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First Impressions: Alganon
Today's First Impressions could use a little bit of external reading before you go too deeply into it. So I'm going to start by linking an article that's nearly seven years old but still excellent -- Fantasy Heartbreakers. Now that you've all clicked "Back" in some confusion or just avoided the link in the first place, some explanation. The article is the origin of a term that pen-and-paper RPG fans have come to use to describe a certain type of game referenced in the article. It's referring to the countless game companies who thought they could make a game that was better at being Dungeons and Dragons than, well, Dungeons and Dragons. Many of the games in question weren't bad games -- sometimes even good ones -- but they were built on the fundamental premise that they would be "like D&D but with X." Some of you probably see where this is going, or got it as soon as you saw the term. Because we're all very aware of how predominant World of Warcraft has become in the MMO marketplace, to the point where it's the essential standard that other MMOs are judged against. Alganon, then, could be seen as our genre's first fantasy heartbreaker. Because it's genuinely tough not to play the game and see that there's some really good stuff in here.
Fantasy MMORPG Alganon to hold public beta in September
This is our first post about Alganon, so we've gone and done a bit of digging to find out more about it. If the game has flown under your radar too, the results of our research might be of some interest to you: It's a fantasy MMORPG with seven classes of the sort you might expect, but each class will be able to slightly alter their capabilities at will to better fit different group situations. This is known as the "Dual Role System". The "Studies" system will allow for offline progression, to make it easier for casual players to keep up with those that are more active. MyAlganon is a social networking site linked to the game for in-game data, communication with other players, guild hosting and (currently) beta information. It also links to "The Library", which is a repository of game knowledge and a place to view various leaderboards. The game is currently planning to use a subscription business model but this may change later on. These are but a few of the features that Alganon has -- you can see more on their About page (you also might want to have a look at their FAQ). If you've read through the information and think you might want to get involved with the game, you'll be pleased to know that a private beta test is currently underway and a public beta is scheduled to launch in September. To get into the tests, register at MyAlganon and then make a post in this thread.
