By Jason Van Horn
Playing an MMO is supposed to be fun, but it's all too easy for that fun to
transform into work and without the player even realizing it until it's too
late. Surely you've played an MMO before, found yourself unable to login for
perhaps a time as short as a day, and yet it feels like the world has left you
behind. The questing buddy you once had is suddenly three levels above you and
now there's nothing you have in common anymore…all because you didn't play for
one day. Now imagine a game that doesn't look like the green-eyed monster of
jealousy staring you right in the face. A game that won't punish you for failing
to acknowledge it for a day. A game that will transform and grow based on the
community of players. Welcome to the world of Alganon! We talked to David Allen
(Quest Online President) and Hue Henry (Lead Data Designer) to learn everything
there is to learn about the upcoming MMORPG – Alganon.
MPOGD: At one time Alganon was going to have seven classes at launch:
soldier, ranger, assassin, healer, warden, prophet, and magus. When the game
launches, however, the only four it will have are the soldier, ranger, healer,
and magus. Why were the other three classes dropped from the launch window?
As we refined the game and brought the classes to life, we decided to focus on a
core set of classes and provide players choices within those classes. This
approach also allows us to release new classes with the planned free expansions.
The classes we add can be balanced based on our players and any new features we
add, without changing classes players already know and love. We won't have to
"take away" the way you play your Magus in order to add a balanced class that
utilizes a new feature.
MPOGD: The game will be releasing with two different races:
Humans and Talrok. What can you tell us about the mindset of these two races and
how they fit the lore of Alganon?
They are the "core" races, chosen by the gods to represent them in different
ways. Humans were created to lead all the races in the building of the world.
They were meant to be the inventors of new ideas, the architects of a new and
beautiful world. Many of the gods disapproved of giving such power to mere
mortals, and so the Talrok were created. As messengers of the gods, the Talrok
were created to keep the other races, especially the Humans, in line.
The deities in Alganon are powerful beings with powerful personalities, and
these personalities often clash. The gods began to quarrel about how much power
the Great Races should have, and the amount of control they should have over
their fates. A rift developed between the gods. Triasha, Argon, and Zanyana
believed the humans, with their devotion to Justice and Light, should create a
new world order, and so Argon granted the Asharr Empire access to the Great
Library of Xukiss, and all the power that comes with this knowledge.
This was the last straw for three rival gods. Ghazmok, Vakgarr, and Xukiss felt
this gift gave the Humans access to knowledge they had not yet earned, and
provided the Asharr with power they did not deserve. These dark gods were united
in their desire to return the Asharr under their control. They summoned their
own chosen people, the Talrok empire known as the Kujix, to the great city of
Xanjuix Karr. The Kujix and their gods locked themselves inside the great city
for ten years, a period known as the Great Silence. During this time, they
prepared for the War of Conversion. The war's purpose was to bring all of
Alganon's races back under the will of the gods - but which ones?
There's quite a bit of lore available on the main Alganon website under
World History and
Races.
MPOGD: There's been talk that we will perhaps eventually see new races
appear after the game's launch. Is there anything specific you can reveal about
them - name or traits? If new races do come, how will they be included? Will
they be a third faction or balance out the existing Human vs. Talrok war?
From a project development perspective, the future races are already defined and
planned out for release. We have a great plan that allows us to release content
quickly, and at regular intervals. We should be releasing details on our
expansion plans shortly, which will include the new races, domains, and classes.
From a creative perspective, we have laid down a foundation for each of the
races. For example, the Sylvain are a magical race deeply attuned to nature, the
lands, all living things, especially the plants and animals. This provides us
with an understanding of what general themes they will face, what types of
creatures and items they will specialize in, and a basic idea of how we want
them to feel as a race.
But, we've also left a huge amount of "wiggle room" that we plan to design based
on how our players approach the game. One of our popular forum posts is a
discussion on what the Sylvain might look like, and we will keep an eye on the
choices our players make in game as we work. Many people may assume "elfish"
features, but the in-game choices our players make could show us that they
prefer a different type of character, and we will run with that. Think of how a
screenwriter can write an entire film without knowing which actor is going to
play the lead role. In much the same way, we have planned out quests, domains,
and gameplay mechanics, but are still working to wrap that content around the
framework that is our players.
MPOGD: Can you talk to us about the study system in the game and how
it's looking to bridge the gap between hardcore and casual gamers? What all can
be studied and how will it affect the growth of a player's character?
The great part about studies is it allows a player to manage the time they've
been playing to focus on what's important for them. Nobody can gain a leg up on
anyone else; it's all about time. So if a player has a year of studies and a new
player is hardcore and gets to max level in just a few weeks, that "other
player" with the studies will have things the new hardcore player just can't
have (and will have to study) to get.
