Great post Zierrity. I really liked how you approached your review and what you covered. I hope you do more reviews.
I was not surprised by your review. I knew an eastern developer wouldn't be making a revolutionary sandbox game. Which isn't a bad thing. The hype and misinformation was making it difficult to understand what AA really is or isn't. Your review cleared that up for me. I was on the fence about playing the game. After reading your review, I have decided to play.
Really appreciate the review. I like the fact that it was long and got into the details. It gave me a good (better) idea of how to set expectations for this game. I agree with both of your pros and cons. Seems like I will love the world, and the combat as Im a fan of tab target. The added nuance of movement and large skill tree is all that I need. Few questions though. When killing trash mobs does it happen fast or does the battle draw out? As long as they die fast I wont mind the grind. In terms of skills is it like EQ2 where I will have 3 rows of skills? Or will I have a limited number I'll have to swap? I prefer the latter. Agree with classes I dont think any of the ones you mentioned stand out to me and would prefer more options can work with what I have. The main draw for me is the exploration. To me that is what an MMO is (supposed to be) all about. Give me that wonder.
Like others I secretly compare this to GW2 which I thought was an excellent attempt but just didnt do it for me. I like progression and didnt like the (strafing) action combat. But loved the art style and the world though felt it was a bit cramped.
Add in the sandbox features which seem take awhile before you can really dig in and I think this game will be for me. I will at least be there day 1, pre-purchase, whatever they offer to play early. Its not perfect and there will be SOMETHING someone will complain about but I will probably be able to overlook as I see the benefits outweighing the problems.
I dont like the open world PVP but does add a level of excitement I haven't had in an MMO in years. I just hope there isnt an obnoxious amout of gankers just waiting to kill newbies. Also hope the jail system I have read about provides a nice balance.
Cant wait to get my hands on this.
I am glad you liked the review and I will try to answer your questions as good as I can
First of the trash mobs, Killing trash mobs are pretty fast, at least it was for my build, which is excellent for one on one, more than one at the time, not so much. There are a couple of "bosses" or harder mobs to kill, which takes a little longer, but not too long in my opinion.
When it comes to skills and skillbars you can have up to five skillbars at one time (two of them are a little shorter than the main three), and you can pretty much have how many skills out at once as you prefer, so no need for swapping skills I'm afraid. It's more like EQ2 (or WoW if you prefer) and less like Guild Wars 2 or Secret World, where you only have so many skills out at one time.
When it comes to skill trees, they're not really that unique by themself, but more unique as that you create classes by combining 3 of the 10 skill trees. To get a better idea of the skill tree system, check out the English Skill Calculator I linked in the review or simply click here(While it's not 100% accurate, it pretty much shows you what the different skill trees are).
If you're not a fan of the open world PVP you probably won't be a big fan of the end game, as it's pretty much focused around PVP, while there are plenty of other stuff to do, the Zerg Groups might ruin the fun for you. (or so I've been told, don't quote me on this though.)
And Thank you bcbully, Jalitan and chilltime99 for your kind words I am really glad you found my review worth you time
The zones takes about 7 - 15 minutes to ride through, then again, no loadings between the zones, only change of maps.
And I am glad you liked it
Good, glad there are no loading screens between zones. Question, was there a dye system for your clothing?
No, I don't think there were any dye system in the Beta at least, but there might be now as the game have officially launched, but I have to get back to you on that one.
LOL and so many people here claim that certain other soon to be released MMO's are clones of WoW and yet AA shares WoW's Combat and Questing system, arguably the 2 biggest systems in an MMO and its not a clone. Yea right.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
it has opinions from the people who actually played beta. Every one of them has their share of positives and negatives to say, but pretty much ALL will play ArcheAge on release, some won't even wait for English version, but will play Korean version with some translated stuff.
OP...thank you very much for an infomative read. Your write-up will be a big help to all that are interested in this title.
I was curious about two aspects of the game, and you answered my concerns. If the crafting is nothing new/special, there is no reason for me to even try it. And, I am very disappointed that they are going with a leveling system. I long for a new MMO that does not have a max level to grind to.
