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1-20 new player review
So I played beta this weekend CB5. Played a cleric and my brother played a Glad. I would like to hit the negatives in order to make this short.
Graphics
Graphics are good if you like Asian style but they don't seem to have the complexity of shadows and polys like for example Warhammer. I don't think it is a big enough difference when deciding playing the game or not.
Leveling
1-10
A major gripe is that there is a lot of useless levels in the game in my opinion. Level 1 through 10 are basically single-minded grinding until you can pick your real class. I understand the need to introduce the player to the game but it seems almost punishing how long it takes that you have to spam your 3 skills until you reach 10.
10-20
lvl 10 -15 Basically doing the exact thing as 1-10 except with 4 or 5 skills instead of 3. All solo questing or 2 person groups.
lvl 15-20 There are some nice elite mobs you can do with a group. With a boss and sub bosses.
Quests
Quests are simple format but some are confusing and many require clicking objects that in effect almost punish people in groups due to having to wait for respawns of the items. Also, certain quests can get over camped and even on a “low” pop server I had to change instances a few times.
pvp
No abysis the rvr zone pvp yet (need to be lvl 25 or above). There are Rifts tho at minimum lvl 20. Basically pvp portals into the enemies pve zone. Problem is that finding a rift or gate way is hard and can involve running through way high lvl mobs. Even locating an open rift is hard apparently you follow the light in the sky but it can envolve long runing.
Overall the 1-20 experience was way longer then it should have been. So little skills to understand makes knowing your character easy. Besides one spot there was never a need to group up. No dungeons besides the outdoor elite area and no pvp excluding the hours finding rift and surviving the run to it at lvl 20.
In closing
Personally I found myself frustrated trying to grind with the intent of just wanting to join a group. But grouping is not effective unless you do elites at lvl 15 starting. I also wanted to get some pvp done but was unable to really.
In contrast to Wow, Warhammer, and Daoc I would rank the 1- 20 experience pretty low. The game seems to still retain some of its boring Korean mmo stereotypes.
No idea how the rest of the game is. The little pvp I did seemed decent. Overall I feel disappointed in the low lvl experance.
Comments
I couldn't agree with that statement more.
People are going to come on this thread and tell you how great the game is after 25+ (which is still debatable).
But I doubt anyone can defend how utterly boring it is until you reach that point.
Yeah, like 1-20 in WOW was the pinacle of my gaming time.
I had fun. You did not.
You rank it low. I rank it high.
See how kewl opinions are?
You should've renamed this "1-20 new BETA player review"
+1 for players who judge the release state of the game before it's actually...released
I couldn't agree with that statement more.
People are going to come on this thread and tell you how great the game is after 25+ (which is still debatable).
But I doubt anyone can defend how utterly boring it is until you reach that point.
"The game is going to get exciting and great, hang in there!"
"When?"
"SOON™"
"You should've renamed this "1-20 new BETA player review
+1 for players who judge the release state of the game before it's actually...released
"
Although I am a big Aion fan, I have to contest the above statement. The game is not really in Beta per se. It has been released in other nations, and is being localized for Western countries more than developed at this point. Also, saying the fact that it is being patched means it is still in beta is fallacious. If that was so, WoW is still in beta.
"Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth." Ayn Rand
Yeah a lot of people enjoyed the game during beta I seemed to have been a minority. Personally I think Aion is going to sell big because every new mmo that is decent does. Warhammer 700k sales, Age of Conan 500k plus. The thing is every other pre order beta I was appart of with a major mmo had more people playing it. Aion had 5 american servers with Low pop besides one. Its closed beta but not really. Warhammer had the same Closed beta but was called open beta. I think even Aoc was the same pre order only.
We are still in BETA.
CB5 was version 1.2 of the game.
Release version is 1.5 at this time. Might change by September we simply do not know yet.
We are still seeing BETA of the game, NOT release.
In contrast to WoW? It's almost the same exact thing. I really didn't see much of a difference leveling 1-20 in WoW or Aion. WoW has a few lowbie dungeons, big deal? I'm not saying 1-20 is all fun, but I didn't think 1-20 in WoW was that fun either. I really started having fun in WoW when I hit STV, which is about the same level you will hit the Abyss (could be wrong it's been a while since I played WoW).
