It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
I don't think they are greedy so much as arrogant and with a touch of cluelessness as to how others perceive them.
Part of me really does think it's a cultural gap.
I always see these odd stories about korean companies and how they do business. Like the story of a Hundai manufacturer that was visited by the higher ups. They were all smiles and just said they were there to say hello, etc. Next day all the management was fired. Thing is they had fired upper management several times in the past without so much as a by your leave.
Another thing that tipped me off was the head dev for Sword of the New World. There was an interview on this site where the interviwer asked if they were ever going to allow more customization for the game such as dying items. The dev in so many words said "No, they [the player] will make them ugly".
He essentially had an idea how everything was supposed to be and didn't want to open that up to anyone to introduce anything different. It was like it was his baby and that was that.
NC soft releases very pat, businsslike responses or missives and then just goes about doing what they do. One fo the reasons why the community is always screaming for more communication. They did this with L2 and though they are better they still do this with Aion.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
One reason why it's one to play: Launched more than 5 months ago, and it's STILL generating interest among players, especially trolls.
heh AoC launched a lot longer ago then that and it's also still generating interest.. especially not from trolls. I am not sure what your point is... that a lot of people still have negative opinions of the game?
As a side note, at around the time I cancelled Aion I started a new char in a effort to rekindle the fun and saw *noone* in the newbie zone (except for 2 bots). I restarted AoC and see a ton of people around me at all times of the day... Make of this what you will.
AoC forums as well as servers were as dead as can be 3 to 4 months in. Only recently have people started taking notice of the game again, after its "most improved MMO" award, and the reason you're seeing people around you a lot more is because they are all congested in a couple of servers after the server merges. Nothing surprising there.
My point was that interest in Aion has yet to die, it's been stable since launch and with news of 2 forthcoming game-changing patches in the near future, it doesn't look like it's going to die off any soon.
Does anybody else find the lack of tolerance fan-boys have hilarious? Electriceye you act as if what gary has to say is beneath you. You just simply can't be BOTHERED to acknowledge someones differing opinions. Yet, you care enough to respond to every single one of his statements. I don't really know how much more elitist you can get.. "Your post doesn't DESERVE my reply but I'ma give it to you anyway cuz my opinion is superior mmmkay??"
That's not what I meant by my brief answers at all, you misunderstood. I just find that the reasons OP has chosen barely touch on the game's real issues.
That is to say that I can probably name more than 10 reasons why Aion is one to miss, but the difference is that my points are accurate seeing as I'm still playing the game, and any person playing the game and has a touch of reality with what's really going on could probably do it easily, contrary to the OP who so obviously isn't playing it.
Negative criticism is more than fine, it's needed and very important, even more so than positive ones. Blatant Lying and irrelevancy however, is not. I've even been called a troll on these forums, believe it or not. Thing is people like yourself are quick to judge others without a second thought.
Thanks for the personal attacks though, much appreciated.
Pretty much has no idea what he is talking about. Bad track record? Look up the Top 5 Pay to play mmos out and you will see what I mean. Of course World Of Warcraft is #1 but guess who holds the 2, 3 and 4 spot? United States is not the only country on earth and its the smallest when it comes to the mmo market.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
One reason why it's one to play: Launched more than 5 months ago, and it's STILL generating interest among players, especially trolls.
heh AoC launched a lot longer ago then that and it's also still generating interest.. especially not from trolls. I am not sure what your point is... that a lot of people still have negative opinions of the game?
As a side note, at around the time I cancelled Aion I started a new char in a effort to rekindle the fun and saw *noone* in the newbie zone (except for 2 bots). I restarted AoC and see a ton of people around me at all times of the day... Make of this what you will.
AoC forums as well as servers were as dead as can be 3 to 4 months in. Only recently have people started taking notice of the game again, after its "most improved MMO" award, and the reason you're seeing people around you a lot more is because they are all congested in a couple of servers after the server merges. Nothing surprising there.
My point was that interest in Aion has yet to die, it's been stable since launch and with news of 2 forthcoming game-changing patches in the near future, it doesn't look like it's going to die off any soon.
well, all I can say is that I see newbs starting AoC, but I didnt see many new start players or vets on alts in Aion... Like I say, it was lonely in the newb zone with just the bots to talk to... Just speaking from personal experience. I didnt use the word 'congested' either for AoC, if anything it is healthly active
But 'stable since launch'? Nah, Aion has been hemoraging like a crash victim for months lol. Theres been nothing stable about it's sub at all, lets be honest. There might be *now* it has reached it's low, maybe it's slowed or even stopped, but the retention rate has been horrid.
I am not declaring it's death, Im not silly, but lets not pretend it's what it isnt.
