Albion Online: Alpha Begins September 15th

BMunchausen · August 2014

Cross-platform sandbox MMO Albion Online is just a few weeks from giving its players their first glimpse of its class-less, crafting-heavy, housing-centric, guild vs guild-a-riffic gameplay. Starting September 15th, Sandbox Interactive is inviting players to join the alpha by getting in on the Founders Pack action.

Founders Packs come in three varieties: Legendary, Epic and Veteran, for $99.95, $49.95 and $29.95 respectively, though only the two highest tiers grant players alpha access. (Veteran tier contributors do gain beta access.)

To join the alpha and find out more about the Founders' program, check out the Albion Online Founders' page.

emota · August 2014

This is going to be interesting

VichusSmith · August 2014

Looks very nice!

Chrisbox · August 2014

I can't help but smell p2w, but hopefully I'm wrong.

fascism · August 2014

so what were these testing periods I played late last year / earlier this year? Wasnt that alpha?

Quicksand · August 2014

P2W ? One of the advertised features has been that there will be NO CASH SHOP, but that some how smells like p2w... ok....

[Deleted User] · August 2014

The user and all related content has been deleted.

LacedOpium · August 2014

Apparently, pre-paid Alphas and Betas are heretofore going to become the norm from here on in. Personally, it has no bearing on me financially since i have never been one eager to want to play Alpha or Beta versions of games. It does, however, impact me in the sense that from now on release dates will forever be delayed until after these game companies feel they have dried up the pre-paid Alpha and Beta player pools of founder funds. All I can say is, we all might as well get used to these 9 months to 1 year long Alpha and Beta phases because the success of this tactic has dictated that this practice is here to stay.

/shrug

Jojin · August 2014

Originally posted by Quicksand
P2W ? One of the advertised features has been that there will be NO CASH SHOP, but that some how smells like p2w... ok....

Well the different founders packs come with specific amounts of gold, so does have the aspect of cash will get you a large advantage.

[Deleted User] · August 2014

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Dreamo84 · August 2014

Oh snap, I might have to try this one out. Have to do some more research first.

Jupsto · August 2014

So they're going to exploit the current trend of customers paying stupid amounts for alpha access.

can't blame them I guess. will it be f2p on release or what?

azzamasin · August 2014

Originally posted by LacedOpium

Apparently, pre-paid Alphas and Betas are heretofore going to become the norm from here on in. Personally, it has no bearing on me financially since i have never been one eager to want to play Alpha or Beta versions of games. It does, however, impact me in the sense that from now on release dates will forever be delayed until after these game companies feel they have dried up the pre-paid Alpha and Beta player pools of founder funds. All I can say is, we all might as well get used to these 9 months to 1 year long Alpha and Beta phases because the success of this tactic has dictated that this practice is here to stay.

/shrug

Listen you're never going to get a Triple-A studio to pony up the hundreds of millions of dollars to take a gamble on heavy sandbox gameplay. it just isn't going to happen so get used to it, if you want innovation and diversity in the genre you're going to have to play small indie projects and expect to pay through the nose for their development costs. Get used to it!!!!

Lokero · August 2014

Originally posted by blueturtle13
Originally posted by LacedOpium

Apparently, pre-paid Alphas and Betas are heretofore going to become the norm from here on in. Personally, it has no bearing on me financially since i have never been one eager to want to play Alpha or Beta versions of games. It does, however, impact me in the sense that from now on release dates will forever be delayed until after these game companies feel they have dried up the pre-paid Alpha and Beta player pools of founder funds. All I can say is, we all might as well get used to these 9 months to 1 year long Alpha and Beta phases because the success of this tactic has dictated that this practice is here to stay.

/shrug

Yeah it is a fine edge sword some companies walk. I am not opposed to the idea with smaller developers who may not have the funding upfront for a game to be made using the funds for a better game than would have been had otherwise but now every developer is beginning to do it.

