I tried the game. At first it was interesting, but games with auto-walk functions bore the crap out of me very quickly. I can't resist using it, and then I alt-tab out of the game, do something else, tab back in later when my character arrived at it's destination, do some repetetive stuff, choose a new target to autowalk to, alt-tab out again... etcetc.
Don't go throwing that around where it doesn't belong, the pacing in both this game and Aika are great. Just enough quests to complete and level on, then move forward - which is no different than "westernized quest grinds".
That would be true if you never made it past level 70. From level 95(?) onwards the XP needed to level goes up significantly. The playfields also become much more difficult. If that weren't bad enough, ever new mercenary you get starts at level one. Aside from that I loved the turn based PVP. It was like playing chess.
Well you miss the main point here. I love RTS and many people don't. Lots of people probably like turn based strat and I hate it immensely. However the point is if this game really deserves its place at the top of the list. To be honest, I suspect either all the fanbois came and screwed up the rating or the devs did it themselves, which is common for unscuperous f2p enterprizes, especially those in my part of the world (asia).
Same reason as eve but that is a little more subjective, some people may really think its that good but I think mostly swarms of fanbois. But this is clearly NOT the best, even the staff agree and gave it a 7.5 (average).
The rating on this site has always been, pardon the pun, 'over-rated'. Take it worth a grain of salt. I don't pay attention to the ratings, I try games that I think I might like and try my best not to let what others think of the game persuade my decisions.
My only problem is that, especially with an MMO, I would like to see more content as far as unlockable progression goes. I made it to 40ish in this game, before I realized it didn't really have what I was hoping it had. It has a few unlockable things, but not exactly what I was hoping for. (I mean Final Fantasy Mime/Ninja type stuff)
If you were guilded then you'd find much more content. Owning a namesake city on the mapface comes with it's own benefits, and you can build decorations like houses and trees that raise various parameters of the overall city's worth, as well as convince wandering NPCs of various jobtypes to emigrate to your town. I started having a blast once I got into a city-owning guild.
Plus, the grouping mechanics need mentioning, because you'd have to be a complete fool to avoid grouping up regardless of the distance. You get freebie xp for your lowest lvl merc and can trade monster info back and forth. There was tons of little things like that to enthuse being sociable, but you had to have taken that first step to even notice it.
You shouldn't have to join a guild to be able to enjoy a video game. I think that's pathetic.
__________________________________________________________________________________________ "Your pride, good sir, far exceeds your worth." -x3r0h
Oldest mmorpg.com member with the least amount of post counts. That counts for something, right?
The only thing I did not like about this game was the heavy cash shop dependency in the end game and later levels. From the information that I was given by a lot of high level players one could expect to spend as much as $25/mo and still find themselves lacking a lot of things. Or grinding for hundreds of hours which I simply don't have that kind of time.
I was really sad when I left Atlantica because I thought I had found the right mmo for me. "Good enough" Graphics, great game play, good story, good combat system, good questing system, and excellent people. It's really to bad I just can't justify spending $25+ a month just to compete in a game. If this game was P2P $15/mo or $10/mo I would give it a 9/10 but as it stands a heavy money sink later levels cash shop oriented top heavy grind game I have to disregard it and lower my overall personal score to a 6/10.
First of, combat is turn based with all of your guys in a line. You pick which battles you enter, and while graphics are allright I wonder how much time is spent in the game world.
Secondly its one of those takes forever to reach level cap games.
I mean, what does this game have to deserve the position of BEST released game on mmorpg.com? Not to say it sucks, its just not my cup of tea. But seriously. The BEST game on mmorpg.com?
When I see things like "takes forever to reach level cap" it tells me you are not a reall MMO'er, you just want to get to the end game as fast as possible,to some of us its the journey and not how fast we get to cap. Anyway, it isnt for you to understand or not, play or dont play, no one is gonna stress on it either way.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
AO is a sweet game, far from perfect but definitely one of the sweetest games atm.
