I wouldn't call that a review, more like a personal impression. The 9/10 score is way too high for it to be considered a serious review, in my opinion at least. Well, thats all it is isnt it? Opinions. I have stated from the start that all this is a personal view based on subjective taste, but then I havent read a 'serious' review out there yet that hasnt been. I guess, in the end, your opinion is no more valid then mine, or any other random reviewer out there. We are all just saying how we see things, and it's up to other whether they listen or not. As I've said before, I like Aion, it's a solid game. But I can also see through the honeymoon period though and it's definitely not a 9/10. In your opinion. In mine, at L33, it is.
Opinions are cool but they fail when they are one sided and presented with fanaticism. In my opinion your review was from a aion fan angle and to me is as negative as the other side that hates the game.
well, if liking and enjoying the game means I am a fan and therefore irrelevant to you, thats fine. I don't mind.
I wonder though, do you simply disregard any mainly positive opinion of everything on the same basis? Do people have to find a ton of faults with something, even when they don't see them, in order to satisfy you?
Aion isnt perfect, I have said that, but I am having a great time in it and I maintain that it is the best MMORPG launched since vanilla WoW.
I wouldn't call that a review, more like a personal impression. The 9/10 score is way too high for it to be considered a serious review, in my opinion at least. Well, thats all it is isnt it? Opinions. I have stated from the start that all this is a personal view based on subjective taste, but then I havent read a 'serious' review out there yet that hasnt been. I guess, in the end, your opinion is no more valid then mine, or any other random reviewer out there. We are all just saying how we see things, and it's up to others whether they listen or not. As I've said before, I like Aion, it's a solid game. But I can also see through the honeymoon period though and it's definitely not a 9/10. In your opinion. In mine, at L33, it is.
And the first level 50 said that he'll never level another character in Aion again. Being that he's level 50, his opinion weighs more than yours right?
I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood me... I wasnt saying that my level made my opinion any more valid then anyone elses, I was just clarifying where I was in the game.
My view is that all opinions are subjective and personal.. I keep saying this, so I am not sure where the confusion is. All I can do is put them out there, it's up to you whether you listen to them or disregard them.
One L50 might not want to level another character ever, another will do... It dosent mean anything. Anyhow, being the first L50 means he prolly burnt through the content or soloed the majority of the time by definition, and also means that he probably dosent represent the average user experience of the game. Some people only play new MMORPGs to be the frst to joylessly beat them and then move on, thats just some people.
I am not sure why you seem to be trying to start a flame war with me.
I'm not starting a flame war with you. As a said before, I share your opinion. I think Aion is a good game. I do disagree with your review and score based on the fact that I have experienced the game and all things related like the community, the spam and the grind.
I know that it's your opinion but I do not see how you can give this game a 9/10, when the game has so many glaring problems.
Although I agree this game definitely is a good game, a 9/10 is an exaggeration in my opinion. I personally would give this game a 7.75, I believe lack of questing content (more of a lack of PvE content as a whole), linearity of the game itself, gold spammers, immature community all drag it down. Fortunately these issues are easily fixed, all it takes is money, which I believe NCsoft definitely has. They just need to get off their butts and get cracking on these issues before they let this game fall to pieces. This game obviously has the potential to be a gem of the MMO market, they just need to work out these kinks. Until they do this, I don't believe this game's player base will last but maybe a year, and that is stretching it. I just hope they fix these major issues before I lose interest as well.
Taking out the negative aspects of the community, including spammers and bots, I would rate it 8/10 and pretty much agree with your review.
Trolls and bots are allowed to congest the LFG channel at will on my server, Marchutan. Yes, I know it's easy to block the bots and trolls, but the point is we shouldn't have to.
I predict most of the trolls will be gone by the 22nd, and as for the bots, if NCsoft doesn't in some meaningful way take direct action I am walking away from Aion as well. I love the game, but anti-bot technology is too easy and affordable to come by these days for it to be as bad as it is in Aion.
