What’s wrong with Atlantica?

I still like playing Atlantica Online a lot. There were always problems with the game and huge problems with the company running that game, but all in all it was a satisfying experience. But lately I grew angrier and angrier about it and watched myself groaning about the remaining TBS points – which forced me to play. Or at least I thought they would.

Here are some random thoughts. This article is a rant article and contains a lot of FUD.

1. Technical issues

When Nexon started to operate this game it was a rough ride. The game stabilized somewhat after it. But lately there were a lot of issues disturbing the gaming experience. It started with huge lags every full hour (which have gone away now, except during reset time). Then expeditions got stuck in mines. I tried these expeditions only once seriously and am still avoiding them like the plague because I still hear about reports of that bug. Then the company forced the second password reset. That in itself makes sense but why not announcing it a bit before, so that everybody has a chance to check if their email adress is still correct? And if the company does it, it should do it correctly and actually send out the email containing the new second password. The action cost us one guild member. He did everything right (current email adress and so on) but he simply didn’t get the email.

On the other hand some issues seem to be resolved. Starting with little things like observations for the diary which seem finally to work properly now. I won’t dc in TBS missions anymore on my modest notebook (which has – more than – the recommended configuration to be found on the website, but not that much more). There are no hidden monsters or other problems. Ok, in “Revenge Of The Spirit” my catapult starts sometimes with 0 hitpoints, and sometimes the forest prison effect of African monsters are not displayed properly, but that are quirks I can live with.

2. Support system

Personally I am still miffed about Nexon’s accounting service. I bought 10 Nx via paybycash and got the receipt from the Nexon website (not only from paybycash) like this:

SUCCESS! Thank you. You have added NX 10,000 ($ 10) to your account. Order number [long number]. Click “Review Purchase” to view your purchase history. If you have any questions or comments about your purchase, please contact BillingPP@nexon.net

The only thing was that Nexon did not add 10.000 Nx to my account. The following support ticket issue is so sad that I won’t tell you about it. Suffice to say: they did not solve the problem. Which of course means that I never again will use the Item Mall from Nexon. More than three months have passed now and I still get an automated response from Nexon every week. They did not only rob me of 8 Euros but also spamming my Inbox.

It is not about 8 Euros at the core but about the feeling of unreliability. It gives me the impression of Nexon being not a serious business but more or less a random shot at my money. It undermines trust. There is a reason why Google thinks that mails of Nexon are spam. That darkens the atmosphere in which I am thinking about Atlantica Online more than I would have thought.

3. In-Game issues

Some things are very good now:

The Training Center (and to a certain extent: the new Valley Of Oblivion guild dungeon) are steps in the right direction, as is the new raid dungeon Labyrinthos. Something one can do in groups instead of playing all alone, at least at higher levels. And I look forward to a similarly revamped nation dungeon (Babel).

Due to mines the oriharukon issue is solved. Pegasus gear’s limiting factor are now Pegasus tears but they still are reasonable priced. So this works well now, too.

Some things are not so well:

TBS missions are so easy now that everybody can solo most missions as soon as they reach the minimum level required (as shown frequently on this blog). That is very, very sad. It defeats the second “m” in mmorpg. And what I enjoyed most when I started to play Atlantica was the friendly people with whom I partied. A new player can get to level 120 and beyond without any party (at least if the quest does not force him to, and for these rare occasions he can use any alt). I still remember the glory days when we fought the Troy missions with 3 people and had real problems to succeed. You gain more money now but you lose the sense of achievement. By the way: For the same reason I think it a grievous mistake to make the upgrade quest for level 120 so easy with the Elements Of War patch.

The atlas price has sky-rocketed. For me that means I won’t extend my diary anymore. Instead I play more with my alt Fritz, which replaces the income loss on Claudia. Enhancing your gear with atlas is now a huge loss. Remember, atlas’ foremost function is to plus your gear. But you can buy plussed gear for less from the market than it would cost you to enhance it with atlas, even if every attempt to atlas it would be successful. I saw a +5 pegasus bow for less than 6 b on market today. You need 595 atlas ore to safe enhance a pegasus plain bow when every attempt is successful (and no jump in it). 595 atlas do cost now 595 x 18 M = 10.7 b. Of course I don’t buy atlas anymore – I buy the gear directly. But what possesses anyone to enhance gear with atlas anyway? That is beyond my understanding. Be that as it may, I am glad about it and buy gear directly.

Gear prices are deflating. That seems to be the natural consequence of the good drop rate of nix to evil equipment in the Training Center, the Yggdrasil ND and the new voo. While that is nice in a way, it means also that crafting of equipment is useless now. You will never get back what you invested – even +1 as result is not enough anymore.

There seems a huge loss on server population. There may be about the same number of toons on the server than before. But because of the referral system every player has at least 2 (I know of some with 10 and more) alts so that they can get referral points. Personally I think introducing the referral system, well meant as it was, was a huge mistake. At least as long multi-accounting is allowed.

I play Atlantica Online since 2008. I should now be used to the interface with which I interact with the game. But I am still angry about it. About the inconsistency, the clumsiness, the amateurishness, about being forced to close windows which display messages I would never look at voluntarily, at messages disappearing too fast at the right screen border, at not being able to store conversations as text files (even Dekaron/2 Moons has this function), at the chat window scrolling even when I move my mouse over it because it has serious focus issues, at the acong pictures preventing proper scrolling of new messages in the chat window… ah, it flows – I could continue this for several paragraphs. It irks me because it shows that the programmers don’t know their job. They remind me of my own early programming days where I frickled something together before I learnt to program user interfaces properly. With all the new shiny mmorpgs out there and coming soon, it will be more and more difficult to lure players to Atlantica Online. My son saw it and turned away. “Really, Dad, you bear with that?” And played League Of Legends…

4. Item Mall

Contrary to the belief of many whiners on the forum you don’t need the Item Mall to do well. You don’t need the blessing license: Momotaro helps you with boss fights and TBS, and the rest you should be able to do without. At least Fritz can do that. You don’t need the Warrior Package either, but Fritz does sorely miss teleportation. While shiny mounts and decorations are nice, most people overevaluate them. It only helps your main. What use is a main who still stands while his whole formation or TBS team dropped dead around him? Only in the raid dungeon that is a real factor. And you don’t really need atlas. There are enough people who are crazy enough to still buy it from the item mall, enhance their gear and throw it cheaply on the market, so problem solved.

That said, I get suspicious. Atlantica Online lives from the Item Mall. How can a game survive which actively tries to drive people away from the Item Mall, due to ridiculous high prices, unreliably accounting service, unattractive and/or plain ugly mounts, decos (all the mecha wings before Iris’s – which are the first that are reasonable beautiful) and clothes and completely mispriced items like perimeter licenses (which do exactly the opposite I would want) or boxes with 100 freezing scrolls? Up to now the game survived because it has a great core and is unique. But how long will that carry it with new mmorpgs sprouting all over the ground? This insecurity prevents me from levelling up a Tarkan, for example. I don’t know if the game still exists when my Attila would be at level 141. And if it exists I don’t know if I am still motivated to play it.

A relative of mine had an affair with an old man, when she was young. She confessed after she broke up with him, that in her opinion old men smell like death coming. I get a whiff of it from Atlantica Online now as well.