I have never had a high lvl character in most games I've tried: Perfect World, Requiem, Lineage or whatever. Because I hate grind, I'm just not able to kill 100500 monsters to get another 0.001% exp. In AO my character is almost capped. And I never resetted Hwarang, thats it. Play for more than 18 months, still love it like on the first day and even more.
Anyway, I did actually play this F2P (I know, pick your jaws up for those who know me on here) and did enjoy it until I figured out that mounts help you in PvE AND PvP (and make a significant difference) and that the better mounts have to be bought via the item mall. Add on to that you buy a mount box and it's randomized.
No thanks.
You can buy all mounts (and almost every other IM item) of your choice on the market, at my store or via direct trade from other players. No need to play the lottery.
Agreed, it is not a WoW clone and we must give it credit for that. Agreed also that many people like turn based games, something I can't personaly wrap around in an mmo. However I don't think its rating is justified. I agree with the devs' rating, its average. Hell even a little above average. But definately the BEST game on MMORPG.com. And its a f2p asian grindfest.
I don't know how much of the game you played but it most certainly isn't a grind fest. Now i agree that hitting max level isn't something you can do so quickly, but you probably have a WOW mentality of "oh i need to be max level for this game to be fun." AO is not that kind of game at all. The way the pvp is balanced allows undergeared and underleveled people a real fighting chance to win in pvp. The game is pvp centric and leveling is made easy by dailies and automove. because the pvp is tournament based, the fights are typically fair and you can enjoy pvping at any level. as you get higher in level you are allowed to progress in lower division ranks allowing you to face tougher opponents. To anyone interested in playing AO i'd highly suggest getting to lvl 50 (can be done in two weeks casual) and trying out the pvp system and you'll understand why AO is so highly rated.
I just hit level 120, with another 10 to go on my main ... the mercs are lagging behind so will still take a while. This is after about 6 months of very regular playtime. So yeah, don't expect to get to highest level anytime soon if you're just starting out.
PVP is fun and rewarding early on (from level 30ish onward). But you won't make it to be the best on your server - even less so in the cross-server competitions - within a year, even if you spend tons of cash.
It is indeed turn based fighting, but pve gets challenging at high level even for experienced MMO players, and PVP does contain skill elements: You can select your party of 9 (main + 8 mercs) from a list of 15 to 20 possible classes, each with their own skills and attributes - and beyond that, the tactics of how you use the characters and their skills within each fight are down to you. Check out some youtube videos of Titan fights if you're interested in seeing more.
One point on the item mall, since this seems to be people's main gripe. It is perfectly fine for you to buy non-random items, such as atlas ores, that sell in-game for a determined (fluctuating only mildly) value, and spend your proceeds on the mount, decoration or clothing that you would wish to max your stats.
Finally, why does this game rank so high on the polls? Because many people have voted for it as being a good game. That doesn't mean that everyone must like it, it just means that more people liked it relative to what's out there competing with it.
I'm glad that Atlantica is getting some good props. They had the guts to make a game that is actually unique, compared to other MMO's. Now, if turn-based games aren't your style then this is the wrong game for you. I actually enjoy the strategic component mixed in that other games don't have. Plus, Atlantica is a quality game which is the most important factor IMHO.
My only problem is that, especially with an MMO, I would like to see more content as far as unlockable progression goes. I made it to 40ish in this game, before I realized it didn't really have what I was hoping it had. It has a few unlockable things, but not exactly what I was hoping for. (I mean Final Fantasy Mime/Ninja type stuff)
If you were guilded then you'd find much more content. Owning a namesake city on the mapface comes with it's own benefits, and you can build decorations like houses and trees that raise various parameters of the overall city's worth, as well as convince wandering NPCs of various jobtypes to emigrate to your town. I started having a blast once I got into a city-owning guild.
