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What is the point of this game?
That's an honest question. I've dug through the game's official site and read some on this forum and on aionsource. I don't see a clear answer. Much of what I see screams "WoW-clone", which from a business perspective might be it, I guess, but doesn't explain the player-driven hype.
What is there that makes it so that someone who doesn't like WoW could like Aion? Or that gives someone who does like WoW a reason to quit that game for Aion?
The graphics are stunning, of course. While that's not a bad thing, the history of video games is littered with awful games that had graphics that were quite impressive in their time.
Much has been said about flying, but to say that a game involves flying could mean so many different things that it means basically nothing without elaboration. EVE involves flying. Microsoft Flight Simulator involves flying. Super Mario World involves flying. Civilization 2 involves flying. But no two of those mean anything remotely similar by flying.
The PvPvE system could mean a lot of different things, too. As best I can tell, it might mean nothing more than a pve area where you can get attacked by other players. That's hardly an innovation. Is there some stronger reason for NCsoft to coin a new term, apart from hype?
Is there something else I've missed? Other threads to ask about the same question have been shouted down in such an absurd manner that one could easily be left to conclude there isn't a point to the game. It's as if Aion fanboy idiots are trying to outdo Darkfall fanboy idiots; the latter may be completely nuts, too, but can at least point to a number of attempted innovations in Darkfall.
Comments
People who have come to ask these 'questions' have been rude about it and some it was obvious were just asking in a lewd manner to get a reaction. Those who have asked nicely were responded to nicely, but that was months ago so you might not have seen those. Since you are being polite I'll treat you with the same respect.
I think the better question is what's the point of an MMO? And that answer is many, it depends more on the player, some play to socialize, to kill challenging monsters or other players, some do it for competition or the thrill of winning. Some like to explore new worlds, create adventures and let their imaginations fly.
If you are asking if this game will beat out WoW and or if it presumes to, then no it does not. I think as players and developers we have to believe there can be more then one successful MMO. Otherwise why even try? You speak of innovation, truth is a lot of us, and I can for sure say for myself, care little for innovation. We just want a solid new MMO that looks and performs great. For some people that's more then enough.
Why play this game? Because it's a fun pass time. If all that you have read does not spell out future enjoyment for you, then maybe this is not your game. Have fun on your quest to find it.
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The question is not, why play Aion instead of not playing any game at all. The question is, why play Aion instead of playing some other game?
To socialize, to kill monsters, to kill other players, and to explore a world are nice enough as answers to the former question. But if they'd apply equally well to a hundred and some odd other games, many of which are radically different from each other, they're not an answer to the latter question.
The purpose of any MMO put out by any company is to seperate the average subscriber from a bit of thier cash. Wow, Lotro, EQ, Darkfall, Aion, ect. All are the same. To make money off the players.
What's the point?
To put it simply... to have fun. There is no other purpose. Pay your monthly fee, and have fun.
If you need deeper reasons that that with Aion, then you're probably looking at the wrong game. Different mindset regarding endgoals. So, this game is based on fun.
There are some who seek to be the "Hero" doing PvP of their server.. that's mainly the PvP folks and that's fun. There are some who seek just to raid bosses for adventure and loot. That's mainly the PvE folks and that's fun. There are some seeking to fish or craft every item in the game and make tons of gold and that's fun. Each person has a different goal that makes the point of the game different for everyone.
What type of person are YOU? If you can figure that out simply, then you'll find out your point of this game.
Sorry to give you such a "Sesame Street" answer.. but to ask what the point of this game is, is asking what's the point of any game.
The developer wants to make money, so they put as many different points of view of "fun" as they can in a game to maximize their dollar. This is what they did with Aion.
I guess you could go to Aion's home page and try to get their "mission statement" or read it here in the Overview of the game. But that won't be the real reason. It's different for everyone.
"TO MICHAEL!"
What's the point of WoW...I mean it probably has one of the most pointles end games in MMO history, besides games that have none at all.
