Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Tired of being a copycat of every other player you see running around in your game of choice? How about being fed up with being expected to use the same play style day after day after eternally dragging day? If you answered yes to either question, then listen up folks because Alganon may be the cure for your gaming woes.

Alganon is a new MMOG being produced by Quest Online, LLC (QOL) and is the brainchild of industry veteran, David Allen, President and Co-Founder of QOL. The game recently went into open beta and players have been flocking onto the servers to see what it’s all about.

In some ways, the game really is your grandfather's MMOG, and for me, that's a good thing. Alganon has the deep lore, history, and character development of what I like to call old school MMOGs, but with the conveniences of the modern world that players have grown accustomed to.

This combination has led to some inevitable comparisons, most notably to World of Warcraft. The interface, movement, camera controls, and specialization system will be very familiar to the swarms of players that have spent any time in the world of Azeroth. Just like WoW, during its development process, Alganon didn't set out to reinvent the wheel when there was no need to do so. This approach was a bit of a double-edged sword.

When you first step foot in the world of Alganon, there’s an initial feeling of familiarity. On one side of the coin, this means the game is instantly accessible. You already know how to move, swivel your camera, and have the very basics of combat under your belt within seconds of entering the game. On the other side of that same coin, there is a sense of "been there, done that" as well.

It won't take long before you’ll see people comparing the game to WoW in the chat channels and complaining that this is yet another clone or that the game sucks. Do yourself a favor, and take a look at their level before you decide to believe their words. Most of them are level 5 or below. The game may feel similar to WoW in the beginning, but it doesn't take a lot of effort to dig below the surface and see how Alganon easily stands on its own merits.

When players first log into the game, they'll choose from two races, four core classes, and five families. The Humans are considered the good guys, while the Talrok are considered evil. Looking at both sides, you could make an argument for either case, but for the sake of simplicity, they each stand on their respective sides of the alignment scale. The four classes to choose from are Soldier, Ranger, Magus, and Healer (more on these later). This brings me to an immediate difference between Alganon and its predecessors - families.