Keep reading arguments in favor of this game on this site all the time, and the videos I have watched make me think it's a game to look forward too. Anyhow if popularity and curiosity in the game community can be measered through unique hits on MMORPG.com Aion is seen as just another average game. It is not able to break from the pack like WAR and AoC and is occasionally beaten by those who have been round for a while like LotRo. So what's wrong? Any bad rumours or just bad marketing in the West? Like East and West shall never meet, is also true in the world of online gaming. Just a thought.

Is not as close to its release as AoC was and now WAR is, it doesn't pull fans by a big name behind the title (Conan and Warhammer pull fans over just cause of the name) and there isn't continous trolling on these forums, so yeah, hits are affected due to that.

The real marketing hasn't started, it will be starting closer to the release, but I've seen how, after releasing the old class videos, Aion became the most popular in the list for an entire week. People are going to hear more and more about it once its beta hits EU/NA, later this year ;)

Although popularity and curiosity levels are legitimate concerns for Aion, having a high hit count in secondary locations such as MMORPG.com is not necessarily beneficial at a pre-marketing stage of the release schedule that Aion is in. High hit counts can indicate an abundance of (possibly bad) rumors or over-speculation (thus over-hype) from players before actual release of information. Low hit counts will be problematic if Aion has already carried out aggressive marketing plans. The level of hits at this time is acceptable - it is natural for AoC and WAR to have more hits at times within their PR (community and marketing) push.

The choice of timing may be part of Aion's marketing strategy because it is almost impossible to sustain a competitive level of promotion for a year against the efforts of AoC/WAR/WoW:WotLK without over-spending or spoiling the game before its release. If emphasis is placed on efficiency, allowing full promotion to start when the game is "finalized" is probably the best choice. My best guess would be once officially translated information becomes widely available, which should happen after closed beta is over for Korea.

It may be disasterous for Aion to step into the online gaming forum spotlight before it is finalized and ready for full exhibition - like other titles close to release, Aion will become subject to much higher volumes of doomspeak, troll scrutiny, or AKG branding. Until then, allowing information to be monitored and fed within a smaller but more enthusiastic audience (like AionSource) encourages establishment of a stronger supporting community for Aion to start its promotions with. This way, a title can have more advocates like Ephimero to speak up when the time comes for Aion to face the rest of MMORPG players. :)

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Originally posted by FTPMMO
Keep reading arguments in favor of this game on this site all the time, and the videos I have watched make me think it's a game to look forward too. Anyhow if popularity and curiosity in the game community can be measered through unique hits on MMORPG.com Aion is seen as just another average game. It is not able to break from the pack like WAR and AoC and is occasionally beaten by those who have been round for a while like LotRo. So what's wrong? Any bad rumours or just bad marketing in the West? Like East and West shall never meet, is also true in the world of online gaming. Just a thought.

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I wouldn't put any stock in MMORPG.com's hit counts or polling data. Alot of times fanbois or haters will rank a game up or down with multiple accounts. In the end the true measure of success will be subscription numbers after 1 or 2 months of launch. Retention of subscribers matters more then even how many boxes you sold.

Originally posted by curiindi

Although popularity and curiosity levels are legitimate concerns for Aion, having a high hit count in secondary locations such as MMORPG.com is not necessarily beneficial at a pre-marketing stage of the release schedule that Aion is in. High hit counts can indicate an abundance of (possibly bad) rumors or over-speculation (thus over-hype) from players before actual release of information. Low hit counts will be problematic if Aion has already carried out aggressive marketing plans. The level of hits at this time is acceptable - it is natural for AoC and WAR to have more hits at times within their PR (community and marketing) push.

The choice of timing may be part of Aion's marketing strategy because it is almost impossible to sustain a competitive level of promotion for a year against the efforts of AoC/WAR/WoW:WotLK without over-spending or spoiling the game before its release. If emphasis is placed on efficiency, allowing full promotion to start when the game is "finalized" is probably the best choice. My best guess would be once officially translated information becomes widely available, which should happen after closed beta is over for Korea.

It may be disasterous for Aion to step into the online gaming forum spotlight before it is finalized and ready for full exhibition - like other titles close to release, Aion will become subject to much higher volumes of doomspeak, troll scrutiny, or AKG branding. Until then, allowing information to be monitored and fed within a smaller but more enthusiastic audience (like AionSource) encourages establishment of a stronger supporting community for Aion to start its promotions with. This way, a title can have more advocates like Ephimero to speak up when the time comes for Aion to face the rest of MMORPG players. :)

I like the way you think. ;)

Well I am person who is actually in an organization called the PAG, People Against Gaming.

And with our economy in such an uproar I am asking everyone who is involved in an MMO or gaming online to stop paying for their internet connection and instead take up bicycling.

No one knows how important bicycling is and how much better your legs will feel instead of playing games like Aion and World Of Warcraft.  Or even Fallout 3 for that matter.

So go and cancel your internet right now and go to your window, stick your head out, and yell, "I'm mad as Hell and am not allow to kill people like in video games!".  And then take up bicycling.

You'll feel better for it.

J/K  Aion looks good, nothing seems a matter with it.

      All I have to base my opinions on Aion are from vids on Youtube.......my first impression of the game is that it looks like a korean WoW clone to me.......The combat looks dull and I dont see anything new just a rehashing of the same thing we have seen for years....... It looks like Korean characters in a WoW setting......

Should read some of the reviews of people who have actually played the game. It is most certainly not a WOW clone. Just the fact that it has a real death penalty alone sets it apart.  I have actually played it and loved every minute of it and I am not a big WOW fan. While it is still to early to say for certain whether or not this game will be good enough to hold me longer than any of the other recent MMO's it certailny felt different playing it  and I will be giving it a go when it goes live.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Aion. It's a matter of whether or not a person's head is working properly.

No, seriously, the biggest problem with Aion is it has too many hurdles to overcome:

The fact that this is Korean made, it's automatically dumped into the "Asian" department where the reputation isn't all that great. This will be the first attempt at retribution.

Competition, which goes without saying. Among the 40 million world wide mmo gamers playing hundreds of old and new, why would anyone play this.... ?

Haters will probably continue to be haters.

Advertisement, I agree with curiindi, has zero meaning unless all the facts are layed out flat in full detail, then publicized in epic proportions. People should be drooling when they see that Aion commercial on TV. Word-of-mouth will most likely be the biggest influence over-all.

...

Never-mind. I'm kinda happy with what we got now.

Yeah i'd just say that the fact that Aion is not a already well established name like warhammer, it has attracted less attention. But yeah as mentioned before, there is currently little information comming out about Aion lately (although this should change once the korean open beta starts in october) and there is probably still quite a while before the game is released (atleast until 2009) with no way for anyone outside of korea to try it before then.

Though I wouldn't worry, what Aion lacks in attention will be surely overwhelmed by the quality of the game. After all, the reason why Aion has quite a bit of hype is simply because it looks like a great game, not because it is a brand people know, in which case the games may get very hyped up, but turn out to be average or worse. You just wait and see...