User Score
3.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 775 Ratings

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  1. May 23, 2019
    4
    I have played through Archeage this past three weeks, trying out the story, the levelling and the gameplay.

    For me it feels like a very old game, especially when coming from Elderscrolls and Gw2. The character textures and appearance is very good but the buildings and plants and world around feels very clunky and old looking. Kinda blocky buildings etc. Cities are empty, npcs standing
    I have played through Archeage this past three weeks, trying out the story, the levelling and the gameplay.

    For me it feels like a very old game, especially when coming from Elderscrolls and Gw2. The character textures and appearance is very good but the buildings and plants and world around feels very clunky and old looking. Kinda blocky buildings etc. Cities are empty, npcs standing in clusters doing nothing and huge spaces where the is no life whatsoever. You very rarely hear your own characters voice, so there is a lot of reading text boxes. The interface is buggy and problematic, I tried to enlarge my skill bar so I could better use it and half of my lower skill bar disappeared under the screen. Trying to move the skill bars using shift and left click didn't work for me most of the time either.
    The game-play is very old time, fetch quests. BUT I did like some of the main stories, the best being the warborn. Unfortunately the main stories end at level 30 and while you continue the 'substitute' main story and sidequests, they are pretty bland and typical of older games. Its a hard slog getting from 30 to 50 even using xp potions I must say.
    I believe the server must be very quiet, the trade-broker on both the NA and EU had very little armor and weapons for sale as opposed to most the MMO's I've played. Luckily every few levels the game rewards your character with a set of new armor. I liked the armor styles but was disappointed to see there was no way to preview the armor before buying, who would spend a fortune on a new armor from the broker without previewing?

    Sad to see there was no in-game stylist, this would have kept me playing for longer having more cosmetic options. Especially as I am happy to be a paying player. But not so keen to pay real world money for changing my look on top of a monthly fee.

    I found the crafting and building systems unneccessarily complicated and impractical. For all the different materials needed for crafting and building, its a wonder there isn't a material storage system implemented into the game as there is in other mmos.

    Im glad I gave Archeage another look but feel very sorry that it doesn't live up to the hype from launch or even from reading others reviews.

    Id like to see them properly introduce flying and even allowing people the chance to own and train their own dragons, the dragon system is very exclusive, cash shop and guild reliant. What a shame for us casual players eh?

    I experienced PVP sometimes when out leveling my character, because the maps are so empty I really didn't have to worry about being constantly killed when doing quests in danger zones. Quite funny really cause I was expecting it.

