My prediction for what it's worth, Aion will comfortably become the 2nd most subbed MMO in the west. The style and polish of it alone will attract a lot of fans and I expect a lot of support fron NC Soft with expansions/new content to keep it fresh.
It's not breaking any new ground in terms of design, but it offers the first real WOW alternative for many (Warhammer Online was no where near).
Aion will sell game boxes and have a tough time keeping subs it is an average game for todays standards and if some changes come down the road it might keep some subs if not there will be a new mmo just down the road. Jihad works both ways
There have always been new games down the road. Whether they are good enough to be played is yet to be seen.
So saying that there are new games down the road is pointless in the here and now.
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...
Aion will sell game boxes and have a tough time keeping subs it is an average game for todays standards and if some changes come down the road it might keep some subs if not there will be a new mmo just down the road. Jihad works both ways
What standards is that ????
The standard of MMO's since the launch of SWG has absolutely sucked Aion is the first i have played and truly enjoyed since then.
I for one am glad that Aion brought back some of the oldschool elements of MMORPGs that made them MMORPGs. What Aion did is bring an EQ / UO / DAOC experience and Polish the hell out of them. We have the updated UI, Mouse look, and other small "updates" to the game that do not change how an MMORPG is played but merely enhance it. World of Warcraft is very successful, but I don't believe that is where Aion want's to draw its crowd from. The people who play and enjoy Aion will be the people who played and enjoyed oldschool games like EQ, DAOC, and UO and are looking for a more polished and up-to-date experience in an MMO, and believe me there are a lot more of us out there than you may think. Plenty enough of us to make Aion the number 2 MMORPG in the West which is what NCSoft is shooting for.
Thank 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...
This is NOT a review. It's an impression based on the early experience.
That much being said, I am quite astonished this game was ever cited as WOW killer. Don't get me wrong, Aion is decend fun and solid entertainment, but truth be told, it is more a retro game than anything. The first thing I noticed was it is an odd step back in graphics. The textures and landscape have indeed some WOW or WAR like simplicity. The WAR feeling of landscapes which don't transport emotion is the inevitable comparision for me. WAR wasn't a bad world design, but it kinda never transported the feeling I could relate to, maybe lacking soul if you want, and Aion's world has the same again. Technically not bad but at no point I felt at home in the this world, even tho some vistas are sure spectacular. Part of it sure are the low textures. Some rocky ground is absurdly low, grass is an oddly flat painting and even at max setting I never have this feeling of walking on a meadow. I won't take such graphic hogs like AoC, but just compare it to the rich mood the world breathes in LOTRO. Walking on a meadow here with all the flowers, the grass in the wind... LOTRO had so rich atmosphere and soul, and not having more in terms of polygons. By and large the world detail and soul of Aion isnt much better than say Perfect World.
Granted the big bonus is the detailled character design. Tho I might wonder why you can't change your appearance later, which is a common feature in games which such detailled chars, and generally becoming standard in todays MMOs. But given that you have merely 2 totally linear placed races it sorta makes the replay value limited. You actually see the same over and over again. Even playing Elyos after playing Asmodians, the zones had an odd deja-vu, like every zone and even many quests were like copy cats from the other realm, just that the quest for Elyos is hunt Wolves and for Asmodians it was cats or panthers. Compare Altgard the Asmodian lv 10 -12 zone with the same level for Elyos (forgot the name), its like a copy with different textures.
So far I have tried out about half of the classes to late 10s. Now sure you may jump on me, saying but wait with 25 it totally changes! Sorry, for me a game has to be fun right away. Especially since levelling in Aion is somewhat slower that you are used to. Which also makes replay just for trying out another class odd.
