Theres still some grind, but it has improved alot. The last few updates have added a ton, and eased some things up. 2.5 and 3.0 are promising some great stuff. I left Aion along time ago, in disgust at the drop rates mostly, as I don t care about slow leveling. That said, when I did a million dungeon runs and got nothing but death, I promptly quit. That has improved alot, and the game is quite fun now. It is one of the more improved games, for me anyways out there, and the one I enjoy the most. It s not perfect, but it s damn good now.
This is you're best friend if it still works.. I was the first lv 50 cleric on fregion and this is how i did it.. I took me less then a few weeks (8hr+ each day though) of kiteing elites in idratu to get to lvl 40-50.. It's boring but the drops are nice and the xp is way better then running SR.. As a cleric you're gonna wanna hit them with DoTs and root occasionally to run away and heal.. Eventually when you get to the higher lvls you'll just be able to tank and spank them without needing to root and heal.
Ofcourse, at lvl 50 i was introduced to the real grind of AION which is miragents.. I'am willing to grind elites 8hrs a day for weeks at a time; but i will not grind POINTLESSLY for bloodstains only to be pwnt by the random number god 6times in a row.
Yea I have no time to do that grinding for golds when they drop out of the sky now. I get by with dungeon and PvP gear which is way easier to get.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Thats why i got so frustrated and sold off my account.. I worked so hard grinding to 50 so i could "enjoy" the end game and be one of the 1st 50's to roll around the abyss and roflstomp faces.. But i was introduced to an even bigger grind and the only "end game" i got was dredgion+DP... Eventually all that grinding met nothing as others that were originally so many lvls below me ended up getting lucky on miragents and pwning me, people that didn't even put in the work i did lvling wise and bloodstain wise..
If miragents still has the OP bonuses it does then i doubt any gear (besides maybe lvl 50 abyss gear) will come close to touching in pvp.. I've seen the new lv 55 gold gear and miragents still is a lot better thx to its gear bonuses.. I don't know, for a game that was as heavly pvp based as AION was (when it originally launched atleast) it just seemed stupid to make you're end game so OP and needed but so annoying to get; its not like we are paying to play the game per hour like they do in korea.
With that said.. AION is still my most memorable MMORPG.. The launch was awsome for me.. The pvp i did from 25-40 was epic.. Exploreing the abyss and ganking people 10 lvls below me all the time.. It was a good time to be a cleric that was so high in lvls compared to anyone else.. But slowly, months into the game my friends started disapearing as they got to higher lvls.. Most of them got to 50 and then realized miragents was just another huge grind and gave up.. These were people i spent 8-12hrs a day chatting to in vent for months at a time and talked to more then my family lol.. People i spent weeks farming world bosses with, grinding mobs with, doing instances with... Ugh, i knew it was all too good to be true.. AION's end game just ruined it for me and everyone else in my guild, within a few weeks of almost all our members hitting end game the legion just couldnt go on with the population drop.. I helped take SoV from #11 legion to #2 for elyos; then watched as we dropped from #2 with 100+ members to non-existant and having 0 members.
Bad memories.. Mixed with good memories.. That'll be AION in a nutshell for me.. To many bad memories for me to give it another shot, but a lot of good memories so that i can include as being my #1 favorite MMO to pvp in.
Unless you are 1v1 all the time Mirgents is not needed. Plenty of people with full Migrents get owned in Dred and Iggion. Sure you get bonuses but when you have group vs group tatics can out match any gear.
If you like pvp without the grind of gear I would advice you try Warhammer. Hands down the best PVP out there right now. You can try it for free and see what I mean. Unforunatly, after level 20 the game is all downhill with boring pve, even more boring instances, and even worst endgame. But as far as pvp you can't get much better than WAR.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
This is you're best friend if it still works.. I was the first lv 50 cleric on fregion and this is how i did it.. I took me less then a few weeks (8hr+ each day though) of kiteing elites in idratu to get to lvl 40-50.. It's boring but the drops are nice and the xp is way better then running SR.. As a cleric you're gonna wanna hit them with DoTs and root occasionally to run away and heal.. Eventually when you get to the higher lvls you'll just be able to tank and spank them without needing to root and heal.
Ofcourse, at lvl 50 i was introduced to the real grind of AION which is miragents.. I'am willing to grind elites 8hrs a day for weeks at a time; but i will not grind POINTLESSLY for bloodstains only to be pwnt by the random number god 6times in a row.
Yea I have no time to do that grinding for golds when they drop out of the sky now. I get by with dungeon and PvP gear which is way easier to get.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Thats why i got so frustrated and sold off my account.. I worked so hard grinding to 50 so i could "enjoy" the end game and be one of the 1st 50's to roll around the abyss and roflstomp faces.. But i was introduced to an even bigger grind and the only "end game" i got was dredgion+DP... Eventually all that grinding met nothing as others that were originally so many lvls below me ended up getting lucky on miragents and pwning me, people that didn't even put in the work i did lvling wise and bloodstain wise..
If miragents still has the OP bonuses it does then i doubt any gear (besides maybe lvl 50 abyss gear) will come close to touching in pvp.. I've seen the new lv 55 gold gear and miragents still is a lot better thx to its gear bonuses.. I don't know, for a game that was as heavly pvp based as AION was (when it originally launched atleast) it just seemed stupid to make you're end game so OP and needed but so annoying to get; its not like we are paying to play the game per hour like they do in korea.
With that said.. AION is still my most memorable MMORPG.. The launch was awsome for me.. The pvp i did from 25-40 was epic.. Exploreing the abyss and ganking people 10 lvls below me all the time.. It was a good time to be a cleric that was so high in lvls compared to anyone else.. But slowly, months into the game my friends started disapearing as they got to higher lvls.. Most of them got to 50 and then realized miragents was just another huge grind and gave up.. These were people i spent 8-12hrs a day chatting to in vent for months at a time and talked to more then my family lol.. People i spent weeks farming world bosses with, grinding mobs with, doing instances with... Ugh, i knew it was all too good to be true.. AION's end game just ruined it for me and everyone else in my guild, within a few weeks of almost all our members hitting end game the legion just couldnt go on with the population drop.. I helped take SoV from #11 legion to #2 for elyos; then watched as we dropped from #2 with 100+ members to non-existant and having 0 members.
