Allods Online Forum

Quoted from "Pathiel"

Hi,

Could someone please explain the difference between the free servers and the subscription servers and why you think one is better than another?

Thanks!

The free server and the subscription differ in the way things are played.
On the free to play server, you will find a population, but a lot of the things that are needed for optimal gameplay are purchasable via cash shop, which can be extremely expensive for some items, such as runes and fifth level of patronage. You can play the game without these things, but that makes the game experience unsatisfying, for you'll be facing people who put more money into the game than you, who win against you solely for that reason. There are benefits though, with the population, you can level via 23-50, and 51-69 astral because there are players doing the content. You can also farm gold for the items though, but that could take a very long time, and requires a lot of commitment.
The subscription has a very very small population, but you can still get the exact same content done as you can on the free to play server. The only difference between players would be gear and ability to perform, we don't have skirmishes popping yet though so there is limited pvp content.
I don't know much about the free to play server because I haven't played there in over a year, but I tried being as unbaised as possible. I prefer the subscription server, because some of the necessities that you need on the free to play server can be earned in game.
For example, Looter pet is given from a quest in Coba Plateau
Racial book is purchased from the world mystery guy for 100k gold.
Mounts drop from Astral and raids
Bags and bank slots are dropped from raids, max slot we have is 54, which is dropped from the Eclipse raid.
Replicators are drops from the endgame dungeon bosses, and purchased from a vendor that sells items using currency from completing harder dungeons, which includes triple replicators as well.
I would suggest playing on the free to play server to get a feel for the game, and then come over to the subscription server if you want. There are a few people, including me, on empire side who are dedicated to assisting other players so they play with us on the server.

New Frontier (free to play) is literally free to play concerning the leveling content. "High" population. It has Item Shop (boutique) where you can spend real money (cash) to buy goods such as mounts, bigger banks and bags, looter pets, boxes to gain patronage five, crystal chips to make runes from level 1 all the way to 13, event sales like strongboxes and a whole lot of other stuff than can speed up your leveling process, gearing process and strength + vanities, mount skins etc. However, most items are very expensive. There's also an Exchange NPC where you can trade in-game gold for Premium Crystals, that you can use in the Item Shop to purchase most goods. The downside is that the exchange rate is ridiculously high = you need billions of gold for enough premium crystals to get everything you need and it will take years to farm them. This server is the best to the players who can regularly invest real money into the game, if you want to be part of the end-game content. Speaking anything between 20€ to 100€ a month, which depends on how much time you put in the playing and farming gold. (More gold = less cash needed). Needless to say that pvp is very unbalanced - strong annihilate the weak.

Equillerium (not sure did I spell it right) is also a free to play server. Not sure about population as the server is new. Has Item Shop but doesn't have Exchange NPC. Here the person using most real money is on the top even more so. Has all sort of welcoming event gifts like temporal high runes etc, which will wear off in a month or so but leaves you with fragments you can buy more and combine them into a permanent real item over time. Was meant to as a fresh start for new players and old returning players who doesn't want to compete with old players that have played the game since 2010. Also here the pvp is very unbalanced - strong annihilate the weak.

Smuggler's Paradise (subscription server) has a monthly fee = you have to pay to start playing. Almost non-existing population = very low. Khaexea above told pretty good about that server. I have never played it myself. But basically you get limited item shop items via different quests and defeating hard raid bosses. Your character has invisible level 5 runes or so, so you are much stronger against basic leveling mobs than you are in free to play servers where you start without runes but will gain level 1 runes free. However, you will never gain more rune-power in this server. So all that matters are gears and skill.

