archeage

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Official Site: ArcheAge
Studio: Trion Worlds
Launch Date: September 16, 2014
Genre: Fantasy Hybrid Sandbox
Business Model: Hybrid F2P (Optional Sub, Cash Shop)
Platform: PC

Lawsuit continues against Trion Worlds and ArcheAge’s 10% discount snafu

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Three years in, a player-led lawsuit against Trion Worlds concerning false advertising and lockboxes in ArcheAge continues to bounce around the California court system.

The suit, filed back in 2015 by Aaron Van Fleet, Paul Ovberg and James Longfield, alleged that Trion violated consumer laws, falsely advertised a 10% founder perk discount for its cash shop, and went against California laws concerning illegal lotteries. While Trion tried to move the case to arbitration, the courts decided that there were some worrysome discrepancies between ArcheAge’s EULA and TOU and so kept the suit going.

MMO Fallout posted an update on the case, mostly to say that the lawsuit is still going, that Trion is still trying to get it taken out of court, and that the plaintiff had amended the complaint with a very minor update. The article expresses concern over the one and only exhibit for its case, which is a series of screenshots showing player dissent in the forums over these issues.

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Trion Worlds offers free MMO goodies for Marvel Heroes refugees

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Ever since Trion Worlds announced that it had snapped up all of the remaining assets from Gazillion and Marvel Heroes, we have wondered what the studio was planning to do with them. Now we know at least in part, as Trion is handing out free MMO promotional packs to Marvel Heroes refugees as a way to welcome them to the fold.

This promotion is a “limited-time offer” and only applies to former Gazillion players who register to Trion Worlds with the same email address that they used for Marvel Heroes. If this applies to you, you can pick up a promo pack to one of the five games that Trion is running.

Pick Trove and you’ll get both a super starter pack and a square necessities pack. Go with ArcheAge, and you’ll enjoy 30 days of patron time, a mount, and other goodies. RIFT’s deal is pretty good, with a month of subscription time, all of the game’s souls, two more bag slots, and a mount. Alternatively, you may choose Atlas Reactor (and get all freelancers the game has and ever will make) or Defiance (which includes a legendary shield and chip).

Source: Trion Worlds

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ArcheAge is rolling out the next phase of its fresh-start servers with Reign: Part 1 on July 18

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Trion Worlds has announced that the next phase of ArcheAge’s fresh-start progression servers will soon begin, boosting the level cap to 55 and unlocking a new dungeon, two additional races, and a slew of quest chains. The update, titled Reign: Part 1, will unleash the Dwarf and Warborn races and allow players to access their starting areas — Airain Rock, Aubre Cradle, and Sunbite Wilds — as well as the various quest lines contained within. It will also unlock the Mistsong Summit dungeon, where players can earn a variety of loot, including the newly redesigned Mistsong armor set.

On top of the new fresh-start server content, the update will introduce a number of new features for legacy servers, including the addition of Paloth’s Crystals, which will give free-to-play players the opportunity to earn rare mounts through “entirely in-game means.” Moreover, the new phase will introduce “a more powerful new tier of Hiram gear, an overhaul to Sport Fishing, and adjustments to the trade system,” the details of which can be found in the latest dev blog on the game’s site. Expect the whole shebang on July 18th.

Source: Press Release

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ArcheAge is giving away free daily fireworks packs on Glyph until July 5th

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Are you itching to set off some colorful explosives but your hometown won’t allow it? ArcheAge is offering a vicarious solution: in-game fireworks. And they are free! You’ve got the chance to snag some free daily gift packs in celebration of… well anything you want to celebrate. And here’s a twist: You don’t even need to log into game to get them! Until July 5th, players can log straight into their Glyph account and claim these numbered packages on one character that contain:

  • 5x Dragon Fireworks
  • 5x Heart Fireworks
  • 2x Bound Lucky Quicksilver Tonics
  • 2x Bound Greedy Grimoires

So even if you can’t light up your own sky this week for the holidays, you can grab some and do it in game. (Sorry, said fireworks will not cause any harm to enemies — not even light their hair on fire.) Grab a new one each day and either stock up on one character or share the wealth by picking a different one to receive them each time.

