Allods Online: Whoops, Our Bad


All the vermin will drown.

Allods Online is a great example of how a title can grow under the guise of a World of Warcraft clone, gain the attention of both gamers and publications as a beacon of individuality in the WoW Clone genre, pull forward and grow a community that could rival the Darkfall community in terms of loyalty and vicious attacks on naysayers. That being said, Allods Online is also an excellent example to how a company can turn its customers against it in the flash of a hand.

gPotato’s response spoke to many players as “deal with it, and pay up or leave,” however the latest announcement should shed some light on the situation. This week, Allods Online will receive an update, and gPotato has

restructured the pricing based upon your feedback in conjunction with the data we’ve reviewed and communication with our developer.  Consequently, we’ve revised pricing so that more people can participate in this feature of the game.
gPotato, on Allods Online

Sure, gPotato can play a mean fiddle, but can they put a crack in the wall with a sweet but ferocious melody? As I’ve mentioned before, the community is still in a position where they are more than willing to return if the prices of the cash shop are lowered and gPotato does something about the requirement of investment in order to stay competitive at end-game.

So Allods Online isn’t going anywhere, at least not for now. The benefit of not having launched yet is that you get to make stupid mistakes like this and still make up for it in time for the big day.

Alganon: Moving to DDO Formula


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...
Not Enough Gold In The Coffers

Alganon booted in December this past year to a very mixed reaction. Launched as a lower budget, indie MMO, Alganon plucked various mechanics from other MMOs (offline leveling system, skill branches, etc) and threw them together in a game that looked similar to a world of war and craft. Reviews for the title were generally positive, but many reviewers noted that despite the community, the title was not quite ready to put itself out there and demand a cash payment each month.

In a move the may not surprise anyone, Alganon has announced that the title will be going subscription free, with an item shop, much like Dungeons and Dragons Online (minus the subscription). I said booted earlier, because Alganon has still technically not “launched,” the official launch being this April.

I’d like to think Alganon will be able to pull around, and hopefully moving to an item mall model will bring in more money than the company was receiving previously, but at the end of the day they aren’t changing to a free to play model because the old one was so successful.

To evolve with the ever changing market, Alganon has moved to a Subscription Free model.

If this change in business model doesn’t turn the game around, I think we’re going to see another Tabula Rasa. Another one (year) hit wonder.

Going Free Pays: Dungeons and Dragons Online


I Need a New DDO Image

When Dungeons and Dragons Online went free to play last year, it sparked quite a few questions as to the game itself. How was it doing, subscriber-wise? Was this a desperate attempt at new players, or just a smart business move? Of course, now we know that it was just a smart business move. Shortly after DDO went free to play, Turbine announced a 40% increase in paying subscribers, and a new server to hold all the incoming players.

Since Dungeons and Dragons Online went free play, they have amassed one million new players, as well as twice the number of paying subscribers. The cash shop on Dungeons and Dragons Online leads the industry with a 500% increase in sales.

Well, the success just keeps on coming. Jim Crowley: CEO of Turbine had this to say:

“The response from players to DDO Unlimited has been nothing short of phenomenal. We’ve known all along how great this game is and by implementing an innovative new model that put the players in charge of how they pay and play DDO Unlimited, we’ve successfully expanded our reach and injected new energy into the game. Without a doubt, DDO Unlimited is a hit!“

Indeed it is, Mr. Crowley. Indeed it is.

Xsyon: An MMO By The People, For The People


prefix-ed MMORPG, just in case you forgot.

Xsyon may not be the best looking game, but where the title faults in the super hi-def bloom that burns cornea and frightens small nocturnal creatures, it makes up in offering freedom to players. Throughout the short history of the MMO genre, there have been quite a few attempts at allowing the player to build the world around them. Star Wars Galaxies, more notably, allows players to build cities to focus their guild. Those cities, likewise, are able to take part in the overall galactic civil war.

In Xsyon, the developers have decided to take a different approach to the idea of post-apocalyptic. Rather than being in a world that is destroyed, that you are merely trying to survive while the world around you builds up (or remains stagnant), you are taking part in the rebuilding of the new world. Most, if not all, of human innovation is gone, kaput, and the leaders have fallen back to the old days of God worship and scavenging.

