Thoughts on ArcheAge as my “desperate for anything half-decent at this point” eyes glance over at it and its upcoming release:
I still don’t get what a ‘sandpark’ is, in terms of what you are trying to accomplish. I mean I get that best-case it’s the best of a sandbox in terms of open-ended content mixed with the ‘driven when you need it’ content of a themepark, but those ideas somewhat contradict each other. Plus let’s be honest, ‘best case’ isn’t exactly what the genre has been doing for the last decade.
Building on the above, one of the early criticism I’ve heard about AA is that the first X of the game is the ‘same old’ linear themepark questing, and that the ‘fun’ stuff doesn’t become an option until later. First, if your core gameplay (combat via questing) isn’t fun or engaging, am I really going to keep playing so I can fly around or sail a boat? I mean maybe I will, but I kinda doubt it. Second, why would a game not focused around, say, farming, keep me interested due to the farming? If I want farming, can’t I load up a game dedicated to that?
Realistically my hope is that AA is decent enough to fill a few months of time, both as a game to play as a duo with the wife and also (longshot) something that is good-enough to draw a solid representation from Inquisition so we can get into guild stuff. I’ve honestly stayed away from too much info about it because in large part I don’t care that much, but also to prolong the ‘newness’ phase with the game.
Get excited everyone…
Hardcore Casual 
So… what do you think of the F2P aspects?
I just read an MMORPG thing about it; sounds absolutely terrible. Selling bag space, house bank space, ‘convenience’ stuff like faster mounts and gliders, ‘XP’ potions, etc.
And that’s just what is there now. One can only imagine how many The One Rings the cash shop might have should AA not do as well as expected after release.
I heard that you can level all the way to the max level by just crafting…but you need labor points for that and recently what we know from beta is that labor points does not regenerate fast enough to make it a viable way of leveling, even if you are a subscriber(which I think you will).
I just hope that they will tune the game so you are able to level just by crafting and grinding/gathering materials cause me too I hate linear questing…especially in an Asian rpg that is even more boring for some reason.
“I still don’t get what a ‘sandpark’ is”
Massively writers are idiots.
I like your strategy. Starve yourself of information so the initial “honey moon phase” lasts as long as it can till you boil the game down to its crappy core and have to move on.
It looks like it has relatively vast lands and seas and the world is seamless. I greatly enjoy those things so I’m following the game with hope. The races don’t look bad.
Project 1999 and SWGemu are the future of MMOs… ironic isn’t it?