I really gotta say none of these posts are ever different, couple reasons why
1. To grindy: Um every mmo has a grind get over it I can also blame WoW for this one people are so used to having and easy girnd and reaching max level and feeling like they are gods gift to mmo.
2. Low replay value with alts: IMO this is the way it should be. Focus on 1 character for chist sake, again blame WoW, why ? Well making an alt is so easy in that game its sicking. I'm guilty of it I admit it, but it also really made me feel distant from any of my characters like it didnt matter if I was good or if I liked the class hell switch over to another class. What I think it is people are having to actually learn their class and it scares them.
3. To asian feels like a F2P: I've played f2p games this does not feel like one. I just feel like the majority of the people saying this have xenophobia.
I can keep going on but its butting into my game time with Aion.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
P.S. Aion is not even close to a GW clone. It's a Lineage 2 clone. The games are nearly exactly the same in every detail.
Not exactly, Aion has more quests, better PvP, PvE and more variety of weapons and armor.
That's true. It does have all those things, but the core systems of the game are nearly exactly the same. The controls, the commands, the menus, the character advancement, obviously the art, the player shops... could go on.
Really, they coulda probably gotten away with calling it Lineage 3 and no one would have blinked.
Don't get me wrong though. I loved L2. Still do, but Aion is the new game in town and I'm having fun with it.
I'm not sure why the OP titled his post "Why Aion will fail" because no where in his post does he even make the argument that Aion is going to fail. I'm assuming he just wanted an inflammatory title to get people to click his post.
Other than a really stupid title his post is mainly spot on. OP, if you are going to spend all of that time writing out what I thought was a great post, you should have the title match what you are writing. Shame on you for the troll subject line. It pretty much ruins any valid points you make in your post.
There are, as we are finding out, or you will be finding out shortly if you are playing the game, not enough guests after level 30. That is a FACT, not an opinion. The OP is merely pointing out the obvious. He even says in the body of his post that Aion will become a niche game. Being a niche game is not the same as being a failure. Not by a long shot. Being a successful niche game is exactly what any game developer should be shooting for. There may never be another game with the impact WoW had. Times have changed.
I found the post quite interesting and well thought out. It's too bad it was all ruined by a stupid, misleading subject line. It's obvious most of the people replying here are replying to your subject and not your post and I really can't blame them. Next time, try to be a little more honest with your subject and you won't start off with people assuming you are a troll.
"The next mmo that will become as succesful or nearly as succesful as WoW will involve several ways for characters to level all of which are appealing to different types of players. Grinding doesn't need to be eliminated as many players enjoy it, there simply needs to be alternatives. On top of this the games need to be developed and launched with more care and patience. We all know from AoC and War that releasing a product too early leads to disaster. Developers need to take more time to both polish their game, and expand it's content. The combination of patience, polish, content, and diverse paths to leveling will lead to a great mmo, and a next generation mmo."
This I can sorta agree with most of your post I can not. Personaly I dont see Aion failing, I for one think the days of all MMOers playing esentaly 1 game have long since been dead and gone. I think the future will contain games like you are talkign about I tend to call tehm general games and will appeal to the mass and logicaly have a large sub base but I think nich or targeted games like EvE will become more popular. Why? Well if you could play a game that appealed to you (specificly) and hand a solid population of players that where like mineded wouldn't you rather play it than the one that was generaly fun and generaly appelead to you where the population did not nessisarly mesh with you well. Just like we have 18 diffrent types of RPG in the console market I think we will have 18 diffrent types of MMOs in fact we alredy do. I do not think games like WoW which are very much so a generalist game are going to be the wave and that is what you seem to be suggesting. I am sure we will always have the generalist game and there are thouse that will prefer the diversity you see there but I think its clear from looking at gamers as a whole not just MMO gamers that we tend to like games that are geared toward our spcific wants and not overly generalized, dont try to make the whole player base happy try to make X sub group of the player base wildly fanatical.
You might argue that you shoudl try to make the whole player base wildly fanatical isn't that what WoW did? . . . no it did not, WoW has somthing for everyone and in a time where there was basicly nothing for any one. DAoC was runnign its self into the dirt with changes, AC was dead and gone by then and EQ was older than dirt while EQ2 managed to piss off many EQ fans. SWG well you all know that story. My poiint is WoW was not the god send to every one I'm sure there are some that it was the perfect game and always will be but the reason it held so many is becuase it was just genrealy a good game. A major point in all this is and we see it in the WoW comunity many of the gamer types are contradictive the hurt each others play experance, some like reward only after long hard work (grind fest) some are more ADD if you will. Thouse 2 can not co-exsist in the same game if you get a better reward for grinding then the ADD player will be pissed and rightfuly so the game is not lent toward him if you get the same or better for the ADD play the grinder will eb pissed and rightfuly so the game is not lent for him. There are of course other game styles but these 2 show the contradiciton nicely generalized games like WoW forexample that manage to appeal to just about every one can not fully satasfy most gamers and so I see more games like EVE (not clones) but rather games that say to hell with what the mass wants I am gona make the perfect game for this target market.
While the actual post itself is fairly reasonable(though I don't really agree with it), why is it that the title of the post is so silly?
Using the word "fail" is pretty much an invitation for a flamathon.
I seriously doubt your premise. As others have said, the key is not "new", the key is everlasting "fun". New is only "new" for so long. If it's not as fun as the older concept, or lacks "fun-gevity", then the MMO will be less successful.
AoC is hindered in the same way Tabula Rasa was; the only thing worth doing is combat, and that's just not adequate for a MMO. While the combat was fun for a good long while(in my case, about 3 months), I gradually lost interest and moved on.
