Sure, you could always do things like craft, gather, farm, and trade in the auction house in ArcheAge now, but what if you could do those things while transformed into a doe-eyed mascot critter? That’s the tentpole attraction for the sandbox MMORPG’s summer update, which will introduce the Daru transformation skill.
Changing into a Daru is more than just a visual adjustment, as players who become a Daru to perform their pastoral pursuits will enjoy faster movement speed while hauling a trade pack via donkey, underwater breathing, faster swim speed, a buff to big reel-in damage at the Mirage Isle Fish-Fest, and a unique bag that can hold specialty items seven times a week regardless of the value of those items. Of course, this does come at the cost of racial skills, combat skills, and the ability to enter instances, but then the Darus are more about gathering than combat.
Another big portion of the summer update is the addition of a factionless flag war mode, which pits two teams of 10 players against one another in a race to earn 250 points, with flag retrievals scoring 10 points and player kills scoring two points. The mode will also feature blessing areas that grant random boons and the ability for players to skulk in bushes to surprise foes.
Finally, the update will launch the beta for its new global arena mode, which will let players from Korea, Asia, North America, and Europe team up together for 3v3 battles. These features, along with changes to skill effects and costs, UI-related quality-of-life improvements, and removal of honorforged medal consumption when moving on to ancestral levels, will all be arriving on Thursday, June 22nd.
Meanwhile, AA has released a patch that fixes bugs, lifts some ArchePass restrictions on Melisara and Gene servers, and kicks off the Marian’s Magic School Festival that’s full of daily quests and chess-related cosmetic rewards to collect.
