The game is just ... boring. The repetitive grind design simply wears thin on most players. Even the crafting is designed as a boring grind, time & kinah sink. It is also very linear, killing the replay value. Finally, the end-game is nothing to write home about which makes the leveling grind kinda pointless. I liked some parts of the game but overall it got very boring.
Quite so. It was my reason too for leaving Aion after about 8 weeks. I just found the quests endlessly boring and repetitive. Totally linear, no choices... I dunno, I felt way too much in the often cited Theme Park than in a living, breathing world. I mean visually its great, but I just was bored.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
No fly limits. I think a lot of people got angry over that. All the hype with wings etc. Can it be fixed? No, don't think so. Less grind. Better system against farmers and other cheating people. Other games can stop it, so why not the asian games?
One word.. Gameguard. Aion uses and its not even a road block for a hacker. In other words.. No it will not ever be fixed unless they develope their own tools for it.
Oh dear, didnt you know, NCWest dropped Gameguard a week before release
@Slylok what games stopped hackers and botters pray tell?
I left because I discovered at one point I was hearing too much about "working" to get to the fun part.
Well, I dont play games to WORK to get to the FUN. So I bailed. It has a LOT of things I love, but when levelling in the 30's became as slow as it was for me, I just couldnt handle it anymore. I miss DAoC and vanilla WoW
I've actually become tempted by Darkfall only for its ruthless nature and ability to join a large guild and immediately have fun (altho not be quite as useful). And I used to make fun of Darkfall - thats how sad times are in the MMO world
BTW: for those using Xfire - the tool itself is on decline too.
The tool I mean. In one year time the average number of Xfire users on line went from 300K to 200K.
That explains why all PC games had a serious drop in activity (as someone pointed out for all the games mentioned).
That said, in the market share of MMO's played Aion came from 12%+ to around 4% on Xfire, while Wow went up from 53%(launch of Aion) to 59% in that same period.
So the question remains: both Lotro and Wow had huge and compelling content patches since Aion's launch. What did Aion bring in this 6 month period ? (Actually 18 months period since Korean launch).
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
Since when AION makes me believed that it is a boring game?
When I have seen many NPCs give quest like 1/100, I realized the game has not sufficient contents, and then when you leveled up again, you see the same NPC give another 1/100 quest.
The boring usually came from stupidity and extreme repetitve, though I would never try to complete any 1/100, but they are very influentially to bring down the game.
I wouldn't think the quest is given by Ncsoft as generosity for easy gold. AION is a heavy weight grind game, the 1/100 options just say it clear it's a grinding game. Besides, the 1/100 quest is not only in Sanctum, you could find 1/100 quest nearly everywhere. Or killing least 7000 crabs if you want to complete the quest.
Such quest is really stupid because when you turn higher level to complete such quest, you wont get anything drop off of the crabs. I'd like to see some reasonable grind but AION grind is ridiculous.
Anyway, I hope Ncsoft will not reward anything to encourage people to complete the 1/100 quest, it will make AION even more stupid.
I wouldn't think the quest is given by Ncsoft as generosity for easy gold. AION is a heavy weight grind game, the 1/100 options just say it clear it's a grinding game. Besides, the 1/100 quest is not only in Sanctum, you could find 1/100 quest nearly everywhere. Or killing least 7000 crabs if you want to complete the quest. Such quest is really stupid because when you turn higher level to complete such quest, you wont get anything drop off of the crabs. I'd like to see some reasonable grind but AION grind is ridiculous. Anyway, I hope Ncsoft will not reward anything to encourage people to complete the 1/100 quest, it will make AION even more stupid.
actually if you notice those quests are picked up very near a flight person the reason those quests are there is for when your broke and dont have enough kinah to be able to pay the flight guy bad part is you get nothing for the other times you do the quest
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Another huge problem are the ban waves that happened shortly after launch. While I do agree with most others that they had to do something about the botters, they went about it horribly. A good number of legit players lost their accounts in the ban wave. NCsoft even admitted on their site that, "a few honest players would get hit" they did nothing to help those that did. I saw my legion fall apart over the course of about two weeks because of this crap. While I can't speak for all of my legion mates that got hit, I do know of a couple that I am 100% never botted a day in their lives, as they are real life friends. In fact, a large number of us would go out bot hunting/reporting quite often. We would kill the bots repeatedly, (hey, free AP), and once we got bored, we reported them.
Sadly, I got banned as well right before Thanksgiving. I hated the botters as much as everyone else, and to be thrown in with them in the end was infuriating. I of course e-mailed NCsoft several times about the matter, but after a month of cut & paste responses, I lost interest and gave up. I demanded to see proof of my alleged actions, but they refused.
