ArcheAge (Part Five)

Gameplay (Continued)

And while there are a lot of stuff put in place for you to do (within the game), I've found that the core of the gameplay essentially still revolves around the theme of grinding.

Yes...grinding.

Grinding to get your character to PVP-able status. To wielding absolute unyielding power and perhaps even attaining "god mode" itself (ultimately).

First and foremost is "skillset" grinding. Though at any point in time you may have three skillsets simultaneously in tow, each of them still has its own separate "EXP Bar" and "Level" to raise.

You will need to perform activities (to gain EXP) to level the skillsets up in order to gain access to the higher level combat skills as well as improve the individual combat skills' potency (their skill rank).

As far as combat skill potency is concerned, so long as you increase the skillset's level, the individual combat skills will automatically rise in skill rank...regardless of whether you've learnt the actual combat skill or not.

However, not all of the combat skills will have an increase in skill rank though...as some of them simply do not have a "next rank" to go to (or its not their time to rank up yet).

And if your thinking how's that considered grinding? Well...please be reminded that in order for you to mix and match to find your best three (skillsets), you'll possibly have to grind all "ten" of them up to the max level (at the moment, its capped at level 50 for each skillset).

Yes...ALL TEN.

So if you don't find that grindy, then I don't know what is.

Naturally, if you already know which three to aim for, then its all fine and dandy, I guess. But I'ld have to warn you that purely "reading" on the combat skill's description isn't going to be enough. You will need to physically "try out" the combat skill to know whether it would fit (into your combo) as what you've expected.

For instance, Archery's "Boneyard" skill. By just the description given, you might think that its a good skill to trap opponents in and let's you attack from the outside with your other archery combat skills.

However, in actual implementation, you'll find that it mostly just blocks your line of sight and inhibits any form of attack...from the outside...towards the occupants trapped inside it (not sure if AOE skills can bypass this).

Then we have "equipment" grinding. This is ultimately the one that will pull you away from the ordinary crowd and propel you one step closer to that mythical "god mode". (Like that very "tasty" weapon as shown above.)

However here, it actually comes as a twofold grind. Yup, twice the G R I N D. (Perhaps many times more...if we were to go into the trouble of getting it socketed with lunagems as well.)

In order to be able to craft high level equipments and consumables, you will need to bring up your proficiency level in the trade first. All the way up to proficiency rank 6 for the best items I reckon.

And its made in a "pyramidic way" such that the number of proficiencies that you can get to the next rank gets increasingly smaller and smaller. (Only two can be at "Champion" rank.)

Seems fair enough? Just wait till you hear the rest of the process.

But what's making it worse is that, to actually craft them, you will not only need to source for the right materials to make that thing, but also its "predecessor" as well (the one before it).

And once you get to the level of making the "sealed" ones, there's four to seven varieties of them that you may get. However, only one "particular" variety can be used to bring it to the "next level".

To make the Delphinad Bow, you will need the "Volcano" version of the Epherium Bow. No other varieties will be accepted.

You can start to see the grind here now, can't you?

And tying all these "bundles of joys" (grind) together is something called "Labor Points".

Any activity, be it the growing/harvesting of crops, rearing/butchering of livestock, mining, logging, construction of houses and the paying of its maintenance, fishing, crafting, commerce to even the recovering of lost XP after dying, so long as it involves the gaining of gold (in-game money) will somehow require the use of labor points (usually).

Do note that performing of these activities may require varying amounts of labor points...ranging from single digits to triple digits or more.

However, not all of the activities will reward you with the same amount of gold per labor point spent though.

1 Gold = 100 Silvers And 1 Silver = 100 Coppers

If you directly compare the amount of gold gained when you "NPC" those gathered resources (not that you should do this of course...its just for comparison), you will find that certain activities may net you only 1 to 2 silvers per labor point spent while others can get you up to 4 or 5 silvers per labor point spent.

For instance, the opening of coin purses (looted off monsters killed) will typically give you about 1.5 silvers per point spent. (But considering the rate at which you get them...its a fast way to get some in-game money.)

Turning in of trade packs to gold traders will usually give you more...about 5 or 6 silvers per point spent...if there's some considerable distance in between the "source" and the "destination" zone...and your taking into account points spent while gather the materials as well as when making the trade pack itself. (But since this takes quite a while to get the money, its a rather slow method of obtaining in-game money...albeit having a more efficient conversion rate.)