The manner in which Xsyon hopes to keep its players is to allow them to shape the world as they see fit. Before the game launches, those who preorder will be given access to a very small section, from which point they will be roaming around, exploring new areas, and discovering new methods of crafting, building, fighting, and more. As the players progress, so does the game, with players deciding everything from the foundation of new cities, even to terraforming of the current terrain. The environment is  in a state of constant flux, and it is up to the players to decide the future of the world. Everything down to the quests are player-given, where players can obtain quests ordered by the chief of the “tribe” (guild). New skills, new items, new objects, new creatures, most will be discovered in-game before they are announced.

Xsyon looks to be shaping up into a title similar to A Tale In The Desert, where early players will have a very different experience than those who join several months or years down the line. Of course, the fact that I can create my own cooking recipes is enough of a reason for me to dip into my pocket, but then again…I’m irresponsible with money.

There won’t be a trial for Xsyon until the game launches, and there won’t be an open beta (more on that tomorrow). Preorderers are given access to Prelude, a pre-game world that they have a great amount of freedom to shape and discover.

Hello Kitty Online: This Is How You Charity…Adorably.


Put on your :3 face.

In January, Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake that resulted in countless damage, over two hundred thousand dead, and millions left without a home. In the following months, we witnessed an enormous surge of companies looking to get their players involved in donating to the cause: Participants including Blizzard, CCP Games, Frogster Entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment, and more. These events offered players an opportunity to purchase items with real money, with a portion (or all, or more) going to charity.

The folks over at Hello Kitty Online had a different idea on charity: Instead of requiring cash donations, why not allow people to donate just by playing the game? Food For Friends 2, the charity initiative, was set up to allow players to donate any type of in-game item, with the worth of that item being translated to real cash and donated to the Haiti relief efforts.

So far only one of the two servers has chimed in with its results: over eighteen thousand dollars from more than a million items donated. By my own calculations, and the current count of items on the other server, the total donation should be somewhere along the lines of twenty five thousand dollars, to be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Obviously the titles on MMO Fallout have been a joke, but when it comes to the idea of companies fighting over who can donate the most to charity, trying to spark a little competition can go a long way.

Gary Whiting: You Can’t Kill Me That Easy…


He'll get you in your dreams...

The more this Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment fiasco continues, the more I get the feeling Gary Whiting is going to come back as a Freddy Kreuger-style character who attacks CME employees in their sleep.

This month, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, developers of the comatose Stargate Worlds, joined the lawsuit against Gary Whiting, former chairman and big time investor at CME. Gary Whiting is being sued by investors of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for alleged wrongdoings against the company. According to the complaints, Whiting failed to honor terms of the agreement, and also failed to make payments to investors based upon said agreements. As Whiting had named ties between MMOGULs, an alleged MMO portal ponzi scheme, and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, it was only a matter of time before Cheyenne became involved in the lawsuit.

When Cheyenne ME joined the lawsuit, Gary Whiting was removed from the board, fired, and all ties with him were severed. Unfortunately for Cheyenne, and any unlucky employee who may have bad mouthed Whiting on his way out, the court has ruled against removing Whiting from the board of directors, from the court papers below:

As to Plaintiffs’ request for a TRO, the Court finds insufficient grounds to remove Mr. Whiting and Mr. Safiulla from the board of directors; the Court similarly finds insufficient grounds to appoint independent directors to the board of directors.

That being said, Cheyenne did manage to secure a “receiver” to protect the company’s assets while they continue their forage into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For the time being, at least, Whiting isn’t going anywhere.

More on Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment as it appears.

Darkfall Trial: Seven Days, One Dollar


Could You Spare A Dollar, Good Sir?

When Darkfall launched last year, it was met with some heavy issues. Not only was the game virtually un-buy-able for months post-release, but there were many game-breaking bugs. That being said, following endless patches, and two expansion packs, the Darkfall of today is very different from the Darkfall that launched in 2009.

With the game’s first birthday on the horizon, Aventurine is continuing their effort to make the newbie experience more enjoyable: Namely removing the requirement to buy the game just to get a sampling of its flavors. Starting today, players with new accounts have the option to buy the Darkfall Trial, a seven day romp through Agon that costs a mere  one dollar.