WAR struggles with lack of individuality and not much feeling like your character is advancing. This may have changed since I played last; it was quite a while ago.
Even in these failings, they're still doing OK on subs.
Aion isn't really for me; at least not as of a month ago. Not big on the whole pikachu cute-monster thing. But it's a pretty all-around solid game. I doubt it will be WoW-successful, but I think it will bring in plenty of money here in the west.
I'm not saiyng its proof. But I would bet all of the money I have that it will not be highly successful. Only players who have played to 30+ understand that the game is quite grindy. Those who haven't made it that far will tell you "I quested to level 20 so stfu"... 1-20 is a walk in the park. 30-50 is when the grind begins, and the time require really grows exponentially from level 25 onward.
People will never learn man, and like you said, some people DO like the grind. I can't stand it, and it's why I refuse to play any of these shitty games coming out (like Aion) that don't want to push the boundaries of the genre or try something new.
I applaud any developer or company (like Aventurine with Darkfall) who takes the risk to try something new. All these cookie-cutter crap themepark MMOs offer nothing new except better graphics and every once in a while a unique feature.
But I still have faith that those of us who are sick and tired of the same crap will be rewarded sometime soon. Darkfall showed that there is a huge amount of people interested in that sort of hardcore gamestyle, Mortal Online may offer something similar, and who knows what we may be treated with in the future.
Judging failure is dependent on your definition of success. In the world of gaming MMOs are a niche, a quite limited niche. WoW rules them all, but that's not the future. The future is Free Realms, this is where there will be massive growth. I'm pretty confident stating that all future MMOs based on the previous generation MMOs (UO, EQ, AC etc) will forever be a small niche in the larger scheme of MMOs. For better or worst the new model of very large MMOs are here and they are casual friendly, family friendly and insipidly cute.
Aion has been hyped just as much as any other mmo before it. Warhammer was hyped to be great, Age of Conan was hyped to be great, they all were, and they all did some things right, but many things wrong. Aion is in many ways no different.
Let me talk about Age of Conan and Warhammer first. What was the issue with these games that caused them to fail as they did? I think that most people unanimously agree that both games were not polished, lacked content, and were released too early. Both warhammer and Age of Conan did some things well. Most would agree that AoC had an innovative and entertaining combat system despite some flaws, and many would agree that Warhammer had fairly good PvP gameplay, and that the ability to level through PvP made the process of leveling much less of a bore.
Both games had potential from the start. What killed them both was the fact that both products were released before they were ready, and that both games were in an "infant" state so to speak. Realistically nobody expects a new game to have the same levels of content as an established game like world of warcraft, and age of conan and warhammer did not have content that could compare to WoW. I think we all understood that both games could compete with WoW if more promising content was added as the game aged, but players are presented with a choice. Does a player want to play WoW, or Warhammer/Aoc. We all have access to all mmos if we pay the price, so why would we choose warhammer and Aoc over established, polished, and content rich games? The only answer that makes sense is "Because warhammer and AoC show promise in the future, and X player is willing to wait it out and see what content is added".
This is what kills new games. WoW was no different when it was released. It lacked content, and it was bug filled, but it and EQ2 were the first of a new generation of mmos, and therefore there were really no other games with richer content for players to choose. This gave developers precious time to expand their games and polish them eventually leading to the solid games that exist today.
Is Aion different? This is a question that every knowledgeable gamer has been asking him or her self. Aion has an advantage that AoC and War did not have. Aion was released in korea and china, and has been polished and expanded there before being introduced to the North American market. This is a huge advantage and eliminates the issues that plagued AoC and Warhammer, but does that mean Aion will succeed? In my opinion it does not. Aion has good content, Aion is polished, but Aion is not original. Warhammer and AoC both had a lot of original concepts, they both offered something new. Aion does not. While flying and PvPvE have been marketed as innovation, they simply are not. Flying only offers so much excitement, and creates a plethora of balancing issues that would not othwerwise exist. PvPvE is simply a term created to label a previously existing concept that exists in most other mmos. PvPvE is a PvP enabled zone... nothing more. The abyss is a zone filled with mobs in which you can PvP. It is not an amazing new concept dont let yourself be convinced otherwise.
All of those points do not make Aion a bad game, Aion is not a bad game. Aion is a niche game. Why? Because Aion is grindy. Why did Aion have such success in eastern markets? Because eastern gamers enjoy grinding far more than us westerners. This is a general statement please do not give me individual cases as I understand that there are americans who enjoy grinding more than some koreans. That being said, it is essentially fact that most NA players do not like to grind for long periods of time. In Aion you will HAVE TO grind for long periods of time. Level 30-50 involves extensive amounts of grinding. It is not nearly comparable to games like lineage 2, but it is still grindy, and that will still deter many many players. Aion will fail for this reason alone.
The future of mmos does not involve grinding. In the future grinding will be nonexistant. What the genre needs is a way to level that is entertaining, but does not sacrafice the sense of accomplishment that you get from leveling. There are many ways to accomplish this, one of which has already been introduced by warhammer.
The next mmo that will become as succesful or nearly as succesful as WoW will involve several ways for characters to level all of which are appealing to different types of players. Grinding doesn't need to be eliminated as many players enjoy it, there simply needs to be alternatives. On top of this the games need to be developed and launched with more care and patience. We all know from AoC and War that releasing a product too early leads to disaster. Developers need to take more time to both polish their game, and expand it's content. The combination of patience, polish, content, and diverse paths to leveling will lead to a great mmo, and a next generation mmo.
