Aion: Update Interview

Stradden · December 2009

Recently, MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller had a chance to ask a few questions of Aion Associate producer Chris Hager, updating us on the game's current state, its progress since launch and plans of attack against spammers, holiday plans and more.

MMORPG.com:

How has the player progression been in Aion since the launch of the game? Are you seeing players hitting the end game content?

Chris Hager:

We've had a lot of players playing through the content and have seen several people reach the level cap. It's exciting because we've seen the game in its entirety for a while before launch, but seeing people reach this end game content like fortress sieges and some of the level 40-50 instances is great.

Read the Update Interview.

tro44_1 · December 2009

Great to see Aion doing well. I wonder will it ever reach where WoW is

erictlewis · December 2009

Well I wish AION was doing better. All of the folks that I knew that siad they quit LOTRO to go to AION have come back from AION except one.

I just wish AION would have kept all 5 of them, they came back bitter and changed. Quite frankly not the same folks that I knew before they went to AION.

thamighty213 · December 2009

yawn

Paragus1 · December 2009

The guy answering the questions probably gave some of the most generic and uninteresting answers I have seen in an interview. It was like a robot answering the questions with generic responses. It's not Garretts fault by any means, but this guy isn't really doing himself or Aion any favors.

Just my 2 cents.

Ugottawantit · December 2009

Yeah, the players are really enjoying getting ganked. It's what makes Aion so much fun.

Jixx · December 2009

Talk about out of touch with reality. I've played on two differant servers in two differant guilds and both guilds evaperated overnight.

The main reason is that the end game PvP is lame. Ranged classes have all of the advantage in the Abyss. There is

entirely too many ways totally or partially mitigate damage and the crowd control abilities are overboard. Practically every attack in Aion Stuns, Snares or mezmerizes.

hogscraper · December 2009

"Practically every attack in Aion Stuns, Snares or mezmerizes. "

This kind of stuff is why I don't play most PVP games. It's so much fun standing around being able to do nothing while your opponent wipes you out. WOOT! and they charge me for this? Its why I quit Warhammer.

Sovrath · December 2009

Originally posted by hogscraper

"Practically every attack in Aion Stuns, Snares or mezmerizes. "
This kind of stuff is why I don't play most PVP games. It's so much fun standing around being able to do nothing while your opponent wipes you out. WOOT! and they charge me for this? Its why I quit Warhammer.

And yet there are potions that can rid you of altered states. Also, since these games are also about group pvp, you're mates should be able to shut down the other players as well. Otherwise it tends to be about "pew pew pew" and not much else.

As far as the individual who said that these were (to paraphrase) bland, cookies cutter answers, I would have to agree.

NC has ALWAYS been about bland cookie cutter answers. I can't remember one intereview in L2 that gave players any information at all.

They are just lousy at PR.

Madnin · December 2009

Having fun most of the time, however......cannot participate in the fortress sieges. My framerate drops to like 2, which equals instant death. (if you even see it coming, usually dead before I know what's happening)

I've played zergfests in Warhammer that didn't bog down this bad.

joker007mo · December 2009

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by hogscraper

"Practically every attack in Aion Stuns, Snares or mezmerizes. "
This kind of stuff is why I don't play most PVP games. It's so much fun standing around being able to do nothing while your opponent wipes you out. WOOT! and they charge me for this? Its why I quit Warhammer.

And yet there are potions that can rid you of altered states. Also, since these games are also about group pvp, you're mates should be able to shut down the other players as well. Otherwise it tends to be about "pew pew pew" and not much else.

As far as the individual who said that these were (to paraphrase) bland, cookies cutter answers, I would have to agree.

NC has ALWAYS been about bland cookie cutter answers. I can't remember one intereview in L2 that gave players any information at all.

They are just lousy at PR.

ok i agree with you on the rest of the post and say yea there are potions but i found half the time by the time i would go to use a potion i was dead before i could hit the button and this was in a group alot of this was do to the fact as the poster stated below me its gets pretty jaggy in the abyss especially around fortresses for me it was like the million dollar man only im not moving fast and thats on top of the already crappy framerate as it was

Sovrath · December 2009

Originally posted by joker007mo

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by hogscraper

"Practically every attack in Aion Stuns, Snares or mezmerizes. "
This kind of stuff is why I don't play most PVP games. It's so much fun standing around being able to do nothing while your opponent wipes you out. WOOT! and they charge me for this? Its why I quit Warhammer.

