In the UK, Destiny has proven to be a system seller for the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One. However, the Playstation 4 benefited a little more from it than the competition from Microsoft. Responsible for the sales boost are budget-friendly bundles, where hardware is sold together with Destiny.
Destiny, Bungie’s luxury MMO, was intended to boost the sales of the next-gen consoles Playstation 4 and Xbox One as an attractive MMO shooter. Both Microsoft and Sony positioned Destiny as a flagship for their consoles. They offered their hardware at competitive prices and included Destiny for free as well. Now the first results of this duel are in – at least in the UK. For both companies, Destiny was worthwhile, but for Playstation somewhat more.
Both Playstation 4 and Xbox One with record weeks thanks to bundles
In the UK, sales of Playstation 4 consoles increased by 300%. Some are referring to it as a “second Christmas” for the Playstation 4. Consoles typically sell best at Christmas. Although no specific figures have been announced and only comparisons are being made, it seems that the Playstation 4 is benefiting significantly more from Destiny than the Xbox One.
Microsoft also reported an excellent week thanks to Destiny and its own bundles. This may have been due to the reduced price with which they wanted to undercut Sony. However, they had to concede defeat to Sony in the United Kingdom. For every newly sold Xbox One, there were two sold Playstation 4s, reports mgv.com, citing industry sources.
Only one in two hundred makes it into the coveted legend ranks in Hearthstone, according to a statistic.
“You are better than you think,” Blizzard encourages us in a new blog post. And the statistic proves: Even if you are somewhere in the perceived nirvana of rank 12, 13, or 14 (kind of an ELO hell), you have already surpassed 75% of the remaining players.
From season to season, many only played up to rank 20, to grab the card back, and then gave up the ascent to a higher rank, the so-called ladder climb. Because it is tedious: For each win, you get stars; with each defeat, you lose some. Although winning streaks offer bonus stars and the ranks in Hearthstone rise steeply. However, some lucky streaks come to a sudden halt when the right card doesn’t show up or your deck proves to be vulnerable against exactly the card combination that everyone else seems to play. And then you tumble back down, your portrait image becomes more and more humble, and so does your mood.
75% of all players in Hearthstone are between rank 25 and 15. 17.5% of all players are between ranks 14 and 10. At the top, it gets tight: only 5.5% manage to reach rank 9 to 5, one in twenty players. Ranks 4 to 1 are achieved by only 1.5% of the players. And where the music plays and the biggest streamers move, only 0.5% of all players reach the legend rank.
From Rank 5, the real struggle begins in Hearthstone
According to Blizzard, the level significantly increases from rank 5, winning streaks become rare, and more time goes into theorycrafting to forge the perfect deck.
In that, Hearthstone encourages players who are making their way up, in the blog post to courage and pride. Regardless of whether one is playing as an angry chicken or a powerful sea giant, it is important to have fun with the game.
Blizzard’s free card game Hearthstone enjoys unbroken popularity. Recently, Blizzard announced that 20 million players have grabbed the cards with World of Warcraft motifs at least once. Hearthstone is booming and even at rank 15, you are not entirely at the end of the food chain. Good news indeed!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
At the Nivida event Game24, a representative from NCSoft announced that the MMO Blade & Soul is set to come to the West soon.
Currently, a 24-hour Nvidia event, Game24, is taking place. “Game Reveals” have also been announced. We at mein-mmo.de expected that there would be some news regarding SOEs survival MMO H1Z1, but many have been waiting much longer for Blade & Soul.
Shortly after the introduction of a Dota player and after the two moderators had a laugh about a dozing Skype user, they suddenly announced that NCSoft wanted to make an important announcement.
During a longer prepared segment, one of the Executive Producers from NCSoft, who has worked on many titles from the Korean publisher, presented his works: including Lineage 2 and Blade & Soul. He referred to Blade & Soul as an MMO that focuses primarily on character development. Amid this general showcase, he also mentioned that they want to offer Blade & Soul in English before the end of the year.
Since the stream was live and the presentation was only subtitled in English, and this important statement for fans was found amidst theoretical considerations about the role of an MMO in a standardized society in general and the benefits of Nvidia graphics cards in particular, the nuances of the statement are currently unclear. It will soon be clarified whether this refers to a beta (which is to be expected), what extent the port will take, what the exact timeline looks like, and what the details will be.
