Much props to a small indie group trying to develop and put out their own P2P MMO. They've got a tough road ahead of them, no doubt, but I will certainly be following the development and release of this game with great interest.

So you haven't tried it and it already failed? Huh?

That's some good stuff there.

Originally posted by Chlerub

The team behind Alganon is enthusiastic, dedicated and talented. We do everything it takes to provide the best game and service we could possibly provide. You are looking at a project that is not vaporware, a WoW clone, or anything you might call it. It is unique in its foundation and every single person work on it is motivated over the limits to make it as enjoyable and successfull as imaginable.

Take a good look at what happened to the Chronicles of Spellborn. Their team was enthusiastic, dedicated and talented too. Lack of funding and poor marketing destroyed their game. Don't go that way.

Originally posted by Emeraq

Originally posted by Rabenwolf

Not impressed. This will not succeed as a subscription based title.

I was thinking the same thing... There's no way I'm paying to play this. F2P, I'd give a try.. but not on a subscription basis.

And I was thinking the opposite. Although I am not impressed yet either. I belong to the targeted audience for this game, I suppose. I might try it out.

Anyway, hands on information is much appreciated by me.

Originally posted by Ozigoul

I don't think this game has any chance of sucess and hopefuly I am wrong on this.

This is much more related to a flawed business model then to the talent of the development team. They could be 40 achieving what an army of 80 would do else where. 

Could someone define me what kind of niche gamer population is this company aiming for? The casual gamer right?

Last time I checked the market was overflowed of limonade bamboo blade MMO. If I was an investor I would have pulled out long time ago.

I think people can get burned out of a particular game even if they still like the basic gameplay so i think trying to attract WoW players who are bored of Azeroth is (or may be) a viable model. The main thing is knowing that friend-gravity means that you're very unlikely to get millions of subs and therefore the initial investment money can't be too big. Basically i think a game company could make money being very like WoW or very unlike WoW and the big failures have been companies that tried to be both at once. So i think if they concentrate on making a very solid and polished soloable, quest-grinding, PvE themepark game with some new elements then it could go okay if they didn't borrow too much.

However I do wonder if it's possible with such a similar visual style. I think there's room in the market for a whole bunch of WoW-clones with very distinctive visual styles - as graphics are one of those areas where everyone has different (and often quite extreme) likes and dislikes - but so similar i'm not sure. On the other hand there are people who like WoW's style but very strongly dislike the character models. If i was involved in this game i'd maybe try some market research identifying those and seeing if they like Alganon's versions as that's one little niche they could potentially claim - although Allods may be competition on that front.

Last time I checked the market was overflowed of limonade bamboo blade MMO. If I was an investor I would have pulled out long time ago.

I think the games that have done relatively well over the last few years have either been very similar to WoW or very dissimilar.

The structure witch is a lot like WOW,more so than the EQ side of WOW, is a ho hum idea.They wanted to give players diversity,copy the sub class system from FFXI.

P2P vs F2p always a tough call,i feel this game will have to have a constant "trial"if it hopes to get customers to step in the door.This is the only way this game has a chance,i think this is why their publishers are calling for F2P they know there is a VERY small market out there right now.Not only is the market small,but AION is not even released yet ,neither is FFXIV,so man good luck on hoping for subscriptions.

BTW...you "DO" need unique ideas,if you are a no name developer,people are not going to play the same old ho hum leveling game.This is why you constantly hear people saying they are going back to their maxed out WOW players.That structure is actually one oif boredom,players have seen that picture once and will not go through that again,especially since they already have their WOW players,they are not going to leave for a cheaper version of the same.

2 Races,big time fail,it looks of cheap budget ,small developer.I played 6 races in FFXI,most felt is was the bare minimum,2 is just way too limiting in every aspect.I think even Ryzom has 3 and it looks weak.I know Aion went with 2 races,i also knocked them for doing the same,their reasons are obvious,they are leaving the rest of the game out,to sell the players expansions.It allows for a faster design and easier route to get the game out the door,but i am not buying into it ..sorry.

