Archlord - All News
Thursday - September 03, 2009
Archlord - NA and European Servers Shutting Down
As Codemasters was unable to negotiate a license for Archlord the European and North American servers will shut down effectively the 2nd of October.
It is with much sadness that today we announce our intention to close the European and North American ArchLord game servers operated by Codemasters Online.
Our licence for ArchLord is due to expire shortly and unfortunately, after several weeks of negotiations with NHN, the Korean developers of the title, we have not been able to reach an agreement to renew the contract, therefore the service will be transitioning across to Webzen.
This means that Codemasters will no longer have the right to operate the service in the Western territories it currently provides service in and therefore we are obliged to shut down all associated game services before the licence expires.
The last full day of service will be 1st October, 2009. All ArchLord world servers will shut down on the morning of Friday 2nd October, UK time. Further details of how the transition of the service will be handled, will be provided closer to the time of the transition.
The purchase of credits is now no longer available to ensure all players have the opportunity to spend their remaining Chantra credits in game and use their remaining Chantra items. Likewise, the creation of new ArchLord game accounts/subscriptions is now disabled. For further information, please see our ArchLord Service Transition FAQ in the forums.
ArchLord was Codemasters Online's first free to play MMO service and we have been very proud of its development and success during its three years of existence. Over that time the service has gone from strength to strength and has one of the most passionate communities we’ve ever seen.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported ArchLord and those players that not only played it, but also raised an army and ruled the world in Chantra.
Webzen will open new servers to play Archlord on starting October 3rd, read the deatils here.
Wednesday - August 20, 2008
Archlord - Spirits Awakening Released
Episode 3: Spirits Awakening for the free-to-play MMORPG Archlord has been released. The update is supposed to add 30% more content to the game according to the official website and this press release below:
CODEMASTERS ONLINE LAUNCHES FREE ARCHLORD EXPANSION PACK!
ArchLord, the Popular Subscription-Free MMORPG Receives All-New Free Expansion, Episode 3: Spirits Awakening
(Warwickshire, UK) - Tuesday, August 19, 2008 – Codemasters Online are pleased to reveal that their highly popular, MMORPG ArchLord has gone live with a new expansion available now free of charge to all new and existing players.
Episode 3: Spirits Awakening adds 30% new game content to the existing game including three extensive new zones and over 80 new skills and abilities.
ArchLord Episode 3: Spirits Awakening adds a number of new features and free game content including:
• Expanded world – 30% all-new game content
• All-new zones – 3 new zones for players to explore
• New class skills – Over 80 new skills
• ArchLord abilities – New ruling ArchLord skills and abilities
• New armour & items – New collectible armour sets with unique stats
• New monsters & enemies – New monsters and zone bosses
Available now, Episode 3 is available either through an automatic patch for existing players when logging into the game or included within the full free game download on the game’s official website for new players at: www.archlordgame.com
Source: Blues News
Saturday - June 21, 2008
Archlord - Announces Episode 3: Spirits Awakening
Codemasters announces 30% more free content coming to Archlord.
In the coming weeks ArchLord will receive a massive new free expansion, Episode 3: Spirits Awakening which adds up to 30% new content to the game. This episode which has been named by one of our players in a competition held a couple of months ago, adds the Lower Spirit Realms to the game, a group of magical realms inhabited by dangerous creatures and environmental hazards.
Included in these three new zones of Ice, Lightning and Poison are over 80 new skills, four new collectible armour sets with unique stats for each of the eight classes and a lot of new monsters and enemies to fight.
Read the full press release on our Codemasters Site!
Source: Blues News
Thursday - September 27, 2007
Archlord - New Server Added
Codemasters Online has announced the addition of a new server to its free-to-play MMO, Archlord.
Thursday, 27th September (2pm GMT) Codemasters Online is pleased to announce the opening of a new server for the hugely popular free-to-play MMORPG ArchLord. The new world, Evengarda is set to expand ArchLord to unprecedented levels allowing players to create new characters on a fresh new world, all from the same starting level.
Since moving to a 100% free-to-play MMORPG in August 2007, ArchLord’s popularity has exploded with a rise in the number of players of over 600% across both Europe and North America.
To celebrate the launch of Evengarda, Codemasters Online have announced a week long treasure hunt taking place in the new world. During this event hundreds of silver, gold and platinum chests will be spread far and wide across the new world, as players come in search of these hidden treasures.