On the downside, you need a credit card to purchase this. On the other hand, this is in place so players do not abuse it to aid their main accounts, and players who do abuse it can be tracked down to their real accounts to receive swift judgement. Requiring a credit card will also prevent the gold farmers the game has done so well holding back this past year.

If you haven’t had a chance to try out Darkfall, and want some player vs player orientated gaming, check out the $1 demo. Head over to your local Darkfall website now! If you live in Greece, the magazine offer is still valid, I believe.

https://accounts.us.darkfallonline.com/account/register.php

https://accounts.eu.darkfallonline.com/account/register.php

Don’t forget to register for the full game before your seven days ends…we all know what happens after seven days.

Buy Sentinel's Fate on Steam: Free Stuff!


Good Stuff Free

I say, the tone of MMO Fallout has been quite negative this past week. You know what we need? Free stuff. If you wanted to get into the early head start for Everquest II’s latest expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, you’re a little late: The expansion has already launched. If you have not purchased the expansion yet, and would like to get in on an exclusive item, then you’re just in time!

Continuing the natural bandwagon of offering exclusive items per retailer, Sony has an offer to make through Steam you won’t be able to refuse. Players who purchase through Steam will receive access to the Guarding of the Learned Armor. For $40 USD, current players will be able to enjoy all that Everquest II has to offer, while new players will receive the whole experience, plus thirty days free time.

One important thing to note: Unless Sony has changed anything, you will need a valid form of payment if you are a new customer, in order to get the thirty days.

Buy Sentinel’s Fate on Steam: Free Stuff!


Good Stuff Free

I say, the tone of MMO Fallout has been quite negative this past week. You know what we need? Free stuff. If you wanted to get into the early head start for Everquest II’s latest expansion, Sentinel’s Fate, you’re a little late: The expansion has already launched. If you have not purchased the expansion yet, and would like to get in on an exclusive item, then you’re just in time!

Continuing the natural bandwagon of offering exclusive items per retailer, Sony has an offer to make through Steam you won’t be able to refuse. Players who purchase through Steam will receive access to the Guarding of the Learned Armor. For $40 USD, current players will be able to enjoy all that Everquest II has to offer, while new players will receive the whole experience, plus thirty days free time.

One important thing to note: Unless Sony has changed anything, you will need a valid form of payment if you are a new customer, in order to get the thirty days.

Gala-Net Responds: Prices Coming Down, Point Is Moot


All the vermin will drown.

When Cryptic Studios announced that the upcoming expansion to Champions Online, Vibora Bay, would be a paid expansion, the reaction from the community was nothing short of explosive. Players saw an expansion adding in what should have been added in (a fill-in for the late game leveling gap), and overall were quite offended at having to pay for something they saw as vital to the game. Something worthy of note is that, even after Cryptic announced that the expansion would be free, the players were still angry about it, but now for other reasons.

The point with Cryptic is that the community felt that they were trying to get away with as much as they could, believing that the paid expansion announcement was a test to see if the community would buy into it. Thus, Cryptic had essentially sealed their fate from the first announcement. The same is going on with Allods Online and Gala-Net’s current predicament: The cash shop is ten times the price of the Russian version, and core game elements were removed or gutted in order to force people to fork out real money.

gPotato put out a release late last night in response to several criticisms of the game that surfaced over the past week. Among the two responses, the cash shop price:

“We are not sitting and waiting just to see how many dollars we’re going to make over the next four weeks.”

This raises several questions. If you weren’t looking to see how much money you could get, then why did Gala-net raise the prices ten times over the Russian version? Why was end-game raiding severely gimped in order to make perfume use mandatory? There are more questions to be asked, and even more to be answered.

What is done is done, at this point all Gala-Net can hope to do is move forward, make some adjustments before the game goes live, and hope all goes well. As I’ve pointed out before, and I still stand strong by this, the quality of Allods Online as a game allows it a rare benefit in that if this mistake is fixed quickly enough, the game can move ahead and leave this incident in the past. One aspect I have been paying heavy focus on is that the community wants this to work, and the thread that has been set up for feedback is already populated by great ideas, and progressive thoughts.

At this point, Allods Online isn’t nearly as close to a trainwreck as people may think, but closer to a failed sump pump. If Gala-Net can quickly get the motor started, and perhaps move the upholstery to the first floor, then the most damage you’ll see is a waterlogged carpet that needs to be replaced.

More on Allods Online as it appears.