No, it feels too sterile and occasionally grindy for me. also reminded me of my days playing perfect world (on korean servers). However i can see how it might appeal to a lot of ppl.
Great game in a highly polished state, real world pvp, lots of content. I'll be there.
From what I saw it didn't seem very polished, at least not polished in the sense of a game that has been in wide release for many months.
Gameguard, 'nuff said in terms of polish and usability right there. Window positions did not save between play sessions, a pretty basic thing missing. No ability to move major UI elements though overall the UI was good (and had a two layout option, upper and lower). Chat is clunky and under featured compared to any MMO I have seen in the last few years. Right click on avatar and click or right click on player name in chat also under impressive, even downright annoyingly nonfunctional. Plenty of hotbars for lower levels but otherwise limited options to add extra hotbars and no ability to move them as mentioned above. No integrated voice for groups, something I should think is a necessity for a PvP oriented game with a heavy group focus. Absolutely ugly textures on par with games of WoW's generation giving an otherwise nice game graphically a very cartoony look.
Very poor usabilty in game for many things - example is the quest log. Overall the quest log is OK, maybe even good but the amount of clicking it takes to get info is just stupid. Click or key to open the log, then another to get any useful info, then you go through nested link hell to get granular info. Dictionary is not a bad idea but the volume of clicking to expose teh dictionary is just silly and the way it opens more and more windows is also silly. And why do I have to go through 3 to 5 clicks to get a quest waypoint, wouldn't it make sense to add a waypoint when I add something to the tracker or to at least give an option to do that automatically? The waypoint is there for most quests so why make someone click 4 or 5 times to expose it. Many skill tooltips are obscure at best as are many quest dialogues. Granted, it wasn't like LoTRO where you got useless directions like 'south of such-and-such place you have never been to and have no idea where it is' but there where some really vague and even useless quest remarks such as 'find evidence of what happened to farmer X" without even narrowing an area to look or a clue as to what to look for (i.e. interactive object or drop or whatnot).
Don't get me wrong, this is no AoC - but it is also not what at all what I think we should expect from a game that has been in wide release for many months. I would say its polish is average, not good and not bad, but if you consider this game has been live for many months then it can fairly be said the polish is poor. let's put it this way, if Aion 6 months from now is like it is now in terms of polish and functionality/features then it would be pretty lame, so why is launching in US/Euro with this level of features and functionality OK when it has been live in Asia for so long? Aion has some good qualities and will find an audience, I am not saying the game stinks - just that it is disappointing to see it go live here in a state that is more like what I would expect from a truly new, non-live anywhere, game which is some good things and some unfinished or bad things.
yes got into OB and loving every moment of it, I know its nothing new but I've been looking forward to this game for along time it met my expectations so yest I will be playing at launch
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
Aion, like AoC, was released way too early in Asia, which is why the polish seems average. Although it did manage to find a huge audience in Asia regardless.
I'm playing Aion at lauch cause I hate getting behind levelling my toon. I dont want to have the first lvl 50 glad but I dont want to be the last either. I want to have a lvl 50 toon about the same time everyone that started has.
Originally posted by templarga 4. Auctioneers. Players can setup sellers anywhere they want (in cities) and such and it can get really annoying. I hate this system. 6. Bots/gold farmers: NCSoft has a very, very weak stance towards bots and farmers. They usually take a very serious approach in what they say and what they plan to do, but rarely does it turn into action.
I will be playing but those two points above do leave room for comment. It would be nice if there were limited areas for sellers or at least specific areas where sellers CAN'T set up. I hate porting in from somewhere and having sellers sitting on the flight pad or 50 'BUY FROM ME' hitting me in the face when I get to the city.
Bots - That worries me a bit. I lived and loved L2 for 3.5 years. On one hands I truly despise them but on the other hand, once you know them you can usually forget them. At least /ignore <name> works nicely for the idiots who spam advertising.
And in answer to the OP, I am playing because I think the game is amazingly beautiful, difficult but not impossible and just generally a lot of fun. Personally I think it's about the 'prettiest' game out there and still playable without a mongo gaming rig.
I made the mistakes of playing both Age of Conan and Warhammer Online right at release. Never ever ever again will I play any MMO right at release. I will be keeping a close eye on this game and see how it is shaping up over the next 6 months. If the general consensus is that the end game PVPVE is really good, then I'll give it a try.
