OP sounds like someone who needs to go on a real adventure. I just don't think you are cut out for about 99.9% of mmo's in general, I wish you luck finding that 0.1 that you fit into.

If you hate the idea of the channels at low level, then odds are when you finally find the MMO you truly love with absolutely no instancing. It will have something you never even thought of that absolutely kills it for you besides instancing.

In other words: There is no perfect mmo that completely rubs all the right places for any 1 person. I have never and never will find a mmo that I like every single thing in. Whether I find it to be a big deal or not is a completely different matter.

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Sadly, I was looking forward to playing Aion at release but after I heard about the channel zoning and instancing I instantly became turned off. I find it just totally ruins immersion and the feeling of being in a world, it makes it feel too much like a ""game'' ( Now understand , I'm aware MMORPGS are games but the special thing about them is they make it feel like a world with the world masking the game inside. ) I find it just brings a cheapness and degrades the overall feel of being immersed in a fantasy world.

Those who don't mind, more power to you. I hope you immensely enjoy Aion and find it is the MMORPG for you. But for me, It's another that I'm going to have to cross off my list of future games to play.

its only for the first 20 levels. And i do find it useful. Congested no mobs hard to do quest? Just switch zone, carry on leveling and get out of the newbie levels asap. The experience is DIFFERENT from Age of Conan. You have to try it yrself. Play the game hands on first . This game really rocks.

I can only say you are MISSING ALOT. Aion is a really good game after the endless flops of mmo after WoW success.

Originally posted by Josher

Why are the starter areas so small to need the channels in the first place?  WOW had different starter areas for almost every race which spread people out pretty well.  I was there on day 1 and never recalled waiting in line to kill anything.  WAR didn't have any channels either.  I was there on day 1 also.  Not a problem competing for anything.

If the channels are only needed in the begining, I can overlook it.  Instanced dungeon are expected.  But if the cities are channeled though like GuildWars, see ya.  Like plenty of others, it ruins immersion.  If its not persistent, its not immersive.  There should 1 city and thats it.  If you're by the front gate, then everyone should be by the front gate, not version 12 of it.  Luckily no one mentioned the cities being instanced=)

Selective memory much? I was on both wow and war launch date, if you think that there were mobs to kill without waiting, you're wrong.

Just try the game for free in China or wait for the NA/EU preview event and then deside if you like it or not....Your making a mountain out of a mole hill over this topic.

Originally posted by Kyleran

But maybe, just maybe the game will be fun.

You should not be so quick to cross the game off your list, who knows, it might surprise you.

Don't worry, you don't have to admit it to us here..... 

NO !! NO!!

You are right !! Game is boring and not fun for you. Don't play it - PLEASE !! If you play it, you will get addicted. Im a victim -.-

PS: Nobody would leave trainee island without channeling. There will be like 50 people after 1 mob and it spawns evey min or so - some even longer in different places.

Hmmm... but 'channeling" you have only in lower leves zones where you don't meet an enemy later you have only one channel and you can't swithc instances like in AoC, imo very good idea to lover pressure on starting areas and such.

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Simply put, I'm not going to support and give money to a game that is putting in features that I'm against. I know, I'll probably be stuck playing my JRPGS for the next 10 years before someone makes something that I like ( Thank God for Hironobu Sakaguchi and Tri-Ace. ), but I've accepted that and will patiently wait.

Now I'm not saying Aion is a bad game, on the contrary I think Aion looks like quite an excellent game, but because of these features I will not support it. I will not give my money away to something that I feel kills this genre, and the more money I give into it, the more of these features are going to keep on surviving and making there way into every new mmorpg. So for that reason, I will not be giving my money to support these features.

hmmm let me put it this way. What would you do if you go out and bought a game from the local shop for $15 and didn't like it after playing for a week? You wasted money, time, it was something different - oh well. Move on.

I would ask you to do the EXACT thing here.
Download the game.
Try it for a month.
Move on if you don't like it.

I just cannot give you the experience and feel of instancing in words. All i can say is

                                                        "Don't knock it till you've tried it"

Originally posted by Josher

Why are the starter areas so small to need the channels in the first place?  WOW had different starter areas for almost every race which spread people out pretty well.  I was there on day 1 and never recalled waiting in line to kill anything.  WAR didn't have any channels either.  I was there on day 1 also.  Not a problem competing for anything.

