The sandpark MMO ArcheAge is facing a crisis of trust after a year. They assure that they are aware of it and want to take action.
Crisis of Trust in ArcheAge
In the ArcheAge forum, a fan published a lengthy post discussing the status quo of ArcheAge. His thesis: Most people see ArcheAge as a fantastic game poorly managed by Trion Worlds, with an exceedingly greedy cash shop.
This severely harms Trion Worlds’ reputation. Even with new games like Trove or Devilian , ArcheAge is repeatedly mentioned as a cautionary example of how Trion Worlds treats its customers. Many players see Trion Worlds as a money-hungry company that only cares about players’ cash.
Fan Analyzes Problem: Trion Worlds Too Greedy
Besides bots and hacks, the fan sees the most significant issues with ArcheAge:
- in the Cash Shop with the Archeum Boxes
- that certain Regrade Stones are only available in the shop
- and in the “Normalization”, which has diminished some rare items to increase, in his opinion, the attractiveness of cash shop items.
The user presented ideas on how Trion Worlds could tone down the cash shop and certain regrade mechanics to regain player trust. The suggestions revolve around devaluing the cash shop and enhancing the loyalty store by making important items from the cash store accessible for loyalty points. Additionally, the items in the loyalty store should become significantly cheaper.
These Changes Proposed by the Fan
For the loyalty store, patrons and non-patrons should regularly earn points, allowing them to purchase one of the Archeum Boxes from the cash store in the loyalty store after about 3 days (patrons) or 10 days (non-patrons).
According to the user, Trion Worlds makes enough money from patrons and should ease up on the cash shop.
The thread has gained a lot of attention, being viewed over 20,000 times over the weekend and receiving more than 200 comments. In 2014, that wouldn’t have been remarkable, but in 2015, after a severe player decline, that’s enough to be one of the most-read posts of the year.
Trion Worlds Banned More Bots in July Than Ever Before
Trion Worlds responded to the thread. Community Manager Seraphina Brennan stated, the team immediately noticed the post when it appeared and agrees on many points. However, they do not have a time machine to rectify the past and avoid making mistakes. They can only learn from their mistakes.
Since new producer Merv Lee Kwai has taken the helm, they have been making significant efforts to consider player feedback and will continue to do so. They want to take strong actions against bots and hacks. These efforts have been further intensified.
July was the month in ArcheAge’s history when the most bots were banned and the most gold was removed from the game. This is partly due to the fact that more staff is now dedicated to this issue, and partly because players have rediscovered their zeal for reporting bots.
… and wants to be more generous with expensive items
They also agree with criticism of the random mechanics in item acquisition. In August, a patch will be released that makes some rare items significantly more accessible to players.
Players should find it easier to obtain Black Pearls , and the Fusciafin should drop more frequently, as well as Haunted Chests and Auroria Cloaks and much more.
Is ArcheAge Parting Ways with the Upgrade Failure System?
Furthermore, they are foreseeing changes regarding regrading and regemming of items, concerning the controversial upgrade mechanisms of ArcheAge.
In the future, they aim to mitigate or completely remove the “Upgrade Failure” systems and replace them with linear progression. There should always be multiple ways to obtain an item.
“Upgrade Failure” refers to systems where players only have a chance to enhance a specific item. If it fails, the often painstakingly obtained resources are lost. The player has “bad luck”, a gaming system prevalent in Asia that is rarely found in Western designs.
A few weeks ago, producer Merv Lee Kwai already announced a golden age for ArcheAge in 2015.
