Archeage: The missing genome of MMO's

     The game you've all been looking for is finally here. Archeage, but is it everything it's cracked up to be? After playing the alpha and beta I can honestly tell you it is worth it. Once it is released (date still unknown) it will be a free to play MMO, and for that price you won't find a better game. Of course you get more content if you pay for it, but the game with it's breath taking visuals and enormous open world has plenty of content for the casual MMO thrill seeker.

     Character or toon choices are amazing and beautiful enough that I was drawn in instantly. I play with a Harani kind of Healer/DPS. From the start the game takes you through almost all the basics, and there is so much content that it takes up until level twenty before the larger number of help topics are not needed. I am now a level 30 and I still have to go back and learn things. Now don't get discouraged thinking you need know all the basics to play, the designers had you, that's right you, in mind when they made it. Learning the basic skills and attributes is not the only positive outcome of doing these quests, they also get you butt loads of experience and more content for your character.

     By level 5 I had the games first mount, and at level 15 I had the famous gliders that you see in all the ads and commercials. But thats not all you learn, you dont just get a mount, you have to buy it as a baby and play with it, feed it, and water it before it grows enough to use it. The game gives you 6 hours to do this or you can gather all you need before putting your pet down. Now that 6 hours doesn't mean your pet disappears if you don't finish, it just means it's free game for all other players.

     Another amazing aspect of the game is.... you don't have to level to play. How you ask? Simple, the games economy is player based, which means players grow, build, cook, mix, make, scavenge, and all those other producing words, everything in the game that is worth anything. Therefore you can become a farmer and do nothing but that. Crops grow in real world time, speed depending on the crop. I grew trees so that I could build a bigger ship and it took 14 hours to fully grow after watering, and at the end of the 14 hours I was given another 12 to claim my trees for their wood or once again they were free game to other players.

     Now just because you don't need to level doesn't mean you shouldn't. Say for instance you are an underwater scavenger, to be able to get to the best underwater loot you are going to want a bigger, faster ship. Notice I say want, you get a row boat as part of a quest, but we all know how long it takes to get to England in a row boat. Back onto the topic, you need to be a higher level to be able to get that faster ship, but that's not all you need for underwater scavenging. Air tanks are available on the larger ships so that you can stay under longer and collect more.

     There is one more piece to the overall puzzle of Archeage that will make you want to level and have good gear. You will run into the opposing faction either while out scavenging, fishing, or even at home farming. How are you going to defend yourself if you decide to not level?

     Regardless of your choice to support the economy, do missions, or be a common house wife/husband and sit at home and cook pies all day for the market, the content never feels repetitive..... unless you are farming pumpkins 24/7.

     There is also a player based legal system. At any point in certain areas you are able to turn on your own faction, though if you do kill someone in your own faction and get caught you will be arrested and tried for murder. The jury consists of real players, and you are at mercy of their hands.

Overall Archeage is an amazing game with an extensive repertoire of action and content. This is one game that will never bore you!