The bots were a big turn-off for me I must say. And I got the feeling that I have done it all before when I played it. Not much new things (wings are not impressing me). Not a bad game but nothing that could hold me interested for long.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
This post reinforces the fact that most people on this site do no research what so ever on what Ncsoft has replied to. If they did you would know that most issues have been at least addressed if not being worked on. Ncsoft had addressed limited flight issue (mounts), drop percentages, crafting (economy), bots and the exp(kinah) grind.
Its cool to look at the forums and think that you are staying informed but at least do a little leg work before making comments like this.
You can glide in pretty much any area, sustained flight is limited in many area's though. But if this is a reason to pass on Aion... then I guess since most other MMO's have 0 flight and the others that do have flight have limited flight and only in certain area's that makes all MMO's one to pass on in your book. Oh well, but for the record as others have said, there is a reason behind things being the way they are.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
Aion is one of the least grindy MMO's I've played and I've played just about every MMO at one point or another. If you mean like every other MMO this MMO is a grind then sure it has it's repetiveness like any other but it's far from a grind game. FFXI was a grind game. Aion is mainly focused on quests a lot like WoW is. To be honest WoW when I played was a great deal grindier than Aion is. However I will have to say my stent in WoW was not a long one, maybe a month or two tops.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
Endgame is a PvEvP game, it's done better than most endgames I've experienced. If the content in Aion is poor and especially endgame then all I can rationally believe is that you feel this way about every MMO. A very large and robust world with a great deal of well done content is a far cry from poor to me.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
The PvP system has had a great deal of thought put into it from what I've seen. It's actually better with the PvP than most MMO's and the reason seems to be that PvP wasn't an after thought like it usually is. PvP in Aion is a core feature and the game seems to have been designed with that in mind.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
The track record of this company is poor? CoX, Lineage, GW.... the track record for this company is very good. They have some of the most popular games out currently. Aion being one of them.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
The community is one of the more active communities currently. It might not be the largest or most active but it's in the top 5 easy and last I checked it was #2.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
Durring the double xp weekends it has gotten a little lag from time to time for me but haven't had any lag other than that.
8). To many bots in the game.
Was a problem early on, not so much now. But this happens with any game that is fairly popular. The more popular it is the more of a problem it is. Look at WoW and the problems they had with bots.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
Same as above. Was a problem early on, not so much now and again this happens with any MMO that has the popularity Aion had. WoW had the same issues.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
Thats a matter of opinion, to some it's true to others it's not.
You can glide in pretty much any area, sustained flight is limited in many area's though. But if this is a reason to pass on Aion... then I guess since most other MMO's have 0 flight and the others that do have flight have limited flight and only in certain area's that makes all MMO's one to pass on in your book. Oh well, but for the record as others have said, there is a reason behind things being the way they are.
The OP is referring to the huge let-down of flight. Hype was built around it before release and it is listed as a major feature of the game. Unfortunately, the restrictions of flight disappoint many who experience the game.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
Aion is one of the least grindy MMO's I've played and I've played just about every MMO at one point or another. If you mean like every other MMO this MMO is a grind then sure it has it's repetiveness like any other but it's far from a grind game. FFXI was a grind game. Aion is mainly focused on quests a lot like WoW is. To be honest WoW when I played was a great deal grindier than Aion is. However I will have to say my stent in WoW was not a long one, maybe a month or two tops.
I want what you're smoking. Most NEW American-developed MMOs take around 7 days of playing time to reach the level cap. Aion is pushing 14 days, at least.
Also, a game is referred to as requiring a grind when all you can do to level is kill the same stuff over and over again. Most games have abundant quests up to the last 90% of the leveling experience. Aion drops their abundant quests mid-game.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
Endgame is a PvEvP game, it's done better than most endgames I've experienced. If the content in Aion is poor and especially endgame then all I can rationally believe is that you feel this way about every MMO. A very large and robust world with a great deal of well done content is a far cry from poor to me.
This statement is a matter of opinion, mostly. One would have to experience the end-game after the lengthy grind to evaluate it. From what I've read, Aion's PvP system is similar to DAOC's.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
The PvP system has had a great deal of thought put into it from what I've seen. It's actually better with the PvP than most MMO's and the reason seems to be that PvP wasn't an after thought like it usually is. PvP in Aion is a core feature and the game seems to have been designed with that in mind.
The PvP system is a copy of DAOC's, almost.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
The track record of this company is poor? CoX, Lineage, GW.... the track record for this company is very good. They have some of the most popular games out currently. Aion being one of them.
CoX = no end-game, after years of being on the market. Lineage = another Asian grind-fest. GW = decent game. Tabula Rasa = tanked due to bad lead developer choice. A 25% "good game" record isn't very good.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
The community is one of the more active communities currently. It might not be the largest or most active but it's in the top 5 easy and last I checked it was #2.
Link / screenshot or your numbers are meaningless. If you are referring to this site, the numbers are even more meaningless.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
Durring the double xp weekends it has gotten a little lag from time to time for me but haven't had any lag other than that.
8). To many bots in the game.
Was a problem early on, not so much now. But this happens with any game that is fairly popular. The more popular it is the more of a problem it is. Look at WoW and the problems they had with bots.
At least you admit the issue exists.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
Same as above. Was a problem early on, not so much now and again this happens with any MMO that has the popularity Aion had. WoW had the same issues.
What's worse is NCSoft's failure to respond to complaints in a timely manner. I played on release week and saw the same names spamming for gold-selling for the whole week. In my opinion, if you don't get banned within an hour, the company is doing a poor job.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
Thats a matter of opinion, to some it's true to others it's not.
So this is the fascist-centric, theme-park designed, bot infested, mmorpg that folks are getting all ga ga about. I'll pass. These pinata party mmo's attract too many kids, and reviews like the OP just point to it sucking.
You can glide in pretty much any area, sustained flight is limited in many area's though. But if this is a reason to pass on Aion... then I guess since most other MMO's have 0 flight and the others that do have flight have limited flight and only in certain area's that makes all MMO's one to pass on in your book. Oh well, but for the record as others have said, there is a reason behind things being the way they are.
The OP is referring to the huge let-down of flight. Hype was built around it before release and it is listed as a major feature of the game. Unfortunately, the restrictions of flight disappoint many who experience the game.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
Aion is one of the least grindy MMO's I've played and I've played just about every MMO at one point or another. If you mean like every other MMO this MMO is a grind then sure it has it's repetiveness like any other but it's far from a grind game. FFXI was a grind game. Aion is mainly focused on quests a lot like WoW is. To be honest WoW when I played was a great deal grindier than Aion is. However I will have to say my stent in WoW was not a long one, maybe a month or two tops.
