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Rise and Shiny revisit: Allods Online
Before I get into the details of my week revisiting Allods Online, the "controversial" MMO published by gPotato, I'd like to say that I am fully aware of its less-than-stellar launch. I'd go so far to say that I have heard a lifetime's worth of theories and discussions over the overpriced cash shop and odd death mechanic. I saw the players who worshipped the game during the beta and later screamed about the fact that someone had to pay for the game. I have my own theories, mainly one that says many Western MMO players' first experience with a free-to-play MMO was Allods Online. These players were not used to cash shops and scoffed at for paying something that was previously free in beta. The cash-shop prices were too high. We know this. The developers and publishers both talked about it and continue to do so when asked. The death mechanic was over the top, and players could literally spend thousands of dollars on the game. This is all known; I have heard about it from the publishers' mouths myself. So here we are. The game has been tweaked and patched. The prices were adjusted; the silliest of the death mechanics have been removed. Players can still spend thousands on the game, but those same players can spend thousands in any number of MMOs. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, allow me to tell you what I thought about the gameplay during my revisitation.
Allods Online expansion launches today, new trailer released
Players waiting to build and claim their own allods can finally dig in and start construction now that Allods Online's expansion New Horizons has finally arrived. Besides the ability to own your own personal island, the expansion introduces a rebalanced Psionicist class, the ability to change factions, and a new draconic aspect. Check out these features and more in the new trailer after the break. In addition, as part of the celebration of opening the new North American server Avilon, players who log into the game for at least one hour from August 8th through the 21st are entered into a raffle each day for a chance to win real prizes. Check out the official announcement for full details about the lottery and prizes. For more details about the expansion, read Massively's exclusive interview. And be sure to stay tuned for a Rise and Shiny revisit to the game later in the week. [Source: gPotato press release]
One Shots: Death by tentacles
Massively reader The Platypus knows the secret behind taking a good One Shots entry: a good death! He sent in this amazing shot from The Secret World with a quick note: Hey Massively -- long-time reader The Platypus here! Two friends and I decided to three-man the Polaris dungeon in The Secret World last night, and while it went more smoothly than I imagined it would, we still had a little trouble with the Ur-Draug (TSW's Cthulhu analogue). As I was dying the first time and the creeping inevitability of my fate overcame me, I did the only logical thing I could do with the last few seconds of life: I took a screenshot! Enjoy! Tentacles past the break. Hit it!
Allods Online has a few good mercs for hire
Allods Online: New Horizons is, well, on the near horizon, and gPotato is shining a spotlight on the expansion's star pupils. In a new dev diary, the mercenary system is dangled right like a plump morsel in front of a starving crowd. Mercenaries work in a similar fashion to those in other MMOs. Players who are struggling to put together a full group for challenging content can hire one of these hard-working soldiers of war. Allods will give players their first mercenary contract for free, but subsequent ones cost in-game currency. Mercs last for two hours and are under control of the player who hired them. The mercenary roster includes Rowdy Brow, a tank; Matron Lighthand, a healer; Stormer the Fierce, a melee warrior; Casper Flinty, a ranged damage dealer; Lisa de Vevre, a buffer/debuffer; and Michael Grammar, a ranged spellcaster. New Horizons is on course to launch early this month. In the meanwhile, may we interest you in an exclusive interview with one of the devs?
Massively Interview: Allods Online talks health, housing, heroes, and horizons
Allods Online takes a lot of flak for its early direction, particularly over its F2P model, so we weren't entirely surprised when last month the game downsized to a single North American server. But when just a few weeks later gPotato opened a new server and then announced what looks like a whopper of an expansion (complete with the Allods-equivalent of player-owned housing!), we couldn't help but be intrigued. What the heck is this game up to? That's where gPotato Production Coordinator Aaron "Condulus" Biedma comes in. Biedma graciously stepped up to answer in detail our frank questions about the health of the game, the new expansion, the cash shop, and what lies beyond New Horizons. We even sneaked in a question about sexism in the lore. It's all after the cut!
Allods Online gives a glimpse of new expansion areas
The Allods Online community is aflame with excitement over the upcoming New Horizons expansion, and gPotato seems determined to keep throwing fuel on that fire. Today the company posted a brief overview of all seven new allods (zones) coming with next month's update. These new allods range from the spooky, gloomy region of the Lost Expedition to the lush, untamed Jungles of Mboa-Mboa. There's also the demon-plagued Black Rampart, an all-female city called Fenia's Cloister, the murky depths of the Underwater Kingdom, the toasty Cinder Vale, laboratory-run-amok Zone 51, and Metal Municipality, a city undergoing civil war. All in all, it looks to be a diverse travel itinerary for any adventurer. GPotato recently posted the trailer for New Horizons.
gPotato releases Allods' New Horizons expansion trailer
Yesterday we told you about Allods Online's New Horizons expansion. Today gPotato has released a trailer that shows off a bit of what's coming when the content goes live on August 8th. You'll get new mercenary functionality, seven new astral allods (plus the ability to own one yourself), and a new PvP feature called the Smugglers' War. The clips runs for well over four minutes, so head past the break to see for yourself. [Source: gPotato press release]
Rule your own allod in Allods Online's new expansion
It's only been a few days since gPotato announced a new server for Allods Online, but today the firm has even more exciting news for fans of its free-to-play fantasy MMO. An expansion called New Horizons is coming on August 8th alongside the new server launch. Quite a bit of content is in the offing, including the ability for players to build, design, and rule their own allod (which is basically an island in the game's vast expanse of magical space known as The Astral). The expansion also brings ship-to-ship combat, territorial and trade wars, and mercenary characters to the table. These mercs can be called upon to join parties and take down tough content that's not normally tenable for solo players or small groups. The mercs will take a share of the loot spoils, though. That's not all there is to the new patch, but you'll need to head to the official Allods website to find out more. [Source: gPotato press release]
Allods Online previews patch 3.0.4, spills new server details
Allods Online is constantly on the move, and as such, the team recently announced that the next update will be coming soon to the game. In addition to a brand-new North American server, patch 3.0.4 will witness significant changes to the mentoring and questing systems. Mentoring came with the previous update and is still being fine-tuned. With 3.0.4, mentors will be limited to 10 apprentices per character. Apprentices can be dismissed if a player is over the 10 limit and wants to add a new one. The dev team also announced a mentor/apprentice quest line that will give rewards to both. These quests can be accessed starting at level 10 and completed once per five levels beyond that. Patch 3.0.4 will also include more improvements to questing. The quest tracker and find quest feature are slated to become more intuitive, and the automove ability has been expanded to allow the system to run players through multiple zones in one go. The devs examined the quest flow as well and adjusted it to make it smoother in certain areas. The new server announced yesterday will be called Avilon and was created in response to a larger-than-expected influx of players onto the single North American shard. Players will not be able to transfer existing characters to Avilon, as the devs want to keep the server fresh and fair for those who roll there.
Allods Online announces patch 3.0.4, new North American server
Allods Online players are probably still busy playing with their new toys from the recent patches, such as the new Dead City raid and the Bard class, but gPotato has plenty more tricks up its sleeve. In a new post on the game's official site, the studio has announced Allods' next major update, patch 3.0.4. Information on the new update is scarce at the moment, but the post promises that "previews... of some of the new content and mechanics [players will] be able to experience in the new update" will be cropping up over the next few weeks on the official site. A few of these features include "changes to the mentor system and autorun, the Psionicist and Paladin reworks, new Allods to explore... and more." But that's not all that this new update is bringing with it. North American players are in for an extra treat in the form of a brand-new server. That's right, in addition to all the fancy new features that 3.0.4 is bringing to the game, NA players will be able to start on a fresh, clean server. This is somewhat odd, considering that the game recently merged two of its servers into one. The studio claims that it will "go into more details about the server and what to expect in the first preview which will arrive tomorrow." While you wait on more juicy information, though, just head on over to the Allods official site to give the full post a read.
One Shots: Signs and portents
We're deep in the throes of The Secret World's pre-launch weekend, and here to celebrate the game's arrival is Massively reader Sharvis, who sent in several potential One Shots of the game, including one of his character puzzling his way through a quest. He writes in, I found this map of Kingsmouth with a strange symbol on it. It only served to mystify my character Cole. Something sinister is underfoot in Kingsmouth, but what could it be? The plot thickens after the cut! Well, not really, but we do have a few more user-submitted screenshots to show off!
The Daily Grind: Has a cash shop ever killed a game for you?
Oh, Allods Online. You could cure cancer, end poverty, and kick off another green revolution, but some people would still hate you. It's not fair, really. You're beautiful. You have neat Russian steampunk elements and elves and gibberlings and bards and really great hair. You have freakin' dirigibles as player housing. But none of that matters because of your cash shop -- specifically, the extremely high prices in your cash shop when you launched compared to the prices charged by the rest of the industry. Players found that cash shop (and the subsequent holy charms bait-and-switch) greedy and unforgivable. We're reminded of this every time we post something innocent about the game and inadvertently cause our commenters to spasm with angry mourning, even when the original complaints have long been addressed. Gamers just don't forget these things. They won't give Allods another chance because of the initial sting of the microtransactions. So when has a cash shop killed a game for you? Is there anything that game could do to win you back, or is your grudge eternal? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: If a game's gotta merge servers, how should it go down?
Server merges are the destiny of the majority of MMOs with servers, be they games with tiny populations or games that still number in the millions. After all, funneling MMO populations is no easy task, and a game with lengthy queues one month might suffer a shortage of players the next. Studios know that the term "server merge" can be seen as a herald of doom, so modern devs have taken to using terminology like "trial servers" and "free transfers," letting players move of their own free will rather than dumping them unceremoniously on some other realm with some other name. Even if you know that merges are going to be good for the health of the game in the long run, the way a merge is conducted can still tarnish your affection for the title. Let's assume your game of choice plans to announce server merges of one flavor or another tomorrow. What's the best way the team can go about making it happen? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Allods Online merges down to one server
In every young server's life, there comes a time when it must leave the nest and join in union with another. And so it is for Tensess and Nezeb, Allods Online's two North American servers, which have now joined in holy matrimony to become one. gPotato has merged the sole two NA servers to become a new one named Yul. To "celebrate" the merge, the publisher is giving a free Water of Life to every character affected by the move. If a player has more than eight characters following the merge, the character select screen will now give access to all of them. While players can have more than eight due to the merge, if any characters over the eight limit are deleted, the spot is forever closed. The issue of duplicate names has been dealt with as well. Characters that haven't logged in during the past eight weeks forfeit their right to those names, while players with duplicate characters can re-snag that name on a first-come basis.
The Perfect Ten: Worst MMO launches of all time
First things first: Whatever MMO release is currently ticking you off is the worst launch of all time. It would be folly of me to try to convince you otherwise. You've been roundly slapped in the face and you don't want me to convince you that the pain was in vain. I understand. Getting past that, however, would it be possible to examine the subsequent 10 worst launches in the MMO industry? If your trauma isn't too great, that is. It would be? Terrific! What constitutes a horrible game launch is varied, although each and every one of the following games made an unfortunate blunder that caused the title to stumble instead of sprint out of the gate. It's not the end of the story, of course, but it does make for a good tale to tell to youngsters camping in the open woods or a particularly seedy LAN center.
Choose My Adventure: Take it back
Film trilogies rarely work out well. Either they're a case of a successful film spawning a successful sequel that leads into a try at a third film or they're a story stretched and hyped into unrecognizable shapes after several years. As a result, most third installments vary between "depends on personal taste" and "just plain bad." But here we are on my third run through Choose My Adventure, which means that for better or worse I'm looking at a trilogy. Let's hope this turns out slightly better than history might indicate. Beneath the cut are our nine candidates for the next game on the block, complete with explanations about why I've chosen those titles instead of other possibilities. Go ahead and read through the possibilities, then vote for your choice by Saturday if you want to be counted! Next week, tune in for a much more opinionated column as we kick off part three. And yes, the bonus polls are back.
Allods Online releases Astral Storm update
Wakey wakey, Allods Online players -- the Astral Storm update is here! Patch 3.0.2 was released to North American and European servers today hosting a wide variety of anticipated additions and changes to the game. These include a mentor system, pets that can loot for you, more PvP content, and an overhaul of alchemy. GPotato also nerfed its own free-to-play penalties in the update, as it removed Tep's Curse and Holy Charms from the game in order to protect players' gear. Dying will no longer cause player items to be cursed, which means that the charms are no longer needed as well. To celebrate the release of Astral Storm, gPotato brought back the tropical Atoll for three weeks. Catch up on all of the 3.0.2 goodness on Allods' special minisite devoted to the patch. [Source: gPotato press release]
Allods Online prepares players for patch 3.0.2 with a new mini-site
Allods Online's mascots are back for another humorous video, as Troll and Crab try their hands (claws) at making potions. It doesn't quite go as expected, but it's hard to blame Crab for what happens (he's just an earnest little guy). This is all to promote the game's newest update, patch 3.0.2, which promises to be a savory concoction for players to quaff. Over the weekend, gPotato opened up a new mini-site to promote the update and has since posted several new articles highlighting the changes. Some of patch 3.0.2's big selling points include a revamp of the Alchemy profession, the ability for pets to do the looting, a neat-sounding mentor system, a new skirmish called The Deserted Farm, a free-for-all treasure hunting space, a new raid boss, and better questing. Before you head over to see all of the patch changes, make sure to catch up on the latest episode of Troll and Crab after the break! [Thanks to Alex for the tip!]
Allods Online's patch 3.0.2 bringing mentor system, new Astral space
Allods Online's astral space is about to get just a little bit bigger thanks to the game's recently announced patch 3.0.2. The title's publisher, gPotato, announced today that the game's May content update will be bringing "a host of fixes and tweaks alongside some significant new features, including a new mentoring system and a new sector of astral space dedicated to free-for-all treasure hunting." The game's mentoring system allows experienced, high-level players to impart their wisdom and knowledge upon new characters of the same faction and archetype. The system is managed entirely through the game's mentor interface, which also helps to match prospective apprentices with a mentor. Mentors can receive a number of rewards, including gold and marks of diligence, depending on the amount of time the mentor spends with his apprentice. The update is also unveiling a new area of astral space wherein players will compete in a free-for-all battle for randomly spawning treasure, but be warned: The more players are in the zone, the higher the chance that a demon will show up to try to wreck your day. Players will have a limited amount of time to contend with opposing players and marauding demons and to gather the most loot possible before time's up. To get a sneak peek at these shiny new features, just head on past the cut and have a look at the update's official trailer. [Source: gPotato press release]
Allods Online to add new features, anniversary gifts
Allods Online is barreling down the road toward Patch 3.0.0.02 (the extra decimals denote quality!), with an array of fine features to anticipate. Chief among those is an overall improved questing experience. The patch will give players additional ways to track and find quests, not to mention a new "auto-move" feature that will whisk you away to your desired destination. Next on the patch's agenda is the game's second PvP skirmish map: Deserted Farm. Deserted Farm will be a 6v6 skirmish where players will struggle to control a central flag. The twist to the map is that a pair of cannon can focus-fire onto this location, so obtaining one or both of these is mandatory for success. Finally, 3.0.0.02 (the extra decimals are a secret code that tells you gPotato loves you) will add a new raid boss to the Kingdom of Elements. His name is Gen'ul, Lord of the Volcano, and he'll be very pleased to meet and then wipe the floor with you. Multiple raids can attempt to down him at the same time and then squabble over the huge treasure chest that he drops. The Allods site has also been updated with details on the anniversary celebration and gifts.
