2012 is the expected date

As one of the three most anticipated games, ArcheAge by Korea-based XL Games,
has recently made an official announcement, saying that it'll introduce
the new race "Ferres" in the third CBT.



So, when the time comes, the
three races that have been made public will all show up in the game,
including the human-looking Nuians that are friendly to nature, the
charming and smart Elves, and the beast-looking persevering Ferres.



The Nuians and Elves once made their appearance in
ArcheAge's first and second CBTs, and the Ferres was officially unveiled
at last year's G-Star. According to the official company, the game will
come up with at least 5 races in its OBT.



As ArcheAge's developer said in a recent interview,
they're now working on the fighting mode of "territory + faction +
racial alliance". The Nuians will lead an alliance in the western
continent, and the Hariharans will lead one in the eastern continent.
Though the Hariharans are still not unveiled, what can be confirmed now
is that the race will probably emerge in the game's fourth CBT.



In addition to the novel fighting mode, ArcheAge will
also adjust its races' features and skills on the basis of the
background story. The news was enthusiastically responded to once
released.


Nuians

The human-looking Nuians love themselves as well as the
nature very much. Conservative and watchful like easterners, they love
immersing themselves in the nature, and aspire to natural balance.
Moreover, they're really aggressive!





Elves

The Elves that originated from the Norse myth bear
supernatural power. Female Elves are fascinating, while male ones are
handsome. With pointed ears and the skin that is almost transparent, the
Elves make a good impression thanks to their perfect appearance.



However, the Elves are separated into two types, one is
High Elves born by Human and Elves and unable to reproduce, the other is
Depraved Elves who'll transform into Dark Elves in the game.



Players should never be taken in by the Elves who appear
noble and perfectly charming. Sometimes, they'll act unreasonably and
stay in a semi-crazy state.



Ferres

Ferres look like both human and beasts with a strong will, and are highly sensitive to everything around them.

So when we all play are we going to be pirates is the question! hehe

red named pirates is probably the no rule pkers group.

there is still the normal pk as long u dont kill too many white names i think ^^

and the faction pking which can pk any of enemy faction players

from my perspective i rather not go full red pirate since it forbid us to go to a lot of other zones.i rather go hunt pirates or do raid on enemy faction players when we get strong later in game heh

Yep knowing these kind of games it works best not to go fully red as a guild.
But having fully reds in guild as the assasins.
On top of that when enforcing things as a guild, where you could go red, it's usually smart to spread the kills, so less people would reach the critical number of kills.

Simply said, you'd have to sacrfice a few accounts purely for pking, they wouldn't be able to join everywhere, but whenever someone is griefing, they'd be the ones ganked by the reds of that guild.

That way you can ensure or enforce things hehe.

In fact if enough people would enjoy pure pking only, we could have a whole active assains branch in the guild purely for that.

Snow wrote:

In fact if enough people would enjoy pure pking only, we could have a whole active assains branch in the guild purely for that.

now that would be cool!

Jake Song, known as the father of Lineage, has indeed made ArcheAge a distinctive MMO. Players are not only pleased by the esthetical graphics, but also impressed by the meticulous consideration of in-game details.




Upon such a fascinating game which combines esthetical
graphics and enormous storylines, while at the same time also gives
players great freedom that they can only enjoy in foreign MMOs, players
return their applause without reserve. In their words, they "finally
understand why MMORPGs made by Jake Song are so exciting".



Nuanced processing of slope scenes

The most representative case is the nuanced processing
of slope scenes: when characters walk up and down the slopes, their
gestures vary with different gradients; the creep bodies will roll down
after they are killed on the slopes. Players don't have much chance to
experience such sense of reality in most other games. But the idea of
meticulous design makes it happen in ArcheAge. No wonder players praise
"It makes difference to have Jake Song." Many players even go and hunt
creeps on slopes just in order to experience the fun of seeing their
bodies roll down.




Balance? Freedom more important!

Many MMO developers regard the balance between classes
as the top concern as soon as they start making a new game, because they
think balance is the most important part for players: if a certain
class is stronger than others, it would destroy the balance and create
great difficulties in forming a team or fighting against the boss.



However, ArcheAge decisively abandoned the balance
issue. Instead, it gives players great freedom to create a customized
character. After characters are created, they gain experiences not only
by killing monsters but also by building houses or farming.



Moreover, instead of setting restrictions for certain
quests, ArcheAge gives players freedom to decide how fully they can
finish the quests. And rewards will be given according to the extent of
completeness. For instance, only half rewards will be given if players
summit a quest with only half amount of monsters killed. Of cause,
players can get extra rewards if they finish the quest with exceeding
amount of monsters killed.




