The sandbox MMO ArcheAge aims to change quite a bit and improve many aspects in 2015: more transparency, a more stable economy, and more content.
The sandbox MMO ArcheAge has had a terrible image problem since early November. At that time, Auroria failed. Players had worked for 6 weeks towards the opening of this island. At the launch in the USA, half of the players could not log in. This can only be described as a “disaster.”
Even before and after that, there were serious problems in the game, which meant that the initial rush to the Free2Play game turned out to be a flash in the pan. By the end of the year, ArcheAge faced a lot of mockery and ridicule, but above all anger. However, there are also players who were unaffected by all this and continue to have a lot of fun in the game. The general mood among former players is, however, poor, at least for those who are heard from.
In 2015, a new breeze is supposed to sweep through ArcheAge. A new producer, Merv Lee Kwai, addresses the community in a letter and announces the following changes:
- More transparency – From now on, players should be better informed about what Trion Worlds plans and what is currently happening. Streams, social networks, and the forum will be used for this purpose. Players should know what Trion Worlds is planning for the future of ArcheAge.
- Easier access to dungeons – This has already been addressed in a patch, which is now live, where players should have easier (and cheaper) access to the instances.
- More stable economy – Recently, some items in the auction house have become far too expensive, especially related to regrade materials or Archeum crystals. They want to counteract this, not like before with the lightning trees, but in a much more controlled manner. Therefore, they are now starting to introduce certain items into the game via “Divine Gifts.”
- Desired items as loyalty rewards – Trion Worlds has decided to grant desirable cosmetic items (so-called vanity items) through loyalty points, with the sloth glider initiating this program.
- No power to hackers – They want to crack down harder on cheats and hacks in 2015 than ever before.
- General improvements – Trion Worlds wants to introduce a better spam filter in ArcheAge, listen more to the fans, and therefore also lift the glider and mount “normalization,” so faster mounts are really faster. Events like a PvP arena or a fishing tournament are also supposed to be introduced. Additionally, they want to set a limit on how many scaffolds a player can place.
- New challenges – Furthermore, the next content expansion is soon to come, the Diamond Shore, level 55, and new challenges in instances.
Mein MMO says: Better late than never, of course. The limit on how many scaffolds a player can place … that would have made a significant difference back in October and sent a clear signal. Now it’s the end of January, and it will still take a while for this to be implemented. For many who were upset over the significant issue of “land grabbing and reselling at high prices” through unscrupulous methods, the clock has long run out. The sense of justice of many players has been damaged in recent months in ArcheAge, and this is something they can only slowly and with difficulty forgive.
A Free2Play game with the potential of ArcheAge will hopefully and likely continue to attract new players who want to give the game a chance. But until the worst anger dies down and the damage to its image is repaired, it will likely take some time. And Trion Worlds will need to show that they want to and can deliver.
At least in this producer letter, there were open words and it was clearly stated that changes need to be made and will be made. The last statements from Trion Worlds, even in December, sounded more like: “You are exaggerating, everything is fine here.”
