Anybody else heard of/playing this game?



INC WALL O' TEXT



I know there are a lot of MMORPG fans on this forum so I thought I'd finally bring this up here. It's the new MMO from NCSoft, supposedly the most anticipated MMO this year. Actually, Blizzard admitted to being worried about its release because it's got such a huge following so far and is being hyped about a LOT.

I was a WoW player since the first day it was released, but the glory days of WoW are gone and it's nothing but cakewalk where everything's handed to you and full of morons, nothing like the old school Vanilla WoW was. The game isn't even difficult at all anymore.

I've been looking for a MMO to come out lately that grasped my attention long enough to get me involved, and I've tried a plethora of different MMO's. AoC, City of Heroes/Villains, L2, GW, etc. Basically most of the commercially released MMO's I've played and so far, not really enjoyed. To sum them up, they've all been a waste of my money, and WoW is the only one (sadly) that held my attention long enough to invest time into.

Now that's changed. I've finally found an MMO that catches my attention and interest like WoW did, Aion.

I will try my best to explain the combat, as it's really hard to explain if you haven't played the game really. It's put to effect a LOT better than I could ever state it and I am sure someone else has put it much better as well, but for now this is the best way I can describe it.. So don't flame me if you don't comprehend.

First, the combat is different from any MMO out there so far, at least from my experience. The game utilizes a similar system to AoC, only a lot more in depth and it's pulled off really nicely. Basically, every attack you use is a part of a combo, and you've got tons of possible choices to go from. The only thing is, your choice will depend the direction or outcome of the fight. For example, you can choose attacks which help you protect or defend yourself, offensive attacks, item use, etc. Depending on several circumstances in your battles, each of these choices can be the correct or incorrect one to use in your chain. They can end the fight early, or drag it on, or even kill you. What I mean by this is that, say you run into FUZZY RABBIT while out on your questing... You engage it in battle, smash it's face in and move on to the next FUZZY RABBIT. Now, at this point in most MMO's, you can just continue the grind without any change in your rotation of attacks until you either run out of MP or HP and then rest, rinse and repeat. In Aion things are a bit different. Even though you're fighting the same mob, that mob could use an attack which affects you differently than the last fight, and it's now up to you to decide in your chain of attacks which one is better suited to THIS fight, even though it's the same animal.

I hope that kinda makes a bit of sense.

The graphics. The game looks gorgeous. I know graphics do not make a game, gameplay does, especially in MMO's and RPG's, but you can't deny that they have somewhat of an effect. If not for you at least for some people out there, so you have to take that into account at least somewhat. Anyways, the graphics aren't the most OMGAMAZING thing you'll ever see by a long shot but as for currently released MMO's it's the best looking game hands down. You can definitely see the asian influence on the game, I for one, like it. What's more, the game performs amazingly for the graphical fidelity it puts out. I've seen it running on a really low-end system with little to no lag even in a home city. It really scales nicely, and it uses a heavily modified version of the FarCry engine (Cry Engine 1 I believe).

The community. Surely as you're all familiar with online communities, the more people there are the worse they get. WoW is a prime example of this. Compare the community of Vanilla WoW to the current community and you'll know exactly what I mean. Larger communities tend to attract a lot of idiots but this one so far only has a few. I am sure that number will grow once the game is released but for now it's a very welcoming and helpful one and the Devs are more than grateful towards the community.

The difficulty. This is something that I absolutely love about this game. As I said before, WoW is way too ezmode nowadays. Everything is handed to you and it's kinda made the game not really worth playing. There is no sense of accomplishment to anything anymore, no real reason to get that crazy weapon or armor, no real reason to have the top Tier set if not only to have the top tier set along with most of your server. Nobody can say, "I am the only one who has this" or "It took me a HUGE quest line chain days long to get to this point". People who have played Everquest 1 or 2 will know exactly what I mean (Armor quest line anybody?). This game is HARD. It's not for the casual or unfamiliar player. I think this is a good thing because it will drive a lot of the WoW kiddies away from the game that want something really easy and this is not the case. You have to plan your pulls out before you even make them, and one extra mob, literally, can and will in most cases destroy a group.

The customization. The amount of possible customizations in the game are incredible. This extends a lot farther from the character creation screen. You can dye and change your armor at later points in the game, specific pieces or as a whole. Your legion (this game's version of guilds) gets its own custom designed banner rather than a shirt, which you can wear on your shoulder's as a flag for people to see. Player housing is supposed to make a return at some point as well. Legion housing is going in at the same point I've heard.

The grind. This game is a long time investment. Don't think you're getting to max level in a week or even two. It's not a horrible grind, at least not yet. But I can't guarantee that it doesn't turn into that in the later levels, as I've only tried so far up to level 20. I like it actually. There is more than enough to do though (quest wise and etc), so you aren't killing the same mobs in the same area for hours on end.