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
I played the beta weeked too, of course i did'nt make it as far as yours but from what i saw, and reading from your post, i agree with pretty much everything you said, i contacted NCsoft and asked for a refund of my pre-purchase. I was not impress at all by what i saw, it feels like WOW again but much more grindier. I really tought this was going to be the next game for me after WOW, guess i'll have to wait.
PS : just got my refund confirmation from NCsoft.
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
Levelling was not that fast in original WoW. If you want to compare the two, you would have to compare vanilla WoW to current state of Aion. I am sure that the time in both is not much different.
TBH, the experience from 1-20 is hardly different in WoW or Aion. Zone design is slightly different, but in both cases very linear. WoW has more starting areas and Aion has cut scenes.
You have few dungeons in WoW that you can enter prior to level 20 - Razorfire Chasm, Wailing Caverns and Deadmines. In Aion you get open world dungeon areas instead. And instances from 25-level onwards.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
Ok. But you were the one who said "In contrast to Wow, Warhammer, and Daoc I would rank the 1- 20 experience pretty low." Didn't you just compare 1-20 in WoW, WAR and DAoC to Aion? My point wasn't about how long it took to get to 25, it was the level I started to really have fun in WoW. My other point was that 1-20 in WoW felt exactly the same as Aion. Aion might take a little bit longer to get to 20, but it also has 10 less levels than WoW originally had.
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
Don't tell him not to compare it to WoW, when you did in your original post. The fact remains that levelling is only a single part of an MMO. Most don't get fun until you hit cap, and have all options available to you.
So, in my opinion, both games had a very similar 1-20.
there is just nothing exciting in the game..only form of "oh thats awesome" comes from seen some pretty art/graphics, but after a few hours u even begin to see the weakness there..
As much as ppl want it to be.. this is nothin special... Your typical asian game. Don't forget they have zillion bots in their games.. i've already seen mass
I know too much bout games and what it takes for them to be good.. sometimes i wish i was a dumbass, so i could just sit back and enjoy everything.. Stupid ppl have more fun
Fun is so subjective. However, you can objectively look at things you can do in various MMOs. I do not think the experience is that much different in most of them. I cannot honestly say that the experience in WoW was that original, but if it was your first MMO, I can appreciate if you feel nostalgic about it.
Age of Conan is probably only one that tried something different with their Biowaresque questing system that had voice overs, but of course many hated that system as well. In WAR, you had public quests and scenarios that for me at least broke the immersion . Just like zoning in AoC broke the immersion for many people (albeit did not bother me due to the fact that I hardly saw the loading screen due to a powerful computer setup).
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
All of you... yes, all of you.. need to face the facts. WoW is a grinder in disguise. Aion is a bit more honest about it. Stress-relief games are grinds too. Anyone remember your semi-3D action side-scrollers like X-Men, Turtles in Time, GoldenAxe? Those games were fun and yet they were grinds. Some of the dumbest games in Newgrounds.com are grinders and the grind in the end doesn't matter--- its having fun and relieving stress doing it. All of you expect Aion to destroy WoW or be impressive... but that's not what its suppose to be--- it has to be honest about what its doing and make it fun. The problem with WoW's current development team is that they're trying to accomodate too much to the power of the player and in most cases it loses its fun factor... same with other MMOs. So even if Aion is only good for being pretty, I'd pay money just to have fun--- and not to have an ego-battle like the rest of you goddamn people.
Originally posted by Jaklax
I know too much bout games and what it takes for them to be good.. sometimes i wish i was a dumbass, so i could just sit back and enjoy everything.. Stupid ppl have more fun
You're right, Jaklax... there's nothing special about Aion. And its true, I'm so tired of seeking to be any form of smart-- I'll just admit I'm stupid, but hell we only live once and I'd rather have fun going through it.
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
Also take into consideration that WoW has 80 levels while Aion only has 50. And with the Recruit a Friend program's availability in WoW, leveling from 1-60 now takes only a matter of days.