At Gamescom in Cologne, a representative from a large Blade&Soul fan site had the opportunity to speak with the Product Manager for the game in the West and already received some information there. Among other things, a confirmation of the port and that a release for the end of 2015 is planned. Officially, however, this was not the case, as they wanted to wait until September.
Apparently, NCSoft has decided to announce this in the context of a live event, which is airing in the USA at a rather late hour.
It is certain that there will be more detailed reports in the next few hours, and hopefully clarity will arise about what exactly was announced.
Update 25.9 1:20: Okay, we have finally found a video of the event. The crucial passage begins around 5:15. And yes: Jan Hyun Bae, the CPO of NCSoft, indeed states that Blade and Soul is set to come to English-speaking countries before next year.
Update 25.9 15:45: NCSoft just contacted us by phone and pointed out that there is likely a translation error in the video. Blade and Soul is no longer set to release in 2014 for Europe and North America. However, it is definitely coming in 2015.
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Since 2012, I have occasionally played Guild Wars 2. Thanks to the absence of an item spiral, this is going quite well. However, lately, there have been growing calls for even more content. We take the feature release in September as an opportunity to ask ourselves: Is Guild Wars 2 still worth it?
2 Years of Guild Wars 2 – What’s Happening?
Admittedly, this question carries a certain accusation. But it must be directed at the game and ArenaNet as well. In China, the game had a strong launch this year, despite inaccurate player numbers. In Europe and North America, however, players have already experienced 2 years of living story and world vs. world battles. At least the living story regularly provides refreshing content. When the malevolent Sylvari Scarlet Briar attacked Lion’s Arch in the spring and laid waste to the capital, I had just jumped back into the adventure that is Guild Wars 2. By the way, Scarlet was also killed, but she didn’t hesitate to awaken an ancient dragon. So, future adventures following the living story, which change entire regions in Guild Wars 2, are ensured.
The Thing with PvP
Contrary to the positive trend of Guild Wars 2, there are also many threads in the official forum predicting doom for this MMO. I have particularly noticed criticism of the PvP system. The structured PvP is said to be too monotonous, there are too few skills, and new maps would also be desirable. On the other hand, there is the grand adventure called World vs. World. Three servers battling for a week, and with a victory, they climb the rankings. I spent a large part of my Guild Wars 2 time in WvW and often found myself among the winners as a riverbank player. Once you have captured every fort and fought through countless battles, often being yelled at in the server’s TeamSpeak, WvW also becomes monotonous. Nevertheless, it offers a unique PvP experience in the MMO world that I haven’t encountered before.
…and what else is new in Guild Wars 2?
With regular feature releases, efforts are made to bring some momentum to the operations of Guild Wars 2. The first one was in April and the second followed in September. Especially the changes to the Trading Post were absolutely necessary to stay up-to-date in the MMO market. The world of Guild Wars 2 is made more beginner-friendly through the feature release. Similar to Wildstar, players now receive a reward for each level they ascend. Great for the new players in China, but less interesting for Europeans.
Several improvements have also been made in WvW and with the WvW Autumn tournament a new event has been announced. “Bye, Bye WvW Rally” – it will once again be about fame and honor between Spaniards, French, English, and Germans! GW2 knows how to handle cross-border feuds skillfully.
Buy-to-play and Improved Trading Post
I consider the Buy-to-play model in Guild Wars 2 to be very successful. This payment model is rare, but it works wonderfully for the ArenaNet title. Once purchased, you are not dependent on a subscription and can log in when you feel like it.
To keep customers satisfied and especially engaged with the in-game shop, regular updates are essential and can rarely be postponed for weeks as seen with Wildstar. The more players are logged in, the more costumes and other useful items are sold through the Trading Post. This was fundamentally improved during the feature release which was very comprehensive. You buy once, you play forever. This model is the most customer-friendly form of distribution as a quick look at new content is always possible.
Guild Wars 2 Is Worth It… But Differently
Two years have passed for the game now, and right at the start, players (myself included) wondered how an MMO could survive without a clear item spiral. Guild Wars 2 has managed exactly that and provides the community with regular updates, whether with content for the PvE area or feature releases for all other areas. However, the content runs out quickly, so one can only say to a limited extent that the game is still worth it or even generally worthwhile: Hardcore gamers will quickly find themselves running out of steam, especially when they have leveled all classes to 80. It is particularly here that the calls for an expansion are becoming louder.