I want what you're smoking. Most NEW American-developed MMOs take around 7 days of playing time to reach the level cap. Aion is pushing 14 days, at least.
Also, a game is referred to as requiring a grind when all you can do to level is kill the same stuff over and over again. Most games have abundant quests up to the last 90% of the leveling experience. Aion drops their abundant quests mid-game.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
Endgame is a PvEvP game, it's done better than most endgames I've experienced. If the content in Aion is poor and especially endgame then all I can rationally believe is that you feel this way about every MMO. A very large and robust world with a great deal of well done content is a far cry from poor to me.
This statement is a matter of opinion, mostly. One would have to experience the end-game after the lengthy grind to evaluate it. From what I've read, Aion's PvP system is similar to DAOC's.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
The PvP system has had a great deal of thought put into it from what I've seen. It's actually better with the PvP than most MMO's and the reason seems to be that PvP wasn't an after thought like it usually is. PvP in Aion is a core feature and the game seems to have been designed with that in mind.
The PvP system is a copy of DAOC's, almost.
5). The track record of this company is poor.
The track record of this company is poor? CoX, Lineage, GW.... the track record for this company is very good. They have some of the most popular games out currently. Aion being one of them.
CoX = no end-game, after years of being on the market. Lineage = another Asian grind-fest. GW = decent game. Tabula Rasa = tanked due to bad lead developer choice. A 25% "good game" record isn't very good.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
The community is one of the more active communities currently. It might not be the largest or most active but it's in the top 5 easy and last I checked it was #2.
Link / screenshot or your numbers are meaningless. If you are referring to this site, the numbers are even more meaningless.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
Durring the double xp weekends it has gotten a little lag from time to time for me but haven't had any lag other than that.
8). To many bots in the game.
Was a problem early on, not so much now. But this happens with any game that is fairly popular. The more popular it is the more of a problem it is. Look at WoW and the problems they had with bots.
At least you admit the issue exists.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
Same as above. Was a problem early on, not so much now and again this happens with any MMO that has the popularity Aion had. WoW had the same issues.
What's worse is NCSoft's failure to respond to complaints in a timely manner. I played on release week and saw the same names spamming for gold-selling for the whole week. In my opinion, if you don't get banned within an hour, the company is doing a poor job.
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
Thats a matter of opinion, to some it's true to others it's not.
My responses are in red. The poster in green is obviously a fanboi.
Actually not a fanboi lol, I don't even play Aion anymore. I do however respect it the way I respect EvE. Two very well done games that just don't do it for me for one reason or another. The quality however is beyond denial.
Now lets get to your responses.
The OP is referring to the huge let-down of flight. Hype was built around it before release and it is listed as a major feature of the game. Unfortunately, the restrictions of flight disappoint many who experience the game.
What let down? Most people I have talked to enjoyed the flight a great deal. Limitations were put into place for several reasons and most seem satisfied. You say many but I have seen few take issue with it or seem even remotely dissapointed.
I want what you're smoking. Most NEW American-developed MMOs take around 7 days of playing time to reach the level cap. Aion is pushing 14 days, at least.
Also, a game is referred to as requiring a grind when all you can do to level is kill the same stuff over and over again. Most games have abundant quests up to the last 90% of the leveling experience. Aion drops their abundant quests mid-game.
Your right on what most consider grind which is why Aion doesn't fall into that category. Your not killing the same things over and over. Your doing quests, killing different things, gaining xp from crafting and harvesting and yes even from PvP. And I didn't run out of quests in Aion so I'm not sure how this abundance of quests doesn't start until Mid-game. For me it started from the time I logged in till I quit lol.
But hey, just because my experience was completely different from what you tried to paint don't let it stop you from ranting.
This statement is a matter of opinion, mostly. One would have to experience the end-game after the lengthy grind to evaluate it. From what I've read, Aion's PvP system is similar to DAOC's.
You said it takes 14 days to hit cap.... Now you say theres a lengthy grind. DAoC had a great PvP system, one that many people enjoyed. It's also herald as one of the "Good" MMO's. Aion did something similar and expanded on it in a lot of ways. To me it was a great deal of fun and most that I know and talk to seemed to enjoy it as well.
The PvP system is a copy of DAOC's, almost.
Far from a copy, they have similarities but a great number of differences as well. You should try it before commenting on it to much.
CoX = no end-game, after years of being on the market. Lineage = another Asian grind-fest. GW = decent game. Tabula Rasa = tanked due to bad lead developer choice. A 25% "good game" record isn't very good.
CoX is herald as another of the well done MMO's. GW is viewed by many very well done. Lineage had 3 million subscribers at it's peak. Sorry that means it was popular.
What company are you compairing it to? Atari? SoE? EA? Funcom? Guess what NCSoft has more MMO success than all named publishers. So tell me how it has a bad track record? Does the fact that Aion is the second most popular MMO world wide hurt NCSoft in some way? I would say no lol. Sorry NCSofts track record is good when it comes to MMO's.
Which publishers would you say have a better track record than NCSoft? Which has more hits? Can you name more than 1? Blizzard is the only publisher that has a better track record and better MMO success than NCSoft. If you wish to deny this then please present another publisher that has produced a AAA MMO with the commercial success that NCSoft has.
Lineage, Lineage 2, Aion, CoX, GW = Massive success. Were not just talking 100-200k subs, were talking millions and millions lol.
What's worse is NCSoft's failure to respond to complaints in a timely manner. I played on release week and saw the same names spamming for gold-selling for the whole week. In my opinion, if you don't get banned within an hour, the company is doing a poor job.
Yeah there customer service has always been bad. Theres no denying that. You want to harp on that be my guest. By questiing the track record of the companies games is a bit laughable. There one of the best in the biz to be honest.
What let down? Most people I have talked to enjoyed the flight a great deal. Limitations were put into place for several reasons and most seem satisfied. You say many but I have seen few take issue with it or seem even remotely dissapointed.
Maybe people who played when you did (or with you) were more apt to look away from flaws. My guild and friends hated how limited the flight time was. The game hyped it up as a big part of combat, but you can't fly in so many areas and the time you do get to fly is short-lived. Aerial combat was supposed to be a feature of the game, not another status bar to monitor closely or risk dying. Read initial reviews of the game and many of them will share that opinion.
Your right on what most consider grind which is why Aion doesn't fall into that category. Your not killing the same things over and over. Your doing quests, killing different things, gaining xp from crafting and harvesting and yes even from PvP. And I didn't run out of quests in Aion so I'm not sure how this abundance of quests doesn't start until Mid-game. For me it started from the time I logged in till I quit lol.
