Gliders

Overview
Gliders are a unique take on flying mounts that allow you to control your character in the air while also taking into account gravity, height, duration of flight, and potential obstacles in your path. Gliders will always tend to, well, glide down; different models have more or less time and ability to stay aloft, but the higher tier gliders all have the same stats except for they all have different abilities.

Gliders are equipped to your character’s back in the same slot a trade or resource pack would occupy, thus preventing you from gliding while also carrying a heavy load!

There are multiple different glider models, including one dropped by the legendary Kraken.

Every glider has a set of ratings in these basic stats:
 * Flight Speed: Speed of forward movement.
 * Gliding Ability: How slowly it loses altitude.
 * Turning Speed: How quickly (and thus sharply) it can turn.
 * Initial Speed: Does it start out fast or take time to build up speed?

Since 3.0 Revelation, the stats of most gliders, except for the non-ultimate beginner gliders, are normalized, that is to say, their stats are the same, they only differ in looks and special abilities such as an upward boost to quickly gain altitude, the ability to drop explosives on targets below, dive-bomb, quick side-rolls, etc.

Obtaining
The basic glider is offered through an early quest line and can be upgraded through the crafting system at various levels.
 * An Elf or Nuian character obtains their first glider from a quest at Riverspan that you turn in at the NPC Engineer Red located at Bear Mountain in Lilyut Hills.
 * A Firran or Harani character obtains their first glider from a quest at Anvilton that you turn in at the NPC Amatur located at Ironclaw Mine in the Tigerspine Mountains.

Upgrading
The Experimental Glider you obtain can be upgraded three times. Each upgrade is in the form of a blueprint purchased for Gilda Stars at Mirage Island, you use these blueprints along with your glider in the Machining section of a Carpentry Workbench. The upgrades must be done in order, if you want the Enhanced Glider then you must upgrade to the Improved Glider first.
 * The Improved glider requires level 10 to equip.
 * The Enhanced glider requires level 15 to equip.
 * The Ultimate glider requires level 20 to equip.

Flight
To fly in ArcheAge, you will need a glider first acquired around level 10 and you will need to equip it on your character screen. Once equipped, your glider will be shown on your character's back and will resemble a shield, to draw your glider and begin flying you can double tap your jump key or use a hotbar key (default is (Shift)+(=)).

While flying you will be able to change your height, directions and speed while using your movement keys or mouse with the primary button held down. When flying the only limit to where you can explore is whether or not you have sufficient height to pass over obstacles. The higher you are on the terrain when you deploy your glider the further you will be able to fly and the higher the obstacles you'll be able to fly over.

Flight time and distance varies depending on your height at take off, and whether or not you have skills to prolong your flight. Most glider flights are also limited to 3 minutes as indicated by a buff on your character however some rare gliders have flight times up to 10 minutes; If the buff runs out while you are still in flight you will fall to the ground and take fall damage. Dismounting (R)too far above the ground will also cause fall damage.

Flight Tips

 * The higher up you are when you take off the further you'll be able to fly. Look for hills or towers from which to begin your flight.
 * Although there is no fast way to descend beyond dismounting mid-flight pressing forward and left or right will bring you in to a steep descent spiral.
 * Some objects and landmarks reward experience when you land on them; Look for interesting places to touch down.

Gliders
There are several gliders in game, obtained either by loot drop or crafting.

1Unknown is the value specified in game, it is thought to be a value above Very High.

2The Feathered Dragon Glider does not lose altitude when holding "back" ("S" by default) and is immune to turbulence.

Unconfirmed Gliders
These gliders, while in other versions of the game, are not confirmed for the North American version of ArcheAge. However, they may be worth mentioning.

Removed Gliders
1The Ultra-Lightweight glider's Nitro skill requires character level 30, while other gliders have no such requirement.

Magithopters
With Revelation, a new type of glider was introduced, the Magithopter.

Whilst behaving similar to normal gliders, they differ in a few key areas:


 * They can hover in place, whilst descending very slowly.
 * They have much closer turning radii.
 * Are generally a bit slower, but more efficient with height, and can stay in Air nearly indefinitely (at least, until the 3 minute glider buff runs out).

Additionally, they are more diverse in form than the gliders, which generally still resemble a glider, whereas Magithopters can range from a balloon to wings.