Casuals and occasional players will continue to have their fun, as there will always be something new to discover in Guild Wars 2. The advancement of the living story alone invites players to check back every two weeks. Additionally, the buy-to-play model does not bother with annoying subscription costs. So yes, Guild Wars 2 is worth it and as the Raptr numbers or trending data from Google confirm, the game still belongs to the most popular MMOs on the market.
In the sandpark MMO ArcheAge, Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman has now commented on the bumpy launch and promises improvement.
Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman.
The sandpark MMO ArcheAge has a “problem of success.” The game has received more attention than anticipated, leading to issues that need to be addressed. Scott Hartsman, the CEO of Trion Worlds, the western publisher of the game, stated in a letter to the fans that many players have expressed they have not been this excited about an MMO as they are now with ArcheAge. However, while some are happy with the game, others are less so, especially when they are stuck in queues. Trion Worlds is aware of this, as they are in the same queues as the players.
Even at the release of ArcheAge, reserve hardware was needed
The enthusiasm for ArcheAge has surprised Trion Worlds. Normally, predictions about the influx expected for a game are relatively accurate. Indicators for its size include website registrations, alpha and beta players, how long each has played, and so on. It is a science in itself. Trion Worlds must keep an eye not only on the short-term server situation but also on the long-term.
However, at the start of ArcheAge, so many players signed up that on the first day, all the hardware that was intended for launch was brought online, along with overflow hardware.
Hartsman is happy to inform fans that new hardware has arrived in Texas. Currently, efforts are being made to get it up and running online. This will take some time. However, they intend to keep players better informed about their progress and plans. They expect this in days, not weeks. Hartsman hints that there may be issues in assisting both regions, North America and Europe, simultaneously.
AFK Issue will be addressed manually if necessary
The issues with full servers and the queues will also be alleviated by working on the AFK problem. Those who do not play “actively” might find themselves logged out when they return to their computer, according to Hartsman. If necessary, AFK players will also be removed from the server manually. All this is just to get players onto the servers who actually want to play.
Moreover, Hartsman mentioned that they are already working on strengthening the customer support staff. They had already hired entire groups of support staff before the launch and will continue to do so, with a focus on the quality of support and ensuring they recruit native speakers from diverse backgrounds.
ArcheAge is suffering from long queues since the head start. Now the problem is slowly becoming clear: Players simply stay logged in. There is no functioning system to kick AFK players from the server so that others can take their place.
The queue situation in ArcheAge is critical. On the busiest servers, the server is already full by late morning. Anyone planning to log in during prime time can expect several hours of queues. Even in the afternoon, paying players wait long in queues, not to mention free-to-play players.
In the English forum on reddit, it has long become a running gag to refer to ArcheAge only as ArcheQue – in reference to the fantasy epic “A Game of Thrones,” “A Game of Lanes” is also circulating as a nickname.
No functioning idle kick system in ArcheAge
The problem seems to have been identified: The “AFK Detect” system of ArcheAge apparently does not function adequately. As a result, players can bypass an auto-kick from the server that normally takes effect after a certain period. Especially tantalizing: Players who remain on the character selection screen apparently take a spot on the server and ensure that the queues remain excessively long, even though ArcheAge has significantly increased server capacity since the head start.
In this screen, there is no kicking at all, so players can stay logged in while they are in bed or at work and later continue playing without having to join the queue.
Trion Worlds is aware of the problem and wants to improve its “AFK” and “Idle Detect” systems as quickly as possible.
The AFK system in ArcheAge had already been criticized ahead of the release. Patron players regenerate coveted labor points twice as fast when they are online. Free-to-play players only regenerate these labor points while their characters are logged into the game.
As a result, power gamers have decided early on to stay logged in as much as possible, whether they are at the computer or not. Not to mention that this system is harmful to the environment, it is also currently detrimental to the queue situation.
In games of Asian origin, such mechanisms are sometimes found – in some online games, it is possible to set up a kind of stall with the logged-in characters to sell items while the player is not at the computer. Such systems are usually not common in the design of Western games.
In the luxury MMO Destiny, a group of fans on reddit has now set out to investigate the probability of which quality level comes from which type of Engram.
Engrams are somewhat like malicious surprise eggs in Destiny. They come in different colors, and while there is tension when opening them, it’s not always fun, and even when everything seems right, you might get the chocolate in the wrong flavor.