ArcheAge – Don't worry about leveling up

XL Games, which was founded by Jake Song, the developer of Lineage and The Kingdom of the Winds, promotes its first MMORPG ArcheAge
with the slogan "High Freedom". ArcheAge gets rid of simple leveling-up
mode and endows players with more freedom to experience more content
after they have hit a certain level, such as building houses, farming
and even drawing on the wall.



Besides, the in-game holy war and prison break system
have never been seen in other games, and the game modes, like the
cooperation with enemies and the fight against enemies, make the game
combat more realistic. ArcheAge does have a brave try in taking game
experiences as itsmajor selling point and weakening the importance of
level.

i like quest abandon reward idea.sometimes u pick a quest u dont feel like doing but u already completed half.its only good to know u get some rewards for your trouble hehe ^^

yeh thats brilliant, I often have a quest half complete and cant be bothered finishing it, or have moved to a new area and dont like going backwards to complete a quest.

The speech made by the "Father of Lineage" Jake Song at the recent NDC (Nexon Developers Conference) 2011 endowed the public with a new understanding of ArcheAge and Jake Song's development ideas.






In the speech, Jake Song gave an account of the new growth direction of MMORPGs and the ideas about ArcheAge's development.



First, Jake Song took the case of IMC Games'
director and the "Father of Ragnarok Online" Kim Hak Kyu to explain the
environment's influence on game developers, and emphasized the key
words concerning the development of MMORPG – freedom & innovation.
He made it clear that game developers need adjust or abandon their views
deemed inappropriate and have a long head in the course of development.




Later, Jake Song talked about the growth of MMORPGs, and
pointed out that such games should stick to innovation &
naturalness and be based on the interactive features like the community,
team and guild. What's more, he criticized the severe phenomena like
"clone", "imitation" and "passiveness" in the current online game
industry.

In Jake Song's opinion, online games should be derived
from real life and replay real life, thus making players feel and enjoy
natural daily life during gameplay.



Jake Song said that ArcheAge actually integrated tons of
real-world elements (e.g. house building, interior decoration, and even
things like ship building & national wars that lots of people
couldn't partake in real life) in an attempt to make itself as close to
the real world as possible.

.
In the meantime, Jake Song expressed that many a game
now put much more emphasis on the appearance than the essence. To his
mind, if a game cares about graphics other than the essence, it may win
success in its early days as gorgeous graphics are many players' first
principle, but is very likely to show a downward trend in popularity
when players get more and more tired of it. According to Jake Song,
ArcheAge is taking the road of "fine graphics + colorful systems".



At the end of the 1-hour passionate and exciting speech,
Jake Song said that the so-called "high freedom" referred to the
possibility of players' immersing themselves into the game and having
the initiative. Though performing not that well in this respect,
ArcheAge will still address itself to this goal in the coming days.

Answers translated from Korean.