Oh gawd wall of text run.
lol, sorry i could not read past the first line.
but im pretty sure it was meaningless since AION was not hyped on these boards....
your opinions on mmo's is stale and not worth responding 2...
For better or worst the new model of very large MMOs are here and they are casual friendly, family friendly and insipidly cute.
And this is exactly the problem. Sure, it's great to cater to casual players (I have a full time job and social life myself), but to make things so "easy" and "cute" and "family friendly" and so damn gear dependent bothers the heck out of me.
I currently play Darkfall. Yes, launch was rocky. Yes, Aventurine (up until recently with their new community liaisons) had horrible communication. Yes, there were bugs and lots of things wrong at launch (what MMO doesn't have this?).
But besides all that the game has gotten, and is getting, so much better, and the fact of the matter is, nothing compares to it on the market right now. Now with them completely re-doing a lot of how skill gains work, the game HAS become casual friendly, yet, at the same time, keeping the insanely harsh environment and gameplay untouched.
I guess it just bothers me that so many people in this market now have completely ruined the genre and its original potential. This is why we keep getting these crappy themepark MMOs (WAR, AoC, now Aion, etc etc) that are basically clones of one another with different named skills and spells and different animations/environments. Luckily for people like myself, there are a few smaller companies with the balls to try something new (see Aventurine), and the fact of the matter is, there IS a large market of similar minded people like me who are just dying to find the perfect game that suits us.
Maybe Darkfall will turn into that (I have a lot of faith), maybe Mortal Online will come through and be successful (one can hope), and maybe just maybe another company with the balls to take a risk will come out with something even better. All I know is that I'm through with themepark MMOs, and even trying to play one anymore just aggravates me.
For better or worst the new model of very large MMOs are here and they are casual friendly, family friendly and insipidly cute.
And this is exactly the problem. Sure, it's great to cater to casual players (I have a full time job and social life myself), but to make things so "easy" and "cute" and "family friendly" and so damn gear dependent bothers the heck out of me.
I currently play Darkfall. Yes, launch was rocky. Yes, Aventurine (up until recently with their new community liaisons) had horrible communication. Yes, there were bugs and lots of things wrong at launch (what MMO doesn't have this?).
But besides all that the game has gotten, and is getting, so much better, and the fact of the matter is, nothing compares to it on the market right now. Now with them completely re-doing a lot of how skill gains work, the game HAS become casual friendly, yet, at the same time, keeping the insanely harsh environment and gameplay untouched.
I guess it just bothers me that so many people in this market now have completely ruined the genre and its original potential. This is why we keep getting these crappy themepark MMOs (WAR, AoC, now Aion, etc etc) that are basically clones of one another with different named skills and spells and different animations/environments. Luckily for people like myself, there are a few smaller companies with the balls to try something new (see Aventurine), and the fact of the matter is, there IS a large market of similar minded people like me who are just dying to find the perfect game that suits us.
Maybe Darkfall will turn into that (I have a lot of faith), maybe Mortal Online will come through and be successful (one can hope), and maybe just maybe another company with the balls to take a risk will come out with something even better. All I know is that I'm through with themepark MMOs, and even trying to play one anymore just aggravates me.
The game you're looking for is Earthrise. That is, assuming you don't mind a change from fantasy to sci-fi.
The game you're looking for is Earthrise. That is, assuming you don't mind a change from fantasy to sci-fi.
Thanks, I actually haven't checked too much into that (been busy playing Darkfall and keeping up on MO). Anyway, I loved EVE so I don't mind sci-fi. Only reason why I don't play EVE anymore is that I enjoy more individual combat (like Darkfall has) over ship combat.
I think the marketplace has shown that a lot of people prefer theme park games. They like having a variety of activities that they can do while logged on. Now fortunately for people who prefer sandbox, small developers are creating these games. Who knows maybe one will be wildly successful, but I don't see any of the current crop of them doing that. I don't think sandbox style PvP games will enjoy the million plus subscribers that the casual games are achieving. What they can hope for is Eve like success where there are enough new people joining to replace those who are tired of the game.
For some companies the future of mmos never looked brighter.
1. Arenanet will make a great Guild Wars 2, it will be a high quality mmo that will be f2p.
2. Bioware with The Old Republic will bring story in mmos to a new level not to mention it will be a quality game.
3. Square Enix will continue to make quality games as FFXIV will be a major improvement to FFXI.
I would include Blizzard in there but they have not announced their new mmo yet. Everyone else will be fighting for the scraps left from the table while Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic set new standars in the mmo industry.
There are varying levels of FAIL ...... Aion will succeed as a game ..... it will not be the next Michael Jordan... there was only one <WOW> but it is a good, well polished game... and may end up being a Kobe or a Lebron if NC soft keeps ironing out the wrinkles.
For some companies the future of mmos never looked brighter. 1. Arenanet will make a great Guild Wars 2, it will be a high quality mmo that will be f2p. 2. Bioware with The Old Republic will bring story in mmos to a new level not to mention it will be a quality game. 3. Square Enix will continue to make quality games as FFXIV will be a major improvement to FFXI. I would include Blizzard in there but they have not announced their new mmo yet. Everyone else will be fighting for the scraps left from the table while Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic set new standars in the mmo industry.
I'm not sure The Old Republic will set new standards. I know my lack of faith is disturbing, but after playing KOTOR and Mass Effect, I just don't see it being that revolutionary or trend setting, plus I have immense faith that Lucas Arts will interfere and drive the game to mediocrity. GW2 I have no clue, played GW for a bit and wasn't that enthralled with it.
"Because warhammer and AoC show promise in the future, and X player is willing to wait it out and see what content is added".
