Archeage is terrible!

macman507

I have to agree, AA offers nothing new, it claims it has a tons of new stuff, but it has nothing interesting, all of it's just marketing BS and sugar coating.

Combat feels really wierd and not just because it's beta, the towns are boring and nothing really gets your attention. Basicly no "Woah" or "Wow" factor.

I really too hoped this game will be at least good, but it's so dull, and i just couldn't get the immersive feeling out of it.. (hah sry for that broken english part)

 

I feel devs of MMOs don't really try to make the game fun or enjoyable anymore or even standout.

Scalpless

Originally posted by fiontar

However, I think a lot of patron level players who play a lot will find they have to also spend cash to maximize their game play. $15/month is one thing if the cash shop is just cosmetics, something else entirely if being competitive requires addition expenditure.

The game is also a PvP game and allows same faction PK. This means that "competitiveness" isn't just about e-peens or achievement. Being competitive means being able to survive and thrive in a mean world.

There may be rare exceptions, but I feel pretty certain that most of the early high tier players will not only be patrons, but will be trading a fair amount of cash to secure their advantage. Very few F2P players will get much of anywhere once they leave the safe zones and many Patrons will feel the pressure to secure cash shop advantages so as not to be at the mercy of those with deeper wallets.

This is what stopped me from even downloading AA. I wouldn't mind paying a sub, but I don't want to worry about my wallet while playing a game, nor do I want to "win" by paying RL money as it doesn't even count as winning in my opinion. I would, technically, be interested in AA, but the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" business model is very off-putting. I had hoped Trion would fix the model, but it looks like they can't or won't.

ElRenmazuo

So, I have been playing it for a while in CB4 and I can honestly it is not terrible...at all

I havent been this addicted to an mmo since 2003 (Final Fantasy 11)

Next week open beta and then release so im excited.  Best thing is I dont feel the pressure of having to sub, I will just not right away.  Im just gonna enjoy as much as I can as a free player than sub.

observer

Originally posted by fiontar

I put around 15 or so hours into it this weekend.

First impressions are fairly poor. The game feels and looks really old school, with some modernization and cool features. The game world is very generic. Combat was fairly decent as a hot bar clickfest, but that mode of play is feeling dated. Armor looks are very limited. Mobs are generic and just stand around, etc...

I liked getting a mount early and the animations for the mounts are better than most. I liked getting a row boat. I liked being able to farm plants and raise animals. I like that you can build a house, a boat, a ship. Cool things like that helped me keep playing past the opening hours.

Then I started to research the game more. The business model is really bad. F2P becomes extremely limiting due to the labor point system. F2P accounts have no LP regen when logged out and LP is required for things like opening loot bags, (all loot is in those bags), recovering XP after dying; in addition to gathering, building or even the most basic farming. By level 16, I found I was having trouble having enough LP to just open all my loot bags, even passing on all the fun stuff that requires LP.

F2P really only works as a free trial, or leaching off of Patron level friends/guildmates; or if you are a gold farmer who can run multiple clients in an automated fashion. It's not really a viable mode of play for actual players.

Patron level subscribers can own land, regen LP when offline, at a faster rate online and have much higher LP caps. In other words, for Patrons, the game beyond level 15 is fully playable and doesn't require afk idling to ensure a reasonable level of LP. Most profit comes from farming, directly or indirectly. (Trade bundles are a good source of income, but you have to gather and then craft them, before you can try to deliver them). Having a very limited LP pool and no offline regen as a non-subscribers is actually extremely limiting.

However, I think a lot of patron level players who play a lot will find they have to also spend cash to maximize their game play. $15/month is one thing if the cash shop is just cosmetics, something else entirely if being competitive requires addition expenditure.

The game is also a PvP game and allows same faction PK. This means that "competitiveness" isn't just about e-peens or achievement. Being competitive means being able to survive and thrive in a mean world.

There may be rare exceptions, but I feel pretty certain that most of the early high tier players will not only be patrons, but will be trading a fair amount of cash to secure their advantage. Very few F2P players will get much of anywhere once they leave the safe zones and many Patrons will feel the pressure to secure cash shop advantages so as not to be at the mercy of those with deeper wallets.

The best thing I can say about the game is that there are a lot of features worth copying. Why is player housing, let alone player built housing, so rare in MMOs today? Why are mounts so limited? Why don't more games have gliders, (which offer some benefits of flight, with out serving to shrink the entire game world as full flight can do)? Why do other games not have boats and ships? Mounted combat? Farming and livestock raising? Etc...

Also, the game, though looking very generic, also feels pretty large and the lack of load screens is refreshing. Somewhat generic might be a viable tradeoff for expansiveness and seamlessness, if paired with a better overall game.