While I realize they are doing the only thing they really can to combat the botters/farmers, I know that at least 1% of the people banned were legit players like myself. Crap like this surely didn't help their numbers. As I know the rest of my legion that wasn't banned, ended up quitting due largely in part to this.
A Requiem For Argos, now available at e-book retailers.
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Wow you are delusional. The only reason why WoW doesn't lose subs is because Blizzard keeps advertising, therefore new players replace canceled accounts.
I don't know if Aion loses subs, don't have any numbers on that.
Though no one that started out with me is still playing (me myself included).
Why I quit?
They made promises, but didn't really fill in any of those: this game was advertised for its splendid pvp and revolutionary combat, as well as a large world where you could fly to your hearts extend.
None of that was there; especially the randomness or the absence even, of pvp and the extremely railroaded and small world made me pull out the plug.
That and there's just nothing to do in the game, it just ain't fun imo.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
Disclaimer: Ok, its an assumption. If the game is growing please enlighten me. I have been reading the Aion forums from time to time and read many oppinions on the game. However I have the impression that the playerbase is slowly being reduced. When Aion launched it was hailed as one of the most polished MMO releases in a long long time and the fans were besides themselves over how good it ran and how much fun it was. Nowadays there is not much positive feedback. From what I read Aion has a couple of problems 1) Grind - many enjoy it, while even more people hate it.
Disclaimer: Ok, its an assumption. If the game is growing please enlighten me. I have been reading the Aion forums from time to time and read many oppinions on the game. However I have the impression that the playerbase is slowly being reduced. When Aion launched it was hailed as one of the most polished MMO releases in a long long time and the fans were besides themselves over how good it ran and how much fun it was. Nowadays there is not much positive feedback. From what I read Aion has a couple of problems 1) Grind - many enjoy it, while even more people hate it.
Now my question to the community is: Will this decline stop? And if so, how can it be stopped?
I never understood why mmo players hate the grind..
the grind what makes a mmorpg, if you want a make toon to go private servers
The grind in an mmo is measured by how apparent it is. Its obvious that you sit there doing random stuff trying to achieve the max level or get to endgame, but when the developer disguises it in things, like PvP, minigames, puzzles and stuff like that. Then the grind is less apparent, and people play it off as less of a grind. In aion, the grind is just killing monsters...over...and over...and over. Its kind of like the grind in aion is wearing one of those fake mustaches and trying to sneak into the pentagon. People will see its obviously a grind.
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Mine was not really a question to be answered but anyways..
Even wow loses subs like every game so making a thread like this is stupid imo.
The fact that it is hard for new games to out do old successful ones is because they are always being compared in the same time line. Its only normal that developers will only release a few of the games content and steadily add more over time. In short, too much is expected from too little. The problem with this is that gamers only care about what they have at the present. This has already been a problem before and developers still haven't learned. If I were to make my own game I probably wouldn't mind if it took years before release rather than release it too early and struggle to keep it alive just after a few months.
any chance some of you might be able to use the words "losing" and "lose" correctly ? I mean, its pretty easy stuff. For example, big difference between lose and loose. Loose would best be used to describe your girlfriend or wife. Whereas lose can be used to ask, "Did AION lose some subs ?"
I like the theory that aion was designed to be successful for a few months to buy time for Blade and Soul. So wehen BaS is ready, Aion can go into a small corner and die. Aion is a really beautiful game. The character customization is great. But deep down its a generic mmo. If it were dumbed down and made for 12 year olds, it'd probably have more players (theres a lot more "casual" players than there are actual gamers).
The people who played this from the start were people who's first mmo was WoW. And since they are the most ignorant when it comes to mmos, they were expecting a "better" WoW. They think WoW is the standard, when its just a typical mmo only dumbed down and made for people who arent gamers. Aion is made for MMO gamers. But with so many casual games out there, its hard to get into these games that require a lot of time. Even players who played long before this casual trend find it hard to get back into slow progression. It doesnt help that we're paying 15 dollars a month as apposed to 9.95 a month. People cant be expected to spend time AND money on things that feel like a chore
I just cancelled my subscription to Aion and went back to Final Fantasy XI Online (a game almost ten years older than Aion). During my stay there were times where I had a lot of fun. I even made it to level 37 as a Sorcerer in game, but then it started to become so repetitive.
I literally went through the "Fire Temple" instance over forty times because no other instances are used. The bots were still unchecked, but now they're banned on a weekly cycle. The patches they keep releasing are painfully small and implement very little into the game. In fact, the last patch was a simple bug fix in the game, but unfortunately it created another bug and crashed many users launch applications. Their customer support is dreadful, and I could not talk to a real GM to save my life, and would only receive automated messages.
I understand it's a developing MMORPG, but they offer so little to the community for $15/month. I don't recommend this game to anyone.
