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Warhammer Online Vs Age Of Conan Vs Aion?
I was just wondering if anybody had any info as to which game has the bigger playerbase? I'm currently playing Aion and am level 5 (just started) and I've not seen a single player yet, although when I was playing Age of Conan & Warhammer Online I saw people all over the place at the starting areas.
I've been considering AoC vs Aion Vs Warhammer Online for a long time, so I'm not quite sure which to choose. It's getting rather annoying as I'd like to just be able to pick one MMO and stick with it, but seeing as I have all three of these games lying in my DVD rack doing nothing but gathering dust, I want to pick one of them to play. I've played all of them to around level 5, but have never actually stuck with a certain one.
I particularly like PvE & raiding/dungeons etc, and being able to get spectacular looking armor/weapons for my character, which it seems Aion & Warhammer Online will provide, but Age of Conan on the other hand seems bland when it comes to armor. Although saying that, from what I've read Age of Conan seems to be the most "futureproof" out of the 3 games, which is why I'm considering AoC aswell.
I've actually been wondering which game to play for around 4 weeks now, and haven't been able to make up my mind. I keep reading things about each game such as "Aion is dying, Warhammer Online was dead since it came out, Age of Conan is dying" etc etc so I'm worried that I'll choose a particular game and then a few months down the line I'll be forced to stop playing due to low population etc.
I don't particularly want to invest time into an MMO only to find out that it's "dying" and people are leaving it. For example, Tabula Rasa & Hellgate London etc. When I play an MMO I like to invest at least a year or so in it, which is why I'm finding it hard to choose which to play out of these 3 games.
On IGN & Gamespot, both Age of Conan & Warhammer Online got 8.5 - 9.0 ratings which is pretty good, whereas Aion only got a 6.5, but then again hearing that Warhammer Online hardly has any players anymore and is pretty much a dead game, I can't see why it was rated so high.
What do you guys think, and if you had to choose an MMO for me to get into, which of the 3 listed here would you pick? Remember, I like all 3 games pretty much the same, and I'm looking for a game which is "futureproof" etc.
Many thanks in advance, I appreciate it.
Warhammer Online Gameplay Vid - 
Aion Gameplay Vid - 
Age of Conan Gameplay Vid - 
Comments
just choose which world fit your fantasy. only those who quit complain in forum. those enjoy the game won't bother.
if you looking for future proof, it is better to aim for next mmorpg.
based on your choice, i think warhammer is in worst condition but will last for another year at least without any update.
AOC is doing quite well.
Pretty much what Papa said above. Its possible these games might be around for a long time, but its highly likely that they will all pretty much die out sometime 2010-11 with so many long awaited upcoming releases like SWTOR, GW2, FFXIV, Secret World, World of Darkness, etc
Your best bet is just pick whichever one you had the most fun playing and just ride it out until the new ones release. My personal preference would be WAR, had a blast PvPing in that game.
AoC has a large playerbase over the 4 servers it has, but in all it isn't too big. Aion might seem somewhat dead because certain servers have different amounts of each faction, and some of the servers are really low population, but on the bigger servers it actually is quite active (while it might not be as active as AoC). Warhammer last I played was quite dead in the lower tier, but I didn't give it much of a chance.
I'm currently playing both AoC and Aion, and recently tried WAR, again. Of the three, Aion appears to have more active players. Be careful, though, some of their servers are getting a little underpopulated, but others are doing fine.
AoC saw an influx of new blood with the release of the expansion, so it might be experiencing a resurgence of new players.
WAR is dead. It breaks my heart to say that, because I thought this was a fantastic game at release, but for a lot of reasons - buggy, bad class balance (important in a PvP game), misguided tinkering by the designers, etc. - it lost subscribers over time. Today, there are barely enough players to keep the game functional.
Aion, as grindy as it can be, probably is your best bet if you absolutely have to choose between AoC and Aion. If you don't give them both a try for a while.
@manylaughs
I guess it's between Aion & AoC now then, thanks.
AoC and Warhammer have free trials, so their beginner areas are going to be a lot more populated.
Of the 3, AoC has the best PvE by far. Warhammer's PvE is almost non-existent and is far from the focus of the game. Aion's PvE is slow, consists of excessively long instances, low drop rates, and shallow fight mechanics that are generally just tank and spanks. AoC has the most dungeons and raid content of the 3, and many of the fights are scripted and require specific tactics. The dungeons are generally reasonable in length too, and loot drops are consistent.
Aion and Warhammer both have more stylized armor. Warhammer is suppose to be getting an armor overhaul soon that will beef up texture resolutions too. I personally prefer Aion's armor style. Some of the AoC armor is pretty cool, especially the new expansion asian flavored stuff... but AoC also has a lot of underwhelming armor sets at end-game, so its hit and miss.
