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My review after a day of play (9-22-10)
zeroangel66
Member Posts: 13
Well, I will start off by saying that I have played EQ, EQ2, DAoC, AO, WoW, WAR, AoC, SWG,and just about every other mmo that has came out worth looking at. I have been on the fence about playing Aion since its' release. Reason being is that I have been so disapointed with the recent titles that had so much hype but let me down. I liked WAR for the first few levels (i think mainly just because it was something new and a different play style then WoW) but let's all be honest... it was a pridy terrible game when you step back and look at it.
EQ was my first MMO and i still think it was the best. WoW has consumed me for almost as long as EQ did. So that was a lil info on my gaming history so you can get an idea of the kinda of gamer I am to see if my review will appeal to you. On with the review now--
First thing that impressed me was the character select. There is great custimization here that I think is great. Only con being there are only 2 races to pick from but I think they help make up for it by having so many options and custimization. The overall character look is very asian/demonic look to me.
I dont know what some of the people are talking about when they say it looks emo..lol, i have yet see a character cut itself on screen. Not to say that you cant make a Justin Beiber looking avatar though... So they got the character creation down imo and now on to classes... I wish they had a few more classes but I say that with every game since i started in games like EQ wich had a huge selection.
The characters they have are great though. I like how they have your 4 bread and butter classes to choose from then specialize in later at lvl 10. This is sort of a waste of time in my opinion because if you decide to play an Templar and get to say 15 or so and then decide you want to see what a Glad is like...you have to relevel 1-10 the same exact way you just did for the templar. Not to mention that the 1-10 place is the same for every single character class.
Just seems sort of boring to me (someone who likes to try out most of the classe). But dont get me wrong, I like the classes and the system they have, I just wish they could have a different starting area or not have to wait till 10 to choose your main class type (one or the other would be great). The gameplay was suprisingly great.
I was so reliefed to log in and have such smooth game play. It had the same smoothness that WoW has imo. Was very easy to manuver and fight. The combat is great imo and inst too overly complicated and the chain moves keep it a little more interesting. Its a very flashy combat system where the moves look great imo. One thing that was a great surprise was the combat music.. Holy crap i didnt want to stop killing sh*t. (I was asmo btw) It was like a metal techno thing or something but it made me want to go kill stuff until nothing was left lol.
That smoothness along with great music realy started pulling me in. Everything else about the game seems great so far too. I wish it was a little more opened up (sandboxy feel) instead of on a quest led course but that's just what most mmos are doing these days and I can live with it. Ive only played to lvl 14 on a sorc, and 10 on a ranger so i havnt got to the pvp or end game and I am curious to see whats in store for me.
Only technical problems I have had are crashing in major citys and upon inspecting other peoples gear... my FPS will stay between 40-120 depending where im at in game but for some reason will crash when i do either of those 2 things. Overall I think this game was well worth my purchase and time. Im happy with it and way more impressed with it versus any other game that I have tried to get me out of the WoW cycle.
I recomend picking it up if you are wanting something new to play. It is very playable and fun so far. Might not have been at its release but I got in on this new expansion and it looks like they are doing things right. --(edit)-- for some reason it is posted correctly on my preview screen with proper spacing and paragraphs but when i post it doesnt stay that way...sigh....
"B"
Games played- eq, eq2, ao, L2, eve, swg, dndo, war, wow, coh, cov, ac, ac2, mo, (just about all of em)
Comments
Oh boy
You haven't reached the grind yet.
(Atleast when I played the Grind begins in 25)
"It has potential"
-Second most used phrase on existence
"It sucks"
-Most used phrase on existence
Enter key is your friend. Other than that, good job.
(Ignoring formatting) Fairly nice review that is consistent with my experience when I played (at NA startup). Pretty good character customization given only 2 races, beautiful world, very nice combat graphics / animations, and the attack chains were a nice change of pace.
