If your playing for free, you better have rich friends to carry you through the game... is this correct?
I dont wanna help the lower scum succeed, so Ill run with my upper class guild. Cause thats how the best will prevail in this game.
I wonder what players like you actually know about the game before posting stupid comments? why would you need rich friends...you need smart friends. There is nothing in the game that a f2p gamer can't get without putting forth the effort. Stuff aren't going to get handed out to f2p gamers because they cry and complain. instead, while they cry some other f2p gamer is going to be playing his ass making money to purchase APEX. Than once they get patron status they will make the marketplace work for them.
If your playing for free, you better have rich friends to carry you through the game... is this correct?
I dont wanna help the lower scum succeed, so Ill run with my upper class guild. Cause thats how the best will prevail in this game.
I wonder what players like you actually know about the game before posting stupid comments? why would you need rich friends...you need smart friends. There is nothing in the game that a f2p gamer can't get without putting forth the effort. Stuff aren't going to get handed out to f2p gamers because they cry and complain. instead, while they cry some other f2p gamer is going to be playing his ass making money to purchase APEX. Than once they get patron status they will make the marketplace work for them.
The organized alpha guilds will dominate this game, because they'll have the smarts, they'll have the cashshop money, and they will takeover.
If your playing for free, you better have rich friends to carry you through the game... is this correct?
I dont wanna help the lower scum succeed, so Ill run with my upper class guild. Cause thats how the best will prevail in this game.
I wonder what players like you actually know about the game before posting stupid comments? why would you need rich friends...you need smart friends. There is nothing in the game that a f2p gamer can't get without putting forth the effort. Stuff aren't going to get handed out to f2p gamers because they cry and complain. instead, while they cry some other f2p gamer is going to be playing his ass making money to purchase APEX. Than once they get patron status they will make the marketplace work for them.
The organized alpha guilds will dominate this game, because they'll have the smarts, they'll have the cashshop money, and they will takeover.
If your playing for free, you better have rich friends to carry you through the game... is this correct?
I dont wanna help the lower scum succeed, so Ill run with my upper class guild. Cause thats how the best will prevail in this game.
I wonder what players like you actually know about the game before posting stupid comments? why would you need rich friends...you need smart friends. There is nothing in the game that a f2p gamer can't get without putting forth the effort. Stuff aren't going to get handed out to f2p gamers because they cry and complain. instead, while they cry some other f2p gamer is going to be playing his ass making money to purchase APEX. Than once they get patron status they will make the marketplace work for them.
The organized alpha guilds will dominate this game, because they'll have the smarts, they'll have the cashshop money, and they will takeover.
this is what your average AA crafter will look like. These guys are the only ones that can afford to buy 40 bucks worth of labor pots from the cash shop every day
There is no such thing as F2P. Just like the old saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch".
The sooner everyone understands this universal truth, the better off we'll all be.
No there is such a thing as a free lunch, you just have to know where to find it.
People get bent out of shape over the silliest of things... you're biggest concern is that someone will have an advantage over you. That's it. These games are never an even playing field... and when I say "these games" I mean all games. Someone will always have the advantage... whether they bought it, earned it, hacked it, whatever. Crying over milk that hasn't spilt is silly. Until it happens, don't worry about it.
I won't comment on the pay to win portion of this thread..
Only on the comments implying that, even with a monthly subscription, there are still restrictions on anything but novelty items.
If I'm subscribing, I don't expect my storage space to be held for ransom in the item shop. I expect to get the full game, because I'm giving them a monthly fee. I can cut some slack if there is no box price, but I still find things like buying storage space with real money disgusting if I'm subscribing.
TSW has a pretty good system in my opinion: a monthly subscription gets you bonuses (such as character slots), and you also get a set amount of "bonus points" to spend in the item store each month. I honestly feel that's the best route to take in games without a required subscription. If it's optional and you don't get everything in the item store included with box + a sub, then give us currency to use in the item store each month we are subbed. Doesn't have to be boatloads, just enough to convince me my subscription isn't wasteful compared to simply buying from the item store alone.
Why should you even be buying anything in the item store? If you pay a sub, shouldn't you have access to that in-game? That's the part that gets me, people willing to pay a sub and find it *reasonable* to buy things in an item shop. Why? Are we playing Guy's Grocery Game? If it's not in-game, it shouldn't be available anywhere else. You open the door to that sort of itemization, your sub truly is worthless.
