ArcheAge is different than the ordinary themepark mmo as it is a sandbox. But ArcheAge has the same kind of mindless grinding as all other mmos out there. I leveled 2 chars in Rift entirely by doing pvp warfronts. And it was fun fun because the pvp before lvl 60 in Rift is fairly balanced. After lvl 60 its not. I refuse to be farmed by a rank 90 in a conquest when im rank 20 so I always said i´d stop playing when i hit 60, and I did. I rolled a new low level char instead ;)
So now i play ArcheAge but the problem is that open world pvp is starting to suffer hard from imbalances due to heavily upgraded gear and armor. Some people have all time in the world to grind and some haven´t. I love pvp but i dont love being one shooted by a 480 dps hasla weapon when I only have had time to grind a 200ish dps sword (bow is only 164) as I have to work to support myself and my kids (and dogs :):) I dont whine, my opinion is that pvp is only fun if its balanced. Otherwise its not pvp, its only ganking or farming. And I wont do that. Maybee someone who has been bullied for years irl and have low self esteem get something out of it but I dont. Its-just-not-fun. One of the most exciting pvp games I have had was in Rift when my team lost with 999/1000. That was epic.
So what is the solution? Well Trion, why not nerf the gear in open world so everyone gets about the same level. Let the pvp in open world be about grouping and strategy, not about gear. Let pvp skill and cleverness rule, not farming skills. So people may gear up only for arenas and dungeons instead. Too much mindless grinding will only get peeps burned out and tired of the game.
Read on, excellent links to postings about grinding and achievements:
http://mmogypsy.com/2014/11/qotd-completionism-no-thanks.html
I know Trion this is not your game, u are only publisher so u cant help me I guess. But a girl has to have something to dream about :`)
And thanks lovely guildies, and Spybreak especially for inviting me again to GHA xxx so I have a chance to gear up <3
7 Days a Week 
Really glad your still enjoying it in some way despite the pvp issues.
I wasnt to sure if I should give it a try but when I did to start I really enjoyed it, the open world, the housing, it all seemed so…well.. what an mmo should be.
BUT after a while it just became apparent that the playstyle/grind are that of epic proportions, I felt almost like I had to log in for my housing/farming rather than wanting to & the sub feels like a trap rather than a bonus. Im not in any way trying to destroy the game as it has some real qualities to it but in just a month it is fast becoming another run of the mill mmo where the core of the players are intent on breaking a game down to a pure number crunching experience & what your left with is still a whole heap of players running around in indentikit gear. Perhaps for me it has led to a realisation that the problem with mmorpg’s these days isnt the games themselves but rather the players & that the majority of the them seem happy to drop the “R” in rpg & solely aim for the best builds/weapons with character a mere side issue. This can only lead to them burning through content at a flash like speed & then either turn to griefing or leaving.
So in the fullness of it Ive given away the 20k credits I earned from apex & moved on. Finally got around to trying out Star Wars The Old Republic & despite what many complain about its “on rails” element, the storyline is so strong its really fun trying to play through with every class & is giving me the “rpg” taste I seem to crave. It has housing, ship battles, starfighters..you name it & its probably already implemented:)
Im not saying that I will never return to ArcheAge but in its current state both player & game need to change substantially before I would want to give it a crack of the whip.
The resolutions that would make it fairer for yourself I doubt would ever be implemented as that whole griefing attitude is a key selling point of the game im afraid but maybe a pve with optional pvp server could be a possibility?
Hope it all goes well Xan & that you get that 480 bow!!
Cheers
Boom
Thanks a lot for your comment Boom <3 I still do enjoy the game very much tho Im fully aware of the grind fest. But Im not an achiever, has never been and will never be. So I will play this game my way. I wont gank newbies to get easy honor points. I will get real “honor” by not doing it instead. I will grind a bit, I will do some dungeons.. but only as long as im having fun. And I have fun as im doing content with my guild and they are awesome. Im playing the game my way. I decide how to play. I never feel pressure logging in to tend to my farm. I dont give a sh-t if I have something more fun to do irl (which I seldom have apparently ;`(
I cant imagine Ill ever get a bow with 480 dps but I will deal with it. With cunning, list and strategy its always possible to beat them gankers, even if they out gear us ;)
Right now I dont feel like going back to a stale sandbox game with instances and instanced housing…. ArcheAge is so much more but It could definitely be better. im fully aware of the fact it will not change as Trion doesnt own the game so they can change only so much. A lot of ppl claims Ultima Online still is the best game ever. ArcheAge will not change that im afraid…. Maybee in the future games will evolve to something less grindy.
But maybee most ppl wants grindy games with lots of easy achievements. the game developers listens to their customers. Not to a few like u and me. We can only dream on and create our own game within the game, with our own goals :)
Forgot to mention; im totally against a pve server. No way. Pvp is the core of the game <3
“Not to a few like u and me. We can only dream on and create our own game within the game, with our own goals :)”
Indeed & as long we enjoy the games we play in the way we want to we will be all the more richer for it:)
Hope it all goes well for you over there, im probably being a big kid on Star Wars running about with my lightsaber..what man..or manchild wouldnt enjoy that lol
All the best
Boom
Sandbox and stat gear do NOT mix well at all. That is why I still love the old Ultima Online ways. No one could get better gear than others. There were no stats – the only difference in a dagger was sometimes a tiny bit better DPS from a mastercrafted one vs a found one and that difference was not very big. No armor had stats or any bonuses. Everyone was equal.
As soon as UO started adding stats to weapons and armor – the game started to lose many people.
Ahh thanks, didnt know that. Havent played UO sorry to say… so my feeling this is wrong had some substance after all:)
Why remove that awesome UO concept? I dont want to play a pure shooting game, cant i haz it all? *sniff*