I wouldn't worry too much about any of the games dying. AoC has hit something of a resurgence with the new expansion, and if it was going to die it would have done so about a year ago when it was at rock bottom, plus its just a really solid game. Aion has a very strong eastern player-base and has some major upgrades in line for the future. NCSoft seems to be dropping a fair amount of money and development time to keep Aion afloat, and while I won't say that Aion's NA offices will stay open for a long time, Aion itself will be around for many years to come. The main problem with Aion is that you'll always be a second rate customer. You are way behind the Korean version in updates, and they don't consider the English version their primary target audience, so your input is fairly worthless. Warhammer is probably the weakest of the 3, but its got a solid playerbase and its PvP nature gives it something of a niche that isn't likely to go away anytime soon.
Don't pay any attention to review sites when they come to MMORPGs. They are notoriously bad at judging MMO games, since they rarely look at games from an MMO players perspective, and instead judge them from the perspective of a console gamer.
I very recently(over the last month) just went through a period where I tried out every single game on your list (plus LotrO) to get an idea of which one I wanted to play. AoC stood out to me as the clear winner, and in my opinion is hands down the most solid full experience. It had engaging quests, great lore, great graphics, a mature world, a great combat system, a solid PvE raiding/grouping system, tons of content, and fun PvP. It also wasn't painful to level up in, it didn't feel gimmicky, and it wasn't an over-stylized cartoony world. The only reason I wouldn't recommend it is if you don't have a computer powerful enough to run it w/out having issues, or if you're dead set on wielding a sword thats larger than your characters.
My opinion is that you should do you homework instead of playing games. It'll be much more beneficial in the long run.
I'll give you a suggestion, stop doing what you're doing and play the one which you enjoy the most. You're not trying to start a space program, you're just trying to play a game. Seriously if you decide to play a game by commitee you have to pick "the prefect game", then "the perfect class", then "the perfect spec.", then "the perfect leveling path", then "the perfect profession", Ad infinitum. Just pick a game and run with it, the fun is in playing, not having the perfect plan.
Lecturing aside I have played all three games, I haven't reached the top level in any of them, and I had the most fun with Aion. I would've kept playing Aion but I don't have the time anymore to commit myself to play a game for a few hours a day for months and years.
Aion is visually stunning, polished, and plays great. It was sold as a PvP game so I don't know if it has any worthwhile PvE. Potential downside is that NC-Soft has closed down MMOs before. But to be honest those games were not ready for prime time and this game already has a presence in Asia.
AoC is ok but it lacks character. It looks generic, bland, coarse, and soulless. The high system requirements don't translate into visual awesome. It was sold as PvP but it seems to have become a PvE game. With the expansion Funcom has shown that it's in it for the long haul.
Warhammer looks bad, plays bad, it's just plain aweful. Stay away, you'll thank me later. With Bioware in charge it "might" be improved but that's really unlikely. In my opinion it doesn't have any future.
Despite what a few have suggested I'm againts waiting and betting on future MMOs. It's a really bad idea. I've done it before and all the " future games" have been bad. If playing Warhammer thaught me anything is that "Don't be suckered by the hype".
Based of what you've said I'd suggest WoW. It's the other thing besides cokroaches and twinkies to survive a nuclear war and it has a population the size of a small country. Besides it has the shiny Epikz you seek.
Thanks to you and Arentas for your long posts, I appreciate it. Although you see the problem now, there's so many conflicting opinions on which game is best, and I guess having different opinions on things is human nature, but it's making it all the more harder for me to choose.
I've thrown the Warhammer Online idea out the window now, so it's now between Aion & AoC. I should have mentioned that I played WoW for 2 years, and got far too addicted to it, so a few months ago I deleted my characters & sold my account. I wish I hadn't now, but that's life I guess, therefore I'm trying to decide another MMO to play. I don't really want to repurchase WoW and start all over again either.
I like the fantasy and art in Aion. But I have AoC as well. But I have to say that I like Aion better. And this is what's coming in Aion in patch 2.0:
15 new skills
Reduced travel, soul binding and soul healing costs
Increased experience and drop rates (including instance bosses, Noschana Training Camp General, I'm lookin' at you!)
Improved mission rewards
Daily Quests
Improvements to Dredgion
A new Looking for Group (LFG) system
A two handed weapon combination system
A weapon rental shop
New stats including: Heal amount increase, Magic Crit, Magic and Physical Crit Defense, and Magic and Physical Crit Resistance.
Numerous balance changes, ex. Spiritmaster pets, Ranger traps, and other summoned entities now inherit item and manastone bonuses from their owners.
And tons more!
Movie about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9jSN05RNBQ
That's the 1.9 patch.
The 2.0 patch will be released later on, and will include pets, a higher level cap, new instances and more.
