Wall of text warning!Hi Guys
I'm still around and lurking the board occasionally (and every time feeling bad for not snooping around more often
).
I've been playing ArcheAge in the clodes beta 3 and 4 and can givbe you a quit overview.
There are four playable races, divided in two opposing factions - the western continent with western (caucasian) humans and elves and the eastern continent with asian humans and firrans (felines). There is a thirdd continent up in the north, which is a warground to be conquered and fought on and over it.
Instead of selecting a fixed class you select a skillset upon creation, a 2nd one upon reaching 5th and a 3rd on at 10th level, allowing for a total of 120 combinations, though some of them more usefull and viable than others (usually due to stat requierement combinations that are hard to get matching gear for). Inside the skill sets you can unlock skills when meeting the requirement (level for active, # of unlocked for passive), which then gain power over time by using them and leveling up. For a small fee you can change selected skills or whole skillsets, so no need to reroll just to try a new combination. It is also your choice what weapons and armor you wear, you can don full plate as a caster and wield a kickass two hander if you want to.
There are a shitload of trade skills, which you can learn all if you have the patience - thou you can not skill all of them to max level. With a completely player driven economy there will be demand, mobs drop only cash loot and the only gear you'll get except crafted is some quest rewards (which is appropriate but not overwhelming). But there is the rub: in order to craft, harvest and open the cash loot purses you need labor points. Laber point regeneration is sloooow for f2p players compared to "patrons" - people who buy a subscription. The regeneration differences are 1/5 min while online for f2p vs. 10/5 online and 5/5 offline for subs, with subs also having a higher labor point pool. Since you also need to be a subscriber to own land for a house or farm (the latter a must if you need a reliable source for wood, plants or animals) subscribing seems a necessity for avid crafters.
The games features open world PvP, with several zones secure from hostile factions. A large part of PvP will take place on the northern continent and on the sea that separates all 3 land masses. That means that boats will play a big role in naval warfare (and there is even a submarine). One of the trade skills allows for the crafting of trade packs, which sole purpose is to be sold for valuables to NPCs. The further away from the zone they have been carfted the bigger the sale price, and, unfortunately, some crafting metarials can only be obtained by selling thos trade packs on the hostile continent. Which means a trade "run" (not really, while carrying a trade pack you'll get a debuff that slows you down considerable and prevents any teleportation) with some protection by guild, friends or hired goons. Otherwise unfriendlies might want to take your warez, and that may not just players of the opposing faction.
ArcheAge features a justice system in game. You will get crime points for murder (killing same faction players) and theft (harvesting or uprooting plants or killing livestock that belong to other players - on your own farm those are protected, but you
can grow them "illegally" in the wild) as well as infamy points. Once you exceed the trashold value of 50 crime points, the next time you die by a player you'll be put on trial before a player jury. The jury can see the crime record (so technically the defendant can never be completely innocent), the defendant can plea, bet, bring witnesses or whatever he thinks can aid him. The verdict (unless set free, never seen
that happen) is prison time in real time. The crime points will reset, but the infamy points will stay, and the higher the infamy points the higher the possible maximum sentence. The convict will be sent to prison, where he gets a debuff that prevents him from most things, untill his time is up. Time only counts down while not AFK
and prison time can range from a few minutes to some hours.
Upon reaching 3000 infamy points the player becomes - a PIRATE. Sounds fun, but you'll get kicked out of your faction (no more NPC trade except on pirate islands) some guards will be KOS to you, but murder doens't cause crime points no more (but theft does), oh, and you can only be a member of a pirate guild from now on. Remedy is tideous, it takes a lot of $$$ and daily quests to be allowed back into society.
I haven't seen warfare on the northern continent yet, but it's supposed to be a big thing with big raids (1 raid can contain 50 peeps), judging from the crafting recipes for siege equipment, cannons and fortifications. You can build your own stronghold from single elements, no preset castles, but need a lot of stuff for, so mostly a thing for guilds.
Other things in unrelated order:
for transportation other than your own feet or paws you'll have mounts, boats, gliders, cars and tractors to own and public air ships and carts on fixed routes.
There are public farms and ranches, where you can grow a limited selection of crops and livestock, where they are protected from theft for 24h. If you own a farm you can allow members of your family or guild to grow stuff there.
You need to "learn" the enemies' languages - at start you can only talk wo members of your own faction, everything else is gibberish.
The character customization gives a lot of options for the heads/faces but lacks options for body size. Female's hips are a bit too wide and busts too pneumatic for my personal taste
Subject: ArcheAge - something for us ? 
Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:08 pm
