Black Friday Sale, New Marketplace Items, New Bear Mount & Sea Turtle Pet

Black Friday Savings Come to ArcheAge!

November 26, 2014

Black Friday savings are coming to ArcheAge with many of the Marketplace items available at 20% off for a limited time! See below for full list of items.

New Marketplace Items
The Fleetpaw Bjorne mount and Sea Turtle battle pet will also be available during the sale event. Roll in style with your very own brown bear mount or summon a ferocious turtle to fight by your side!

The Farm Hauler upgrade ticket is available now in the Marketplace. The upgrade ticket along with the Farm Wagon can be crafted together to obtain the Farm Hauler which has two additional slots for Trade Packs and increased movement speed.

Black Friday Sale Items

• Character Slot Scroll
• Gender Swap Certificate
• Salon Certificate
• All Plushies
• All Glider Customizations
• All Picture Frames
• All Dyes
• Royal’s Disguise
• Rags of the Spoonlord
• Mirage Elk
• Mirage Leomorph
• Mirage Snowlion
• Browntail Leomorph
• Blacktail Leomorph
• Green Elk
• Violet Elk
• Sandmane Snowlion
• Snowmane Snowlion
• Grey Donkey
• Brown Donkey
• White Donkey
• Yata
• Kiwi Splash Bikini Top
• Kiwi Splash Bikini Bottoms
• Kiwi Splash Shorts
• Fiery Bikini Top
• Fiery Bikini Bottoms
• Fiery Swim Shorts
• Black Pearl Swim Briefs
• Flirty Flip-Flops
• Island Time Flip-Flops
• Sassy Straw Hat
• Mystery Man Fedora
• Peppermint Bracelet
• Spearmint Bracelet
• Applemint Bracelet
• Doublemint Bracelet
• Gun-Show Tank
• Blue Gun-Show Tank
• Kiwi Splash Button Short-sleeve
• Crisp Button Short-Sleeve
• Classic Jeggings
• Blush Jeggings
• Chartreuse Jeggings
• Azure Jeggings
• Snowbunny Jeggings
• Slate Jeggings
• Redtoe Sneakers
• Bluetoe Sneakers
• Blacktoe Sneakers
• Black Pearl Sneakers
• Burlap Sneakers
• Skywalker Sneakers
• Sunkissed Sneakers
• Ivory Sneakers
• Crest Cube
• Crest Column
• White Crest Long-Sleeve Tee
• White Crest T-Shirt
• Customizable Blockhead
• Customizable Mask
• Beribboned Customizable Blockhead
• White Freedom Flag

Under Siege: Attacking and Defending Castles

Under Siege: Attacking and Defending Castles

November 20, 2014

Prepare for WAR!

The very first castle sieges are set to happen this weekend!

• Siege Scrolls are available now on the Auction House for Heedmar and Nuimari, whose sieges start on Sunday, November 23 at 1:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM GMT.
• Siege Scrolls for Marcala and Calmlands will be on the Auction House on November 26 at 2:30 PM PST / 10:30 PM GMT. Their sieges start on Sunday, November 30 at 1:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM GMT.

Declaring Siege

Each Siege Scroll will be available for bidding on the Auction House for 48 hours after its posting. The scrolls are timed items and must be used by a Guild Leader to declare siege before they expire. To declare a siege, right-click on a Siege Scroll (where you’d like the siege to start) in its specified zone. Once placed 250m away or further from the opposition’s Archeum Lodestone, it becomes the respawn point for the attackers during the ensuing siege.

Storming the Castle

To claim victory, Attackers must destroy the Defenders’ Archeum Lodestone and then convert the destroyed Lodestone to their own before the siege timer expires.

• The Defenders will be victorious if they can prevent their Archeum Lodestone from being converted. Purifying Archeum is not required to convert the Archeum Lodestone during a siege.
• Defensive fortifications such as castle walls and gates reduce the amount of damage the Archeum Lodestone receives.

Reporting for Duty

Both the Attackers’ respawn point and the Archeum Lodestone have a siege perimeter that only designated participants can enter (everyone else will be removed).

• At the start of a siege, Defenders within the castle limits stay where they are, and those located outside the castle limits (but within the Siege perimeter) are transported to the Defender respawn location.
• All attackers are transported to the Attacker’s respawn location.

Guild Leaders can designate which ranks can participate by using the “Siege Participation Open” checkbox in the Permissions tab of the Guild menu. Once a Siege begins, the game will select from the eligible participants for Attackers and Defenders up to the allotted limits within the siege perimeter based upon the following priority and criteria:

1. Guild Leader and Commanders
2. Character Power – Based on level, stats, attack power, and defense

Those who do not qualify for the initial selection are transported out of the siege perimeter when it begins.