Pretty much has no idea what he is talking about. Bad track record? Look up the Top 5 Pay to play mmos out and you will see what I mean. Of course World Of Warcraft is #1 but guess who holds the 2, 3 and 4 spot? United States is not the only country on earth and its the smallest when it comes to the mmo market.
No he's dead on NCsoft is by far the worst mmo company on the planet. I'm pretty anti soe but if you sub to a ncsoft game you will get burned eventually. They don't care about the american market. They have shown this w/ every game that is made in Korea then rolled out here. Communication is nil they do jack about botters and gold farmers other than occasion sweeps to sell more accounts. The company has a BBB rating of F, nuff said. You sir haven't been burned but trust me when I say MANY of us have been burned and NCsoft doesn't attempt to make it right, they simply don't care about foreign markets.
But 'stable since launch'? Nah, Aion has been hemoraging like a crash victim for months lol. Theres been nothing stable about it's sub at all, lets be honest. There might be *now* it has reached it's low, maybe it's slowed or even stopped, but the retention rate has been horrid. I am not declaring it's death, Im not silly, but lets not pretend it's what it isnt.
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
Pretty much has no idea what he is talking about. Bad track record? Look up the Top 5 Pay to play mmos out and you will see what I mean. Of course World Of Warcraft is #1 but guess who holds the 2, 3 and 4 spot? United States is not the only country on earth and its the smallest when it comes to the mmo market.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
If you only played COH then yes they treat the community good for the sole reason that it was made in the west(read not localized) and its the same for Guild Wars. Before you comment try Lineage II Exteel or Aion and you will see a COMPETELY different NCsoft they don't give a crap about foreign markets they throw you a bone once in a while but thats it. They are inward focused on all their Korean games and that won't be changing while current management continues to be in charge. So next time look a little deeper into the situation before making assumptions. I was treated great in COH and treated like a red headed step child in all their Korean imports, nuff said.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
8). To many bots in the game.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
You could have listed:
"It's a never-ending grind-quest, ala Korean MMOs" as all ten reasons, honestly. That is the biggest con of Aion, imo.
The PvP was fun. Content was... meh. The flying thing was cool; I wouldn't go so far as to say it's limited areas, you can fly anywhere in that big middle PvP battlefield area who's name I can't remember.
Over all, I'd give the game a 4/10. Too much lag, WAY too many bots, as you said, but all of that could be looked over, save for one thing... The grinding. It truly is maddening.
True mages don't die. They strategically miscalculate.
But 'stable since launch'? Nah, Aion has been hemoraging like a crash victim for months lol. Theres been nothing stable about it's sub at all, lets be honest. There might be *now* it has reached it's low, maybe it's slowed or even stopped, but the retention rate has been horrid. I am not declaring it's death, Im not silly, but lets not pretend it's what it isnt.
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
I don't deny AoC had a terrible start at all, and I am not here to defend FC vs NCS... I just gave it as a personal example. List X-Fire all you want, I don't put much value myself in it and the fact is that Aion has a terrible retention rate (as did Aoc when it launched).
The question is can NCS bring it back in the West the same way FC are doing? We will see... I personally don't think they will.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
8). To many bots in the game.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
You could have listed:
"It's a never-ending grind-quest, ala Korean MMOs" as all ten reasons, honestly. That is the biggest con of Aion, imo.
The PvP was fun. Content was... meh. The flying thing was cool; I wouldn't go so far as to say it's limited areas, you can fly anywhere in that big middle PvP battlefield area who's name I can't remember.
Over all, I'd give the game a 4/10. Too much lag, WAY too many bots, as you said, but all of that could be looked over, save for one thing... The grinding. It truly is maddening.
lol your gonna get destroyed for this post...
people will be asking you what level did you get to exactly to experience so much 'grind' when you can't even remember the name of the Abyss...
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas. - This is true, althought with 2.0 coming soon, they look like they have new areas to fly in and such
2). This game is a grind trust me. - New patch raised xp rate.
3). The content is poor especially endgame. - At release this game actually had a lot of endgame compared to most releases of mmos, (cuz this was already out in Korea or whatever) but they are adding more content in 2.0
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it. What makes Aion PvP so much different than any other?
5). The track record of this company is poor. Not really, NCsoft is great, only downfall ever was Tabula Rasa
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time. It has a good subscriber base and one of the best communities ive ever played in, bad server I guess?
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult. That was fixed by release pretty much, if it continues maybe u should get a new comp to work with it, or a better connection
8). To many bots in the game. - Yes, but this has been adressed and they are fixing that in 2.0, if not I think it was stated in 1.9 notes too
9). Far to many gold farmers. - So?