What’s inside the Engrams? What role does the quality level of the Engrams play in the quality of the gear?
What happens when you open 590 Engrams in Destiny?
A group of four fans has presented results on reddit. In a post, they explain what happens when you decode 500 Engrams. It seems that, although some unlucky ones may not believe it, the quality of the Engrams does indeed play a crucial role.
However, the color of the Engrams in Destiny only increases the likelihood of a hit; it cannot guarantee it.
Interestingly, while green and blue Engrams usually yield items of the same color, the legendary, purple Engrams do not. They tend to drop blue items more frequently than purple ones.
Of the 290 opened green Engrams, the majority were “green” – almost 70% of unusual quality. A little weaker and only white were 23%, slightly stronger and blue 7% of the received items.
For the 250 decoded blue Engrams, the situation is quite similar, just one level better: 74% blue, 21% green, and 4% purple were dropped.
In Destiny, is there a legendary item in only every third legendary Engram?
It gets tricky with the legendary Engrams, the purple ones. They are also rarer in Destiny. Therefore, in the presented experiment, the reference number is lower with only 55 decoded items, but the distribution seems to change significantly here.
Because from the legendary Engrams, instead of 70% items with the same quality level as the others, only about 35% purple drops come out. The majority is 60% blue. There were even green items (3%). And among the 55 opened legendary Engrams, there was only a single gold one. There was one lonely exotic item among them, with a probability of just under 2%.
This data is not absolutely valid and indisputable due to the small quantity. However, a trend seems to be emerging. The results of the group of four are being hotly debated on reddit.
However, when opening, the enjoyment factor does not depend only on the quality of the item but also on whether it is intended for your class and whether it matches your playstyle, how the stats distribute, and so on. And how likely that is remains another question.
As for what the legendary Engrams think about having such a strange drop pattern, they regularly tweet that.
In the MMO Destiny one needs luck, luck, and more luck to rise through the coveted light levels. The legendary engrams, which are so desired, sometimes help, but not always. Effort and rewards are not always proportional in Destiny. This will now be the target of a parody on Twitter.
After level 20, one needs light items in Destiny to progress further. Players primarily focus on legendary engrams. These can be found in the game, but when they drop, players don’t quite know what to expect: Is it the great item that is still missing, the one that perfectly fits their Guardian? Umm… mostly not.
With some effort, the engrams can be decoded. Often, they yield items that no one needs. The effort and benefit just don’t seem to align in a loot-and-shoot principle. Otherwise, everyone would be done after a few weeks.
The Twitter account “Legendary Engram” deals with these and other “difficulties” in Destiny.
From the perspective of various drops, it pokes fun at Destiny and lightly mocks the unfortunate players:
“Congratulations on completing the weekly Heroic Strike. I only found out about it later because I dropped completely elsewhere!”
“Lilac engram, single, seeks tall and competent Titan to disappoint him.”
In reference to Oppenheimer after the atomic bomb, it even becomes melodramatic: “Now I have become Engram, the Destroyer of Hope.”
“Oh, you wanted light armor? I heard light armor! So that’s the problem.”
“I don’t understand your disappointment at all. Blue looks so good with your eyes.”
For these jokes, the Twitter account often assumes the role of legendary engrams that turn out to be useless green items instead.
We think: Better than that horse account, for sure!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The expansion for the Free2Play MMO Star Trek Online will officially be released on October 14. With Delta Rising, we venture into the Delta Quadrant. Fans of the series “Voyager” will feel right at home here.
Much is already known about the next expansion of STO, now including the date. On October 14, it’s happening: The level cap is raised from 50 to 60, new story missions, new ships, new enemies, new friends are coming, and Voyager is everywhere.
Grim? Star Trek Online developers had to watch Voyager – all seasons!
In a blog post, Stephen D’Angelo, the Executive Producer of STO, now explains the exact circumstances under which the idea for Delta Rising was conceived and how the processes unfolded. Once it was decided that the expansion would take place in the Delta Quadrant, they “sent the team to watch all seven seasons of Voyager,” as it is said.
However, they do not elaborate on the exact circumstances of how these seasons were consumed and how the developers reacted. The US series “Voyager” is, with all due respect for the franchise, not exactly uncontroversial even among hardcore Star Trek fans.
