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Review levels 1-15 on free beta account
After playing for 3 days A LOT I am ready to give a review that only entails the first 15 levels. I took my time leveling so that I could explore all facets of the game without limiting myself to quickly making levels. I did enjoy my time to an extent but felt severely held back from really getting into the bread and butter of this game because of the fact that I was considered a “free account”. Without further ado…(remember…im no wordsmith)
Graphics 8/10 – I had them on high and they were great. Were there times when the pixels were weird or just lacking in abundance, yes, but overall the game looked beautiful. The mobs were very well constructed (especially the junkyard ones) and the lions with a lot of minor and major detail. The trees, hills and npcs were intricately designed and my character along with my character’s armor were shiny and detailed as well.
UI 7/10 – the UI was standard fair and not difficult to understand or navigate. Not much else to say…the minimap was FINALLY mini and did not take up half the screen. Everything was easy to find and I never felt lost in the UI or felt that the UI was impeding upon my gaming experience.
Combat 9/10 – this is really the bread and butter of the game as far as what I actually was able to experience. Is it tab target, yes…could I move out of mobs attacks, not from what I experienced. So why a 9? Because of the synergies that the skills had with one another and the fact that you could choose 3 classes to form what I coined an “ultimate class” and use the abilities in conjuction with each other. I was a paladin, so I had a shield bash that would stun and then I had another skill that if the mob was stunned, this next move would then knock them down and it added other stuff I don’t remember. I had a few skills that worked together like this even at 15. Just my opinion but I truly think that other games could learn something here.
Crafting 1/10 – Remember this is for a free account, I have not used a payed account yet. Labor Points, Labor Points and Labor Points. Over a 3 day period I had amassed about 200 labor points. In order to make an piece of armor this is what I had to do: Mine ore, not a lot, but enough to drain about 50 labor points. Then I had to use labor points to turn this ore into bars for about 40 more labor points. After that I had to get Moon something something….I did that by breaking down other weapons and armor I had to get mats. I crossed my fingers and hoped I would get what I needed. 12 breakdowns and Labor Points later, I had 0 Moon thingys. Good thing is, you can buy them from the auction house if someone is selling, but that’s really not the point. Why build a crafting system solely dependent on labor points and with so many different processes that making 1 piece of armor or 1 weapon (which typically costs 100 labor points…which I did not have by the time I had prepped to make it)? The only logical answer is so that people will utilize the cash shop. This is a HUGE problem and I hope they fix it because it really does take away from one of the better parts of the game. Some of the things you can craft are pretty awesome (race cars), but how will you craft them? Only reasonable way appears to be the cash shop.
Leveling 5/10 – Questing, questing and more questing. The quest themselves aren’t pain staking and it can be fun, but the real disappointment lies in the fact that so many people have said that you do not have to do quests to level and although this is true, it’s barely true. You can spend labor points (until you don’t have anymore) to craft and gather, but the xp is very minimal and again, you run out of labor points fast. Grinding mobs is almost mind numbing and you don’t get much xp for killing them. At the lower levels there is no other way to level. So you are forced to quest whether someone says you aren’t or not. It’s just the truth. Again, I don’t mind the quests, but I was told it wasn’t necessary.
Housing/Farming N/A – I don’t have a score for this, because I wasn’t privy to it….I went to Mirage Island, bought a house plan, but when I went to plot it, I got a big red warning saying I was unable to because im FTP.
The one thing I’d like to note is that this time I started in the opposite faction’s zone (the 2 to the right when creating) and the zone seemed much more vibrant, mob placement was impeccable and the world felt full. The other faction’s zone felt empty, mob placement was atrocious and the experience was awful. Im not sure why the devs did this, but it almost felt like I was playing 2 different games.
Overall 6/10 – The game is a lot of fun, but it is nothing more than a standard PVE/PVP MMO for free accounts. Im not sure if it’s any different for payed accounts but I have a feeling it is. The Sandbox elements are not accessible and the ones that are cost too many labor points to actually achieve in a reasonable amount of time. Crafting really kills this score and it is firmly tied to the sandbox elements. If you wanted a sandbox or even a sandpark, you either have to pay the cash shop machine or wait A LOT to build up labor points. Otherwise you are playing one of the most polished and fine tuned Asian MMO’s that I’ve played in a while…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Comments
I think that is a pretty generous review for the F2P version of the game. Over generous really, I could not imagine trying to play this game without the crafting and land management. Just my opinion but they need to do away with the free to play entirely because the mechanics of the game do not lend themselves to non subscription based play. F2P players will miss 90% of the things that make this game unique and fun.
For those that want to enjoy the game break the piggy bank open ad shell out the $15. Can't even see a movie for that price
I miss DAoC
I just did the math with the median score out of my other scores....I agree...should not even have a FTP option...what strikes me as odd though is that they have the beta testers as FTPers...dont they realize this will sour the experience? Wouldn't they rather give them the whole shabang so they'll be thirsty for more? Odd decision....
