5/22 Korea Visit Debfrief and Pre-1.7B Livestream Recap

This week's livestream is hosted by:
Evan "Scapes" Berman, Senior Community Relations Manager,
Merv "Khrolan" Lee Kwai, Producer,
Amanda "Amary" Fry, Associate Producer.

General

• This is not a Q&A livestream
• Still, the community posted 15 pages of questions
• Trion will look those over for next week's Q&A livestream

Korea Visit

• Great visit
• Team had a lot of fun
• Got to meet more of the XL team
• Got a lot done
• Main point of visits
• Either Trion to KR
• Or XL to USA
• Is to go over game roadmap
• Talk about recent work
• Make sure both teams are on the same page
• One of the main talking points was
• What's coming for ArcheAge
• And the time frame for the updates
• Khrolan took notes he takes from the forums to XL
• Notes on player conerns
• Shared top 10 player concerns
• Demoed them to XL
• XL was very receptive of these concerns

Server Merges / Character Transfers

• XL is working on it
• Will be this year
• No exact date yet
• Merges on other Regions are currently handled like
• Lower pop servers get merged into a new server
• Everyone loses their land
• New character creation is turned off when the new server launches
• So that the characters that were transferred from their original server
• Get first land priority
• Will have a comprehensive guide to server merges and character transfers
• Before they release

May update (Pre-1.7B)

• Check out Patch Notes Here
• Showing some today on stream
• Available on live as early as Tuesday 5/26
• Current target date
• Not on PTS yet
• Still getting that together
• Trying to get things put together as quickly as possible
• Some additional content
• Trion wanted to get in before 1.7B
• Timber Coupe
• Not exactly like it was in Alpha
• Has 4 wheel drive
• Goes up hills better than the other cars
• Not as well as it was in Alpha
• Still pretty good
• Abilities
• R Boost with ecofuel
• T Jump Ability
• Y Barrel Roll
• Cost 1200 Gilda Stars 
• Get on Mirage Isle
• From Machining
• Normal Chassis, Tires, Drive Engine, and Design
• Added a conversion system from other cars
• Uses existing car scroll
• Build a new chassis
• Spend an additional 500 gilda stars
• Converts old car to Timber Coupe
• Longboards
• Base longboard doesn't go too fast
• You use a kick and push ability
• A lot faster downhill
• 15-18 m/s
• Can convert basic to Cogwheel Longboard
• With in game crafting
• And a marketplace item
• You don't have to kick
• It drives better
• Crafted with Artistry
• Base longboard
• Not too expensive
• Cogwheel longboard
• Craft the motor
• Cost 15 thunderstruck logs
• Plus additional components
• No tradepacks on longboards
• You can't stand on a longboard
• With a tradepack on
• Festival Period
• Like peace period
• So West can do event in peace
• Rum Runner River Rapids Event
• In Rookborne
• Fast Rapid River
• Craft a barrel
• Run down the river in the barrel
• Barrel has abilities
• Swerve left and right
• Dive under water
• Jump in the water
• Try to grab flags
• Earn river festival points
• Can earn 2 per day
• Can buy numerous things
• Swimwear
• Several different types
• Spirits and Alchohol
• Hangover Cure
• Cyanfin
• Cost a good amount of tokens
• Barrel Rider Title
• Carrot Wings
• Cost 47 tokens
• Carrot Dash with wings
• Has normal donkey abilities
• Same base speed as carrot dash
• Has a short duration glide-jump-hop thing
• 10 second cooldown
• 5 second usability
• Any level can partake in the event
• ~24 day length
• Crystallized Regret Fix
• Flying Squirrel Bomber Glider
• Similar to sloth glider
• T is the spin up that the sloth has
• Another is a dash forward while gliding
• An acorn bomb gets dropped
• Requires ammunition
• Does siege damage
• Similar to the thunderbolt glider
• Flying squirrel glider does slightly less damage

Devouring Depths (1.7B)