With this refreshed expertise in mind, they then set about designing the expansion and bringing the numerous new features into the game. The stated goal was to revitalize the Delta Quadrant.
D’Angelo is particularly proud to have recruited many actors for the project who also played significant roles in the US series “Voyager.” They really did a great job, D’Angelo writes, and he is already looking forward to the fans’ reaction.
http://youtu.be/t7KnpmyHEsc
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The name of the next content patch in Final Fantasy is finally known. In “Dreams of Ice,” patch 2.4, it will be against Shiva. Additionally, patch 2.4 will introduce Ninjas, more housing space, and same-sex marriage.
Shiva is the next Primae in Final Fantasy XIV. Something like a “boss” enemy. Patch 2.4 will also bring the Ninja, a new “job”, along with the Rogue, the corresponding class. In Final Fantasy XIV, players who level two specific classes high enough gain the opportunity to specialize in a job – essentially a crossover of these two classes. However, you can no longer pull skills from all classes onto your skill bar, only from specific ones, though other benefits will be available.
Additionally, with 2.4, it is already known that the ability to marry (including same-sex) will be introduced. The number of building plots is expected to double. Many are looking forward to this, as patch 2.38 already granted building permission to private individuals, but currently, there are not enough building plots available, as the guild houses are occupying them.
Final Fantasy XIV has 2.5 million registered users
More good news from Final Fantasy XIV. As Square Enix announces in a press release, the number of registered users has exceeded 2.5 million. Things are going well. However, it is still unknown when 2.4, “Dreams of Ice,” will be released.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The fantasy MMO ArcheAge has had a busy night. They want to address the gigantic queues with larger servers.
With a nine-hour time difference, Europeans sometimes wake up to find that the little workers have been busy or in this case, the employees of Trion Worlds: Because while we were blissfully sleeping or waiting for our damn trees to finally grow, Trion Worlds fixed some of the launch issues in ArcheAge.
Last night, numerous updates were released on how to manage the player masses and solve the problems that frustrated so many ArcheAge players in recent days.
Kyprosa increased by 30%, buffer time doubled
On the one hand, the capacity of all servers is increased by 20% (in addition to the 20% that they supposedly increased for the head start). The maximum allowable number of players on Kyprosa, likely the fullest EU server, is further increased by another 10%. So now it should allow 30% more players than yesterday. Thus, it can be said that Kyprosa is the largest EU server.
In addition, the buffer is increased to ten minutes. During this time, players can log back into the game after they have left it – either voluntarily or involuntarily.
ArcheAge also aims to resolve some of the smaller problems
Among the biggest problems in ArcheAge were the incorrectly assigned patron bonuses. They also claim to have found a solution for this last night, which should affect at least the majority of accounts. Some paying players complained that they did not benefit from such bonuses.
Other difficulties for which Trion Worlds now claims to have found a solution: The shocking moment when you are at the character selection and simply find no character there should now also be over. That was a display bug. They have fixed it.
What are your first impressions of ArcheAge? Are you having issues with the queue or do you play at times when you get through easily? Keep us updated in the comments.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The Free2Play fantasy MMO Aion is celebrating its fifth birthday with a nostalgic video that still looks to the future.
Aion has now completed five years and is celebrating this milestone on social media and also in-game. Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski shared a video with fans for the occasion, taking them on a journey through the last five years in Aion. However, nostalgia and a taster tour through Atreia are not all that the video has to offer. In the second half, the focus turns to the future and provides a brief glimpse of the upcoming zones.
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In the god MMO Skyforge, the concept for PvP has now been presented in a blog post. It looks diverse and varied, even if genre fans see influences from World of Warcraft and other classics.
The god MMO Skyforge is being developed by my.com in Russia. In recent weeks, the plans have finally become more concrete, and the image of a game that combines the action of Asian MMOs with some structural ideas from Guild Wars 2, DC Universe Online, and Final Fantasy XIV is slowly forming. In a dev blog, the ideas for PvP were presented and they really pack a punch.
Here, the influences from MMOs like World of Warcraft are hard to overlook. Like numerous games before it, Skyforge does not reinvent the wheel but uses classic battlefield ideas. In total, there are five modes: a chaotic skirmish, an arena, and three varied battlefields.
In Skyforge’s PvP, there is something for everyone
Lugran Research Base: In a “free-for-all” arena, 6 players compete against each other. The one who collects 10 kills first wins. Those who shout “KS! KS!” here have not understood the game.
