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Alganon: Hands-On Preview

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Comments

  • DelanorDelanor Member Posts: 659
    Originally posted by Chlerub


    The team behind Alganon is enthusiastic, dedicated and talented. We do everything it takes to provide the best game and service we could possibly provide. You are looking at a project that is not vaporware, a WoW clone, or anything you might call it. It is unique in its foundation and every single person work on it is motivated over the limits to make it as enjoyable and successfull as imaginable.

     

    Take a good look at what happened to the Chronicles of Spellborn. Their team was enthusiastic, dedicated and talented too. Lack of funding and poor marketing destroyed their game. Don't go that way.

    --
    Delanor

  • DelanorDelanor Member Posts: 659
    Originally posted by Emeraq

    Originally posted by Rabenwolf


    Not impressed. This will not succeed as a subscription based title.

    I was thinking the same thing... There's no way I'm paying to play this. F2P, I'd give a try.. but not on a subscription basis.

     

    And I was thinking the opposite. Although I am not impressed yet either. I belong to the targeted audience for this game, I suppose. I might try it out.

    Anyway, hands on information is much appreciated by me.

    --
    Delanor

  • tupodawg999tupodawg999 Member UncommonPosts: 724
    Originally posted by Ozigoul


    I don't think this game has any chance of sucess and hopefuly I am wrong on this.
    This is much more related to a flawed business model then to the talent of the development team. They could be 40 achieving what an army of 80 would do else where. 
    Could someone define me what kind of niche gamer population is this company aiming for? The casual gamer right?
    Last time I checked the market was overflowed of limonade bamboo blade MMO. If I was an investor I would have pulled out long time ago.



     

    I think people can get burned out of a particular game even if they still like the basic gameplay so i think trying to attract WoW players who are bored of Azeroth is (or may be) a viable model. The main thing is knowing that friend-gravity means that you're very unlikely to get millions of subs and therefore the initial investment money can't be too big. Basically i think a game company could make money being very like WoW or very unlike WoW and the big failures have been companies that tried to be both at once. So i think if they concentrate on making a very solid and polished soloable, quest-grinding, PvE themepark game with some new elements then it could go okay if they didn't borrow too much.

    However I do wonder if it's possible with such a similar visual style. I think there's room in the market for a whole bunch of WoW-clones with very distinctive visual styles - as graphics are one of those areas where everyone has different (and often quite extreme) likes and dislikes - but so similar i'm not sure. On the other hand there are people who like WoW's style but very strongly dislike the character models. If i was involved in this game i'd maybe try some market research identifying those and seeing if they like Alganon's versions as that's one little niche they could potentially claim - although Allods may be competition on that front.

    Last time I checked the market was overflowed of limonade bamboo blade MMO. If I was an investor I would have pulled out long time ago.

    I think the games that have done relatively well over the last few years have either been very similar to WoW or very dissimilar.

  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332

    The structure witch is a lot like WOW,more so than the EQ side of WOW, is a ho hum idea.They wanted to give players diversity,copy the sub class system from FFXI.

    P2P vs F2p always a tough call,i feel this game will have to have a constant "trial"if it hopes to get customers to step in the door.This is the only way this game has a chance,i think this is why their publishers are calling for F2P they know there is a VERY small market out there right now.Not only is the market small,but AION is not even released yet ,neither is FFXIV,so man good luck on hoping for subscriptions.

    BTW...you "DO" need unique ideas,if you are a no name developer,people are not going to play the same old ho hum leveling game.This is why you constantly hear people saying they are going back to their maxed out WOW players.That structure is actually one oif boredom,players have seen that picture once and will not go through that again,especially since they already have their WOW players,they are not going to leave for a cheaper version of the same.

    2 Races,big time fail,it looks of cheap budget ,small developer.I played 6 races in FFXI,most felt is was the bare minimum,2 is just way too limiting in every aspect.I think even Ryzom has 3 and it looks weak.I know Aion went with 2 races,i also knocked them for doing the same,their reasons are obvious,they are leaving the rest of the game out,to sell the players expansions.It allows for a faster design and easier route to get the game out the door,but i am not buying into it ..sorry.