What I look forward to in Aion mostly is guild oriented PvP objectives. Where PvP is something more than a mini game or arena battle. I want to gather my guild up, move out from a town, attack the enemy for a castle, raid boss or simple mass PvP for fun. Something where a PvP is a real event that your server and community will talk about, not some pointless arena/scenario match.
I look forward to rewards based on open world PvP, hunting down my enemy when they actually really don't want to die, and neither do I. A system where I lose points if I die, and getting rewards will take skill, not just non-stop farming and eventually you will get enough points.
I look forward to PvP(vE) being an integral part of the game, involved in quest comptetion, simple ganking for abyss points, fighting for raid bosses, fighting for castles that are going to give your guild, and yours alone, rewards for ownership rather than PvP being something you sign up for like a carebear at a NPC only when you feel like it...because that kind of PvP simply sucks.
It's the same question is what you're not seeing here.
There no single 'point' to any good MMO. Therefore your original question is moot. Do yourself a favor and try not to look for others to spoon feed you. Whether it's other players or game developers.
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This has been discussed previously in other threads where people asked whats "new" about Aion. I think most of us can agree that there is not much new or unseen in the game.
They are simply offering a new package of mostly popular and tested features, with some new things like for example stigma/combosystem/flying combat. The package is wrapped up in stunning visuals and a new exciting world and lore.
There is no single unique never before seen feature that they can rely on but rather how the different things work together and how well they have polished them.
Cant really tell if they are succeding without having played myself, but judging from how popular it seems to be in korea id say there is reason for some hype. There have been some reports of flawed things and possible gamebreakers however (Hero system
).
I think it appeals to players with different backgrounds. Not just players from WoW and L2. Pretty graphics and the prospect of having wings and being able to fly and actually fight in the air is attractive to most humans. We like pretty things and most of us have a fascination with angels and flying. It has features that many players already know they like, and the game is already released and doing good in other parts of the world. All of that will probably pull in players.
Aion wont pull alot of numbers from WoW I think. I doubt most people who are content with their current game will notice Aion initially. It will attract players who just wants to try something new and people from previous NCsoft titles. Alot will depend on how the quality of it will be when it is launched here. Logically if it gets good reviews and alot of word of mouth it can start to pick off players from other games.
I dont know if I answered your questions, but my opinion is that Aion is neither over- nor under-hyped.
So far, this thread seems to just be attracting the meandering non-answers that I complained of in my initial post. If your entire answer would apply to dozens of other games, then your answer isn't a reason to play Aion rather than some other game.
Am I wrong to assume that people have found some reasons to play Aion rather than other games? Why else would the game be hyped as much as it is? Yet no explanation seems to be forthcoming. Let me try answering the analogous question for some other games.
Let's start with Guild Wars. One major point of Guild Wars is that you get your character as strong as it will ever be pretty quickly, and then do the content. This allows players to be of suitable strength for whatever content they prefer, and makes it easy to group with friends or guildmates without someone being insanely overpowered or underpowered. Another point is that it is heavily instanced, so that people don't steal your kills or otherwise interfere with you. Yet another is the henchmen and heroes that make it easy to get a group, rather than constantly having to fish around for real players. Another innovation is that you only get eight skills active at a time, and have to use several extensively due to cooldowns, but can freely switch which eight you want in any town or outpost.
For another example, let's try Puzzle Pirates. Probably the key point of the game is that levels scarcely matter; instead, you play various puzzles games to perform ship tasks, with your effectiveness determined by how well you do in the puzzle. Another big area of the game is the economy, with everything either spawning at particular rates and auctioned off to players, or produced by players directly from raw materials. The labor system in which everyone has a fixed amount of labor creates a market for players to buy the labor of other players, and for those who would rather not participate to be able to use it as an essentially passive source of income.
Those aren't a complete description of either game, of course. But they both list things that the game has and most other games do not have. Certainly, they're things that some players will enjoy and others will not. But that's precisely the point: players who look at the feature list and say that looks like it would be really fun have found the unique game of that sort.
