Mystic Worlds: ArcheAge - Getting Started Guide

PSA for New Players

With an influx of players coming into ArcheAge who may have little to no experience with the game, I thought I’d do a post of the more common questions I see asked in Faction chat. I’ll try to be as concise as possible since it’s a long list.

Class System

There are ten combat archetypes in AA. Each class is a combination of three. There are NO gear or weapon restrictions based on your class. However, the stats on the 3 types of gear are better suited to certain combinations than others. And some skills require specific weapons like the Battlerage Bash skill needs a shield.

You’ll pick your first combat tree when you create your character. The next one comes at level 5 (I think) and the 3^rd at level 10. None of this is permanent. For a fee, you can change your combat trees any time you wish, by visiting a Nui Priestess. You can respec your trees – choose different skills, by using the reset icon at the bottom of the Skills Window (press K).

This flexibility allows you to play different classes using the same character. You’ll just need to carry different types of armor and weapons. Using a good skill builder website will show you skill combinations to help you maximize your output.

PVE Death = Lost XP

If you die in PVE you lose XP. The amount lost is reduced if you’re resurrected by a player. If you want to recover the XP, you can do so for a fee, by interacting with the Nui Priestess where the game resurrected your body. This is the same NPC used to change out combat trees.

Mini Map

The mini map can’t be moved. You can however, use the S, M & L icons on the top left to change the size. You can also have map icons displayed or not, by using the gear icon which is also top left. Open the map itself (M key) to select which icons you want displayed. Changes made on the map are reflected in your mini map. Right-click the map to zoom out to the world view.

Interface Elements

ALL interface elements can be moved except the mini map. Most can be repositioned by clicking-and-dragging with the left mouse pointer. When that doesn’t work, use Shift + click-and-drag. It’s one or the other to move anything in the UI.

Hotbars

You toggle hotbars on and off from the Options menu. There are a maximum of 4 available. They can be moved with left mouse + click-and-drag too but you must position your mouse over one of the blank spaces on the left or right edge of the hotbar itself. Your keybinds are also in the options menu.

Labor Points (LP)

Labor Points are like energy points used to craft, harvest, tend to livestock, produce trade packs, turn in trade packs and open coin purses dropped from mobs. By the way, MOBS NOW DROP ITEMS. You will need LP to open them (coin purses). Even a single item such as a piece of gear dropped by a mob consumes LP to open. Quest rewards are an exception and require no LP to open.

While in game, your LP generates every 10 minutes. How much you get is determined by your account status – Patron (subscriber) vs. F2P (no subscription). Patrons also regenerate LP while offline. As mentioned above, LP governs a lot of activity in AA. When you’re out of it, you can’t participate in those activities. That’s when it’s time to quest or PVP. Alternatively, you can replenish LP with a Workman’s Compensation tonic. There is an instant 1K recovery version in the Market Place (Cash Shop). The most recent patch added 200 and 500 versions as well. I've been told the new ones come from Market Place chests. All of these are available to purchase from other players by using the Auction House.

Gilda Stars (GS)

GS is a special in game currency given as a quest reward. These are in turn used to purchase items from Mirage Isle. The most common use of GS is to acquire the crafting designs needed for player houses, ships, special mounts, gliders and specialty vehicles such as farm wagons. You will get a decent amount of GS by completing all of the quests until level 20. After that, they’re not given out as frequently unless you complete the main storyline quests (green diamond with circle in the middle). There are also Trade Pack turn-in NPCs that give GS in exchange for your packs.

Memory Tomes (MT)

MT are used to save portal locations throughout the game. Whenever you enter a new zone a notation / portal save is created in your MT (blue book in your inventory). You can use the save point to return to that area in the future. Doing so consumes a Hereafter Stone (HS).

For a location you return to frequently, you can have that saved as your Recall Point (magenta colored open book on hotbar). Recall allows you to return to a location every 30 minutes without consuming a HS. To create a Recall Point you must physcially interact with the memory book for that location. They can be inconspicuous. Often times they are inside the Inn which will be a building that has a brown keg trimmed in green outside of it.

Be smart about using portals from your Memory tome as it can be an expensive habit because the price of stone tends to stay high on the Auction House If you have a farm or house, I'd suggest setting your recall to the one you visit the most and not your current questing area.

