Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Just another random players review
Well finally found the time and tried Aion myself this weekend and going to have to agree with a few things that have been before by the games detractors, the game it's self does not really give anything "new".
Sure we cannot play the high levels yet and end game is generally very different to currently accessable low levels we can get to at the moment, but if you have played quite a few MMO's you can generally get a good idea of how things will pan at end game, if not the actual particulars of "which class will be overpowered".
From what I see, bar the aerial aspect, the combat and abilities has been pretty much just been ripped out of WoW, dumbed down (never thought that was possible) and renamed. And looking at the skill tree's further up the levels don't see things getting much better. As RNG and cool downs (timers/chains) play second fiddle to player skill I doubt in long run this is be the "skilled PvP" game solo/small scale PvP'ers have been waiting for.
Not been able to do any group/large scale pvp so jury is still out on that one. It will really come down to the synergy between the class's
The flight aspect is interesting and well done, but takes some serious getting used to
The world it's self is nice, detailed and interesting, filled with tons of NPC's (kind of got a UO with 10000 times better graphics vibe from it) but the npc's do need some more interesting behaviour/abilities/combat differences
Character Creation: Very good (just wish the voices option would be sorted, the female anime/hentai voices drive me nuts). Though option to create "ugly" people would be nice, world where everyone is young, fit and good looking is rather shallow
Interface: Non modifiable industry standard, nothing bad but nothing to boast about (mini map needs some work though, to much going on due to all the icons makes it hard to see what is important)
Quests, this is a very personal opinion/preference, but honestly in my opinion here they messed up big time, levelled two toons up over the weekend and can quite honestly say after the first 5 odd quests did not read another text quest at all.
Two reasons for this, the annoying "dialogs" back and forth are just that, plain bloody annoying. Sorry I just don't want to read 2 to 4 screens of mindless crap until I actually find what I am meant to do. Second reason is the "hyperlinking" combined with locate, just makes it too damn easy to not read the quest. They have just dumbed it down so much Forest Gump could get to 50 without once asking for help
Another minor annoyance with quests is the cut scenes, cut scenes in general can be very nice and add a lot to a quest/immersion factor, but they have seriously gone for quantity over quality here making them more of a stupid annoyance then anything else, they should just drop any of cut scenes under 10/15 secs and stick to rare epic ones that seriously add value to the story, instead of just 5 secs of some mobs cutting down tree's with some text saying "they are cutting down the tree's"
Campaign quests are nice idea though
For me server stability/lag, bugs were pretty good for the whole weekend and client seems pretty stable, runs well on mid to higher spec gaming PC (though the start up times are astronomical, sometimes over a min). Still some work to go on the translations though, stuff like calling my female char "Lord" all the time and some strange terminology/sentence structure
At end of the day, can neither call Aion revolutionary nor evolutionary, it's a cut down, WoW alternative with a greater pvp focus. Certainly not a WoW killer, not even really serious competition
Overall would give the game about 6 maybe a 7 at a push , worth it if you need a break from your main MMO, though not somewhere where most players (western) would want to live permanently
Will I be playing it at release? Yes.
Will I probably be playing it still a year after release? Doubt it
I need a new MMO world to call home as Tom Chilton keeps destroying them
Comments
Thank you for providing the day's perfect example of irony.
bacon
Whatever.
Did the last closed beta (yes, actually bought the pre-order) and while beautiful and promising it is just so much meh to me.
Until they put some viable PvP leveling in there there is no sub money from me. I value my free time too much to spend it on hamster grinding so I might eventually get a chance of doing something that I actually bought the game for. That or some kind of legalized offline botting to grind those damn giant hamsters while I do something more fun and worthwile like dishwashing, watering the plants or banging my head against the wall.
Can I have your pre-order account?
You may have missed the point of the story line and how your choices effect the outcome of some of your quests and your relation to other quest givers. If your mindlessly clicking though stuff you may have been playing a different mmo that requires too much mindless clicking. You need Aion.... unless your ok with playing a game that requires no reading, thinking, or feeling like you're apart of your characters role in the game.
Mhmmm
Not really. There's a tiny hope they might do something bout this giant hamster grind thing yet and I'm not that pressed for money. If it makes a U-turn I can see myself playing it so...