But hey, just because my experience was completely different from what you tried to paint don't let it stop you from ranting.
Quests pretty much run out past level 25. You can find the occasional quest, but it doesn't make a dent in the amount of xp needed to level. When I played, crafting and harvesting XP was a joke. All of that added up to grinding on the same camp of mobs being the only decently fast way to level up so you wouldn't get slaughtered in PvP.
CoX is herald as another of the well done MMO's. GW is viewed by many very well done. Lineage had 3 million subscribers at it's peak. Sorry that means it was popular.
CoX still doesn't have an end-game. Sure, it is fun to level, but once you hit the cap there is very little to do that I would consider worth doing.
I don't have anything bad to say about Guild Wars.
Having 3 million subs doesn't make a game good. Most of those were probably Asians who enjoy the grind-fests. Americans typically avoid them.
Quests pretty much run out past level 25. You can find the occasional quest, but it doesn't make a dent in the amount of xp needed to level. When I played, crafting and harvesting XP was a joke. All of that added up to grinding on the same camp of mobs being the only decently fast way to level up so you wouldn't get slaughtered in PvP.
This is the biggest load of crap ever. I went 1-50 without ever running out of quests and doing anything that in any way resembled grinding. And I leveled up before they started with those constant double exp weekends.
People saying stuff like this annoys the hell out of me because it's not even an opinion. It's purely objective, quests DO NOT RUN OUT. Period. The only proof necessary of this is my own experience with my own character. If I can manage to make it to 50 without grinding, anybody can because clearly the game provides the means to do so.
Claiming otherwise is like complaining about Super Mario Bros. being slow paced because you never held down the run button, or that it has no content because you take all the warp zones. It's just stupid.
And as further indication of how crap this is, virtually every claim about it has it's unique arbitrary number where quests run out. You say "past level 25." Really? Let's see, at 25 you gain access to the Abyss which is filled with quests, as well as the Training Camp instance (which has quests for it). And this continues on with more quests in Morheim/Eltnen as well, which have their own group and solo outdoor areas. That easily takes you to 30 where all those zones keep on providing that same level of quest content for each level plus giving you Beluslan/Heiron for an entire new continent with level appropriate stuff in both solo and group, as well as the Fire Temple instance (which too has quests for it). But right, the quests just run out, they don't vastly increase even though that's a "fact".
This may or may not be a game breaker for some as there are reasons for this which are not only explained in the lore (though my feeling it is more for game play over lore ) but are also there because in certain areas so that one can make hard choices on when and where to use the wings (abyss) or so that content is not bypassed.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
I can't trust you because I KNOW what a grind is. Lineage 2 was a grind. I played pretty hardcore and still never made top lvl. And you just went to spots and would grind mobs. End of story. There weren't a plethora of quests to do. Also in Aion you get xp for gathering and crafting. If you come from wow then you might think it a grind.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
I think the content is hit or miss.
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
Because?
5). The track record of this company is poor.
Their track record for customer relations can be pretty poor. Their track record for making beautiful games is not poor. I would argue that there are things in Lineage 2 that make is a phenomenal game.
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
Community being weak is subjective but you do say it's your opinion. They are going to be coming out with 2 updates soon so perhaps that will help with losing some players.
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
I've never been in a game that didn't have laggy servers when there were a lot of players on.
8). To many bots in the game.
There are hardly any noticeable bots in game. Still some there though.
9). Far to many gold farmers.
Same as above. Also they are very active to remove gold spammers and gold selling advertisement shops in game.
The game is a grind, I suppose you can get away with doing quests if you level crafting and gathering skills aswell but by the time i'd hit 37 i was out of quests, melee air combat was pathetic, ontop of a ranger or sorc n still getting out of range bs was a joke, fort sieges were a crash fest then when you loaded back in you loaded outside the fort where a grp of elyos would be waiting to smash you in.
The bot trains were ridiculous, the few quests i did have were a nightmare to do because of em as was trying to get any named mob cus there was always a 5+ train waiting at the spawn point, yeah they might have sorted it now but it should've been sorted on release, I remember Gold sellers setting up private stores in the main citys n they were there for days without being banned.
The crating is or was all hit and miss BS that promotes gold selling I know people who've spent millions just trying to make 1 level 35 blue item because it kept failing to crit never mind the level 50 gold sets, remember runnig fire temple around 80 times and seeing a gold drop once which was a bow with no ranger in the group.
I dread to think what the game must've been like before it launched in the west as the the 1.5 patch added all the dungeons and dredgion n such + 1500+ new quests, that's another thing the game was out in korea over a year before it launched in the west so how in gods name hadn't they managed to sort out the .dll crash bugs that plagued fort sieges + numerous other bugs.
Aion was the nail in the coffin for me in regards to korean games, they just seemed designed from the ground up around gold farmers which isn't really suprising considering the new laws that have been passed in Korea regarding in game gold trading, while this was less grindy than Linegae 2 it was still just plain boring sittin whacking mobs till your fingers felt like they were about to break isn't fun.
Oh and in regards to NC's track record it really aint the greatest as GW, CoH and CoV were published by em but not made by em, they made such awesomeness as Aion, Lineage 2, Tabula Rasa and Auto Assault, 2 of em are typical korean half naked birds for nerds grind on cute furry animals while the other 2 both failed on such a level they closed em.
Actually Tabula Rasa was developed in the west, by Lord British and co. Also known as Richard Garriott. Other than that, you're more than spot on. The thing is though, in the west we're starting to see the polar opposite of Korean Design philosophies emerge. Star Wars will be completly soloable if thats your thing, and is likely to herald a new era in 'casual MMOing'...
The apparant middle-ground seems to be fading fast, so those of us not inclined to grind or lives away in Korean games or be hand-fed in WoW/Star Wars are left with little or no options.
Any one can speak whatever he wants. The truth is simple - i played the game for 3-4 months, got 5 lvl 50's by using a bot (got caught 0 times), found stigma's which cost were 20-30m (not only one several of them). Every step in pve area's was full of bots. So far NCsoft might tell we've banned 20k-100k-1mil bots but that is just not true. I was botting at the same spot for 24/7 a whole month. Was i banned? No! Many of my IRL friends were botting too. We were one of the richest EU players. Any1 did something to us? Nope. I suppose many bots are still going around, farming stigmas and useless junks, making milions and selling them to the "legit" players who are paying crazy $$$$ for that stupid piece of shit. Im not a troller just making my statement loud and clear. Every one knowes it even NCsoft, the game is nothing but a BOTfest like Lineage for example. I agree that the graphics are awesome but that did not keep me to play the game. Nothing can make me go back to that uselees piece of sh1t not even to mention that the sieges are total joke ( i hope something is done about them). If you are melle character you are totally fked up bcause you can not hit anyone you die in secs. I can admit that i had fun killing 50th lvl noobs with my ubder gear as a sin or ranger. And you call that fun? Bot 24/7 and kill newbs. Well good luck wasting your time and & on that crap.