• End of June
• Leviathan
• Will include everything that we don't have yet
• That is in KR 1.7

2.0

• Just released in KR
• On the roadmap for this year for us
• Starting to get the build now
• Have parts of it

Honor Exploit

• Happened on last Sunday
• Once aware Trion got a fix out in around 6 hours
• One of the worst abused things Trion has seen so far in ArcheAge
• Getting harsh penalties
• Some people thought this wasn't a big deal and would not have a big penalty
• Some people saying punishment was too harsh
• Players don't have a good idea on that though
• Because all punishment is not shared publicly
• Lots of people worried too many players were banned
• In some smaller circles it seems like tons of players were banned
• On a game wide scale that isn't true
• It's just sample size
• If a bunch of players in your circle got banned for something
• It seems like a larger amount

Unsupported Gameplay vs Exploit

• Unsupported gameplay would be using mechanics in unintended ways
• Gain a player gets is relatively small
• Exploits
• The gains are a gross advantage
• As well as the means unintended
• If you discover something that seems broken
• Ask Trion
• Player feedback helps in this stuff
• Khrolan doesn't like banning players
• But in MMO's its going to have to happen sometimes

Growling Yawl

• Mentioned it in Korea
• Trion understands player feedback
• Appearance
• Functionality
• It's still in discussion right now
• Trion is working on it
• Unsure anything will change, though

Q&A

Any plans to increase family size?
Was brought up, but no plans to change right now. On a list of changes we'd like to have in NA.

Event Timing?
We are working on this. Our goal is to make it so the timing works out well and gives the widest spread of timing to the greatest amount of players. Right now it's a little too early for our west cost players, too late for the EU players. We will likely make events run a little more often. We like the River Rapids event because anyone can log in any anytime and participate in it.

Event Rewards, some lager guilds can get a monopoly on controlling the resources of the events.
This is a bit of an issue, it's why we haven't seen the nation system in NA. Because XL firmly believes that the nation system only further contributes to that problem. XL is working on fixes.

Iron Clad Damage?
Still in bug status, still being reviewed

Black Pearls (mats not ship), the drop rate is too rare, can we do anything?
Not only rare, but challenging. Lots of players are out there and even if you do find one it's probably on cooldown because lots of players are out there. Looking at other ways to introduce black pearls into the world. Korea had the same issue and they solved it by bringing in an event or some other avenue of getting black pearls out there. We will let you know because it will effect the value of them.

Mansion Cost?
Yep, 3000 Gilda. 44x44 size.

Achievement System missing lots of retroactive applications, any fix?
We are still looking into this. We have a thread on the forums looking for some directed feedback. We've been getting lots of really good and helpful feedback. We'll be taking info from this and going to XL with it and trying to find some creative solutions.

Danger status persistance on server restarts?
Talked about it, no update yet.

Reducing kill requirement to advance danger levels.
Tough one because each server has a different experience based on population and pvp. It's in discuttion right now.

Perceived faction imbalances on servers?
Said every game ever. We want to keep servers balanced. Will keep in mind when server transfers come in.

Kick ability is kicking captains off the wheel, is this intended?
If it's there you guys will find it. Probably not intended, in as a bug right now.

Ability Queue update?
Lots of challenges, wanted to ship it with Dread Prophecies. We encounter issues with it interacting with other systems. Trying to solve all the issues then it will be available.

Any skill rebalancing coming up?
1.8 should have some small tweaks.


Will do a more in depth Q&A next week.

ArcheAge Version 1.7 Build 6.2: Patch Notes

ArcheAge Version 1.7 Build 6.2: Patch Notes

Update notes for the Dread Prophecies May Content Update 5/26/2015 - NOTE: This content update occurs in preparation for the future Devouring Depths (1.7b) Update schedule for late June.