Also, given the fact that when I report bots, nothing ever seems to happen to them, I'm inclined to believe that NCS wants the revenue from the bot subs more than the actual people who really play the game.
I believe lack of questing content (more of a lack of PvE content as a whole), All I can personally say is that I am L33 at this time and I have never been without quests. I know some say they have, but I havent. I have actually had to stop twice and delete ones that I have outlevelled because my journal is full. And no I am not talking about repeatables, I usually don't do repeatbles more then once linearity of the game itself, As I have seen it, the game game REALLY opens up from L25 onwards and becomes a lot less linear, with 2 big and environmentally varied PvE quest zones (3 when you get to Heiron) with their own dungeons the like, rifting (essentially opening up all enemy lands), and the wonderful playground that is the abyss (with it's layers and fort dungeons) to choose from. But yes, up to that point it is very linear. Enjoyable, but linear. gold spammers, Yes, a definite issue that needs nailing. immature community This game imo is no worse then AoC was at launch community-wise. It will setttle down once the 'shiny new game' kids move on. The problem is that the idiots will use global channels and so they seem much more common then they really are because they are visible. The vast vast majority of players I have met have been great. all drag it down. Fortunately these issues are easily fixed, all it takes is money, which I believe NCsoft definitely has.
The game needs to expand considerably if it wants long-term subscribers. No doubt that will come, (Lineage 2 had massive updates) but there simply isn't enough game in there at the moment. More PvP objectives, sure - but definately expand the pve playgrounds a bit.
The game needs to expand considerably if it wants long-term subscribers. No doubt that will come, (Lineage 2 had massive updates) but there simply isn't enough game in there at the moment. More PvP objectives, sure - but definately expand the pve playgrounds a bit.
Like I say, there is more then enough content to carry me through while levelling 1-2 characters, I have had to delete quests that i have outl leveled and I have decided to not even bother getting my Fire Temple key, but yeah they will to drop some content updates after that for me.
After what 1.5 delivered though I have faith in NCS in delivering this. If they dont, well I would have had my moneys worth by then I think and so will just find something else till they do
Thanks for the positive response guyss, appreciate it
Nah, I play on Ariel.
Level 31 now and still having a blast
The biggest problems I have seen so far with this game is: NcSoft's lack of customer service (bots, spammers, actually using their own forums for communication with customers), the linear aspect of the game in the earlier levels, & still unsure how these servers and the engine is going to handle large scale battles.
Those are three issues I think NCSoft needs to focus on more than anything besides fixing some bugs that still exist of course and adding more content is never a bad thing assuming they don't forego fixing/tweaking pre-existing content in the process.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
When I order beef with two sides, I sure don't expect the five people next to me to yell as loud as they can non stop, to buy their two sides instead, and than when I get up to move, 10 more people do the exact same thing. And than 20 more if I go some where else to sit.
It's silly to ignore how bad gold sellers/bots are in a review at this time. If they fix the problem (LOL), you could edit the review.
Also, where is the fluff for the game? What do you do outside of grind to 50, PvP, or PvE in the PvP area? Craft...and...what? Many of the top games out have things to do besides just grind your character to and past the end level.
I just don't understand how people can lie to themselves so much to post something like this <.<.
When I order beef with two sides, I sure don't expect the five people next to me to yell as loud as they can non stop, to buy their two sides instead, and than when I get up to move, 10 more people do the exact same thing. And than 20 more if I go some where else to sit. It's silly to ignore how bad gold sellers/bots are in a review at this time. If they fix the problem (LOL), you could edit the review.
He mentioned that in his review and said it needed fixing asap so not sure what you're going on about and it's his opinion of how he feels about the game. Just because you feel differently doesn't mean he's "lying to himself".