Bad memories.. Mixed with good memories.. That'll be AION in a nutshell for me.. To many bad memories for me to give it another shot, but a lot of good memories so that i can include as being my #1 favorite MMO to pvp in.
Unless you are 1v1 all the time Mirgents is not needed. Plenty of people with full Migrents get owned in Dred and Iggion. Sure you get bonuses but when you have group vs group tatics can out match any gear.
If you like pvp without the grind of gear I would advice you try Warhammer. Hands down the best PVP out there right now. You can try it for free and see what I mean. Unforunatly, after level 20 the game is all downhill with boring pve, even more boring instances, and even worst endgame. But as far as pvp you can't get much better than WAR.
Well i'am glad things changed with miragents then.. But back before the expansion and new patches when someone on the other team had miragents and someone on you're team didn't the only way you'd win is by training.. The gear difference made the game so unbalanced.. If they fixed that then maybe theres hope left for AION; ofcourse i sold my account (which eventually got banned i hear) so i wouldn't dare come back.. I wonder of my old legion Remenisnce is still around, they were the legion i joined after SoV and a bunch of very nice and knowledgeable people about AION.
And yeah, i played WAR.. It's fun but not subworthy.. Right now i'am playing EvE Online and loveing it.. EvE was the first MMORPG i played after AION and i've been subbing to it for like 2-3 months, takeing a break for a month or two, and resubbing again off and on.. The PvP is good and the new expansion is pretty much why i'am playing now; that and because i got bored of f2p MMORPG's.. I think RIFT will be my next MMO to sub to as something about MMORPG launches really interest me.. Being the first to explore new content or hit the lvl cap as i did in AION.
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
Actually last time I played aion before I was dealt the infamous banhammer, leveling was extremely easy , they added these quests you can just do over and over again a certain amount of times giving out like 1 million or so xp. It was too easy.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
Well i'am glad too that they worked that out then.. As i said, i played AION from day 1 launch to around the 5-6 month mark.. 50% of my legion that hit 50 after i did end up quitting because of miragents (some before even getting to the leggings.) I decided to stick it out and get to my 6th failed attempt till i called it quits and took the first offer on my account.. At the time NC Soft showed off the "Vision" trailer but after that it'd been months with no concrete date for an expansion/update.. It took them 7-8 months (if i can remember right) to get the first real content/update in and by then it was too late for me and many other veterans..
Like i said, AION is still my favorite MMORPG.. It just does so many things right! Rifts, abyss, world bosses, challangeing instances (or they were when i played), fort raids (my favorite), ect.. But for every good thing it did it took two steps back... RNG Crafting set-up, grind-heavy (i didnt mind this), 90% of the quests poorly written, 0/1000 repeatable quests, laggy fort raids that crash all the time, being very gear dependant, training in dredgion, MIRAGENTS/FENRILS, plat coin gear (lol big waste of time when i played but i still did it), ect..
I'am glad others still enjoy the game and that NC Soft is indeed working on it.. As i think it has huge potential; or it will until GW2/SWTOR release
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
I recently reactivated Aion myself. Recently as in about 3 months ago.
I agree that it hardly felt improved. There were still the small, slightly annoying bugs that there were before I originially cancelled (stuff like graphic/texture lag, animation glitches, clipping.. etc. nothing too major)
As for XP gain.... well, I saw where they changed it and cut off some trimmings but, nah.... the game is a grind and that's by design and there's no way around it. The big reason why this isn't a total turn off for me (usually grindy korean titles don't even make it to my harddrive) is because the grind is actually sort of enjoyable to me. The combat system in Aion is so damn good imo that it makes killing mobs pleasant, every time. I bring up FFXI a lot on this site because it was my 'first', but all the same, that game is a group-grind all the way to the top (back then it was anyways) - but this wasn't that big of an issue because the group combat and weaponskill-chains between group members was so interesting and enthralling compared to spamming 1-2-3-4 repeat. This made the community LOVE being in groups and grinding all day just so they could see how 'this group' would function compared to the last one. Every group was more of a new experience and tactics had to change. Approach and strategy meant something. That's where the fun was. Grinding didn't even come to mind really.
That's how I kind of felt with Aion. The combat system alone is more engaging than most MMO's so fighting mobs IS the fun.
Unfortunately, the game left me wanting. There's some general MMO features I wished it had that it didn't, but they are all coming soon and I will resub again when they do. (unless Blade and Soul launches first) here's the long video that shows everything from mounts to player housing to faction/alliance warfare and sieges:
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
I absolutely agree! Total failure of a system if it resorts to this horrifying and broken ideal that all players should be going for the same 1 or 2 sets of gear to be competitive. I don't know why this has been so popular in MMO's over the years but it needs to stop. Why are we spending months, even years developing and progressing characters if we get the end and have to be the same as everyone else? What the hell is so wrong with customization?
"shut up noob. it's harder to balance the game when you start adding customization." That's all i get when others respond to this topic of conversation. It's a weak excuse and further more, it's a pathetic one.
If you're a videogame developer and it's your job to make videogames, we don't want to hear "it's hard."
I happen to know for a fact exactly how much money a certain 3 devs make that work at Blizz in Irvine, CA. Trust me, they have no right to complain about anything being "hard" to balance. They earn enough to design a class system advanced enough to jump out of your screen and wipe the crust out of your eyes, so long as they were told to do so.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
I absolutely agree! Total failure of a system if it resorts to this horrifying and broken ideal that all players should be going for the same 1 or 2 sets of gear to be competitive. I don't know why this has been so popular in MMO's over the years but it needs to stop. Why are we spending months, even years developing and progressing characters if we get the end and have to be the same as everyone else? What the hell is so wrong with customization?
"shut up noob. it's harder to balance the game when you start adding customization." That's all i get when others respond to this topic of conversation. It's a weak excuse and further more, it's a pathetic one.
If you're a videogame developer and it's your job to make videogames, we don't want to hear "it's hard."
I happen to know for a fact exactly how much money a certain 3 devs make that work at Blizz in Irvine, CA. Trust me, they have no right to complain about anything being "hard" to balance. They earn enough to design a class system advanced enough to jump out of your screen and wipe the crust out of your eyes, so long as they were told to do so.
