Originally posted by N1ghtsta1ker And I don't get why people hate the exaggerated battle animations... makes you feel so much more badass than Western MMos, in which most battle animations look like glitches...
So, every time you poke someone with your dagger it should look like they got hit with a fireball? What happens when I hit someone with a fireball??? Is there a thermo-nuclear animation where the entire screen goes white and everyone looks like they're dying?
Really, effects need to be done in the proper context or anything deserving of a flashy animation will simply feel like everything else.
As for PvP, I can't say I approve of harsh punishment for losing. Not only are there many ways you can lose without it being your fault (bad group, lag, getting ganked by several people, etc...), it encourages people to gank and ultimately unbalances PvP. In other words, if you're on top, it's very hard for anyone to compete with you. I mean, let's face it, you're not ever going to be as good as the best players and with an open PvP system that doesn't rank or match you accordingly, guess who's going to be losing their gear?
Anyone following this title for any length of time already knew that, but if you're just now catching on to Aion: Koreans do not do PvP as an afterthought.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo industry. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
You see, when you have played pvp games for years, have played most if not all of the pvp mmos, you recognize a good game, a game that "has it" within a few minutes. It doesn't take a couple hours to see Aion does have the mechanics other games like i.ex AoC were lacking when they came out.
I must be a terrible, horrible pessimist for this but I translated the review as such:
"Great graphics, no story, no plot, terrible grindy quests from level 1, and horrible dialogue"
Honestly, as much sa I WANT to like Aion and think it's different, it sounds more each day like every other Asian grindfest I've ever played.
So you just skipped that whole lower half of the article that said "don't make the mistake of stopping at lvl 5" She even gave it a single solitary line of its own JUST in case people were skimming and it would stand out and get your attention.
BTW Waterlily is correct on the Lineage/UO timeline, I played both actually, UO came out Sept 25, 1997, Lineage came out Sept 3, 2008. It is on the Lineage wikipedia page on the right next to "release date" Other than being correct about the timeline though they're just blowing out thier usual negative Vitriol. PvP can occur prior to the halfway point in the game as stated before. In the LVL 20 and up zones portals will allow back and forth incursions into each races zones. The Abyss is also available around that time which is one big open pvp zone like DAOCs frontiers.
Anyone following this title for any length of time already knew that, but if you're just now catching on to Aion: Koreans do not do PvP as an afterthought.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
So you just skipped that whole lower half of the article that said "don't make the mistake of stopping at lvl 5" She even gave it a single solitary line of its own JUST in case people were skimming and it would stand out and get your attention.
No, I read the whole thing. She said that, and then described one FANTASTIC event she had where she got her wings. And then she ends the article. Here's where I'm concerned.
OK, 5 levels of boredom, one awesome scene where I get my wings....then from the sound of it, it more or less goes back to the same old, same old.
She DOES say "many of the later quests were better written"...but how many? 20%, 50%? 80? "And the ones that weren't, I didn't mind as much"? Just sounds like she's glazing over the bad parts a lot.
I guess my fear is that this game will be every other Asian MMO I've played, but will try to use the winged combat system as the one trick pony to set them apart. It sounds like a neat feature, but is it enough to make Aion a different game? I want a chance to play before I judge fully, but I remain a skeptic. I've been let down too many times before.
Anyone following this title for any length of time already knew that, but if you're just now catching on to Aion: Koreans do not do PvP as an afterthought.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Read the review again and point exactly where she boasts about her experience with PvP, I think she made it pretty clear she didn't get there, but had some people she must trust in telling her the PvP wasn't an afterthought, considering her experience in the industry, im pretty sure she has some trustworthy people when it comes down to analyzing MMOs.
The only hipocrisy in this thread is you talking shit about people's reviews when you didn't make it past the tutorial area.
A grind compared to what? From my own experience, I was flying through the levels. I'd say the levelling speed is comparable to WoW classic levelling speed.
Excuse me. I don't refer to grind in the sense of a time sink. I refer to it as. "I log in the first time. There's a guy standing there who asks me to kill 10 rats. I do. He asks me to kill 20 wolves. I do. He tells me to go to another guy, who asks me to kill 30 bears...."
I refer to a game where the emphasis is just on moving from one place to another, wholesale slaughtering whatever stupid mob is standing in that place, with no sense of why I'm doing it. The only sense of accomplishment is the number next to the "level" field changing every now and then. A game where you're essentially doing the exact same thing from level 1-whatever, with no different save the numbers and possibly the fact the goblins in this dungeon are blue when the last ones were green.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with.
She fails? lol.
It doesn't occur to your that, unlike some of the other posters on these forums, she probably has a life and other things to do than living and sleeping on this forum to answer you?
Originally posted by Waterlily
Aion ... still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years
Please tell me about all these fantasy mmorps that "can manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years". How many are there? Ahhh ok, Lotro is a story based mmo, what else?