Source: ArcheAge official site

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Trion just bought up Gazillion’s assets to beef up its MMO publishing arm

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Did you see this one coming? VentureBeat has a piece out this morning interviewing Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman, who’s apparently just revealed that Trion’s bought up all of Gazillion Entertainment, or what’s left of its assets, anyway.

Gazillion, of course, infamously shuttered along with its core MMORPG, Marvel Heroes, last autumn following weeks of missed content, an apparent failed contract renogotiation, a sexual harassment scandal, and ultimately Disney’s rescinding of the Marvel license, driving the studio into bankruptcy. At the time, we called it the worst-managed MMORPG sunset of all time.

It looks like the goal for Trion here isn’t necessarily to save or remake Marvel Heroes (although that would be fun, and VB notes Trion has picked up an isometric game engine as part of the package) but to bolster its publishing for MMOs specifically, something MMO players will recall Trion’s been working on for the last few years with Glyph, where Trion’s existing games – including RIFT, Trove, ArcheAge, and Defiance – currently dwell.

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Battle Bards Episode 122: Happy town

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In peaceful villages and bubbly burgs, you just know that there’s bound to be an abundance of happy music! Whenever the Battle Bards regroup to lick their wounds and drink the terrors away, they often find that happy town music is perfect to soothe jangled nerves and re-center one’s heroism. There’s plenty of those tunes in today’s episode, so recoup with them as they listen to the songs of the common folk.

Battle Bards is a bi-weekly podcast that alternates between examining a single MMO’s soundtrack and exploring music tracks revolving around a theme. MOP’s Justin co-hosts with bloggers Steff and Syl. The cast is available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, and Player.FM.

Listen to Episode 122: Happy town (or download it) now:

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ArcheAge’s fresh start servers snag the ‘Conquer’ update next week

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Trion’s pretty sure MMORPG gamers cannot get enough of starting over in ArcheAge, which is why it’s whipping up yet another phase for the ArcheAge: Legends Return fresh start servers next week on June 13th, complete with new housing, dailies, bosses, dungeons, and raids.

“In the Conquer Phase, a host of new dungeons, raids, and upgrades are now at your fingertips. Venture forth to Golden Ruins in order to claim additional housing in Auroria, or embark on new daily quests and high level creatures to secure your route to level 50! […] Additionally, the Serpentis raid is open for enterprising adventurers, as well as Sea of Drowned Love and Sea of Drowned Love’s weekend version. Other changes include changes to the Dream Ring, which can now be progressed to an Epic version, an expansion of the Dream Ring quests on Fresh Start, allowing you to take your Ring to its maximum level, and the introduction of T1 Cars, and the Farm Hauler upgrade.”

The pair of fresh start progression servers have been running in NA and Europe since April, doing their happy progression server thing with vanilla content unlocking over time. Phase two rolled out last month after a brief delay.

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ArcheAge holds back the next phase of its Fresh Start server

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Hope you didn’t take off any time this week for the next phase of ArcheAge’s fresh start server, because Trion Worlds informed its players that it needs to hold back on this update until it figures out some issues with the help of XLGAMES. The delay should only be a day or so, the studio said.

“We found that there were discrepancies that require feedback and action from XL before [Phase 2] can be released,” said Trion on the forums. “Due to this situation, we’ll need to delay the release, and thus the weekly maintenance, by 24 hours. There is a chance for this to be delayed further, so we’ll update this thread with any new information regarding intended release time.”

Source: ArcheAge

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Hands-on with Bless Reborn at Neowiz’s San Francisco media reveal

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As you probably have heard, there was a Bless influencer event this week, with a couple of media and a smattering of MMO streamers in attendance. The leak of the price points happened soon before we went in, but none of the people in attendance, devs or streamers, really seemed fazed by it. Most people seemed ready to have a good time.

