Alganon tries something new for trial accounts

These days, with so many different MMOs on the market, several companies are trying new, varied formats for their trials in an attempt to capture the most players. You really can't blame them for feeling the need to shift from the traditional models. With our busy lives, an old-school 10-day trial may actually only net a few hours of actual uninterrupted time for many casual players -- especially during the busy holiday season! Enter Alganon's new trial format to give players who are curious a chance to try the game for as long as they need to. However, it's not exactly like the other examples currently on the market.

As you probably already know, Champions Online and Warhammer Online (among others) employ level-restricted trials, allowing players unlimited time, but not unlimited access to the world. By contrast, Alganon isn't limiting people on the trial to a specific level. Indeed -- players can level as high up as they can, to the game's current cap. The catch is that at 30 days, your character starts pining for the fjords and is deleted if you don't convert that trial over to a paid account. If you level very fast and don't mind the idea of having to reroll once a month, this could be an interesting way to explore the content in Alganon for some time without paying anything. That said, there are other drawbacks to dissuade players from doing that; limitations on crafting; inability to freely chat; only able to take skills to level 3 among others. Overall we still think this is an interesting new tactic for an MMO trial system.

[Thanks Robert & Jason!]