Do I get to play? yes, do I get everything? no even in both model, but I am not push just to play the game to pay up $15 when I just want to play few hours that month.
What I'm about to say is actually off-topic from whether or not Archeage is a cash grab or not (or rather, is an effect caused by a game being a cash grab rather than what determines s if it was a cash grab in the first place).
One of the major issues many have with Archeage is that sub-only games let you play the game as much as you want for your $15 a month. Archeage, as you stated, just gives you a few hours that month.
Not that enough people really care. I imagine Trion gets its income from the whales regardless.
The word cash grab don't fit arche age well when I don't see it as cash grab if someone can fill me in what they did that you have to spend money when there no way to get it in game that give you a power over a other at slow rate not grindy like some other mmo I know.
I play rift, some times they do stuff that question what the hell they doing other time people complain over little thing not big deal then they call it cash grab, like the AH change happen months ago, they was calling cash grab as people can't sell items over 1000% higher it cost, with no risk at all.
Then we got lockbox that gear from it is 5 time worst then gear you can get ingame, then only thing is worth it is for the mounts, that one can get them in game with out paying for it, people still call it cash grab.
But people saying here company that try to make money over back of people is a cash grab that like 98% mmo out there even wow. and Most the game out there let call everything cash grab when they find ways for people to spend more money in the game.
Like cash shop, gate content, sub with cash shop, DLC, even a expansion when you have to buy a expansion to even get to endgame again after you pay in for it they want you to pay more.
The word cash grab don't fit arche age well when I don't see it as cash grab if someone can fill me in what they did that you have to spend money when there no way to get it in game that give you a power over a other at slow rate not grindy like some other mmo I know.
I play rift, some times they do stuff that question what the hell they doing other time people complain over little thing not big deal then they call it cash grab, like the AH change happen months ago, they was calling cash grab as people can't sell items over 1000% higher it cost, with no risk at all.
Then we got lockbox that gear from it is 5 time worst then gear you can get ingame, then only thing is worth it is for the mounts, that one can get them in game with out paying for it, people still call it cash grab.
But people saying here company that try to make money over back of people is a cash grab that like 98% mmo out there even wow. and Most the game out there let call everything cash grab when they find ways for people to spend more money in the game.
Like cash shop, gate content, sub with cash shop, DLC, even a expansion when you have to buy a expansion to even get to endgame again after you pay in for it they want you to pay more.
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Again, whether or not players are willing to pay for something doesn't change whether or not Trion is doing something in an attempt to grab cash. The latter is what determines if something is a cash grab, not the former.
This applies to whether or not other companies are doing it, too. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but that doesn't change the fact that Trion has apparently made a lot of its decisions in the name of grabbing cash regardless of if it's good for the game or not (again, as pointed out by R2Games, companies are VERY aware of what monetization models give more profits at the cost of the game's life span and player retention)
Also, expansions are completely separate from the concept of grabbing cash regardless of if it's for the good of the game or not. An expansion is just that. Something meant to expand the scope of the game. Whether or not that's for the good of the game or if it instead harms the game is a separate factor (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. It's not one and the same at all times).
Been awhile since Grimal chose to remind us how poor of a game Archeage is. People are still talking about it though, which shows how passionate they are for it. Say what you want about Trion and over-monetizing the game, the actual game is best on the Market right now; not in it's current state but more the idea of it.
All of this reminds of the ESO launch, we saw great potential in a product that was just less than satisfactory with the majority of players. Now with update 6, ESO is almost turned into the game it was meant to be, or it least better than it was, we shall see.
I still have hope for Archeage, because it's a great game that deserves a better chance.
No, I don't think people are still talking about it because they have a passion for it, I think they are still talking about it because they are amazed a game that could have been so good can really be that bad.
There are plenty of MMOs that had equally bad starts as Archeage, Wildstar's progress is one that comes to mind and is just one of many..... But you don't hear about them...because they are bad games.
Archeage's cash shop isn't working. Not because it is P2W but because people fear that it is and that is enough. The inability to ban hackers/exploiters. Trion's mismanagement. None of these have to be permanent. The game itself is good and has potential to be great is all I am saying.
People love to hate for some reason...