A game is a bot fest when it is a grind fest. Koreans don't seem to understand this. If you get better lv and items by grinding than questing then players will use bots. Ncsoft can't do nothing about this. Is just how the game is designed.
Wooow, people bringing up fort crashes despite them being fixed back in November, and talking about the massive amounts of bots which I haven't seen since... December at the very latest? I think? I mean, you can clearly find a handful if you really go out of your way checking both channels in Brusthonin in obscure-ass locations but that's hardly a bot infestation like around launch. I mean, it's not even freaking noticeable unless you dedicate the time to look for it.
Also aside from talented Clerics being a nightmare to fight and chain fear just being really obnoxious, I'm not really seeing this horrible can't hit anyone and die in seconds experience as a Templar. Which I'm pretty sure is a melee class, but maybe I'm incorrect or something. I don't know.
Still that's awesome to bring up things that have been a complete non-issue for at least four months in a game that's been released here for six months. Meaning non-existent for an entire 2/3rds of its lifespan. It's really relevent and meaningful
I dare say the reason for the bots falling off is due to the population of the game plummeting like a rock, as to the 2/3's i believe the game has been out alltogether close on 2 years or maybe it's more than 2 years now if you count the korean release.
That they fixed the fort crash bug is good but you saying they fixed it in november means it took em what over 2 mnths or in reality over 1 year from korean launch to fix a bug that was destroying the games core feature, and no you being a templar I should hope you don't die in 2 secs but on my chanter in flight combat i constantly got the out of range message even when ontop of my target.
The game failed plain and simple as evidenced by it's ever decreasing population and lets not get started on the ammount of people who are continuously having accounts hacked and yes computer literate people who know how to avoid a computer filled with loggers etc...
Oh and yeah having a huge bot infestation on a games release is not a good thing, quite the opposite. Bots usually take time to get into a game due to working round it's security measures, Aion had none at the start hence the mess it was, but yeah carry on championing games that fall so short of the mark it aint even in sight, I mean it's not like the market isn't already overfilled with crap is it.
I dare say the reason for the bots falling off is due to the population of the game plummeting like a rock, as to the 2/3's i believe the game has been out alltogether close on 2 years or maybe it's more than 2 years now if you count the korean release.
That they fixed the fort crash bug is good but you saying they fixed it in november means it took em what over 2 mnths or in reality over 1 year from korean launch to fix a bug that was destroying the games core feature, and no you being a templar I should hope you don't die in 2 secs but on my chanter in flight combat i constantly got the out of range message even when ontop of my target.
The game failed plain and simple as evidenced by it's ever decreasing population and lets not get started on the ammount of people who are continuously having accounts hacked and yes computer literate people who know how to avoid a computer filled with loggers etc...
Oh and yeah having a huge bot infestation on a games release is not a good thing, quite the opposite. Bots usually take time to get into a game due to working round it's security measures, Aion had none at the start hence the mess it was, but yeah carry on championing games that fall so short of the mark it aint even in sight, I mean it's not like the market isn't already overfilled with crap is it.
Reason for the bots falling off is simply due to the mass bannings at first to eradicate them, then keeping them under control. It's also around the same time the hacks started, because bots were no longer a good means of making $$. Population has hardly 'plummeted like a rock' since after the first free month (which was arguably not surprising in the least). I'm not saying it hasn't been decreasing, but on my server at least (Gorgos EU) it has only slightly changed from 3 or 4months ago.
They fixed the fort crash bug after 2months because no one had any idea there was a bug at the start as the overwhelming majority of the population were well below lvl35 after a few weeks. In actuality it really only took a few weeks to fix this bug, which was NEVER a problem anywhere else in the world (Korea, China etc.) and it was a new issue they had to gather information on, and fix accordingly, which they did.
Every single MMO except for WoW and EvE have ever decreasing populations. That is never a measuring-stick of how good an MMO is. Game has plenty of issues, but in the eyes of many it hasn't really failed as for the most part it is working as intended. People who don't enjoy this type of game will never like it, though here we start going into opinion territory, which is worthless.
First off, the amount of time the game has been released outside of NA/EU is completely irrelevent to anyone who never played nor had any intention of playing other versions of the game. It's also completely irrelevent when talking about things like bots due to the sole responsibility of banning them laying at the hands of the local division handling the running of their version of the game. (I.e. the one's that have been running it for six months now.) Furthermore, it's over a year and four months old if you count Korea, I have no idea why you think it's been two years.
Secondly, to my knowledge the crash bug was not present in the original Korean release, nor the Chinese version of the game as has been mentioned on plenty of forums where people first played Aion on the Chinese one (which was still max level 45 at the time) and claimed fortresses had absolutely no issue over there. It appears to have been an issue that cropped up around the time of the 1.5 patch, which was just before the US launch. Could it have had a faster fix? Of course. Is it in any way, shape, or form, an issue NOW? No. Is there any reason whatsoever to bring this up in the current time, aside from trolling? No.
And yes, the population of the game is just plummeting like a rock. That's why my server actually has been having more and more people coming to fortress sieges, sometimes amassing around 500 people inside a single fortress which is completely and utterly ridiculous. And easily double the amount I first witnessed across two separate servers in the first few months... Yes, less bots around is the prime proof of the population drop though! People reporting being banned for using keys obtained from unauthorized retailers that apparently obtained them illegally has nothing to do with it! All the spammers in both LFG and shop titles that crop up from time to time with the very same URLs that were being tossed around at launch, but mysteriously disappearing quite prompty with several day to week stretches without seeing them has nothing to do with NCSoft's intervention in the matter. Their business just gives up with trying to profit off it and then... starts up again for twenty minutes or so before calling it quits for another week only to repeat again? Yeah that's totally it! Brilliant!
I played Aion for 6 months and its a grind. I couldnt level due to work and family . 18 hours a day grinding was not possible sorry ncsoft. Fail. It seems some people feel a game must torture everyone to be challenging. Here is a hint. If you want a challenge disengange all your gear and go grind. There is YOUR challenge while the rest of us do normal things LOL. umm ganking lowbie? Yeah thats all it seems to be about in PVP. If you are 40+ you should be locked out of rifting lowbie areas period. I have seen and assassin hold a zone basically hostage because he was 10+ levels higher and no one could touch him. This is PVP? Seems in Aion it is. FAIL. Save your money wait for a freee trial.
