Did you miss the latest ArcheAge livestream featuring the Trion dev team? It was a biggun, and it contained quite a lot of information relative to the upcoming Dread Prophecies patch. Currently 1.7 part one is scheduled for the end of this month, though it may slip into early May given how much stuff is jammed into it.
Whether you’re looking for new zones, achievements, PvP objectives, or furniture items, the new patch probably has something interesting in it if you’re an ArcheAge fan.
New zones and zone changes
The new zones include Golden Ruins and Mistmerrow, both of which are on Auroria. Golden Ruins is aimed at PvE players leveling their way from 50 to 55, and while Trion says that mob difficulty and density varies, it’s much easier than the recently released Library. It also boasts a new player housing area that’s twice as large as its counterpart in Diamond Shores as well as a continuation of the quest line for creating your first obsidian weapon.
Mistmerrow is PvP-focused, with the usual kill-for-honor system as well as a new tower-based minigame that rewards both winners and losers with tokens. In a nutshell, towers must be controlled by competing teams of players, with the winning side receiving more tokens which are then redeemable for various musical instruments that grant class-specific stat buffs. You can read a bit more about the new zones on Trion’s website.
Aside from the addition of Golden Ruins and Mistmerrow, the other big zone-related change comes courtesy of a Freedich Island revamp. Trion and XLGAMES are looking to increase PvP competition on the pirate isle, so they’re removing player housing as well as the ability to port to Freedich. The devs said that players with existing housing will be compensated for their loss by something “worthwhile,” though they didn’t provide specifics during this livestream.
Freedich is getting a new gold trader, which will pay out a lot of coin for specialty packs. The island will also feature a new ocean trader who accepts specialty packs salvaged from shipwrecks in exchange for gold payouts. Finally, a new resource trader will grant rare shipbuilding items.
Achievements
ArcheAge is getting an achievement system in 1.7A, complete with a new quest journal tab and 200-plus achievements ranging from leveling to house building to killing bosses to seeing the game world. Achievement completion earns you merit badges, which in turn may be exchanged for fluff items including costumes and gliders. Oh, and don’t worry if you’re a veteran who’s seen and done it all; the new system will give you credit for any achievements you’ve completed prior to patch day.
Exploration, proficiency, and farming
My favorite part of Dread Prophecies thus far is the focus on exploration. Trion says that the game’s new exploration proficiency is a replacement for the Nui’s Tears system that was scrapped prior to launch. The new mechanic ties into achievements and is based on exploring ArcheAge’s huge zones, which subsequently fills zone-specific progress bars and results in both XP and various rewards.
Aside from the addition of exploration, proficiencies are getting a further facelift thanks to four additional ranks that expand the current top tier (Champion) all the way up to Master. The proficiency skill cap is also being raised to 180,000.
Farmers rejoice, as 1.7A is adding a new 16×16 to ArcheAge’s repertoire. It’s called an improved scarecrow farm, and it features a built-in farmer’s workstation. The improved farm can be produced by combining gazebo garden materials with an existing 16×16 deed. Farmers are also getting their own competitive event, which tasks players with growing as many glorious experia plants as possible in two weeks. Prizes include house furniture and farming items.
The devs are also upping the archeum drop rate by 50 percent and enabling archeum tree drops in loot pouches.
Housing
Dread Prophecies will add auto-sorting capabilities to all storage chests as well as 40 new furniture items. These include new lights, a new bed, and three different types of floating chests that can hold everything from sheet music to costumes to mounts and vehicles.
Sieging
Dread Prophecies is lowering the hit points on gatehouses, towers, and walls in an effort to improve ArcheAge’s siege experience. The devs are also upping tower canon damage and temporarily turning houses invisible to address line-of-sight problems.
Subscriber benefits
Trion is throwing subscribers a few bones in the form of more offline labor regeneration (10 points every five minutes) as well as a 20 percent XP bonus. Patrons will get 20 percent off normal production times and 50 percent off auction house fees; subbers will also see a repair button and an auction house button on their inventory page.
Gear grinds and scoring
There’s a lot more coming in the initial 1.7 patch, too. I’ve chosen to hit my personal highlights here, but Trion’s livestream is worth watching if you’re into gear grinds and you want to know about obsidian armor and weapons, Dawnsdrop armor, and some sort of Gear of Legends score that tracks your progression, provides leaderboards, and allows you to evaluate other players. The firm will also be discussing Dread Prophesies even further on its next livestream which happens today (April 10th) at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
Oh, and if you haven’t already claimed your Spring Tidings gift, you can do that via your account page on Trion’s website. It includes a plushie, a character title that decreases production time by two percent, and a selection of Easter egg buffs including health and mana regens and XP and movement increases.
Trion says it will be a couple of weeks before Dread Prophecies shows up on ArcheAge’s test server.
Jef Reahard has been playing ArcheAge since the 2011 Korean closed beta tests and writing Massively Overpowered’s Lost Continent column since 2013. It chronicles one man’s journey through XLGAMES’ fantasy sandpark while examining PvE, PvP, roleplay, and beyond.