There are more than 1-2 sets fro in-game in Aion. Also in Aion unlike other MMO's you can customize them all and talior the stats to meet your playing style. So I'm not sure where you are getting your info.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
I absolutely agree! Total failure of a system if it resorts to this horrifying and broken ideal that all players should be going for the same 1 or 2 sets of gear to be competitive. I don't know why this has been so popular in MMO's over the years but it needs to stop. Why are we spending months, even years developing and progressing characters if we get the end and have to be the same as everyone else? What the hell is so wrong with customization?
"shut up noob. it's harder to balance the game when you start adding customization." That's all i get when others respond to this topic of conversation. It's a weak excuse and further more, it's a pathetic one.
If you're a videogame developer and it's your job to make videogames, we don't want to hear "it's hard."
I happen to know for a fact exactly how much money a certain 3 devs make that work at Blizz in Irvine, CA. Trust me, they have no right to complain about anything being "hard" to balance. They earn enough to design a class system advanced enough to jump out of your screen and wipe the crust out of your eyes, so long as they were told to do so.
There is a lot of different gear for those who are interested about them. I'm not.
I want the optimal solution to compete, I don't care if it's a burkha my character wears or if it's totally naked. As long as you have some factors that decide the outcome of the battle (stats, gear, personal skill, number of allies, etc.) you will have the optimal and no one ever can beat that. If you make it totally RNG, then it's different.
No one forbids you from customizing your character how you want, you just aren't the best with that (just like you hardly beat that who plays the game for 18h per day if you play only 4h per day).
I suppose U.S. troops don't go into war in anything but optimal gear for the operation, do the troops cry for more than 1 or 2 sets to be competetive? (A sarcastic binding to real world that happens to live under same rules as the games do, at least in this optimal solution thing.)
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
I don't think people are mad that Miragents is "hard" to get.. Because its anything but "hard".. Waiting for random NPC spawns isnt hard, grinding 1star mobs 1000's times over waiting for 20% drop rate items is not hard, killing fort guards over and over is not hard.. It's all so mind numbingly easy, and NC Soft could've done a lot better with that part of the game.. I mean, they could've made it funner by giving you challanges like "Kill x and x world bosses" instead of waiting 2 hrs for random NPC spawns.. lol
I think everyone who has worked on miragents will agree with me on this one.. It's not hard to get by a long shot, it's based on luck and you're patience.. Two things that were wearing thin on me towards the end of my time in AION..
All i know is at launch if you didn't have miragents you'd die.. So getting to 50 was a waste unless you'd grind miragents out.. Lv 50 abyss gear wasn't even thought about (even though i had shield+belt alrdy) because of its grind to get.. So when the game launched till about 7months later the system was indeed as bad as people are saying it is.. And i think thats why AION still catches a lot of heat.. These peoples opinions are valid if they played the game at launch like i did..
I'am glad NC Soft fixed some of the problems but they were stupid descisions that should've been taken out for the western market anyways.. And because of it NC lost a lot of its western players and IMHO won't be able to recover here on the west this year when the bigger names get released.
Dosn't matter much though because AION runs the east with a iron fist.. Subs still pour in from there im sure.
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
I've been playing Aion since closed beta and still do. I'm a casual player, so I don't log every day, but I'm still liking the game a lot. No, I don't have a level 55 but I do have 5 chars between level 30 and 40. I have them all leveled in a different way, so not doing over and over the same quests. Some just leveled to 30 only crafting, with some I did solo-instances, with other quests or the Abyss. I find enough depth in this game not to think it's just a grind.
Sometimes you have to do a lot of grinding for some reward, but I think it's worth it. It gives me a better feeling than playing WoW and level from 1-45 within 2 days without thinking (which I also did since Cataclysm). Here I have to figger out what is the best way to get my goals done, which I like. So, well I think not every game caters every gamer and I'm happy not every game is the same game. I enjoy playing different games for different reasons (a reason why I like WoW is because of the humor, I can sometimes really laugh out loud because of the silly ideas). The only thing that I reallly..really don't like are the gankers. PvP should be a choice not an obligation. Besides that they can keep Aion as it is for me.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
I don't think people are mad that Miragents is "hard" to get.. Because its anything but "hard".. Waiting for random NPC spawns isnt hard, grinding 1star mobs 1000's times over waiting for 20% drop rate items is not hard, killing fort guards over and over is not hard.. It's all so mind numbingly easy, and NC Soft could've done a lot better with that part of the game.. I mean, they could've made it funner by giving you challanges like "Kill x and x world bosses" instead of waiting 2 hrs for random NPC spawns.. lol
I think everyone who has worked on miragents will agree with me on this one.. It's not hard to get by a long shot, it's based on luck and you're patience.. Two things that were wearing thin on me towards the end of my time in AION..
All i know is at launch if you didn't have miragents you'd die.. So getting to 50 was a waste unless you'd grind miragents out.. Lv 50 abyss gear wasn't even thought about (even though i had shield+belt alrdy) because of its grind to get.. So when the game launched till about 7months later the system was indeed as bad as people are saying it is.. And i think thats why AION still catches a lot of heat.. These peoples opinions are valid if they played the game at launch like i did..
I'am glad NC Soft fixed some of the problems but they were stupid descisions that should've been taken out for the western market anyways.. And because of it NC lost a lot of its western players and IMHO won't be able to recover here on the west this year when the bigger names get released.
Dosn't matter much though because AION runs the east with a iron fist.. Subs still pour in from there im sure.
I played the game at launch and the people that usually go for Miragents are hard core pvpers. So if they were hard core and your not you problably would be dead no matter what you are wearing. PVPgear is still better and I've see people get beat 1v1 with Fenris on while the other person didn't.
As for the NC changing things for its west players that has been done. If you have been on lately you would know that the west is doing fine. I disagree that a company should totally change is game to cater to our every want. You know that its an eastern game and should expect as much.
The truth is Aion is an awesome game with flaws just like other games. I think in the coming year it will only get better.
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
I don't think people are mad that Miragents is "hard" to get.. Because its anything but "hard".. Waiting for random NPC spawns isnt hard, grinding 1star mobs 1000's times over waiting for 20% drop rate items is not hard, killing fort guards over and over is not hard.. It's all so mind numbingly easy, and NC Soft could've done a lot better with that part of the game.. I mean, they could've made it funner by giving you challanges like "Kill x and x world bosses" instead of waiting 2 hrs for random NPC spawns.. lol
I think everyone who has worked on miragents will agree with me on this one.. It's not hard to get by a long shot, it's based on luck and you're patience.. Two things that were wearing thin on me towards the end of my time in AION..
