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"one of the worst MMOs to come out recently"-Das Tal, Head of Communications
Here's their full blog post: http://www.das-tal-game.com/post/108625003446/archeage-vs-das-tal
http://massively.joystiq.com/2015/01/20/das-tal-boasts-that-it-will-do-things-better-than-archeage/
Consider the gauntlet thrown down from one sandbox to another. Das Tal Head of Communications David Wells posted a new essay today in which he says that his title will best ArcheAge: "Unfortunately I, like a lot of others, have come to the conclusion that ArcheAge is probably one of the worst MMOs to come out recently -- but the reasons why are not straight forward. I am going to go over the good and bad, as well as shamelessly point out how our game will do things better."
Wells says that ArcheAge stumbled with a messy housing system, bad monetization, cultural differences, hacking, heavy grind, lackluster PvE, no solid PvP, shaky server tech, and a lack of good communication byTrion. He goes on to provide a counterpoint for each these items, explaining how Das Tal will succeed where ArcheAge has failed.
Or, if you're looking for a TL;DR version, "How we do it better: To put it simply, we give a s**t."
Wow. This guy has guts. It's unprofessional to blast other devs like this. I also disagree with him. Archeage wasn't that bad.
Comments
That's because i didn't like certain features in AA, but that doesn't mean the game as a whole is badly designed. It has great features such as gliding, trade runs, sailing, farming, etc. To dismiss a whole game because someone dislikes certain things is foolish.
Never heard of him. However, judging from his statements and the stuff on the site (arrogant arnchair-developer posturing and the usual, massive, ambitious 'feature list') he could probably be a new source of amusing trainwreckage and entertaining drama. I'm looking forward to future gems from the Das Tal corner of the interwebz.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
My reaction was the other way around, funnily enough.
I LOVED certain key features but I found overall the base game, from the art-style to the graphics, from the combat to the questing, was absolute garbage. A few fun ideas we've seen done better before (farming, naval battles) and some very brave design elements that were pretty amazing (jail-time, political systems) but all built on one of the worst foundations I've ever experienced in an MMO.
That being said, this Das Tal guy seems hilariously mad at everyone and desperate for his game to get attention. I've seen it before but the art-style and camera angle were like NOPE to me.
Reading the comment section was pretty entertaining, all those people who cant handle PVP.
It doesn't matter even if these claims of surpassing archeage are all hot air, there is no such thing as bad press, especially for a small niche indie game.
Waiting for:
The Repopulation
Albion Online
ArcheAge was dull and unoriginal in the normal pve gameplay and who knows how the farming part of it was because there was no land to be had when I was playing, due to hackbots buying up all the lots all the time
Good blog, spot on about ArcheAge.
Yes, it might be risky to blast other games, but thats the beauty of being indie. You can be honest and not have to worry about the bureaucratic bull feces. Also, its free press as others said, and thats priceless.
As for his game, it actually looked kind of neat. Of course, he regurgitated the same hardcore PvP mantra as every other PvP-MMO, while demonstrating no understanding of what it actually takes to make a fun game and a compelling virtual world, but it could work out as some casual fun. As someone who is way more concerned with gameplay than I am graphics, I could probably enjoy this game to some degree. It looks looks like its from the 90s, but at least the combat doesn't look like Diablo 1 the way Albion online does.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
That's rich coming from you. Also archeage could have filled the sandbox niche and dominated it for years. Left with a shell now of what it may have been.
Don't get me wrong, Das Tal, according to their own feature list, will be an isometric version of Darkfall and looks to have about as much depth as a shot glass, but you really come off as offended by this blog. All a game has to do is not create a labor paywall and its better than ArcheAge. Thats literally it, and fortunately for Das Tal, they won't have that problem.
Does Das Tal not have flashy enough graphics for you? I'm guessing thats what turned you off.
Currently playing: Elder Scrolls Online, Elite: Dangerous | Recently played: FFXIV, Rift, LoTRO, Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Guild Wars 2 | Single player RPGs: Dragon Age Inquisition, Skyrim
As a person.. Yeah, he is rude.
