One of the core mechanics in ArcheAge is the trade packs. These packs are the bread and butter of building ships and houses and other cool things, and are major component of the game - including PvP! Because if you make a trade pack and get ganked, guess what, the person who ganked you can pick it up (oh no!). It’s this core mechanic that drives ArcheAge’s world and the main motivator for a lot of the things that happen in the game.

Creating a Trade Pack

To craft a trade pack you must first go to a workbench, at which point you can begin crafting your trade pack. The steps are simple. The first step is to find out what resources you need, then obtain them, finally craft the pack. At which point it’ll turn into a physical object in the game world. You will need to spend 60 labor points or thereabouts to make one trade pack.

The Trade Pack

The trade pack is sack or sactual or whatever you may call it used for one of two goals: making money or building things within the world. They can traded for gold, Gilda Stars, or used in construction of houses and ships. How much you get depends on the destination, but usually the further you travel the more money you make since certain goods are crafted in one place and worth more the further away you go, but generally the price is pegged to the destination.

You can lose the trade pack if you die or drop it on the ground. They have to be protected

Transporting Trade Packs

You can trade the pack to another player (if you drop it on the ground, anyone can pick it up). You can drop it within your house or any protected land and it will remain for six days. You can also load it onto a ship. You can’t throw it into an ocean or put it in protected land you don’t have access to.

If you die, as mentioned previously, it drops on the ground and it’s a free-for-all. So there is a big risk / reward. You can take longer, less traveled paths and have a higher chance of not getting caught in PvP, but you’ll earn less money because you took more time. You can take shorter routes, but say around Freedich Island it gets very dangerous (but is also one of the best places to drop trade packs off).

Trade Pack Quests

You may be overwhelmed by all of this, but at the start of your questing, you’ll get a few missions to take supplies and deliver them. This will teach you the rough basics of walking around with a trade pack and how to make it and drop it off.

Trade Pack Quests and the Donkey

The quest that introduces you to trade packs will reward you with a Donkey, which will allow you to move at around walking speed, if not faster, with a trade pack. It’s well worth doing, because it can help you get the trade pack to the ocean faster.

As a quick note, the quests only require you to get near the quest NPC with the pack, you can take the trade goods elsewhere for a bigger profit.

Profit Delay

There is a delay in receiving the gold (Gilda Stars are instant) of about a day, but you will receive 5% more in interest for the wait.