A Letter from Producer Ham — Steam Next Fest Demo Details

Hello everyone,As we announced earlier, ArcheAge Chronicles will be part of Steam Next Fest, which begins on October 19th at 10 AM PDT (October 20th at 2 AM KST) and runs for one week. I’d like to share more about what you can expect from the demo, along with some of the improvements we’ve made since our first network test.First, thank you to everyone who took part in the network test and shared your feedback with us afterward. We’ve continued to hear from you on Discord and Steam, and in our surveys, and your feedback has helped guide our work over the past month.Many of you also told us that the first test was too short, and that limiting access to North America made it difficult for players in other regions to take part. We’ve taken that to heart in preparing for Steam Next Fest, and I’m glad that this time we can welcome players from around the world.

Open to Everyone, Everywhere

[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/45216791/a1eace4408a0a8ccfcbdd8f128869ad5e365930d.jpg"]The Steam Next Fest demo will be available worldwide, with no regional restrictions. To give everyone the best connection we can, we’ll be running servers in the following locations: 

• North America: East and West[/*]
• Europe: Central[/*]
• Asia: East and South[/*]

The demo will support four languages: English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

What’s in the Demo

[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/45216791/135c0296b97766eaf323d0129f4e4feddcd7a066.png"]The demo offers roughly two to three hours of quest content. It builds on what you played in the network test and adds two new pieces of content: 

• Throne of Hinnon: For players who enjoy mastering the combat system, we wanted to offer an extra challenge. Throne of Hinnon is a high-level dungeon that sits outside the demo’s normal quest progression, so it may be extremely difficult at the level you reach during the demo, but that’s part of the challenge. We’ve also hidden the key to the dungeon somewhere that won’t be easy to find. If you discover it, share it on Discord! We’re curious to see who finds the key first and who conquers the dungeon! [/*]
• PvP Channel: Normally, this only becomes available after you’ve completed the early part of the game. For this demo, we’ve made it accessible much earlier. Once you leave the first town and reach the Nui Statue at your next destination, you can enter a PvP channel. [/*]

What We’ve Changed Since the Network Test

In my previous letter, I mentioned that we were reviewing your feedback and working on several areas of the game. Since then, we’ve been turning that feedback into meaningful improvements. Some of the issues you raised have already been addressed, while others will continue to be refined as we move toward Early Access.Here are some of the changes you’ll be able to experience in the Steam Next Fest demo.

• Gender-locked classes: In my last letter, I said this was something we would continue to consider. Since then, we’ve received even more feedback on this topic, and I’m glad to share that development is now underway. We plan to introduce additional gender options gradually, starting with select classes, rather than for all classes at once. These changes won’t be ready for the Steam Next Fest demo, but we’ll share more about the rollout as soon as we can.[/*]
• Voice-over and facial animation: Both were missing from the network test build, and both are now fully implemented, giving the game’s characters and dialogue a more complete presentation.[/*]
• Audio: The network test build still needed audio polish, which led to issues like repetitive combat sound effects and a lack of depth in the overall sound. We’ve made significant improvements since then.[/*]
• Party play: We’ve added quest sharing for party members, improved the logic that lets party members join the same channel, and fixed several bugs that could occur when exploring Points of Interest (POIs) together.[/*]
• Navigation in POIs and dungeons: Discovering your own path is an important part of exploration, and we want players to have the freedom to work things out for themselves. However, some paths and clues were harder to recognize than intended. We’ve made them clearer and added a guide explaining how hints are displayed, so you can better understand the information available to you without losing the sense of discovery.[/*]
• PvP channel: We wanted more players to experience PvP during the demo, so we’ve lowered the entry requirements to let you access a PvP channel much earlier than usual.[/*]
• Other fixes and improvements: We’ve resolved collision issues when climbing ladders, improved attack hit detection, filled in missing translations, fixed shimmering visual effects, and made a number of other improvements.[/*]

There’s still more work ahead of us, and we’ll keep improving combat, balance, and performance as we work toward Early Access. Even so, the Steam Next Fest demo is a meaningful step forward from the network test, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the changes.Thank you again for your patience, support, and continued feedback. We appreciate everyone who has taken the time to help us improve ArcheAge Chronicles, and we look forward to seeing you at Steam Next Fest.
HamExecutive Producer, ArcheAge ChroniclesXLGAMES