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Initial impressions up to lvl 15
My pros and cons of Archeage thus far:
I am only lvl 15, so it's still an early glimpse of the game.
Pros: I like the flexibility of the class system and the fact that there is little holding you back from trying classes out and then changing your mind later on. I understand the need in certain games to pick a class and stick with it (why would a Death Knight be able to just change his mind and become a Paladin? makes no sense) but it feels good to be able to test the waters before committing.
The graphics are quite nice at times. The horizon always looks pretty and some of the character animations are quite good. There is a lot of quality put into the details of the objects and character designs/animations.
The glider: yes...every game needs one now.
Questing: I like that the quests are numbered, colored, and have individual arrows pointing to them (this is also a con later on).
I like that there are so many means of travel. Super sprint, horse, Glider. You feel mobile and nimble and I like that. I like sprinting off of a cliff into my glider, landing on the group, and almost immediately being on my mount at full speed. Other mmo games make you feel the pain of being slow before they give you a mount or speed boost. Why can't a lvl 1 Warrior ride a horse? My sister could ride a horse when she was 14...
I like the way they lay out the story. They clearly differentiate what is your racial quest (green icons) and what are tasks. My main gripe with many other games, is that you have to read through so many throw away tasks to get to the main lore quests that you just accept accept accept them all without reading and you miss out on the good stuff because of the "kill X boars because....why not". It's nice to know when to pay attention and when not to. I wish more games did it (I know that a lot now do).
Cons:
Pretty much everything else.
There is too much fan service for me. I'm glad that they put effort into the hair physics but they went overboard with other physics in the game *cough* boobs *cough*.
Why are the male NPC's in the game multi-cultural but a good majority of the female NPC's the same korean girl with different colored hair going "tee hee" over and over. yes...you are cute...but this is a fantasy MMO...it pulls me out of it. Just too much fan service.
The auctioneer island place...why are they wearing modern cocktail dresses?! WTF? This is just no. No thanks.
Up to lvl 15, combat felt very stale. It's not just the tab targeting (which I don't mind) but the lack of diversity. I had picked up 3 classes, but only ever felt the need to use one (sorcery) since it was more powerful than the other two and the three classes, at least at this level, didn't synergize well. I felt like the starter abilities I had for each class only worked with other abilities in the same class. I had a full attack bar but was using at most 3 abilities from one tree. I'm sure it will change later on, but the game should hold off on giving the other class options so early when it seems that it's better to min max early on. Yes, I know you can re-spec (which I have) but now I pretty much have all my points in sorcery and I'm not touching the other 2 classes until later when I have points to throw away.
Sometimes I want to just quickly pick up a quest from a quest NPC. I still need a dialogue box saying "kill x amount" while picking up the quest though. Or some kind of synopsis. In this game, you get a highlighted word in a sentence "evil doom pigs" and it's like "ok...so this quest has something to do with evil doom pigs". You have to either read the entire quest dialogue, or accept the quest and read through your quest list to find it (it helps that it flashes). Small gripe but annoying to me.
It would be nice to hover over a mob and see in the tool tip whether you need it for a quest or not. In this game it's either kill one to see if you need it, or look at the quest list. Call me lazy (go ahead it's true) but in 2014 we are beyond this.
The minimap is terrible. Turrrrrrrrrrible. When it's small or medium it's hard to pick out where to go - or even where you are - and when it's large it eclipses the quest list and a good quarter of your screen. It's an eye sore. There is no backing to it so at times it's like reading white text on white paper. The number icons are also incredibly small on it too so you spend too much time squinting at the map getting your bearings.
The main map doesn't zoom in far enough to be much better and has many of the same issues (icons are too small)
The arrows by your feet don't give you any indication when you reach your destination except by disappearing and they are constantly being eclipsed by your character since the arrow you are running towards is often the one directly in front of you.
