I didnt get a chance to PvP in CB as i only reached level 14.  I hope that it is a game that encourages "realm pride" like DAoC had in the begining.  I hope I dont have to listen to too many whinners about how someone interfered with thier 1v1, buy an xbox for that crap.

I hope there is teamwork and if you get flanked by forces that outnumber your own, dont friggen whine about it.  Adapt, Improvise, Overcome..

Originally posted by Ethian

Can't wait for Aion either. PvP alone should be enough to keep me busy for awhile I think. I'm currently playing AoC, which seems to have decent open world pvp but theres not enough intentive to WANT to PvP in AoC. Aion seems to have some great ideas brewing..lets hope its as good past 30 as it looks.   :-)

yeah man aoc had refreshing pvp...i really liked the way you had to use the directionals for skills...however you hit it right on the head..the game offers no real incentive to pvp, and to pvp in a way that requires more skill than numbers and time...

aion does indeed have alot of good ideas brewing and they have put them in play for some time now over in korea...i am really hoping that with all this effort, testing, feedback, and ability (money/devs/etc) - NCSoft can pull out something amazing here...

Originally posted by LodenDSG

Originally posted by boomerangx

Well...after AoC and WAR left a bitter taste in my mouth I can honestly say I am very excited about Aion. I went back to WoW after AoC and WAR lost my interest and I just never could get back into that endless gear grind that is WoW. I am a PvPer and have been since the early days of EQ1. That being said I feel like Aion is a much more polished and complete game than AoC and WAR are currently (after close to a year after launch too)!

The PvP in this game blows every other new game I have played out of the water. Why? It is simple. The risk vs. reward system they have set up (AP Points and the Slayer system). The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle (much that WAR encouraged sadly)..and I feel like it offers a more challenging and rewarding game experience. You actually LOSe something important when you die in PvP (actually you lose multiple things!) Also they got the right idea with the PvP ranking system, and this is one thing WoW did do right and then sadly changed it for TBC.

Aion does have a unique feel (the art/colors/voices/etc) due to it being an Eastern created game. Yes I know it was tailored to the western market but I am saying that I think the new flavor it adds to the MMO genre we are used to spices it up quite a bit. It is nice to have a world other than dwarves and elves...

So even though I feel alot of the early traffic to this game will be from players seeking change, I feel like the game will shine when it comes to longevity and will really make an impact on this market.

See you in AIon I hope you are all as excited as I am!

 

Im with ya, AOC was fun for levels 1-40ish War was fun for 1-20 but nothing has held my intrest and WoW lost my intrest around the BC launch.

As to the ranking system I like it, I would like to see a life time system as well as the current system mostly because I rarely have the time it takes to comept in the fast paced ranks but would like to see my avatar grow from PvP. I have not found my PvP fix since DAoC and the SI expansion and even if I never make the high ranks in Aion PvP the battles alone are worth the price of admision.

Now I hate to get to hyped after all War was made by the same developer as my all time fav MMO (Mythic) and well as you no it was a flop (I blame EA rather or not thats correct) but NC soft is a solid dev, they have plenty of exp and the game as I understand it is popular in other markets so all signs are pointing to a damn fine MMO that should get me back in the grove that I have been missing since the SI expansion to DAoC.

 

Just for note, I think War and AoC both where worth the cost of the box and maybe a month or 2 of play they are "fun" but not solid enough to hold a gamer for long, heres hoping Aion drains me of a few years of subscription fees.

great post man we think very similar, i really hope aion delivers... i agree with you too, that WAR and AoC were both worth the cost of the box but yeah you and me both had about enough after a few months...i tried WAR again after they released the land of the dead and the slayer and choppa, but tbh i felt nothing exciting about the game after such a massive let down...

Please remember, a lot of people were very excited about WAR and AoC prior to release, or even for some time after release. Liking what you see so far tells you nothing about the long term appeal of the title.

Many people will find Aion fun short term. Long term? The game shares many of the flaws that plague WAR and AoC. In some areas, it more closely parallels AoC.

