To recollect everything of importance:
- With 10.0., it is currently planned that Allods will get a soft reboot. There will be
a new Allods Online, but it will kind of "co-exist" with the current Allods.
- Classic characters can play this new version of Allods by using some sort of "time portal" and travelling 150 years into the future.
- The game will utilize a new client, despite this connection between classic and new.
- There will be only four classes to start with: Warrior, Ranger, Mage, and a new Warlock/Summoner class.
- Apparently, there will be only three races to start with. (Humans, Elves, Orcs)
- You will likely have to switch race and/or class to fit this when travelling through the time portal.
- There will be a new levelling system, related to the current spark levels, so if you transfer over, your normal level has no/little meaning.
- There will be no more holy magic. Only the summoner class can resurrect you if you die in combat. This likely means all of the following will vanish:
Patronage (including Patronage skills), Purgatory/Myrrh, and Runes. There will be
no more priests or paladins.
- Instead, you have to rely on a belt that can carry healing potions. Better belts can hold more/larger potions, and not only for healing.
- There will be a new, skill-based combat system. You can now dodge out of the way, or actively block damage with weapons and skills.
- There will be no more tab-targeting, or it won't matter as much as in the current game.
- The gear system will change, certain types of gear will now have certain passives that influence gameplay. (e.g. earrings --> magic dmg resistance)
- There will be a massive new zone, the starting point of the new story. It will hold
Vyshegrad (?), a capital for humans, elves and orcs, and LOTS of explorable area outside the city walls. There also is a system of hidden catacombs beneath the island, which will probably be part of the new "endgame".
- The zone will not feel like a classic Allods zone, it's instead somewhat similar to Guild Wars 2 zones. There is lots of exploration, and a dynamic event system. You can choose to participate and get rewards based on participation. You do not have to group up to get those rewards.
- There will be updated graphics for the reboot, likely in the same graphic style, but more crisp, defined and shiny than what we currently have.
Overall, this sounds like Allods Team is trying to brave the modern market by changing AO to something that is more in line with
Guild Wars 2 and
The Elder Scrolls Online, while retaining the same world, continuity, style, and atmosphere.
It is not currently known what sort of updates classic Allods will receive, but the project manager stated that they won't abandon it for the sake of the new version.
Additionally, some LORE to explain what happens to Sarnaut between now and the future version:
- The factions kind of "fall apart". Elves refuse to join in any more military efforts, Gibberlings choose to leave peacefully in their thawing homelands. On the Empire side, an ancient Orc leader returns and leads the clans into independence, much to the dismay of the Empire.
- Thus, the age-old war between League and Empire ultimately ends after a series of ceasefires inspired by those events.
- A ship expedition is organized to explore what lies outside Sarnaut and the Astral space. Soon contact with the crew is lost.
- The ship returns, carrying a hidden seed of destruction. It crashes over Dane(?) and releases a Great Darkness that slowly envelops the Allods and devours the Astral space. The Great Mages manage to delay this, but only for a time.
- The player character canonically vanishes from Sarnaut after trying to investigate Dane. The Great Mages start to vanish as well.
- It turns out that the Darkness is of Nihaz' making. It is his long-prepared revenge on the inhabitants of Sarnaut.
- A new war begins between creatures of the Great Darkness and the residents of Sarnaut. At the peak of the war, all Sarnautians lose their gift of immortality. Death is now final.
- The result is a devastating decimation of the populace. Panic ensues, plans are made to escape the Great Darkness. The remaining Great Mages Nayan, Smeyana (Catherina), and Nefer Ur oversee the construction of massive arks while the Darkness expands.
- The arks travel through the Astral space on the desperate search for sanctuary.
- They find it, a massive, lush Allod at the very edge of the world, and found a new capital there, Vyshegrad (?).
- 7 years later, the story of the "new Allods" begins. It is 150 years in the future of current Allods.
Addendum: A final battle takes place on Kvatokh, the main continent of the League (where Novograd currently lies). In a desperate feat, the Orc leader manages to plunge the entire Allod into a time loop. Astral and the Great Darkness cannot claim Kvatokh now.
It is currently unclear to me whether Kvatoch IS the sanctuary Allod or not. Maybe someone else can clear that up. They look kind of similar.
MY THOUGHTS:
It all sounds very interesting. I know that many will not like these changes, but I do not think they are a bad idea. They are actually quite obvious if you take a look at the market and recognize what makes a "modern MMO". GW2 and ESO are two very popular games with a massive playerbase, and learning from them is objectively not that stupid. It also sounds like the new Allods will be a lot more skill-based, which implies less P2W. The articles explicitly mentions that there will be no more massive damage gap between a noob and a fully geared player.
It comes down to marketing, though. If no one realizes the reboot is there, no one will come and try it.
What are your thoughts?
Also, please correct me if I got something wrong! Here is also a teaser for the update.
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