Biggest flaw this developer chose?OFFLINE skills of any kind are just awful,it irks me like you cannot believe.

The reason should be obvious,the reason you play a game is to "PLAY THE GAME",not have some timers or spreadsheets you checked off do it for you.I want the satisfaction of knowing i played ALL of the game and earned all of it,i hate the lazy approach.I did not like afk mining in RFO,i did not like that checking off spreadsheets in EVE one bit,and honestly i will never like that structure in a game.Now if it was real life and i could get paid for working offline and doing nothing,ya sounds good,but gaming is something we "WANT" to be playing it is not like work,something we want to get around doing.

This game IMO will have a VERY tough time,ever breaking even,it is a no name company that cannot build off of hype or it's name or it's marketing,so man best of luck,they will need it.

Originally posted by Wizardry

The structure witch is a lot like WOW,more so than the EQ side of WOW, is a ho hum idea.They wanted to give players diversity,copy the sub class system from FFXI.

P2P vs F2p always a tough call,i feel this game will have to have a constant "trial"if it hopes to get customers to step in the door.This is the only way this game has a chance,i think this is why their publishers are calling for F2P they know there is a VERY small market out there right now.Not only is the market small,but AION is not even released yet ,neither is FFXIV,so man good luck on hoping for subscriptions.

BTW...you "DO" need unique ideas,if you are a no name developer,people are not going to play the same old ho hum leveling game.This is why you constantly hear people saying they are going back to their maxed out WOW players.That structure is actually one oif boredom,players have seen that picture once and will not go through that again,especially since they already have their WOW players,they are not going to leave for a cheaper version of the same.

2 Races,big time fail,it looks of cheap budget ,small developer.I played 6 races in FFXI,most felt is was the bare minimum,2 is just way too limiting in every aspect.I think even Ryzom has 3 and it looks weak.I know Aion went with 2 races,i also knocked them for doing the same,their reasons are obvious,they are leaving the rest of the game out,to sell the players expansions.It allows for a faster design and easier route to get the game out the door,but i am not buying into it ..sorry.

Biggest flaw this developer chose?OFFLINE skills of any kind are just awful,it irks me like you cannot believe.

The reason should be obvious,the reason you play a game is to "PLAY THE GAME",not have some timers or spreadsheets you checked off do it for you.I want the satisfaction of knowing i played ALL of the game and earned all of it,i hate the lazy approach.I did not like afk mining in RFO,i did not like that checking off spreadsheets in EVE one bit,and honestly i will never like that structure in a game.Now if it was real life and i could get paid for working offline and doing nothing,ya sounds good,but gaming is something we "WANT" to be playing it is not like work,something we want to get around doing.

This game IMO will have a VERY tough time,ever breaking even,it is a no name company that cannot build off of hype or it's name or it's marketing,so man best of luck,they will need it.

Ok, small correction here - 2 races at START, eventually 6 races will be playable so NOT "big time fail", look at Runes of Magic - started with only 1 playable race (humans) - adding another (elves) in a few weeks, and before you say it RoM IS f2p, but has a sizeable player base.

I agree Alganon may have a tough time breaking even - but thats why the publishers are trying to get the Dev team to swap from a subscription model to a f2p model, they see more of a potential for generating income for a game of this type that way.

Alganon brings a few nice little touches to the MMO genre, such as kudos points and families - so give it a chance and don't just sit there in ignorance shouting "FAIL!" and throwing out the old "WoW" cliches that everyone seems to do with EVERY new MMO that comes out nowadays...and, nobody is forcing you to buy it, simple answer it its not for you...don't play it.

I am slightly amazed at how many people are saying that this game will fail.  There's absolutely no way of knowing becuase this game is in BETA. 

You want global PvP?  Why not play Darkfall?  I hear there's plenty of that in there. 

