Stream notes are at the bottom of this post!
Gamigo is just about to go live with ArcheAge Unchained’s deep-dive stream here today, live at 1 p.m. EDT. As we noted yesterday, ArcheAge Unchained is dropping on September 30th; it’s Gamigo’s do-over for the beleaguered MMORPG sandbox. Unchained is essentially a new server for the game that is entirely buy-to-play, with no subscription and no pay-to-win gear or amenities possible – just vanity items, Gamigo promises. It also evens the playing field for things like labor regen, labor caps, and housing opportunities. Founder packs went live on the official site earlier this week.
The stream begins at 1 p.m. EDT – we’ll be recapping the big news in this post as it comes!
https://youtu.be/ylTvtLdoK8w
Updates
Merv Lee Kwai aka Khrolan has kicked off the stream. He says this initiative actually began 2.5 years ago at Trion when Trion and XL Games were working on ways to combat the pervasive idea that the game’s business model sucked. Gamigo, Khrolan says, was equally supportive of Unchained, and here we are.
There’s some reiteration on the new website and founder packs and launch, but this is new: There will be no early access for this server, and it’ll launch at the same modern content level as the other servers. Both games will get the new patch together.
We also now know what the update is called: Shadows Revealed (i.e., the Korean patch 6.0). The 64-bit client is included in this patch.
The team’s also talking up a de facto season pass called ArchePass (it’s pronounced ark-pass, if you’re wondering). The diligence (login) system will reward folks for playing, while the premium reward track is focused basically on cosmetics, in keeping with the not-P2W stance here. There will be no lockboxes, mounts, or labor potions in the cash shop. (Glider appearance skins, though, yes.)
Trade and tradepacks will not be changing (back) – yet. Apparently, that’s something Gamigo and XL are discussing a lot.
ArcheAge Unchained will be on Steam, ideally also on September 30th. A South American server isn’t planned but is being considered for the future.
Auto-loot pets aren’t in Unchained, at least not yet.
Housing is changing in the sense that everyone in Unchained has patron rights now. It will not be instanced. The devs think the best real estate in the game will still be hotly contested, but there won’t be tax certs, so nobody’s going to be “rocking eight plots” as in some other servers, as it’s exponentially expensive to spend labor on hoarding territory. The team also believes it’s added enough more housing to reduce the land rush a little bit.
In the case of alt accounts: Unchained will enforce one client per person logged in at a time, with three total alt accounts considered legal. Legacy will remain as it is.
