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Alganon, old-skool WoW--try it!
Hawkaya399
Member RarePosts: 620
AS you can guess by the title, this is about Alganon, an older indie-budgeted MMORPG whiched released December 2009. The MMORPG did not perform well after its release and to this day is on life support. Many know it by its current owner, Derek Smart and publisher 3000AD. Unfortunately, while Derek Smart has his own fanbase and is responsible for some games of his own, of which I enjoyed the space-simulation BC3000AD, his history is marred by his persistently angry, prideful and combative online persona. The truth is, Derek's connection to Alganon was only initially as investor. In 2010, he became owner and president and the leader in development planning.
The real brains and design work for Alganon started with a couple people, David Allen, principally (in late-2005), and later Hue Henry as lead designer. Alganon was first named Crusade. It's quite impressive what they had planned. Here's a link all about it:
http://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/exclusive-interview-with-alganon-creator-david-allen
Some key points from the linked article:
* You're not forced into one roll--each class has a second specializtion and it's BIG(!)
* Spec examples: tank, heals, AoE, support--not just variations of the same thing!
* The lore behind Alganon is deity based with a lot of history
* A living breathign world centering around deities, sides and it all having a reason
* They didn't have tens of millions to work on content
* A study system (for learning even while offline) similar to Eve-Online
* At time of release, it would take 3 years of continuous studying to study all of the skills
* A family system for organizing like-midned people--does impact in-game stats/abilities
* A library system which has information on everything in the game--ie tradeskills,monsters,quests,items,classes,etc
It hit some budget problems and of course we know all about Derek Smart complaining to them and eventually replacing David Allen and firing him. Hue Henry left. Derek was unhappy with the progress and wnated an earlier release. The rest is history.
(PS: Hue Henry said the reason Alganon failed was because it copied WoW too much. They didn't anticipate this.)
I've played this recently. I went into it without the preceding knowledge. I did know Derek Smart was part of it, but I never went to the forums or concerned myself with that. I wnated to know what the game was. I leveled up a Reaver to 8, so far. I've liked it. I enver experenced WoW in its day, instead choosing Everquest. I don't like carebear games and still don't, but I always regretted not playing it. So to some amount, I'm now trying Alganon because of a perceived regret on my part that I missed that piece of history.
But it's hard at first. The website has l lack of updates and I think the last patch to the client was June 2015. Soon as you run the client you can see it's tacky. This tackyness will remain. And don't make hte mistake of clicking maximize. It'll crash the client. Use your Steam account to login. Once you enter the game, press escape and go the graphic options. Don't click on fullscreen, since most people crash. Click on "windowed fullscreen" instead. That's the trick. Once you've setup your keys you're just about ready to go. One of the options which really did it for me was to shut off the UI sounds in the sound options. There's an irriating quest completion sound and a "woo" sound. All gone.
I wanted to post to encourage others to try this MMO. It really is not that bad, if you can get past everything else.
So the negatives, read these with a grain of salt since trying it is the best route:
* population is almost dead
* buggy client which crashes when you try to maximize or go fullscreen
* buggyiness in-game like with quest windows timing out or being non-functional
* no patches since 2015 and increasingly broken abandoned website
* toxic forums--don't use them because you know who will show up and ban you right?
* it's a shameless and poor copy/paste of WoW--everytihng from the icons to the mechanics
* almost no 3rd party help information--alleviated somewhat by the in-game library, but still a big problem for info hunters
Now, let me also say the world environment is fantastic. Big and amazing, even breathtaking. So much work was put into the models for the cities and the places surrounding them and even the wild areas. Moreso, as a lover of old school MMO's, I actually am happy there's no dungeon finder, no instant grouping across servers, no main quest line to force everyone down the same road, some actual traveling and so on. Its skill system is based on usage, not just your level. And quests of all levels are scattered everywhere. You might find a level 50 quest in a low level place. I love that. It's like finding a valuable trinket in the attic. There're some other things I could say too. I know some of you, probably many of you, will disagree with me and you have a right to. My likes are very old fashioned and unordinary. Peace.
Lastly, F2P has some restrictions and a level cap of 30. The Tribute Market in-game allows you to purchase restriction removals, including a bundle which includes them all at a discount. You can buy Tribute points using the Steam Wallet. Use Paypal to move funds to the Steam Wallet.
Good luck. My name is Rudis, a Reaver. I play Kujix. I don't play every day, but you might see me.
Some links:
Here's a great Lets Play on youtube, it's fabulous and fair (there're 8 parts--he levels up to 40+):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T04uzk-0gMo
The main website:
http://www.myalganon.com/
The steam website--to download and to also create a steam account if you don't have one:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/350660
The real brains and design work for Alganon started with a couple people, David Allen, principally (in late-2005), and later Hue Henry as lead designer. Alganon was first named Crusade. It's quite impressive what they had planned. Here's a link all about it:
http://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/exclusive-interview-with-alganon-creator-david-allen
Some key points from the linked article:
* You're not forced into one roll--each class has a second specializtion and it's BIG(!)
* Spec examples: tank, heals, AoE, support--not just variations of the same thing!
* The lore behind Alganon is deity based with a lot of history
* A living breathign world centering around deities, sides and it all having a reason
* They didn't have tens of millions to work on content
* A study system (for learning even while offline) similar to Eve-Online
* At time of release, it would take 3 years of continuous studying to study all of the skills
* A family system for organizing like-midned people--does impact in-game stats/abilities
* A library system which has information on everything in the game--ie tradeskills,monsters,quests,items,classes,etc
It hit some budget problems and of course we know all about Derek Smart complaining to them and eventually replacing David Allen and firing him. Hue Henry left. Derek was unhappy with the progress and wnated an earlier release. The rest is history.