As for gathering of resources out in the wild, then it wildly differs depending on what your harvesting. Logging of trees for wood tend to only give you about less than 1 silver per labor point spent while gathering of plants such as "Vanilla" or "Saffron" might net you about 3 to 4 silvers per labor point spent.

Why am I talking about this? Well...that's because its partly related to what I'm about to say next.

That the gaining of "Labor Points" is perhaps the biggest grind of them all. The ultimate bottleneck.

Now if you can grasp what I've just said, then you should ought to have noticed by now that the crux to all this grinding to get the best equipment is "Labor Points".

And there's two ways about it.

You can either choose to spend the labor points on leveling up your proficiencies to craft those equips yourself...OR...you can choose to find the best conversion method...for your labor points...into gold...to buy the equips from other players.

However, that also means that if you currently have ZERO labor points, you will be stuck either way. And will more or less be unable to progress any further (in your quest for those mythical items) until you've reacquired some.

So how do we get labor points?

Well...this largely hinges on whether your a free-to-play or a subscription player (a "Patron").

"Free-to-Play" players gain 5 labor points per 5 minutes while staying online, but does not gain any while offline. (Labor Points Cap - 2000)

"Patron" players, on the other hand, will gain 10 labor points per 5 minutes while staying online and 5 labor points per 5 minutes if offline. (Labor Points Cap - 5000)

Doesn't sound like much? Then think about it this way...

If a typical player plays about 2 hours per day (on weekdays) and 5 hours per day (on weekends), then being a "free-to-play" means that this player will only get about 1200 "Labor Points" to play with (0 Labor Points for offline time).

However, if this same player were to be a "Patron", he would have 2400 "Labor Points" for staying online and possibly 8880 more for the time he was offline (assuming that he doesn't just let it accrue to the cap).

See the difference now? And we aren't even gonna talk about the "free" loyalty tokens that patrons get...for logging in daily...that can be exchanged into "Worker's Compensation Potions" (basically means more "Labor Points" or can be sold to other players for gold).

But thankfully though, the saving grace for "free-to-play" players is that they can work hard to get some gold, buy some "APEX" (probably needs at least two), exchange them into "Credits" and then use it to pay for their "Patron" status (via the game's official website).

So its not all a losing battle for them.

But the way I see it, you'll definitely need to be a "Patron" to succeed in this game. (Hats off to those clever clever game devs.)

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ArcheAge (Part Four)

Gameplay
As I've already mentioned previously, this game ArcheAge is basically an "open" sandbox MMO where the players themselves have to choose what to do.

As such, there are actually plenty of "infrastructures" made to allow for a variety of different activities within the game.

• Questing
  
  There's the "traditional" path of following with the main and side quests (with its cutscenes, storyline, lore and all) littered all over the gameworld.
  

  Though I hate to say it, but side quests appear to be the only ones which can be found everywhere...except for Auroria maybe (haven't found any there yet).
  
  If you're going with the main storyline, it will only lead your character all around your own faction's continent. Well...most of it anyway.
  
  And at the very end of it, all you'll be left with seems to be some sort of a diary that points you in the direction of going to Auroria and then hangs abruptly there...with nothing else to continue upon. (At least that's what happened to me when I was playing as a "Harani".)
  
  But with this being a sandbox, I guess that's to be expected huh?

• Exploration And Dungeons
  
  For the adventurous at heart, there's always places/sights to see and dungeons to explore.
  

  But I will have to warn you, taking into account the way the gameworld's designed, that while it might be okay to travel around your own continent, its a whole other thing entirely to venture into your opposing faction's continent and hostile zones for that matter.

• Crafting And Commerce
  
  
  
  For the business-minded ones, there's crafting and commerce that you can dabble in.
  

  The difference between crafting and commerce is that...
  
  For crafting, you will mostly be making stuff that's useful and needed by the players. Stuff like armors, weapons, rings, earrings, necklaces, food, potions and whatnots.
  
  But you should expect a "mountain climb" and some hardcore grinding before you can start making things that people want though...and also having to handle the troublesome part of figuring out how best to sell your wares to your buyers (but most probably via the auctioneer provided if your a "patron" or have bought your access to using it).
  