Fantasy mmorps are a genre. Like the single player RPGS, FPS games, etc... They all play the same and all use the same mechanics. Some do it better and some do it worse. Fortunately Aion is one of the very few games that actually does do it better.
Originally posted by Waterlily
and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace
Asia has some of the best mmorpgs. Lineage 2 is still the mmo I had the most fun in after all these years. GW is also considered as on of the best, even though I didn't really like it.
And now fortunately, we have Aion. You see, not everyone likes wow, EQ and Vanguard. But even though I don't like them it doesn't make them "disgraces" in my eyes. They are good games, just not the style I like.
Furthermore, the western world has 1 game: wow with its 11M players. All of the other games with their 10k to 300k players are nothing. Talk about the "western" genre. LOL, even the westerners don't play them.
Aion already has 3.5+M players in 2 countries only, and growing. Japan is in beta as much as we are, and more are coming. The numers only show the irrelevance of your opinion. Some people don't like wow and some others don't like pop music. Doesn't make them bad.
Originally posted by Waterlily
but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
Where does she rave about PVP? The only thing she says is that Aion does have the right mechanics (many other pvp games still fail to get the basic features after years) and that Koreans (especially NCsoft) know how to do pvp games. Aion does have a heritage and is building on solid pvp experience.
Originally posted by Waterlily
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Just shows how much you know about pvp. To someone who has played pvp games for years it doesn't take a couple hours to see where a game is coming from and if it does have the basic mechanics or not.
Furthermore she is not claiming to review anything, she is just posting her opinions and what she saw in a "First look preview".
Another great job by Sanaya. Her impressions mirror my own almost to every detail.
As far as all these posters arguing about PvP, give it up already! These impressions were not about PvP but about the begining game. I am sure we will hear her impressions about PvP in due time.
We really don't know how PvP is going to go at this point. Most of the impressions I have heard have been favorable and the little I have partook of PvP on the Chinese client has been fast paced and fun.
One of the more engaging, well-written reviews I have ever seen on here... honest about how far she got in the game, witty about the whole Free Realms lunacy (that game made my brain hurt real fast), and good sense of narrative in conveying the experience of playing Aion.
Irrelevant to most, and slightly off topic: I am looking forward to trying SW:TOR because of Bioware's track record, and because at least there will be no elves and dwarves and such (this coming from a WoW player with multiple 80 toons... love WoW, don't need another one). I'm wishing I believed that STO will be good, but frankly I think the IP is cursed, there will never be a good ST video game. I am so wishing that the Agency was being made by another company, because it is finally a strong mmo idea set in a non-fantasy, non-horror, non-fake-historical, non-sci-fi world. Love the idea of operatives reporting to you, working on jobs while you're away. Love the whole spy thing anyway. But the info made available so far doesn't seem encouraging, and it kinda seems like it's underfunded and hoping to be profitable through micro-transactions (grrrrr).
I personally don't crave PvP, mainly because of the people I meet who do. I am quite sure there are many lovely wonderful people engaging in PvP as their main gaming interest... just don't seem to ever run into them. I would be perfectly happy with a PvE, exploration, PuG-heavy game that simply had better writing and a setting and backstory and quests that weren't second-rate genre literature chopped up into little pieces with all the good bits thrown away.
I don't wish to dis hard-working people who spend inordinate chunks of their lives making this stuff for us (and for their corporate paymasters), because I realize they are creating worlds within severe constraints and with inherent problems built in (persistence vs. ability to jump in anywhere; PvP vs. PvE; the "uncanny" problem with realistic character animations; so many other issues). But I do wish that there were more of a focus on the narrative aspect in some game that also functions well as an mmo. LotRO is an attempt, but honestly after a while it fell flat for me, it was too connected to an existing piece of fiction to really fly on its own wings.
Again, I freely confess these are the whinings of a spoiled consumer of other people's art and effort. And they relate to Aion only in this respect... YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNNN. I can't think of any reason to buy one more bright shiny piece of nonsense. I have that now, it works great, I still play it off and on. The PvP thing seems to be an eternal quest for a lot of posters on here, and best of luck to ya with that. I kinda think mmo's could grow up in new ways... not by being more "hardcore" but by being more connected to what makes other forms of storytelling good: writing, setting, character, plotting, ideas, a sense of alternative possibilities.
A lot of comments here suggest that this is another F2P mmo like Asian game that isn't even worth the time will be to install it. Unless you've actually played the game for more than a day, shut up. Aion is by far different than any standard F2P game.
"There's no attempt at even hinting at the backstory (big apocalyptic event, sundered the world, erased your memory - got that from Google!), except that a few NPCs mention that you've lost your memory."
Then you missed something. The game not only constantly talks about the backstory, it also pushes you to the current of talking about working towards saving the towns around you and helping out. Push you closer and closer towards the main point of the whole game, the Abyss.
