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Full article here
http://www.mmocast.com/news/archeage-trion-worlds-ready-gdc-2014/
Also says, they are gonna revert some Sandbox elements from before patch 1.0 in the article.
The ArcheageSource post referred in the article
Hello ArcheAge Source!
As you may have read on the Trion Worlds ArcheAge website, my name is Evan "Scapes" Berman and I'm proud to be your Community Manager for ArcheAge for Trion. I’m eager to wade hip-deep into the ArcheAge community but want to provide a proactive update on recent hot topics and the game’s future (with regards to our service).
Let’s open with the burning question I’ve had tweeted and Skyped and yelled out of passing cars at me since I joined the ArcheAge Team at Trion Worlds: “When can I play the game?” You may know that ArcheAge is currently in an initial Friends and Family Alpha meaning the tester group is extremely small and nigh-internal. What you don’t yet know is that since the recent launch service in Russia, XLGames has been providing tremendous engineering effort toward making ArcheAge go live in the west as rapidly as possible. The work involved in launching a new region with support for three languages, unique to Trion’s version, is no small undertaking on top of integrating the game with our account, patching, operational, billing, and logging systems.
With that in mind, we plan to expand the alpha in coming weeks following GDC this month. This strictly NDA’d phase will initially focus on pillars of the ArcheAge community but will definitely grow out further. “But what about beta?” We’ll be transitioning from alpha to an NDA-free closed beta as the tasks mentioned above get knocked out one at a time, so we can have the best, fastest launch possible. While the tech work continues, the team is also finalizing plans for “early supporter” pre-launch packages slated to be introduced during this timeframe and available for the duration of closed beta, leading into launch later this year.
As for this week, there’s lots of preparation already in full swing for GDC. We have built out an amazingly detailed yet compact press demo that fits inside fifteen minutes to begin to help get the more mainstream games media caught up to your collective level of knowledge of ArcheAge. While we’re thrilled to present ArcheAge to the media, we’re even more excited to share the demo with the community on next Friday’s livestream (March 21) and add ArcheAge as a recurring feature of our Twitch channel.
As AAS is already aware, ArcheAge has also been in the news due to XLGames’ Russian partner, Mail.Ru, implementing a few rounds of changes of region-based access. While we’ve been keeping aware of new developments, it isn’t our place to comment on game service decisions of XLGames’ other publishers. Thanks in advance for understanding.
Also new this week, we have resumed fleshing out the Trion Worlds ArcheAge website with more game details, starting with the new Races & Factions pane, though the information may be plenty familiar to ArcheAge’s more devout fans. While we populate the current website with the core game information, work on a new website is already underway (we’ll make sure to include the existing written content). Additionally, official forums are being finalized as I type to support our efforts in expanding the alpha.
On that note, I also understand there are concerns about some of the pending changes to the game. Allow me to say this here and now: both Trion Worlds and XLGames want ArcheAge to be a free-to-play sandbox that fits our “No Tricks, No Traps” vision and will make development decisions for to achieve that goal in Trion’s territories. There are a couple of important recent examples we’d love to share: XLGames has agreed to our request that racial quests grant experience (which had been removed) and that mounts/gliders purchased from the cash shop provide solid value and fun, while earned and crafted items are objectively superior.
TLDR: I’m excited to be your point of contact for ArcheAge in the Americas and Europe and we have a lot of news coming up about bringing the game to you as quickly as possible. See you around here on ArcheAge Source and, in a little while, the official Trion forums.
Comments
“No Tricks, No Traps”
I seriously hope it will be the case, hope we won't have to remind them how "false" that promise was with the greed of this industry, i cross my finger at the na / eu version, and hope it will be better than the russian model, if it sucks balls compared to russian version i'll stick to mother russia !
You make me like charity
Yep I agree if they make the game sand-box based, and do not make the game.
1.) Pay 2 win.
2.) or Pay 2 enjoy.
Then I have no problem playing the game as long as its made in a similar style to Rift, but no restrictions on crafts and skill progression, and a cosmetics system that works similar to Rift, but better.
They NEED to follow the ArcheAge RU development/business model. Having played both Korean and Russian versions, the comparison between the two is quite overwhelming. Russia has opted for the sandbox approach, whilst the Korean's have completed overhauled a lot of the game (patch 1.0) and NOT for the better.
I sincerely hope Trion do not launch in the west with Korea's philosophies, otherwise prepare for a flop!
Don't worry, it's Trion.
They have the same no tricks, no traps commitment in Rift, and they delivered it flawlessly.
I wonder how much Japan influenced this decision. I have heard a lot about the games players there being outraged which is not something you get out of Japanese players often. With Japan currently being the biggest revenue maker for the game it may have been the wakeup call we needed Trion to hear since they weren't saying a thing about it in Russia.
I will be placing this game back on my "watch" list, if this remains true I can see myself playing the game especially if there is a sub.
Even though it will use the F2P model; I am hoping that they will also incorporate the hybrid model. They have been sending me (and I am sure others) the yearly ArcheAge Fan Demographics Survey. The last page talks about B2P and P2P options as well as supporting ArcheAge through tie-in products such as soundtracks, art books, etc. I will definitely support them if they release physical items in one form or another.
So how can a game developed by the same people be different than in other regions? How can you make updates but not pass em through to the other regions?
Of course there'll be subscription option.
If you're still in the dark how Trion handle F2P and subscription, check Rift's:
http://www.riftgame.com/en/store/
Other regions use subscriptions, with a free-to-play option, so why not? F2P vs P2P hybrid.
F2P'ers just don't get to do as much as those who do P2P. Generally, this means in the form of labor point daily allotments - low for F2P, "regular" forP2P.
As long as the # of labor points is capped and never purchasable directly in the cash-shop, it's fair, at least amongst those who pay. F2P'ers should always lag behind in every hybrid model game, as a matter of principle (hehe!), sorry F2P'ers! You get to play, not to compete =D
So yeah, I'd predict a F2P with a "premium" P2P version ... on an off note, if Trion pulled a SOE Station Pass kind of deal for all their games, that would be really sweet... =:D
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I realy hope they can pull it off, even tough the game should have been launched here in Europe many moons ago.....
I would prefer a sub instead of ftp tough....that way you are sure to expirience a "fair" sandbox game.
No idea how much sandbox this is going to be tough -_- i hope Trion does it well at least.
Wait and see i gues