A New Age of Archlight has begun
Archlight North America will open on November 10th 2018
10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST / 19:00 CEST.
We are extremely excited to announce that will be opening a US East Based Archlight Server in less than 3 weeks time.
There are many reasons we are finally doing this, something most projects would have done much earlier on, and I wanted to share those primary reasons and why it's exciting for Archlight's long term
Also - Our team will be doing a Discord Q&A sometime next week to respond to any questions anyone may have! I'll be posting the date/time for this later this week, anyone who cant make it, i'll be uploading a recording of it as well!
1. A true fresh start & cutting down p2w
For over 2 years now, we have had a massive part of the playerbase, but also potential playerbase, wanting the ability to play on a server that didn't have a majority of the playerbase receiving coins back from previous Seasons. A true even fresh start for everyone across the board. Additionally, we will be cutting out alot of the most deemed p2w stuff from our shop, promotion tokens and living tokens shops. A huge goal of ours is to make the non-spending or minor spending experience much more productive and friendly to players. We have other changes coming as well, however, the current list of store changes you can see down a bit
2. Large unsatisfied South American Playerbase
The first and foremost reason we are doing this is due to our very large south american playerbase that we have that currently has crippling ping. This is for not only the current South American playerbase that suffers through the ping, but for the massive market the South American playerbase is, that decided the ping wasn't worth it and never played at all, for years (but much more often over the last 6 months) we've gotten a constant stream of emails from South American's asking us to make atleast a North American server. For you all, your welcome! :")
3. Missed North American Potential Players/Community
We are excited to offer soemthing local to the North American playerbase that previously passed on Archlight due to it being European exclusively.
4. Growing Archlight
And finally, as I like to be very transparent when I can with the playerbase, revenue is very important to continueing a project of our size and futher growing it. What started as a fun hobby nearly 4 years ago, has turned into a game that thousands from around the world play & enjoy each and every Season. We have done things that we didn't think we could do, we've been growing unique content at a still growing rate, however, all of that costs money. Opening a North American server, while continueing to maintain and patch together with the European Server, will bring in a large influx of new Archlighters from North America and South America. As our playerbase grows, our community grows, and ultimately the Archlight World grows.
Set Season Lengths, Alternating Servers, and Server to Server Achievement Points/Heirloom Points
Era's on Archlight, which we will commonly call Seasons now, will now have set 6 month lifetimes. This means that every 6 months a server will start a new Season. When a season ends, players will obtain Heirloom points based on how many Achievement Points they have earned! These Heirloom points can be earned on both Servers, accumulating to one total that can be used on both servers to unlock special outfits, mounts, wings & misc items for your character when a new Season starts. Ultimately, progress on either Server will benefit your progress on the other Server as well!
We feel doing set Season lengths will clear up plenty of questions, guesswork, and overall confusion of when a Season is ending, starting new, etc. As well, we feel that this will foster to both types of players we have. For the more short-lived and high intensity player who only enjoys the first 8-12 weeks, they have the ability to play the start of a Season, every 3 months, rather than only every 6, as well as unlocking achievement points at a 2x rate. For the longer lived player, who prefers to complete everything and anything he can do, and fully max out his character, or simply enjoy all of the endgame, they will be able to enjoy that character for 6 months without a wipe.
We are also happy to say we will now be making exclusive Achievement Point cosmetics that players can UNLOCK rather than purchase with heirloom points, by achieving certain tiers of Achievement Points in any season they will automatically unlock these exclusives. More details to come on this.
To read more about how Heirloom points work, read at the bottom of this post.
Ping Improvements!
After running some tests, we found the following ping results, which will excite NA & SA players the same, while being extremely managable for EU players.
Ping times to Host from location;
Washington City > Host - 11ms (Currently to Eu Server 100+ms)
Brazil > Host - 121ms (Currently to EU Server 200+ms)
Sweden > Host - 93ms
P2W's Removed & Shop Changes
The Following Items have been removed from the Point Shop
Profession Crates
Upgrade Stones
Skill Potions
Coins Dolls (Because you can simply transfer coins instead)
All of these items have been removed from the game for US Archlight
All Skill Buff Effects
Yalahari Figurine
Elven Brooch
Black Pit Demon
Valentine's Buff
Anniversary Backpack
Golden Hyena Amulet
Sweetheart Ring
Moon Backpack
Heart Backpack
Inspiring Light
Refreshing Ring
The Following Items have been removed from the Living Token Shop for US Archlight
Green, Blue, Red, Pink Orb Aura's all removed
Sheep Outfit
Reaping Amulets
Oblation Amulets
Anniversary Companion
Character Boosts Removed From Shop
At first we really liked the concept of the Character Boosts, we felt it was a great middle ground addition to the store, however with more thought, we currently dont like the place that they hold, and feel they dont naturally fit in and thus will be removing them from purchase.
Global Boosts Removed From Shop
While these are not very strong later in a Season, early in a Season/Launch, these are very powerful for giving a group of players an edge, because of this we will be removing them from US Archlight.
Celebrating US Server Launch
To celebrate the first week of our North American Server Opening, the entire shop will be 25% off on the North American Server & the European Server!
2x Referral Rewards!
Additionally, for our first week, all Referral Rewards will be DOUBLED! Want to recruit a buddy to play Archlight? Earn Free Archlight Coins for each friend's progress and support to Archlight! The more friends you refer, the more Free Coins you can earn! These are coins that are account bound & you will receive back in any Season!
Multiple Large Online Personalities Hyped & Playing Archlight US!
Several Larger US/SA streamers and youtubers will be playing Archlight US on it's Launch. We will be announcing/teasing about these personalities on our website in the week leading up to Launch, but we cannot wait to see the influence and reach they provide to the new age of Archlight!
How Heirloom Points Will Work
(Copied from a past post - if you already know, you can skip this)
Achievement Points will be the major indicator of a players progress moving forward for any End-Of-Season Account Rewards. At the end of a Season, Achievement Points will become account bound Heirloom Points. These Heirloom Points will simply replace the past confusion of Legacy Crystals - In which players earned them from donating, as well from progressing in past eras. We are simply splitting the two, so it's more clear which comes from which. Legacy Crystals will continue to come from donating, and Heirloom Points will be rewarded based on your Achievement Points (1:1) at the end of a season, in which players can spend those in the event of a New Season for a Head-Start Boost & Buy some Limited Cosmetics only buyable with Heirloom Points.
Heirloom Points shop will be setup virtually identical to the Legacy Shop in terms of offers, however will have a few more additional unique offers including exclusive outfits, mounts, wings, companions and more!
Legacy Crystals - Earned from reaching new legacy tiers when donating to support Archlight
Heirloom Points - Obtained 1:1 based on your Achievement Points at the end of a season. 50% of these points will remain on your account forever, adding up every season of Archlight you play, giving you a unique edge the longer your history on Archlight.
Achievement Points - Obtained by completing Achievements
Please note; the existing achievements players have earned, and the ability to earn them, will remain until a new season occurs