If the channels are only needed in the begining, I can overlook it.  Instanced dungeon are expected.  But if the cities are channeled though like GuildWars, see ya.  Like plenty of others, it ruins immersion.  If its not persistent, its not immersive.  There should 1 city and thats it.  If you're by the front gate, then everyone should be by the front gate, not version 12 of it.  Luckily no one mentioned the cities being instanced=)

The cities aren't channeled, but one thing you need to keep in mind is, WOW and WAR had multiple starting areas, Aion has two. That obviously means the population is going to be wayyyy more dense in those two locations where every playing ingame eventually is at at one point or another, than any game with double (or more, in the case of WOW) the starting areas.

Also, I was there for the WOW and WAR launch and there were no mobs, anywhere. At all. A handful of quests in Durotar that should take no more than 30-45 minutes to finish has the time doubled. Aion, my starter experience was smooth as could be thanks to the channels there. Once the game expands and starts opening up, the players aren't so compacted into one area.

The starter areas in Aion work well, tho. The flow of the gameplay, how it introduces you to the game, it's all nice. And it's not really small, either, especially in comparison to the games you listed.

So from reading through the posts, the game is not instanced? I almost had heart failue, cos i've not read much into it, and i hate a game which is instanced throughout.  Just a little in dungeons is a good thing IMO.

Originally posted by madluke

So from reading through the posts, the game is not instanced? I almost had heart failue, cos i've not read much into it, and i hate a game which is instanced throughout.  Just a little in dungeons is a good thing IMO.

no, only the starter zones (level 1-10) are channeled to avoid crowding.

Originally posted by Electriceye 

I'm going to assume this is true as it really does feel like you are searching for things to hate on the game.

No, I'm really not. I think the character customization is excellent in Aion and the graphics looks quite superb as well.

I might give the game a chance if they have an Open Beta for NA or free trial but I'm not going to buy the box + sub fee just to try it out because I'm already turned off by some of the games features.

If you were to show me a game like this when I was younger I would've for sure bought it at release and have no regrets and probably enjoy it immensely but I've grown to acquire that veteran no-man lands taste for mmorpgs now.

Again , I still think the game looks excellent but I do not want to blindly support features that I am against.

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Originally posted by Electriceye 

I'm going to assume this is true as it really does feel like you are searching for things to hate on the game.

 

No, I'm really not. I think the character customization is excellent in Aion and the graphics looks quite superb as well.

I might give the game a chance if they have an Open Beta for NA or free trial but I'm not going to buy the box + sub fee just to try it out because I'm already turned off by some of the games features.

If you were to show me a game like this when I was younger I would've for sure bought it at release and have no regrets and probably enjoy it immensely but I've grown to acquire that veteran no-man lands taste for mmorpgs now.

Again , I still think the game looks excellent but I do not want to blindly support features that I am against.

You can always try the Japanese OB, If you were that interested.

I think you may have a couple misconceptions though.  As others have stated, the channels are only for the starter areas.  There are 7 channels and they are primarily to prevent the "line up to kill the spawn" that occurred in the starter areas like when WoW first started.  They stop at lvl 20, no more channels.  The Capital Cities have no channels and you WILL see the difference when you go to your first city and get hit by the Lagbus in the forehead.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by madluke

So from reading through the posts, the game is not instanced? ....

 

no, only the starter zones (level 1-10) are channeled to avoid crowding.

Sounds like a good compromise. I'm not as skeptical against zoning as some, but after playing WAR and AoC for a year I'm a little tired of small linear zones. It feels a bit like my character is herded along on some conveyor belt, an assembly line for non-stop leveling as it were.

So how does zoning work in Aion? How large are they, are there lodingscreens between them, and is it possible to move between freely as one goes about exploring?

Originally posted by Karbonoid

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by madluke

So from reading through the posts, the game is not instanced? ....

 

no, only the starter zones (level 1-10) are channeled to avoid crowding.

Sounds like a good compromise. I'm not as skeptical against zoning as some, but after playing WAR and AoC for a year I'm a little tired of small linear zones. It feels a bit like my character is herded along on some conveyor belt, an assembly line for non-stop leveling as it were.

So how does zoning work in Aion? How large are they, are there lodingscreens between them, and is it possible to move between freely as one goes about exploring?

read the posts lazy

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Originally posted by Electriceye 

I'm going to assume this is true as it really does feel like you are searching for things to hate on the game.

 
Again , I still think the game looks excellent but I do not want to blindly support features that I am against.

I'm actually with you on this one.  Instancing is one thing which complete turned me off about Conan,  and is one of the few reasons I eventually left Guildwars for the "world" feeling a real mmo gives.

