Originally posted by Zierrity

Thanks Torvaldr, for your kind words :)

I am happy to share what I've experienced with the community and it makes me happy when people find my stuff worthwhile.

While it's not exactly what I expected it to be either, it is by far better than I feared it to be.

Also, keep in mind that this is only an low level experience, and the true joy of ArcheAge starts at level 40, (or so I've been told), and that level 1 - 40 is basicly a long tutorial for you to learn the game and to prepare you for what to come at the end game.

I've also didnt get to any of the instances (dungeons if you like).

And I can tell all of you who hates easy solo mmos, already at level 25 I found myself having trouble and had to team up with random koreans to get through some of the quests, so this isn't a typical solo MMO, and I've been told that the end game isn't even posible to solo. Several Guildmates have said that you literally have to do stuff with your friends and Guild to even survive at level 40. 

Good preview, thanks for taking the time to write it up.  Pretty much what I expected.  Still looking forward to the game even if the combat sounds a bit archaic.

Good to hear that solo challenge is a priority of the game.  Too many MMO's (looking in WoW's direction) let you get by without any tactics or effort in solo PvE.  Hopefully they will add some sort of evade/dodge mechanic to liven the combat up.

Edit:  Small zones? Say it isn't so.  That would the first thing that would start to concern me... oh and the quest hubs.

Originally posted by Sygris

the max lvl cap of archeage is 50, it was limited to 40 for the obt.

once again, don't judge a game by its beta, wait for the retail version.

exactly, this was only a write up on my personal experience in the beta. While I do not expect much change from open beta to release (as the game opens up again tomorrow, if I understood correctly), there are 10 more levels after level 40 (thanks for clarifying that btw, Sygris, didn't know that :3) and a whole new continent to be opened up where the sand box elements are suppose to shine brightest. 

One thing I forgot to mention is the treasure hunt system, where you can find treasure chests around the world, mostly accessable with boats. You'll also have to find keys to open the treasure chests from bosses etc. (or so I've been told)

it's not a big feature, but it certainly does sound interesting :)

EDIT: CHANGED ENTIRE POST

Originally posted by Zierrity

Originally posted by Sygris

the max lvl cap of archeage is 50, it was limited to 40 for the obt.

once again, don't judge a game by its beta, wait for the retail version.

 

exactly, this was only a write up on my personal experience in the beta. While I do not expect much change from open beta to release (as the game opens up again tomorrow, if I understood correctly), there are 10 more levels after level 40 (thanks for clarifying that btw, Sygris, didn't know that :3) and a whole new continent to be opened up where the sand box elements are suppose to shine brightest. 

 

One thing I forgot to mention is the treasure hunt system, where you can find treasure chests around the world, mostly accessable with boats. You'll also have to find keys to open the treasure chests from bosses etc. (or so I've been told)

 

it's not a big feature, but it certainly does sound interesting :)

tomorrow? nope, the game will go live in about an hour! ;)

Originally posted by Mardukk

Originally posted by Zierrity

Thanks Torvaldr, for your kind words :)

I am happy to share what I've experienced with the community and it makes me happy when people find my stuff worthwhile.

While it's not exactly what I expected it to be either, it is by far better than I feared it to be.

Also, keep in mind that this is only an low level experience, and the true joy of ArcheAge starts at level 40, (or so I've been told), and that level 1 - 40 is basicly a long tutorial for you to learn the game and to prepare you for what to come at the end game.

I've also didnt get to any of the instances (dungeons if you like).

And I can tell all of you who hates easy solo mmos, already at level 25 I found myself having trouble and had to team up with random koreans to get through some of the quests, so this isn't a typical solo MMO, and I've been told that the end game isn't even posible to solo. Several Guildmates have said that you literally have to do stuff with your friends and Guild to even survive at level 40. 

Good preview, thanks for taking the time to write it up.  Pretty much what I expected.  Still looking forward to the game even if the combat sounds a bit archaic.

 

Good to hear that solo challenge is a priority of the game.  Too many MMO's (looking in WoW's direction) let you get by without any tactics or effort in solo PvE.  Hopefully they will add some sort of evade/dodge mechanic to liven the combat up.

 

Edit:  Small zones? Say it isn't so.  That would the first thing that would start to concern me... oh and the quest hubs.