Plus, the grouping mechanics need mentioning, because you'd have to be a complete fool to avoid grouping up regardless of the distance. You get freebie xp for your lowest lvl merc and can trade monster info back and forth. There was tons of little things like that to enthuse being sociable, but you had to have taken that first step to even notice it.
You shouldn't have to join a guild to be able to enjoy a video game. I think that's pathetic.
Not as pathetic as a guy who's a loner because he sees guilds as being a more pathetic outcome.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
The only thing I did not like about this game was the heavy cash shop dependency in the end game and later levels. From the information that I was given by a lot of high level players one could expect to spend as much as $25/mo and still find themselves lacking a lot of things. Or grinding for hundreds of hours which I simply don't have that kind of time.
I was really sad when I left Atlantica because I thought I had found the right mmo for me. "Good enough" Graphics, great game play, good story, good combat system, good questing system, and excellent people. It's really to bad I just can't justify spending $25+ a month just to compete in a game. If this game was P2P $15/mo or $10/mo I would give it a 9/10 but as it stands a heavy money sink later levels cash shop oriented top heavy grind game I have to disregard it and lower my overall personal score to a 6/10.
My sentiments exactly.
I was really enjoying this game up until I reached the point where I noticed how much I was spending.
I was really enjoying this game up until I reached the point where I noticed how much I was spending.
If you can't control yourself while spending money it is only your problem. Don't blame others for that.
If you can't play without warrior pack/blessing license, its your problem too because many people can.
Don't tell me it is impossible to play on high lvls without this or that, because I did every single quest in this game and made it to the highest pvp rank.
The problem with all of you is that you want everything NOW and EASY. You see the exp needed for 130lvl, you think "omg its impossible" because you can't reach it TODAY or TOMORROW and rage on forums because you think the game is grindy.
You see the latest mount in game and want it, but you don't have enough in-game money to buy it on your lvl 70 (wrtie your lvl here) so you think you can't get it without real cash.
It is a rather small game all things considered compared to the bigger open world titles and the turn based nature is not typical MMO fare.
But almost everything is done well. The turn based nature makes lags so typical for F2Ps played across globe into non-issue. The cash shop allows you to spend fortune but also gives you option to play like human for reasonable fee. It has working well tuned PvP. It has lots of side activities and social features. It has good pacing - lots of fast levels, ability to reach crucial levels in reasonable time yet still having something to look forward too, like more levels or leveling mercenaries.
It is very important for me to know that the MMO developers know what they are doing, can make it materialize and stick to it, because such games feel more safe and secure on the metagaming "investment" level. Compare it to Allods that goes in all different directions, goes ahead with superfluous stuff that they know they cannot make working, devs and publishers keep changing their mind, and the game cheats you about PvP, about level cap (meaningless or even harmful without gear), about shop (now you can get monthly "sub" - but it does not cover death and looting, lol), left and right.
It's a fantastic game that is quickly being ruined over the last 8 months or so by an overzealous series of nerfs and pushing of the item mall.
I am level 130. I ate, slept, and breathed this game for well over a year.
Once you're 110+ having the 15 dollar a month Warriors pack is almost a necessity. It's assumed (in groups and dungeons) that you have it and puts you at a mighty disadvantage if you don't.
At that same level having a Blessing license (also 15 dollars a month) is... while not required, the difficulty scaling of the game gets MUCH more difficult around level 112 or so and without it you'll be beating your head against the wall unless you grind for months to get levels ahead of the content you're attempting.
In other words, without spending at LEAST 30 dollars a month, you're at a HUGE disadvantage, although to be fair, one of these items (blessing license) can be traded in-game for gold (Warrior's pack can not be traded)
To get decent gear, you need to use enchant stones or gamble to put plusses on your gear. This is 100% necessary. A few months ago, Ndoors got rid of enchant stone IV and V drops for enchanting high level gear so your only options are to gamble 50/50 blowing the equipment up or use the item mall only item 'Atlas' which STILL has a chance of failure.
