Aion appears to be very linear with no diversity to the leveling process.
Aion's approach, in regards to class depth, seems to be shallow and simplistic.
This is not a flame of NCsoft or Aion, as I intend to play when released. Aion is my new hope for great PvP.
But, as a long term MMO player, is there any validity to my perception?
For the sake of brevity I figured I would chime in on your points.
I agree Aion is a linear game. With that said... How many mmos aren't linear in some form or fashion?
I agree with your initial assesment on the classes, I was surprised to find that regardless of your side that each side had essentially the same choices. I guess since you can't read the devs mind as to why they opted for this I thought about the PVP aspect and balance. If you are all playing similar classes it will help maintain a flow of a battlefield and possibly avoid a "class" warfare... How many pvp battlefields are dominated by a specific class that tends to crush the opposition? I'm witholding further judgement to we will see how it works out with later developments through the levels, it could actually prove to be interesting.
As a fellow long term MMO player I can say that I shared many of your initial observations. However, I think there is definite potential with the game as dispite it's simplistic appearance I think it's potential is good. I was impressed with the smoothness of the first beta weekend and having been in several "beta" phases it was the best experience I've had to date. I certainly look forward to exploring this game through further beta weekends and expect to be playing it upon release.
The people stating Aion is F2P quality is hilarious, considering the releases of war and AoC, filled with glitches, bugs, annoyances, lack of content, lack of endgame, lack of advertised features, etc.
Ephimero, You seem to be a person with good knowledge about AION and I usually respect that from you. However, I don't think you are being fair here.
AION was released with just as much missing contents as the other games. At release, above level 30, quests are just simply missing. Per level, you can only have roughly 20% exp from quest at 30ish to 10% exp or less from quest 40ish. You have to grind the rest out.
They simply couldn't balance the stigma system so they dumped it down to what you have now which is pitifully shalow compare to what they used to have in beta.
There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well. PvE contents are just missing. One instance for mid level and a couple more for end-game. PvP end game wasn't really balance well resulting in a lot of ping-pong neft bat swingings. PvP rewards also did not get balance well resulting people trading kills to farm Abyss point to get PvP gears. Defending fortresses are completely meaningless...
That sort of stuffs and they were going on for months before they got fixed and more contents wasn't added until like 5 months after release.
The people stating Aion is F2P quality is hilarious, considering the releases of war and AoC, filled with glitches, bugs, annoyances, lack of content, lack of endgame, lack of advertised features, etc.
Ephimero, You seem to be a person with good knowledge about AION and I usually respect that from you. However, I don't think you are being fair here.
AION was released with just as much missing contents as the other games. At release, above level 30, quests are just simply missing. Per level, you can only have roughly 20% exp from quest at 30ish to 10% exp or less from quest 40ish. You have to grind the rest out.
They simply couldn't balance the stigma system so they dumped it down to what you have now which is pitifully shalow compare to what they used to have in beta.
There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well. PvE contents are just missing. One instance for mid level and a couple more for end-game. PvP end game wasn't really balance well resulting in a lot of ping-pong neft bat swingings. PvP rewards also did not get balance well resulting people trading kills to farm Abyss point to get PvP gears. Defending fortresses are completely meaningless...
That sort of stuffs and they were going on for months before they got fixed and more contents wasn't added until like 5 months after release.
I think you're the one being unfair here, comparing the release of Aion with AoC for instance.
-Just as much missing content?
This was only the tip of the iceburg as far as AoC was concerned. Along with missing content, you could actually count the number of quests that worked after level 40 on your hands, not to mention the terrible mob pathing, ridiculous crafting system, worse performance ever client wise, extremely bad optimization for most PCs, lag spikes, severely lacking itemization, useless skills that don't work, clunky UI, lack of a pvp system, keeps/siege warfare that doesn't work, raids that don't work, coupled with content that was promised and wasn't delivered at launch by FC. AoC was a trainwreck, and that's the reason it lost more than 70% of it's initial subs in a couple of months, as the patches were appalling and broke even more of the game instead of improving it.