Aion is filled with 1st gen MMOs remnants, stuff which I had thought to be left behind long ago, and mostly for good. I find it strange Aion has so many stuff every other MMO has by now left behind. Like, you start as generic class and get your real class later. Like you start as warrior and get Gladiator or Templar with level 10. And that takes longer than it sounds. Given that fact the game is totally linear, it makes trying out new classes a hassle. EQ2 used to have this branching, but it never was liked and today you start with your class right away, which I regard as the superior development into modern MMOs. I feel this starting as generic warrior or priest as a step back. The mos odd step back however is IMVPO the return of the downtime. Fighting the downtime was one of the mayor progress of 2nd and 3rd gen MMOs, because essentially sitting around and waiting for health and mana to regen is never fun. It is a bad idea and a bad concept from the EQ1 and UO days. Sure you don't rest very long, but I always felt it was a bad disruption of my combat pacing. Especially in grouping this is a hassle, since Priest and Warrior classes need much less rest than scout and esp. mage classes. As mage and scout you will rest often, because mana for the mage and health for the scout will go down quickly. As scout you can compensate that with cheap bandages, with a healer, but as mage you are stuck, since mana potions are way more expensive and crafting them for hours in preparation of combat isn't to everyone's liking. The greatest hindrance for Aion to become a hit in the western market IMO is that Aion is the most solo-unfriendly game of our days. Which is a result of the downtime. Sure you CAN solo with every class. But later on mobs are so crowded, that if you get additional mobs it can easily be your death, so its one at a time and you will have LOTS of time sitting and resting. The only class which can play with minimal to no downtime is priest, also warrior with bandages is ok. Still, the soloability is quite lacking compared to how well catered the solo experience in other 2nd and 3rd gen MMOs is. Its another of this odd step backs to 1st gen EQ era gaming. Some EQ vets may like it, but I doubt it will attract and keep the masses.
The lore and quests are alright. Nothing to rock me out of my boots but solid standard fare. Which isn't good enough in our competitive days, truth be told. When I think of the fascinating quests of LOTRO, where I virtually read every single quest, I find myself skipping the quest text in Aion all too soon, because it lacks the soul. Some quests are fun and nicely written, but most are quite boring. When you come to NPC-quest giving point X you don't really care why you have to kill 10 more wolves. I often had this feeling the quest hubs where quite artificially in their placement, not naturally and "right" like the LOTRO quest hubs. Its an emotional thing I can't exactly say why, but Aion always was much less a world than LOTRO, EQ2 or WOW (tho I have seen WOW only fleeting). It has this strong remniscence of the WAR world design: a linear quest tunnel, a theme park with NPCs standing, waiting for nothing but handing out quests to you in a very old fashioned and soulless manner. A good quest giver never feels like doing nothing else and again LOTRO did this the best. In Aion I often got this feeling that NPCs are here merely to hand me quests, cramped in some camp in a linear quest-tunnel. I won't say Aion is all bad. Its a decend game, and in another, passed era, Aion would have rocked. But somehow the wheel of progress turned and today Aion is just a sort of MMO dinosaur, a remainder of the a passed MMO era in too many ways and not really fitting the refined and more demanding appetite of today. I am quite surprise that after so much effort to westernize Aion this is the result. In just too many places the "simple, old Asia grinder" as you have seen legions, shines still through. So far I am still hooked and it is ok entertainment for a short time, but I am quite underwhelmed and at odds with many of the design decisions.
All i can say to you is thank you for not making an hatefull story with your impression. Alot of people put hate into their writings wich in my opinion hurts a games potential and makes the author look thickheaded to me.
However i don't agree on most points (be it personal taste). I for one feel Aion has alot in it for me and i know It will probably not be a game for everyone. I like the fact that each class splits up into two be it new or not. I can get why you don't feel your sucked into the worlds atmopshere, but again it does do it for me combat wise and surrounding wise. i feel as i am sucked into the gameplay, yes the resting is a pain and i would like some regular food to make things regen faster (yes like in wow but its a mehcanic that works). I am a complete noob to aion even with the amount of chars i made allready and not afraid to admit that. i still have to find out alot of things, but i can see myself playing it for a long period of time simply because i am enjoying myself.
let me pin some things that really turned me down in this game..