MMORPG.com:	ArcheAge has become a highly anticipated MMO, can you give us a short overview of the game?
Jake Song:	ArcheAge is the Real Blockbuster MMORPG, in development by XLGAMES since 2006. There are many aspects of ArcheAge such as the realistic graphics, solid game scenarios, and the massive world. We are trying to make ArcheAge a game where players can make their own content by themselves instead of just consuming the content already made by the game developer.
MMORPG.com:	Tell us about the two races in the game, the elves and ferres. How do they interact? When will we hear about more races?
Jake Song:	We have announced 3 races in ArcheAge so far; Nuian, Ferre, and Elf. There will be a total of two alliances and eight races in ArcheAge but the announcement schedule for the next ones are not decided yet. The two alliances are Nuian and Hariharan. The Nuian alliance (led by the Nuian race, a human race in the Western continent), and Hariharan alliance (led by the Hariharan race, a human race in the Eastern continent) are in a hostile state when the game starts. However, we will design it so that certain races of Nuian alliance can be separated out and become friendly or neutral with Hariharan Alliance, depending on players' behavior. PvP between players from the same alliance will be allowed in certain zones or situations, but will be regarded as a crime and players will be put on trial.
MMORPG.com:	The class system is very open and offers players a lot of options. Can you tell us about how it works?
Jake Song:	There are 10 abilities in ArcheAge and each player can combine 3 out of 10. That makes 120 unique classes. In the current class system, even if you are in the same class, players can choose the skills they want to learn, and I think this would give originality to each character. If certain skills are too strong, then players will only make the classes that can use that skill. To avoid such situations, we are considering making skills that are not too strong, but can give characteristics to the class. For instance, for the Bard class, there can be a skill that can sing. I think skills that match the classes' names go well with ArcheAge's features.
MMORPG.com:	You are moving into a fourth closed beta soon, what have you learned from the beta tests?
Jake Song:	We just finished our 3rd Closed Beta Test in May. I think Closed Beta Tests are to figure out what players would like to play and to check if the game is being developed in the right way. Through ArcheAge's 3rd Closed Beta Test, players gave feedback that the gameplay environment in the early levels is not satisfying. I think this is because we developed the end content of the game first. For out next Closed Beta Test, we will improve the early level game environment, include more characters, animation, and also the siege warfare system.
MMORPG.com:	Has testing the game led to any changes in design? Can you give us an example?
Jake Song:	We received many feedbacks after the 3rd Closed Beta Test. As for the design, we are trying to improve the UI of ArcheAge to a more player-friendly and intuitive style and also introduce new sleek-looking characters too.
MMORPG.com:	The world in the game is quite large, how will players navigate the continents?
Jake Song:	Mounts, such as horse, are given to each character in the very early levels. As for the transportation, users can get on monorails, carriages, airships to travel from zone to zone, or just to watch the scenery of ArcheAge. Similarly users can witness teleportation books would allow you to navigate to any destination on the map. Besides that, in ArcheAge's 3rd Closed Beta Test we added a mini-map along with the time of day information.
MMORPG.com:	How will PvP work in the game? Is it an open system?
Jake Song:	The answer is half yes and half no. In ArheAge, players can attack another player if they wish and can steal crops that the other user raised. Such sandbox features can give fun, but it can create conflict and disputes between players, and might damage the game play. Especially free PvP is favored by some but hated by some others. So in ArcheAge there is the trial and jail system. Players who kill another player will be put under a trial by the other players and be judged whether the activity was reasonable or not.
MMORPG.com:	How do you think the game will translate to Western audiences?
Jake Song:	We started developing ArcheAge considering global service in the first place. We want to let the players feel the true beauty MMORPG by forming a society like real life by networking with other players. The motto of ArcheAge is 'A world made of your own free will'. I think such facts of ArcheAge are what Western game players would also want and enjoy.
MMORPG.com:	Best of luck with the betas, how can players get involved?
Jake Song:	I regret to say this to the gamers outside Korea, but ArcheAge Closed Beta Tests are designed for Koreans only. Schedule for the ArcheAge's 4th closed beta test is not fixed yet. When we announce the schedule for the test, if you are Korean and live in Korea, you can apply as a tester through ArcheAge website and wait for the raffle result.

http://video.mmosite.com/default.php?controller=user&action=play&id=16815

-_- I can't get those stupid mmosite videos to work on here, but they got a nice vid showing off some skill combinations

ArcheAge news has been a bit sporadic of late, and it's also been quite sometime since we talked to the devs or took a spin through one of the game's closed beta phases. Like many of you, we're dying to know more about XL Games' forthcoming fantasy sandpark, so we went straight to the source to see if we could drum up anything new.

Lead designer Jake Song was kind enough to field a few of our burning questions, and we're pleased to present you with another Massively ArcheAge
exclusive that touches on everything from localization and story to
consensual PvP and item decay. Join us after the break for that and
more.


Massively: ArcheAge fans in Western markets have had to rely on translated (and occasionally inaccurate) news blurbs to keep up with the game. Is ArcheAge going to be localized for the West, and if so, will this include a more accessible web/marketing presence?

Jake Song: We started developing ArcheAge considering global service in the first place. Currently, we are focusing more on developing ArcheAge, but also we recently updated the English ArcheAge website and tried to provide more information to fans in the West.

What we try to aim [at with] ArcheAge is to let the players
feel the true beauty of an MMORPG by forming a society like real life,
by networking with other players within the game. The motto of ArcheAge is "a world made of your own free will." I think these facets of ArcheAge are what Western game players want and enjoy.

Is localization mostly an issue of translating the text and UI, or will actual game mechanics change as well?

ArcheAge is still under development, and the publisher for the
Western market is not decided for now, so maybe it is a bit early to
answer the question. But I do understand the importance of localization.
We have to figure out data such as each country's features, its IT
environment and so on, as well as find out the best way to service ArcheAge.

But above all that, we should finish development and find a publisher who will partner with us to introduce [and distribute] ArcheAge to Western players.

Some Western fans have asked for PvP servers, and many of our commenters are very interested in ArcheAge
but are turned off by the fact that it has open PvP. Most sandbox games
default to free-for-all PvP these days, leaving these sandbox PvE fans
with nowhere to play. Are there any plans for dedicated PvP servers or
will it be left up to the players to avoid FFA areas on all shards?