I think this game is going to do successfully enough for an Indi developer.  I've taken a look at all the videos and am excited to try this game.  If I don't make it into the beta, then I'll definetly be checking it out when it hits the shelves.  Mind you, last game I actually purchased off the shelf was WoW when it first came out and only played that for a year.

If you haven't checked out the video featuring the developer tools, do!  It's absolutely amazing from a programming perspective.

Poor souls, trying to beat WoW.

Its a shame that independent studio decided to make another WOW clone. Its and i am sorry i have to say this : foolish.

Huge companies with much larger investment tried them selves at WOW cloning. Mostly because they had to do it, since big investors do not understand originality or taking risk.

But most of them failed - not because their games were not good. But because you dont need another WOW.

Independant studio should go on and do what no big studio can - innovate , make something completely different.

Its a risk. But its only way they can succed

That said. I wish them all the luck. And i am sure Alganon will be good game for people that have some issue preventing them from playing WOW

If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW? I'm pretty sure Blizzard is much better at it's own game then anyone else.

I support all passionate Indie companies .... but ... i only see this succeed as a F2P ... then they might get the WoW-emulator market :)

I wish them strength and luck.

Where i wish them luck i do not see a bright future for this game.  There is just nothing that sticks out about it.  Its in a field with some big players and I am not sure it can compete.

I was all for supporting this game, I like to throw my money behind indies, I like the fact that it uses a sub based model, I liked the promise of a lot of the core systems, and the fact it looks artisically lile WoW dosent bother me, but...

95% soloable? The only real group content being raid orientated?

All of a sudden my interest is at 5%.

If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?

simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?

a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

Originally posted by Butterball

If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?

 

simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?

 

a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

Next to the fact that WoW expansions regularly bring nice new chunks of content and it's quite a job completing all it's content (even without alts on horde/all. ), i am convinced that if you are bored with WoW you will also be to bored to play this.

Originally posted by Butterball

If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?

 

simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?

 

a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

It's the same feeling I felt when I was playing Runes of Magic.  If I wanted to play something that looks and feels like WoW, why would I play a cheap ripoff of it instead of the real, polished thing? 

Why does everyone think that WoW players are going to start playing a cheap knockoff?  Because the names and places are different?  It still looks, walks and talks like WoW with about a quarter of the content and about a fraction of the subscribers.  Hell, even if Darkfall is a piece of garbage, at least they 'tried' to do something different with it.

Wasn't this game originally announced as a skill based or some hybrid class/ skill system where you picked skills from a pool and put points into them?

Anyway the ranger sub-specialities look very nice, I can see many diffrent rangers running around with very diffrent play styles.

But warrior ones? It reads like a rince and repeat of Prot/DPS tank in WOW. I would be more imrpessed if it added somethign new to the class, not just improving one of the classes already known roles, furthur pigeonholing that class into that path. Why tank as a DPS warrior if you have one specilizing in protection?

This is not an exact wow clone, they are adding new concepts to the game around deites, crusades, live content, and several other touches that may really help differentiate it.

Originally posted by Butterball

Alganon brings a few nice little touches to the MMO genre, such as kudos points and families - so give it a chance and don't just sit there in ignorance shouting "FAIL!" and throwing out the old "WoW" cliches that everyone seems to do with EVERY new MMO that comes out nowadays...and, nobody is forcing you to buy it, simple answer it its not for you...don't play it.

QFT!

Everyone thinks they're a reviewer on this site these days.  If the game doesn't conform to THEIR standards, it's FAIL, WoW clone and then the mission is to bury it with negative posts on forums. 

I don't understand why people don't just move on to another game they like instead of concentrating on the ones they dislike. 

There are many games on this site that I dislike and would never play, but I have better things to do with my time other than judging them and posting FAIL messages on their forums. 

I guess some people have nothing better to do.

Originally posted by Fateus

Wasn't this game originally announced as a skill based or some hybrid class/ skill system where you picked skills from a pool and put points into them?