I like the theory that aion was designed to be successful for a few months to buy time for Blade and Soul. So wehen BaS is ready, Aion can go into a small corner and die. Aion is a really beautiful game. The character customization is great. But deep down its a generic mmo. If it were dumbed down and made for 12 year olds, it'd probably have more players (theres a lot more "casual" players than there are actual gamers).
The people who played this from the start were people who's first mmo was WoW. And since they are the most ignorant when it comes to mmos, they were expecting a "better" WoW. They think WoW is the standard, when its just a typical mmo only dumbed down and made for people who arent gamers. Aion is made for MMO gamers. But with so many casual games out there, its hard to get into these games that require a lot of time. Even players who played long before this casual trend find it hard to get back into slow progression. It doesnt help that we're paying 15 dollars a month as apposed to 9.95 a month. People cant be expected to spend time AND money on things that feel like a chore
lolwut. Having come primarily from EQ, EQOA, EQ2, and having played WoW for a short while, I'd say Aion's time and style of progression comes closer to WoW than any of the others.
You can quest straight to the level cap, most of which is actually solo questing. There's no need for good old-fashioned group grinding for 10 hours straight, the most you'll find in Aion is running some 3-4 hour long instances a few times to complete a boatload of quests.
But the real kicker is gear progression. In EQ2, easily the most "casual" of the EQs, it took me a good 6 months of raiding in a guild with 100% attendance before completing my EoF set. In Aion it took me something around 2 weeks before completing my Fenris set, which is nearly entirely solo quested. And it's not even remotely bad, in fact it's easily one of the top 2-3 sets in the game for any class, and not inferior to any other by all that much at all.
I really don't understand how anyone could find it hard to get "back into slow progression" when this is pretty much the 2nd most casual MMO I've ever played.
Originally posted by Kitosoma I just cancelled my subscription to Aion and went back to Final Fantasy XI Online (a game almost ten years older than Aion). During my stay there were times where I had a lot of fun. I even made it to level 37 as a Sorcerer in game, but then it started to become so repetitive.
I literally went through the "Fire Temple" instance over forty times because no other instances are used. The bots were still unchecked, but now they're banned on a weekly cycle. The patches they keep releasing are painfully small and implement very little into the game. In fact, the last patch was a simple bug fix in the game, but unfortunately it created another bug and crashed many users launch applications. Their customer support is dreadful, and I could not talk to a real GM to save my life, and would only receive automated messages.
I understand it's a developing MMORPG, but they offer so little to the community for $15/month. I don't recommend this game to anyone.
Why did you do Fire Temple over 40 times? Like, seriously. I did Fire Temple enough times to do every quest associated with it and then never again. In that same level range you have access to Mist Mane and Lepharist Citadel, two outdoor group dungeons with plenty of quests. Also, there's several rare bosses with loot way better than anything that drops in Fire Temple. It's even bind on equip so you can sell it for millions of kinah on the broker if nobody wants it. Furthermore, if your faction owns the lower abyss fortresses there's even 3 more instances perfectly suited toward your level, giving both nice exp and AP.
Then when you get into your low-mid 40s you have access to Steel Rake, Alquimia Research Center, Draupnir Cave, and you can rift over and do Aetherogenetics Lab and Indratu Fortress. But wait, that's just instances, as far as outdoor group dungeon areas go there's Malek Mine, Bakarma, Alukina's Palace, and a quite large area outside Alquimia. And as you get further up there's Dredgion, Adma Stronghold, Dark Poeta, as well as the 5 upper abyss fortress instances provided your faction owns them.
But right, that must be repetitive when you choose to repeat a tiny portion of the content repeatedly while ignoring everything else.
I like the theory that aion was designed to be successful for a few months to buy time for Blade and Soul. So wehen BaS is ready, Aion can go into a small corner and die. Aion is a really beautiful game. The character customization is great. But deep down its a generic mmo. If it were dumbed down and made for 12 year olds, it'd probably have more players (theres a lot more "casual" players than there are actual gamers).
The people who played this from the start were people who's first mmo was WoW. And since they are the most ignorant when it comes to mmos, they were expecting a "better" WoW. They think WoW is the standard, when its just a typical mmo only dumbed down and made for people who arent gamers. Aion is made for MMO gamers. But with so many casual games out there, its hard to get into these games that require a lot of time. Even players who played long before this casual trend find it hard to get back into slow progression. It doesnt help that we're paying 15 dollars a month as apposed to 9.95 a month. People cant be expected to spend time AND money on things that feel like a chore
lolwut. Having come primarily from EQ, EQOA, EQ2, and having played WoW for a short while, I'd say Aion's time and style of progression comes closer to WoW than any of the others.
You can quest straight to the level cap, most of which is actually solo questing. There's no need for good old-fashioned group grinding for 10 hours straight, the most you'll find in Aion is running some 3-4 hour long instances a few times to complete a boatload of quests.
