Allods Online

[Morreion]

Allods Online Official Site

Allods Online is a free-to-play MMO currently in beta set to release in 2010.

First Impressions: Allods Online (Massively)



Allods CBT Round up and My Top 10 Useful Tips (Mystic Worlds)

PLUSES

* Two VERY different faction zones – one is high fantasy while the other is steampunk
* Interesting twists to the classes
* Engaging back-story
* Promising PVP – hopefully not too punishing. My days of, “Grrr – I’m l33t have come and gone.”
* Anticipation of Astral flight, exploration and combat being half-way decent.

Allods has only one dungeon in the level 1 to 10 range. However, there are 2 to 3 world bosses you encounter before level 10 that require groups, to raid sized parties, depending on your level. These are usually very quick slam-bam affairs. I wish there were at least two dungeons per 10 levels, with a few more world bosses in each zone. Other than that, I found the PVE very solid – minor quest and combat bugs aside.

MINUSES

* You must do quests if you want to level without gouging your eyes out – you can’t grind mobs and level. Well, you could but, I wouldn’t. As someone who likes an equal mix of questing to grinding, I’m not sure how this will impact my long term enjoyment.
* Lack of instanced content - Like Runes of Magic, there are fewer instanced dungeons than I would have preferred. Aion does a nicer mix of actual instanced content with outdoor zones full of elites that require groups, so it’s basically instanced PVE.

Allods Online Astral Ship Gameplay: What We’ve Always Wanted? (Keen and Graev)

Finally someone gets it. This is PvP in enormous vehicles manned by players in real time. The ship is steered, the engines powered, the shields maintained, the power core monitored, navigation is manned, cannons controlled, etc., and it’s all done by players. The ships are brought to life by people actually working together and controlling them. PvP in the astral is then conducted by these player driven ships attacking one another. Shields eventually drop and players board each other and fight it out, steal treasure, kill crew, destroy the ship, and fight in meaningful, dynamic, and deep PvP.I even have trouble believing it for myself. Russian players say that it’s not only as good as the video and articles being written but it’s better when you experience it yourself. Exploring Allods, killing raid bosses on different islands or ones that attack you like something you’d see out of Final Fantas, finding raid dungeons, gathering loot, pirating other people… it’s all there they say.

Allods Online PvP and experiencing the Holy Lands (Keen and Graev)

The Holy Lands are a rough place. Imagine Stranglethorn Vale but in a denser jungle, with harder mobs and enemy players lurking everywhere — that’s Asee-Teph. The League have a port at the north end of the allod and the Empire are stationed at the south. As a League player I am giving quests that send me all over the region, even right next to the Empire’s port. Running across an enemy is very, very common. Being hunted by an enemy is even more common. It’s all out PvP here. There’s no flagging and the only “safe area” is deep inside your port city. Random skirmishes happened so often that I’ve lost count, but a few major PvP fights took place in the center outside this enormous Pyramid temple. Each side had about 15 players and we would push each other back and forth. Scouts would flank and sometimes we would surround them. It was exactly like what we used to see in Hillsbrad back before BG’s were released, right after the PvP ranks were first added.There are PvP ranks implemented that let you gain access to gear. From what I understand it’s like a modified version of WoW’s PvP ranks. You gain ranks that let you buy gear. Ranks are reset every week (or two?) making you have to regain them. The gear looks nice. I haven’t seen PvE dungeon/raid gear to compare, but I assume it’s going to be somewhat on par.

[Regolyth]

Meh... seems like another WoW clone to me.

[Morreion]

Allods Online Announces Open Beta

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors, tell your dog, Allods Online is going Open Beta! The Allods Online team is pleased to announce that the Open Beta will officially go live on February 16th, 2010! All players will be able to access the game (no beta key needed) and all current content through level 40 will be available for play!

Please note that all CBT characters will be deleted prior to Open Beta. Characters created in Open Beta will NOT be deleted.

I have to admit, letting you keep your open beta characters is cool.

[Morreion]

Keen and Graev's coverage of Allods Online open beta / launch:

Allods Launch Day

Allods launch day has been interesting. There are a lot of people. More than any MMO launch since WoW, albeit the game is free to play and that’s expected. The lag is … well, the lag is almost as bad as WoW’s in some cases. There was a lot of loot lag happening for us on the newbie island. To get our bags sometimes required running far away from the mob and running back to it. Other bugs like clickable quest objectives being lagged and just an overall feeling of latency was prevalent. Playable though, very playable.

Astral Ships: As amazing and unique as you can imagine!