10). Theres better mmo's out there. - Thats a ridiculous argument
MMOs played: Too many Watch List: FFXIV, CoH:GR, GW2, SWTOR, TERA, Earthrise
But 'stable since launch'? Nah, Aion has been hemoraging like a crash victim for months lol. Theres been nothing stable about it's sub at all, lets be honest. There might be *now* it has reached it's low, maybe it's slowed or even stopped, but the retention rate has been horrid. I am not declaring it's death, Im not silly, but lets not pretend it's what it isnt.
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
I don't deny AoC had a terrible start at all, and I am not here to defend FC vs NCS... I just gave it as a personal example. List X-Fire all you want, I don't put much value myself in it and the fact is that Aion has a terrible retention rate (as did Aoc when it launched).
The question is can NCS bring it back in the West the same way FC are doing? We will see... I personally don't think they will.
What server do you play btw?
Every single MMO post-WoW has had terrible retention rates, it's nothing surprising. The thing that you need to take into consideration is the few months after that, you can even include the "perfect" in many gamers' eyes LOTRO.
Aion's had the best or second best MMO launch post-WoW (which tbh isn't something to brag about really). It's actually the only game to have a semblance of stability for the first few months (again not including the first, which is normal).
I play on Gorgos EU and used to have an alt on Spatalos, both servers are still healthy and they aren't even considered the most popular ones.
EDIT: As far as "bringing it back" in the West, I think the community thus far is at a good stage.
It's got mostly well populated servers, however they are still losing players, though both upcoming patches (both should be live by August-September, the first in a couple of months) should serve to solidify the community and kinda "rest on their laurels" as far as population goes. It might even gain some subs in the process, but I can't see it losing subs much more cause everything the West has QQed about are included in those patches from the droprates, to exp rates, to more quests and better rewards, including alot of other stuff.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
8). To many bots in the game.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
"2). This game is a grind trust me."
Name one MMO that isnt ? I have been playing MMOs since 1999 and they ALL have their own grind. ALL OF THEM. Some of you people need to get this through your thick heads. Understand it and accept it.
Pretty much has no idea what he is talking about. Bad track record? Look up the Top 5 Pay to play mmos out and you will see what I mean. Of course World Of Warcraft is #1 but guess who holds the 2, 3 and 4 spot? United States is not the only country on earth and its the smallest when it comes to the mmo market.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
NCSoft only publishes CoH, they did not develop it (that would be Cryptic). In fact, a majority of the current developers for CoH are the original developers.
Guildwars is the same story, NCSoft only publishes, but Arenanet are the developers.
NCSoft developed Aion and Lineage (I and II). See the difference?
It's very cheap to produce Aion by Ncsoft. Ncosft just copied many things from various F2P to make up Aion. For example, the chat system is typical F2P style.
Why only 1 channel is server wide just because all F2P provides only 1 server wide chat channel.
And secondly, most F2P chat channel are built with Colddown which means you have to wait for a few second after previous posted chat. Not because it is produced for anti-spam, Ncsoft never care about goldsellers spam etc, it is mainly because its cheap to make it. Most P2P never considered their customers will spam in the chat endless because they believe their game is good quality plus online GM support. F2P is so-called Vending Machine, and the chat system just like with easier self maintainence.
Third, most F2P are paid to chat, some games you have to buy chat point from their item shop. That's why in Aion, you see Trade, LFG, Guild Recruit, Normal chat all happened in same channel.
For a standard quality of P2P, Aion could be the worst and poorest in chat system.
I do think that Aion has a lot of pretty cool features. The no swimming thing did seem odd to me, but since I didn't really need to go anywhere in water it wasn't a big deal.
The "grind" isn't a huge deal for me either as long as there are other things to do. After watching 90% of my Champions Online Group hit max level by October and start to leave the game bored by November, I'm all for leveling to take a bit longer.
Flight on the other hand, while not being a game breaker for me, is pretty darn annoying. I think the flight timer is fine, what I don't like is that you can only fly in limited areas. What is more, those areas often don't make a lot of sense. Take the first outpost you can go to after leaving the main city, you can fly just fine until you try and head to the forest, and then you just hit an nvisible wall telling you that flight here is not allowed. It feels artifical. I would rather be able to fly anywhere but have a flight timer than the current system.
Now this is made worse by interviews and promotinal materials. I would read and watch interviews in beta where the Devs kept gushing "OMG flight" over and over again. Flight is presented as a huge part of the game, and one could easily think that flight here will be like CoH or CO. And while the lore does introduce Aether as a powersource, it doesn't really explain that flight is so limited.
