So wait, we're back to the "waah they won't make other types of servers" posts now? This truly is cyclic in nature, isn't it?
No one talks in game and the Closed Beta seems to have attracted a high percentage of anti-social types. A minority, but a disruptive, grief prone minority.
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
So wait, we're back to the "waah they won't make other types of servers" posts now? This truly is cyclic in nature, isn't it?
No one talks in game and the Closed Beta seems to have attracted a high percentage of anti-social types. A minority, but a disruptive, grief prone minority.
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
No, I talk. I group. I buff. I don't Kill steal. A lot of the people I grouped with agreed it was wierd how few people would respond if you tried to talk or offer a group. Funny thing is that maybe 90% of the people will run away if you even say hello to them.
Also, don't confuse non-social with anti-social. The non-social people don't talk or group. The anti-social people talk smack, kill steal, pull mobs onto other players and generally cause grief. I've never seen as many of these people in a beta community in my many years experience with many titles. Even the L2 beta was better than the Aion beta in this regard, which I think is just a testament to the downward spiral the MMORPG community has been in since WoW popularized it and lowered the over all maturity level.
Ironically a lot of these people who were spawned by WoW now trash the game that drew their sorry asses to the genre. A lot of old school MMORPG players have no love lost for WoW, but it usually the ones who make a point at deriding WoW at every chance that are the ones who are the actual "children of WoW"; the people who are dumbing down the entire genre.
Originally posted by fiontar Originally posted by Nadril So wait, we're back to the "waah they won't make other types of servers" posts now? This truly is cyclic in nature, isn't it?
No one talks in game and the Closed Beta seems to have attracted a high percentage of anti-social types. A minority, but a disruptive, grief prone minority.
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
No, I talk. I group. I buff. I don't Kill steal. A lot of the people I grouped with agreed it was wierd how few people would respond if you tried to talk or offer a group. Funny thing is that maybe 90% of the people will run away if you even say hello to them. Also, don't confuse non-social with anti-social. The non-social people don't talk or group. The anti-social people talk smack, kill steal, pull mobs onto other players and generally cause grief. I've never seen as many of these people in a beta community in my many years experience with many titles. Even the L2 beta was better than the Aion beta in this regard, which I think is just a testament to the downward spiral the MMORPG community has been in since WoW popularized it and lowered the over all maturity level. Ironically a lot of these people who were spawned by WoW now trash the game that drew their sorry asses to the genre. A lot of old school MMORPG players have no love lost for WoW, but it usually the ones who make a point at deriding WoW at every chance that are the ones who are the actual "children of WoW"; the people who are dumbing down the entire genre.
Did we play the same game? I mean, really, I ran into none of that when I played. I didn't have people kill steal my mobs, I heard a little bit of smack talk (but who doesn't love that? It's fun) and I didn't see any "griefing", unless you happen to include PvP under griefing.
Really it honest to god sounds like we were playing a different game. I'm not going to say that any community isn't devoid of it's rejects but I did not come into contact with any through the few beta events I have been in so far. (Playing Asmodian side).
I did see some kill stealing going on but i also grouped with two good sized groups and played in a few two player groups as well. I had two kills and one gathering object taken from me but the grouping experience was very good. We did quite well actually and the groups i was in were very mature. So yes there are a few squirrels like in every game but also some good people.
You know, now I do feel like somewhat of a dick because I didn't give my thoughts on the PvE vs PvP server discussion. I'd figure if fion is bothering to express his concerns I'll try and post a bit more in depth than a trollish post.
Ironically a lot of these people who were spawned by WoW now trash the game that drew their sorry asses to the genre. A lot of old school MMORPG players have no love lost for WoW, but it usually the ones who make a point at deriding WoW at every chance that are the ones who are the actual "children of WoW"; the people who are dumbing down the entire genre.
Just wanted to get this out of the way, but I'm an old MMO player. Maybe not as much of a vet as some of these people here, I was like 13 when the classics and such first came out so I only got to experience games like Ultima Online over at a friends house. I have played MMOs for a long time though and certainly didn't start with WoW. (And I don't think its a bad game, raiding just isn't for me).
But onto the actual dicussion.
It also has some fairly major flaws. Most of them have to do with world size/design and content. Not much that can be done about that at this point. (More quests are coming as part of the 1.5 patch, but the game world isn't getting any new regions).