Now Playing: Bless / Summoners War Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
ESO has really good customer support, and went about fixing things and getting the bot problem under control. ESO after 3 months had most of its problems fixed, while adding new stuff.
Not in my humble opinion...
I will give you that it was better than Archeage, but they don't win any medals just yet. ESO is still a solo, boring grind with no semblance of community.
Now Playing: Bless / Summoners War Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
Been awhile since Grimal chose to remind us how poor of a game Archeage is. People are still talking about it though, which shows how passionate they are for it. Say what you want about Trion and over-monetizing the game, the actual game is best on the Market right now; not in it's current state but more the idea of it.
All of this reminds of the ESO launch, we saw great potential in a product that was just less than satisfactory with the majority of players. Now with update 6, ESO is almost turned into the game it was meant to be, or it least better than it was, we shall see.
I still have hope for Archeage, because it's a great game that deserves a better chance.
No, I don't think people are still talking about it because they have a passion for it, I think they are still talking about it because they are amazed a game that could have been so good can really be that bad.
There are plenty of MMOs that had equally bad starts as Archeage, Wildstar's progress is one that comes to mind and is just one of many..... But you don't hear about them...because they are bad games.
Archeage's cash shop isn't working. Not because it is P2W but because people fear that it is and that is enough. The inability to ban hackers/exploiters. Trion's mismanagement. None of these have to be permanent. The game itself is good and has potential to be great is all I am saying.
People love to hate for some reason...
But those didn't have the potential that was wasted on this one.
Originally posted by Zarf42 I hope the industry takes from this that people want a sandpark or more sandbox mmorpg options, rather than anything negative because of the massive problems revolving around this game.
Originally posted by Zarf42 I hope the industry takes from this that people want a sandpark or more sandbox mmorpg options, rather than anything negative because of the massive problems revolving around this game.
Unfortunately it is likely to have the same impact it always has. People who dislike anything sandboxy or PvP focused will point to it as just another example of "People dont like these kinds of games, thats why it failed" rather than having the sense to understand that the core features were not what turned people off, it was the mess that the game turned into because of shitty management and the inability to properly implement several features that drove them away.
Yet another prime example of incompetence that will result in associating "bad" and "failure" with anything that isn't a WoW clone even though it was the fact that it wasn't a WoW clone that people were drawn to it in the first place.
Been awhile since Grimal chose to remind us how poor of a game Archeage is. People are still talking about it though, which shows how passionate they are for it. Say what you want about Trion and over-monetizing the game, the actual game is best on the Market right now; not in it's current state but more the idea of it.
All of this reminds of the ESO launch, we saw great potential in a product that was just less than satisfactory with the majority of players. Now with update 6, ESO is almost turned into the game it was meant to be, or it least better than it was, we shall see.
I still have hope for Archeage, because it's a great game that deserves a better chance.
Meh, its an ok game that has been out for years in other countries. Fans are trying to create this myth that all the game's woes are due to Trion's management, when the reality is that it just isn't that great and has a lot of inherent issues (not helped by the terrible launch). The best thing about it is that it offers a taste of a sandboxy type game/mmo in a fantasy world, which no other game really lets us experience at the moment.
ESO's launch was much better than AA's, although it did have big issues. But ESO was a brand new game launching for the first time. AA is already fairly mature in its development cycle and is still mediocre. If you want to look at AA's future you just have to see the builds that are already released in other regions, and I don't see anything amazing there.
IMO Trion has by now topped Funcom in overall incompetence and shadyness. And while things even went slightly better with Funcom, they continously get worse with Trion.
I had washed my hands of this game a week ago, not cause it was a bad game, but the bad management decisions on both XL Games and Trion's part. I enjoyed this game so much I spent $2400 on it which I haven't done since Star Wars Galaxies. Too many screwups on both Publisher/Developer's part that I wanted to continue to throw money at it. The game had everything I wanted out of a MMORPG at launch. I started chargeback procedures to get my money back and why would I do that ? Last month my account was compromised by someone in China, the first time ever any of my game accounts were compromised. Not only did I lose what I had earned since launch, items, resources, gold, but cashshop purchases as well stockpiles of tax certs, worker's pots, even some of the chests sold, Trion granted me some gold, gilda stars , credits, and loyalty tokens for my troubles but it didn't equate to all that I lost including real money that I had invested into the game.