The big issue I found with the game that kept me out was the pathing. Aion probably has the most obvious pathing in any game I have seen, worse than AoC by far. Heck, the zones that I played in Aion made Mustafar in SWG look wide open. Or the Hunting Grounds. I would love to just be able to pop my wings and fly, instead of having to trek my way through the winding canyon of a zone.
Anyway though, hopefully improvements will keep coming to Aion, because it does have some really cool features and I do like the world.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
8). To many bots in the game.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
"2). This game is a grind trust me."
Name one MMO that isnt ? I have been playing MMOs since 1999 and they ALL have their own grind. ALL OF THEM. Some of you people need to get this through your thick heads. Understand it and accept it.
I think what people are asking for is a "grind" that is so well disguised that it doesn't FEEL like a grind. It's not a "grind" if you're having FUN doing it. "Grind" implies that it is not enjoyable due to the repetitive nature of it all. If I'm having fun doing something in a game....I don't refer to it as a "grind."
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas. Uhm, wouldnt you rather have limited areas, to where when your there you get to enjoy flying then being able to fly everywhere when yet some areas are pointless to fly in? I mean, it makes the lure of those zones more appealing to people, because hey, if i get to fly in one zone and still quest or not fly and quest, im going to go in the questing zone that lets me fly.
2). This game is a grind trust me. This grind is nothing special, Its not too hard, and its not too easy, honestly, it took me about the same time to get 1-50 on aion as it did for me to get 1-80 on wow,.
3). The content is poor especially endgame. The content isnt exactly the quality of "Poor" the only reason why there is such little, is because most of the general population hasnt even hit level 50 yet. And with the new patches coming out, theres going to be more for level 50s to do.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it. How doesnt it? You kill, you get AP, from your AP you get ranks, from AP you can buy armor, from medals you can buy armor. You can control area's of the abyss which add to your playing ability. You just might not be bright enough to notice the amount of thought put into the PvP.
5). The track record of this company is poor. Im sorry but Guild Wars, is very far from being a poor track record. And CoH, come on dude, do some more research.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time. The community on Israphael, is booming, theres always people on, theres many people that help, Legions are everywhere, questions are answered relatively quick. The community is only as weak as you see it.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult. I personally havent hit any lag in a very very long time, nor has any of my guildmates. Ever think its just your computer?
8). To many bots in the game. Bots are dwindeling, right outside of the Altgard Fortress there use to be about 4-5 bots farming on the spiders by the gates, now theres none. There barely are any bots passed 25, since, they could just be farmed for AP, the bots are gone, stop saying theres an absurd amount, because guess what?! theres not!
9). Far to many gold farmers. And again with the gold farming, theres amaybe one or two people on stating that they are gold farmers a day, and oh hey look, right click and block, and bam! your game isnt hampered, and people arent stupid to buy the gold, hence why the amount of farmers is plummeting fast.
10). Theres better mmo's out there. And this is your opinion, Theres only better MMO's if you want there to be, and if you dont give the game its respected chance and time length, then yeah, there will be better MMO's out there, oh and you know, you could just not like the game, could just not be your style, but hey, if its not your style, no need to go bash it with horrible reasons.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
8). To many bots in the game.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
Pretty much nailed it.
The graphics were not that impressive, vanguard and aoc both blow aion away.
I agree that AOC was very good but I dont think that engine would suit Aion. Vanguard was not better in my opinion. The character were ok in VG but the lanscapes were very clay/plastic looking.
The game engin doesnt allow for swimming (stand on the bottom of the lake and drown) it crashes a lot (especially on high end rigs).
The engine will allow swimming next patch. As to the 2nd comment that it crashes especially on high end systems is false. I have a extremely highend system and I have never crashed once.
The fort seiges were unplayable they were so laggy and crash prone. Which caused death and seperation from your raid (have fun getting back in the chaos)
I have never had lag in raids. perhaps your machine is not as good as you thought.
The game IS a grind. Not as bad as some games, but youll know it by level 20.
I agree with poster above this game is only grind if you make it that way. I have 1 level 50 and 3 level 30's and I only quest 98% of the time.
What theres one end game raid boss? And you have to fight for him against the other faction in a zerg vs zerg fest?
Um no lol there are several raid bosses sorry to disapoint. There are a few in DP , DC, World raid bosses and a few others in other instances.
In your face botting/farming/spam/cheating....even the GM's spam.
When was the last time you played? I ahve not seen a GM message in about 2 months. As to gold spam almost none anymore, same with botters very few left int he game.
The flying is great when latency is high during mass pvp events, causing you to land and drop your wings on an abyss shard, only to be rubber banded back into the sky with no wings for an instant fall death. Flying in this game is a joke.
Still sounds like your machine is having issues.
Abyss is soooo small as a play feild and so boring looking.