    Biggest flaw this developer chose?OFFLINE skills of any kind are just awful,it irks me like you cannot believe.

    The reason should be obvious,the reason you play a game is to "PLAY THE GAME",not have some timers or spreadsheets you checked off do it for you.I want the satisfaction of knowing i played ALL of the game and earned all of it,i hate the lazy approach.I did not like afk mining in RFO,i did not like that checking off spreadsheets in EVE one bit,and honestly i will never like that structure in a game.Now if it was real life and i could get paid for working offline and doing nothing,ya sounds good,but gaming is something we "WANT" to be playing it is not like work,something we want to get around doing.

    This game IMO will have a VERY tough time,ever breaking even,it is a no name company that cannot build off of hype or it's name or it's marketing,so man best of luck,they will need it.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • ButterballButterball Member UncommonPosts: 39
    Originally posted by Wizardry


    The structure witch is a lot like WOW,more so than the EQ side of WOW, is a ho hum idea.They wanted to give players diversity,copy the sub class system from FFXI.
    P2P vs F2p always a tough call,i feel this game will have to have a constant "trial"if it hopes to get customers to step in the door.This is the only way this game has a chance,i think this is why their publishers are calling for F2P they know there is a VERY small market out there right now.Not only is the market small,but AION is not even released yet ,neither is FFXIV,so man good luck on hoping for subscriptions.
    BTW...you "DO" need unique ideas,if you are a no name developer,people are not going to play the same old ho hum leveling game.This is why you constantly hear people saying they are going back to their maxed out WOW players.That structure is actually one oif boredom,players have seen that picture once and will not go through that again,especially since they already have their WOW players,they are not going to leave for a cheaper version of the same.
    2 Races,big time fail,it looks of cheap budget ,small developer.I played 6 races in FFXI,most felt is was the bare minimum,2 is just way too limiting in every aspect.I think even Ryzom has 3 and it looks weak.I know Aion went with 2 races,i also knocked them for doing the same,their reasons are obvious,they are leaving the rest of the game out,to sell the players expansions.It allows for a faster design and easier route to get the game out the door,but i am not buying into it ..sorry.
    Biggest flaw this developer chose?OFFLINE skills of any kind are just awful,it irks me like you cannot believe.
    The reason should be obvious,the reason you play a game is to "PLAY THE GAME",not have some timers or spreadsheets you checked off do it for you.I want the satisfaction of knowing i played ALL of the game and earned all of it,i hate the lazy approach.I did not like afk mining in RFO,i did not like that checking off spreadsheets in EVE one bit,and honestly i will never like that structure in a game.Now if it was real life and i could get paid for working offline and doing nothing,ya sounds good,but gaming is something we "WANT" to be playing it is not like work,something we want to get around doing.
    This game IMO will have a VERY tough time,ever breaking even,it is a no name company that cannot build off of hype or it's name or it's marketing,so man best of luck,they will need it.



     

    Ok, small correction here - 2 races at START, eventually 6 races will be playable so NOT "big time fail", look at Runes of Magic - started with only 1 playable race (humans) - adding another (elves) in a few weeks, and before you say it RoM IS f2p, but has a sizeable player base.

    I agree Alganon may have a tough time breaking even - but thats why the publishers are trying to get the Dev team to swap from a subscription model to a f2p model, they see more of a potential for generating income for a game of this type that way.

    Alganon brings a few nice little touches to the MMO genre, such as kudos points and families - so give it a chance and don't just sit there in ignorance shouting "FAIL!" and throwing out the old "WoW" cliches that everyone seems to do with EVERY new MMO that comes out nowadays...and, nobody is forcing you to buy it, simple answer it its not for you...don't play it.

