ArcheAge was once seen as a great hope for the MMORPG genre and was well received upon its launch in Korea in 2013. However, over the years, the MMO lost many players. Now, the creator of ArcheAge, Jake Song, wants to turn things around.
Although ArcheAge had such a hopeful start, the MMORPG now plays only a minor role – here in the West and in its home country of South Korea.
Fans have been dissatisfied with many decisions regarding the development of the online game. However, that is set to change as designer Jake Song takes the helm again.
The boss is back!
Who is Jake Song? Song has a legendary reputation as an MMORPG designer, as he is the creator of Lineage (1998), the “original MMORPG” in Korea. Therefore, many were highly interested in what he would do with ArcheAge (2013).
What happened? During a fan session for ArcheAge on December 22, Jake Song answered some questions about the game. The designer explained that he is once again personally overseeing the development of the game.
Song and his team are aware that ArcheAge no longer holds the status it enjoyed at release among players. Therefore, the designer wants to personally ensure that the game gets back “on track”.
What is set to change? Song and his team have released a first trailer for an upcoming major update that brings several changes.
“Road to the Garden” introduces a new game area where tanks, healers, and damage dealers must work together to overcome challenges.
Additionally, the team is working on other things:
- They want to get a handle on the problem of hacks and exploits.
- The balancing of classes, especially for tanks and healers, is to be improved.
- New RvR content is planned for March 2019.
- Daily quests and repeatable content will be revised to make them more varied. Many players have complained that the current content is boring.
Problems are known
What about European players? The mentioned changes and updates initially apply to the Korean version of ArcheAge.
Due to the purchase of Trion Worlds by gamigo, it is currently unclear how quickly updates will be rolled out in Europe and North America. Jake Song could not comment on this.
Developers are aware of the problems: Jake Song stated that the team knows the current state of ArcheAge and what problems the MMORPG is facing. He assures fans that he is taking care of it.
Fans are now curious whether ArcheAge can regain its former strength under Jake Song – at least in Korea.