I agree with you on this matter, however with 1.9/2.0 coming out there will be new land battle zones like DOAC but abit smaller scale.
Not the worst game in the world, but there are lots of better games out there.
I would say it is up with some of the better ones.
Aion...an epic waste of what could have been a really badass angels/demon faction vs faction pvp game. Why did they go the cutsie/metro look instead of badass looking archangles and cool looking demons? Cat/human hybrid furrie mobs? you betcha.
I don;t play AION anymore, but if I was to make changes I would not allow flying in PvP at all. I enjoyed the Rift pvp as a melee class...not so much the Abyss at all. The game really got horrible at lvl 30 as I am one who enjoys quests not grinding. I do have fond memories of the rifting pvp hunts during beta.
Half that list isnt even valid anymore, if at all. The bot problem was resolved months ago. What server lag? Id be suprised if the OP ever played the game until 50, my bet is thats not the case. I like Aion, end game can be a lot of fun especially if you have a good guild with a clue
Comments
I don't think they are greedy so much as arrogant and with a touch of cluelessness as to how others perceive them.
Part of me really does think it's a cultural gap.
I always see these odd stories about korean companies and how they do business. Like the story of a Hundai manufacturer that was visited by the higher ups. They were all smiles and just said they were there to say hello, etc. Next day all the management was fired. Thing is they had fired upper management several times in the past without so much as a by your leave.
Another thing that tipped me off was the head dev for Sword of the New World. There was an interview on this site where the interviwer asked if they were ever going to allow more customization for the game such as dying items. The dev in so many words said "No, they [the player] will make them ugly".
He essentially had an idea how everything was supposed to be and didn't want to open that up to anyone to introduce anything different. It was like it was his baby and that was that.
NC soft releases very pat, businsslike responses or missives and then just goes about doing what they do. One fo the reasons why the community is always screaming for more communication. They did this with L2 and though they are better they still do this with Aion.
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
heh AoC launched a lot longer ago then that and it's also still generating interest.. especially not from trolls. I am not sure what your point is... that a lot of people still have negative opinions of the game?
As a side note, at around the time I cancelled Aion I started a new char in a effort to rekindle the fun and saw *noone* in the newbie zone (except for 2 bots). I restarted AoC and see a ton of people around me at all times of the day... Make of this what you will.
AoC forums as well as servers were as dead as can be 3 to 4 months in. Only recently have people started taking notice of the game again, after its "most improved MMO" award, and the reason you're seeing people around you a lot more is because they are all congested in a couple of servers after the server merges. Nothing surprising there.
My point was that interest in Aion has yet to die, it's been stable since launch and with news of 2 forthcoming game-changing patches in the near future, it doesn't look like it's going to die off any soon.
That's not what I meant by my brief answers at all, you misunderstood. I just find that the reasons OP has chosen barely touch on the game's real issues.
That is to say that I can probably name more than 10 reasons why Aion is one to miss, but the difference is that my points are accurate seeing as I'm still playing the game, and any person playing the game and has a touch of reality with what's really going on could probably do it easily, contrary to the OP who so obviously isn't playing it.
Negative criticism is more than fine, it's needed and very important, even more so than positive ones. Blatant Lying and irrelevancy however, is not. I've even been called a troll on these forums, believe it or not. Thing is people like yourself are quick to judge others without a second thought.
Thanks for the personal attacks though, much appreciated.
Trolls only troll games that still matter. Otherwise they go ignored, which for a troll, is a pain worse than death.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
Your fail comment, failed.
heh AoC launched a lot longer ago then that and it's also still generating interest.. especially not from trolls. I am not sure what your point is... that a lot of people still have negative opinions of the game?
As a side note, at around the time I cancelled Aion I started a new char in a effort to rekindle the fun and saw *noone* in the newbie zone (except for 2 bots). I restarted AoC and see a ton of people around me at all times of the day... Make of this what you will.
AoC forums as well as servers were as dead as can be 3 to 4 months in. Only recently have people started taking notice of the game again, after its "most improved MMO" award, and the reason you're seeing people around you a lot more is because they are all congested in a couple of servers after the server merges. Nothing surprising there.
My point was that interest in Aion has yet to die, it's been stable since launch and with news of 2 forthcoming game-changing patches in the near future, it doesn't look like it's going to die off any soon.
well, all I can say is that I see newbs starting AoC, but I didnt see many new start players or vets on alts in Aion... Like I say, it was lonely in the newb zone with just the bots to talk to... Just speaking from personal experience. I didnt use the word 'congested' either for AoC, if anything it is healthly active
But 'stable since launch'? Nah, Aion has been hemoraging like a crash victim for months lol. Theres been nothing stable about it's sub at all, lets be honest. There might be *now* it has reached it's low, maybe it's slowed or even stopped, but the retention rate has been horrid.
