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[Review] ArcheAge: Much to Do, But Not Always Worth Doing
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
After a hundred hours, lots of olives harvested, lives taken, hearings attended, fish captured, and donkeys ridden we’re ready to put ArcheAge to the test. Do XLGAMES and Trion Worlds have a winner on their hands? Read on for our full review.
Read more of Bill Murphy's ArcheAge: Much to Do, But Not Always Worth Doing.
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Trade packs and donkeys… you’ll spend a lot of time looking at your ass’ ass.
Comments
Currently Playing:
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I love the game, and don't consider the grind as a negative. I just wish farming/crafting was a little more interactive. I'll be playing this for a while though. Being a high seas trade runner is really enjoyable.
I gave ArcheAge a 7.4
The MMO world needs more games like this.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
Im an Archeum Patron and i only managed to get the smallest farm there is a few hours after headstart opened...
Now there is no place to put my larger farm...neither a small house.... ALL land is taken,Lots of hackers are using "grabland hacks" so there is no chance of getting a plot when demolished or abbandoned...no one is selling or they go for ridiculous amounts of gold and there is A LOT of scams going around when trading for land plots...When my time as Patron runs out i will not be resubbing...
Why would i like to be a Patron if a cannot own land?? That´s mainly the purpose of Patronage...
I think they´ll be losing a lot of subs just because of this.
And NO,i´m no crying.....i´m just losing interest... AA is a very mediocre game when you have no lands to farm or houses.
I almost never agree with your articles, Bill, and lucky for me this one is no different.
Props on being consistent.
EDIT: Oh, and I'd like to add that I do find your reviews really valuable. I read them, make a decision based on your review, and then do the exact opposite.
I haven't played the game (yet). But:
these points weigh pretty heavy for me. Even though I know I should try it out myself before having an opinion.
I put in $150 for the Alpha Access back in June and I only played the game 3 weeks post launch. Really regret buying and playing this game from a hardcore pvper's perspective. Trion let the ball drop in many categories imo, from the cash shop including so many mildly ptw features and the unacceptably long (2-3 weeks) response time on tickets. I quit back at the end of September and I was still receiving my first responses to tickets of game breaking issues last week, 3-4 weeks later lol.
The game itself has way too much reliance on labor and rng imo, as a pvper I'm willing to do the pve grind to get gear/anything but when it's all chance and made so much easier for people who fork up the cash it's not for me. Not to mention that I'd literally rather be water-boarded than play another tab target combat system. Too much of a mediocre feature is a bad thing, for me atleast.
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
I was really really really looking forward to this game. I was Archeum in Alpha since April 2014. I tried to love this game and appreciated many aspects of it. It had the best action/tab-target combat outside of WoW which I loved. But the PvE was severely lacking (to the point where I didnt want to do it) and there wasn't enough allure to the world to keep me engaged. It was mostly rather sparse and in my (limited) time playing there were not many areas to find secrets. I didnt mind the grind, and actually like it in most cases but I didnt see a point to progression. Add in the bots and hacks and I was pretty much done. As per usual, I am back in Everquest appreciating what good looks like for a MMO.
I find the grind to be pretty minimal actually or at least well disguised. I still get excited if I find something rare to gather when just trotting around the open world. Add to that the fact that you are rewarded XP for EVERYTHING you do, nothing really seams "pointless".
I think the simple fact that it can take weeks to EARN something is what throws people off. Wealth and Power are not arbritrary in this game, they are difficult to obtain but they hold much more weight than in any other MMO.
I just wish the playing field wasn't riddled by hackers. You can feel at times that buying gold may be the only option, which is the game biggest pitfall.
The 'pay-for-advantage' factor coupled with the extreme grind makes it impossible for the average casual player to compete in PvP. No one wants to voluntarily play at a disadvantage so the PvP, whether it be arenas or open world, simply isn't worth doing.
As a PvE game it's lackluster, the dungeons are okay I guess. The questing is also okay...I guess. It's just bleh, WoW, Rift, GW2, WS, they all do PvE better.
While the game offers tons of options, its only real selling point is the farm system. But it's impossible for new players or even existing players to get land because the hackers have it on lockdown. Even if you could, there is still no purpose as you'll always be at a disadvantage to the whales and no-lifes and walking trade packs isn't all that fun to begin with.
So yeah, I have to agree with Bill across the board.
Seems like a pretty fair review actually, though since I've been mining almost non stop in EVE literally for the past 4 months the "grind" activities in AA such as trade runs and farm maintenance actually sound like a breath of fresh air.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Good work! This review is pretty close to what AA actually is (a bit too optimistic though). Personally I would reduce most parts of the score by 1.0 point.
If only Trion was able to get good tools and mechanics to combat botting and cheating. Right now all they can do is manually removing bots and to rely on player reports and manually going through server logs to spot land grabbing and teleporting cheaters.
Cheers.
I've played as Archeum patron Alpha > now. Agree with the majority of the article. There are many fun elements, but way way way to much wrong with the score for polish/visuals - maybe 3-4-5.
A quick read of the AA forums will tell you the quality of your rig is not the issue in general and for a game that's bee in in development 7-8 years and out almost 2 there is no reason for it to still have memory leaks, HackShield finicky attitude, rendering problems, etc.
It's an entertaining game as XL nailed the sea battles, etc. But definitely a grind-fest game with the heavy reliance on labor pots to get things done. Doubtful I'll re-up my sub when Patron ends.
Proud member of Hammerfist Clan Gaming Community.
Currently playing: RIFT, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO
Retired: Warhammer, AoC, EQ
Waiting: SWToR & GW2
Im tottaly aware that a review is based in a personal opinion, and you did a nice one, doesnt matter if i agree or not, its a well done review and you clear explain point by point what you find correct and incorrect in the game, i dont agree with some and agree with others but i did like reading your review.