I got books for that. If I want to read a good story and immerse myself in it I don't want to be bothered with clickety click and trying to guess what key the author wants me to press. I do books for my stories and games for my gaming. That's what I am.
Imo there is no room for "stories" in mmos except the ones players write themselves.
You're still over exaggerating the first 20 levels of the game I see. It takes a weekend (and not even hardcore playing, my friend did 1-20 during the beta weekend and didn't play much and he had split his time between trying out some various classes) to get up to level 20 and then you can start to PvP. I saw plenty of PvP going on during the weekend event, an Elyos group running around Morheim just destroying people until we gathered up our own raid to fight them.
I guess I just don't understand some people. Sure, they could put in PvP at level 1... but why? It wouldn't be fun at all and then you'd have people complaining that the PvP takes no skill after judging it at a low level. (Like the OP has done, even though I will say that the game already takes plenty of skill even in the low to mid 20's. Plenty of interesting options, certainly much better than WoW).
I pretty much spent my last day in CB just PvPing. Between doing some world PvP in Morheim (rifts and such) and just having fun in the Coliseum with my sorc friend it was a lot of fun. Managed to do a lot of duels and watch them too. It's probably pointless trying to argue with someone about the "skill" it takes for the game, they won't believe it either way.
A pretty balanced review of 1-20 level apart from the speculative parts. A good review should focus on facts and not speculation/hearsay.
Flying is pretty much straight copy from WoW, apart from the timer, so do not understand how it can be difficult.
Comments about combat were speculative at the best, levels 1-20 are pretty much like in any other MMOs, few skills every few levels. I dislike the fact that you compare them to WoW or claim that they were copied from since it was not the first MMO to use this system. It is pretty standard MMO stuff, I agree there. Also, instead of talents (WoW), you have combos and Stigmas. Also, when it comes to mobs, they tend to be more difficult in Aion at least between levels 1-20.
Levelling from 1-20 is hardly more immersive experience than in any other recent games. AoC perhaps providing the best experience. However, I think Aion experience is slightly better than WoW due to cut scenes and if you actually bother reading the quests. However, hack'nslash approach in WoW, probably is the reason why many don't bother with quest texts or cut scenes. Heritage from Diablo. I am more of RPG person and actually enjoy the lore of the world I am playing in.
Aion on the other hand lacks starting zones. They should have added at least two per side in my opinion for the first 10 levels. However, branching later on is pretty similar to WoW.
I am pretty much with you that will play at the release, but not sure it will hold my interest for long. I am personally looking for the PvPvE parts, as those do sound interesting especially after seeing the Abyss PvP video.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
I stopped reading at "ripped out of WoW".
Otherwise it was just as the title said, yet another review to throw on top of the pile of countless others. Not saying it's bad or anything, that's what forums are for right.
I agree that markoraos is overreacting.
I mean, how much time do you think you're going to spend playing lvls 1-20? Especially compared to the amount of time you're going to be spending later on. It's insignificant. The meat in those type of MMOs has always been about the "end game", and for once a game does it right you start bashing the beginning of the game, which for a couple of runs at least, is quite good. Relax and take other things into consideration. Have an open mind and everything will seem easier, and NOT worth all the trouble you think it's worth.
It's really too bad if you do miss out on the game just because of the early levels. I would go so far as to say that it's stupid. Ah well, to each his own I guess.
People not reading the quest text is irritating to me. Not a slam against the op since everybody does it. I refuse to help anybody in game if they haven't read the quest first. As for immersion, I really think it will help once they put in the English voice packs before retail comes out.
Thank you for providing the day's perfect example of irony.
I thought the same.
You're still over exaggerating the first 20 levels of the game I see. It takes a weekend (and not even hardcore playing, my friend did 1-20 during the beta weekend and didn't play much and he had split his time between trying out some various classes) to get up to level 20 and then you can start to PvP. I saw plenty of PvP going on during the weekend event, an Elyos group running around Morheim just destroying people until we gathered up our own raid to fight them.
