I learned there was a livestream after the fact and had to go trawling around for information on what was covered because they (Gamigo) failed to archive the broadcast for VOD purposes 😑
UPDATE: They uploaded an archive onto YouTube.
Someone posted this recap on Reddit (which I am just going to copypasta):
- 2 to 4 servers per region
September 30th release - 64-BIT CLIENT INCLUDED IN 6.0
- Trade system is not changing, but they are looking at feedback. They may revert to old trade systems.
- Steam release confirmed
- No progression server (i.e previous Fresh starts phase 1, phase 2 etc) Meaning, Unchained will have full content of 6.0 Update.
- No autoloot pets, no powerstone pets?
- Strictly cosmetics in premium ArchePass and cash shop
- Cosmetics will be BOUND
- Free ArchePass grants Diligence coins, similar to Loyalty: allows purchase of mounts/gliders/consumables etc from a Diligence shop
- Could maybe earn Diligence coins from doing events?
- Free ArchePass grants old marketplace items: could be mounts/pets/manastorm crystals
- Premium ArchePass is $10
 |
| Note that these listed rewards are just placeholders |
- Costumes are bind on pickup
- Alts allowed, no multi-client allowed: ONLY 3
- KR labor system (bonus labor regeneration for participation) not confirmed but up for discussion with XL
- No instanced housing. No tax certs sold. Only craftable or bought with DILIGENCE COINS.
- More housing areas added with 6.0
- There is a land lock on release. FIRST SATURDAY AFTER RELEASE -> October 5th
- ArcheAge Unchained will be separate NA and EU, similar to how you switch from NA, EU, and PTS in the Glyph client.
Another person posted their own recap which has added details (which I am also going to copy/paste):
- Founder packs containing inventory expansion, costumes, credits, founder title
- No APEX (no gold-to-credit conversion?)
- Will release with 6.0 release (to both Unchained & Legacy), includes Swiftblade
ArchePasses
- Basic (free) and Premium (additional cost)
- Unlock and complete daily quests
- Progress bar and levels (45 levels of ArchePass)
- 6 Tiers
- Two tiers of rewards per tier (basic, premium)
- Basic rewards will contain items from old marketplace and diligence coins
- Diligence coins only available on basic track, to unlock battle pets, costumes, pots
- Premium rewards will contain costumes, image crests, etc
- No expansion scrolls or related items in premium (those are in diligence track)
Housing
- Everyone can own houses
- Housing will not be instanced
- Land rush on first Saturday after release
Marketplace
- No labor potions
- No boosts
- No crates
- Cosmetic only, full range of costumes available
- Full range of furniture items without stats
- No pajamas that boost labor
- Salon certificate
- Gender swap certificate
- Crest brain storms
- Glider Skins
- No gliders
- No mounts
- Based on community feedback, Gamigo has requested XL GAMES make items bind-on-pickup
Servers/Technology
- NA and EU servers
- Starting with 2-4 servers, preparing multiple servers to react to growth
- Expect login queues
- Separate labor pools in NA and EU, but they feel less crossover due to no APEX
- 64-bit client in 6.0 update
- They intend to make Unchained available through Steam (no Unchained info there yet)
Multiple Accounts
- No multi-boxing allowed
- Only 3 accounts permitted
- If multiple people in household sharing a computer, that’s why there are 3 allowed (does this mean household gets less alt accounts to avoid going over 3?)
Labor System
- KR altered system where you gain more labor as you play and/or do quests
- Discussions between Gamigo and XL GAMES on the altered KR labor system.
- They are looking at Discord Unchained and Forums for feedback
So, based on this information along with the pre-order pricing, what do I really think given my prior incredible level of skepticism?
Pinch me….. no head start in these packs, increased labor regen while playing, ability to earn crucial QoL stuff like inventory expansion scrolls from playing. It’s still a minimal cash grab (mainly because this additional business model is mostly preaching to the choir and will grab existing whales and F2P players; i.e. additional revenue from the same source) but as I wrote in my original posting before any pricing was announced, I expected them to full on cash grab the base game for $50-60 (I was wrong and and they came in well under that).
Playing the game (I won’t deny it will be a dailies grind) rewards the free version of ArchePass which has basic rewards that are comprised of items that used to be sold in the marketplace (so things like expansion scrolls as one example) while the Diligence coin replaces the old Loyalty token system (which were a daily allotment from Patron). From what I also heard, tax certificates (to pay for maintaining your plot(s) of land and housing) will be a craftable item and not available from the cash shop or NPC’s via gold.
If I were to completely remove Trion’s past handling of the game (and knowing that some of those same folks are now handling this game with Gamigo) AND ignore the fact that Gamigo currently has the publishing contract, this overall looks like a decent/fair offering (it’s not perfect). When you add back in those elements though, I’m still skeptical about Gamigo’s ability to properly handle this over the long haul once they’ve gotten most of the upfront revenue. Will they eventually try to operationally run it on a dime, will they eventually creep in questionable items into the cash shop, will the premium ArchePass end up morphing into something else?
As I noted in my previous posting regarding the pre-order packs, the pricing is basically the base game + credits + digital extras. They’ve decided to go with a “1:1” price (no exchange rate so 25.99€ is $25.99). With the Silver pre-order pack, your basically getting a small amount of credits for free so if one has intentions of buying in the future (not accounting for any future sales or price cuts), the price is being set to be a no-brainer pre-order buy. The Gold pack seems to have less value by comparison while the Archeum pack is the “carrot on a stick” in terms of throwing in an ArchePass Upgrade token (essentially a $10 value) and a couple of additional cosmetics which would likely total around 4000 credits if equivalents had to be purchased).
Basically, I am on the fence right now. The PvP (I do know it is a big part of the design) and tabbed targeting combat don’t appeal to me but the exploration and ability to play the game and get the things that make what I find enjoyable, do. Some of the questions I have won’t be answered until this version of the game is actually live.
The objective/”for science” part of me says to put aside the “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” hat and to actually experience the potential positives and negatives (and document them via this blog). I just personally hate spending money with company’s that have known poor business practices though (so I’ll literally be fighting with myself the next few weeks as to whether or not I do end up jumping in; for science…).
I do have concerns regarding Gamigo’s recent data center changes for NA; due to Trion’s prior investors (one of them was Comcast), they serviced NA out of Dallas, Texas (a Comcast data center). Recently, Gamigo moved those operations to a co-location center in Wichita, Kansas. EU went through a similar change earlier which also included an attempt to move the dedicated game servers into cloud services (which is going to be cheaper than actual dedicated servers). The result was higher than normal latency in-game (and the ArcheAge client itself handles this poorly where it can disconnect constantly) as well as other game server related issues (including NPC’s not spawning). NA players are currently experiencing “lag” in instances and other parts of the game ever since the migration occurred (I believe last week). Unchained will be run out of this same data center (Trion’s other game servers were also relocated there).