For someone like me, who was initially blown away by Bless circa 2011, the game had fallen off my radar, especially after the game’s rocky trip to Russia and initial Korean release. The western build-up for me has felt like a big PR push, with the pricing model dangled like a feature that people actually should be excited about. Basic questions like, “How does endgame work?” were easier to find on Reddit, Steam, and fansites than any of the PR I was reading. I was concerned, to say the least, but things like “tame almost any mob!” and “100v100” battles intrigued me. Though nothing I saw is probably going to change any core fans’ mind, it may be useful to those on the fence.

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RIFT gets ready for patch day while ArcheAge re-enables transfers and name changes

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A couple of small notices swung our way from Trion Worlds’ MMORPGs. Tomorrow, RIFT is going to be updating the game, and with the changes (including the opening of the Greenscale raid on RIFT Prime), the studio is adding a few new store options and a raid gear merchant.

“Yep, we’re setting [the raid gear merchant] up in advance of Greenscale’s Blight, because you all deserve to plan ahead,” Trion said. “The current expert armor vendor will level up to become the ascended quartermaster — selling dungeon, expert, and raid armor. Raid armor will be available in exchange for Primal Marks of Ascension.”

Meanwhile, over at ArcheAge the team has delayed the normal weekly maintenance to cram in a hotfix that was designed to fix a bug and re-enable transfer and name change services.

Source: RIFT, ArcheAge

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ArcheAge creator Jake Song talks about his return to the game

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ArcheAge’s recent update is called Legends Return, a title that works on a couple of levels when you consider that the game’s creator, Jake Song, came back to give the title some personal attention after working on other projects. He is now the executive producer on the game, and as such, he sat down for a Q&A video to talk about the guidance that he’s brought back to the MMO.

“The change in development we made this year is that we are going to make sure to release a monthly update, even if there is only a small amount of change,” he told fans.

Song discussed how the team is working to restore some of the fun to the game while retaining “minimal character limitations” that was at the core of his original vision. It’s a pretty breezy six-minute interview, so do yourself a favor and give it a watch when you get some time!

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The Game Archaeologist: Lineage

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If we judged MMOs by their numbers alone — and I’m not suggesting we do so — then the original Lineage would be the crowing rooster strutting about the hen house. It’s also been one of those games that I’ve always intellectually acknowledged was a huge hit for some reason but never gave much attention. I think it’s because, contrary to many western MMOs, Lineage is primarily an Asian phenomenon. That doesn’t mean it should be shunned, of course, but just that it may be difficult to understand when you’re on the outside of it.

So let’s back up the memory truck to September 1998, when a then-fledgling NCsoft rolled out a Diablo-style isometric MMO and struck virtual gold in South Korea. At the time, gaming rooms were becoming a huge thing in the country. A recession had hit, giving people a lot of time with nothing to do, and the government was rapidly expanding the broadband network. In the face of this perfect storm, titles like StarCraft and Lineage became overnight household fixtures — and remained so for decades to come.

Even if you haven’t played Lineage and you don’t know anyone who does, trust me: Millions and millions of players have. As former Senior Producer Chris Mahnken once said, “Lineage keeps going because it’s just plain fun.”

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The 2015 ArcheAge class action lawsuit continues, snarled in arbitration appeals

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Waaaay back in 2015, a group of ArcheAge players filed a lawsuit against Trion Worlds over the Patron perk mess. Veteran MMO players will recall that Trion’s original pitch for founder packs included a 10% discount for cash shop buyables. That discount never happened – specifically because in 2014 Trion “determined that the time to develop this perk would be significant.” After launch, the studio instead swapped the discount over to past and future credit packs.

That prompted players Aaron Van Fleet, Paul Ovberg and James Longfield to lodge a class action suit against Trion for, among other things, false advertising and violation of consumer laws. The original lawsuit also muddied the waters by wedging in a lockbox gambling issue and has since been tangled up in determinations over the game’s EULA and TOU, which Trion had sought to use to force arbitration out of court. Last year, the suit was turned over to First District Court of Appeals as Trion appealed the lower court’s ruling against arbitration.

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