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Tempted by Aion
marz.at.play
Member UncommonPosts: 912
I have played a lot of MMO's over time. I've subscribed to many and also tried many FTP. I am looking for a new MMO but refuse to try WOW and was debating between returning to AoC or trying out Aion. I'm tempted as I have read a lot of good things about the game and even the subscription base as posted here looks health:
http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-1.png
Is the subscription as healthy as it appears here (around 1million mark), or is this way over exagerated? I wish Aion had a trial before I purchase the full version, but no such luck, and I don't know anyone who can share a buddy/friend referral with me to try it out.
What do you guys think? Do it or don't do it? Is the population healthy? I'd be playing on the east coast American server if I did purchase this game...just wish I could try it first.
Comments
Population is great on most servers. Its a fun game however if your used to speeing thru levels like you can in Age of Conan Watch out, because once you hit about level 20 things start slowing down at level 30 they start to crawl and by level 40 your going to be bellyy crawling.
The game is fun, challenging, and has some awesome environments. Characters are animated better than any game I have seen to date. I still like the way AoC looked world wise better. One of the complaints I have about Aion is that there are alot of Kiddy very Cartoonish things in it that go to ruin the immersion. Recently they added Weapon skins you can put on your characters. I have seen people running around with flowers for swords, lightsabers, chainsaws. To me it is one of the worst things I have seen done in an MMO. One of the things I loved about AoC was the seriousness of the game.. It really got you into it. Aion seems to be doing things to go the opposit.
Mobs like Mumus annoy the hell out of me. Other than that. fun game. Best played with friends. Many will say its a grindfest. But I find when playing with friends I Dont feel like I am grinding. I feel like I am enjoying the game.
If you want to try it, definitely do so with a party. Playing alone will soon become more than tiresome.
However, be warned. Aion is a grind, quite and simple. And yes, every MMORPG has grind of some type, but this is the boring, never-ending, 0.00001% exp per kill type of grind.
The graphics are very good at some points, though I dislike that the environment kept looking the same and that some of the mobs were so (for lack of better word) "cartoonish".
However, apart from that, Aion is a quite polished, well-rounded game that, if you can find some friends to play with, can be fun. I haven't played for months, but I heard they merged some servers, so it should be populated enough.
Far away from a grind it was at launch. Leveling from 1 to 50 is very easy nowadays
Aion is pretty fun and soloable to level 20 then you need a group which most times you can pick up a pug until around level 23 which you can solo agin til level 28 and it repeats at levels 30 and 40. Best to find a legion when you reach levels 25-30 so you can do the elite areas and stay out of the abyss till your level 30 at least, even then your still a one, two shot out there. Been many changes that are for the good but also a few bad ones they have to fix.
There was a server merge few months ago so populations should be good enough to find parties, it's not that bad of a grind in the beginning, when you reach level 42 is when the grind starts to kick in and you have to start leveling in the pvp/pve areas.
Awsome feedback so far guys. Thank you. I'm almost 75% convinced. Wish I could trial it first. I'll see what others say before taking the plunge. Sorry to hear about the cartoon like atmosphere. Being used to AoC, it might be a turn off.
I've got to buck the general trend of this thread and say if you enjoy PvP at all DO NOT bother with this game. There are inherent flaws within the game's systems that ruin the entire concept of PvP. First and foremost the most recent nerfs to rifting. While previously you could vary your leveling experience by taking a trip to enemy lands and killing them on their own turf you now suffer anywhere from a 40-80% penalty to your damage while rifting. This makes this "feature" non-existant. This is something they advertised and many people looked forward to as part of the gameplay considering that it was sold as a PvPvE game (NCSoft's word not mine). PvP is now only viable in the Abyss and some ground only pvp in the new expansion zones. It may be worth mentioning that is was possible to level to 50 without being in an area that's open to pvp except for a total of 3-5 levels of gameplay (there were guides put together by those tired of the whining). However, NCSoft pretty much gave in to the whining and removed an entire feature from their game. They also pretty much removed an entire class from the game by making the Assassin useless (no I am not an embittered former assassin I played a cleric to 50 full Fenris).