Anyway the ranger sub-specialities look very nice, I can see many diffrent rangers running around with very diffrent play styles.

But warrior ones? It reads like a rince and repeat of Prot/DPS tank in WOW. I would be more imrpessed if it added somethign new to the class, not just improving one of the classes already known roles, furthur pigeonholing that class into that path. Why tank as a DPS warrior if you have one specilizing in protection?

I think they stayed with the skill/class hybrid system in their own way. They added levels but in a way it still feels as if what skills and class/specialization you have counts more than actual levels.

The only thing that sucks is that with levels now in-game items will probably have lvl requirements to use like any other mmo and that sucks. I would prefer a sort of skill system for weapons, the more you use one type of weapon the more proficient you are with it and better weapons of that type you can use.

I like how this game is being made. From the start, even the story, they are shaing it to be a PvP or RvR type of game later on.

come on folks this is David Allen we're talking about. He'll find a way to drive this thing into the ground yet.

"Horizons" anyone?

This acually sounds enticing.  Classes seem like the old days, when if you wanted a "tank" you looked for a tank. Everyone has thier roles. I hate games today that allow everyone to be everything. I also loved what he said about all the face sliders and detail put into building your toon is "a waste of time" I agree. After your done you never see faces again.

Time will tell.

Originally posted by tanoril

Originally posted by Butterball

If it looks like WoW and has to be paid like WoW .... then why not simply play WoW?

 

simple answer, once you've completed all the WoW content, levelled your toon to cap and get bored with the raids...whats WoW got to interest you?

 

a New "WoW Clone" gives you all new content with a familar play style, always that to consider...

 

It's the same feeling I felt when I was playing Runes of Magic.  If I wanted to play something that looks and feels like WoW, why would I play a cheap ripoff of it instead of the real, polished thing? 

 

Why does everyone think that WoW players are going to start playing a cheap knockoff?  Because the names and places are different?  It still looks, walks and talks like WoW with about a quarter of the content and about a fraction of the subscribers.  Hell, even if Darkfall is a piece of garbage, at least they 'tried' to do something different with it.

I'm not sure they will but either way i think this game is more about picking up ex-WoW players or people who are still playing WoW even though they're bored of the world. I played EQ for six years and enjoyed it but eventually got burned out. If there'd been a game that was like a copy of EQ but visually different i'd probably have tried it.

I would try a copy of EQ as well, but eq is 10 years old and WOW is 5 years old. It is way too early to make a copy of WOW.

In the end I can't handle those cartoonish graphics full of hello kitty color.

Neither asian game with big swords that weight 5 tons.

At least I can troll on these forums and have some fun ! ! !

Thanks for the Hands on preview. I have followed this game for a long time now. Really excited for it. The WOW-clone thing is getting old though some of you guys need to see a game for what it is and not just take a look at it and say oh its a WOW clone. It has features from alot of games not just WOW. Read their site and follow the game in the forums, this game already has fostered a nice passionate following. The community features are great and the game has plenty of features that allow the player to play the way they want to. I like the class structure. I like that you can play as a healer and spec dps but it does not take away from your ability to heal. (unlike WOW) I like the skills system allowing you to unlock new paths for advancement and customization and even quest lines. I like that the characters will physically change based on what they do and how they play.(read their site) I like that deities will play a strong role in the game allowing for you to follow your own god and then go on crusades with other followers(players) to earn Karma for your god by doing their will. They will have battlegrounds and a ranking system. I like the families sytem and the library.You can be a legion Warlord and give instructions to battalions and parties. I also like that they have built the UI for modding making it easy to change or enhance. I'm excited to see the prophet and warden classes. The crafting will be robust and important to the world and the playerbase. Reading the site it seems they have a clear goal as to want to accomplish and where they are going. Nice to see a group of hard working indi developers bring something to the table. Also read their site PVP is a big part of their plans. They are 40 people thats it. I always support indi artists and I think the gaming world needs more of it. I send my first kudo to them.