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. I'm not going to say the world is "without flaws" but I'm curious what you'd view as a major flaw in the design at this point.
The community is pretty bad at this point. No one talks in game and the Closed Beta seems to have attracted a high percentage of anti-social types. A minority, but a disruptive, grief prone minority.
I sort of covered this already, but I feel like we're honestly playing different games because I didn't experience that yet. I've no doubt that every community has their asshats though.
The game also currently lacks any server options for people who would prefer to play the game for PvE, with PvP as an occasional aside. Combined with the high percentage of the anti-social types, this is probably the biggest threat to the success of Aion.
NCSoft made a point of noting the fact that you can level to the cap with out having to set foot in the Abyss, the main region for PvPvE. Obviously an attempt to placate the concerns of the majority of the MMORPG fan base that prefer to play on PvE servers. They fail to mention that most of the PvE zones can be reached by the other side via rifts, that you are not safe from PvP in your home zones and that a determined and organized group of griefers can shut down all questing and grinding for a wide level range for hours on end.
Unless some viable alternate server type is offered (like servers where PvP only occurs in the Abyss, etc...), the game will fall well short of it's potential in the US and Europe.
This is probably the "meat" of the discussion. As to what I think, well, I am mixed. On one hand having a few servers dedicated to a PvE experience may help NCSoft in the long run. From a business standpoint this would serve as a good idea if it would bring in increased subs, certainly.
I also do think that it is certainly within someones best interest to play the game the way they want to play it, and I can respect that. I know some people loathe the idea of "the gank" and that would be a major turn off for them.
However, on the other hand... I don't think it would be a good idea. One of my core worries would be that the PvP flagged servers may not get as much attention as a PvE server would. Of course this if anything is all based on the success that Aion gets, and I do think it may be fine to add in a PvE server or something if the game hits it off well in the western market. What I'm worried is that players will go for the "gank-free" experience and fewer players will populate the PvP server. As anyone will know players, and a healthy playerbase, are absolutely crucial to a PvP game if it is going to strive. It would suck if the game turned out like WAR where the PvP servers were sort of ignored (except for one).
That is all just speculation though and not really my core issue. Part of me thinks that Aion should stick to its guns with fully integrating their vision of a game. Why? Well, I think Aion may be the game that helps bridge over a lot of PvE players into getting their feet wet in PvP. I know it probably sounds crazy, but I think if some players just tried the normal server they may find it more enjoyable then expected. I do think a lot of players would find the ganking outside of the abyss minimal and, thus, it wouldn't be worth the resources to create a new ruleset.
I'm trying to be as neutral on this opinion as possible, which is difficult. I am a huge PvP fan, I love it. However I just want to try and convey the fact that rifts are not a huge scary thing. It is true that guilds have rifted and messed up some of the zones, until that zone creates their own counter-offense team to take them down. I actually found it quite peaceful leveling in Morheim, and only near the end did I see a swarm of rift players running amok.
The thing is there will be plenty of anti griefing measurements taken in 1.5 to insure that a high level doesn't just come into a lowbie zone through a rift and wreck face. I don't know the mechanics off the bat, but I'm sure a bit of searching around would help.
I think when it comes down to it I just want people to experience the same thing I enjoy so much. I think that some of the players who are against a PvE server may have the same feeling. Sure, I'm sure there are the elitist asshats who want to just gank an easy target -- but they are everywhere. I feel like rifts are a large enough part of the game that introducing a server without them would be like cutting an arm off of the game.
And to really sum it up in an article I read about it, the first time you successfully defeat that ganker trying to kill you the feeling will be immeasurable. Eventually I'm sure even the most hardened PvE player will find themselves stepping through one of those rifts eventually and finding out that, hey, this isn't so bad .
(Oh and please don't pay attention to Supbro. He really doesn't speak for the rest of the Aion community)
Wings are pretty though, but it's not a decision factor for playing a MMO. I prefer mounted combat in MMOs. Actually I would play AoC rather than Aion. AoC is sexy, Aion is EMO.
Having actually played both AoC and Aion, i can give a good opinion on biggest difference between the 2.
Aion in beta actually works and is perfectly polished while AoC 2 years after release is still the same broken POS they tried to sell people when it originally came out ))
So enjoy your broken PvP and bugged raids with 2 empty servers, while ill enjoy Aion like millions of other subscribers:)))
AOC actually launched 17th of may 2008(20th if you hadnt pre ordered) so hardly 2 years. Aion actually launched launch last November. So while AOC is just under 6 months older it would be fair to compare them in thier current states 1.5.4 AOC vs 1.5 AION .. even similar revision wise.