Needless to say my interest in the game started to fall quickly, but with all the other disappointments and screwups and broken promises and diasters like....
10% Marketplace Discount: One of the launch perks given to Patrons, Trion pulling a bait and switch they replaced it a couple months later with 10% Bonus Credits , false advertising, funny thing is that the 10% Marketplace Discount is still on their Patron Benefits pages this very day, which could mislead people. http://www.archeagegame.com/en/news/2014/06/archeage-patron-program-apex/
False Banning of Players due to Hackshield showing false positives, several guild members and RL friends banned for no reason, and yes players have gotten banned for just having bad latency issues (lag), thankfully I didn't never have to go thru that mess, but friends and guildies that were falsely banned losing paid-game time over it needless to say lost customers.
Apex and Cash Shop Chest Exploits: Completely ruined the economy, even worse they banned so few of these people, there were confirmed people that only recieved a 24hr ban only and got to keep all their ill gotten gains. For all the time that the Marketplace was disabled along with APEX couldn't be bought, used. F2P players who paid their Patron status with this were screwed and lost land and benefits due to XL Games not fixing these issues, with the game being out in the Russian and Asian region for a lot longer than the US/Euro they had plenty of time to fix these issues but didn't.
Auroria Launch: Complete clusterf$*# due to a error in Hackshield kept most of the playerbase out for around 24hrs that day , keeping players and guilds from claiming castles and land. And for those who managed to stay online and claim castles almost instantly land hackers which was recorded on film on my server as 4 teleports fell out of the sky and teleported around almost instantly filling up the housing zones in Auroria. Issues that once again XL Games could of prevented.
Hack Programs and Cheating; For a game that has been out for almost 2 years once again, XL Games could of fixed these issues their game allows too much to be done on the client side without proper checks , they ban cheaters and hackers ingame, but it seems they falsely ban once again innocent players and not enough gold-sellers and hackers. From ESP, radar, no fall damage, speed hacks, etc. Things like this ruin a game if not dealt with and Trion and XL Games are too lax on it.
2 Tier Security for Paypal Purchases, you can sign up for Trion to use Paypal as a payment method but the only problem is that when pruchasing anything it doesn't take you to the Paypal website to make final confirmation for the purchase , this allows hackers hijacking accounts to charge your Paypal account which someone did on my account to run up a hefty tab. Of course all my money was refunded instantly within the day it happened still more security and more verification on Trion's part would have blocked a lot of hackers when stealing accounts from charging Paypal with your own money. Hijacked accounts in Archeage is pretty common saw 4 people in my guild have it happen to them as well. All those 4 people left after that after not being refunded their items they lost.
There are so many problems with this game I can't just discuss them all, server crashes , 6hr downtimes for small patches, no test servers, no proper bug testing, etc.
I loved this game and it had everything going for it, I just can't justify giving Trion any more money for their mismangement of the game along with XL Games.
IMO Trion has by now topped Funcom in overall incompetence and shadyness. And while things even went slightly better with Funcom, they continously get worse with Trion.
Not a week without another negative news.
Trion's reputation fell apart with me with the handling of this game big time, so bad I uninstalled all of their games and started chargeback procedures on all that I spent on Archeage, which Ive gotten back 500$ back so far , $ 1900 to go!!!
I liked the: "...the biggest story is the horror show that is ArcheAge. At this point it's like a case study in how to destroy an MMORPG."
And that is really tragicomical because this game had such potential but didn't live up to most of it. Instead it turned out to be the biggest pay to win MMO for quite a while. The whole game gives me a bad vibe and it sounds more like a cash-grab than a revolutionary sandpark MMO.
Remember not much is cash grab unless you have to pay to play, that what sub mmo are can't play with out paying and that's what cash grab is. Free to play are more less cash grab is out of locked gated content or grindy to unlock it, but still didn't take you're money unless people willing to give them there money after feeling out the game higher points then sub base mmo.
Ever heard of "Software as a Service"? That's what MMOs are. They're games, and they're a service. They have an on-going cost to maintain, fix, support, develop, etc. That money has to come from somewhere, and subscriptions are, and have been, a reliable and consistent means of getting that money. And it's as straight forward a setup as you can get... "You pay us $x a month, you get access to our service". Simple and to the point.
