Alganon Officially Released…Huttah!


I am on a horse.

Alganon’s been on the live list for as long as I can remember, which dates to around last December when the game “launched.” Of course, what started out as a launch was quickly demoted to a “soft launch,” preceding all of this hubbub between Alganon and a few ex-employees.

But, as those of you who receive Alganon email will know, today marks the day when Alganon officially launches. But a launch isn’t all, players will find a near-gigabyte patch released today, with a whole host of fixes and changes:

  1. Completely new path finding mechanic for mobs. NPCs should no longer go underground.
  2. Overhauled starting areas.
  3. Brand new UI to feel less like an anonymous MMO that sounds like Shmerld of Shmarcraft.
  4. Improved server stability.
  5. A whole host of bug fixes.

As promised by Derek Smart, a few features not intended for release have been removed temporarily, starting with thrown weapons. The improved server stability is a welcome update, and one that had previously baffled me with the high amounts of lag, considering I was the only person within /who range while I played.

MMO Fallout will certainly be watching Alganon to see how this “true release” affects the title. You can pick up the Alganon client for cheap, for the time being at least, and afterwards there is no monthly subscription, although the game does feature a cash shop and a free trial.

Why not pick it up today?

Alganon
Alganon Free Trial

Guild Wars Five Years: Steam Sale This Week


Here at MMO Fallout, we work diligently to make sure that you have available to you, all of the information and best ways to get your hands on titles for the lowest prices possible. With the fifth anniversary of Guild Wars, Steam is offering the title on sale this week with the following prices, all in USD:

Games are on sale this week, so pick them up!

Age of Conan: Offline Leveling With No Respec


Play Age of Conan or die, my lord.

A growing trend in several MMOs ever since Eve Online popularized the mechanic, has been offline training: skills and abilities that level even though you are offline. Eve Online and Alganon are just two games to utilize this feature, with Age of Conan recently joining the fray:

In games like Eve Online, considering your character is not under a level system, the research done into your character can make a difference in what ships you can pilot, your weapon loadout, replacing the traditional leveling system. In Alganon, your offline research tree has more to do with small boosts to stats than anything else. Extra damage with certain weapons, extra defense against certain elements, and more. The offline progression doesn’t have a make-or-break impact on the game, but it is nice to have any advantage you can.

If Age Of Conan is one thing, it isn’t subtle. Rather than opt to give players simple stat increases in an alternate training tree, Funcom wants to give you levels while you are offline. Every four days you will receive a level in your account, in order to distribute to a character of your choice. Your account must be active, and the character receiving the level has to be at least level 30.

This should help casual players with hardcore players just seeing it as a small help. Despite some claims, there isn’t much danger of this “replacing” grinding for levels, as it only replaces one level every four days. For those who don’t want to take part, you are always free to leave the levels to accumulate, and use them on an alternate character one day, or just let them rot.

More on Age of Conan as it appears.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: TV Advertisement


Quick, Someone Get This Demon 3D Glasses!

Television advertisement is a barrier that few MMOs break if their names are not World of Warcraft, so it’s good to see Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons on the semi-big screen.

Cryptic Cleans Up: BBB Rating Rises


Set phasers to customer support!

A long time ago, two months to be exact, I did a little bitty about the Better Business Bureau. When I wrote up the article, I wanted to put an emphasis on the points that the bureau does not have authority over businesses, despite how the name may sound. More importantly, as I noted, the BBB is very lenient with the scores that it offers businesses, due in part to the company’s response to complaints sent to the BBB, and then forwarded to the company, that matters. Not responding will put you in a hole, and quite a few people take the BBB for its word.

I did run quite a few developer names before posting my list, and something I did not expect happened: The article was passed around by a few websites, and through each discussion ultimately Cryptic Studios became the center of attention in each instance. Cryptic, noted punching bag for MMO Fallout, was rated an F by the BBB, who noted:

“We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.”

So either Cryptic is not responding to complaints, or they are fraudster identity thieves who might just kill you if you talk bad about them. One or the other, your guess is probably best. Yes, it is a cut and paste for each company, but I can’t read that without risking severe damage due to my eyes rolling back into my head.

Well, if anyone paid attention to that old article, apparently Cryptic was one of them. Forgoing the past 36 months, a recent view of Cryptic’s BBB page shows that they have been bumped: To a C+. Not the best, but that does put them above NCsoft. Why have they bumped up? Because they, wait for it, actually responded and worked out complaints! Of the 61 complaints, 43 have been resolved according to agreements, 2 are fully refunded, and only three are “refused.” The final 16 are still unanswered, but we can always hope.

Now I obviously can’t claim all (read: any) of the credit, due to the likes of people (read: anyone) who are far higher up on the MMO spectrum who either reported similar stories or re-posted my own. I can, however, make a bet: If this worked on Cryptic in just two months, let’s start harping on NCsoft for being the new bottom of the barrel. Perhaps we can get that C- raised to a C?