So what is an analogous description of unusual features of Aion? If one wished to create a features list of a fictional, stereotypical WoW-clone, it would look awfully similar to either the one on the official site, or in the stickied thread on this forum. The only notable exceptions are flying and PvPvE, which as best as I've found, haven't been fleshed out in enough detail to be meaningful.
Is that all there is to Aion? Try to copy WoW as closely as possible with only inconsequential differences? The implied answer to that question is "no", but no one seems to be offering any justification for that.
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stormious' post was added while I typed the above, and is a better attempt at answering the question, so I guess I'll respond to his separately. What makes the stigma system any different from, say, a ring slot that gives you some bonus stats or an extra spell in so many other games?
What difference does flying combat make? Fancier graphics for combat no different from if you were on the ground? The number of enemies at distance d tending to O(d^2) rather than O(d) for moderate sized d? Awkward camera angles that make it hard to see what's going on (which seemed to be the original justification for games going to 3D many years ago)? Reinforcements to a battle arriving faster because they can fly, or perhaps slower because they have to change three coordinates rather than two?
The combo system could perhaps qualify as unusual, but what prevents that from degenerating into skill 1 -> skill 2 -> skill 3 and repeat, instead of just skill 1 three times?
Everytime you post, you answer your own stupid question. And, yes, it is stupid -- people play any game for any reason/purpose they want, so there is no single answer. You need to get over yourself like your post is something meaningful, because it's not and it is not even logical.
Wow, 2 very vague examples, and I can guarantee less than a substantial amount of GW players are playing because they can get their chars up high very quickly...you are ridiculous.
And I fail to see how Aion is so similar WoW. What is WoW? Basically for the majority of its players, it's end game heroic/raid farming, or end game arena/BG farming, there's nothing similar in Aion....Well Aion may have PvP farming, but it's not in arenas or scenarios, its open world, which is a significant difference for me.
I already gave you my examples...I want the open world PvP, and guild objective PvP...for the Millions of Lineage 2 players who play L2 because of its PvP style (similar to Aion, except not RvR), that is a significant difference.
Play it and it just might answer the questions you seek for you.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Stigma: Well, it is basically not different at all from a ring with a spell on it. They have just made their own thing out of it, so that it fits their game and style. It just functions as a way to specialise your character, adding spells that may be useful to you. Increased customisation not unlike using talents.
Flying: Its supposed to be used as a tactical element in combat. You cant fly forever and you need to use it wisely. Supposedly there will be spells you can only use in flight and such. For transportation you can glide around for faster travel. There will probably be special PvE and PvP encounters in the air.
"The number of enemies at distance d tending to O(d^2) rather than O(d) for moderate sized d?" Didnt understand that
Nothing awkward about camera angles while flying, just harder to find whoever is attacking you probably
. We will know what difference flying really does when we get to test it. So far ive been hearing mixed opinions from people in Korean retail. Some say its nice, others think flying is either too restricted and want more airtime or think its too difficult to fight in the air, plus balance issues that will no doubt be fixed.
Combosystem: Nothing is really preventing you from spamming a combo that ive been able to see. You can spam the same spell over and over even, however you are probably better of using varying combos same as you are better of using multiple skills in any other game (Putting up DoTs, debuffing, ccing.)
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Basically its like I told you. Nothing is groundbreaking about the game. The new things they have are mostly their own version of things that already exist, and stuff borrowed and edited to fit the game (and hopefully polished and made better).
I dont know what you are grasping at, or if you are simply trying to find a reason for testing/not testing the game. If you like the concept, features and style, and you are in the mood to try something new then there is no reason not to test.
The game does not really appeal to me either...its my choice. I don't like how they structured their pvp...it rewards ppl who have more time on their hands.....yea I know a win/loss ratio is part of the equation but that still favors one with more time.
I like the graphics though!
no one is forcing it on you, If you don't like the style then by all means don't play it. Move on and find a game you do like.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Have you accessed to all of a game's content playing less than the rest? There are elite guilds in every single game and if one thing defines them, that's time, looooots of time.
