Allods Online Official Launch

Word on the street is that Allods Online will hit it's official launch "very soon". Along with that news, comes news that their fourth expansion is also coming out.

Allods Online, further muddling the idea of an MMOG beta.

Allods Online removing Fear of Death debuff

I just received news that in Allods Online patch 1.1.0, the Fear of Death (FoD) debuff will be removed:

The upcoming Allods Online Patch 1.1.0: Revelations of Gipat introduces new content and gameplay mechanics. In fact, one of the most controversial aspects of the game, Fear of Death, is being eliminated!

Fear of Death is a debuff that players receive upon death which reduces all of their offensive stats by 25% for an amount of time proportional to their level. It can be removed by spending Drops of Myrrh that can be bought from vendors, using Incense that can be bought from the Item Shop, or just waiting it out. However, most users will rejoice in knowing that Fear of Death will no longer be a part of the game.

For those that have followed Allods Online's progress from beta to launch, FoD was the most controversial topic. It is the reason Keen, and I suspect many others, decided not to stick with the game.  Personally, I disliked FoD, but came around to an agreement with myself that it wasn't that bad since I only played the game casually.

I didn't agree that it was a cash shop or micro-transaction issue.  What I didn't like about FoD was the fact that it didn't make sense in terms of gameplay.  Reading these upcoming changes, I feel somewhat vindicated in my prior stance.  If FoD was a mechanic meant to create revenue, as many argued, it wouldn't be getting yanked from the game.  This to me, is evidence enough that it was just a bad gameplay mechanic awaiting replacement. And now Allods is getting that replacement:

When a player dies in the upcoming patch, instead of receiving a debuff to all of their offensive stats, players will have a very small chance that a curse will be cast upon them. The curse will randomly land on one of a player’s item slots; however, if the curse lands on a slot that is empty or contains an item that is Uncommon or Common, the curse will be deflected, leaving the contents of the item slot unharmed. If the curse lands on an item slot that contains an item that is Rare, Epic, or Legendary, its stats will become inverted.

Bosses in dungeons and raids will now also drop Cursed Items in addition to the items that they usually drop. This means that means that players will have a chance to receive more loot, which can be used once the curse is removed.


In order to remove a curse from an item, players can purchase Scrolls of Purification from the Item Shop, or buy them from other players. Players can also avoid items becoming cursed with each death by wearing Holy Charms. Players may have up to 1000 Holy Charms equipped at a time and each time the player dies, one charm will be used to deflect any possible curse. Holy Charms are available for purchase in the Item Shop, and can also be bought from other players.

There are no hard numbers to substitute for the "chances" mentioned in the blurb above, but as FoD was in effect 100% of the time, this is already a better system.  Also, it does a better job of defining the Cash Shop's role in the death penalty revenue scheme.

While I don't like the idea that any game penalizes players and then tells them to go into a Cash Shop to remove that penalty, the proposed system has a couple of tricks up it's sleeves.

First, the items are player trade-able, creating a currency system of sort for players that have real life cash and want to exchange it, legally, for in-game goods and services.

Secondly, it offers proactive and reactive items to be purchased allowing players to decide how they want to pay.  Players can pay up front and carry Holy Charms to prevent the curses or they can pay on the back end after a curse has hit via the Scrolls of Purification.

Or, players don't have to pay at all by keeping stashes of spare equipment on hand to replace any cursed items.  This may not be efficient or advisable, but it does allow players to continue their free rides.

Allods Online is still a great game and I am looking forward to getting back into at some point and the upcoming Patch 1.1: Revelations of Gipat will be live July 7^th!

April 2010: What I Played/What I Paid

As promised over a month ago, I am finally catching up on my What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying post (subbing d's for ing's, past tense and all that).

April, as a month in gaming for Heartless_, was as exciting as watching the Detroit Lions play a random High School football team. 

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for April below.  The overall spreadsheet (includes previous months) can be found here.

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Game of the Month

Cost: $13.39 (Steam Holiday Sale)
Played: 2 hours
3-words: Better price = $13.37








Don't let the total playtime fool you.  I liked Bioshock, but between a bugged out Big Daddy and failed game save backup forcing me to restart twice, I just didn't make any progress.  By the time I turned around, April was over and I was scheduled to be out of town most of May.  My poor laptop just couldn't manage Bioshock reliably enough to provide a good play experience.  I've shelved the game for completion and commentary at a later date.