-There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well
A lot? hardly. Again you're being extremely harsh on the game. I'm interested in knowing what sort of bugs and glitches you mean, as I've hardly seen any, and NONE that are game breaking. It has some then? Big deal!
I only know of ONE exploit, the one you mentioned, which has already been fixed, care to inform me about the other 'lots' of exploits?
You label him as being unfair, and straight after it you compare one of the worst launches in MMO history, to one of the best. Talk about being a hypocrite.
Originally posted by Electriceye I think you're the one being unfair here, comparing the release of Aion with AoC for instance. -Just as much missing content? This was only the tip of the iceburg as far as AoC was concerned. Along with missing content, you could actually count the number of quests that worked after level 40 on your hands, not to mention the terrible mob pathing, ridiculous crafting system, worse performance ever client wise, extremely bad optimization for most PCs, lag spikes, severely lacking itemization, useless skills that don't work, clunky UI, lack of a pvp system, keeps/siege warfare that doesn't work, raids that don't work, coupled with content that was promised and wasn't delivered at launch by FC. AoC was a trainwreck, and that's the reason it lost more than 70% of it's initial subs in a couple of months, as the patches were appalling and broke even more of the game instead of improving it. -There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well A lot? hardly. Again you're being extremely harsh on the game. I'm interested in knowing what sort of bugs and glitches you mean, as I've hardly seen any, and NONE that are game breaking. It has some then? Big deal! I only know of ONE exploit, the one you mentioned, which has already been fixed, care to inform me about the other 'lots' of exploits?
You label him as being unfair, and straight after it you compare one of the worst launches in MMO history, to one of the best. Talk about being a hypocrite.
I am not trying to compare the launch of the 2 games. I am just pointing out that AION at release did have a load of issues as well and missing contents IS one of them. It is being address by NCSoft at the moment, but at release, AION did miss a lot of contents. Acknowledge it.
No, I don't think AION is F2P quality. But it's not the best thing since slice bread either. Know the game for both its good and bad. Otherwise, you just a blind fanboi who zealously defend anything about AION.
As for exploit, just because YOU don't know does not make it so. There are many safe spots, especially in instance where you can just stand there and kill without ever being hit (only certain classes, but yah). Then there are the one allow you to level to max in an incredibly short time... You could argue that those kind of things happen in every game but the point is AION has them too. So, don't make it sounds like AION is the god send kind of game without any serious bugs, gliches because unfortunately, it does have them.
Originally posted by Electriceye I think you're the one being unfair here, comparing the release of Aion with AoC for instance. -Just as much missing content? This was only the tip of the iceburg as far as AoC was concerned. Along with missing content, you could actually count the number of quests that worked after level 40 on your hands, not to mention the terrible mob pathing, ridiculous crafting system, worse performance ever client wise, extremely bad optimization for most PCs, lag spikes, severely lacking itemization, useless skills that don't work, clunky UI, lack of a pvp system, keeps/siege warfare that doesn't work, raids that don't work, coupled with content that was promised and wasn't delivered at launch by FC. AoC was a trainwreck, and that's the reason it lost more than 70% of it's initial subs in a couple of months, as the patches were appalling and broke even more of the game instead of improving it. -There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well A lot? hardly. Again you're being extremely harsh on the game. I'm interested in knowing what sort of bugs and glitches you mean, as I've hardly seen any, and NONE that are game breaking. It has some then? Big deal! I only know of ONE exploit, the one you mentioned, which has already been fixed, care to inform me about the other 'lots' of exploits?
You label him as being unfair, and straight after it you compare one of the worst launches in MMO history, to one of the best. Talk about being a hypocrite.
I am not trying to compare the launch of the 2 games. I am just pointing out that AION at release did have a load of issues as well and missing contents IS one of them. It is being address by NCSoft at the moment, but at release, AION did miss a lot of contents. Acknowledge it.
No, I don't think AION is F2P quality. But it's not the best thing since slice bread either. Know the game for both its good and bad. Otherwise, you just a blind fanboi who zealously defend anything about AION.
