The sandbox MMO ArcheAge (PC) is getting some changes with the new Update 4.0 “Maelstrom”. Among other things, a particularly annoying random factor with items in the game is being removed.
Trion’s sandbox online role-playing game ArcheAge is finally receiving the previously postponed Update 4.0 “Maelstrom” today. And it brings a welcome change. Many players are indeed annoyed by RNG factors. RNG stands for “Random Number Generator” and refers here to random generators in the game.
This determines whether certain actions in ArcheAge succeed or not. This “feature” was particularly bad with the Lunajewels.
Bye, bye RNG! No more socket fails with Lunajewels!
Lunajewels are valuable upgrade components that you can embed into your items. The first time, it went smoothly, but with each additional jewel, there was a chance that it would break when socketing. The more jewels you wanted to stuff into an item, the higher the fail chance became. In the end, the success chance dropped to as low as 5 percent. So on average, only every 20th attempt succeeded.
Of course, such RNG was annoying for many players. Therefore, it was announced back in autumn 2017 at PAX West to improve Lunajewels and never let the fail chance fall below 70 percent. This would mean that only about every 4th attempt would be a failure.
Old shop jewels remain fragile
Now, the developers have decided to completely kick the annoying RNG with Lunajewels. Every jewel now smoothly sockets into your items and will never break. However, this does not apply to Lunajewels that you purchased in the “Honor Shop” before the update.
These will remain under the old RNG rules. This is still better than how it works in Korea. There, the old jewels were simply removed. For newly purchased jewels from the shop, the new rule applies.
Raid Finder, removed dungeons, and missing turtle ships
In addition to the extremely useful changes to Lunajewels, there are more things being changed in Update 4.0. Among other things, the following features are changing:
- The Raid Finder is now a permanent UI element.
- Some unpopular and rarely visited dungeons have been removed in the low-level area until further notice, and the quest lines have been redirected accordingly. Unloved instances may return later after revision.
- Criminals can no longer simply “drink innocent”. The “potions of forgiveness” required now cost 5,000 instead of 1,500 honor. Additionally, they have an increased cooldown of 3 hours. As a rogue, you will now have to live longer with the consequences of your deeds.
- The promised turtle ship will not launch with the start of Update 4.0. In Korea, the turtle ship caused too much trouble due to bugs. Trion Worlds intends to revise it. Thus, it will probably not appear until 2018.
- Adjusted arenas are set to come into the cross-server system and receive an AFK timer.
- Some changes from Korea will not come here. That is also good, as otherwise, you would now have to spend more resources to craft things or bundle trade packages.
In 2018, a remastered version of ArcheAge is also set to be released.