Kingezi Arena: Here too, 6 players fit in but form two 3-member teams. The rules are Team Death Match, so to speak, the World of Warcraft variant. Bonuses are supposed to appear on two platforms that players can grab.
Ring of Immortals: 16 players in two teams of eight engage in a contest for control of strategic points. A typical MMORPG battlefield – Arathi Basin.
Alcedon Facility: Also here, 16 players in two teams. But with an unusual twist for the MMORPG genre: Asymmetric gameplay. One group will escort a movable payload. The other team will try to prevent them.
Esten Quarry: Here, 24 players fight in two groups of 12. Classic Capture-the-Flag. However, the map is likely quite twisted and complicated.
What do you think about this? Sounds like a diverse opening offer of modes and maps, doesn’t it?
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The MMO Final Fantasy XIV has opened its own café in Tokyo. Apparently, it is very popular.
Some time ago, we reported on a theme café in Tokyo that is entirely themed around Final Fantasy XIV. It has now become a must-visit for gaming journalists who find themselves in Japan’s capital. With its own unique ambiance and numerous themed dishes, it has become a great attraction, and the food must be quite good too. Among anime and MMO fans in Japan, it enjoys lasting and voracious popularity. In previous review attempts, US colleagues had to return three times before they were finally drawn in the lottery that decides the seating.
Dualshockers.com has now also sent a journalist to the café in Tokyo. There, they even coincidentally met the producer Naoki Yoshida, who was questioned about housing prices and apparently likes blue noodles. In a video, they documented the events. Thus, even we poor souls who probably will never get to Tokyo can take a peek into the Eorzea Café.
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In the luxury MMO Destiny , the developers rely on their skills in the Crucible. Those who defeat them will receive a reward.
Normally, developers are decent but not outstanding in their own game. However, that might be different in the shooter Destiny. Recently, at an event, a selected team of employees took on a group of shooter pros in the Crucible and had a balanced match. Apparently, the developers at Bungie have tasted blood and are now announcing a weekly event where they create the content themselves.
A team from Bungie now wants to hunt in the Crucible at regular intervals and measure themselves against the players. Those who win against their team in previously announced events can post a winner screenshot in the event thread and receive a special emblem, and they can rightfully and proudly claim: “I beat Bungie in their own game.”
The first event takes place Friday night our time from 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM on the Playstation 4. It has been announced that these events will be held more frequently and on all platforms.
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The launch of the sandpark MMO ArcheAge is overshadowed by dark clouds. This is also reflected in the reporting.
As a publisher, you know you have problems when even mmorpg.com publishes a negative report. The major US site focused on MMOs is not known for bashing MMORPG companies. Yet, the report about the first days in ArcheAge reads disillusioningly: Many paid a lot of money for the headstart and could not use it as promised.
And that’s just the article. In the comments, things get even rougher than usual. And that’s only in North America, where the launch took place in the morning and not in prime time like here in Europe. Here, the fans are a little angrier than elsewhere.
You Can’t Get In – ArcheAge in Germany
“Long waiting lines, DDOS attacks, server issues, construction sites taken” – these are the four dominant stories in ArcheAge so far and almost every report about the game – besides the usual guides – touches on one of these topics.
Already during the headstart, there were significant issues. Towards the end, a press release from Trion Worlds made the rounds, claiming how successful the headstart was. Almost no one published it. Not a good sign. A small magazine did publish it and ranked it visibly on Google. “ArcheAge – Headstart was successful” was something you could read on Monday.
The title of a preview on Gamestar captured it somewhat better in our opinion: “You Can’t Get In.” In addition to a detailed description of the game and a presentation of the features, the negative impressions from the headstart dominated the report here as well. The consensus is: The game has a lot of potential and is a welcome change, it would just be nice if you could actually play it.
ArcheAge Slightly in the Shadow of Destiny
Otherwise, it is clear that ArcheAge is not a blockbuster game in the MMO category like The Elder Scrolls Online this year. Its shine also spread beyond the niche of MMOs and MMORPGs. Most major US sites that generally deal with video games do not mention the launch of ArcheAge. There are few reports on the game. If anything, just a short notice addressing queues and server issues. Destiny still dominates the reporting in the gaming sector.
At the moment, ArcheAge appears almost only on sites that explicitly deal with MMOs or online games.