== VEHICLES ==
Added the Timber Coupe. Recipes can be found under Machining > Vehicles.
- The Timber Coupe Design can be purchased from Mirage Isle for 1,200 Gilda Stars.
- Added the recipe for "Crafted Vehicle Frame: Timber Coupe" to the Handicraft Kiln and Regal Handicraft Desk.
- Added a crafting method to upgrade the Apex Squall and Comet Speedster to the Timber Coupe under Machining > Vehicles.

Added the Longboard and Cogwheel Longboard. Recipes can be located under the Artistry profession.
- Added the recipe for the Cogwheel Motor.
- Added Longboard Achievements.

== EVENTS ==
The Rum Runner Rapids Event comes to Rookborne Basin until 6/16/2015! To get started, visit the event NPCs located in Rookborne Basin just south of Loka's Steps.
- Rookborne Basin and Windscour Savannah have been forced into peace for the duration of the event.
- Up to 3 River Festival Coins can be earned per day by completing event quests.
- Rewards can be purchased with River Festival Coins from the Festival Gift Exchanger.
- Players can craft two types of Barrels to participate in the event at the Barrel Workbench:
- Scroll: Strawberry Barrel (temporary, lasts 30 minutes)
- Scroll: Watermelon Barrel (permanent, can be used at water locations)

The Archeum Exchange Event has ended and Archeum Conversion recipes are no longer available at an Archeum Workbench.

== LOCALIZATION ==
Translations have been updated to the latest verison.
Applied new voiceover files.
Fixed the issue in certain Ship Component tooltips that listed the wrong ships to be attached to.
Corrected the damage bonus listed on the Concussive Arrow skill tooltip to read Ranged Attack +525% instead of Magic Attack +525%.

== MARKETPLACE ==
Coming this afternoon (PDT) to the Marketplace and Award tabs:

Treetop Archeum Supply Crate – Has a rare chance to contain the rare and reclusive Glider Companion: Squirrel. Available for 490 Credits.
- Important: Glider Companion: Squirrel is untradeable.
Glider Companion: Squirrel – A reclusive and adorable Squirrel Glider to accompany you on your journey through Erenor. Available for 350 Loyalty Tokens.
- Important: Glider Companion: Squirrel is untradeable.

Cogwheel Motor – Used to upgrade a Longboard to a Cogwheel Longboard. This item can also be crafted. Available for 2,000 Credits.

Majestic Tree – Place this item to create a large tree which can be logged 10 times for a large amount of logs. This item is also available from the vocation badge vendors. Available for 300 Credits.

Items leaving the Marketplace with this update:
Lord Cottontail’s Archeum Supply Crate
Lady Fluffsworth
Lady Fluffsworth Rabbit Package
Silver Tick-Tock Top Hat
White Blazer Rabbit Saddle
Silver Tick-Tock Legguards

Marketplace Update: Go Nuts with the All-New Squirrel Glider

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

Marketplace Update: Go Nuts with the All-New Squirrel Glider

May 26, 2015

The Marketplace has been updated! The reclusive and adorable Squirrel Glider lands in ArcheAge and is available as a rare drop from the all-new Treetop Archeum Supply Crate or on the Loyalty Store.

New Marketplace Items

• Treetop Archeum Supply Crate – Has a rare chance to contain the rare and reclusive Glider Companion: Squirrel. Available for 490 Credits.
  • Important: Glider Companion: Squirrel is untradeable.
• Lunar Scarecrow Farm – A 16×16 farm with the scarecrow located on the edge of the farm to provide more farming space. Available for 2,000 Credits.
  • Important: Limited to one per account.
  • Important: Property taxes for this farm are not affected by the amount of property owned by the player.
• Cogwheel Motor – Used to upgrade a Longboard to a Cogwheel Longboard. This item can also be crafted. Available for 2,000 Credits.
• Majestic Tree – Place this item to create a large tree which can be logged 10 times for a large amount of logs. This item is also available from the vocation badge vendors. Available for 300 Credits.