YOU CAN TURN INTO A RAID BOSS. Yes. I'm not 100% sure how this works but it has been confirmed by the devs. Basically, after someone has acquired enough ranks in the pvp system they have the option to turn themselves into an uber powerful raid boss which the other players can raid. Which sounds balls out insane.

END WALL O TEXT


I could go on and on about this game but I am sure you don't want to read a longer Wall O Text than this. If you want more info http://aionsource.com has tons. The game is moving to Open Beta soon so you can try it out to see for yourself. Some of you may not like it, some of you may. I just thought some people would like to know a bit about the game first. Enjoy.

Also, please note that although I compared the game to WoW a lot that does not mean I am bashing the game. I love WoW still and have loved it since it came out, but after this many years of playing it's time to move on, especially to something a little more rewarding and difficult. The problem was that no MMO was enough to keep me involved like WoW did, until now. Also, this is not meant to be a "You buy this game or you're dumb" thread. There are sure to be some differing opinions, I find that MMO players are the pickiest of all gamers, probably rightfully so since there are so many things that can be ****ed up, even small ones which would ruin a game in the genre entirely.

My friend plays this game and is obsessed with it.

The $15 fee is a turnoff without some sort of trial though. Hopefully they'll do something like Eve and make a 15 day trial period.

Aiot mitä?

Most recent MMORPGS do a 14-day trial eventually, just not off the bat. They don't want to jeopardize the first week and first month sales with people going "oh I'll first try it out". While sure they lose some potential costumers, the sheer number of people out there famished for a good MMO usually gobble the hype and throw themselves at promising new products blindly. Thus no risk of a buggy launch tempering the sales.

First off I'll say this, I play Aion and I love it. But really, a lot of Tempermental's post makes no sense.



That made no sense whatsoever.

A. Most monsters of the same type and level reuse their attacks, they have a very limited set of skills.
B. I rarely if ever need to change up combos, and typically run from one mob to the next without so much as giving it a second thought.
C. The only real limiting factor to choice of combos is if your reset timer hasn't finished yet.
D. There aren't that many combos especially for many classes, like Clerics.



This is true. The game is beautiful, scales amazingly well (runs on my MacBook at high settings!).



This will change once it comes out of beta.



There are a lot of quests to be done, and it is the fastest way to level up, but it's hardly difficult. Most monsters and quests can be soloed all the way up to level 20 (the farthest I got in the game thus far), the only exceptions being a few storyline quests in one particular area.



I've yet to see any way to customize the legion banners, where did you see that?

That said, the customization in general is amazing. If you like the kind of customization you get from games like Oblivion, you will not be disappointed.



In general, if you really push the quests, you shouldn't need to grind more than a level or so.

That said, the game does not require the kind of time investment mentioned. Yes, leveling is slow, but you don't need to spend hours focusing on building parties and such, like some MMO's (Looking at you, FF11). If I was unable to pick up the game and play for an hour, then quit, feeling I had made progress, then I wouldn't play the game.



Maybe, but getting to that final level requires a ridiculous amount of work.

I've been in the closed beta too and I gotta agree this game has got my attention.

Some things you havent mentioned:

The good
- I'm rather surprised in that impressively sized wall o' text you didnt mention Aion's #1 gimmick anywhere: Flying. For the uninitiated at level 10 (bout 5-6 hours into the game) you get your very own set of wings which serve not only as a quasi-mount to get from place to place but also a very active part of the gameplay. Many quest objectives and even fights themselves occur up in the sky.
- The graphics are very, very good. Ok you mentioned this but I think they're worth mentioning again.
- Attacks are chunky and satisfying. I rolled a Gladiator second time through and I dont think I'll ever tire of watching him slice and dice and string attacks together. He does more spins and twirls than a ballerina in a washing machine, it's great.
- The default interface is probably the best I've ever seen in an MMO. It's intuitive and easy to use and offers up many of the add-ins I had running for WoW as standard.
- No grinding. Yes heaps of the quests are 'go here kill x of these', but at least after x you get giving something else to do. This probably seems standard to most WoW players but for just about every other MMO out there you get to a point where you run out of quests and end up killing the same things endlessly trying to reach the next level. Allegedly this doesnt happen in Aion.
- Class balance seems surprisingly good. The classes are very defined (if not a little predictable) and everyone has something to bring to the table. I could be really, really wrong about this but I dont think finding a group will be hard no matter what class you play.