    Personally I think they should scrap this game, take their ideas and build it again using a better engine with better graphics and better and more simple systems implemented. Update and improve is necessary for this game to compete with the other great and formidable mmo's out there.
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  2. Sep 27, 2014
    4
    Don't get me wrong...AA is a beautiful game. Great scenery, great combat effects and character models. However, beauty isn't enough to salvage this game. While the game touts being F2P the truth is that unless you are a subscriber you will pretty much always have a handicap. The servers are full of botters and gold sellers and Trion either doesn't care or doesn't have the resources to stopDon't get me wrong...AA is a beautiful game. Great scenery, great combat effects and character models. However, beauty isn't enough to salvage this game. While the game touts being F2P the truth is that unless you are a subscriber you will pretty much always have a handicap. The servers are full of botters and gold sellers and Trion either doesn't care or doesn't have the resources to stop them. This game had a ton of potential but its ultimately a bomb. One is better off just sticking to WoW... Expand
  3. Sep 17, 2014
    4
    If you like a mmo that does not reinvent the wheel and plays like a pc mmo and not a console then this is something that will feel familiar to you. The crafting is in depth, the trade is interesting, pvp is ok. Not great but is ok. As far as end game content I have yet to see that. From what I can tell it's pvp, trade, and make money. Sometimes feels like a pretty Farmville on theIf you like a mmo that does not reinvent the wheel and plays like a pc mmo and not a console then this is something that will feel familiar to you. The crafting is in depth, the trade is interesting, pvp is ok. Not great but is ok. As far as end game content I have yet to see that. From what I can tell it's pvp, trade, and make money. Sometimes feels like a pretty Farmville on the watching your farms grow. The BIGGEST problem is the lack of planning and the ridiculous queue lines. IF you have paid them money or free to play you can expect to see queue lines from 500-4k depending on when you try to log in. The game is worth trying, but until the can figure out how to deal with the log in problems I would wait. Your time is better spent watching paint dry in stead of the queue count down. Expand
  4. Nov 18, 2014
    4
    It doesn't have the longevity that an MMO should have. People will play until end game, but why do you want to play anymore of it? You have everything already because of how linear the questing is, and the only thing left for players to do is to build a house, but there is no reason for it anyway because it contains minimalistic interactivity. The combat is mediocre at best taking afterIt doesn't have the longevity that an MMO should have. People will play until end game, but why do you want to play anymore of it? You have everything already because of how linear the questing is, and the only thing left for players to do is to build a house, but there is no reason for it anyway because it contains minimalistic interactivity. The combat is mediocre at best taking after pretty much every MMO nowadays just without the charm. The environments are dull, and the enemies are like something you would find out of Wizard 101, including their AI. Also, as is with many free to play games, there is an in game shop where you can buy currency to purchase in game items. In most games this would be really fair, take War Thunder for example, but in this game, you can have exclusive items TOP TIER items when you get to level 30, which is 20 levels below max. This game is not worth anyone's time unless they just want to get through the tedious questing to see why everyone says this game is great, because you won't find that answer while going through your questing phase, and you will most certainly never find that answer after end game. Expand
  5. Dec 11, 2014
    4
    This game. Wow. The graphics at first make you believe this might be next gen stuff but it very quickly seems like many things are lacking depth and although they had a lot of ideas for the game they didn't deliver the goods .In a nutshell its like looking at the a beautiful trailer with castles and beautiful mountains and then you actually play the game and its nothing but a prop on aThis game. Wow. The graphics at first make you believe this might be next gen stuff but it very quickly seems like many things are lacking depth and although they had a lot of ideas for the game they didn't deliver the goods .In a nutshell its like looking at the a beautiful trailer with castles and beautiful mountains and then you actually play the game and its nothing but a prop on a stand that seems like its going to crash.

    In a spam of almost 3 month, over 1000 hours, 50k gold I bought thru sites I was able to get the highest grade of weapons currently available thru crafting. Something that is almost impossible for anyone without patronage and the use of illegal sites that sells gold can get in that amount of time I got the best armor and 2H great axe, unless your ready to grind 3 months for only one piece of gear or weapon , don't brother, quest gear can be good and is aright but never comes close to crafted items, You get the feel if you aren't the monthly sub to need to pretty much only use certain classes although their endless amounts of classes unless you can top tier items which as I said is very taxing for f2p gamers, even with a sub for the game, you are climbing a mountain that XLgames only makes higher and higher for you to get what you want so you can freely and truly have the feeling that you can be anything you want to be in the game. Leveling is a joke. I hit the cap in less then a week. The grind begins when you hit max level with every skill you wish to pursue but it only turns to a chore by the fact that if you want to further develop a skill you need to send time attaining gold, problem is that the game is not even finished a third of the map wasn't done at launch, now part of it is up but only a part not all of it. Fishing is the only real way of making a profit without have to spend too much gold and time on packs and worrying about the economy which a first it sounds like a good idea have a changing economy based on the laws of supply and demand but some time is wasted on these things unless you get a merchant ship which, good luck getting without a army of people helping you, Or you buy the damn thing from someone that can. Even with all my gold this was one part that was even hard for me, but I got one in the end took 2 weeks of endless runs for the necessary items to get this damn thing. I was very happy when I did get all on my own though, only reason this game is not lower then a 4 for me is cause of the naval combat and ships that the devs actually took their time to make , sailing is fun and pirating the other continent is really fun, unless you have people from your continent pking other people of your faction which you can do in certain parts of the world that you will need to go thru in order to get most out of commerce.

