ArcheAge building a clipper

Building your first boat in ArcheAge is pretty exciting.  Not as exciting as bu8ilding/watching the huge galleon being built, but your first clipper is pretty cool to have!  As I didn't build one in Alpha, I was determined that would be short listed at launch (well after the house and farms were going!).

To build a Harpoon Clipper you need:

1. The plans (50 gilda stars) purchased on Mirage Island (you can find them listed on the auction house for 35-100g)
2. 10 gold, 10 iron bricks and 10 lumber for the dry dock
3. One lumber pack (100 lumber), one iron pack (100 ore) and one fabric pack (100 fabric)  don't make these ahead, you have to add them one at a time in a specific order. Important to place your dry dock close to crafting stations (metal, stone and fabric).  

The dry dock is protected for three days, so you have plenty of time to complete construction.  I found it easier to have everything ready to go and just run the three packs out.  You can have trusted friends/guildmates help carry packs too.

 Early in the game (or for a low level poor character!), the hardest part of getting your clipper is collecting the materials.  Three hundred logs, three hundred iron and depending on if you use wool (3 to 1) or cotton (10 to 1) takes some time or deep pockets or generous friends!  People that really focus or have friends/guilds helping can achieve this relatively quickly.

So, after my house was up and the 16x16 farm pumping out logs, and wool regularly (sheep 16-19 a clip), I set about getting the gilda together for the Harpoon Clipper.  I'd really like the fishing boat, but at 250 gilda stars that will be down the road!  Fortunately with the dailies and the story quest line collecting 50 doesn't take that long.

  First pack of lumber off to the dry dock.

Most people build their ships along the coast or at one of the ports like Ezna in Two Crowns. But, you also get harassed by the various "I'm working on being a pirate" guilds, "red" players, etc., jumping around and blocking your way, so as I'm a chicken and novice boat captain, I decided to be very safe and set up my dry dock in the river outside Marianople.  It took some maneuvering to find a deep enough spot, but I did succeed.  Some people build in the lake in Two Crowns as well.  For my needs, Marianople worked as crafting stations were close and a short swim on the donkey.

As you add each pack, more of the boat is revealed.  It does cost labor points (LP) to build the boat so make sure you aren't running on empty!

Completed boat, launching with fireworks going off!

The boat launched, I jumped on, looked at the commands and promptly despawned it!

My first practice run, was north of Crescent Throne (there is a dock off the royal palace that isn't used much), and I practiced turning, spawning/despawning there.

Sailing a ship in ArcheAge is one of the many fun activities.  XL Games/Trion have done a wonderful job with the weather, water and sea creatures (watch out for sea bugs and giant jelly fish!).

** Be sure to set up your keybinds if you haven't (the same ones you use for the rowboat/glider), for left turn, right turn, back, forward, etc.

ArcheAge - The 2,000 queue week

ArcheAge (AA) launched on September 16th, a Tuesday, after a four day Head Start for pre-order Patron's of the game.

HeadStart and Launch have been less than ideal with numerous bugs, glitches, potential DDOS attacks, etc., along with the endless queues.

Since launch, with the addition of the F2P (Free to Play) players to the already over-populated servers, Trion began adding servers.  Today, Sunday night (almost Midnight EST).  ALL eleven USA servers are in major queues with the original servers - Tahyang, Aranzeb, Naima, Kyrios, Ollo and Salphira - no additional characters can be made of any race at all.

Queue times are hours and I'm not sure how bad F2P people are faring but Patrons, we in queues of 1500-2500 that take upwards of two-three hours (when lucky) to get to the character select.  Europe is rumored to have queues in the 25,000 range. I don't even know what that means!  Queue for a few days?  Servers don't even hold that many people!

The number of angry and irate threads on the AA forum is overwhelming I'd think for Trion to even keep civil; let alone Twitter, Reddit and other social media burning up with AA's launch.

It's understandable not wanting to start with too many servers as AA because of the non-instanced housing will be difficult at best to merge low population servers later, but the frustration many are feeling at NOT being able to play even for a half-hour per day is substantial.

 So, is this a brilliant marketing plan in the "no publicity is bad publicity" way of thinking?  Or a severe "miss-guess" on Trion's part?

