Before I get flamed too much here, this thread is not just for me.. its for whoever wishes to write a comment about why they've stopped playing.
The reason why I decided to create this thread is because, frankly, I haven't enjoyed a game in a looong time as much as I've enjoyed ArcheAge. It has soo much to do, and the game does a lot of things very well. Naval combat was for me and for many others a MAJOR selling point of this game.. but also the open world pvp, the farming, fishing, crafting (despite it being stupid hair pulling RNG), the politics between guilds and factions, the fact that Even at endgame, you still have a reason to return to beginner zones.. either for events.. or farming.. housing, running packs, ect.. which makes it seem like the whole world is populated, and not just the end game zones like most MMOs.
Now that being said, I've been playing since Alpha, but recently cancelled my sub to ArcheAge. The reason being that despite this game being possibly one of my favorite MMOs of all times, I HATE how its been executed. I'm about to become a parent and as a new dad, I'm not going to have as much time to play video games as I did previously. MMOs already by nature, heavily reward players who can login and play a lot compared to players who can't.. just by design.. it makes sense. But ArcheAge doesn't only reward the players who can play a lot, they actually penalize players who can't.
What if I can't play at all during the week and only have the weekends? How much labor did I just suddenly sink down the drain because the max I can accumulate is 5000. How much money does this translate into? I'm not saying I hate the labor system... but I hate that I can't even be away for 2 days and I'm being penalized. All those events that they have that say "Hey login and grab a gift box every 30 minutes for being online.. up to 10 gift box a day!" really? Now i'm being penalized for not being able to play 5 hours straight every day?! These are the kinds of Gimmicks that made be stop playing. Its like Trion is so scared of losing players, they are force them to stay by having these dumb events. And yes. I love receiving free goodies.. but instead of forcing players to be online and forcing them to play the game, why not make it so "hey, you've been a loyal subscriber for a while, here's some free goodies!" or "Hey, we have this special event going on, go talk to this NPC here and do this 1 daily quest that takes 10 minutes to do and you'll get today's goodies" No.. instead, they make you sit online for 5 hours to reap the maximum rewards. This kind of system absolutely stink and it personally made me feel like a hostage to the game. I wasn't playing because of FUN anymore.. but because I HAD to. Which is what ultimately pushed me away from the game.
Another interesting point, is that I've played MANY... MANY MMOs. A lot of them will send you a survey once you cancel a sub to ask you, "Hey, why did you leave? What can we improve to have you back?". But Trion doesn't even do that, so that seems to me like they just don't care? Seems like such an easy thing to do if you actually want to know why ppl are quitting your game.
To me, ArcheAge is still the most amazing game I've played... especially when you're part of a good guild. But for me to really consider subbing this game again, I would need it to be less penalizing towards the fact that I can't play every day anymore. I can accept the fact that ppl are stronger because they play a lot. I can accept that ppl are stronger because they paid thousands of dollars on APEX to buy them some gear... what I can't accept is losing labor / money simply because I can't login and play every 41 hours. Its not like mobs drop money.. they drop coin purses.. which requires labor So even If I could play all day on Saturdays and Sundays, It wouldn't matter. I wouldn't able to make up the lost Labor / Money from not login on 5 days in a row. Why can't subbed players accumulate infinite amount of labor? or even something like 20-30k labor? which would at least allow them to be away for 1.5 weeks without penalty. Why penalize ppl who Pay to play this game, even if they can't play every day?
FIX this shit.. please. But also.. stop it with those stupid Gimmicky events. They are the worst. We all love free goodies.. but forcing ppl to play your game for hours a day just to get all their free gift boxes is not helping. Its pushing ppl away.. like myself for instance.
The reason why I decided to create this thread is because, frankly, I haven't enjoyed a game in a looong time as much as I've enjoyed ArcheAge. It has soo much to do, and the game does a lot of things very well. Naval combat was for me and for many others a MAJOR selling point of this game.. but also the open world pvp, the farming, fishing, crafting (despite it being stupid hair pulling RNG), the politics between guilds and factions, the fact that Even at endgame, you still have a reason to return to beginner zones.. either for events.. or farming.. housing, running packs, ect.. which makes it seem like the whole world is populated, and not just the end game zones like most MMOs.
Now that being said, I've been playing since Alpha, but recently cancelled my sub to ArcheAge. The reason being that despite this game being possibly one of my favorite MMOs of all times, I HATE how its been executed. I'm about to become a parent and as a new dad, I'm not going to have as much time to play video games as I did previously. MMOs already by nature, heavily reward players who can login and play a lot compared to players who can't.. just by design.. it makes sense. But ArcheAge doesn't only reward the players who can play a lot, they actually penalize players who can't.
What if I can't play at all during the week and only have the weekends? How much labor did I just suddenly sink down the drain because the max I can accumulate is 5000. How much money does this translate into? I'm not saying I hate the labor system... but I hate that I can't even be away for 2 days and I'm being penalized. All those events that they have that say "Hey login and grab a gift box every 30 minutes for being online.. up to 10 gift box a day!" really? Now i'm being penalized for not being able to play 5 hours straight every day?! These are the kinds of Gimmicks that made be stop playing. Its like Trion is so scared of losing players, they are force them to stay by having these dumb events. And yes. I love receiving free goodies.. but instead of forcing players to be online and forcing them to play the game, why not make it so "hey, you've been a loyal subscriber for a while, here's some free goodies!" or "Hey, we have this special event going on, go talk to this NPC here and do this 1 daily quest that takes 10 minutes to do and you'll get today's goodies" No.. instead, they make you sit online for 5 hours to reap the maximum rewards. This kind of system absolutely stink and it personally made me feel like a hostage to the game. I wasn't playing because of FUN anymore.. but because I HAD to. Which is what ultimately pushed me away from the game.
Another interesting point, is that I've played MANY... MANY MMOs. A lot of them will send you a survey once you cancel a sub to ask you, "Hey, why did you leave? What can we improve to have you back?". But Trion doesn't even do that, so that seems to me like they just don't care? Seems like such an easy thing to do if you actually want to know why ppl are quitting your game.
To me, ArcheAge is still the most amazing game I've played... especially when you're part of a good guild. But for me to really consider subbing this game again, I would need it to be less penalizing towards the fact that I can't play every day anymore. I can accept the fact that ppl are stronger because they play a lot. I can accept that ppl are stronger because they paid thousands of dollars on APEX to buy them some gear... what I can't accept is losing labor / money simply because I can't login and play every 41 hours. Its not like mobs drop money.. they drop coin purses.. which requires labor So even If I could play all day on Saturdays and Sundays, It wouldn't matter. I wouldn't able to make up the lost Labor / Money from not login on 5 days in a row. Why can't subbed players accumulate infinite amount of labor? or even something like 20-30k labor? which would at least allow them to be away for 1.5 weeks without penalty. Why penalize ppl who Pay to play this game, even if they can't play every day?
FIX this shit.. please. But also.. stop it with those stupid Gimmicky events. They are the worst. We all love free goodies.. but forcing ppl to play your game for hours a day just to get all their free gift boxes is not helping. Its pushing ppl away.. like myself for instance.