GRIND DOES NOT EQUAL MAKING A GAME CHALLENGING!! YES I AM YELLING LOL
I played Aion for 6 months and its a grind. I couldnt level due to work and family . 18 hours a day grinding was not possible sorry ncsoft. Fail. It seems some people feel a game must torture everyone to be challenging. Here is a hint. If you want a challenge disengange all your gear and go grind. There is YOUR challenge while the rest of us do normal things LOL. umm ganking lowbie? Yeah thats all it seems to be about in PVP. If you are 40+ you should be locked out of rifting lowbie areas period. I have seen and assassin hold a zone basically hostage because he was 10+ levels higher and no one could touch him. This is PVP? Seems in Aion it is. FAIL. Save your money wait for a freee trial.
I think I am starting to see the problem, if you can't hit level cap in a couple of weeks playing casually then it's a grind... ?
What your looking for then is Cryptic games. You can hit cap and do pretty much everything there is to do in the game in 2-3 weeks playing extremely casual.
As for me one of the reasons I left Aion was because it wasn't a grind. I actually went back to FFXI because I for w/e reason enjoy grinding. My wife left Aion to return to FFXI with me. Even with the changes made to it as of late it's still a good old fashion grind. Minimal questing and lots of killing.
If you guys seriously consider Aion a grind then you either haven't played Aion or you've only played WoW prior to Aion. Aion made an attempt to mix it up and got it wrong. They didn't make it to grindy, they made it to casual and like every other casual centric MMO it's turned into yet another errand boy online. Go fetch this, go kill that, go talk to this person, pick up my dry cleaning, etc. etc. etc.
You level mainly with quests, there are so many quests in fact thats all you have to do to level. The grinding spots are slim to none. You can sit down with a group and pound out the levels by killing higher level mobs like you can in a grinder. There are some spots I found, but there very few and far between. Even then there short lived because you out level them to fast.
double xp weekends are what finally killed it for me. A large chunk of the game is extremely solo friendly. There isn't a big need for groups for most of the game. Me and my wife attempted to Duo all of our toons but even then it was just easier to solo.
Aion did a good job making the game casual/solo friendly but not so good on making it appealing to traditional grinders.
Again if you think Aion is a grind my advice would be to play UO, FFXI, Lineage, L2, EQ2, DFO, EQ, .... well as a matter of fact most older MMO's. Aion's more on par with AoC in the terms of content and even then it's less grindy than AoC. Both are heavily quest based.
If you truly feel Aion is a huge grind or a grind at all really then I know you haven't played anything other than STO, CO, WoW etc. Games that basically hand you the level cap.
Dunno where you're gettin the idea of nerd-rage from mate but whatever floats your boat I suppose, that you even use the term nerd-rage speaks volumes about yourself moreso than me.
On topic,
if it's doing ok now then great, i was speaking from my experience during launch and for 2 months after, the game was piss poor for a supposed aaa release, also to people saying if you think this is a grind you should've played UO or (insert whatever 10 year old game here) that's the poorest excuse i've ever heard that's like sayin hah if you think that toyota's steering is bad you should've tried it 10 years ago without power steering, it's not a viable argument, things improve over time though lately it seems MMO's just get worse every year.
By the way I played UO, EVE, SWG, AC n so on yes they were grinds but they were also the 1st of there kind so obviously the content was lacking but as with UO and EVE the pvp had meaning so if you got tired of grinding you could go slaughter some people and earn stuff from it, what meaning/risk is there to the PVP in Aion? Oh yeah you get a fort that gives acess to a few pitifull instances.
And how people can say that dreadgion and DP is acceptible end game content for a theme park game these days is shocking. There was some good idea's in Aion but the implementation was poor, there should've been I think more sandbox elements thrown into it like control of forts grants access to certain minerals needed for crafting and a steeper penalty for death.
hi all, my impressions on this game , got 1 L42 templar and 1 L41 SM, and quit around december2009,
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas.
well, its true cause we need to travel a lot by feet, and transports available are few and expensive, and the use of wings for melees in combat its a complete fail.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
yes its is as all mmrpgs available on the market, grind in aion in group (KaidanHQ, and Steel Rake), is bearable at least.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
dont know got L42 and L41 and quit after that
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
well on abyss its rangedpwnsallthemeleesmovingfoes, the rest pvp seems quite balanced, the gist its those nasty gankers, by their own selfish, quite a lot of people left the game, why in the hell as lower level you get all those penaltys??!!?
5). The track record of this company is poor.
not true guild wars was the best fantasy pvp game i've played and its in some way from NCsoft (publisher), L1 and L2, CoH and even the failed Tabula Rasa quite average games
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
Wrong, i found the aion community (after 1st month) the best one since LotRO, far away better than Wocrap
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
never got that and my connection its 2Mb (well some lag on the first 3 weeks)
8). To many bots in the game.
yes in the first 2 months around december was clear of bots
9). Far to many gold farmers.
same as above
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
well right now not as im not playing nothing , and im waiting for patches on this game , as i find this game with very solid and nice features, maybe after patch 1.9 or 2.0 i return again
Comments
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas.
Yes
2). This game is a grind trust me.
Yes lvl 25+ the grind exist its really boring.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
dont know left Aion at lvl 36
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
Agreed . Try being melee class ( which i like) and dod PVP against rangers or soc
5). The track record of this company is poor.
Not sure here .Guild wars very sucessful ,COH And COV is doing fine
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
Depends
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
For me lag was only when I was in Abyss battles more than 50 + people
8). To many bots in the game.
200% agreed the game was made for BOTS
9). Far to many gold farmers.
Yes thats because Aion economy is heavily depended on Kinah and crafting levelling require oscene amount of Kinah.
The amount of afrmer that are there is amazing
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
Your opionion but in AION;s case yes for me their are better MMOs than AION
The bots were a big turn-off for me I must say. And I got the feeling that I have done it all before when I played it. Not much new things (wings are not impressing me). Not a bad game but nothing that could hold me interested for long.
Which ones?
This post reinforces the fact that most people on this site do no research what so ever on what Ncsoft has replied to. If they did you would know that most issues have been at least addressed if not being worked on. Ncsoft had addressed limited flight issue (mounts), drop percentages, crafting (economy), bots and the exp(kinah) grind.
Its cool to look at the forums and think that you are staying informed but at least do a little leg work before making comments like this.
My responses are in red. [Mod Edit]
So this is the fascist-centric, theme-park designed, bot infested, mmorpg that folks are getting all ga ga about. I'll pass. These pinata party mmo's attract too many kids, and reviews like the OP just point to it sucking.