Hereafter Stones (HS)

The reagent needed to portal to locations in your MT. Don’t have it, can’t portal. HS can be crafted by all players – no proficiency requirement. You need stone bricks and a Blue Salt Wedge which is purchased from a General Merchant NPC. Typical sequence to create is process/craft raw stone into stone bricks > craft HS from bricks + wedge. Alternatively, you can buy them from the Auction House or Market Place. Both are overpriced unless you’re desperate. HS are crafted at the Masonary workstation.

Mining Ore

Ore is the only crafting resources routinely spawned by the game. Other than the occasional tree, plant or herb, all other materials come from player farms. If you see a node mine it! Even if you don’t need metal, everyone needs stone to craft Hereafter stones. No special equipment or skill is needed to mine ore and its by products are metal, silver, copper, gems, etc.

Getting Your Mount

Your first mount comes around level 7. It’s a very simple quest. You’ll get to choose from 3 different color variations of your race’s mount. Mounts are also available for purchase on the Market Place and on Mirage Isle. If you can make it there alive, you can also get the mounts from the other faction's races.

Resurrecting your mount or pet

If your mount dies you can resurrect it using a special healing potion (Recovery) which is used on mounts or battle pets. If you don’t have one available visit a Stablehand NPC. He will have an interaction that resurrects your pet for a fee.

Using Your Glider

You’ll encounter the quest for your glider in the high teens. To use it, you must equip it like a piece of armor. You can put it on a hotbar key OR you can use the Options menu and turn on “Double tap to …Glider”. That’s what I use. I prefer double tapping my spacebar to launch my glider.

Crafting System

You can advance all crafting professions albeit that would be very expensive and take a long time. However, you can't advance all of them to max. I believe the limit is 2 for the top tier. Deciding on your crafting profession(s) will greatly impact what you choose to grow/raise on your farm. You’ll want to provide as many of the components you need to maximize profits. If you’re in a guild it’s a good idea to coordinate who is going to pursue what.

Mirage Isle (MI)

This is an instanced location that is only accessible via the MI portal. It’s the aquamarine glowing portal next to the Auction House NPCs. MI has all of the items available to purchase using Gilda Stars. You can see all of the player house designs, some of which are furnished. All the mounts, land vehicles and ships are also on display. This is a combat free zone so ignore the "red" players. *smile*

Warehouse & Character Inventory

The warehouse NPC functions as your personal bank. They’re available in every region – under a canopy and a wooden sign next to him that to me, looks like a bunch of fruit. Mailbox is usually somewhere near warehouse most often not far from the Auction House NPC. The only way to expand your warehouse is to purchase Expansion Scrolls from the Market Place. This is also how you increase you inventory on your character. To use the expansion scroll it must be in your character's inventory bag. Click the expansion icon at the bottom of your inventory bag window to consume an expansion scroll OR click the expansion scroll icon in your warehouse, to increase it instead.

Auction House (AH)

Nothing new, it has the normal features to list or buy items from other players. I’ve been told that the AH is game wide but I can’t confirm. I do know it’s not just your server though. F2P characters can purchase from the AH but can’t list items without purchasing special tokens or something from the Market Place.

Market Place (MP)

MP is the game’s cash shop. It contains costumes and many convenience type items. Use the cart icon at the lower right of the UI to access it. Items purchased come in the MP Mail which is the icon to the left of the MP icon.

Public Transportation

There are two forms of public transportation. Both of which, are faster than all land mounts. Hackney wagons run from town to town and are often used by people transporting a single Trade Pack. The Airship travels much longer distances but is only available in key cities, with a 20 minute wait per airship. There are telescopes near each station where you can see where the public transport vehicles in your area, to get a sense of how long it will be before they arrive.

Player Farms (Patron’s Only)

Each character can obtain an 8x8 and 16x16 Scarecrow farm by completing Blue Salt Trade NPC quests. For the west faction, the Blue Salt NPCs are in Lilyut Hills / Windshade. Farming is at the heart of ArcheAge unless you’re only there for Pirating and PVP. Even then, you need wood and cloth for ships and a way to craft good gear as you level.

There are four types of items managed in the farm system – seeds, saplings (trees) and livestock. The fourth are the items that can be grown under water on Aqua farms (AF) There are three vendors that supply the items – Seed Merchant, Sapling Merchant and Livestock Merchant.

Having access to a farm is important in AA as crafting is at the core of game. With few exceptions, the best gear in the game is crafted. To maintain your farm you must pay taxes on a weekly basis using Tax Certificates. These can be crafted, purchased from the AH or purchased from the Market Place. Your tax bill arrives via in-game mail. If you don’t pay your taxes, a 2 week demolition timer starts. If the taxes remain unpaid any player can demolish your property and use that space for their own farm or house.

