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Alganon - First (and ongoing) Impressions (not a review)
This last weekend, I decided to try Alganon. So far, I've put about 15 hours into the game, mostly on two characters (Reaver and Ranger). I have played all four classes, however (the two additional classes are Magus and Healer).
So far, my general impression is that Alganon is a fairly solid game, in terms of generally expected features and mechanics. It's rough and has a "low budget" feel to it, IMO, but the core game is decent. Following are some of the aspects of the game I liked:
Performed acceptably well on an older system (Dell Inspiron E1705, Core 2 Duo 2.14 Ghz, 2GB 667 Mhz RAM, Nvidia GO 7900GS 256MB, 7200 RPM HD) and has a relatively small footprint
Tons of quests, at least through levels 1 - 10
Solid game play, overall
Pretty world/environment (although I didn't care for the Kujix new character zone, the first actual world zone you play in is very nice) and fairly detailed
Nice ambient sound (blades on a windmill churning and squeaking, for example)
Interesting Study mechanic - I haven't delved too much into this except to take advantage of it - need to understand it a bit better
Decent level of difficulty - those Gnolls were pretty hard for my human ranger - I liked that I came close to dying and had to heal myself constantly. That being said, I probably would have liked it much less on a Reaver, Magus or Healer
Fun - I had fun and that's pretty much the most important thing, right? Maybe...
Even though I enjoyed the game overall, it definitely has issues, IMO. The ones I experienced were:
Character models and animation - it was almost comical watching my character as I rotated him in the character creation screen and saw his chest heave up and his legs dangle as if he was a marionette. Yes, graphics alone don't make a game and the models and animations alone aren't enough to make me throw up my hands, but they're definitely noticeable, especially in conjunction with other issues.
Client crashes - Several crashes to desktop upon doing things like clicking a link in a quest dialog box
Server crashes - maybe I just got "lucky", but I experienced both login server and game world server crashes during my relatively short time playing - boo.
Skill activation responsiveness, or lack thereof
World geometry collision detection and general physics (have you seen the way characters jump?)
Could use some UI improvement, especially in mini-map functionality and appearance
09/08/2010 - Example: One of the standout features of the mini-map is that the quest tracker is integrated within it. It shows where the quest objective is on the map. That's great! Unfortunately, when you're on a "kill ten rats" or "Fex-Ex" quest, it doesn't immediately show you the next objective/target unless you move significantly away from the area of the last target, which doesn't disappear from the mini-map. This gives the impression that there's another target in the same vicinity and you may find yourself wandering in circles wondering where the target is! IMO, it would be better if the current target on the map disappeared as soon as the target (an item you have to harvest for example) de-spawns. Then the map could easily show you the next objective without forcing you to wander around aimlessly. Btw - before any chucklehead replies with a "go back to WoW n00b" comment, my feedback is on the viability of the feature, specifically, not the fact that it exists at all...
Constant issues with the world map not working - having to log out to reset it...
Minor bugs
Created two characters in a row without logging in and the second character defaulted to the first name for the first character - silly little bug
I picked one family for my initial character, but when I logged in, I was a different family. I didn't notice for a level or two. What do families do for your character, anyway?
Very low server population - the most players I saw online at any point in time was around 20. Fired up the game late this evening and I'm the only player I can see on the social. Sucks for a level 5 Magus with three quests to kill elite mobs that I don't seem to be able to kill...
Bugged "boss" quest mobs that seemed to phase in/out of the geometry. I and others were unable to aggro/attack them, thereby making it impossible to complete quests for them - really, really frustrating.
Class balance, at least at the very low levels - why can a level 3 Ranger heal for so much more with a single skill than a "Healer" can until the Healer reaches level 8? Also, my medium armor wearing "Tactical Support" Ranger is able to tank better than my "Main Tank" Reaver, due to the ability to self heal a significant amount of health points. That seems a little goofy. Hopefully, the classes balance out much better as I get higher in level, but due to the low population, it can be tough to get groups, so I imagine I'll be doing a lot of soloing...
The following were added after subsequent play sessions:
Mob pathing - several times I'd shoot a mob from a distance only to do no damage, because the mob couldn't get to me, even though there's nothing blocking it...
Skills and consumables queuing - I've learned to only take a potion or eat an item after a skill has completed firing otherwise it's common to use the consumable, but not get the benefits.
