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Enjoying my Honeymoon! =D
I just wanted to take the time to give this game some positive feedback (especially since my server is down for maintenance ='( lol) Just a little background: I'm only a little baby of level 15 at the time of writing, and I have a current subscription for WoW and I also play GW2 (I have barely been able to play either game).
This game is definitely worth the download. Seriously at least try it! I'll be honest; I let out a huge sigh of exasperation and disappointment once I saw the all-too-familiar exclamation point above the NPC's head in front of me once the game initially loaded, but don't be disheartened yet! Before I knew it I was dashing around at high speeds, enjoying the scenery, dancing and chatting with other players, and being entertained by the chat - especially the trial/jury chat!
Then I got my own baby horsey! I was able to raise my baby horse into my big ol' steed buddy, and I was riding around the countryside in style. I love seeing the beautiful in game scenery, and am always tickled pink by the player creations when I see a little player built village.
I am playing a healer - a Hierophant (Vitalism/Auramancy/Witchcraft) to be exact, and so far leveling up has been a bit of a challenge! There are mobs that have been too difficult to face alone, and several times already I have had to find other players to help me. I appreciate having a reason to group up at this low of level, and the chance to co-ordinate efforts as a team and chat and make new friends is always great! 
Even when I am facing an enemy alone I have had to employ some strategy. I really have to utilize my CC abilities, my heals, and offensive abilities, and I have to switch between offensive and healing items on the fly. This is a refreshing change compared to my recent experiences with WoW/GW2/FFXIV where it seems like I could pick any mob and faceroll 1-2-3 & it's dead. I have no idea what my experience of leveling is like compared to other classes, but I would love to hear some feedback! =D
After I got my horse pal I was soon rewarded with my own little row boat. I was rowing around on the gorgeous water, and I got to see all the different player ships... who kept trying to run me over ='( lol, but it was still a hoot. After a little more questing I got my gilder! Wow I really love that one... running up a mountain, jumping off, and sailing through the air - what a sight & a great way to travel.
There are many other things I have appreciated so far. I like the customization of the UI thus far, I love that even at this low level enemies have little special abilities like a poison DoT spell, or an AoE fire spell on the ground that will do some major damage. Giving me a reason to use my brain while leveling! I like that you are able to interact with the world by climbing. I've been able to climb a tree, a rope, and a ladder so far. I have found little quests laying around, and every once in a while I'll see an interesting easter egg out in the game world.
There are a few negatives I did notice: bots and a lot of gold spam chat while playing, and honestly when I was playing today right before the server went down I didn't see any! We'll see where that goes and if Trion will be able to handle it or not.
I'm still very new and I don't know a lot about the game. I have no idea what trade packs are, thunderstruck bark, or a bunch of other things I've read about. I have NO idea what to expect for PvP, and I am a tad bit worried about how I will do (since I usually suck at PvP in other games) but I hope I can find a good group of people and take on the world.
I also just wanted to mention I don't even have a great idea of what Patron status brings (more exp/labor points and the ability to build a house?) but I went ahead and purchased it just a moment ago mainly to show my appreciation for my enjoyment of the game so far, and I believe I will be playing at least 30 more days hehe.
TLDR:
Pros:
- Graphics are pretty
- UI is good
- Combat is fun & challenging
- The game runs smooth and fluidly
- There are many fun & interesting ways to travel
- Albeit some stinkers in the community- I have met a lot of friendly people who have helped me with quests, answered my questions, and I've been able to have some interesting conversations
Cons:
- Bots
- Gold Spam in chat
- Some minor bugs and hiccups occur here and there, the game has froze and crashed on me twice.
- Questing. I try to pay attention to the quest dialogue and even the cutscenes, but so far that part of the game has been painfully boring. Thank goodness the cutscenes are fairly quick, and I can pretty much skip through it & the quest dialogue. Could use some better writers, and just re-write the whole thing. However I've heard the quests are just a means to an end.
In closing I am excited to learn more about this game, and I can't wait to see what's in store!