Base on that statement i think you haven't play AOC or WAR. I think AOC OR WAR dieing wasn't about the content, promise. It is the fact that Blizzard have brain wash most common mmo player with the easy gameplay in WOW.
This is like comparing a McDonald to a high quality burger restaurant. I mean why Mcdonald can be so big and the food suck but why ppl still eat them. Why some high quality burger restaurant not success because they didnt adapt to common ppl's (budget, location, fast food place).
IS there any fast food franchise can replace McDonald? NO..
Aion has been hyped just as much as any other mmo before it. Warhammer was hyped to be great, Age of Conan was hyped to be great, they all were, and they all did some things right, but many things wrong. Aion is in many ways no different.
Let me talk about Age of Conan and Warhammer first. What was the issue with these games that caused them to fail as they did? I think that most people unanimously agree that both games were not polished, lacked content, and were released too early. Both warhammer and Age of Conan did some things well. Most would agree that AoC had an innovative and entertaining combat system despite some flaws, and many would agree that Warhammer had fairly good PvP gameplay, and that the ability to level through PvP made the process of leveling much less of a bore.
Both games had potential from the start. What killed them both was the fact that both products were released before they were ready, and that both games were in an "infant" state so to speak. Realistically nobody expects a new game to have the same levels of content as an established game like world of warcraft, and age of conan and warhammer did not have content that could compare to WoW. I think we all understood that both games could compete with WoW if more promising content was added as the game aged, but players are presented with a choice. Does a player want to play WoW, or Warhammer/Aoc. We all have access to all mmos if we pay the price, so why would we choose warhammer and Aoc over established, polished, and content rich games? The only answer that makes sense is "Because warhammer and AoC show promise in the future, and X player is willing to wait it out and see what content is added".
This is what kills new games. WoW was no different when it was released. It lacked content, and it was bug filled, but it and EQ2 were the first of a new generation of mmos, and therefore there were really no other games with richer content for players to choose. This gave developers precious time to expand their games and polish them eventually leading to the solid games that exist today.
Is Aion different? This is a question that every knowledgeable gamer has been asking him or her self. Aion has an advantage that AoC and War did not have. Aion was released in korea and china, and has been polished and expanded there before being introduced to the North American market. This is a huge advantage and eliminates the issues that plagued AoC and Warhammer, but does that mean Aion will succeed? In my opinion it does not. Aion has good content, Aion is polished, but Aion is not original. Warhammer and AoC both had a lot of original concepts, they both offered something new. Aion does not. While flying and PvPvE have been marketed as innovation, they simply are not. Flying only offers so much excitement, and creates a plethora of balancing issues that would not othwerwise exist. PvPvE is simply a term created to label a previously existing concept that exists in most other mmos. PvPvE is a PvP enabled zone... nothing more. The abyss is a zone filled with mobs in which you can PvP. It is not an amazing new concept dont let yourself be convinced otherwise.
All of those points do not make Aion a bad game, Aion is not a bad game. Aion is a niche game. Why? Because Aion is grindy. Why did Aion have such success in eastern markets? Because eastern gamers enjoy grinding far more than us westerners. This is a general statement please do not give me individual cases as I understand that there are americans who enjoy grinding more than some koreans. That being said, it is essentially fact that most NA players do not like to grind for long periods of time. In Aion you will HAVE TO grind for long periods of time. Level 30-50 involves extensive amounts of grinding. It is not nearly comparable to games like lineage 2, but it is still grindy, and that will still deter many many players. Aion will fail for this reason alone.
The future of mmos does not involve grinding. In the future grinding will be nonexistant. What the genre needs is a way to level that is entertaining, but does not sacrafice the sense of accomplishment that you get from leveling. There are many ways to accomplish this, one of which has already been introduced by warhammer.
The next mmo that will become as succesful or nearly as succesful as WoW will involve several ways for characters to level all of which are appealing to different types of players. Grinding doesn't need to be eliminated as many players enjoy it, there simply needs to be alternatives. On top of this the games need to be developed and launched with more care and patience. We all know from AoC and War that releasing a product too early leads to disaster. Developers need to take more time to both polish their game, and expand it's content. The combination of patience, polish, content, and diverse paths to leveling will lead to a great mmo, and a next generation mmo.
Oh gawd wall of text run.
First and it almost goes without saying, I skimmed through your short story. As far as grinding and MMOs, I must ask, were you born yesterday or the day before ? If you dont like GRINDING -- dont play MMOs -- PERIOD. No MMO exists today and none prolly ever will, that does not, in some form or another have a grind. If you dont like the MMO grind, then MMOs ARE NOT FOR YOU. Go play xbox, play some FPS, john madden FB, go outside and do something that involves excercise -- but PLEASE STOP WASTING YOUR TIME with MMOs. you might as well tell people to stop watching basketball, because every game involves scoring points. GRINDING is a fundamental, essential, part of the gameplay experience. Hate it or love it, its there. If its not your speed, then stop playing them. And, FFS stop rambling on about the grind.
Aion has been hyped just as much as any other mmo before it. Warhammer was hyped to be great, Age of Conan was hyped to be great, they all were, and they all did some things right, but many things wrong. Aion is in many ways no different.
Let me talk about Age of Conan and Warhammer first. What was the issue with these games that caused them to fail as they did? I think that most people unanimously agree that both games were not polished, lacked content, and were released too early. Both warhammer and Age of Conan did some things well. Most would agree that AoC had an innovative and entertaining combat system despite some flaws, and many would agree that Warhammer had fairly good PvP gameplay, and that the ability to level through PvP made the process of leveling much less of a bore.