Ranged skill availability discrepancies - In Alganon, like many games, if you're out of range to use a skill, the icon will be red. There have been many times, however, when the icon is white, indicating I'm within range to attack with it, but I'm actually still out of range. Frustrating...
Quest tracker discrepancies - I'll have one quest marked as active in my on screen quest tracker, but direction marker in the mini-map for a completely separate quest.
"Sticky" tooltips - apparently click on and/or moused over a mailbox and couldn't get the tooltip to disappear until I attacked a target. 09/05/2010: Apparently, moving the mouse over the mini-map and back off clears the tooltip, as I found out today.
Mini-Map corruption:Had this issue pop up tonight. Logged in and couldn't see which direction I was facing. Logged out to character screen and tried to log back in to clear it and had a client crash...
No sparklies! Just a minor issue, but sometimes quest items don't have particle effects as they should (most noticeable on items that have respawned) Since the world is pretty detailed, this can make those items hard to spot.
That's a pretty big list compiled for a relatively small span of play (09/05/2010 - about 31 hours total now). I did have fun, no doubt. I enjoyed the game. But there are enough issues that it sometimes makes playing onerous and the list above doesn't include deliberate impediments for free players, such as:
Inability to use public chat channels - personally, I think this is ridiculous. I can see limiting characters' public chat for a few levels to combat spam or locking them into a newbie public channel, but forgoing all public chat? In a MMO? Chatting isn't a perk - it's a necessity for socialization.
Inability to obtain and allocate ability points until level 11 - I don't know how big an overall impact this is to free players, but if it's something you have to pay for, I'd assume it's potentially significant. 09/03/2010 -Paying players can buy up to 10 Ability points as early as level 1. It appears those points can give an advantage. As an example, now that I've passed level 11, I've started earning points for my Reaver. I started putting points into the Spellsword line and I get 8% fire boost to my normal attacks after only 3 points. Since I have over 100 attack points, that means I get an 8+ flame bonus damage to each normal attack. This can add up to a significant difference in attack power.
Regarding the cash shop (Tribute Market), is this a "pay to win" game? There's no PvP at this point, so players aren't necessarily competing with each other, which renders the point partly moot (at least until PvP is introduced), but are there two classes of characters due to the market?
Pay to win?I saw an equal level, same class paying player (I could tell, since I could see him use public chat channels) easily take down a quest mob that was giving me significant difficulty - I'd love to know why or how and if it's specifically related to a cash shop purchase. I sincerely hope not, since this may lead to a caste style system of players, especially as it relates to groups and guilds. "Sorry, you can't join our group because you're a free player and your DPS/Heals suck compared to a paid player". Please note, I truly don't know if that's the case, but my example above makes me question if it's possible for that to happen.
Ultimately, I had fun. That's awesome! The game has a laundry list of issues, though, as you can see, and that list doesn't include "pet peeves", such as not liking the voice acting or some NPC Models (Ograns, for example). The number of issues, though, is a concern. Frankly, the quality of the game feels more beta than live. While I do like the game, the issues tend to get old pretty quickly, so how long I'm able to enjoy playing probably depends greatly on my level of tolerance for them. I sincerely hope Quest Online is able to fix and polish up the game, because I think it has a lot of potential
Irrespective of all that, I find myself pondering the game overall. It's a pretty standard fantasy MMO. Is there anything unique enough about it that's so visible and well executed that it makes Alganon stand out from other MMOs? Not that I've experienced. So, while it's a fun game with potential, is that enough for it to succeed?
In summary:
I had fun
The game generally has solid play and commonly expected features and mechanics in a modern MMO
I experienced an exceptional number of issues during my relatively short span of play over a couple of days and think the game needs tweaks, fixes and polish
I think the game has potential
I have concerns over some of the current free player limitations (I'm not opposed to paying for F2P items, btw. Actually, I think F2P is the way of the future in the Western Market)
I have concerns about there potentially being a caste system between free and paid players. I'd love to see a specific answer on what I seemed to witness.
I question whether there's anything unique enough about Alganon to differentiate it from other games in a crowded market.
Personally, I don't think there's any reason not to try Alganon. In fact, I think players should try it. If you don't like it, move on to something else. If you do like it, great! Have fun! For the time being, I intend to keep playing it.