More on businesses and which are better, as it appears.

Derek Smart Responds To David Allen's Lawsuit Over Derek Smart's Comment Over David Allen's Firing


I am on a horse.

Quest Online, developers of Alganon, have issued a press release stating, among other things, the following:

“Since Smart has taken over leadership, the company has reduced overhead and streamlined operations and Alganon has also gained significant exposure in the gaming marketplace.”

I guess you could call it that. So far this year, Alganon has been featured a lot on various MMO websites, most notably not only for the poorly executed launch, but the subsequent firing and public spat between currently-employed Derek Smart and formerly-employed David Allen. While the opinion of Quest Online appears to be no press is bad press, the communities and those few who play Alganon have expressed a dislike for the manner in which Derek Smart chose to have his argument with several ex-employees (in the comments section of a Gamasutra article), and apparently neither did David Allen (who did not partake in the argument) because he responded by firing off a defamation lawsuit.

Quest Online had this to say about the lawsuit:

“Mr. Allen’s allegations are false and without merit. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in Court and are confident of prevailing in the proceeding.”

Quite straightforward.  Defamation isn’t the only charge in the proceeding, but does rely on what is being said to be false. If the information is true, than it can not be defamation. Whether or not Derek Smart can prove its truth will be seen.

Derek Smart Responds To David Allen’s Lawsuit Over Derek Smart’s Comment Over David Allen’s Firing


I am on a horse.

Quest Online, developers of Alganon, have issued a press release stating, among other things, the following:

“Since Smart has taken over leadership, the company has reduced overhead and streamlined operations and Alganon has also gained significant exposure in the gaming marketplace.”

I guess you could call it that. So far this year, Alganon has been featured a lot on various MMO websites, most notably not only for the poorly executed launch, but the subsequent firing and public spat between currently-employed Derek Smart and formerly-employed David Allen. While the opinion of Quest Online appears to be no press is bad press, the communities and those few who play Alganon have expressed a dislike for the manner in which Derek Smart chose to have his argument with several ex-employees (in the comments section of a Gamasutra article), and apparently neither did David Allen (who did not partake in the argument) because he responded by firing off a defamation lawsuit.

Quest Online had this to say about the lawsuit:

“Mr. Allen’s allegations are false and without merit. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in Court and are confident of prevailing in the proceeding.”

Quite straightforward.  Defamation isn’t the only charge in the proceeding, but does rely on what is being said to be false. If the information is true, than it can not be defamation. Whether or not Derek Smart can prove its truth will be seen.

Welcome To The Crew: Aion Opens Test Server


With 16,000 accounts gone, less queues!
Let's test some Queues.

Test servers: Perfect for the developer who wants to publicly test things. Throughout history, or at least the past decade, test servers have been used for everything from stress testing to gauging player interest, to using player feedback to balance updates. In more recent years, a majority of developers have discovered the uses of a test server, and the number of MMOs that do not use these servers have dwindled substantially.

Surprisingly, however, players will not be given pre-made characters, and it appears that they also will not be able to copy existing characters over to the test server (a common practice in MMOs), but instead the characters that they do create will be placed in super-xp-mode, where leveling is quick and drops are jacked up for maximum efficiency. Whether or not this will slant feedback is up for grabs, but we will know that when the test servers launch next week.

More on Aion as it appears.

Bethesda Vs Interplay: The Lawsuit Is NOT Down


On your way, vault dweller

Update: According to a report from Bethesda to Joystiq, the lawsuit has not been dropped. Please accept our apologies as our bounty hunter tracks down Interplay investor “Frymuchan” for his disservice.

“It’s an ongoing legal matter. I don’t know where whoever reported that got their information, but it is ongoing and we are going to see how it plays out in court.”

It feels like a long time since I’ve been able to update on the Bethesda/Interplay lawsuit, and in fact it’s been over four months since the latest lawsuit news! And what news it is:

Bethesda has dropped the lawsuit against Interplay, over the Fallout MMO “Project V13,” allowing the struggling developer to move full steam ahead in their development. The terms of the dropped lawsuit are in the secret vaults for now, but hopefully someone from Bethesda or Interplay can shed some light in the coming days, on the status of Project V13 and the two company’s involvement, and perhaps what led to the lawsuit being dropped.

For the sake of not getting up hopes, I’m still leaving Project V13 in the “rumor mill” file, as no longer being sued puts the title exactly where it was before the lawsuit began: On a long road to nowhere. We are also awaiting news of Bethesda’s upcoming MMO, speculated to be based on the Elder Scrolls universe (Well if it was a Fallout MMO, it is scrapped now)

The Fallout MMO is expected to go into beta sometime in mid-to-late 2012, and no that isn’t one of my jokes.

If You Buy Powerleveling, You'll Be Beaten By Mafia


Excellent job to the Aion team and Rooster Teeth for putting this video together.