Personally, I have no issue with the slower leveling speed as I like to understand the intricacies of my class, although it would be nice if PvP was available a bit sooner, which was something I really liked about WAR.
Every game is a grind in the respect that we are constantly exercising repitition in some form, and while this is subjective, most quest-based games are nothing but objective-based grinding. (Please don't tell me that helping farmer Ronald find his ten pigs is interesting!) With the exception of a few quest chains, most games' quests are so monotonous that they numb my mind if I force myself to read them, and so, unless I know something is an interesting quest chain, I simply skip to the primary objectives. But maybe this is where I differ from some people, so whatever.
(And just for reference, I'll be playing Aion when it's released. I really love the game's ambiance; and while it's far from perfect (the game, that is), it's gameplay is eclectic in a good way. It seems to utilize elements present in various other MMOs, seamlessly weaving them together in a very polished package -- and of course, the predominant influence seems to be the Lineage series, from what I've seen up to this point, but they've corrected the things I despised about Lineage. Again, this is all subjective.
For those of us who are so tired of WoW that playing it has become a nearly repugnant activity , Aion might be that breath of fresh air that we've been waiting for -- if you like PvP that is. I've played every mainstream MMO out there, and I've been taking a break from MMOs ever since leaving WoW yet again -- I looked at SWG, but the NGE was just too much for me to bear -- and Aion might prove to be an interesting diversion for a while, at least, if nothing else.)
Originally posted by Jaklax
I know too much bout games and what it takes for them to be good.. sometimes i wish i was a dumbass, so i could just sit back and enjoy everything.. Stupid ppl have more fun
While I typically don't deign to comment on pablum such as this, I just have to say that judging from your own statement, I would say that you should be deriving a monumental amount of enjoyment from any activity -- be it game or otherwise -- in which you have chosen to partake. But "ppl" such as yourself should already know that!
I think you answered your own question by saying wow is a grind in disquise and aion is honest about it.
It boils down to an economic theory of diminished demand or something. Basically, I likeIce cream. IF I had 1 cone in one sitting I would be very happy. If I had 2 on the second cone I would be not as happy and after the 5 ice cream cone at once i would be full and not want any more. Aion 1-16 is like having 16 ice cream cones in one sitting. Its ok at first then after awhile it is like jesus i cant smash 3 buttons for 14 hours in game time.
Aion is so honest about the grind I can't spend 5 hours smashing the same 3-5 abilities. 1-20 you are smashing 5 abilites tops. You can only kill mobs and do quests outside. Only 1 location has group content lvl 15-16 where you smash more mobs.
At least pvp and group play is more dynamic.
Do you really have any idea what your talking about? Wow 1-20 is a snooze and you could do it with your eyes closed. In Aion at least you have to watch for adds and stay awake while you play 1-20. And we all know Wow gives you many combat options by the time your 20. 0_0 To give you a example my Wow Hunter had only two attacks it used. One being Arcane Shot with a 6 sec cooldown. The other Serpent Sting that was used only once per mob. In the 10 - 20 game you didn't even use it for the mob didn't last long enough. Do you need me to compare another class ?
Do you really have any idea what your talking about? Wow 1-20 is a snooze and you could do it with your eyes closed. In Aion at least you have to watch for adds and stay awake while you play 1-20. And we all know Wow gives you many combat options by the time your 20. 0_0 To give you a example my Hunter had only two attacks it used. One being Arcane Shot with a 6 sec cooldown. The other Serpent Sting that was used only once per mob. In the 10 - 20 game you didn't even use it for the mob didn't last long enough. Do you need me to compare another class ?
Comparing wow 1-20 is not the same. Compare the time it takes to get 1-20 in Aion by that to wow 1- what ever a normal person playing the same amount of time it takes to get 20 in Aion.
Comparing wow 1-20 is not the same. Compare the time it takes to get 1-20 in Aion by that to wow 1- what ever a normal person playing the same amount of time it takes to get 20 in Aion.
I see you are comparing it to Wow now and not when it was released. In Wow now if you sneeze you gain 10 levels. 0_0 In release Wow it was no different then Aion is today. If you want instant gratification go play a first person shooter or maybe Guild Wars for MMO's is not for you.