AOC is now actually a very polished game and if it had been released in its current form it would have been very well recieved, it sure looks better than Aion. I guess all the millions of ppl playing in Asia can complain about being paying beta testers for Aion as thats the state of the game till 1.5 goes live.
Its laughable how people say 1.5 fixes all these things (which it may well do) yet still bag other games for not being complete when released.
Wings are pretty though, but it's not a decision factor for playing a MMO. I prefer mounted combat in MMOs. Actually I would play AoC rather than Aion. AoC is sexy, Aion is EMO.
Having actually played both AoC and Aion, i can give a good opinion on biggest difference between the 2.
Aion in beta actually works and is perfectly polished while AoC 2 years after release is still the same broken POS they tried to sell people when it originally came out ))
So enjoy your broken PvP and bugged raids with 2 empty servers, while ill enjoy Aion like millions of other subscribers:)))
AOC actually launched 17th of may 2008(20th if you hadnt pre ordered) so hardly 2 years. Aion actually launched launch last November. So while AOC is just under 6 months older it would be fair to compare them in thier current states 1.5.4 AOC vs 1.5 AION .. even similar revision wise.
AOC is now actually a very polished game and if it had been released in its current form it would have been very well recieved, it sure looks better than Aion. I guess all the millions of ppl playing in Asia can complain about being paying beta testers for Aion as thats the state of the game till 1.5 goes live.
Its laughable how people say 1.5 fixes all these things (which it may well do) yet still bag other games for not being complete when released.
Aion client performs flawlessly in the beta, smooth as silk ))). Patch 1.5 will be purely all free content (12+ instances...)
Good luck with AoC's "miracle" patch, has it arrived yet? lol
Oh noes we get wings!. Did you hear that guys, Aion has flying Wings!, thats ALL the reason why we should go out and buy this game because we can fly with WINGS. Oh noes guys, we can WINGS away!.
I'm not going to buy the game just because you can fly with wings, how fkng retarded are people these days.
Must be fun to pick made up arguments and argue against them.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
i REALLY hope nothing ever kills wow....you have played it right? you know what kind of community it has. ther is a reason people use barens chat as prime example of it.
So what's the wake-up call? "Don't do anything that breaks with the standard, WoW-like mould in order to be a success"?
My thought on what the wake up call might be is that releasing a finished game that isnt broken is a pretty good way to do business. But thats just me.
To me it looked like a bunch of ladyboy angels running around. Ha ha!
Aion has polish on its side, but I would imagine there are other 'westeners' out there like myself who do not like the 'mangaesque' look of the game. I seriously do not enjoy a bunch of pale-looking male models in lace mingling with their coat-hanger female counterparts, holding oversized weapons, with wings. That pretty much sums up the novelties of Aion. Having played the game, it was not bad, but I just can't get myself to like the look of this game. Also it looks much more like a grinder than the other 'current generation' titles. The reason why I spoke out so strongly is my guild is thinking of jumping ship to Aion. I love those people, they are great friends, but still I am not sure if I will 'migrate' to Aion.
WoW looks like shit and people still play it. I'm not a fan of the asian style either, but I'd take that over feces anyday, and I don't think I'm in the minority.
nice vid... looks like a neat game but... wait is it just the music?
seriously though I hate korean MMOs, both looks and gameplay, looks cause every weapon/armor is made to look extremly cool... it often has the reversed effect. Then theres the coloration and the fancy moves, ye I can imagine 20 ppl fighting around like that.. it would be so aw... crap, it be crap. Problem is all korean mmos looks like they are made out of a single player RPG game, I mean in a single player game you can get away with fancy moves and cartonish/animated effects, why? Because you are the hero and the ones you are facing can be less fun, lower profile, mmos well... theres something for everyone.
As for gameplay grind upon grind and then add some grind just to be sure and ontop of that pretty dull quests although boring quests is more of a mmo standard then a korean trademark.
With that said I have yet to try Aion and I await doing so, but I cant help but feeling pessimistic and I dont think this game will reach anywhere near the playerbase of WoW, its just not going to happen.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons. For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now. So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now. I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
That makes a lot of sense to me: I anticipate something around the lines of Age of Conan, but with a much larger retention rate due to it lacking bugs and performing very, very well.