Actually not a fanboi lol, I don't even play Aion anymore. I do however respect it the way I respect EvE. Two very well done games that just don't do it for me for one reason or another. The quality however is beyond denial.
Now lets get to your responses.
The OP is referring to the huge let-down of flight. Hype was built around it before release and it is listed as a major feature of the game. Unfortunately, the restrictions of flight disappoint many who experience the game.
What let down? Most people I have talked to enjoyed the flight a great deal. Limitations were put into place for several reasons and most seem satisfied. You say many but I have seen few take issue with it or seem even remotely dissapointed.
I want what you're smoking. Most NEW American-developed MMOs take around 7 days of playing time to reach the level cap. Aion is pushing 14 days, at least.
Also, a game is referred to as requiring a grind when all you can do to level is kill the same stuff over and over again. Most games have abundant quests up to the last 90% of the leveling experience. Aion drops their abundant quests mid-game.
Your right on what most consider grind which is why Aion doesn't fall into that category. Your not killing the same things over and over. Your doing quests, killing different things, gaining xp from crafting and harvesting and yes even from PvP. And I didn't run out of quests in Aion so I'm not sure how this abundance of quests doesn't start until Mid-game. For me it started from the time I logged in till I quit lol.
But hey, just because my experience was completely different from what you tried to paint don't let it stop you from ranting.
This statement is a matter of opinion, mostly. One would have to experience the end-game after the lengthy grind to evaluate it. From what I've read, Aion's PvP system is similar to DAOC's.
You said it takes 14 days to hit cap.... Now you say theres a lengthy grind. DAoC had a great PvP system, one that many people enjoyed. It's also herald as one of the "Good" MMO's. Aion did something similar and expanded on it in a lot of ways. To me it was a great deal of fun and most that I know and talk to seemed to enjoy it as well.
The PvP system is a copy of DAOC's, almost.
Far from a copy, they have similarities but a great number of differences as well. You should try it before commenting on it to much.
CoX = no end-game, after years of being on the market. Lineage = another Asian grind-fest. GW = decent game. Tabula Rasa = tanked due to bad lead developer choice. A 25% "good game" record isn't very good.
CoX is herald as another of the well done MMO's. GW is viewed by many very well done. Lineage had 3 million subscribers at it's peak. Sorry that means it was popular.
What company are you compairing it to? Atari? SoE? EA? Funcom? Guess what
NCSoft has more MMO success than all named publishers. So tell me how it has a bad track record? Does the fact that Aion is the second most popular MMO world wide hurt NCSoft in some way? I would say no lol. Sorry NCSofts track record is good when it comes to MMO's.
Which publishers would you say have a better track record than NCSoft? Which has more hits? Can you name more than 1? Blizzard is the only publisher that has a better track record and better MMO success than NCSoft. If you wish to deny this then please present another publisher that has produced a AAA MMO with the commercial success that NCSoft has.
Lineage, Lineage 2, Aion, CoX, GW = Massive success. Were not just talking 100-200k subs, were talking millions and millions lol.
What's worse is NCSoft's failure to respond to complaints in a timely manner. I played on release week and saw the same names spamming for gold-selling for the whole week. In my opinion, if you don't get banned within an hour, the company is doing a poor job.
Yeah there customer service has always been bad. Theres no denying that. You want to harp on that be my guest. By questiing the track record of the companies games is a bit laughable. There one of the best in the biz to be honest.
What let down? Most people I have talked to enjoyed the flight a great deal. Limitations were put into place for several reasons and most seem satisfied. You say many but I have seen few take issue with it or seem even remotely dissapointed.
Maybe people who played when you did (or with you) were more apt to look away from flaws. My guild and friends hated how limited the flight time was. The game hyped it up as a big part of combat, but you can't fly in so many areas and the time you do get to fly is short-lived. Aerial combat was supposed to be a feature of the game, not another status bar to monitor closely or risk dying. Read initial reviews of the game and many of them will share that opinion.
Your right on what most consider grind which is why Aion doesn't fall into that category. Your not killing the same things over and over. Your doing quests, killing different things, gaining xp from crafting and harvesting and yes even from PvP. And I didn't run out of quests in Aion so I'm not sure how this abundance of quests doesn't start until Mid-game. For me it started from the time I logged in till I quit lol.
But hey, just because my experience was completely different from what you tried to paint don't let it stop you from ranting.
Quests pretty much run out past level 25. You can find the occasional quest, but it doesn't make a dent in the amount of xp needed to level. When I played, crafting and harvesting XP was a joke. All of that added up to grinding on the same camp of mobs being the only decently fast way to level up so you wouldn't get slaughtered in PvP.
CoX is herald as another of the well done MMO's. GW is viewed by many very well done. Lineage had 3 million subscribers at it's peak. Sorry that means it was popular.
CoX still doesn't have an end-game. Sure, it is fun to level, but once you hit the cap there is very little to do that I would consider worth doing.
I don't have anything bad to say about Guild Wars.
Having 3 million subs doesn't make a game good. Most of those were probably Asians who enjoy the grind-fests. Americans typically avoid them.
This is the biggest load of crap ever. I went 1-50 without ever running out of quests and doing anything that in any way resembled grinding. And I leveled up before they started with those constant double exp weekends.
People saying stuff like this annoys the hell out of me because it's not even an opinion. It's purely objective, quests DO NOT RUN OUT. Period. The only proof necessary of this is my own experience with my own character. If I can manage to make it to 50 without grinding, anybody can because clearly the game provides the means to do so.
Claiming otherwise is like complaining about Super Mario Bros. being slow paced because you never held down the run button, or that it has no content because you take all the warp zones. It's just stupid.
And as further indication of how crap this is, virtually every claim about it has it's unique arbitrary number where quests run out. You say "past level 25." Really? Let's see, at 25 you gain access to the Abyss which is filled with quests, as well as the Training Camp instance (which has quests for it). And this continues on with more quests in Morheim/Eltnen as well, which have their own group and solo outdoor areas. That easily takes you to 30 where all those zones keep on providing that same level of quest content for each level plus giving you Beluslan/Heiron for an entire new continent with level appropriate stuff in both solo and group, as well as the Fire Temple instance (which too has quests for it). But right, the quests just run out, they don't vastly increase even though that's a "fact".
I approve of this list in all 10 points.
Quoted response to OP, for truth (of opinion)!
The game is a grind, I suppose you can get away with doing quests if you level crafting and gathering skills aswell but by the time i'd hit 37 i was out of quests, melee air combat was pathetic, ontop of a ranger or sorc n still getting out of range bs was a joke, fort sieges were a crash fest then when you loaded back in you loaded outside the fort where a grp of elyos would be waiting to smash you in.