As for the grind. There is none, if you're grinding you're doing something wrong. In China and Korea you can hit 1-10 in less than an hour and a half on all classes. At most, 2 hours if you're taking your really sweet sweet time. With the US version, the xp requirements is going to be less or quest xp is going to be greater, this was mentioned by NCSoft here and there. So it's going to be even faster to level. You can hit up to 20 easily in one night sitting and once you hit 20, you can start your PvP adventures by taking rifts(solo or groups) and beating the shit out of the enemy while they are trying to level in peace. Once you hit 20, you can pretty much hit 25 in a day or two, depending on how much time you want to dedicate. Remember, the xp need is going to be less than whats in Korea and China, and over there in 1 week there were several high level 30s and a few level 40s. Being in some of the guilds there myself, I watched this first hand so I know its possible.
Now for PvP. PvP in Aion is quite different because a lot of it doesn't just work like other MMOs, 1 class is better than class 2, and class 2 is better than class 3 but class 3 is better than class 1. The game requires skill and lots of it. One thing I noticed on the NA forums was the amount of players thinking that the Chanter class will suck in PvP. You will think quite differently when you see a skilled Chanter take on three players who wrecks them all and is even lower level than them. A lot of fun though comes through flight PvP and with groups. Most of the time if you're PvPing you won't be solo, nor will they. So you and your group need to watch who's doing what, when, and above else, how much flight time you have left :P From personal experience though, I've killed a few hundred Asmods in my time playing now and pretty much every fight has been a different outcome based on various factors. I've also made the mistake of (which a lot of players seem to make the mistake of also), thinking they are safe by guards. The guards are tough and can dish out the damage, but a group of enemies will go ahead and take out the guards and then you. So if you're surrounded in a small outpost you better be ready to fight or sneak away, otherwise you can expect to reappear to the where you were bound to last.
Do want to note: Some battle outcomes do have to do also with gear customization and skill selection, in the case of lets say Sorcs, yes you can dish out the damage but you're a softie. You are to die quickly or are you? A Sorc and gear up for health, lots of health so while they won't be pulling out crazy damage as one that is completely spec that way, they have the ability of taking out more than just one person at a time due to the amount of health they have.
Lastly, a lot of the better gameplay and fun happens after level 20, so these mini preview events suck because you're missing out on a lot. I really wish they would open it up to level 25 so players can really start to see the game for what it is. An amazing MMO.
Personally, I've played Aion for months and can't wait to play it some more.
tbh i think they would have been better off with going for a Lineage 2 with wings. There arent enough classes to chose from, it looks to be "tank" "dps" "healer" etc classes. I dont see much hybrid in there. And although it is my opinion i think the whole "one race on one continent and the other race on another continent who cant talk to eachother" just screams WoW. Although i understand you can go to the other continents and pvp, it just feels over done, hopefully aion is the last game that uses the 2 continents, 2 races, 2 different languages type of system. I may end up playing it eventually but i doubt it. Will have to wait and see if NC West decides to get off their asses and do something about bots and farmers.
EDIT: as for the article itself i thought it was good. Almost made me want to play, but reality hit me when i got to the end of your preview.
Playing: EVE Online Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2 KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
Why do they keep letting inexperienced newbs give their impressions of games on this freaking site.
I really hope you are not refering to Sanaya with this post. She has more true "MMO" experience than almost any of us do. What with actually working in the industry and all.....
I don't trust any reviews by anyone who plays Free Realms.
If you're willing to play that "game" for more than 5 seconds, your standards for MMOs are out of whack.
She plays because she is reviewing it, maybe? You know, like she stated in the article? She may like it, she may not, I have not read her review yet, but that is neither here nor there.
So, outside of the pretty graphics, what is in this that's going to pry the 11+ million people away from WoW? PvP with flight? Curious minds want to know. What are the highlights of this game that make it better than WoW?
Since I could only play the beta and didn't have access to max level, I'm excited by the possibility of participating in meaningful and well thought out world PvP, without the grind that is usually associated with games that originate from the east. Airborne fighting is also a nice feature.
So in other words Aion is going to be another Lineage just with a sense of flying and Rite of Passage quest that will give you the wings and make you a devotee or whatever they are called on a stage with wings. As Sanya mentiones there is not much of a storyline behind all this. So in other words the whole game is again focused on end-game content and PvP and what happens during the leveling doesn't matter since everyone will rush to the max level as always.
I plan to play this game with my wife, hopefully there is more than just PvP in this game.
So, outside of the pretty graphics, what is in this that's going to pry the 11+ million people away from WoW? PvP with flight? Curious minds want to know. What are the highlights of this game that make it better than WoW?
Something new. I've played a good year of WoW before I got bored of it and moved on to another MMO. I still know a few people that play and even when they show me the "new" stuff in WoW at the time of expansions what's the point? You spend a month beating the new stuff and then you are bored again. Yeah so there's crafting, but really everyone is the same in the end. WoW came out in 2004. How many more years can you play the same MMO with the same stuff over and over?