I thought it was a major Trion cock-up, but I'm wondering maybe they did know and are taking advantage of all the hype driving more people to want to see what all the talk is about. I know a few people that went ahead and paid a sub this week, hoping it would alleviate the long queues (F2P are queueing for 6-10 hours).  I'd hate to think they did this to their paying client base, but ??

As for me, my latest three hour queue (fourth time today getting bounced for various reasons) is down to 484, and it's getting about log out time for many of the EST players.

So, I just might get to log on today.....

ArcheAge Trade Pack Running

Trade pack runs are a good source of gold, gilda starts and/or rare crafting materials, as they are an intregral part of playing ArcheAge.  The first few trade pack runs are required to get your 16 x 16 Scarecrow Farm (west walkthru), which isn't a requirement, but definitely is a necessity if you craft or want to do trade runs without spending a fortune on the auction house.

Taking a pack to Solzreed turn in on my donkey using 'carrot on a stick' speed buff

If you're going to do trade pack runs, plan you're route once you're past the first required ones.  The different travel options available - AA Map - can save time or increase your return per pack.  Sometimes it's quicker on the donkey or farm wagon; sometimes public transport or an airbus (cross your fingers you didn't just miss one) ride saves time or a quick boat ride up the coast.

The biggest reward is generally the furthest away, overseas definitely, but crossing several zones is can be worth more than delivering a pack one zone away.  But, it also depends on how many other people are delivering packs to the same Trader as what you receive.

During peace time you will notice many people make packs in those zones.  It will be up to you to deliver them right away or store them on your farm for later delivery.

West (Nuia) delivery locations
Solzreed Pennisula (docks)
Gweonid Forest (under airbus)
Marianople (docks)
Two Crown (Ezna dock)
Cinderstone Moor
Sanddeep (dock)

East (Haranya) delivery locations
Solis Headlands (dock)
Mahadevi
Villanelle
Falcorth Plains
Arcus Iris
Ynystere (dock)

** Freedrich Island (3-4 gilda stars) lots of pirates, so beware

 You will only receive gold for continental deliveries, whereas overseas you can chose gold, gild stars or rare materials (need these for crafting) from the resource trader.  Whatever you choose will be delivered in less than 24 hours.

You can check the current return on a delivery to a specific area on the vocation tab under "Trade Info".  There is also an independent website Trade Profit Calculator. (I use the ingame tab under Vocation.)

Two Crown dock. West can only sell to Gold Trader, East can choose.  It's reversed on Haranya.

 What you need for Trade Packs
As the crafting in AA has been simplified as well, many common ingredients are repeated in different combinations for the packs, versus a specific plant or meat product that was required in the past.  So check your tooltip as to what the finished product is for each item.

A couple of examples:

Dried Flowers for example can be processed from a variety of flower/plant material - azalea and roses are often the easiest to grow/harvest in the wild, but there are other options.  Some will give more Dried Flowers, but may take longer to harvest.  That's where you need to decide which is better for you - quick harvest/small reward versus long harvest/more reward.  Processing will cost 5 LP (labor points) regardless.

Medicinal Powder: processing 10 mushrooms will result in 15 Medicinal Powder versus Thistle (23 powder) or Clubhead Fungus (77 powder).  It's a trade off time to grow versus quantity.  If you play every couple of days a longer growing plant may be better than one that's ready in two hours, that you won't need or use for 48 hours.  Again, all processing costs 5 LP (labor points).

You also must have ten of the same material (mushroom, duck meat, whatever), along with Blue Salt Knife (buy a stack they're cheap) to process. So don't grow just one bean! I gather lots of materials when I have excess LP, so stick the odds and ends in the bank to process when I have ten, or sell on the AH.  To process, just click on the product and it will process (costing labor!).  Be careful if you're splitting an unprocessed stack too.  I've hit the wrong key and processed an ingredient that I didn't mean to.

(Mushrooms, trees and pumpkins growing on a 16x16)

These are the finished products you'll work with for the trade packs and crafting.

Trimmed Meat (chicken and beef).  Other meat can work such as turkey/duck, etc. Chicken is the quickest, and also gives you eggs if you feed your chickens.