Issues I experienced leveling beyond the teens were PvP itself (it you weren't in the cutting edge group, prepare to get stomped quickly on a fairly regular basis by higher level, better geared toons), and just the general grind aspect. Your experience in the 1-10 level (same starting zone with the same quests) are true at pretty much all levels when I played...there just wasn't much quest content beyond what it would take to level you, so you'll end up going to the same zones at the same levels if you are quest leveling.
"B"
Games played- eq, eq2, ao, L2, eve, swg, dndo, war, wow, coh, cov, ac, ac2, mo, (just about all of em)
I honestly liked Aion, until the late 30s to early 40s. Then I hit the grind wall, and the open world pvp left me dead frequently. I would be interested in hearing your review once you hit 42ish.
First of all: You keyboard has a button marked "enter", use it more.
Secondly, first impressions are important but they are kinda useless for a review. Almost every single MMO is fun for the first day. Aions problem is the grind after a while, not the noob experience.
So get back to us in a few weeks with a new review.
Good Lord, friend!
I'm sorry, but I cannot read your wall of text!
I'm going to save some time and make Loke's words my own.
It would be interesting to hear from you in 2-3 weeks time
Cheers,
V
I've recently started playing again also. If I run ICC again I swear I'll kill myself.
Anyways....
Since patch 2.0 came out, I'm really enjoying it. Especially since they greatly increased the amount of exp and money quests give you. It's so much easier to afford materials that help game play like food, potions, etc. I'm really having a good time now because of it. I first played Aion at release, got into the 20's and quit because of the grind. I've got 3 toons into the 20's again and I'm definetly not running out of quests.
also the new solo instances are really fun. this patch they fixed alot the ganking that was happening and added alot of PvE stuff.
I do not want to sound like I'm trying to sell the game, but since this patch it's deffinetly worth trying it out again. Keep in mind I'm only into the 20's and I'm showing no signs of slowing down.
"Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it."
I am always curious what games people have played and are used to, when I see such things.
The game is pretty easy to level in. I was about lvl 32 in 2 and a half days (granted, while playing a little hardcore). Got it to 36, deleted it and got another character to 46 in about 2 or 3 weeks.
If anything, the only "grind" I might see could be getting some of the higher level gear that requiare abyss points. Obviously I didn't get that far.
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
"B"
Games played- eq, eq2, ao, L2, eve, swg, dndo, war, wow, coh, cov, ac, ac2, mo, (just about all of em)
I like Aion, I just can't stand the RNG based PVP. For example, when they include a weapon encant (Godstone) that can one shot players, balanced gameplay is just never going to happen. Server balance is still borked beyond repair, but that's not something that's easily fixed. The PVE took a big step in the right direction with their latest x-pac, so that's good. It's a pretty game, but it's extremely linear, and I often feel it's just one coridoor after another. The world design just doesn't do it for me.
Fixed it for you.
I took the liberty to use my Enter key in your text.
To the OP. How was the population of the starter areas? God help me, but I'm thinking about coming back myself. Maybe just to pass the time to something new comes out. But I really don't want to play if I can't get any dungeon groups and the like.
The OP's first MMO, was EQ (same as myself). Since, it is quite obvious you came on the scene much later, I should let you know that the grind in AION wont scare him (not even a little).
As long as we are on the topic of grind, after 10 years of playing MMOs I have yet to meet one that doesnt have a grind. If you know an MMO, without one, please share it with the rest of us.......
you wont have a problem with finding groups at any level.
"B"
Games played- eq, eq2, ao, L2, eve, swg, dndo, war, wow, coh, cov, ac, ac2, mo, (just about all of em)
"B"
Games played- eq, eq2, ao, L2, eve, swg, dndo, war, wow, coh, cov, ac, ac2, mo, (just about all of em)
I played it during release and I believe the only reason I stopped playing was because something else was released. I really liked the game and I think I may re-sub for a while. Call me crazy, but I love grinds. I mean, I enjoy just putting on some good music and just running around killing shit on a game with flashy combat. It's a lot more fun to me to just kill stuff than go and collect 5 eggs here and 12 feathers there or escort this person to this place.