So powerstones is an item thats boosts the damage of your weapon and its consumed on each hit..So according to that "stupid" mechanic you have to spend your money on an item that its vital for you to play and its shouldn't excist at all ( i mean they could lower the money that u gain but wtf i have to buy one item for every hit i do in this game?:S)
Also you loose exp on this game if u die and u get a stupid debuff thats last at least 1min
Also i dunno what these guys are talking about 1.5 hour in order to get to lvl 10..i have been playing about 5 hours?i am 7 lvl and 80% scout atm and when i want to kill a mob its like doing pvp with it :P i have to get behind it like 2 times in order to do a backstab style skill i have to use a skill to raise my evasion i have also to use my basic attack skill for like 3-4 times and also the normal non skill attacks does 6-10 damage when a skill does 60-120 (or even more on critical).All this to kill a mob on equal level and after that i get to 10-20% hp and i have to rest.If i attack a higher level mob i die.
Mob rest Mob rest Mob rest mmm so nice
This stuff reminds me of the time i have been playing lineage 2 and all the reasons that made me not only quit it but hate it also
For me some of the things that OP states as being cons with Aion are actually pros for me. Yes you can't AoE farm mobs all the way through the levels, you get rewarded for grouping up while leveling and in effect you have to play your class the "old fashion" way. Mages get whacked if the mobs start hitting them (glass cannon), a templar's dps is low and so on. I have missed this oh so much and this is in effect one of the key reasons I left WoW back then.
Graphics as well - they're quite manageable for average PC's and even with loads of people there aren't any hiccups or other problems. For me they have plenty of soul and I find the immersion in Aion in the better end. It certainly has a style that is rooted in its origins, but to me that's just curious and interesting rather than, as some hint, "bad because it's Asian".
I hope this is not going to be a new WoW. I hope NC will keep this in the niche where it is now and improve on the general concepts and I can only hope that as many as possible get their expectations settled before joining the game at release so we won't see expectations not fulfilled and the drama that follows. I hope NC will keep this in the niche where it is now and improve on the general concepts. The CB's and OB has indeed convinced me that Aion is going to be my home for a while
Aion will sell game boxes and have a tough time keeping subs it is an average game for todays standards and if some changes come down the road it might keep some subs if not there will be a new mmo just down the road. Jihad works both ways
What standards is that ????
The standard of MMO's since the launch of SWG has absolutely sucked Aion is the first i have played and truly enjoyed since then.
See this is the problem, forever person that likes it someone else doesn t. I don t enjoy it at all, but I m not going to say because I don t like it no one else shouldn t. It is an average game, no different from many out there that has been released in the last little while.
let me pin some things that really turned me down in this game.. So powerstones is an item thats boosts the damage of your weapon and its consumed on each hit..So according to that "stupid" mechanic you have to spend your money on an item that its vital for you to play and its shouldn't excist at all ( i mean they could lower the money that u gain but wtf i have to buy one item for every hit i do in this game?:S) Also you loose exp on this game if u die and u get a stupid debuff thats last at least 1min Also i dunno what these guys are talking about 1.5 hour in order to get to lvl 10..i have been playing about 5 hours?i am 7 lvl and 80% scout atm and when i want to kill a mob its like doing pvp with it :P i have to get behind it like 2 times in order to do a backstab style skill i have to use a skill to raise my evasion i have also to use my basic attack skill for like 3-4 times and also the normal non skill attacks does 6-10 damage when a skill does 60-120 (or even more on critical).All this to kill a mob on equal level and after that i get to 10-20% hp and i have to rest.If i attack a higher level mob i die. Mob rest Mob rest Mob rest mmm so nice This stuff reminds me of the time i have been playing lineage 2 and all the reasons that made me not only quit it but hate it also
Death penalty's dude WTH your obviously of a newer generation.
Once upon a time MMO's actually had a reason not to die this added excitement and thril to the PVE aspect as you did not want that XP hit then little Timmy came along and told his mammy he didnt like having to re-earn his xp or pay some money because he was a clownshoe and pulled too many mob's.
Llittle Timmy's mammy was so upset by this that she wrote straight to Blizzard and asked them if they could make they're upcoming MMO so casual friendly that little Timmy wouldnt cry every night at the thought of paying 1 gold or spending 20 minutes of his gaming life gaining back the XP.
The big bad EQ Vet monster was disgusted by the thought of this and when he meets those type of players in HIS game he proceeds to ream them whilst shouting "FO back to WOW"
too much caffeine sorry back OT
When you have done the starter zones a lot like a few of us have its easy and quick I can;t do 1.5 but can breeze through it in around 2 hrs
Mob bandage heal mob bandage heal takes all of 2 seconds if that avoids downtime and they have minimal cost
I dont agree with your review, there are undeniable points like low res textures, but then again, its that way for a greater good, massive ammounts of people with minor FPS drops.
