I am aware that the PvP aspect of this game is disappointing and rewards people with several accounts and those that sink inordinate time into it.
Being not a PvPer I have been interested in a few things I can do in this game that I am absolutely enjoying and the hours have flown by. Firstly I spend close to 20 hours watching videos, reading forums and visiting sites about the systems in this game and I have not even scratched the surface of this incredible game.
I decided to play on the Nuian faction because I liked the racials better. Then I played very slowly reading everything and took a few days to level to 34 and this in between the holiday break for X'mas. I was careful because I read that people made mistakes upgrading their gear and then spent a sleepless night thinking I had sold the lute only to realise the lute I had was not the explorer lute which came later in another quest.
Anyway the combat is definitely surprisingly fun. It involves using skills in combos and I have this skewer skill that if I place carefully can take a huge chunk of life and occasionally outright kill the monster but it has to be placed just right and if the mob moves it may miss altogether. I am a Edgewalker which is a mix of Vitalism, Auramancy and Occultism. It is not as effective at killing as the the other dual wielders I see playing around. I am however not interested in PvP and I figured if I do join any faction war I can heal people which is why I took Vitalism.
Anyway let me come to the part I love. The commercial and farming parts. I got an 8 by 8 farm and spent half a day trying to decide where to put it. You see as I wanted to avoid PvP I can only sell in one zone compared to the three available on your continent. So I also figured out you cannot sell the specialty packs which is the packs you craft and do trade runs with in the region they are made. This limited my choices and because I joined the game so late most of the choice real estate is gone. I'll be damned if I am now going to buy them from unscrupulous people who just land grabbed and are now trying to sell them at ridiculous prices. So I rode everywhere on my trusty steed looking for a plot. I finally found one close to an arid area but I manged to place my scarecrow garden itself in a temperate area. Mind you plants have climate requirements too and they will take far longer to grow to maturity depending on where you plant them.
There are also animals you can raise and all over these housing areas there are fantastic animal sounds of all types of creatures. It is wonderful to see and there are these Cashemere Yata that bounce around so adorably. There are close to 12 different animals and they all play and make their respective sounds and look different as they grow. The trees and plants you can grow are numerous not to mention the huge cornucopia of recipes you can make. The sheer volume of items one can make is daunting to say the least. You can also just run around and collect things in the world but every action requires labour points and there's the rub as it is limited to 5000 and regenerates rather slowly. You have to play less if you don't want to run out but some people have several accounts.
Anyway I have planted my plot with 2 trees and few grains and other plants I got around the world and also purchased from the seeds vendor. I intend to craft my first trade pack and deliver with my donkey which I got. Trying to carry the pack on your back is too slow. You can actually use the sea route but you need a good boat which you can also craft but there will be others waiting to kill you and destroy your boat and take your packs. There is a pirate faction that steals from both factions. There are prison terms given out for crimes. If you brave the PvP areas you can sell to the other continent and some island too but you will need people to protect your cargo. Yesterday some guys from our own faction killed members of their faction and stole packs that were quite valuable. They were laughing it up in the chat while the person that even lost their car was angry more people did not help defend them.
I must say this game is engrossing for someone like me who enjoys crafting, farming and running trade packs. I haven't even got to the part where I can make better vehicles and improve my scarecrow farm and also get my 16 by 16 farm. There are also aqua farms where you can raise coral and other underwater things. It's amazing how much work went into the nitty gritty of this type of farming. There are so many small things you come across that shows you that the people who created this game had such an eye for detail. I just wanted to share my experience and this thread is in no way trying to gloss over the obvious PvP problems it has.
Comments
I cannot do everything I want to do. Like I want to upgrade my cottage and even if I spend 10 hours a day I cannot overcome the labour restriction which is frustrating. I know it's my fault for playing the game too much and I don't want to get another account to raise another character for an extra labour pool because the game is time consuming as is. I am level 42 now and doing all the quests for Blue Salt Brotherhood among others again, since I read quests, will be time consuming. I would like to play a dual wielding DPS character though since my Edgewalker kills a little slow. I can change the class before my Hiram gear but the healing has come in handy.