Thanks, was an excellent review. This is one of the titles ive been following for some time now, and was on the fence about it. Unfortunately your detailed review only showed me that I dont need to follow this one anymore. Sadly, im not looking for another quest hub themepark. Gw2 broke me of that. At least I can still look forward to ESO.
And theres no way im dealing with subpar gameplay just to get to the "good" sandbox at the end. And even then, its 100% gank fest PVP. If anyone watched the videos of people trying to turn in supplies for the "sandobox" components, unless you run with your entire guild, you arent likely to ever actually get a house built. Yup, easy pass for me, but excellent review
After playing more dinamic games i think i can never go back to that.........
The questing is like in every other MMO, its boring, there are no exceptions after you played a few of them. Think of it as a tutorial phase what you need to pass to get to the real content, just like in every other MMO (it doesnt take long to do them).
One simply does not play an MMO for its questing/story, for that there are many single player RPGs. Play MMO for the group content.
The zones takes about 7 - 15 minutes to ride through, then again, no loadings between the zones, only change of maps.
And I am glad you liked it
Well, that might not be too bad.
Are they literally in a straight line or can one just go in any direction?
You can pretty much go where you choose, but following the quests you kind of have a route allready planned out (if that makes any sence)
It does make sense.
Now here's a question, do I have to do the quests? Or can I just go out into the world, do my own thing and buy good gear from player crafters?
You can skip quests completely, and kill mobs for XP, gather mats for XP, craft for XP... for every action you are rewarded with XP. But the questing is the fastest way to reach the endgame.
Now here's a question, do I have to do the quests? Or can I just go out into the world, do my own thing and buy good gear from player crafters?
You can skip quests completely, and kill mobs for XP, gather mats for XP, craft for XP... for every action you are rewarded with XP. But the questing is the fastest way to reach the endgame.
It is exactly as LlexX said, couldn't have said it better myself You don't have to, but it's the most effective way of leveling.
it has opinions from the people who actually played beta. Every one of them has their share of positives and negatives to say, but pretty much ALL will play ArcheAge on release, some won't even wait for English version, but will play Korean version with some translated stuff.
Are you saying I didn't? 0.o j/k
Thank you for sharing the link, I tried to redirect people to the very same discussion earlier, hopefully your post will do a better job
People should really read this because it has some feedback from players who got further into the beta than I did
As far as questing goes, to some extent skipping out on it entirely might cause inconvieniences. Your first, Glider, Mount (Donkey) and Boat (rowboat) all come from quests. Not sure if the Rowboat and Donkey are available outside of questing, but you could just walk until later and buy a Mount and Ship.
If what one of the streamers was saying is correct the Donkey is the only mount that can be used during the transport of packages. (Trade and Construction bundles)
As far as questing goes, to some extent skipping out on it entirely might cause inconvieniences. Your first, Glider, Mount (Donkey) and Boat (rowboat) all come from quests. Not sure if the Rowboat and Donkey are available outside of questing, but you could just walk until later and buy a Mount and Ship.
If what one of the streamers was saying is correct the Donkey is the only mount that can be used during the transport of packages. (Trade and Construction bundles)
Actually the donkey isn't the first mount anymore, at least not for Ferre or Hariharan, not sure about Nuian or Elf though tbh I'm not sure how to get the donkey ;P You can also use other mounts for transportation, at least transportation quests, the donkey is faster than the other mounts though, while you are transporting something
Its a large open world, you telling me the only way to level is by quests only? Or just people didnt bother trying to go outside the normal themepark mentality and grind on random mobs? Trying to understand having an open world but it serves no purpose, defeats the purpose honestly. I like open worlds, but having only a quest line to advance you is pretty horrible.
The fact that the quest-based leveling and endgame-heavy design is the same as in every other game is EXACTLY what irks all those who hoped AA would be something new and different.
We don't want the same old linear themepark with a new skin, we want innovative, open games. One would have thought that it'd be clear by now that repeating the WoW formula isn't working anymore.
