On the topic of games

So, on the topic of games.

I've spent pretty much all of today playing Archeage; and I must say, it is really fun.

It's classified as an open world, sandbox, mmorpg.

I managed to ding 20 before going to work, and not much of the sandbox or open world part have appeared (except for the usual mmorpg open world part).

The sandbox part is kinda apparent right from the get go, since when you start a char, you pick a starting skillset.
Upon hitting level 5, you pick a second one.
And on 10, a third one.
On 10 you also unlock the ability to change your skillsets, so you can pick and chose any 3 that you want, and they level independently of each other.
What is slightly restricted tho, is the amount of skill points that you have available to place in your skills. But you can at any moment reset any of your skillsets (costs silver/gold dependent on the amount of points spent in the set you reset) enabling you to pretty much on the fly change what skills you have available for any encounter.

To change your skillsets, you need to visit a skillset npc or an resurrection npc, so you don't have quite the same freedom there.
Overall, you have LOADS of choices, and each combination is given a class name.

There's is a house building mechanic that's in the game too, I just haven't reached it just yet.


Now, the bad part...
Many things (crafting etc) costs a unique "currency" in the form of Labor Points, that recharge in bulks of 5 per 5 minutes spent in-game.
That don't sound too bad, except that crafting requires -a lot- of Labor Points.
The most basic equipment you can make, that is usable on level 20, costs 100 LP per piece.
Meaning, around 1100-1200 LP for one full level 20 set of gear.
And after that it just goes up and up (especially, since the next piece up, requires the piece below it to make, so a T2 piece requires that you first make the T1 piece).


But, despite this, it's well worth a try.

Open Beta until tomorrow (Monday (Some US time, don't know exactly)), after that it goes live on the 16th.
It's going to be F2P with a subscription form available (subs, gives a few perks, such as higher LP income, and LP regen even when offline) and of course an cash shop.


Sounds interesting? Head on over to the Archeage site and check it out!