I had to go to the other faction's continent (no one killed me, yeah) and this game has really flushed out the beauty of the world. They have indeed made unique zones,creatures and that oriental great wall look alike took my breath away. The music is very good. I tried to avoid other players and tried to use the river in Hiranya and was swept away by the rapids and dropped down several hundred feet with a sliver of life a few times. Thankfully I can heal myself I survived that harrowing experience and finished my quests there but now the mobs I have to face are too hard for me so I am going to return when I am a higher level. I hope the other faction continues to leave me alone.
At one point I could not get through the castle as there were these assassins in there many levels above me since I went there at 38. I decided to use my glider creatively and I climbed the highest rock I could find and made it across the dangerous rapids to the other bank on the other side of the castle. I clapped myself on the back. The world is indeed quite open and you can go anywhere and do stuff and I love that. I even went there during war time, me the coward in PvP.
So many great things about this game a pity the labour part is definitely not one of them.
It's been a very many years since playing the original AA, but I was some sort of mage with stealth, (on like a one minute timer) the latter skill being a great help in avoiding unwanted PVP.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I suppose this is because I spent ages raising animals and growing crops that my labour is all gone. My coin purses haven't been opened for days. I cannot do anything and this is perhaps the single aspect that might make me quit this game. I don't accept that to enjoy myself I have to get another account. I can I suppose stop playing for a day but I love playing
I have upgraded my cottage the one from the quest to a Rustic Rose Cottage which is beautiful by the way with the upgraded designs and an Improved Scarecrow Farm for the farmer's workstation. I need that to make the eco fuel and medicine for the ailing animals. My husbandry is too low for me to craft the coops I need for my chicken the ones whose shit I intend to use for the eco fuel. Chicken produce them every couple of hours together with eggs and I think while they produce less they are very fast and way less expensive than cows.
Cow pens, sheep pens and goat pens costs a lot on my server. Plus they break and have to be changed frequently so getting an expensive pen is not something I cannot afford on my meager earning from the daily trade runs. Remember I cannot even open my coin purses from combat. I am complaining in vain I know, the solution is to do less of the stuff I enjoy. I'm just rebelling against it and wanted to vent.
My cottage faces the sea and has a beautiful view since nothing is between it and the sea. My farm which is by my cottage has some beautiful cherry trees that have the cherry blossoms in full bloom. It is a lovely sight. I was very lucky that people's properties were demolished making way for me to place these structures in Dewstone right where I make my trade packs. I will try to cut back on my eagerness to get my farm wagon for now since being depleted daily is simply 'unfun'. The main problem is the labour for gathering resources. I gather everything. I don't buy anything since I am making very little money. I cannot make much because I need labour to make more ...rofl the proverbial catch 22 I guess.
That is my rant about the game. I am however constantly amazed by how much detail they have put in the game. The plants in their forms look like their real life counterparts. The systems to craft things and how you have to repair and maintain makes this game a crafter's dream...my dream. I have no interest in the PvP so my gear and upgrading it and the astronomical costs that go into that isn't something I need to worry about so I am happy about that at least.
I love how the duck wags it's bottom when it is ready to sheared. It's so cute and the chicken hop when they are hungry. Little details that make a world. It is indeed a very real experience in a virtual world. Damn the bloody labour !!!!
My cottage overlooks this
My lovely cottage
From my cottage my cherry trees can be seen
Notice the detail on the new cottage designs
It sounds way too complex an economy for me, rather like BDO. I tend to steer clear of that side of MMOs but I know many love it. I do like housing in MOOs though, the seaside location does look neat, with a chimney made for feasting!
The economy is indeed very complicated. The trade pack prices are dependent on people running larders. These are trade packs that are not a local speciality and depend on your ability to craft larders and fill them and then they take 3 days to mature. You land space is thus locked for that time. However the payout is good but the costs are quite high too. Costs of making the larder and collecting the ingredients to put into those larders.
I was thinking of running aged honey which actually require you to go out and catch a queen bee and wear a veil when you harvest the honey , talk about being true to life. Then I discovered you have to have 20k proficiency in commerce so my pitiful 3k is no match. All trade packs now have a freshness quotient so you must have a good vehicle which I don't (I barely got off my donkey called Marigold to a Farm Cart) so that is the reason I am chomping at the bit to get the quests done for my farm wagon but labour damn you labour!
Previously the old trade pack system didn't have freshness as a deteriorating factor so people staged trade packs by having them ready to run when the prices go up so the larders were even better profit.
Honestly everything in this game takes time and effort but this is the part I enjoy, I just wish labour wasn't so restrictive because this is probably my ideal game as far as trading, cultivation and husbandry go. Not to mention the housing and other aspects. You should see some of the beautiful constructions people have and how they have arranged it with plants and furniture. Good game but bad resource system.
I am not quite sure how I feel about it since it is justified that I was an enemy in their territory and able to give them points so I shouldn't be miffed but I would lying if I said I wasn't a bit miffed. Never mind I guess what to do since I will be facing this more and more from now on. I will just take it in stride.
Meanwhile I have graduated to chicken coops and duck cages to collect poop for my eco fuel. I was trying to finish my farm wagon quests when I got killed. I may have to try doing them at 3 am to avoid the deaths.
The community chat is really quite horrible although people will send tells and talk to you privately the horrible taunts and the way people address and curse each other is quite disturbing. I mean it is very foul but I suppose a PvP game is like that. There are a few notable people that I have noticed that are especially nasty and I have not said anything in chat for fear of being targeted. However privately people in whispers are very nice and helpful. Which is good as I think I cannot have tolerated this or else.
Are all PvP communities like this in chat. The name calling and horrible things they suggest and say and want to inflict.
Honestly, I've been thinking all these korean games have to have these 'gates' due to the Chinese government. Of course the child regulation on game playtime is recent but they also have been against subscriptions and the like way before that. Given how big the chinese market is, these developers just go ahead and build them in place ahead of time.
What's more when the game was P2W you could buy potions for real money to replenish labour. It is definitely with an eye at going for your wallet that this mechanic is in place and with this version of Archeage Unchained where you can no longer buy the potions the labour shortage is acutely felt and damn annoying.
There are some quests I think and the archepass (that gets disabled on and off due to bugs and exploits) using in game gold that gives some labour potions. They however have diminishing returns and are far to few.
The level of douchery is not as great in EVE as some would have you believe.
Well, this was my experience when I actively played, been out of the loop now for over 3 years now, things may have changed.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The game is very time consuming and requires so much baby sitting when you have to watch timers feed, look after, water and so on. I would hate for them to change things and find all this things I have done to be abandoned as a result of a policy change. I hope they don't do anything but I am sure many are wary that they might gradually introduce P2W.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I may be splitting hairs here, but AA was never really "P2W", it was pay to advance very quickly. At no point did they make available for purchase anything you couldn't get in game with normal play. What ruined the game for me was the regrade system and the ability for some to circumvent the broken regrade system with real money making it so they never had to fix the regrade system because it was a source of income. So if you're reluctant, just know that at worst they will make it so people can advance more quickly again.
The regrade system made me quit. The regrade system was made worse because real money could be used to circumvent it or buy your way past it, which I was not willing to do. If they had the same "P2W" system in place with a regrade system that didn't completely suck or feed into the broken regrade system, I wouldn't have left.
Plus they messed with ingame market, offering items in the cash shop which were crafters main income.
The whole game was shafted because of the shitty store.
(Honeymoon period is the initial rush of pleasure playing a new mmorpg before the flaws finally get to you and you begin to consciously realize and/or, in the case of bad endgame, reach them)