But the real kicker is gear progression. In EQ2, easily the most "casual" of the EQs, it took me a good 6 months of raiding in a guild with 100% attendance before completing my EoF set. In Aion it took me something around 2 weeks before completing my Fenris set, which is nearly entirely solo quested. And it's not even remotely bad, in fact it's easily one of the top 2-3 sets in the game for any class, and not inferior to any other by all that much at all.
I really don't understand how anyone could find it hard to get "back into slow progression" when this is pretty much the 2nd most casual MMO I've ever played.
Originally posted by Kitosoma
I just cancelled my subscription to Aion and went back to Final Fantasy XI Online (a game almost ten years older than Aion). During my stay there were times where I had a lot of fun. I even made it to level 37 as a Sorcerer in game, but then it started to become so repetitive.
I literally went through the "Fire Temple" instance over forty times because no other instances are used. The bots were still unchecked, but now they're banned on a weekly cycle. The patches they keep releasing are painfully small and implement very little into the game. In fact, the last patch was a simple bug fix in the game, but unfortunately it created another bug and crashed many users launch applications. Their customer support is dreadful, and I could not talk to a real GM to save my life, and would only receive automated messages.
I understand it's a developing MMORPG, but they offer so little to the community for $15/month. I don't recommend this game to anyone.
Why did you do Fire Temple over 40 times? Like, seriously. I did Fire Temple enough times to do every quest associated with it and then never again. In that same level range you have access to Mist Mane and Lepharist Citadel, two outdoor group dungeons with plenty of quests. Also, there's several rare bosses with loot way better than anything that drops in Fire Temple. It's even bind on equip so you can sell it for millions of kinah on the broker if nobody wants it. Furthermore, if your faction owns the lower abyss fortresses there's even 3 more instances perfectly suited toward your level, giving both nice exp and AP.
Then when you get into your low-mid 40s you have access to Steel Rake, Alquimia Research Center, Draupnir Cave, and you can rift over and do Aetherogenetics Lab and Indratu Fortress. But wait, that's just instances, as far as outdoor group dungeon areas go there's Malek Mine, Bakarma, Alukina's Palace, and a quite large area outside Alquimia. And as you get further up there's Dredgion, Adma Stronghold, Dark Poeta, as well as the 5 upper abyss fortress instances provided your faction owns them.
But right, that must be repetitive when you choose to repeat a tiny portion of the content repeatedly while ignoring everything else.
Ran into a guy who ran DC over 200 times to get the full armor set. The drop rates in FC are horrid, but there is one boss that drops some nice weapons which is why people run it ad nauseum.
While some of those outdoor instances like LC get some play, most of them are ghost towns and few people are willing to group for them.
As for instances the abyyss, so far it seems to be a haven for people to gank me, I rarely run across people I can even land a spell on, much less kill them.
My son and I are level 35, have been for almost a week, (we don't play that often) but we find that for the most part, we're grinding our way to the top, one inch at a time. We run the instances, they are crap for experience, most people run them as quickly as possible for the loot, not the exp.
Because in the end, like most NC games, the loot and earning Kinah are the more hidden grinds behind the game, and you need to spend a lot of time on both to be successful. (along with grinding up your levels)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
So yes, the game is defintiely reaching a maturity model we've seen with almost all MMO's outside of WOW and EVE, a huge number of people give it a go, 75-80% quit and leave the game somewhere betwween 150-300K subs.
Which is about where it should be.
The people who play Aion at this point are people who, for the most part, enjoy the style of game that it is. I love the somewhat harder lvling curve though truth be told it's so easy compared to L2 that it is extremely hard for me to commiserate with those who come from easier games.
I love the game design and I know others that do as well. Players that come from easier games are just not going to warm up to Aion.
Easier? Hah Aion is not hard, no grind game is hard. The definition of "grind" implies that the game is easy. If it were hard it would not be a grind or it would not be profitable. Quest grind or mob grind they are both easy; an almost thoughtless rhythm of mezmerizing repetition.
I have never seen a game in which gear is as imporant as it is in this game... A level 34, all twinked out(gold crafted + enchanted gear), has better stats than a level 42 in pretty damn good gear(all blues). The system totally encourages buying kinah(gold) from kinah farmers. The "cool" thing to do, is grind your way to 50, level an alt to 30, twink him out, and go rifting. Doing this basically GUARANTEES you won't lose to anyone within 5 levels of you. Gear is really that important. There really is no skill involved in this game. It is all RNG based, which is all based off of your gear.