    To end this, the critics reviews are completely trash this is PAY TO WIN game don't let no one tell you otherwise, If you were hoping for a game where you can have fun farmvilling, you might be ok if you want to spend a little cash, but if you want to make a good PVX character forget it as I have mentioned all the p2w gamers have the land and AH and crafted items which are hard nonetheless with everything you buy to get so your stuck with a few range, sleath, aoe magic battle skills that are effective in battle, overall this game is not one to waste your time and money, this game is very incomplete and even if you play the Korean version you will see that the developers in that game which has been around longer then the NA version has the same core issues they just left the thing as is and only have added more stuff you can buy add-on for ships and new ships and a few world bosses but they don't seem to care about fixing anything. Only how they get a few more bucks off of you, so don't think they will fix the NA version either, in the story they quit at level 35, their is not conclusion at all they literally just quit the story not happens nothing at all , and the rest of the game is the same way. The only thing they managed to get right is the complex crafting systems which is the craziest I have seen in any mmo. This is Hyuna from the Callei server saying this is it for me , Black Desert is going in for closed beta, get yourself a Korean vpn so you can play it.
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  6. Sep 17, 2014
    4
    My impressions are from beta, as I have been unable to log in since launch; unwilling to wait hours in a queue. Given we are several generations in on MMOs now this really isn't acceptable.

    Combat is tab-targeted. Quests are uninspiring. The attractiveness of the game is the open world "sandbox" - ish environment. Most of these tasks are parsed by labor tokens that are earned while
    My impressions are from beta, as I have been unable to log in since launch; unwilling to wait hours in a queue. Given we are several generations in on MMOs now this really isn't acceptable.

    Combat is tab-targeted. Quests are uninspiring. The attractiveness of the game is the open world "sandbox" - ish environment. Most of these tasks are parsed by labor tokens that are earned while logged in (or offline for patrons) Land and crafting have huge significance for this game and most of the land has already been snatched up by those with early access.

    As I mentioned - big launch problems. Save yourself the frustration and pass on this one. It might be worth visiting a few months from now but honestly, given my beta impressions, I'm not really all that disappointed to wait.
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  7. Sep 17, 2014
    4
    The game of Archeage is quite amazing, vast open world with large seas for ship battles, claimable, persistent land and a really great crafting system and potential for a very deep economy. XLGames did an amazing job with it's development.

    The reason I give it a 4, is because XLGames trusted Trion with it's North American and European release. Trion did a terrible job. Queue times of up
    The game of Archeage is quite amazing, vast open world with large seas for ship battles, claimable, persistent land and a really great crafting system and potential for a very deep economy. XLGames did an amazing job with it's development.

    The reason I give it a 4, is because XLGames trusted Trion with it's North American and European release. Trion did a terrible job. Queue times of up to 6 hours long to get into a server, crashes, terrible lag, broken subscription system, and absolutely no communication to either paid players or free to play players. They essentially tarnished XLGames' name with their management of the release. They have potentially ruined the opinion of thousands of players when it comes to Archeage... when the game itself is quite impressive.

    I would be extremely delighted if XLGames decides to sue Trion for damages to their brand.
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  8. Sep 17, 2014
    4
    The game has the capacity to be AMAZING 10/10 hit. However the publisher TRION WORLDS is killing the game. HORRID login queues, where paying PATRONS are in queue for 3-5 hours and Trion post only 60 mins queues in prime time... It is P2GA and not P2W, you can get ahead quickly by spending cash in the Marketplace, almost a pay to win... Then allowing the land grab where you can block landThe game has the capacity to be AMAZING 10/10 hit. However the publisher TRION WORLDS is killing the game. HORRID login queues, where paying PATRONS are in queue for 3-5 hours and Trion post only 60 mins queues in prime time... It is P2GA and not P2W, you can get ahead quickly by spending cash in the Marketplace, almost a pay to win... Then allowing the land grab where you can block land forever is not right. So many people got screwed over lack of land. Then closing the norther island before launch, etc. They even are in their forums saying that they know Population is going down in a couple weeks, as justification NOT to open more servers.

