With regards to the servers, it looks like they will be merging all three existing servers into one (for each each region), and running a new fresh start server for the second. In other words, Kakao Games is running the same cash grab model that Trion and Gamigo did. Anyone hoping for them to do better have just been shown that isn’t going to happen. Instead, they are going to ride this, just like how they rode Black Desert Online. It would’ve made better sense to just start running a seasonal server from the start; prove to the existing playerbase by actions that they’ll be good stewards and make improvements first before jumping onto that cash grab train from the get go. Instead, it’s going to be this continuous cycle of fresh starts and server mergers.
Merging 3 servers to 1: for NA, this is literally going to mean land being extremely constrained since Marmas is still relatively filled (there’s some free space on Akmit but it’s going to be really tight once you add in what little extras there are from Godfrey). I’m sure the same situation exists on EU (might probably be even worse since it normally has more players).
The most important change is the business model moving to include a 30 day subscription (pried at $9.99 for 30 days with discounts for longer periods). Existing buy-to-play accounts will receive 60 days for free (while those who purchased DLC’s will get an unspecified amount of extra time). IMHO, this is how AAU should’ve been handled once it became clear to Gamigo, that the buy-to-play model (with cosmetics cash shop) was not working. Instead, they quickly began throwing all kinds of stuff into the ArchePass and Diligence shop, and charging piecemeal for content that made little sense as DLC (the Garden instance and gunslinger skill set).
While it now looks like legacy, the biggest difference is there is no APEX (ie. a method to buy a virtual currency like APEX that can then be sold in the auction house for gold, or converted to in-game credits). So long as it is kept to a real money subscription where it cannot be farmed (via gold) I have no issues with this business model. It’s unclear at the moment if the premium track for the ArchePass will be going away. The cash shop will also be reverting back to being unable to buy power (all of the stuff that Gamigo added once they determined the prior cosmetic cash shop was not working). But if they do add in a mechanic like that, then they might as well find a way to merge both legacy and AAU together, because it will literally be no difference (except the amount of blatant stuff that has been available in the legacy cash shop, and thus on legacy accounts).
UPDATE: Apparently, there was an unlisted video (now made private) that had Kakao’s community management team discussing some of the changes. This was supposed to be released on the 18th. The above screenshot (with the $9.99 price) was posted several hours after the unlisted video had been discovered and people were making some wild guesses about the monthly price (where that took on a life of its own for several hours because you know how Discord goes; someone mentions $59.99, and that is what ends up as unsubstantiated rumored pricing that goes around the player base). It seems like they had to scramble to get the actual information out (late EU time) so that it would not fester overnight.
UPDATE 2: After thinking about it, I believe they should find a way to allow at least one way only transfers from Unchained to Legacy (for those who want to pay just $5 per month more (that is unless Kakao changes the pricing for 30 days of Patron in order to have access to APEX and the more p2w cash shop). One of the main draws was the original marketing of Unchained (the single purchase aspect that also eliminated the monthly Patron requirement that allowed features like the ownership of land):
Changing the business model to subscription, should also entail a name change: ArcheAge Rechained.