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According to the publisher Activision, the luxury MMO Destiny has already generated sales of 325 million US dollars in the first five days.
Metacritic score notwithstanding – Destiny is a bestseller. Copies worth 500 million dollars have hit the market. Some wondered: “Well, whether all of that could be sold.” After the first five days, it looks like it. Activision claims to have sold units worth 325 million US dollars with Destiny in the first week. The company shares this information.
This figure comes after consulting distributors, retail chains, and VG Charts. Additionally, the company includes its own estimates and numbers in the report.
In the statement, Activision’s Eric Hirshberg emphasizes that this is just the beginning. Destiny is a platform that will grow and thrive. Activision will work on this together with its partners at Bungie.
100 million hours already spent in Destiny
More impressive numbers: Players are said to have already spent 100 million hours in Destiny. During this time, they pursued over 137 million activities.
Analyst Michael Pachter mentions in a report by venturebeat that one can assume Destiny has already sold 5 million copies. Other analysts also evaluate these figures positively according to venturebeat. Especially the hours played reached nearly Call-of-Duty level, although the rather mixed reviews may have influenced some in their purchasing decisions.
A new Wednesday, a new topic, a new reason to get (completely logically and in no way exaggerated) worked up. I should warn that not everyone will share my opinion – I was “overcome” quite spontaneously to write about this topic, I probably won’t see it as so wild on another day. So, let’s get started!
Today it catches all those thin display panels that usually lurk at the bottom of the screen and then wait for us to fill them at a snail’s pace before they overflow – and then want to be filled again.
A world full of limited bars – Who’s to blame?
I curse Blizzard. Why Blizzard in particular? Maybe they weren’t the first to introduce daily quests, but they were surely among the pioneers. When they introduced the “Netherwing” faction, it differed from previous reputation factions that you could slowly and laboriously work from “hated” to “revered” in that it was only possible through daily quests. So, not only did progress come slowly, but you were artificially slowed down by setting a value that the player could maximally reach in a day.
Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes really enjoy grinding – it’s meditative, you can switch off and just plow through the masses of enemies. But the form of limitation through daily tasks has two serious disadvantages for me: Due to a daily limit, you feel more or less compelled to complete the corresponding quests day after day, on the other hand, you can never work on a faction for “two hours straight” because the quest design system prevents this.
From reward to torture
I still remember well my first “Final Fantasy” games. Even then, there were XP bars, but they were motivating because they were just a side note. Today’s games often rely solely on such numerical manipulations, which are solely intended to keep the player engaged with the product for as long as possible with as little effort as possible. What was fun and motivating for me back then is today a terrible torture, even driving me away from such video games.
This is not a daily quest in H1Z1, but it simply counts – to put it bluntly – just surviving.
Games that completely forgo such systems, like “DayZ” or “H1Z1”, suddenly become much more interesting, and that, although they have no fixed goal – or perhaps precisely because of that? What once captivated me about games has now been so trimmed and regulated that it drives me away from my favorite medium. Maybe I stand alone with this view, but because I can only achieve a certain amount of progress each day, no matter how much time I want to invest today, it feels like work and no longer like a game.
A world without bars? Unimaginable.
What bothers me even more is that seemingly all games today need a progress bar, no matter how absurd and inappropriate it is. Why does a card game like Hearthstone need something like that? Why does SMITE need a follower count for each individual god, of course represented in a bar?
[intense_progress size=”large” animation=”1″ colors=”success,” values=”60″ texts=”So many followers pray to You, dear God!” /]
It seems to me that there is a fear that the actual game may not provide enough appeal, which is why such “pseudo-progress” is added. People seemingly crave to see some form of directly visible increase constantly – it bores me by now. I ask you, please come up with something creative again – and no, replacing the bar with a slowly filling pie chart is not creative.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
What may initially read like the promise of an ominous browser game is actually true this time. To let SMITE gain a bit more popularity, the developers have come up with something special for the god-MOBA.
From today until September 30, you can earn 50 gems every day – this currency is typically only purchasable with real money.
And here’s how it works: For the first victory of the day in any mode, you will receive 25 gems, and if you win at least once in all other modes afterwards, you get an additional 5 gems each time. In total, frequent players (and frequent winners) can earn a whopping 700 gems, which can unlock 1-2 skins or purchase 3 treasure chests – if you don’t want any of these “premium items”, you can also use the gems like favor and spend them on new deities. If you have been considering starting in SMITE for a while, you should take the opportunity before it passes.
