A Letter from Producer Ham — From the Demo to Early Access

Hello, Pioneers!

First, thank you to everyone who played the Steam Next Fest demo. It was the first time since the September network test that we opened the game to everyone, and far more of you showed up than we expected. A lot of you stayed long after you had finished the demo to share feedback and fight each other in PvP, and the whole team loved seeing it.

We read everything you posted during Steam Next Fest, and you gave us a lot to work on: black screens, disconnects, launch failures, parties that couldn't find each other, chat problems, how combat feels, the balance of certain skills and weapons, gender-locked classes, and more.

With Early Access only days away, we wanted to show you where things stand and what we have been fixing for launch. Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Launch & Connection

• A shader compilation screen now appears on first launch, so you see the game loading instead of a black screen
• Fixed some disconnects and login errors from the demo
• Fixed the game failing to launch alongside certain antivirus software
• Improved multi-monitor support and fullscreen switching
• If upscaling or frame generation doesn't work on your system, the game now switches the setting automatically and lets you know

Servers & Parties

• Your region is now selected automatically based on your location, and region labels on the server selection screen are clearer
• Added servers in Brazil and Singapore
• Parties now stay together across Peace and Conflict Channels, and invites work across both
• You can now move straight to your party leader's channel
• Dungeon and instance progress now survives a disconnect in every Early Access region
• Some solo-only dungeon sections can now be played in a party

Combat & Balance

• Reduced Wall of Fire damage, and bosses now resist max-HP-scaling skills more strongly
• Rebalanced Wavesword attack power and growth scaling, and reworked the Longbow's Fire Arrow
• Tuned the Warhammer, Hatchet, Elemental Staff lightning skills, and the Berserker's Forceful Lunge
• Fatal Strike now triggers more reliably, and Slaughter no longer switches targets when used on a downed enemy
• Disarming with Parry now costs less durability, and skills pass through monsters less often
• Bosses no longer disappear behind walls or under the floor
• Added new stat nodes to Traits and four new Lunastones

Controls & Quality of life

• 10 UI shortcuts can now be rebound, and camera Y-axis inversion is available with separate settings for mouse and controller
• Added a Smooth Camera Rotation option
• You can hold a stat button to raise it continuously, and climbing ladders no longer uses SP
• Glasses and masks can now be hidden on helmet appearances, and there are more character presets
• Customer Support can now be opened directly from the ESC menu
• Added a chat language filter for Region and World channels

Our Global PM, Don, will keep following up as even more changes come in.

One thing we chose not to rush before Early Access is the core feel of combat. Stamina, hit stun, movement speed, how a hit feels when it lands: on all of these, opinions varied a lot from player to player. Getting it right will take more than a few weeks.

So we've set up a dedicated combat team. They're starting with the Steam Next Fest feedback and will keep adjusting throughout Early Access based on how you play and what you tell us. That's a big part of why we chose Early Access in the first place.

The same team is also taking on soft-lock targeting for ranged attacks and the party aggro system. We agree both need work, and we'll use what we learn in Early Access to decide how to fix them, and continue to make improvements.

We've made a lot of progress on our first update after launch, and we wanted to give you a quick sneak peek at two things coming in it.

The first is gender-locked classes. It's been the most common piece of feedback since the September network test. Back then I said we'd keep looking at it, and we've been working on it ever since.

We're adding gender selection at character creation one class at a time. The first class to receive this option will be Warrior, with the female Warrior planned for our first update in December. More options will follow in the updates after that. Our goal is to remove gender locks from every class by full release.

Here's where it is today. *Internal build. The final version may differ.

The second is a third weapon type for every class. This will also be implemented one class at a time. In the first update we will be adding the Gladius to the Warrior class. It's further along than the gender work, so instead of describing it, here’s a look at what the team is working on.

*Work in progress. The final version may differ.

Finally, the world you'll find in Early Access. The demo covered only a small part of Diamond Shores. Early Access opens most of the rest of it, plus two new regions, Gylden Ruins and Astron Plains. That's more than 60 areas, roughly twenty times the size of the demo, with over a thousand exploration and collection points. Each region has its own stories, bosses, and dungeons to find.

We have already begun work on what comes after the Early Access launch. We'd like to share the roadmap once you've had time to play, so we can talk about it together and shape it around your feedback. Expect it soon after launch.

Early Access begins on November 3 at 3 PM PT.

Thank you for your patience, and for the time you gave the demo.

See you in Auroria,

Ham

Executive Producer, ArcheAge Chronicles

XLGAMES