I am not declaring it's death, Im not silly, but lets not pretend it's what it isnt.
No he's dead on NCsoft is by far the worst mmo company on the planet. I'm pretty anti soe but if you sub to a ncsoft game you will get burned eventually. They don't care about the american market. They have shown this w/ every game that is made in Korea then rolled out here. Communication is nil they do jack about botters and gold farmers other than occasion sweeps to sell more accounts. The company has a BBB rating of F, nuff said. You sir haven't been burned but trust me when I say MANY of us have been burned and NCsoft doesn't attempt to make it right, they simply don't care about foreign markets.
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
If you only played COH then yes they treat the community good for the sole reason that it was made in the west(read not localized) and its the same for Guild Wars. Before you comment try Lineage II Exteel or Aion and you will see a COMPETELY different NCsoft they don't give a crap about foreign markets they throw you a bone once in a while but thats it. They are inward focused on all their Korean games and that won't be changing while current management continues to be in charge. So next time look a little deeper into the situation before making assumptions. I was treated great in COH and treated like a red headed step child in all their Korean imports, nuff said.
You could have listed:
"It's a never-ending grind-quest, ala Korean MMOs" as all ten reasons, honestly. That is the biggest con of Aion, imo.
The PvP was fun. Content was... meh. The flying thing was cool; I wouldn't go so far as to say it's limited areas, you can fly anywhere in that big middle PvP battlefield area who's name I can't remember.
Over all, I'd give the game a 4/10. Too much lag, WAY too many bots, as you said, but all of that could be looked over, save for one thing... The grinding. It truly is maddening.
True mages don't die. They strategically miscalculate.
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
I don't deny AoC had a terrible start at all, and I am not here to defend FC vs NCS... I just gave it as a personal example. List X-Fire all you want, I don't put much value myself in it and the fact is that Aion has a terrible retention rate (as did Aoc when it launched).
The question is can NCS bring it back in the West the same way FC are doing? We will see... I personally don't think they will.
What server do you play btw?
You could have listed:
"It's a never-ending grind-quest, ala Korean MMOs" as all ten reasons, honestly. That is the biggest con of Aion, imo.
The PvP was fun. Content was... meh. The flying thing was cool; I wouldn't go so far as to say it's limited areas, you can fly anywhere in that big middle PvP battlefield area who's name I can't remember.
Over all, I'd give the game a 4/10. Too much lag, WAY too many bots, as you said, but all of that could be looked over, save for one thing... The grinding. It truly is maddening.
lol your gonna get destroyed for this post...
people will be asking you what level did you get to exactly to experience so much 'grind' when you can't even remember the name of the Abyss...
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas. - This is true, althought with 2.0 coming soon, they look like they have new areas to fly in and such
2). This game is a grind trust me. - New patch raised xp rate.
3). The content is poor especially endgame. - At release this game actually had a lot of endgame compared to most releases of mmos, (cuz this was already out in Korea or whatever) but they are adding more content in 2.0
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it. What makes Aion PvP so much different than any other?
5). The track record of this company is poor. Not really, NCsoft is great, only downfall ever was Tabula Rasa
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time. It has a good subscriber base and one of the best communities ive ever played in, bad server I guess?
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult. That was fixed by release pretty much, if it continues maybe u should get a new comp to work with it, or a better connection
8). To many bots in the game. - Yes, but this has been adressed and they are fixing that in 2.0, if not I think it was stated in 1.9 notes too
9). Far to many gold farmers. - So?
10). Theres better mmo's out there. - Thats a ridiculous argument
MMOs played: Too many
Watch List: FFXIV, CoH:GR, GW2, SWTOR, TERA, Earthrise
Not really, it has lost a big percentage of players after the first month, which is normal for any MMO launch bar WoW. After the first free month it has continued to lose subs but very slowly. Majority of servers are still very healthy and active, and xfire back this up as it's been in the top 10 (moving from 9 to 11) since 3months.
The "hemorrhaging like a crash victim for months" is only in your head, as it's far from the truth, and there's a touch of irony, in that that's exactly what happened to AoC.
I don't deny AoC had a terrible start at all, and I am not here to defend FC vs NCS... I just gave it as a personal example. List X-Fire all you want, I don't put much value myself in it and the fact is that Aion has a terrible retention rate (as did Aoc when it launched).
The question is can NCS bring it back in the West the same way FC are doing? We will see... I personally don't think they will.
What server do you play btw?