  As for commerce, your primary focus is to make trade packs (at a zone's specialty workbench), run them to far off locations and sell them to the NPCs situated there for money (a.k.a. gold), precious resources and sometimes "gilda stars" (a type of currency that is mainly used to buy blueprints for houses, ships, mounts, and various vehicles on Mirage Isle).
  
  Its pretty simple and brainless...though you might have to "arm yourself" (quite literally) with cheap sources of materials to make those packs...as well as to fend off potential aggressors.

• Farming And Fishing
  
  Farmville or Leisure fanatic? You can always try your hand at farming and fishing.
  

  For farming, what your doing is basically acting as a "supplier" of resources to the peeps doing crafting and making trade packs (mostly this).
  
  There's seeds to plant, trees to grow and livestocks to rear for you here in ArcheAge. However, its a pretty "primitive system" (I'ld say) whereby one will only need some land to place those above-mentioned items, wait for them to grow, water/feed/tend to them and then harvest them at the end. (You might need to watch out for the climate of the zone that your in and grow stuff that's appropriate for the climate.)
  
  If and when they fall sick, you might also have to visit a Blue Salt Merchant to buy some of the remedies sold there, for "Vocation Badges" (earned through simply doing stuff like farming, gathering, logging, husbandry, mining, and fishing), to nurse them back to health.
  
  However, to own land for farming...you will need to acquire "Patron Status" (subscription) for your account. Else, you will either have to settle for growing or rearing your stuff in "public farms/stables" (where your stuff gets protected for only 24 hours) or out in the open (totally unprotected and open for looting once "ripe").
  

  For fishing, this is mostly for the money as well...just like commerce. However, there's two types of fishing to take note of, "Basic Fishing" and "Sport Fishing".
  
  Basic fishing can be done almost anywhere where there's water. All you need is a fishing rod (need to craft these) that hasn't expired yet and some bait (buy them off auction or farm them yourself from seed bundles).
  
  But sad to say, basic fishing doesn't net you much money. Its mostly for people to skill up their fishing vocation until they're experienced enough to go sport fishing.
  
  Sport fishing, on the other hand, can only be done at places whereby there's "schools of fishes" with seagulls flying above them.
  
  Once you've spotted one of these, throw in the appropriate "chum" to make them go into a feeding frenzy for a limited duration. During this "feeding frenzy" time period, you can then use the appropriate lures (for your fishing rod) to fish all you want.
  
  To successfully "catch" a fish however, you will be required to do some sort of a "dance machine"-styled routine whereby you match your "inputs" to the "buffs" shown on the fish itself...in order to reduce its HP down to zero (the better your fishing rod and fishing proficiency, the faster that you can do this).
  
  After "killing" the fish, you will end up with some sort of a "trade pack" on your shoulders (just like when doing a commerce trade run). You will need to carry this "trade pack" (of fish) to the nearest "Fish Stand" to have it weighed (and converted into gold) or crafted into a "trophy" (for you to put in your house for "bragging rights").
  
  And since its working just like a "trade pack", your avatar may only be allowed to carry one of them at any time...unless you have a proper fishing boat (to store the rest of your catches).

• Jury And Piracy
  
  
  
  Fancy being a rebel? Sure...no problem at all! All you have to do is turn to piracy (and thievery). But remember...there's always a price to pay...depending on whom your preying upon. (And karma can be a real b*tch sometimes...if you get what I mean.)
  

  If your solely hunting upon players of the opposing faction, there's hardly any consequences to your actions. But if your also targeting players of your own faction, you will gradually rack up "crime and infamy" points.
  
  And once you've accrued 3000 infamy points, you will immediately be ousted from your own faction and officially become a "pirate" (think there's a small island built specifically to house pirates, I believe).
  
  To accumulate these points, either steal the crops grown by your faction-mates or murder them in cold blood. You will leave behind bloody stains or footprints which can be reported by others to "tag" crime and infamy points upon you, the perpetrator.
  
  If and when your "caught" (die inland with more than 50 crime points), you will be placed on trial and judged by five jurors (fellow players) for the crimes you've done.
  
  Depending on the amount of crime points you have (at the time of trial), your infamy and the jurors, you will be sentenced to prison for a varying period of time.
  
  And while crime points are reset upon landing in jail, infamy points (however) will follow your character forever. (Not to mention that the life of a pirate can be excruciatingly painful...since there's not many places for you to go where you won't be "hunted".)
  