The bot trains were ridiculous, the few quests i did have were a nightmare to do because of em as was trying to get any named mob cus there was always a 5+ train waiting at the spawn point, yeah they might have sorted it now but it should've been sorted on release, I remember Gold sellers setting up private stores in the main citys n they were there for days without being banned.
The crating is or was all hit and miss BS that promotes gold selling I know people who've spent millions just trying to make 1 level 35 blue item because it kept failing to crit never mind the level 50 gold sets, remember runnig fire temple around 80 times and seeing a gold drop once which was a bow with no ranger in the group.
I dread to think what the game must've been like before it launched in the west as the the 1.5 patch added all the dungeons and dredgion n such + 1500+ new quests, that's another thing the game was out in korea over a year before it launched in the west so how in gods name hadn't they managed to sort out the .dll crash bugs that plagued fort sieges + numerous other bugs.
Aion was the nail in the coffin for me in regards to korean games, they just seemed designed from the ground up around gold farmers which isn't really suprising considering the new laws that have been passed in Korea regarding in game gold trading, while this was less grindy than Linegae 2 it was still just plain boring sittin whacking mobs till your fingers felt like they were about to break isn't fun.
Oh and in regards to NC's track record it really aint the greatest as GW, CoH and CoV were published by em but not made by em, they made such awesomeness as Aion, Lineage 2, Tabula Rasa and Auto Assault, 2 of em are typical korean half naked birds for nerds grind on cute furry animals while the other 2 both failed on such a level they closed em.
Actually Tabula Rasa was developed in the west, by Lord British and co. Also known as Richard Garriott. Other than that, you're more than spot on. The thing is though, in the west we're starting to see the polar opposite of Korean Design philosophies emerge. Star Wars will be completly soloable if thats your thing, and is likely to herald a new era in 'casual MMOing'...
The apparant middle-ground seems to be fading fast, so those of us not inclined to grind or lives away in Korean games or be hand-fed in WoW/Star Wars are left with little or no options.
Any one can speak whatever he wants. The truth is simple - i played the game for 3-4 months, got 5 lvl 50's by using a bot (got caught 0 times), found stigma's which cost were 20-30m (not only one several of them). Every step in pve area's was full of bots. So far NCsoft might tell we've banned 20k-100k-1mil bots but that is just not true. I was botting at the same spot for 24/7 a whole month. Was i banned? No! Many of my IRL friends were botting too. We were one of the richest EU players. Any1 did something to us? Nope. I suppose many bots are still going around, farming stigmas and useless junks, making milions and selling them to the "legit" players who are paying crazy $$$$ for that stupid piece of shit. Im not a troller just making my statement loud and clear. Every one knowes it even NCsoft, the game is nothing but a BOTfest like Lineage for example. I agree that the graphics are awesome but that did not keep me to play the game. Nothing can make me go back to that uselees piece of sh1t not even to mention that the sieges are total joke ( i hope something is done about them). If you are melle character you are totally fked up bcause you can not hit anyone you die in secs. I can admit that i had fun killing 50th lvl noobs with my ubder gear as a sin or ranger. And you call that fun? Bot 24/7 and kill newbs. Well good luck wasting your time and & on that crap.
A game is a bot fest when it is a grind fest. Koreans don't seem to understand this. If you get better lv and items by grinding than questing then players will use bots. Ncsoft can't do nothing about this. Is just how the game is designed.
posts that were only accurate 4months ago... My time machine worksss!
Wooow, people bringing up fort crashes despite them being fixed back in November, and talking about the massive amounts of bots which I haven't seen since... December at the very latest? I think? I mean, you can clearly find a handful if you really go out of your way checking both channels in Brusthonin in obscure-ass locations but that's hardly a bot infestation like around launch. I mean, it's not even freaking noticeable unless you dedicate the time to look for it.
Also aside from talented Clerics being a nightmare to fight and chain fear just being really obnoxious, I'm not really seeing this horrible can't hit anyone and die in seconds experience as a Templar. Which I'm pretty sure is a melee class, but maybe I'm incorrect or something. I don't know.
Still that's awesome to bring up things that have been a complete non-issue for at least four months in a game that's been released here for six months. Meaning non-existent for an entire 2/3rds of its lifespan. It's really relevent and meaningful
I dare say the reason for the bots falling off is due to the population of the game plummeting like a rock, as to the 2/3's i believe the game has been out alltogether close on 2 years or maybe it's more than 2 years now if you count the korean release.
That they fixed the fort crash bug is good but you saying they fixed it in november means it took em what over 2 mnths or in reality over 1 year from korean launch to fix a bug that was destroying the games core feature, and no you being a templar I should hope you don't die in 2 secs but on my chanter in flight combat i constantly got the out of range message even when ontop of my target.
The game failed plain and simple as evidenced by it's ever decreasing population and lets not get started on the ammount of people who are continuously having accounts hacked and yes computer literate people who know how to avoid a computer filled with loggers etc...
Oh and yeah having a huge bot infestation on a games release is not a good thing, quite the opposite. Bots usually take time to get into a game due to working round it's security measures, Aion had none at the start hence the mess it was, but yeah carry on championing games that fall so short of the mark it aint even in sight, I mean it's not like the market isn't already overfilled with crap is it.
Reason for the bots falling off is simply due to the mass bannings at first to eradicate them, then keeping them under control. It's also around the same time the hacks started, because bots were no longer a good means of making $$. Population has hardly 'plummeted like a rock' since after the first free month (which was arguably not surprising in the least). I'm not saying it hasn't been decreasing, but on my server at least (Gorgos EU) it has only slightly changed from 3 or 4months ago.
They fixed the fort crash bug after 2months because no one had any idea there was a bug at the start as the overwhelming majority of the population were well below lvl35 after a few weeks. In actuality it really only took a few weeks to fix this bug, which was NEVER a problem anywhere else in the world (Korea, China etc.) and it was a new issue they had to gather information on, and fix accordingly, which they did.
Every single MMO except for WoW and EvE have ever decreasing populations. That is never a measuring-stick of how good an MMO is. Game has plenty of issues, but in the eyes of many it hasn't really failed as for the most part it is working as intended. People who don't enjoy this type of game will never like it, though here we start going into opinion territory, which is worthless.
First off, the amount of time the game has been released outside of NA/EU is completely irrelevent to anyone who never played nor had any intention of playing other versions of the game. It's also completely irrelevent when talking about things like bots due to the sole responsibility of banning them laying at the hands of the local division handling the running of their version of the game. (I.e. the one's that have been running it for six months now.) Furthermore, it's over a year and four months old if you count Korea, I have no idea why you think it's been two years.