You don’t know anything about SMITE yet? Then of course I would like to recommend my (incomparably good and wonderfully written) review, which you can find here. Under the review, there is also a link to where the game can be downloaded completely for free.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The sand park MMO ArcheAge has gone through one of the most difficult launches in recent history and has hit some bumps along the way. Some founders who invested in the game before its launch feel betrayed and are vocally expressing their displeasure. The founder packages did not provide the expected benefits.
Trust of the founders shaken
The business policy is clear. The statement is unequivocal: As a founder, you buy yourself privileges. As a paid player, you are treated preferentially. You start before those who want to play for free and can carve out an advantage. But what remains?
The problem: The founders paid for a head start. On two new servers, they did not get it; on a third, it was only one day. And even on the other servers, many found it difficult to get through the long queue to gather enough playtime to say afterwards: I got the value for my money that I expected. It was worth it.
The costly head start access to ArcheAge lost attractiveness for many in hindsight.
Now, right after the launch, comes the next blow. Trion Worlds introduces new “starter packs” that serve as a replacement for founder packs. However, they cannot promise Alpha and Beta access or the head start, so they entice with long-term attractive in-game rewards in the form of cash shop items.
The reaction of the fans can be imagined: Upset. They complain that they got too little from their founder package, and Trion Worlds introduces new packages to – in their view – tap into new buyer segments.
And as if that weren’t enough, reports are now emerging that some “Free2Play” players mistakenly received “Patron” status, thereby receiving the same privileges in the queue as founders. Now many are disappointed, as the privileges of the founder package sounded so tempting just recently.
In ArcheAge, some are still more unequal than others
In every MMORPG, players want advantages over others. In ArcheAge, this situation is further exacerbated by the fact that ArcheAge struggles with a shortage of land. The launch in ArcheAge is front-loaded; in the early days, players can set off and carve out an advantage. The first find flourishing landscapes, the best building spots are still free, the seas are safe, and even the later riskiest trade routes are not yet a problem.
The “head start” advantage in ArcheAge is no “just a nice bonus” like in The Elder Scrolls Online or WildStar, but brings a much greater advantage that was indeed worth the money for some.
The cash flows, the lead swells.
Ironically, the founders paid for this advantage, specifically not having to play by the “same rules” as Free2Play players. Many did not receive this lead, this unequal condition, and now feel disadvantaged compared to those who were not stuck in the queues and could start right away.
It would indeed have been important to ensure at least equal conditions among the privileged. But this cannot be guaranteed with an unstable server version and many bugs No publisher in the world can guarantee a smooth launch. And in ArcheAge – with the special conditions – long queues were absolutely to be expected.
What can we learn from this for the future?
Looking at it soberly: Players expected certain things from the founder package that have now not come to pass. Either the next publisher must ensure that these hopes are fulfilled or the buyers must significantly lower their expectations and prepare for disappointment. This seems to be the impression of outsiders. What a disappointed person usually hears now is: Your own fault. Why did you pay in advance? Didn’t you learn anything from the many disappointments of others?
Among the biggest hopes were the four days of “head start”, the advantage over Free2Play players. With two new servers at launch and the long queues even for founders during the actual head start, this promise could not be fulfilled.
That the other advantages are now diminished retroactively due to starter packs is annoying. This makes the “exclusive” founder rewards much less “exclusive” in retrospect, even though they still are at their core. It is difficult to pinpoint whether the founder packages are now better than the starter packages or vice versa. The excitement surrounding this discussion (the official thread has 41 pages) is certainly not only due to the facts but also to the currently charged atmosphere.
Of course, Trion Worlds seems somewhat tactless in these decisions. If such packages had been introduced in two months or at least waited until the initial anger subsided, there wouldn’t have been such an outcry as now. Of course, Trion Worlds is interested in financial success. However, they should ensure that they do not give the impression of wanting to monetize ArcheAge as much as possible in the first weeks and months when the demand is massive.
With the current decisions, a lot of goodwill has already been consumed. This will also affect future decisions for some who invested in a founder package. Regardless of whether it is an MMO from Trion Worlds or another provider.
Investing in such founder packs or Early Access is done at your own risk. However, it would be better for the genre if founders did not regret their investments afterwards.
