Archive of Engravings

The Archive of Engravings is competitive content where you go up against the whole server.

When it opens

It opens at level 25. It's set up so you arrive once your growth paths have opened up a fair amount.

Challenge slots

Eight challenge slots open on a rotation. Each slot holds a challenge with different conditions. There are close to sixty challenges in all, spanning combat, World Boss, exploring, gathering, the Spire, crafting, the economy and progression. Once a challenge has appeared, it won't come back for a while.

Challenges run for one of three lengths — one day · three days · seven days — and they always close exactly at midnight Pacific Time (PT). Only finished slots are swapped for new challenges.

No challenge has its own entry requirement. Once you reach level 25, you can take part in all eight slots on offer.

Rankings

Everyone taking part in the same challenge competes on a single server-wide ranking.

Below level 25, your records still count, but you're left out of rankings and rewards.

Scores build only while that slot is live. The scoreboard is wiped when it closes, so it's never a board where long-time players start out ahead.

Engravings

When a challenge closes, the records at that moment are engraved permanently. They never get erased later.

The top ten are engraved, and ranks 1 through 3 receive rewards. You can view the leaderboard down to rank 50.

Rewards

Rewards arrive based on your rank. They aren't delivered automatically, so you need to claim them.

Max-hit challenges don't count overkill

Challenges that measure "how hard you hit in one blow" count only the damage actually dealt. Hit an enemy with a sliver of HP left as hard as you like — only what it had left is recorded.

So if you're chasing a record, strike a tough target at full HP. One-shotting weak mobs won't push your number up.

How to prepare

What the Archive measures isn't combat power but how much you play, and how consistently. That's why even a low-level player can reach first place by putting in the time.

That said, each challenge counts something different, so it's most efficient to start with the ones among the current eight that overlap with what you'd be doing anyway. Rewards are decided by your rank at closing time, the challenge's length, and the level bracket of the player who won it.