Both games had potential from the start. What killed them both was the fact that both products were released before they were ready, and that both games were in an "infant" state so to speak. Realistically nobody expects a new game to have the same levels of content as an established game like world of warcraft, and age of conan and warhammer did not have content that could compare to WoW. I think we all understood that both games could compete with WoW if more promising content was added as the game aged, but players are presented with a choice. Does a player want to play WoW, or Warhammer/Aoc. We all have access to all mmos if we pay the price, so why would we choose warhammer and Aoc over established, polished, and content rich games? The only answer that makes sense is "Because warhammer and AoC show promise in the future, and X player is willing to wait it out and see what content is added".
This is what kills new games. WoW was no different when it was released. It lacked content, and it was bug filled, but it and EQ2 were the first of a new generation of mmos, and therefore there were really no other games with richer content for players to choose. This gave developers precious time to expand their games and polish them eventually leading to the solid games that exist today.
Is Aion different? This is a question that every knowledgeable gamer has been asking him or her self. Aion has an advantage that AoC and War did not have. Aion was released in korea and china, and has been polished and expanded there before being introduced to the North American market. This is a huge advantage and eliminates the issues that plagued AoC and Warhammer, but does that mean Aion will succeed? In my opinion it does not. Aion has good content, Aion is polished, but Aion is not original. Warhammer and AoC both had a lot of original concepts, they both offered something new. Aion does not. While flying and PvPvE have been marketed as innovation, they simply are not. Flying only offers so much excitement, and creates a plethora of balancing issues that would not othwerwise exist. PvPvE is simply a term created to label a previously existing concept that exists in most other mmos. PvPvE is a PvP enabled zone... nothing more. The abyss is a zone filled with mobs in which you can PvP. It is not an amazing new concept dont let yourself be convinced otherwise.
All of those points do not make Aion a bad game, Aion is not a bad game. Aion is a niche game. Why? Because Aion is grindy. Why did Aion have such success in eastern markets? Because eastern gamers enjoy grinding far more than us westerners. This is a general statement please do not give me individual cases as I understand that there are americans who enjoy grinding more than some koreans. That being said, it is essentially fact that most NA players do not like to grind for long periods of time. In Aion you will HAVE TO grind for long periods of time. Level 30-50 involves extensive amounts of grinding. It is not nearly comparable to games like lineage 2, but it is still grindy, and that will still deter many many players. Aion will fail for this reason alone.
The future of mmos does not involve grinding. In the future grinding will be nonexistant. What the genre needs is a way to level that is entertaining, but does not sacrafice the sense of accomplishment that you get from leveling. There are many ways to accomplish this, one of which has already been introduced by warhammer.
The next mmo that will become as succesful or nearly as succesful as WoW will involve several ways for characters to level all of which are appealing to different types of players. Grinding doesn't need to be eliminated as many players enjoy it, there simply needs to be alternatives. On top of this the games need to be developed and launched with more care and patience. We all know from AoC and War that releasing a product too early leads to disaster. Developers need to take more time to both polish their game, and expand it's content. The combination of patience, polish, content, and diverse paths to leveling will lead to a great mmo, and a next generation mmo.
Oh gawd wall of text run.
Haha God if this is what you people think grinding is then you should have been around for EQ1!!
It will fail because of grinding?
Let me let you in on a little secret, some of us *GASP* really enjoy "grinding".
It weeds people out, if you're and instant gratification person who wants everything without the work, thats fine. Thats your play style and thats what games like WoW are for. But some people feel acomplished and secure when they work for what they get, and thats where games like AION come in. And games like WAR did do decently in the begining, but honestly everyone in game in AION is really happy and having a lot of fun. I absolutely HATE HATE soloing, but I haven't even tried to group yet because I'm having so much fun enjoying the beautiful world and defining my character. There are similar things about every MMO nowadays, but honestly I believe AION stands out. And as I've said before, I don't care how it compares to WoW or any other game out there, its doing well, people like it, if you don't, tough luck.
Having played original EQ, I laugh at the ignorance of people who whine about a grind. Guess MMOs should include a maxxed out, fully geared charcter to play in the box. The grind is what makes an MMO what it is. In orignal EQ when I saw a lvl 50 it meant something. In wow, when you see a lvl 60 your like, cool, I will be there next week.
"Because warhammer and AoC show promise in the future, and X player is willing to wait it out and see what content is added".
Base on that statement i think you haven't play AOC or WAR. I think AOC OR WAR dieing wasn't about the content, promise. It is the fact that Blizzard have brain wash most common mmo player with the easy gameplay in WOW.
This is like comparing a McDonald to a high quality burger restaurant. I mean why Mcdonald can be so big and the food suck but why ppl still eat them. Why some high quality burger restaurant not success because they didnt adapt to common ppl's (budget, location, fast food place).
IS there any fast food franchise can replace McDonald? NO..
No, Blizzard hasn't brainwashed anybody. It entertainment, the only real measure is personal satisfaction. If enough people feel this then the company will have a financial success, and let's be clear that is the only measure that a company has to determine it's success.
Please stop using bad analogies for games; I get that you have some distaste for WoW, as simple statement would have done the job better.
Hmm maybe I'm missing something but isn't Aion eating up a nice percentage of the subscription pie charts out there on MMO Data and growing all the time? Don't see how that is a sign of failure. We'll give it a few months but my guess is that Aion is going to be a huge success even if it doesn't exceed the market share of WoW.