And yet there are potions that can rid you of altered states. Also, since these games are also about group pvp, you're mates should be able to shut down the other players as well. Otherwise it tends to be about "pew pew pew" and not much else.

As far as the individual who said that these were (to paraphrase) bland, cookies cutter answers, I would have to agree.

NC has ALWAYS been about bland cookie cutter answers. I can't remember one intereview in L2 that gave players any information at all.

They are just lousy at PR.

ok i agree with you on the rest of the post and say yea there are potions but i found half the time by the time i would go to use a potion i was dead before i could hit the button and this was in a group alot of this was do to the fact as the poster stated below me its gets pretty jaggy in the abyss especially around fortresses for me it was like the million dollar man only im not moving fast and thats on top of the already crappy framerate as it was

I'm divided over the siege thign. I was in one that was a blast with a lot of people and my machine ran fine. The last one I had gone to was a Vermeer painting so still it was.

I think though that it's time to update my machine.

HitechLolife · December 2009

Another round of anemic answers from NCsoft.

I'm passivley subscribed to this game and likely cancelling at the end of the month (would have sooner but I have mates who play.). Interviews like this are an opportunity to get people excited about your title. Instead the interview was as boring as the content in your game.

avalon1000 · December 2009

Originally posted by erictlewis

Well I wish AION was doing better. All of the folks that I knew that siad they quit LOTRO to go to AION have come back from AION except one.
I just wish AION would have kept all 5 of them, they came back bitter and changed. Quite frankly not the same folks that I knew before they went to AION.

Well I came back to LOTRO and was not bitter and changed. AION was not what I thought it would be. Seemed great at first then just seemed like a hollow shell....all pretty on the outside and nothing there really. They only reacted to the bots when people started to mass exodus the game (our Legion of 60 pretty much quit except for a handfull). LOTRO is so superior in so many ways it is no contest. I learned one thing though...stay away from most (if not all) Asian games.

Falcon2K · December 2009

Instead of presenting this "interview" they could have just shown another Aion ad...information content would have been the same.

UknownAspect · December 2009

This interview was quite lackluster. And I'm really bothered why they haven't come out with specifics in regards to their vision. They showed us a pretty trailer with a lot of really neat things, but when it comes down to it, no one really knows what we were shown and anything anyone says is just speculation.

"We're working on it" just is not enough for me and for a lot of the fans and people thinking about the game. I mean, What the hell are you working on? I know there is the whole we don't want to give you too much information so that you are left disappointed, but I mean really, just tell us some of the things that you are working on.

Also, I think they need to make it easier for people to help in getting rid of bots. Perhaps being able to just right click a name and hit "Report RMT" would be really great. OR even better, allow players on your block list to not only disappear from chat, but from their screen so you can get rid of their private stores (This one should really be in the game).

But to me, what this game needs to succeed is more PvE content. Yes I understand it is a PvP game and the abyss is fun, but sometimes I want to do more than just pvp, scripted encounters are boring for some, but allow others to experiment with strategy and their character's potential.

I also think that more can be added to the abyss, in both PvE and PvP areas. Artifacts and fortresses are cool, but maybe there can be more story element things, perhaps even functional NPC towns to take over, crafting hubs, trading hubs. Maybe even nodes to capture that will send streams of kinah or materials or abyss points straight into a legion bank.

Doozerglue · December 2009

I quit too. For many of the above reasons, but the main issue was fighting against bots for mobs. The world pvp would have been cool if most of the PC's in a zone weren't bots. As it was, those who chose to rift, got Abyss points from farming bots, and got great gear for doing so. That's not PvP. The mantra from Ayase, Liv, and Tamat was "were banning 1000's of accounts a day," yet you'd see the same players botting in the same zones everytime you logged in. /autoreporthunting was/is a joke.

How about an apology to your players that spent their hard earned money to play a game and got screwed because your game wasn't ready for the western market. In my house there were four players that quit playing other MMO's to come to Aion. Four CE's and four subs for three months. We are all back to playing the MMO's we left, and we all feel duped. We kept playing thinking, "ok this is going to change now." It never did.

This interview proves that they haven't changed much in the way of connecting with their players. I was hoping to see something, anything, that would convince me to come back, but nope. Same / Same. At this point, this game is a waste of time and money. If you're sitting on the fence, save yourself the frustration.