Upcoming Game of the Month  for May: Torchlight (because it runs like a dream on my laptop!)

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/Played

Allods Online

I stuck in an hour playtime with my Melee Healer in Allods Online in April.  I still enjoy the game and wish I could dedicate more time to it.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

I continued my enjoyment of BFBC2 in April playing a few games.

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/Paid

Total spent this Month: $0.00
My Value Rating: n/a

I made no gaming purchases during April.

March 2010: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

My March gaming was a battle.

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for March below.  The overall spreadsheet (includes previous months) can be found here.

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Game of the Month

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Cost: $49.99 (Limited Edition)
Played: 30 hrs
3-words: Full of destruction!






My game of the month was Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

I am a fan of the entire Battlefield series, more so than any other shooter series, and Bad Company 2 fits right into my playstyle. It's a first person shooter first and foremost, but it offers class-based team play that allows weaker FPS players to enjoy success.

I spent the majority of my time on hardcore servers where bullet damage is increased and some of the UI elements (map, target marking, ammo count, weapon info) is hidden. The "normal mode" works fine, but it can be frustrating sometimes when it takes a dozen bullets to take down a target. Also, normal mode encourages the use of only the high damage weapons and abilities; making a lot of the weapons completely worthless. In hardcore, all weapon types play a role as speed and accuracy, but lower powered weapons are still lethal.

As with Battlefield 2, I find myself playing medic in BFBC2 a lot.  I am not a horrible FPS gamer, but I'm not that great either.  The medic class in the Battlefield games has always been a balanced option between killing and support.  This hold true in BFBC2 and with a focus on squad play, I am able to rack up the points keeping my squad going.

I've really enjoyed my 30 hours in the release version of BFBC2.  Sure there has been some server and punkbuster issues, but most of them existed for less than a week.  It has been smooth sailing for the latter half of the month.

Game of the Month for April: Bioshock 

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/Played

My /Played  section is a bit short this month.  I put most of my time into BFBC2 and had a mid-month lull when I took over a week off from gaming.  I hadn't intended to take the week off, but between watching Lost (in the middle of Season 2 via Netflix) and a non-sleeping 6 month old, it just happened.

For the record, I did play some LEGO Universe, but I am not allowed to talk about it due to the NDA on the closed beta.  Also, I am still engaged with Allods Online, but just didn't find any time to log in this month, which is fine as I do not have to pay a monthly subscription to keep my Allods account active.

Civilization 4

I put another hour into Civ4 this month. I was sort of inspired by reading up on Elemental, a 4x game that will be launching later this year.
 

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/Paid

Total spent this Month: $0.00
My Value Rating: n/a

I made no gaming purchases this month.

Feb 2010: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

My February gaming was a letdown.

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for January below.  The overall spreadsheet (includes previous months) can be found here.

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Game of the Month


Mass Effect
Cost: $4.99 (Steam Holiday Sale)
Played: 5 hrs
3-words: Sucked, gets better.





My game of the month was Mass Effect; in honor of the release of Mass Effect 2 this month.

Mass Effect is growing on me.  At first I despised the combat and drawn out conversations.  Mass Effect has one of the worst introductions to an RPG that I've ever played.  There was nothing in the first four hours of the game that made me jump for joy.

However, I now have a feel for the game and have let the cards fall where they may.  I'm picking up steam, rock hopping across the galaxy and sticking to the main storyline.  I find the side quests easily and best avoided.  I didn't log as many hours I had hoped this month, but I do still plan to finish Mass Effect.

March's GotM: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

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/Played

In the /Played section, I cover other games I played during the month.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta

I love the Battlefield games.  Bad Company 2 is the next great title in the series and I spent most of my gaming time with it this month.  From my initial impressions post:

The first thing that struck me about Bad Company 2 (BC2) was it's destructive nature. As can be seen in the video, almost every wall and obstacle can be destroyed. This was something promised back in the days of Battlefield 2 and only partially realized in BC1. BC2 takes it to another level. No wall, box, barrel, or cement slab seems safe. Annoying sniper on the third floor three buildings down? Level the first two buildings and smoke that fucker out.

The full version goes live March 2nd and I am dedicating most of March to this great game!

Allods Online Open Beta

Its been an up and down month for Allods Online and its open beta.  I put a few hours in and have Healer and Scout leveling slowly, but surely.  Regardless of how the cash shop debacle turns out, I have to admit that Allods is a fun game to play in its free version.  That's why its so disheartening that the upcoming game changes could kill the fun.