I totally agree with the topic creator. In a few months Aion will have half or less than its current sub base. I dont want it to fail, but it will because people try to compare it with WoW. I see so many posts bashing the TC, calling him idiot or stupid... funny thing is half of you morons I can find older posts by you in the Warhammer and Age of Conan boards, claiming the same thing "Oh Yeah Warhammer wont fail its the greatest" Are you kidding me? Im sure other posts are gonna quote me and bash me and say im a fanboi or some crap like that, when the truth is... I want another great MMO like alot of you... the problem is there just arent any out there right now. .. maybe Star Wars but we'll see. So guess what? Man Up. People are so hypocritical and gullible, but hey thats Americans for you. Look at the monkey everyone voted in in the White House now.
I am sure we wont be seeing you (and your 4 posts) in a few months when time proves you wrong.
I have talked to the lead developer and can assure you that more quests are on the way. The game is still building and will get better with time. The last patch (ver 1.5 ) added a lot of new quests at higher levels and this will continue in the future. The game is already success (even without NA/EU) .
Comments
I really gotta say none of these posts are ever different, couple reasons why
1. To grindy: Um every mmo has a grind get over it I can also blame WoW for this one people are so used to having and easy girnd and reaching max level and feeling like they are gods gift to mmo.
2. Low replay value with alts: IMO this is the way it should be. Focus on 1 character for chist sake, again blame WoW, why ? Well making an alt is so easy in that game its sicking. I'm guilty of it I admit it, but it also really made me feel distant from any of my characters like it didnt matter if I was good or if I liked the class hell switch over to another class. What I think it is people are having to actually learn their class and it scares them.
3. To asian feels like a F2P: I've played f2p games this does not feel like one. I just feel like the majority of the people saying this have xenophobia.
I can keep going on but its butting into my game time with Aion.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
Not exactly, Aion has more quests, better PvP, PvE and more variety of weapons and armor.
Not exactly, Aion has more quests, better PvP, PvE and more variety of weapons and armor.
That's true. It does have all those things, but the core systems of the game are nearly exactly the same. The controls, the commands, the menus, the character advancement, obviously the art, the player shops... could go on.
Really, they coulda probably gotten away with calling it Lineage 3 and no one would have blinked.
Don't get me wrong though. I loved L2. Still do, but Aion is the new game in town and I'm having fun with it.
I'm not sure why the OP titled his post "Why Aion will fail" because no where in his post does he even make the argument that Aion is going to fail. I'm assuming he just wanted an inflammatory title to get people to click his post.
Other than a really stupid title his post is mainly spot on. OP, if you are going to spend all of that time writing out what I thought was a great post, you should have the title match what you are writing. Shame on you for the troll subject line. It pretty much ruins any valid points you make in your post.
There are, as we are finding out, or you will be finding out shortly if you are playing the game, not enough guests after level 30. That is a FACT, not an opinion. The OP is merely pointing out the obvious. He even says in the body of his post that Aion will become a niche game. Being a niche game is not the same as being a failure. Not by a long shot. Being a successful niche game is exactly what any game developer should be shooting for. There may never be another game with the impact WoW had. Times have changed.
I found the post quite interesting and well thought out. It's too bad it was all ruined by a stupid, misleading subject line. It's obvious most of the people replying here are replying to your subject and not your post and I really can't blame them. Next time, try to be a little more honest with your subject and you won't start off with people assuming you are a troll.
Never apologise, or act like you are apologising, for writing more then 2 sentences on the internet.
I'm sick of letting the attention deficit retards setting the agenda and making the people able to write at higher then idiot level feel bad about it.
But also, saying that, I disagree with your OP on almost every point.
From the OP
"The next mmo that will become as succesful or nearly as succesful as WoW will involve several ways for characters to level all of which are appealing to different types of players. Grinding doesn't need to be eliminated as many players enjoy it, there simply needs to be alternatives. On top of this the games need to be developed and launched with more care and patience. We all know from AoC and War that releasing a product too early leads to disaster. Developers need to take more time to both polish their game, and expand it's content. The combination of patience, polish, content, and diverse paths to leveling will lead to a great mmo, and a next generation mmo."
This I can sorta agree with most of your post I can not. Personaly I dont see Aion failing, I for one think the days of all MMOers playing esentaly 1 game have long since been dead and gone. I think the future will contain games like you are talkign about I tend to call tehm general games and will appeal to the mass and logicaly have a large sub base but I think nich or targeted games like EvE will become more popular. Why? Well if you could play a game that appealed to you (specificly) and hand a solid population of players that where like mineded wouldn't you rather play it than the one that was generaly fun and generaly appelead to you where the population did not nessisarly mesh with you well. Just like we have 18 diffrent types of RPG in the console market I think we will have 18 diffrent types of MMOs in fact we alredy do. I do not think games like WoW which are very much so a generalist game are going to be the wave and that is what you seem to be suggesting. I am sure we will always have the generalist game and there are thouse that will prefer the diversity you see there but I think its clear from looking at gamers as a whole not just MMO gamers that we tend to like games that are geared toward our spcific wants and not overly generalized, dont try to make the whole player base happy try to make X sub group of the player base wildly fanatical.
You might argue that you shoudl try to make the whole player base wildly fanatical isn't that what WoW did? . . . no it did not, WoW has somthing for everyone and in a time where there was basicly nothing for any one. DAoC was runnign its self into the dirt with changes, AC was dead and gone by then and EQ was older than dirt while EQ2 managed to piss off many EQ fans. SWG well you all know that story. My poiint is WoW was not the god send to every one I'm sure there are some that it was the perfect game and always will be but the reason it held so many is becuase it was just genrealy a good game. A major point in all this is and we see it in the WoW comunity many of the gamer types are contradictive the hurt each others play experance, some like reward only after long hard work (grind fest) some are more ADD if you will. Thouse 2 can not co-exsist in the same game if you get a better reward for grinding then the ADD player will be pissed and rightfuly so the game is not lent toward him if you get the same or better for the ADD play the grinder will eb pissed and rightfuly so the game is not lent for him. There are of course other game styles but these 2 show the contradiciton nicely generalized games like WoW forexample that manage to appeal to just about every one can not fully satasfy most gamers and so I see more games like EVE (not clones) but rather games that say to hell with what the mass wants I am gona make the perfect game for this target market.