Some of you need a serious reality check on this notion that just because you feel a certain way about things everyone else should as well.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
When I order beef with two sides, I sure don't expect the five people next to me to yell as loud as they can non stop, to buy their two sides instead, and than when I get up to move, 10 more people do the exact same thing. And than 20 more if I go some where else to sit. It's silly to ignore how bad gold sellers/bots are in a review at this time. If they fix the problem (LOL), you could edit the review. Like Wicked said, I didnt ignore it. Maybe it's silly to read a review and ensuing thread, where I have addressed the gold selling issue repeatedly and agreed it needs fixinf asap, and ignore the bits that don't suit the point you obviously want to make. Also, where is the fluff for the game? What do you do outside of grind to 50, PvP, or PvE in the PvP area? Craft...and...what? Many of the top games out have things to do besides just grind your character to and past the end level. I don't understand this... what kind of 'fluff' are you talking about? What else would you like to see outside of fun PvE both in open world and instanced areas and dungeons, meaningful PvP through rifts for fun and spy quests and the Abyss for forts and artifacts, and worthwhile crafting? What else do other mmorpgs offer?
I just don't understand how people can lie to themselves so much to post something like this <.<. How is me talking about and giving a subjective opinion about a game I enjoy 'lieing to myself'? I'm sorry to say you are sounding pretty irrational in your hate by the end of this post.
Graphics are good for an MMO, sound is decent, and the games gui is very polished. It performs very well, isn't clunky, and for the most part is pretty stable(except the Mass PvP crashes).
The PvE is BORING, tank & Spank on pretty much every boss...including the fort bosses. The No loot option on loot tables is stupid. The instances are very uninspired and boring. The zones are standard MMO zones with nothing that really wows me. The mobs are stupidly easy to kill and after grinding on them its like you're being punished.
Quests are lacking and don't even try to cover up the grind or have a decent story. Their XP is by and large awful and after 30 you get less and less of them until you are left with GRIND.
Zones are small- After you actually break the zones after 20 down into their level ranges you see just how small they truly are. Morheim covers 20-40 and beluslan 30-50.
Game is linear- "But there are more than 1 zone!" and you will have to do all of those zones to get a small percentage of your level before you're left grinding in your zone of choice. IE: If you're level 30 you will be grinding either right outside Alsig or right outside Beluslan. It isn't like you can choose to take the path of either Alsig or Beluslan, you pretty much have to do both zones so it is one path.
Abyss- most boring map in the game. It pretty much all looks the same AND it takes the previous level range cut up and makes them even smaller and shared between both sides.
PvP- Absolutely meaningless so calling it meaningful is false. If the enemy takes all of the lower abyss it doesn't really hinder you at all. Well your taxes might go up or down by 2%(OMG!). You also get dungeons and recipes you can do without. Usually it comes down to gank squads, runners, and zergs. If you don't want to die you can pretty much escape most deaths in PvP. PVP also yields little XP.
PvP combat- Overall pretty good. Some abilities/CC need looked at as well as how fast some classes can kill but overall the fights last a long time so it isn't a one shot fest, unless of course the enemy doesn't just fly away >_<.
Siege- Rather boring zerg warfare. Nothing really dynamic but the artifacts can play a big roll so that's sort of a plus. This will culminate in another version of WAR's keep swapping since there is no incentive to really keep the fort when you can just take it back for gold medals.
Grinding- Yep its a grinder. Anyone who says they made it to 35+ on quests alone either grinded while doing the quests or was extremely unlucky with drops. It honestly shows how lazy the devs were.
Crafting- Grind + Money sink. Wish the work orders actually gave some money/XP. While some items you can make are useful they are generally VERY expensive to make compared to some gear you can get off the AH with a few less stats. No experimenting or changing the outcome based on ingredients so it is average. XP from each crafted item is nice but in the long run it isn't even a drop in the bucket.
Gathering- Grind...enough said. Find 2-3 nodes and bounce between them for hours. Same for the XP here, woot 1k per gatherable! Only 19,999,000 to go!
Honestly the game is average. The PvE compared to WoW is lacking. The PvP compared to WAR is all to similar. The only thing the game really has going for it are the graphics and the performance and those are cast into obscurity with the constantly overbearing feeling of GRIND that you experience in almost every aspect of the game. I'd actually put the game at 5/10 if I didn't know that grinding was a personal hatred. So, overall its AVERAGE, 7/10.