Thanks for the quick review.
My wife and I just started Elyos on EU-Perento and the newbie areas are full of people, not much chatting due to lack of channels before level 10 but some random buffs from strangers and in general a nice experience. There is a ton of people in Sanctum too, a lot of groups LFM in the chat channels otherwise a bit quiet compared to the channels on Antonia Bayle in EQ2 (that we played before). So far so good we are having fun and we have to see how long it lasts. I like the fact that mobs are harder and that you at least have to think before chainpulling when you solo. At the moment our duo is doing well, will be interesting to see what happens when we pass 25.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
Aion is a very good and very pretty mmo. it has a lot of things going for it including a very distinctive flying combat which can be a ton of fun withe the right class. awesome combat animation. awesome graphics. very colorfull "acid trip" world.
here is what is not so nice.
the grind.
yes all lower levels are very fast and fun. you really dont start noticing the grind untill level 35 and up. then levelling it's extremely slow to the point were you only want to log on on double xp weekends.grinding is usually done by either running the same dungeons 1000 times or killing mobs for hours and hours and hours.
unfortunately the grind doesn't stop with levelling, you also have to grind for kinak, Abyss points (once you start thinking about Abyss gear) and random drops which are basicly the end game content. you need loads of kinak to buy all the stigmas, gems, enchants, potions, scrolls, etc for each character. you need load of Abyss points for Abyss gear. and the dungoen drop rates are .00001% or something like that. once you get close to end game content you are basicly forced to grind all the above if you want to stay competitive since pvp is extremely gear based and the best gear is Abyss gear.
in Aion the one who grinds the most wins.
the other thing i didn't really like was the linear feel to all the zones. it never really feels like a world, but more like a rat lab. even then the grind is what eventually turned me of this game at arround level 45. i still consider it a good mmo, definately in the top 5 for me but just not my cup of grind.
To all those complaining about the grind have you even tried the game since patch 2.0? As they increased the Exp rewards etc from all the quests by quite a substantial amount. I've heard alot of positive comments from those who previously left solely because of the grind who have returned with 2.0.
Drop rates have been greatly increased. Proc rates have been increased. Kinah from mobs and quests has been increased. Exp from mobs and quests has been increased. The leveling curve has been smoothed out making it more consistent from level to level. More quests have been added. More repeatable quests have been added. Some solo alternative quests have been added to make it so people don't get stuck on campaign quests for lack of a group. coin quests give more coins. coin rewards can be picked from a list rather than being random. 2 solo instances have been added for about lvl 20 and lvl 40. Lots of ui changes. Arms fusion and other features added. Quest markers for all available quests at your level can be seen on the map for the whole zone making finding quests very easy. Ganking from rifters in the questing zones is virtually gone.
The game is greatly improved but not essentially changed. If you liked the game but simply got frustrated with it then you will like the changes. If you thought that the game was essentially broken in its design then you will continue to be disappointed It still takes some time to level up. The zones are still linear and if you run an alt on the same side you will do pretty much the same quests. The crafting system is still based off procs to get the best items. Getting the best gear at end game still involves grinding and getting lucky on procs. If you absolutely cannot stand the way that things depend heavily on random numbers then yes, you will never like Aion or probably any other korean game. I also find that one aspect of the game's design to be frustrating. But they have taken much of the edge off that knife, it is not nearly as bad as it once was and I have decided that I can live with that one annoying design philosophy for as much as I enjoy the rest of the game's design which includes flying, combat mechanics, class design, pvpve design and of course how everything looks. You, however, will have to decide that question for yourself.
All die, so die well.
A fair and accurate review of the lower levels. Aion is a good game and im playing my lvl 52 Sin until a better game comes along.
you had me at hit the enter key, no need to read more.
Aion is a great game, now if only they would give me my account back ...
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"