Secondly, to my knowledge the crash bug was not present in the original Korean release, nor the Chinese version of the game as has been mentioned on plenty of forums where people first played Aion on the Chinese one (which was still max level 45 at the time) and claimed fortresses had absolutely no issue over there. It appears to have been an issue that cropped up around the time of the 1.5 patch, which was just before the US launch. Could it have had a faster fix? Of course. Is it in any way, shape, or form, an issue NOW? No. Is there any reason whatsoever to bring this up in the current time, aside from trolling? No.
And yes, the population of the game is just plummeting like a rock. That's why my server actually has been having more and more people coming to fortress sieges, sometimes amassing around 500 people inside a single fortress which is completely and utterly ridiculous. And easily double the amount I first witnessed across two separate servers in the first few months... Yes, less bots around is the prime proof of the population drop though! People reporting being banned for using keys obtained from unauthorized retailers that apparently obtained them illegally has nothing to do with it! All the spammers in both LFG and shop titles that crop up from time to time with the very same URLs that were being tossed around at launch, but mysteriously disappearing quite prompty with several day to week stretches without seeing them has nothing to do with NCSoft's intervention in the matter. Their business just gives up with trying to profit off it and then... starts up again for twenty minutes or so before calling it quits for another week only to repeat again? Yeah that's totally it! Brilliant!
I played Aion for 6 months and its a grind. I couldnt level due to work and family . 18 hours a day grinding was not possible sorry ncsoft. Fail. It seems some people feel a game must torture everyone to be challenging. Here is a hint. If you want a challenge disengange all your gear and go grind. There is YOUR challenge while the rest of us do normal things LOL. umm ganking lowbie? Yeah thats all it seems to be about in PVP. If you are 40+ you should be locked out of rifting lowbie areas period. I have seen and assassin hold a zone basically hostage because he was 10+ levels higher and no one could touch him. This is PVP? Seems in Aion it is. FAIL. Save your money wait for a freee trial.
GRIND DOES NOT EQUAL MAKING A GAME CHALLENGING!! YES I AM YELLING LOL
I think I am starting to see the problem, if you can't hit level cap in a couple of weeks playing casually then it's a grind... ?
What your looking for then is Cryptic games. You can hit cap and do pretty much everything there is to do in the game in 2-3 weeks playing extremely casual.
As for me one of the reasons I left Aion was because it wasn't a grind. I actually went back to FFXI because I for w/e reason enjoy grinding. My wife left Aion to return to FFXI with me. Even with the changes made to it as of late it's still a good old fashion grind. Minimal questing and lots of killing.
If you guys seriously consider Aion a grind then you either haven't played Aion or you've only played WoW prior to Aion. Aion made an attempt to mix it up and got it wrong. They didn't make it to grindy, they made it to casual and like every other casual centric MMO it's turned into yet another errand boy online. Go fetch this, go kill that, go talk to this person, pick up my dry cleaning, etc. etc. etc.
You level mainly with quests, there are so many quests in fact thats all you have to do to level. The grinding spots are slim to none. You can sit down with a group and pound out the levels by killing higher level mobs like you can in a grinder. There are some spots I found, but there very few and far between. Even then there short lived because you out level them to fast.
double xp weekends are what finally killed it for me. A large chunk of the game is extremely solo friendly. There isn't a big need for groups for most of the game. Me and my wife attempted to Duo all of our toons but even then it was just easier to solo.
Aion did a good job making the game casual/solo friendly but not so good on making it appealing to traditional grinders.
Again if you think Aion is a grind my advice would be to play UO, FFXI, Lineage, L2, EQ2, DFO, EQ, .... well as a matter of fact most older MMO's. Aion's more on par with AoC in the terms of content and even then it's less grindy than AoC. Both are heavily quest based.
If you truly feel Aion is a huge grind or a grind at all really then I know you haven't played anything other than STO, CO, WoW etc. Games that basically hand you the level cap.
Dunno where you're gettin the idea of nerd-rage from mate but whatever floats your boat I suppose, that you even use the term nerd-rage speaks volumes about yourself moreso than me.
On topic,
if it's doing ok now then great, i was speaking from my experience during launch and for 2 months after, the game was piss poor for a supposed aaa release, also to people saying if you think this is a grind you should've played UO or (insert whatever 10 year old game here) that's the poorest excuse i've ever heard that's like sayin hah if you think that toyota's steering is bad you should've tried it 10 years ago without power steering, it's not a viable argument, things improve over time though lately it seems MMO's just get worse every year.
By the way I played UO, EVE, SWG, AC n so on yes they were grinds but they were also the 1st of there kind so obviously the content was lacking but as with UO and EVE the pvp had meaning so if you got tired of grinding you could go slaughter some people and earn stuff from it, what meaning/risk is there to the PVP in Aion? Oh yeah you get a fort that gives acess to a few pitifull instances.
And how people can say that dreadgion and DP is acceptible end game content for a theme park game these days is shocking. There was some good idea's in Aion but the implementation was poor, there should've been I think more sandbox elements thrown into it like control of forts grants access to certain minerals needed for crafting and a steeper penalty for death.
hi all, my impressions on this game , got 1 L42 templar and 1 L41 SM, and quit around december2009,
1). You only get to use wings in limited areas.
well, its true cause we need to travel a lot by feet, and transports available are few and expensive, and the use of wings for melees in combat its a complete fail.
2). This game is a grind trust me.
yes its is as all mmrpgs available on the market, grind in aion in group (KaidanHQ, and Steel Rake), is bearable at least.
3). The content is poor especially endgame.
dont know got L42 and L41 and quit after that
4). The PVP system has no real thought put into it.
well on abyss its rangedpwnsallthemeleesmovingfoes, the rest pvp seems quite balanced, the gist its those nasty gankers, by their own selfish, quite a lot of people left the game, why in the hell as lower level you get all those penaltys??!!?
5). The track record of this company is poor.
not true guild wars was the best fantasy pvp game i've played and its in some way from NCsoft (publisher), L1 and L2, CoH and even the failed Tabula Rasa quite average games
6). The community is very weak and losing players all the time.
Wrong, i found the aion community (after 1st month) the best one since LotRO, far away better than Wocrap
7). Servers are very laggy at times, can make play difficult.
never got that and my connection its 2Mb (well some lag on the first 3 weeks)
8). To many bots in the game.
yes in the first 2 months around december was clear of bots
9). Far to many gold farmers.
same as above
10). Theres better mmo's out there.
well right now not as im not playing nothing , and im waiting for patches on this game , as i find this game with very solid and nice features, maybe after patch 1.9 or 2.0 i return again
sorry for my bad english