    They knew how many people were pre-ordering, how many servers, and they have added 3 to the US since launch (LAUNCH MIND YOU) and still every server has hours of queues for thousands of players. Yeah folks going to go find something else to do while waiting on these queues.
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  9. Nov 3, 2014
    4
    After playing longer, I'm lowering my review. The game looks great and is fun for a while but don't be fooled by the whole land ownership thing. You won't beat the gold farmers to any land, and believe me this is a game filled with gold farmers.

    Also, their patron offer alludes that you can own land if you're a patron. Yes, you technically *can* own land, but you *won't* own land unless
    After playing longer, I'm lowering my review. The game looks great and is fun for a while but don't be fooled by the whole land ownership thing. You won't beat the gold farmers to any land, and believe me this is a game filled with gold farmers.

    Also, their patron offer alludes that you can own land if you're a patron. Yes, you technically *can* own land, but you *won't* own land unless you pay a farmer for it.

    And then whole "If you are running a trade route, we will shut off all forms of fast travel" is just frustrating to no end.

    The game has a lot of pros and cons, but the cons are game killers. Pity because the potential is there. They just feel that they'll make more money off gold farmer subscriptions than player subscriptions, and that's who they cater to.
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  10. Oct 31, 2014
    4
    At this point in the game, I would only recommend ArcheAge if you're a team player and interested in PvP or casual PvE player.

    Reason being for my first point, group play in this game matters (Freedich-->Gilda). Numbers matter. Going solo in this game can be a frustrating experience unless you stick to only arenas. Although ArcheAge offers instanced dungeons, they are lackluster
    At this point in the game, I would only recommend ArcheAge if you're a team player and interested in PvP or casual PvE player.

    Reason being for my first point, group play in this game matters (Freedich-->Gilda). Numbers matter. Going solo in this game can be a frustrating experience unless you stick to only arenas.

    Although ArcheAge offers instanced dungeons, they are lackluster for the most part. If you're a casual PvE player you will enjoy ArcheAge. Trading and fishing will be your sources of income. Farming, gathering, and planting are also helpful in generating materials for trade packs.

    You will enjoy this game if...
    - You're a group oriented PvP player and willing to join a guild.
    - Able to devote time into research. Game can be complicated.
    - Casual PvE player with only an hour or two a day for farming/fishing/trading.
    - Have a PC able to run AA in all its' glory.

    You will not enjoy this game if...
    - Solo player. Perhaps at first, but you will probably become bored.
    - Botters and hackers exist. Gold spam occurs as well.
    - Land larger than a 8x8 (smallest) is difficult to find unless you have gold to spend. Limiting the amount of crops you can plant.
    - Technical support is slow.

    If you're not interested at this point, I recommend just playing WoW for a MMORPG.

    If you are interested in still playing, I recommend subbing for a month and giving it a shot. Research builds, money making, etc, and join a guild. During the month your trade and fishing income will help pay for your next month.

    Best of luck
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  11. Nov 6, 2014
    4
    Although many of the MMO aspects of AA are nothing new, the crafting/farming/trading aspect makes the game intriguing. The graphics are outstanding and there are many well done nuances to the world to allow for full game emersion. Building fast clipper ships, merchant trading vessels (or warships) and braving the high (PvP) seas as a merchant, mercenary or pirate all make the game uniqueAlthough many of the MMO aspects of AA are nothing new, the crafting/farming/trading aspect makes the game intriguing. The graphics are outstanding and there are many well done nuances to the world to allow for full game emersion. Building fast clipper ships, merchant trading vessels (or warships) and braving the high (PvP) seas as a merchant, mercenary or pirate all make the game unique and fun to play, but the heart of the game is crafting, trade and commerce. In order to get the full functionality and enjoyment out the game, you need at least a small plot of land (8x8) where you can safely farm the materials you need to craft, trade, and sell a ton of stuff. Here’s the catch: THERE IS NO LAND LEFT IN ARCHEAGE!! I was on a relatively new server with a relatively low population, and after hours and days of hunting for an available plot of land, I found nothing (I’m not unique; this sad song has been sung by many a player). Apparently during the Beta and early days of the release, there was a huge land grab; some players/guilds own several plots of land creating a land monopoly, which essentially shuts out new players. If you can’t find land you have to use either a public farm (which is very restrictive and subject to player theft) or rely on a guild or friend to let you use theirs. Trion will happily charge you the $15/month patron fee, but they do not guarantee you full game functionality, so they’re essentially perpetrating fraud. It’s kind of like paying full price for a car and only getting two wheels. As such, I’d recommend staying with a free-to-play account, which unlocks about 70% of the game content. That said, that’s about all you get with a paid (“Patron”) account since there is no land left to new players, so why pay real money?