Adam McGowan, Product Marketing Manager, Codemasters Online commented, “This hugely popular MMO is currently going from strength to strength since going 100% free-to-play in August 2007. We are incredibly pleased to see the recent surge of new players entering the game and we look forward to growing the game service further with yet more new game content coming online in the forthcoming months.”
To download ArchLord the 100% free-to-play MMORPG visit the game’s official website www.archlordgame.com
Source: Codemasters
Tuesday - September 11, 2007
Archlord - Review @ Gas Bandit Gaming
Gas Bandit Gaming skewers Archlord in a rather acerbic review of Codemaster's troubled title.
From every nation and every walk of life they come, and you can't get away from them. And they all want to chat with everybody, because let's face it, the game is pretty dull (see next section). But this is the internet, and when you put the whole world in one room all it takes is one chucklehead to say the word "Bush" and all of a suddenly the monsters seem to be taking more damage from angry european gibberish and jingo english tirades than from your +2 sword of uniformity. And speaking of uniformity, that brings me to...
Friday - January 05, 2007
Archlord - Interview @ Stratics
Stratics talks with Tim 'Mr.Ktat' Hodges, the Community Liaison Officer for Codemaster's Archlord about the company's decision to make the game not free to play.
Stratics: When Archlord first came out, you needed to buy the game and pay to play. Why did you make the change to ‘free to download’ and ‘free to play’? Did the game meet subscription expectations as ‘pay to play’? What do you have to say to those people who bought the game? Will this change allow the game to be profitable?
Mr.Ktat: ArchLord is now Fee Free i.e. players are no longer required to pay a subscription fee every month in order to play the game. The game itself is not actually free to purchase.
Players will still need to purchase the box from any of the major games retailers, or through the Codemasters E-store in order to play the game. Customers who purchase ArchLord from any retailer will still receive their in game credits as well, allowing them to enter the Chantra shop and buy items.
Source: Stratics
Monday - December 11, 2006
Archlord - Interview @ RPG Vault
RPG Vault talks with Tim Hodges of Codemasters about the publisher's decision to make Archlord free-to-play.
Jonric: What led to eliminating the monthly subscription fee, which you announced last week, and why are you making this change so soon after launching your version?
Tim Hodges: We have always considered a range of payment options for ArchLord, and have toyed with a number of them in an attempt to meet the demands of players. COG has always prided its self on how well we listen to our player base and on reacting to their comments when we can. In this case, players seemed keen to see ArchLord switch to a free to play service, so we crunched the numbers and decided this was a move that we could make.
Time is not important to us; if it's what players want and its in our power to deliver, we will do so irrelevant of how long some things have been in the game. The players wanted payment flexibility, and we have given it to them.
Source: RPG Vault
Wednesday - December 06, 2006
Archlord - Review @ GameZone
GameZone reviews Archlord giving it a slightly above average score of 6.0.
The chance to rule the world – that is the premise behind Archlord, Codemasters' massively multiplayer online title for the PC. Players can fight other players, take control of castles and, through the guild structure, the leader of the top guild can be known as the Archlord – enabled with a special mount and powers … well, until someone else comes along and dethrones him or her.
However, it will take a lot to achieve that status. Becoming adept at fighting is paramount – not only the mobs that populate the world, but other players. Kill too many of the later without justification and a bounty is likely to be placed upon your head.
Tuesday - December 05, 2006
Archlord - Now Free to Play
Codemasters has announced Archlord is moving to free to play:
Codemasters Online Gaming is pleased to announce that ArchLord is moving to Free To Play. Every ArchLord player will now be able to enjoy the excitement and danger of Chantra for free; all you need to do is buy the game.
ArchLord will continue to see fantastic content updates as well as its usual extensive PvP battles. Players will receive 3,000 credits on creation of a new account, or will be reset to 3,000 credits when ArchLord moves free to play. This is to ensure that players all start on a level playing field.
This is an exciting opportunity for ArchLord and one we expect to bring in lots of new players so I think all players can look forward to even more large scale PvP battles.
For further details on how this will work, or to get answers to any questions you may have please click the link below.
See thee in Chantra.
Friday - December 01, 2006
Archlord - Review @ CVG
CVG has their review posted for ArchLord, the Korean MMO recently released to the Western audience.
With an appeal similar to the National Lottery, you'll seek to defy the awful odds and rise to the top of each server through a series of events to become the one and only 'ArchLord', a PvP goliath who rains fire on other players, rides a dragon to work and always has a bird on his arm. Regardless of this heavy emphasis on PvP gameplay, there's a generous amount of questing to be had around a varied and expansive landscape, and while the classes and combat don't do a lot new for the MMO industry, they're familiar, intuitive and a laugh to play.