If questing is the most efficient way to level, and the "sandbox" elements in the game are really only for people level 40+, that means questing is all but forced and necessary to advance to "the good stuff."
Which is about as old and tired and worn out of a game design philosophy as you can find.
Why don't MMO devs get this?
Make the XP and skill ups etc. come from doing stuff, from action, and make the "quests" and story just guides and lore not required.
i.e. REMOVE the XP for completing quests. And most of the rewards. Make it more like Skyrim questing.
It's there, it gives you something to do / direction if you need it, but is in no way required.
DUH!?!
And if no one does the quests if there isn't bonus XP and loot, then you know what?
Just goes to show how tired and old and worn out the entire idea is in the first place!
Its a large open world, you telling me the only way to level is by quests only? Or just people didnt bother trying to go outside the normal themepark mentality and grind on random mobs? Trying to understand having an open world but it serves no purpose, defeats the purpose honestly. I like open worlds, but having only a quest line to advance you is pretty horrible.
While I can't say for sure, Questing seems to be the most effective and fast way to level up, and as other have stated, you'll get a lot of stuff through questing, armours, weapons, mount and rowboat. Sure you can level up by farming mobs and by gathering but it'll take a lot longer. Not sure about leveling through exploring, it might be a possibility, but I can't say for sure.
Again, there might be other ways that I'm not sure of, but so far I haven't heard anything about that from any the other, more experienced, players than myself.
Its a large open world, you telling me the only way to level is by quests only? Or just people didnt bother trying to go outside the normal themepark mentality and grind on random mobs? Trying to understand having an open world but it serves no purpose, defeats the purpose honestly. I like open worlds, but having only a quest line to advance you is pretty horrible.
While I can't say for sure, Questing seems to be the most effective and fast way to level up, and as other have stated, you'll get a lot of stuff through questing, armours, weapons, mount and rowboat. Sure you can level up by farming mobs and by gathering but it'll take a lot longer. Not sure about leveling through exploring, it might be a possibility, but I can't say for sure.
Again, there might be other ways that I'm not sure of, but so far I haven't heard anything about that from any the other, more experienced, players than myself.
BTW, nice review. You stated the good with the bad. Not one sided as many do here. It was a good read and i enjoyed the pictures.
Its a large open world, you telling me the only way to level is by quests only? Or just people didnt bother trying to go outside the normal themepark mentality and grind on random mobs? Trying to understand having an open world but it serves no purpose, defeats the purpose honestly. I like open worlds, but having only a quest line to advance you is pretty horrible.
While I can't say for sure, Questing seems to be the most effective and fast way to level up, and as other have stated, you'll get a lot of stuff through questing, armours, weapons, mount and rowboat. Sure you can level up by farming mobs and by gathering but it'll take a lot longer. Not sure about leveling through exploring, it might be a possibility, but I can't say for sure.
Again, there might be other ways that I'm not sure of, but so far I haven't heard anything about that from any the other, more experienced, players than myself.
BTW, nice review. You stated the good with the bad. Not one sided as many do here. It was a good read and i enjoyed the pictures.
So, on rails quest grinder with tab target 1+2+3+4 combat. Move along ppl nothing to see.... I predict game will fail worse than Aion in west or TERA....
Pretty much what i expected from looking few livestreams.
Except for people like myself who want this kind of game and don't mind Tab target combat and who like quests and then boom at level cap the game opens up into it's awesome sandboxiness to actually keep me playing instead of unsubbing like every other MMO in the last 8 years. Can't wait till this hits western shores.
Originally posted by Zierrity I also want to say that I can not promise that I accessed everything to do at the levels 1-25, as the game is in korean it's hard to wander of the "rail" and figure out if there is anything else to do. And my korean is practically non-existent,
Thanks for clariftying that and awesome review. I wish everyone would review games in a similar fashion and be less hyperbole in their statements. I'm looking forward to this game.