    Perhaps if Trion develops a queue that eventually allowed one to at least get a 16x16 farm, then it might be worth sticking with a patron account. It would make more sense, however, to open up more land to new players (there appears to be broad expanses of land not being used for anything). I would be willing to (dare I say) use instanced zones for housing and farms just so I could get full game functionality.

    I queried Trion about these issues and ideas, and never received a reply on my ticket. The only advice I’ve received recommended I search and wait for a land plot to default due to a lapse in taxes…Gee, thanks Trion. I guess spending 90% of your “game” time randomly searching the entire world for hours on end waiting for another player’s plot of land to default is what passes for a good time? Sound like tons-o-fun! I think I’ll give my money to Blizzard.
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  12. Jan 7, 2015
    4
    Archeage has ground-breaking game mechanics, deep (overly so imo..) crafting system, and great sandbox environment for PvP. HOWEVER, if you want to succeeed at PvP in Archeage, and that is really what the game is all about, it is in fact Pay 2 Win. No question about the fact that this game is money making Juggernaut for Glyph/Trion etc.. that is geared towards getting you to spend money inArcheage has ground-breaking game mechanics, deep (overly so imo..) crafting system, and great sandbox environment for PvP. HOWEVER, if you want to succeeed at PvP in Archeage, and that is really what the game is all about, it is in fact Pay 2 Win. No question about the fact that this game is money making Juggernaut for Glyph/Trion etc.. that is geared towards getting you to spend money in their RM market place on items that make it feasible for you to advance your post lvl 50 toon.

    Is it possible for you to gear up without paying? Technically it is, but it would take such a prohibitively long time (think over a year..) grinding mundane tasks such as fishing, and farming (literally.. like on a farm), that you would want to burn your eyes out with a hot poker. Meanwhile you would be getting PWND in any pvp you attempted within a couple of seconds with anyone who has payed to gear up. Sound like fun? It's not.

    Once again, beware, the End Game IS DEFINITELY PAY 2 WIN.
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  13. Jun 4, 2015
    4
    Pay to win. If you are combat only the game may be ok for you. The graphics are nice. By automating the farming and crafting they have made it so the builders have no place and they have sealed that deal by announcing the mergers of the low pop servers.
  14. Aug 17, 2016
    4
    Very nice game with a lot things to do, open world pvp, sieges, sea wars, good skill mechanics.
    But was totally ruined by free to play model, had to go as monthly subscription without any chance for pay to win option.
  15. Jul 16, 2021
    4
    had fun for like 20 hours then lost track of it. not really good mmo. nothing ultra new in game. and P2W still here
  16. Oct 29, 2021
    4
    одна из худших но распиаренных ммо,. полный кал даже перфект ворлд почти того же года куда качественнее и приятнее играется
  17. Oct 23, 2014
    3
    I was so dissappointed with Archeage that I payed WoW after 2 years.

    - Korean grinding: farm 600 seals in a player infested area? rly? - Rampant cheating: Cryengine, nothing more to say - Rampant botting: There are even raids of bots out there - Abysmal PvE: Almost no room for melees in raids, most world bosses are just tank and spank for 5-10min - Almost no content for casual
    I was so dissappointed with Archeage that I payed WoW after 2 years.