  The only way to remove them is to perform some kind of repeatable quests (offered daily), that allows you to slowly whitewash away those infamy (and crime) points. (Or you can choose to take the easy way out and just "purchase" some item mall consumable "potion" that does the same.)
  
  Conversely, by keeping yourself "spotless", one can even become a qualified juror (by completing a certain special quest), thereby obtaining your "right" to pass judgement on a criminal player standing trial.
  
  But as far as this goes, the opportunity to serve as a juror doesn't come by that easily (as there are plenty of others whom are also qualified to do the job).
  
  Upon logging into the game, the qualified juror (you) will be placed on a "numbered system waiting list". And as players (other qualified jurors) log off, get disconnected or served on a trial (if and when there is one), you will gradually be pushed further and further towards the front of the queue...until you get your turn (but we're talking about staying in-game for hours here though).

• Halcyona War, Auroria Castle Siege And Arena Battles
  
  Players itching for fights may also consider taking part in regular PVP activities that are offered...such as Halcyona War (faction vs faction), Auroria Castle Siege (mostly meant for large guild vs guild combat) and Arena Battles (5 vs 5 or 1 vs 1).
  

  The "Halcyona War" is a faction-based kind of pvp activity that occurs once every 5 or so hours in Halcyona on the continent of Nuia.
  
  (Afaik, its 15 minutes of "Conflict", 1 hour 15 minutes of "War" and 4 hours of "Peace". The "Conflict" time is for you to ready your groups and prepare yourself for the war. "War" time is when the actual fighting occurs...but may end early as and when the opposing base's relic is destroyed...even though the "War" time will persist to countdown until "Peace" finally occurs. After the four hours of "Peace" time ends, the whole cycle will start all over again.)
  
  On the map itself, there is a "Nuia Alliance Base" and a "Haranya Alliance Base". And whenever the war starts, both bases will each spawn a "relic structure" that is to be protected/destroyed in order to win the war.
  
  If you can steal some kind of "war flag" (that is spawned somewhere in between the two camps) and plant it at your own faction's base, you will activate some kind of automatic defense system within the base...thereby allowing you to focus more on attacking the enemy base's relic.
  

  As for the "Auroria Castle Siege", needless to say that its an activity that happens on the continent of Auroria.
  
  Its a guild vs guild event whereby players activate some sort of an "Archeum Lodestone" structure to claim its surrounding area, spend the next three weeks to build a "castle" to protect this lodestone...in anticipation of an attack by some other guilds.
  

  "Arena Battles" are essentially pvp fights that are meant to cater for players who prefer skirmishes on a smaller scale (or simply don't have the PC specs for those large-scale "laggy" fights).
  
  However, after rushing my character's level up (to at least try out the level 40, 5 v 5 one), I must say that the experience wasn't pleasant...but nonetheless...an eye-opener (to the game's mechanics, weaknesses and cons).
  
  First of all, being a 5 v 5 arena battle, its pretty weird that there wasn't any sort of "balancing mechanism" put in place to ensure a "fair fight" between the two teams. (I was placed into a team...with three other level 50s...all against 1 lone single level 50 player.)
  
  Secondly, with just a mere 10 levels in gap, I've found that it was surprisingly hard to even put a dent into the opponent fighting against us. (I believe I was only dealing damages within the range of 1 digit to 2 digits.)
  
  Finally, despite being heavily disadvantaged (1 against 4), the lone single level 50 player had the ability to just simply waltz right into our territory...in front of our two defense cannons...kill one of us...and then walk right back out...alive (as shown in the "Arena Battle" pic previously).
  
  But if I remember correctly, he was a tad bit "squishier" during our first two encounters (at the start of the battle, within the first few minutes). It was only after he took a couple of "stuff"...that he became "godly" all of a sudden. (After checking back at my footage, he had some "fancy buffs" which gave him more hp, more magic and physical defense than my full set of equipment combined, TWICE.)
  
  Nonetheless though, I'ld have to say that he was one tough fella...who knew his character, skills and limits very well. Whilst on the other hand, our team was pretty much totally disorganized I guess.

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ArcheAge (Part Three)

Gameworld

As I've already mentioned previously, the world of ArcheAge basically comprises of three large continents, namely Nuia, Haranya and Auroria.