By now i can only judge the game by it's PvE content which isn't worth my money. 45Eur and 12,99/month is alot for so little game. 35Eur for the box and 9,99 a month would be ok, but i won't buy AAA prices for a game i don't see providing AAA content (yet).
So the PvE will shurely not keep me interested, but i also can't tell how the PvP will be. And reading these forums it seems like no one else can, although the game is on the market for 7+ month somewhere, how strange is that?
PvP would be the thing i'd buy the game for, but except for some clips on youtube i found little info about it and everyone's just saying "we'll see how pvp is, we'll see how balance is, we'll see how endgame is, we'll..."
I like the combat.. Story is good and the game is *cough cough* immersive for me at least. Not afraid of pvp since I played shadowbane for 2 years for gods sake.. Some of the best times I have had in a game there.. hehe But the graphics and polish aside.. Its fun.. Yes you have to earn *Grind* levels.. But what do you do in a mmo? Run to end game and then what.. Boreing.. I want to feel like I have earned what I have personally.. And with all that "Grinding" people tend to know their chars a bit better and play them better.. Not to mention the opportunity to get to know your fellow group classes so you know how to play with them also..
Anyway.. Good game for me and I will at the very least give it a month of open mindedness and hopefully stay around a while
1. As i started running the game today I get error pleas turn of you anti virus, now first off that's not something I would like a game tell me and 2nd I wasn't running any anti software at that time either. some tweaking got me into game.
2. The graphic, its nice to lock at and runs good on mediocre system, but come on the PC models locks pasted into a background that doesn't fit, something is off, I rather have my old eq2 graphic option then, or AOC where atlist the models fits the world,
3. NCsoft launcher, well its just locks as they don't fucking care, news updated last 9 months ago, its have barely any feuthers, and I'm forced to use it. no thanks, if you first gonna do it do it like SOE, its a good platform, easy accesses has, good updates, news reported for all there games, and its made the web page pointless for existing players, and can be rather a focus on requiting new ones.
4. game play feels off, all things lock good but off, its like background, mobs and PC just dosnt mach together.
5. Quest and lore, its hasn't gripe me at all, I was liking the idea when i first heard of Aion a long time ago, but its not presented from the get go in the game, i feel pointless in my task or even like i just fall out of the sky in a world i don't belong.
I followed the game a long time, gave up, but tripped over some beta keys, tried it and it was just meh, the videos back 2 years felt better, 9 months translation work on a lore that doesn't grip, fuck they could just have used google translator when the story's doesn't really work
I voted no only because I prefer leveling when all the congested madness of a newly released game has died down a bit and because I want to hear about the pvp from a western perspective. I will be playing this about a month after release and hope to see some of you guys there..
"For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.' Such is the rule of honour..."
The game is just another grinder. Very generic and unoriginal. I might be playing it for a bit if the game was free-to-play like other dozen of korean copies which are pretty identical to Aion.
Can u post some titles plz, so i can save my money?
lol free loader! Just playing... yeah there are ones that look close to Aion, but not close... And you know People are complaining is all you do is grind grind grind in mmos.. any rpg mmos will have grind ok? no matter what or where you go. WoW EQ EQ2 FF 11 guild wars, Lineage 1 and 2 and so many other free ones as well... the only mmos you really wont find grind is sports and so on.... I will be playing Aion On the 20th because graphics are crisp and beautiful. Love the lore... And pvp. I know there are some saying forced pvp... I played Lineage 2 which is pretty much worse pvpve because there is a lot of gankers. But learn to avoid it like I did. I love pvp now when 2 years ago I never did. So im there:)
I am posting this to see why people will and will not be playing at release. I want to really see how interested people are in this game, and hopefully be able to estimate how long this game will last. I am on the fence right now as to whether I will be buying it, just because I don't know how people are going to respond to the game and whether it will do good after the huge launch rush in. So by looking at who will and won't be playing it, hopefully I will be able to make a decision, and hopefully you all will be able to as well.
stroy is linear, quest is boring, playing is grinding, but only character is good.
