Aion Open Beta Review.. It is a good game, I recommend buy.

After years of playing wow and eq, and even guild wars, Aion appears to have combined features of all 3 games.

The game play style resembles guild Wars to an extent, with the addition of seriously awesome melee, casting, and bow fighting animations. Coming from wow, the game play is nearly the same, with one major difference, click run up auto attack.

By default in the options menu, there are alot of options you will want to disable... and most of the time you can disable them.. but right click runup and auto attack is one you may just decide to get used to, and is not that bad. Since you can cancel the action by moving your character backwards anyway. Also, this is only to get you into range... if you are already in range... there is no difference in gameplay, you can run through your opponent... around them, etc... all the same styles as WOW.

The graphics are very good, the animations are way better than wow, and the storylines are fresh and new, rather than wow's completely stale old bread storyline at this point. Seriously wow is a good game, I have just been there and done that... so I am looking for something fresh... and aion has enough that is fresh in it to warrent my time and money.

Edited: I forgot to add... This game has literally the best character customization screens I have seen in a MMORPG. You can customize everything about your character. I know korean games get a bad wrap for everyone looking the same... seriously not in this game, I created a 2 foot, thing that looked like beast from x men, with huge broad shoulders, and arms that nearly hit the ground and called him Toenail. From their I created a guy that looked damn near the same as the xerxies guy in 300 at 8 foot tall and clean as hell. This feature is not used as often as others so I forgot to mention it, but it is a very serious plus when I thought about it... and the fact you have choices of the voice your character uses as well makes for a very nice addition.

I played nearly every character up to lvl 14-16 to get a flavor of each class... and each class is well done.

Templar, (tank) are very well done and do their job well. Soloable easily, can take on multiple mobs easily (if reasonable well geared) and are fun to play.

Gladiator... (fury warrior) OMFG... the animations sell this character over and over... want a jedi styled front flip 2 handed chop with a knockdown... well you got it. Want the most brutal baseball freeking slash you have ever seen with a pole arm... you got it... etc... this is crazy fun.

Chanter (buffing class) this class is comparable to a paladin.. and maybe even an eq shaman... it is a melee/caster class that also has SWEET attack animations. Zero Soloability problems, and can fight, heal, buff, debuff, rez all in one class. If you like paladins in EQ for utility, you will like this class.

Spirit master... (pet mage class) ummm think eq magician, or

wow warlock... The most soloable class in this game so far... insanely powerful... with defensive spells (for you old eqers) as well like root, snare... etc.. making pet kiting very easy, but the fire power you bring, makes pet kiting only used in the most extreme situations... how about the pet chaining.. they can do that... summon a pet, let them eat it... summon another... let them eat it... forever... or forget the pet, and just nuke the guy down... seriously this class could be considered OP. I have heard they are not the best in PvP... well they have to have some downside I guess.

Ranger (hunter) ok we know what a ranger is... it is a ranged class... and this class is a ranged class with some good melee if you want it. However, it takes a while to see this class start to shine. Most classes at lvl 10, when you become your specific flavor of the class, it is obvious where the rest is going, but the ranger ... not so much at first. Since you start as a melee scout (aka rogue) you do not have a huge amount of ranged skills at lvl 10... so there is a bit of disappointment that you cannot just blow down a mob at range... at first... and have to melee a bit to get it done... or kite it. This changes alot as you level and get more ranged abilities and the ranger becomes exactly what it should be... a full on bow using.. ranged class... that beats crap down from range and has some BAD A$$ skills to do it with. By lvl 16 you are not meleeing, except if you get jumped... and that is only until you can drop a root trap... after you get stunning shot at 19... forget all about melee... you are totally ranged. But can you melee if you want to? sure, they give you plenty of melee skills... but they always force you to melee in these games... (which I hate) and after a troubling through a few levels in this game... you are full range if you want.

Clerics, good casters good healers, see chanters above for some abilities.. but are mostly spell based damage.

Sorcerer (I didn't play it,but I know it will be insane since the spirit master holds the same archtype and really doesn't need a pet to own... but sorcers just own with out a pet harder... so it will be ridiculous i know.)

Assasin (didn't play it, but the scout/ranger I did shows me enough that I know this will be the class you think it should be, stealth, huge backstabs, stuns, evades, etc.. )

In the end, I recommend this game because the animations are insane, the game play is good, the storyline is fresh, and it is not some huge chore leveling like other korean grindfests. I have no idea how successful it will be in the end, yet it is damn good enough for the next 6 months to a year to have a good time playing. Which may be the break from wow you need, or just a good time in its own right.

 

You can look me up on wow armory, I am Aerlond of Draenor.