The Nuia continent houses races aligned with the Nuia Alliance (Nuian, Elf) while the Haranya continent is occupied by races aligned with the Haranya Alliance (Firran, Harani).

The last continent, Auroria, is supposedly the "original homeland" (according to the lore if I'm not wrong), but as of the purpose/meaning to us players...its merely an area of constant strife, where full out PVP occurs between the two alliances 24/7.

That is if you can find someone there...as I've just paid the continent a visit and it looked seemingly void of players...except for when during "castle sieges" (to claim ownership of the surrounding area and its taxes) I suspect.

Moving About
And because there's simply too huge an area for players to cover alone (especially on foot), the game actually differentiates and provides for two different methods of travel (one slow, one fast)...to facilitate movement between places.

For your slow version, the player has to physically traverse the terrain all by himself or herself. You can choose to walk or run, use a mount, drive some sort of vehicular contraption or just simply use the time-based public transports available.

However, be warned that this method of travel is not only time-consuming, but also potentially hazardous...as the lands (and seas) are always filled with monsters or even other hostile players looking to pk or rob you of your trade packs.

Yup...if your hauling trade packs, this will be your ONLY method of travel. You will need to physically transport those packs to your desired destination.

For your fast version, the player actually gets to warp from place to place, at the split of a second, via the opening of a portal or through some gateway.

What's the difference between the two?

Well...for one, portals can be opened by the player at any location and to any location...so long as the player had visited the location's "memory tome" before or had used a "memory ink" to memorize that spot on his or her "teleport book" (if it does not have one).

Additionally, the "memory tome" also acts as a "recall" point. Once you've saved yourself at a particular one, you can always use the "recall" skill to teleport yourself back to that place.

Though it has a 30 minute cooldown to reuse and you may only set yourself up for ONE location to recall to, its advantage is that you can warp yourself back to it no matter where you are at, for free. (Works even across continents.)

Gateways, on the other hand, are intercontinental portals built at preselected locations that allows the player to teleport to some other specific gateway, that it is linked to, that is on another continent, regardless of whether the player had visited that place before or not.

The second difference between the two is that...while portals can allow as many people to go through for as long as its still open, gateways only allow the person operating it to go through (if I'm not wrong).

The last difference that I know of is...portals are designed to be "one way" (enter from green ones and exit from orange ones), but gateways can work from both sides.

There are exceptions too of course. For instance, the one that sends you to Auroria apparently doesn't have a gateway on the other side.

And though convenient, usage of these do require some sort of consumable item called a "Hereafter Stone" (which can be crafted or bought from other players).

If your destination is on the same continent as you are, you will only use up 1 of such a stone. If, however, your destination lies on another continent, then 3 of these stones will be required.

While operating a gateway is a no-brainer, I've found that using a portal isn't. It actually requires you to have some prior knowledge of how it works or you may end up spending the "cost" (hereafter stones) and yet not being able to get to your destination...only to watch the portal close once its time is up.

Okay...so how does it work?

First, with the hereafter stones in your inventory, open up your "Teleport Book", select your destination and hit the "Open Worldgate" button (like as shown).

This teleport book should always be kept in your inventory. At all times. For without this book, I am not certain that the memory tomes that you've visited will be recorded on it.

Once the portal is open, walk towards it and make your character JUMP (once your at the portal).

Without this jumping motion, you can stand for as long as you want under the portal and you will never get yourself through the portal. EVER.

You should shortly see the loading screen and then turn up at your destination point.

Its also a decent idea to "hitch-hike" somebody else's portal so that you may collect "memory tome" points which you had yet to unlock. However, please make sure that you've properly assigned yourself a "recall" point...in case you end up somewhere "undesirable" or way beyond your current level's capabilities.

Zone Status
Remember that I've said that continents are sub-divided into smaller areas or zones? Well...there's something in particular that you will need to know about these zones. Specifically, their "Zone Status" that is.

Zones are generally divided into three types, "Safe Zones", "PVP Zones" and "Alternating Zones".

• Safe Zones
  Safe Zones are areas designed to offer players...a reasonable degree of "safety" against being pked or "interrupted" from their usual activities.
  

  Zones in this status typically include starting and low-level areas.

  When in these zones, if your of the opposing faction (not on your own continent), you are prevented from initiating an attack on other players of the opposing faction.
  