Rift has a patron pass (sub) and has a shop too for crap that I never bought.
So do many other games.
My plan for AA is to pay the sub for land ownership + labor and ignore the shop, don't need any of the stuff in there.
Simple.
None of the crap in the shop is going to kill someone in PvP faster- the whole P2W is pure nonsense.
DMKano, I usually disagree with everything you say before you even say it. But you're right about this, people are using the term P2W way too loosely. Rift has the BEST F2P system in the market right now and AA will copy it so it's all good.
- Vocation potion (experience gained from vocation activities + 100% for 1h, again progress),
- Tax certificates (used to pay tax for house/farm, this is straight up in-game gold since you don't have to spend your resources to craft them on your own),
- Tonics for reducing infamy/crime points,
- Expansion scrolls for bank/bags,
- Building appraisal - ability to sell your land,
- Mount food (gives 50k exp),
Of course that's not all, there is more stuff available for $$$.
So how is any of that winning.
Short answer, its not. Long answer, people feel entitled in todays market.
Yes, Patron is "unlocking" the rest of the game, but any subscription is pretty much for the same thing. Alot of that can be offset just by having friends or a guild.
Owning farms/houses is as simple as being in the family or guild. A patron can place an extra property down, give a free player permission to use it, and BOOM, free player now has a farm. You can even use the house, and set your recall there. You can buy tax certs off the auction house and give to the patron, and you are basically even paying the taxes yourself. This is really only a restriction if you are both a solo player and a free player.
The labor regen is a bummer, but its not a limitation in itself. Unless you are doing the above, and farming or managing property, you probably wont be spending all your labor anyways. The 5 per 5 online regen is plenty to open your armor and manage the things you need while leveling. You just wont be doing any of the extraneous activities, like farming or crafting. In the end though, you still have access to the labor potions just like a patron, and if you want an early shot at those activities even patrons will need to buy the potions.
The bonus xp is negligible because just questing and leveling you always stay even with or even ahead of the content. As a patron I find I am usually a level or even two or three ahead of the quests im doing just because xp gain is already high. You wont miss this and its not a bonus.
Posting on the auction house is done the same as housing. Just get a friend or guildy to do it for you. You can even use trade chat and do it old school style, or even by mail. There really is never a reason to interact with the AH, and you are still able to buy from, just not post to. Again, this is just a complaint from entitled people, not a negative or anything you will actually miss as a free player.
Anything else, things that come from the cash shop are available to you, whether you are free or patron, so patron doesnt give you any advantage there. Even patrons will be buying labor pots and such. As for it being pay to win, again this is a complaint from entitled people. They feel since they are patron and paying a sub, they shouldnt have to use the cash shop. The thing is the two arent related. The sub is for patron, and I have explained how you can work around that as a free player. The cash shop is for convenience and free and patron alike will enjoy using it.
But absolutely nothing on there SO FAR is remotely pay to win. I say so far, because its not complete, and they are still adding more things to it. Could it be pay to win later, maybe, but we just dont know that yet. Convenience in any MMO has never been pay to win, is not required to reach max level, or max effectiveness, or win at PVP. There is nothing on the cash shop that gives you any advantage over another player at max level, just some things to help you reach max level faster. There is no stat boosts, or epic gear of awsomeness, or "I win" buttons. Dont listen to the hate, they are just mad because they think paying a sub should give them an advantage over free players and it doesnt, so they take it out on the cash shop, believing "falsely" that maybe the could get an advantage there. Which you still cant. If you want Pay to Win, go play anything from R2Games.
SMH. Did you even read the responses? If so, did you form your long response before comprehension settled in? People aren't complaining because they want the power disparity to be larger between sub players and F2P. Sure you can look at a cash shop and say "there is no P2W items in there" because there is no obvious gear advantages. But the game is being praised for its player driven economy and hyped based on all of the stuff you can do with housing and whatnot that in the grand scheme of things I can see why some are calling it P2W based on the totality of the game and not just whether or not they sell gear.
I personally do not see a problem with the way they have it set up for the F2P players because I agree with some other posters that there should be advantages to being a subbed member over the F2P crowd. I think more than a few of us have pointed out that where we take exception to the game is in the first half of the OP's title and not the part specifically about being P2W. While I agree that the cash shop items can be viewed as P2W when viewing the picture as a whole, I think it may be a bit of a stretch calling AA P2W. On the flip side, paying a premium and still getting nickel and dimed with that cash shop is unacceptable. I thought it was a friggen joke when I was reading that people were paying $150 to beta test the game. Now I am hearing people defend the game and it's obvious cash grab and it makes me sad that we as consumers have fallen so far. SMH
How in the world do you guys find the TIME to write all this shit... it's mind boggling. Don't you guys have like.... stuff to do?
There is no such thing as F2P. Just like the old saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch".
The sooner everyone understands this universal truth, the better off we'll all be.
No there is such a thing as a free lunch, you just have to know where to find it.
People get bent out of shape over the silliest of things... you're biggest concern is that someone will have an advantage over you. That's it. These games are never an even playing field... and when I say "these games" I mean all games. Someone will always have the advantage... whether they bought it, earned it, hacked it, whatever. Crying over milk that hasn't spilt is silly. Until it happens, don't worry about it.
Incorrect. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone is paying for it one way or another, whether it be monitarily, or through their hard work. The person who believes it's free is just too busy cramming food down their gullet to see & is usually being exploited as well, without being aware.
Actually, the confusion is due to some people mistakenly thinking pay-to-win means any game where spending real money gives you any in-game advantage. That's not pay-to-win, that's pay-to-save-time. For me to call it pay-to-win, there has to be some in-game advantage that can ONLY be obtained by spending real-world money.
Of course, many MMO players seem to think if they aren't the first to hit the level cap, that they've somehow "lost" the game. If you're of that mindset, then of course any advantage may seem like pay-to-win.
Short answer, its not. Long answer, people feel entitled in todays market.
Yes, Patron is "unlocking" the rest of the game, but any subscription is pretty much for the same thing. Alot of that can be offset just by having friends or a guild.
Owning farms/houses is as simple as being in the family or guild. A patron can place an extra property down, give a free player permission to use it, and BOOM, free player now has a farm. You can even use the house, and set your recall there. You can buy tax certs off the auction house and give to the patron, and you are basically even paying the taxes yourself. This is really only a restriction if you are both a solo player and a free player.
The labor regen is a bummer, but its not a limitation in itself. Unless you are doing the above, and farming or managing property, you probably wont be spending all your labor anyways. The 5 per 5 online regen is plenty to open your armor and manage the things you need while leveling. You just wont be doing any of the extraneous activities, like farming or crafting. In the end though, you still have access to the labor potions just like a patron, and if you want an early shot at those activities even patrons will need to buy the potions.
The bonus xp is negligible because just questing and leveling you always stay even with or even ahead of the content. As a patron I find I am usually a level or even two or three ahead of the quests im doing just because xp gain is already high. You wont miss this and its not a bonus.
Posting on the auction house is done the same as housing. Just get a friend or guildy to do it for you. You can even use trade chat and do it old school style, or even by mail. There really is never a reason to interact with the AH, and you are still able to buy from, just not post to. Again, this is just a complaint from entitled people, not a negative or anything you will actually miss as a free player.
Anything else, things that come from the cash shop are available to you, whether you are free or patron, so patron doesnt give you any advantage there. Even patrons will be buying labor pots and such. As for it being pay to win, again this is a complaint from entitled people. They feel since they are patron and paying a sub, they shouldnt have to use the cash shop. The thing is the two arent related. The sub is for patron, and I have explained how you can work around that as a free player. The cash shop is for convenience and free and patron alike will enjoy using it.
But absolutely nothing on there SO FAR is remotely pay to win. I say so far, because its not complete, and they are still adding more things to it. Could it be pay to win later, maybe, but we just dont know that yet. Convenience in any MMO has never been pay to win, is not required to reach max level, or max effectiveness, or win at PVP. There is nothing on the cash shop that gives you any advantage over another player at max level, just some things to help you reach max level faster. There is no stat boosts, or epic gear of awsomeness, or "I win" buttons. Dont listen to the hate, they are just mad because they think paying a sub should give them an advantage over free players and it doesnt, so they take it out on the cash shop, believing "falsely" that maybe the could get an advantage there. Which you still cant. If you want Pay to Win, go play anything from R2Games.
SMH. Did you even read the responses? If so, did you form your long response before comprehension settled in? People aren't complaining because they want the power disparity to be larger between sub players and F2P. Sure you can look at a cash shop and say "there is no P2W items in there" because there is no obvious gear advantages. But the game is being praised for its player driven economy and hyped based on all of the stuff you can do with housing and whatnot that in the grand scheme of things I can see why some are calling it P2W based on the totality of the game and not just whether or not they sell gear.
I personally do not see a problem with the way they have it set up for the F2P players because I agree with some other posters that there should be advantages to being a subbed member over the F2P crowd. I think more than a few of us have pointed out that where we take exception to the game is in the first half of the OP's title and not the part specifically about being P2W. While I agree that the cash shop items can be viewed as P2W when viewing the picture as a whole, I think it may be a bit of a stretch calling AA P2W. On the flip side, paying a premium and still getting nickel and dimed with that cash shop is unacceptable. I thought it was a friggen joke when I was reading that people were paying $150 to beta test the game. Now I am hearing people defend the game and it's obvious cash grab and it makes me sad that we as consumers have fallen so far. SMH
How in the world do you guys find the TIME to write all this shit... it's mind boggling. Don't you guys have like.... stuff to do?
Well since I was quoted I will answer for myself. I am home with a newborn so I have lots of time to read through stuff. Judging from a lot of the comments here, many people don't bother to read and just post snide remarks which is why I had to ask him if he even read before responding. I also have time to discuss the game because I am not currently playing it seeing as how I am not challenged enough to pay for beta regardless of what bells and whistles they attach to the sales pitch to get people to buy into it. I was really looking forward to AA and still hold out some hope that the game ends up being to my liking, but based on this cash shop on top of a monthly sub nonsense, I won't be supporting them on this endeavor.
Actually, the confusion is due to some people mistakenly thinking pay-to-win means any game where spending real money gives you any in-game advantage. That's not pay-to-win, that's pay-to-save-time. For me to call it pay-to-win, there has to be some in-game advantage that can ONLY be obtained by spending real-world money.
Of course, many MMO players seem to think if they aren't the first to hit the level cap, that they've somehow "lost" the game. If you're of that mindset, then of course any advantage may seem like pay-to-win.
But to say that saving time is not P2W only holds true if time itself isn't a factor. Achieving a higher level of power early on allows players to establish their power base that much sooner, and to also keep it. They will also continue to grow faster as well. In other words, if you don't pay, you won't really ever "get there" since "there" is a moving target and it's moving faster than you.
It's a growth curve. Paying to stay ahead of it is most definately P2W.
So if i go to a Car dealership and pay more money to get a longer lasting car versus the other guy who can’t afford the newer car and has to buy a used ford pickup, does that mean I am paying-to-win?
Let’s just be real about this here, the only people who truly have an issue with Cash-shop items in Free-to-play online games are people who are terrified of some abstract delusion that this is all some sort of contest or race to the finish line, and if they are being one-upped by a player using an Experience potion, -well that just ruins their day completely!
The only thing here that lacks any shame is that the phrase “pay-to-win” has completely lost all of its’ true and meaning in today’s gaming communities.
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013 Fishing on Bronzebeard since 2005 Fishing in RL since 1992 Born with a fishing rod in my hand in 1979
Just want to preface my pretty insignificant opinion about Archeage, by saying, I havent purchased the game, and only played in the recent beta weekend, where I got one character - an outrider - to lvl 25 by playing very casually, a few hours fri,sat and sunday.
I didnt know much about the game, but for some reason I had picked up the idea that it was a sandbox'ish game. I knew it would have quests (the part that made it 'ish), but I thought that was pretty much it for themepark'ish stuff.
My experience was very different. Not only was I herded by quests, from hub to hub, but I did not find any incentive to go off the themepark rails, and infact when I did, I missed the quest experience from the npc's littered along the roads in the zones I visited. So obviously I was wrong about the sandbox thing. That was my ignorance leading to dissapointment, and so I dont put any disdain on Archeage for this. It was totally just me having a completely wrong set of expectations at the getgo. But if anyone else here still thinks Archeage is a sandbox, please be aware that it couldnt be further from it.
I did however find Labor points to be my "gate" for doing other things than simply pve questing. It was surprisingly difficult to harvest nodes and craft stuff, and open the loot bags from my kills without running out of LP almost right away. - I realise that you can spend real money to purchase 1000 of these points from the cash store. - However if ever there was a pay2win scenario, that wasnt completely blown out of all propertions than this is it. - No it is not a fiery weapon of instant death, or GM powers in a single item. - But it IS a very significant part of the game that is gated behind these labor points. And being able to purchase them means that if you pay for them using real money, you do have a significant advantage to that of other players.
If pay2win, doesnt equal, paying to win each battle you undertake, but rather means what most reasonable people actually mean when they use the phrase. Then yes Archeage does have that in their ingame store.
In any case. I did not find the game to be very interesting, but I wouldnt mind playing it casually on and off, if the game I tested this weekend was that of the f2p player once it goes live. However I have been informed that there will be some penalties for f2p players which were not introduced in this beta, so I know I do not have the f2p experience based on the play I had this weekend. - I believe I would find it impossible to not notice the obstacle course Archeage would feel like if I had been playing with those penalties, so in that sense the beta helped me feel confident that NOT playing it retail is the right decission for me.
For everyone who do end up playing it, have FUN! I like Trion, I wish they had picked up Black Desert instead of this (in my opinion) dead camel, but I hope they have sound research behind their choice as it must be hard for them with Defiance and rift struggling as they are.
Where is this Tunkaboy88 with this amazing posts of "What is P2W?????" or the other poster "OP is calling the cash shop P2W when he doesn't know what the cash shop has!!!!!kKKKKKKK".
At least we have DK with his amusing semantics arguments. I hope Trion hires you if it has not done yet.
So if i go to a Car dealership and pay more money to get a longer lasting car versus the other guy who can’t afford the newer car and has to buy a used ford pickup, does that mean I am paying-to-win?
Yes, you are. Its real world, not a video game, real world is pay to win, if you didnt notice yet.
Some people keep claiming that paying for convenience is not pay to win, so AA is not a pay to win game. They are contradicting themselvs.
LP is not about convenience, and there is no way to increase beyond the basic rate via ingame method (at least there is none when i left the korean version).
I am not saying AA is pay to win, since the difinition of this word is different for everyone.
But if you are going to claim its not, at least dont contracdict your own definition.
Where is this Tunkaboy88 with this amazing posts of "What is P2W?????" or the other poster "OP is calling the cash shop P2W when he doesn't know what the cash shop has!!!!!kKKKKKKK".
At least we have DK with his amusing semantics arguments. I hope Trion hires you if it has not done yet.
These posts of pay to win still going on ? Holy batman just move away from this game and never look back ! Easy aint it ! or not ?
I got more exp then you is that pay to win now ? I can craft more then you ? is that pay to win now ?
Realy ? realy realy ? uhm ok then in the vieuw of those people each and every mmo is pay to win.
Always people leveling faster then me Always people having their professions maxed out faster then me Always people with the best arena weapons faster then me Always people with better raid gear then me
Everything changed to pay to win now boohoooo mommy real life aint fair and now gaming aint fair
Seriously just move away if it bothers you that people do stuff faster then you but for the love of god stop making these useless posts about pay to win.
Buying mythic gear from the cash shop now thats what i call pay to win. Everything else can be done even by freeloaders altough on a reduced pace, but you can do it at least right ?
Hilarious mmo players these days that want everything for free and instandly. Hope they throw the whole free to play garbage overboard and never look back.
It is unbelievable how fucked up and disgusting these practices are where you have the publisher doing everything in its power to get cash from everyone and everything. My god this is unbelievable.
I hope people don’t listen to this nonsense and actually play the game and love it.
While I would encourage people to pay the optional monthly subscription fee, purely because a F2P player will be limited by labour. Nowhere near to the extend this dude is raving about but £8 / $15 a month is hardly an enormous amount, especially considering there is no initial purchase necessary.
Everything this man/woman/child is waffling on about is unimportant, none if it is required to have the most fun I've had in an MMO in years and I mean yearsssss. I've been playing MMO's for 15+ years and haven’t felt like this since I don’t even remember when.
Comments
If your playing for free, you better have rich friends to carry you through the game... is this correct?
I dont wanna help the lower scum succeed, so Ill run with my upper class guild. Cause thats how the best will prevail in this game.