Also, my Allods Online guide is coming along nicely.

Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2, like most of Valve's games never gets old.  I hooked up and rocked out for some great VS. matches on The Parish campaign.  The finale, bridge map for The Parish is one of my favorites.

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/Paid

Total spent this Month: $49.99
My Value Rating: Average

Bad Company 2 was expensive at $49.99.  I would have felt more comfortable at a $35 price point.  However, I was fortunate enough to receive a $75 "points" card as a bonus from work.  One of the few things it can be used on is a prepaid card usable on Steam games.  That is the only reason I shelled out $49.99 for this game.

I have now used up $105.16 of my $180 gaming budget for 2010.  Stay tuned each month to see if I can stay on track!

Sunshine for Allods Online?

Keen has a post up: A Ray of Hope for Allods Fans

Today’s communication from gPotato shed some light on a few things we’ve been having to deal with over the past week. First off they debunked the rumor that the original dev team was no longer working on the game. Second, they addressed the cash shop prices stating, “we are actively working on new pricing options to accommodate the masses.”

While we don't know what the final verdict is yet; Keen stated something a lot of Allods players feel.

What gPotato needs to realize coming out of all of this is that the people who enjoy the game are willing to spend money.

Allods players, for the most part, are willing to pay to play the game at a reasonable price. However, I disagree with Keen's next statement:

Yeah, it’s a cash shop microtransaction model game. We know that we’re going to be forced into the cash shop because that is an intrinsic property. That doesn’t bother us anymore.

I don't want to play a game that forces me into its cash shop. It is NOT intrinsic to the business model and does more damage to the game than good. A cash shop should be about convenience, not necessity. The game should make me want to spend money, not punish me for not spending.

I think I am the minority in this. All along I didn't feel the discussion should have been about the cash shop. It should have been about how poorly thought out the game changes were. Removing mana/health regeneration skills, changing the Fear of Death debuff, and increasing the leveling curve are dumb changes for the game. I could care less that I can "buy" my way past these changes, at any price.

Over at Serial Ganker, sid67 lays out his view in response to my original thoughts.

Heartless_ is making the argument that we would hate this type of penalty in any game. He argues that if this change were made in a subscription game, players would still be up in arms about it. Very true. But with one critical difference, in Allods, you can PAY to avoid the penalty.

sid67 is one of the more balanced writers I've found in the MMOG blogosphere. This shows just how much of a minority my line of thinking is. I'm pushing against the conversation about the cash shop, because I want to discuss Allods Online as a game, business model agnostic. The reality is that Allods Online is a poor example, at this point barring any changes, of the microtransaction model.

I have the problem of having a happy-go-lucky vision of Free 2 Play games and the micro transaction model. One whereby players pay for microtransactions that enrich their gameplay experience, while the base game is playable and satisfying within itself. Developers have the right to make money with the game, but at some point, forcing players into a cash shop tells me the game would have been better off in a subscription model.

I must accept my minority view and move on. I'm still playing Allods and depending on where the game changes go, will determine if I continue playing. I don't want to feel like I'm forced into paying for cash shop items; at any price.

gPotato and Astrum Nivel respond to Allods Online debate

gPotato and Astrum Nival have responded to the community outrage over the recent Allods Online changes.

Over the last several days, the Allods team has been spending a lot of time listening to player feedback. We’ve noticed that two of the biggest topics this weekend have been regarding rumors of Astrum Nival remaining as the developers for Allods and what our future plans are for the item shop. We wanted to take a moment to address these topics and clear up some of the general questions many of you may have.

The original Astrum Nival developers are no longer involved in Allods!

False!

The original development team for Allods Online is still 100% involved in developing Allods.

To provide everyone insight on the situation let’s take a trip down memory lane. The developers for Allods Online were originally known as Nival Online. On July 6th, 2009 Nival Online merged with Astrum Online Entertainment and became what most people know them as, Astrum Nival. Then on December 1st, 2009, Mail.ru merged with Astrum Online Entertainment. Astrum Online Entertainment operates Astrum Nival, the development studio which developed our beloved game, Allods Online.

In any case, the original developers are intact – they just have a new company name. The original vision of Allods Online is still being followed by the developers. Allods Online is in great hands and is being actively developed!

Item shop prices are overpriced, what is gPotato doing about this?