Source: Bluesnews
Thursday - November 30, 2006
Archlord - Review @ Game Nexus
ArchLord has been belted at Gaming Nexus, with their review scoring a platry 2.6/10 and this intro:
Dear God, whatever it is I did, I'm sorry and we're even.
You know it is not a good sign when picking up a new game if you have to schedule time to force yourself to sit down and play it. Such is the case with Codemaster's latest MMO, Archlord. Nothing in the manual, or the box art, or the online forums immediately inspired me to install the game and play to my heart's content. Later on, I would come to find that nothing in the actual game would please my heart, either.
Thursday - November 23, 2006
Archlord - Review @ GameSpot
ArchLord has been belted at GameSpot, with their review scoring 2.7/10. Here's the shortest intro I can recall from them:
ArchLord can be summed up with two words: "dull" and "repetitive." Unfortunately, this game doesn't have anything to offer massively multiplayer veterans, and if you've been playing these games for a while, there's a good chance you've already found something better than this.
Friday - November 17, 2006
Archlord - Review @ Fragland
Fragland is the latest site to smash Archlord with their review of Codemasters' Korean MMOG scoring 45%:
A MMORPG apparently, yes, but one that can be described as the Anti-WoW. A MMORPG that stands for everything plain evil, dark and devilish to the genre, an example of everything that can go wrong, a sum of misses with as result a game that sucks every, and I'm saying évery, little grain of gaming fun out of you already after the first seconds of playing as if it were a whory breed from hell, obsessed with prematurily ending your life force.
Friday - November 03, 2006
Archlord - Review @ Eurogamer
Codemasters' Archlord has been reviewed at Eurogamer, producing one of their typically entertaining dry pieces and a score of 4/10:
Hitting cubes of jelly with a magic stick should be kind of hilarious, but it really isn't. I am not having fun. So far, Archlord is exactly like what people who don't play MMORPGs think MMORPGs are like. The only thing that keeps me going in any way is the knowledge that in five levels' time (which means about 900 cubes of jelly slain), I'll finally be able to get a new weapon. With this, I'll be able to kill cubes of jelly slightly faster, though still primarily by pressing '3' and waiting. If I wanted a bit of a break from killing cubes of jelly, there's someone over there (also killing cubes of jelly) who looks almost exactly the same as me. They'll continue looking the same as me until one of us hits a certain level, at which point we'll be allowed to buy new armour. Of course, everyone else will look exactly the same again once they hit that level, even if their chosen new armour has some minor stat differences. If I so desired, I could go and hit these eerie clones, but I don't really want to. They're surely as unhappy as I am right now, so it'd be really mean to go and kill them.
Monday - October 30, 2006
Archlord - Review @ Play.tm
Codemasters' Archlord has been reviewed at Play.tm, resulting in the derisory score of 46%:
As you may well know, the structure behind MMORPGs is the idea that you start off as the lowest of the low, the wimpiest of the wimpy, the shi-, you get the gist, but with time and effort can develop into a being with unrivalled strength and ability. You achieve this by questing, battling, crafting, exploring and building alliances with other players. One of the biggest gripes over the years from fans of the genre is that grinding to level up is substituted as a cheap alternative to imaginative quests and exploration, something which ArchLord suffers from in abundance. Granted, you might expect it in the beginning of the game as a way to grasp the basics, but treadmill-esque, monotonous kill/collect/delivery tasks continue to haunt you for a painfully long period of time, at least until you're at a level high enough to earn the right to join guilds and take on the game's bosses.
Monday - October 16, 2006
Archlord - Media #23 @ RPG Vault
RPG Vault has four exclusive Archlord screenshots available for viewing.
Wednesday - October 11, 2006
Archlord: Review @ Whizzedout
Another month another MMO from Codemasters and this one is called Archlord, its your usual fantasy set MMO between Orcs,Human,Elfs all set in a distant land with all realms locked in combat, so its basically the same as every other MMO on the market. So what does it do diffrent? well nothing to be honest.
Source: Blue's
Friday - October 06, 2006
Archlord: Media #22 @ RPG Vault
Tuesday - October 03, 2006
Archlord: Screenshots @ MMORPG.com
Source: MMORPG.com
Sunday - October 01, 2006
Archlord: Media #21 @ RPG Vault
Source: RPG Vault