Vanguard however was completly opposite, no instancing at all!...  lovley seamless free feeling which captured my imagination.  But there was a cost, and this cost eventually destroyed the game (performance and bugs) I still maintain Vanguard is the best MMO out there, unfortunatly it just doesnt have the players and so gets boring.

So, I would say to you mate, there is a balance! in order to get such customisation and amazing graphics, somthing has to give.

Done properly, and so long as the benefits outweigh the negatives, instances can be used to benefit the game.

I wouldnt dismiss it just yet ;-)

Originally posted by Josher

Why are the starter areas so small to need the channels in the first place?  WOW had different starter areas for almost every race which spread people out pretty well.  I was there on day 1 and never recalled waiting in line to kill anything.  WAR didn't have any channels either.  I was there on day 1 also.  Not a problem competing for anything.

If the channels are only needed in the begining, I can overlook it.  Instanced dungeon are expected.  But if the cities are channeled though like GuildWars, see ya.  Like plenty of others, it ruins immersion.  If its not persistent, its not immersive.  There should 1 city and thats it.  If you're by the front gate, then everyone should be by the front gate, not version 12 of it.  Luckily no one mentioned the cities being instanced=)

Not only did you have to wait to kill monsters, you also had to wait in line for 10-20 minutes on average before you could even get into the game.

Originally posted by pb1285n

Not only did you have to wait to kill monsters, you also had to wait in line for 10-20 minutes on average before you could even get into the game.

I've never had to wait, even on the Chinese servers.  Unless your playing on the free server, in which case... well duh, its free!

I'd much rather a queue than getting a "server busy, please try later" message.  Which btw you always get on an mmo thats just released.  (Fury server on AoC was a nightmare)

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Kordesh

 Urg, they're doing the whole instance/channel thing again? This is why I can never get into anything from NCsoft. Immersion is completely ruined and you end up with what amounts to "levels" as opposed to areas in a cohesive world. This is one of the (many) things that killed Tabula Rasa. To this day, I still refuse to acknoweldge Guild Wars as an MMO as the only thing persistant about its world is the character. Is it a solution to lag and server populations? Yes, but it's a cheap and half hearted one. We should be working toward reducing the number of servers, making worlds larger, and reducing the need for zones/instances (outside of times when instances are nessiary such as for dynamic story areas and the like). Instead, the industry seems to be taking a giant leap backwards with chunking up their tiny worlds into as many bits as they can. 

EDIT: And yes, it may be for the first few zones, but how much faith do you have that it won't be expanded on later on especially since this seems par for the course with NCsoft? Whatever, it's not like I planned on getting into this anyway with what it's become.

Complain because you can't see the other 10k people on your server sucking up your resources and complain that the game is laggy with so many people up in your face.  It is a never ending cycle of angry people that don't get their way, and for the first two zones!  Talk about drama queens.

Spot on conclusion.

Another thread created without thinking or knowing the full facts of an MMO the OP has admitted they haven't even played, reminds me when one of my children refuse to eat something they've never tried before, how the hell do you know  you won't like it if you haven't tried it?

Originally posted by qbangy32

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Kordesh

 Urg, they're doing the whole instance/channel thing again? This is why I can never get into anything from NCsoft. Immersion is completely ruined and you end up with what amounts to "levels" as opposed to areas in a cohesive world. This is one of the (many) things that killed Tabula Rasa. To this day, I still refuse to acknoweldge Guild Wars as an MMO as the only thing persistant about its world is the character. Is it a solution to lag and server populations? Yes, but it's a cheap and half hearted one. We should be working toward reducing the number of servers, making worlds larger, and reducing the need for zones/instances (outside of times when instances are nessiary such as for dynamic story areas and the like). Instead, the industry seems to be taking a giant leap backwards with chunking up their tiny worlds into as many bits as they can. 

EDIT: And yes, it may be for the first few zones, but how much faith do you have that it won't be expanded on later on especially since this seems par for the course with NCsoft? Whatever, it's not like I planned on getting into this anyway with what it's become.

Complain because you can't see the other 10k people on your server sucking up your resources and complain that the game is laggy with so many people up in your face.  It is a never ending cycle of angry people that don't get their way, and for the first two zones!  Talk about drama queens.

 

Spot on conclusion.

Another thread created without thinking or knowing the full facts of an MMO the OP has admitted they haven't even played, reminds me when one of my children refuse to eat something they've never tried before, how the hell do you know  you won't like it if you haven't tried it?

 

Uh, actually I have experienced both instancing and channel zoning in other MMO's before so I do know what it is like, and quite frankly I highly dislike it.