Every single MMO post-WoW has had terrible retention rates, it's nothing surprising. The thing that you need to take into consideration is the few months after that, you can even include the "perfect" in many gamers' eyes LOTRO.
Aion's had the best or second best MMO launch post-WoW (which tbh isn't something to brag about really). It's actually the only game to have a semblance of stability for the first few months (again not including the first, which is normal).
I play on Gorgos EU and used to have an alt on Spatalos, both servers are still healthy and they aren't even considered the most popular ones.
EDIT: As far as "bringing it back" in the West, I think the community thus far is at a good stage.
It's got mostly well populated servers, however they are still losing players, though both upcoming patches (both should be live by August-September, the first in a couple of months) should serve to solidify the community and kinda "rest on their laurels" as far as population goes. It might even gain some subs in the process, but I can't see it losing subs much more cause everything the West has QQed about are included in those patches from the droprates, to exp rates, to more quests and better rewards, including alot of other stuff.
"2). This game is a grind trust me."
Name one MMO that isnt ? I have been playing MMOs since 1999 and they ALL have their own grind. ALL OF THEM. Some of you people need to get this through your thick heads. Understand it and accept it.
Sorry but seeing someone try to defend NCSoft I had to reply to this. They may have popular games in the East, but that's because they care about their local market. They don't actually give a damn about supporting their games in the west, and that is why they are regarded as having a bad track record.
Most people I knew who were playing Aion were giving NCSoft a second chance after Lineage II. Seeing as NCSoft made exactly the same mistakes again (botting, goldsellers, cheap hacking prevention, worthless customer service) most of those players left saying they'd never bother with an NCSoft product again.
It's no secret that they're regarded as one of the greediest companies in the industry; they release in the west purely to garner box sales, they have no interest in player retention or game support.
And sorry, but I had to reply to this as it is one of the most opinionated, uneducated, and ignorant comments I have yet to read on this site. You obviously never played CoH!
Somebody got PWND !!
NCSoft only publishes CoH, they did not develop it (that would be Cryptic). In fact, a majority of the current developers for CoH are the original developers.
Guildwars is the same story, NCSoft only publishes, but Arenanet are the developers.
NCSoft developed Aion and Lineage (I and II). See the difference?
It's very cheap to produce Aion by Ncsoft. Ncosft just copied many things from various F2P to make up Aion. For example, the chat system is typical F2P style.
For a standard quality of P2P, Aion could be the worst and poorest in chat system.
[Mod Edit]
I do think that Aion has a lot of pretty cool features. The no swimming thing did seem odd to me, but since I didn't really need to go anywhere in water it wasn't a big deal.
The "grind" isn't a huge deal for me either as long as there are other things to do. After watching 90% of my Champions Online Group hit max level by October and start to leave the game bored by November, I'm all for leveling to take a bit longer.
Flight on the other hand, while not being a game breaker for me, is pretty darn annoying. I think the flight timer is fine, what I don't like is that you can only fly in limited areas. What is more, those areas often don't make a lot of sense. Take the first outpost you can go to after leaving the main city, you can fly just fine until you try and head to the forest, and then you just hit an nvisible wall telling you that flight here is not allowed. It feels artifical. I would rather be able to fly anywhere but have a flight timer than the current system.
Now this is made worse by interviews and promotinal materials. I would read and watch interviews in beta where the Devs kept gushing "OMG flight" over and over again. Flight is presented as a huge part of the game, and one could easily think that flight here will be like CoH or CO. And while the lore does introduce Aether as a powersource, it doesn't really explain that flight is so limited.
The big issue I found with the game that kept me out was the pathing. Aion probably has the most obvious pathing in any game I have seen, worse than AoC by far. Heck, the zones that I played in Aion made Mustafar in SWG look wide open. Or the Hunting Grounds. I would love to just be able to pop my wings and fly, instead of having to trek my way through the winding canyon of a zone.
Anyway though, hopefully improvements will keep coming to Aion, because it does have some really cool features and I do like the world.
"2). This game is a grind trust me."
Name one MMO that isnt ? I have been playing MMOs since 1999 and they ALL have their own grind. ALL OF THEM. Some of you people need to get this through your thick heads. Understand it and accept it.
I think what people are asking for is a "grind" that is so well disguised that it doesn't FEEL like a grind. It's not a "grind" if you're having FUN doing it. "Grind" implies that it is not enjoyable due to the repetitive nature of it all. If I'm having fun doing something in a game....I don't refer to it as a "grind."
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Originally posted by garyleven
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas. Uhm, wouldnt you rather have limited areas, to where when your there you get to enjoy flying then being able to fly everywhere when yet some areas are pointless to fly in? I mean, it makes the lure of those zones more appealing to people, because hey, if i get to fly in one zone and still quest or not fly and quest, im going to go in the questing zone that lets me fly.