New Award Items

• Solar Scarecrow Farm – A 16×16 farm with the scarecrow located on the edge of the farm to provide more farming space. This item functions the same as a Lunar Scarecrow Farm that is available for Credits. This farm is available for 300 Gilda Stars and purchased through the Marketplace under “Award” and the sub-category “Gilda Star”.
  • Important: Limited to one per account.
  • Important: Property taxes for this farm are not affected by the amount of property owned by the player.
• Glider Companion: Squirrel – A reclusive and adorable Squirrel Glider to accompany you on your journey through Erenor. Available for 350 Loyalty Tokens.
  • Important: Glider Companion: Squirrel is untradeable.

Items removed from the Marketplace

• Lord Cottontail’s Archeum Supply Crate
• Lady Fluffsworth
• Lady Fluffsworth Rabbit Package
• Silver Tick-Tock Top Hat
• White Blazer Rabbit Saddle
• Silver Tick-Tock Legguards

Discuss this article on the forums.

Rum Runner Rapids Event

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

Rum Runner Rapids Event Coming Soon

May 22, 2015

Summer is almost here, along with one of Haranya’s most raucous celebrations: the annual Rum Runner Rapids event! Join the natives of Rookborne Basin and Windscour Savannah as they reenact the daring deeds of an infamous band of booze smugglers. Whitewater rapids, liberal libations, and barrel-bouncing fun all await you in this summertime festival coming soon for a limited time.

During Rum Runner Rapids, you can construct colorful casks to use in a series of good-natured races down the roaring Loka River. Once waterborne, you can bounce and jostle for position, maneuvering through rapids and around boulders as you collect your checkpoint flags en route to a daring drop straight off the towering Loka Falls. Those who break their barrels may be mocked – as is tradition – but the sodden souls who reach the bottom will be richly rewarded!

Successfully completing this daily event grants River Festival Coins that you can exchange for a variety of prizes. Stylish swimwear, housing decor, and a unique title are all available, plus a selection of stout refreshments and the event’s whimsical star: Carrot Wings, a donkey who dreams of flight.

So grab a barrel, bring some friends, and prepare to get soaked in the one-and-only Rum Runner Rapids!

Discuss this article on the forums.

5/15 Q&A Livestream Recap

The main differences between this and the transcript (found here) is this is much, much shorter, and it's separated into categories. The transcript was done chronologically. The questions have been mostly left untouched.

This week's livestream is hosted by:
Evan "Scapes" Berman, Senior Community Relations Manager.

General

XL Games Visit

• Everyone from the production team went
• Everyone who's ever been on stream
• And some who haven't
• Were gone about a week and a half
• Probably a work week in Korea + travel time
• The team is still traveling back
• A full debrief will happen on the next livestream

1.7B

• Have a name
• Not announced yet
• Pushed to early June
• A lot of content to test
• New Zone
• Mirrar Tundra
• Reached via worldgate
• In Karkasse Ridgelands
• Has a daily kill quest
• Ice Fishing
• More info below
• Leviathan
• New ocean raid boss
• GIGANTIC
• Found using sea monster finder
• Once killed
• Drag him back to Diamond Shores
• Sinch him up on a massive fish hook
• Really cool to see
• New Medium boat
• Called the brigandteen
• New housing
• Large Mansion
• Large Bungalow
• More 1.7B info next week

Pre-1.7B

• Patch coming before 1.7B
• Needs a better name
• On PTS next week
• No hard launch date yet
• New event
• River Barrel Event
• Potentially could have
• Timber Coupe
• Longboards
• Still up in the air

ArcheAge 2.0

• XL just put up info on their site
• Trion will talk more about it
• After it launches in Korea
• Would be premature to do so now
• Trion is excited about 2.0
• More info after the debrief next week

Server Transfers

• Major topic of discussion with XL
• Narrowing down the time frame
• Still missing full details
• Want to get them out as soon as possible
• More details when it gets closer to being ready

5/15 Q&A Livestream Transcript

This week's livestream was hosted solo by Scapes. This is my best attempt at transcribing the livestream. This is not a perfect transcription, some filler words were left out, but the majority of it is as close to word for word as I could get. Some parts may be a word or two off, but the message is unchanged.

