This block has me giving Trion another shot at an Open Beta Tester event, which ran much more smoothly, followed by two instances of unremarkability. Don’t worry, it’s almost over.

Episode 68: Trove
Well, this went far better for my next attempt at the “Open Beta Tester Event”. It was a lot more fitting too. No party system coupled with proxy based loot meant anyone from any level could hunt and collect. The ingenious cornerstone system allows everyone to have their own piece of the world without taking up a permanent scarring presence. The combat is fun and unique to the classes. Thinly veiled Minecraft visuals aside, this is far closer to the game ArcheAge should have been, if they wanted to be a true sandbox.
…but have you looked at this game LATELY?! I don’t know that the hell Trion is on. They keep adding features while not thoroughly testing and fixing issues already present. I opened this a few days ago to see the UI become a uninspired graphical mess, a new tutorial quest feature that, while great for newcomers, is physically broken for veteran players? Ready to do the step that has you unlock a class? Oh, you don’t have any classes left to unlock? Welp, sucks to be you. You can’t go any further until they make a new one to unlock, and that box will always be there to remind you.
They add more stuff to keep breaking the very core of the game, and it makes the game run worse and more unstable with every addition, since they don’t give the playerbase time to thoroughly test the content they release. What else do you expect by any company selling $100 “founder’s packs” by now? The reason I accepted Open Betas for full review is because they are USUALLY nothing more than server limit tests, and final bug checks. Adding all this crap isn’t helping anyone and it’s certainly not helping players get used to the game. All these problems and they want to launch in two weeks?!
Open beta… doesn’t… work that way.
Recommended?: YES. I still like the core concept. Let’s hope Trion stops trying to shit on it.

Episode 69: Black Gold
Snail… You’re so Chinese. I remember getting an email about a preview to this and had to stifle a groan when I saw the “totally-not-Na’vi” run into battle on their animal friends to face off against the Machine toting humans.
China: If you can’t write what you know, write what someone else knows.
What sucks is beyond the game’s inherent…. Wushu-ness, there’s plenty of cool features, and with the right company or polish, could really be a great MMO. Unfortunately this game doesn’t have the talent or the audience to take advantage of its best features or those with the highest amount of potential. I can’t suggest you play this in good faith.
Recommended?: NO.

Episode 70: Dragon Nest
Joy. It’s SUPAH KAWAII Vindictus with just the right amount of fanatic weeby Nexonite garbage to make a more-than-tolerable game completely insufferable. “This [game] would be great if it weren’t for the [players]” is a paraphrased Randal Graves quote that would work great for any Nexon game tagline.
The game is pretty. Like, really, good looking save for those seriously odd looking ridiculously poorly mapped face textures.
The action is quick and satisfying. I think the first time I started to have fun was the minute I used the “downed” attack on an enemy as the Assassin, spawning blades from my hands, and pummeling the enemy into oblivion. I laughed the same demented gleeful laugh the character did.
However, one thing we all pretty much agreed on, as that most of the experience, especially the majority of the starting and mid levels (the whole point of MMO Grinder, again), the game is Candy Land levels of easy, and what isn’t frighteningly simple is merely unfair and stacked to work against you through the processes of overwhelming or disabling your character control. You know. “Cheap”.
But lordy did those words set the Nexonites off.
Youtube was, of course, filled with the glorious wonder of Nexonites taking one small argument out of the whole, using it as a punching bag, and repeating the oft touted and irrelevant critique “You didn’t get to endgame!”, all while taking the occasional break from impotent rage, to discuss and link “Top level awesome PvP plays” within their own echo chamber of users with various Dragon Nest characters as their avatars.
Sorry, if your icon features a character or logo from the franchise you’re arguing for, and you’re trying to accuse me of bias because I don’t like Nexon, you might want to take a look in the mirror. I refuse to take your arguments seriously. Your rage is stemmed directly from a foolish predisposed notion of identifying yourself and your personality as an offshoot of your likes and hobbies. Therefore you believe: “Person A didn’t like/has a problem with the game. I like the game. Therefore, Person A doesn’t like me.”  It’s basic fucking psychology, and it’s fucking stupid and childish. Stop doing that shit, grow up, and find a god damned personality that doesn’t revolve around a material possession.
When you’re telling Dreskar, a fucking Dark Souls speedrunner, that he’s just “not good enough at [Dragon Nest] to play it”, as if he doesn’t understand the concept of I-frames, or telegraphed attacks, (which, yes, this did happen in the YT comments), when Dragon Nest is really just a cheaply programmed stun-lock combo-ing mess of artificial difficulty, I think you need to play a few more games beyond the one that’s become an extension of your worth as a human being before you come to that conclusion.
Recommended?: YES. I never said I hated the game, did I?