Orchard Puree (grapes and apples).  Other fruit will work too, but grapes are probably the easiest to get.

Dried Flowers (azalea and roses).  Azalea are the easiest/quickest to grow but there are a variety of others that will become dried flowers.  Lotus/cornflower give more per harvest.  Always read the tooltip, sometimes long and slow works if you won't be on, etc.

Ground Grain (barley/rice/beans/wheat).  Barley and rice are the fastest, beans give more per harvest.  Barley ready in 30-40 min., is pretty quick.

Ground Spices. (iris/mint).  Lots of herbs/plants will grind for spices.  Check the harvest time though! (Lots of choices here just remember you need 10 of the same kind to process!)

Medicinal Powder. (mushrooms).  Mushrooms are the most common, but cultivated ginseng, thistle, clubhead fungus will work.

Chopped Produce. (potato/carrot/cucumber).  Cucumber/potato have the fastest harvest time 8-10 minutes, so good if you're leveling the profession too. Strawberries will become produce too.

The second column ingredients are the specific one.  Many are used in the first column as well - grapes and apples for orchard puree or mushrooms for medicinal powder - others such as milk, require raising a calf to maturity and milking it.

Trade packs require the below components along with a Quality Certificate purchased from a General Merchant at the Specialty Workbench in each zone.   (below info is in your commerce section of your skills window.) AND labor points (LP!)

 All specialty workbenches look the same and can be marked on your map.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

   ZONE                                 ITEM   / QUANTITY       SECOND ITEM / Quantity

	Solzreed Braised Meat	Trimmed Meat	50	Egg	30
		(chicken/beef)
	Solzreed Dried Food	Trimmed Meat	50	Grape	35
		(chicken/beef)
	Gweonid Dyed Feathers	Orchard Puree	15	Goose Down	15
		(grapes/apples)
	Gweonid Apple Pies	Dried Flowers	50	Apples	15
		(azalea/roses)
	Lilyut Hills Milk Soap	Ground Spices	50	Milk	20
		(iris/mint)
	Lilyut Cooking Oil	Dried Flowers	50	Olives	12
		(azalea/roses)
	Dwestone Fine Thread	Ground Grain	50	Goat Wool	30
		(barley/rice/beans)
	Dewstone Distilled Liquor	Medicinal Powder	50	Narcissus	190
		(Mushrooms)
	White Arden Trail Mix	Chopped Produce	50	Milk	15
		(potatoes/carrots)
	White Arden Figgy Pudding	Ground Grain	50	Fig	40
		(barley/rice/beans)
	Marianople Duck Down	Dried Flowers	50	Duck Down	30
		(azalea/roses)
	Marianople Sweeteners	Ground Spices	50	Cherry	8
		(iris/mint)
	Two Crowns Cream	Medicinal Powder	50	Milk	20
		(Mushrooms)
	Two Crowns Pomme Cakes	Ground Grain	50	Pomegranate	10
		(barley/rice/beans)
	Cinderstone Tart Mead	Dried Flowers	50	Lemon	20
		(azalea/roses)
	Cinderstone Sacred Candles	Ground Spices	50	Bay Leaf	40
		(iris/mint)
	Halcyona  Wheat Biscuit	Ground Grain	50	Eggs	35
		(barley/rice/beans)
	Halcyona Yam Pasta	Dried Flowers	50	Yams	90
		(azalea/roses)
	Hellswamp Spicy Meat	Trimmed Meat	50	Banana	12
		(chicken/beef)
	Hellswamp Mushroom Pot Pies	Orchard Puree	15	Mushrooms	100
		(grapes/apples)
	Sanddeep Medicinal Poltice	Medicinal Powder	15	Avacado	45
		(Mushrooms)
	Sanddeep Preserved Meat	Trimmed Meat	50	Rosemary	100
		(chicken/beef)

ArcheAge Launch

Soooo, AA (ArcheAge) officially launched today. 

I will say the HeadStart post about Saturday afternoon was very smooth and fairly queue/bug free.