Something else that bugs me about people and their early opinions of games. Sometimes they forget that these are MMORPGs and that they grow over a period of years and many things get added or changed in that time, growing the game. So something that may be missing at launch might come later. All I ask for is a solid base game to play until those things and new lands are added and it looks like ArcheAge has this in place.
Comments
Great post Zierrity. I really liked how you approached your review and what you covered. I hope you do more reviews.
I was not surprised by your review. I knew an eastern developer wouldn't be making a revolutionary sandbox game. Which isn't a bad thing. The hype and misinformation was making it difficult to understand what AA really is or isn't. Your review cleared that up for me. I was on the fence about playing the game. After reading your review, I have decided to play.
I am glad you liked the review and I will try to answer your questions as good as I can
First of the trash mobs, Killing trash mobs are pretty fast, at least it was for my build, which is excellent for one on one, more than one at the time, not so much. There are a couple of "bosses" or harder mobs to kill, which takes a little longer, but not too long in my opinion.
When it comes to skills and skillbars you can have up to five skillbars at one time (two of them are a little shorter than the main three), and you can pretty much have how many skills out at once as you prefer, so no need for swapping skills I'm afraid. It's more like EQ2 (or WoW if you prefer) and less like Guild Wars 2 or Secret World, where you only have so many skills out at one time.
When it comes to skill trees, they're not really that unique by themself, but more unique as that you create classes by combining 3 of the 10 skill trees. To get a better idea of the skill tree system, check out the English Skill Calculator I linked in the review or simply click here (While it's not 100% accurate, it pretty much shows you what the different skill trees are).
If you're not a fan of the open world PVP you probably won't be a big fan of the end game, as it's pretty much focused around PVP, while there are plenty of other stuff to do, the Zerg Groups might ruin the fun for you. (or so I've been told, don't quote me on this though.)
And Thank you bcbully, Jalitan and chilltime99 for your kind words
I am really glad you found my review worth you time 
No, I don't think there were any dye system in the Beta at least, but there might be now as the game have officially launched, but I have to get back to you on that one.
So basically its a WoW clone?
LOL and so many people here claim that certain other soon to be released MMO's are clones of WoW and yet AA shares WoW's Combat and Questing system, arguably the 2 biggest systems in an MMO and its not a clone. Yea right.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Lineage2 clone with some Ultima Online elements, not much to do with WoW, questhubs and tab-combat was present before WoW, you know...
I think alot of newer players dont know that before WoW there were MMOs.
Good write up. Cant wait till it hits NA. IM looking forward to this one.
For dissappointed people - read
http://archeagesource.com/topic/1275-after-playing-archeage-what-are-your-thoughts/
it has opinions from the people who actually played beta. Every one of them has their share of positives and negatives to say, but pretty much ALL will play ArcheAge on release, some won't even wait for English version, but will play Korean version with some translated stuff.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
LOL Quest hubs driven gameplay??
Didn´t expect that....
After playing more dinamic games i think i can never go back to that.........
I´ll give it a try anyway if there is some kind of trial someday.....
but not that much interested in it anymore really.
OP...thank you very much for an infomative read. Your write-up will be a big help to all that are interested in this title.
I was curious about two aspects of the game, and you answered my concerns. If the crafting is nothing new/special, there is no reason for me to even try it. And, I am very disappointed that they are going with a leveling system. I long for a new MMO that does not have a max level to grind to.
Thanks, was an excellent review. This is one of the titles ive been following for some time now, and was on the fence about it. Unfortunately your detailed review only showed me that I dont need to follow this one anymore. Sadly, im not looking for another quest hub themepark. Gw2 broke me of that. At least I can still look forward to ESO.
And theres no way im dealing with subpar gameplay just to get to the "good" sandbox at the end. And even then, its 100% gank fest PVP. If anyone watched the videos of people trying to turn in supplies for the "sandobox" components, unless you run with your entire guild, you arent likely to ever actually get a house built. Yup, easy pass for me, but excellent review
It does make sense.