Attackers begin with a full-size army of 70 participants, while Defenders can only field 50 members for the first 20 minutes. Guilds that own two zones begin with 45 members, and those that own three or four zones begin with 40 members. After twenty minutes, additional Defenders will be able to join the siege to bring the total number up to 70.

Best of luck to all attackers and defenders!

Discuss this article on the forums.

Official ArcheAge Hallowtide Weekend Screenshot Contest Results

ArcheAge Hallowtide Weekend Screenshot Contest Results

November 14, 2014

Hallowtide may be over but we still have the screenshot contest results to announce! The ArcheAge Team has reviewed amazing entries in both categories of this contest: Category A is Hallowtide Characters and Environments and Category B is Hallowtide Houses and Farms. And now, we’re proud to announce the winners!

In Category A, from left to right: Yvaine, Atamillia, ExeNicT, Triggerhappy, Shad0wFox.

Category A: Hallowtide Characters and Environments

 

 

And in Category B, from left to right: Thyalt, Super Nova, Sayura, Azrakel, Maerina.

Category B: Hallowtide Houses and Farms

 

 

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who entered this contest! Prizes will be sent to the winners via Private Message on the forums next week. We’re looking forward to hosting more in the future.

Discuss this article on the forums.

ArcheAge Patch Notes Version 1.2 Build 4.15

originally posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

ArcheAge Updating to Version 1.2 Build 4.15
November 13, 2014

Adventurers,

ArcheAge is updating to Version 1.2 Build 4.15! The patch notes can be found below.

AURORIA
* The Auroria siege schedule has been changed to start sooner!
* Sieges tokens will be listed on the Auction House every three weeks at 2:30 PM PST / 10:30 PM GMT followed by the siege declaration 48 hours later when the auction ends. Sieges themselves will begin four days after the siege token is listed on the Auction House at 1:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM GMT with mutual hostile status being set for the attacking and defending guilds 30 minutes prior to the siege beginning.
* The first siege tokens for Heedmar and Nuimari will be going up on the Auction House next Wednesday, November 19 at 2:30 PM PST / 10:30 PM GMT with the siege starting on Sunday, November 23 at 1:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM GMT.
* The first siege tokens for Marcala and Calmlands will be going up on the Auction House on Wednesday, November 26 at 2:30 PM PST / 10:30 PM GMT with the siege starting on Sunday, November 30 at 1:00 PM PST / 9:00 PM GMT.
* While these are currently set as universal times for both NA and EU, we are looking into being able to set the time for each region individually. We’ll have an update on this by next Wednesday. That said, we will do everything within our power to ensure that the first Heedmar/Nuimari and Marcala/Calmlands times announced in these patch notes do not change: players can plan their gameplay time based on them.
* Learn more about sieges!

INTERFACE
* The chat filter has been improved to detect more instances and methods of spam. Help this learning filter detect new patterns by using the “report spam” function (available by right-clicking on the offending user’s name)!

MISC
* HackShield’s unwarranted force-disconnections have been curbed by reducing the number of false-positives it generates. Previous false-positive force-disconnections have not resulted in false-positive bans.
* New, additional anti-hacking detection has been introduced with this build. As a reminder, examples of hacking include but aren’t limited to using illicit third-party software, modifying the game client, or intercepting packets between server and client.

This update is less than 200 MB and will be available for download via Glyph during the announced EU and NA server outages. Please visit our Server Status forum for details.

For the latest developments, be sure to visit our Launch FAQ and Known Issuesthreads.

Discuss this article on the forums.

Scapes on Rumbling Archeum Trees and Trion's Control over the Marketplace

originally posted by Trion Scapes (view source)

As we’ve mentioned in the past, we review and discuss the contents of each Marketplace update with the game’s developer, with the goal of getting to a place that will work for both our audience and the developer’s game balance goals for the product. As with any healthy partnership, there’s a lot of back-and-forth in these discussions.

In this case, the developer’s desire was an honest one to help make farm carts slightly less rare. We absolutely agreed with that as a goal too. So, where’d it go wrong?

We were aware that the logs were one potential outcome of the Rumbling Archeum Tree Saplings. We had mistakenly assumed they would be far more rare and dangerous to acquire than they were in reality. Our incorrect assumption was that they would have a high requirement of rare, dangerous, and time consuming resources and would require more time needed to grow. We felt that if they came in as a rare/time consuming thing, people would perceive them as a slight bonus, a genuine part of gameplay, and we did not expect them to enter the game in sufficient numbers to impact the economy.

From our point of view, there are a couple things that we need to do better for you in the future.