I will not likely be doing this again because it's a lot more tedious than just taking the notes. For those that want a shorter version I'll take notes tomorrow and post a Recap similar to my normal format.

If you want to watch the livestream check it out here, there was an error with the stream so it's cut into two separate vods.
Part 1
Part 2


Intro: Hey there, we're getting started a few minutes early, but hey, lets get it started. Whats up? So, as I think a lot of you may have noticed, the team is AFK. Really, really far AFK, you know, like Korea. Which means I get to take over the live stream. So what we're doing is a full Q&A from forums and I did get some insight on how the trip went and how things are going. This is the ArcheAge stream. I do have updates, not just about your questions, of which there were many [holds up several pieces of paper], but I have some details on, not only, 1.7B, but also what we're temporarily calling pre-1.7B for lack of a better name. Basically, we will have a patch that hits before 1.7B. And before I go into too many details on that, let me pull up some really cool youtube videos since dread prophecies launched. Quick thanks to the video creators. Thank you for making these cool videos since dread prophecies went live. I'm going to play these so it's not just me talking or me trying to drive the game and answer questions. I'm already seeing a lot of question and don't worry, we are going to get to them, first up, though is

The XL Games Visit:
Everyone from the production team, we're talking Merv, Amanda, Scott, James, everyone who's ever been on stream, and some who have not, have all been over at XL Games for the last week or so, maybe week and a half. They've been talking about everything that's been happening since Dread Prophecies and also what's coming next. This is not going to be a debrief because they're not here, it's going to just be me. Instead we'll do a full debrief next Friday, and that's because they are literally flying back right now. I think Merv just landed back in California a few hours ago, a bit of jet lag.

1.7B, Pre-1.7B, longboard, timber coupe:
We'll also dive a bit more into 1.7B proper and actually we do have a name for it but I don't think we're announcing it quite yet, so I'm going to hold off until that point. Something that we had not talked about is that there will be a pre 1.7B patch with multiple features and what's cool about this is it's actually going to be up on PTS next week, is the current estimate, but we haven't set a hard date for it yet. 1.7B itself is actually going to be in early June now, it's just a lot of content to test and get through, the team's already doing QA and working on it. What's pre-1.7B is, and we really do need a better name for that, is absolutely going to have a new event. A lot of people have been asking about dragon event, they've been asking about previously events, will divine gifts come back, the answer is that yes, we do have events coming up, more than we've already shown. This is called river barrel events. It'll probably get a better name, this one is you are in a barrel and you are going down a river. There's going to be a long and a short version and you are going to be trying to grab flags as you are floating down a river in a barrel, there's a 2 minute and a 5 minute version. The 5 minute version is a lot harder. You have guide your barrel to the edge of the river and try and dodge waterfalls and stuff, the better you do it's going to be earning you special tokens that then can be turn into a commemorative vendor, probably the one in mirage isle, for cosmetics like swimwear and trophies, there will also be special consumables with lets just say interesting effects, because if you are in a barrel rolling down a river what else would you be drinking? [Seems to be implying alcohol] What's cool is that even after this event is over there are temporary barrels that can be used for the event which are craftable, there is also a permanent version which will be craftable and apparently when this event hit in in Korea it was really popular and what people would do is harpoon a clipper to the barrel and then jet ski the barrel behind the clipper so I'm really curious to see what people do with that, it should be a lot of fun. Please barrel responsibly, yeah, that's advisable. While it's still up in the air, Pre-1.7B could include both the longboard and the timber coupe. The longboard will come in two variants, both a wooden and a cogwheel longboard, I wish I had images for it, I don't, sorry. When we actually get closer to releasing this on PTS we'll have more specifics on how they operate and the abilities and stuff like that. The timber coupe has not been balanced as nearly as hard as some people thought, it did take time to balance it so it wasn't going straight up hills, but it will not be nearly as reduced in power as we once inferred. Yes, the coupe will be available no longer for vocation tokens, but for gilda stars. I don't have a final number for the cost on it, and unfortunately we do not have the ability for people to swap their cars, I know there's been questions on that previously, and I'm sorry for that. What is cool is that pre 1.7B is just a little bit of content to tide us over until 1.7B proper comes out in early June. That is what I have one 1.7B.

