I have been on again/off again interested in ArcheAge since it first reared its head in Korea. When I first heard of it, it really piqued my interest. A huge world, pirates, house building, castle sieges? What’s not to like about that? But, as time drew on, my interest waned considerably. First, there was no telling when, if ever, it would hit the North American market. Secondly, I dreaded the “asian” aspects of the game. Not really game design, although that is part of it, but the art style really doesn’t appeal to me and never has.
When it was announced that Trion had acquired the rights to publish ArcheAge here in the U.S., my interest went up again. Trion is a fantastic company and if anyone could do the game justice here in the U.S., its Trion. I thought heavily about investing in one of the Founder’s Pack but decided it was simply too much to spend on a game at that time. After that, my interest waned again as I started looking into ESO and Wildstar.
Last week I happened to surf over to MMORPG.COM and happened to see that they were giving away beta keys. The stars aligned and I not only got a key but I was off from work for the next four days! What better way to spend it than trying out a new game?
The following impressions are based on the last four days. I have leveled one character to 14 and a couple of others up to 10-12. I have tried both factions (East and West) and tried every race as well. Although I am certainly no expert on the game, I have been able to get a pretty good idea of the game play. Read on for my thoughts!