Another Weekend in ArcheAge
Note: I preface by saying I’m not a PvPer. I’m only playing AA for sandboxy reasons.
I dedicated a lot more time to ArcheAge this weekend. I leveled from 19 to 31 on my Lucius kitty during this time, which by-passed my original Tahyang launch character.
This makes me a little sad, because I’d have loved to stay and play on Tahyang, being that is the RP server and all, but there’s simply no land at all in the safe areas. Not even land for one small scarecrow, much less anything more grand like a farmhouse. The moment I realized that both labor points (LP) and loyalty points are shared across all characters on my account, I have almost quit logging into Tahyang all together. I spent a little while running around in futility, hoping to find some tiny bit of land open for my tiny farm. No luck = return to Lucius.
There’s nothing wrong with Lucius. I just feel that the community aspect of Tahyang is stronger and would have liked to remain there. I’m coming to peace with the fact that it’s going to be a long time before land opens up on the founding servers. Especially since my Lucius kitty is now higher level, far richer and I’ve come to enjoy the Outrider build more than the Blighter.
Having a Plan
So, I spent some time figuring out my overall plan of action for ArcheAge. I’m currently guildless (looking for a guild on Lucius East that fits my style and philosophy), not a PvPer, and eventually, I’d like to fish, and maybe work up to a fishing barge of my own (long term plan).
I set down some stepping stones this weekend that went like this:
- Earn 50 Gilda Stars
- Buy Thatched Farmhouse
- Find somewhere to place the farmhouse
- Gather and craft materials to make the farmhouse
- Transform the small scarecrow farm into a Farmer’s Workbench
- Make my own worms for fishing
- Farm and gather materials to keep my fishing rods working
- Fish, and in the meantime, work up Gilda Stars for the Fishing Barge (ultimate goal)
That’s an awful lot of hoops to jump through simply to become a fisher. Ah well.
State of the Game
I want to note that on Lucius, prices of items such as Worker’s Comp potions and APEX are through the roof now. There’s no little 5-6 gold for a LP potion anymore. They’re pushing closer to 15 gold each, which is not a price I want to pay. APEX was ranging up to 70-80 gold each on the low side. Prices were a bit cheaper on Tahyang, but still more steep than I’d want to pay. This all means that F2P characters are going to have a even harder time reaching that APEX goal, if they can at all.
Bots have become a huge problem. In one of the early level mining areas, I reported over 20 auto-mining bots. They just stand around, defying the AFK timer, and mine a node when it pops. Myself, and other miners in the area, have taken to nudging them off the nodes, hoping to put them out of the reach of their goal. Since there’s collision in the game, a few good shoves with a mount pushes them back and usually does the trick for a little while. Still, it’s a real shame to see, especially since reporting costs 25 LP each time. I reported using the support website… I don’t have that kind of LP to blow.
My Progress
My first goal of the weekend was to earn 50 Gilda Stars so I could purchase my farmhouse. This was slow going because you only earn these as part of the main quest line, which is a linear progression throughout the zones every few levels. Other quests are scattered along the same path to help you work through the zones and level.
By the time I got to level 25, I was fed up with doing all the side quests and just made a straight beeline for the main quest points instead. Luckily, level 25 was enough to face the enemy at the end of this quest line.
I have to ask, is that really the end of the main quests? At level 25ish? I expected something that would carry me through to level cap. However, I do remember them saying that these quests are nothing more than a tutorial, which I can believe.
Anyhow, I had exactly 50 Gilda Stars at the end of it all, and I bought my farmhouse. Two goals down.
Now, comes the fun one… find land to actually put the farm on. I knew one thing for certain — I was not willing to compromise my safety and pleasure by building in war zones. So, my search was on all across the East for a spot large enough for a farmhouse. Seems the areas that are actually marked as areas for farmhouses are bugged. There’s tons of land there just wasting away, with lovely views, much to my frustration.
I searched every area I came across, and slowly my hopes began to fail. The very last area I searched was in Arcum Iris, which is the starting area for the Harani. It’s a desert/savannah type area, and is by far NOT my idea of a place to settle. However, I found a lot of open area in the very last place I looked – south of the Parchsun Settlement.
Not the most visually pleasing place, I understood why it was passed over. But I also knew if I didn’t grab a spot, then I may not get one. So I placed my farm on the eastmost edge of the settlement and began the long, long process of gathering materials to make it. I’m thankful I did place the farmhouse now, because a day or so later, most of the open area in Parchsun has been taken. There’s enough room here and there for small gardens, but very little room (if any) for houses.
The one good thing about this location is that it’s near a quarry. Unlike smaller houses, the Thatched Farmhouse requires 10 Stone Packs, 5 Iron Packs and 5 Lumber Packs. That’s 3,000 units of raw stone and 1,500 units of raw lumber. The iron I’m not worried about.
Now, if this was a normal game, this wouldn’t be a problem beyond just time. But in this game, once your labor points run out, you literally can’t do anything. Seeing to the fact that I’m refusing to pay out the nose for LP potions (aside from what I can buy with loyalty points in a few days), I’m limited by the regen, even with a Patron sub. Then, not only do I need to have LP to mine the nodes, I need more LP to process them into the stone packs.
So yet again, I burned through close to all the LP I had stored up over the week. I’m also trying to save some LP for harvesting the trees I’m going to need by the time I get to the lumber part of the building.
Yes, I do realize that the farmhouse is supposed to be more challenging to build than a normal small house, and I accept that. I also know I should “get a guild” and work with other people on this… but I’m stubborn and want to do it on my own until I find a guild that matches what I’m looking for. Maybe I never will, in which case, I’ll just continue solo on this server.
However, I still feel the pinch of the lack of LPs, even as a paying customer. This is super annoying — there’ll be a point where all I can do is idle AFK to regen the points because I simply can’t do anything else (aside from quests) until I earn more LPs. Again, this aspect feels like a Facebook style game that requires you to go away a while before you can play again.
I’m not sure if this going to be a game breaker for me in the long run. I do acknowledge that building the Thatched Farmhouse is a labor intensive project, so it may get better once this is completed (if I can).
On the bright side, I also unlocked the ability to serve on a jury last night. But I’ll save that for another post.