~Ripper
Comments
Regarding character models and animations, here's the official response:
In general, I agree with this response. Are the character models and some animations goofy? Yes. Are they game-breaking? No. I'd rather see Quest Online focus on play-affecting issues.
~Ripper
I'd have to disagree that PVP is a higher priority than fixing the animations and models. You need to get the basics working. That means a nice clean UI, well developed classes, well designed models and animations and especially fun combat. It sounds like they've moved in the right direction, but if so many people comment on the clunky animations and models, how many quit and don't say anything?
Nobody is going to play Alganon because they add a CTF map. I think that development time is better spent on finalizing the models and animations and moving on to end game PVE content.
Anyway, that was a well thought out and written review.
If they hadn't been so disparaging on their forums I might actually give it a second chance. Well only if they had also allowed you to reach max level before deciding you wanted to commit $$ for endgame. I'll just have to enjoy my LOTRO lifetime account again once the new content goes live on September 10th.
Thanks for the feedback! In general, while I like PvP, it's a not the main selling point of this game. I'd rather they work on other, more serious issues than character models and animations, though. Things like:
Pathing/geography - that can be maddening
Skill activation/timing - can directly affect combat and survivability
Stability
etc...
~Ripper
Regarding free players not being able to obtain and allocate ability points until level 11 - nobody earns ability points until level 11, but paying players can buy ability point boosts starting at level 1:
As mentioned above, using purchased points can give a significant advantage.
~Ripper
Very nice review. The problem is that any other game in that condition would be labeled "Beta" at best and "Alpha" at worst, yet this game is labeled "Released".
That just may be why noone is playing it.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
I didn't read the mmorpg.com review until after I'd already played and had written my own first impressions piece, but it's interesting to note that 6 months after the mmorpg.com review, I'm experiencing some of the same issues originally noted in the review:
Maddening Geography/pathing issues
Low population - I play during all hours, yet I rarely see more than 1 or 2 other people in the who window - often I see none...
There are now instances, but does it matter if nobody's online to group for one (at least at my levels)?
Character models/animations (recently addressed by Derek Smart - they're not changing anytime soon - interesting, since the patch notes list various animation fixes in the last several months)
There have been a slew of bug fixes and some enhancements, as well as changes to the revenue model, since the mmorpg.com review, but the game still doesn't feel like it's "launch ready". The number and type of issues are still too significant, IMO. At this point, Alganon seems like a vary promising game, albeit one that needs work... I'm still playing (by myself) and having fun, which is important, but I also have a higher tolerance threshold than some players who would have just given up at this point...
~Ripper
With regards to Pay to Win, you will find crafting really helps. The crafted gear is usually better than drops and quest rewards. If you keep current on your crafting, you will find you are always wearing good gear for your level. Spec is also important of course.
You don't say if you are playing on Hokk or Adrios, but I found Hokk less populated than Adrios and found Kujix less on both sides than Asharr.
Also if you haven't yet, make sure you check out the upcoming class changes in the class forums. The Reaver/Champion is the only one who has been overhauled so far. You may even want to shelf your ranger until the changes come through since it is supposed to be a pretty major overhaul like the soldier was when it became the champion/reaver. You can find the class change details in the various class forums.
Mr Smart could also have a bit of an influence on those numbers as well. Surprised hes not here right now honestly >.>
Not to derail the thread though. Thank you for sharing your insight on the game! Hopefully they get a second chance.
Hey Ripper;
I purchased Alganon back when it was still a game that required $20 to play. I thought it was decent until I got to a point in the game where there was nobody to group with in order to complete objectives. I agree, the game has tons of perks, and it's definitely a "diamon in the rough" as you mentioned.
FYI - have now made it to level 21 on my Reaver character. Still playing for free. Only f2p limitations I've run into are having to limit how many quests I can take and not being able to talk to other players. Still having fun, albeit playing by myself.
IMO, for this game to survive, it needs a massive influx of players, a number of issues resolved and further changes to it's revenue model. I'm getting tired of things like falling through the world in my capital city and the auction house being empty.
~Ripper
Well, my Dad at the age of 75 asked me for a game to play together as he likes computer games and co op play like i do and i took a look into it but beeing long time gamers we want more and finally we go to Final Fantasy XIV and pay a CE edition and a monthly fee but it is worth it.
Alganon needs to catch many new players and many "lets try something else a while" players but where is the advertising?