MPOGD: How did the study system come about during development? What
goals do you want the study system to accomplish?
We wanted a support system that rewarded the players not just for playing the
game, but for being a part of the Alganon experience. Even if they are unable to
put eight hours a day into the game, the fact that they are a part of the
community and interacting with the game is something that we feel deserves to be
rewarded.
Players who have jobs, go to school, maybe even play a console game once in a
while, shouldn't return to the game to find they've been punished for their
choice. With studies, as long as you remain a part of Alganon, by subscribing
and logging in to queue your studies, you can return to find new quests, new
items, new powers, and new content available to you.
Alganon is not a jealous game. It isn't going to get upset and punish you
because you like to do other things.
MPOGD: I personally hate it when I look at guild mates and think,
"Man, I'm so behind them." Yet, at the same time, I enjoy knowing that the time
and work I put into acquiring some goal - like a rare loot drop or gained level
for instance - ultimately paid off in the end and wasn't just given to me. Given
their commitment level in regards to time, it seems that hardcore players should
still win out over those who aren't on much but study all the time. Will the
hardcore time commitment players still be able to feel accomplished with the
study system in play? If so, how?
Well here's an example. Say there's a certain type of weapon that players want
to obtain. A hardcore player will be able to put in the time and effort to run
raids, down bosses, and win loot rolls to gain that weapon. They will "win out"
by being able to obtain that loot through their accomplishments and save their
studies for other things. With that loot in hand, they can focus their studies
on opening new quests, accessing lore-heavy content, gaining cosmetic effects,
or opening an alternate path to items that would require gameplay they don't
like.
Players who, because they have work, school, family, or other responsibilities,
cannot spend the time to run those many raids, can focus on a study that gives
them an alternate method to obtain the same item. It will generally take them
longer, because the hardcore player can take the same "guaranteed" path, but
also win the item early. However, both players can eventually obtain the item
they desire.
MPOGD: What can you tell us about the dual role system, some
examples of it, and why the system was decided upon as a good fit for Alganon?
In many games, your class and your combat role are fused together. Your story
determines your gameplay. A brave knight who fights for his king must be a tank.
A religious leader must be a healer. A sneaky type thief must do melee DPS.
We didn't want to do this with Alganon. We wanted to provide players with the
freedom to choose the story behind their character, and also choose what role it
plays in combat. To reach this goal, we decided to allow a story class to choose
from multiple combat roles.
A soldier is a heroic champion of the Imperial Army, who fights for his Emperor
in defense of the Empire. However, we wanted to give him options as to how he
plays. He can play as a "Boss Tank" who stands down a single massive foe with
sword and shield. He can be a powerful War Machine, doing huge amounts of melee
DPS. He can be Berserker-like multi-tank who charges into the fray and fights
dozens of enemies at once. He can be a Leader-of-Men, who actually stands in the
back lines, supporting his troops and leading them to victory.
Giving players this choice, however, has a downside. With that much choice, it's
hard to find the right player for your group. If you need a Boss Tank, and
soldiers can choose any one of those four roles, then you can't just bring the
next soldier you see. You have to send them a tell asking "RU Tank?"
Anyone who has played an MMO where your class can choose to be a healer or tank
is well aware of how annoying it can be to get a hundred tells an hour asking, "Resto?"
We didn't want that, either. We wanted players to easily find the role they
needed without having to ask a dozen people. The best way to do that, however,
is to link role and class, so that players can look at your class and know your
role - but that puts us back at square one. /sigh.
We had a few debates over which was better. Who do we make happy? Players who
want to find group mates at a glance, or players who want to choose their combat
role? Then it hit us. Why not do both?
We could give each player two combat roles. One role could be linked to their
class, so players searching for a Boss Tank could always ask a Soldier - every
Soldier is a Boss Tank. The second would be up to the player to decide; they
could choose their second role to be a War Machine, or a Leader-of-Men, or a
Berserker. It would be entirely up to them.
Also, since they would always have one role that was predetermined, we didn't
have to worry about their second role being "cookie-cutter perfect". If they
wanted to choose their secondary role for silly fun, rather than for min/maxing
gameplay, they could always fall back on their primary role when grouping with
players who demand perfection.
This is the dual-role system. Every character has two roles they can flip
between. One role is predetermined by their class, so if you need a role, you
always know who to invite. The second is purely up to them, built using the
ability tree, so they have the freedom to play the way they want to play.
MPOGD: Could you talk about families and the purpose they serve?
It's a very interesting idea in order to help likeminded people get together
more easily to accomplish a task.
The goal was to group like-minded players together from the start, creating a
community that new and experienced players could be a part of that wasn't a
guild. With the different family types (Achiever, Competitor, Explorer,
Socializer, and Crafter), I think we've created that extra 'strong' starting
community. From the moment you step foot in Alganon, you have a group of players
who are interested in the same style of gameplay you are.
MPOGD: . What can you tell us about the crafting system? How will
players progress and what sorts of professions can the player engage in?
The crafting system of Alganon is very interdependent. We have designed it so
that the best crafters will need to work together with other players in order to
produce the highest quality goods. Using the auction house, or forming guilds,
or meeting other players through MyAlganon.com groups, players will want to form
a crafting community, and not "solo the crafting game."
In addition to being able to harvest natural resources from the world -
skinning, herbalism, and mining - we have an additional gathering skill known as
salvaging. The lore behind our professions is that a tailor is not simply
someone able to sew cloth - even a novice can sew together pieces of cloth using
a tradeskill called "Novice Crafting" that every player starts with. In Alganon,
a tailor is one who can infuse magical elements into cloth armors. The ability
to make magical clothing is what makes Tailors special. Salvaging is related to
this lore - it is the ability to break down items into the magical parts. These
parts can then be used by crafters to make even more powerful items. We joke
that it is the "Auction House Gathering" skill.
One last element of our crafting system that is unique is that we have put
effort into making every crafting profession viable for every class. Rather than
Blacksmiths only creating heavy armor for soldiers, there are magical metals and
metalworking techniques that can make light metal armor. Likewise, there are
ways for tailors to reinforce cloth armor so greatly that it becomes too heavy
for a light-armor wearing class to wear. If you choose to be a Magus and a
Leatherworker, it is still a good choice.
MPOGD: What can you tell us about the end game system of Alganon during
its launch window? Once someone reaches that level cap, what comes next for
them?
The exact details will be announced soon, so I don't know how much I can say
here, except, we are planning our launch to coincide with a game-wide event.
This event will have all players, across all servers and all levels, working
together to fight against a powerful evil and unlock new content and features. A
great deal of the content for this event is for players who are at level cap,
and, once the event is complete, it will open new level-cap content, such as
level-cap versions of our instances.
And this event is just the first of many! We plan to have regular events in
which players of all levels cooperate to open and unlock new content. These
events will become a part of the official lore of the game. Many players will
have the chance to point at content being done by new players and say, "I opened
that for you. I made that possible. Don't believe me? Check the library."
MPOGD: It doesn't sound like PvP is going to be available to
start, but will be coming later. What can you share about the upcoming plans for
PVP, what that entails, and when that might be releasing?
We aren't launching with PvP because we want to do it right, and that takes
time. We want to have a solid PvE experience at the core of Alganon, which
allows for a good PvP experience. One unique thing Alganon will do is allow for
combat-related actions to be balanced separately based on their use in either
PvP or PvE, allowing us to balance and refine without affecting "the other
system".
MPOGD: I've played a number of MMOs that have either been ruined
or are currently being hijacked by gold spammers, making it so it's almost
impossible to chat with fellow gamers without spending the first five minutes in
the game blocking them. What steps are the Alganon team taking in order to
minimize these chat spammers?
The best we can do is watch out for it and use the "report spam" feature (which
we will activate for launch). We will ban the offending accounts as quickly as
possible.
MPOGD: One of the most helpful MMO features I've ever seen comes by way
of The Library. It acts like the fan made resource sites that are known to pop
up around other games, but this one is coming directly from the devs. Could you
please talk a little about The Library and what it's all used for?
Since people go and get information on the game on their own, we figured we'd
just give it to them, straight from the horse's mouth. It is a great example of
one of our core philosophies: Look at what players do and make that more
rewarding. We know players will go and get information on the game. Rather than
fight it, we decided to make it more rewarding. We decided to make it a fun part
of the game. The upcoming Scrying system will allow players to gain recognition
and reward for finding items, creatures, and hidden places in the game. When we
get closer to releasing this feature, we'll provide more information.
MPOGD: I've been playing the game for several days now while it's
in the beta process, and I've noticed there is a lot of interaction in the
game's chat between the developers and actual players, which is something I
don't often see in other games. Will this type of interaction between the
developers and players continue, and if so, how intricate a role will the
community play in the overall shaping of Alganon and its future?
It is one of our top goals. However, it is important to realize that Alganon was
built to grow. While our community will remain active and our developers will
remain a part of that community, once tens or even hundreds of thousands of
people are playing, it will become increasingly difficult to interact as we are
currently. Right now, our developers may be one out of every thousand players.
It will, unfortunately, feel very different when the developers are one out of a
hundred thousand. Players who want this type of interaction should get in to the
game as soon as possible!
