After helping to save dozens of people from the destruction of their doomed Allod — an island floating in the Twisting Nether — my gibberling crew defeated a ravening demonologist, lured a marauding demon into a trap that meant its doom, defended a powerful sorceror as she strived to keep the island afloat just a few more seconds, and finally escaped at the last moment to safety, regarded by all who knew them as a new breed of hero.
… only to land shoulder-to-shoulder with a thousand other legendary heroes, fighting with each other over crabs on the shore, deer in the forest, and snakes in the grass. Someone (not me) noted recently that some MMOs open up with cinematic, heroic openings where you save the world/city/universe/all of creation before being shown just how much of a non-entity you really are (Champions Online, Aion, Star Trek Online, Allods Online), while others just promise you greatness at some point in the future (WoW, EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot). But when everyone is special, nobody is (that was Dash from The Incredibles, but no truer words have been written).
Gameplay is entirely standard. I have only played the Warrior to level 4 (as the triple-bodied Gibberlings) and Druid to level 6 (as the human Karnians), and in neither did I notice much of a difference from WoW, except perhaps that you get things so much more quickly. I got Charge on the Warrior before I was out of the tutorial, and the Druid got her pet right from the start — and a long-lasting regeneration buff after the first few quests. The kinds of things that WoW holds back from for awhile — like class-defining abilities and talent trees — are present in Allods from the beginning.
But that is not a problem. Their target audience is the World of Warcraft player, and anyone who has played WoW at all is very familiar with how these things work.
Graphically, the game is beautiful and runs smooth as glass. There was some rubber-banding and a little lag last night, but that was better than I expected given the number of people crowded onto the two North American servers. A lot of attention has been paid to making the game just look absolutely incredible.
The chat system could use some work. I couldn’t find an easy way to turn off the local zone chat, so I just switched to the Combat tab, where I wouldn’t have to read the awful, horrible garbage being broadcast to the world. What a cesspool. I imagine things will improve once out of the newbie areas.
The leveling was nicely paced. The game helpfully gives you plenty of information on how you are doing, leveling-wise. The map is great, with the locations of quest objectives clearly marked out. Helpful tips always seem to appear just when you can use their information.
I’ve only spent a couple of hours in-game, but it’s already clear that Allods Online is a wonderful addition to the stable of WoW-like F2P games that include Runes of Magic and the upcoming Alganon. The world PvP and the communal void ship navigation at higher levels will likely serve to separate Allods from its competition. For me, though, at my low level, starting a new character in Allods feels identical to creating a new alt in WoW, except more crowded.
You can find me playing on the League side on the Nezeb server as Tipa (Human Warden) or Winken (Gibberling Warrior). (Yes, my Gibberlings are Winken, Blinken and Nod 😉 )
11 thoughts on “First Look: Allods Online”
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Upcoming Alganon? It’s been released, believe it or not. 😀
Nice haircut on your character, btw – so nice, in fact, that I have it too on my cleric. But red. Love the character designs, I even feel OK about playing a human. I guess I will come crawling back to the Gibberlings sooner or later, but right now I’m satisfied with my cleric. She runs a bit funny, though…
It will be interesting to see what we all feel in a week or two. Great post, your blogging speed never fails to impress me.
Ugh hamsters
The gurlz are prettier than in WoW! 😉 but they sometimes have a rather fierce facial expression, especially the elven butterfly ladies.
IMO it is too much like WoW. I don’t want to play the same game in slight variations again. And, as I already buzzed, I think many people are in for a nasty surprise once the open pvp kicks in in the later areas/levels.
I couldn’t resist the look of the Arisen. I’m still not sure if they are undead or just long-lived/altered cyborgs, but the concept had me cracking up. Especially as a psionicist.
Like someone else said Alganon is already out, also it’s not F2P which is why nobody plays it! I am enjoying Allods so far minus the crazy overcrowding. It is like wow with more of a pvp focus, but it’s F2P so I can live with that.
@Longasc Far as I know there is no more open pvp, they added a flagging system so it’s not forced anymore, you can turn your flag on when you wish.
Great screenshots! I plan on installing this tonight. I played it some during closed Beta ans was impressed with it. Is anyone making a guild?
Actually mark, you and Longasc are both right. They replaced the factional pvp in leveling zones with a flag system, but astral space is still all-pvp all the time. There is NO “open” or free-for-all pvp though, it is all factional.
The flag system is nice to keep ganking down. Open PvP really is a special breed, more suited for smaller niches than the mainstream. I still agree with Brannagar over at Corpse Run, though, that they may be better served with PvE and PvP servers.
I’m enjoying the game, and will for a while. I have my quibbles with it, but it’s still fun to play, and that’s enough.
I have to say that I felt League was more monotonous in the early levels. It’s a lot of go kills these things in the woods. The Empire starter zone is a maze to navigate but for me at least, considerably more fun. For that reason I gave up my love for shire-like locations in favor of something very different from other games I’ve played. BOOOOOOOOOOOOO Hissssssssssssssssssssss that you went and Tesh are league. We can’t ever play together.
I can change! I was only trying to get on the same server and side as all the folks on Buzz and Twitter :/
I’m equal opportunity. My “main” is a Gibberling trio, but I have some Arisen, too (they are too cool *not* to play with), and a Xadaganian Paladin. I’ll play any of them, if we’re going to be getting together for some blogger cooperation. 😉