Well, this is the evolution of crowd-funding and Kickstarter style backing, IMO. I think it's a mutually beneficial system, honestly. The small developers get the funding early on to help with development costs(in turn speeding up development, in theory), and the donors are rewarded with seeing what their money is paying for firsthand.

Frankly, I like this better than Kickstarter projects that may never show any proof of development at all.

Downside, of course, is that there's no safety net like there is for Kickstarter and similarly protected backer sites.

All that said, I'm not generally one of those people willing to pay a developer to let me test their game for them. But, for people simply looking to invest in a project they believe in, being able to access it and personally go along for the journey is a pretty cool reward.

Overall point being: This is a more reliable form of Kickstarter for small developers who may not have a ton of publicity and followers yet. Since the majority of crowd-funded projects through KS, etc. never meet their goal and likely never get a dime.

I do agree, however, that this also very easily opens the door for money-milking schemes from some of the bigger companies.

buffalofbi · August 2014

Does it have minions? ^^ I love minions!

Renko · August 2014

At this point I'm ready to try any MMO that's a bit different from the usual same old, same old.

Bercilak · August 2014

Hi guys,

I am one of the guys behind Albion Online. Just wanted to mention that unlike other companies for us the Founders Packs are really essential however at the same time Albion Online is already in a very stable condition and it will definetly be released. We just would like to get the support to polish it and deliver it in an even better condition.

The last test over 2000 people played the game already and apparently even had fun

Here are some impression from that last test which happened in March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3HPio2Hjhg

Kind regards,

Stefan

Vorthanion · August 2014

It has an amazingly similar look and feel of Age of Empires Online.

Ozmodan · August 2014

Another clueless developer is asking you to PAY for an alpha release. I would think twice about that. There lots of games out there NOT in alpha stage, probably more than you can ever attempt playing.

The chances of you throwing money away on this title are quite high. They are a small outfit, without a lot of experience making MMO's hence the chance that this title will actually make it to release are slim with the promised feature set. Not even worth bothering to mention that they won't have the time or experience to control the exploiters.

I could list a page full of titles that never made it past alpha stage or actually made it to beta and remain there. If you are that flush with cash, there are a lot of good charities that could use that cash far more than these people.

Zoltos · August 2014

Originally posted by Ozmodan
Another clueless developer is asking you to PAY for an alpha release. I would think twice about that. There lots of games out there NOT in alpha stage, probably more than you can ever attempt playing.

The chances of you throwing money away on this title are quite high. They are a small outfit, without a lot of experience making MMO's hence the chance that this title will actually make it to release are slim with the promised feature set. Not even worth bothering to mention that they won't have the time or experience to control the exploiters.

I could list a page full of titles that never made it past alpha stage or actually made it to beta and remain there. If you are that flush with cash, there are a lot of good charities that could use that cash far more than these people.

Hmm Clueless you say?? I guess that word could be used the other way around....

I have been following this game for a year now in development, and I am very hyped about it. In fact I am not the only one! On their facebook page, people have been asking for "Founders way" to get into the Alfa and help the game developers! A lot of streaming were made in the last Alfa and loads of people were watching and trying to get alfa keys. Albion Online looks awesome and almost ready for release IMO.

Bercilak · August 2014

@Ozmodan I can understand your concerns but just some thoughts from my point of view:

We are a new team but actually most of our developers are very experienced ones who have been in the games industry for quite some time.
If you search for Albion Online on Youtube you will find lots of videos from previous alpha tests, including opinions from players
If you visit our (quite active) forum you will also meet lots of players who did play Albion Online already and who had fun (thats what they say^^)
We are still in Alpha and the release is planned for next year, so still some time to make Albion Online even better.

So I think (without showing disrespect) this seperates us a bit from your general kickstarter project. And I can also say right now that we got a lot of support already that Albion Online will definetly launch!

Kind regards,

Stefan

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