Loot from higher level dungeons has been cut to about a third of what it was a year ago through a nerf literally every patch. It's become a running joke on the official forums. People newly comign to the 100+ levels are finding it impossible to gear up without using the item mall (this problem never used to exist when I hit 100 a year or so ago)
In conclusion, GREAT game, ruined by nerf after nerf after nerf to the point where it's impossible to play at high levels without heavy item mall usage or 80 hours a week of grind.
First of, combat is turn based with all of your guys in a line. You pick which battles you enter, and while graphics are allright I wonder how much time is spent in the game world.
Secondly its one of those takes forever to reach level cap games.
I mean, what does this game have to deserve the position of BEST released game on mmorpg.com? Not to say it sucks, its just not my cup of tea. But seriously. The BEST game on mmorpg.com?
First off, you need to like turn-based gameplay to enjoy it - why force yourself if it's not your thing?
Plenty of us have been doing it for decades and stil enjoy it.
Secondly, I got to level 70 of 120 in about a week. I didn't realize that was too long, but maybe I am just getting oooold.
You reached 70 in a week? I highly doubt that....unless you played 12-16 hours everyday straight with a bunch of help
Well I believe quick thinking is the key and there is no skill in playing chess where you have 10 years if you like to think of your next move. But thats not the subject of debate. The fact is even the staff here rates it an 'average' 7.5 and I would give it a low actually (partly due to imba cash shop). The cash shop is really... too much to put it in civil terms. Most games with cash shop (like Dragonica, the one I'm playing) provide stuff that either speed up what would take slightly longer (exp multiplyers), cosmetic features (nice outfits). It is going in very dangerous terriroty by allowing RMT to gold transactions but that actually makes the next point slightly better.
Unfortunately DGN has also started giving out cash items with +stat, though they are rather... minor.
The point is, if you're going to put in a cash shop, the stuff in the cash shop had better not affect gameplay OR there should be a way for those with $0.00 in their bank account to get it. Like the way DGN has done it, gold to cash.
However, there is a risk of gold inflation as everyone goes for the more desirable cash. THerefore, they have learnt well from eve. Total gold earned by all players = NEARLY equal to total gold lost by all players.
um.. you say dragonica. you know that game is a heck of a money spending game in order to be good at it. infact some bosses you need to have a ciertian attack power inorder to harm them.
so how was thach achived. via the cash ship upgrading your weapon and buying insurance scrolls. low wepon upgrade % = spending alot on insurance scrolls.
if you played the thq version from the start you may know who firin used to be. spend 2k to become unbeatable in the game by maxing not only the best wep in game but all his armor also. he was unkillable in pvpemporia due to his rediculously high armor and can kill everyone else in a few hits.
of course he was caught cheating off a buddy program and lost his char. but yea that game is utterly IMBA to those who invest money. insurance scrolls are a cash item from the cash shop and thats where they really make their money.
oh and lets not forget those cash shop items that are to change stats on a wep so you can blow money on them for a chance to get a stat you want. which , of course leads to spending more money on insurance scrolls. those cash shop items with stats can be enchanted also and give more armor. so one or 2 cash shop items is what gives the money to the company , the rest is fluff. IMBA stuff.
you know just sayin since you said their cash shop is how it should be. its NOT
I think that people rate it high because it did something different. There is no real turn based online MMORPG's that are played out in this size and amount of content. Sure it seems grindy to some, but it isn't at all, you just follow quest chains, they have a lot of killing mob quests because the fan base of the game play it for the combat system most likely, and since killing mobs is involving that system, then it is quite fun to grind sometimes. I played until about level 84, and got kinda tired of the game, mainly because my friends stopped playing. It's a great game, that's why people enjoy playing it THAT much.