    - Korean grinding: farm 600 seals in a player infested area? rly?
    - Rampant cheating: Cryengine, nothing more to say
    - Rampant botting: There are even raids of bots out there
    - Abysmal PvE: Almost no room for melees in raids, most world bosses are just tank and spank for 5-10min
    - Almost no content for casual players and/or small guilds
    - No 64bit client in a game with massive player vs player raids: When it is approaching 2gb memory usage, it just stops loading textures, models and stuff
    - No borderless window mode
    - No mouse invert avaiable (Really? It is BUILT IN Cryengine!!)
    - (EDIT) Bonus, and this is a good one: Most bosses are immune to dots and status altering debuffs, redeeming the combo system useless

    Not to say that massive pvp raids are fun, but that's that way in every mmo.
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  18. Nov 25, 2014
    3
    Heavily (heavily) pay2win, endless exploits and dupes.
    Promising sandbox but since they made all the traderoutes safezone there is no actual world pvp to speak of, people just play farmville in pve zones instead.
  19. Sep 22, 2014
    3
    The graphics in this game are current MMO Gen high quality. The combat, class system and skill trees are a lot of fun and very adaptable, some aspects of this look copied off Rift (a good game from Trion)

    This game is fantastic for griefers; goonswarm will love it.
    Most will find the mechanics very annoying and the justice system in the game is a joke.
  20. Sep 25, 2014
    3
    Boy oh boy did I waste money on this game. It had so much promise, but delivery was a total failure. I had heaps of fun at first, despite the long queues and the fact that ALL the housing land had been taken by the time I logged on. Eventually they released more servers, but those filled up just as fast and I was only able to get a housing spot and large farm spot in a dangerous open PVPBoy oh boy did I waste money on this game. It had so much promise, but delivery was a total failure. I had heaps of fun at first, despite the long queues and the fact that ALL the housing land had been taken by the time I logged on. Eventually they released more servers, but those filled up just as fast and I was only able to get a housing spot and large farm spot in a dangerous open PVP ganking area. But that's ok, I thought. Level 25 shadowplay and you get stealth, so you won't get ganked while carrying your extremely precious lumber pack to your land in order to build. With the servers so crowded, competition for suitable trees was harsh, and it took maybe 20 hours of gameplay to get a single lumber pack. What I didn't count on, was the awful stability issues. Sometimes the game crashed 3 times in an hour. So there I was, carrying my precious lumber pack to build my farm, in stealth. Of course, it crashes, and my character gets ganked and the lumber pack gets stolen while I'm trying desperately to log back in.
    Thanks TRION. Money, time, wasted. Don't think I'll be playing anymore. Can't get my money back, but I can avoid wasting more time.
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  21. Nov 12, 2014
    3
    Started off very fun. Loved the farming, gathering, crafting tradepacks, doing pirate runs with my guild, etc. But unstable servers, Pay to Win BS and Free to Play bots ruined this game. Not to mention the lack of late game fun and incredibly slow, clunky rollout of Auroria. Trion would promise us that we would get something, then either ignore comments that these promises were not keptStarted off very fun. Loved the farming, gathering, crafting tradepacks, doing pirate runs with my guild, etc. But unstable servers, Pay to Win BS and Free to Play bots ruined this game. Not to mention the lack of late game fun and incredibly slow, clunky rollout of Auroria. Trion would promise us that we would get something, then either ignore comments that these promises were not kept or do 50% of what they said they would do. Just don't play this game, it's dead in the water. Expand
  22. Sep 17, 2014
    3
    If you could play this game (being for 5 hours on queue as a f2p player is not fun) you would realize this game isn't really f2p anyway... you can't even use the auction house without paying some money and yes you can buy patron status through ingame gold but with severe limitations to make gold (low labour points and only while online and can't sell items on the auction house) making theIf you could play this game (being for 5 hours on queue as a f2p player is not fun) you would realize this game isn't really f2p anyway... you can't even use the auction house without paying some money and yes you can buy patron status through ingame gold but with severe limitations to make gold (low labour points and only while online and can't sell items on the auction house) making the money for TWO apex (gives 1250 credits each and patron status costs 2300 credits) at 50g/each is really not possible without help.