Even with the botting and the rampant gold spamming, you give the game a 9/10? For those reasons alone, the game should not go higher than a 7. Those are 2 HUGE reasons why people would leave a game.
Hardly. It's annoying yeah, but it takes all of 5 seconds at the beginning of a session to block new spammers.
@OP: How many hours do you spend playing MMORPGs (so right now, Aion) weekly? Aside from the well written review you sound like the core-joe who doesn't care about a tiny 4 hour group-grind session for d'oeuvre. I won't judge you for it but it will set things into perspective for the 'casual' gamer (like 90 mins/day; I just learned that the avg. WoW player plays for an average 4 hours per day, which was quite a shock and WILL influence my perception of the Average Joe's 'timesink')
I wouldn't call that a review, more like a personal impression. The 9/10 score is way too high for it to be considered a serious review, in my opinion at least. I mean, let's be serious folks, speaking as someone who likes Aion, it's not a perfect game in the least and has it's share of problems. Problems like the bots, the grind, the spam, the personal shops and the horrible community. Yes, Aion's community, especially in the LFG channel is a cesspool of Barrens chat and 4chan rejects. With legions like "White Power" and "I DPed your mom," the later was actually being advertised as a "serious and mature guild" by it's founder, it's hard to take this game and community seriously. I'm not even going to get into the constant verbal abuse and the trolls. Needless to say they are plenty. Right now, my highest character is level 14. It's so low because I had to reroll a few times until I found a relatively less moronic server. I would create a character on a server and as I would play, I would read the chat and note player names. And I would shudder at the thought that I would actually have to interact with these people. It happened over and over until I found a relatively decent server. Even in WoW, a game whose community has a bad rep, I have never experienced what I've experienced in Aion. Moderation is virtually nonexistent in Aion. Not only do the mods not do anything about the horrible behavior of the community, they don't do anything about the gold spammers. Every new character I make gets spammed by the same usernames. This is also the only game I have played where you actually have to spend a few minutes blocking all of the spammers. As I've said before, I like Aion, it's a solid game. But I can also see through the honeymoon period though and it's definitely not a 9/10. If NCSoft ever fixes the problems, it may deserve a 7 or an 8. Right now I'm enjoying the game but I don't see myself playing it past the free month. The community is just horrible.
How long have you been playing MMOs? You haven't learned to avoid overly-active fat kids making noise in public chat channels.
All games outside of obscurity have this element. Go back to obscure titles or try to be less offended by it.
------ Played - UO, FFXI, WAR, WoW, EVE Currently - Bored.
Comments
Opinions are cool but they fail when they are one sided and presented with fanaticism. In my opinion your review was from a aion fan angle and to me is as negative as the other side that hates the game.
well, if liking and enjoying the game means I am a fan and therefore irrelevant to you, thats fine. I don't mind.
I wonder though, do you simply disregard any mainly positive opinion of everything on the same basis? Do people have to find a ton of faults with something, even when they don't see them, in order to satisfy you?
Aion isnt perfect, I have said that, but I am having a great time in it and I maintain that it is the best MMORPG launched since vanilla WoW.
And the first level 50 said that he'll never level another character in Aion again. Being that he's level 50, his opinion weighs more than yours right?
I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood me... I wasnt saying that my level made my opinion any more valid then anyone elses, I was just clarifying where I was in the game.
My view is that all opinions are subjective and personal.. I keep saying this, so I am not sure where the confusion is. All I can do is put them out there, it's up to you whether you listen to them or disregard them.
One L50 might not want to level another character ever, another will do... It dosent mean anything. Anyhow, being the first L50 means he prolly burnt through the content or soloed the majority of the time by definition, and also means that he probably dosent represent the average user experience of the game. Some people only play new MMORPGs to be the frst to joylessly beat them and then move on, thats just some people.
I am not sure why you seem to be trying to start a flame war with me.
I'm not starting a flame war with you. As a said before, I share your opinion. I think Aion is a good game. I do disagree with your review and score based on the fact that I have experienced the game and all things related like the community, the spam and the grind.