Tonight, the queue's are back, but that's to be expected.  The downside has been the somewhat controversial release today of the new "starter" packs, that many feel are giving a tad more than the Patron's did.  There's a few threads on the forum about this as well as an un-official poll.

After a dismal first day of HeadStart, including having to completed uninstall AA and Glyph, and reinstall overnight, I wasn't a happy camper.  I border a friends PC that is playing AA too, and ran around to find a place to plunk down my house. Not where I wanted it, but it was put down.  I kind of feel Trion/XL Games, made it too easy to get that initial house.  It didn't feel like an achievement at all.  We all knew it was going to be a land rush on Friday, but with 50-75% of the people crashing, queue nightmares, the land grab wasn't pretty for many of us.

Saturday looked bright as the game patched and loaded, well server issues, DDOS attacks? and queues, I didn't get on until late on Saturday.  After that it's ran fairly smoothly.  Random character selection black screens, that require reloading the game, some lag spikes randomly, but otherwise it's been great!

As for my journey, I did get my character made, an Elf.  We blew through the initial quests to get the small scarecrow farm and donkey trade pack completed and started working on the materials for the 16x16 farm.  (I should say thank you to Trion for being so generous with ingame gold, it made buying many of the low level mats much, much easier.)

Sunday, I was fortunate to get the 16x16 farm quest out of the way as well.  After not finding housing, I didn't think I'd find anywhere to put the 16x16 down, but finally did, out in Karkasse Ridge under the bones of a giant dragon tail.  It's a fairly desolate looking area, but quiet.  I have an alt toon parked out there to manage the farming, so I can work on getting the Elf to 50.

Right now she's 26, (waiting to get back in after a black screen d/c, queue of 600+/52 minutes) we're questing in Two Crowns heading towards Cinderstone.  That should be fun, I've never been in Cinderstone at all and will be my first time in a contested zone, so a new place to explore and quests I haven't touched and likely much PvP death!

Here's a fun blog I found today - Killadrix.com - love his AA Headstart review.

ArcheAge Headstart Launch

A flood of Patron's trying to log in, dropped the servers at 10 am PST.  They were back up but lots of issues getting online. 

Finally past the character creation screen and in queue - 850 players ahead of me and a 23 min wait.  Argh!

Dang, the less people in queue in front of me the longer the time - 583 and 47 minutes - I hope that is a gross miscalculation!!!

So, while I'm waiting, (I wish we could set our key binds while in queue!), I made an Elf.  I was going to go with Occultism, but ended up going Archery, which I'm likely to combine with Vitalism and Shadowplay, then see what else looks interesting as I progress.

555 and 45 minutes.....

"The Plan" is to level through the green story quests as quickly as possible, while picking up the scarecrow (8x8), donkey and large scarecrow (16x16) quests.  That way we can get the stuff planted with the longest maturity harvest times.  It was a scramble last night relearning all those trade quests as I haven't played since patch 1.2 - no more strawberries - boo!  I had those amounts, routes, etc.  My spreadsheet for that is useless too.

506 and 20 minutes...

As I'm working with another player on this we're going to drop one house with our guild and one on the coast.  One will be the 16x16 small house, the other the larger 24x24.

I did download the iPhone app for timing harvests - Farming Timer.

37 and 1 minutes.... w00t!

Oh Trion what a tease.  22 and 2 minutes.... /sigh

Yeah I'm in.  Well for awhile.  Every half hour or so, I guess Trion wants me to take a break so I get d/cd and have another 1/2 hour queue to get back in game.  

Finally made it to Windshade, but still two levels too low for the scarecrow quest that now has to be started at level 10.  Time to go do some sidequests.

D/C again and now HackShield doesn't work.  Is it time for a /golfclap for Trion for putting out this game?  4 1/2 hours since launch and I've been in game less than two.  Yeah I know QQ launch day, right?  Well, I remember how smooth RIFT launch was and this is the polar opposite.  If I have to redownload the whole damn thing AGAIN, not going to be a happy camper!

Oh Joy!  Back in queue again.  In five hours since launch I've spent the majority of the time waiting to play.   Headstart...grumble, grumble, grumble. 

And booted again at the queue loading screen.  I guess it's not in my stars to play ArcheAge today.