree has a nice dot and a good damage single shot but both have 6-10 second cooldowns. Plus the dot while nice does not do a ton of damage. It probably does about a fireball's worth of damage over 9 seconds.

I have found good balance with a finesse/sorc build with a 1 handed and shield. I don't know if it provides block or damage reduction but I take far less damage and don't sacrifice much killing speed.

The necro's basic attack is a lot of fun and allows you to kite but it uses much more mana than the fireball and does ~20% less damage.

Take all of the above with a huge grain of salt. It all is going to change as I get higher than level 15 and I don't have a character to 15 yet for the first look at 4th tier skills. Plus I could quite possibly be gumming up my stats since they are all in Russian.

I cannot wait until I get a key for alpha or the founders program gets detailed/released.

I will say that I am actually getting a strong UO vibe from this. Some of the skill systems is refined, segmented and more restrictive than UO, but the crafting has a similar vibe in that it is extensive and accessible.

Yea you cant really judge the trees like you are because the best thing, and I think most important part, are the built in synergies. While a spell on its own seems very week. If you tie it together with something it synergizes with and it's VERY powerful. Some of the trees have built in synergies. Like the first 2 abilities in the archery tree, while they do have cooldowns, if you do them in the right order you get a built in slow that means most things that are your level are dead when they get to you or close to it.

Well, I am certainly flying blind because earlier today I just figured out that you have to spend a point to get the passive available to you. So that necro passive that increases mana regen by 4 per second is very nice even if I don't use much else in the tree. Well the knock back is useful for sure.

I really wish I didn't have to wait an hour to delete a character. I want to start over from scratch with some synergies in mind (I like the finesse leap attack and conjuring combo that gives you a heal in addition to the mana tap) and it is too difficult respecing later because, again, I can't read Russian so I don't know whether I can getting the right one.

Heh, I almost took a screen shot of my nuian crawling up that rope to get over the mote yesterday just because it was so cool.

My kerre sorc is level 15 now but she is questing in the 17+ area because I know there are some quests that I skipped because I couldn't figure them out or find them. It is getting manageable but a little too slow for me. Again I guess it is to the games credit that I am engaged without knowing a large part of what I am doing or what is going on.