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
I dont agree with your review, there are undeniable points like low res textures, but then again, its that way for a greater good, massive ammounts of people with minor FPS drops.
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
let me pin some things that really turned me down in this game.. So powerstones is an item thats boosts the damage of your weapon and its consumed on each hit..So according to that "stupid" mechanic you have to spend your money on an item that its vital for you to play and its shouldn't excist at all ( i mean they could lower the money that u gain but wtf i have to buy one item for every hit i do in this game?:S) Also you loose exp on this game if u die and u get a stupid debuff thats last at least 1min Also i dunno what these guys are talking about 1.5 hour in order to get to lvl 10..i have been playing about 5 hours?i am 7 lvl and 80% scout atm and when i want to kill a mob its like doing pvp with it :P i have to get behind it like 2 times in order to do a backstab style skill i have to use a skill to raise my evasion i have also to use my basic attack skill for like 3-4 times and also the normal non skill attacks does 6-10 damage when a skill does 60-120 (or even more on critical).All this to kill a mob on equal level and after that i get to 10-20% hp and i have to rest.If i attack a higher level mob i die. Mob rest Mob rest Mob rest mmm so nice This stuff reminds me of the time i have been playing lineage 2 and all the reasons that made me not only quit it but hate it also
You're having a lot of downtime because you're playing the class in a wrong way. I would suggest buying plenty of bandages (100-200) since they are very cheap and use them right after you killed a mob, regardless of how little life you lost. See if this can improve the battle downtime for you.
The melee classes have zero downtime as long as they use bandages after each fight. Yes, the game plays differently than what you were accustomed to, the mobs are not paper thin and it needs a measure of alertness. Priests have a bit more downtime and they need to rest. Mages got the most downtime, but that's a counterweight to the speed that they kill. Once the caster classes reach level 10, they receive a mana regen skill that works with a dust in a way similar to bandages. After that you won't need to rest again.
I dont agree with your review, there are undeniable points like low res textures, but then again, its that way for a greater good, massive ammounts of people with minor FPS drops.
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
That would be great news if it happens. Same with DirectX 10/11, if they ever implement it.
I for one am glad that Aion brought back some of the oldschool elements of MMORPGs that made them MMORPGs. What Aion did is bring an EQ / UO / DAOC experience and Polish the hell out of them. We have the updated UI, Mouse look, and other small "updates" to the game that do not change how an MMORPG is played but merely enhance it. World of Warcraft is very successful, but I don't believe that is where Aion want's to draw its crowd from. The people who play and enjoy Aion will be the people who played and enjoyed oldschool games like EQ, DAOC, and UO and are looking for a more polished and up-to-date experience in an MMO, and believe me there are a lot more of us out there than you may think. Plenty enough of us to make Aion the number 2 MMORPG in the West which is what NCSoft is shooting for.
Played OB for 3 days and deleted... not my cup of tea. Lineage with wings like many before me have said, graphics are semi-decent if you like Final fantasy anime graphics, brought nothing new to the table in terms of originality and feats that have been made 10 times better in other MMO's failed here miserably.
Overhyped piece of *bleep*. Should be F2P with micropayments like the rest of its kind (asian tedious grindfests)
I dont agree with your review, there are undeniable points like low res textures, but then again, its that way for a greater good, massive ammounts of people with minor FPS drops.
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
Well there really is no reason why textures for example for mountains in 2009 should look THAT bad ....
Iam not bashing AION, in fact i preordered it but for some things I really have to wonder in the game ...
It might be a marketing thing. People at the moment comment on how beautiful Aion looks and how it plays great on average PCs, although it has bad textures in some points.
If the enhanced textures pack (if such a thing exists) was made available, my guess was that everyone would load it by default, no matter how (below) average the computer is and then they'd complain about how slow the game is or how bad it runs.
Personally, if such a texture pack exists, I would have liked the choice to use it, regardless of performance.