An important thing to bear in mind about Atlantica's levelling is that while, yes, it does take a long time to reach level cap, it is very very far from the "game begins at cap" model that most MMOs seem to use these days.
I was able to start contributing usefully in guild and nation dungeons (Atlantica's equivalent of "endgame raiding") when I was in the high 90's. The high level players in my nation (including the few 130s) could work solo in the dungeon and handle bosses; the lower level guys like me would group up in twos and threes and handle the weaker mobs.
Competitive PvP is available from level 20 onwards. No you're not going to win the weekly cross-server championship unless you're max level and astonishingly well geared, but you can fight in the Free League against other people in the same division as you.
An important thing to bear in mind about Atlantica's levelling is that while, yes, it does take a long time to reach level cap, it is very very far from the "game begins at cap" myth that most MMOs seem to use these days.
Fixed.
Seriously, you would think that everyone has come to the realization that reaching endgame means running into the most boring, repetitive content the game has to offer. People quit over it, but keep lining up for more on the next game like there isn't a lesson to be learned here...
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
First of, combat is turn based with all of your guys in a line. You pick which battles you enter, and while graphics are allright I wonder how much time is spent in the game world.
Secondly its one of those takes forever to reach level cap games.
I mean, what does this game have to deserve the position of BEST released game on mmorpg.com? Not to say it sucks, its just not my cup of tea. But seriously. The BEST game on mmorpg.com?
It has more appeal with "older" gamers, people who enjoyed any of the Final Fantasy games over the past two decades, or simply just fans of the JRPG genre.
For the type of game it is, it definatly is the best at what it does, too bad it's community is one of the worst, tons of goldspam and bots running around too, hacking was starting to be an issue when I quit over a year ago, but that's just something you learn to expect from any ijji game these days.
First of, combat is turn based with all of your guys in a line. You pick which battles you enter, and while graphics are allright I wonder how much time is spent in the game world.
Secondly its one of those takes forever to reach level cap games.
I mean, what does this game have to deserve the position of BEST released game on mmorpg.com? Not to say it sucks, its just not my cup of tea. But seriously. The BEST game on mmorpg.com?
It has more appeal with "older" gamers, people who enjoyed any of the Final Fantasy games over the past two decades, or simply just fans of the JRPG genre.
For the type of game it is, it definatly is the best at what it does, too bad it's community is one of the worst, tons of goldspam and bots running around too, hacking was starting to be an issue when I quit over a year ago, but that's just something you learn to expect from any ijji game these days.
I've never recieved a single gold spam message outside of Rome (and even those are rare these days) and I've encounted a low level bot group ONCE in Atlantica. Ever. And I've played since open beta and am 130. There are plenty of negatives to this game, but gold spam and bots are nowhere near the level of problem in this game as any other MMO that ive played. Even Pay to play MMOs (Aion, LOTRO, WOW, etc...) have worse spam.
The community is also one of the most mature and helpful to newbies I've ever seen outside of LOTRO, at least on Thebes server. As long as you're not a beggar, you're generally treated quite well as a lowbie by high level people.
The community is also one of the most mature and helpful to newbies I've ever seen outside of LOTRO, at least on Thebes server. As long as you're not a beggar, you're generally treated quite well as a lowbie by high level people.
This is true, and in fact, the complaint of AO having a bad community is the first time i've ever heard it. Ever.
I played it to about level 80 and found nothing but helpful people, but this is mostly due to the extremely slick social devices in play - like long-distance grouping, trading monster info, guild towns, etc. Best F2P community I've ever seen, so the complaint makes zero sense to me, and just makes me question if he is speaking on the same game.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4 Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Comments
I tried the game. At first it was interesting, but games with auto-walk functions bore the crap out of me very quickly. I can't resist using it, and then I alt-tab out of the game, do something else, tab back in later when my character arrived at it's destination, do some repetetive stuff, choose a new target to autowalk to, alt-tab out again... etcetc.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
I have to admit, this is NOT the best game on mmorpg.