ArcheAge 2.0:
We know XL Games just put out a whole lot of information, some videos, a lot of people getting really excited about what they are seeing in 2.0. We're going to talk more about what is in 2.0 and when it's coming over here after it launches in Korea. To do so now would be a little premature as we're still a couple of weeks away from 1.7B. Don't worry, we saw the announcement too and we're really excited about it, but we're going to have details about that after the debrief livestream which is going to focus more on 1.7B which is going to happen next Friday.

XLGAMES on Developing and Playing ArcheAge

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

XLGAMES on Developing and Playing ArcheAge

The Trion Worlds ArcheAge Team is visiting XLGAMES in Seoul, Korea this week to discuss your feedback on the latest changes with Dread Prophecies and what’s coming to the game next! Meanwhile, we’ve published the following pre-visit interview with two of the developers, Producer Yi Kwangro andDesign Team Manager Ham Yongjin.

What do you typically do when you play ArcheAge?

Yongjin: I usually engage in mass PvP such as the Halcyona War and Mistmerrow, and spend the rest of my time trading or sport fishing to afford better gear and other items on the Auction House.

What’s the most difficult decision you’ve made when working on ArcheAge?

Kwangro: There really hasn’t been a single decision that was easy to make. That being said, the topics we dwell on the most are economy, faction balances, and finding the right balance between casual and hardcore players. These are difficult because a decision usually improves things for one group of players while leaving another group worse off. I’d say finding a solution that makes everyone happy is the most difficult aspect of developing.

How do you think North American ArcheAge players differ from Korean players?

Kwangro: Korean players tend to see character growth and becoming stronger as the most important goal. We think the North American players enjoy gameplay diversity, adventure, and experience more in comparison.

No livestream this week

In case anyone was looking for the livestream recap this week, well, there was no ArcheAge specific livestream, see below for details.

Break Into the Industry Livestream: May 8 at 2:30 PM PDT

May 7, 2015

With the ArcheAge Team traveling to Korea this Friday to visit developer XLGAMES, the Community Team has taken over the weekly livestream! Join Director of Community Relations Linda “Brasse” Carlson and Human Resources Ninja Hope McGeathy on the Trion Worlds Twitch channel to learn how to break into the game industry.

Break Into the Industry Livestream: May 8 at 2:30 PM PDT
Twitch Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/trionworlds
Start Time: Friday, May 8 at 2:30 PM PDT (GMT-7)
Duration: 45-60 minutes

Stick around until the end for a chance to win in our weekly ArcheAge in-game loot giveaway. See you on Twitch!

Discuss this article on the forums.

Omen of Dread Prophecies Screenshot Winners!

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

Omen of Dread Prophecies Screenshot Contest Results

May 8, 2015

The results of our Omen of Dread Prophecies Screenshot Contest are in! Here are the ten winners from left to right: Barney, Caia, Elaeagnus, Leg, Pentokrator, Pinnochio, Sairu, Tanerinn, Twilight Sparkle, and ZeromanceR with an Honorable Mention to Chocolatte.

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to our winners who have each earned a treasure trove of ship components and thanks to everyone who entered this contest! Prizes will be sent to the winners via Private Message on the forums this week. We’re looking forward to hosting more contests in the future!

Discuss this article on the forums.