As for exploit, just because YOU don't know does not make it so. There are many safe spots, especially in instance where you can just stand there and kill without ever being hit (only certain classes, but yah). Then there are the one allow you to level to max in an incredibly short time... You could argue that those kind of things happen in every game but the point is AION has them too. So, don't make it sounds like AION is the god send kind of game without any serious bugs, gliches because unfortunately, it does have them.
Where in my post did I say that it DOESN't have any issues? I asked a serious question about the glitches/bugs, it wasn't sarcasm. I never said it was perfect and that it was the god send of mmos, neither that it's the best thing since sliced bread, don't say extreme things like that lol. I might not even buy the game once it releases here.
Fact remains that, at launch, it was NOWHERE near as incomplete, unpolished, buggy, glitchy as other games, especially AoC. It has it's fair share of problems, nowhere near as much as you're making it out to be, and they're getting fixed really fast. If a lot of the stuff was game breaking, then subs WILL suffer, a game is a game, doesn't matter whether it's in an Eastern market or a western one. Only the mob grinding point of view differs. If Aion had anything like the AoC launch, it would have suffered immensly, and not steadily growing, even 7 months after it's launch.
The guy above you was refuting the 'F2P' tag. I agree with him that it's laughable considering AoC and other games such as VG launched not so long ago and where reaally poor, not even worthy of the 'F2P' tag.
Westerners are getting an updated version, 1.2 most likely, so all the talk about Aion's launch is irrelevant. In the west at least, it's going to have most probably the most polished launch of an MMO ever. That's what you need to worry about.
Comments
For the sake of brevity I figured I would chime in on your points.
I agree Aion is a linear game. With that said... How many mmos aren't linear in some form or fashion?
I agree with your initial assesment on the classes, I was surprised to find that regardless of your side that each side had essentially the same choices. I guess since you can't read the devs mind as to why they opted for this I thought about the PVP aspect and balance. If you are all playing similar classes it will help maintain a flow of a battlefield and possibly avoid a "class" warfare... How many pvp battlefields are dominated by a specific class that tends to crush the opposition? I'm witholding further judgement to we will see how it works out with later developments through the levels, it could actually prove to be interesting.
As a fellow long term MMO player I can say that I shared many of your initial observations. However, I think there is definite potential with the game as dispite it's simplistic appearance I think it's potential is good. I was impressed with the smoothness of the first beta weekend and having been in several "beta" phases it was the best experience I've had to date. I certainly look forward to exploring this game through further beta weekends and expect to be playing it upon release.
Ephimero, You seem to be a person with good knowledge about AION and I usually respect that from you. However, I don't think you are being fair here.
AION was released with just as much missing contents as the other games. At release, above level 30, quests are just simply missing. Per level, you can only have roughly 20% exp from quest at 30ish to 10% exp or less from quest 40ish. You have to grind the rest out.
They simply couldn't balance the stigma system so they dumped it down to what you have now which is pitifully shalow compare to what they used to have in beta.
There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well. PvE contents are just missing. One instance for mid level and a couple more for end-game. PvP end game wasn't really balance well resulting in a lot of ping-pong neft bat swingings. PvP rewards also did not get balance well resulting people trading kills to farm Abyss point to get PvP gears. Defending fortresses are completely meaningless...
That sort of stuffs and they were going on for months before they got fixed and more contents wasn't added until like 5 months after release.
Ephimero, You seem to be a person with good knowledge about AION and I usually respect that from you. However, I don't think you are being fair here.
AION was released with just as much missing contents as the other games. At release, above level 30, quests are just simply missing. Per level, you can only have roughly 20% exp from quest at 30ish to 10% exp or less from quest 40ish. You have to grind the rest out.
They simply couldn't balance the stigma system so they dumped it down to what you have now which is pitifully shalow compare to what they used to have in beta.
There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well. PvE contents are just missing. One instance for mid level and a couple more for end-game. PvP end game wasn't really balance well resulting in a lot of ping-pong neft bat swingings. PvP rewards also did not get balance well resulting people trading kills to farm Abyss point to get PvP gears. Defending fortresses are completely meaningless...