After playing for a good amount of time, I just don't see what the big deal is. The game is very vanilla and the OP is right, it does take a step back in certain game mechanics. Yea, the old school players may like that but the mass market does not. They want to get 400,000 subs in the west, that's not going to happen with the mechanics they got in place. And it does not take 1.5 hours to get from 1-10, that's the biggest load of BS I've heard yet. Not when you're trying to do every quest and running all over the place. Not to mention if you're trying to do things other than questing like gathering. The replayability of this game is going to be killed when you try to level your 3rd character through the same content over and over again.
Unless the PvP is out of this world, I don't see how after playing this for 2 months you don't get bored out of your mind. I give em credit for making the game look good and run relatively smooth, but it takes more than that to be a successfull MMO in the west. Ask Lineage.
After playing for a good amount of time, I just don't see what the big deal is. The game is very vanilla and the OP is right, it does take a step back in certain game mechanics. Yea, the old school players may like that but the mass market does not. They want to get 400,000 subs in the west, that's not going to happen with the mechanics they got in place. And it does not take 1.5 hours to get from 1-10, that's the biggest load of BS I've heard yet. Not when you're trying to do every quest and running all over the place. Not to mention if you're trying to do things other than questing like gathering. The replayability of this game is going to be killed when you try to level your 3rd character through the same content over and over again.
Unless the PvP is out of this world, I don't see how after playing this for 2 months you don't get bored out of your mind. I give em credit for making the game look good and run relatively smooth, but it takes more than that to be a successfull MMO in the west. Ask Lineage.
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
My wife and I were recalling how fun EQ was despite the grinding and having to camp mobs for days and so forth. This game seems to have a lot of elements that made EQ fun. It should be a good game and I am fairly positive that it can get a half-mil subs. There is no way it will steal many people from WoW. The learning curve for PvP is steep and some skills require time and dedication to raise. The average WoW player these days would find that very tiresome. Those who play WoW simply because they do not like anything else, and are sick of it may leave though. Especially if they are looking for a more "old School" challenge.
True Neutral Half-Elf Ranger Mage Follower Of Silvanus
I for one am glad that Aion brought back some of the oldschool elements of MMORPGs that made them MMORPGs. What Aion did is bring an EQ / UO / DAOC experience and Polish the hell out of them. We have the updated UI, Mouse look, and other small "updates" to the game that do not change how an MMORPG is played but merely enhance it. World of Warcraft is very successful, but I don't believe that is where Aion want's to draw its crowd from. The people who play and enjoy Aion will be the people who played and enjoyed oldschool games like EQ, DAOC, and UO and are looking for a more polished and up-to-date experience in an MMO, and believe me there are a lot more of us out there than you may think. Plenty enough of us to make Aion the number 2 MMORPG in the West which is what NCSoft is shooting for.
I could not agree with you more.
Biggest reason why I want to give Aion a shot because I like the old school feel of it from the reviews I have been reading. It is very zen like playing this style of game. Most of all the roles are not blurred such that I can actually enjoy a tank class for example. Throw in PVP into the mix, a game that can be ran on lesser PC's, and you have a recipe for success. Only doubt from my view? How NCSOFT supports the game in the west?
After playing for a good amount of time, I just don't see what the big deal is. The game is very vanilla and the OP is right, it does take a step back in certain game mechanics. Yea, the old school players may like that but the mass market does not. They want to get 400,000 subs in the west, that's not going to happen with the mechanics they got in place. And it does not take 1.5 hours to get from 1-10, that's the biggest load of BS I've heard yet. Not when you're trying to do every quest and running all over the place. Not to mention if you're trying to do things other than questing like gathering. The replayability of this game is going to be killed when you try to level your 3rd character through the same content over and over again.
Unless the PvP is out of this world, I don't see how after playing this for 2 months you don't get bored out of your mind. I give em credit for making the game look good and run relatively smooth, but it takes more than that to be a successfull MMO in the west. Ask Lineage.