Downloaded it, played for 15 minutes and quit. Why do so many games have NO COMBAT strategy? Point and shoot is sooooo boring.
That would be true if you never made it past level 70. From level 95(?) onwards the XP needed to level goes up significantly. The playfields also become much more difficult. If that weren't bad enough, ever new mercenary you get starts at level one. Aside from that I loved the turn based PVP. It was like playing chess.
The rating on this site has always been, pardon the pun, 'over-rated'. Take it worth a grain of salt. I don't pay attention to the ratings, I try games that I think I might like and try my best not to let what others think of the game persuade my decisions.
You shouldn't have to join a guild to be able to enjoy a video game. I think that's pathetic.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
"Your pride, good sir, far exceeds your worth." -x3r0h
Oldest mmorpg.com member with the least amount of post counts. That counts for something, right?
The only thing I did not like about this game was the heavy cash shop dependency in the end game and later levels. From the information that I was given by a lot of high level players one could expect to spend as much as $25/mo and still find themselves lacking a lot of things. Or grinding for hundreds of hours which I simply don't have that kind of time.
I was really sad when I left Atlantica because I thought I had found the right mmo for me. "Good enough" Graphics, great game play, good story, good combat system, good questing system, and excellent people. It's really to bad I just can't justify spending $25+ a month just to compete in a game. If this game was P2P $15/mo or $10/mo I would give it a 9/10 but as it stands a heavy money sink later levels cash shop oriented top heavy grind game I have to disregard it and lower my overall personal score to a 6/10.
When I see things like "takes forever to reach level cap" it tells me you are not a reall MMO'er, you just want to get to the end game as fast as possible,to some of us its the journey and not how fast we get to cap. Anyway, it isnt for you to understand or not, play or dont play, no one is gonna stress on it either way.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
AO is a sweet game, far from perfect but definitely one of the sweetest games atm.
I have never had a high lvl character in most games I've tried: Perfect World, Requiem, Lineage or whatever. Because I hate grind, I'm just not able to kill 100500 monsters to get another 0.001% exp. In AO my character is almost capped. And I never resetted Hwarang, thats it. Play for more than 18 months, still love it like on the first day and even more.
You can buy all mounts (and almost every other IM item) of your choice on the market, at my store or via direct trade from other players. No need to play the lottery.
I don't know how much of the game you played but it most certainly isn't a grind fest. Now i agree that hitting max level isn't something you can do so quickly, but you probably have a WOW mentality of "oh i need to be max level for this game to be fun." AO is not that kind of game at all. The way the pvp is balanced allows undergeared and underleveled people a real fighting chance to win in pvp. The game is pvp centric and leveling is made easy by dailies and automove. because the pvp is tournament based, the fights are typically fair and you can enjoy pvping at any level. as you get higher in level you are allowed to progress in lower division ranks allowing you to face tougher opponents. To anyone interested in playing AO i'd highly suggest getting to lvl 50 (can be done in two weeks casual) and trying out the pvp system and you'll understand why AO is so highly rated.
I just hit level 120, with another 10 to go on my main ... the mercs are lagging behind so will still take a while. This is after about 6 months of very regular playtime. So yeah, don't expect to get to highest level anytime soon if you're just starting out.
PVP is fun and rewarding early on (from level 30ish onward). But you won't make it to be the best on your server - even less so in the cross-server competitions - within a year, even if you spend tons of cash.
It is indeed turn based fighting, but pve gets challenging at high level even for experienced MMO players, and PVP does contain skill elements: You can select your party of 9 (main + 8 mercs) from a list of 15 to 20 possible classes, each with their own skills and attributes - and beyond that, the tactics of how you use the characters and their skills within each fight are down to you. Check out some youtube videos of Titan fights if you're interested in seeing more.