World PvP. I'm not sure how many people here remember the old Tauren Mill raids that were the best thing since sliced pie. There was no instanced PvP crap at the time, it was pure open endless (pointless but fun) killing. Having 100+ vs 100+ battlefield where even good strategies were required than just mindless push with a lot of players.
(this kinda adds to the last sentence) Fortress and Artifact capturing. Defending and taking over artifacts which when used can do everything from wiping an entire enemy army to making your entire group stealthed for several minutes to allow you to flank an enemy. Then you take over Fortresses, which when taken over buff your entire race and open even more fun up. Not only do you have to defend this against your normal player enemies but the NPCs as well. See the NPCs want your fortress and artifacts too so you have to defend against them otherwise they'll smash through the normal defending NPCs and take everything back.
A constant push to force PvP while doing raid bosses. Some require that while one group is raiding, another is defending their back otherwise all it would take is a small group surprising the crap out of the main healer.
No one is the same. Skill wise, you chose 5 skills called Stigmas which can be different than what someone standing right next to you has selected. As I said in an earlier post, you can customize your armor and weapons to give more health, more survivability, or even things like longer flight or resists. Armor wise/crafting. Besides the PvP gear, crafting adds a whole new level of gameplay compared to other games. You technically can make yourself exactly like your buddy but it will be really hard to do plus even if you do, are the stones you put to buff you going to be the same? Most likely not. The best gear in the game is done by crafting which requires a lot of not only taking over fortresses but killing raid bosses to get the best of the best. You have to do all aspects of the game(PvP, raiding, PvE normal gathering) and require quite a bit of time to make the good stuff.
The game requires skill. In WoW, if you've got the armor and the weapons you're going to dominate the players that don't. In Aion, you have can have the best crap from raiding and PvP but if you don't know how to play your class it will take someone who does know how to play a few seconds to destroy you and he doesn't even have 1 piece of raid or PvP gear. I am shame to say I have seen this first hand from time to time. I can do everything right and even be better geared and higher level but they manage to keep me stunned or moved around how they want and I can put up a fight but they kill me and it makes me go but that just makes me want to try again
If some of you want some spoilers on armor and skills and weapons you can go to http://www.aionarmory.com watch out though, some of the translations are poor but a lot of these, the official translation hasn't been seen, someone pretty much translated from the Korean/Chinese versions on their own.
So in other words Aion is going to be another Lineage just with a sense of flying and Rite of Passage quest that will give you the wings and make you a devotee or whatever they are called on a stage with wings. As Sanya mentiones there is not much of a storyline behind all this. So in other words the whole game is again focused on end-game content and PvP and what happens during the leveling doesn't matter since everyone will rush to the max level as always. I plan to play this game with my wife, hopefully there is more than just PvP in this game.
There is storyline and plenty of information to read. Some have the NPCS talking to the point you're like next next next, but that's because I want to level and PvP, not read :P I do have a guildie though that reads everything and he's that weird kinda RP player type :P Not to mention there are cutscenes, a lot of cutscenes where they show you were you need to go and the plot behind your quest.
There is more than PvP in this game but the game really points you to PvP.
Why do they keep letting inexperienced newbs give their impressions of games on this freaking site.
I really hope you are not refering to Sanaya with this post. She has more true "MMO" experience than almost any of us do. What with actually working in the industry and all.....
Dunno if Airspell was, but I will. Her review is naive and cheesy, do not focus on the gameplay at all (Class system, Itemization, Level Design, Progression..)
It is only : ohhh it is pretty, the dialog are not too good, and there is not much story, but there was that quest, it was soo pretty and cute, and I had wing like an angel. iiiiiihhh *girly sound*
She says PvP must be cool, because some people told her that? What kind of review is that.
Aion is just another grind fest, with shitty gameplay, shitty itemization, shitty story, shitty class system, focusing on PvP to keep people from noticing that the PvE content is boring to death.
And yes I played the game, and yes I also test every MMO I can (and believe me that's a lot), and yes I also work in the game industry as a Lead Game Designer.
Sanaya review, is just fluff and completely lack any kind of professionalism.
Anyone following this title for any length of time already knew that, but if you're just now catching on to Aion: Koreans do not do PvP as an afterthought.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Read the review again and point exactly where she boasts about her experience with PvP, I think she made it pretty clear she didn't get there, but had some people she must trust in telling her the PvP wasn't an afterthought, considering her experience in the industry, im pretty sure she has some trustworthy people when it comes down to analyzing MMOs.
The only hipocrisy in this thread is you talking shit about people's reviews when you didn't make it past the tutorial area.
I agree! This guy is Asian MMO hater. When the game launches in North America...play it enough and then write your own full review with honestly!
I don't trust any reviews by anyone who plays Free Realms.
If you're willing to play that "game" for more than 5 seconds, your standards for MMOs are out of whack.
