ArcheAge 3.0 : Los cachondos de Trion Worlds nos la quieren volver a meter doblada

So Fresh and So Clean

When we opened Fresh Start servers last year with the Hero’s Awaken update we put forth our best effort and best practices of other regions. While the result was largely positive we saw many things that we wanted to do better. It’s our commitment to take that feedback and new knowledge and do it again with equal intensity and much more expertise. Here are some of the changes you should be excited about:

New Accounts will be required for players to access Fresh Start servers. This is an important step to mitigate Legacy progression transferring over into our fresh economies. This is mostly due to several currencies like Loyalty, Labor and Credits accumulating at the account level. We saw players consume hundreds of stored labor potions, spend thousands of loyalty, and consume Legacy APEX for an advantage on Fresh Start. Having a new account requirement allows us to keep your Fresh Start progression separate from those of the Legacy servers, giving you the choice on how you’d like to play ArcheAge.

Transferring Progression will be prevented due to new accounts being linked to server type: Legacy or Fresh Start. A new account that selects the Legacy setting won’t be able to access Fresh Start servers, and vice versa. This includes Fresh Start accounts being blocked from creating characters on Legacy servers, preventing the transfer of account-level resources to alts for consumption. This has been a popular topic after our announcement of Fresh Start and I’m very proud to say we’re going to lengths to prevent it.

Marketplace offerings will be adjusted for Fresh Start. When we did this in 2015, we removed items that were more appropriate for a Legacy environment. This year, we plan to take this one step further by also removing Marketplace items that greatly expedite progression.

Here’s a list of some of the items that will be removed from the Fresh Start Marketplace:Mirage Mounts, Lunar/Stellar Scarecrow Farms, Mining Drills, Majestic Trees, Rumbling Archeum Saplings (currently for Loyalty), Vehicle/Advanced Hauler Upgrade Tickets, sources of No Cooldown Labor Potions, and Sunlight, Moonlight and Starlight Archeum from supply crates. We will remove the ability to purchase single and multi-pack 12 hour cooldown labor potions for credits on Legacy servers and Fresh Start servers as well. The only sources for labor outside of gaining it over time will be through Patron bonuses, Labor potions available for Loyalty Tokens, and the one-per-account monthly labor stipend. Tax Certificates and similar staples of the ArcheAge Marketplace will remain available. The mainstay of the Fresh Start Marketplace will be cosmetics, including the costumes, furniture, and UCC items being available at a more expedited pace than the previous Legacy timeline or offered in discount bundle form. Additionally, consumable codes offered from prior Legacy promotions will also be disabled for the release of Fresh Start. (No redeeming those Ruby Solariums here!)

Progression adjustments are an absolute priority for Fresh Start. Each time we introduce new servers they’re different based on the version update. What took 5 months in alpha took 3 months at launch, and 2 months on Morpheus and Rangora. ArcheAge’s most unique gameplay happens during a server’s infancy. The initial trade runs to Freedich for Small Warship and Merchant Ship designs, contesting hidden tree farms, the thrill of racing for real estate, and the glory of your first great successes are really iconic moments. Internally, we refer to this time period as the “Rush Era.” At launch, we had concerns about the power behind Hasla tier three weapons and 2015 Fresh Start had it around Obsidian and Soulforged armor. This year we’ll focus on adding more control around how gold enters the world in large quantities from highly contested events, like Delphinad Ghost Ships or the Hero system.

Faction balance is always a concern with Fresh Start servers. For our December release we plan to more closely monitor faction creation restrictions and the rate at which characters attain max level. This is a challenge for us from an administration perspective because we can only throttle the creation of characters. We have more challenges when we attempt to motivate players to participate in server-wide activities. Last year we saw a situation where the West and East sides of the Morpheus Server were quite equal with respect to character creations and near-max level characters. However one of those sides were inclined to participate more heavily in contested world events which led to a perceived faction imbalance for those players actually attending these activities.

We also learned a lot last year with respect to the timeline at which Fresh Start servers ultimately become integrated with Legacy servers. Over the first months, some Marketplace items will be slowly returned and progress-driven world events are reactivated. Between months 6-9 Fresh Start servers join Legacy auction house clusters and finally allow character transfers. We plan to closely monitor this progress on a server-by-server basis but this is timeline we’re expecting.

The team and I are deeply committed to improving upon how Fresh Start servers are released and as you read above, we’re making some heavy changes. That commitment includes listening to and addressing player concerns, and operating within the full range of our capabilities.

We’ll continue to reveal our plans in detail over the next 6 weeks leading up to the Revelation update. The best place to check for updates is our official Revelation website. Don’t forget to grab your weekly code for in-game items! I think this goes without saying, but the Revelation update is definitely the best time to be playing ArcheAge and I look forward to rushing alongside you on December 10^th!