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
The point of WoW about the different zones per lvl is not its number, really it's the ambient of those zones. Some of them are a desert, a swamp, a mountain, a plague land, ..... In Aion everything seems a dream, a shiny dream or a really dark one. Advance seems to be, you reach the next zone... "Hmmm, okay, pretty cool, like the last one, where are my quests....", in WoW you reach a new zone for first time and you say "Interesting, it seems to be a great forest, i wonder what is behind that hill.... oh, a waterfall, and i can see very far from here....."
This is a personal taste, i prefer diversity, but more homogenous in the borders. I mean, in the case of WoW, you can have the driest desert ever known and behind a single hill, the wettest jungle with many swamps (talking about Westfall and Spinebreaker)
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
I have to agree with you, i was reconsidering my support to WoW and most times my 2 alters (the others don't count because they are stuck in newbie zones, i hate all the newbie zones at this moment) were questing through the same areas as my main. But just because i know the quest and i think it's faster to lvl up that way, that's more, i never lvl up a night elf because the Auberdine zone is terrible big and boring for me. Maybe i'm a fan of humans because Elwynn forest is almost print in my neural connections, it comes to my mind every time i think about lvling an alter, go away from its starting zones and getting into Elwynn....
BUT, the possibilities of lvl in other areas still exist if you are bored of the same, even thinking about you can do it releases you from a lot of grinding stress..... Maybe Aion needs other focus to make you want to lvl an alter..... Despite that, thinking about my first character, i have a deja vu, i played Lineage 2 so much that Aion itself remembers me something i cannot gather in my thoughts in this moment, but the asian styles makes me feel tired, i don't know why (well, yes i know, that's because i really hate the grind in L2, even in pirate servers with x10, x20 XP)
So i must say i am exstatic about Aion. It's going to be extremely awesome. Though i'm getting kinda tired of all of the WoW fan-bois saying that this game is going to "fail" and that it will never beat WoW. Well i say WoW and blizzard need to beware of Ncsoft and its growing giants Guild Wars and soon to be Aion. Aion already has 3.5 million players and it hasnt even been released in the United States, Canada, or Europe. Clearly when it gets here it's subscription base will skyrocket straight through the roof. It's sure to put some lacquere on Blizzard's greedy friggid fingers and loose its "Titans Grip" on the MMO market.(notice my pun) Aion is a refreshing change. It's a visually stunning game that uses a heavily modified Cry Engine 2. The ability to fly(though limited in the PvE areas but can be extended) is without a doubt an interesting feature. This is definitely a game i would pay for. The lore and story are amazing by any standards and is truly a huge stepping stone for Ncsoft that sits adjacent to Guild Wars, Lineage and It's other published titles. I am going to prepurchase this game TOMORROW and begin playing the beta as soon as possible(with the beta access you get with a prepurchase). I honestly cannot wait until this MMO drop kicks the market. When it does im sure it will shatter Blizzard's Coveted record subscribers. It is truly a game to pick up and try. I do hope that they offer the option of a demo so that players can try the game before actually taking the plunge.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
The fact that most people with multiple alts will go the fastest way doesn't mean that others will do the same thing. I have 3 characters in WoW, although I don't play it anymore, and for the most part, leveled them in different zones. Just because I wanted to see the content.
Obviously you're going to have the people who will rush to the endgame just like in other games, where you have people hitting the level cap 2 days after release. But that's not how most people play and for those of us who actually play the game for content, the option of a slightly different leveling experience is there, at least in WoW.
I agree with you though, the expansions were a lot more linear than the vanilla WoW.
However, that is still not an excuse that a game released in 2009, will offer less leveling content and less variety than a 5 year old game.
BTW, I think that Ghostlands>Hillsbrad is a much better choice mostly because in the Ghostlands the quests are closer together and in the Barrens they are spread out too far apart and Hillsbrad is a fun zone on a PvP server.
Comments
So wait, we're back to the "waah they won't make other types of servers" posts now? This truly is cyclic in nature, isn't it?
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
No, I talk. I group. I buff. I don't Kill steal. A lot of the people I grouped with agreed it was wierd how few people would respond if you tried to talk or offer a group. Funny thing is that maybe 90% of the people will run away if you even say hello to them.