A game is only as good as it's community, and we have, in my humble opinion, the
best community in MMOG history. To keep this community active and a part of the
process, we have numerous systems in place that will allow us to run a more
enhanced community than many other MMOGs.
It's also notable that we are already starting to have difficulties pulling our
developers away from playing the game and getting them back to work. The game is
just that fun. We'll be playing Alganon along with you, you can be certain of
that.
MPOGD: There's also going to be a more direct interaction between the
game team and the players by way of the deities feature, which are to be
characters played in-game by members of the team. What can you share about the
deities mechanics in regards to how they'll interact with the players, the
purpose of them, and how they fit into the gameplay of Alganon?
Firstly, you can learn a ton about the different deities on the main website
(http://www.alganon.com/deities-crusades). The Deities will become a bigger part
of the game as time progresses and we begin to implement the technical support
systems for domain control, patronage, and other deity-based systems. The
upcoming Crusades will also focus on large-scale group combat tied to deities
goals. It will be a sight to see a group of a hundred players and Obsidian
Golems invading in the name of Xukiss or calling upon powers granted by Triasha
so they can harvest Spirit Roses from the corpses of their enemies.
MPOGD: When designing Alganon, it seems that it wasn't just created as
a game to play, but rather a whole community that allows people to interact with
other players in a number of ways. Could you please talk to us about MyAlganon,
which in some ways is a social site strictly for players of the game?
MyAlganon serves as the core community component of Alganon. It is as much a
part of the game as the crafting system or the combat system. You cannot play
Alganon without a MyAlganon account. Within MyAlganon, you can look up any
aspect of the game via the Library, Character Browser, and Guild Browser.
MyAlganon members can also join groups, share media, and even set up SMS message
notifications. One example of a future enhancement is Calendar support for guild
events. This will be coming the beginning of next year, along with a number of
other systems tied to the Auction House, Consignment, Mail, and more.
MPOGD: A lot of features were announced for Alganon, but have since
been taken out for this launch window. Why was the decision made to go ahead
with the launch instead of pushing it back until those missing elements could be
included?
Alganon was designed to grow over time. We built a solid foundation that is fun
to play, and then built on top of that. Every aspect of the game, from our
gameplay systems to our lore, is designed to allow us to hook in new features as
they become available. We have had this core foundation in for some time, and we
have added enough of these additional features to feel comfortable letting
subscribers in and start adapting the game to the ways they approach our
content.
It is easy to look at the maps of Ardonya and Harraja and think that the large
expanses yet to be released mean that something is missing, but it's much like
looking at a timeline of World War II and saying a game about D-Day is missing
elements, because it will grow to include the rest of the war later. There is
enough content there for such a small part of the total to still be a complete
experience.
The same is true of our content and features. The launch features are everything
the game needs to be complete, but Alganon is not finished growing. It will
never be finished. Alganon will continue to grow and we will continue to add new
content and features.
MPOGD: There are a lot of MMOs on the market - both pay and free to
play - and there are more coming out all the time. What is it about Alganon that
should have players interested? Why should they be looking to Alganon for their
next MMO fix instead of some other game?
Alganon is fun. If you have ever had an MMOG you loved to play - it doesn't
matter which one - then you will have a great time playing Alganon.
Unlike many "free" games, Alganon will not harass you every few moments telling
you that if you want fun you need to pay more money.
Unlike many subscription games, Alganon is not jealous game. If you have work,
school, or family responsibilities, Alganon will not punish you for choosing
them instead of the game. You can take care of your real life, and when you come
back to Alganon, you will be better off than when you left. Even if you want to
play another game for a while, Alganon will still welcome you back with open
arms. You don't have to quit your current game to enjoy Alganon.
Most importantly, Alganon has a great community. My apologies to our community
who have heard me say this many, many times on our forums and in the beta, but
it true enough to keep repeating. Most games list their features as bullet
points on the back of the box, hoping that players will choose a game based on
who has the most bullet points. I'd love to list Alganon's greatest features on
the back of our box, but I doubt there's enough room for the names of everyone
in our community.
MPOGD: We already know that the team has a lot of content coming down
the pipeline. Once Alganon launches, where does the game go from there and
what/where will the team focus their efforts on most?
We have two years of expansions planned, deities, crusades, PvP, expanded
domains, races, classes, core features, you name it. We have a few traditional
ideas that we know players enjoy, because they enjoy them in other games, and we
have a ton of wild-and-crazy ideas that we can't wait to unleash on the genre.
The great part is people can start playing Alganon sooner, rather than later,
and start building their foundation for a gaming world they will be playing in
for years to come.
Link: http://www.alganon.com/
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