But i like to bring this point where i thing doesnt make much sense in my prespective:
GAMEPLAY: 7 – It’s tempting to go lower with the score than 7, but honestly I could just as easily go higher. There’s simply a lot to do in ArcheAge, it’s just a shame that not all of it is very fun.
Gameplay is where i give a high score to AA, the diversity of things to do in AA, the same objective can be archive in such a diferent ways and the way most of all features are connected is one of the best around. Most features arent in AA just because its cool or something, there is a purpose to exist. One of the reasons Gameplay in AA should get a higher score something closer to 9.
I like. I'll probably keep playing it and paying it until something better happens... Naval battles are the most enjoyable experiences i've had in a long time. Granted I was never a big pvper, so the "professionals" may think differently... I don't care...
The game itself has its fair amount of problems, like the author said, but all in all it's very enjoyable, specially if you play it in group... I also didn't manage to grab a piece of land, but was easy enough to get gold to buy my first spot... After that things came easier.
And yes, I HATE bots and I HHAAATE hacks...
"Vidis Fodidis Est"
It's pretty close but the comment about the cries for P2W is way off base. Basically not only did Trion leave behind their no tricks no traps ideal on this title they did it on another title as well one that wasn't doing so well, Defiance, at around the same time they were deciding what the costs would be for this one while AA was in beta. It's definitely a sign they have lost touch with the players and have become minions of their execubots. There are other better ways of making money than what they did to this game and Defiance as we've seen in Rift for example. I know you admitted it but it really does show that you didn't have to spend your own money for anything in this game which means you haven't fully felt the sting.
This game has all of the rust of a 2004 title before any of the conventions of modern sandboxes or themeparks and none of the shine.
It's all a grind to the extreme and I'm amazed that they had such a turnout in the beginning honestly, I don't think people realized exactly what they were in for when they signed up.
I firmly believe reviews are like assholes..everyone has one. One person's experience is going to be different than yours. Try the game out (since it's free).
It's a sandbox style game and therefore many of the game mechanics appear to be a grind, but most of those allow you to do multiple things while "grinding" You do not have to stare at a garden, you don't have to spend a day decorating. You can be exploring the game world, collecting materials.
The reviewer didn't even touch on the benefits of a guild and the fun that can be had running in the pvp zones or dungeon crawling.
There is so much to actually do and it's really refreshing to not be handheld in your path in this game. YOU decide where to go, what to do and how to do it.
That is the beauty of ArcheAge.
Pretty much nailed the experience I had with the game and the review is pretty much spot on especially about the combat and PvE in ArcheAge.
It's definitely a Korean grind game @ it's core, but aren't most mmo's today as well.
The PvE is definitely lackluster, it is clearly there to teach the game to the player and little more. The dungeons are poor and the raid mobs are simple but hard.
Combat itself is pretty nice, the animations are great, the sound effects are good and there is a real sense of feedback from your attacks. It feels like your hurting the enemy when you hit them. However given how poor the PvE is and how PvP is usually zerg based, it is rare that you managed to get the satisfaction from the combat that it deserves.
Fun is a relative term, but I think a lot of what you can do in ArcheAge is simply tedious. A trade run on a safe route is tedious, but a trade run across the ocean.. can be fun if there is a little PvP involved, but can also be really annoying if you get rushed by a zerg or something. Most of what you do in ArcheAge is simply to achieve the next tier of gear, there are odd moments where the game shines, but they are rare compared to the time you need to invest int he tedious things to stay competitive.
Grind is a fair word I guess, most of it is either running trade routes to get gold, running around zones for resources, farming for resources or crafting. The grinds are that bad in themselves, but the RNG in the crafting means you can spend hours grinding the gold and resources to end up with nothing to show for it because of a bad RNG roll.
Ultimately the RNG is what is turning me off, that along with the zergs.
This is actually one of the few reviews that I totally agree with. In fact I made a post about this very same thing the other day, Archeage does everything but nothing great.
I doubt that we will see any major improvements in this game as it's already been out for 2 + years in the West. Not to mention they didn't even bother changing the voice overs for NPCs to be in English. Sadly, I think the best of this game has already come and what we will see from here on out is a steady decline in population.
This review should have been titled, "MMORPG review of AA based on popular opinion". It's like you took all the popular QQing from the vocal minority and based your review on it. This also seems like a review from a reviewer who prefers instant gratification which directly associated with the review based on popular opinion.
You could have made this same review two weeks after release. Also btw, a big part of the game isn't even released yet! Might have been better to wait till after the 4th to see the complete game which also happens to be one of AA biggest end game features.
So if AA is only a 7.3, I guess that bar is set pretty damn high. Is AA perfect, no. Does it deserve far better than a 7.3, without question!
I think Mr. Murphy should stick with themeparks.
THIS IS THE SAME REVIEWER WHO GAVE WILDSTAR A 8.4 rating, need I say more?
Ok so what reviews are not biased? This is the reviewers perspective of the game, that's what reviews are, no more, no less. I never agree with Bill's reviews and I totally agree with this one, so he's not the only person that feels this game is lackluster. I mean maybe you enjoy playing water downed Farmville but I would bet most people would just rather play Farmville if they wanted to tend to crops for hours straight.
Honestly, the current trending of server population kind of speaks for itself. I logged on last night for the first time in over a week and only two servers were High pop which is a huge difference than two weeks ago where almost all servers were high.
Bottom line is once you get to 50 and finish grinding your hasla gear you are left with tending farms, staring at crafting screens, running trade packs, and a few war honor farms a night for a net return of a maybe 50 - 75 honor, none of which is any fun after the first few times.