Once you start rifting with all your gold gear, and +10 gold weapons, the AP really starts flowing in. Normally geared characters around your level can't even hit you, and if they can, it doesn't matter, because you have double the HP they do. Once you start preying on the defenseless newbies with your twinked out gank class, you start raking in the AP. AP that you then use to buy pvp gear, that is completely unattainable for a character that isn't benefitting from a sugar daddy, or from spending real life money for kinah. By the time a normal character would be able to buy one piece of that pvp gear, you have nearly a full set of it. This is so effective, in fact, that people actually stop leveling in their thirties, so they can keep getting AP off the defenseless newbies they gank, and keep their access to those rifts(gateways into the other realm's pve area).
Doing this in your 40s is much more difficult, as the pvp gear actually requires you to participate in fort siege/defense to obtain it. You can't really get the gear from ganking alone, unless you have unlimited kinah to buy the medals it requires. Yes, you can actually sell the medals you've earned from fort defense/offense to others... The beauty(or major flaw) in this system, is that when you eventually die to the higher levels that come to protect the newbies, you don't lose any AP, since they are often too high a level to get AP off of killing you...Basically, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. I feel EXTREMELY sorry for anyone in their 20s or 30s in this game, as you really have no chance at all against most people you'll encounter. The gear difference and game mechanics make it nearly impossible, as often times you can't even hit them... "Resist, resist, resist"
The crafting system is also TERRIBLE, so the only way you can afford the good crafted gear, or crafting yourself, is by having a high level to fund it. Drop rates are absolutely brutal. I can grind for hours and not see a single white or green drop... That just makes it that much harder to compete with those running around in full sets of gold gear.
Basically, this game is a never ending grind for kinah, which really isn't easy to come by at all until you get close to 50. Once you hit 50, good luck fighting the guys that have been 50 for a couple months. Everything is based off of Magic Resist(even melee powers) so once a 50 has acquired a few 6 socket armor pieces, and slotted MR, you really can't even touch them.
PvE is all the same mobs recycled over and over for the most part. You fight the same exact mobs at level 20, as you do at level 40. They just change the name SLIGHTLY. You fight an Ashikar Vanguard at level 28 or so, and you fight a RANX Vanguard at level 40 or so. Same exact model, different color, same exact mob abilities, tactics. Very clever.... not. Not only is it a neverending grind, but you have to grind the exact same mobs 10 levels apart. Maybe they figured, it took you so long to get from one level to the next, that you probably forgot all about those mobs by the time you hit 40? Well, I didn't.
I won't even get into the crowd control issues... Most classes have multiple forms of CC. Sleep, stun, silence, root, snare, knockdown, fear, the list goes on and on. Completely blown out of proportion. Long duration fears, that, don't break when you take damage. Awesome.
This game, from a pvp standpoint, is a bucket of fail.
Comments
Quite so. It was my reason too for leaving Aion after about 8 weeks. I just found the quests endlessly boring and repetitive. Totally linear, no choices... I dunno, I felt way too much in the often cited Theme Park than in a living, breathing world. I mean visually its great, but I just was bored.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
One word.. Gameguard. Aion uses and its not even a road block for a hacker. In other words.. No it will not ever be fixed unless they develope their own tools for it.
Oh dear, didnt you know, NCWest dropped Gameguard a week before release
@Slylok what games stopped hackers and botters pray tell?
I left because I discovered at one point I was hearing too much about "working" to get to the fun part.
Well, I dont play games to WORK to get to the FUN. So I bailed. It has a LOT of things I love, but when levelling in the 30's became as slow as it was for me, I just couldnt handle it anymore. I miss DAoC and vanilla WoW
I've actually become tempted by Darkfall only for its ruthless nature and ability to join a large guild and immediately have fun (altho not be quite as useful). And I used to make fun of Darkfall - thats how sad times are in the MMO world
BTW: for those using Xfire - the tool itself is on decline too.
The tool I mean. In one year time the average number of Xfire users on line went from 300K to 200K.
That explains why all PC games had a serious drop in activity (as someone pointed out for all the games mentioned).
That said, in the market share of MMO's played Aion came from 12%+ to around 4% on Xfire, while Wow went up from 53%(launch of Aion) to 59% in that same period.
So the question remains: both Lotro and Wow had huge and compelling content patches since Aion's launch. What did Aion bring in this 6 month period ? (Actually 18 months period since Korean launch).
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
Since when AION makes me believed that it is a boring game?
When I have seen many NPCs give quest like 1/100, I realized the game has not sufficient contents, and then when you leveled up again, you see the same NPC give another 1/100 quest.
The boring usually came from stupidity and extreme repetitve, though I would never try to complete any 1/100, but they are very influentially to bring down the game.
I wouldn't think the quest is given by Ncsoft as generosity for easy gold. AION is a heavy weight grind game, the 1/100 options just say it clear it's a grinding game. Besides, the 1/100 quest is not only in Sanctum, you could find 1/100 quest nearly everywhere. Or killing least 7000 crabs if you want to complete the quest.
