Allods Online is a quirky little WoW clone. On one hand, the developers have a clear passion for making the title the best it can be. On the other hand, they’ve been making some ridiculous updates to the game that make us ask the question: Which now-fired staff member thought this was a good idea?
See…Russia! A handy ally in the development of Allods Online, mainly because the Russian version of the title seems to get everything before we do over in North America and Europe. The Russian version allowed us a glimpse into the perfume scandal, an item in-game that boosts health 50%, among other bonuses it also gets rid of “fear of death,” a debuff of 25% on all stats that stacks (up to 100%) when you die, on a timer that increases as you level up. According to my sources, at end-game this timer can reach 45 minutes, and the timer activates when you die in player vs player combat. gPotato launched the open beta not even a week ago, and with it came the first incarnation of the cash shop, the item mall, the extortion clinic, whatever you call it. What is riling up players, however, is the price:
For one character, it costs $20 USD to increase your bag size by six slots. Yes, for the cost of one month’s subscription to a paid MMO, plus a meal at Mcdonald’s, you could increase your bag slot size by six. According to the Russian Allod Online’ers, there was approximately an astounding 1,000% increase in price, across the board, for every item. A $2 item (converted from rubles) in the Russian version came out to $20 USD.
I was hesitant to write this article up because my own concerns that this was a bug were echoed by a few (a numerical error resulting in the decimal point placed too far to the right), but according to today’s announcement, the price appears to be not only intentional, but quite out of touch on gPotato’s part. They will be evaluating the item mall, not to change price, but (as they put it) to add more items to increase the user experience.
The community, thankfully, appears to be all ears to a compromise by gPotato. Although 95% (as of this writing) believe the prices are not reasonable, less than a third (as of this writing) were willing, in another poll, to quit over the fiasco. If gPotato acts quickly, we may see this event being left in the dust on the road to Allods Online’s future.
Allods Online is currently in open beta. More news as it appears.
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