MalikyeMoon · December 2009

This "interview" didn't cover or share any useful information whatsoever. Nothing that hasn't been addressed multiple times previously was asked, ir provided no new insight , and I had almost no feelings about anything mentioned.

I know what is wrong and right about the game so far, but to be honest while I am still playing, I can only motivate myself to log on occasionally. Why? I don't entirely know except that I am just not that enthusiastic, or motivated.

I had a long discussion with my former legion leader (the whole legion left the game or quit the legion since Nov) over Vent last night. His group played EQ1, WoW, FFXI, and Warhammer heavily. I played EQ1, WoW, WAR, AoC, and a few others.

What is the difference between those games that kept me playing for 4-6 yrs and the ones that I dropped after a month or three? A number of things, but they boil down to the feeling of excitement about logging in and getting in game time, no matter what it was.

I just don't feel that from Aion still. My former legion members, whose opinions I find fairly objective and experienced as well feel that there just isn't any "end game" for them that is going to succeed and keep their attention.

One, static open world PVP/PVPVE area is just not enough. The siege towers are not difficult to conquer, and in between they are invulnerable for 2 hrs. Even WoW only had a limited window for Wintergrasp, and the other BGs were accessible all the time. The PVE instances are mediocre at best, and the Baluur AI isn't what they cracked it up to be.

If they are not going to include some instanced pvp with specific objectives , then they better ramp up the randomness, world events, and AI of their Abyss pvp, because frankly it is extremely early in the life of this game for people to be BORED with the end game content.

your vision for 3.x is not enough. Graphical makeovers, housing, and the rest do address certain issues and add cute perks, but they do not give the hard core players and vets a reason to log in every day, and without those you fail to have a player base that will last.

Knightcry · December 2009

Originally posted by Paragus1

The guy answering the questions probably gave some of the most generic and uninteresting answers I have seen in an interview. It was like a robot answering the questions with generic responses. It's not Garretts fault by any means, but this guy isn't really doing himself or Aion any favors.
Just my 2 cents.

I'm a bit lazy to do the work and find the post but if I recall correctly almost the same questions were asked in an L2 interview. Sadly they answers from what I recall were the exact same. If these interviews are supposed to give insight on the development team and their plans, the little Korean guy who wrote the answers for him failed horribly. Generic answers for game making/breaking issues might have got them by a few years back but I don't think it works now. The typical gamer can see patterns from companies and know the "NA/EU" development team has little say in what happens to the game. Asian game makers see us as the red-headed step children of the comsumer base. We have seen this from NcSoft and almost every other random Asian f2p game.

If I saw a good article addressing the issues with some backbone and action, I might be inclined to play again. The trailer they released for example followed by maybe some dates would have did what they were hoping to do. Instead the gaming community was like, yeah great but when? No one really cared because we all knew it was a PR stunt to stop the massive decline in MONTHLY subscribers. NcSoft needs to remove whoever is in charge and hire someone outside of their circle for new ideas. It is too bad they weren't a Japanese company so these guys would be shamed right out of the business.

Sovrath · December 2009

Originally posted by MalikyeMoon

your vision for 3.x is not enough. Graphical makeovers, housing, and the rest do address certain issues and add cute perks, but they do not give the hard core players and vets a reason to log in every day, and without those you fail to have a player base that will last.

Actually I disagree with this. the hardcore market is not the market to cater to. If anythign that is the market that will easily blast through anything you give them and then want more. to constantly give them what they want seems unsustainable.

Other than that, though I think NC has good games and has great artists, the one thing that I have to say is that they just don't have what it takes to be "more".

No matter what one thinks of Blizzard, they are a company that sets out to do something and they do it. NC seems to want to play in that Blizzard Arena (they did say they wanted to be 2nd to WoW) but quite frankly they just don't understand what that means, do not have the resources, or aren't willing to step up to the plate and make the changes that they need to make.

I mean seriously, I am NOT a game designer or producer. Knowing that their past games had issues with rmt and bots I would think that they would have launched with what they have now instead of allowing for constant spam to happen when it did.

when I was in game and I wanted to report a player the message I got was that customer support wasn't available for that time period.

really? Seriously?

NC is not a small nothing company. They have resources. It seems to me that they want to have a AAA game but want to do it on a shoe string budget.

And again, they just don't do PR well. Oh, they do videos and promos VERY well. But I have never seen an interview that didn't read like the answers weren't handed down by some suits who wanted control over how information was disseminated.