Marketplace Update: Sail in Style with All-New Wavewyrm Costumes

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

Marketplace Update: Sail in Style with All-New Wavewyrm Costumes

May 7, 2015

The Marketplace has been updated! Outfits worn by the crew of the legendary pirate ship, Wavewyrm, have been added to the Marketplace and Loyalty Store. Sail in style with four different versions of this costume, each comes complete with an eyepatch for the authentic pirate look.

New Marketplace Items

• Wavewyrm Treasure Chest: Has a rare chance to contain one of two new outfits worn by the crew of the legendary Wavewyrm pirate ship, Abyssal Wavewyrm Costume or Ivory Wavewyrm Costume. Available for 420 Credits.
• Important: Wavewyrm Treasure Chest, Abyssal Wavewyrm Costume, and Ivory Wavewyrm Costume are untradeable.

• Coral Wavewyrm Costume: A tan/peach colored version of the Wavewyrm Costume. Available for 2500 Credits.

• Labor Potion Package: A selection of the finest bound labor potions for the labor potion connoisseur! Includes five 1000 Labor Pots and five 500 Labor Pots. Limited to one purchase per account. Available for 1250 Credits.

• Provisions Pack: A selection of potions, tonics, and fine cuisine for the new adventurer. Limited to one purchase per account. Available for 100 Credits.

• Daru Plushie Pet: An adorable new plushie pet to keep you company through your travels in Erenor. Available for 1500 Credits.

• Undersea Goggles: Can only be worn by plushie pets. Provides the owner with 5% decreased underwater gathering time when the plushie pet is nearby. Available for 500 Credits.

• Ducky Flippers: Can only be worn by plushie pets. Provides the owner with 3% increased swim speed when the plushie pet is nearby. Available for 500 Credits.

• Language Proficiency Spellbook: Temporarily grants 10,000 proficiency to both continental languages for 7 days. Available for 500 Credits.

New Loyalty Token Items

• Armored Wavewyrm Costume: A blue colored version of the Wavewyrm Costume. Available for 300 Loyalty Tokens.

Removed Marketplace Items

• Devilish Chest
• Angelic Whisper Costume

Discuss this article on the forums.

Dread Prophecies Spotlight: Sea of Graves and Abyssal Attack

Originally Posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

Dread Prophecies Spotlight: Sea of Graves and Abyssal Attack

Just northwest of Freedich Isle lies a stretch of ocean where even the most seasoned pirates fear to sail. Its dark waters swirl with an unnatural current, and the skies are blackened by a constant storm. Every rock and jagged pillar that juts up from the waves is piled high with the broken ships of those who came before. These grim monoliths of wood and stone are what give the place its name: the Sea of Graves.

Terror from the Deep

In Dread Prophecies, you can piece together the history of the Sea of Graves and the evil that is contained within. This story culminates in a daily event called the Abyssal Attack, in which dark forces summon an Abyssal Kraken to destroy the holy statue that keeps them at bay. Successfully defending this tower (known as Ezi’s Light) can yield great rewards, but earning them – and keeping them – is more difficult than it seems.

When the Abyssal Attack begins, players from all three factions (Nuians, Haranyans, and Pirates) will receive a notice that Ezi’s Light is under assault. You can then sail to the Sea of Graves and attempt to destroy the Abyssal Kraken. But keep in mind, your enemies will be trying to do the same thing. Whether you work together for this stage or fight the Kraken and opposing factions at the same time will be entirely up to you – and your fellow players!

Battle for Whirlpool Island

Two things happen when the Kraken is destroyed. First, a series of chests containing Ship Component Regrade Scrolls float to the surface. These chests can be claimed by anyone, so the crew who slays the kraken would do well to keep an eye out for scavengers. Second, a holy beacon appears on the island at the base of Ezi’s Light. Any faction that is able to channel into this beacon for 5 uninterrupted minutes will succeed in repairing Ezi’s Light and gain control of the Whirlpool Island on which it stands – but this, too, is no easy task!