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
You quote these numbers as if these games have that many subscribers 'today'. You mention keeping the kids away but the open beta has been nothing but immature kids on the chat channels. It's like WoW trade chat times 100. Why do fanboys get so offended when their game gets criticised? You know. Aion could of been so much more than it is, but instead takes a step back with little annoying crap that after awhile just gets frustrating. Why do I have to go through 10 levels of boring content just to pick my subclass? EQ2 tried that and it was horrible there too (reason why they changed it).
After playing for a good amount of time, I just don't see what the big deal is. The game is very vanilla and the OP is right, it does take a step back in certain game mechanics. Yea, the old school players may like that but the mass market does not. They want to get 400,000 subs in the west, that's not going to happen with the mechanics they got in place. And it does not take 1.5 hours to get from 1-10, that's the biggest load of BS I've heard yet. Not when you're trying to do every quest and running all over the place. Not to mention if you're trying to do things other than questing like gathering. The replayability of this game is going to be killed when you try to level your 3rd character through the same content over and over again.
Unless the PvP is out of this world, I don't see how after playing this for 2 months you don't get bored out of your mind. I give em credit for making the game look good and run relatively smooth, but it takes more than that to be a successfull MMO in the west. Ask Lineage.
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
You quote these numbers as if these games have that many subscribers 'today'. You mention keeping the kids away but the open beta has been nothing but immature kids on the chat channels. It's like WoW trade chat times 100. Why do fanboys get so offended when their game gets criticised? You know. Aion could of been so much more than it is, but instead takes a step back with little annoying crap that after awhile just gets frustrating. Why do I have to go through 10 levels of boring content just to pick my subclass? EQ2 tried that and it was horrible there too (reason why they changed it).
i haven't played the betas recently but if the "kids" are there like you say they won't stay once the ADD kicks in they'll go back to playin wow. i will agree on the subclass thing, you get it so early on its kinda pointless to be in the game at all. and the starter classes should be a mix of the 2 sub classes so you get an idea of the 2 options. like scouts, you plan on playing a ranger but you have to be a rogue first? its retarded. should have givin the socuts atleast 1 bow attack.
Comments
My prediction for what it's worth, Aion will comfortably become the 2nd most subbed MMO in the west. The style and polish of it alone will attract a lot of fans and I expect a lot of support fron NC Soft with expansions/new content to keep it fresh.
It's not breaking any new ground in terms of design, but it offers the first real WOW alternative for many (Warhammer Online was no where near).
But don't take my word for it, lets see
There have always been new games down the road. Whether they are good enough to be played is yet to be seen.
So saying that there are new games down the road is pointless in the here and now.
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...
Might be me but this game is not like WoW but more like Lineage or Kalonline.
What standards is that ????
The standard of MMO's since the launch of SWG has absolutely sucked Aion is the first i have played and truly enjoyed since then.
Thank 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...
All i can say to you is thank you for not making an hatefull story with your impression. Alot of people put hate into their writings wich in my opinion hurts a games potential and makes the author look thickheaded to me.
However i don't agree on most points (be it personal taste). I for one feel Aion has alot in it for me and i know It will probably not be a game for everyone. I like the fact that each class splits up into two be it new or not. I can get why you don't feel your sucked into the worlds atmopshere, but again it does do it for me combat wise and surrounding wise. i feel as i am sucked into the gameplay, yes the resting is a pain and i would like some regular food to make things regen faster (yes like in wow but its a mehcanic that works). I am a complete noob to aion even with the amount of chars i made allready and not afraid to admit that. i still have to find out alot of things, but i can see myself playing it for a long period of time simply because i am enjoying myself.
let me pin some things that really turned me down in this game..
So powerstones is an item thats boosts the damage of your weapon and its consumed on each hit..So according to that "stupid" mechanic you have to spend your money on an item that its vital for you to play and its shouldn't excist at all ( i mean they could lower the money that u gain but wtf i have to buy one item for every hit i do in this game?:S)
Also you loose exp on this game if u die and u get a stupid debuff thats last at least 1min
Also i dunno what these guys are talking about 1.5 hour in order to get to lvl 10..i have been playing about 5 hours?i am 7 lvl and 80% scout atm and when i want to kill a mob its like doing pvp with it :P i have to get behind it like 2 times in order to do a backstab style skill i have to use a skill to raise my evasion i have also to use my basic attack skill for like 3-4 times and also the normal non skill attacks does 6-10 damage when a skill does 60-120 (or even more on critical).All this to kill a mob on equal level and after that i get to 10-20% hp and i have to rest.If i attack a higher level mob i die.
