With Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, a new MMORPG targeting hardcore players was released on May 1. However, many things went wrong in the first days, and the reviews were brutally bad. Now, the developers have responded and announced a complete restart – much to the annoyance of some active players.
What kind of game is this? The MMORPG is reminiscent of old classics like Old School RuneScape – both in gameplay and content. There is an extensive skill system, all items are crafted by players, and teamwork is supposed to be important. There are also many quests and dungeons.
However, it takes a hardcore approach: those who die lose their equipment, which can then be picked up by any player. In addition, there is a subscription model of 9.99 euros to be paid monthly or 300 euros for a lifetime subscription.
What is the problem? At launch, over 1,800 users were playing Ethyrial simultaneously (via SteamDB). That is not a bad figure for an indie MMORPG with a strong “Old School” graphic. However, only a few were impressed with the game concept.
By May 4 – just three days after release – it barely reached 500 simultaneous players. Additionally, 75% of the 588 reviews rate the MMORPG negatively.
Almost all aspects of the game are criticized, but particularly the double charging for the subscription caused an outcry.
Boring Quests, Bad Menus and Problems with the Subscription
What do the reviews criticize? The introduction to the game is said to be rather boring. The user Jonathan writes, “You only collect berries and kill rats on the tutorial island – and that with a 5-second input delay.” Furthermore, while the game world is full of NPCs, hardly anyone has any dialogue function.
Many of the mobs allegedly don’t drop any items and feel like placeholders. All cities after the first feel like copied content, with the same traders and only slightly visually adapted.
The controls are also criticized for not allowing diagonal movement and feeling generally “clunky and unfinished”. The balance of the individual classes is also said to be poor. The game employs a system similar to that in Ragnarok Online, where you have 5 base classes, each of which is divided into further specializations.
Additionally, there have already been several item and currency dupes.
However, the biggest criticism revolves around the launch. Because at launch, there were significant server issues, causing many players to be unable to log in for hours. Some have still not had the chance to do so, joking about how such a thing can happen when only “1,800 players” signed up simultaneously.
The user sk1tt1ezz writes about this (via Steam):
This was the worst MMO launch of the last decade. I am old and have seen them all. 3 days have passed, and people still can’t get past the character creation screen, and once you’ve managed that, you have to connect to the server, which is currently almost impossible.
It is also frustrating for many that the subscription costs were charged twice, although only one month was supposed to be paid. However, the developers quickly explained that these revenues would be refunded.
A complete relaunch is planned for May 12
What have the developers said now? In a blog post, the developers apologized for the poor start. There were “some minor and major issues,” which they are currently working to resolve. The top priority includes the double charges, which were due to a technical error on their part.
But they are going even further and want to make a complete restart. This is set to take place on May 12:
Additionally, we will press the proverbial (and literal) reset button to fix this disappointing start.
On May 12, the servers will be reset, and everyone will start the game anew. Yes, we will completely delete the servers and practically restart the game on May 12. Until then, players are welcome to play to help us find additional issues and to confirm that the current problems are resolved.
All players who have an active subscription by May 12 will receive 2 weeks of playtime on their account to compensate for the lost time between the launch and May 12. In addition, all accounts will receive a special “I survived the launch!” cosmetic item, which the community will vote on at a later date.
How is that being received? Mixed. Some fans are looking forward to the restart because they hardly had the opportunity to play at all. Others see it critically, especially since they have already played actively for several days and will lose all their progress.
The user Nedry is also bothered by the fact that he has invested so much time that he can no longer return the game.
In the comments on the post, players also criticize that it seems unlikely that significant changes will be made to the fundamental game systems before May 12. However, those are also problematic, not just the launch and the dupes.
What do you think about Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore? Have you played it yet? And do you think an early reset is a good or a bad idea?
Alongside Ethyrial, several new MMORPGs have already been released this year. You can read more about it here: 5 new MMORPGs have been released for PC in 2023 and this is how they are doing.