I guess I just don't understand some people. Sure, they could put in PvP at level 1... but why? It wouldn't be fun at all and then you'd have people complaining that the PvP takes no skill after judging it at a low level. (Like the OP has done, even though I will say that the game already takes plenty of skill even in the low to mid 20's. Plenty of interesting options, certainly much better than WoW).
I pretty much spent my last day in CB just PvPing. Between doing some world PvP in Morheim (rifts and such) and just having fun in the Coliseum with my sorc friend it was a lot of fun. Managed to do a lot of duels and watch them too. It's probably pointless trying to argue with someone about the "skill" it takes for the game, they won't believe it either way.
As I said, have fun grinding giant hamsters so you can get "better" at PvP. The PvE grind does not let up after 20 - it gets worse actually. You can PvP all you want and to no avail. A PvP noob who grinded a few thousand more giant hamsters than you is going to wtfpwn your face. This is wow squared in this respect. Read my lips: "PvE so you can PvP". I understand this might appeal to the the "insecure" ones among us who want to get back at the "evil PK" who terrorized them in the old bad UO days by virtue of having no real life at all but us with jobs and kids have better ways of spending our time.
Im still gonna try this game out. I thought you were a bit harsh possibly but I'll just find out everything out myself.
Played : WOW, LOTRO, COH/COV, EQ2, SWG, and WAR.
Playing EVE Online and AOC.
Wtg for SW:TOR and WOD
All that reading must irritate your ADHD.
bacon
You're still over exaggerating the first 20 levels of the game I see. It takes a weekend (and not even hardcore playing, my friend did 1-20 during the beta weekend and didn't play much and he had split his time between trying out some various classes) to get up to level 20 and then you can start to PvP. I saw plenty of PvP going on during the weekend event, an Elyos group running around Morheim just destroying people until we gathered up our own raid to fight them.
I guess I just don't understand some people. Sure, they could put in PvP at level 1... but why? It wouldn't be fun at all and then you'd have people complaining that the PvP takes no skill after judging it at a low level. (Like the OP has done, even though I will say that the game already takes plenty of skill even in the low to mid 20's. Plenty of interesting options, certainly much better than WoW).
I pretty much spent my last day in CB just PvPing. Between doing some world PvP in Morheim (rifts and such) and just having fun in the Coliseum with my sorc friend it was a lot of fun. Managed to do a lot of duels and watch them too. It's probably pointless trying to argue with someone about the "skill" it takes for the game, they won't believe it either way.
As I said, have fun grinding giant hamsters so you can get "better" at PvP. The PvE grind does not let up after 20 - it gets worse actually. You can PvP all you want and to no avail. A PvP noob who grinded a few thousand more giant hamsters than you is going to wtfpwn your face. This is wow squared in this respect. Read my lips: "PvE so you can PvP". I understand this might appeal to the the "insecure" ones among us who want to get back at the "evil PK" who terrorized them in the old bad UO days by virtue of having no real life at all but us with jobs and kids have better ways of spending our time.
Yeesh, from the sound of it you would rather just have a game where you don't level at all which begs the question why you've been following Aion so much. I enjoy leveling and I am going to enjoy my mix of PvP and PvE very much so. You might call it a "hamster wheel" and nothing but grinding but I think it's fun. I don't really know what you want out of Aion after all, I mean it seemed like at first you were mad about not having low level PvP content but now it's more about a level difference that may happen between players?
I mean, sure, if you don't want to level or anything than I would probably suggest not playing the game. In all honesty I would say that MMORPG's aren't your forte at all, considering even these "skill" based MMOs still have you grinding skills.
I really don't understand your post though, it doesn't make any sense. It seems like you don't want a higher level fighting you in which case I say bring them on. I don't shy away from a fight (it is just a game after all!), never have and never will. Other than that I really don't know what you're complaining about, or why you have it in your head that you're going to have to play for forever just to get to the top level.
Players enjoy mmos in different ways. A lot of players don't have any interest in the story element of questing and if that irritates you, you may require medical attention :P
One of WOW's earlier patches allowed players to disable slow scrolling of quest text for precisely this reason.
This 'complaint' of the OP has some merit in terms of the game's broader appeal. Though even with the existing system, you can fairly quickly skip through them.
If you have big problems with questing & story (yellow quests) then a MMORPG maybe isn't the thing for you.