You can always just be skilled...If you dont know how to play then of course you will have a bad time at this game.
I wonder what players like you actually know about the game before posting stupid comments? why would you need rich friends...you need smart friends. There is nothing in the game that a f2p gamer can't get without putting forth the effort. Stuff aren't going to get handed out to f2p gamers because they cry and complain. instead, while they cry some other f2p gamer is going to be playing his ass making money to purchase APEX. Than once they get patron status they will make the marketplace work for them.
Just keep telling yourself that...
But when you have skill combined with BANK, your gonna rick roll fools.
The organized alpha guilds will dominate this game, because they'll have the smarts, they'll have the cashshop money, and they will takeover.
So you stay off that server...
qft
this is what your average AA crafter will look like. These guys are the only ones that can afford to buy 40 bucks worth of labor pots from the cash shop every day
I miss DAoC
There is no such thing as F2P. Just like the old saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch".
The sooner everyone understands this universal truth, the better off we'll all be.
No there is such a thing as a free lunch, you just have to know where to find it.
People get bent out of shape over the silliest of things... you're biggest concern is that someone will have an advantage over you. That's it. These games are never an even playing field... and when I say "these games" I mean all games. Someone will always have the advantage... whether they bought it, earned it, hacked it, whatever. Crying over milk that hasn't spilt is silly. Until it happens, don't worry about it.
DMKano, I usually disagree with everything you say before you even say it. But you're right about this, people are using the term P2W way too loosely. Rift has the BEST F2P system in the market right now and AA will copy it so it's all good.
How in the world do you guys find the TIME to write all this shit... it's mind boggling. Don't you guys have like.... stuff to do?
Incorrect. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone is paying for it one way or another, whether it be monitarily, or through their hard work. The person who believes it's free is just too busy cramming food down their gullet to see & is usually being exploited as well, without being aware.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Actually, the confusion is due to some people mistakenly thinking pay-to-win means any game where spending real money gives you any in-game advantage. That's not pay-to-win, that's pay-to-save-time. For me to call it pay-to-win, there has to be some in-game advantage that can ONLY be obtained by spending real-world money.
Of course, many MMO players seem to think if they aren't the first to hit the level cap, that they've somehow "lost" the game. If you're of that mindset, then of course any advantage may seem like pay-to-win.
Well since I was quoted I will answer for myself. I am home with a newborn so I have lots of time to read through stuff. Judging from a lot of the comments here, many people don't bother to read and just post snide remarks which is why I had to ask him if he even read before responding. I also have time to discuss the game because I am not currently playing it seeing as how I am not challenged enough to pay for beta regardless of what bells and whistles they attach to the sales pitch to get people to buy into it. I was really looking forward to AA and still hold out some hope that the game ends up being to my liking, but based on this cash shop on top of a monthly sub nonsense, I won't be supporting them on this endeavor.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
But to say that saving time is not P2W only holds true if time itself isn't a factor. Achieving a higher level of power early on allows players to establish their power base that much sooner, and to also keep it. They will also continue to grow faster as well. In other words, if you don't pay, you won't really ever "get there" since "there" is a moving target and it's moving faster than you.
It's a growth curve. Paying to stay ahead of it is most definately P2W.
I knew it but no one listened.
So if i go to a Car dealership and pay more money to get a longer lasting car versus the other guy who can’t afford the newer car and has to buy a used ford pickup, does that mean I am paying-to-win?
Let’s just be real about this here, the only people who truly have an issue with Cash-shop items in Free-to-play online games are people who are terrified of some abstract delusion that this is all some sort of contest or race to the finish line, and if they are being one-upped by a player using an Experience potion, -well that just ruins their day completely!
The only thing here that lacks any shame is that the phrase “pay-to-win” has completely lost all of its’ true and meaning in today’s gaming communities.
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013
Fishing on Bronzebeard since 2005
Fishing in RL since 1992
Born with a fishing rod in my hand in 1979
Just want to preface my pretty insignificant opinion about Archeage, by saying, I havent purchased the game, and only played in the recent beta weekend, where I got one character - an outrider - to lvl 25 by playing very casually, a few hours fri,sat and sunday.
I didnt know much about the game, but for some reason I had picked up the idea that it was a sandbox'ish game. I knew it would have quests (the part that made it 'ish), but I thought that was pretty much it for themepark'ish stuff.