I just don't see how this game does much better, long term, than other PvP centric MMOs like Darkfall. If anything, the business model would seem to make it less likely to succeed. In spite of being dated in many ways, the game might have had viable commercial appeal with a better business model. The game manages to achieve a fairly high degree of "pay to win", even with out selling explicit character power boosts in the cash shop. Combined with very limited play options for F2P players and a very competitive PvP environment that allows same faction PK, it just doesn't seem like a commercially viable mix.

I'm usually a proponent of F2P+BenignCashShop, but this is a game that really would have been much better off with a subscription and cosmetic ONLY cash shop business model.

I agree with almost all of this.

The Patron System in the long run will end up hurting this game.  It's similar to Facebook  "energy", where energy is needed for everything you do.

I'm glad you brought up the PvP too, because most people never discuss how this will affect Archeage overall.  The Mega-Guilds out there will definitely have the advantage with the LP system.  The competitive nature for land will require LP, which in turn, will have guilds requiring it's members to contribute with crafting materials (which also requires LP).  The guild that has more members and LP will be superior, making it a form of slight p2w.

sanshi44

Originally posted by Niburu

Its strange how these thrads are always the same. Saying the quests are horrible and it is like any other asian game. Well it is true, those quests are pretty generic (except the green story ones).

 

 

Shocking news, this game offers freedom and you can level up by crafting only or do trade runs, PK people for trade packs and cash them in....so many possibilities.

 

It is amazing how all those guys can reach level 15 or 20 without even noticing this stuff. i stopped doing quests at level 9-10 and just leveld from exploring,harvesting and building my house alone to level 30+

Guildie of mine is basicly playing the game as a property seller, he just claim plots and sell them for a profit lol not many other games u can do that aswell to earn your coin.

dreamscaper

I consider Archeage to be more sad than bad. Come on devs, how many failed titles do you need to see hit the floor before you realize we're tired of being thrown the same $%&# over and over and over?

Kazuhiro

I had low expectations of archage before I even got in the beta, so I wasn't surprised to find I hated the game. I agree with your entire view of the game, but what killed the game for me completely, and wasn't expected, was the labor point system, essentially adding a energy system limiting your "fun" in the game to a limited amount per-day.

So some idiot looked at a AAA game and said... What if we added the worst game mechanic from the those throwaway asian browser games to it? Yeah that will work out great.

Suppose it doesn't matter, I had little interest in the game before even trying it, (Only part that really interested me was the naval pvp combat, a game REALLY needs to do that right.) so I'm deleting the game from my hard drive without much disappointment.

Rylah

Originally posted by observer

I agree with almost all of this.

The Patron System in the long run will end up hurting this game.  It's similar to Facebook  "energy", where energy is needed for everything you do.

I'm glad you brought up the PvP too, because most people never discuss how this will affect Archeage overall.  The Mega-Guilds out there will definitely have the advantage with the LP system.  The competitive nature for land will require LP, which in turn, will have guilds requiring it's members to contribute with crafting materials (which also requires LP).  The guild that has more members and LP will be superior, making it a form of slight p2w.

The patron system is perfectly fine. You don't need LP to kill tradeships and only a bit to hand the stolen tradepacks in. The "Mega Guilds" will mainly duke it out on the northern continent with land domination and castle sieges generating a huge demand for trade runs and rare materials, so that smaller guilds and even solo players (with patron) find business and gameplay opportunities.

If you want to do more than dungeon runs and PvP then AA is effectively a subscription game indeed. I like that, since it will keep away a certain kind of players who are better off without the game and vice versa. People who play or played EvE or similar deep games will appreciate AA . It is all about planning and preparation with LP usage one of the main factors to take into account. Division of labour is the key to success. Doesn't make sense for a guild if everyone tries to be a Jack of all Trades because it will slow the guild down as a whole. You need specialists for certain jobs which get feeded materials to level their proficiencies faster and in turn are able to gear up the guildies faster for example. As in EvE you can only have the full experience in a group of people based on trust.  And you have to be ready to invest / sacrifice your individual progression for overarching goals.

This mindset is hard to grasp at first when all you played before were solo friendly dungeon grinders with grouping tools, boss mods and token gear where it is all about your personal progression.

Hashcow101

Originally posted by HappyFunBall

Tried the beta last night and man, it's almost exactly like every other Asian MMO, which means, total mindless, unimaginative crap.  Is it really THAT hard to have some new ideas?  Especially for Asian MMOs.. they are carbon copies of each other in play style and design.

You start in the same mindless 1-2 quest area, with 2 kinds of mobs always endlessly spawning, do 1-2 kill x of y, talk to this guy, get x of y items, then move onto the next area which you do EXACLTY the same thing, which looks exactly the same.  That really all you do for many levels.  You hit level 5 in about 15 mins, which to me, is completely challenge-less.  You hit level 10 in 40-50 mins.  Lame.

I bounced to 5 of these areas, each with only 2 mobs, which have pretty much zero AI, then I gave up.

This game only has 4 races, and as usual, they don't stray from the mage/fighter/thief/archer classes, plus another dot mage type.  Wow, how imaginative.