    The real problem is you CAN'T buy the auction licence with gold... so you're totally gimped and excluded from the economy... tried shouting my goods for hours undercutting the auction house and no one was interested.

    This game may not be pay to win but it surely is pay to play... at least a minimum... you can't have everything just playing... you can't even complete the scarecrow quest ffs. This + 5 hours queues and motivation to afk ingame is what breaks completely the experience and is what they should have changed to make it more appealing to a west audience. Maybe on korea a lot of people can't afk because they go to cafés but here we all have pcs... so give me a break and fix this **** refund all money or just scrap it all and re launch it.
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  23. Sep 17, 2014
    3
    Really, it is a fun game. Yet, the publishers Trion have treated their customers as second rate citizens. Dropping the ball with promised services and then launching with a package with better items than the founders originally got...it became overall, the 2nd biggest disappointment launch behind Age of Conan.
  24. Sep 22, 2014
    3
    Could be an awesome game, with the best class system (combine 3 archetypes whenever you want). But labor point system forces players to afk, making the servers full and queues unbearable
  25. Sep 27, 2014
    3
    Definitely Pay to win.Boring quests.Worst combat system.Nothing is different than the other mmos expect the naval battles.Wasted potential.Disconnection problems...
  26. Sep 26, 2014
    3
    NA and EU versions of the game published by TRION are riddled with the exact same vulnerability to bots, hacks and exploits that have plagued the Korean and Russian versions of the game. TRION has been extremely bad about banning bots and hackers so far. Bots have been running for days after being reported. There are teleport hacks that allow the users to instantly move trade packs toNA and EU versions of the game published by TRION are riddled with the exact same vulnerability to bots, hacks and exploits that have plagued the Korean and Russian versions of the game. TRION has been extremely bad about banning bots and hackers so far. Bots have been running for days after being reported. There are teleport hacks that allow the users to instantly move trade packs to anywhere in the world. Between them, they are already destroying the in-game economy.

    The game forums are drowning in cries and pleas for TRION to take action against the exploiters and gold sellers and there is only silence. Even the forum name of the TRION community rep is a sarcastic play on the word "scapegoat"...

    Land ownership is advertised as being a perk of being a "patron" (e.g. subscriber), but hackers (there are hacks that allow one to grab demolished plots due to failure to pay upkeep before any legit player can place there) and the low penalty for owning extra property have given rise to "land barons" already. Between them and the messed up placement system and limited spacing to place houses it has made getting land nearly impossible without getting ripped off. If you are lucky, you might find a spot to place your "free" quest 8x8 grid scarecrow so you can grow a few crops safely but that's it.

    For these reasons alone, I can't recommend the game to anyone at this point. Sure, there is some fun in the game and the graphics are very nice when you crank up the video settings but it's not enough to redeem the mess that it is in right now. TRION used to be a shining star in the MMO/gaming industry and had a good reputation. Something happened to them. The TRION that is running ArcheAge is not the TRION I used to know. They've lost their way and are sliding into disrepute. It's sad to see.
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  27. Oct 18, 2014
    3
    I was so incredibly hyped about this game, that I actually went and paid £38 to get into the beta.
    I was absolutely loving it from the first moment I started, right up to level cap....
    And then it all went down hill. I'm incredibly annoyed with the end game content in this game. I understand that the game is based around trade routes, crafting and world pvp, but Archeage is lacking in
    I was so incredibly hyped about this game, that I actually went and paid £38 to get into the beta.
    I was absolutely loving it from the first moment I started, right up to level cap....
    And then it all went down hill.
    I'm incredibly annoyed with the end game content in this game. I understand that the game is based around trade routes, crafting and world pvp, but Archeage is lacking in pretty much every other department. (Besides graphics, because it's frikkin beautiful for an MMO).
    I'm a PvPer myself, so as I was max level, I decided to hunt down the 'battleground NPCs'....
    When I discovered that the only organised pvp available was 1v1 or 5v5, I was slightly disheartened. But no matter, I joined anyway and hoped for the best.
    After about 30 1v1 matches I began to realise that I'd only seen about 5 different classes, and I was being destroyed by all of them without even casting a single spell myself.
    This game is so incredibly unbalanced. If you aren't either a primeval, a dark runner, a spelldagger, a blighter or a paladin, you might as well go sit in a corner with your thumb up your ass and cry.
    And to top it all off, even if you do win and somehow manage to amass a respectable amount of honor (currency for PvP items), the weapons that are attainable through PvP degrade after 44 days. Meaning you have to start all over again.
    Everybody looks the same at level cap because the final questing hub is the only place to get a decent set of gear without spending weeks and weeks crafting garbage to get your skill level up to a standard where you can make something better.
    There's a lot more for me to complain about and there shouldn't be. This game had so much potential, and I am incredibly disappointed.
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  28. Sep 30, 2014
    3
    If you're a game designer or developer, you should play games yourself to get a good idea what you're doing and how to do it best. The Archeage team clearly don't have a **** clue what they're doing.

