I haven't payed the $150 yet because I'm not sure I want to go back to tab targeting. That is just something that bothers me and has nothing to do with the pricing of the package. Everything else in the game is exactly what I am looking for.
I was thinking about writing something about combat and tab targeting, but I'll use this reply as a segue to it.
At first glance, I was negative on ArcheAge, or at the very best, leery. It had two things I absolutely hate about MMOs these days: Tab Target/Hotbar Combat and Treadmill Quest leveling content. Personally, I could do away with level as a system of character progression, but that's a discussion for another day. When I first jumped in in one of the Korean betas 1-2 years ago, I really couldn't get into it. It was fine enough, but I like English. I tried several other times since then and it wouldn't grab me. I finally got into NA Alpha and my leeriness persisted.
But because Kedwyn, Pyksel and others were really hyping it up I gave it some honest effort. I've really changed my tune on the combat. Combat, in this game are about combos and really feeling the "oomf" behind them. The tempo of combat is really far away from hitting 111112223454311111 for normal NPCs in combat. Early on it's pretty boring with having only a few abilities, but it begins to open up at 10 and again at 15 and 20. You really have abilities that I would consider "base attacks" that set up other abilities to do more damage or increase their effects. Play around in some of the builders and you'll get the idea. You can really create a flow chart of effective combos.
The big thing here is that the cooldowns are longish - 15-60 seconds. From outside looking in, that appears to be a pain in the ass and begins to remind you of EQ2. Well, since mobs die pretty fast, you don't need a combo every single NPC. Combos actually feel good when you pull them off (See a lot of League of Legends champ design theory). The contrast to this is Wildstar. You spam your builder and you drop a spender where you toss in some other abilities along the way. Wildstar's combat is very much throw shit out there and do damage. In Archeage, it's closer to fighting games where you want to be positioned or time your combos properly and when you do, it's a huge pay off.
The only sore part is that it's tab target and there really is no aiming.
In any case, I really have to take back the negative review of the combat. It's really satisfying to set up your class selecting to pull off some cool effects. I'm sure it'll be more interesting with gear and weapon choices down the road.
As far as questing is concerned, it's still shitty. To level up, you're primarily going to be doing quests all the way to cap. Yes you can level off crafting/farming/trading etc, but the core chunk of xp is questing. It's a shame really because the tired old form of questing to level is really hiding some really amazing systems in this game. Why can't the game focus more on crafting, gathering, being a pirate, killing bad guys without having to guide you through 50 levels with treadmill quests?
That's my main complaint in any case. I would love to see GW2's event/heart system in this game in place of all the bullshit quests. Leave quests in for the instructional stuff like farms and things. The only saving grace is that you can turn in quests early or over-worked and you're not stuck with shitty spawns.
Of course the questing portion of the game is very fast, easy, and painless (if not dull). I really hate game design that stick in old tropes just because everyone does it, especially when you have games where you say "the game begins for real when you...". In this game there are a lot of fun things you can do before level cap, and at least that is different.
If only the sandbox became more prevalent a few hours into the game, instead of 10-20 that it takes to hit 30 or whatever.