As we mentioned in our official statement last week, the Allods team is well aware of the situation. We can’t apologize enough for the stir and shock it’s caused within the community and the lack of communication we had beforehand with not evolving you, the players, in our decision making process.

We want to make clear that this is something we are not taking lightly. We are not sitting and waiting just to see how many dollars we’re going to make over the next four weeks. It is very clear to us that players are already disgruntled with the situation and we are actively working on new pricing options to accommodate the masses. However, we ask the Allods community to please be patient with the situation! Adjustments like this cannot happen overnight. That’s why we continually encourage everyone to submit constructive feedback to us regarding your opinion about both the game and the item shop. In fact, we started a forum thread that we will be checking on an hourly basis here.

The Allods team works hard on this game and loves it just as much as many of you do. When we see a problem we want to address it and take the most appropriate actions that make sense for both the players and the game. With that said, we encourage everyone to voice your opinion, even if it’s about something you absolutely hate, just please do so in a constructive manner.

Thank you everyone for your continued support! As we’ve said many times, the Allods fans are some of the best gamers in the world – we really appreciate that!

First, they dispelled the conspiracy theory that the original developers were gone. Still, that is a lot of merging and there are reports out of Russia that mail.ru is a less than reputable online-games operator.

The price hike in the cash shop does not appear to have been a mistake as first assumed (they literally multiplied the prices by 10 for everything which made it seem like an obvious mistake).

The changes to Fear of Death, mana/health regen, and leveling speed are not addressed in the post directly, but are the catalyst of the problem. I sincerely hope that Astrum Nival and gPotato realize the prices aren't the problem, its them crippling the game to force players into the cash shop. The cash shop should be about convenience, not necessity.

They have brought up a forum thread to collect feedback.

Forget about the Allods Online cash shop, this is dumb for any business model

It never fails that a game implodes while I am away for the weekend.  This time around it was Allods Online.

In the beginning of the early closed betas, I was not worried about the Allods Online cash shop.  The game in closed beta proved to me and many other players to be playable without any cash shop items.  The cash shop was going to about convenience.  The only thing that was going to change that was a game breaking patch.  Barring that single situation, Allods Online was shaping up to be a delightful game.

Unfortunately, game breaking changes just so happen to have been slated for patch 1.0.07.07, which contains changes best summed up by Keen:

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.

Lets forget about the cash shop for a minute; these changes don't make sense for any business model.  Unavoidable, hours long death penalties?  In a game designed to have players die repeatedly?  This is a classic case of the punishment (fear of death) not fitting the crime (death).  I would have as much of a problem with these changes in a subscription game where I would have to grind away my time for perfume, something more valuable to me than my cash. 

Bringing the cash shop back into the conversation highlights how dumb these changes are.  Either change was bad by itself, but combined they are a nightmare.  Its not a question of players wanting to be free riders.  Many players were more than willing to pay for Allods Online (me included).

The power of the micro-transaction model is it's ability to attract players in at all buy-in levels.  Those willing to spend $5 are given options while those willing to spend $50 can do so as well.  Pricing every single thing in the cash shop out of that lower bracket, while simultaneously forcing players into the cash shop goes against the grain of the business model.  At that point, the game is better off in a subscription model.

Stay tuned for more commentary on this subject.  I think people, again, are losing focus because this involves micro transactions.  Hopefully, we can steer this conversation back to just how stupid the planned game changes are.

Initial Impressions: Allods Online Open Beta

Allods Online launched into open beta this week and I've had a few hours to spend with it. I'm playing with the League faction as Heartless the Priest or Favre the Ranger on the Tensess server.  The open beta has been great so far and in classic Heartless_ style, here is a pro/cons list:



Pros

- Runs like a dream with little to no video or net lag.
- The visual style and game play is directly comparable to World of Warcraft. This works to the benefit of Allods Online.
- Leveling is well-paced. Not too fast, not too slow. There are enough quests to go around at each level.
- Combat is smooth and enjoyable.
- Class mechanics are unique to each class.

Cons

- Runs like a dream, but at the price of a view distance that can be measured in inches.
- Quest objectives and areas are camped into extinction.
- The general chat is a never ending debate about World of Warcraft.
- Questions about the Cash Shop are unanswered currently. The details seem to change every week.
- No auto attack.
- Chat interface needs improvement.