I cant see the word of mouth will bring many players to the game...i guess the Kabod Online beta has more players and more word of mouth^^
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
With the influx of F2P games arriving like LOTRO and EQextended, plus open beta of Vindictus and other games right now, and Cataclysm right around the corner, ROM updates and other games entering the market, Alganon is pretty much a dead game that will never attract a decent fan based because of the current level of competition in the market.
For those who do play it, a high levels you might end up with a stable population to enjoy the game, but the lower levels will be completely empty except for spammers.
It is a shame because this game had potential, but is now just lost among a sea of better games with more attractive communities.
Why are you still a game that let you fall through the world?
There are plenty of F2P alternatives out there.
That's not an opinion, that has been the truth since they sent the first screenshot out.
It's not going to last so don't drop any money in it. It will get its headstone in the MMO graveyard soon enough.
Irrespective of it's issues, the actual game play is fun and it doesn't cost me anything (yet). Frankly, I think it should be sent back to closed beta, tweaked and relaunched with a new name, but I am still having fun, regardless.
Do I care if it's a WoW clone? Nope, I hardly played Wow and don't know enough about it to draw game play comparisons. As such, the comparisons are meaningless to me. I do also have RoM loaded up on my PC, but it, too, has it's share of problems. As an example, when the Elven Prophecy was released it simply stopped working. Customer Support basically told me "we can't help you, sorry" and that was that. Only a year later, after a ton of patches, does it work again. Weird...
All that being said, I am starting to tire of Alganon. So many issues, so few players and a revenue model that needs yet more adjustment...
~Ripper
Further impressions:
The lack of population is starting to frustrate me - I don't need to be around other players all the time, but it really does feel like a single player game:
The auction house is empty - this is a real pain when you need items for crafting that you can't gather yourself. It basically renders crafting some items impossible. I've spent time leveling skinning and leatherwork up on my ranger (a leather class), but just ran into a hurdle in that the next two items I'd like to craft require not only skinning and leatherwork components, but also mining and alchemy items. I would take those skills, in the absence of being able to buy them in the auction house, but I'm limited to 3 skills (the one you get automatically and 2 others). The best I can hope for is to requisition the items in the auction house and hope somebody fills my request. Otherwise, I just can't make those items.
There are rarely more than a handful of other players in my race online, which makes it frustrating when you have a quest to kill a tough mob you have trouble handling on your own. On a level 5 mage, in the absence of other players, my only options are to move on and not kill the mobs until I'm higher level or resort to using the horrible pathing and geometry to safely fight. I had three named mobs to kill on my mage. I killed one that inadvertently got stuck on an invisible twig on flat terrain, pulled another one from a hill, hoping I could get enough nukes off to wear him down before he got to me, but he got stuck in the hill, but the third keeps pounding me into jelly. Good times...
As mentioned earlier, found a GIANT hole int he geometry in my capital city - that's not excusable in a game that's been out as long as Alganon has.
Interactive quest objects - you can interact with them from incredibly far distances, as long as you can click them. Last night I clicked an object that I was at least 30 -40 ft away from. That's silly.
I've mentioned the geometry and physics before - there's absolutely no damage from falling. None, whatsoever. No effect at all.
I am still having fun when I play, although it's starting to get old due to the myriad of issues and lack of population. As I said before, it's a diamond in the rough - there's a solid game deep down in there, but you have to be willing to tolerate the problems and frustrations. It would certainly be easier to just pick up another F2P like Runes of Magic, Allods, EQII or LoTRO and never look back.
~Ripper
I decided to give Alganon an honest go, based on this thread. I initially had some problems with NPCs not appearing and disappearing once they did appear, but that seems to have been caused by changes I made to the video settings. Turning off full screen and changing my resolution seemed to fix it.
After that... well, there's not much I can say that you haven't said already. I am still pretty low level, but it is the lack of players, and my lack of ability to communicate with what players there are, that is frustrating me most. I know they need something to encourage people to spend some money, but I am not sure of the wisdom of making people pay for chat channels. (And that's not exclusive to Alganon-- I don't like it in EQ2 Extended either.)
Other interesting issues I've run into:
Snakes/snakelike creatures - around level 16 or so, I had some questst to kill Xukari Cobras and a giant cobra named Quckstrike.