I'm maintaining my Aion pre-order and hope to get two or three months out of it. However, I'm actually much less hopeful for long term appeal from Aion than I was for WAR when it launched. The game world is tiny when compared to WAR, with very few zones. I can see it getting very restrictive and very "old" fairly quickly for me. Yes, I play a lot and level pretty quickly, so I'll "use up" the content more quickly than casual players, but a lot of casuals will hit a wall when faced with Rift enabled PvP.

The two biggest foreseeable road blocks to long term success for this game are the small world size and it's PvP gamer's niche focus.

Originally posted by fiontar

Please remember, a lot of people were very excited about WAR and AoC prior to release, or even for some time after release. Liking what you see so far tells you nothing about the long term appeal of the title.

other than the fact that the game has been played for close to a year in korea with constant feedback/patches - bringin it up to the state where WAR and AOC currently are 1 year after they launched...

Many people will find Aion fun short term. Long term? The game shares many of the flaws that plague WAR and AoC. In some areas, it more closely parallels AoC.

all games suffer from this unless u like doing the same raids for 6 months and doing the same dailies every day...

I'm maintaining my Aion pre-order and hope to get two or three months out of it. However, I'm actually much less hopeful for long term appeal from Aion than I was for WAR when it launched. The game world is tiny when compared to WAR, with very few zones. I can see it getting very restrictive and very "old" fairly quickly for me. Yes, I play a lot and level pretty quickly, so I'll "use up" the content more quickly than casual players, but a lot of casuals will hit a wall when faced with Rift enabled PvP.

a small world is good for pvp it keeps the players where the action is...in WAR almost EVERY SINGLE zone is empty except for the war camps...heh i think the large world back fired on mythic worse than any other game..

The two biggest foreseeable road blocks to long term success for this game are the small world size and it's PvP gamer's niche focus.

aion before release has more end game dungeons than both AoC and WAR. that should keep the pver's happy till they release more content...as far as the size of the world...i think that is a huge bonus that they are utilizing...

Originally posted by fiontar

Please remember, a lot of people were very excited about WAR and AoC prior to release, or even for some time after release. Liking what you see so far tells you nothing about the long term appeal of the title.

Many people will find Aion fun short term. Long term? The game shares many of the flaws that plague WAR and AoC. In some areas, it more closely parallels AoC.

I'm maintaining my Aion pre-order and hope to get two or three months out of it. However, I'm actually much less hopeful for long term appeal from Aion than I was for WAR when it launched. The game world is tiny when compared to WAR, with very few zones. I can see it getting very restrictive and very "old" fairly quickly for me. Yes, I play a lot and level pretty quickly, so I'll "use up" the content more quickly than casual players, but a lot of casuals will hit a wall when faced with Rift enabled PvP.

The two biggest foreseeable road blocks to long term success for this game are the small world size and it's PvP gamer's niche focus.

I really enjoyed WAR when I got to play it (this was when the community was dropping from its peak) but the problem with it was that you always needed people to get anything done (derp) and the problem that laid within that was there generally weren't enough people in one zone to get anything done. Because there were a lot of zones, you didn't really get a chance for enough of your faction to mass at one point and fight the enemy faction.

In Aion I'm not so worried about that because due to the small world size, this allows battles to be found much quicker so you're not searching for 30 minutes to an hour looking for a fight or something along those lines. I think it was that main factor that really made me quit WAR (aside from the constant computer crashes it gave me due to glitches and bad game coding)

I have high hopes for Aion. What's really going to do it for me is the flashy combat system, I'm digging that big time.

Originally posted by twiggy550

Originally posted by fiontar

Please remember, a lot of people were very excited about WAR and AoC prior to release, or even for some time after release. Liking what you see so far tells you nothing about the long term appeal of the title.

Many people will find Aion fun short term. Long term? The game shares many of the flaws that plague WAR and AoC. In some areas, it more closely parallels AoC.

I'm maintaining my Aion pre-order and hope to get two or three months out of it. However, I'm actually much less hopeful for long term appeal from Aion than I was for WAR when it launched. The game world is tiny when compared to WAR, with very few zones. I can see it getting very restrictive and very "old" fairly quickly for me. Yes, I play a lot and level pretty quickly, so I'll "use up" the content more quickly than casual players, but a lot of casuals will hit a wall when faced with Rift enabled PvP.