That sort of stuffs and they were going on for months before they got fixed and more contents wasn't added until like 5 months after release.
I think you're the one being unfair here, comparing the release of Aion with AoC for instance.
-Just as much missing content?
This was only the tip of the iceburg as far as AoC was concerned. Along with missing content, you could actually count the number of quests that worked after level 40 on your hands, not to mention the terrible mob pathing, ridiculous crafting system, worse performance ever client wise, extremely bad optimization for most PCs, lag spikes, severely lacking itemization, useless skills that don't work, clunky UI, lack of a pvp system, keeps/siege warfare that doesn't work, raids that don't work, coupled with content that was promised and wasn't delivered at launch by FC. AoC was a trainwreck, and that's the reason it lost more than 70% of it's initial subs in a couple of months, as the patches were appalling and broke even more of the game instead of improving it.
-There are also a lot of bugs, gliches and exploits as well
A lot? hardly. Again you're being extremely harsh on the game. I'm interested in knowing what sort of bugs and glitches you mean, as I've hardly seen any, and NONE that are game breaking. It has some then? Big deal!
I only know of ONE exploit, the one you mentioned, which has already been fixed, care to inform me about the other 'lots' of exploits?
You label him as being unfair, and straight after it you compare one of the worst launches in MMO history, to one of the best. Talk about being a hypocrite.
I am not trying to compare the launch of the 2 games. I am just pointing out that AION at release did have a load of issues as well and missing contents IS one of them. It is being address by NCSoft at the moment, but at release, AION did miss a lot of contents. Acknowledge it.
No, I don't think AION is F2P quality. But it's not the best thing since slice bread either. Know the game for both its good and bad. Otherwise, you just a blind fanboi who zealously defend anything about AION.
As for exploit, just because YOU don't know does not make it so. There are many safe spots, especially in instance where you can just stand there and kill without ever being hit (only certain classes, but yah). Then there are the one allow you to level to max in an incredibly short time... You could argue that those kind of things happen in every game but the point is AION has them too. So, don't make it sounds like AION is the god send kind of game without any serious bugs, gliches because unfortunately, it does have them.
I am not trying to compare the launch of the 2 games. I am just pointing out that AION at release did have a load of issues as well and missing contents IS one of them. It is being address by NCSoft at the moment, but at release, AION did miss a lot of contents. Acknowledge it.
No, I don't think AION is F2P quality. But it's not the best thing since slice bread either. Know the game for both its good and bad. Otherwise, you just a blind fanboi who zealously defend anything about AION.
As for exploit, just because YOU don't know does not make it so. There are many safe spots, especially in instance where you can just stand there and kill without ever being hit (only certain classes, but yah). Then there are the one allow you to level to max in an incredibly short time... You could argue that those kind of things happen in every game but the point is AION has them too. So, don't make it sounds like AION is the god send kind of game without any serious bugs, gliches because unfortunately, it does have them.
Where in my post did I say that it DOESN't have any issues? I asked a serious question about the glitches/bugs, it wasn't sarcasm. I never said it was perfect and that it was the god send of mmos, neither that it's the best thing since sliced bread, don't say extreme things like that lol. I might not even buy the game once it releases here.
Fact remains that, at launch, it was NOWHERE near as incomplete, unpolished, buggy, glitchy as other games, especially AoC. It has it's fair share of problems, nowhere near as much as you're making it out to be, and they're getting fixed really fast. If a lot of the stuff was game breaking, then subs WILL suffer, a game is a game, doesn't matter whether it's in an Eastern market or a western one. Only the mob grinding point of view differs. If Aion had anything like the AoC launch, it would have suffered immensly, and not steadily growing, even 7 months after it's launch.
The guy above you was refuting the 'F2P' tag. I agree with him that it's laughable considering AoC and other games such as VG launched not so long ago and where reaally poor, not even worthy of the 'F2P' tag.
Westerners are getting an updated version, 1.2 most likely, so all the talk about Aion's launch is irrelevant. In the west at least, it's going to have most probably the most polished launch of an MMO ever. That's what you need to worry about.