MMORPG News: ArcheAge Unchained Delayed, New MMOs Aura Kingdom 2, Profane, Antares Open World

This week has been great – my wife MrsStix and I are planning a trip to Australia to visit Wiggy and my family, I got to relax at the pool, and spent the entire week doing nothing but playing video games..
And recording, of course. ’cause this is a job and I can’t neglect my job or anything like that. I take this very seriously!
Okay, jokes aside, I’m excited about the next 2 weeks because we got some pretty interesting titles releasing, and some news regarding future releases as well.
So with that in mind, tell whoever you’re with that you’ll need 10 or so minutes as you’re about to watch this weeks Weekly Byte of MMORPG News.

Let’s kick this off with a big one.
As you should all be aware by now, ArcheAge: Unchained is launching officially for everyone on September 30th. Or.. at least that’s what everyone thought was going to happen.
Gamigo have both upset and surprised a lot of players during their livestream this afternoon.
Players have been anticipating the release of ArcheAge: Unchained ever since it was announced last month – and then the large graphical overhaul that would accompany the launch of the update on both versions of the game.
This was expected on September 30th – as was confirmed by Gamigo themselves. However, during the stream players asked a plethora of questions – questions that Gamigo went silent in an attempt to answer.
Why? Because they didn’t actually have them. The team behind Unchained didn’t have answers to various questions players were seeking.
Now, there are two scenarios here:
Scenario 1 consists of Gamigo being aware they couldn’t answer player concerns, and delayed the game to make sure that it would be in a state that would still be profitable, even at the expense of player discontent.
Scenario 2 consists of Gamigo having no idea what they’re doing and shit hitting the fan. Honestly, I hope it’s the former, as opposed to the latter because this is going effect a lot of potential players.
I’m aware a lot of you took time off work for this and are now screwed. I also know that this could very well be the first of many future issues that could arrive due to Gamigo not being the uh.. most competent publisher.
Now, there are 3 packages available when the game finally launches – ranging from $25 to $80.
I’m currently holding a giveaway that will end on the 29th for people looking to play the game at launch but without the funds to successfully buy it.
Gamigo have since released a brand new trailer to accompany their launch of Unchained, titled “Shadows Revealed.”
I did a video on that yesterday – it had my initial reaction and impressions of the update – which suffice it to say, I was pretty impressed by how it looked.
If you have yet to watch the Shadows Revealed update trailer, I urge you to do so – or, better yet, you can go ahead and watch yesterday’s video. That works too.
The trailer showcased a graphical overhaul, amongst other things, so I definitely recommend watching it if you haven’t already.

So this one’s a weird little one. Honestly, I’d not even heard of this until MrsStix approached me the other day telling me a new MMORPG called “Profane” existed and that I should check it out.
I looked at her and was like “wait, what?” because I hadn’t seen mention of this game.. anywhere. I’m still not sure the reasoning behind that but what can you do.
Regardless, Profane is a self-titled “True MMORPG” – offering players a large, colorful dynamic open world where enemies adapt to the world – which is ever changing.
According to the website: The world, and all of its inhabitants react to your presence and actions made in-game. You can also go out and murder other players, become a pirate, merchant, or even a lawful defender of justice.
Which actually kinda reminds me of ArcheAge a little bit.
You’ll be able to supposdely follow whatever goals you set – without being limited by loading screens, barriers or missions. Profane boasts a complete sandbox world to just.. do whatever you want, however you want.
Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen though as I’ve always enjoyed having a purpose behind my actions other than “oh, that looks cool. Wonder what that is?”

I did a video on Eternal Magic a couple months ago where I voiced my concerns for the game.. that it looked kinda generic and that I didn’t think it’d do too well.
I’ve seen more of it in action now and although I still have very valid concerns, I’ll be doing a video covering my thoughts sometime after it launches on September 26th.
Since 101XP, the people behind the game, are rolling it out to the public with two servers: One North American, and one European on Thursday.
The game has a large focus on PvP along with various social aspects such as weddings, player housing, and pets.
I’m not sure what to think of the game currently, but you all will sometime after I release my video on it!