Such quest is really stupid because when you turn higher level to complete such quest, you wont get anything drop off of the crabs. I'd like to see some reasonable grind but AION grind is ridiculous.
Anyway, I hope Ncsoft will not reward anything to encourage people to complete the 1/100 quest, it will make AION even more stupid.
actually if you notice those quests are picked up very near a flight person the reason those quests are there is for when your broke and dont have enough kinah to be able to pay the flight guy bad part is you get nothing for the other times you do the quest
I just kind of thought it was slow, slow lvls, slow Combat...just slow
Why does every game keep on losing subs?
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Another huge problem are the ban waves that happened shortly after launch. While I do agree with most others that they had to do something about the botters, they went about it horribly. A good number of legit players lost their accounts in the ban wave. NCsoft even admitted on their site that, "a few honest players would get hit" they did nothing to help those that did. I saw my legion fall apart over the course of about two weeks because of this crap. While I can't speak for all of my legion mates that got hit, I do know of a couple that I am 100% never botted a day in their lives, as they are real life friends. In fact, a large number of us would go out bot hunting/reporting quite often. We would kill the bots repeatedly, (hey, free AP), and once we got bored, we reported them.
Sadly, I got banned as well right before Thanksgiving. I hated the botters as much as everyone else, and to be thrown in with them in the end was infuriating. I of course e-mailed NCsoft several times about the matter, but after a month of cut & paste responses, I lost interest and gave up. I demanded to see proof of my alleged actions, but they refused.
While I realize they are doing the only thing they really can to combat the botters/farmers, I know that at least 1% of the people banned were legit players like myself. Crap like this surely didn't help their numbers. As I know the rest of my legion that wasn't banned, ended up quitting due largely in part to this.
A Requiem For Argos, now available at e-book retailers.
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Wow you are delusional. The only reason why WoW doesn't lose subs is because Blizzard keeps advertising, therefore new players replace canceled accounts.
But this game is just as shitty as Aion.
I don't know if Aion loses subs, don't have any numbers on that.
Though no one that started out with me is still playing (me myself included).
Why I quit?
They made promises, but didn't really fill in any of those: this game was advertised for its splendid pvp and revolutionary combat, as well as a large world where you could fly to your hearts extend.
None of that was there; especially the randomness or the absence even, of pvp and the extremely railroaded and small world made me pull out the plug.
That and there's just nothing to do in the game, it just ain't fun imo.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
I never understood why mmo players hate the grind..
the grind what makes a mmorpg, if you want a make toon to go private servers
I never understood why mmo players hate the grind..
the grind what makes a mmorpg, if you want a make toon to go private servers
The grind in an mmo is measured by how apparent it is. Its obvious that you sit there doing random stuff trying to achieve the max level or get to endgame, but when the developer disguises it in things, like PvP, minigames, puzzles and stuff like that. Then the grind is less apparent, and people play it off as less of a grind. In aion, the grind is just killing monsters...over...and over...and over. Its kind of like the grind in aion is wearing one of those fake mustaches and trying to sneak into the pentagon. People will see its obviously a grind.
Because games are comming out that are shallow compared to a standard that other games have set. WoW and other successful games may have been just as shallow when they first came out, but over time have created a standard of polish, fun, and features that has set the bar for new MMORPG's out of reach for new games.
I mean seriously all these game that are comming out lately lack a fundemental feature of fun. PvP based games are VERY hard to create a rewarding armor/weapon system these days as well. Its very hard to make it fair.
Mine was not really a question to be answered but anyways..
Even wow loses subs like every game so making a thread like this is stupid imo.
The fact that it is hard for new games to out do old successful ones is because they are always being compared in the same time line. Its only normal that developers will only release a few of the games content and steadily add more over time. In short, too much is expected from too little. The problem with this is that gamers only care about what they have at the present. This has already been a problem before and developers still haven't learned. If I were to make my own game I probably wouldn't mind if it took years before release rather than release it too early and struggle to keep it alive just after a few months.
any chance some of you might be able to use the words "losing" and "lose" correctly ? I mean, its pretty easy stuff. For example, big difference between lose and loose. Loose would best be used to describe your girlfriend or wife. Whereas lose can be used to ask, "Did AION lose some subs ?"
happy?
I like the theory that aion was designed to be successful for a few months to buy time for Blade and Soul. So wehen BaS is ready, Aion can go into a small corner and die. Aion is a really beautiful game. The character customization is great. But deep down its a generic mmo. If it were dumbed down and made for 12 year olds, it'd probably have more players (theres a lot more "casual" players than there are actual gamers).