All i know is at launch if you didn't have miragents you'd die.. So getting to 50 was a waste unless you'd grind miragents out.. Lv 50 abyss gear wasn't even thought about (even though i had shield+belt alrdy) because of its grind to get.. So when the game launched till about 7months later the system was indeed as bad as people are saying it is.. And i think thats why AION still catches a lot of heat.. These peoples opinions are valid if they played the game at launch like i did..
I'am glad NC Soft fixed some of the problems but they were stupid descisions that should've been taken out for the western market anyways.. And because of it NC lost a lot of its western players and IMHO won't be able to recover here on the west this year when the bigger names get released.
Dosn't matter much though because AION runs the east with a iron fist.. Subs still pour in from there im sure.
I played the game at launch and the people that usually go for Miragents are hard core pvpers. So if they were hard core and your not you problably would be dead no matter what you are wearing. PVPgear is still better and I've see people get beat 1v1 with Fenris on while the other person didn't.
As for the NC changing things for its west players that has been done. If you have been on lately you would know that the west is doing fine. I disagree that a company should totally change is game to cater to our every want. You know that its an eastern game and should expect as much.
The truth is Aion is an awesome game with flaws just like other games. I think in the coming year it will only get better.
I was a hardcore pvper.. Took #11 legion on Fregion to #2 before i switched to the #1 legion (after our legion died when mass exodus of aion took place 3-4 months in.) I was also the first lvl 50 cleric on fregion.. But as i said, i failed 6 times on bloodstains so people that were 45 when i was 50 started getting lucky on on their 1st roll and they got miragents 1st, even though i put in way more work lvling to hit 50 before them and collecting bloodstains..
And i know lv 50 abyss gear is better then miragents but at the time when i was working on my stains most people were around lv 30-45 and the population started to already dwindle.. So getting AP was pretty hard and the quickest way to earn it was grinding fort guards; which ironically drop bloodstains.. So you might as well go for miragents while you save up for lv 50 gear.. I had a lv 50 belt/sheild by the time i was done on my 6th bloodstain attempt because of all the fort guards/people i ganked while grinding guards, ect..
I knew AION was from the east, shoot, anyone who played the game at launch knew that.. I grinded mobs in idratu 8-12hrs a day rather then questing, so ofcourse its a eastern game lol.. BUT, when more people started to hit 50 and work on miragents at one point NC Softs Suggestion Forum has its first 3 pages FULL of miragent/fenrils complaint.. I still might even have screen shots of the forums from back then (as i emailed them to NC Soft and pleaded that they change miragents with many others) it was a ugly sight and not one GM/Dev took the time to respond to its players that worked so hard to hit that cap so earlie.. MANY, MANY, MANY people quit.. I'am sure if you asked 90% of the people who quit after hitting 50 at that point in the game they will tell you it was because of miragents.
Like i said, AION is a great game (especially its pvp system) but it has some mortal flaws that just wont make it as succesful as it is back east.. I know they are changeing and tweaking the game but if you ask around most people see AION as something has come and gone.. I know its population is strong atm but thats only because they had to slash servers; which isn't a sign of a succesful MMO.. But i still beleive AION will continue for a time to come; the game has already been paid for because of its success' in the east and the patches/updates just need to be translated and hopefully westernized/tweaked.. Not a lot of cost to keep AION running really.
Currently Playing: Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
Are you lvl 50 (or 55 now i guess)? Because all i know is when i hit 50 and failed on miragents so many times there were people that were 45ish when i started working on my miragents that had it by the time i got to my 3rd failed attempt because they got lucky on their first try.. Those people pwnt me, it didn't matter if it was a templar and i was a cleric if you had miragents and i didn't you would kill me in less then 2seconds..
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
I don't think people are mad that Miragents is "hard" to get.. Because its anything but "hard".. Waiting for random NPC spawns isnt hard, grinding 1star mobs 1000's times over waiting for 20% drop rate items is not hard, killing fort guards over and over is not hard.. It's all so mind numbingly easy, and NC Soft could've done a lot better with that part of the game.. I mean, they could've made it funner by giving you challanges like "Kill x and x world bosses" instead of waiting 2 hrs for random NPC spawns.. lol
I think everyone who has worked on miragents will agree with me on this one.. It's not hard to get by a long shot, it's based on luck and you're patience.. Two things that were wearing thin on me towards the end of my time in AION..
All i know is at launch if you didn't have miragents you'd die.. So getting to 50 was a waste unless you'd grind miragents out.. Lv 50 abyss gear wasn't even thought about (even though i had shield+belt alrdy) because of its grind to get.. So when the game launched till about 7months later the system was indeed as bad as people are saying it is.. And i think thats why AION still catches a lot of heat.. These peoples opinions are valid if they played the game at launch like i did..
I'am glad NC Soft fixed some of the problems but they were stupid descisions that should've been taken out for the western market anyways.. And because of it NC lost a lot of its western players and IMHO won't be able to recover here on the west this year when the bigger names get released.
Dosn't matter much though because AION runs the east with a iron fist.. Subs still pour in from there im sure.
I played the game at launch and the people that usually go for Miragents are hard core pvpers. So if they were hard core and your not you problably would be dead no matter what you are wearing. PVPgear is still better and I've see people get beat 1v1 with Fenris on while the other person didn't.
As for the NC changing things for its west players that has been done. If you have been on lately you would know that the west is doing fine. I disagree that a company should totally change is game to cater to our every want. You know that its an eastern game and should expect as much.
The truth is Aion is an awesome game with flaws just like other games. I think in the coming year it will only get better.
I was a hardcore pvper.. Took #11 legion on Fregion to #2 before i switched to the #1 legion (after our legion died when mass exodus of aion took place 3-4 months in.) I was also the first lvl 50 cleric on fregion.. But as i said, i failed 6 times on bloodstains so people that were 45 when i was 50 started getting lucky on on their 1st roll and they got miragents 1st, even though i put in way more work lvling to hit 50 before them and collecting bloodstains..
And i know lv 50 abyss gear is better then miragents but at the time when i was working on my stains most people were around lv 30-45 and the population started to already dwindle.. So getting AP was pretty hard and the quickest way to earn it was grinding fort guards; which ironically drop bloodstains.. So you might as well go for miragents while you save up for lv 50 gear.. I had a lv 50 belt/sheild by the time i was done on my 6th bloodstain attempt because of all the fort guards/people i ganked while grinding guards, ect..