An even bigger problem that has been present since launch is that whenever you use a skill you lose control of your character while they perform a skill animation. This means that aerial pvp is pretty much impossible if you play a melee class. As your character stops to perform the skill animation the other player merely continues moving and you receive an "Out of Range" message. Even ranged classes suffer from the same problem. Ever try kiting with a Ranger when you have to continuously lose control of your character as it performs skill animations? Sounds like a huge problem right? Don't worry the folks at NCSoft have you covered. You can simply repeatedly jump up and down while you kite in order to cancel out skill animations.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojeHj5yLcqw They actually claim that this is the game working as intended and that is how Rangers are supposed to play....seriously?
Finally, all of the best PvP gear in the game can be obtained without ever killing a single enemy player. You can simply run PvE instances over and over for the points needed to get the gear. Note to NCSoft don't ever copy PvP features from a game that has enraged almost every single pvper that has even glanced at it (AoC - Shrines of Bori).
TL;DR If you value pvp at all don't waste your time with this game.
Steam: Neph
I don't agree with the description that the mobs are cartoonish. Much more stylized realism and a lot of detail. It doesn't have the gritty atmosphere of AoC but definitly not cartoonish. The environments and architecture tend much more toward the beautiful and ornate which I found enjoyable. As for the mobs. Not sure how to describe them. Very otherworldly. The Baular are definitly very fierce.
Give it a try. At the very least it is a game worth seeing and there is much to like about it. They have also improved the leveling curve tremendously in the last year.
All die, so die well.
Is there any advantage to buying the boxed version over the ditial version? Does one or the other come with a bonus of any sorts? Curious which direction I should go with...box version or digital.
Box has literally nothing in it. Even the manual is lighter than say what you get for pop ups during the intro. Oh but you will miss the CoX trial that expired QQ.
I'd say Aion is polished, less hardcore than launch but still has odd cost structures, is flashy but rigid. Basically it all works but the control isn't great. If you come from a WoW or CoX it'll feel clunky.
The death penalty is still too harsh leaving soul healing as the only real choice. Also having to pay to port in and out of your home city is terrible since you can't just walk in/out. Once upon a time you could literally be too broke to leave /facepalm. Same goes for zones, go explore and run out of cash in a zone you can't quest in? Better hope you are bound somewhere else or you're stuck.
Thanks everyone. I have decided to take the plunge and will see you ingame. Cheers!
Fail troll is fail.
Yes, it does cost money to port to different areas, but it's a pittance really; just enough to make you think about making trips to your capitol city, and that's only at low levels. You can't get stuck in your capitol; since release there has been a quest giver at the portal so you can port for the free at the cost of a small courier run.
Teleporting to a zone that's too high level for you to quest in is generally PROHIBITIVELY expensive for a lower level player (if you can even do it at all, I never tried), and generally isn't done. If you did that, bound in that zone, and spent all your money...well, I just don't see that happening to anybody on accident.
That's ridiculous.
I don't craft in these games and Only sell things to players that are relatively low cost items like mana stones. I essentially make my money by selling vendor trash and the odd drop here and there.
I have never had any trouble with Money in Aion. Soul healing doesn't cost that much and costs 1 adena for being killed by a player.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
All true but doesn't negate anything I wrote. Not a troll, I'm an Aion subscriber and I'm having fun. Just don't think the concept is a good one. The port quest is only availble 100? times I believe. That the amount is tiny doesn't change that its the only option, those who wait for the res sickness to wear off raise your hand
And lets be fair I said ONCE UPON A TIME. At launch you could go broke porting around and the port quest had to be run many times to afford leaving. Kind of silly that you one need to pay to come and go and that because its silly the guy will pay your way if you run over there and back. Actually he gives more than the cost to leave now but meh.
Good luck!
I know I had fun with the character creation and the starter area was very well done in my opinion, at least story-wise, it kept me going. Come back and tell us how it went and what you thought. Also, my advise stands to party up, it will be a lot more fun.
They signifigantly reduced rezz cost and travel cost from what it was at launch.