She plays because she is reviewing it, maybe? You know, like she stated in the article? She may like it, she may not, I have not read her review yet, but that is neither here nor there.
She plays Free Realms for her review which is also part of her job?? If you're a game reviewers you play all kinds of games wether you like it or not.
Comments
So, every time you poke someone with your dagger it should look like they got hit with a fireball? What happens when I hit someone with a fireball??? Is there a thermo-nuclear animation where the entire screen goes white and everyone looks like they're dying?
Really, effects need to be done in the proper context or anything deserving of a flashy animation will simply feel like everything else.
As for PvP, I can't say I approve of harsh punishment for losing. Not only are there many ways you can lose without it being your fault (bad group, lag, getting ganked by several people, etc...), it encourages people to gank and ultimately unbalances PvP. In other words, if you're on top, it's very hard for anyone to compete with you. I mean, let's face it, you're not ever going to be as good as the best players and with an open PvP system that doesn't rank or match you accordingly, guess who's going to be losing their gear?
/quit
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo industry. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
You see, when you have played pvp games for years, have played most if not all of the pvp mmos, you recognize a good game, a game that "has it" within a few minutes. It doesn't take a couple hours to see Aion does have the mechanics other games like i.ex AoC were lacking when they came out.
So you just skipped that whole lower half of the article that said "don't make the mistake of stopping at lvl 5" She even gave it a single solitary line of its own JUST in case people were skimming and it would stand out and get your attention.
BTW Waterlily is correct on the Lineage/UO timeline, I played both actually, UO came out Sept 25, 1997, Lineage came out Sept 3, 2008. It is on the Lineage wikipedia page on the right next to "release date" Other than being correct about the timeline though they're just blowing out thier usual negative Vitriol. PvP can occur prior to the halfway point in the game as stated before. In the LVL 20 and up zones portals will allow back and forth incursions into each races zones. The Abyss is also available around that time which is one big open pvp zone like DAOCs frontiers.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
A grind compared to what?
From my own experience, I was flying through the levels. I'd say the levelling speed is comparable to WoW classic levelling speed.
No, I read the whole thing. She said that, and then described one FANTASTIC event she had where she got her wings. And then she ends the article. Here's where I'm concerned.
OK, 5 levels of boredom, one awesome scene where I get my wings....then from the sound of it, it more or less goes back to the same old, same old.
She DOES say "many of the later quests were better written"...but how many? 20%, 50%? 80? "And the ones that weren't, I didn't mind as much"? Just sounds like she's glazing over the bad parts a lot.
I guess my fear is that this game will be every other Asian MMO I've played, but will try to use the winged combat system as the one trick pony to set them apart. It sounds like a neat feature, but is it enough to make Aion a different game? I want a chance to play before I judge fully, but I remain a skeptic. I've been let down too many times before.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Read the review again and point exactly where she boasts about her experience with PvP, I think she made it pretty clear she didn't get there, but had some people she must trust in telling her the PvP wasn't an afterthought, considering her experience in the industry, im pretty sure she has some trustworthy people when it comes down to analyzing MMOs.
The only hipocrisy in this thread is you talking shit about people's reviews when you didn't make it past the tutorial area.
Excuse me. I don't refer to grind in the sense of a time sink. I refer to it as. "I log in the first time. There's a guy standing there who asks me to kill 10 rats. I do. He asks me to kill 20 wolves. I do. He tells me to go to another guy, who asks me to kill 30 bears...."
I refer to a game where the emphasis is just on moving from one place to another, wholesale slaughtering whatever stupid mob is standing in that place, with no sense of why I'm doing it. The only sense of accomplishment is the number next to the "level" field changing every now and then. A game where you're essentially doing the exact same thing from level 1-whatever, with no different save the numbers and possibly the fact the goblins in this dungeon are blue when the last ones were green.
She fails? lol.
It doesn't occur to your that, unlike some of the other posters on these forums, she probably has a life and other things to do than living and sleeping on this forum to answer you?
Please tell me about all these fantasy mmorps that "can manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years". How many are there? Ahhh ok, Lotro is a story based mmo, what else?
Fantasy mmorps are a genre. Like the single player RPGS, FPS games, etc... They all play the same and all use the same mechanics. Some do it better and some do it worse. Fortunately Aion is one of the very few games that actually does do it better.
Asia has some of the best mmorpgs. Lineage 2 is still the mmo I had the most fun in after all these years. GW is also considered as on of the best, even though I didn't really like it.
And now fortunately, we have Aion. You see, not everyone likes wow, EQ and Vanguard. But even though I don't like them it doesn't make them "disgraces" in my eyes. They are good games, just not the style I like.
Furthermore, the western world has 1 game: wow with its 11M players. All of the other games with their 10k to 300k players are nothing. Talk about the "western" genre. LOL, even the westerners don't play them.
Aion already has 3.5+M players in 2 countries only, and growing. Japan is in beta as much as we are, and more are coming. The numers only show the irrelevance of your opinion. Some people don't like wow and some others don't like pop music. Doesn't make them bad.
