Tonight I dinged level 40 which is the highest level in Allods Online. It’s was a long journey that spanned four phases and a couple of months. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of it and can’t wait to start all over again but this time for keeps. Throughout the leveling game I met dozens of people that I consider friends and some that I now consider enemies. I quested, raided, ganked, was ganked, did large scale PvP fights, explored dungeons, tested bugged content, chatted with GM’s, but most importantly I saw what I wanted to see…
Allods Online is a finished game full of polished content. Logging in each day I found myself prioritizing the things that I would do because I knew I could not accomplish everything. From the moment I logged til the moment I logged out there was always a load of activities filling my plate and at times it was even overwhelming… in a wonderful way. Here’s the best part: I’ve only scratched the surface! That’s right, all of the things I did were things that we all get to do while leveling up. At the max level there are heroic daily dungeons, world raid bosses, world PvP (yes, even with the new pvp flags it happens), and most importantly an Astral world to explore in ships that can sail a vast open world full of bosses, loot, and PvP.
The adventure is just beginning in Allods Online and I’m excited to play everything I just finished all over again.  I’m excited that my community has a polished and finished MMO to call home and I’m excited that I actually know it this time because I reached the max level instead of holding back. Sometimes spoilers are a good thing. If you’re looking for a guild you’re welcome to check out ours!
Below is a video with some clips of a few things and places I saw in CBT4.Â
As someone who has never really looked into Allods, what makes it unique when compared to game like WAR or Aion? I am not trying to be critical, I’m currently MMO-less and wondering what Allods brings to the table.
A lot of what you’ve written about Allods endgame (astral ships, etc.) really does sound quite interesting.
But I’ve spent quite some hours in the various phases of closed beta, and while it’s all very competently done, I find it absolutely 100% bland, derivative and boring.
I’m struggling to say there’s even a single element that I have seen in Allods which is in any way interesting to me, given that I’ve already played WoW, LOTRO, EQ2, WAR and various other fantasy MMORPGs. I certainly can’t imagine ever playing through Allods long enough to get anywhere near its endgame.
Maybe the world needs another race/class/level quest-to-endgame-and-then-PvP sword & sorcery themepark MMO. But I don’t.
It goes without saying that Allods definately would get my FTP time/money before RoM and you have a bright future in marketing!
@Rumsy: What makes Allods unique is that it puts everything together into a fully functional and working game with content and polish. The promises made are deliveredin Allods which is far more than WAR and Aion were able to accomplish. There isn’t a laundry list of innovation or change. The wheel has not been reinvented. However, there are a few very nice things like Astral ships which are like space ships/boats that are fully crewed and controlled by players. It’s overall a pleasure to play. Oh, and it’s free.
@Carson
But some of us can just never have enough race/class/level quest-to-endgame-and-then-PvP sword & sorcery themepark MMOs! That’s why they keep making them.
The difference with this one is it’s been visualised by people with a great design sense, written by people with a solid grasp of narrative and prose-style and programmed by people who are efficient and competent.
Its gameplay has been thoroughly thought through and integrated. It’s been marketed accurately and honestly. All the features it says it has are there, and they work.
It’s more than just a solid piece of work, although heaven knows that would be unusual enough in this genre. It’s a rather beautiful, intricate, funny, entertaining game that has more polish and more features in closed beta than many AAA games have after a couple of years of taking people’s money.
Oh, and they don’t take money!
Keen, I was just wondering now that you have reached max level, what your take is on the warden class in terms of both pvp and pve and if you’ll be playing it come release time.
i like the video and the game 🙂
@Bhagpuss: I was with you there up until the last sentence. Oh boy will you be proven wrong about that one 🙂
Still, it will hopefully be tolerable.
Grats Keen!
Yeah the Cash Shop is still really in the air, and it can make or break a game.
I was thinking what made Allods a good game and came to the conclusion it is mainly the community. Don’t get me wrong the game is good(still has bugs), but it fosters a sense of community more than others…(in my opinion)
So FTP always sounds nice but there’s always catches. Is this gonna turn into a micro-transaction heaven once it goes live where people will be buying items/money with real money or what’s their plan?
As for my thoughts on the game I think it’s 5 years too late to be honest. Had this come out before WOW people would jump all over it. I really think a big percentage of the mmo population is tired of the genre and sticking with WOW until something new or better comes about.
I think that if this game had a pay to play subscription model and PvP and PvE servers it would be an extremely successful game. I still have the rather silly and utopian hope that they will include the option to pay a subscription instead of using the item shop. IMO this game is awesome but most of its success is going to be decided by the item shop. I know i’ll be forking some money to them when the game goes live (and i’ll be comparing the prices between euro and american version to see which one is the cheapest to play in).
As for the other people that are asking what this game brings new to the MMO market it is the following things:
1 – It is very polished (there’s some bugs but nothing game-breaking),
2 – It is a game that actually delivered all the features it promised at launch (tell me which pay to play did that…),
3 – It is FUN. The features it promised are done in a way that is actually fun,
4 – It is stable,
5 – It’s FREE?? So people that are actually comparing this to WoW, Aion, EQ2, LoTRO, WAR, etc take a step back and grasp that you guys are actually comparing a FREE title to pay to play titles and it actually doesn’t looks bad by comparison to 80% to 90% of the pay to play games out there.
6 – It isn’t grindy (this may vary from person to person ofcourse),
7 – There’s a lot of imaginative quests and the quest writers are amazing,
8 – SHIP PvP!!!!!!!
9 – It is a theorycrafters wet dream: the stat, skill and ruby systems are amazingly deep and allow for a lot of costumization,
10 – Gibberlings.
Then the game has some stuff that separate it from the traditional phantasy MMO:
1 – Play the Empire faction. that is hardly phantasy, it’s much more steampunk/scifi than fantasy.
2 – (Astral)Spaceships anyone??
3 – Compared with the recent MMOs that are stupidly dumbed down, playing this game will actually keep you on your toes: a 2 level difference is huge (a mob or player two levels higher than you is much stronger), you need to plan very well your specs from the start or you will be leveling very gimped and there’s a lot of chalenging PvE content (like quests that require a raid to do while leveling!) and chalenging dungeons.
Some things people will not like:
1 – It isn’t very forgiving,
2 – It looks like WoW (i bet loads of people will use this line),
3 – It doesn’t has any auto-attack nor mini-map,
4 – You can’t do macros.
However, since it is free i fully advise everyone to try this game out.
This looks really amazing. I wonder eho the big dude with tentacles growing out of his back is that floats in the void. I don’t even like RPGs, but I’ll probably endure the combat in order to explore the beautiful world and fly on astral ships.
I played WoW for the PvE/Story…
I played the endless Trial of WAR for the PVP…
now I have both in one game.
@Triggery: Yes, I love the Warden and will be playing one at launch. I’m decent in PvE and good at PvP. Caster spec is heavily mana dependent and I rest a lot but I like my damage and utility.
I strong suggest to anyone who is tired of the usual fantasy setting to play the empire faction.
@Keen
Yeah, I am there with ya as the Kanian Warden I have planned come Open I think will be the most fun for me and remind me of my old EQ Beastlord.
What types of max level PvP are there? Is it nothing but Astral Ship combat? Is there any objective based world PvP (i.e. can you attack/capture cities like in Darkfall)? Is there something you can do for say 30 minutes?
From level 23 and up there are objectives that need to be captured in the world and places for combat to naturally occur out in the open. However, they’re not like cities.
The Astral is a big open world of floating islands that you sail to and explore. They have raid mobs on them and npc’s to kill. Final Fantasy style behemoth monsters attack your ship as well. Once you have the loot you have to get it back to your harbor to loot it and if you don’t get it back you can be killed and have your loot stolen.
Russian players have spread rumors about guilds capturing allods and having them be their guild island. This would introduce that Darkfall style of city capturing. (Big Rumor)
Yep, 2 factions, One is ‘High Fantasy’, the other more ‘Steampunk’ in nature. In Allods, it’s really about preference really.
Case in point, some people hate the gibberlings and the fact that league side Psions can only be gibberlings, but I’ve come to love them and don’t mind at all that I have to be one. Trust me, they can stack up to the ‘cool’ looking Arisen Psions any day 😉
Whoops, to clarify, I was referring to wolfiebr’s comment about players who wish to play something that’s not the traditional fantasy type setting.
What’s the F2P like in the game? I have a huge … distrust of F2P games and the money sinks they impose on gameplay.
If AO doesn’t have a huge problem with this, could be a fun game. What’s it like in AO?
I’m the biggest cash shop hater you’ll meet. If the cash shop interferes with the game then I’m out. No questions asked I’m gone. Allods’ cash shop does not interfere… yet.
The cash shop offers things like respecs, buffing potions, more bag space, bank space, and other knickknacks and things you would want to buy but don’t have to buy.
I’ll extend on what keen just stated.. Most if not all the stuff that will be in the cash shop will be avilable at some point in the game.
respecs – we’re heard they drop in dungeons off of bosses even more so off the bosses in heroics
buffing potions – Most of the potions that we have heard about can be made in alchemy.
bag space – there is a low level quest to get you a bigger bag. not sure if there is a higher level.
bank space – quest at level 17 bit bigger but not huge like the CS one.
The Item shop also offers an item that gets rid of the death penalty debuff for the duration of the buff (30mins) and offers some perks (extra Hps and Mps) with it. However, you can pay with in-game cash to remove the debuff or you could just wait it out.
That squirrel has been following you since the beginning. I’m surprised it didn’t get hungry and eat your characters.
On a whim, I decided to try out the Empire side before the end of the CBT. I fell in love with the city of Nezebgrad and the lore. Maybe I’m just tired of standard fantasy, so the steampunk-ish setting of the Empire is just more appealing.
But after reading a bit more the on the forums, I’m getting worried about the Fear of Death debuff. At level 40 I read that it’s -25% to a bunch of stats, and has a 50 min timer. The timer is bad enough, but in a game where a few points in stats can make a huge difference, -25% is insane.
Now it can be removed with Myrhh or with Perfume from the Item Shop. The Myrhh costs approximately 2-3 gold, which is hefty per death. Problem is, that the NPCs you can buy Myrhh from aren’t in all the areas. The Perfume makes you immune to FoD but lasts only 30 mins, and auto uses itself, if it’s in your inventory.
I know that Nival is just trying to make a reason for people to use the Item Shop more, but basically /forcing/ people to use it to PvP is ridiculous. If the FoD debuff stays the way it is, I don’t think I will play Allods. Which sucks, cause I was really enjoying the Empire side.
@RevMrBlack
A few people that we have heard from are the exact way when it comes to possibly being tired of the “fantasy” type setting and Allods was a nice change.
-25% per death (if you respawn at one of those places without a vendor and you’re out). FoD is the biggest thing I have a problem with from the last patch. The flagging system (or make believe flaging system) is nothing in comparison. And a lot of people are the same way in that it’s going to do the reverse of what the intent is.
I read tonight that perfume is getting/has recieved some buff as well when it reduces some CC times on you. And the “auto-use” perfume mechanic can be turned off by clicking on your patron symbol.
I’ll start playing at launch but if there’s no endgame PvP chances are I won’t be hanging around too much.
Grats on hitting 40! Seemed to take you a while but I’m assuming that was because of beta gating. Maybe you’ve answered this question before but how would you say the level speed compared to WoW?
Those “3 puppies” characters don’t fit into game for me, it looks strange. Maybe it is because I don’t really like that kind of “pokemon” characters…
As for movie – pretty nice but I missed some combat (with UI). Also I saw Tauren there! 😀
Looks interesting overall and being F2P everyone will be able to judge themselves. I wonder what release date is (their website says winter 2009 heh) as it may release near Cataclysm which is not that good idea (even that it is F2P).
I gotta say after poking around last night. It still irks me that armor changes your head and isn’t side specific. It appears gibberlings are immune to this, but not elves =/
Perfume reduces the duration of ice cage and hypnosis by 20%. Ice cage lasts 20 seconds, so perfume reduces that to 16 secs. Hypnosis lasts 1 minute, perfume reduces that to 40 secs. This on top of the reduction by having willpower higher than the caster’s conviction.
Honestly, both still last long enough for my crowd control needs, even with perfume.
@Carson: It sounds like you are over the standard swords & sorcery genre, until there is a major innovative breakthrough. As for me I am glad to have a new well designed fantasy game, whose major innovation is that it is also F2P. I take it from this perspective, would I refuse to download a F2P version of the Lich King because it didn’t offer much in the way of innovative features? If yes then I guess I also would put down my pointy wizard hat.
I also think it is dependent upon how much you enjoy PvP, since every PvP encounter is something pontentially new and challenging. So long as the combat system is solid I can spend untold hours running around trying to find people to gank; in this case the storyline and classes feel well implemented, so I’m happy with this F2P WoW clone…
@We Fly Spitfires: Feels about the same as WoW for me.
I guess I am worried about the harsh death penalty debuff that lasts for a long time. For me PvP is all about jumping right back into the action and striking down upon them with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. It breaks the continuity of the battle if it gets too cost prohibitive to respawn in a competitive fashion.
Ever die in PvP between distant respawn sites and have to run across half the map to get your corpse? Delays like that make me get up from the computer and interact with my girlfriend, and who wants that…
Simply pay money to remove the death penalty. It’s like any game with a death penalty that costs $. You respawn and talk to the person standing right where you respawned, pay some $, and you’re instantly on your way.
The respawn points without one of these people are few and far between. That’s when some planning ahead comes into play and you bring perfume or take other measures to ensure you’re not going into a fight with a debuff.
The penalty is annoying, and probably too severe, but it’s not game breaking.
I am assuming you mean in game money, which is fine if it isn’t a ridiculous amount, especially if there aren’t any item deterioration costs…
Absolutely in-game money. And it’s bad enough to make you think twice about death. It stings. It’s like 3.5g at level 40. That’s not chump change but at the same time I can vendor one item for 20g.
In my opinion the debuff should last 10 minutes for everyone. That way it’s easier to wait it out.
Before WoW turned on EZ mode gold, the hardcore players would not shut up about gold costs after death. Allods is not bad by any stretch. I think it could use a tweak downward, but I’m not playing too much right now so will defer to Keen’s experience on it.
@gankatron
I hate PvP games that allow players to jump back into the fray too easily. WAR was horrible at this. Players could never have a victory because the enemy zerg was respawned and back within a minute.
In fact, while I believe FoD is a way to get people to pay money (the fact that it was conceived in a Russia near economic collapse, which means that people really would have a hard time spending on “convenience” items should clear some things up), I do believe though I have no proof on a few things:
1) This game needed a harsher death penalty of some sort to “keep it interesting” in both PvE AND PvP (as it was it was nearly worthless even picking up ressurection skills!). FoD is too harsh though and I agree with Keen on the duration of the debuff.
2) This game needed a very significant money sink. There are no charges for fast-travel (teleports) or durability loss in death, even the purgatory charge was very low. Most of your equipment needs are taken care by rep grinds. The money sinks in endgame, unless I am mistaken, are the Ships, and since ships require not only money but time to make/repair, I am thinking that by the time a ship is made/repaired the owner will have grinded out an equivalent amount of money just in regular gameplay.
Another fact is that there is a subset of PvPers that refuse to take part in any PvE activity at all, which puzzles me to a great extent on why they would play a level-based game. Fact is, even on the most pvp-centric games you still needed to take part in PvE to be a significant part of the war effort. I spent hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of hours grinding gold in DAOC to pay for wood to repair/upgrade keep doors. People belonging to this subset of “hardcore PvPers” of insta-satisfaction are extremely dissatisfied with any sort of PvE that would be imposed on them.
Also a little mentioned fact is that everyone can do a daily quest to get a bottle of perfume. It is quite a simple task that can be done in 10 minutes top (league-side that is) consisting of 4 deliveries in lightwood and one delivery in Siveria right next to the Cape Hope teleporter. That single bottle of perfume will guarantee 30 minutes per day of intense PvPing or dangerous PvEing without any fear of death.
I am not sure if I am being too fanboish, but I honestly can’t see all the fuss people are making about this. I would be dissatisfied though if perfume is not as cheap to buy in the CS as I hope it will be.
@Keen: Dude if all people have the same opinion like u, im sure that in the world any MMORPG exist…
I played a lot of F2P games (MMORPG’s), and rarely i bought anything…But if all people never get any helpful things for money the world of MMORPGs disapear…
If u have any work i think u like get or money in the end of month? Right? or maybe u like work for free?
Dont answer, just think about it…
I got to try allods this past weekend on a friends computer and after five minutes i was ready to download it. well it and boot camp. No game has drawn me in that fast….
actually ive seen lvl 42 people in empire take a look
This game has a lot of unique elements compared to WoW and the other games (like more classes and the thing with the astral ships is cool)and I really recommend this game if you were to get bored of some other role-playing games that are boring. I’m taking the time to play and venture throughout the game. It has a really strong future!
-TehBrysterReviews