I knew AION was from the east, shoot, anyone who played the game at launch knew that.. I grinded mobs in idratu 8-12hrs a day rather then questing, so ofcourse its a eastern game lol.. BUT, when more people started to hit 50 and work on miragents at one point NC Softs Suggestion Forum has its first 3 pages FULL of miragent/fenrils complaint.. I still might even have screen shots of the forums from back then (as i emailed them to NC Soft and pleaded that they change miragents with many others) it was a ugly sight and not one GM/Dev took the time to respond to its players that worked so hard to hit that cap so earlie.. MANY, MANY, MANY people quit.. I'am sure if you asked 90% of the people who quit after hitting 50 at that point in the game they will tell you it was because of miragents.
Like i said, AION is a great game (especially its pvp system) but it has some mortal flaws that just wont make it as succesful as it is back east.. I know they are changeing and tweaking the game but if you ask around most people see AION as something has come and gone.. I know its population is strong atm but thats only because they had to slash servers; which isn't a sign of a succesful MMO.. But i still beleive AION will continue for a time to come; the game has already been paid for because of its success' in the east and the patches/updates just need to be translated and hopefully westernized/tweaked.. Not a lot of cost to keep AION running really.
I think you were just left with a bad taste in your mouth and don't want to be wrong. The truth is yes lot of people left due to craft/miragents. Its also true that many people have returned (myself) and found the game totally new and changed. Ncsoft took a while but they listed to they customers and the reasonable flaws are being dealt with. Speaking of which after checking the website even more stuff is being changed to make the game more streamlined http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Patch+Notes+2.1.0.5.
As far as slashing servers, that not always a bad sign. Many companies want to make sure they have enough servers for launch. Once the tourist came and left they cut the servers down. Its not a bad sign in this instance. Now Warhammer had to cut servers mulitple times. Thats a bad sign.
Lastly, Aion will get better. Was it a little late? Maybe but better late than never. No game starts off perfect and no game will be perfect for everyone. Went a game stops improving itself then thats a bad sign.
Miragents is probably probably low on the list for reasons why so many have quit.
From my observations of the topics posted in the forums the top 2 would be.
1. The rampant ganking and griefing from twinked out rifters.
2. Manastone socketing game mechanic. Spend millions or even tens of millions of game currency to enhance your armor or weapon and ultimately end up with nothing because if one fails to socket they all disappear.
I think manastone socketing in Aion is probably the most aggravating game mechanic of any MMO I've ever played. There are hundreds of posts from raging players on this subject.
Miragents is probably probably low on the list for reasons why so many have quit.
From my observations of the topics posted in the forums the top 2 would be.
1. The rampant ganking and griefing from twinked out rifters.
2. Manastone socketing game mechanic. Spend millions or even tens of millions of game currency to enhance your armor or weapon and ultimately end up with nothing because if one fails to socket they all disappear.
I think manastone socketing in Aion is probably the most aggravating game mechanic of any MMO I've ever played. There are hundreds of posts from raging players on this subject.
1. Aion has bee working on the rifting...its not perfect but it alot better. Sadly, this happens in all open world pvp games. I'm not sure why people act like this is the first time in a PVP game that they have been ganking. Nonetheless, they have a debuff on some rifting areas to give you a fighing chance.
2. The Manastone socketing has been improved..and not that making money is eaiser..it will be easier to spend money on those enchants. Although I agree it can get pretty fustrating at times.
The thing is you can go to any game and see people complaining. This doesn't phase me...you should be the judge and go into it with an openmind.
1. Aion has bee working on the rifting...its not perfect but it alot better. Sadly, this happens in all open world pvp games. I'm not sure why people act like this is the first time in a PVP game that they have been ganking. Nonetheless, they have a debuff on some rifting areas to give you a fighing chance.
2. The Manastone socketing has been improved..and not that making money is eaiser..it will be easier to spend money on those enchants. Although I agree it can get pretty fustrating at times.
The thing is you can go to any game and see people complaining. This doesn't phase me...you should be the judge and go into it with an openmind.
The problem though as I see it is because Aion combat is so gear dependent, more so than any other game I've played, the differences from a moderately geared player to a well geared one is huge. To the point that before the homeland buff happened one well geared twink could take out whole groups of moderately geared players. of similar level or even above them by several.
Sure the buff helps those same moderately geared players alot but it was overkill. 80% defense buff for Eltnen/Morhiem. Making just about anyone in those areas pretty much unkillable. 40% buff in Heiron/Beluslan which ended up almost killing the Xenophon/Betoni weapons quest because a single player could wipe your whole team and there are many that would camp the Xenophon/Betoni rifts just to grief them.
Manastone socketing improved? There isn't any info describing tthat in any of the patch notes. The only thing they've done is add HUGELY expensive supplents that are supposed to increase the chance of success but it seems the general concensus that the supplements don't work. Otherwise there has been nothing changed.
1. Aion has bee working on the rifting...its not perfect but it alot better. Sadly, this happens in all open world pvp games. I'm not sure why people act like this is the first time in a PVP game that they have been ganking. Nonetheless, they have a debuff on some rifting areas to give you a fighing chance.
2. The Manastone socketing has been improved..and not that making money is eaiser..it will be easier to spend money on those enchants. Although I agree it can get pretty fustrating at times.
The thing is you can go to any game and see people complaining. This doesn't phase me...you should be the judge and go into it with an openmind.
The problem though as I see it is because Aion combat is so gear dependent, more so than any other game I've played, the differences from a moderately geared player to a well geared one is huge. To the point that before the homeland buff happened one well geared twink could take out whole groups of moderately geared players. of similar level or even above them by several.
Sure the buff helps those same moderately geared players alot but it was overkill. 80% defense buff for Eltnen/Morhiem. Making just about anyone in those areas pretty much unkillable. 40% buff in Heiron/Beluslan which ended up almost killing the Xenophon/Betoni weapons quest because a single player could wipe your whole team and there are many that would camp the Xenophon/Betoni rifts just to grief them.
Manastone socketing improved? There isn't any info describing tthat in any of the patch notes. The only thing they've done is add HUGELY expensive supplents that are supposed to increase the chance of success but it seems the general concensus that the supplements don't work. Otherwise there has been nothing changed.