  If your being attacked first, then that's a different story and you may have the right to defend yourself.

  Similarly, if your on your own continent's safe zones, you are safeguarded from being ambushed by the opposing faction's players...unless you've started the fight first.
  
• PVP Zones
  PVP Zones are areas designed specifically for fights of course. Hence, there ARE no rules enforced and everyone's allowed to attack everyone else.
  

  Zones in this status typically include areas on Auroria and the open seas.

• Alternating Zones
  Alternating Zones are a tad bit trickier...but essentially, their zone status simply alternates between being in a "Safe Zone" state and a "PVP Zone" state.
  
  
  
  For these zones, the idea is that there is some sort of a "Tension Gauge" between the two factions in these zones. As more and more players get killed in the zone, the gauge slowly escalates through five different levels (Tension, Danger, Dispute, Unrest, Crisis).
  
  Eventually, the zone will be pushed into a state of war that lasts for a certain period of time (probably an hour or two), before settling in a "Peace" state that also lasts for a couple of hours. And once this state of peace ends, the zone will get back its tension gauge and everything starts all over again.
  

  When in "Peace", both sides may not attack each other in the zone. As such, this is often also the time whereby you will see players hauling trade packs...making their way into or across the zone.

However, as with everything in life, there's always an exception to this. Pirates.

These scallywags are affiliated with no-one and can literally attack anyone, anywhere. Be it on land or out at sea, safe zone or not. You'll never be safe from them.

But as far as I know, most of them would tend to avoid lingering on land (or too far inland)...as dying there would cause them some hefty jail time sentences...with their high infamy, crime points and all.

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ArcheAge (Part Two)

The Download

As I've already mentioned a couple of posts earlier, the downloading of ArcheAge's game client (via Glyph) for me was a little bit troublesome.

Owing to the fact that it simply refused to resume (whenever I had an error or have to disconnect myself), I was actually forced to acquire the client via alternative means...through a torrent set up by fellow players.

And it took me about 2 to 3 weeks of torrenting before I completed the download.

Anyway...hopefully by now, the bug should ought to have already been resolved. If not, then I guess you'll also have to follow what I did and go find some torrent that's still alive to get the game. But mind you though, the game's folder is currently sitting at a whooping 23.4 GB...so that's gonna freaking take a while I tell ya. ^_^;

When going about it using this "torrent" method, my advice for you is to install the Glyph manager and start the downloading process for ArcheAge. This will create the necessary folders to give you an idea of where to start copying and pasting the files that you've gotten from the torrent.

From there onwards, its just a matter of patching yourself up-to-date...which shouldn't take too long unless you've botched the job in shifting the game files. Or the torrent's too outdated.

Character Creation
As far as I can tell, the character creation in ArcheAge looks pretty RIFTish as well (but is much more detailed and pleasing to the eye).

• Race
  

  Nuian Alliance	Haranya Alliance
  Nuian Nui's Blessing (Buff) Favored by the Goddess of the Hereafter, Nuians receive extra benefits from visiting her realm, doubling the time their stats are increased after being resurrected. Warrior Architects (Buff) Frequent rebellions and civil wars have led the Nuians to become quick builders, reducing construction time for houses and castles by 30%.	Firran Catlike Reflexes (Buff) The Firran's quick reflexes allow them to twist their bodies as they fall and land more nimbly, decreasing fall damage by 20%. Strong Claws (Buff) The Firran's long, non-retractable claws allow them to climb trees and ladders 30% faster.
  Elf Endurance Training (Buff) Trained for combat from the day they can walk, Elves possess increased physical ability. This stamina allows them to hold their breath underwater for an extra 20 seconds. Lithe Flow (Buff) The decades spent around Gweonid Lake make most Elves talented swimmers, increasing their swimming speed by 5%.	Harani Portal Mastery (Buff) The far-flung Harani empire has forced its people to master the use of portals for quick travel, reducing the cast time and cooldown on their "Recall" ability by 30%. Jungle Tamers (Buff) Settling in the jungles of Mahadevi taught the Harani to be efficient in their labor, reducing the time required for logging trees and gathering herbs by 10%.

  Here again, we find that we have two "opposing sides" that are hostile towards each other. The player is offered a couple of races to choose from (well, for the time being, two per side actually)...and depending on which alliance the race is sided with, their starting continents will also be different.
  