My experience was very different. Not only was I herded by quests, from hub to hub, but I did not find any incentive to go off the themepark rails, and infact when I did, I missed the quest experience from the npc's littered along the roads in the zones I visited. So obviously I was wrong about the sandbox thing. That was my ignorance leading to dissapointment, and so I dont put any disdain on Archeage for this. It was totally just me having a completely wrong set of expectations at the getgo. But if anyone else here still thinks Archeage is a sandbox, please be aware that it couldnt be further from it.
I did however find Labor points to be my "gate" for doing other things than simply pve questing. It was surprisingly difficult to harvest nodes and craft stuff, and open the loot bags from my kills without running out of LP almost right away. - I realise that you can spend real money to purchase 1000 of these points from the cash store. - However if ever there was a pay2win scenario, that wasnt completely blown out of all propertions than this is it. - No it is not a fiery weapon of instant death, or GM powers in a single item. - But it IS a very significant part of the game that is gated behind these labor points. And being able to purchase them means that if you pay for them using real money, you do have a significant advantage to that of other players.
If pay2win, doesnt equal, paying to win each battle you undertake, but rather means what most reasonable people actually mean when they use the phrase. Then yes Archeage does have that in their ingame store.
In any case. I did not find the game to be very interesting, but I wouldnt mind playing it casually on and off, if the game I tested this weekend was that of the f2p player once it goes live. However I have been informed that there will be some penalties for f2p players which were not introduced in this beta, so I know I do not have the f2p experience based on the play I had this weekend. - I believe I would find it impossible to not notice the obstacle course Archeage would feel like if I had been playing with those penalties, so in that sense the beta helped me feel confident that NOT playing it retail is the right decission for me.
For everyone who do end up playing it, have FUN! I like Trion, I wish they had picked up Black Desert instead of this (in my opinion) dead camel, but I hope they have sound research behind their choice as it must be hard for them with Defiance and rift struggling as they are.
uh what a shock.
a game selling it's beta THREE times becomming pay 2 win. who would have thought
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
Where is this Tunkaboy88 with this amazing posts of "What is P2W?????" or the other poster "OP is calling the cash shop P2W when he doesn't know what the cash shop has!!!!!kKKKKKKK".
At least we have DK with his amusing semantics arguments. I hope Trion hires you if it has not done yet.
Yes, you are. Its real world, not a video game, real world is pay to win, if you didnt notice yet.
Some people keep claiming that paying for convenience is not pay to win, so AA is not a pay to win game. They are contradicting themselvs.
LP is not about convenience, and there is no way to increase beyond the basic rate via ingame method (at least there is none when i left the korean version).
I am not saying AA is pay to win, since the difinition of this word is different for everyone.
But if you are going to claim its not, at least dont contracdict your own definition.
You are still QQing?
These posts of pay to win still going on ?
Holy batman just move away from this game and never look back !
Easy aint it ! or not ?
I got more exp then you is that pay to win now ?
I can craft more then you ? is that pay to win now ?
Realy ? realy realy ? uhm ok then in the vieuw of those people each and every mmo is pay to win.
Always people leveling faster then me
Always people having their professions maxed out faster then me
Always people with the best arena weapons faster then me
Always people with better raid gear then me
Everything changed to pay to win now boohoooo mommy real life aint fair and now gaming aint fair
Seriously just move away if it bothers you that people do stuff faster then you but for the love of god stop making these useless posts about pay to win.
Buying mythic gear from the cash shop now thats what i call pay to win.
Everything else can be done even by freeloaders altough on a reduced pace, but you can do it at least right ?
Hilarious mmo players these days that want everything for free and instandly.
Hope they throw the whole free to play garbage overboard and never look back.
Sub or gtfo old style best style o/
I hope people don’t listen to this nonsense and actually play the game and love it.
While I would encourage people to pay the optional monthly subscription fee, purely because a F2P player will be limited by labour. Nowhere near to the extend this dude is raving about but £8 / $15 a month is hardly an enormous amount, especially considering there is no initial purchase necessary.
Everything this man/woman/child is waffling on about is unimportant, none if it is required to have the most fun I've had in an MMO in years and I mean yearsssss. I've been playing MMO's for 15+ years and haven’t felt like this since I don’t even remember when.