So... today was the big day. Trion's ArcheAge went live to everyone, not just the people who bought founder packs to get into the headstart period. Not that those people really got much mileage out of their head start, since fucking Trion's been getting cornholed with DDOS attacks and authentication server mishaps since h.s. started. The rage on the forums is real, and there seem to be a lot of fanboys with their fingers on the game's carotid, just waiting to pronounce the game dead on arrival.
First off: this game has been way successful in Korea, and Trion is run by a bunch of fucking venture capitalists that won't let the game lose money. So calm your tits. I'm not saying it's not legit to get upset when you're dropped from heinous server queues, or get stuck in video loops, or whatever. I'm just saying to calm your tits and get a little perspective. World of Warcraft launched with day-long queues, serious server instability, and with so much client and server lag that it was pretty much unplayable for most people until two months after release. SWTOR had queues, Rift had queues, Wildstar had queues...
It's not a new thing. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. Look at it this way: if the publisher opens more servers, yes. It solves the problem immediately. There is more room for the playerbase to settle down, everyone gets a shot at land who wants it, and the launch-day flood is able to distribute evenly. Fast forward to a year or two down the line. The new car smell has given way to b.o. and stale beer, and a lot of those servers are starting to feel empty. Your newbie zones are ghost towns, because everyone's higher level, half the buildings are abandoned because the people that were so gung-ho at launch burned out or moved on. The forums are awash with cries of doom and death... And what are the devs to do? They can close servers and merge the populations, but then you have to worry about handling the housing issue, and the economics of the whole thing. Not to mention that server mergers are ALWAYS met with negative press. Like, since E'ci and Tunare were merged back in the day and all the Zeks became one server, people start screaming death and dismay when the M word comes into play.
Yeah. It's this whole mess. So, rather than create tomorrow's problems today, the devs decide to keep the number of servers low, gambling that a little bit of inconvenience now will offset the disappointment and inability to grow and nurture a long-term community down the road. That said...
I would expect Trion to open at least another two servers by midweek next week. They've already upped the server caps by 20% (in the US, 10% in the EU). They're acknowledging the issues and keeping the playerbase posted as they try to resolve them.
That's all you can bloody well ask for. Now shut your pie holes, goddammit.
*cough* Okay.
So I'm a naked newbie, playing on Enla, which is one of the newer servers. I'm playing 100% free at the moment, so there's a lot of shit I can't do (like own property and use the auction house). The combat so far is NOT restricted though, which is nice. I've been playing Trickster (Archery/Shadowblade/Witchcraft) and love it to pieces. It's a good mix of mobility, damage, and control. Holy shit. The bubble mez? Is awesome. And hilarious. The biggest perk of the whole build so far, and keep in mind that I'm only level 13, is the instant cast root/dot after I use my reverse lunge. I can basically root rot, if I want, by stacking my dots up and then rooting stuff. It's not very time-efficient, but it keeps me from dying every five feet.
I cannot say that about my fellow froobs. Jesus fuck, some of these people must need flashing lights on their desks to remind them to inhale and exhale.
I should write more, I really should, but I'm down to three minutes on my queue and I don't want to miss the pop. I'll be playing ArcheAge on stream for the forseeable future, so come on over and check the game out. ^.^ I plan to hit PvP hard, once I'm high enough level for it, which I think starts around 30. And apologies for the hiatus. Some RL shit happened, which you'll be able to read about over at On the Rox later tonight or mid-day tomorrow.
Stay excellent!
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