  Aside from looking different, as well as being able to freely choose your gender, each race is also bestowed with two unique, non-critical (not game-changing), permanent buffs.
  

  Up until this point, everything sounds exactly like RIFT. Still...

  However, if I'm not wrong, an interesting aspect that comes attached with this choice is that...unless you take the time to learn the other side's language...you will literally be unable to understand what they've said. Everything from them comes out as gibberish in the chat window.
  
• Appearance
  For this aspect of character creation, I guess a picture speaks a thousand words. Therefore, I'll let them do all the talking here.
  
  Hair
  
  

  Eyes	Style

  Skin	Paint

  Just note though...that apparently...all of the appearance customization that your allowed to do here seems to be heavily restricted to your avatar's "head" only. At no point in time have I seen any options that allows us to tweak with our avatar's lower portion of the body (neck and below).
  
  
  
  And maintaining the customary of RIFT Online, all of these (eye candy) don't really quite matter. Unless you take the time to zoom in for a close-up look at your avatar or others in detail, you will hardly notice much of a difference...as everything is rendered somewhat on the smaller side of things (or maybe its just the zoom out).
  
• Skillset
  
  
  
  This last bit of character creation just deals with the choosing of your avatar's very first skillset (out of three which you'll eventually end up with at character level 10).
  
  And as far as this goes, its purely for combat/support purposes. You can take your time to pick whichever one that you've fancied as it shouldn't affect your gameplay...much.
  
  If in the unfortunate case that you've disliked what you've chosen, you can always go to the nearest "Priestess of Nui" (the one which you'll always see first whenever you've died and respawned) to swap (in or out) your choices.
  

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ArcheAge (Part One)

ArcheAge is a Free-to-Play fantasy sandbox MMORPG from Trion Worlds and XLGAMES. In this MMORPG, there's no predefined paths of progression. Your free to choose your own way of playing the game...blah blah blah...

Aren't you getting bored seeing this kind of introduction, by now? Well I am...and it doesn't tell you much about the game either...so let's just skip it.

After playing this game for about a month now, ArcheAge more or less reminds me of RIFT Online, quite frankly. Its like they "borrowed" certain ideas from RIFT, reskined it here and there, changed some of the way things work and voila...a new game.

How so you say?

Well, first of all, you'll find that the familiar three "souls" concept from RIFT is somewhat imported into this game as three "classes" or "skillsets". Though the actual skills and implementation is altered, the concept of focusing and/or dividing your skill points (earned via leveling up) into your chosen classes remains the same.

Next, the huge gameworld that you can explore called "Telara" (in RIFT) is made even bigger...way bigger here in ArcheAge.

Not that its a bad thing here of course.

There's now three huge continents, forcibly split by a massive body of water in the middle, waiting for you to discover. And each of these continents are then further sub-divided into smaller areas that are littered with monsters, npcs and quests.

Note that although I call them "small area" here, they are still quite large enough so that it takes you a while to run from one area to the next. Not to mention that they do come with starkly differing scenery and climates as well.

Now just look at that. Aren't they beautiful? And its only on the lowest graphic settings. Would have looked even better had I got a more powerful PC for the job.

Crafting from RIFT seems to be also pulled in as well...but improved, expanded upon and made the focus of this game...together with trading, that is.

The main idea for this sandbox game seems to revolve around hauling of "specialty goods" that you've crafted in one area to another...for profit. And the further it is from the "source", the better your paid for the trouble.

And if you have to ask about this in further details? I'ld have to say that its kind of like your playing a little bit of a few games here (being lumped together).

As mentioned, the concept of trading and hauling "specialty goods" seems to remind me of the time when I was playing games like "Silkroad Online" and "Uncharted Waters".

But in ArcheAge, its made even more complex because these "specialty goods" or "trade packs" (as we call them here) needs to be crafted.

And to craft these trade packs, one will need to gather the necessary materials/ingredients first...which is where the farming and rearing concepts come in.

And these...to be quite honest...oddly reminds me of "Farmville" and "Dragon Nest".

The last faint trace of RIFT Online actually comes from these "rifts" that sometimes open up in certain areas...and out of it pops hoards of crazy monsters.

Although that was the main attraction of RIFT Online, in ArcheAge's case, its more of just a side feature to add some diversity to the gameplay, nothing more.

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