  • lashabanelashabane Member UncommonPosts: 29

    I am slightly amazed at how many people are saying that this game will fail.  There's absolutely no way of knowing becuase this game is in BETA

    You want global PvP?  Why not play Darkfall?  I hear there's plenty of that in there. 

    I think this game is going to do successfully enough for an Indi developer.  I've taken a look at all the videos and am excited to try this game.  If I don't make it into the beta, then I'll definetly be checking it out when it hits the shelves.  Mind you, last game I actually purchased off the shelf was WoW when it first came out and only played that for a year.

    If you haven't checked out the video featuring the developer tools, do!  It's absolutely amazing from a programming perspective.

  • alakramalakram Member UncommonPosts: 2,301

    Poor souls, trying to beat WoW.



  • LobotomistLobotomist Member EpicPosts: 5,981

    Its a shame that independent studio decided to make another WOW clone. Its and i am sorry i have to say this : foolish.

    Huge companies with much larger investment tried them selves at WOW cloning. Mostly because they had to do it, since big investors do not understand originality or taking risk.

    But most of them failed - not because their games were not good. But because you dont need another WOW.

     

    Independant studio should go on and do what no big studio can - innovate , make something completely different.

    Its a risk. But its only way they can succed

     

    That said. I wish them all the luck. And i am sure Alganon will be good game for people that have some issue preventing them from playing WOW

     



  • MarlonBMarlonB Member UncommonPosts: 526

    If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW? I'm pretty sure Blizzard is much better at it's own game then anyone else.

     

    I support all passionate Indie companies .... but ... i only see this succeed as a F2P ... then they might get the WoW-emulator market :)

     

     

    I wish them strength and luck.

     

  • gothagotha Member UncommonPosts: 1,074

    Where i wish them luck i do not see a bright future for this game.  There is just nothing that sticks out about it.  Its in a field with some big players and I am not sure it can compete.

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908

    I was all for supporting this game, I like to throw my money behind indies, I like the fact that it uses a sub based model, I liked the promise of a lot of the core systems, and the fact it looks artisically lile WoW dosent bother me, but...

    95% soloable? The only real group content being raid orientated?

    All of a sudden my interest is at 5%.

     

  • ButterballButterball Member UncommonPosts: 39

    If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?

     

    simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?

     

    a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

  • MarlonBMarlonB Member UncommonPosts: 526
    Originally posted by Butterball


    If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?
     
    simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?
     
    a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

     

    Next to the fact that WoW expansions regularly bring nice new chunks of content and it's quite a job completing all it's content (even without alts on horde/all. ), i am convinced that if you are bored with WoW you will also be to bored to play this.

     

     

  • tanoriltanoril Member Posts: 432
    Originally posted by Butterball


    If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?
     
    simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?
     
    a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

     

    It's the same feeling I felt when I was playing Runes of Magic.  If I wanted to play something that looks and feels like WoW, why would I play a cheap ripoff of it instead of the real, polished thing? 

     

    Why does everyone think that WoW players are going to start playing a cheap knockoff?  Because the names and places are different?  It still looks, walks and talks like WoW with about a quarter of the content and about a fraction of the subscribers.  Hell, even if Darkfall is a piece of garbage, at least they 'tried' to do something different with it.

  • FateusFateus Member Posts: 47

    Wasn't this game originally announced as a skill based or some hybrid class/ skill system where you picked skills from a pool and put points into them?

    Anyway the ranger sub-specialities look very nice, I can see many diffrent rangers running around with very diffrent play styles.

    But warrior ones? It reads like a rince and repeat of Prot/DPS tank in WOW. I would be more imrpessed if it added somethign new to the class, not just improving one of the classes already known roles, furthur pigeonholing that class into that path. Why tank as a DPS warrior if you have one specilizing in protection?

  • RelampagoRelampago Member UncommonPosts: 451

    This is not an exact wow clone, they are adding new concepts to the game around deites, crusades, live content, and several other touches that may really help differentiate it.

