AION - could become great?

airrunner

airrunner

airrunner

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So guys aion has been out since sept and im curious what everyones thoughts are? i know there has been botting issues & the grind is a bit of a killer too. But do you think this game has got potential? i know ncsoft is apparently preparing to bring some juicy patches for the game.

I am just pondering on whether i should purchase it now as i have had enough of wow.
 
Also is there a predicted date of when this next patch of aion will be released? i have heard it's going to have ground mounts etc..
 
i dont really see how the game can recover from bein BAD, its not likes it is a brilliant game hiding behind a wall of bugs, (AoC, Vanguard) its virtually bug free, its just a bad game.
 
Redman said:
The next one is always the one to watch for ;)
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Been telling myself that for years now, i'm still "watching out" :(

This coming year does have a few that seem promising but i'm not getting my hopes up anymore, even for FFIV or TOR. Nothing seems to be able to hold me more than 6 months at a push over the past few years.
 
I dont think it will ever become a "great" within the western market. As there is far too much to the design that western players simply dont "like". (funnily enough, if UO was released today it would also likely be shunned by players because its design has too many features that players dont "like"...despite it being by far the best MMO I have ever played).

It could be a "great" title in the west if it was changed enough to be like other recent MMOs, but it would need to vastly change from its origins in order to achieve that. Worse still, if it did decide to do that, it would merely end up being like so many other MMOs already out that it would lose its identity and individuality in the market anyway.

I'm happy with it as it is and the video showing future plans looks like it will enhance it further for me. As I said before it was released though, a lot of people wont "like" it and I dont think there is much they can do about that without throwing away the very things which set it apart from the usual "modern" MMOs. Which imo, would be a bad thing to do.
 
Tombstone said:
I dont think it will ever become a "great" within the western market. As there is far too much to the design that western players simply dont "like". (funnily enough, if UO was released today it would also likely be shunned by players because its design has too many features that players dont "like"...despite it being by far the best MMO I have ever played).

It could be a "great" title in the west if it was changed enough to be like other recent MMOs, but it would need to vastly change from its origins in order to achieve that. Worse still, if it did decide to do that, it would merely end up being like so many other MMOs already out that it would lose its identity and individuality in the market anyway.

I'm happy with it as it is and the video showing future plans looks like it will enhance it further for me. As I said before it was released though, a lot of people wont "like" it and I dont think there is much they can do about that without throwing away the very things which set it apart from the usual "modern" MMOs. Which imo, would be a bad thing to do.
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A long slow and meaningless grind? And dont tell me all mmos have a grind, some make an attempt to hide it, look at lotro from a brilliant example of that, the game is just as much about the journey as the destination, aion is just a wasteland with nothing to do but grind until you hit, something not many will do as a result. Even Wow has a decent number of short term objectives as you level up, aion has next to none.
 
Oizu said:
A long slow and meaningless grind? And dont tell me all mmos have a grind, some make an attempt to hide it, look at lotro from a brilliant example of that, the game is just as much about the journey as the destination, aion is just a wasteland with nothing to do but grind until you hit, something not many will do as a result. Even Wow has a decent number of short term objectives as you level up, aion has next to none.
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Its all a matter of personal taste, if you cant see that some people will like something which you dont, then there isnt much I can say to you.

Like I say, if they released UO now (despite it being the greatest MMO ever imo and many others opinions), it wouldnt be much of a success because the MMO userbase has changed over the last 13 years so today a lot of MMO players wouldnt like it.

I enjoy Aion as it is at the moment and am looking forward to future additions. Like I say and have said all along though, not everyone will.
 
Tombstone said:
Its all a matter of personal taste, if you cant see that some people will like something which you dont, then there isnt much I can say to you.

Like I say, if they released UO now (despite it being the greatest MMO ever imo and many others opinions), it wouldnt be much of a success because the MMO userbase has changed over the last 13 years so today a lot of MMO players wouldnt like it.

I enjoy Aion as it is at the moment and am looking forward to future additions. Like I say and have said all along though, not everyone will.
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Im aware of that, what your saying though is that if they removed the grind they would remove the games personality and individuality. However, the grind is what is holding the game back and while it may be a part of its identity, i would hope the devs set out to make more than a grind because the game has got an endgame including a decent pvp system and removing the grind might change the games identity, but only in a positive way. Right now to enjoy the game you have to be tolerant to pretty open pvp (but still softcore) and a long unrewarding grind. Remove the grind and theres only one thing you need to be tolerant to. As it happens i was looking forward to trying out the pvp but i gave up on the game around level 30 and all i faced was pretty much 20 levels of grinding.
 
Oizu said:
Im aware of that, what your saying though is that if they removed the grind they would remove the games personality and individuality. However, the grind is what is holding the game back and while it may be a part of its identity, i would hope the devs set out to make more than a grind because the game has got an endgame including a decent pvp system and removing the grind might change the games identity, but only in a positive way. Right now to enjoy the game you have to be tolerant to pretty open pvp (but still softcore) and a long unrewarding grind. Remove the grind and theres only one thing you need to be tolerant to. As it happens i was looking forward to trying out the pvp but i gave up on the game around level 30 and all i faced was pretty much 20 levels of grinding.
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The gist of what I was saying wasnt grind related, the so-called "grind" (which is far less of a grind than was present in the golden age (imo) of MMOs anyway) is merely one factor in why western audiences dont like the game. There are others, like the open pvp, like the fact that someone 20 levels above you can kill you, like the visual style...these are all factors which generally speaking the western market doesnt like. (there are others too of course)

My point was that in order to make it a great success in the western market, they would need to change it to reflect the more mainstream western MMOs. By doing that they end up with yet another clone of whats currently existing which imo is a bad thing, the market needs more variety, more choice and more styles, not repeated hashes of the same formula. Its one of the reasons I wish that more people had got to experience the prime of UO, it might have made MMOs go in a different direction and make people realise that other ways of playing MMOs can be a lot of fun. These days, people would look at UO and say..what?? Not a single quest !?? What the hell am I supposed to do !? (amongst other things)

I'm happy with Aion as is, as are many (I would hope virtually all) of the people playing it currently. I dont ask for it to be changed, just as I dont ask WoW to be changed to suit me, more variety, styles and choice in the market the better in my opinion.
 
The amusing thing is that NCSoft touted the western release as being "changed" for the western market. I'm sure you all remember? I read the info, i read the touted information for our release. Then i played the beta, it hadn't changed other than localisation.

One of the biggest things they kept spouting during the lead up was that it was being changed for the western market.

Mm Hmm.
 
I like it so far, 22 at the moment and still waiting for the fabled grind to hit. I find the art style a bit refreshing to be honest, after the constant parade of orcs and elves copycat games we get in the west.

My opinion might change hugely once the PvP kicks in and the quests dry up, but we'll see :D
 
the thing is Aion cant win, there are the usual bunch who complain about the grind because they cant hit max level in a week, then there are those who have raced to lvl 50 and now complain they have nothing to do !! it happens in most MMo's ... yes I know who saw that coming ?? :eek:

the simple fact is that the game is already great and its only 3 months old, with future updates and possible extra content it can only get better.
 
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