While I do agree that the abyss ranks aren't completely casual friendly, there are many things to do out of the abyss, and, you don't have to be the hero in order to fight on a fortress, you might be just a pawn, support a friendly hero, and still have your fun.
What is the point in Aion? I'll answer your question right now. First of all, WoW is getting old, boring, and quite frankly playing a game for now 6 years with the same boring community sux.
Aion is quite different. It brings the fast paced combat with extreme end game competition. You're competiting at the Tower of Abyss to be the best, large scale battles. Something new, something fun.
And there's the storyline, take it that NCSoft releases expansions every single year.
So, that's the point in Aion, to get the updates, compete for PvP etc.
deleted.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Ok, shorter answer.
The point as it relates to your question above is:
Play Aion because you haven't played it yet, and you've played most of the others. So you can see for yourself if it's any good rather than asking complete strangers who haven't played it either "What's is the point of this game?"
You seem to want convincing so you can feel good about making a pre-order. Sorry, I don't actually WORK for NCsoft. I just play games. You should probably write them and ask "What's the point of this game?"
Then you type this:
Where you list.. um.. let's see. 3 points and 1 innovation. If I asked you "What's the POINT of Guild Wars and you give me all this.. I'd say your answer was quite meandering as well probably. As you are not answering what the "point" of Guild Wars is, but giving many different points and an innovation. Why the heck are you giving me an innovation anyways? What's the point of that?
"TO MICHAEL!"
Look at the gameplay videos. Super cool looking skills and characters.
This game will be a blast.
which begs the question why haven't you played AoC, since AoC offers similar things: BKs intead of castles, the ability to prevent other players from progressing past you, keeping people out of raid instances, forming up for WAR, mini games (not a focus), and complete open world PvP.
To the OP: I think all the fans, and fanboys (the people who said get over yourself, ect ) answered the question for you. There isn't anything really unique about this game just like there isn't anything unique in most games that are produced by major companies ATM. The only game that's tried anything innovative for awhile has been AoC with the combat system, but even that can be seen as the same thing in a different package. When I first looked at this game I got the same impression you got, read these forums forums for verification, and asked some question and I got "We know there isn't anything truly unique in this game and we are fine with that" response. One thing you have to understand about MMORPG community in general is that we tend to prefer games that are WoW/EQ clones, as long as the story line and endgame is a little different.
The only thing that seems to unique is advance PvE AI system which makes the classic Tank and Spank methon unuseable and tries to bring the game closer to how real people would fight. Oh, and supposedly PvP and PvE changes the way the world interacts in an RvR style setting similar to WAR, but with a more of a PvE focus.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Just curious, but when did gamers all of a sudden turn into this big "Chardonnay" crowd? As if we are smelling games like fine wines or something? There's all this lofty talk of people liking "simple" games for the "simple" masses, as if there's something wrong with simple fun. The reason people liked EQ and Wow was they were simple fun, that's it. Easy to play and reliable like an old shoe. These Chardonnay sippers keep saying they want to be challenged, but they have no idea how to actually make any of these games, they just walk around with all these ideas in their heads about them. Someone makes a complex game, it sucks cause it's too buggy. Someone makes a simple game, it sucks cause its too easy.
Why does every single game have to have "innovative" features? If it's just as fun as the last one, why does it have to be completely and totally different so someone can't yell "Clone!"? Why does each game have to top the last MMO you just played, instead of being an equal kind of fun? What is wrong with just seeing a game and playing it, liking it, and not trying to put in a Master's thesis why it's so fantastic or so horrible?
Like the OP.. he seems to want some investigative, well researched, in-depth probing analysis of a game that probably less than 10 people who write on this forum has even PLAYED yet. So all he's getting is speculation from people who have read other threads, with one or two actual players responding to him. When presented with simple reasons why someone says "I'll like this because", those answers are too shallow to satiate his curiousity. He's really saying "Yeah, but why should I play it? Prove to me why I should like it". As if people here actually know what he personally likes or dislikes. Lol, I swear... he reminds me of a guy who walks into a restaurant or barber shop, sits down in a chair and says, "I dunno.. just SURPRISE me."
