…what a ship is, what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom…
Allods Online is a polished, well crafted MMO. I dearly wish it would have taken a page from Puzzle Pirates, though.
One of the key points that differentiates Allods Online from most modern MMOs is the Astral and Astral Ships. Players build ships that they can sail the Astral with, flitting between Allods (landmasses in the Astral aether), exploring PvE and PvP content. The core mechanics of cooperative PvE and “open sea” PvP (making piracy viable, since players have to “port” with their treasure chests before laying proper claim to them) are very similar to Puzzle Pirates. I’d say they make a lot of sense in any game where you have ships and islands or rough analogies. EVE also comes to mind, though I’m not sure how well the concepts track there.
The part that I wish Allods Online would take from Puzzle Pirates is the wide range of ships, all the way from soloable Sloops (with NPC assistants) to Grand Frigates that can have 150 or more players aboard. (Multiship PvP is also great in PP, with each “weight class” of ship having a use, given maneuverability, crew and firepower.) Sloops are cheap enough for players to acquire one pretty quickly (depending on player skill and crew support), and players can be out sailing the ocean on their own ship far before what might be considered the “endgame”, easily within a couple of weeks for all but the most casual and incompetent of players. There is a ship for nearly any group size, and a couple that fill similar niches, changing the combat tactics rather than the group size.
There are other things about PP that would make Allods Online more interesting, like the ability for crew conglomerates (flags) to own islands, the ability to make a living as a merchant (shipping, buying and selling goods between islands), the Black Ship to prevent ganking, and the dual currency system with blind auction currency exchange, but what really stands out to me is the ships.
I want my own ship in Allods Online, and I want to be able to solo it, and to take it out with a few close friends if I so choose. It’s no accident that I’ve grouped more in PP than any other MMO combined. It’s easy to do, it’s easy to solo, and it’s easy to transition between the two via NPC swabbies, even midsession. The bad guys are controlled by a dynamic spawn system that adjusts the PvE to your current ship’s staffing. It’s painless and fun to be up and running, playing the shipboard games, solo or with others, very quickly, and changes midstride don’t wreck the whole journey.
Beyond game mechanics, though, there is a personal connection that you can have with ships. I have a handful of ships in PP, and my most cherished game possessions are on one particular ship that cannot be sunk (you can sink ships, but only in arenas where you have to click through a confirmation to get to), decorated with the finest stuff that I’ve found in the game. I’ve renamed the ship, painted it, and stocked it with trinkets and doodads that are irreplaceable. It’s like private housing and a gameplay vehicle all in one, and I’m inordinately fond of it. It is my home in Puzzle Pirates, more than a crew, more than an island, more than a server.
I want that connection to the Allods Online game world, a beautiful, imaginative place that I want to explore in glorious 3D.
That the current proposed implementation of ships in AO is based in the endgame and forced grouping (ships require a handful of players to function) makes me sad. I still heartily recommend the game for its varied classes, great art direction, interesting lore, great business model, good combat and overall polish. Apparently, you can customize your own ship in AO, a decision I do applaud and consider wise. I don’t dislike the game at all.
I just wish that I could find the same connection with it that I have with PP, a connection firmly rooted in the freedom to own and sail my own ship, whenever I please, with whomever I please, even if it’s just barely-competent NPCs. Allods Online looks to be shaping up to be a good or even great game. It just can’t be my home the same way Puzzle Pirates is.
Tish Tosh Tesh 
Allods is on floaty islands in nothingness? I’ll be giving it a miss then. 😦 I tell ya, devs know I’m scared of heights and they are ALL in on the conspiracy! 😉
Aye, looking off the edge of an Allod is a heady thing. It’s a fun idea that allows for some unique art direction, but yes, I suspect it would be a killer for someone afraid of heights. 😦
You could always just avoid the edges. 😉 …and never get on a ship… and never go to the beaches… hmm… blasted conspiracy.
Yup, and how to keep a huge ship working if you need a huge crew to use it properly? Is it not almost mandatory that NPC crewmates help out if say 5 of 25 are missing for example?
Anyways, I left the “Bounty” behind. There is no freedom on this ship, the captain just stinks! I feel much more welcome on Captain Larsen’s “Ghost”. Everyone here seems to have a lot of respect for the Captain, as they told me he is very special.
Just watch out for his blind spots…
I just got into the Allods Beta. The client download and installation was done faster than I expected, it is already installed and ready to play. I will create a char soon, can’t play at the moment, but maybe we will meet ingame.
Worth a shot. 😉 It might be a good way to see what sort of player search and grouping tools they have. I’m Blookerch on the Empire side, Silvernose on the League side. I’m still close to the newbie areas, too, so it shouldn’t be too hard to meet up.
Look for “Brunhild” on the League Side.
I like what you’ve described from PP. I wish this was the AO implementation. The PVE has been fun. But I’m not sure it’s enough to keep me leveling to Max w/o astral ships and combat. O’Neil not sure why they wouldn’t have considered the opportunity to attract and hold more players with solo or duo ship sailing and combat.
Saylah, thanks for stopping by! I’m not sure why they didn’t think of it either. Perhaps they *did*, and it’s in the pipe for the future. I seem to remember reading where the ships were a fairly late addition to the game. I think ships are the heart of what might make AO a great game, so I really hope they do more with them.
So… I console myself with the idea that they may yet pull out all the stops and make ships better and take some cues from PP. I can say unequivocally that it would make the game more attractive to me, sufficient that I’d spend money on it. Great solo and duo mechanics and content are important in my book. Land based PvE is good, but not enough when I can pop over to RoM, WAR or even another ten day stint in low level WoW.
I haven’t heard one way or the other exactly how a player owned ship will function in AO. The main thing I’ve gathered about personal astral ships is that they require at least a few people to operate and that they will take some time and gold invested to earn. I would hope they function like you describe PP ships functioning (it really makes the most sense in a game which focuses so much on the astral and traveling through it). This type of functionality may be implemented in the future as you said, we will have to wait and see. Astral combat is a huge draw for me to AO, but it isn’t make or break. From what I’ve seen in closed beta I’ll be playing Allods for a good long while come launch. This is an article explaining a little about astral ships, it sounds promising from the article.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/414/feature/3807/Allods-Online-Introductory-Interview.html
Hi Tesh,
You seem to have the apparenlty same rarely desired quality in a mmorpg as I have – the desire to follow your own will.
Everyone elese seems to want to give up their own will and follow a group will, unable to do anything unless the group wants to. And people, individually, dig this. It’s like wanting to be an extension of some sort of zeightguist.
Maybe the contemporary Zeitgeist is the Zerggeist, Callan.
I’ll be overly serious and say I don’t know that word. But moving away from serious, if it’s a starcraft reference/wordplay, hehe, nice one! 🙂
Aye, it’s a StarCraft bit of wordplay. A nice one, at that. 🙂
I don’t want to be a Zerg!
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