I know that it's your opinion but I do not see how you can give this game a 9/10, when the game has so many glaring problems.
Good review, and I agree.
I would score it 8.5/10
www.90and9.net
www.prophecymma.com
ya player are really starting to war each other in abyss even in usa (night)
freaking time card are still hard to come by in lot of region of america wich dampen game sale and popularity by a long shot
Although I agree this game definitely is a good game, a 9/10 is an exaggeration in my opinion. I personally would give this game a 7.75, I believe lack of questing content (more of a lack of PvE content as a whole), linearity of the game itself, gold spammers, immature community all drag it down. Fortunately these issues are easily fixed, all it takes is money, which I believe NCsoft definitely has. They just need to get off their butts and get cracking on these issues before they let this game fall to pieces. This game obviously has the potential to be a gem of the MMO market, they just need to work out these kinks. Until they do this, I don't believe this game's player base will last but maybe a year, and that is stretching it. I just hope they fix these major issues before I lose interest as well.
Taking out the negative aspects of the community, including spammers and bots, I would rate it 8/10 and pretty much agree with your review.
Trolls and bots are allowed to congest the LFG channel at will on my server, Marchutan. Yes, I know it's easy to block the bots and trolls, but the point is we shouldn't have to.
I predict most of the trolls will be gone by the 22nd, and as for the bots, if NCsoft doesn't in some meaningful way take direct action I am walking away from Aion as well. I love the game, but anti-bot technology is too easy and affordable to come by these days for it to be as bad as it is in Aion.
Also, given the fact that when I report bots, nothing ever seems to happen to them, I'm inclined to believe that NCS wants the revenue from the bot subs more than the actual people who really play the game.
-My 2 kinah,
Cym
The game needs to expand considerably if it wants long-term subscribers. No doubt that will come, (Lineage 2 had massive updates) but there simply isn't enough game in there at the moment. More PvP objectives, sure - but definately expand the pve playgrounds a bit.
Like I say, there is more then enough content to carry me through while levelling 1-2 characters, I have had to delete quests that i have outl leveled and I have decided to not even bother getting my Fire Temple key, but yeah they will to drop some content updates after that for me.
After what 1.5 delivered though I have faith in NCS in delivering this. If they dont, well I would have had my moneys worth by then I think and so will just find something else till they do
Nah, I play on Ariel.
Level 31 now and still having a blast
The biggest problems I have seen so far with this game is: NcSoft's lack of customer service (bots, spammers, actually using their own forums for communication with customers), the linear aspect of the game in the earlier levels, & still unsure how these servers and the engine is going to handle large scale battles.
Those are three issues I think NCSoft needs to focus on more than anything besides fixing some bugs that still exist of course and adding more content is never a bad thing assuming they don't forego fixing/tweaking pre-existing content in the process.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
When I order beef with two sides, I sure don't expect the five people next to me to yell as loud as they can non stop, to buy their two sides instead, and than when I get up to move, 10 more people do the exact same thing. And than 20 more if I go some where else to sit.
It's silly to ignore how bad gold sellers/bots are in a review at this time. If they fix the problem (LOL), you could edit the review.
Also, where is the fluff for the game? What do you do outside of grind to 50, PvP, or PvE in the PvP area? Craft...and...what? Many of the top games out have things to do besides just grind your character to and past the end level.
I just don't understand how people can lie to themselves so much to post something like this <.<.
He mentioned that in his review and said it needed fixing asap so not sure what you're going on about and it's his opinion of how he feels about the game. Just because you feel differently doesn't mean he's "lying to himself".
Some of you need a serious reality check on this notion that just because you feel a certain way about things everyone else should as well.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Ok, just updating to remove the entries about gold spamming, now that it's been nailed
I'd give the game a 7/10.
Graphics are good for an MMO, sound is decent, and the games gui is very polished. It performs very well, isn't clunky, and for the most part is pretty stable(except the Mass PvP crashes).