2). This game is a grind trust me. This grind is nothing special, Its not too hard, and its not too easy, honestly, it took me about the same time to get 1-50 on aion as it did for me to get 1-80 on wow,.
3). The content is poor especially endgame. The content isnt exactly the quality of "Poor" the only reason why there is such little, is because most of the general population hasnt even hit level 50 yet. And with the new patches coming out, theres going to be more for level 50s to do.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it. How doesnt it? You kill, you get AP, from your AP you get ranks, from AP you can buy armor, from medals you can buy armor. You can control area's of the abyss which add to your playing ability. You just might not be bright enough to notice the amount of thought put into the PvP.
5). The track record of this company is poor. Im sorry but Guild Wars, is very far from being a poor track record. And CoH, come on dude, do some more research.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time. The community on Israphael, is booming, theres always people on, theres many people that help, Legions are everywhere, questions are answered relatively quick. The community is only as weak as you see it.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult. I personally havent hit any lag in a very very long time, nor has any of my guildmates. Ever think its just your computer?
8). To many bots in the game. Bots are dwindeling, right outside of the Altgard Fortress there use to be about 4-5 bots farming on the spiders by the gates, now theres none. There barely are any bots passed 25, since, they could just be farmed for AP, the bots are gone, stop saying theres an absurd amount, because guess what?! theres not!
9). Far to many gold farmers. And again with the gold farming, theres amaybe one or two people on stating that they are gold farmers a day, and oh hey look, right click and block, and bam! your game isnt hampered, and people arent stupid to buy the gold, hence why the amount of farmers is plummeting fast.
10). Theres better mmo's out there. And this is your opinion, Theres only better MMO's if you want there to be, and if you dont give the game its respected chance and time length, then yeah, there will be better MMO's out there, oh and you know, you could just not like the game, could just not be your style, but hey, if its not your style, no need to go bash it with horrible reasons.
PS - All mammals have nipples.
Get over it already.
Pretty much nailed it.
The graphics were not that impressive, vanguard and aoc both blow aion away.
I agree that AOC was very good but I dont think that engine would suit Aion. Vanguard was not better in my opinion. The character were ok in VG but the lanscapes were very clay/plastic looking.
The game engin doesnt allow for swimming (stand on the bottom of the lake and drown) it crashes a lot (especially on high end rigs).
The engine will allow swimming next patch. As to the 2nd comment that it crashes especially on high end systems is false. I have a extremely highend system and I have never crashed once.
The fort seiges were unplayable they were so laggy and crash prone. Which caused death and seperation from your raid (have fun getting back in the chaos)
I have never had lag in raids. perhaps your machine is not as good as you thought.
The game IS a grind. Not as bad as some games, but youll know it by level 20.
I agree with poster above this game is only grind if you make it that way. I have 1 level 50 and 3 level 30's and I only quest 98% of the time.
What theres one end game raid boss? And you have to fight for him against the other faction in a zerg vs zerg fest?
Um no lol there are several raid bosses sorry to disapoint. There are a few in DP , DC, World raid bosses and a few others in other instances.
In your face botting/farming/spam/cheating....even the GM's spam.
When was the last time you played? I ahve not seen a GM message in about 2 months. As to gold spam almost none anymore, same with botters very few left int he game.
The flying is great when latency is high during mass pvp events, causing you to land and drop your wings on an abyss shard, only to be rubber banded back into the sky with no wings for an instant fall death. Flying in this game is a joke.
Still sounds like your machine is having issues.
Abyss is soooo small as a play feild and so boring looking.
I agree with you on this matter, however with 1.9/2.0 coming out there will be new land battle zones like DOAC but abit smaller scale.
Not the worst game in the world, but there are lots of better games out there.
I would say it is up with some of the better ones.
Aion...an epic waste of what could have been a really badass angels/demon faction vs faction pvp game. Why did they go the cutsie/metro look instead of badass looking archangles and cool looking demons? Cat/human hybrid furrie mobs? you betcha.
You have 4 "reasons". The rest were opinions. No need to thank me for correcting you, it was my pleasure.
I don;t play AION anymore, but if I was to make changes I would not allow flying in PvP at all. I enjoyed the Rift pvp as a melee class...not so much the Abyss at all. The game really got horrible at lvl 30 as I am one who enjoys quests not grinding. I do have fond memories of the rifting pvp hunts during beta.
Half that list isnt even valid anymore, if at all. The bot problem was resolved months ago. What server lag? Id be suprised if the OP ever played the game until 50, my bet is thats not the case. I like Aion, end game can be a lot of fun especially if you have a good guild with a clue