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Originally posted by qbangy32

Originally posted by Locklain

Originally posted by Kordesh

 Urg, they're doing the whole instance/channel thing again? This is why I can never get into anything from NCsoft. Immersion is completely ruined and you end up with what amounts to "levels" as opposed to areas in a cohesive world. This is one of the (many) things that killed Tabula Rasa. To this day, I still refuse to acknoweldge Guild Wars as an MMO as the only thing persistant about its world is the character. Is it a solution to lag and server populations? Yes, but it's a cheap and half hearted one. We should be working toward reducing the number of servers, making worlds larger, and reducing the need for zones/instances (outside of times when instances are nessiary such as for dynamic story areas and the like). Instead, the industry seems to be taking a giant leap backwards with chunking up their tiny worlds into as many bits as they can. 

EDIT: And yes, it may be for the first few zones, but how much faith do you have that it won't be expanded on later on especially since this seems par for the course with NCsoft? Whatever, it's not like I planned on getting into this anyway with what it's become.

Complain because you can't see the other 10k people on your server sucking up your resources and complain that the game is laggy with so many people up in your face.  It is a never ending cycle of angry people that don't get their way, and for the first two zones!  Talk about drama queens.

 

Spot on conclusion.

Another thread created without thinking or knowing the full facts of an MMO the OP has admitted they haven't even played, reminds me when one of my children refuse to eat something they've never tried before, how the hell do you know  you won't like it if you haven't tried it?

 

Uh, actually I have experienced both instancing and channel zoning in other MMO's before so I do know what it is like, and quite frankly I highly dislike it.

It's not exactly a bad thing, I can't see how it is. In the first two zones there is no World PvP, so theres no point for the instances to not be there. There won't even be channels a month after release, it's only there to ease people into the game. I joined a new server recently and you wouldn't have thought it was channelled, there just weren't enough mobs.

Now another way you could fix that is having more starting areas and more mobs. However why spend so much time developing areas where you spend only a week maximum in? Especially how much more it would suck when release is over, everyone is at the end game and the starter zone looks empty and barren?

Originally posted by NeverLand7

Uh, actually I have experienced both instancing and channel zoning in other MMO's before so I do know what it is like, and quite frankly I highly dislike it.

Id be interesting in knowing which MMO's you've experienced this in where you disliked it.

The only ones I can think of is Age of Conan, where I completly agree with you.  However, instancing wasnt the only reason AoC sucked, in fact the instancing for Conan was way down on the list of things I disliked about it.

And Guildwars... which, well, by their own admition isnt an MMO. (Competative online roleplaying game) its more likable to an online RPG like playing Diablo, dungeon siege or Titan quest.

So apart from these I cant think of any full-on mmo that was heavily using instance and channeling.

Originally posted by Martie

Originally posted by sadeyx

 

EQ2!!!! 

Yes it is heavily zoned, and instanced.  Loading screens galore.

But was it channeled?   I dont mind an instance so long as the game is good enough, but when its channeled and restricted to 50 people per channel.. that really sux!

And cmon, Everquest is ancient!  I think we can do them the courtesy and acknowledge them as ushering in the MMO genre from which most MMO's are based.  (even tho I didnt really play it much)

game is only channeled 1-20 zones, and you can change channel any time ,,

what would you rather have, ques and lag...or smooth gameplay..hmmmmmm

Originally posted by sadeyx

Originally posted by Martie

Originally posted by sadeyx

 

EQ2!!!! 

Yes it is heavily zoned, and instanced.  Loading screens galore.

 

But was it channeled?   I dont mind an instance so long as the game is good enough, but when its channeled and restricted to 50 people per channel.. that really sux!

And cmon, Everquest is ancient!  I think we can do them the courtesy and acknowledge them as ushering in the MMO genre from which most MMO's are based.  (even tho I didnt really play it much)

You can trust me it's not 50 people per channel here, when my korean server was released it was full, meaning 10k players, around 4600 asmodians rocking the first areas, and it had 12 channels, so...~383 people per channel if my calculations are right

Originally posted by Ephimero

so...~383 people per channel if my calculations are right

Which is *perfectly* acceptable!  In my opinion.

You still have the 'world' feeling, only very occasionally do will you need to change district and the lag is kept down.

Considering how beautifull Aion is, not to mention the awesome animations, this kind of channeling wont be effecting my gaming pleasure at all.

My main concern would be a lack of gameplay variety and content, which can be compensated with by addictive pvp :)