This is 2014...I shouldn't have to worry about someone tagging a mob with a weak attack just before I hit it with my starting spell, pull aggro, and have to kill it while the other person - who has by now run off - gets credit for the kill. I spent the entire night waiting in line to kills mobs trying to tag them once they respawned before other people got it first. It's SUPER frustrating. It made it feel like everyone was my competition. I kept getting group invites to kill a single mob just so we would all get credit instead of fighting over it. Once the mob was dead the group would immediately disband. It seemed pointless and frustrating.
The story is bad. I don't know if it's poorly translated or just trite, but I could care less. I still watch the little 'cut scenes' about the 12 people but all I can think is "this is so generic it hurts". A personal grip I know, but I just don't feel interested in the world. It's generic high fantasy with an even more generic story (thus far). Maybe they are banking on character creating their own stories. Maybe I'm just jaded.
The world feels empty. There just doesn't seem to be much going on detail wise. What is there is pretty enough (as I said in my pros) but it's sparsely populated. There are a bunch of players running around (too many in fact since it makes spawn camping a nightmare and a half; haven't play an MMO where it's this bad in forever) but it's mostly generic open spaces. I've been to 3 zones already and each one just feels sparse and samey. I feel like I'm at a renissance fair and not in some fantasy world.
The music ...not for me. It's just not epic. I liken it to the music you hear in Ragnarok online. It's fitting for a Korean MMO with it's upbeat kind of poppy feel but it's nothing like WoW or TESO or Wildstar (which has some awesome tracks in it). It doesn't feel epic to me.
Thus far, the game has felt very on rails for me with a small amount of crafting and farming thrown in. It hasn't felt like this huge open world Sandbox game. I read that it isn't until around lvl 30 that it opens up, but that seems like a long time to wait while playing a pretty underwhelming themepark MMO.
Also, I went to plop down my scarecrow garden and was told I was not allowed to on a "free account". Umm...last I checked this is a beta. Do people pay to play a beta? Don't do that. That sets a very bad precedent.
Thus far it feels like the most feature rich Korean MMO game I have played, but it still feels a LOT like a Korean MMO. As a person who loves the idea of a sandbox MMO but isn't a fan of crafting (I dont like staring at menus all day...I work in accounting, I have enough spreadsheets and balances to worry about daily) I'm not sure there is enough for me here to keep me engaged. I actually like my dungeons and raids (even LFR or Flex) so I think this game isnt' for me.
I'm going to play it through until the 4th and see what it's like at higher level, but as of right now I haven't been wowed by anything.
Comments
The trolling will happen regardless, but expecting folks in this day and age to hit level 30 before having an impression on a game is...a bit insane (at least to me).
I've gotten to 15 and share some sentiments, but only played for about an hour for the new beta because I logged in and had 10 labor points and about 200+ labor points worth of crap I need to do. Not having a labor point debate here, just wish all beta accounts were set to patron atm because I can't test anything but combat without playing the waiting game.
I think I made it to about level 9 before trying another character for a bit, then shutting it down. And while I can't emphasize enough that there's a ton of the game that I haven't seen, I can say that knowing that fact wasn't enough to keep me playing. I may go back before the beta ends, but I'm not feeling very compelled to.
I agree with about 90% of both the positives and negatives brought up by the OP.
Not only did I like the early introduction of mounts, but I'm glad to see AA and other modern games tossing out the stupid mount summon delay of olde, and in many cases, the need to stay still for the summoning. Sure, it used to be there to keep people from getting away while in combat, but after combat became a "state", what was the point? Swordsman went so far as to have a "hop on your horse as it runs by" animation if you call them while running. Slick...
I very much like the emphasis on crafting, or at least as much as I was introduced to. This was the bit that I'd actually been looking forward to in later levels; I loved the sophistication behind the SWG system, and have been looking forward to seeing something of similar calibre in a modern AAA MMO. The initial bits showed promise.
But I just couldn't continue to stomach the awkwardly translated quest text, the horrible music(the quest start/completion being the worst because they are overly loud, and you can't mute it), and the so-so(may get better...?) combat. Not to mention the standard Korean art and creature design, including character creator options that are about 90% a choice between playing a 14 year old girl or an androgynous man(?).