Mob rest Mob rest Mob rest mmm so nice
This stuff reminds me of the time i have been playing lineage 2 and all the reasons that made me not only quit it but hate it also
For me some of the things that OP states as being cons with Aion are actually pros for me. Yes you can't AoE farm mobs all the way through the levels, you get rewarded for grouping up while leveling and in effect you have to play your class the "old fashion" way. Mages get whacked if the mobs start hitting them (glass cannon), a templar's dps is low and so on. I have missed this oh so much and this is in effect one of the key reasons I left WoW back then.
Graphics as well - they're quite manageable for average PC's and even with loads of people there aren't any hiccups or other problems. For me they have plenty of soul and I find the immersion in Aion in the better end. It certainly has a style that is rooted in its origins, but to me that's just curious and interesting rather than, as some hint, "bad because it's Asian".
I hope this is not going to be a new WoW. I hope NC will keep this in the niche where it is now and improve on the general concepts and I can only hope that as many as possible get their expectations settled before joining the game at release so we won't see expectations not fulfilled and the drama that follows. I hope NC will keep this in the niche where it is now and improve on the general concepts. The CB's and OB has indeed convinced me that Aion is going to be my home for a while
What standards is that ????
The standard of MMO's since the launch of SWG has absolutely sucked Aion is the first i have played and truly enjoyed since then.
See this is the problem, forever person that likes it someone else doesn t. I don t enjoy it at all, but I m not going to say because I don t like it no one else shouldn t. It is an average game, no different from many out there that has been released in the last little while.
Death penalty's dude WTH your obviously of a newer generation.
Once upon a time MMO's actually had a reason not to die this added excitement and thril to the PVE aspect as you did not want that XP hit then little Timmy came along and told his mammy he didnt like having to re-earn his xp or pay some money because he was a clownshoe and pulled too many mob's.
Llittle Timmy's mammy was so upset by this that she wrote straight to Blizzard and asked them if they could make they're upcoming MMO so casual friendly that little Timmy wouldnt cry every night at the thought of paying 1 gold or spending 20 minutes of his gaming life gaining back the XP.
The big bad EQ Vet monster was disgusted by the thought of this and when he meets those type of players in HIS game he proceeds to ream them whilst shouting "FO back to WOW"
too much caffeine sorry back OT
When you have done the starter zones a lot like a few of us have its easy and quick I can;t do 1.5 but can breeze through it in around 2 hrs
Mob bandage heal mob bandage heal takes all of 2 seconds if that avoids downtime and they have minimal cost
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
You're having a lot of downtime because you're playing the class in a wrong way. I would suggest buying plenty of bandages (100-200) since they are very cheap and use them right after you killed a mob, regardless of how little life you lost. See if this can improve the battle downtime for you.
The melee classes have zero downtime as long as they use bandages after each fight. Yes, the game plays differently than what you were accustomed to, the mobs are not paper thin and it needs a measure of alertness. Priests have a bit more downtime and they need to rest. Mages got the most downtime, but that's a counterweight to the speed that they kill. Once the caster classes reach level 10, they receive a mana regen skill that works with a dust in a way similar to bandages. After that you won't need to rest again.
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
That would be great news if it happens. Same with DirectX 10/11, if they ever implement it.
Finally.
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Exactly!
Guys you are delusional.
I don't think I agree with them either. The game plays differently and that's a good thing. It doesn't remind though at all the games mentioned.
Played OB for 3 days and deleted... not my cup of tea. Lineage with wings like many before me have said, graphics are semi-decent if you like Final fantasy anime graphics, brought nothing new to the table in terms of originality and feats that have been made 10 times better in other MMO's failed here miserably.
Overhyped piece of *bleep*. Should be F2P with micropayments like the rest of its kind (asian tedious grindfests)
Overall 2/10
That seriously is just a stupid excuse, thats what graphics settings are for ....
No its not.
Textures are generally a single texture with a number of options graphically to put higher res textures in you have to physically put them in making the client size massive when you are duplicating them multiple times.