Player Houses (Patron’s Only)

Players can build homes by purchasing designs from Mirage Isle. The smallest one is 16x16 and costs 15 Gilda Stars. You will need 10 logs plus a Tax Certificate security deposit to place down your house. Then you will need to compile the resources (packs) needed to construct it. You can interrogate the information icon to see what is needed vs. how much has been supplied. The necessary packs can be applied to the property at different times / in stages.

Houses have land around them for farming. How much depends on the size of the house. A very strange mechanic gives you more space around your house if you place it diagonally. This is a big deal, something I wasn't aware of until after I'd placed mine. *Sad face*

The popular Farmhouse Cottage is 24x24 and very a great option for people who plan to do a lot of farming/crafting. Like farms, you must pay weekly taxes via Tax Certificates and if you don’t, the property will eventually be demolished by a player and the land claimed.

Houses support having storage chests, beds that regen labor, Auction House/Merchant NPC, crafting stations and of course, decorative items. There is also a special class of crafting station not available in the city crafting hubs which can be placed in a player’s house. All of your characters have access to each other's farms. You can opt to give access to guild members or a family (select group of players you identify).

Public Farms (PF)

Until you’re able to find or own land, there are public farms scattered through AA. Each PF only allows certain items. For example, the one in Lacton, will only accept chickens and grain. While others take bigger livestock and even trees. You’re limited to 10 items at a time, collectively across all PF. It's not much but it’s better than nothing until you have property of your own or are F2P, in which case, you can’t own property at all. Here's a list of the public farm locations and what can be produced there.

Temporary Farms (TP)

Until yesterday, I didn’t know these existed! TP allow you to place down an 8x8 farm for a week. This is a great stop gap for people who can’t find open land or can’t consume any as F2P characters. With this in mind, it’s totally worth it for F2P characters to complete the Blue Salt Trade quest series to acquire their 8x8. You can use the Public Farms in the interim to grow the items needed for the quests if you can’t afford or don’t want to purchase them from the Auction House.

Curing Diseased Livestock

There is a random chance for your livestock to become diseased. It’s been my experience that the % of diseased livestock is much higher when using Public Farms. If an animal becomes diseased you must cure it. Otherwise it just takes up space until it dies – 2 days in game time. And no, you can’t even kill it to remove it.

If you have the gold to waste or are lazy, you can purchase the Livestock Supplement from the Auction House. Please ignore the tooltip text telling you what you need. It’s not called that. If you don’t want to spend gold, you can obtain the supplement from the Blue Salt President. For the west faction, this person is located in Windshade – not far from the other Blue Salt quest NPCs. Purchasing from there uses farming reputation you’ve gained.

Blue Salt NPCs

Known for having the quest series related to farming. From getting your farm scarecrows to earning gear with increased stats for the various types of farming activity, is what these NPCs are about.

Trade Packs for Beginners (TP)

Trade packs are crafting bundles produced by players to sell to specific NPC in exchange for gold, Gilda Stars or NPC only components. TPs are a big part of the AA economy and crafting efforts done by many players. You can earn a very good living producing TPs. There are many guilds focused only on commerce which means producing TPs in large quantities.

For solo turn-ins, I suggest you stick to PVE areas using land-based routes. Check the Commerce section of the recipes window (press O key) to see the specialty recipes for your faction. TP can only be produced using a Specialty Workstation and each workstation only supports 2 recipes. Therefore you have to go the area that has the right workstation to produce what you want to sell and then transport the TP.

A character can only carry a single TP at a time – it’s on your back. Your regular mount moves much slower if you’re wearing a TP. It’s faster to walk than use the regular mount. Ideally, you should have a Donkey which is given as a quest reward from the Blue Salt Trade NPC quest line. You can also buy one for 5 Gilda Stars on Mirage isle.

The further the distance you transport your TP, the greater the reward. It’s most convenient when you farm in the same region as the Specialty Workstation you use and then transport it by land to the furthest region. My typical trip is a 3 region jaunt that nets ~ 6G per trade pack. Doing 3 of those per day, which takes roughly 15 minutes each, creates a decent cash flow.

Whew

Hopefully, that’s enough to get people started if they didn’t play during alpha, beta or open beta and haven’t had time to read up on any game play specifics. I’m on the Kyrios server playing the West faction. Character name is Alysianah. Say hello if you join this community and need help or are looking for a friendly guild.