While the actual post itself is fairly reasonable(though I don't really agree with it), why is it that the title of the post is so silly?
Using the word "fail" is pretty much an invitation for a flamathon.
I seriously doubt your premise. As others have said, the key is not "new", the key is everlasting "fun". New is only "new" for so long. If it's not as fun as the older concept, or lacks "fun-gevity", then the MMO will be less successful.
AoC is hindered in the same way Tabula Rasa was; the only thing worth doing is combat, and that's just not adequate for a MMO. While the combat was fun for a good long while(in my case, about 3 months), I gradually lost interest and moved on.
WAR struggles with lack of individuality and not much feeling like your character is advancing. This may have changed since I played last; it was quite a while ago.
Even in these failings, they're still doing OK on subs.
Aion isn't really for me; at least not as of a month ago. Not big on the whole pikachu cute-monster thing. But it's a pretty all-around solid game. I doubt it will be WoW-successful, but I think it will bring in plenty of money here in the west.
People will never learn man, and like you said, some people DO like the grind. I can't stand it, and it's why I refuse to play any of these shitty games coming out (like Aion) that don't want to push the boundaries of the genre or try something new.
I applaud any developer or company (like Aventurine with Darkfall) who takes the risk to try something new. All these cookie-cutter crap themepark MMOs offer nothing new except better graphics and every once in a while a unique feature.
But I still have faith that those of us who are sick and tired of the same crap will be rewarded sometime soon. Darkfall showed that there is a huge amount of people interested in that sort of hardcore gamestyle, Mortal Online may offer something similar, and who knows what we may be treated with in the future.
Judging failure is dependent on your definition of success. In the world of gaming MMOs are a niche, a quite limited niche. WoW rules them all, but that's not the future. The future is Free Realms, this is where there will be massive growth. I'm pretty confident stating that all future MMOs based on the previous generation MMOs (UO, EQ, AC etc) will forever be a small niche in the larger scheme of MMOs. For better or worst the new model of very large MMOs are here and they are casual friendly, family friendly and insipidly cute.
lol, sorry i could not read past the first line.
but im pretty sure it was meaningless since AION was not hyped on these boards....
your opinions on mmo's is stale and not worth responding 2...
And this is exactly the problem. Sure, it's great to cater to casual players (I have a full time job and social life myself), but to make things so "easy" and "cute" and "family friendly" and so damn gear dependent bothers the heck out of me.
I currently play Darkfall. Yes, launch was rocky. Yes, Aventurine (up until recently with their new community liaisons) had horrible communication. Yes, there were bugs and lots of things wrong at launch (what MMO doesn't have this?).
But besides all that the game has gotten, and is getting, so much better, and the fact of the matter is, nothing compares to it on the market right now. Now with them completely re-doing a lot of how skill gains work, the game HAS become casual friendly, yet, at the same time, keeping the insanely harsh environment and gameplay untouched.
I guess it just bothers me that so many people in this market now have completely ruined the genre and its original potential. This is why we keep getting these crappy themepark MMOs (WAR, AoC, now Aion, etc etc) that are basically clones of one another with different named skills and spells and different animations/environments. Luckily for people like myself, there are a few smaller companies with the balls to try something new (see Aventurine), and the fact of the matter is, there IS a large market of similar minded people like me who are just dying to find the perfect game that suits us.
Maybe Darkfall will turn into that (I have a lot of faith), maybe Mortal Online will come through and be successful (one can hope), and maybe just maybe another company with the balls to take a risk will come out with something even better. All I know is that I'm through with themepark MMOs, and even trying to play one anymore just aggravates me.
And this is exactly the problem. Sure, it's great to cater to casual players (I have a full time job and social life myself), but to make things so "easy" and "cute" and "family friendly" and so damn gear dependent bothers the heck out of me.
I currently play Darkfall. Yes, launch was rocky. Yes, Aventurine (up until recently with their new community liaisons) had horrible communication. Yes, there were bugs and lots of things wrong at launch (what MMO doesn't have this?).
But besides all that the game has gotten, and is getting, so much better, and the fact of the matter is, nothing compares to it on the market right now. Now with them completely re-doing a lot of how skill gains work, the game HAS become casual friendly, yet, at the same time, keeping the insanely harsh environment and gameplay untouched.
I guess it just bothers me that so many people in this market now have completely ruined the genre and its original potential. This is why we keep getting these crappy themepark MMOs (WAR, AoC, now Aion, etc etc) that are basically clones of one another with different named skills and spells and different animations/environments. Luckily for people like myself, there are a few smaller companies with the balls to try something new (see Aventurine), and the fact of the matter is, there IS a large market of similar minded people like me who are just dying to find the perfect game that suits us.
Maybe Darkfall will turn into that (I have a lot of faith), maybe Mortal Online will come through and be successful (one can hope), and maybe just maybe another company with the balls to take a risk will come out with something even better. All I know is that I'm through with themepark MMOs, and even trying to play one anymore just aggravates me.
The game you're looking for is Earthrise. That is, assuming you don't mind a change from fantasy to sci-fi.