While I'm a bit middle of the road on the map, the rest of the UI works really well, and my character responded quickly to my keying even on an overloaded beta server.
Here's the thing: much of what I didn't like is largely about taste, while much of my praise is mostly about wise gameplay decisions; the tag credit for mobs being one of few on the negative side. If this had been a more "Lord of the Rings" type setting, with appropriate art and well wrought stories, I'd probably be hooked.
I got to level 9, tried another character for a few levels, and found I had played for about 3 hours. Some of us folks like to take a look around, dontcha know...
I tend to agree with the OP. I'm only level 11 and feel somewhat neutral about the game. I am a huge fan of crafting and sandbox types of things but I've seen/done very few of these things. Not having patron status in beta is a real let down. I was looking forward to starting a farm and trying to see the whole breadth of the game. If a company wants to leave a positive impression with players, why not roll out the carpets and let us see the game with no hindrances? If I'm able to have a farm, a house and other goodies that may come with patron status, I very well may be hooked into the game. As a F2P player, the whole experience is turning out to be lackluster. The questing certainly isn't pulling me in although I can see hints of a really great crafting system.
Secondly, a game should knock us off our feet from the very start.....not until level 30 or so. Kudos to those who can get to level 15 in 30 minutes. I've been puttering around last night and this morning and I'm only level 11. It is important to remember that not all players are rushing to level 30 to "open up the game." Many of us like to putter along and starting impressions are important. Not everyone starts a game fully optimized to reach the top quickly. I keep remembering Elder Scrolls and the hate the game got because the starting experience wasn't a good one for many. For some reason, ESO was vilified while ArcheAge gets a free pass. I don't understand it.
I'm going to continue to play, figure out the crafting system, see if I can grow something. I don't give up on a game easily. Perhaps it will grow on me as I keep playing.
Yeah, I think most games super polish levels 1-20 because they know most people in beta will never get passed 20. I am curious about levels 21 to max. And when you get there, maybe you could update your review?
But if you didn't much like the game at 15, it's probably all down hill from 15.
I'm going to wait a while before trying this so it's good to see the opinions of others.
http://gnomophobia.com
I played 3 hours and barelly got level 4 so I don't know what you mean? I don't just jump in a new game without checking all options and setting but I guess you're so smart that in 30 minutes you hit level 15 in a brand new game to you....
edit: this race to level up it's the problem of every mmo lately it's not the game it's the way most everyone plays....race race race to level up WTF chill TF down! word!
"mmorpg.com forum admins are all TROLLS and losers in real life"
My opinion
That makes no difference and what a silly way for people to think. If I have to play that long to be enthralled or seek enjoyment then something is wrong.
Mainly you get that response in Archeage because at 30 anyone can PK and you have to watch your back or join a community or you will leave the game cause of abuse. Most like to camp on newly level 30s and kill them over and over so wait till 30 argument to me makes sense only if you like to be killed over and over and like to do that if you have a group of shameless killers for no reason.
"mmorpg.com forum admins are all TROLLS and losers in real life"
My opinion
This is my second closed beta and I am almost lvl 10. Ive played for at least 12 hours. Obviously everyone plays the game differently.
AA imo is not bad at all it has room for few quick fixes but in general is not a bad game. My main reason I might not even play at release is that is not a subscription game, I can't find 1 game thus far that was a f2p game that had my attention for longer then a week.
"mmorpg.com forum admins are all TROLLS and losers in real life"
My opinion
You are missing out on lot's of great games then.
Am I doing something wrong? I got a beta invite, but when I go to the site it sends me to Glyph where it says "Play Today". From there it asks me if I want to buy the game. Are you guys buying the game and then beta testing it?
@OP, ty for the insight. If I have to purchase the game I'm going to pass for now. Not based off of just your review, but several other reasons. I know down the road I will get it, for I am nerd.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
3 hours holy shit... You get exp for everything you do in the game and it took you 3 hours to get to level 4..
Wait.. Wait let me guess you sat around and enjoyed the water or read every text in the game you found. Or you roleplayed for hours..
