Archeage Love

     It's funny to me to think that when I was first hearing about the MMOs that were on their way Archeage wasn't even on my radar. I saw a lot about Wildstar: wasn't impressed with the idea of it at first but the more I looked at it the more I liked the idea of it. I'd probably have bought it and subbed if finances had allowed. (I later got to try Beta and fell a little in love with it at least at the low level end of the game.) Elders Scrolls Online got a resounding meh in my head. I hadn't played Skyrim (don't worry I've started it now) and other than that most of the screenshots I saw were dark and gritty and a little ugly. Other people's blogs later made me a bit more interested in it, but I still haven't tried it.
Everquest Next: Now that I was thrilled for. Everquest was my first MMO and though I never really got anywhere with it I spent many happy hours playing and loving it. And Landmark. At first I thought this was some part of Everquest Next and later realized it was more complicated Minecraft with much better graphics. I got excited about that too.
     Somewhere amidst all of that... many months late I saw mention of something called Archeage. Meh, I thought, not that interesting and never looked to see what it was. Of all the new MMOs that was the least interesting to me. At least it was until months later when I saw a blog post about it(wish I could remember which one). Okay that didn't look totally uninteresting. More blog posts were read... a website was visited. Suddenly I was very interested. I signed up for beta, I watched youtube videos! (Something that aside from watching raid strats for WoW I almost never do for a game.) I looked at talent calculators. I wanted to play this game. It became -my- game of the new ones coming out. If I'd had $150 I could spare I'd have thrown it at the screen in a heartbeat for access to alpha.
     I read every email I was sent with updates and waited with bated breath for an invite every time a Closed Beta Event was announced. As it turned out I got into Events Three and Four. :) Between those and my time in Open Beta I knew I was going to love the game and also had time to decide that paladin was what I'd want to play. And now that it's live... aside from several hitches and some of the inconveniences that come with being a free to play account... I am in love.
     I've done so much over the last several days. Slacking on my WoW 'responsibilities' except for raiding even because I've just been having so much fun.

Lots of gliding.

     Some illegal farming. I'm not a patron at this point so if I wanted to complete the trade pack quest, the easiest way I could see to do it was to grow chickens on the public farm for the meat and grapes in the wild somewhere. Also some lumber because I wanted to make a shield. Planting things in the wild is definitely a gamble. I had good luck with this patch of grapes, but the two maples also planted there I lost. As I did my second and third batches of grapes and several turkeys. The trick to it seems to be finding an out of the way spot to hide the things. But right now the world is full and every hidden little nook I found was eventually discovered. Still though I lost at least half of the things I planted I did manage to grow enough for two the first two quest trade pack runs.

     Trade packs are definitely slow going without the donkey. I used the carriages whenever I could but Aelithar still spent a lot of time, sprinting and walking down the roads with Silverbirch strolling loyally behind. Still it was oddly fun. And finishing the run from Gweonid to the Crescent Throne awarded a donkey foal. So next time maybe it'll be just a little faster.

     It took me two days where I did very little but farming and hanging around to check on things (and running everywhere the long way to help Silverbirch get xp) to do those runs so very little leveling happened. Yesterday, though after my latest frustration about the turkeys it was back to leveling for the meantime. Aelithar should hit 30 today. 

Archeage Launch

     Archeage launched on my birthday. Wasn't able to get into it until late that night. But finally did manage and stayed up way too late to get Aelithar to level 10 and instated as a paladin before bed.

    The first screenshot I took of him in live now that I've got a keyboard that lets me play with the impressive camera functions in the game. I'm pretty satisfied that he looks very much like his beta self even though I hadn't saved the appearance. And he's a paladin. I'd tried it a bit with Zurrath in the beta and decided I liked the playstyle a bit better than Aelithar's beta Hex Ranger build. Now that I've played it in live as far as level 18 I can safely say that I love being an elf paladin in Archeage too.
     At least I love it when I'm looking at the game and not at this:

     Which is what my free to play queue looks like after five hours today. I honestly wish I could pay for a sub and have been considering trying it for a month, but honestly the queues are frustrating when I'm not paying for it. If I were and still had to wait in line for a long time to get on I'd actually be angry. So for my sake and the game's I think I'll hold off a week or two before I think about subbing.
     In the meantime here are some screenshots of Aelithar doing paladin things.