I'm amazed at the sheer entitled mentality of people whom, like yourself, seem to feel that somehow developers owe you a game to play for free, or it's a "cash-grab" otherwise. If that attitude isn't the epitome of the entitled, "I deserve it because I want it" bit-torrent generation, I don't know what is.
No, it's called subscribing to a service. Just like cellphone/phone service, internet service, cable-TV, Netflix, any of the music services... all of those things are subscription-based. You pay for on-going access to their servers/hardware/data... even after paying for a given device in many cases.
It's exactly the same of a MMO. The service in this case is continued access to an online game, with all the support, updates, etc. that it entails.
The irony, of course, is that the reason F2P works so well - and why developers prefer it - isn't because "they're good people and really want to spend millions on a game that others can play for free". It's because they know that through a cash shop, they can make more money than a flat sub fee could ever get them, because there is no ceiling. Players aren't locked at a box fee and ~$15 every month. They can spend hundreds, even thousands, a month, if they're able and willing.
They can release it for free, which also gives them the benefit of some really persuasive marketing... particularly, being able to use "Free To Play!" in their ads. People love that word: "Free". Particularly the folks who feel they're entitled to everything they want for free anyway.
The whole thing of "well, those cash shop items are optional" is another technicality they dance around. Sure, they're optional... like cigarettes are optional to a smoker. You can play the game without spending money on anything. But these people know how players are driven by want of "more convenience", or the ability to "stand out" in a crowd.. or the ability to "blend in", even. And what do cash shop items sell, by and large? They sell Convenience, and so-called "vanity" items that allow people to stand out, or blend in. Many of them cash in on the gambling phenomenon... Tell someone that if they buy a special key from the cash shop, that they can open this otherwise un-openable treasure chest, and possibly get a really valuable item. And it works. You better believe it works. That's not "by chance".
And they pull a variety of different schemes to get people nice and cozy with the cash shop.
Put simply: If you're playing "without spending a dime". You are not playing to the will of the developer. You're playing it against their will. They don't want you playing it for free. They lower the barrier to entry by making it "free to play", because they know once they have you through the door, there's a greater chance of getting you to spend money - potentially a lot more than a box and/or sub fee. There's no guarantee any one person will become a spender... but it's a numbers game. Get enough people through the door, and they'll hit their numbers.
As an example of just one way they go about it... They'll throw a bunch of powerful low-level gear and items at you, to get you dependent on them, and let you get hooked on the gameplay. Then they start to ween you off of them, until you get to the point where you realize that the stuff you're dealing with in-game is tougher and tougher to deal with, and the gear and potions and such you're getting as drops just isn't cutting it anymore, and the freebies have dried up. But oh, look, the cash shop has much better potions for sale! And oh! They sell enchantment stones that allow you to improve your gear, for better survivability! Well, sure, you don't have to buy them, and they are just optional but man the game would be a lot more fun if you were able to just plow through stuff like you were before.... and hey, what's a few bucks here and there, right?
I mean, there is the option to earn stuff the slower way, by grinding it out in-game. But that's really slow and boring, and man.. I really want to catch up with all those folks I see in the awesome armor, doing the cool content at the end. And of course, the only thing holding them back from getting that boost, and reducing the grind, is by spending money.
Ever wonder why many, if not all, cash shops use a special currency system, rather than just using regular $ amounts? Does the word "obfuscate" mean anything to you? Ever notice the pricing structure of many items - especially the more desirable ones? How you can buy cash shop coins in denominations of 10, or 20 or 50.. but the items you want to buy are always priced in-between tiers, so you always have to buy more than you really need just to get it? And then, what you have left over isn't enough to buy anything, so you have to buy a little more, to reach that next tier, so you can afford more stuff? And on and on?
People love to make the whole argument about "whether it's pay to win" or not. Folks, that's not the point. No MMO has to sell power to keep people playing. Convenience and catering to social pressures is their bread and butter. Not the one-off high-ticket items. Some of them get greedy and sell both. Why not? There are people willing to buy them, and as long as there isn't too great of an exodus from the game.. hey so what? What they lose in the low or non-spenders, they'll make up in potential whales spending a lot more.