While we do perform functionality tests on the Marketplace updates as we receive them (such as buying every item, making sure items are received, and making sure billing is correct), we have not been in a position to do as deep of gameplay impact testing as we would like. We absolutely need to test these more thoroughly with players on a Public Test Server to make sure our collective assumptions align with reality. This server is in the process of being spun up right now.

We need to be in a position to share more of the WHY behind changes, ahead of time, which we’re currently working on with the developer. Then, the instant we get wind of a balance change that may impact people’s time investment in a negative way, we need to be certain to call it out well ahead of time. The last thing we ever want to do is surprise people with something that negatively impacts them. We know enough from running our own games how bad of an idea bad surprises are.

While we have said that “we manage the Marketplace” in the past, those statements have been perceived as if we have exclusive control: to be clear, that is not the case.

The way it works is essentially this: we agree on Marketplace update dates with the developer a month or two ahead of time. Then for content and pricing, we make suggestions, they make suggestions, and we reach an agreement. The developer does the development and in the days before a Marketplace update, we receive a compiled Marketplace file with the content fully built and a build of the game that contains the items in the Marketplace. We then perform the aforementioned functionality tests on the Marketplace and deploy it to you on the day it’s supposed to go live.

While we don’t have exclusive control over the contents of the Marketplace, we do have exclusive control of is how well or poorly the communication between us goes regarding changes that are coming in. We definitely feel that we fell far short in investigating and communicating and you do have our apologies for that.

That is why we’re pushing so hard on a Public Test Server for you right now and look forward to working with you there in the near future, even if it means updates may need a little more time to bake as we evaluate future deliveries there together.

ArcheAge Producer Update #4: Auroria, Land, Sieges, and looking forward

originally posted by Trion FireCait(view source)

Hi, everyone – We wanted to get you an update on all that’s important before the week was out.

Auroria’s Release

We know how much many of you prepared for, and were looking forward to, Auroria this week. Like you, we do wish it would have gone more smoothly. For those who aren’t aware, there was a communications bug in our build that included the Auroria release. This bug was causing disconnections in the North America release. We caught and fixed it before Europe saw it.

For those of you who were affected by it: You deserve better, plain and simple. We share your disappointment. We’re working hard to make sure something like that can’t happen ever again.

Unfortunately, it was a bug that only shows up at full, live scale. We test builds over multiple days internally, and this one never reared its ugly head. We wish as much as you do that it would have, so we could have caught it early.

As a result, by the time Auroria shipped in North America, the servers were steadily around 80% of the population we would have expected. The game was playable; it just wasn’t at all the smooth experience it was supposed to be. For that we apologize, and we promise to do better.

The disconnection bug initially presented as if it was a problem with the systems that are used to patch files to your computer, systems which are under our management. Like most developers, we immediately assumed the problem was on our side, and not a problem in the game itself. At the time, we were confident that that was where the problem lay, because the game tested out perfectly well in prior days. That was our error. Words don’t exist to describe how sorry we are for missing that diagnosis.

By the time the bug was properly diagnosed, people had already made significant progress. The Auroria build itself was so complex that there was no reasonable way to go backwards to give everyone a second try. Even pausing the action by suspending the servers would not have changed the outcome at that point.

Among the things that we’re doing to avoid this in the future, we have accelerated our plans for a Public Test Server. It will be in place before the next major build is released. While we can’t guarantee that it would have caught this issue, we know that it would have had a higher chance of happening there, and as such, getting that new Test Server out there is among our highest priorities. Stay tuned over the next couple weeks for updates on the new Test Server.

Auroria’s Land

During the release we were supervising the land claims using both modern and old-school methods - watching data in real time, as well as monitoring activities on servers ourselves and investigating as people were being called out on servers. It was important to us to make sure that our recent protections against people using 3rd party software have been working. We’re happy to report that, by and large, they have been.

I won’t link to the hacker forums here, but those of you who read them have seen that the two biggest 3rd party programs were taken offline with the release of Auroria. We apologize for not being able to announce that ahead of time. We’re happy to say that now, instead of solely being reactive to them and banning them after the fact, we’re also able to protect against them before they can do any harm.

How did the land work out? There are tens of thousands of new, legitimate land owners in ArcheAge.

There were under 20 people, out of everyone online that day, globally, who ended up with more land claims than would have been reasonable. The overwhelming majority of land was claimed by to people just like you, who play the game legitimately and are here to be great members of the ArcheAge community. We were able to verify many as being guilds who coordinated extremely well. We are continuing to investigate the rest, and will action and remove their gains as necessary.