    For starters, the default party loot system makes you roll for items, but you can't automate the rolling or even assign it to a key. That means FOR EVERY ITEM you have to click a box that
    If you're a game designer or developer, you should play games yourself to get a good idea what you're doing and how to do it best. The Archeage team clearly don't have a **** clue what they're doing.

    For starters, the default party loot system makes you roll for items, but you can't automate the rolling or even assign it to a key. That means FOR EVERY ITEM you have to click a box that asks if you want to roll for it. What year is it again? This system is so annoying and hostile towards players, it begs the question if they even want people to play their game.

    On the technical side, there are problems with the launcher and server queues. Problems that should take a few hours to solve, yet have been there for months.

    Hackshield Pro is horrible anti-cheat software. It needs admin privileges every time you start the game and is very invasive, but doesn't stop cheaters and botters at all.

    Beneath all that, there's a game that looks good, offers a lot of freedom to do different things and generally has potential, but it will never live up to that with these people developing it.
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  29. Sep 18, 2014
    3
    ArcheAge is what happens when incompetence collides. Halfway decent game concept put together by an incompetent Korean developer (XLGames) and published by an even more incompetent incompetent North American publisher (Trion).

    The level of ineptitude in handling the pre-launch, launch, and post-launch troubles is astounding. The simple fact that the game is up and running at all is a miracle.
  30. Nov 19, 2014
    3
    Pay to the actual win. Welcome to the meta of unfair advantages in pvp, insane power scaling with absolutely no way to fight someone equal to you in terms of pure stats. It is absolutely pure who forked up the money, sold the items on the AH and bought the best weapons and best armor. Nothing else. I made it to 50, had a farm, Hell I was a guy that forked up the 150 dollars. I was one ofPay to the actual win. Welcome to the meta of unfair advantages in pvp, insane power scaling with absolutely no way to fight someone equal to you in terms of pure stats. It is absolutely pure who forked up the money, sold the items on the AH and bought the best weapons and best armor. Nothing else. I made it to 50, had a farm, Hell I was a guy that forked up the 150 dollars. I was one of those guys that wrecked everyone underneath him with his full craft, top tier gear and I tried once playing on an alt without any of that. Even cheating by giving my alt money from my main I had insane problems with making any progress whatsoever, and every day at level 50 felt like there was no game there. There just wasnt anything for me to do, or to progress even with a guild. The game is stomp people for fun at the end by waving your money in their face. Thats all you have to look forward to in this missed opportunity of a game. Expand
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Jan 5, 2015
    80
    What ArcheAge presents, past the horror of the chilling launch, is an open world full of opportunities and challenges as we have not seen for a too-long time demonstrating that the real MMORPG, those based on persistence and interaction, have not disappeared.
  2. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    85
    Don’t let your judgment be clouded by other people’s opinions influenced by terrible server problems they encountered when ArcheAge was launched. It’s a really good, beautiful game. [Dec 2014, p.76]
  3. Nov 18, 2014
    88
    ArcheAge is one of the best free-to-play games to be released this year, with a near endless amount of content awaiting eager adventurers.