F2PMeter: Is ArcheAge truly Free-to-play?
F2PMeter: Is ArcheAge truly Free-to-play?
Our F2PMeter is back to put ArcheAge to the test. This game is a next-gen fantasy MMORPG that offers the most popular of classical MMORPG elements while aiming at removing restrictions concerning character classes and skills.
In ArcheAge, it’s completely up to the players what they do within the sandbox world, with options ranging from crafting items in order to construct and decorate your home to teaming up with friends to engage in PvP combat.
Remember that games start with a 100% of free-to-play-ness, which will vary depending on the answers to our questions.
No. It's absolutely free for players to register an account and download the client in order to start playing and continue for as long as they like to.
Yes (optional) – -15%. Players have the option of paying in order to gain Patron status and enjoy various benefits, including bonus online and offline Labor Point regeneration, an increased maximum Labor Point cap, bonuses on EXP gains, discount on marketplace purchases, the ability to claim land for placing farms and houses, and much more.
No. As the western version of ArcheAge is still young, the game hasn’t seen any larger expansions yet. However, all updates and patches have been free of charge for everyone.
Yes – -5%. ArcheAge features an in-game marketplace that offers a variety of convenience and aesthetic customisation items for purchase with real-world money.
No. All the stuff on offer is either cosmetics (appearance of gear, pets, vehicles, etc.) or commodities (faster EXP gaining, etc.) which allow for a unique look of saving time with conveying any gameplay advantages. Moreover, Patrons usually sell those items that are only available for real-world cash for in-game currency, meaning that practically everything is available for free members of the community as well.
No. The UI in ArcheAge is completely customisable for everyone; there are no additional options available for paying users.
Yes. All of the game’s eight races are available to any player, similarly the skills sets that replace the traditional concept of character classes. However, the number of characters allowed across all servers is initially limited to two; additional slots can be acquired by purchasing the correspondent items.
Yes (but...) – -5%. There are limitations concerning the in-game market, only Patrons can post auctions by default. However, an AH license can be bought with in-game money, so...
Yes (but...) – -5%. The player’s inventory is initially limited; additional slots are available via using in-game items (scrolls) which can be purchased with in-game money or real-world money. However, as stated before, since all items can be found in the in-game market for in-game currency one could conclude that there are no limitations in the end.
Yes. All areas and dungeons are available to all players.
No. Concerning access to high-end content, players aren’t limited in any way.
Yes – +10%. All in all, ArcheAge appears to be a pretty fair game and absolutely playable without paying anything at all. Those who choose to pay will only get access to cosmetics and timesaving items which are moreover also sold by Patrons to F2P users for in-game currency, meaning it’s impossible to gain an unfair advantage with real-world money.
ArcheAge scores 80% of free-to-play-ness in our F2PMeter.
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This is SO wrong!
“Does it have a monthly sub fee?”
True it’s optional but without paying it you can’t have enough labor points to anything in the crafting department that matters. Without the patron status you can’t have housing so you can’t build stuff needed for example for Boats.
You need to sub as well to use the auction house or buy tickets for it in the ingame shop.
Are there micro-transactions?
YES there are and gamebreaking ones as well! First of all you can buy Labor poitions. If you want to be a big player and you claimed some housing ground you have to waste money for thos pots to get the labor needed to do your stuff like planting and harvesting, keeping up tax certificates and so on. It all comes back to labor. At the time i stoped playing AA they sold unique crafting mats as well in the shop. The answer f2p.com gave is simply incorrect and may be a result of no actual ingame knowledge. I have no idea how someone can give a that bloody wrong answer!
After all you can get nearly everything in the ingame auction house but this will only happen if you grind like a nolifer or with high amounts of luck.
If you simply want to play the PvP part you are mostly good if you dont look for world pvp where you normaly use ships every now and then.
The 80% rating is way to good for AA!
I don’t agree with you, Karnaga. Micro-trans in AA don’t break the game. You can buy labor potions with in-game gold and it’s reeeaaallyyy simple to earn gold.
Also with in-game gold you can become patron.
By the way, to the question “are there micro-transactions?” They answer “yes”, lol
You must be a really bad player Karnaga. I have been playing AA since release totally for free and I got a house and a farm within two weeks. I bought two apex with gold and became patron without spending a single $.
I’ve played many f2p mmos and this is this one of the most fair f2p mmos I’ve found. Rating is wrong, yeah, it should be 90 or 100%
first I tried it I also thought that its f2p system was a pay2win BS but I was wrong. Ive played for a month now and Ive changed my mind. It is hard when you begin as f2p user but with time you be patron too
@Joel Arryn
And who do you think sells the potions?
it’s simple to earn gold but even easy to get gold as a casher since the potion is needed by everyone.
and easy to get gold doesn’t mean it’s easy to buy things. Easy gold = cheap items from NPC shops but the prices in auction house will skyrocket like no tomorrow. I can go on and on about how this game sucks, but I’ll stop here.
Sorry for replying to such an old comment but I just had to, this game doesn’t deserve any praise, bad management and a fail system.
Well this is bullsht. Without patron 70% of the game is not acessible. If you want to be sucesfull you need land, that means you need patron, patron atm is 400-800g per apex. If you do trade betwin continents you wasre 20 min per pack delivery, solo with stealth for 100% sucess rate. Otherwise you risk to lose the pack. 24g per run thats 70ish gold per hour. On my server apex was 680 each so id have to trade for 10 hours just to get apex. Thats to much effort especialy at endgame when you need mountains of gold for gear. Sry but trion fked up with this 1, from the 30k online players it had it dropped to less than 3k online and offline. A good game got shat on. Lets not even speak of the hasla fukup