Over the past month since ArcheAge Unchained launched, I’ve made it abundantly clear that I am not fond of how the game has been handled by Gamigo’s ArcheAge team (which are comprised of individuals that were retained from the same team that managed the game at Trion prior to Gamigo’s acquisition of Trion’s assets). As of this posting, not much has improved in that regards since part of the near term issues are in the hands of XLGAMES with making changes to the now offline ArchePass system. While the tone of most of those messages could make it seem that I am not enjoying the actual game, I haven’t forgotten nor let those issues get in the way of that aspect.
There are some annoyances like exhausting labor without having the system (ArchePass) that was meant to deal with this, being offline or running into inventory constraints since it will take at least 3 more weeks of Diligence coin grants to expand character inventory and warehouse to a more sufficient size (I did use some of my credits to purchase an Otherworld Storage Chest but still have to be mindful not to fill it until I have enough character inventory since that chest needs to be emptied first before it can be removed from a land/house in the event that you want to demo that farm or structure).
Queue wise, they have gone down dramatically on the server that I am playing on (Wynn); in the past week, I’ve been able to get in immediately or if there is a queue, it’s normally less than 10 minutes to get in. This isn’t necessarily related to that many players quitting; it’s more to do with players having now leveled, having the pre-requisites completed for the initial land grabs, and having less of a need to be logged in constantly with all of that out of the way.
As previously documented though, I personally spent more time in queue than actually playing during the first week (that didn’t change that much for the 2nd week). That impacted my initial progression where it was not possible for me to take part from the start in the initial land grab as far as placing either an 8×8 (not getting to level 30 and completing that quest chain) or 16×16 cottage (having 15 Gilda Stars). A day and a half later (when I did complete those objectives), I did manage to find an open spot for an 8×8 scarecrow farm with a nice ocean view in Two Crowns but have yet to find an open 16×16 space (a lot of land is occupied by 8×8’s as well as many offset 16×16’s which block out large amounts of usable land; it’s a normal tactic used to reserve space for larger farms or structures in the future).
The initial wave of tax expirations occurred two weekends ago and every expiring 16×16 plot that I saw on Wynn West, had at least 10+ people trying to vie for each of those spots. I ended up taking an adjacent expiring 8×8 plot on an alt so that I have at least another 8×8 for crops. Besides Karkasse (which is always in conflict or war), I’ve tried scouting through all zones for a 16×16 and have come up empty. Ahnimar has large sections which could be unlocked for expansion but I have no idea if Gamigo will be opening this up as an option. What doesn’t help is that in some housing zones, the allowable grid leaves large open gaps (amounting to a lot of unusable areas). I’ve heard that some west faction players (on Wynn) resorted to placing a cottage in Rokala (the large East housing area that is the counterpart of Ahnimar on Nuia) where you have to deal with hostile faction tax premiums as well as constantly burning at least 3 Hereafter stones for cross continent travel. Rokala unlike Ahnimar, is also enclosed (no easy ground path) making it extremely inconvenient for running packs (you can only get into/out of the area with a pack via airship).
Overall, I cannot complain about having these side-by-side 8×8’s with this nice view (evening shot standing between the two plots below) since there are still players who haven’t been able to secure even this small piece of land on the highly populated servers. Plus I have a nice neighbor who always greets me (and vice versa) if we’re online at the same time. Generally speaking, this is also part of the sandbox aspect of the game that I can’t really complain a lot about where you aren’t locked into just selecting a pre-defined open world plot as is the case in many other games. Where the ArcheAge team may not have thought things through carefully enough though, was the business model change (no monthly sub required to own property) impacting the amount of land hoarding that would end up taking place. While the amount of weekly tax certificates increases with more owned property (and built structures), burning labor to create those certificates is easily manageable (so long as one doesn’t go wild with trying to take up 300×300 plus sections).
As for my own progression in this first month, I am playing this game as I do most others; at my own pace (most players who started playing in earnest from day 1 are already in the double-digit Ancestral levels). On F2P ArcheAge, I played mostly on the East; I decided to main on the West for Unchained since I had never really explored Nuia (like how I did extensively on Haranya). So it has been refreshing exploring the western continent (adding to this newness element that would normally be difficult to capture, having played the game before). Once I completed the race quest chain in Karkasse, I leveled to 50 by tree and cotton farming on my plot, open world gathering, burning labor on tax certificates/processing, and completing some of the level 42+ side quests on Haranya before I resumed the quest chain on Auroria. I continued this ritual of burning labor on life skilling and tax certificate creation until I hit level 55.
As of this entry, I’m only at Ancestral level 2 so I’m at the very start of the Hiram gear progression grind (getting my infusions and awakening scrolls). Unlike a lot of players, I’m staying away from the dailies rotation that many do (and end up hating) because ArcheAge is more than just gear score progression from doing this dailies grind. To be honest, the dailies XLGAMES added on top of the game has detracted from the play your way aspects of “craft, claim, and conquer”. While my rate of progression is slower by comparison, it is progression nonetheless (gear, alternative skill trees, proficiencies, honor, battle pet/mount levels, gold). My primary near term goals are really simple; to at least secure a plot for my 16×16 cottage and to enhance my gear enough to where Reedwind, Western Hiram Mountains, and Ayanad Library can be more easily farmed.
As far as spending any additional money (credits), Gamigo (and more specifically the former Trion personnel that are continuing to handle it in their incompetent manner) has failed to prove they are deserving of any additional money besides the initial retail price of the game. So unless major improvements are actually made, this is pretty much all they will get out of me (normally, I have no problems spending reasonable amount of money on credits in order to support the games I play post-launch).