Overall I am really enjoying my time in Allods Online's open beta. As characters won't be wiped for launch, Feb 16th is the true Allods launch date. The greatest thing it has going is the free 2 play business model. This allows me to enjoy the game casually without the worry of maintaining a subscription. I can come back and play whenever I want and when I have more time to dedicate to the game, I can spend a few dollars in the Cash Shop to improve that dedicated time. Allods Online is going to be a popular game and I will be very interested to see how financially successful it can be.

Allods Online Characters and Upcoming Guide

I wanted to post about my two characters from Allods Online, which just launched open beta (patch 1.0.05.41) today.

Server: Tensess
Faction: League

Heartless the Priest

Favre the Ranger

Also, I am begining work on an Allods Online Guide blog.

Preparing for the Allods Online Launch Tommorow

gPotato has released some information to help everyone prepare for Allods Online open beta launch tomorrow (2/16):

If you downloaded the Allods client before midnight (12am Pacific Standard Time) on Monday, February 15th, you will need to go through the following steps to make your client open beta ready. Also, if you participated in any of the closed betas, this most likely affects your client. You will not be able to update your client through the normal launcher patching process.

1. Download the Allods open beta update here: http://allods-ftp.gpotato.com/OBupdate.exe
2. Run the open beta update from any directory (be sure to close the launcher before running the update!)
3. Re-open the Allods Online launcher
4. Download the latest updates and enjoy the game!

Players can verify their version against this:

Also, the version number to participate in the Allods Online open beta will be 1.0.05.41.

I'm updated and ready to go and just so happen to have the day off from work (not that my kid will let me play that much). Hopefully, I'll be able to grab my favorite names for once!

Jan 2010: What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying

Welcome to the first What I'm Playing and What I'm Paying post for 2010.  In the future I will attempt to have these posts ready for the first of each month, but Heartless_ Jr is teething and when I finally had free time this past week all I wanted to do was own face in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

I have embedded the new What I'm Playing/What I'm Paying spreadsheet for January below.  The overall spreadsheet can be found here.

Allods Online Beta 4 Starts Today

Today marks the start of something very special for fans and players of Allods Online: Closed Beta Test 4. This stage of beta brings a raised level cap to 40, seven new contested zones, new instances, raids, Goblinball and Astral Ships. This all begins today (Jan 19th) at 11am PDT and runs until February 3, 2010. (Source)

My Allods Online Status

After a very busy beta 2, I have taken some time off from Allods Online during beta 3.  After beta 2 my mind was set: I am going to play Allods Online at launch.  Therefore I am taking a break during beta 3 to enjoy some of my other games and prepare for the launch.  I've logged in only a couple of times.  Also, I did not have any characters even close to the new level 20+ content that beta 3 was testing.

However, Keen over at Keen and Graev's has been rolling through beta 3 and has posted an amazing level 30 PvP video.

My character is very versatile and I enjoy the role that I play in PvP.

I've embedded the video below:

Allods Online: Fatigue is pretty smart

The fatigue system in Allods Online is pretty smart.  Players have a fatigue pool that is filled every time they gain experience.  Fatigue is gained on a 1 to 1 basis to experience and is displayed as the blue portion of the experience bar. At any time, fatigue can be turned in at an innkeeper for experience (also on a 1:1 basis).  The fatigue pool is limited and only so much can be gained in a single day.

This is not immediately obvious, but when fatigue is maxed out, a player is effectively cut to 50% of their normal experience gain.  However, Allods does this in a very smart way which I agree wholeheartedly with.

Heartlessgamer.com Giveaway: Allods Online Beta Keys

Sorry, ALL KEYS ARE GONE!

I will update this post if I receive any more keys.

Initial Impressions: Allods Online (beta 2)

Allods Online looks like World of Warcraft. It also feels and plays like WoW. This is a compliment, because Allods Online is a good, fun game to play

Allods Online is an upcoming free-to-play (F2P), but supported by micro-transactions game from gPotato and Astrum Nival. It entered closed beta 2 yesterday and I was able to put a couple hours into it.

As with WoW, Allods is divided into two factions: Empire and League. Both sides offer similar classes, albeit named differently based on race. At this point, I am unsure how much of a difference between factions the classes enjoy.

I chose to go with an Arisen Occultist (which is of the Psionicist archetype, Empire faction). The Arisen are an undead-like, mechanical race. They are Allods' version of WoW's undead, as almost everyone in game alludes to.