Who would have thought that Allods Online, a free to play game, could accomplish what so many have wanted for years? Regardless of how the game ends up with its cash shop or whatever may happen, these accomplishments can not be diminished. We were all a bunch of noobs and had no clue what we were doing, but the epic feeling of crewing a ship with 6 people — real people working together — was unmistakably unique and just as amazing as you could ever imagine. Getting them at launch and sailing with a guild crew, perhaps even in an armada, is my dream right now.

Watch the Video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_RuhBtW8XU&feature=player_embedded

Thoughts on Allods Online's Cash Shop

These potions have restrictions on what they can stack with and come in multiple types. This form of cash shop is most definitely “pay to win”. However, the core of your character is unchanged by what you buy. What is spent in the cash shop to strengthen a character is consumed and lost and nothing persists. This type of pay to win seems a lot better than a more permanent option like we can see working in Runes of Magic. In RoM you pay to win and your character remains powerful after the purchase. Most items purchased from the cash shop can be placed on the AH. This will allow people who do not want to spend RL money to get them by spending gold. It should have an interesting effect on the economy.

[Morreion]

Allods opens cash shop, prices drive players insane (Massively)

The Allods Online's community isn't happy with the game's cash shop prices. Currently, the cost of increasing your bag slots from 18 to 24 is $20, which is considerably higher than pretty much every other free-to-play game on the market. It's not entirely clear whether this is some kind of back-end mistake on gPotato's part or an actual pricing change.

And looking at the general section of Allods Online's official forums reveals that, in fact, a lot of players are pretty upset over the whole fiasco. Some are proclaiming rage-quits while others are considering boycotts but nobody is happy about the news. Of course, some more level-headed community members are attempting to communicate with gPotato in order to get the prices changed to more reasonable prices -- something which is apparently true of the Russian version of the game. We'll keep you updated as the story progresses.

Allods Online responds to player concern over cash shop (Massively)

Tonight, gPotato officially responded to the outrage, literally apologizing for the communication breakdown that happened today. "We made a mistake by not letting you, our most passionate players know when the item shop was going to go live and we didn't make the effort to learn more about how all of you feel regarding the contents of the item shop." Later in the statement, they've clarified a major concern on the minds of those interested in making Allods their main MMO: "You can still enjoy the entire game without ever having to spend a single cent."

Here's the official response.

[Morreion]

Allods Cash Shop Blunder (Keen and Graev)

Everything in the cash shop has had a zero added to the end. Mistake? I do not know. It seems like an awfully big mistake to make, especially when you’re open for business. A medium bag that was $2 is now $20 (that’s $20 for 6 extra slots folks), and a level 10 rune that was $689 is now $6,890. See what I mean by the possible error with adding a zero? It doesn’t make any sense that gPotato would be this stupid, but I honestly can’t sit here and believe this wasn’t a mistake. (Update: Russians say our shops prices are 20x higher than theirs.)

No one, out of the 90 members in my guild, will spend a dime on this cash shop in its current state. Many of us have $50 gamecards that we’re prepared to shred or attempt to return to the vendor before we redeem them. I have a feeling that the majority feel the same. The Official Forums are ablaze with ragequits and all the topics trying to speak out on this horrific price gouging are being deleted. This is unacceptable.

Most of us are planning to continue playing since we enjoy the game for free to make a statement. At their current prices, no one will be able to continue using the cash shop for long. The prices are so high that even the potions are ridiculous. Spend your $13.50 and boost your HP and I will still kill you three times over. Will you be quick to spend $13.50 again after having your ass handed to you? I think not. It made more sense when the cash shop was cheap enough that people would not hesitate. It was so cheap that I actually saw myself spending $10/month on one item alone.

I advocate the boycott until we find out what’s up. It doesn’t matter how good the game is (and it is amazing) if the prices are this high. Everyone will all stop playing and move on to something else. The NA market doesn’t tolerate this kind of stuff. This also just validates every concern that myself and others have about microtransaction games.

I’m prepared to strikeout every word in this blog entry and speak favorably about the game again if this is indeed in error. If this is not a mistake… I hope that I don’t have to write that post.

Bringing you up to speed on Allods Online’s Launch Debacle (Keen and Graev)

Enter Astrum Nival, developers of Allods Online. Today the patch notes for 1.0.07.07 were released for the Russian Version. Guess what was in these notes? Game breaking changes to the cash shop. Being resurrected by other players now gives you Fear of Death (the death debuff). In Heroic instances, which you can not leave, this essentially means you must have perfume to remove the debuff. Clearly promises are broken here. Given that the NA version must pay $13.50 for a stack of 20 perfume, the math was done and we’re looking at over $50 / month in order to participate in end-game PvE. Top it all off? Fear of Death now lasts 2 hours at level 40.