Where does she rave about PVP? The only thing she says is that Aion does have the right mechanics (many other pvp games still fail to get the basic features after years) and that Koreans (especially NCsoft) know how to do pvp games. Aion does have a heritage and is building on solid pvp experience.
Just shows how much you know about pvp. To someone who has played pvp games for years it doesn't take a couple hours to see where a game is coming from and if it does have the basic mechanics or not.
Furthermore she is not claiming to review anything, she is just posting her opinions and what she saw in a "First look preview".
Another great job by Sanaya. Her impressions mirror my own almost to every detail.
As far as all these posters arguing about PvP, give it up already! These impressions were not about PvP but about the begining game. I am sure we will hear her impressions about PvP in due time.
We really don't know how PvP is going to go at this point. Most of the impressions I have heard have been favorable and the little I have partook of PvP on the Chinese client has been fast paced and fun.
We will see in due time!
My new Aion blog:
Aionic Thoughts
One of the more engaging, well-written reviews I have ever seen on here... honest about how far she got in the game, witty about the whole Free Realms lunacy (that game made my brain hurt real fast), and good sense of narrative in conveying the experience of playing Aion.
Irrelevant to most, and slightly off topic: I am looking forward to trying SW:TOR because of Bioware's track record, and because at least there will be no elves and dwarves and such (this coming from a WoW player with multiple 80 toons... love WoW, don't need another one). I'm wishing I believed that STO will be good, but frankly I think the IP is cursed, there will never be a good ST video game. I am so wishing that the Agency was being made by another company, because it is finally a strong mmo idea set in a non-fantasy, non-horror, non-fake-historical, non-sci-fi world. Love the idea of operatives reporting to you, working on jobs while you're away. Love the whole spy thing anyway. But the info made available so far doesn't seem encouraging, and it kinda seems like it's underfunded and hoping to be profitable through micro-transactions (grrrrr).
I personally don't crave PvP, mainly because of the people I meet who do. I am quite sure there are many lovely wonderful people engaging in PvP as their main gaming interest... just don't seem to ever run into them. I would be perfectly happy with a PvE, exploration, PuG-heavy game that simply had better writing and a setting and backstory and quests that weren't second-rate genre literature chopped up into little pieces with all the good bits thrown away.
I don't wish to dis hard-working people who spend inordinate chunks of their lives making this stuff for us (and for their corporate paymasters), because I realize they are creating worlds within severe constraints and with inherent problems built in (persistence vs. ability to jump in anywhere; PvP vs. PvE; the "uncanny" problem with realistic character animations; so many other issues). But I do wish that there were more of a focus on the narrative aspect in some game that also functions well as an mmo. LotRO is an attempt, but honestly after a while it fell flat for me, it was too connected to an existing piece of fiction to really fly on its own wings.
Again, I freely confess these are the whinings of a spoiled consumer of other people's art and effort. And they relate to Aion only in this respect... YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNNN. I can't think of any reason to buy one more bright shiny piece of nonsense. I have that now, it works great, I still play it off and on. The PvP thing seems to be an eternal quest for a lot of posters on here, and best of luck to ya with that. I kinda think mmo's could grow up in new ways... not by being more "hardcore" but by being more connected to what makes other forms of storytelling good: writing, setting, character, plotting, ideas, a sense of alternative possibilities.
Peace, y'all.
A lot of comments here suggest that this is another F2P mmo like Asian game that isn't even worth the time will be to install it. Unless you've actually played the game for more than a day, shut up. Aion is by far different than any standard F2P game.
"There's no attempt at even hinting at the backstory (big apocalyptic event, sundered the world, erased your memory - got that from Google!), except that a few NPCs mention that you've lost your memory."
Then you missed something. The game not only constantly talks about the backstory, it also pushes you to the current of talking about working towards saving the towns around you and helping out. Push you closer and closer towards the main point of the whole game, the Abyss.
As for the grind. There is none, if you're grinding you're doing something wrong. In China and Korea you can hit 1-10 in less than an hour and a half on all classes. At most, 2 hours if you're taking your really sweet sweet time. With the US version, the xp requirements is going to be less or quest xp is going to be greater, this was mentioned by NCSoft here and there. So it's going to be even faster to level. You can hit up to 20 easily in one night sitting and once you hit 20, you can start your PvP adventures by taking rifts(solo or groups) and beating the shit out of the enemy while they are trying to level in peace. Once you hit 20, you can pretty much hit 25 in a day or two, depending on how much time you want to dedicate. Remember, the xp need is going to be less than whats in Korea and China, and over there in 1 week there were several high level 30s and a few level 40s. Being in some of the guilds there myself, I watched this first hand so I know its possible.