Also, don't confuse non-social with anti-social. The non-social people don't talk or group. The anti-social people talk smack, kill steal, pull mobs onto other players and generally cause grief. I've never seen as many of these people in a beta community in my many years experience with many titles. Even the L2 beta was better than the Aion beta in this regard, which I think is just a testament to the downward spiral the MMORPG community has been in since WoW popularized it and lowered the over all maturity level.
Ironically a lot of these people who were spawned by WoW now trash the game that drew their sorry asses to the genre. A lot of old school MMORPG players have no love lost for WoW, but it usually the ones who make a point at deriding WoW at every chance that are the ones who are the actual "children of WoW"; the people who are dumbing down the entire genre.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
You realize global channels are currently OFF right? And I had plenty of people talk to me, and grouped with plenty of people. Perhaps it is you that is being antisocial? Most people aren't going to just walk up to you and start talking, perhaps take the initiative? I actually chatted with a good number of people who were just sitting around dueling, and not just passing words but just chilling around talking for 15-20 minutes.
No, I talk. I group. I buff. I don't Kill steal. A lot of the people I grouped with agreed it was wierd how few people would respond if you tried to talk or offer a group. Funny thing is that maybe 90% of the people will run away if you even say hello to them.
Also, don't confuse non-social with anti-social. The non-social people don't talk or group. The anti-social people talk smack, kill steal, pull mobs onto other players and generally cause grief. I've never seen as many of these people in a beta community in my many years experience with many titles. Even the L2 beta was better than the Aion beta in this regard, which I think is just a testament to the downward spiral the MMORPG community has been in since WoW popularized it and lowered the over all maturity level.
Ironically a lot of these people who were spawned by WoW now trash the game that drew their sorry asses to the genre. A lot of old school MMORPG players have no love lost for WoW, but it usually the ones who make a point at deriding WoW at every chance that are the ones who are the actual "children of WoW"; the people who are dumbing down the entire genre.
Did we play the same game? I mean, really, I ran into none of that when I played. I didn't have people kill steal my mobs, I heard a little bit of smack talk (but who doesn't love that? It's fun) and I didn't see any "griefing", unless you happen to include PvP under griefing.
Really it honest to god sounds like we were playing a different game. I'm not going to say that any community isn't devoid of it's rejects but I did not come into contact with any through the few beta events I have been in so far. (Playing Asmodian side).
I did see some kill stealing going on but i also grouped with two good sized groups and played in a few two player groups as well. I had two kills and one gathering object taken from me but the grouping experience was very good. We did quite well actually and the groups i was in were very mature. So yes there are a few squirrels like in every game but also some good people.
Fiontar is a genius. Excellent posts.
You know, now I do feel like somewhat of a dick because I didn't give my thoughts on the PvE vs PvP server discussion. I'd figure if fion is bothering to express his concerns I'll try and post a bit more in depth than a trollish post.
Just wanted to get this out of the way, but I'm an old MMO player. Maybe not as much of a vet as some of these people here, I was like 13 when the classics and such first came out so I only got to experience games like Ultima Online over at a friends house. I have played MMOs for a long time though and certainly didn't start with WoW. (And I don't think its a bad game, raiding just isn't for me).
But onto the actual dicussion.
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. I'm not going to say the world is "without flaws" but I'm curious what you'd view as a major flaw in the design at this point.
I sort of covered this already, but I feel like we're honestly playing different games because I didn't experience that yet. I've no doubt that every community has their asshats though.
This is probably the "meat" of the discussion. As to what I think, well, I am mixed. On one hand having a few servers dedicated to a PvE experience may help NCSoft in the long run. From a business standpoint this would serve as a good idea if it would bring in increased subs, certainly.
I also do think that it is certainly within someones best interest to play the game the way they want to play it, and I can respect that. I know some people loathe the idea of "the gank" and that would be a major turn off for them.
However, on the other hand... I don't think it would be a good idea. One of my core worries would be that the PvP flagged servers may not get as much attention as a PvE server would. Of course this if anything is all based on the success that Aion gets, and I do think it may be fine to add in a PvE server or something if the game hits it off well in the western market. What I'm worried is that players will go for the "gank-free" experience and fewer players will populate the PvP server. As anyone will know players, and a healthy playerbase, are absolutely crucial to a PvP game if it is going to strive. It would suck if the game turned out like WAR where the PvP servers were sort of ignored (except for one).
