gPotato recently deployed a massive update dubbed ‘Overture of the Damned’ to the Allods Online live servers and we stopped by during this year’s Game Developers Conference to check out all the new goodies.
The folks at gPotato began by letting us know that one of the update’s most significant additions is the new currency exchange. The currency exchange allows players to trade up in-game gold for cash shop currency. Not being an active player of the game, I couldn’t tell you how fair the ratios are, but I would hope they’re realistic enough for players to bother with this feature.
If you’ve been hankering for more raid content, you’ll be glad to know that gPotato has added a full new raid with ‘Overture of the Damned’. Dubbed ‘Dead City,’ the new raid features three wings and over 10 new bosses, including one of the game’s gods. I was able to play Dead City up to the first boss, which is basically a giant tick creature that players must attack while mounted on flying dragons. While certain members of the raid are circling the boss on their dragons, the rest of the raid must coordinate to fight off increasing waves of adds at the launch platform. It’s a somewhat simple fight, but it looks to require at least a modicum of coordination.
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‘Overture of the Damned’ also adds 13 new Allods to the game. Allods are Allods Online’s version of instanced dungeons. What sets Allods apart from your typical instanced dungeon is the fact you’ll need to scan and discover them while exploring the Astral in your very own Astral Ship. Exploring the Astral is dangerous, as players may have to man the ship’s cannons in order to defend them from attacking monsters or players. Killing a boss within an Allod does not generate immediate loot for the party. Instead, it creates a treasure chest on players’ ships. Once players have cleared out the dungeon, they’ll have to set off with their Astral Ship and return to port in order to check out their bounty. Why go through all this? It ties into the game’s Astral PvP system, whereby players can pirate other players’ ships in order to steal their loot. This system adds a bit of tangible risk to what is otherwise PvE content. gPotato mentioned they intend to add a set of Binoculars for would-be pirates to use on other players’ ships to scan for treasure to plunder. You won’t be able to tell what exactly players have on their ships, but you’ll at least know if they have something. No pirate wants to risk their skin to come up empty handed. Time is money, people!
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We also played through one of the new Allods during our demo. The first Allod involved pirates using a lighthouse to bait players to dock at their island. The pirates seemingly figured they could plunder ships more easily without even having to chase them, but they met their match when my Bard, a new class introduced to the game with the latest update, and the rest of my crew made landfall. While we outleveled the Allod by a couple of levels, my Bard still looked good beating everyone’s ass to the soundtrack.
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Allods Online update 3.0 – or ‘Overture of the Damned’ adds a ton more than what we got to sample during our demo. You’ll want to check out the official Allods Online website for the full details.