As a dev though? I'm personally sick of the honey-tongued devs, giving vague promise after vague promise.
Seeing this competitively and telling things for what they are might work good for them.
And.. Yeah, there are countless MMO that are far, FAR worse than Archage.
But watching the figures that went into the game and that greed and carelessness was its "undoing", I do believe it is the worst modern AAA MMO.
I just finished reading his article. I have to agree, it wasn't really all that bad, as he did lay down quite a bit of praise on AA. Basically for every pro he had a con and then tossed in the obligatory "how my game does it better" advertisement.
Honestly, he makes a good point about land acquisition. Too few were able to grab too much using nefarious means in AA. While I don't completely agree with the solutions he presented, but at least making land ownership part of the PvP shows that at least there is a decent chance that land will change hands. That's something that Shadowbane did well during the time I played it (which was very early on in the game).
He also makes good points on the atrocious crafting system in AA. Labor points being stuck behind a paywall/timewall is completely stupid. Making crafting materials rare for rare items and hell even make them soulbound to force the issue is a much better way to go. Low and Medium quality items should be fairly abundant if you're a devoted crafter and have a way to slightly improve statistics for those items. That way it actually feels like you're doing something with your craft as you are searching for the rare quality materials to make a rare quality item.
It sounds like he actually enjoyed his time with AA, but the glaring issues he pointed out took the fun out of AA for him and thus killed his desire to play.
His constant advertisement of his own game though bordered virtual masturbation though.
Just another excuse to drag AA through the mud! Truly unprofessional and IMHO a pathetic attempt at free press.
I just guess they know that there are many gamers that live to have others validate how they feel.
All I hear is BAHHHHHHHHHH!
INB4 flashy hip responses,
White Knight
Fanboy
P2W
Trino
And NO your game isn't even in the same league as AA!
Clowning another game in your game's dev blog lacks class and between the lines, tells me you've lost confidence to continue saying positive things about your game's development. Sure, you have a right to voice your opinion, but a dev blog isn't the place.
I just wanted to say that. I'm not going to take sides on my opinion of either game in this thread.
I have to agree with the above.
Besides the obvious problems with all the hacks and cheats etc, one of my biggest disappointments was the controls put in place for PvP. IMO it would have made a big difference to the game if the other faction and pirates could raid the farms and take the crops of the other faction. I agree claiming ownership of the land would be a step too far. Keep the controls in place towards PC's unless they attack first in the newbie zones but the rest of the areas should of been fair game. I feel this type of system would have done wonders for the factions community and give the community a good incentive to involve itself in PvP without needed gimmicks. The factions would have to work closer together to protect the land instead of hiding in their guild communities. It would need all level ranges to keep an eye out for raids. Reputation would matter more. Bad rep players/guilds would find their lands being ransacked and with no help forthcoming from the rest of the faction.
As players we should be careful not to let our own like - or dislike - of a game influence our reaction to a post clearly seeking notoriety in the interests of promotion. We can do without "negative advertising".
There are many, many, many games that are much, much worse that AA. There are too few "quality" games being produced as it is.
Developers need to be encouraged Not given the idea that there is no point trying because they will just get bashed so why bother.
A better approach would have been: AA does such and such and whilst some people may like this we will be going with so and so, which we believe is better / believe people will prefer. Sort of like the later post but how it should have been done from the start - almost smacks of damage limitation; unprofessional in your communications strategy, unprofessional in ......?
The proof of the pudding, as the saying goes, is in the eating. And at some point in the future we will find out. Or not.
Never even heard of Das Tal; however it isn't asking much for any upcoming game to be better than Archeage. Hell several similar style time-gated / pvp mobile games have done light years better than Archeage.
Archeage set the bar so low you'd have to shovel a foot underground just to reach it.
All a company has to do to create a successful MMROPG "sandpark" is just do the opposite of what XL Games and Trion did.