The bad
- 'You cannot fly here'. Flying is awesome fun but for balance, pacing, laziness, whatever the hell else the devs decided that in far too many of the areas you cant fly. There arent any mounts per se so flying is the main way you get around quickly. When you cant fly you end up having to run everywhere which gets very tiresome very quickly. You cant even fly in the capital cities which in my view verges on criminal. The capital cities are huuuuuge too (like IF + SW + Dala all in one place, seriously), so not being able to get around quickly is very frustrating.
- The whole Asian-styled cutsie thing Aion has going on. The look of the game genuinely polarises me. I love my Gladiator's armor and his giant shiny ****-off sword, but every single female character in the game looks like they're copied from the side of a 15-year old Japanese schoolboy's lunch box. Urrrrrrrgh.
- Dont roll a Ranger unless you like kiting. A lot. Every single fight, in fact. I learnt that the hard way. Apparently kiting is the correct and accepted basic strategy for Aion's official ranged class, the Ranger. Lame.

CM, I am basing the grinding aspect of the game off of what I've heard reported on other sites and people involved in the beta (forums and such). Apparently once you hit level 25, the game turns into a grind. A few places have said it involved approximately 12 hours on the average per level from 30-35 onward or something to that degree. Mmorpg.com had something on it a few weeks back.



How many classes have you played? I've heard from my friend who's a Glad that's how it sorta works with his class, and my assassin had different options to go through. Not many at lower levels, but they were there. Some were stuns, some were powerups for me, while others were defensive moves. I would do my main attack, and then along the combo line I could choose any one of these to use in succession.



I have read several places where they say this game gets incredibly difficult later on, especially in the raid zones. Killing bunnies is hardly difficult.



I believe a dev said on the forums somewhere they were putting it into the game @ launch. The beta is the 1.1 version, the launch version will be 1.5. Apparently a lot of changes will be implemented into that one, being some bigger additions to the customization system.



As I stated, I believe it has been said that after 25 it turns into a grindy game. My friends who were level 24 said that around level's 22-23 they ran out of quests to do, maybe having one or two here and there and had to grind out for a little bit to level and be able to get some new quest's. A developer also said in a response to the FAQ on the aion website that the game will require a grind invested into it at certain points. They said there will be just enough quests to help you level but here and there you will have to grind out a few as well.

I think a lot of what's been said has to be involved with the hype machine, and of course there are some incorrect statements to be expected.



This is what I meant when I said the game was difficult as well. It will actually give satisfaction to the player after achieving that status. I didn't just mean the mobs will make you tear your brain out. It's not easy to attain things either.

So basically you don't know, you are just guessing on what everyone else said

Anyway, the game IS fun. I despised WoW, but Aion is far more fun to play even in short bursts.

It sounds really interesting but I'm beyond sick of fantasy MMO's. I'm kind of looking forward to Champions Online and later on Old Republic

It's all the information we've got, regardless of if it's incorrect or not. It's not like there are two different stories and I'm picking which one to put out there for people to read

Lots of really interesting videos on the youtube channel. This game looks promising.

http://www.youtube.com/user/aionus



Also, there is a private server being constructed currently.

About the grind..

Someone on the AION forums actually calculated it all out, here you go CM (NOT MY WORK):



He goes on a little bit more with calculations and such and a little more in-depth on some things, but here's his conclusion:

Why are there big giant Wall O text references all over the place? The OP is so ugly it hurts to try to read the damn thing.

Because people are so stupid they will read a topic that says "Wall O Text" in the title, followed by other warnings that a Wall O text is coming, then complain that there is a Wall O text.

I didn't know separated paragraphs were so difficult on the eyes and to read. Are you wearing your glasses/contacts?

It's the big giant, distracting words you decided to wrap it in. Seems so melodramatic. Kind of like complaining that a post is too long.

Personally, I've never seen this "Wall O Text" thing until this thread.

Tempermental: if that is the case, that's actually pretty quick. FFXI can take you a day or more just to level once in the 10-20 range. Forget about anything above 20 :p

Yeah, FFXI was a grindy game that's for certain. I like it though, as long as it's not a case of going to a certain area and just killing the same mobs over and over until all the way up. Vanguard got like that when it first came out around level 40-44'ish. You literally had zero quests to do and you had to go to any area and camp the same mobs over and over and over again. At least this game has some variety where you can choose to PVP (apparently you even get some sort of XP for that I believe), Craft, Dungeon's, Grind the same mobs, or other things.

Oh I agree. If it was FFXI I'd be finding someone to sell my copy to.

What I like about Aion vs. FFXI is that in FFXI you feel so incredibly ineffectual and weak to most monsters. Most of the time, even when soloing, it's difficult for you to chain more than a couple monsters. Each fight is as if it is your last. It's stressful.

In Aion you feel a lot stronger, and you can move through enemies faster. It makes the sense of accomplishment greater.

Have either of you tried Sword of the New World?

It has multiple character control, so you can control up to three characters at once, and use all their skills simultaneously. MVPing aside, you can solo through the entire game taking out mob after mob.

Just reminded me of that game is all.