Alganon tries something new for trial accounts
by Krystalle Voecks 
Dec 22nd 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, New titles, News items, Alganon
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!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack said on 10:16PM 12-22-2009
Or in place you just pay the 15 bucks a month for world of warcraft have no one delete your toon and have fun in a great mmo and maybe one of the best on the market right now!
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darkmage_gamenews said on 10:25PM 12-22-2009
....and have everything handed to yourself and become a lazy gamer that infiltrates the other games saying "bawwww... this is too hard :("
Yayyy !
starmonkey said on 10:38PM 12-22-2009
Sounds fairly stupid imo... I think their deletion idea stinks, and will stop me from ever considering a trial.
breezer said on 3:37AM 12-23-2009
I got an email from quest today announcing their new "trail server", proving that even Alganon's trail is fail.
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max said on 12:25AM 12-23-2009
So...really this is just a 30 day version of the 10 day free trial. That's not exactly as innovative as the first paragraph made it sound. Time restricted is time restricted, just call it what it is.
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Dumac said on 3:07AM 12-23-2009
Kind of what i wanted to say. Where in the classic trial you would sign up for another one if you wanted to see more, here you would make a new character. But 30 days is still 30 days, more than pretty much everyone out there offers, and since apparently people are already reaching the level cap less than a month after launch (according to people at mmorpg.com), in 30 days you can really see everything you want and need to see, which cant be really said about the WAR endless trial...
Its a nice idea, in theory at least.
tanek said on 12:43AM 12-23-2009
I'm sure the goal here is that, by the end of 30 days if you have played your character to a high enough level you will feel you have too much of an investment in it to have it deleted. And, to be fair, if you have played the game for 30 days even with the restrictions, it is probably a game you enjoy and one that would be worth your money.
On the other hand, if you play your character, think you might like the game, bt decide not to subscribe right now, when that character is deleted you have that much less of an incentive to come back to the game at a later date.
I'm interested in seeing how this method works out for them.
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Brannagar said on 3:25AM 12-23-2009
They should just bite the bullet and go completely free to play. I have played many so-called "WoW clones" but this one takes it to a whole new definition. When you are literally stealing art assets from another game, you have gone too far.
They could have gone the right way and made a game that resembles WoW in gameplay but has some unique ideas. This is what Allods Online did and it is a much, much better game than Alganon. Allods took the basic "feel" of WoW, added an interesting world with great art direction, a new type of endgame and a fluid combat system. In a years time Alganon will be dead and Allods Online will be trucking along.
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Greeen said on 5:41AM 12-23-2009
I've had a look at their official forums at launch, 4000 registered users. Haven't check since, but that number says something....
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Dread said on 6:58AM 12-23-2009
I think if you actually make it through a full 30 days of this turkey they should give you a Lifetime sub for free....
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The Claw said on 8:40PM 8-14-2010
"That said, there are other drawbacks to dissuade players from doing that.."
For example, the fact that the game is horrible is a strong disincentive for people to abuse this trial and play long-term for free.
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Tom said on 8:41AM 12-23-2009
Hmph. I am still not interested in this game. Trial or no, I just do not see why I would want to Alganon versus something with more polish like WoW or LotRO.
I'd like to see a game where they offered, say, in a level 1-50 game, levels 1 to 5 for free and then have you pay, in increments, a few bucks for each succeeding 5-level range.
That way, you'd basically "pay as you go" and then go only as far as you wanted to. All of this other restriction stuff is just annoying (although I could see some restrictions on chat, etc., for the level 1 to 5 range, in order to prevent gold spamming and the like).
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Aganazer said on 8:53AM 12-23-2009
So a game full of borrowed rehashed game mechanics and *this* is where they choose to break from the norm?
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techm8 said on 10:18AM 12-23-2009
@Brannagar
Stealing art assets? You have no idea what you're talking about. What proof do you have that they are stealing art assets? Just because the art direction is same does not mean they stole anything. Do you really think that any company in their right minds would steal art assets from WoW. Especially a US company which could be sued into oblivion?
Good thing you're anon and can make baseless and braindead claims without any repercussions.
The rest of what you wrote is just rubbish not even worth discussing.
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Jason said on 9:00AM 12-24-2009
I loaded up the trial, played for 5 minutes, and shut it down and uninstalled. The animation is stiff and the UI sucks. Blah!
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