Official launch date for ArcheAge is September 16th, 2014. There will also be another open beta event from 4th to 8th in which you can put finishing touches on your beta characters. Those of you who purchased founder packs can join the game a bit earlier in the headstart release opening up on September 12th.

Once the initial shock wears off, be sure to go ahead and prepare for this massive game launch. You only have two weeks so stock up on drinks, food and all other necessities so be sure to come prepared!

Next weekend of closed beta will begin on Thursday, July 17th at 1:00pm and will last until 1:00 PM on Monday 21st. If you obtained access to closed beta testing yourself you will be able to jump into this exciting game and finally experience pirating, crafting, questing, PvP or many other game features.

Since Founders Packs are fairly expensive many players are on the lookout for free closed beta access. You’ll be happy to know that you may still have a chance to dive into the beta if you signed up on the official website, or through a number of partnered websites which should start hosting beta key giveaways shortly. We will also very likely provide you with a list of places you can grab free ArcheAge beta keys so stay tuned for our updates!

It’s overly simple and frankly it’s surprising it wasn’t already well-known. All you have to do is trade a level 20 gem and one Gemcutter’s Prism to a vendor and you’ll get back a level 1 gem with 20% quality.

Getting any gem to level 20 takes an enormous amount of time still but this might actually help with the situation. If you start using a gem at (your character’s) level 1 it should be level 20 around the time you hit level 85! By using the recipe you’ll be able to obtain 20% quality gems much sooner and cheaper so having all of them improved and leveled will be less of a burden for alternate characters.

Some gems are often not even leveled all the way due to attribute requirements. Certain support gems with +20% quality also become more efficient at level 15 or so than their non-quality counterparts and getting them to that level will not take long.

In the long run this should reduce the prices of maxed quality gems but also make level 20 gems more valuable. If you intend to sell your level 20 gems right now just be sure you know the drawbacks and understand that your abilities may have lower damage until you get the gems to a certain level. Basically, it might not be worth it.

Remember that gems don’t suffer any experience penalties like your character, so speedfarming Docks in merciless is a pretty efficient way to level them up. Also this is one additional reason why you should always keep a few gems in your alternate weapons. Even if you don’t end up using the gems you can still sell them once they reach level 20.

In case you get lucky and manage to gain access to the beta you’ll be able to play as a Trickster Rogue, Devoted Cleric or a Guardian Fighter, and be able to access content up to level 30. The first beta weekend starts February 8th and lasts until February 10th, and while you wait be sure to watch the newly released trailer below.

In other news, Perfect World also opened their German and French websites, so if you’re from either of those countries you might want to check them out for some localized content. Obviously they’ll be catering to various player bases which I definitely applaud.

While no exact release date was yet given, it’s definitely great to know we can expect the release later this year. However, take that with a grain of salt, as most MMORPG release dates often get pushed further, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s released in 2013. In fact, I expect it, but in any case don’t forget to sign up for the beta on the official site to get a chance of trying the game early.

A few months until the release date of the game, and Funcom finally enabled pre-orders for The Secret World. The growing anticipation for this game is evident from the number of new players that keep asking questions about this game, and from what we know so far it’s going to be a massive release.

Anyway, there are several game editions you can preorder. The standard edition costs $49,99 and includes the following bonuses:

• Guaranteed Early Access to the game, up to four days prior to the game’s official launch
• An exclusive in-game item providing an experience boost to progression
• An exclusive in-game t-shirt featuring a unique monster design
• A powerful pet (Ferocious Wolf, Egyptian Cat or Loyal Hound) to support the player in combat
• A head start on character naming before the game launches

For serious fans, Funcom also has several other editions you can add to your standard one: the Initiate Pack, Master Pack and Grand Master Pack:

• Initiate Pack costs an additional $14,99 and includes a Blood Raven Pet, Faction leather jackets (one for each faction), and a Set of Weaponry
• Master Pack costs an additional $59,99 over the standard edition and includes 30 days or game time, one additional character slot, one additional name reservation prior to game launch, a set of seven talismans, 10 experience potions and a 10% lifetime discount on all full-priced item store social clothing items.
• Grand Master Pack costs a whooping $199,99, includes everything from the Master Pack, as well as a lifetime subscription to the game and an exclusive Snake Skin jacket.

Preordering the game also gives you access to the upcoming beta weekends, first of which begins May 11 (can’t wait!).

To celebrate the occasion Funcom also released a brand new preorder trailer, which you can view below:

So what do you think, is preordering The Secret World worth it? Are you going to prepurchase the game or wait for the reviews to kick in first? Tell us in the comments below!

ArcheAge, a game that has been in development since 2006 has finally started to receive some attention and publicity. XL Games just released a new teaser trailer you can watch below — the full trailer will be released soon.

https://youtu.be/MdOf-EKr_6U

Watching these trailers sure gets blood pumping in anticipation for this exciting game. Closed beta 3 is about to start, meaning we’ll probably see this title come out later this year. Fingers crossed!