It's amazing to me that, after all this time, there are still people who believe F2P MMOs are designed "for the benefit of the player", and don't see just how the overall experience is affected.
I've said it all along, and I'll continue to say it.. Subscriptions (and only subscriptions... a cash shop on top of a sub is a cash grab, no question) are a far more balanced and fair revenue model, because they apply to everyone equally. How much or how little money you have in real life has no bearing on your character or progress in-game. And that's how it should be, in my opinion.
Cash shops don't exist for the benefit of the player. They exist for the benefit of the developer/publisher. Developers, and gamers, got along just fine for many years relying on fun gameplay and interesting content to keep people playing. This idea people like to push, that somehow Cash Shops were "necessary" for the growth of the genre is rubbish. Make a good game, and people will play it. Instead of improving their games, developers have realized they can just start selling shiny pixels in a cash shop, and people will buy it up, even while complaining about how hum-drum and "more of the same" the game itself is.
SOE and Blizzard where toping the shitiest company category for so many years that the writers sound bored of it.
For a change they took the best MMORPG game since a decade and mock non gameplay issues like launch and monetation.
I think you misspelled EA.
Yeah, Blizzard usually doesn't get bad press, and for good reason- they make quality stuff.
The only problem with them is they aren't exactly innovative, and because their stuff is so popular, other companies try to copy it and it has made for like a decade of compounding lack of innovation in MMOs.
But they're not a bad or stupid company. Obviously they make tons of money and have tons of satisfied customers.
As for Archeage, I think a lot of the reviews in the OP are pretty dead-on. The one good thing that might come out of it is companies may realize that overly milking a f2p is a bad idea, and maybe f2p isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Been awhile since Grimal chose to remind us how poor of a game Archeage is. People are still talking about it though, which shows how passionate they are for it. Say what you want about Trion and over-monetizing the game, the actual game is best on the Market right now; not in it's current state but more the idea of it.
All of this reminds of the ESO launch, we saw great potential in a product that was just less than satisfactory with the majority of players. Now with update 6, ESO is almost turned into the game it was meant to be, or it least better than it was, we shall see.
I still have hope for Archeage, because it's a great game that deserves a better chance.
"Best on the market?"
Lol.
Oh wait...you qualified the statement with, "not in its current state but more the idea of it."
Still...lol.
Did you ever watch Steve Martn in the Jerk? There is a scene where he works at the carnival that makes me think of this kind of award situation. Here is the link to what I mean:
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
I just quit last night. I gave up all of my land to guild members who are still playing and enjoying it for what it is.
I just cannot get myself to enjoy the end game content:
1. Farmville your farms.
2. Run GHA again and again, only way to get gear...
3. Farm for hundreds of tokens at Hasla, only way to get a decent weapon...
4. Fish, fish fish fish... It was fun for the first couple trips...
PVP is horrible IMO.
I had such great hopes for this title, and sadly this one is pay to win and full of hacks.
(I just about quit when they put the chests on the market and so many people around me had multiple thunderstuck trees and I could not even get one from growing trees, and after they released the chests on the market place, I heard trees rarely ever gave a thunderstruck tree) **Just an example of the silliness in this title.
Comments
What I'm about to say is actually off-topic from whether or not Archeage is a cash grab or not (or rather, is an effect caused by a game being a cash grab rather than what determines s if it was a cash grab in the first place).
One of the major issues many have with Archeage is that sub-only games let you play the game as much as you want for your $15 a month. Archeage, as you stated, just gives you a few hours that month.
Not that enough people really care. I imagine Trion gets its income from the whales regardless.
The word cash grab don't fit arche age well when I don't see it as cash grab if someone can fill me in what they did that you have to spend money when there no way to get it in game that give you a power over a other at slow rate not grindy like some other mmo I know.
I play rift, some times they do stuff that question what the hell they doing other time people complain over little thing not big deal then they call it cash grab, like the AH change happen months ago, they was calling cash grab as people can't sell items over 1000% higher it cost, with no risk at all.
Then we got lockbox that gear from it is 5 time worst then gear you can get ingame, then only thing is worth it is for the mounts, that one can get them in game with out paying for it, people still call it cash grab.
But people saying here company that try to make money over back of people is a cash grab that like 98% mmo out there even wow. and Most the game out there let call everything cash grab when they find ways for people to spend more money in the game.