No I will not be playing. Reasons: 1. Very, very linear game. In addition to that it uses a branching class system. So let's say you get to level 10 and choose your class. Hate it? Replay levels 1-10 again to try another. Hate that one? Repeat. I thought the branching class system went out in EQ2. 2. Forced PVP. The game masquerades as a PVPVE game but that is just later on. Starting around 25-30, players can enter into your leveling zone and you are now forced into PVP without you making a change or decision to your playing. Granted, its not that often but it does happen. 3. Two factions. Two faction PVP based games inherently have issues because the servers become dominated by the one side. Once this happens, that server becomes known as "THE" server for that side. Yes, I know there is a 3rd party NPC faction that is supposed to help keep balance in, but its NPC's and not players. 4. Auctioneers. Players can setup sellers anywhere they want (in cities) and such and it can get really annoying. I hate this system. 5. Gameguard. I am not on a crusade against it but I have read many reports with GG causing issues with normal, everyday computer programs (especially anti-viruses) so I think its best to avoid it for now. I have never had any personal issue with it (with TCOS) but at this point, its better to be safe. 6. Bots/gold farmers: NCSoft has a very, very weak stance towards bots and farmers. They usually take a very serious approach in what they say and what they plan to do, but rarely does it turn into action. Those are some of the main reasons I will not be playing.
HEllo again hehe I do agree on 5 and 6 there:) gamegaurd does tend to get annoying and bots are annoying in lineage 2... but the first 4.... the branching really the same with singles.... say they didnt have branch classes. start as a glad... get to lvl 20 and you hate start another class... get that to a lvl and you start to hate it... its all the same except you have to wait till lvl 10 to see it. I know pvpve can be annoying, but it can be fun to! gank! or be ganked! and away helps people interact more and help people gank the person that keeps ganking you! and as the abyss pvp....Just because thrd party is npc it is to target the stronger faction... so say ballar attacks Eylos because they over power... the other faction can attack them too while ballar attacks them... making it easier to kill... unlike wow where AV is always dominated by alliance and horde always looses. hehe but yeah there are some people who dont like pvp which I understand and can point of view. so I wont go on about that... Now auctioneer I love because if your poor and and can't afford AH you set up a store... now I know annouce it over trade channel... but there be less spamming, and you can be anywhere to sell stuff while afk... instead of running to AH each time... but I dont mean to say your reason is bad. Just letting you know
No I will not be playing. Reasons: 1. Very, very linear game. In addition to that it uses a branching class system. So let's say you get to level 10 and choose your class. Hate it? Replay levels 1-10 again to try another. Hate that one? Repeat. I thought the branching class system went out in EQ2. 2. Forced PVP. The game masquerades as a PVPVE game but that is just later on. Starting around 25-30, players can enter into your leveling zone and you are now forced into PVP without you making a change or decision to your playing. Granted, its not that often but it does happen. 3. Two factions. Two faction PVP based games inherently have issues because the servers become dominated by the one side. Once this happens, that server becomes known as "THE" server for that side. Yes, I know there is a 3rd party NPC faction that is supposed to help keep balance in, but its NPC's and not players. 4. Auctioneers. Players can setup sellers anywhere they want (in cities) and such and it can get really annoying. I hate this system. 5. Gameguard. I am not on a crusade against it but I have read many reports with GG causing issues with normal, everyday computer programs (especially anti-viruses) so I think its best to avoid it for now. I have never had any personal issue with it (with TCOS) but at this point, its better to be safe. 6. Bots/gold farmers: NCSoft has a very, very weak stance towards bots and farmers. They usually take a very serious approach in what they say and what they plan to do, but rarely does it turn into action. Those are some of the main reasons I will not be playing.
Yah, pretty much this game reminds me a lot of L2. Almost the same game mechanics. I played a Ranger in L2 and the AION ranger plays in basically the same way.
Also, the combat mechanics opens up a huge potential for bots and gold farming to be a major problem in this game.
Granted the graphics are decent and flying is new, but I will not be playing this.
Originally posted by Jabas Can u post some titles plz, so i can save my money?
Um... Silkroad/Rohan/Cabal/Chaos/KAL Online, Runes of Magic(Taiwan , some private servers of Lineage 2 and RYL2, Requiem: Bloodmyre.
Don't take me wrong, I am not saying Aion is a bad game, it certainly will have it's audience. Just to me, it's something I have seen zillion times before...and for free.
Yes... have pre-made group going over. Entire alliance from DAoC was talking about making the move.. so may have guild/alliance by the time it rolls out.
Then it will just depend on how long the people I like to play with stick around.
Currently they are in 3 different MMO's.. so that's my motivation... getting them into one product ;p
I see what your saying, but if you actually did achieve a higher level you would see that Aion sets itself apart from those games in many various ways. PvPvE in the abyss, raiding, and apparently copious amounts of end game content is something those games did not offer. L2 I would say would be the closest to Aion, but still doesn't match up. This game is definitely of that genera though, but does have quite a few elements of a western mmo as well.
I will play for the same reasons I try most new mmos. To see what endgame is like. If its so boring I don't make it to end game, Im out 50 bucks. Ive done alot worse then be out 50 bucks in my time. There was this asian hooker once that turned out to be a guy! So trying aion for a couple of months isnt the end of the world.
Originally posted by blueelf lol free loader! Just playing... yeah there are ones that look close to Aion, but not close... And you know People are complaining is all you do is grind grind grind in mmos.. any rpg mmos will have grind ok? no matter what or where you go. WoW EQ EQ2 FF 11 guild wars, Lineage 1 and 2 and so many other free ones as well... the only mmos you really wont find grind is sports and so on.... I will be playing Aion On the 20th because graphics are crisp and beautiful. Love the lore... And pvp. I know there are some saying forced pvp... I played Lineage 2 which is pretty much worse pvpve because there is a lot of gankers. But learn to avoid it like I did. I love pvp now when 2 years ago I never did. So im there:)
No, they don't have to. Not all MMORPG have grind,ie. EVE has no grind unless you want/allow one. They do because it makes the game more accessible.
Also if the game got grind, there should be something worthy to me to compensate grinding.
Comments
No, it feels too sterile and occasionally grindy for me. also reminded me of my days playing perfect world (on korean servers). However i can see how it might appeal to a lot of ppl.
sidenote: no flaming so far, it's amazing
My Signature
From what I saw it didn't seem very polished, at least not polished in the sense of a game that has been in wide release for many months.
Gameguard, 'nuff said in terms of polish and usability right there. Window positions did not save between play sessions, a pretty basic thing missing. No ability to move major UI elements though overall the UI was good (and had a two layout option, upper and lower). Chat is clunky and under featured compared to any MMO I have seen in the last few years. Right click on avatar and click or right click on player name in chat also under impressive, even downright annoyingly nonfunctional. Plenty of hotbars for lower levels but otherwise limited options to add extra hotbars and no ability to move them as mentioned above. No integrated voice for groups, something I should think is a necessity for a PvP oriented game with a heavy group focus. Absolutely ugly textures on par with games of WoW's generation giving an otherwise nice game graphically a very cartoony look.
Very poor usabilty in game for many things - example is the quest log. Overall the quest log is OK, maybe even good but the amount of clicking it takes to get info is just stupid. Click or key to open the log, then another to get any useful info, then you go through nested link hell to get granular info. Dictionary is not a bad idea but the volume of clicking to expose teh dictionary is just silly and the way it opens more and more windows is also silly. And why do I have to go through 3 to 5 clicks to get a quest waypoint, wouldn't it make sense to add a waypoint when I add something to the tracker or to at least give an option to do that automatically? The waypoint is there for most quests so why make someone click 4 or 5 times to expose it. Many skill tooltips are obscure at best as are many quest dialogues. Granted, it wasn't like LoTRO where you got useless directions like 'south of such-and-such place you have never been to and have no idea where it is' but there where some really vague and even useless quest remarks such as 'find evidence of what happened to farmer X" without even narrowing an area to look or a clue as to what to look for (i.e. interactive object or drop or whatnot).
Don't get me wrong, this is no AoC - but it is also not what at all what I think we should expect from a game that has been in wide release for many months. I would say its polish is average, not good and not bad, but if you consider this game has been live for many months then it can fairly be said the polish is poor. let's put it this way, if Aion 6 months from now is like it is now in terms of polish and functionality/features then it would be pretty lame, so why is launching in US/Euro with this level of features and functionality OK when it has been live in Asia for so long? Aion has some good qualities and will find an audience, I am not saying the game stinks - just that it is disappointing to see it go live here in a state that is more like what I would expect from a truly new, non-live anywhere, game which is some good things and some unfinished or bad things.
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Achiever 60.00%, Socializer 53.00%, Killer 47.00%, Explorer 40.00%
Intel Core i7 Quad, Intel X58 SLi, 6G Corsair XMS DDR3, Intel X-25 SSD, 3 WD Velociraptor SATA SuperTrak SAS EX8650 Array, OCZ 1250W PS, GTX 295, xFi, 32" 1080p LCD
No i will not. Its just more of the same.
yes got into OB and loving every moment of it, I know its nothing new but I've been looking forward to this game for along time it met my expectations so yest I will be playing at launch
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
Aion, like AoC, was released way too early in Asia, which is why the polish seems average. Although it did manage to find a huge audience in Asia regardless.
I'm playing Aion at lauch cause I hate getting behind levelling my toon. I dont want to have the first lvl 50 glad but I dont want to be the last either. I want to have a lvl 50 toon about the same time everyone that started has.
Fight Me! http://zunarn.mybrute.com
of course there really isnt anything better our there
I will be playing but those two points above do leave room for comment. It would be nice if there were limited areas for sellers or at least specific areas where sellers CAN'T set up. I hate porting in from somewhere and having sellers sitting on the flight pad or 50 'BUY FROM ME' hitting me in the face when I get to the city.
Bots - That worries me a bit. I lived and loved L2 for 3.5 years. On one hands I truly despise them but on the other hand, once you know them you can usually forget them. At least /ignore <name> works nicely for the idiots who spam advertising.
And in answer to the OP, I am playing because I think the game is amazingly beautiful, difficult but not impossible and just generally a lot of fun. Personally I think it's about the 'prettiest' game out there and still playable without a mongo gaming rig.
I made the mistakes of playing both Age of Conan and Warhammer Online right at release. Never ever ever again will I play any MMO right at release. I will be keeping a close eye on this game and see how it is shaping up over the next 6 months. If the general consensus is that the end game PVPVE is really good, then I'll give it a try.
By now i can only judge the game by it's PvE content which isn't worth my money. 45Eur and 12,99/month is alot for so little game. 35Eur for the box and 9,99 a month would be ok, but i won't buy AAA prices for a game i don't see providing AAA content (yet).
So the PvE will shurely not keep me interested, but i also can't tell how the PvP will be. And reading these forums it seems like no one else can, although the game is on the market for 7+ month somewhere, how strange is that?
PvP would be the thing i'd buy the game for, but except for some clips on youtube i found little info about it and everyone's just saying "we'll see how pvp is, we'll see how balance is, we'll see how endgame is, we'll..."
I'm not shure, but rather not.
Yes..
I like the combat.. Story is good and the game is *cough cough* immersive for me at least. Not afraid of pvp since I played shadowbane for 2 years for gods sake.. Some of the best times I have had in a game there.. hehe But the graphics and polish aside.. Its fun.. Yes you have to earn *Grind* levels.. But what do you do in a mmo? Run to end game and then what.. Boreing.. I want to feel like I have earned what I have personally.. And with all that "Grinding" people tend to know their chars a bit better and play them better.. Not to mention the opportunity to get to know your fellow group classes so you know how to play with them also..
Anyway.. Good game for me and I will at the very least give it a month of open mindedness and hopefully stay around a while
No
1. As i started running the game today I get error pleas turn of you anti virus, now first off that's not something I would like a game tell me and 2nd I wasn't running any anti software at that time either. some tweaking got me into game.
2. The graphic, its nice to lock at and runs good on mediocre system, but come on the PC models locks pasted into a background that doesn't fit, something is off, I rather have my old eq2 graphic option then, or AOC where atlist the models fits the world,
3. NCsoft launcher, well its just locks as they don't fucking care, news updated last 9 months ago, its have barely any feuthers, and I'm forced to use it. no thanks, if you first gonna do it do it like SOE, its a good platform, easy accesses has, good updates, news reported for all there games, and its made the web page pointless for existing players, and can be rather a focus on requiting new ones.
4. game play feels off, all things lock good but off, its like background, mobs and PC just dosnt mach together.
5. Quest and lore, its hasn't gripe me at all, I was liking the idea when i first heard of Aion a long time ago, but its not presented from the get go in the game, i feel pointless in my task or even like i just fall out of the sky in a world i don't belong.
I followed the game a long time, gave up, but tripped over some beta keys, tried it and it was just meh, the videos back 2 years felt better, 9 months translation work on a lore that doesn't grip, fuck they could just have used google translator when the story's doesn't really work
I voted no only because I prefer leveling when all the congested madness of a newly released game has died down a bit and because I want to hear about the pvp from a western perspective. I will be playing this about a month after release and hope to see some of you guys there..
"For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.' Such is the rule of honour..."
Can u post some titles plz, so i can save my money?
lol free loader! Just playing... yeah there are ones that look close to Aion, but not close... And you know People are complaining is all you do is grind grind grind in mmos.. any rpg mmos will have grind ok? no matter what or where you go. WoW EQ EQ2 FF 11 guild wars, Lineage 1 and 2 and so many other free ones as well... the only mmos you really wont find grind is sports and so on.... I will be playing Aion On the 20th because graphics are crisp and beautiful. Love the lore... And pvp. I know there are some saying forced pvp... I played Lineage 2 which is pretty much worse pvpve because there is a lot of gankers. But learn to avoid it like I did. I love pvp now when 2 years ago I never did. So im there:)
playing:Aion, shot online.
waiting for: Terra
Used to play:wow,EQ,EQ2,Rf Online, lineage II,Raganoke online.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
stroy is linear, quest is boring, playing is grinding, but only character is good.
this is no better than Perfect World.
perfect world has the wing either.
HEllo again hehe I do agree on 5 and 6 there:) gamegaurd does tend to get annoying and bots are annoying in lineage 2... but the first 4.... the branching really the same with singles.... say they didnt have branch classes. start as a glad... get to lvl 20 and you hate start another class... get that to a lvl and you start to hate it... its all the same except you have to wait till lvl 10 to see it. I know pvpve can be annoying, but it can be fun to! gank! or be ganked! and away helps people interact more and help people gank the person that keeps ganking you! and as the abyss pvp....Just because thrd party is npc it is to target the stronger faction... so say ballar attacks Eylos because they over power... the other faction can attack them too while ballar attacks them... making it easier to kill... unlike wow where AV is always dominated by alliance and horde always looses. hehe but yeah there are some people who dont like pvp which I understand and can point of view. so I wont go on about that... Now auctioneer I love because if your poor and and can't afford AH you set up a store... now I know annouce it over trade channel... but there be less spamming, and you can be anywhere to sell stuff while afk... instead of running to AH each time... but I dont mean to say your reason is bad. Just letting you know
good luck in finding a perfect game;) I still am!
playing:Aion, shot online.
waiting for: Terra
Used to play:wow,EQ,EQ2,Rf Online, lineage II,Raganoke online.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Yah, pretty much this game reminds me a lot of L2. Almost the same game mechanics. I played a Ranger in L2 and the AION ranger plays in basically the same way.
Also, the combat mechanics opens up a huge potential for bots and gold farming to be a major problem in this game.
Granted the graphics are decent and flying is new, but I will not be playing this.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Um... Silkroad/Rohan/Cabal/Chaos/KAL Online, Runes of Magic(Taiwan
, some private servers of Lineage 2 and RYL2, Requiem: Bloodmyre.
Don't take me wrong, I am not saying Aion is a bad game, it certainly will have it's audience.
Just to me, it's something I have seen zillion times before...and for free.
I will not. As said before, "It's more of the same". That and I'm busy playing Fallen Earth.
Yes... have pre-made group going over. Entire alliance from DAoC was talking about making the move.. so may have guild/alliance by the time it rolls out.
Then it will just depend on how long the people I like to play with stick around.
Currently they are in 3 different MMO's.. so that's my motivation... getting them into one product ;p
I see what your saying, but if you actually did achieve a higher level you would see that Aion sets itself apart from those games in many various ways. PvPvE in the abyss, raiding, and apparently copious amounts of end game content is something those games did not offer. L2 I would say would be the closest to Aion, but still doesn't match up. This game is definitely of that genera though, but does have quite a few elements of a western mmo as well.
I will play for the same reasons I try most new mmos. To see what endgame is like. If its so boring I don't make it to end game, Im out 50 bucks. Ive done alot worse then be out 50 bucks in my time. There was this asian hooker once that turned out to be a guy! So trying aion for a couple of months isnt the end of the world.
Quoted for fail
No, they don't have to. Not all MMORPG have grind,ie. EVE has no grind unless you want/allow one. They do because it makes the game more accessible.
Also if the game got grind, there should be something worthy to me to compensate grinding.