  • JonMichaelJonMichael Member Posts: 796
    Originally posted by Butterball


    Alganon brings a few nice little touches to the MMO genre, such as kudos points and families - so give it a chance and don't just sit there in ignorance shouting "FAIL!" and throwing out the old "WoW" cliches that everyone seems to do with EVERY new MMO that comes out nowadays...and, nobody is forcing you to buy it, simple answer it its not for you...don't play it.



     

    QFT!

    Everyone thinks they're a reviewer on this site these days.  If the game doesn't conform to THEIR standards, it's FAIL, WoW clone and then the mission is to bury it with negative posts on forums. 

    I don't understand why people don't just move on to another game they like instead of concentrating on the ones they dislike. 

    There are many games on this site that I dislike and would never play, but I have better things to do with my time other than judging them and posting FAIL messages on their forums. 

    I guess some people have nothing better to do.

     

    _________________________________
    JonMichael

    Currently: AION, an MMO Beta under NDA
    Played: WAR, LOTRO, Hellgate: London, CoX, GW, SotNW, DAOC, EQ2, SWG, WoW, AO, Horizons, Second Life, There, TSO
    Beta'd: There, Second Life, EQ2, DAOC:LotM, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, Gods and Heroes, Hellgate: London, Requiem:Bloodymare, AoC, WAR, DDO, Fallen Earth

  • NakedFuryNakedFury Member UncommonPosts: 411
    Originally posted by Fateus


    Wasn't this game originally announced as a skill based or some hybrid class/ skill system where you picked skills from a pool and put points into them?
    Anyway the ranger sub-specialities look very nice, I can see many diffrent rangers running around with very diffrent play styles.
    But warrior ones? It reads like a rince and repeat of Prot/DPS tank in WOW. I would be more imrpessed if it added somethign new to the class, not just improving one of the classes already known roles, furthur pigeonholing that class into that path. Why tank as a DPS warrior if you have one specilizing in protection?

     

    I think they stayed with the skill/class hybrid system in their own way. They added levels but in a way it still feels as if what skills and class/specialization you have counts more than actual levels.

     

    The only thing that sucks is that with levels now in-game items will probably have lvl requirements to use like any other mmo and that sucks. I would prefer a sort of skill system for weapons, the more you use one type of weapon the more proficient you are with it and better weapons of that type you can use.

     

    I like how this game is being made. From the start, even the story, they are shaing it to be a PvP or RvR type of game later on.


    image

  • Sain34Sain34 Member UncommonPosts: 293

    come on folks this is David Allen we're talking about. He'll find a way to drive this thing into the ground yet.

     

     

    "Horizons" anyone?

    image

  • Kram59Kram59 Member Posts: 153

    This acually sounds enticing.  Classes seem like the old days, when if you wanted a "tank" you looked for a tank. Everyone has thier roles. I hate games today that allow everyone to be everything. I also loved what he said about all the face sliders and detail put into building your toon is "a waste of time" I agree. After your done you never see faces again.

    Time will tell.

    King of the world

  • tupodawg999tupodawg999 Member UncommonPosts: 724
    Originally posted by tanoril

    Originally posted by Butterball


    If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?
     
    simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?
     
    a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

     

    It's the same feeling I felt when I was playing Runes of Magic.  If I wanted to play something that looks and feels like WoW, why would I play a cheap ripoff of it instead of the real, polished thing? 

     

    Why does everyone think that WoW players are going to start playing a cheap knockoff?  Because the names and places are different?  It still looks, walks and talks like WoW with about a quarter of the content and about a fraction of the subscribers.  Hell, even if Darkfall is a piece of garbage, at least they 'tried' to do something different with it.



     

    I'm not sure they will but either way i think this game is more about picking up ex-WoW players or people who are still playing WoW even though they're bored of the world. I played EQ for six years and enjoyed it but eventually got burned out. If there'd been a game that was like a copy of EQ but visually different i'd probably have tried it.

  • OzigoulOzigoul Member Posts: 50

    I would try a copy of EQ as well, but eq is 10 years old and WOW is 5 years old. It is way too early to make a copy of WOW.