One point on the item mall, since this seems to be people's main gripe. It is perfectly fine for you to buy non-random items, such as atlas ores, that sell in-game for a determined (fluctuating only mildly) value, and spend your proceeds on the mount, decoration or clothing that you would wish to max your stats.
Finally, why does this game rank so high on the polls? Because many people have voted for it as being a good game. That doesn't mean that everyone must like it, it just means that more people liked it relative to what's out there competing with it.
Cheers!
I'm glad that Atlantica is getting some good props. They had the guts to make a game that is actually unique, compared to other MMO's. Now, if turn-based games aren't your style then this is the wrong game for you. I actually enjoy the strategic component mixed in that other games don't have. Plus, Atlantica is a quality game which is the most important factor IMHO.
Not as pathetic as a guy who's a loner because he sees guilds as being a more pathetic outcome.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
My sentiments exactly.
I was really enjoying this game up until I reached the point where I noticed how much I was spending.
If you can't control yourself while spending money it is only your problem. Don't blame others for that.
If you can't play without warrior pack/blessing license, its your problem too because many people can.
Don't tell me it is impossible to play on high lvls without this or that, because I did every single quest in this game and made it to the highest pvp rank.
The problem with all of you is that you want everything NOW and EASY. You see the exp needed for 130lvl, you think "omg its impossible" because you can't reach it TODAY or TOMORROW and rage on forums because you think the game is grindy.
You see the latest mount in game and want it, but you don't have enough in-game money to buy it on your lvl 70 (wrtie your lvl here) so you think you can't get it without real cash.
Because the game is really well put together.
It is a rather small game all things considered compared to the bigger open world titles and the turn based nature is not typical MMO fare.
But almost everything is done well. The turn based nature makes lags so typical for F2Ps played across globe into non-issue. The cash shop allows you to spend fortune but also gives you option to play like human for reasonable fee. It has working well tuned PvP. It has lots of side activities and social features. It has good pacing - lots of fast levels, ability to reach crucial levels in reasonable time yet still having something to look forward too, like more levels or leveling mercenaries.
It is very important for me to know that the MMO developers know what they are doing, can make it materialize and stick to it, because such games feel more safe and secure on the metagaming "investment" level. Compare it to Allods that goes in all different directions, goes ahead with superfluous stuff that they know they cannot make working, devs and publishers keep changing their mind, and the game cheats you about PvP, about level cap (meaningless or even harmful without gear), about shop (now you can get monthly "sub" - but it does not cover death and looting, lol), left and right.
It's a fantastic game that is quickly being ruined over the last 8 months or so by an overzealous series of nerfs and pushing of the item mall.
I am level 130. I ate, slept, and breathed this game for well over a year.
Once you're 110+ having the 15 dollar a month Warriors pack is almost a necessity. It's assumed (in groups and dungeons) that you have it and puts you at a mighty disadvantage if you don't.
At that same level having a Blessing license (also 15 dollars a month) is... while not required, the difficulty scaling of the game gets MUCH more difficult around level 112 or so and without it you'll be beating your head against the wall unless you grind for months to get levels ahead of the content you're attempting.
In other words, without spending at LEAST 30 dollars a month, you're at a HUGE disadvantage, although to be fair, one of these items (blessing license) can be traded in-game for gold (Warrior's pack can not be traded)
To get decent gear, you need to use enchant stones or gamble to put plusses on your gear. This is 100% necessary. A few months ago, Ndoors got rid of enchant stone IV and V drops for enchanting high level gear so your only options are to gamble 50/50 blowing the equipment up or use the item mall only item 'Atlas' which STILL has a chance of failure.
Loot from higher level dungeons has been cut to about a third of what it was a year ago through a nerf literally every patch. It's become a running joke on the official forums. People newly comign to the 100+ levels are finding it impossible to gear up without using the item mall (this problem never used to exist when I hit 100 a year or so ago)
In conclusion, GREAT game, ruined by nerf after nerf after nerf to the point where it's impossible to play at high levels without heavy item mall usage or 80 hours a week of grind.