Like cash shop, gate content, sub with cash shop, DLC, even a expansion when you have to buy a expansion to even get to endgame again after you pay in for it they want you to pay more.
Again, whether or not players are willing to pay for something doesn't change whether or not Trion is doing something in an attempt to grab cash. The latter is what determines if something is a cash grab, not the former.
This applies to whether or not other companies are doing it, too. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but that doesn't change the fact that Trion has apparently made a lot of its decisions in the name of grabbing cash regardless of if it's good for the game or not (again, as pointed out by R2Games, companies are VERY aware of what monetization models give more profits at the cost of the game's life span and player retention)
Also, expansions are completely separate from the concept of grabbing cash regardless of if it's for the good of the game or not. An expansion is just that. Something meant to expand the scope of the game. Whether or not that's for the good of the game or if it instead harms the game is a separate factor (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. It's not one and the same at all times).
There are plenty of MMOs that had equally bad starts as Archeage, Wildstar's progress is one that comes to mind and is just one of many..... But you don't hear about them...because they are bad games.
Archeage's cash shop isn't working. Not because it is P2W but because people fear that it is and that is enough. The inability to ban hackers/exploiters. Trion's mismanagement. None of these have to be permanent. The game itself is good and has potential to be great is all I am saying.
People love to hate for some reason...
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
I think you misspelled EA.
Not in my humble opinion...
I will give you that it was better than Archeage, but they don't win any medals just yet. ESO is still a solo, boring grind with no semblance of community.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
But those didn't have the potential that was wasted on this one.
i just wanna point this post again
Unfortunately it is likely to have the same impact it always has. People who dislike anything sandboxy or PvP focused will point to it as just another example of "People dont like these kinds of games, thats why it failed" rather than having the sense to understand that the core features were not what turned people off, it was the mess that the game turned into because of shitty management and the inability to properly implement several features that drove them away.
Yet another prime example of incompetence that will result in associating "bad" and "failure" with anything that isn't a WoW clone even though it was the fact that it wasn't a WoW clone that people were drawn to it in the first place.
Meh, its an ok game that has been out for years in other countries. Fans are trying to create this myth that all the game's woes are due to Trion's management, when the reality is that it just isn't that great and has a lot of inherent issues (not helped by the terrible launch). The best thing about it is that it offers a taste of a sandboxy type game/mmo in a fantasy world, which no other game really lets us experience at the moment.
ESO's launch was much better than AA's, although it did have big issues. But ESO was a brand new game launching for the first time. AA is already fairly mature in its development cycle and is still mediocre. If you want to look at AA's future you just have to see the builds that are already released in other regions, and I don't see anything amazing there.
IMO Trion has by now topped Funcom in overall incompetence and shadyness. And while things even went slightly better with Funcom, they continously get worse with Trion.
Not a week without another negative news.
I had washed my hands of this game a week ago, not cause it was a bad game, but the bad management decisions on both XL Games and Trion's part. I enjoyed this game so much I spent $2400 on it which I haven't done since Star Wars Galaxies. Too many screwups on both Publisher/Developer's part that I wanted to continue to throw money at it. The game had everything I wanted out of a MMORPG at launch. I started chargeback procedures to get my money back and why would I do that ? Last month my account was compromised by someone in China, the first time ever any of my game accounts were compromised. Not only did I lose what I had earned since launch, items, resources, gold, but cashshop purchases as well stockpiles of tax certs, worker's pots, even some of the chests sold, Trion granted me some gold, gilda stars , credits, and loyalty tokens for my troubles but it didn't equate to all that I lost including real money that I had invested into the game.
Needless to say my interest in the game started to fall quickly, but with all the other disappointments and screwups and broken promises and diasters like....
10% Marketplace Discount: One of the launch perks given to Patrons, Trion pulling a bait and switch they replaced it a couple months later with 10% Bonus Credits , false advertising, funny thing is that the 10% Marketplace Discount is still on their Patron Benefits pages this very day, which could mislead people. http://www.archeagegame.com/en/news/2014/06/archeage-patron-program-apex/
False Banning of Players due to Hackshield showing false positives, several guild members and RL friends banned for no reason, and yes players have gotten banned for just having bad latency issues (lag), thankfully I didn't never have to go thru that mess, but friends and guildies that were falsely banned losing paid-game time over it needless to say lost customers.