In addition to the game breaking cash shop change, classes were nerfed. The Warden class (which I play) has had its renew changed completely to a more active ability on a one minute cooldown. Scout speed cooldown is nerfed. Psionicist speed buffs were dropped from 30% speed to 10% speed. Several other changes to classes result in almost everyone being pissed off. Mounts were also added but require you to purchase food for them from the cash shop in order for them to work their best.

Nobody is happy about any of this. Not even the GM’s who are having breakdowns over the whole thing. The forums are a complete hell hole right now with topics being deleted like crazy. Players have pointed out that Gala-net has an F rating with the BBB citing, “…their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements…”. Clearly it is not a good day to be working for gPotato and it’s certainly not a good day for fans of this game.

Bottom line here is that the game is being mismanaged from both sides. gPotato crucifying the cash shop + Astrum Nival suddenly losing their sanity = Game Over. Patch 1.0.07.07 will be the end of the game for pretty much everyone and not by choice. We’re all very confused as to what is going on right now. None of us can afford to pay $50-$75 per month to PvE at level 40. None of us understand why the game that was literally pure gold is now struggling to hold on for dear life and how it all happened at once…

Conspiracy theories abound with crazy ideas about contracts being breached and AN driving the design of the game into the ground in order to ruin gPotato who then in turn jacks the cash shop to ruin the game. Another great theory is that the Russian version has lost so many players that the NA version is being tanked on purpose to drive those players back. It’s all speculation but it makes a lot more sense than watching two companies suddenly lose their minds.

Get your crap together gPotato/Astrum Nival. We don’t have any interest in waiting for you to learn how to run a company or design a game properly. You’re wrecking a good thing and no one is going to let you get away with it. From where I stand you’re embarrassing yourselves and those of us who spoke so highly of your game. The next email I get better be explaining how the situation is being rectified. If not, please do not bother contacting me again.

Keen has said that he has enjoyed Allods, but this news is disheartening. I literally stopped my download of the game when I read this.

I must say that I am totally uninterested in a microtransaction game that badgers me to spend money constantly. I'd rather have a subscription game and not be bothered to spend money every time I turn around.

[Morreion]

The Daily Grind: Soured on Allods Online? (Massively)

Last Monday, everyone was looking forward to the soft launch of Allods Online on the 16th. This Monday, many of those same people are scowling and making their fair share of unhappy grumbling noises. What happened? Well, while no one expected that the anticipated free-to-play would lack an item shop, almost no one expected that the prices would be... well... for lack of a better term let's say "ruinous." No small portion of the blogosphere has piped up in rage, and the official response from the company succeeded in further angering players and potential players.

Oh, and there's a bit of discontent about how this ties into the next patch, as well.

As we survey the game's quick reputation shift, it's well worth asking where people stand on the issue. Has the entire brouhaha and ill-received response soured your opinion of Allods Online irrevocably? Would you be willing to try it if the prices were lowered, or are you now refusing to play the game solely based upon principle? Or are you willing to roll with the changes and write the entire thing off as a misunderstanding?

It isn't a good sign when you see a title like this about a game

To me, the game has soured. I was downloading it for a try when I saw this news and canceled my download. From all reports, Allods was the most polished and interesting microtransaction-based 'free to play' game out there. But the big risk of a game with this fee structure is- what if after months of play, you find you have to spend a good amount of money just to make progress that you used to be able to do for free? In a way, I'm glad Allods spared me the time and effort. I don't want to have lots of effort held hostage to a sudden change in fee structures.

Give me a subscription so that I know where I stand going ahead into the future. Don't change the rules whenever you feel like it. I doubt I'll ever play a microtransaction game like this.

[Morreion]

Allods announces cash shop price reduction (Massively)

The last week and a half has been a wild ride for Allods Online on both the player side and the developer side. On February 19th, Allods Online debuted their cash shop, and the prices were universally considered unreasonable. (Unreasonable was putting it mildly, according to popular opinion.) Many players at first assumed there was a mistake and waited anxiously for the correct prices to be added.

Word quickly came down that the prices were indeed correct, and the games were on. Angry players either left the game entirely or stuck around to protest. Eventually, the Allods Online team acknowledged that the pricing decision was a bad one and announced they'd be changing the prices soon. They have now released what we've all been waiting for: the updated price list.

It's good that the prices have come down. The problem with a cash shop game that shows a willingness to charge a lot for things you end up needing is that I don't want to put time into a game to find that there could be a bait-and-switch pricing situation down the road.