@Keen: Thanks, just what i needed

@Nollind Whachell: Nope, nothing groundbreaking in the first 11 levels that I’ve seen. Just the good stuff done right. I too think it will stay that way until 23 in Holy Lands where the type of PvP environment may be original but probably strikingly identical to the type of experiences you could have in oldschool WOW’s STV/Hillsbrad. Then when you reach the Astral ship stuff, that’s where Allods diverges entirely from anything else.

@Glowy: Melee Druid needs to put into Wisdom. Get gear with Wisdom and Perception with a minor in intelligence. Follow this path for skills:

Level 1 – Rank 1 «Face Slap»
Level 2 – Rank 1 «Lightning Bolt»
Level 3 – Rank 1 «Grab!»
Level 4 – Rank 2 «Lightning Bolt»
Level 5 – Rank 1 «Boar Strike»
Level 6 – Rank 1 «Refresh»
Level 8 – Rank 2 «Refresh»
Level 10 – Rank 3 «Refresh»
Level 11 – Rank 1 «Charge!»
Level 12 – Rank 1 «Secret of Curing Potion»
Level 13 – Rank 1 «Great Hunt»
Level 15 – Rank 2 «Great Hunt»
Level 17 – Rank 3 «Great Hunt»
Level 18 – Rank 1 «Wolf Strike»
Level 19 – Rank 1 «Natural Aid»
Level 20 – Rank 1 «Secret of a Sleep Potion»
Level 21 – Rank 2 «Wolf Strike»
Level 24 – Rank 3 «Wolf Strike»
Level 25 – Rank 1 «Storm»
Level 26 – Rank 2 «Natural Aid»
Level 29 – Rank 3 «Natural Aid»
Level 30 – Rank 2 «Storm»
Level 31 – Rank 1 «Secret of Deadly Potion»
Level 32 – Rank 1 «Vortex»
Level 34 – Rank 2 «Charge!»
Level 36 – Rank 3 «Charge!»
Level 39 – Rank 3 «Storm»
Level 40 You can put in your last 2 Points where ever you want. I put mine into Curing Potion

Talent grid is a bit more confusing, but you can read the rest of this guide for the details. Reading the section on stats will just confuse you though due to translation discrepancies between the Russian and NA version.

For the most part, even though I found the experience new and enjoyable, there isn’t anything groundbreakingly new in terms of the gameplay mechanics, at least in the beginning of the game. That said though, there are definite small improvements to the game that make it feel slightly different and improved compared to WoW. So if you like WoW, I think you’ll probably like the Allods experience just as much, if not more. Where Allods will probably differ and break new ground is with Astral Ships and the various new ways to PvP which again we haven’t been able to test yet within the beta.

With regards to leveling, you can easily get to 6th or 7th level in a day, possible higher depending upon your time. You should be able to get to 10th or 11th in two days of play. That to me isn’t that bad, particularly since the higher your level, the faster combat seems to be (assuming you optimized your class properly).

As for not making mistakes early, ya pretty hard to do. I’m experimenting with a Healer right now and I never assigned any of my attribute or talent points until 6th level. Never noticed an issue at all. If anything I found the DPS better than my warrior. When I did assign my points, I found Intelligence and Wisdom beneficial if you want to focus on just healing. If you want to focus on damage output then ensure you assign points to Perception. What’s weird is that “Healers” don’t get any healing abilities by default which I think is nuts. You actually have to assign a talent point to get the healing ability. That said, I’m definitely enjoying the class, particularly the ability to pre-cast certain spells.

For a Warrior, ya Finesse and Expertise are the stats to assign.

As for gear, usually when you get to the city (at least on the League side) there are repeatable faction quests you can run (i.e. carrying a sack of flour to the mill). It doesn’t take that long to do and the benefit is the ability to buy some pretty decent gear to help you out in doing the quests around the outskirts of the city.

It was reading that the fights are slow that finally got me to try this pre-release. One of my main complaints about modern MMOs is that everything is much too fast. I am realy enjoying the pace of the fights, so if it’s my lackof points in wisdom that’s keeping the fights long then I am more than happy to keep it that way.

I’d say Allods looks like the best free MMo I’ve played to date (and I’ve played several that I’ve really enjoyed). I’m actually holding back from doing too much because i am pretty sure I’ll be playing this quite intensively as soon as we get to permanent characters (presumably in OB).

For stats if you’re playing a physical class (Warrior, Paladin, Scout) we’ve been focusing out stats into Finesse and Expertise. Magic classes for attacking at least we’ve been going heavy Perception. That’s just for the stats you get for placement. And equipment stats focus some in the above stats but don’t leave your others lacking.

One note as well if you decide to play a physical “caster” class (Priest and Warden are good examples of this) still focus on your Perception rather than Finesse/Expertise.

My other complaints were that the starting zones were too small and highly repetitive. There was nothing truly compelling with the class system. The combat mechanics while having a slight twist could not hold my interest as combat was tedious and more about button mashing (even with proper stat assignment).

All in all nothing new. Sure I saw very little as my max character only made it to level 11 but if I couldn’t be drawn into the game given how long I spent getting to 11 (as well as the other alts I leveled) I wasn’t going to be later. Yes maybe they slowed the leveling speed for beta but I kind of doubt it given how few quests there were in the starter areas.

Things I did like were the graphics, the character models, the Orc pet was highly amusing, some of the twists in the combat mechanics like the Ranger quiver. I can see its appeal especially given it is free to play and as they add things through the cash store its appeal will grow but it’s not for me.

It’s not a bad game just not for me. Guess I keep waiting and searching for an MMO that fits my needs.