That is all just speculation though and not really my core issue. Part of me thinks that Aion should stick to its guns with fully integrating their vision of a game. Why? Well, I think Aion may be the game that helps bridge over a lot of PvE players into getting their feet wet in PvP. I know it probably sounds crazy, but I think if some players just tried the normal server they may find it more enjoyable then expected. I do think a lot of players would find the ganking outside of the abyss minimal and, thus, it wouldn't be worth the resources to create a new ruleset.
I'm trying to be as neutral on this opinion as possible, which is difficult. I am a huge PvP fan, I love it. However I just want to try and convey the fact that rifts are not a huge scary thing. It is true that guilds have rifted and messed up some of the zones, until that zone creates their own counter-offense team to take them down. I actually found it quite peaceful leveling in Morheim, and only near the end did I see a swarm of rift players running amok.
The thing is there will be plenty of anti griefing measurements taken in 1.5 to insure that a high level doesn't just come into a lowbie zone through a rift and wreck face. I don't know the mechanics off the bat, but I'm sure a bit of searching around would help.
I think when it comes down to it I just want people to experience the same thing I enjoy so much. I think that some of the players who are against a PvE server may have the same feeling. Sure, I'm sure there are the elitist asshats who want to just gank an easy target -- but they are everywhere. I feel like rifts are a large enough part of the game that introducing a server without them would be like cutting an arm off of the game.
And to really sum it up in an article I read about it, the first time you successfully defeat that ganker trying to kill you the feeling will be immeasurable. Eventually I'm sure even the most hardened PvE player will find themselves stepping through one of those rifts eventually and finding out that, hey, this isn't so bad
.
(Oh and please don't pay attention to Supbro. He really doesn't speak for the rest of the Aion community)
Wings are pretty though, but it's not a decision factor for playing a MMO. I prefer mounted combat in MMOs. Actually I would play AoC rather than Aion. AoC is sexy, Aion is EMO.
Having actually played both AoC and Aion, i can give a good opinion on biggest difference between the 2.
Aion in beta actually works and is perfectly polished
while AoC 2 years after release is still the same broken POS they tried to sell people when it originally came out 
))
So enjoy your broken PvP and bugged raids with 2 empty servers, while ill enjoy Aion like millions of other subscribers:)))
AOC actually launched 17th of may 2008(20th if you hadnt pre ordered) so hardly 2 years. Aion actually launched launch last November. So while AOC is just under 6 months older it would be fair to compare them in thier current states 1.5.4 AOC vs 1.5 AION .. even similar revision wise.
AOC is now actually a very polished game and if it had been released in its current form it would have been very well recieved, it sure looks better than Aion. I guess all the millions of ppl playing in Asia can complain about being paying beta testers for Aion as thats the state of the game till 1.5 goes live.
Its laughable how people say 1.5 fixes all these things (which it may well do) yet still bag other games for not being complete when released.
So what's the wake-up call? "Don't do anything that breaks with the standard, WoW-like mould in order to be a success"?
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Call in line of "don't release games that CTD every 5 minutes", "don't release games where fps falls to 1/5 during lot of action" etc..
Also wings!!!1
Wings are pretty though, but it's not a decision factor for playing a MMO. I prefer mounted combat in MMOs. Actually I would play AoC rather than Aion. AoC is sexy, Aion is EMO.
Having actually played both AoC and Aion, i can give a good opinion on biggest difference between the 2.
Aion in beta actually works and is perfectly polished
while AoC 2 years after release is still the same broken POS they tried to sell people when it originally came out 
))
So enjoy your broken PvP and bugged raids with 2 empty servers, while ill enjoy Aion like millions of other subscribers:)))
AOC actually launched 17th of may 2008(20th if you hadnt pre ordered) so hardly 2 years. Aion actually launched launch last November. So while AOC is just under 6 months older it would be fair to compare them in thier current states 1.5.4 AOC vs 1.5 AION .. even similar revision wise.
AOC is now actually a very polished game and if it had been released in its current form it would have been very well recieved, it sure looks better than Aion. I guess all the millions of ppl playing in Asia can complain about being paying beta testers for Aion as thats the state of the game till 1.5 goes live.
Its laughable how people say 1.5 fixes all these things (which it may well do) yet still bag other games for not being complete when released.