No it very much is the game.. In EverQuest you could hit max level for a good 6 months and that was hardcore playing.
Logout of glyph and close it. Then log back in.. Should fix your problem.
No worries OP. Over the years people have been trained to think that MMO's should be nothing more than a interactive movie, where you follow the breadcrumbs from quest to quest. Along the way you do some pre scripted dungeons to get the good gear and eventually get to the big raids which you repeat each weekend hoping to win the roll for the sword of ultimate kickass or whatever. One of the latest trends is there will be some slick voice over by out of work actors who will pretend to be you character when you makes choice A, B, or C off the quest dialogue box. That was the the best part of ESO and SWTOR in my opinion.
This game will certainly not be for everyone and in fact it will only confuse and frustrate most of those who did not play such games as Ultima and DAoC. There will be a lot of peole like yourself that will just not get it. It's ok, that is why there are different games. So far it sure looks as iff there will be enough people who enjoy a game that actually has a element of RPG to keep the servers filled. I am in a more mature guild and so far everyone who has tried it is enjoying it so that in itself is a good sigh. No offense toward the younger crowd but I would be happier if you all stick to Wildstar or whatever the flavor of the month game is this week.
I miss DAoC
Thank you.
I had to uninstall Glyph as well as using your suggestion and just re-installed everything. Working now!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Umm...I'm 32 years old and played an obscene amount of DAoC when I was in college. I was Midgard for life and it was a much simpler time for MMO games.
Not sure what you are getting at but I give you a 10 for the passive aggressive condescension and a 5 for the poor man's strawmaning of modern day mmo gamers.
honestly, i did not even bother to read a line of your text. all there is from lvl 1 to 30 in archeage is a stupid grinding session, in short, you are judging the game based on one of its bad sides.
aa is really wonderful when you give yourself the time to actually arrive at higher levels.
i advise you to to make some efforts and climb the levels to actually see the worth of the game, be in with its pvp, crafting, exploration and all the wonderful things you can find in archeage.
as i said before, i didn't bother to read (and i don't even know if you bashed or promoted the game) because the opinion you make for yourself by just going up to lvl 15 is worthless. i am not trying to be rude, it's just the truth. you may say that a game HAS to grasp you and entertain you in the first levels to keep you playing and that is perfectly true. AA does it poorly because well, which korean mmo ever did that greatly? but i can assure you that what you get at higher levels is worth the struggle you endured (not even that long to level up).
I dont get it with these impressions when the game starts at 50 and you have a solid guild to do that Archeage was created for...namely naval battles and castle sieges.
Controlling zones and mass scale pvp or just plain ganking the shit out of anything that moves.
The other part is the HUGE amount of crafting and playing the market, setting your farm up and make profits or use mats to make tradepacks and earn gold / gilda stars.
Silly revieuws form these level 10 and 15 people.......i cant stop laughing at you peeps who seem to play Archeage like a WoW clone themepark
Keep making these posts people
I guess I am just one of those overly entitled gamers who think that the game should be fun the entire time I'm playing/paying for it.
I guess I live in a world where everything good doesn't come after a bunch of suck. Allow me to apologize for not being SMBD enough to enjoy this game for the first 15/30 levels. Everyone knows it should take dozens of hours for a game to be enjoyable.
Even you agree that up to lvl 30 it's not good...
If I were to play 5 hours a day and it took only 30 hours (likely to take more) that would be 6 days, nearly a full week, worth of mediocrity. I can't wait to get home from work at 6 and not have fun until 11 when I need to go to bed, for 6 days.
Or, I could just cram it into one really shitty Saturday. I'll go to the DMV and do my taxes too just to get the full effect.
/sarcasm.
I actually went into Archeage wanting what you explained lvl 50 would be like. I was told "this isn't a WoW themepark" and the first thing I thought was "they are right...it's a really bad WoW themepark".
So, if the game starts at lvl 50, then why am I wasting countless hours doing something that everyone who likes the game seems to agree sucks?
Basically: why put the good part of your game after the bad parts? Isn't the point of the game to have fun and want to keep on playing it?