--------------------------
Playing:
FFXIV, TERA, LoL, and HoTS
My Rig:
GPU: GeForce GTX 770, CPU: i7-4790K, Memory: 16 GB RAM
Comments
It's a nice game, for sure. I put this one in the top category. It has some issues facing it, but the game will only improve.
I have played almost every AAA MMO in the last 10 years. My first was WoW, and I loved it. I really enjoyed Rift as well, still play it occassionally. ESO was very fun, but kind of died at max level for me. Archeage I would put up there with Rift/WoW. with ESO coming in at #4.
I think you may find yourself being more critical later on, but I overlook the shortcomings of this game more than most because it is so different and engaging.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
Having the best fun I've had in years and I love the crafting
I started playing day one of alpha and I am still having fun.
Good review.
All die, so die well.
I am glad you are enjoying your time in the game. There are a few points you make that are not accurate though.
The UI is old, clumsy and poorly developed. It is not a nice UI nor a rich functioning one and one of the major reasons I get frustrated with the game.
The combat is far from fluid.... in many cases and on different system setups it functions poorly. The combat is choppy and lags and many times glitches. There is no action bar queue system in the game so sometimes your abilities and spells will fire off on proper cool downs and other times they will fire off anywhere from 1-3 sec later than normal cool down. There is no lag tolerance in the game servers which creates huge lag spikes for most players, along with no LOD sorting... if there is a river running or water underneath the land you are on it is produced whether you see it or not which makes for poor resource optimization and affects the combat in game.
This game over all functions like an early developed MMO that had no knowledge or idea how a real MMO should play... which is unfortunate because it plays like it was developed in 2005 not in 2014.
And some of your points aren't accurate either.
ArcheAge was initially developed in 2011 and was released in Korea in January 2013.
The other points are purely personal preferences/opinions. Just as the OP has opinions, you do as well... but opinions vary from player to player thus do not make for absolutes.
I just started playing as well.
The game is not as bad as I thought it would be. Then again, my expectations were rather low. I'm only level 8 at the moment, but the questing is really bad (I am a completionist so I do insist on doing them). I don't have a problem with the tab combat. The graphics definitely look dated. I am running everything maxed out and the closest comparison I can give is to War Z in terms of graphic quality. I've noticed optimization issues and thus far, there is a bit of spam going on.
Because of the boring nature of the quests, I can only do about 30 minutes at a time before I find I don't want to play any more. However, I am hoping that once the tutorial quest chain is done that I will get better.
Edit: Also, the mobs sort of just stand around. They don't appear to really move so I guess I'd mark that as a notch against a "living breathing world". Doesn't bother me that much but I know that was one of the complaints about SWTOR.
What makes AA a living breathing world are it's players not it's NPC's. Based on that, I would argue AA is the most "living/breathing world" you can get atm. In addition, it has made me redefine what a living/breathing world is. Prior to AA, it was directly tied to NPC's and AI. Now I feel that there is no substitute for RL player activity and conflict. Plus with NPC AI, no matter how good it is, you are never "fooled" to believe it is anything but scripted behavior and thus predictable. Again no substitute for player activity.
All zones are ripe with activity, players trading everywhere. The seas are filled with ships. Everywhere I look there is activity. So my experience is the complete opposite and the world feels deeply immersive and extremely active and is truly a sight to see imho.
As I approach my two year mark of playing AA, I must admit if this is a honeymoon, its the longest honeymoon ever! Haters gunna hate, but for me AA has been and remains engaging and has given me more long term enjoyment than any game since DaOC with no end in sight.
Fair enough. I was just pointing out that one of the major complaints against SWTOR was that all the mobs sort of stood around not doing anything which was cited as a reason for it feeling like a dead world.
I have seen players around and this is always a good thing. As I stated, I just made level 9.
Edit: But by no means would I call this game beautiful. It's graphics appear quite dated and the artstyle is rather generic.
Refreshing good game. As an oldscool MMORPG vet i think its the best game that laucnhed since almost a decade.
brings back the feeling of real MMORPG's even if many elements from themepark games did make it into these.
Fully agree. This is the first MMORPG for a long time that I don't feel even slightly burnt out on, even after 4 months of playing.
Most of them these days I start getting jaded at around the 3 week mark.