Here’s yet another new title – built using SpatialOS. I know, I know. That’s a turn-off for some of you – no problem.
I’m well aware that SpatialOS has a lot of problems right now but developers are nevertheless trying to build games using SpatialOS that don’t completely suck.
Antares Open World is one such game: Antares is a completely open-world hybrid MMORPG – and according to the developers, the game isn’t going to be casual-friendly at all.
Their goal? “To become one of the most complex MMOs of tomorrow.” That, ladies and gentleman, is one hell of a goal to set – one that will no doubt be impossible to fully live up to.
The game is a long ways off, though, as they’re recently begun hiring new talent to continue development of the game. A release date isn’t even up for discussion currently, with a Kickstarter still “a few years off.”
Regardless, it’ll be interesting seeing where this game goes, especially with the SpatialOS engine’s growth over the next few years.

Blade & Soul’s Storm of Arrows update went live earlier this week – meaning the brand new Zen Archer class went live along with it.
And while the Zen Archer is the main focus of the update, and probably the most anticipated addition to the game in recent memory, the new Cathedra Cliffs heroic dungeon and Throne of Oblivion raid were both introduced this patch as well.
Granted I’ll probably never be able to enter those as the grind to increase my gear and Hongmoon level are atrocious – only being able to tolerate that grind for a few days every other month.
I will have a video up in the next few weeks showing what the Zen Archer is like, so if you’re interested in trying it out but don’t want to download and play the game.. then you’ll probably want to keep an eye out for that.
Or you can go ahead and jump right into the game and try it out for yourself. It is free after all!

Astellia launched its headstart last night for those of you that had gone ahead and purchased the Legendary Pack.
More and more players will be arriving in-game as the week goes on – with Platinum pack players being allowed access on the 23rd, and Gold pack players on the 26th respectively.
Everyone else will be allowed in on the 27th – one day after my Astellia Online giveaway ends.
I’m giving away a few copies of the game that will get you in-game on the 27th once the actual game launches for those of you that can’t afford it.
A lot of people are excited for the game, and it’s so close to being fully playable.
I might try and get a dedicated video for the game up after the launch sometime but I already have more lined up than I almost know what to do with.

I recall mentioning that the Apocalypse Battle Royale would become a very prominent part of the Ashes of Creation game – and I recall people getting in a tizzy over those thoughts.
But here we are, half a year later, with Intrepid Studios’ announcement that Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse is entering Early Access on September 24th.
The Battle Royale will be completely free-to-play, and will support various regions without region-locking.
Now I’m not saying that the MMORPG isn’t still in development, or that the MMORPG will never release in a playable state – but is it not clear where their priorities lie?

Yes, Twin Saga is probably the only Anime MMO of its kind to still receive updates.
Granted, they’re far and few between, with Twin Saga receiving patches what, a couple times per year? Regardless, it’s impressive that a game with the population that Twin Saga has is still being actively worked on.
So, what do we have to look forward to? A brand new senshi quest available for players level 40 and above. And.. that’s pretty much it, unfortunately.

It’s been a very long time since I’d heard mention of Cube World, but.. here we are, including Cube World in a news video.
According to the team behind the game, Cube World is going to be officially launching its Closed Beta on Steam on September 23rd. Yes, it’s that close.
To play the closed beta however you will be required to have Alpha access, which I don’t have, so.. yeah unfortunately I won’t be able to access the game but that shouldn’s stop some of you from doing so!

X-Legend, the developers behind Dragomon Hunter, Aura Kingdom, Eden Eternal, Grand Fantasia and Twin Saga announced a little while ago that they were developing a brand new Anime MMO – Aura Kingdom 2.
I will preface this by stating that the game will be for mobile devices, like every Eastern developer these days, but the game looks so damn good that I wish they’d opted to include this on PC.
The mobile sequel will be exactly that: a direct sequel to the game done by the original team from Aura Kingdom, while offering a brand new story and next generation graphics.
Look at this game though. Why couldn’t we have this on PC? It would do incredibly well and probably dominate the Anime MMO market for a while to come, just like Aura Kingdom, and every other X-Legend MMO has done before it.

I haven’t really discussed the official Soul Worker Online game in a while, but figured this would be a good opportunity to include the mention that Soul Worker is finally getting the brand new Chii Aruel character.
She’s an adorable little katana wielding badass that I’m sure a lotta you will enjoy playing as. She came out a few days ago, so if you have yet to try her out, I recommend jumping in and taking her for a ride!