[Developer Notes] Game Updates and Development Progress－March 23, 2023Notice
2023-03-09 10:00Greetings everyone, this is the ArcheAge dev team.
We hope everyone is having a fantastic 2023 so far! This marks the first content update announcement for 2023.
Today we're going to share some exciting news about what you can expect to be updated in March, and also about other content that is currently in development.
* Below contents are currently in development and can be subject to change upon actual release.
| Rise Up the Ranks |
- Players will be ranked from 1st through 100th place across all servers, and "Activity Coins" will be given out as rewards. Activity Coins can be exchanged for items such as Manastorm Crystals and Eternal Enhancer Crates from the Contest Coin Collector "Sopere."
Enthusiastic Achiever
Rankings are based on the total Honor Points/Vocation Badges/XP accumulated during a certain period.
▲ (Image) Enthusiastic Achiever
Diligent Spender
Rankings are based on total Honor Points/Vocation Badges/Labor spent during a certain period.
▲ (Image) Diligent Spender
| Instance Renewal |
To add a bit of variety and some unique fun to the Arena, we will be revamping <The Fall of Hiram City> and <Skyfin Nest>.
The Fall of Hiram City Renewal
Normal mode and Hard mode will be combined into a single mode.- Hiram Priest (Hard Mode) will no longer be available.
- It will no longer transition into night time.
- Disavowed Hiram and Wendigo will appear (they used to appear only in Hard mode).
① Duration will be shortened.
② It used to be open daily, but will now only be opened 2 times per week.
- Fridays and Sundays at 17:00–18:00 (UTC+8).
Skyfin Nest
The Skyfin Nest Arena will be re-opened.
▲ (Image) Skyfin Nest
① Improvements
- The Skyfin Nest Arena used to be available by chance when entering Golden Plains Battle. But now, the two will be separated so that you can directly enter either the Golden Plains Battle or Skyfin Nest Arena.
- Fixed the issue where the ceiling was closed.
- The rules and rewards will remain the same as before.
Each Arena will be open for during the times below.
| Time（UTC+8） | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 13:30～14:15 | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest |
| 19:30～20:15 | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle |
| 00:30～01:00 | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest | Golden Plains Battle | Skyfin Nest |
| Higher Tier Accessories Added - Brilliant Erenor Accessories |
You'll finally be able to awaken Erenor accessories.
You can awaken a Mythic or higher grade Radiant Erenor Accessory into a Brilliant Erenor Accessory by using a Radiant Erenor Awakening Scroll or Blessed Erenor Awakening Scroll.
We suggest you try it out, if you want to obtain greater powers.
| Improvements |
Skill Balance
Healing Skill Additional Healing will be added.
Healing Skill Additional Healing will be added.
- It adds additional healing to the amount healed when using a healing skill on an ally.
- Along with the addition of the Healing Skill Additional Healing, Psychic Shock and Skill Stack settings will be adjusted for Spelldance.
Faction Activity Points / Exile Improvements
① Faction Activity Points adjustments and removal of score display
② Exile
UI Improvements
▲ (Img.) ESC menu expanded
② Chat Legibility Improvement
Quest Limit Expansion
▲ (Img.) Global Arena
- Faction Activity Points will be adjusted for each content.
- We will increase the weight of influence for Siege content that is directly related to Faction activity, and Faction Activity Points for raids will last longer than before.
- We also made adjustments to minimize the possibility of artificially influencing the scores through intentionally forfeiting the content.
- The Faction Activity Points will no longer be visible.
② Exile
- Along with the improvements to the Faction Activity Points, improvements will be made to the Exile system so that more can be exiled. (We hope this will resolve some of the difficulty there was in transferring factions due to the limited Exile capacity there was before.)
- A bidding system will be added to the Auction in March. We are considering making the Faction Change Scroll available through purchase with Gold depending on the Faction situation in the servers (regardless of Dominant/Weak status).
Of course, we don't think the unbalance in factions will not completely be resolved through the update in March.
However, we believe the best approach is to gradually implement improvements for a better competitive environment while closely monitoring the situation rather than introducing sudden major changes. We hope you can understand the reasoning behind our approach.
Prestige Shop Item Additions
Growth support items will be added to the Prestige Shop as an additional guild benefit.
Using the relevant items will generate an "effect region" for 30 minutes where members of the same guild can receive the effect.
- Using Guild Elixir: Growth will partially decrease the guild member's equipment enchant cost for 30 minutes.
- Using Guild Elixir: Advance will partially decrease the guild member's equipment tempering cost for 30 minutes.
UI Improvements
① Game Menu Improvement
Given that there were too many information being displayed on the in-game screen, we have improved the game menu UI and eased the access to the system through the menu.
▲ (Img.) HUD menu simplified- Simplified the menu on the right bottom side of the HUD.
- Expanded the ESC menu into game menu.
② Chat Legibility Improvement
We have improved some chat settings to make chat conversations easier to check.
| Details | Image |
| When chatting with someone of a certain rank, a special icon will be displayed before his/her character name. |  ▲ (Img.) Special chat icons |
| Seconds will be removed from chat time. |  ▲ (Img.) Seconds removed |
Quest Limit Expansion
Given that players were unable to accept the quests they need when the quest limit of a certain group was maxed out, we have changed the quest limit per quest group to a common quest limit.
We have combined all quests except race quests.
You can now accept up to 150 quests (a total of 152 quests, including race quests).
▲ (Img.) Quest limit improved
▲ (Img.) Instance team recruitment restriction added
▲ (Img.) Quest limit improved
Instance Team Recruitment Restriction Added
A feature whereby you can restrict player participation level and equipment points when recruiting an Instance team will be added.
You can now set the required level and the required equipment points when recruiting an Instance team so that only participants with the relevant qualifications can enter the team.
We hope this change can improve the recruitment process and the game experience.
▲ (Img.) Instance team recruitment restriction added
| Global Arena Beta Service |
In addition to our updates, we are currently developing a global arena where players in Korea, NA, EU, SEA, and Taiwan can come together and enjoy the game.
We are planning to launch a beta service with the event arena "Make a Splash" during the first half of this year, then keep expanding the game with cooperation content, competition content, faction war, etc.
The global gladiator arena "Make a Splash" will have the same format as the existing global arenas. Players in countries where the one-build service is available can enter the arena at a designated time and fight within the same space.
However, the team entry feature will be restricted so that players of different countries can cooperate between each other. We would consider applying the team entry feature and competition between countries, depending on the type of arena that will be added later.
▲ (Img.) Global Arena
| Development Progress |
Daru Transformation & Vocation Content
We are aiming to release the Daru transformation system during this summer for those players who enjoy the Vocation content.
Meeting specific requirements will activate a skill that will allow you to transform into a Daru for a certain period of time. By transforming into a Daru, you will be able to enjoy all proficiency-related activities plus various benefits.
New Race: Fairy
The Fairy race, which many of our players have ben waiting for, will finally be released next year, in 2024.
Fairies have been residing in the "Goldleaf Forest," Nuia, preserving the early forms of civilization. Players can only choose female Fairy characters who will be always neutral as they don't belong to any faction.
Fairies will be able to choose their own faction and serve as a member of that faction as they grow.
More details will be available in our next Amigo.
| Lastly... |
2023 will be a busy year for all of us, developers, as we will be working on the global arena, the new race, in addition to content development and improvement.
We will continue looking into your feedback and make sure we provide a solution to the live issues to improve our game. So please look forward to it!
Thank you for your love and support for ArcheAge.