The character design is the same anime type stuff which one race has those retarded dopey enormous eyes that simply MUST exist in every Asian made game, for some reason.  All the default females look like they are 15 years old, but you can give them an older face by tweaking it.  I couldn't find any options to change height and body type at all, just the face/hair.

The quests are completely mindless.  You have zero interest to even read the dialogs, or care about the story.  The first cut-scene in the game makes absolutely no sense.  You have no idea what you are watching.  I skipped the rest of the cut-scenes since they added nothing to the game.

The graphics are beautiful as are some of the creature types, but that's just eye candy, and doesn't help the actual game much.

In the chat, there were people saying ESO is shit, and "I love this game" and I was besides myself wondering what they actually loved about it?  ESO is 100 times better than this garbage.

They add a ton of crafting, housing, and the pvp, but I couldn't stay interested long enough to bother.

The base game formula is simply too mindless for me.  I could write a script to play 1/2 of the game for me.

Leveling, like so many games now, is tedious and boring, and just a means to an end, as people run to end game, pvp, etc.  You don't enjoy the ride at all, which means, there's only 1/2 a game there.

There wasn't even a character doll where you equip items!  You just double click them and they go into a standard inventory window.

I'm glad I don't follow hype, because then I don't get let down too much.  That being said, I STILL thought this game would offer more than all the other Asian MMO clones.  It doesn't.  Just more of the same with only a couple expanded features.

 

 

i would like to start off by saying it seems that you did not play this game to its full potential you did not ever explain you experiance with housing, boats, farming, crafting which mind you in order to do all those things you can do by leveling by gathering materials or making them you do not need to quest in the game other than gilda stars.

Saio3

Another "I played this game for 10 whole levels and didn't like it, here is a rant to prove it" thread...

People here seem to like them though =P

Arakazi

I kinda agree with the OP. AA is not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, graphically awful, gameplays is a bit ropey, the sandbox elements are just tedium. Just like EVE you will end up paying for multiple accounts just to get the most out of it. Well no thanks.

Ludwik

I can't get behind the anti-labor argument.

Every MMO out there has some sort of modified system that functions like Labor. Raid lockouts, dungeon lockouts, dailies, monthlies, it's all the same. The difference is that AA chooses to lock you out of gathering and crafting while those other MMOs lock you out of gear grinding and character progression.

bingbongbros

I thought AA sucked ass the first time I tried it, then I went and watched videos and read up on it.  THe leveling process blows fucking ass but the game systems level 30+ are so cool.  And I also love ESO, so I don't get the hate.

fiontar

Originally posted by Ludwik
I can't get behind the anti-labor argument.

Every MMO out there has some sort of modified system that functions like Labor. Raid lockouts, dungeon lockouts, dailies, monthlies, it's all the same. The difference is that AA chooses to lock you out of gathering and crafting while those other MMOs lock you out of gear grinding and character progression.
 

I don't really agree with the analogy, but even if you go with it, since AA sells labor packs in the store, you can buy your way around the limitations if you have very deep pockets.

Also, LP isn't just for gathering and building. Almost all dropped loot is in bags that you have to spend labor points to open. Recovering lost XP after dying requires LP. The regents you need for teleporting need to be harvested and crafted, which requires LP.  Even gear gained from quests needs to be identified, for labor points. The game also puts a heavy emphasis on consumables. Health and mana potions during combat and food to regen health and mana out of combat. You can't just buy them from NPCs, you need to craft them or buy them from other players.

The main source of wealth is trade runs, but you need to gather for and craft the packs you then need to transit, which requires LP.

If you aren't a Patron, not only do you have a smaller labor pool cap and regen labor more slowly in game, you don't regen any LP at all when not logged in. This leaves you to either break the EULA and run a keep alive macro to keep you logged in while away; chain yourself to your PC, occasionally pressing a button to avoid being disconnected, buy LP from the store, or just accept that as a casual, rule following player, you will always be in a state where you can't even access all the bags of loot that drop.

Gold can help to overcome the limits of LP, but LP limits your ability to earn gold. If the beta Auction House prices are even in the same ballpark as what will be seen after launch, it will never be a viable alternative.

I think the biggest design flaw on top of an already flawed system is the fact that non-patrons regen no LP while logged out. Non-patrons could have served as manual laborers for patrons and guilds in exchange for support if their status just meant a reduced LP rate and inability to own their own land. Now, what's the point of a guild sharing land with non-patrons? There likely to never be any real return on that investment.

The game has a lot of other issues, but the LP system is most blatant. It's a system seemingly designed to ensure the game is a failure, while maximizing a short term cash grab on a game seemingly destined for failure. Or, Trion is just perfectly happy to run a game that seeks to capitalize on players with deep pockets who are happy to pay to win, with no real desire to run a game with broader appeal that produces profit using a more Western business model.