You only had 3 abilities by 16? I think you forgot to go to the trainer a few times. Either that, or you decided not to use the abilities given to you. I won't deny the fact that Aion isn't much different than other MMOs. It's not. I just don't see what people are complaining about. Maybe it's because my first MMO was FFXI, and leveling in that game is a real grind. Leveling in WoW was a joke in comparison, and Aion's is, too.
The only MMO I played that allowed you to really have fun from day 1 was WAR. I would still be playing the game if the end game wasn't so bad and laggy. I would much rather endure a grind and have an enjoyable experience at end game. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have tons of fun from level 1 till the end. So far I haven't found an MMO like that (FFXI excluded because I never got to end game, and I was amazed at early levels because it was my first MMO).
It's fine if you don't like Aion. I just don't understand how it's any different from the majority of MMOs. If you could elaborate on what makes Aion so different than WoW, maybe I could understand. As I said before, Vanilla WoW had 60 levels, Aion has 50. Each level is longer in Aion, but seems about the same speed to get to max level (give or take). WAR had 40 levels, and it took me about the same amount of time to get to max as it did in WoW.
In WoW, WAR, CoH, AoC, etc I picked up quests, did them and turned them in. In Aion, I've been doing the same thing. In FFXI (and to my knowledge EQ) you found a spot to camp, pulled mobs to your group, killed mob, repeat. In Aion, if you don't want to do quests you can grind, or find a group and grind elites. Same thing. In all of them the most fun starts later than sooner. IMO this is a problem with the genre, and needs to be looked at (FFXIV maybe?). Still, the fact is, I've had pretty much the same experience in most of these games at early levels. The only difference would be how much I liked the movement and combat in each of them.
I've come to accept the fact that most MMOs are the same with minor differences. Do I think that's good? No, but I still do like MMOs. If end game is fun, the boring crap was well worth it. The grind comes with the genre. It's too bad NCSoft didn't try something different, but how many devs really have? WAR was the most different cuz of PvP at level 1, but in the end the core of the game was the same as the rest.
1-20 in aion i A LOT faster then leveling in WoW. and i have to disagree. i had more fun leveling here then i wow. and graphics asian style. i wouldnt says so. sure there is asian influence here but to say it it is asian is just wrong. personally game was a lot of fun so far. played war,lotr, free realm, PW and eso after wow and all of that was mind bleeding wow copying crap. tryied warhammer..almost shoot myself, pw eso was the grind at its best, lotr just didnt cut it. free realms were destroying little brain i got left.
overall had more fun than in all of this games together
I think you have to take into consideration the time it would take 1-25 compared to wow. Dont' compare lvl 1-25 in wow. I have not played wow in a long time but my guess is you could go 1-25 2 times at least from aion 1-25.
Levelling was not that fast in original WoW. If you want to compare the two, you would have to compare vanilla WoW to current state of Aion. I am sure that the time in both is not much different.
TBH, the experience from 1-20 is hardly different in WoW or Aion. Zone design is slightly different, but in both cases very linear. WoW has more starting areas and Aion has cut scenes.
You have few dungeons in WoW that you can enter prior to level 20 - Razorfire Chasm, Wailing Caverns and Deadmines. In Aion you get open world dungeon areas instead. And instances from 25-level onwards.
I have to agree. I'm not sure where everyone else is gathering these breathtaking experiences 1-20 (or 1-25) in other games. I have yet to play a game where it was amazing at such a stage except maybe AoC and Warhammer was descent but honestly it all is the same as every other game. I know some say 'Well they have to sell the game to someone in those early levels!' Yeah maybe so but what game does that? Hell, AoC arguably had the best 1-20 experience (at least the first time or two through) but what happened with the rest of the game?
I just have no issue with the early levels being a learning point and the true development of a game being in latter levels. It gives me something to strive for and work for. Some folks don't want it like that and want a certain level of gratification early on. We all have different tastes so to each their own.
And those continuing with the Korean stereotype are not only neglecting the fact that it is as grindy as any other game currently but that even more quests are added in patch 1.5 which is not what we are playing in beta. It will come with the NA release.