Trion Worlds and XL Games are preparing the game for its 2014 launch.

ArcheAge, a sandbox MMO brought to you by Trion Worlds and XL Games, will be officially released when Patch 1.2 launches. While no release date other than noting it will be in 2014 has been announced, the game recently updated to Patch 1.0, so it is progressing steadily toward its goal. On the official forums, Community Manager Scapes shared this information:

If you've been following ArcheAge, you may have heard about a game update simply called Patch 1.0.

Initially released in Korea, this update has been the source of no small amount of concern from our ArcheAge community since we announced the game was coming to North America and Europe. Upon seeing the behavior of the patch's changes in the wild, the game's developer, XLGames, agreed that ArcheAge's balance and feel had shifted in an unintentional direction. Behind the scenes, we've been carefully following public feedback over the past few months, and had a chance to exhaustively test out the update on our own internal servers. While there are a number of gameplay improvements, we agree with their conclusion.

Both Trion Worlds and XLGames are eager to maintain the game's sandbox nature. Our mutual, overriding goal has always been to release the best quality, most fun experience possible. Toward that end, members of our ArcheAge Team visited XLGames this past week to discuss Patch 1.0. Together, we've forged the best possible path to launch for Trion Worlds' version of ArcheAge.

We're thrilled to announce that both Trion Worlds and XLGames have agreed that it's best for us go live with Patch 1.2's amazing improvements when we launch with English, French, and German languages in 2014. Launching with Patch 1.2 is a challenge as it adds over 70,000 words to translate. Since we want a complete English translation before introducing a larger audience to the game, this does mean that our Beta schedule has shifted by a few weeks. That means that we can't announce a specific date for the first Beta right now, but we wanted to get the great news about the game itself out as early as possible.

Patch 1.2 also introduces a host of exciting improvements on its own, including increased experience per Labor Point spent, a searchable crafting folio that works with recipe or ingredient names, significantly reduced (from Patch 1.0) glider turbulence on the high sea, and the ability to earn experience from crafting with maxed-out professions and participating in PvP during a war. Additionally, the Marketplace (in-game store) will be available before Beta begins and we'll grant testers sufficient currency to test it out. It's important to note that our previously announced game improvements such as international trade routes granting Gilda Stars, storyline quests earning experience, and trade packs dividing turn-in rewards 80/20 between pack holder and pack owner will persist through this update.

We're actively working with XLGames to bring our first build featuring Patch 1.2 changes to our Alpha server for gameplay testing and feedback. Since time is of the essence, we will not be holding this build back while waiting on complete translation, meaning that our Alpha testers will see partially translated content and will be asked to focus their feedback purely on how the gameplay feels. Rest assured, we do not anticipate the need to wipe the Alpha server for this update.

With this new game plan announced, the team is very interested to hear your thoughts and to be able to answer your questions. Our weekly livestream will be all about our visit with XLGames and the news revealed in this announcement. Ask your questions in this forum thread and then join us tomorrow afternoon on Twitch where we'll field as many as possible.

Our sincere thanks to each and every one of you for being a member of ArcheAge's pre-launch community. We're glad you're on this adventure with us!

The ArcheAge Team

Source: ArcheAge Forums

Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor