11/2/11 - As of 11 AM
LotRO - Servarrum (RK, Brandywine) - Levelled 7 - 10, joined kinship "Fellowship of the Rogues". Next step is to create a Creep character and try out some PvMP.
Allods - Sercrux (Brute, Nezeb) - Joined guild "MISFITZ", still level 15, went from about 50% exp to about 95% exp. Started doing Guild quests for "prestige" (guild reputation/exp, of sorts), talked with extremely friendly Guild Leader who gave me a brutal costume, some gold, and some helpful advice on runes and mounts.
Game time today will be spent mostly in Allods, because I know less about the game and the level rate is slower. Also eager to get to some real world PvP, which doesn't exist in LotRO.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Allods Online - First thoughts
Allods Online is a game developed in Russia with a $12 million budget, which really shows from the moment you step in the game. Initially, it looks and feels like WoW with a more unique art direction. While the Legion side feels very much like the Alliance (the Human architecture style) with it's righteous and holy presentation, the Empire really caught my eye with it's 1950's Soviet steampunk vibe.
The gameplay is a smooth and responsive, it looks amazing without bogging down my PC. Quests are very solid, with your basic "kill x mobs" quests even having a purpose within the story. The game has some more unique aspects to it which I have yet to explore, such as the Astral system, in which you can buy/man large Astral-faring ships (less like sci-fi spaceships, more like ethereal pirate ships). PvP combat is very prevalent throughout, with FFA arenas in the capital cities and open PvP once you reach contested areas around level 20-22.
My main gripe about the game so far is the lack of population. It may just be that a good chunk of the players have had time to move on to endgame content and either have another city/hub to congregate at for higher levels, or mainly use large guilds for communication. Either way, even on their most populated server and faction (Nezeb server, Empire side) it feels pretty empty. The world channel only has a handful of WTS/WTB/LFG that I've seen, though this may also be because it takes a store item to talk in the world channel (they give you a few, but I'm not sure how many per character. May be a "teaser" item like some others).
The problem is that gPotato, the company behind the North American version of the game, lost the trust of a lot of players early on in the game's development with balance problems between free players and cash shop players. Early on, the game was extremely "Pay to Win", it was apparently almost impossible to compete with people who had money to throw down on special high-level equipment, and death meant your item's stats became reversed. This made levelling just that much tougher for free players, who most likely wouldn't have died in the first place had they had the advantages of paying players.
Even if paying players have the advantage, it's no worse than players on WoW who either bought gold from a 3rd party seller, or paid for uber raid/Arena gear (guilds reserving equipment drops for gold/Arena rating carrying). Or a combination of both. In F2P games like Allods, these Pay2Win types are actually contributing to the developers to keep making content, instead of paying a 15 year old Chinese gold farmer. I'd be more than willing to throw down some money to improve my character endgame, once I've gotten as far as I reasonably can without farming for gold for weeks on end.
Though most of the big problems were fixed not long after the official release, the damage had been done to a large chunk of the playerbase, who no longer felt they could trust the devs or that the game was broken. It also seems like it's having problems drawing new players because all of the reviews from top MMO sites (MMOHut, OnRPG, etc.), as well as many player comments, are from early in the game's life, therefore are extremely outdated, and fail to point out that the major drawbacks for free players have been removed/remedied in recent months. Unfortunately the most visible comments and reviews are from disgruntled players who have a vendetta against gPotato and the game, it's hard to find any recent favorable reviews and/or comments. They're out there, it's just that the older negative reviews have had time to gain views and priority on search engines.
I really like the game from the basics of it, just with the slow progression and lack of active population (at least through the game's normal global channels, and starting Friendly zones) it's a lonely climb. [UPDATE: Heard from Guild Leader that population took a temporary dip after the release of some new games, such as Gears3 and BF3. He said most people weren't jumping ship or anything, more like "shore leave"] I'll have to keep playing and chugging along with my character to see how things are at later levels. In the capital city I mainly see top-levels and low-levels, with not much inbetween. Could mean all those people are out busy questing and PvPing in other zones? We'll see. If the game ends up having a more active population then is percieved from the starter zones, and if the devs have relaxed on free players enough to let me have a chance of competing with cash-shop players at high levels, I'll be all for this game and help bring as many players to it as possible. At least until some other F2P title blows it out of the water.
It'd be a shame to see this $12 million title ruined by people who didn't even develop the actual product, just oversee it's US operations. I can totally understand the developer's desire to make some sort of profit on the game with it being ridiculously expensive to produce and all, but by having high-level gear obtainable only through the cash shop they turned a lot of people off. Not to mention the US prices were insanely high compared to the EU's (still overpriced) costs. Their new cheaper "pay for convenience" rather than "pay to win" direction (CS items are tradable for in-game gold now, meaning free players can get CS items with time and effort) is definitely a great step forward, but may have been too little too late to save the title. It remains to be seen.
PS. Dear gPotato, for the love of god please make there some kind of crappy mount for free players. One that goes marginally faster than walking, but perhaps not as fast as even the cheapest cash shop mount. If you guys provided a cheap, slow mount that was upgradable via cash shop, I would totally be down to give some money to make it faster down the road (you know, once I have an income again.) $11 for a low-grade mount is pretty steep IMO, as of now I'll stick to walking until I can gather the 8k+ gold it takes to buy a mount.
Goals:
Join a well populated guild:Done (MISFITZ)
Reach "Member" status: In Progress
Reach Level 25: In Progress (Level 15 Orc Brute - Sercrux)
World PvP with 15 players: In Progress
The gameplay is a smooth and responsive, it looks amazing without bogging down my PC. Quests are very solid, with your basic "kill x mobs" quests even having a purpose within the story. The game has some more unique aspects to it which I have yet to explore, such as the Astral system, in which you can buy/man large Astral-faring ships (less like sci-fi spaceships, more like ethereal pirate ships). PvP combat is very prevalent throughout, with FFA arenas in the capital cities and open PvP once you reach contested areas around level 20-22.
My main gripe about the game so far is the lack of population. It may just be that a good chunk of the players have had time to move on to endgame content and either have another city/hub to congregate at for higher levels, or mainly use large guilds for communication. Either way, even on their most populated server and faction (Nezeb server, Empire side) it feels pretty empty. The world channel only has a handful of WTS/WTB/LFG that I've seen, though this may also be because it takes a store item to talk in the world channel (they give you a few, but I'm not sure how many per character. May be a "teaser" item like some others).
The problem is that gPotato, the company behind the North American version of the game, lost the trust of a lot of players early on in the game's development with balance problems between free players and cash shop players. Early on, the game was extremely "Pay to Win", it was apparently almost impossible to compete with people who had money to throw down on special high-level equipment, and death meant your item's stats became reversed. This made levelling just that much tougher for free players, who most likely wouldn't have died in the first place had they had the advantages of paying players.
Even if paying players have the advantage, it's no worse than players on WoW who either bought gold from a 3rd party seller, or paid for uber raid/Arena gear (guilds reserving equipment drops for gold/Arena rating carrying). Or a combination of both. In F2P games like Allods, these Pay2Win types are actually contributing to the developers to keep making content, instead of paying a 15 year old Chinese gold farmer. I'd be more than willing to throw down some money to improve my character endgame, once I've gotten as far as I reasonably can without farming for gold for weeks on end.
Though most of the big problems were fixed not long after the official release, the damage had been done to a large chunk of the playerbase, who no longer felt they could trust the devs or that the game was broken. It also seems like it's having problems drawing new players because all of the reviews from top MMO sites (MMOHut, OnRPG, etc.), as well as many player comments, are from early in the game's life, therefore are extremely outdated, and fail to point out that the major drawbacks for free players have been removed/remedied in recent months. Unfortunately the most visible comments and reviews are from disgruntled players who have a vendetta against gPotato and the game, it's hard to find any recent favorable reviews and/or comments. They're out there, it's just that the older negative reviews have had time to gain views and priority on search engines.
I really like the game from the basics of it, just with the slow progression and lack of active population (at least through the game's normal global channels, and starting Friendly zones) it's a lonely climb. [UPDATE: Heard from Guild Leader that population took a temporary dip after the release of some new games, such as Gears3 and BF3. He said most people weren't jumping ship or anything, more like "shore leave"] I'll have to keep playing and chugging along with my character to see how things are at later levels. In the capital city I mainly see top-levels and low-levels, with not much inbetween. Could mean all those people are out busy questing and PvPing in other zones? We'll see. If the game ends up having a more active population then is percieved from the starter zones, and if the devs have relaxed on free players enough to let me have a chance of competing with cash-shop players at high levels, I'll be all for this game and help bring as many players to it as possible. At least until some other F2P title blows it out of the water.
It'd be a shame to see this $12 million title ruined by people who didn't even develop the actual product, just oversee it's US operations. I can totally understand the developer's desire to make some sort of profit on the game with it being ridiculously expensive to produce and all, but by having high-level gear obtainable only through the cash shop they turned a lot of people off. Not to mention the US prices were insanely high compared to the EU's (still overpriced) costs. Their new cheaper "pay for convenience" rather than "pay to win" direction (CS items are tradable for in-game gold now, meaning free players can get CS items with time and effort) is definitely a great step forward, but may have been too little too late to save the title. It remains to be seen.
PS. Dear gPotato, for the love of god please make there some kind of crappy mount for free players. One that goes marginally faster than walking, but perhaps not as fast as even the cheapest cash shop mount. If you guys provided a cheap, slow mount that was upgradable via cash shop, I would totally be down to give some money to make it faster down the road (you know, once I have an income again.) $11 for a low-grade mount is pretty steep IMO, as of now I'll stick to walking until I can gather the 8k+ gold it takes to buy a mount.
Goals:
Join a well populated guild:
Reach "Member" status: In Progress
Reach Level 25: In Progress (Level 15 Orc Brute - Sercrux)
World PvP with 15 players: In Progress
Lord of the Rings Online - First thoughts
I've been playing Lord of the Rings Online for about 6 weeks now, testing out each character type and exploring. LotrO is a game that has a very realistic tone to it, both in graphics and lore. The devs must (unfortunately) stick as close as possible to canon for Tolkein's world, or face the wrath of both the brand and upset lore-fanatics. Not that being a lore-fanatic is a bad thing, especially in something as established as LotR.
The population is the largest of any free2play MMO (besides Maplestory and 1 or 2 Asian MMOs), which in my opinion can be more attributed to the legacy of the setting/story than the gameplay itself. Regardless, this is a definite plus in my book, because I like my MMOs to be massively multiplayer. Go figure.
This game is highly PvE oriented, with PvP only possible as 1v1 consenting duels, or the PvMP system which at best is a sample of PvP, especially for free players. I was never PvP heavy in WoW, but the massive lack of any of it means no blood-pumping random fights to break up the PvE grind at all. Only by creating the 1 possible free Creep toon can you experience any sort of open PvP before actually reaching level 75. If PvP were even sparingly introduced into the game (small Gurubashi-style arenas in hub cities?) it would brighten up the whole experience for me and I'd choose it in an instant. Maybe if they were to open up 3 Monster Play slots to free players instead of 1, or making it so you can choose just one Creep from the six to play instead of being stuck with the Reaver. There's gotta be an overflow of Reavers in the Ettenmoors right now because of free players. Perhaps just one simple battleground type area? People have got to be itching to kick the crap out of eachother without being locked in a 1v1 duel or roaming a large wilderness looking for enemies.
But enough of my PvP gripes.
The main thing to keep in mind with this game is it is NOT a WoW clone. LotRO does things in it's own way and it's not trying to be any other MMO. Many of it's WoW-like features are simply MMORPG staples that have been being developed since the start of the genre, from games like EQ, GW, and earlier. As much as I can bitch and moan about how I wish things were different, my MMO upbringing began on WoW so I'm just looking for the features I've grown familiar with. Just because LotRO doesn't have the same PvP focus as WoW doesn't lessen the quality of the game, there are many many people playing that have been playing with subscriptions for years, way before it went F2P, who enjoyed and continue to enjoy the game because it offers a unique alternative lore-rich MMO experience.
I started on Dwarrowdelf server, which was a recommended server for F2P when I signed up. Not knowing much about the game or which servers were well populated, I played a Hunter to level 40-ish. The server is by no means empty, but neither does it have many established/knowledgeable players (that I found).While I should have stuck with it at least 5 more levels (for the Legendary weapon and such) I quickly got tired of the playstyle and lackluster soloing ability, and opted to reroll on a higher population server. I didn't necessarily need to choose the biggest server in the game (Brandywine), but I figured the larger the population is the more people are doing runs and the more gold is going through the economy.
Now that I've reached level 10 with my Runekeeper on Brandywine, I'm going to create a Creep character and test out what the PvP area of the game's most populated server is like. Perhaps this will change my opinion of the game as a whole. If I could get the PvP experience I'm looking for, it might make me content enough to continue the Freep PvE grind to top level.
Goals:
Join a well-populated Kinship:Done (Fellowship of the Rogues)
Reach Level 25 with Freep: In Progress (Level 10 RK Servarrum)
Join a well-populated Tribe: In Progress
Engage 5 players in PvMP: In Progress
Reach Rank 2 with Creep: In Progress
The population is the largest of any free2play MMO (besides Maplestory and 1 or 2 Asian MMOs), which in my opinion can be more attributed to the legacy of the setting/story than the gameplay itself. Regardless, this is a definite plus in my book, because I like my MMOs to be massively multiplayer. Go figure.
This game is highly PvE oriented, with PvP only possible as 1v1 consenting duels, or the PvMP system which at best is a sample of PvP, especially for free players. I was never PvP heavy in WoW, but the massive lack of any of it means no blood-pumping random fights to break up the PvE grind at all. Only by creating the 1 possible free Creep toon can you experience any sort of open PvP before actually reaching level 75. If PvP were even sparingly introduced into the game (small Gurubashi-style arenas in hub cities?) it would brighten up the whole experience for me and I'd choose it in an instant. Maybe if they were to open up 3 Monster Play slots to free players instead of 1, or making it so you can choose just one Creep from the six to play instead of being stuck with the Reaver. There's gotta be an overflow of Reavers in the Ettenmoors right now because of free players. Perhaps just one simple battleground type area? People have got to be itching to kick the crap out of eachother without being locked in a 1v1 duel or roaming a large wilderness looking for enemies.
But enough of my PvP gripes.
The main thing to keep in mind with this game is it is NOT a WoW clone. LotRO does things in it's own way and it's not trying to be any other MMO. Many of it's WoW-like features are simply MMORPG staples that have been being developed since the start of the genre, from games like EQ, GW, and earlier. As much as I can bitch and moan about how I wish things were different, my MMO upbringing began on WoW so I'm just looking for the features I've grown familiar with. Just because LotRO doesn't have the same PvP focus as WoW doesn't lessen the quality of the game, there are many many people playing that have been playing with subscriptions for years, way before it went F2P, who enjoyed and continue to enjoy the game because it offers a unique alternative lore-rich MMO experience.
I started on Dwarrowdelf server, which was a recommended server for F2P when I signed up. Not knowing much about the game or which servers were well populated, I played a Hunter to level 40-ish. The server is by no means empty, but neither does it have many established/knowledgeable players (that I found).While I should have stuck with it at least 5 more levels (for the Legendary weapon and such) I quickly got tired of the playstyle and lackluster soloing ability, and opted to reroll on a higher population server. I didn't necessarily need to choose the biggest server in the game (Brandywine), but I figured the larger the population is the more people are doing runs and the more gold is going through the economy.
Now that I've reached level 10 with my Runekeeper on Brandywine, I'm going to create a Creep character and test out what the PvP area of the game's most populated server is like. Perhaps this will change my opinion of the game as a whole. If I could get the PvP experience I'm looking for, it might make me content enough to continue the Freep PvE grind to top level.
Goals:
Join a well-populated Kinship:
Reach Level 25 with Freep: In Progress (Level 10 RK Servarrum)
Join a well-populated Tribe: In Progress
Engage 5 players in PvMP: In Progress
Reach Rank 2 with Creep: In Progress
First!
My name is Dylan and this blog is for myself to record my experiences searching for the right free MMO for me. I had played WoW for 4+ years as a semi-casual raider (read: I missed a lot of scheduled raids because life > games). I've played many of the "quality" f2p MMOs on the market right now, and I'm pretty dissatisfied with the "booming and overflowing free-to-play market". Indeed there are many out there, but 80% are just ports of popular Asian MMOs with lazy translating/localization and even lazier/greedy companies.
There are a few games I'm waiting for and will check out upon release, including TERA, Continent of the Ninth, Secret World, and Guild Wars 2. As of now these don't concern me, but I may post my thoughts on their respective updates.
The two MMORPGs I'm flip-flopping between at the moment are Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) and Allods Online.
In the following posts I will give a basic overview of each game, what I do or don't like about it, and my goals to enhance my experience of the game so I can really see how each game plays out.
There are a few games I'm waiting for and will check out upon release, including TERA, Continent of the Ninth, Secret World, and Guild Wars 2. As of now these don't concern me, but I may post my thoughts on their respective updates.
The two MMORPGs I'm flip-flopping between at the moment are Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) and Allods Online.
In the following posts I will give a basic overview of each game, what I do or don't like about it, and my goals to enhance my experience of the game so I can really see how each game plays out.
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