Now for PvP. PvP in Aion is quite different because a lot of it doesn't just work like other MMOs, 1 class is better than class 2, and class 2 is better than class 3 but class 3 is better than class 1. The game requires skill and lots of it. One thing I noticed on the NA forums was the amount of players thinking that the Chanter class will suck in PvP. You will think quite differently when you see a skilled Chanter take on three players who wrecks them all and is even lower level than them. A lot of fun though comes through flight PvP and with groups. Most of the time if you're PvPing you won't be solo, nor will they. So you and your group need to watch who's doing what, when, and above else, how much flight time you have left :P From personal experience though, I've killed a few hundred Asmods in my time playing now and pretty much every fight has been a different outcome based on various factors. I've also made the mistake of (which a lot of players seem to make the mistake of also), thinking they are safe by guards. The guards are tough and can dish out the damage, but a group of enemies will go ahead and take out the guards and then you. So if you're surrounded in a small outpost you better be ready to fight or sneak away, otherwise you can expect to reappear to the where you were bound to last.
Do want to note: Some battle outcomes do have to do also with gear customization and skill selection, in the case of lets say Sorcs, yes you can dish out the damage but you're a softie. You are to die quickly or are you? A Sorc and gear up for health, lots of health so while they won't be pulling out crazy damage as one that is completely spec that way, they have the ability of taking out more than just one person at a time due to the amount of health they have.
Lastly, a lot of the better gameplay and fun happens after level 20, so these mini preview events suck because you're missing out on a lot. I really wish they would open it up to level 25 so players can really start to see the game for what it is. An amazing MMO.
Personally, I've played Aion for months and can't wait to play it some more.
tbh i think they would have been better off with going for a Lineage 2 with wings. There arent enough classes to chose from, it looks to be "tank" "dps" "healer" etc classes. I dont see much hybrid in there. And although it is my opinion i think the whole "one race on one continent and the other race on another continent who cant talk to eachother" just screams WoW. Although i understand you can go to the other continents and pvp, it just feels over done, hopefully aion is the last game that uses the 2 continents, 2 races, 2 different languages type of system. I may end up playing it eventually but i doubt it. Will have to wait and see if NC West decides to get off their asses and do something about bots and farmers.
EDIT: as for the article itself i thought it was good. Almost made me want to play, but reality hit me when i got to the end of your preview.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
I really hope you are not refering to Sanaya with this post. She has more true "MMO" experience than almost any of us do. What with actually working in the industry and all.....
My new Aion blog:
Aionic Thoughts
I don't trust any reviews by anyone who plays Free Realms.
If you're willing to play that "game" for more than 5 seconds, your standards for MMOs are out of whack.
She plays because she is reviewing it, maybe? You know, like she stated in the article? She may like it, she may not, I have not read her review yet, but that is neither here nor there.
My new Aion blog:
Aionic Thoughts
So, outside of the pretty graphics, what is in this that's going to pry the 11+ million people away from WoW? PvP with flight? Curious minds want to know. What are the highlights of this game that make it better than WoW?
Since I could only play the beta and didn't have access to max level, I'm excited by the possibility of participating in meaningful and well thought out world PvP, without the grind that is usually associated with games that originate from the east. Airborne fighting is also a nice feature.
Still ... too early to tell, in my opinion.
So in other words Aion is going to be another Lineage just with a sense of flying and Rite of Passage quest that will give you the wings and make you a devotee or whatever they are called on a stage with wings. As Sanya mentiones there is not much of a storyline behind all this. So in other words the whole game is again focused on end-game content and PvP and what happens during the leveling doesn't matter since everyone will rush to the max level as always.
I plan to play this game with my wife, hopefully there is more than just PvP in this game.
Something new. I've played a good year of WoW before I got bored of it and moved on to another MMO. I still know a few people that play and even when they show me the "new" stuff in WoW at the time of expansions what's the point? You spend a month beating the new stuff and then you are bored again. Yeah so there's crafting, but really everyone is the same in the end. WoW came out in 2004. How many more years can you play the same MMO with the same stuff over and over?
World PvP. I'm not sure how many people here remember the old Tauren Mill raids that were the best thing since sliced pie. There was no instanced PvP crap at the time, it was pure open endless (pointless but fun) killing. Having 100+ vs 100+ battlefield where even good strategies were required than just mindless push with a lot of players.
(this kinda adds to the last sentence) Fortress and Artifact capturing. Defending and taking over artifacts which when used can do everything from wiping an entire enemy army to making your entire group stealthed for several minutes to allow you to flank an enemy. Then you take over Fortresses, which when taken over buff your entire race and open even more fun up. Not only do you have to defend this against your normal player enemies but the NPCs as well. See the NPCs want your fortress and artifacts too so you have to defend against them otherwise they'll smash through the normal defending NPCs and take everything back.
A constant push to force PvP while doing raid bosses. Some require that while one group is raiding, another is defending their back otherwise all it would take is a small group surprising the crap out of the main healer.