The people who played this from the start were people who's first mmo was WoW. And since they are the most ignorant when it comes to mmos, they were expecting a "better" WoW. They think WoW is the standard, when its just a typical mmo only dumbed down and made for people who arent gamers. Aion is made for MMO gamers. But with so many casual games out there, its hard to get into these games that require a lot of time. Even players who played long before this casual trend find it hard to get back into slow progression. It doesnt help that we're paying 15 dollars a month as apposed to 9.95 a month. People cant be expected to spend time AND money on things that feel like a chore
I just cancelled my subscription to Aion and went back to Final Fantasy XI Online (a game almost ten years older than Aion). During my stay there were times where I had a lot of fun. I even made it to level 37 as a Sorcerer in game, but then it started to become so repetitive.
I literally went through the "Fire Temple" instance over forty times because no other instances are used. The bots were still unchecked, but now they're banned on a weekly cycle. The patches they keep releasing are painfully small and implement very little into the game. In fact, the last patch was a simple bug fix in the game, but unfortunately it created another bug and crashed many users launch applications. Their customer support is dreadful, and I could not talk to a real GM to save my life, and would only receive automated messages.
I understand it's a developing MMORPG, but they offer so little to the community for $15/month. I don't recommend this game to anyone.
You can quest straight to the level cap, most of which is actually solo questing. There's no need for good old-fashioned group grinding for 10 hours straight, the most you'll find in Aion is running some 3-4 hour long instances a few times to complete a boatload of quests.
But the real kicker is gear progression. In EQ2, easily the most "casual" of the EQs, it took me a good 6 months of raiding in a guild with 100% attendance before completing my EoF set. In Aion it took me something around 2 weeks before completing my Fenris set, which is nearly entirely solo quested. And it's not even remotely bad, in fact it's easily one of the top 2-3 sets in the game for any class, and not inferior to any other by all that much at all.
I really don't understand how anyone could find it hard to get "back into slow progression" when this is pretty much the 2nd most casual MMO I've ever played.
Why did you do Fire Temple over 40 times? Like, seriously. I did Fire Temple enough times to do every quest associated with it and then never again. In that same level range you have access to Mist Mane and Lepharist Citadel, two outdoor group dungeons with plenty of quests. Also, there's several rare bosses with loot way better than anything that drops in Fire Temple. It's even bind on equip so you can sell it for millions of kinah on the broker if nobody wants it. Furthermore, if your faction owns the lower abyss fortresses there's even 3 more instances perfectly suited toward your level, giving both nice exp and AP.Then when you get into your low-mid 40s you have access to Steel Rake, Alquimia Research Center, Draupnir Cave, and you can rift over and do Aetherogenetics Lab and Indratu Fortress. But wait, that's just instances, as far as outdoor group dungeon areas go there's Malek Mine, Bakarma, Alukina's Palace, and a quite large area outside Alquimia. And as you get further up there's Dredgion, Adma Stronghold, Dark Poeta, as well as the 5 upper abyss fortress instances provided your faction owns them.
But right, that must be repetitive when you choose to repeat a tiny portion of the content repeatedly while ignoring everything else.
You can quest straight to the level cap, most of which is actually solo questing. There's no need for good old-fashioned group grinding for 10 hours straight, the most you'll find in Aion is running some 3-4 hour long instances a few times to complete a boatload of quests.
But the real kicker is gear progression. In EQ2, easily the most "casual" of the EQs, it took me a good 6 months of raiding in a guild with 100% attendance before completing my EoF set. In Aion it took me something around 2 weeks before completing my Fenris set, which is nearly entirely solo quested. And it's not even remotely bad, in fact it's easily one of the top 2-3 sets in the game for any class, and not inferior to any other by all that much at all.
I really don't understand how anyone could find it hard to get "back into slow progression" when this is pretty much the 2nd most casual MMO I've ever played.
Why did you do Fire Temple over 40 times? Like, seriously. I did Fire Temple enough times to do every quest associated with it and then never again. In that same level range you have access to Mist Mane and Lepharist Citadel, two outdoor group dungeons with plenty of quests. Also, there's several rare bosses with loot way better than anything that drops in Fire Temple. It's even bind on equip so you can sell it for millions of kinah on the broker if nobody wants it. Furthermore, if your faction owns the lower abyss fortresses there's even 3 more instances perfectly suited toward your level, giving both nice exp and AP.Then when you get into your low-mid 40s you have access to Steel Rake, Alquimia Research Center, Draupnir Cave, and you can rift over and do Aetherogenetics Lab and Indratu Fortress. But wait, that's just instances, as far as outdoor group dungeon areas go there's Malek Mine, Bakarma, Alukina's Palace, and a quite large area outside Alquimia. And as you get further up there's Dredgion, Adma Stronghold, Dark Poeta, as well as the 5 upper abyss fortress instances provided your faction owns them.