Now here's a question, do I have to do the quests? Or can I just go out into the world, do my own thing and buy good gear from player crafters?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
The questing is like in every other MMO, its boring, there are no exceptions after you played a few of them. Think of it as a tutorial phase what you need to pass to get to the real content, just like in every other MMO (it doesnt take long to do them).
One simply does not play an MMO for its questing/story, for that there are many single player RPGs. Play MMO for the group content.
You can skip quests completely, and kill mobs for XP, gather mats for XP, craft for XP... for every action you are rewarded with XP. But the questing is the fastest way to reach the endgame.
It is exactly as LlexX said, couldn't have said it better myself
You don't have to, but it's the most effective way of leveling.
Are you saying I didn't? 0.o j/k
Thank you for sharing the link, I tried to redirect people to the very same discussion earlier, hopefully your post will do a better job
People should really read this because it has some feedback from players who got further into the beta than I did
As far as questing goes, to some extent skipping out on it entirely might cause inconvieniences. Your first, Glider, Mount (Donkey) and Boat (rowboat) all come from quests. Not sure if the Rowboat and Donkey are available outside of questing, but you could just walk until later and buy a Mount and Ship.
If what one of the streamers was saying is correct the Donkey is the only mount that can be used during the transport of packages. (Trade and Construction bundles)
Actually the donkey isn't the first mount anymore, at least not for Ferre or Hariharan, not sure about Nuian or Elf though
tbh I'm not sure how to get the donkey ;P You can also use other mounts for transportation, at least transportation quests, the donkey is faster than the other mounts though, while you are transporting something 
Its a large open world, you telling me the only way to level is by quests only? Or just people didnt bother trying to go outside the normal themepark mentality and grind on random mobs? Trying to understand having an open world but it serves no purpose, defeats the purpose honestly. I like open worlds, but having only a quest line to advance you is pretty horrible.
The fact that the quest-based leveling and endgame-heavy design is the same as in every other game is EXACTLY what irks all those who hoped AA would be something new and different.
We don't want the same old linear themepark with a new skin, we want innovative, open games. One would have thought that it'd be clear by now that repeating the WoW formula isn't working anymore.
If questing is the most efficient way to level, and the "sandbox" elements in the game are really only for people level 40+, that means questing is all but forced and necessary to advance to "the good stuff."
Which is about as old and tired and worn out of a game design philosophy as you can find.
Why don't MMO devs get this?
Make the XP and skill ups etc. come from doing stuff, from action, and make the "quests" and story just guides and lore not required.
i.e. REMOVE the XP for completing quests. And most of the rewards. Make it more like Skyrim questing.
It's there, it gives you something to do / direction if you need it, but is in no way required.
DUH!?!
And if no one does the quests if there isn't bonus XP and loot, then you know what?
Just goes to show how tired and old and worn out the entire idea is in the first place!
While I can't say for sure, Questing seems to be the most effective and fast way to level up, and as other have stated, you'll get a lot of stuff through questing, armours, weapons, mount and rowboat. Sure you can level up by farming mobs and by gathering but it'll take a lot longer. Not sure about leveling through exploring, it might be a possibility, but I can't say for sure.
Again, there might be other ways that I'm not sure of, but so far I haven't heard anything about that from any the other, more experienced, players than myself.
BTW, nice review. You stated the good with the bad. Not one sided as many do here. It was a good read and i enjoyed the pictures.
Thanks
I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it 
Except for people like myself who want this kind of game and don't mind Tab target combat and who like quests and then boom at level cap the game opens up into it's awesome sandboxiness to actually keep me playing instead of unsubbing like every other MMO in the last 8 years. Can't wait till this hits western shores.
Thanks for clariftying that and awesome review. I wish everyone would review games in a similar fashion and be less hyperbole in their statements. I'm looking forward to this game.
Something else that bugs me about people and their early opinions of games. Sometimes they forget that these are MMORPGs and that they grow over a period of years and many things get added or changed in that time, growing the game. So something that may be missing at launch might come later. All I ask for is a solid base game to play until those things and new lands are added and it looks like ArcheAge has this in place.