No one is the same. Skill wise, you chose 5 skills called Stigmas which can be different than what someone standing right next to you has selected. As I said in an earlier post, you can customize your armor and weapons to give more health, more survivability, or even things like longer flight or resists. Armor wise/crafting. Besides the PvP gear, crafting adds a whole new level of gameplay compared to other games. You technically can make yourself exactly like your buddy but it will be really hard to do plus even if you do, are the stones you put to buff you going to be the same? Most likely not. The best gear in the game is done by crafting which requires a lot of not only taking over fortresses but killing raid bosses to get the best of the best. You have to do all aspects of the game(PvP, raiding, PvE normal gathering) and require quite a bit of time to make the good stuff.
The game requires skill. In WoW, if you've got the armor and the weapons you're going to dominate the players that don't. In Aion, you have can have the best crap from raiding and PvP but if you don't know how to play your class it will take someone who does know how to play a few seconds to destroy you and he doesn't even have 1 piece of raid or PvP gear. I am shame to say I have seen this first hand from time to time. I can do everything right and even be better geared and higher level but they manage to keep me stunned or moved around how they want and I can put up a fight but they kill me and it makes me go
but that just makes me want to try again 
If some of you want some spoilers on armor and skills and weapons you can go to http://www.aionarmory.com watch out though, some of the translations are poor but a lot of these, the official translation hasn't been seen, someone pretty much translated from the Korean/Chinese versions on their own.
There is storyline and plenty of information to read. Some have the NPCS talking to the point you're like next next next, but that's because I want to level and PvP, not read :P I do have a guildie though that reads everything and he's that weird kinda RP player type :P Not to mention there are cutscenes, a lot of cutscenes where they show you were you need to go and the plot behind your quest.
There is more than PvP in this game but the game really points you to PvP.
I really hope you are not refering to Sanaya with this post. She has more true "MMO" experience than almost any of us do. What with actually working in the industry and all.....
Dunno if Airspell was, but I will. Her review is naive and cheesy, do not focus on the gameplay at all (Class system, Itemization, Level Design, Progression..)
It is only : ohhh it is pretty, the dialog are not too good, and there is not much story, but there was that quest, it was soo pretty and cute, and I had wing like an angel. iiiiiihhh *girly sound*
She says PvP must be cool, because some people told her that? What kind of review is that.
Aion is just another grind fest, with shitty gameplay, shitty itemization, shitty story, shitty class system, focusing on PvP to keep people from noticing that the PvE content is boring to death.
And yes I played the game, and yes I also test every MMO I can (and believe me that's a lot), and yes I also work in the game industry as a Lead Game Designer.
Sanaya review, is just fluff and completely lack any kind of professionalism.
Really?
Could I ask you what type of PVP you were involved in. Since I played CAion and know PVP doesn't start until very late into the game, I doubt you did any significant PVP at all.
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This review is way too optimistic, but then I expected nothing less, 99% of mmorpg's reviews are too postitive.
LMAO.
Sanya Weathers is one of the most respected reviewers in the mmo community. She is also a former Mythic employee and has been managing the Daoc community a few years ago.
She is also very well known in the older games' communities. So when talking PVP Sanya definitely knows what she is talking about.
As for the "being too optimistic" part, Sanya has posted some very harsh opinions on several games in the past and has already proved many times she is telling things as they are
And regarding your CN Aion comment, I am playing CN Aion and for me PvP started in my early 20ies. Level 20 takes only a couple days of gameplay. So yea "PVP doesn't start until very late into the game" is just one more of your well know over exaggerations.
Awesome, and still she fails to answer my question regarding the PVP she was involved with. I'm not blasting her because she makes random statements about Korea and PVP, I would just like it, if for once...reviewers actually were honest.
Aion is a grind, uses a lot of concepts EQ already used, has a very shallow story, only has 2 races and very few classes, still can't manage to outdo Kunark EQ after 10 years and is another Asian regurgitating disgrace for the MMO genre. Not only is the game a grind catering to the lowest common denomitator, a 10 year old, but it's features (PVP) which she raves about, don't even come into the game very late.
She played the beta, which offers no PVP and is reviewing that version and raving about the PVP, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Read the review again and point exactly where she boasts about her experience with PvP, I think she made it pretty clear she didn't get there, but had some people she must trust in telling her the PvP wasn't an afterthought, considering her experience in the industry, im pretty sure she has some trustworthy people when it comes down to analyzing MMOs.
The only hipocrisy in this thread is you talking shit about people's reviews when you didn't make it past the tutorial area.
I agree! This guy is Asian MMO hater. When the game launches in North America...play it enough and then write your own full review with honestly!
She plays because she is reviewing it, maybe? You know, like she stated in the article? She may like it, she may not, I have not read her review yet, but that is neither here nor there.
She plays Free Realms for her review which is also part of her job?? If you're a game reviewers you play all kinds of games wether you like it or not.
Love the character models. I hope it is a challenge, created for real gamers and not just for mainstream muppets.