    In the end I can't handle those cartoonish graphics full of hello kitty color.

    Neither asian game with big swords that weight 5 tons.

    At least I can troll on these forums and have some fun ! ! !

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  • nate1980nate1980 Member UncommonPosts: 2,074
    Originally posted by Chlerub


    Although you might be right about the "dont reinvent the wheel" part, there is a major difference between Alganon and all the other P2P MMOs out there. QOL is an independant company, we are only 40 people. We do telework all over the world, connected through a deeply thought out and streamlined collaboration system. We really mean what we say. There is the real prospect of an indie MMO. There is the real prospect of a fun multiplayer game in a persistent world, created by avid MMO players for avid MMO players. Yes we play WoW, yes we played EQ, GW and pretty much every massive online title since the invention of "akkustic kopplers" as we say in germany. We love what we do, we really believe we can provide a game that is entertaining and is more than worth playing.
    There is passion in this game - passion for games and most of all passion for this specific genre. We put everything we got into this experience, may it be financial and/or private risk.
    You can say whatever you want, we live in a "mostly" free world. But whatever you say, you cannot change the facts.
    The team behind Alganon is enthusiastic, dedicated and talented. We do everything it takes to provide the best game and service we could possibly provide. You are looking at a project that is not vaporware, a WoW clone, or anything you might call it. It is unique in its foundation and every single person work on it is motivated over the limits to make it as enjoyable and successfull as imaginable.
    Marketing slogans are not an indicator for a good or bad game. Most of the time the marketing people have nothing to do with the game development or design at all. You have to make a clear distinction there. Just running around calling every new game a copy of an older one is not leading you anywhere. It mostly reflects what you think about your daily life. You need to start accepting the true nature of things, they evolve over time and eventually lead to an open door to the next iteration of your own reality. You can wake up one morning and believe single player games are your thing. Or you can decide MMORPGs with a fantasy setting are you thing and you crave for something unseen and evolutionary. You may not find it the same day, but you might feel motivated to look for it, or even create it on our own.
    Chris,
    QOL Tools Lead Dev
     



     

    If someone were to ask the question,"Why should I play Alganon over WoW," how would you answer that. I choose WOW, because it's arguably the best MMO on the market. With subscription based games, the majority of people only have time and the money for one. So that one must, in their eyes, be better than every other MMO on the market. Since millions upon millions feel WoW is "better in their eyes," how do you convince them that Alganon is better, or worth leaving their characters they've spent many months on? I'm not convinced there's enough people out there completely tired of their old game, or enough of an untapped market, to fill your game with subscriptions. When your game doesn't have any new or revolutionary features to pull people away, that's the only people you are really left with.

  • Mariner-80Mariner-80 Member Posts: 347

    After reading the article, I have to say I am considerably more interested in Alganon than I was before.

    I think the Kudos system sounds promising, although the potential for abuse makes me a bit uneasy.
    I think the Families system sounds good, too.

    But what most caught my eye was this: "Of course, there will also be larger raid content that players expect, although Henry insisted that 95% of the game’s content will be solo-able if the player so chooses."

    A great many MMO players (myself included) enjoy grouping only occasionally. In most MMOs this means you end up skipping a lot of great content (the instances in WoW, for example). So, basically, in WoW I feel like I am paying a subscription fee for a lot of content (instances, raids, and PvP) that I either do not, cannot, or very seldom play due to the difficult logistics of finding groups that plagues most MMOs. This really irks me.

    So, I am curious about the proportion of Alganon that is instanced and whether that instanced content is accessible to solo players (via scaling and/or the use of AI). This would be a huge leapfrog past WoW for me, anyway, all other things being roughly equal.

    I am also curious about the subscription. If Alganon charges a WoW-level subscription price (say, 15$/month), that will be a turnoff for many. But if the subscription fee is lower, I think this, too, will greatly impact the game's success.

    In any case, I'll be watching this game with interest.

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