     Watching the sunset in his first few pieces of plate gear. Found out I'd been missing the option for plate much earlier in the game than I'd thought. Also have already found bunches of quests I'd missed while I was goofing around in the beta.

     Chasing an airship. I love the way the airships look and also love the way Aelithar's elk looks with armor. A truly worthy paladin steed. Couldn't resist picking the white one and after much thought he's been christened Silverbirch because I liked the sound of it better than Aspen.

     I love the animations and the look of this game and this particular screenshot may find it's way onto my desktop as a wallpaper.

     His latest breastplate actually looks like plate armor. It is bigger than he is and bulks him out like wearing hard metal would. He looks like a paladin.

     Bulky shiny reflective breastplate and beautiful lighting.

     And this is what I'm pretending he's doing while I wait to log on. Enjoying a coffee break in the Sandcloud inn.

More Beta thoughts on Archeage

     I'm regretting my lack of cash for a founder's pack and eagerly awaiting the launch. Which is on my birthday! I can't help finding that a bit awesome. After getting into Closed Beta Event 3 I was lucky enough to also get an invite for Closed Beta Event 4 and  then did a bit in the Open Beta too. In Open Beta I was able to drag a friend in and do have hopes she'll play with me some when it's live.
    I gave the Nuian a shot in CBA 4. Made this handsome fellow:

     And leveled him high enough to make him into a Templar just because I could. I will have a Nuian in live eventually but not sure he'll bear any resemblance to this fellow -or- be a Templar, but it was Beta and I was experimenting.

     The starting area for the Nuians was lovely and very medieval Europe. I loved it. And another thing I loved... the horses. I'm a little bit of a snob when it comes to horses in video games, particularly their animations. I grew up around the real things so when the animations are wrong it bugs me and after having seen a lot in video games I've come to the conclusion that they're a very hard thing to get right. ArcheAge does horses amazing. They're not perfect but I think they're the best I've seen, though Lord of the Rings Online horses are also pretty spot on. Trystan named his grey horse Ghost.

    After playing around with that I'd gone back and done a bit on Aelithar. Most of it involved taking loads of lovely screenshots as my new computer not only let me play with the graphics turned up as high as they'd go, but the new keyboard I got with it lets the F9 screenshot button function so I was finally able to really play with screenshotting. Archeage is amazing for that too. There's the camera I'm used to that is fixed on your character... but also the option to free it for really creative shots. Best of both worlds.

An airship. I couldn't resist screencapping the first one I saw... or later riding the first one I found that I could get on.

Some interesting heavenly bodies in the night sky.

I love night skies in MMOs

This is a gorgeous game with some beautiful lighting effects and areas. I can't wait to explore it further.

     In the first Closed Beta Event I was in Aelithar had gone to Mirage Isle and purchased a Black Sabrefang Cub. But then my google-fu was weak and I couldn't figure out where to get Battle Pet Formula (milk) for it so it sat in his bank through the second Closed Beta Event until finally in open Beta I found a place that told me where I could find some cows to milk. He was below the level to quest there, but it was Beta what was the harm in just trying to go, so off he went on a very long expedition to milk cows. After milking cows he raised up an adorable companion to help him fight enemies.

    Here they are enjoying the beach on one of the last days of open Beta. On the last day I went to Mirage Isle to explore and see if there was anything else he could spend his rather meager wealth on before the wipe. There wasn't, but he and Laurel had a lovely time galloping on the beach and into the sunset. Only two more days until I can play too.