Quoted from "Gwiniel"

Equillerium

I lol'd

Quoted from "othwasp"

Quoted from "Gwiniel"

Equillerium

I lol'd

Quoted from "Gwiniel"

Equillerium (not sure did I spell it right) is also a free to play server.

well quote the whole thing...
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answer for our new player:

Normal Server (Free to play): "New Frontier" - farm or donate to get things from itemshop - you can play for 0$ or donate - whatever you want - donators will progress faster
population is high there

New Server (Pay to win): "Equilibrium" - donate to get things from the temshop - you can play for 0$ but you will never get items from itemshop - donators will get things free players can NEVER get
population seems (very?) low there

Subscription Server (Pay every month to play): "Smugglers Paradise" - donate monthly to play but there are many items missing so its a reduced version of the game
population seems almost nonexistent here according to what players report

i think the normal server is the best because you can decide on your own how much you donate and you have the full game

Quoted from "ALLODS-ONLINE-PLAYER"

well quote the whole thing...

Ohh noo! It's the social justice warrior AOP. Make silly jokes and he's gonna crush you with his justice hammer

did i offend you or hurt your feelings? because calling ma a sjw implies i really have, especially since this thread is NOT about all that PC-bs anyway....



if you make a silly joke you should be able to take it if i mock you for that

you hurt my feelings, babe

Gwiniel covered everything very good I think. This is, simply put, the pros and cons about the servers, in my opinion anyway:

New Frontier
Pros:
+ You can play for free if you want.
+ Has the highest population of all the servers (although it's still not very high).
+ Has an Exchange NPC, so you can convert in-game gold to Cash Shop currency.
+ Easier to find groups for Astral and Raids, and skirmishes (PvP) happens more often because of the higher population.
Cons:
- In order to enjoy end-game content, especially PvP, you will require a certain amount of items from the Cash Shop, because players who own these items will have a significant advantage over players who don't.
- The exchange rate for exchanging in-game gold for Cash Shop currency is ridiculously high, so it would take years to get enough gold for all the items you will need, if you want to play for free. We're talking years of gold farming, a lot of patience and commitment.
- Old players will already have a big advantage over new players, so if you're not spending a lot of real money for the necessary Cash Shop items right away, you will have to endure a long time of being totally crushed in PvP and out-damaged/underdeveloped in PvE.
- Slow road to max level. There's no default exp boost apart from certain exp boost events every once in a while.

Equilibrium
Pros:
+ New server, meaning everyone starts on the same level of development and it will be easier for new players to catch up.
+ New blood = fresh start with new community and a change of atmosphere. Change is good
+ Might bring old players back who are curious to try something new.
+ Free items for leveling up. However most, if not all of them are temporary, but you get fragments from them which adds up to eventually give you the item permanently.
+ Exp rate is permanently increased so leveling is less slow and tedious.
Cons:
- Low population, and it might not get much better because advertising is a weak point on my.com's (publisher) side.
- No information about future plans etc. has been released for the server, so we don't know what the plans are and if it will be any different from the New Frontier server.
- No Exchange NPC. This means the server can safely be defined as even more 'Pay-to-Win' than New Frontier, as the only way to get the necessary Cash Shop items is to buy it for real money.
- No major changes from New Frontier so far, which means it will probably not be very successful.

Smugglers Paradise
Pros:
+ Subscription model. This is the preferred game plan by most people in the MMORPG genre I believe, as it tends to be the least 'Pay-to-Win' and the most balanced option. This is most likely why the most successful games are the ones that have either a subscription model or a "buy once, play for free"-type of game plan.
+ Balanced. Here it's all about the gear and acquired items from Astral and Raids, as well as the skill of the player.
+ Nice and friendly community. They are always proving to be really dedicated to keeping the server alive and helping new players progress.
+ Increased exp rate permanently.
Cons
- Extremely low population. As a result of this, things like skirmishes (PvP) and dominion rarely happens, and a lot of planning is required for different activities.
- Seldom any trial periods for new players to be able to try it out for a week or so, and poor/no advertising, which means population will not grow.
- You will not get the full experience and see the full potential of the game, because of the low population.

Conclusion:
New Frontier - If time and money is an issue, don't play on this server.
Equilibrium - If money is an issue, don't play on this server.
Smuggler's Paradise - If low population is an issue, don't play on this server.

If time, money and low population is all an issue, don't play this game.