Or very few. Usually with community managers you might get some more but it's very clear that their arms are tied. Now, that's not to say that they should have the ability to just go off on any subject and interject their personal opinions whenever they feel like it.

But NC interviews are anemic at best. Any time during one of the lineage 2 interviews where it was "ask the devs" you always knew how it would play out.

What are you doing about rmt in game x

We are looking at all options and will make changes once we are confident that those changes make sense within the game.

Are you looking to add housing or hobbies into game y

Our developers are always following player trends and feedback and if it makes sense and will add to the quality of the overall gameplay experience then we will implement a system at that time.

What can we look forward to in the future of game z

Our developers are hard at work and are dedicated to the health and well being of game z. We are always looking for ways to add to the player experience and are dedicated to making game z a quality gaming experience. We can't comment on anything specific at the moment but look for future announcements in the coming months.

I made all of that up but you all get the point.

Knightcry · December 2009

Well seems like /thread. Hope someone from NcSoft has read these postings in response to their interview as it seems most see it for what it is. Funny though Sovrath could be an NcSoft PR guy and he doesn't even know it..or maybe he does.

Sovrath · December 2009

Originally posted by Knightcry

Well seems like /thread. Hope someone from NcSoft has read these postings in response to their interview as it seems most see it for what it is. Funny though Sovrath could be an NcSoft PR guy and he doesn't even know it..or maybe he does.

It's funny and scary.

And a bit sad.

Volgore · December 2009

I rated the interview as "not worth further reading" after the first couple of answers.

I guess we have to get used to these "interviews" as the new standard: dodging questions, PR drivel and tons of hollow phrases. Unless someone of the interviewing staff shows the guts to nail down these propaganda-tools, i won't read any more interviews here.

Wizardry · December 2009

Originally posted by Paragus1

The guy answering the questions probably gave some of the most generic and uninteresting answers I have seen in an interview. It was like a robot answering the questions with generic responses. It's not Garretts fault by any means, but this guy isn't really doing himself or Aion any favors.
Just my 2 cents.

LOL Dude that is EXACTLY what i got from the answers as well.I mean if you removed the questions and just let the guy give a marketing PR speech that is what it would sound like.

The best is when he says "AS ALWAYS".Does he think we are idiots?99% of the people that play games knows full well NCSOFT has never been aggressive towards botting as matter of fact they have taken zero action in the past.I know because i witnessed botting in L2 and nothing was done about it.

He goes on about PVPPVE the exact same speech we saw in their pre release chatter,and yes of course he talks about how they are all about high standards,that is why they spent less money than TR a game witch failed.That is why no water physics,that is why Nguard didn't work for many players,that is why many had to wait for Que ue's,that is why only 2 factions,ya real high standards i see.Oh ya that is why botting hit epidemic proportions before they "claim" to be doing something.$2.50 a million Kinah,that says there was ZERO actions against botting,the game economy is already ruined by flooded RMT Kinah.

You can pretty much expect nothing truthful from these guys,i wouldn't waste anymore time asking them questions.

Morgaren · December 2009

I now know that nothing is being done about the bots cause if they were doing something a third of the interview wouldn't be about them attempting to fight the botters and spammers, it would have been filled with more about upcoming content and such.

jimmyman99 · December 2009

Originally posted by Sovrath

What are you doing about rmt in game x
We are looking at all options and will make changes once we are confident that those changes make sense within the game.
Are you looking to add housing or hobbies into game y
Our developers are always following player trends and feedback and if it makes sense and will add to the quality of the overall gameplay experience then we will implement a system at that time.
What can we look forward to in the future of game z
Our developers are hard at work and are dedicated to the health and well being of game z. We are always looking for ways to add to the player experience and are dedicated to making game z a quality gaming experience. We can't comment on anything specific at the moment but look for future announcements in the coming months.

I made all of that up but you all get the point.

I'm going to bookmark this topic and see whether those lines above end up in their next interview.

Howdy, Stranger!

Aion: Update Interview

Comments

MMORPG.com:	How has the player progression been in Aion since the launch of the game? Are you seeing players hitting the end game content?
Chris Hager:	We've had a lot of players playing through the content and have seen several people reach the level cap. It's exciting because we've seen the game in its entirety for a while before launch, but seeing people reach this end game content like fortress sieges and some of the level 40-50 instances is great.

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Aion: Update Interview

Comments