I do remeber reading somewhere that Aion Team are considering a optional download of higher res non character textures.
Well there really is no reason why textures for example for mountains in 2009 should look THAT bad ....
Iam not bashing AION, in fact i preordered it but for some things I really have to wonder in the game ...
It might be a marketing thing. People at the moment comment on how beautiful Aion looks and how it plays great on average PCs, although it has bad textures in some points.
If the enhanced textures pack (if such a thing exists) was made available, my guess was that everyone would load it by default, no matter how (below) average the computer is and then they'd complain about how slow the game is or how bad it runs.
Personally, if such a texture pack exists, I would have liked the choice to use it, regardless of performance.
After playing for a good amount of time, I just don't see what the big deal is. The game is very vanilla and the OP is right, it does take a step back in certain game mechanics. Yea, the old school players may like that but the mass market does not. They want to get 400,000 subs in the west, that's not going to happen with the mechanics they got in place. And it does not take 1.5 hours to get from 1-10, that's the biggest load of BS I've heard yet. Not when you're trying to do every quest and running all over the place. Not to mention if you're trying to do things other than questing like gathering. The replayability of this game is going to be killed when you try to level your 3rd character through the same content over and over again.
Unless the PvP is out of this world, I don't see how after playing this for 2 months you don't get bored out of your mind. I give em credit for making the game look good and run relatively smooth, but it takes more than that to be a successfull MMO in the west. Ask Lineage.
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
My wife and I were recalling how fun EQ was despite the grinding and having to camp mobs for days and so forth. This game seems to have a lot of elements that made EQ fun. It should be a good game and I am fairly positive that it can get a half-mil subs. There is no way it will steal many people from WoW. The learning curve for PvP is steep and some skills require time and dedication to raise. The average WoW player these days would find that very tiresome. Those who play WoW simply because they do not like anything else, and are sick of it may leave though. Especially if they are looking for a more "old School" challenge.
True Neutral Half-Elf Ranger Mage
Follower Of Silvanus
Kings of Chaos! Free to play! Great PvP!
I could not agree with you more.
Biggest reason why I want to give Aion a shot because I like the old school feel of it from the reviews I have been reading. It is very zen like playing this style of game. Most of all the roles are not blurred such that I can actually enjoy a tank class for example. Throw in PVP into the mix, a game that can be ran on lesser PC's, and you have a recipe for success. Only doubt from my view? How NCSOFT supports the game in the west?
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
You quote these numbers as if these games have that many subscribers 'today'. You mention keeping the kids away but the open beta has been nothing but immature kids on the chat channels. It's like WoW trade chat times 100. Why do fanboys get so offended when their game gets criticised? You know. Aion could of been so much more than it is, but instead takes a step back with little annoying crap that after awhile just gets frustrating. Why do I have to go through 10 levels of boring content just to pick my subclass? EQ2 tried that and it was horrible there too (reason why they changed it).
EQ 500k
SWG pre cu 500k
DAOC 500k
Ultima not sure
So theres more than enough there on top of the many people bored with their current MMO to easily surpass 400k who gives a flying F about the mass market leave them in WOW keep the kid's away from Aion good thing IMO.
Lets try and get a MMO back to a decent thriving community of people helping each other that until OB you saw in Aion.
You quote these numbers as if these games have that many subscribers 'today'. You mention keeping the kids away but the open beta has been nothing but immature kids on the chat channels. It's like WoW trade chat times 100. Why do fanboys get so offended when their game gets criticised? You know. Aion could of been so much more than it is, but instead takes a step back with little annoying crap that after awhile just gets frustrating. Why do I have to go through 10 levels of boring content just to pick my subclass? EQ2 tried that and it was horrible there too (reason why they changed it).
i haven't played the betas recently but if the "kids" are there like you say they won't stay once the ADD kicks in they'll go back to playin wow. i will agree on the subclass thing, you get it so early on its kinda pointless to be in the game at all. and the starter classes should be a mix of the 2 sub classes so you get an idea of the 2 options. like scouts, you plan on playing a ranger but you have to be a rogue first? its retarded. should have givin the socuts atleast 1 bow attack.