My f2p experience piqued my interest enough for me to pay a month subscription to see what i'm missing. So I guess that's why they do it. It certainly shouldn't be titled f2p, it should be a never ending free trial or something. I think people would swallow that a lot better.
I'm enjoying the game, but I don't play a lot either.
yes the questing bored me to death, i got to lvl 21 and then gave up.
the game has potential but i cant hack the questing for hours and hours, maby if they made the game P2P and had something like free to up level 20 so people can test it, but what i played to be honest, i wouldnt pay for it
Currently Playing:
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I dont even think that's necessary....just go P2P drop FTP. At level 10 there were things I wanted to do and could have done had I been a payer, but as FTP I could only spectate or level...it's like there are 2 different games you get to play depending on which model you choose...just get rid of FTP and think the game has promise. But letting people test just FTP is a REALLY bad idea...
My bet is that you are playing the actual release and they reason you have to buy access to some things is because that is how it is coded. In other words, they have no system/code in place to allow for free playing of their paid features. Probably never will. Remember, people bought into Alpha... meaning no one, too date, has ever played this game with all features enabled that hadn't paid up front to do it. It's not a paid beta, it's code is just locked into the payment model already and probably has been since before the alpha testing.
regardless, why try selling someone on much less than what you actually have to offer?
I have a free account and farming seems to be going just fine tbh. Clearly there is a bit more risk, but hey that is what you get from not paying I guess. Had some plants right out there in the open and no-one destroyed them. I have also seem some people being very proud they destroyed someones "forest", but again part of not paying or wanting for farm more then you farm can hold will bring risk.
You gain 1 labor point a minute, this means with 200 labor points you spend 200 minutes in the game. The labor point system is not perfect, but I do like it (however the fact people can use rl money to buy lp will ruin the system and idea behind it in my opinion). You can do everything in this game by yourself. However this will take a long time. If you want to speed up this process you have two option.
First is work together with a guild. Building a ship for example. Second is use items created by someone else. This means you NEED other people to produce things, with in turn will make the economy important. So I like the system, they might need to tweak the rate you get the labor points though. However if your paying you gain 10 points every minute your online and 5 when you offline. This seems a more reasonable rate.
For the rest I agree with your review.
Archeage is a mixed bag. There are some really interesting elements to the game that are hamstrung by your typical level and quest system. Actually it's not even typical because there are elements to it they improved, but that is Archeage or my impression of it. They took what we already have and improved on it.
Some of the things that impressed me. The graphics. Fully maxed with directx11 it is running really smoothly. You can swim, scuba dive, climb, ride, soar...lots of options there. Haven't gotten into crafting or growing. Housing is way to far away but I saw the houses and walked through them. I loved the little houses on the water and could imagine having a little boat.
If its free to play I will probably play it from time to time. I will probably buy something here and there if I really want it. No interest in pvp at the moment, I'm more rp and interested in that aspect.
I should add one thing I noticed is it doesn't seem like things u need drop from mobs. All I seem to be getting is money and a little xp. Kinda boring. I like finding a nice thing here or there when I kill something but so far nothing has really dropped
yeah, I take issue with that as well, but some of the quests actually give you the gear you are looking for and with a really healthy auction house it's not as much of a problem
Because the game is out for so long, they don't have to prove anything. Everyone watched the youtube vids, even created accounts for the original version overseas. It is the same, no change what so ever except for the translation.
What did you think they where going to change anything in there? ROFL. We are not special snowflakes buddy!!!!!
So you got more then a regular release of the game, you can make a opinion on what the game is about, now choose if yes or no you will sub or play it free. You know what sub offers since the other version is out for more then a year, no need to test it out they showed you well enough what it was.
Sorry to burst your bubble here but it always was like that since games exist, they show you what it can do, you buy it, if you don't like it don't play and if you do like it keep playing.
( Just buy a sub and be happy by having all the features else go paly something else )
Edit : Pay to win = get more power or advantage by buying things in the shop then regular sub players ( You dont get that in this game ) It is the opposite so that means it is a real free to play game where yes you will have to put money in the game to be competitive.
I have nothing against free to play games but it is what it is. That is why i said you will have to pay a sub no matter what.
The exact issue people voice here is what was going on in the oversea version, free loaders where not happy with the new patch that change everything. Now everyone here also know what was going on there
any game that says it is F2P, but then withholds the vast majority of content from F2P players is being disingenuous, at best. i am more than happy to pay a sub, but don't sell your game as free to play and then tell me i can't do certain things in-game because i don't have a sub. free to play models that punish you for not subbing are a total turn off to me. i understand there is limited housing and farm space and subs help preserve that land, but there has to be a better way of doing this without fracturing your community. creating a disadvantaged F2P player base, and an advantaged P2P base at the same time does fracture the community. i've already seen a lot of immature behavior in global chat about this issue, and that alone is what is stopping me from buying a sub.
that said, i am enjoying the bits i can play. i think this one is a big 'wait and see' for me.