------------------------------
Hm.. If that's the case, who can wield the new two-handed weapons?
And how do I get into the new Looking for Group (LFG) system? And which are the new 15 skills, what classes got them and level?
War Hammer is a ghost town, AION is a grind, AOC is great and full of peoples. Not a hard choice to make.
Not seeing people: AoC and WAR have good trials which is why you're seeing a good amount of players in starter zone. Aion's trial, back when I played, was a joke and didn't allow enough time to realistically try the game. (pre second class no less)
Population: Biggest one right now is probably Aion
Future: Aion is huge in the east. This will all but guarantee servers over here as the eastern market will be supporting it for the west no matter how bleak it may be. (short of it coming to a 'cut your losses' thing)
PvE: AoC easily. Having played the others, (aion thoroughly, war a lil) I can confidently say AoC has it in the bag. I felt like PvE was almost non-existent in Aion with the exception of leveling.
Cosmetics: I hear ya. Again, Aion would win out here. One of my biggest gripes with AoC is the lack of cosmetic system.x If they added something like that,(thinking LotRO here) they'd probably win my backing at least until the new wave of MMOs hit depending on what actually delivers.
Ultimately you sound very much like myself. If I had to recommend a game for you, it'd be AoC. Even though I answered Aion more I feel AoC would be a better fit. As I always say, Aion is a game of squandered potential. Under the correct guidance and a few key changes it could be a lasting powerhouse over here but ultimately we're just second rate to the asian community.
AoC seems to be a pretty decent and solid game. The new expansion shows that even with a bad hand dealt, FunCom isn't going to be quick to give up on it. While it may not have the juggernaut backing Aion has(read: asian community) I'm sure it'll be around for a while as it seems to have rekindled some love from the community. This in and of itself speaks loudly for it's possible staying power.
http://powerwiki.na.aiononline.com/aion/1.9+Feature+Guide
I tried out Fallen Earth and was surprized and really really enjoyed the leveling/exploration and huge open world of the game. Didnt think it would be my thing but really got into it, try out the trial of that, you may really dig it, the game world has a certain mood and atmosphere to it that really drew me in.
Warhammer and AoC id pass on both honestly, they have major major flaws. Warhammer just doesnt feel quite right, end game was a bore fest, and i havnt played in over a year but im assuming/hoping they fixed alot of the crashes when you had a ton of people in a zone.
AoC seems busier because the whole game is instanced and zoned and very small and linear so people are more funneled into certain areas. Where a game like fallen earth is huge open and seamless, so people are spread out more. You will experience installation, computer, and billing errors with Age of Conan, read their own forums, problems abound, and for the huge amount of space and system requirements the game runs and lags like sht. Anytime you ask for advice which everybody does on getting the game to run better, fix certain bugs, the forum nerds there will tell you 'Get a better computer, AoC isnt made for wow machines'
So you will be persuaded that your system is whats holding you back by others over there which is not the case, 700k people quit that game for a reason, you think its all because they didnt have a good enough system? Game appears to be great the first few levels in the starter area, then you sub and its bait n switch,
Try DDO online. Its free, im currently playing it, and wish I'd have givin it a shot earlier. It also is a smaller overall gameworld ( still new though ) and seems very instanced, but the dungeons are a refreshing change from any other MMO i've played. Im sure after running them all numerous times and memorizing where all of the traps are and how to solve the puzzles it may get bland, but so far its free and entertaining and tons of people/ easy groups to find.
So yeah, before you commit, I'd say give Fallen Earth a fair shot ( you may run screaming and hate it, but once you get the initial hang of it, and a nice scoped sniper rifle, its pretty entertaining ) or DDO. I honestly think Warhammer and AOC have far too many core problems, and due to funcom being a shady company ( look at alot of the people on these forums praising the game, half of them are from Oslow Norway or somewhere simular, viral marketing, ) I will never give them a dime again.
In the end, its whatever still gives you excitement to login and play where you relax and enjoy it, good luck
Pimpwars/Cripplesmash/Legend of the Red Dragon/TradeWars 2002/TrollMud/Usurper
Present: Wurm , Fallen Earth
Sweet, thanks! Haven't been in-game post-1.9
Aion 2.0 will have new pets! Servers are merging in the next month! = LAGFEST.
That game is so laggy you need to press Shift F12 to be able to walk around in big cities. Till NCSOFT fixes their server lag my AION dvd will gladly gather dust or be thrown in the garbage.
Plus the community is horrible, and it's still a gold buying's haven. Eh, not my thing.
I would just go back to WoW and stick it out a few more months till better comes around, it seems to be what everyone is doing right now, sucking it up.
Out of the 3 I would definitely go with AoC.
I would hate to have only those game to choose from though . .. lol
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