 

 

 

The zones takes about 7 - 15 minutes to ride through, then again, no loadings between the zones, only change of maps.

And I am glad you liked it :)

Originally posted by Sygris

the max lvl cap of archeage is 50, it was limited to 40 for the obt.

once again, don't judge a game by its beta, wait for the retail version.

never once has it been a good idea to wait till retail.  never once has an mmo vastly changed from beta to release.

anyways...

question for OP, do people group up in this game for general leveling?  Or is it a solo fest?

Originally posted by Sygris

Originally posted by Zierrity

 

As stated earlier, if I get to keep playing and make it to level 40 and the end game / sandbox elements, I will write a follow up and hopefully that will be a more positive review.

 

I want to emphasize that many I've talked to are big time sand box fans, and while disappointed that the game is on rails pretty much the entire leveling prosess, they still do love ArcheAge for what it is.

 

I do wish that the game could have been more of a sandbox from the beginning, but the game has yet to turn me off.

 

I dont know if it got through from the first impression / early review, but my experience with ArcheAge has been more positive than disappointing.

you do know that archeage is going live today? in fact, the game will go retail in about 1 hour.

that is why the endgame won't be with 40 but 50.

whaa.. Today?! aaw.. not a chance to contact the owner tonight anyways :/ Hopefully I get to keep playing tomorrow though :)

Thanks again for the info Sygris :)

Originally posted by adam_nox

Originally posted by Sygris

the max lvl cap of archeage is 50, it was limited to 40 for the obt.

once again, don't judge a game by its beta, wait for the retail version.

never once has it been a good idea to wait till retail.  never once has an mmo vastly changed from beta to release.

 

anyways...

 

question for OP, do people group up in this game for general leveling?  Or is it a solo fest?

I didn't do much grouping as it's hard to communicate with the koreans when I'm fairly bad at their language. Most of the quests so far have been "soloable", but there have been occasions where I had to group up with random people to clear a quest as it was too hard for me to do by myself. I've also heard it only gets harder from here on forward.

That was a fun read, thanks!  By the way, your English is better than some native speakers!

I had a question for you about the gliders.  You mentioned a more complex system than Aion's gliding, and I was curious what you meant.  For instance, what makes it more complex.  Thanks!

Originally posted by Tayah
Thanks for the write-up. Looks promising still, can't wait to try it out. Hopefully, we get it by the end of the year. Would be a nice Christmas present :)

I'm happy you liked it :)

I too hope we'll see a western release by the end of this year. Would be great to play without the delay ;P

The game is suppose to be released in Russia as the first Country outside Asia, later this year. I do not have any evidence for this though, it's only what I've been told by Guildmates, so don't take it too seriously. But, if the game gets released in Russia before NA / (rest of) EU, people might be able to test the game on the Russian servers?

Originally posted by Karteli

That was a fun read, thanks!  By the way, your English is better than some native speakers!

 

I had a question for you about the gliders.  You mentioned a more complex system than Aion's gliding, and I was curious what you meant.  For instance, what makes it more complex.  Thanks!

Thanks, always nice to hear positive feedback, especially about my English for once x)

About the gliders, complex might have been the wrong word to use actually, but let's see, they are harder to navigate than the gliding in Aion. And by pressing W you'll glide faster but you'll also hit the ground faster, by pressing S you'll kind of "break" the speed chances are you'll get higher in the air. if you collide with anything while gliding you'll fall. And there are no timer on how long you can glide.

Again, the more I think about it, the more the words more complex feels like the wrong words to use, sorry about that.

For those who'd like some more player impressions of the beta I'd like to redirect you here, where you can read other people thoughts about the ArcheAge Beta :)

You might find it to be a interesting read :)

But that's it for me for tonight folks, thanks for all the great feedback on my "review", I am glad that many found it interesting, and I apologize if I "ruined" others expectations of ArcheAge :(

I'm actually glad that there are no customization options for a body. I never liked mini-people running around in Aion. Plus it was a good call to reduce face feature options so there will be less ugly chars. But I hope they will add more hairstyles. It's disappointing to hear that AA has same problem Perfect World has: char creation and game world char doesn't look the same. :(

About combat, I do love Tera's combat, but I'm not against older style either. I've played plenty of Lineage2 and Aion. ;) But I think newer MMO players wouldn't like it that much.