The PvE is BORING, tank & Spank on pretty much every boss...including the fort bosses. The No loot option on loot tables is stupid. The instances are very uninspired and boring. The zones are standard MMO zones with nothing that really wows me. The mobs are stupidly easy to kill and after grinding on them its like you're being punished.
Quests are lacking and don't even try to cover up the grind or have a decent story. Their XP is by and large awful and after 30 you get less and less of them until you are left with GRIND.
Zones are small- After you actually break the zones after 20 down into their level ranges you see just how small they truly are. Morheim covers 20-40 and beluslan 30-50.
Game is linear- "But there are more than 1 zone!" and you will have to do all of those zones to get a small percentage of your level before you're left grinding in your zone of choice. IE: If you're level 30 you will be grinding either right outside Alsig or right outside Beluslan. It isn't like you can choose to take the path of either Alsig or Beluslan, you pretty much have to do both zones so it is one path.
Abyss- most boring map in the game. It pretty much all looks the same AND it takes the previous level range cut up and makes them even smaller and shared between both sides.
PvP- Absolutely meaningless so calling it meaningful is false. If the enemy takes all of the lower abyss it doesn't really hinder you at all. Well your taxes might go up or down by 2%(OMG!). You also get dungeons and recipes you can do without. Usually it comes down to gank squads, runners, and zergs. If you don't want to die you can pretty much escape most deaths in PvP. PVP also yields little XP.
PvP combat- Overall pretty good. Some abilities/CC need looked at as well as how fast some classes can kill but overall the fights last a long time so it isn't a one shot fest, unless of course the enemy doesn't just fly away >_<.
Siege- Rather boring zerg warfare. Nothing really dynamic but the artifacts can play a big roll so that's sort of a plus. This will culminate in another version of WAR's keep swapping since there is no incentive to really keep the fort when you can just take it back for gold medals.
Grinding- Yep its a grinder. Anyone who says they made it to 35+ on quests alone either grinded while doing the quests or was extremely unlucky with drops. It honestly shows how lazy the devs were.
Crafting- Grind + Money sink. Wish the work orders actually gave some money/XP. While some items you can make are useful they are generally VERY expensive to make compared to some gear you can get off the AH with a few less stats. No experimenting or changing the outcome based on ingredients so it is average. XP from each crafted item is nice but in the long run it isn't even a drop in the bucket.
Gathering- Grind...enough said. Find 2-3 nodes and bounce between them for hours. Same for the XP here, woot 1k per gatherable! Only 19,999,000 to go!
Honestly the game is average. The PvE compared to WoW is lacking. The PvP compared to WAR is all to similar. The only thing the game really has going for it are the graphics and the performance and those are cast into obscurity with the constantly overbearing feeling of GRIND that you experience in almost every aspect of the game. I'd actually put the game at 5/10 if I didn't know that grinding was a personal hatred. So, overall its AVERAGE, 7/10.
are you a staff or dev of nc soft? too much biased.
nah. just read through his 1700 other post. Just a really big Aion fan.
I would give Aion a 9/10 too, since really, there isn't many other mmorpg out there.
People call warhammer a failure when it's probably the 4th largest western subscriber games. So there isn't much options.
Hardly. It's annoying yeah, but it takes all of 5 seconds at the beginning of a session to block new spammers.
@OP: How many hours do you spend playing MMORPGs (so right now, Aion) weekly? Aside from the well written review you sound like the core-joe who doesn't care about a tiny 4 hour group-grind session for d'oeuvre. I won't judge you for it but it will set things into perspective for the 'casual' gamer (like 90 mins/day; I just learned that the avg. WoW player plays for an average 4 hours per day, which was quite a shock and WILL influence my perception of the Average Joe's 'timesink')
M
How long have you been playing MMOs? You haven't learned to avoid overly-active fat kids making noise in public chat channels.
All games outside of obscurity have this element. Go back to obscure titles or try to be less offended by it.
------
Played - UO, FFXI, WAR, WoW, EVE
Currently - Bored.
hehe nice
If you want to hire Machete to kill the bad guys, you better make damn sure the bad guy isnt you!