Recent reviews by Spaetzles

I want to start off by saying that i really like this game and enjoyed the first 230 hours of playing it.
The game does a lot of things right like the world design, sound design and the core gameplay.
- The map is large and you do have to run quite a lot, but you can basically gather anything in the world so there is enough to do on the way, which contributes to the crafting in this game.
- The sounds are probably the best in any game i've ever played. It feels satisfying chopping down a tree or hearing someone fight or gather in the distance.
- The graphics look awesome, especially the lightning.

I really like the crafting system, it feels rewarding making your own huge bags that let you carry more or nice tools that let you gather more and faster.
Also you can craft engame items/gear/weapons unlike many other mmos where you can only receive good gear by raiding or doing other engame content.

I feel like AGS tried to put out a good balance between PVE and PVP content, which they mostly achieved but some parts are not very easy accessible. For wars you have to get invited to play, so basically as a solo player nearly impossible, since the war leaders favor their company members (which is logically to me). The entry cost for dungeons is insane (got reduced as of the latest patch).

With the latest patch, 1.1, they changed my mind about the review. Again there were a lot of good changes but for the most part they screwed the game and punished players that aren't at max watermark or crafting level.
They nerfed drops from chests in elite zones and increased the HP and damage of those elite mobs.
As a semi-casual player right now it's basically impossible for me to get up in watermark-gear score, since i dont have double the time for a third or a quarter of the gear drops like previous to the patch.
Also they increased the xp needed for advancing in the crafting skills.

It seems to me like they want to artificially stretch out the endgame content by slowing down the speed of the content.
I really liked to grind for hours to level up my crafting or gear but the changes they did to those activities make me not want to play the game anymore!