Its obvious that you are getting your information secondhand. There have been plenty of times were I beat plays with mostly gold items while wearing blues. Ther reality is that if a person has worked to make their character epic and they beat you because you are a casual player that doesn't work as hard to get their gear then you should get beat. As far as I've seen skill and prepartion can go a long way is winning. A group of prepared and decent geared level 38's should not be taken down by a single geared combatant. You can easy get gear to match anyone else, since now gold drops are more frequent and the crafting is way easier.
If you want to argue ganking we could go on forever. Its pvp and sometimes you will get ganked. It happens and they are working on it based on the players survey input. If your going to cry about getting griefed at least do it on an official forums where at least they can here you. But getting attack while doing quests is what pvpve implies really. Having a twink cut you down is what they are working on.
Lastly, what general concenus did you consult on the supplements? They do improve you chances in my experience. Its not the best plan but its better than it was before. My point in all this is gear has been addressed and rifting/socketing is being addessed with improvements. I think I saw some real improvedments to the game in the 2.5 patch that really showed me Ncsoft was listening.
Is this game's main focus PvP now ? I am just curious that if I were to go abck witll the PvE be enough. I recall the crafting was brutal the random fails. I know a few higher level guildmates talked of losing millions. I cannot imagine trying to compete with those odds.
Is this game's main focus PvP now ? I am just curious that if I were to go abck witll the PvE be enough. I recall the crafting was brutal the random fails. I know a few higher level guildmates talked of losing millions. I cannot imagine trying to compete with those odds.
PvP happens more in the 50+ zones ! There is plenty of PvP below lvl 50 too , but not that much as when you fight on lvl 50+ zones. They add PVE content too, like single instance, increse in XP from quests and such.
Reporter: What's behind Blizzard success, and how do you make your gamers happy? Blizzard Boss: Making gamers happy is not my concern, making money.. yes!
Comments
hummm well what I think about aion well here it is ( Big fail )
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Theres still some grind, but it has improved alot. The last few updates have added a ton, and eased some things up. 2.5 and 3.0 are promising some great stuff. I left Aion along time ago, in disgust at the drop rates mostly, as I don t care about slow leveling. That said, when I did a million dungeon runs and got nothing but death, I promptly quit. That has improved alot, and the game is quite fun now. It is one of the more improved games, for me anyways out there, and the one I enjoy the most. It s not perfect, but it s damn good now.
Unless you are 1v1 all the time Mirgents is not needed. Plenty of people with full Migrents get owned in Dred and Iggion. Sure you get bonuses but when you have group vs group tatics can out match any gear.
If you like pvp without the grind of gear I would advice you try Warhammer. Hands down the best PVP out there right now. You can try it for free and see what I mean. Unforunatly, after level 20 the game is all downhill with boring pve, even more boring instances, and even worst endgame. But as far as pvp you can't get much better than WAR.
Great insight! Care to eloborate on this opinion?
Miragents/Fenris are only good for the title (after grinding for the weapon), your info is dated.
These days you'd really want enchanted AP gear for PvP and enchanted Eternal gear for PvE, everything else is just not worth it.
And because of raised drop rates on various items, you vendor them and buy your BBBS instead of dropping the bloods from mobs.
Well i'am glad things changed with miragents then.. But back before the expansion and new patches when someone on the other team had miragents and someone on you're team didn't the only way you'd win is by training.. The gear difference made the game so unbalanced.. If they fixed that then maybe theres hope left for AION; ofcourse i sold my account (which eventually got banned i hear) so i wouldn't dare come back.. I wonder of my old legion Remenisnce is still around, they were the legion i joined after SoV and a bunch of very nice and knowledgeable people about AION.
And yeah, i played WAR.. It's fun but not subworthy.. Right now i'am playing EvE Online and loveing it.. EvE was the first MMORPG i played after AION and i've been subbing to it for like 2-3 months, takeing a break for a month or two, and resubbing again off and on.. The PvP is good and the new expansion is pretty much why i'am playing now; that and because i got bored of f2p MMORPG's.. I think RIFT will be my next MMO to sub to as something about MMORPG launches really interest me.. Being the first to explore new content or hit the lvl cap as i did in AION.
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
Actually last time I played aion before I was dealt the infamous banhammer, leveling was extremely easy , they added these quests you can just do over and over again a certain amount of times giving out like 1 million or so xp. It was too easy.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
Well i'am glad too that they worked that out then.. As i said, i played AION from day 1 launch to around the 5-6 month mark.. 50% of my legion that hit 50 after i did end up quitting because of miragents (some before even getting to the leggings.) I decided to stick it out and get to my 6th failed attempt till i called it quits and took the first offer on my account.. At the time NC Soft showed off the "Vision" trailer but after that it'd been months with no concrete date for an expansion/update.. It took them 7-8 months (if i can remember right) to get the first real content/update in and by then it was too late for me and many other veterans..
Like i said, AION is still my favorite MMORPG.. It just does so many things right! Rifts, abyss, world bosses, challangeing instances (or they were when i played), fort raids (my favorite), ect.. But for every good thing it did it took two steps back... RNG Crafting set-up, grind-heavy (i didnt mind this), 90% of the quests poorly written, 0/1000 repeatable quests, laggy fort raids that crash all the time, being very gear dependant, training in dredgion, MIRAGENTS/FENRILS, plat coin gear (lol big waste of time when i played but i still did it), ect..
I'am glad others still enjoy the game and that NC Soft is indeed working on it.. As i think it has huge potential; or it will until GW2/SWTOR release
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
to the OP:
I recently reactivated Aion myself. Recently as in about 3 months ago.
I agree that it hardly felt improved. There were still the small, slightly annoying bugs that there were before I originially cancelled (stuff like graphic/texture lag, animation glitches, clipping.. etc. nothing too major)
As for XP gain.... well, I saw where they changed it and cut off some trimmings but, nah.... the game is a grind and that's by design and there's no way around it. The big reason why this isn't a total turn off for me (usually grindy korean titles don't even make it to my harddrive) is because the grind is actually sort of enjoyable to me. The combat system in Aion is so damn good imo that it makes killing mobs pleasant, every time. I bring up FFXI a lot on this site because it was my 'first', but all the same, that game is a group-grind all the way to the top (back then it was anyways) - but this wasn't that big of an issue because the group combat and weaponskill-chains between group members was so interesting and enthralling compared to spamming 1-2-3-4 repeat. This made the community LOVE being in groups and grinding all day just so they could see how 'this group' would function compared to the last one. Every group was more of a new experience and tactics had to change. Approach and strategy meant something. That's where the fun was. Grinding didn't even come to mind really.
