The sandbox MMORPG Legends of Aria was supposed to enter early access at the end of March but has been postponed indefinitely. Since then, fans have been waiting for news about the release, but it is delayed. We investigate why it is taking so long.
What is Legends of Aria? With Legends of Aria (LoA), Citadel Studios aims to create a spiritual successor to the classic Ultima Online. It is an MMORPG that adheres to the same values but is a bit more modern.
- In the large sandbox world, you determine your own path.
- The community consists of crafters, traders, and adventurers.
- You can also run a tavern or simply become a lumberjack in the woods.
- As adventurers, you explore the world, delve into dungeons, and fight monsters.
- The economy of the game world is determined by the players themselves.
- You develop your heroes through skills.
- Exploring the world is supposed to be dangerous. Not only because of monsters, but also due to PvP, which is possible almost everywhere.
- Players determine how the world develops.
- Adventures are meant to arise from situations. For example, when searching for treasures and then encountering other players who also want the items.
What is special about it? Legends of Aria wants to offer more than just a sandbox world in the style of Ultima Online (UO). It aims to give players the opportunity to create their own worlds, known as shards. These can be freely designed, including with their own rules.
Ultima Online fans need patience
Who is the game aimed at? LoA primarily seeks to provide a new home for those who love Ultima Online, but find the original too “old” now.
But of course, players who enjoy sandbox MMORPGs, in which they can enjoy many freedoms and do not have to follow a predetermined story, could also have fun.
What is the current status of the game? Legends of Aria is currently in a closed beta. It is not possible to participate in it at this time. The next step in development is the start of the early access phase, which was supposed to take place at the end of March.
Why didn’t the early access phase start? The developers of LoA explained that the game is not yet in a good enough condition to present it to a larger number of players. Further performance optimization was necessary, and there was still too little content.
When is the early access phase now supposed to start? There is currently no date. However, it is mentioned on the Steam website that it should happen sometime in spring. This, however, is ending very soon. Therefore, it is quite conceivable that this date will change again.
There are problems
What is the current situation of the game? Those who are currently participating in the closed beta test report that Legends of Aria is still plagued by performance issues. Although new content has been added, it is not as much as players had hoped for.
As can be read on Reddit, there are not many players online on the official server. This is partly due to the status of the MMORPG but also because many UO fans meet on the community server Legends of Ultima and hold events there.
- ajz writes on Steam: “The game is really broken and not ready for a release. Skills don’t work, just like the armor, and the housing system is full of bugs. There are issues with lags and desynchronization… The game is definitely not ready for launch!”
- rederic, on the other hand, says on Reddit: “There is still a lot of work ahead for the developers. There are some bugs and the game needs much more content. But it offers a solid basis for a sandbox MMORPG that is actively in development.”
Why is Legends of Ultima more popular than the official server? Legends of Aria primarily targets fans of Ultima Online. However, they want an experience that also reminds them of UO. In other words, they want to transfer the lore of Ultima Online into LoA. For this, they need their own server.
Legends of Aria allows virtually any player to create their own world, a so-called shard. There, their own rules set by the “owner” apply. It should even be possible later to create entire continents, which is of course perfect for Ultima Online fans. They are already planning to recreate the continent of Britannia on their Legends of Ultima server.
Many players who hope for a spiritual UO successor with Legends of Aria therefore play on Legends of Ultima and not on the official server, which is why it has a significantly lower population.
What are the main problems at the moment? The biggest issue is that development is simply taking longer than expected. This means that improvements and new content take longer. This frustrates some players.
- Performance needs improvement.
- The game needs more content, such as in the form of events.
- There are still plenty of bugs.
What does this mean for the early access phase? Since there are still many areas that need work and development is progressing slower than hoped, it is likely that the early access phase will start even later.
Is it worth playing the closed beta? If you want to play a sandbox MMORPG that is still before early access and you can live with performance issues, bugs, low content, and a low population, you can check it out. It would probably be better to wait until development has progressed further.
Will it make it? The foundations are there and the groundwork is solid. LoA will probably not appeal to the wider mass of MMORPG fans, but sandbox lovers may find a second home. However, one needs to have a bit of patience with the game.