Currencies for house/boats/etc. are earned from trading your continent's specialty goods to other continents (the further you go the more dangerous and rewarding it is). The danger lies in enemy faction players camping trading spots. You can't attack enemy players first in their territory, you have to wait to be attacked first. But if you have a group with lots of healers, it shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know if lvl 40 is considered end-game (lvl 50 max at release), but it's around that time you can efficiently start doing trade missions for "sandbox currency". But I think GW2 style of providing "end-game content" at the very start isn't a correct way to do it, so my vote goes to the old-styled "grind til end-game". Plus their class system is a sandbox on it's own, which is available at the start. You can think of it this way: all the killing you do til lvl cap is to test out your class builds. ;)

If anyone's interested, there are a few dedicated streamers on twitch.tv that sometimes answer questions in chat. Just browse for AA to see if anyone's online.

Cheers.

Originally posted by Pivotelite

We know Archeage is a sandpark, so it's themepark on rails until you get to the final continent that is player run/made by guilds etc so this doesn't surprise me too much.

 

Very good review and I look forward to some people providing reviews of the actual final island character content.

ArcheAge is ArcheAge.

Drop the themepark/sandbox labels, look at the features of the game and compare with your own play style - not a label that has no meaning. You'll be less disappointed by your preconceived expectations that way

Originally posted by Grotar89

So, on rails quest grinder with tab target 1+2+3+4 combat. Move along ppl nothing to see.... I predict game will fail worse than Aion in west or TERA....

Pretty much what i expected from looking few livestreams.

So what's the excuse for Tera?  It's not a tab target game.  Perhaps the reason why so many games are failing is due to their complete emphasis on combat and not enough on other activities.  There's more than room enough for tab and action combat oriented games, the last thing we need is people like you dismissing tab oriented games which are still the most popular MMOs to date, despite mediocre successes of games like Tera and GW2 and Darkfall and DCUO and "insert any other action MMO"

It won't be long, when just about every MMO that comes out will have mindless action oriented combat, then everyone will be whining about the boring combat mechanics and wishing for more tactical and meaninful combat.

Originally posted by Zierrity

 

The zones takes about 7 - 15 minutes to ride through, then again, no loadings between the zones, only change of maps.

And I am glad you liked it :)

Well, that might not be too bad.

Are they literally in a straight line or can one just go in any direction?

Thank you so much for putting this together, Zierrity. Good read.

While I'm not thrilled with some aspects of the game that you have described, I'm still going to be giving this game a shot. When you have the opportunity to play again, I would love to hear more about your experiences.  

Excellent review!

Ty VM OP for writing this and taking the time to break it down. Its appreciate more then you know.

good job mate

Originally posted by Vorthanion

Originally posted by Grotar89

So, on rails quest grinder with tab target 1+2+3+4 combat. Move along ppl nothing to see.... I predict game will fail worse than Aion in west or TERA....

Pretty much what i expected from looking few livestreams.

So what's the excuse for Tera?  It's not a tab target game.  Perhaps the reason why so many games are failing is due to their complete emphasis on combat and not enough on other activities.  There's more than room enough for tab and action combat oriented games, the last thing we need is people like you dismissing tab oriented games which are still the most popular MMOs to date, despite mediocre successes of games like Tera and GW2 and Darkfall and DCUO and "insert any other action MMO"

It won't be long, when just about every MMO that comes out will have mindless action oriented combat, then everyone will be whining about the boring combat mechanics and wishing for more tactical and meaninful combat.

I think the point is that AA appears to be just another themepark where you have to do generic questing on rails to reach a mythical "endgame" where the "real game" begins. It may have a lot of extra features but the core gameplay does not sound  as open and free as many had hoped. Personally I don't care how awesome the "endgame" is; to me the very idea of an "endgame" and an obligatory path there is bad, dated game design.

Tab target combat is just an extra con for many people - it's not bad per se (it can be deep and complex), but in AA it's apparently straight up "target-spam-1-2-3-4, rinse-and-repeat" style combat, which is just not very fresh in 2013.

I'm sure the game will appeal to many people but you've got to remember that this game has been hyped as an almost epochal, genre-changing sandbox experience, which it is clearly not.