That's how I kind of felt with Aion. The combat system alone is more engaging than most MMO's so fighting mobs IS the fun.
Unfortunately, the game left me wanting. There's some general MMO features I wished it had that it didn't, but they are all coming soon and I will resub again when they do. (unless Blade and Soul launches first) here's the long video that shows everything from mounts to player housing to faction/alliance warfare and sieges:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFIGqt-sYjI
I consider it a failed system that relegates players to a single set of gear to be competitive. There should be several if not dozens of sets that should be competitive. Giving variety in looks, variety in builds and variety in extraneous stats and or abilities on the gear. These sets should be available through different paths of progression, from PvP to PvE and solo, group and raid, questing, random world drop, camping, crafting....etc. No matter your play style, you should end up with decent, competitive gear.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
I absolutely agree! Total failure of a system if it resorts to this horrifying and broken ideal that all players should be going for the same 1 or 2 sets of gear to be competitive. I don't know why this has been so popular in MMO's over the years but it needs to stop. Why are we spending months, even years developing and progressing characters if we get the end and have to be the same as everyone else? What the hell is so wrong with customization?
"shut up noob. it's harder to balance the game when you start adding customization." That's all i get when others respond to this topic of conversation. It's a weak excuse and further more, it's a pathetic one.
If you're a videogame developer and it's your job to make videogames, we don't want to hear "it's hard."
I happen to know for a fact exactly how much money a certain 3 devs make that work at Blizz in Irvine, CA. Trust me, they have no right to complain about anything being "hard" to balance. They earn enough to design a class system advanced enough to jump out of your screen and wipe the crust out of your eyes, so long as they were told to do so.
What your saying makes no sense. There are different sets of gear. Pvp, pve, and quested gear. So you can pvp for AP and get the PVP set. You can do dungeons/raids for PVE gear. Then lastly, thru hard work and luck you can craft the Mirgent/Fenris set. So there are many paths you can take and they are all competive. People are crying because you can't immediately get the best gear in game easy. The funny thing is with the new expansion there are other sets that make Mirgent/Fenrir obsolete. So your arguement is makes no sense because everything your saying is in the game already.
There are more than 1-2 sets fro in-game in Aion. Also in Aion unlike other MMO's you can customize them all and talior the stats to meet your playing style. So I'm not sure where you are getting your info.
There is a lot of different gear for those who are interested about them. I'm not.
I want the optimal solution to compete, I don't care if it's a burkha my character wears or if it's totally naked. As long as you have some factors that decide the outcome of the battle (stats, gear, personal skill, number of allies, etc.) you will have the optimal and no one ever can beat that. If you make it totally RNG, then it's different.
No one forbids you from customizing your character how you want, you just aren't the best with that (just like you hardly beat that who plays the game for 18h per day if you play only 4h per day).
I suppose U.S. troops don't go into war in anything but optimal gear for the operation, do the troops cry for more than 1 or 2 sets to be competetive? (A sarcastic binding to real world that happens to live under same rules as the games do, at least in this optimal solution thing.)
I don't think people are mad that Miragents is "hard" to get.. Because its anything but "hard".. Waiting for random NPC spawns isnt hard, grinding 1star mobs 1000's times over waiting for 20% drop rate items is not hard, killing fort guards over and over is not hard.. It's all so mind numbingly easy, and NC Soft could've done a lot better with that part of the game.. I mean, they could've made it funner by giving you challanges like "Kill x and x world bosses" instead of waiting 2 hrs for random NPC spawns.. lol
I think everyone who has worked on miragents will agree with me on this one.. It's not hard to get by a long shot, it's based on luck and you're patience.. Two things that were wearing thin on me towards the end of my time in AION..
All i know is at launch if you didn't have miragents you'd die.. So getting to 50 was a waste unless you'd grind miragents out.. Lv 50 abyss gear wasn't even thought about (even though i had shield+belt alrdy) because of its grind to get.. So when the game launched till about 7months later the system was indeed as bad as people are saying it is.. And i think thats why AION still catches a lot of heat.. These peoples opinions are valid if they played the game at launch like i did..
I'am glad NC Soft fixed some of the problems but they were stupid descisions that should've been taken out for the western market anyways.. And because of it NC lost a lot of its western players and IMHO won't be able to recover here on the west this year when the bigger names get released.
Dosn't matter much though because AION runs the east with a iron fist.. Subs still pour in from there im sure.
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
I've been playing Aion since closed beta and still do. I'm a casual player, so I don't log every day, but I'm still liking the game a lot. No, I don't have a level 55 but I do have 5 chars between level 30 and 40. I have them all leveled in a different way, so not doing over and over the same quests. Some just leveled to 30 only crafting, with some I did solo-instances, with other quests or the Abyss. I find enough depth in this game not to think it's just a grind.
Sometimes you have to do a lot of grinding for some reward, but I think it's worth it. It gives me a better feeling than playing WoW and level from 1-45 within 2 days without thinking (which I also did since Cataclysm). Here I have to figger out what is the best way to get my goals done, which I like. So, well I think not every game caters every gamer and I'm happy not every game is the same game. I enjoy playing different games for different reasons (a reason why I like WoW is because of the humor, I can sometimes really laugh out loud because of the silly ideas). The only thing that I reallly..really don't like are the gankers. PvP should be a choice not an obligation. Besides that they can keep Aion as it is for me.
I played the game at launch and the people that usually go for Miragents are hard core pvpers. So if they were hard core and your not you problably would be dead no matter what you are wearing. PVPgear is still better and I've see people get beat 1v1 with Fenris on while the other person didn't.
As for the NC changing things for its west players that has been done. If you have been on lately you would know that the west is doing fine. I disagree that a company should totally change is game to cater to our every want. You know that its an eastern game and should expect as much.
The truth is Aion is an awesome game with flaws just like other games. I think in the coming year it will only get better.
