Version 1.0 Reddit Rant with Trion Response!(Worth the read)
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:21 pm
This post Explains live 1.0 on Korean Servers
[–]sphister 10 points 1 month ago
TTK for absolutely everything (inc. players) was drastically increased, resulting in 'harder' PvE (read: everything are sponges now), and mages became absolutely useless. Everyone are pretty much the same two-three builds. Also changed damage formulas, armor defense values, entire skill trees, etc.
Loyalty points added, gained for logging in daily, lose for not logging in. Directly modifies labour point gain, repair costs, etc.
Crafting nerfed despite already being Korean-tier. 90k is the new cap from 50k, you gain much less XP from crafting, and most recipes were rebalanced so that you have to invest more LP to craft the same things as before.
More WoW-esque 'features', like the majority of new craftables using, by in large, NPC-purchasables (read: inflexible prices, no longer driven by supply and demand).
Lifescore points added, a second layer to the LP system that is used for some items, generated by using up LP, and is required for some of the crafting (read: another way of limiting your progress, esp. for free players).
Fishing, but now instead of using nigh solely player-made objects (sandbox elements), all items revolving around it are bought with 'lifescore points'.
Many trade packages removed, new trading routes replacing them that require less items, but need 'processed food/items' that you can get from a trading vendor to convert your food item into processed food (read: more NPC merchant nonsense, removed features, added another forced method of using up precious LP). Note that you still need to craft the trade pack after processing it.
Trade routes changed to be much easier than before and based more on continents (land-trade).
Delphic Coins removed from trade (!?!?), replaced with gold. They are now only obtainable from daily quests (hahaha). Also, if you lose a trade package, you get 40% of the money you would earn if you turned it in. TAKE EXTREME CAUTION TO THIS, THIS IS A GAME BREAKER
Mirage Island prices have changed. Speedboat is 150 DC (holy ***), 400 for merchant ship, 250 for a galleon, 150 for a tractor, and a tank is 300. These are only the BPs. (Slightly high, but they should be difficult to obtain, minus the speedboat).
Tear Nui removed from the game (are unearnable), now merchantable for 20s per coin.
Debuff to screw up your glider in PvP zones.
50-55 is based on grinding a single instance in an absolute peace zone on the northern continent.
Taxes are no longer paid through gold, but - you guessed it, LP. You pay 'certificates' that cost 200 LP and are conveniently, also available on the cash shop.
Maximum earnable DC if you do all 5 dailies and the 2 involving instances are 12. 'Normal' dailies only give one. Takes 2.5 - 5hs to do all.
Story quests no longer give experience or items.
Monsters no longer drop trash items, gold, or Akhium.
Quests give you chests instead of fixed gear, based on RNG.
Cash shop became P2W. In addition to costumes with stats that are purchasable, you can buy a stealth mount that also happens to be as good as the current PvP mount. Also, 1000 LP potions without any cooldown for ~40 cents.
Treasure chests, land and sea, no longer give Tear Nui (removed), or Delphic Coins. Instead, they give trash loot and alkhium.
Overall direction: instances, grind, and more PvE. Toward a soulless, P2W themepark game.
To TRION: Please please do not do this. I think you probably will because it's easier, and potentially has more elements to make people spend money. All I can say is this: I run a "guild" in another game that I was planning to bring to this game. If you implement these "features," I will drop this game like a bad habit, and make sure everyone I know that I was going to pull into this game will look at it with a disdain commonly reserved only for DLC from EA games. IMO many others will follow suite. You will lose all the support you have garnered from the community thus far and your NA release will flop.
/rant/
This is Trions Response to that posting, and further discussion afterwards
Trion Rep FYI -----> [–]hartsmanCEO 53 points 1 month ago
Hi - This list resurfaces every time someone mentions 1.0, and I definitely understand why.
I have a lot of respect for the original author of that list. As one of the long-standing, highly knowledgeable AA fans, there was a lot of helpful info being presented to the US audience.
That said, as with anything else on the internet, info that's presented using one-sided, emotionally charged terms frequently doesn't paint the whole picture.
That list is from the original 1.0 release quite some time ago. Most of the perceived negatives already have been or are being addressed, or just don't apply to the western version.
On our internal 1.0 build, quests give experience, monsters drop treasure packs, the Korea-specific loyalty system doesn't exist, selling the stealth mount naturally isn't a fit for our MTX style, we're working out the specifics of how coins go back to more than just dailies (...a number of which existed pre 1.0 as an option already), and so on.
That particular set of opinions also avoids mentioning any of the positives that were added such as: Mount speed buff timing went from not helpful to amazingly useful, Hereafter (teleport) stone costs went from silly to sane, quest reward items while fewer can actually proc up quality levels, and a dozen or so other genuine improvements to the game - Including a few that make it even more of a sandbox than it was previously.
Beyond that - It might also be helpful to check out the latest 1.2 info. (Some of it is here:http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/commen ... cheage_12/ ) The 1.0 crafting extension experiment went away, and lots of other improvements as well.
Also - For those interested in further background, I addressed some of the "how did 1.0 happen" and touch on XL's commitment to the sandbox experience in a past mmorpg.com Q&A -http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game ... -Plan.html
The goal is to get our version as close to best of all worlds as possible.
Hope that helps.
[–]harvv7 9 points 1 month ago*
While this is relieving. It sounds like the most critical elements of the changes (for me at least) are the ones turning it into a daily grind.(which i dont think you addressed at all, not sure though) Ill be interested to see how trion handles it. This comment gives me some hope though lol.
Also, is very refreshing to see these guys following and giving feedback to the community
[–]hartsmanCEO 20 points 1 month ago
The line about "coins" was addressing that. I kind of buried it in there.
That was the contentious daily change that they made, which they originally made to fix a KR economy issue, as it was described to us when we asked point blank while we were over there.
I do get that it's a huge deal to a lot of people, myself included.
That said, it helps to remember the game has probably 50 other gameplay systems/activities. Even if it stayed, which it won't, it's a pretty large distance between that one change and "turning the game into a daily grind."
[–]Tadayoshiii 6 points 1 month ago
You have the chance to bring us probably the best version of AA. If so, a lot of us will appreciate it very much and also keep supporting it. The fact that you are here, responding, seems like a good sign.
[–]agentcheeze 2 points 1 month ago
Also please keep the crafting xp and process accessible and give practical XP for leveling. One of the main reasons I want this game is because allegedly you could go to max level just being a side-job and not being an adventurer. The option of being a craftsman only and still level practically opens a lot of roleplaying potential. I want to be the guy in town that makes people stuff and hires them for tasks!
[–]hartsmanCEO 6 points 1 month ago
This was a big one for us too, non-combat levelling as a valid play choice adds a lot to the sense of being a sandbox. Even though low level doesn't preclude advanced crafting, it still feels better to get XP and have the reinforcement of level advancement.
I don't know the specifics off the top of my head, but I do know that we had crafting XP on the list as something that we needed to make sure continued to feel satisfying as with pre-1.0. More info on that likely in the next couple weeks.
Here is the actual link to the Reddit Thread http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/commen ... _patch_10/
[–]sphister 10 points 1 month ago
TTK for absolutely everything (inc. players) was drastically increased, resulting in 'harder' PvE (read: everything are sponges now), and mages became absolutely useless. Everyone are pretty much the same two-three builds. Also changed damage formulas, armor defense values, entire skill trees, etc.
Loyalty points added, gained for logging in daily, lose for not logging in. Directly modifies labour point gain, repair costs, etc.
Crafting nerfed despite already being Korean-tier. 90k is the new cap from 50k, you gain much less XP from crafting, and most recipes were rebalanced so that you have to invest more LP to craft the same things as before.
More WoW-esque 'features', like the majority of new craftables using, by in large, NPC-purchasables (read: inflexible prices, no longer driven by supply and demand).
Lifescore points added, a second layer to the LP system that is used for some items, generated by using up LP, and is required for some of the crafting (read: another way of limiting your progress, esp. for free players).
Fishing, but now instead of using nigh solely player-made objects (sandbox elements), all items revolving around it are bought with 'lifescore points'.
Many trade packages removed, new trading routes replacing them that require less items, but need 'processed food/items' that you can get from a trading vendor to convert your food item into processed food (read: more NPC merchant nonsense, removed features, added another forced method of using up precious LP). Note that you still need to craft the trade pack after processing it.
Trade routes changed to be much easier than before and based more on continents (land-trade).
Delphic Coins removed from trade (!?!?), replaced with gold. They are now only obtainable from daily quests (hahaha). Also, if you lose a trade package, you get 40% of the money you would earn if you turned it in. TAKE EXTREME CAUTION TO THIS, THIS IS A GAME BREAKER
Mirage Island prices have changed. Speedboat is 150 DC (holy ***), 400 for merchant ship, 250 for a galleon, 150 for a tractor, and a tank is 300. These are only the BPs. (Slightly high, but they should be difficult to obtain, minus the speedboat).
Tear Nui removed from the game (are unearnable), now merchantable for 20s per coin.
Debuff to screw up your glider in PvP zones.
50-55 is based on grinding a single instance in an absolute peace zone on the northern continent.
Taxes are no longer paid through gold, but - you guessed it, LP. You pay 'certificates' that cost 200 LP and are conveniently, also available on the cash shop.
Maximum earnable DC if you do all 5 dailies and the 2 involving instances are 12. 'Normal' dailies only give one. Takes 2.5 - 5hs to do all.
Story quests no longer give experience or items.
Monsters no longer drop trash items, gold, or Akhium.
Quests give you chests instead of fixed gear, based on RNG.
Cash shop became P2W. In addition to costumes with stats that are purchasable, you can buy a stealth mount that also happens to be as good as the current PvP mount. Also, 1000 LP potions without any cooldown for ~40 cents.
Treasure chests, land and sea, no longer give Tear Nui (removed), or Delphic Coins. Instead, they give trash loot and alkhium.
Overall direction: instances, grind, and more PvE. Toward a soulless, P2W themepark game.
To TRION: Please please do not do this. I think you probably will because it's easier, and potentially has more elements to make people spend money. All I can say is this: I run a "guild" in another game that I was planning to bring to this game. If you implement these "features," I will drop this game like a bad habit, and make sure everyone I know that I was going to pull into this game will look at it with a disdain commonly reserved only for DLC from EA games. IMO many others will follow suite. You will lose all the support you have garnered from the community thus far and your NA release will flop.
/rant/
This is Trions Response to that posting, and further discussion afterwards
Trion Rep FYI -----> [–]hartsmanCEO 53 points 1 month ago
Hi - This list resurfaces every time someone mentions 1.0, and I definitely understand why.
I have a lot of respect for the original author of that list. As one of the long-standing, highly knowledgeable AA fans, there was a lot of helpful info being presented to the US audience.
That said, as with anything else on the internet, info that's presented using one-sided, emotionally charged terms frequently doesn't paint the whole picture.
That list is from the original 1.0 release quite some time ago. Most of the perceived negatives already have been or are being addressed, or just don't apply to the western version.
On our internal 1.0 build, quests give experience, monsters drop treasure packs, the Korea-specific loyalty system doesn't exist, selling the stealth mount naturally isn't a fit for our MTX style, we're working out the specifics of how coins go back to more than just dailies (...a number of which existed pre 1.0 as an option already), and so on.
That particular set of opinions also avoids mentioning any of the positives that were added such as: Mount speed buff timing went from not helpful to amazingly useful, Hereafter (teleport) stone costs went from silly to sane, quest reward items while fewer can actually proc up quality levels, and a dozen or so other genuine improvements to the game - Including a few that make it even more of a sandbox than it was previously.
Beyond that - It might also be helpful to check out the latest 1.2 info. (Some of it is here:http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/commen ... cheage_12/ ) The 1.0 crafting extension experiment went away, and lots of other improvements as well.
Also - For those interested in further background, I addressed some of the "how did 1.0 happen" and touch on XL's commitment to the sandbox experience in a past mmorpg.com Q&A -http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game ... -Plan.html
The goal is to get our version as close to best of all worlds as possible.
Hope that helps.
[–]harvv7 9 points 1 month ago*
While this is relieving. It sounds like the most critical elements of the changes (for me at least) are the ones turning it into a daily grind.(which i dont think you addressed at all, not sure though) Ill be interested to see how trion handles it. This comment gives me some hope though lol.
Also, is very refreshing to see these guys following and giving feedback to the community
[–]hartsmanCEO 20 points 1 month ago
The line about "coins" was addressing that. I kind of buried it in there.
That was the contentious daily change that they made, which they originally made to fix a KR economy issue, as it was described to us when we asked point blank while we were over there.
I do get that it's a huge deal to a lot of people, myself included.
That said, it helps to remember the game has probably 50 other gameplay systems/activities. Even if it stayed, which it won't, it's a pretty large distance between that one change and "turning the game into a daily grind."
[–]Tadayoshiii 6 points 1 month ago
You have the chance to bring us probably the best version of AA. If so, a lot of us will appreciate it very much and also keep supporting it. The fact that you are here, responding, seems like a good sign.
[–]agentcheeze 2 points 1 month ago
Also please keep the crafting xp and process accessible and give practical XP for leveling. One of the main reasons I want this game is because allegedly you could go to max level just being a side-job and not being an adventurer. The option of being a craftsman only and still level practically opens a lot of roleplaying potential. I want to be the guy in town that makes people stuff and hires them for tasks!
[–]hartsmanCEO 6 points 1 month ago
This was a big one for us too, non-combat levelling as a valid play choice adds a lot to the sense of being a sandbox. Even though low level doesn't preclude advanced crafting, it still feels better to get XP and have the reinforcement of level advancement.
I don't know the specifics off the top of my head, but I do know that we had crafting XP on the list as something that we needed to make sure continued to feel satisfying as with pre-1.0. More info on that likely in the next couple weeks.
Here is the actual link to the Reddit Thread http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/commen ... _patch_10/