Aion client performs flawlessly in the beta, smooth as silk
))). Patch 1.5 will be purely all free content (12+ instances...)
Good luck with AoC's "miracle" patch, has it arrived yet? lol
GW2 the future of MMO gaming
Oh noes we get wings!. Did you hear that guys, Aion has flying Wings!, thats ALL the reason why we should go out and buy this game because we can fly with WINGS. Oh noes guys, we can WINGS away!.
I'm not going to buy the game just because you can fly with wings, how fkng retarded are people these days.
Must be fun to pick made up arguments and argue against them.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
i hate you
My thought on what the wake up call might be is that releasing a finished game that isnt broken is a pretty good way to do business. But thats just me.
WoW looks like shit and people still play it. I'm not a fan of the asian style either, but I'd take that over feces anyday, and I don't think I'm in the minority.
nice vid... looks like a neat game but... wait is it just the music?
seriously though I hate korean MMOs, both looks and gameplay, looks cause every weapon/armor is made to look extremly cool... it often has the reversed effect. Then theres the coloration and the fancy moves, ye I can imagine 20 ppl fighting around like that.. it would be so aw... crap, it be crap. Problem is all korean mmos looks like they are made out of a single player RPG game, I mean in a single player game you can get away with fancy moves and cartonish/animated effects, why? Because you are the hero and the ones you are facing can be less fun, lower profile, mmos well... theres something for everyone.
As for gameplay grind upon grind and then add some grind just to be sure and ontop of that pretty dull quests although boring quests is more of a mmo standard then a korean trademark.
With that said I have yet to try Aion and I await doing so, but I cant help but feeling pessimistic and I dont think this game will reach anywhere near the playerbase of WoW, its just not going to happen.
Asian style for games are not my kind, but they can add some interesting things to the MMO landscape. I think Aion is more like a classic MMO with better graphics, wings and combos (this two things are interesting if they are well implemented), but i hope it matches the taste of western gamers because i want that World of Warcraft begins to change things in order to return to its glory days.
Now WoW it's not my kind of game, it still have old content but the new one is not what i wanted from that game, pre-BC, and the BC itself were the best it can offer in the present and the pass, but i hope that in the future it will corrects its own path for better
WoW needs to recover the pre-quest for entering large instances, and the difficult to achieve important dungeons. And also the fun factor of doing different things, today WoW is very plain despite the content it has.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
That makes a lot of sense to me: I anticipate something around the lines of Age of Conan, but with a much larger retention rate due to it lacking bugs and performing very, very well.
This is a sequence of characters intended to produce some profound mental effect, but it has failed.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
The point of WoW about the different zones per lvl is not its number, really it's the ambient of those zones. Some of them are a desert, a swamp, a mountain, a plague land, ..... In Aion everything seems a dream, a shiny dream or a really dark one. Advance seems to be, you reach the next zone... "Hmmm, okay, pretty cool, like the last one, where are my quests....", in WoW you reach a new zone for first time and you say "Interesting, it seems to be a great forest, i wonder what is behind that hill.... oh, a waterfall, and i can see very far from here....."
This is a personal taste, i prefer diversity, but more homogenous in the borders. I mean, in the case of WoW, you can have the driest desert ever known and behind a single hill, the wettest jungle with many swamps (talking about Westfall and Spinebreaker)
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
I have to agree with you, i was reconsidering my support to WoW and most times my 2 alters (the others don't count because they are stuck in newbie zones, i hate all the newbie zones at this moment) were questing through the same areas as my main. But just because i know the quest and i think it's faster to lvl up that way, that's more, i never lvl up a night elf because the Auberdine zone is terrible big and boring for me. Maybe i'm a fan of humans because Elwynn forest is almost print in my neural connections, it comes to my mind every time i think about lvling an alter, go away from its starting zones and getting into Elwynn....