(PS: Hue Henry said the reason Alganon failed was because it copied WoW too much. They didn't anticipate this.)
I've played this recently. I went into it without the preceding knowledge. I did know Derek Smart was part of it, but I never went to the forums or concerned myself with that. I wnated to know what the game was. I leveled up a Reaver to 8, so far. I've liked it. I enver experenced WoW in its day, instead choosing Everquest. I don't like carebear games and still don't, but I always regretted not playing it. So to some amount, I'm now trying Alganon because of a perceived regret on my part that I missed that piece of history.
But it's hard at first. The website has l lack of updates and I think the last patch to the client was June 2015. Soon as you run the client you can see it's tacky. This tackyness will remain. And don't make hte mistake of clicking maximize. It'll crash the client. Use your Steam account to login. Once you enter the game, press escape and go the graphic options. Don't click on fullscreen, since most people crash. Click on "windowed fullscreen" instead. That's the trick. Once you've setup your keys you're just about ready to go. One of the options which really did it for me was to shut off the UI sounds in the sound options. There's an irriating quest completion sound and a "woo" sound. All gone.
I wanted to post to encourage others to try this MMO. It really is not that bad, if you can get past everything else.
So the negatives, read these with a grain of salt since trying it is the best route:
* population is almost dead
* buggy client which crashes when you try to maximize or go fullscreen
* buggyiness in-game like with quest windows timing out or being non-functional
* no patches since 2015 and increasingly broken abandoned website
* toxic forums--don't use them because you know who will show up and ban you right?
* it's a shameless and poor copy/paste of WoW--everytihng from the icons to the mechanics
* almost no 3rd party help information--alleviated somewhat by the in-game library, but still a big problem for info hunters
Now, let me also say the world environment is fantastic. Big and amazing, even breathtaking. So much work was put into the models for the cities and the places surrounding them and even the wild areas. Moreso, as a lover of old school MMO's, I actually am happy there's no dungeon finder, no instant grouping across servers, no main quest line to force everyone down the same road, some actual traveling and so on. Its skill system is based on usage, not just your level. And quests of all levels are scattered everywhere. You might find a level 50 quest in a low level place. I love that. It's like finding a valuable trinket in the attic. There're some other things I could say too. I know some of you, probably many of you, will disagree with me and you have a right to. My likes are very old fashioned and unordinary. Peace.
Lastly, F2P has some restrictions and a level cap of 30. The Tribute Market in-game allows you to purchase restriction removals, including a bundle which includes them all at a discount. You can buy Tribute points using the Steam Wallet. Use Paypal to move funds to the Steam Wallet.
Good luck. My name is Rudis, a Reaver. I play Kujix. I don't play every day, but you might see me.
Some links:
Here's a great Lets Play on youtube, it's fabulous and fair (there're 8 parts--he levels up to 40+):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T04uzk-0gMo
The main website:
http://www.myalganon.com/
The steam website--to download and to also create a steam account if you don't have one:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/350660
Post edited by Hawkaya399 on
Comments
Also a link to David Allen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Allen_%28game_designer%29
And Quest Online LLC:
http://www.qol.com/about/
Was also a fan of Horizons , brilliant game at its time and still fun ..
DA is a bright guy , he should get involved in development seriosly again
I really like DA work am a big fan of Demise and if anyone here is a Dungeoncrawl fan and dont mind some old graphics , Demise is still one of the best Dungeon crawls made ... I recommend giving it a try , I always hoped it would have dome more with that IP , but it seemed after Alganon debacle the wind came out of his sails ...
David Allen's About page (and personal website):
http://www.requnix.com/about
Derek Smart didn't come into the picture until approx Nov 2009, here:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/02/derek-smart-talks-line-of-defense-alganon/
I didn't come here to talk about Derek. I know it's true what you say about him, but I think there's still a lot to enjoy in Alganon. I know I've only played until level 8, but the impression I get is the steam reviews don't do it justice. It's playable. For some it might be just what they want. Old-skool Wow, admittedly on the cheap side. And for that and because of David Allen and Hue Henry and others who poured their heart ans soul into Alganon, I absolutely had to come here and give it some credit.
I actually gave this a try once, all I can say is there are lots better WOW clones out there, you are better off playing one of them.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I am so good, I backstabbed your face!
Wonder what game he was talking about in this exchange?
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/440506/star-citizen-death-of-a-salesman-mmorpg/p6
I wonder how many innocent Investors got fucked over in that deal?
Extortion anyone?
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
But... well... there's Alganon
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
http://www.mmoblogg.wordpress.com
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
I think people need a lot more to go on than just play it because it is a Wow clone.
For me,it is all about an entire game's cohesion and depth of systems and depth of AI,combat etc etc.
I grew in love with FFXI back in 2003 because the entire game design was fluent within in itself,it all tied together amazingly and was an OPEN ended game with added sub class.
What bothers me is that FFXi was jus tthe beginning of new ideas and depth,there is Soooooooooooo much more room to improve the genre but instead every single developer aims for lazy cheap gimmicks,like "we have RAIDS" "we have easy leveling" "we have mounts" "you can fly".Screw gimmicks,i want a COMPLETE game that shows the dev has a clue about building a world and creating npc's.
To me it is just incredible that developers hire system guys and producers that continue to show ZERO creativity or abilities,they al ljust copy the basics of rpg design,even if most of it makes no sense.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
IMHO his comments above isn't a case of him talking tough like a 13 year old on the internet. It's more a case of trying to brag and not being able to keep ones mouth shut.
What Derek describes is very very plausible
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
There is much better out! Find them!
"A game is fun if it is learnable but not trivial" -- Togelius & Schmidhuber