You reached 70 in a week? I highly doubt that....unless you played 12-16 hours everyday straight with a bunch of help
um.. you say dragonica. you know that game is a heck of a money spending game in order to be good at it. infact some bosses you need to have a ciertian attack power inorder to harm them.
so how was thach achived. via the cash ship upgrading your weapon and buying insurance scrolls. low wepon upgrade % = spending alot on insurance scrolls.
if you played the thq version from the start you may know who firin used to be. spend 2k to become unbeatable in the game by maxing not only the best wep in game but all his armor also. he was unkillable in pvpemporia due to his rediculously high armor and can kill everyone else in a few hits.
of course he was caught cheating off a buddy program and lost his char. but yea that game is utterly IMBA to those who invest money. insurance scrolls are a cash item from the cash shop and thats where they really make their money.
oh and lets not forget those cash shop items that are to change stats on a wep so you can blow money on them for a chance to get a stat you want. which , of course leads to spending more money on insurance scrolls. those cash shop items with stats can be enchanted also and give more armor. so one or 2 cash shop items is what gives the money to the company , the rest is fluff. IMBA stuff.
you know just sayin since you said their cash shop is how it should be. its NOT
I think that people rate it high because it did something different. There is no real turn based online MMORPG's that are played out in this size and amount of content. Sure it seems grindy to some, but it isn't at all, you just follow quest chains, they have a lot of killing mob quests because the fan base of the game play it for the combat system most likely, and since killing mobs is involving that system, then it is quite fun to grind sometimes. I played until about level 84, and got kinda tired of the game, mainly because my friends stopped playing. It's a great game, that's why people enjoy playing it THAT much.
An important thing to bear in mind about Atlantica's levelling is that while, yes, it does take a long time to reach level cap, it is very very far from the "game begins at cap" model that most MMOs seem to use these days.
I was able to start contributing usefully in guild and nation dungeons (Atlantica's equivalent of "endgame raiding") when I was in the high 90's. The high level players in my nation (including the few 130s) could work solo in the dungeon and handle bosses; the lower level guys like me would group up in twos and threes and handle the weaker mobs.
Competitive PvP is available from level 20 onwards. No you're not going to win the weekly cross-server championship unless you're max level and astonishingly well geared, but you can fight in the Free League against other people in the same division as you.
Fixed.
Seriously, you would think that everyone has come to the realization that reaching endgame means running into the most boring, repetitive content the game has to offer. People quit over it, but keep lining up for more on the next game like there isn't a lesson to be learned here...
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It has more appeal with "older" gamers, people who enjoyed any of the Final Fantasy games over the past two decades, or simply just fans of the JRPG genre.
For the type of game it is, it definatly is the best at what it does, too bad it's community is one of the worst, tons of goldspam and bots running around too, hacking was starting to be an issue when I quit over a year ago, but that's just something you learn to expect from any ijji game these days.
I've never recieved a single gold spam message outside of Rome (and even those are rare these days) and I've encounted a low level bot group ONCE in Atlantica. Ever. And I've played since open beta and am 130. There are plenty of negatives to this game, but gold spam and bots are nowhere near the level of problem in this game as any other MMO that ive played. Even Pay to play MMOs (Aion, LOTRO, WOW, etc...) have worse spam.
The community is also one of the most mature and helpful to newbies I've ever seen outside of LOTRO, at least on Thebes server. As long as you're not a beggar, you're generally treated quite well as a lowbie by high level people.
This is true, and in fact, the complaint of AO having a bad community is the first time i've ever heard it. Ever.
I played it to about level 80 and found nothing but helpful people, but this is mostly due to the extremely slick social devices in play - like long-distance grouping, trading monster info, guild towns, etc. Best F2P community I've ever seen, so the complaint makes zero sense to me, and just makes me question if he is speaking on the same game.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture