ArcheAge Teases "Secret Project," Mocks Past P2W Reviews

By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted: August 13, 2019

"Our game isn't pay-to-win!" shouts every free-to-play dev from the rooftops whenever you give them the chance. Unless, that is, they're making a new version of the game, in which case, yeah, that old one was totally pay-to-win, but not the new and improved one, we swear.

It's tough to tell exactly what is being offered in this cryptic tweet from the ArcheAge official Twitter account, which was also echoed by Aeria Games and gamigo:

Attention! Unidentified secret project discovered!https://t.co/lhRF5vPQvB @MMORPGcom @GratisMMORPGde @MeinMMO @GIBiz @buffedde @JVCom @natgamesde @MassivelyOP @mmobomb @COMPUTERBILD @OnRPG #gaming #mmorpg pic.twitter.com/AXC7clURzB

— ArcheAge (@ArcheAge) August 13, 2019

Follow that link through and you come to comingsoon.trionworlds.com, which has only a countdown timer (currently set to expire at 4:40 p.m. Pacific on Monday, Aug. 19) and a rotating set of quotes from gamers. The quotes are a 50/50 split of positive things about ArcheAge -- "sea battles are intense," "solid RPG with good combat and good story" -- and significantly less-than-positive things, many focusing on long-standing issues with the MMORPG:

The reviews are all phrased as "Players used to say," which lead one to think that what's in the works will make it so that players no longer say such negative things.

Whatever it is -- ArcheAge 2.0, perhaps? -- it's clearly meant to address these issues, which have plagued the game and its reputation for years, even as the Trion Worlds team made efforts to mitigate them, a focus of many of our prior interviews. We'll find out just what's in store Monday and whether it will meet the new website's implied promise.

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In this article: Trion Worlds, ArcheAge, Aeria Games, Gamigo.

About the Author

Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Andrenz 5 years ago

I'm convinced that most people have no idea what P2W really is. Many mistake Pay for convenience for pay to win. They're not the same. They're nothing wrong with convenience items.

Also, many people call games P2W only because they don't like the game. It's really a loose term and in my experience, it's not even warranted.

Meatbag 5 years ago

Of course they shout that, it's a pointless question.
Were they say otherwise they would dig their own grave right then and there.
-Aeria was always p2w, still is, and very likely will continue to be so.
-Good story and mmos seem to be like plus and minus of a magnet.
I would struggle to recall even a single one that has something even remotely memorable.
-Trion initially tried to be what i would call "legit" but they gave up later and became another p2w cancer like the rest of them. They quickly lost trust and buried themselves in mistrust from which i doubt they will ever dig themselves out, even if they wanted to.
-"Clearly meant to" is stretching it, i think it will be same old.
Make vapor-promises, cash in on naive gamers/players through early access and similar BS, close down.
Rinse and repeat with the next "big thing" which in essence will be the same old thing with new textures plastered over it.

That about sums it up yarr?