A bit over a week ago GDC kicked off and with it came more ArcheAge news from Trion Worlds. More specifically, Producer Victoria Voss, Community Manager Evan Berman, and CEO Scott Hartsman were on the scene! If you haven't been following our column on ArcheAge, Bill Murphy's preview provides an informative overview on AA. Whereas Som Pourfarzaneh's preview gives a closer look to the sandbox side of the game.
As it's only been a week since GDC there hasn't been any significant news. Going down the list, we've got official forums westernization now live, more introductions from people on the team, the GDC press demo, and a couple other bits of news. Essentially that's all you need to know on the forums, so let's hop into the two newly introduced developers.
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In our last column we were introduced to two new Community Managers, this time the focus is on Producer Victoria Voss (AKA Firecait) and Associate Producer Amanda Fry (AKA Amary). “I love all sorts of gameplay, from farming and crafting, to that crazy run with a ship full of supplies and never knowing when or if you’re going to get jumped!” Voss mentioned. Voss has worked with Cryptic Studios and Gazillion in the past before working on Rift at Trion.
Then there's Amanda Fry, “There are aspects of ArcheAge that are very near and dear to my gaming heart, like the best parts of my favorite games all in one place. I've been working closely with the localization team for ArcheAge at Trion since last November, neck deep in lore and terminology as well as gameplay.” Fry broke into the industry as a QA tester for EverQuest II back in 2005, worked on Rift, and plenty of other titles behind the scenes. You may catch either developers on ArcheAge live streams and among the new forums.
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Now that we have that out of the way, if you're interested in checking out some gameplay on the translated version, Trion live streamed close to 30 minutes of it the last day of GDC. Be sure to check it out whether you're just looking to see English flood the chat or a look at the game for the first time. In the video they check out character customization, naval combat unintentionally, two different castles in the alpha, mounts, houses, and more.
Now let's hop into some news that you may or may not have heard over the last few days. ArcheAge Japan will be shifting from a monthly subscription business model to a free to play one. The change will take place on April 24th this month. Although players will still be able to pay for the monthly subscripton for other bonuses. It's also worth noting that the dreaded 1.0 patch we all know so well will be arriving on April 24th as well.
From simple questions to the ones we're all wondering, the developers on the westernization of ArcheAge put together a forum thread for fans to ask questions. The answered questions have been put together into a transcript. In addition, these fine folks have intentions of keeping track of all things Scapes so be sure to check their site and thread to keep up on the latest and greatest! The continued interaction from the team with the community is a delight. In the process they also gave out three alpha invites with more to come!
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We'll continue bringing you the good, the bad, and everything in between on ArcheAge the second we hear it. Check back April 15th for your bi-weekly fix on everything ArcheAge!