I guess I should cover that up front. Everyone in game won't shut up about WoW this and WoW that, but its understandable as it happens in all new MMOGs. Even in ones that aren't anything like WoW. This is a deal killer for some and has others quickly searching for the chat options to kill general chat. Personally, I just ignore it.

Back to my Occultist. This caster class works on a mental link mechanic whereby all my attacks against the linked target have some sort of benefit. I can then terminate that link, dealing a significant portion of damage. At first the mechanic is confusing as there are hidden benefits not immediately explained that reduce cast time and offer additional attacks (a DoT, stun, and an extra nuke). After a few levels, I am cruising with this guy.

User Interface (UI)

The UI for Allods is familiar to anyone that has played a diku-inspired MMOG in the last decade. It most closely resembles WoW's and again that is a compliment. Many games try, but fail to emulate some of WoW's better features such as the UI. There are hotbars, menus, a quest tracker, and a familiar looking character info pane.


The only missing item is a minimap, but the larger world map works well. I have not investigated whether a minimap is even available.

Combat

A lot of previews have stated that combat in Allods is slow, but in my experience the speed felt right. It was also smooth and enjoyable. Responsiveness is a bit off at times, but that could be related to the server debugging going on.

Technical

There is only one US server and it had a rough start. At first no one could connect and then after a couple hours it crashed and a login queue was put into place. This morning I did not encounter a queue and was able to play without issue.

I am able to run the game at maximum settings without a hitch (quadcore CPU, Nvidia GTX 260 graphics card, 4Gb RAM, Windows 7 Pro x64). My only graphical complaint is that the viewing distance is tiny, but this is the same complaint I have with WoW's limited viewing distance. In crowded areas, to save on performance, only so much is loaded, which often leads to moments where you think the way ahead is clear only to move five feet and find out there are 10 people standing there instead.

Little Things

There are little things that separate Allods from WoW and other MMOGs.

An immediately noticeable and welcome feature is how rest experience works. Instead of accruing rest exp while logged out, players gain fatigue while fighting/completing quests. This fatigue can be traded in at innkeepers for experience. I am unsure if excess fatigue negatively affects a player or not.

Death is handled via a purgatory mechanic. Upon death players are banished to a small zone with other dead players. They are given the choice to wait a short period of time for a free resurrection or pay with experience debt for an immediate revival. There are also consumable items available in game that can be used to escape purgatory unscathed.

There are some fairly unique classes and races in the game. The Gibberlings race features three small furry avatars that act as one. Summoner classes have non-standard pets, such as the Orc's pet Gnome. Also the associated class for the archetypes are named different for each faction, giving a hint of uniqueness.

With these minor differences, there are some significant ones such as Astral Ships that will be revealed in the later levels of Allods Online. Beta 2 is capped at level 20 and limited to certain zones.

Conclusion

I'm being fairly positive in this initial impressions post because Allods came out of left field and surprised me. As I started with, Allods is a good game. The WoW comparisons are endless, but that's a good thing. Other F2P games like Runes of Magic made me want to go back and play WoW. Allods, so far, has made me want to log back in and play Allods. This game may be the F2P equivalent to WoW I've been looking for.


My Allods Online photo album is available via Flickr.

Hurry, Get an Allods Online Beta Key!

Allods Online hits beta 2 today.

Gala-Net, Inc., a leading free-to-play online game publisher, announced today their second Closed Beta Test (CBT) for Allods Online in the North American market. The second CBT will run from December 1st through December 15th and will enhance the user experience with brand new content.

To get a key, follow one of the below links:

I have keys available!

MMORPG.com
Massively

Allods Online: A Look at Astral Ships

More amazing insight into the features of the upcoming Allods Online. Today I came across this link detailing Astral PvP, mainly focused on the role of Astral ships:

Exploring the Astral

At the start of the development of Allods Online, a special Core Design Team that included Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director of the game, was responsible for all the important Game Design decisions.

During the meetings, the team’s vision of the Astral was discussed at length. Initially, its main purpose was to allow players to embark on deep and exciting adventures of exploration. Fairly quickly, the conversations moved to how great it would be if Astral Ships had cannons, could hold treasure and participate in massive battles. The idea caught on, and soon the decision to include Astral warfare in the game was made. The next step was to create a prototype to make sure that the ideas that they had in those meetings were possible in the game, with gameplay as the team had initially wished.

The result of this prototype was amazing, so the development team started work on incorporating Astral battles into Allods Online.

According to the game lore, many years have passed since the times of “Evil Islands”, the third game in the Rage of Mages series. It was conceived that both the Kanian and Xadaganians had performed a great technical leap in the years between the two games. The Sarnaut World Bible stipulated that travel between allods was only possible through portals controlled by the Great Mages, but by the time of Allods Online, the inhabitants had discovered the secret of Astral travel for both exploration and warfare.

The Ultimate Gameplay

The team had a lot of big and small changes as they evolved their concept from a prototype to a full 3D ship. They wanted to make sure that there was a wide range of strategies available to players, and allow new strategies to emerge as players populated the world. On the first tests of the prototype, the game featured only combat with no boarding. The battle ships lacked open spaces and featured lots of small rooms, packed with corners and curves. This meant that players who favoured ranged abilities were unable to use them.

For example, Mages could not use Fireball spells as the different barrels and barriers blocked their line of sight through to their opponent, and opponents could avoid magical attacks very easily. The team played through the prototypes and came up with a novel solution: players would be able to cast a spell in advance before chasing their opponent down and hitting them with it. This feature stayed with the game throughout development and can now be found in the game.

While having a lot of fun playing with the game, the developers added new improvements into the Astral battles almost daily. These test sessions were crucial to polish and improve this key component of Allods Online’s gameplay. The team quickly found out that fighting on these big battleships was very different to fighting on small boats.

Another feature to evolve during these sessions was the appearance of roles on the ship, missing from the early prototypes. A result of this was the appearance of the role of a Navigator, a single player who can see almost everything that is happening around the ship and who dictates the course that the ship should take through the Astral. Features such as the ability to turn the ship 180o were added, and then special abilities that could be used during combat. The role of a repairman who initially stood in the centre of the ship in prototypes was given to a team of goblins.

As always in game development, the prototype proved to be a key component of the development process, allowing the developers to make a unique style of gameplay that would allow the game to stand out from its competitors. And as the developers are all gamers, it meant that they were being as critical as any other player could be to develop a perfect balance. What else could they ask for?
Explorer or Pirate?

Having your own ship in the Allods Online universe opens up a wide range of opportunities to players. Firstly, it allows an utterly different type of gameplay experience to that which can be experienced on the ground. Players can be a pirate, an explorer discovering new allods that hold precious treasures or can fight or retreat from huge and powerful monsters that inhabit the strange and changing substance called the Astral. All players need to do is to get their player to the right level with their characters, gather friends, start building their ship and embark on adventures across the Astral.

The Astral is a dynamic, changing substance that appears to have a life of its own. This means that any travel away from the security of an allod is very random, with lots of exploration available. Players who find a way through to one place using a certain course should keep in mind that they may never get back to the same location by following the same course.

When players unlock Astral battleships, they can travel in rather safe zones, fighting small demons and discovering small allods. As their fighting skills develop and their ships improve, players will soon realize that they are ready to embark on far more dangerous adventures and explore the far Astral. There they will encounter huge monsters that hold useful trophies, find unknown islands and have the opportunity to fight other ships. Once their ship is packed with treasure, they need to set back home. The return trip can be as eventful as the journey, as a booty-laden ship is an attractive target for pirates that are hidden among the conduits that connect the Astral.

Players have lots of choice to get back home. They can set off in a random and unknown direction, and risk getting lost and losing their ship with all the treasures in its hold. They can engage pirates and defeat them in battle, or try their luck and see if they can sneak past the pirates. Risk is an important part of the Sarnaut world.

A task for everyone

From the early sessions as the developers worked on Astral Ships, they quickly decided to implement roles for different players who would play on board. However, it was not clear how these roles would be distributed between the crew of the ship. As time went by, the developers decided that roles should not depend on character classes, and went as far to make sure that players could choose their role on the fly in the heat of battle.

Each ship has an energy reactor that converts energy captured by the ships sails from the Astral to all the components of the ship: its engine, protective shields, cannons and the powerful mana-torpedoes.

A crew member needs to take on the role of the ship’s captain. Any player can take this role, so it Is not confined to the ship’s owner. Players will need to decide this amongst them, and the person they choose will receive a special Navigator’s Visor to allow them to see the space around the ship, and to forsee threats that could emerge from the Astral close to them. Then there is the helmsman who decides the course that the ship will take. For combat, several players on the battle deck use cannons or torpedoes. When the ship gets damaged, a player in charge of repair should make good use of the goblin repairmen that populate the ship, setting them to work on damaged areas.

If they are boarded, the ship’s deck turns into a real PvP area. The ship is surrounded with a special protective sphere, all the ships components are turned off and players participate in a fierce battle for control of the treasure located in the ships hold. It doesn’t matter what role players have in this situation, every crew member is required to fight off the threat.

Looking for high level Carpenters, PST

Astral ships are a very important and useful gameplay element in Allods Online. Pretty much every player will want to own a ship, sooner or later. It’s not an easy thing though, as owning a ship requires co-operation, an investment of time, and in-game money. After reaching a certain level, players can get a specific quest that reveals the secret processes involved in building a ship.

Astral ships are complex devices, so the process of building them takes a lot of time. There are ways to speed up the process by completing sub quests that reward you with useful materials. The next quest in the line will involve a group of high level players going through a dungeon. A small time investment in ship building each day can lead to a ship being built in a third of the normal time. Players can also watch the ship being build in the hangar bar and see if grow bit by bit. This hangar can be entered by going to the Astral Academy, which also contains a dock for parking your ship, and a repair shipyard.

The Astral Academy is always packed with explorers, customers, traders and NPC characters in charge of the Astral quests. It is the ideal place to meet other players looking for Astral adventures, Astral storytellers and a place to find out the latest intel on pirates.

Teamwork makes the dream work

Maneuvering an Astral Ship is not a simple task; various mechanisms are involved in the process and many important devices need to be co-ordinated to ensure that players go where they want to go. A successful trip requires co-ordination by all of those on board. The Navigator’s device will show all the threats around the ships environment for several kilometers. Teleporting pads allow players to board enemy ships and transfer to the hangar bay while shields located on each side of the ship protect it from damage. The captain’s visor also allows players to scan an enemy ship and let the crew see the status of their ship.

The main weapons on a ship are the cannons, which can be loaded with several types of magical ammunition. Some can be used to break through the shields, others will inflict damage on the ships hill, while others will break devices on the enemy ship. In addition to the firepower available with the cannons, torpedoes are located at the front of the ship and allow players to shoot straight ahead.

But most importantly, the heart of a ship is its energy reactor. A crew who does not protect this at all costs, all the time will have a hefty repair bill and have their Astral adventures curtailed if this is damaged. You have been warned.

Pretty cool stuff. Can't wait for the beta on Dec 1st.

Allods Online Tips

Ever since my days as the "#1 Warhammer Online fan", I've tried to stay away from official media sources for games. It's not that they fool me, its that they no longer feel like they are directed towards me. I have moved towards relying on bloggers who I follow on a regular basis. Bloggers who may get a bit too excited about games at times, but consistently put down solid information as though they are talking to a group of friends.

Keen and Graev and friends are busy at work putting together some information on Allods Online:

There are so few places to find quality info about the game that I figured a thread with interesting tidbits of info could go a long way. Feel free to post any information you find that you feel would be interesting and informative for people wanting to learn more about Allods Online.

I commend them for the effort, as Allods Online is starting to pique my interest (I just received a closed beta key via MMOCrunch).

The following Allods tidbit has me drooling:

At lvl 23 you WILL(no exceptions if you wanna lvl) be sent to Holy Lands. In Holy Lands you get to quest with the opposing faction and most quests involve killing their soldiers/players or taking over strategic points or sabotaging their stuff.

One of the first places you will be sent to is Spider Hill.

Atop the hill is a place of power that gives you a 10min buff if you stand on it. Thats ofc is a good thing to have. On either side of the hill are Liga and Imperia camps.

Let me tell you something. When I got to that Hill….I had the most fun I have ever had in the game. PvPing with Imperia was wicked fun.

Alas, it didnt last too long. After about an hour of awesome combat a lvl 40 Imperia Mage came over and ruined everything(that [I Am A Potty Mouth]!).

But in conclusion: Yes you will be sent to a place where you quest and PvP at same time.

This sounds like a really neat idea. Generally PvP has been introduced to MMOG players with on/off switches, rarely with motivation or consistency. World of Warcraft has PvE vs PvP servers and then instanced battlegrounds. Warhammer Online throws players at each other from the get go, but in zones full of NOTHING or an instanced scenario.

Whats outlined above for Allods Online seems to be a much more natural progression (albeit forced) into the PvP conflict. Also, the free-2-play aspect of the game could play into this as those that pay up could possibly have a huge edge in PvP.

I'm very interested to get going in Allods Online come December 1st.