So, he'll read through 100s of posts before the game is actually released anywhere near him months from now and he'll probably buy it anyways... because nothing else new will be out in MMOland and he'll be tired of the same old games. He'll probably like it a lot too, but will be too snobby to say so cause it's too much like "Wow".
I can just imagine some people playing MMOs with their pinkies out.. oy.
"TO MICHAEL!"
which begs the question why haven't you played AoC, since AoC offers similar things: BKs intead of castles, the ability to prevent other players from progressing past you, keeping people out of raid instances, forming up for WAR, mini games (not a focus), and complete open world PvP.
Maybe its because AOC is not a very good game.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
He just wants us to do his research for him and not have to lift a finger. OP, No the official site doesn't have much info, but do go look at their fan site program listing and go from there, like we all did.
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Because AoC is complete trash?...
Half of its epic PvP promises were never delivered, it takes a week to level up, worst balancing issues ever...classes with 1 shot skills on a 2 sec cd, the necro can spam life leech dots and solo a whole party, the combat system is nothing more than button mashing as an arrow appears on your screen, and adds no real strategy or uniqueness...you end up just hitting a button that coincides with what comes up on your screen, and it just becomes an annoying way of attacking....etc
Just curious, but when did gamers all of a sudden turn into this big "Chardonnay" crowd? As if we are smelling games like fine wines or something? There's all this lofty talk of people liking "simple" games for the "simple" masses, as if there's something wrong with simple fun. The reason people liked EQ and Wow was they were simple fun, that's it. Easy to play and reliable like an old shoe. These Chardonnay sippers keep saying they want to be challenged, but they have no idea how to actually make any of these games, they just walk around with all these ideas in their heads about them. Someone makes a complex game, it sucks cause it's too buggy. Someone makes a simple game, it sucks cause its too easy.
Why does every single game have to have "innovative" features? If it's just as fun as the last one, why does it have to be completely and totally different so someone can't yell "Clone!"? Why does each game have to top the last MMO you just played, instead of being an equal kind of fun? What is wrong with just seeing a game and playing it, liking it, and not trying to put in a Master's thesis why it's so fantastic or so horrible?
Like the OP.. he seems to want some investigative, well researched, in-depth probing analysis of a game that probably less than 10 people who write on this forum has even PLAYED yet. So all he's getting is speculation from people who have read other threads, with one or two actual players responding to him. When presented with simple reasons why someone says "I'll like this because", those answers are too shallow to satiate his curiousity. He's really saying "Yeah, but why should I play it? Prove to me why I should like it". As if people here actually know what he personally likes or dislikes. Lol, I swear... he reminds me of a guy who walks into a restaurant or barber shop, sits down in a chair and says, "I dunno.. just SURPRISE me."
So, he'll read through 100s of posts before the game is actually released anywhere near him months from now and he'll probably buy it anyways... because nothing else new will be out in MMOland and he'll be tired of the same old games. He'll probably like it a lot too, but will be too snobby to say so cause it's too much like "Wow".
I can just imagine some people playing MMOs with their pinkies out.. oy.
Sorry, but 09 will be a good year for people looking for something different, and offers some new things. AION still isn't different enough. MO, DF, JGE, KOTRO, Agency, ect are going to make head way in the industry.
AoC was released unblanced and buggy, now that release issues are done its nearly balanced and not buggy. I bet Aion is having the same balancing issues, but the bugs may not be there due to how huge the beta was, which I give props to NCSoft for doing correctly. Good thing the NA release will be all cleaned up and we won't have to deal with the balance issues that the koreans are probably screaming over right now.
P.S. the ones who talk the most crap about AoC combat system tend to be the players who are the worst at it.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher