For me every MMO is a grind, the only difference is whether I'm enjoying myself during this grind (i.e quest grind) , in WoW I enjoyed every second of it , in Aion I suffered and it felt like work - why? well I guess there can be many "stupid" reasons: the linearity of Aion's world against WoW's open world , fun world pvp etc.
... What? when have you last played WoW?
I played wow from classic to start of leech king (since its beta)
Also seeing as you're in love with WoW, I think it has more to do with the fact that you soloed both games. WoW is extremely solo friendly, so you tried playing Aion the same way.
not inlove with wow otherwise I wouldn't be able to say the game turned into a pile of crap and there's no world pvp a long time now (i'm talking way back)
I played WoW with RLFs and aion with a guild from the start - so.. nope not solo at all.
Personally I cannot imagine playing Aion solo past the mid 20s, yet I didn't mind soloing in WoW. Grouping in Aion however is tons of fun whether you're doing instanced dungeons, non-instanced elite areas, questing, rifting, abyss grinding, world bosses, sieges, artifacts etc. there are so much things to do in groups.
WoW.. the only time I used to group was to do instanced dungeons. Other than that solo was the way to go until level cap.
Aion has to encourage and reward grouping, only then will this game truly shine. Sadly though, most of the players are brought up by WoW and want to solo everything on their own, having the best gear handed to them on a silver platter, and only think about grinding to max level. Also, they want to achieve that in a week.
I just hope NCsoft doesn't follow in Blizz's footsteps.
World of Warcraft is a proof that MMORPG quality should affect schedule/budget and not the other way around.
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
This was every MMO before WoW.
This is true, but Aion launched in 2009, not 2003.
When the review is summed up with a 6.5 and the likes of WAR and AoC have an 8.5 I can hardly consider that fair or accurate. On the bright side maybe this is their new trend in reviewing mmo's......actually playing the game for a while and writing an informed review.
I think Aion is a far better game than AoC and WAR put together as they are both imo unfinished unpolished products but I still think 6.5 is a fair score to that game, Gamespot isn't reviewed by one person so you can expect some reviews to be inacutrate and some reviews being spot on like with Aion.
World of Warcraft is a proof that MMORPG quality should affect schedule/budget and not the other way around.
When the review is summed up with a 6.5 and the likes of WAR and AoC have an 8.5 I can hardly consider that fair or accurate. On the bright side maybe this is their new trend in reviewing mmo's......actually playing the game for a while and writing an informed review.
I think Aion is a far better game than AoC and WAR put together as they are both imo unfinished unpolished products but I still think 6.5 is a fair score to that game, Gamespot isn't reviewed by one person so you can expect some reviews to be inacutrate and some reviews being spot on like with Aion.
The "review" is extremely superficial and doesn't really touch on the issues and pros that Aion has and is really about, just like every single MMO review on gamespot and other sites.
You agree with the review? it's good and it's your opinion, this doesn't make it any more right or wrong. There are no "spot on" MMO reviews. There are just too many factors to take into consideration when reviewing an MMO that it is simply impossible. It's the reviewer's opinion, and when playing MMOs every person could have radically different experiences.
In fact, I disagree with most of MMO reviews on gamespot, which really look like they are just given random numbers. Eve online at 6.6, Aion at 6.5, WoW at 9.5, WAR and AoC at 8.5, Vanguard at 7.5, Ultima online at 4.4.
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
This was every MMO before WoW.
This is true, but Aion launched in 2009, not 2003.
2008 actually. And not every MMO has to be the same. Plenty of people reminiscing about how they use to camp and kill mobs instead of quest grind all day long (both grinds yeah I know). It's a matter of opinion.
Not all games have to become like WoW. Besides, look at some of those other MMO's out there, plenty of MMO's who can't/won't learn from the past, some not even from their own previous MMO's.
After reading the review I wonder why the 6.5. Hes complaining (more or less rightfully) about grind, fps drops in large scale pvp (surprise), open pvp (ganking), luck during crafting (?) and sound (???). Thats a 6.5? Well ok, if thats a 6.5 how the hell got AoC and WAR 8x ratings? I just discovered their Vanguard SoH review which is a 7.5 (much too low, wonderful game) but the review is from 2.5 years ago. And at that time Vanguard was unfinished and next to unplayable.
Well, just a review.
Edit: Just saw Champions Online got a 7.5.
Both AOC and WAR were fun throughout the leveling process. There was never a point where you just hit a wall and have no more content to level through like there is with Aion. Both AOC and WAR may have lacked in end game content and polish, but leveling in those games was much more fun than it is in Aion (in my opinion). Apparently the Gamespot reviewers agree...
It's a shame that Aion's early engaging gameplay so quickly devolves into a mind-numbing grind.
An excellent summary that describes Aion in one phrase. Never thought I'd say this, but: viva, Gamespot!
I completely agree as well.
I'd love a game that took as much time and effort to hit the level cap as Aion, but offered plenty of content and changes of scenery along the way to keep things interesting.
The game world is way too small. At least by a factor of five.
It's also not very creative in it's design. Aion has about the lowest "Awe" factor in zone design of any MMORPG I've ever played.
I like the classes. Love the character design. I wish there was more variety in armor, but I like what we do have over all. It has other things going for it as well. However, it's seriously lacking in content and land mass. That's why it's completely accurate to describe the game as a Grind.
After reading the review I wonder why the 6.5. Hes complaining (more or less rightfully) about grind, fps drops in large scale pvp (surprise), open pvp (ganking), luck during crafting (?) and sound (???). Thats a 6.5? Well ok, if thats a 6.5 how the hell got AoC and WAR 8x ratings? I just discovered their Vanguard SoH review which is a 7.5 (much too low, wonderful game) but the review is from 2.5 years ago. And at that time Vanguard was unfinished and next to unplayable.
Well, just a review.
Edit: Just saw Champions Online got a 7.5.
Both AOC and WAR were fun throughout the leveling process. There was never a point where you just hit a wall and have no more content to level through like there is with Aion. Both AOC and WAR may have lacked in end game content and polish, but leveling in those games was much more fun than it is in Aion (in my opinion). Apparently the Gamespot reviewers agree...
Is this a joke?
If by "throughout the leveling process" you mean the first 20levels, then I wholeheartedly agree. AoC's first 20 levels were beyond amazing graphics wise and story-wise. WAR had the most fun 20levels I have ever played. Being able to level by only doing PvP? great. T1 and T2 pvp were some of the best gaming experiences I have ever had.
Beyond this? Not only nothing worked in AoC, from crafting, to game-breaking bugs, shitty performance, latency issues, broken mechanics, broken itemization etc. but there was barely any content past lvl40, and this "content" consisted of grinding mobs to max level where more than half the mobs were bugged with horrible pathing.
You have not played AoC at launch. AoC's leveling process was hell. How come it lost like 70% of its players during the first month? it was bordering on unplayable. You absolutely could NOT get to max level by questing alone (even including the bugged quests that nobody could do), and don't get me started on the end game "content".
This is not an opinion. It's a fact: AoC was very, very broken at launch and nobody in his right mind (provided he played past the 30s) would give it an 8.5 .
Now WAR is another matter, you can level through PvP, thus content doesn't matter as most of the players used to just grind scenarios and keep trade for exp and loot. Fun or not is all opinion, but again it had too many issues to count, performance/lag in sieges, non-existent and useless crafting, very very poor PvE, broken siege mechanics, extremely unbalanced/empty servers etc. Again, an 8.5 for this game is laughable at best.
Content? WAR had (and still has) much bigger fish to fry.
The ratings are completely pointless as well.
Content is in no way the only determinant of the rating. What happened to actually playing a stable, polished, good-looking game that works? AoC and WAR were the opposite of this at launch, HOW on earth could they get such high ratings by doing very, very little right?
Well in both their cases, it was by barely playing the first 20 levels of the game. There is no other reason, and it is 100% NOT due to being fun throughout the leveling process.
AoC and WAR reviews on gamespot came out fast. The reviews were very poor, lacked information on the game, were superficial, and only contained info on things that any person could experience on his own after a couple of hours playing.
Aion's review came after 2 months, and still the reviewer didn't really delve into it in details, focusing on irrelevant and/or extremely opinionated points. I seriously was looking forward to an in-dept review that goes on for a few pages (any MMO deserves at least that). Some of the pros and cons are so irrelevant and pale when compared to what the REAL pros and issues are.
Having said that, MMO reviews in general do not work. They can't be reviewed like single-player games, as the wants, experiences, opinions, community, mentality, etc. all change radically for each and every person and should be taken with a small grain of salt.
I completely agree as well. I'd love a game that took as much time and effort to hit the level cap as Aion, but offered plenty of content and changes of scenery along the way to keep things interesting. The game world is way too small. At least by a factor of five. It's also not very creative in it's design. Aion has about the lowest "Awe" factor in zone design of any MMORPG I've ever played. I like the classes. Love the character design. I wish there was more variety in armor, but I like what we do have over all. It has other things going for it as well. However, it's seriously lacking in content and land mass. That's why it's completely accurate to describe the game as a Grind.
The zones are odd. I wouldn't say they have a low awe factor or if we had to say it I would say that was subjective.
the problem with many of Aion's zones are that they are all very deliberate. Not all of them are just paths going throug areas but I have to say that today I was looking at one of the maps and trying to find a place one could level and just kept following the path around and around.
If one is to go anywhere in one of Aion's levels then there is a specific reason that one would go there. It's not like one can get lost exploring. I have to admit that this was a dissapointment to me. However, I find the areas very well done as far as aesthetics.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Content is in no way the only determinant of the rating. What happened to actually playing a stable, polished, good-looking game that works? AoC and WAR were the opposite of this at launch, HOW on earth could they get such high ratings by doing very, very little right?
I played all three games at launch. If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to pick one to play, it would be WAR. At least the RVR can be fun, and it does have the "endless trial" now.
I actually hit max level in AoC with a HoX, which is something I rarely do in MMOs (didn't in WAR or Aion). The HoX was an extremely fun class. And while I did run out of quests, the gameplay for the HoX was much more fun than any of the classes I tried in Aion.
So while technically Aion may be a superior game than the other two, in my opinion, and clearly in the opinion of others, it trails in the "fun" department which is what really matters for a game. My Squig Herders were ten times more fun than my Ranger.
Content is in no way the only determinant of the rating. What happened to actually playing a stable, polished, good-looking game that works? AoC and WAR were the opposite of this at launch, HOW on earth could they get such high ratings by doing very, very little right?
I played all three games at launch. If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to pick one to play, it would be WAR. At least the RVR can be fun, and it does have the "endless trial" now.
I actually hit max level in AoC with a HoX, which is something I rarely do in MMOs (didn't in WAR or Aion). The HoX was an extremely fun class. And while I did run out of quests, the gameplay for the HoX was much more fun than any of the classes I tried in Aion.
So while technically Aion may be a superior game than the other two, in my opinion, and clearly in the opinion of others, it trails in the "fun" department which is what really matters for a game. My Squig Herders were ten times more fun than my Ranger.
Notice I only mentioned "fun" once in my post, and that to say that "fun" is extremely subjective. What is fun for you can be mind-numbingly boring for others, especially in MMOs. Experiences may radically differ. Personally I would gouge my eyes out before trying out AoC or WAR ever again. If you seriously leveled a lvl80 in AoC good for you, but you were clearly one of the very few remaining players as most could not take it anymore, showing once again that even severely broken games (which were breaking more and more thanks to ridiculous patching I might add) can be fun to some people.
The AoC review was posted on June 2nd. Release was 20th of May. Do you seriously think that the reviewer enjoyed the game the same way you did and leveled through the whole game and reach max level? Extremely doubtful, and that was one of my points in my surprisingly long post. Judging also by the information available inside the review (just like every single MMO review), it is lacking. It's obvious he didn't play long enough to experience the game properly. AoC has a brilliant start, story, graphics, and fun combat. The "review" was obviously just a first impression based on the first 20-30 levels, just like Aion (which surprisingly even 2 months later has the same amount of information as any other MMO review) and WAR.
I'm not contesting the fact that Aion trails in the fun department for some people. It's all opinion and they are meaningless. Now in MY opinion (which is also meaningless), AoC and WAR have the better first 20 levels, but on a whole Aion takes the cake, and by some margin.
Comments
Considering they gave WAR a 8.5 that can't be a good thing.
I played WAR and it was good for the first 25 levels or so but after that...
If the reviewers found that much wrong so fast (assuming they aren't idiots, which is a big assumption) that can't be good.
An honestly, if they implemented everything I saw in that 'Things to come' video quickly, i would go back!
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone
www.spankybus.com
-3d Artist & Compositor
-Writer
-Professional Amature
Why would you go back, to carry on grinding?
Playing Darkfall EU1 Server
Its only a grind if it feels like one. A.K.A. not fun.
Hell, I though WoW was a grind, because doing endless quests felt like work to me.
/shrug
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone
www.spankybus.com
-3d Artist & Compositor
-Writer
-Professional Amature
World of Warcraft is a proof that MMORPG quality should affect schedule/budget and not the other way around.
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
This was every MMO before WoW.
www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/warhammeronline/review.html Warhammer Online : 8.5
www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/ageofconanhyborianadventures/index.html Age of Conan : 8.5
Nuff said. LOL Gamespot.
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
This was every MMO before WoW.
This is true, but Aion launched in 2009, not 2003.
8.5 for WAR and AoC is a joke imo.
But that does not contradict the fact that the Aion review is spot on.
You fail bb
World of Warcraft is a proof that MMORPG quality should affect schedule/budget and not the other way around.
Someone is butthurt.
When the review is summed up with a 6.5 and the likes of WAR and AoC have an 8.5 I can hardly consider that fair or accurate.
On the bright side maybe this is their new trend in reviewing mmo's......actually playing the game for a while and writing an informed review.
I think Aion is a far better game than AoC and WAR put together as they are both imo unfinished unpolished products but I still think 6.5 is a fair score to that game, Gamespot isn't reviewed by one person so you can expect some reviews to be inacutrate and some reviews being spot on like with Aion.
World of Warcraft is a proof that MMORPG quality should affect schedule/budget and not the other way around.
I think Aion is a far better game than AoC and WAR put together as they are both imo unfinished unpolished products but I still think 6.5 is a fair score to that game, Gamespot isn't reviewed by one person so you can expect some reviews to be inacutrate and some reviews being spot on like with Aion.
The "review" is extremely superficial and doesn't really touch on the issues and pros that Aion has and is really about, just like every single MMO review on gamespot and other sites.
You agree with the review? it's good and it's your opinion, this doesn't make it any more right or wrong. There are no "spot on" MMO reviews. There are just too many factors to take into consideration when reviewing an MMO that it is simply impossible. It's the reviewer's opinion, and when playing MMOs every person could have radically different experiences.
In fact, I disagree with most of MMO reviews on gamespot, which really look like they are just given random numbers. Eve online at 6.6, Aion at 6.5, WoW at 9.5, WAR and AoC at 8.5, Vanguard at 7.5, Ultima online at 4.4.
I mean... can you be any more random?
Its not the fact that it takes a good month or so to get lvl cap, its the fact that you have to kill mobs over and over to lvl cus the content is laking and the zones are small.
This was every MMO before WoW.
This is true, but Aion launched in 2009, not 2003.
2008 actually. And not every MMO has to be the same. Plenty of people reminiscing about how they use to camp and kill mobs instead of quest grind all day long (both grinds yeah I know). It's a matter of opinion.
Not all games have to become like WoW. Besides, look at some of those other MMO's out there, plenty of MMO's who can't/won't learn from the past, some not even from their own previous MMO's.
Both AOC and WAR were fun throughout the leveling process. There was never a point where you just hit a wall and have no more content to level through like there is with Aion. Both AOC and WAR may have lacked in end game content and polish, but leveling in those games was much more fun than it is in Aion (in my opinion). Apparently the Gamespot reviewers agree...
MMORPG genre is dead. Long live MMOCS (Massively Multiplayer Online Cash Shop).
I completely agree as well.
I'd love a game that took as much time and effort to hit the level cap as Aion, but offered plenty of content and changes of scenery along the way to keep things interesting.
The game world is way too small. At least by a factor of five.
It's also not very creative in it's design. Aion has about the lowest "Awe" factor in zone design of any MMORPG I've ever played.
I like the classes. Love the character design. I wish there was more variety in armor, but I like what we do have over all. It has other things going for it as well. However, it's seriously lacking in content and land mass. That's why it's completely accurate to describe the game as a Grind.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Both AOC and WAR were fun throughout the leveling process. There was never a point where you just hit a wall and have no more content to level through like there is with Aion. Both AOC and WAR may have lacked in end game content and polish, but leveling in those games was much more fun than it is in Aion (in my opinion). Apparently the Gamespot reviewers agree...
Is this a joke?
If by "throughout the leveling process" you mean the first 20levels, then I wholeheartedly agree. AoC's first 20 levels were beyond amazing graphics wise and story-wise. WAR had the most fun 20levels I have ever played. Being able to level by only doing PvP? great. T1 and T2 pvp were some of the best gaming experiences I have ever had.
Beyond this? Not only nothing worked in AoC, from crafting, to game-breaking bugs, shitty performance, latency issues, broken mechanics, broken itemization etc. but there was barely any content past lvl40, and this "content" consisted of grinding mobs to max level where more than half the mobs were bugged with horrible pathing.
You have not played AoC at launch. AoC's leveling process was hell. How come it lost like 70% of its players during the first month? it was bordering on unplayable. You absolutely could NOT get to max level by questing alone (even including the bugged quests that nobody could do), and don't get me started on the end game "content".
This is not an opinion. It's a fact: AoC was very, very broken at launch and nobody in his right mind (provided he played past the 30s) would give it an 8.5 .
Now WAR is another matter, you can level through PvP, thus content doesn't matter as most of the players used to just grind scenarios and keep trade for exp and loot. Fun or not is all opinion, but again it had too many issues to count, performance/lag in sieges, non-existent and useless crafting, very very poor PvE, broken siege mechanics, extremely unbalanced/empty servers etc. Again, an 8.5 for this game is laughable at best.
Content? WAR had (and still has) much bigger fish to fry.
The ratings are completely pointless as well.
Content is in no way the only determinant of the rating. What happened to actually playing a stable, polished, good-looking game that works? AoC and WAR were the opposite of this at launch, HOW on earth could they get such high ratings by doing very, very little right?
Well in both their cases, it was by barely playing the first 20 levels of the game. There is no other reason, and it is 100% NOT due to being fun throughout the leveling process.
AoC and WAR reviews on gamespot came out fast. The reviews were very poor, lacked information on the game, were superficial, and only contained info on things that any person could experience on his own after a couple of hours playing.
Aion's review came after 2 months, and still the reviewer didn't really delve into it in details, focusing on irrelevant and/or extremely opinionated points. I seriously was looking forward to an in-dept review that goes on for a few pages (any MMO deserves at least that). Some of the pros and cons are so irrelevant and pale when compared to what the REAL pros and issues are.
Having said that, MMO reviews in general do not work. They can't be reviewed like single-player games, as the wants, experiences, opinions, community, mentality, etc. all change radically for each and every person and should be taken with a small grain of salt.
The zones are odd. I wouldn't say they have a low awe factor or if we had to say it I would say that was subjective.
the problem with many of Aion's zones are that they are all very deliberate. Not all of them are just paths going throug areas but I have to say that today I was looking at one of the maps and trying to find a place one could level and just kept following the path around and around.
If one is to go anywhere in one of Aion's levels then there is a specific reason that one would go there. It's not like one can get lost exploring. I have to admit that this was a dissapointment to me. However, I find the areas very well done as far as aesthetics.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I played all three games at launch. If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to pick one to play, it would be WAR. At least the RVR can be fun, and it does have the "endless trial" now.
I actually hit max level in AoC with a HoX, which is something I rarely do in MMOs (didn't in WAR or Aion). The HoX was an extremely fun class. And while I did run out of quests, the gameplay for the HoX was much more fun than any of the classes I tried in Aion.
So while technically Aion may be a superior game than the other two, in my opinion, and clearly in the opinion of others, it trails in the "fun" department which is what really matters for a game. My Squig Herders were ten times more fun than my Ranger.
proves that asian grind fests and asian graphics suck in a modern p2p MMO
I played all three games at launch. If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to pick one to play, it would be WAR. At least the RVR can be fun, and it does have the "endless trial" now.
I actually hit max level in AoC with a HoX, which is something I rarely do in MMOs (didn't in WAR or Aion). The HoX was an extremely fun class. And while I did run out of quests, the gameplay for the HoX was much more fun than any of the classes I tried in Aion.
So while technically Aion may be a superior game than the other two, in my opinion, and clearly in the opinion of others, it trails in the "fun" department which is what really matters for a game. My Squig Herders were ten times more fun than my Ranger.
Notice I only mentioned "fun" once in my post, and that to say that "fun" is extremely subjective. What is fun for you can be mind-numbingly boring for others, especially in MMOs. Experiences may radically differ. Personally I would gouge my eyes out before trying out AoC or WAR ever again. If you seriously leveled a lvl80 in AoC good for you, but you were clearly one of the very few remaining players as most could not take it anymore, showing once again that even severely broken games (which were breaking more and more thanks to ridiculous patching I might add) can be fun to some people.
The AoC review was posted on June 2nd. Release was 20th of May. Do you seriously think that the reviewer enjoyed the game the same way you did and leveled through the whole game and reach max level? Extremely doubtful, and that was one of my points in my surprisingly long post. Judging also by the information available inside the review (just like every single MMO review), it is lacking. It's obvious he didn't play long enough to experience the game properly. AoC has a brilliant start, story, graphics, and fun combat. The "review" was obviously just a first impression based on the first 20-30 levels, just like Aion (which surprisingly even 2 months later has the same amount of information as any other MMO review) and WAR.
I'm not contesting the fact that Aion trails in the fun department for some people. It's all opinion and they are meaningless. Now in MY opinion (which is also meaningless), AoC and WAR have the better first 20 levels, but on a whole Aion takes the cake, and by some margin.
Btw we could discuss this review too
http://www.gamersdailynews.com/article-2231-Aion-Online-Review-PC.html
lol. Just as bad.
> Because a deviation of 2.2 points on a scale of 10 is ridiculous taking into account the 8.1 these same mmorpg.com editors give to Blizzard's game.
Hey, you wouldnt compare review numbers of site X to review numbers of site Y, because they are soooo comparable. Or?
I think that is the position most people will take after playing Aion. Games are suppose to be fun not a job that you have to pay to perform.
I think that is the position most people will take after playing Aion. Games are suppose to be fun not a job that you have to pay to perform.
Whatever a person considers fun is the persons personal preference. Aion might be grind to some, while others think it's just the norm.
IMHO I think any MMO is a grind. Quests and such are just a facade for what your really doing, which is grinding. I have no problem with though.
Everyone has opinions, but does that make them the universal truth??? NO!