I know how overwhelming it can be to pick up a new MMO after playing another one for years. In this guide I’ll cover all the in-game basics. Everything from character creation to User-Interface. Hopefully after reading this, you’ll be able to play ArcheAge with ease.
Currently ArcheAge is in Alpha. If you weren’t lucky enough to get invited to Alpha, you can still buy your way in with Founder’s Packs. The Archeum pack gets you into Alpha for $150. You can also get the Gold or Silver pack for Beta access. Once ArcheAge enters launch the game will be free-to-play.
Character Creation:
There are four races and two factions in ArcheAge. The Nuian and Elves make up one faction, while the Firran and Harani make up the other. Each race has its own story and racial traits.
Nuian:
Called the Conquerors of the Continent, Nuians possess a deeply spiritual culture that revolves around Nui, the Goddess of the Hereafter. They revere the beauty and harmony of their fallen kingdom and fight fearlessly to maintain the traditions that brought them to power.
- Nui’s Blessing: Favored by the Goddess of the Hearafter, Nuians receive extra benefits from visiting her realm, doubling the time their stats areincreased after being resurrected.
- Warrior Architects: Frequent rebellions and civil wars have led the Nuians to become quick builders, reducing construction time for houses and castles by 30%.
Elves:
Elves seclude themselves deep in the forest, avoiding other races as much as possible. Though envied for their beauty, their behavior is considered incomprehensible: hoping for an honorable death, they seek out danger no matter the odds.
- Endurance Training: Trained for combat from the day they can walk, Elves posses increased physical ability. This stamina allows them to hold their breath underwater for an extra 20 seconds.
- Lithe Flow: The decades spent around Gweonid Lake make most elves talented swimmers, increasing their swim speed by 5%.
Firran:
The restless, nomadic Firran roam the wilds, fueled by dreams of reclaiming their former glory. They believe every life – no matter how small – is not only valuable, but plays a critical role in the natural world. All Firran strive to find their purpose and play their part.
- Catlike Reflexes: the Firran’s quick reflexes allow them to twist their bodies as they fall and land more nimbly, decreasing fall damage by 20%.
- Strong Claws: The Firran’s long, non-retractable claws allow them to climb trees and ladders 30% faster.
Harani:
Harani are survivors in the truest sense, capable of extreme and heroic acts serving the interests (and preservation) of their people. Practical, cunning, and family-minded, it is no surprise the strength of their new kingdom rivals the strength of the kingdom they lost.
- Portal Mastery: The far-flung Harani empire has forced its people to master the use of portals for quick travel, reducing the cast time and cooldown of their Recall ability by 30%.
- Jungle Tamers: Settling the jungles of Mahadevi taught the Harani to be efficient in their labor, reducing the time required for logging trees and gathering herbs by 10%.
Appearance:
The appearance section has a ridiculous amount of options. The only thing that is really worthy of a mention at the moment is the hair color bug. If you try to change hair colors you need to swap hair styles and then swap back to the style you want. Otherwise the color change doesn’t register. You’ll have to do this each time you select a new color until the bug is fixed, so decide on a color before you decide on a hair style.
Skills:
There are six basic skill options. You can read more specific details on these in my skill set guides.
User Interface and Controls:
In the image above I’ve labeled all of the important sections of the in-game user interface. I’ll cover basic controls with E.
Character Status – A:
This area shows your character’s current condition. Character health, mana, status effects, and summoned pet are all located in this section.
Target Status – B:
This area shows the status of your target, whether it’s friend or foe. It works like the Character status section, but instead of showing pet information to the right, it shows target of my target data.
Chat Window – C:
This is your chat window, all in-game communication will be here. You can customize your chat window to filter out certain chat channels if you so choose. How you utilize your chat is totally up to you.
Labor and Experience Meters – D:
Your Labor meter controls your ability to gather, mine, craft, and build. For every 100 Labor you spend your max Labor increases by 10. Labor restores over time, recovering 5 Labor every 5 minutes regardless of whether or not you’re logged in. I’ll cover more about the Labor system in upcoming guides. Your experience meter stretches across your entire screen, and tracks your progress in your current level.
Skill Bars – E:
With the default set-up you have 2 skill bars, the button inputs are 1-9, 0 -, =, and the same 12 buttons with Shift. You can have up-to 4 skill bars for your character, however more slots aren’t necessary until later. Your movement controls are; W forward, S backward, Q move left, E move right, A turn left, D turn right. You can also use your mouse to control camera and turning.
Map and Time of Day Meter – F:
The map has three size options controlled by the little button that has an M on it in the above picture. This button will show S, M, or L depending on the current size of the map. the cog-wheel beside that button turns the mini-map on and off as well as mini-map icons. The meter to the right indicates the time of day within the game.
Quest Tracker – G:
This tracks the status of your active quests. to open the full log just click one of the active quests. You can close the quest tracker by clicking the button in the upper right corner of the tracker. To open it back up click the button again.
Additional Menus – H:
I’ll list them in the order they appear from left to right.
- Character (C): Displays character details and equipment.
- Bag (I): Opens inventory.
- Quest Log (L): Another way to open the Quest Log.
- Skill Window (K): Displays your Skill menu.
- Map (M): Displays the map.
- Vocation: Displays Vocation menu.
- Community: Opens social menus.
- Webmail Inbox (Shift B): Opens Mailbox.
- Home: Opens Home menu.
- Help: Opens Help menu.
- Menu (Escape): Opens options menu, and logout options.
For more guides be sure to check out my ArcheAge guide directory.
Check out our sister site Guild Launch to find an ArcheAge Guild or create a free ArcheAge guild site.
Published: May 5, 2014 10:28 am