I know that some players like PvP and some don't. ArcheAge
features a half-open PvP system. If a player kills another player of the
same faction, he/she will get penalty points. If a player's penalty
points (blood prints that appear after killing a player work as evidence
of a crime which leads to penalty points) reach a certain level, he/she
will be summoned to court, will receive a trial, and might be
imprisoned. Though ArcheAge is half-open PvP, it is not the
main fun feature. It will be developed as a game that PvE-lovers could
enjoy too, while also enjoying the PvP system.

What do you see as the biggest hurdle to ArcheAge's success in the Western market? Cultural barriers? Competition from other AAA titles? Something else?

I think the biggest hurdle to ArcheAge would be the cultural
barrier, which seems to be the same issue that all Korean games
confront. Cultural difference does not only mean the game content but
also the IT infrastructure, such as the size of the client according to
each countries internet environment, game log-in method, and so on.

Western MMO developers are jumping on the "story" bandwagon lately. Does the ArcheAge design contain any dev-engineered story elements or is the game more a facilitator of player-generated stories and content?

ArcheAge contains both dev-engineered story elements and also
player-generated stories and content. In the early levels, players will
play the game following the usual quest-based game play. This is to
guide the players to the many activities they will be able to enjoy in
the latter phases of the game and also to let players understand ArcheAge's massive worldview.

Do you prefer the sandbox approach of letting player crafters
influence the game's economy as opposed to the now-standard loot drop
model that most new games seem to follow?

We hope player-crafted items become a key aspect of the in-game economy
and combat. But, if equipment was solely led by crafted items, it could
become somewhat of a restriction to the growth of solo players. Thus
items for simple leveling are also obtainable through quests or from
monsters. Crafted items will be improvable with enhancement stones,
whereas such easily obtainable items wouldn't. Of course, some nice
items will be exclusively obtainable from monsters with a high level of
difficulty.

Materials for crafting can be obtained by gathering or from item drops,
which is another form of monster drop. However, we wanted to avoid the
situation of items being obtainable only by hunting monsters in groups.
Our goal is to let a solo player own a high-end item, if the player
tries hard enough.

Is item decay in the game? For example, does a player's sword
wear out to the point where he'll need to obtain a new one from either a
monster drop or a player crafter? If decay isn't in the game, how does
the dev team plan to address economic inflation?

Items
can be damaged or lost while crafting. The item would have to be
repaired after use, but a durability decrease won't make the item vanish
or get damaged. Economic inflation in the game will be controlled by
taxes, repair fees, consumables, and so on.

What kind of feedback did you glean from CBT3? Did any major
gameplay changes come about as a result of the testing phase and the
public reaction to the game?

We held three Closed Beta Tests (CBT), and each CBT had new additional
content that we wanted to get feedback on from players. After the first
two CBTs, we reflected on players' feedback and improved skill action
and character movement. During CBT3, players told us that gameplay in
the early phases is not immersing enough, so we are working on this too.
We have not revealed all the content yet and will get more feedback
during our next CBT.

Can you give us any idea on the timeframe of the next beta test?

ArcheAge's next CBT, the fourth CBT, is not fixed yet. As with other games developed in Korea, ArcheAge
CBTs are for Korean residents only, due to technical support and the
language barrier. We will introduce a localized version of ArcheAge to Western players in the future.

XD this game is gonna be so epic if they can deliver on all the stuff they'r talking about
Hope it won't end up like FFXIV

If they can implement all that stuff during the first 2 months then the game is really going to be epic. If it takes longer, players will start complaining about it.

They have released the names of more races, 6 out of 8 confirmed now
http://archeage-online.com/


Hope they have a beta test for us soon! i must see this game, This will be a must play for me, no matter what other game I'm playing.

This game reminds me of FFXIV in every single angle.

ArcheAge's
fourth Korean closed beta phase is less than a month away, and the
testing window is shaping up to be both longer (80 days) and more
far-reaching than any of the previous three periods.

In advance of the CBT4 kickoff, MMO Culture has released a new interview with XLGAMES head honcho Jake Song that was conducted at last week's G-Star
convention in Korea. Song says the main goal of CBT4 is twofold: There
is some bug-squashing and optimization left over from CBT3, and testing
of the game's new continent should begin in earnest. While Song says
that players will be able to occupy portions of the new landmass from
the start, they should not expect castle siege functionality right away,
as it's still possible that sieging may not make the CBT4 cut.

There's also a bit of info about the new playable race (the Hariharan) and a few other tidbits.