Apex and Cash Shop Chest Exploits: Completely ruined the economy, even worse they banned so few of these people, there were confirmed people that only recieved a 24hr ban only and got to keep all their ill gotten gains. For all the time that the Marketplace was disabled along with APEX couldn't be bought, used. F2P players who paid their Patron status with this were screwed and lost land and benefits due to XL Games not fixing these issues, with the game being out in the Russian and Asian region for a lot longer than the US/Euro they had plenty of time to fix these issues but didn't.
Auroria Launch: Complete clusterf$*# due to a error in Hackshield kept most of the playerbase out for around 24hrs that day , keeping players and guilds from claiming castles and land. And for those who managed to stay online and claim castles almost instantly land hackers which was recorded on film on my server as 4 teleports fell out of the sky and teleported around almost instantly filling up the housing zones in Auroria. Issues that once again XL Games could of prevented.
Hack Programs and Cheating; For a game that has been out for almost 2 years once again, XL Games could of fixed these issues their game allows too much to be done on the client side without proper checks , they ban cheaters and hackers ingame, but it seems they falsely ban once again innocent players and not enough gold-sellers and hackers. From ESP, radar, no fall damage, speed hacks, etc. Things like this ruin a game if not dealt with and Trion and XL Games are too lax on it.
2 Tier Security for Paypal Purchases, you can sign up for Trion to use Paypal as a payment method but the only problem is that when pruchasing anything it doesn't take you to the Paypal website to make final confirmation for the purchase , this allows hackers hijacking accounts to charge your Paypal account which someone did on my account to run up a hefty tab. Of course all my money was refunded instantly within the day it happened still more security and more verification on Trion's part would have blocked a lot of hackers when stealing accounts from charging Paypal with your own money. Hijacked accounts in Archeage is pretty common saw 4 people in my guild have it happen to them as well. All those 4 people left after that after not being refunded their items they lost.
There are so many problems with this game I can't just discuss them all, server crashes , 6hr downtimes for small patches, no test servers, no proper bug testing, etc.
I loved this game and it had everything going for it, I just can't justify giving Trion any more money for their mismangement of the game along with XL Games.
Trion's reputation fell apart with me with the handling of this game big time, so bad I uninstalled all of their games and started chargeback procedures on all that I spent on Archeage, which Ive gotten back 500$ back so far , $ 1900 to go!!!
Like it or not, calling a company that makes millions consistently shitty, is kind of.... Well... shitty...
"Vidis Fodidis Est"
Watch Led Zeppelin, Darkfall Tribute
Watch Johnny Cash, Darkfall Tribute
This was a great read. I really enjoyed it.
http://www.entropiapartners.com/?r=22415
Yeah, Blizzard usually doesn't get bad press, and for good reason- they make quality stuff.
The only problem with them is they aren't exactly innovative, and because their stuff is so popular, other companies try to copy it and it has made for like a decade of compounding lack of innovation in MMOs.
But they're not a bad or stupid company. Obviously they make tons of money and have tons of satisfied customers.
As for Archeage, I think a lot of the reviews in the OP are pretty dead-on. The one good thing that might come out of it is companies may realize that overly milking a f2p is a bad idea, and maybe f2p isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Did you ever watch Steve Martn in the Jerk? There is a scene where he works at the carnival that makes me think of this kind of award situation. Here is the link to what I mean:
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Sad but true.
I just quit last night. I gave up all of my land to guild members who are still playing and enjoying it for what it is.
I just cannot get myself to enjoy the end game content:
1. Farmville your farms.
2. Run GHA again and again, only way to get gear...
3. Farm for hundreds of tokens at Hasla, only way to get a decent weapon...
4. Fish, fish fish fish... It was fun for the first couple trips...
PVP is horrible IMO.
I had such great hopes for this title, and sadly this one is pay to win and full of hacks.
(I just about quit when they put the chests on the market and so many people around me had multiple thunderstuck trees and I could not even get one from growing trees, and after they released the chests on the market place, I heard trees rarely ever gave a thunderstruck tree) **Just an example of the silliness in this title.