But right, that must be repetitive when you choose to repeat a tiny portion of the content repeatedly while ignoring everything else.
Ran into a guy who ran DC over 200 times to get the full armor set. The drop rates in FC are horrid, but there is one boss that drops some nice weapons which is why people run it ad nauseum.
While some of those outdoor instances like LC get some play, most of them are ghost towns and few people are willing to group for them.
As for instances the abyyss, so far it seems to be a haven for people to gank me, I rarely run across people I can even land a spell on, much less kill them.
My son and I are level 35, have been for almost a week, (we don't play that often) but we find that for the most part, we're grinding our way to the top, one inch at a time. We run the instances, they are crap for experience, most people run them as quickly as possible for the loot, not the exp.
Because in the end, like most NC games, the loot and earning Kinah are the more hidden grinds behind the game, and you need to spend a lot of time on both to be successful. (along with grinding up your levels)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Which is about where it should be.
The people who play Aion at this point are people who, for the most part, enjoy the style of game that it is. I love the somewhat harder lvling curve though truth be told it's so easy compared to L2 that it is extremely hard for me to commiserate with those who come from easier games.
I love the game design and I know others that do as well. Players that come from easier games are just not going to warm up to Aion.
Easier? Hah Aion is not hard, no grind game is hard. The definition of "grind" implies that the game is easy. If it were hard it would not be a grind or it would not be profitable. Quest grind or mob grind they are both easy; an almost thoughtless rhythm of mezmerizing repetition.
I have never seen a game in which gear is as imporant as it is in this game... A level 34, all twinked out(gold crafted + enchanted gear), has better stats than a level 42 in pretty damn good gear(all blues). The system totally encourages buying kinah(gold) from kinah farmers. The "cool" thing to do, is grind your way to 50, level an alt to 30, twink him out, and go rifting. Doing this basically GUARANTEES you won't lose to anyone within 5 levels of you. Gear is really that important. There really is no skill involved in this game. It is all RNG based, which is all based off of your gear.
Once you start rifting with all your gold gear, and +10 gold weapons, the AP really starts flowing in. Normally geared characters around your level can't even hit you, and if they can, it doesn't matter, because you have double the HP they do. Once you start preying on the defenseless newbies with your twinked out gank class, you start raking in the AP. AP that you then use to buy pvp gear, that is completely unattainable for a character that isn't benefitting from a sugar daddy, or from spending real life money for kinah. By the time a normal character would be able to buy one piece of that pvp gear, you have nearly a full set of it. This is so effective, in fact, that people actually stop leveling in their thirties, so they can keep getting AP off the defenseless newbies they gank, and keep their access to those rifts(gateways into the other realm's pve area).
Doing this in your 40s is much more difficult, as the pvp gear actually requires you to participate in fort siege/defense to obtain it. You can't really get the gear from ganking alone, unless you have unlimited kinah to buy the medals it requires. Yes, you can actually sell the medals you've earned from fort defense/offense to others... The beauty(or major flaw) in this system, is that when you eventually die to the higher levels that come to protect the newbies, you don't lose any AP, since they are often too high a level to get AP off of killing you...Basically, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. I feel EXTREMELY sorry for anyone in their 20s or 30s in this game, as you really have no chance at all against most people you'll encounter. The gear difference and game mechanics make it nearly impossible, as often times you can't even hit them... "Resist, resist, resist"
The crafting system is also TERRIBLE, so the only way you can afford the good crafted gear, or crafting yourself, is by having a high level to fund it. Drop rates are absolutely brutal. I can grind for hours and not see a single white or green drop... That just makes it that much harder to compete with those running around in full sets of gold gear.
Basically, this game is a never ending grind for kinah, which really isn't easy to come by at all until you get close to 50. Once you hit 50, good luck fighting the guys that have been 50 for a couple months. Everything is based off of Magic Resist(even melee powers) so once a 50 has acquired a few 6 socket armor pieces, and slotted MR, you really can't even touch them.
PvE is all the same mobs recycled over and over for the most part. You fight the same exact mobs at level 20, as you do at level 40. They just change the name SLIGHTLY. You fight an Ashikar Vanguard at level 28 or so, and you fight a RANX Vanguard at level 40 or so. Same exact model, different color, same exact mob abilities, tactics. Very clever.... not. Not only is it a neverending grind, but you have to grind the exact same mobs 10 levels apart. Maybe they figured, it took you so long to get from one level to the next, that you probably forgot all about those mobs by the time you hit 40? Well, I didn't.
I won't even get into the crowd control issues... Most classes have multiple forms of CC. Sleep, stun, silence, root, snare, knockdown, fear, the list goes on and on. Completely blown out of proportion. Long duration fears, that, don't break when you take damage. Awesome.
This game, from a pvp standpoint, is a bucket of fail.