ArcheAge Chronicles Early Access has been live since November 3, 2026 at 3:00 PM PST (midnight on November 4 in Central Europe). Three regions are playable: Diamond Shores, Gylden Ruins and Astron Plains. So your start isn’t spent stuck in a download, the server choice or character creation, here’s what to sort out first and what matters in your first hours.
Before you first log in
- Buy: ArcheAge Chronicles is buy-to-play with no subscription. Early Access costs US$29.99 (€29.99) on Steam, and pre-orders came with the Dawn Pioneer Set. According to XLGAMES there is no in-game shop at launch. Steam Family Sharing is not supported, so everyone needs their own copy. Dates and price are on our Release Date & Early Access page.
- Free up space: Steam lists 100 GB of storage for both minimum and recommended specs.
- Check your hardware: Minimum is Windows 10 64-bit, an Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER or Radeon RX 6600 (30 FPS at 1080p on Low). Recommended is Windows 11, a Core i7-12700 or Ryzen 7 5700X, 32 GB RAM and an RTX 4060 Ti 16GB or RX 7700 XT (60 FPS at 1080p on High). You also need 100 GB on an SSD, which is mandatory. Linux and Steam Deck are not officially supported for now.
- Pick a server together: Early Access has no server transfers and no cross-server play. Agree on a server with your friends and guild before anyone creates a character. Regions, channels, maintenance and server status are covered in our servers and launch times guide.
- Language: Interface and subtitles are available in English, Korean and Chinese, plus machine-translated Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese since November 3. Voice-over is Korean only.
- Demo progress: Progress from the Steam Next Fest demo (October 19–26) did not carry over – everyone started fresh in Early Access.
Pick your class
You choose your class at the start, and your weapons define how you play. Warrior, Ranger, Berserker and Mage are playable with two weapons each. A third weapon per class is still locked, starting with the Gladius for the Warrior in the first update in December. For launch XLGAMES mainly reworked the Warhammer, Longbow and Wavesword, while the Longsword, Hatchet, Axe and Elemental Staff got new stat perks. Our class guide compares every class and weapon, the best class guide helps you pick by playstyle, and the class pages show the full perk trees. In the build planner you can spend your perks before you commit Trait Points in-game and share the build.
Tip: The pre-order Dawn Pioneer Set is for one class, which you pick when you claim it in-game – decide before you redeem it.
Your first hours: what matters
| What | In Early Access | Why early | On RaidDex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nui Statues | 117 | Revive and fast travel – every awakened statue saves you walking later | Collectibles |
| Raeven’s Coilstones | 48 | 2 Trait Points each, 96 in total – the main source for your perk trees | Coilstone guide |
| Nui’s Tears | 163 | Nui’s Blessing: 30 ranks of +20 HP each, +600 HP in total – the last rank needs 60 Tears | Tears guide |
| Hersander’s Towers | 18 | Loot and Hersander’s Tokens – among other things, the tokens unlock the medium plot | Towers guide |
| Mir’s Far Sight | 21 | Experience, and they reveal chests and Tears nearby | World map |
| Books of Perdita | 9 | Permanently boost potion potency | World map |
| Xil’s Record Stones | 163 | Experience and notes on the history of Auroria | World map |
The counts cover the three Early Access regions. Every location is on our world map. Click a marker to tick it off; the lists under Collectibles show your progress per region. With an account your progress syncs between PC and phone – handy if the map runs on a second screen or your phone next to the game.
Tip: Many of the more than 1,000 chests and finds only open from level 10 or 20. Mark what you can’t open yet on the map and come back later.
Good to know: what’s different in Early Access
- Dying: A death costs some currency and equipment durability, but no longer any experience.
- Loot: Regular enemies hardly drop gold or Lunastones anymore. Instead, many bosses drop refined Archeum for sure, and six major bosses drop one of 18 Rare Lunastones. Gold mainly comes from quests, missions and trade.
- Missions: On the mission boards you can take a limited number of missions per day: usually 6, 3 at the Bluesalt boards in Jubilant Village and Stargazer Village and 5 at the guild board. The 180 guild missions each come in three sizes.
- Gathering: Every gathering node costs 100 SP and only regrows after 3 to 5 minutes.
- Stuck: If your character is stuck in the terrain, press ESC and choose Escape.
Leveling: where to go at which level
The level cap is 40, and every level-up gives 3 Stat Points for the six attributes. Compared with the demo, the lower levels need a lot more experience – about 64% more for level 10. Story quests bring plenty of experience: about 270,000 EXP in Diamond Shores, about 1.95 million in Gylden Ruins and about 5.4 million in Astron Plains. The three regions by enemy level:
| Region | Enemy levels | Raid |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond Shores | 4–40 | Crimson Rift (boss level 27) |
| Gylden Ruins | 1–60, field boss Karshid 100 | Gylden Throne (boss level 57) |
| Astron Plains | 13–85 | Nakisian Temple (boss level 90) |
Not playable yet are Heartland, Whalesong Shores, Vatic Shores and Diamond Shores East, among others. The full list of places by level, with enemy counts and bosses, is on our Leveling page. The main story leads you through matching areas anyway, and you can tick off every story quest there in order.
If you want more than combat
- Trade: Pack trade goods at a trading post and haul them to another. Each day you get 3 trade permits each for the Peace and the Conflict Channel. Which good pays most on which leg is in our trade guide and on the trade routes page.
- Gathering and professions: Ore, wood and herbs for crafting. Where to find what is in our gathering guide; on the world map the “Gathering nodes” selector shows every spot of one node type.
- Dungeons and field bosses: Early Access opens 8 dungeons for parties of up to 4 and 3 raids for 8 to 12 players. Every one with level and loot is in our dungeon guide and under Bosses & dungeons.
- Housing: Plots are in Seaglass Harbor Residences. What a house costs is in our housing guide.
Tip: Hover over an item, enemy or trade good on RaidDex – the info card shows stats, loot and payout without leaving the page.
Numbers in this guide reflect Early Access as of November 4, 2026. If XLGAMES changes anything in an update, we’ll update our pages.
Frequently asked questions
When did ArcheAge Chronicles Early Access start?
On November 3, 2026 at 3:00 PM PST – midnight on November 4 in Central Europe.
Did demo progress carry over?
No. Progress from the Steam Next Fest demo did not carry over into Early Access.
How much does ArcheAge Chronicles cost?
Early Access costs US$29.99 on Steam, with no subscription. According to XLGAMES there is no in-game shop at launch.
Which regions are playable in Early Access?
Diamond Shores, Gylden Ruins and Astron Plains – with 8 dungeons and the raids Crimson Rift, Gylden Throne and Nakisian Temple.
What should I collect first?
Nui Statues for fast travel and Raeven’s Coilstones for Trait Points – both are on our world map to tick off.
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