While this was an important positive step, the fight continues. There will be more tools built in to the client over the coming days and weeks to handle illicit modding as well as protect against future potential hacks. Keep in mind that we generally are only able to talk about them once they’ve launched and have proven effective, as giving bad actors a heads up as to what’s coming specifically often reduces the effectiveness of the things we do. Stay tuned for those releases!

In general, we do ask that you keep in mind that bad actors remain a minuscule fraction of the entire Archeage population. The majority of what we investigated as reports of “hacks” or “illegal land grabs” were people playing legitimately and coordinating well by maximizing their use of in-game classes, strategies, and tools available - which is much of what a winning strategy in ArcheAge is.

As ArcheAge is a competitive game, we know that missing out hurts more than in a typical PvE game, but very few of what people report or perceive as “hacks” actually turn out to be that. More people understanding that will only help the game’s community in the long term.

What Worked Well

On a more positive note, we’ve heard from many of you that the play was exactly what you had been hoping for, and that you did get to experience some of the best gameplay that ArcheAge has to offer.

We saw rival guilds work together to hold chokepoints against hundreds of people. We saw honor guards sacrifice themselves to protect their miners in the race to mine the Anya veins. We saw massive player-driven politics and team-based PvP exactly as it’s supposed to play out. We saw pirates band together to help out “the little guy” guild in the face of what would otherwise have been overwhelming opposition.

The best part about that, is this kind of play has only just begun.

The Era of the Siege Dawns

We know some guilds feel like they missed out on the chance to get their castle. But the whole point of ArcheAge’s siege system is that castles can be taken.

Soon the Siege Declarations for every claimed zone will appear on the auction house. Those guilds powerful enough (and wealthy enough) to bid on them will compete for the right to lay siege to whichever castle they choose. And then the real fun begins.

This is the high-level pvp we’ve been waiting for. There is no zerg strategy in siege. You think your crew is worth a dozen of theirs? This is your chance to prove it. To sweeten the deal, you’ll be fighting for the most important prize of all: land, and all the benefits that come from its ownership.

Surrounding each guild’s Archeum Lodestone is a special housing area, known as a castle area. It is reserved for the ruling guild to place their houses and construct their fortifications. If you take the lodestone in a siege, the castle zone is yours… along with all the land inside. The Lord of each castle gains the right to destroy unwanted houses in that area, making room for his or her loyal guildmates, and forcing the defeated army out into the cold.

This means that a large housing area in each claimable zone is ALWAYS there for the taking—assuming you have the strength to do so.
Keep stockpiling your stone and lumber. Keep those Anya ingots handy. And prepare for the best that ArcheAge has to offer.
The real fight is just beginning.

Two Other Updates

We also have updates for you on a couple other topics that we know you care about – Spam and Patron Discounts.

In additional good news, Trion’s learning spam filter also arrived in this build of ArcheAge. You can report spammers in game, as you always should have been able to, and the system will learn how to smartly block them over time. Many of you have noticed this and have been reporting away, and we definitely appreciate it. Keep feeding that filter – it’s hungry for your clicks! It takes a week or so to learn, and we look forward to being that much closer to a spam-free future. This was the last big step to getting there.

And lastly, the 10% patron discount will take effect in the form of a 10% bonus to Credit Pack purchases beginning later today. In addition, the 10% bonus credits from any Credit Packs purchases made after Head Start while you were a patron will be granted later today. This is something we’re able to roll out independently, without adding more workload on the game’s developer. As such, we’ve agreed that this is the best way to get a great benefit into your hands as rapidly as possible. Details on how this will work and the reasoning around it will be elsewhere in the forums soon.

Thank you very much, and we really appreciate your patronage in ArcheAge!

- Victoria

Thunderstruck News: 10% Bonus Credits for Patrons (Retroactive)

originally posted by Trion Scapes(view source)

Introducing 10% Bonus Credits for Patrons

Adventurers,

A few months ago when we first discussed the ArcheAge Patron Program, a 10% discount on Marketplace purchases was mentioned as a perk of being a Patron. While an "after launch" caveat was included in this perk, both XLGAMES and Trion Worlds have determined that the time to develop this perk would be significant, delaying the benefit to our Patrons longer than we're comfortable with. Instead, we will be implementing an equitable solution that Trion Worlds can execute on its own.

Today, all Patrons who purchased Credit Packs after Head Start began (September 12) will get a 10% bonus of those sums granted to their accounts. This bonus will only apply to accounts that purchased Credit Packs after their Patron Time was purchased, are in good standing (not banned, no chargebacks), and have not had their Patron Time or Credit Pack purchase refunded. It does not apply to the Credits from the Founder's Pack and Starter Pack packages. The 10% bonus Credits will apply on future Credit Pack purchases by Patrons.

The team has been eager to get this Patron bonus rolled out, thanks for your patience while we made it happen.