The game you're looking for is Earthrise. That is, assuming you don't mind a change from fantasy to sci-fi.
Thanks, I actually haven't checked too much into that (been busy playing Darkfall and keeping up on MO). Anyway, I loved EVE so I don't mind sci-fi. Only reason why I don't play EVE anymore is that I enjoy more individual combat (like Darkfall has) over ship combat.
I think the marketplace has shown that a lot of people prefer theme park games. They like having a variety of activities that they can do while logged on. Now fortunately for people who prefer sandbox, small developers are creating these games. Who knows maybe one will be wildly successful, but I don't see any of the current crop of them doing that. I don't think sandbox style PvP games will enjoy the million plus subscribers that the casual games are achieving. What they can hope for is Eve like success where there are enough new people joining to replace those who are tired of the game.
For some companies the future of mmos never looked brighter.
1. Arenanet will make a great Guild Wars 2, it will be a high quality mmo that will be f2p.
2. Bioware with The Old Republic will bring story in mmos to a new level not to mention it will be a quality game.
3. Square Enix will continue to make quality games as FFXIV will be a major improvement to FFXI.
I would include Blizzard in there but they have not announced their new mmo yet. Everyone else will be fighting for the scraps left from the table while Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic set new standars in the mmo industry.
There are varying levels of FAIL ...... Aion will succeed as a game ..... it will not be the next Michael Jordan... there was only one <WOW> but it is a good, well polished game... and may end up being a Kobe or a Lebron if NC soft keeps ironing out the wrinkles.
BoB
I'm not sure The Old Republic will set new standards. I know my lack of faith is disturbing, but after playing KOTOR and Mass Effect, I just don't see it being that revolutionary or trend setting, plus I have immense faith that Lucas Arts will interfere and drive the game to mediocrity. GW2 I have no clue, played GW for a bit and wasn't that enthralled with it.
Base on that statement i think you haven't play AOC or WAR. I think AOC OR WAR dieing wasn't about the content, promise. It is the fact that Blizzard have brain wash most common mmo player with the easy gameplay in WOW.
This is like comparing a McDonald to a high quality burger restaurant. I mean why Mcdonald can be so big and the food suck but why ppl still eat them. Why some high quality burger restaurant not success because they didnt adapt to common ppl's (budget, location, fast food place).
IS there any fast food franchise can replace McDonald? NO..
First and it almost goes without saying, I skimmed through your short story. As far as grinding and MMOs, I must ask, were you born yesterday or the day before ? If you dont like GRINDING -- dont play MMOs -- PERIOD. No MMO exists today and none prolly ever will, that does not, in some form or another have a grind. If you dont like the MMO grind, then MMOs ARE NOT FOR YOU. Go play xbox, play some FPS, john madden FB, go outside and do something that involves excercise -- but PLEASE STOP WASTING YOUR TIME with MMOs. you might as well tell people to stop watching basketball, because every game involves scoring points. GRINDING is a fundamental, essential, part of the gameplay experience. Hate it or love it, its there. If its not your speed, then stop playing them. And, FFS stop rambling on about the grind.
Haha God if this is what you people think grinding is then you should have been around for EQ1!!
It will fail because of grinding?
Let me let you in on a little secret, some of us *GASP* really enjoy "grinding".
It weeds people out, if you're and instant gratification person who wants everything without the work, thats fine. Thats your play style and thats what games like WoW are for. But some people feel acomplished and secure when they work for what they get, and thats where games like AION come in. And games like WAR did do decently in the begining, but honestly everyone in game in AION is really happy and having a lot of fun. I absolutely HATE HATE soloing, but I haven't even tried to group yet because I'm having so much fun enjoying the beautiful world and defining my character. There are similar things about every MMO nowadays, but honestly I believe AION stands out. And as I've said before, I don't care how it compares to WoW or any other game out there, its doing well, people like it, if you don't, tough luck.
Having played original EQ, I laugh at the ignorance of people who whine about a grind. Guess MMOs should include a maxxed out, fully geared charcter to play in the box. The grind is what makes an MMO what it is. In orignal EQ when I saw a lvl 50 it meant something. In wow, when you see a lvl 60 your like, cool, I will be there next week.
Base on that statement i think you haven't play AOC or WAR. I think AOC OR WAR dieing wasn't about the content, promise. It is the fact that Blizzard have brain wash most common mmo player with the easy gameplay in WOW.
This is like comparing a McDonald to a high quality burger restaurant. I mean why Mcdonald can be so big and the food suck but why ppl still eat them. Why some high quality burger restaurant not success because they didnt adapt to common ppl's (budget, location, fast food place).
IS there any fast food franchise can replace McDonald? NO..
No, Blizzard hasn't brainwashed anybody. It entertainment, the only real measure is personal satisfaction. If enough people feel this then the company will have a financial success, and let's be clear that is the only measure that a company has to determine it's success.
Please stop using bad analogies for games; I get that you have some distaste for WoW, as simple statement would have done the job better.
Hmm maybe I'm missing something but isn't Aion eating up a nice percentage of the subscription pie charts out there on MMO Data and growing all the time? Don't see how that is a sign of failure. We'll give it a few months but my guess is that Aion is going to be a huge success even if it doesn't exceed the market share of WoW.
I am sure we wont be seeing you (and your 4 posts) in a few months when time proves you wrong.
I have talked to the lead developer and can assure you that more quests are on the way. The game is still building and will get better with time. The last patch (ver 1.5 ) added a lot of new quests at higher levels and this will continue in the future. The game is already success (even without NA/EU) .
I don't get the point of the OP. Is there a question here or just a rambling statement?