These creatures only animate horizontally, but their territory is hilly. As such, the cobras are often cut off visibly, because either their front or back ends disappear into the hillside. Alternately, the snake may appear to levitate into open air. In this screenshot, Quickstrike is hanging out into space (and his rear is in the hill):
The targeting reticule for these creatures is on the body, near the rear of the model. This means when you're fighting them, the front half of the creature is actually passing through and behind you. This is very disconcerting, especially since your hits animate on the head! In the following screenshot, I've rotated the camera to the side for effect (everything behind me is passing through me during combat):
Killer NPCs - Apparently I pulled a mob too close to a quest NPC and my explosive shot (AOE Bow attack) aggroed the NPC who then killed me. Boo... Bugged it.
~Ripper
I found that fact that you are still playing this POS pretty amazing. I guess tolerance of bugs, and problems is different in people.
Have you tried DDO or LOTRO? I wonder if you would like them better. At least there are other people playing the game.
Well, as I said, irrespective of all the issues (and there are plenty), it's free (so far) and the actual "game" is pretty solid: tons of quests, decent crafting system (I've actually done more crafting in this game than I've done in any other - I'm not big into crafting, personally), interesting study system, reasonable difficulty, etc.. Also, I've seen more activity in the auction house lately and I'm starting to sell my crafted goods, too, which is kind of fun (unlike in other games where I just harvested resources and sold them so I could afford to buy upgraded gear).
Don't get me wrong - this game needs a ton of work, IMO. It definitely feels like a beta, even though it's not. Frankly, unless something changes drastically, I don't see it lasting too long. I'm having fun, but I'm also honest about the game's state, from my perspective.
As for DDO and LoTRO:
DDO - tried it after it first went F2P. There are aspects of it I liked and didn't like. I did especially like things like puzzle objectives and some platform style action, like climbing. It brings much needed diversity to MMO questing (something other than Kill 10 Rats and FedEx quests) and activity. I just didn't get into the game, in general, for some reason.
LotRO - bought it when it first came out and played it for a while. I like the game, in general. I mostly stopped playing since I bought it with friends, all of whom stopped playing. I haven't tried it since it's gone F2P.
~Ripper
Ongoing impressions as I continue to play, explore and level:
My previous "main" (Kujix Reaver) is still level 21, but I've got a new main ( Kujix Ranger) up to level 27. This is actually a pretty big deal for me, personally. It's rare for me to level a character up so much. I've got a pretty busy life with family and work, so my play tends to be pretty casual. I also tend to be an altoholic. The fact that I'm playing and leveling up a single character exclusively is a testament to me having fun with that character and feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Pros:
Fun - I continue to have fun grinding through all the quests, of which there are plenty (so far), and leveling at a nice pace. With few
Crafting - I've been leveling up my Skinning and Leatherworking on this character pretty easily (actually, I can't use some of the upgrades I can craft because the gear level equip requirements are higher than my character's level). The fact that I'm getting into the crafting is probably a factor in how much I'm playing this one character. I've never really been big into crafting in other games other than simply doing so for the sake of selling resources in the their respective auction houses. I'm a little frustrated that I'm not able to craft a few items that would be great upgrades for me because those items require components from other gathering professions (herbalism and mining). I can requisition those items and have done so, but so far the requisitions have gone unfulfilled. There's nobody to make them.
Customer Support - I've submitted a number of tickets in the last couple of weeks, some bug reports and some where I needed assistance. Support has been good. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes slow, but it's been polite and professional. I did get one response I didn't care for, but upon opening a new ticket after the issue occurred again, it was resolved satisfactorily. Quest Online has provided good customer service and I appreciate it, especially as a free player (in some games, if you're a free player, you don't get any support beyond the knowledge base or player forums).
Studies - I've been using the Study system and am pretty impressed with it. It's comprehensive, allows a single character, per server, to participate while offline and ulocks additional abilities, quests, etc... The Ex Nihilo guild has put together a great online page detailing the Study system, how long studies take and what is unlocked: Linky...
Cons
Embedded Browser Windows - the otherwise nice Tribute Market, Library and Support ticket systems are marred by the fact that they're instantiated within an in-game browser. Loading performance is terrible. Once loaded,they're generally responsive, however. I hated it when Darkfall did this and I don't like it in Alganon.
Overall, the play and depth of the game continue to impress me. As indicated in this and other threads, I think the game needs a ton of work and I'm essentially treating it like a beta experience, due to it's overall quality, but I'm having fun.
~Ripper