Gamigo provided updated changes to the Garden of the Gods Expansion and Fresh Start server for ArcheAge Unchained (which launches on June 11th).
One important change is that the $16 Silver pack (previously, the $30 Gold pack was required) now opens up access to the Fresh Start server as well as any base game purchase made after May 21st (when the paid DLC announcement was made).
The fact that Gamigo made this announcement the day before, is indicative that sales have been below projections (not enough players to sustain the Fresh Start populations on NA and EU). Gamigo had to also make changes to their decision of not enabling the ArchePass until Season 4 begins next month. The pass will remain disabled but Gamigo is providing on the Fresh Start marketplace, a free purchase of 200 Diligence coins and 20 bound labor rechargers.
Unsurprisingly, there are some folks who are upset because they purchased the Gold pack (prior to this last minute announcement) specifically to access the Fresh Start server (they don’t care about the digital extras). The move also caught most of the ArcheAge Unchained community management team flat footed as they also learned about this change at the last minute.
Gamigo’s handling of ArcheAge Unchained since launch, made purchasing this a hard pass for me. The fact they pulled this move just the day before, is proof enough I made the correct decision. I did login to the PTS and made my way to the entrance of the Garden of the Gods. Entering it puts you into an initial “lobby” where there are several gateways that transport you to a peace area in its respective zone (you can navigate to each area inside the map but this lobby acts as a shortcut). The actual map is instanced and completely separated from the other parts of the open world (and has its own War and Peace cycle). Some of the environments of each zone are beautiful but that is about it.
For me, one of ArcheAge’s strengths was its actual (and completely) open world environment. This separate self-contained map really detracts from that strength (similar to how a lot of previous open world content, was moved off into instances). While there was no noticeable performance degradation in the Garden of the Gods PTS map, I have a difficult time believing that it will be the same in the production environment where the existing instance servers in both regions, struggle at times (players experience lag and disconnects).
But since I’m not purchasing this (my character is nowhere close to even handling the mobs in it anyway), I really won’t know what the actual deal will be (so I’ll just to have to rely on the experience of those who are actually buying it). As noted in my previous postings about this, I’ll continue playing 3D farmville on NA Wynn.