BUT, the possibilities of lvl in other areas still exist if you are bored of the same, even thinking about you can do it releases you from a lot of grinding stress..... Maybe Aion needs other focus to make you want to lvl an alter..... Despite that, thinking about my first character, i have a deja vu, i played Lineage 2 so much that Aion itself remembers me something i cannot gather in my thoughts in this moment, but the asian styles makes me feel tired, i don't know why (well, yes i know, that's because i really hate the grind in L2, even in pirate servers with x10, x20 XP)
So i must say i am exstatic about Aion. It's going to be extremely awesome. Though i'm getting kinda tired of all of the WoW fan-bois saying that this game is going to "fail" and that it will never beat WoW. Well i say WoW and blizzard need to beware of Ncsoft and its growing giants Guild Wars and soon to be Aion. Aion already has 3.5 million players and it hasnt even been released in the United States, Canada, or Europe. Clearly when it gets here it's subscription base will skyrocket straight through the roof. It's sure to put some lacquere on Blizzard's greedy friggid fingers and loose its "Titans Grip" on the MMO market.(notice my pun) Aion is a refreshing change. It's a visually stunning game that uses a heavily modified Cry Engine 2. The ability to fly(though limited in the PvE areas but can be extended) is without a doubt an interesting feature. This is definitely a game i would pay for. The lore and story are amazing by any standards and is truly a huge stepping stone for Ncsoft that sits adjacent to Guild Wars, Lineage and It's other published titles. I am going to prepurchase this game TOMORROW and begin playing the beta as soon as possible(with the beta access you get with a prepurchase). I honestly cannot wait until this MMO drop kicks the market. When it does im sure it will shatter Blizzard's Coveted record subscribers. It is truly a game to pick up and try. I do hope that they offer the option of a demo so that players can try the game before actually taking the plunge.
I cant wait!
(>O.O)>Cheers<(O.O<)
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runescape != goodgame;
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Nice video, why did it take the gladiator like 2 minutes to kill a single mob?
Back the WoW chat again, never fails LOL. No matter what WoW does in the future the players will still have to grind their way through the old content (outlands/northrend) on alts if they roll new toons.
For example I just rolled a new dwarf pally last night and I was bored sick within an hour because I knew i was about to grind out 50-60 levels to see some decent content (northrend). Anything before lichking to me is old and and stale now.
So in a sense WoW is going to get a wake up call from Aions release. Not because its anything new, but because its a polished and fun game which is what a large % of the mmo player base has been looking for for awhile now.
I can bet WoW subs will see a major decrease in September. And even if half of those go back to WoW after afew months, its still the same old and stale WoW we've all seen time and time again.
The main difference is that WoW has multiple zones per level range to quest in. Aion has one zone per race per level range. WoW got stale because it's been out for 5 years, Aion will get stale because rolling an alt means questing through the same exact content all over again. What I'm trying to say is that a brand new player in WoW has multiple paths to take towards the level cap, in Aion, you have one.
If WoW does see a decline in subscriptions come September, which I doubt, it will be because of multiple games being released, not just Aion. If I remember correctly, Champions Online and Jumpgate: Evolution are being released in September also.
I agree - very good points. I think once you go through Aion once - the need to reroll an Alt likely won't be that enjoyable for MOST people.
That being said though - how many times have you ran through vanilla WoW? I have - way too many times to count... and holy hell is it stale. Doesn't matter to me if it has different "landscapes" from each one or a different "path" to take to 60... its ALWAYS almost the exact same path.
Tell me how many people don't go Durotar -> The Barrens -> thousand needles/STM -> STV... seriously...
Ya a few people go to Desolace... and there's a few examples of that - but honestly... the path is STILL almost identical.
Let's fast forward to 2009 when the new expansions. You pretty much HAVE to go to Hellfire -> Zang -> etc and Tundra/Howling -> AN zone (name escapes me), etc... its a very linear progression.... yet..... no one is screaming blue murder about it.
You see what Im sayin? Its the same sorta thing - its just laid out a little differently (and perhaps even better) in WoW... BUT.... its still the same path that nearly everyone takes.
The fact that most people with multiple alts will go the fastest way doesn't mean that others will do the same thing. I have 3 characters in WoW, although I don't play it anymore, and for the most part, leveled them in different zones. Just because I wanted to see the content.
Obviously you're going to have the people who will rush to the endgame just like in other games, where you have people hitting the level cap 2 days after release. But that's not how most people play and for those of us who actually play the game for content, the option of a slightly different leveling experience is there, at least in WoW.
I agree with you though, the expansions were a lot more linear than the vanilla WoW.
However, that is still not an excuse that a game released in 2009, will offer less leveling content and less variety than a 5 year old game.
BTW, I think that Ghostlands>Hillsbrad is a much better choice mostly because in the Ghostlands the quests are closer together and in the Barrens they are spread out too far apart and Hillsbrad is a fun zone on a PvP server.