In the sandbox MMO ArcheAge, there are communication issues. Are German servers coming or not?
Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman confirmed in an interview with our magazine a few weeks ago how important the German market is for his company. Therefore, alongside a nearby data center, there will also be a dedicated localization and dedicated servers for Germany.
Contrary to this statement, however, streams and the official forum have excluded language-specific servers.
Just a few days ago, a community manager confirmed again that they are not planning “language-specific servers”. The forum post has since been deleted, but the confusion remains: one says this, and others say that. What should we make of this?
We have once again inquired at Trion Worlds and asked for clarification on this question. We received the following response:
We confirmed German as a language, and that we will have servers in the EU. People can set the language to whatever they choose. We expect that we’ll note which servers will be recommended so people can find each other by language, once we get a way to do that.
This translates to mean that there will be German as a language option, and there will also be servers located in Europe. Players will be free to choose their language. Currently, Trion Worlds expects to recommend servers for specific languages once they find a way to do so.
My MMO thinks: For us, this means that German servers are coming, even though the commitment now sounds much looser than in the interview with us. Regarding formalities: Other MMOs don’t do it differently either.
You can also play on an English server in WoW with a German client and only speak German. The only thing that really makes the English server “English” is that it has an [EN] label behind it. If the German servers are marked in some form with [DE] or [GER], they are German servers in our view. What else should they do? Portraits of Merkel on every tree? Craftable bratwurst?
The now looser wording: “once they have found a way to do so” – sounds strange, and the communication issues are irritating. There is a difference between recommending a server “somewhere” or doing so officially in the client selection. Perhaps ArcheAge wants to wait and see how the response of the German players is in the beta to decide how exactly to make the recommendation.
Update: After the announcement of the servers, everything now indicates that there will be no servers labeled by languages at launch. Therefore, this matter is settled for now.