I was a hardcore pvper.. Took #11 legion on Fregion to #2 before i switched to the #1 legion (after our legion died when mass exodus of aion took place 3-4 months in.) I was also the first lvl 50 cleric on fregion.. But as i said, i failed 6 times on bloodstains so people that were 45 when i was 50 started getting lucky on on their 1st roll and they got miragents 1st, even though i put in way more work lvling to hit 50 before them and collecting bloodstains..
And i know lv 50 abyss gear is better then miragents but at the time when i was working on my stains most people were around lv 30-45 and the population started to already dwindle.. So getting AP was pretty hard and the quickest way to earn it was grinding fort guards; which ironically drop bloodstains.. So you might as well go for miragents while you save up for lv 50 gear.. I had a lv 50 belt/sheild by the time i was done on my 6th bloodstain attempt because of all the fort guards/people i ganked while grinding guards, ect..
I knew AION was from the east, shoot, anyone who played the game at launch knew that.. I grinded mobs in idratu 8-12hrs a day rather then questing, so ofcourse its a eastern game lol.. BUT, when more people started to hit 50 and work on miragents at one point NC Softs Suggestion Forum has its first 3 pages FULL of miragent/fenrils complaint.. I still might even have screen shots of the forums from back then (as i emailed them to NC Soft and pleaded that they change miragents with many others) it was a ugly sight and not one GM/Dev took the time to respond to its players that worked so hard to hit that cap so earlie.. MANY, MANY, MANY people quit.. I'am sure if you asked 90% of the people who quit after hitting 50 at that point in the game they will tell you it was because of miragents.
Like i said, AION is a great game (especially its pvp system) but it has some mortal flaws that just wont make it as succesful as it is back east.. I know they are changeing and tweaking the game but if you ask around most people see AION as something has come and gone.. I know its population is strong atm but thats only because they had to slash servers; which isn't a sign of a succesful MMO.. But i still beleive AION will continue for a time to come; the game has already been paid for because of its success' in the east and the patches/updates just need to be translated and hopefully westernized/tweaked.. Not a lot of cost to keep AION running really.
Currently Playing:
Rift + Starcraft II + Gears Of War 3 Beta
I think you were just left with a bad taste in your mouth and don't want to be wrong. The truth is yes lot of people left due to craft/miragents. Its also true that many people have returned (myself) and found the game totally new and changed. Ncsoft took a while but they listed to they customers and the reasonable flaws are being dealt with. Speaking of which after checking the website even more stuff is being changed to make the game more streamlined http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/Patch+Notes+2.1.0.5.
As far as slashing servers, that not always a bad sign. Many companies want to make sure they have enough servers for launch. Once the tourist came and left they cut the servers down. Its not a bad sign in this instance. Now Warhammer had to cut servers mulitple times. Thats a bad sign.
Lastly, Aion will get better. Was it a little late? Maybe but better late than never. No game starts off perfect and no game will be perfect for everyone. Went a game stops improving itself then thats a bad sign.
Miragents is probably probably low on the list for reasons why so many have quit.
From my observations of the topics posted in the forums the top 2 would be.
1. The rampant ganking and griefing from twinked out rifters.
2. Manastone socketing game mechanic. Spend millions or even tens of millions of game currency to enhance your armor or weapon and ultimately end up with nothing because if one fails to socket they all disappear.
I think manastone socketing in Aion is probably the most aggravating game mechanic of any MMO I've ever played. There are hundreds of posts from raging players on this subject.
1. Aion has bee working on the rifting...its not perfect but it alot better. Sadly, this happens in all open world pvp games. I'm not sure why people act like this is the first time in a PVP game that they have been ganking. Nonetheless, they have a debuff on some rifting areas to give you a fighing chance.
2. The Manastone socketing has been improved..and not that making money is eaiser..it will be easier to spend money on those enchants. Although I agree it can get pretty fustrating at times.
The thing is you can go to any game and see people complaining. This doesn't phase me...you should be the judge and go into it with an openmind.
The problem though as I see it is because Aion combat is so gear dependent, more so than any other game I've played, the differences from a moderately geared player to a well geared one is huge. To the point that before the homeland buff happened one well geared twink could take out whole groups of moderately geared players. of similar level or even above them by several.
Sure the buff helps those same moderately geared players alot but it was overkill. 80% defense buff for Eltnen/Morhiem. Making just about anyone in those areas pretty much unkillable. 40% buff in Heiron/Beluslan which ended up almost killing the Xenophon/Betoni weapons quest because a single player could wipe your whole team and there are many that would camp the Xenophon/Betoni rifts just to grief them.
Manastone socketing improved? There isn't any info describing tthat in any of the patch notes. The only thing they've done is add HUGELY expensive supplents that are supposed to increase the chance of success but it seems the general concensus that the supplements don't work. Otherwise there has been nothing changed.
Its obvious that you are getting your information secondhand. There have been plenty of times were I beat plays with mostly gold items while wearing blues. Ther reality is that if a person has worked to make their character epic and they beat you because you are a casual player that doesn't work as hard to get their gear then you should get beat. As far as I've seen skill and prepartion can go a long way is winning. A group of prepared and decent geared level 38's should not be taken down by a single geared combatant. You can easy get gear to match anyone else, since now gold drops are more frequent and the crafting is way easier.
If you want to argue ganking we could go on forever. Its pvp and sometimes you will get ganked. It happens and they are working on it based on the players survey input. If your going to cry about getting griefed at least do it on an official forums where at least they can here you. But getting attack while doing quests is what pvpve implies really. Having a twink cut you down is what they are working on.
Lastly, what general concenus did you consult on the supplements? They do improve you chances in my experience. Its not the best plan but its better than it was before. My point in all this is gear has been addressed and rifting/socketing is being addessed with improvements. I think I saw some real improvedments to the game in the 2.5 patch that really showed me Ncsoft was listening.
Is this game's main focus PvP now ? I am just curious that if I were to go abck witll the PvE be enough. I recall the crafting was brutal the random fails. I know a few higher level guildmates talked of losing millions. I cannot imagine trying to compete with those odds.
PvP happens more in the 50+ zones ! There is plenty of PvP below lvl 50 too , but not that much as when you fight on lvl 50+ zones. They add PVE content too, like single instance, increse in XP from quests and such.
Crafting has seen a significal improvment in the last patch ! http://powerwiki.uk.aiononline.com/aion/Patch+Notes+2.1.0.5 Read it !
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