Other factions are able to interrupt a repair attempt by attacking the central island directly or destroying any of the three Ocean Guardstones that appear throughout the Sea of Graves. If you hope to repair Ezi’s Light, you will need to protect the beacon and the Guardstones from enemies on opposing factions.

Sea of Rewards

For a well-coordinated navy, the prize for repairing Ezi’s Light is well worth the risk. Once you restore it to its former glory, two enormous nodes of Abyssal Crystal will appear on Whirlpool Island, as well as a pair of powerful cannons to help you defend your newfound wealth. These crystals can be mined up to 300 times to create valuable Trade Packs that can be turned in to an Ocean Trader for 70 gold each. Any player can make and deliver multiple Trade Packs (with a 5-minute cooldown on mining the required crystals), allowing for a potentially huge payday.

In addition, repairing Ezi’s Light summons a holy standard at both Whirlpool Island and your faction’s primary port. This standard grants a buff to any member of your (winning) faction, improving key abilities in every skill tree and increasing shelling damage for 3 hours.

And believe us – you’re going to need it! Because any player (from any faction) can mine the Abyssal Crystals, the final stage of Abyssal Attack is a desperate attempt to maintain control of the central island while loading up your ships. Add in the fact that each player can only mine the crystals once every five minutes, and you have a recipe for an extended – and bloody – ocean melee.

Whether you’re trying to control Whirlpool Island, escape safely with your Trade Packs, or catch your enemies on their way to port, your faction will need to work together at its very best if you want to reap the rewards of this massive ocean PvP event!

Discuss this article on the forums.

5/1 Livestream Recap

This week's livestream is hosted by:
Producer Merv “Khrolan” Lee Kwai,
Associate Producer Amanda “Amary” Fry,
and Community Manager Evan "Scapes" Berman

General

• Crystallized Regrets
• Earned from Serpentis Dungeon
• Use them to evolve into other abyssal shards / abyssal crystals
• Use those to upgrade Serpentis weapons
• People saved them to use on Obsidian armor
• Ended up that the older version of the Crystallized Regrets became "somewhat unusable"
• This did not meet player expectations
• Trion took player feedback and had a discussion with XL about it
• XL agreed this was not an "optimal experience"
• Trying to keep the new drops as they are while fixing the old version
• Current drops from Serpentis are going to stay the way they are
• They've noted feedback that drops are low and are watching
• Old drops are going to change in 1.7B (they know, it's a ways off)
• If you deleted them or vendored them because they became unusable
• Trion is going to look to get them back to you when 1.7B ships
• Achievement System
• A lot of achievements didn't retroactively auto complete
• Some simple, basic ones
• And some that generally only happen once
• This is Trion's top priority right now
• They are looking into ways to get more of the ones players have completed to them
• Achievements is a complex system so they missed some
• Exploration has some similar problems they are looking into
• Feedback helps with this so they know where to look for fixes
• Patch Notes
• Lots of ninja patch notes in 1.7A
• Missing notes
• XL Games creates the game and gives Trion the patch notes
• Patch notes are in Korean
• If translated wrong or read wrong then a mistake can be made
• Lots of places small mistakes can happen
• NA/EU is 9 months behind KR
• Sometimes changes are made and missed by XL
• Lots of additional patch notes were added during PTS testing
• Thanks to feedback
• Halycona
• Changes mostly because there are lots of new events.
• Mistmerrow
• Freedich gold trader
• etc
• They wanted people to focus on other events
• Trion has an open issue with XL to see if conflict is supposed to last so long
• Pretty sure peace is supposed to be that long
• Mistmerrow
• The battles are infrequent
• Timing is not that good for multiple timezones
• Start a discussion of the forums if you want to give more feedback
• About making them happen more frequently
• Khrolan's suggestion
• Language
• Another unexpected change
• Trion is looking to get it changed back
• From letters back to symbols
• Spreading Flames Event
• May 7 - May 10 will be the last days
• Could bring the event back later this year
• Trion is hoping so
• Dread Prophecies screenshot contest
• Results should be posted this week