Allods Online launches into open beta

You may want to read about the recently added "Fear of Death Mechanic" before starting that download...

If the mechanic causes as many problems as so many expect it will no doubt be deleted, changed/fixed, or completely redesigned... it is still beta afterall.

Whats this about fear of death mechanic talk? ;)

Oh no! The "IT'S BETA" squad has moved from STO to Allods. The quest continues!

Kidding... ;)

I saw "Fear of Death". It sounds exactly like WoW's "Ressurection Sickness".

What's the big problem again?

Fear of Death is a debuff that lowers your stats for 25% for varying times (dependent upon your level) after resurrection. The higher your level, the longer the debuff.
At higher levels this time is about 40-50 minutes.
The debuff also stacks and can only be removed by perfume (Cash Shop item) or by paying large sum of game currency to an NPC near the resurrection point.

The official line is:

"As a subscription-less game, we expect to make money in the cash shop. We also care deeply about the integrity of the game and how specific game mechanics will affect the use of the cash shop. When we decide to introduce a game mechanic like Fear of Death, we don’t expect all of our users to be in agreement, but we do hope that the detractors will stay open-minded, patient, and show some faith with the game design decisions that Astrum Nival makes. It’s important for us to let our players know that Astrum Nival does extensive research and tests when determining how to integrate new game mechanics—especially those which tie directly into the cash shop."

On the Russian server, 'end game' L40's simply aren't around anymore due mainly to how this mechanic affects PVP ('pay to play/win' effectively), let alone the complete absence of content at that level.

It's really sad as there was much hope for the game.

@Amana: Does this count if a player ressurects you? Because with a game that has dungeons, that would be pretty bad indeed.

Amana your post is misleading.
The Perfume applies a buff that lasts 30 minutes and persists through death. Therefore, if you have a perfume you don't need to worry about your death for 30 minutes.

Also, it exists a daily quest that gives you a perfume as quest reward and the Perfume can be put on sale in the Auction House. So you can acquire it with in-game gold.

@Kirin:
No, if you get a res from a Mage or Healer, there's no FoD. So, for dungeon/group runs, it's ok.
The FoD uproar is mainly how it relates to PVP, plus you'll get it if you die soloing in PvE.

@Pedro:
None of my post is misleading. Yes, perfume lasts 30mins - it's extremely annoying and short given the price paid.
Yes, you can buy them on the AH (for exorbitant and outrageous prices) for said 30mins protection.
Yes, you can do the daily, but it's a grind.

The point is, Pedro, whether you or I agree with it or not, it emptied the server of high-level players and halted PvP outright.
Rather than have to bother with the hassle and cost of debuffing FOD, most players just log.
The few that *are* willing to fork out the time, effort, or cash, are also left in a bind because there's basically nobody around to PvP *with*.

In fact I witnessed an incredible incident near the end of the last CB where a player was so desperate for PvP competition he was advertising that he'd *pay* people to come and PvP with him... good lord.

When a mechanic in any game has the result of making the majority of players bypass it or not engage with it (let alone logging out), or when it limits the PvP to '30 min bursts', it can't be good.

I'm still utterly gobsmacked that, after so many other facets of this game being so great, it's a Cash Chop-related mechanic that becomes Allod's Achilles's Heel.

God only knows why Astrum Nival haven't simply made the game a sub model. So many players have made it clear they would rather eliminate the constant (im)balancing and general messiness required with a cash shop and stump up $15/month for a clean and clear game without the crap.

For me, it just meant an uninstall, despite loving the game initially.

Amana, i understand perfectly your PoV. It is much closer to mine than you might think. I am going to give the game a shot and see how much i need to fork over to play this game in a monthly basis.

If the amount of cash i need to spend hovers around the 15$/month this mechanic won't bother me as much. If i need to spend more than that then i'll leave the game.

But i agree with you, this game is a precious gem and this FoD mechanic spoiled it for a lot of people. It had a number of features and mechanics polished well enough that are sorely lacking in most other games as a meaningful crafting system, decent PvP, great chaaracter costumization through talents/rubies/stats and a rather unique selling point: the Astral ship PvP.
I would have also prefered to have paid 15$ flat per month to have access to the game and it is a shame that Astrum Nival doesn't gives that option.

Scroll up =)

Without even playing it, eh? Well, let's just say that Massively has a very nice habit of handing out free keys to certain closed betas.

Maybe I got one and rolled a Kanian Ranger called Wensbane.

Maybe I had to endure that awful arrow enchantment system, until I finally managed to invest some points in Fletching. All the while complaining about such crippling design decisions.

Or maybe, just MAYBE, I didn't even bother with the game AT ALL, and decided to complain about it for no good reason... WHO KNOWS?!

Look, I'll tell you what, here is a link to the official feedback thread about FoD:

http://en.forum.gpotato.eu/?CD=ALLODS_EN_F004&TC=0000000000&MD=VT&US=Y&AS=Y&TNO=50691&LREFF=http://en.forum.gpotato.eu/Index.aspx%3FCD%3DALLODS_EN_F004

If you can find me THREE positive comments somewhere in there - shouldn't be too hard, right? It's up to 6 pages! - I will never mention this issue again. Fair enough?