The two biggest foreseeable road blocks to long term success for this game are the small world size and it's PvP gamer's niche focus.

I really enjoyed WAR when I got to play it (this was when the community was dropping from its peak) but the problem with it was that you always needed people to get anything done (derp) and the problem that laid within that was there generally weren't enough people in one zone to get anything done. Because there were a lot of zones, you didn't really get a chance for enough of your faction to mass at one point and fight the enemy faction.

In Aion I'm not so worried about that because due to the small world size, this allows battles to be found much quicker so you're not searching for 30 minutes to an hour looking for a fight or something along those lines. I think it was that main factor that really made me quit WAR (aside from the constant computer crashes it gave me due to glitches and bad game coding)

 

I have high hopes for Aion. What's really going to do it for me is the flashy combat system, I'm digging that big time.

yeah man i totally agree with ya...the small world is a bonus for open world pvp...

and yeah the flashy combat is a major attractive bell this game has...i am glad that not only does the combat look good, it feels responsive and tight as well...the animations cutting of moving is also something i like...it makes you think a bit before hitting that "cast" button and penalizes you for making the wrong decision..

I'm evaluating the game based on the state it will launch in the West. It doesn't matter that the game has been out for a year in Korea, other than the the fact that a. it gave them plenty of time to polish it up b. it shows they have added relatively little to the world map during that year.

People who like end game instance grinds probably aren't going to care how small the world is, but most players will care.

As to the small world size being better for PvP, I don't buy it. It's just going to make the experience for PvE leaning players even more painful, which will bleed off customers pretty quickly.

BTW, I don't see WAR's world size as a problem, it's what they did with that real estate that killed them. Zone and world design was horrendous for supporting long term play. I hope it will be another nail in the coffin of closed world design, (which is something that is very obvious in Aion's world design).

Originally posted by boomerangx

....The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle.....

Can you explain with some details?

And don't BOLD your entire post "bro"

Originally posted by mutombo55

Originally posted by boomerangx

....The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle.....

Can you explain with some details?

And don't BOLD your entire post "bro"

"bro" i already did explain...re read FTW!!!

Originally posted by mutombo55

Originally posted by boomerangx

....The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle.....

Can you explain with some details?

And don't BOLD your entire post "bro"

The Aion design is completely designed with Zergs in mind, it doesn't discourage them, it forces them.

Defenders will rift camp, so it's often suicidal to go through a rift with out a zerg.

You lose Abyss points for dying in PvP, so you only go through if you think you have a big enough zerg to have odds on your side.

The zones are full of narrow choke points, so invaders can shut down mobility.

A level 40 Zerg can quickly reach the level 20ish areas of a zone, where they can then mow down everyone in sight.

There are two narrow exits from the main towns into the zone, which for a strategically minded invasion zerg makes gaining and holding those two spots the key to the entire zone.

Control of the zone will then come down to the clash of the Zergs. Rift based PvP is not 1on1, 6on6, 12on12; it's entirely the zerg. It's even useful for zergs to mix lower level alliances in with higher level alliances. Since you can't tell an opponent's level, when you are looking at a three alliance zerg, you're not going to know if only 25% are from the higher level ranges or all of them.

This also means if you see a zerg, you run, even if you are a small group of level 40s in a level 20-40 zone.

The Zerg is Rift PvP.

I think it will hold the interest of those in large guilds or alliances that have the ability to hold keeps and do all of the available content. For those less fortunate sheep the slaughter might be to much to take. There is a fundamental difference in what Asian gamers will put up with vs western gamers. Being left out will not fly here so I think a lot of the sheep will move to ToR or out very quickly back to where they came from. Aion in a way is more limited in scope than even WAR at release. In WAR you could at least do scenarios and accomplish something. Aion you have the abyss and ummmm the abyss thats ummm the abyss.

Originally posted by fiontar

Originally posted by mutombo55

Originally posted by boomerangx

....The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle.....

Can you explain with some details?

And don't BOLD your entire post "bro"

 

The Aion design is completely designed with Zergs in mind, it doesn't discourage them, it forces them.

Defenders will rift camp, so it's often suicidal to go through a rift with out a zerg.

You lose Abyss points for dying in PvP, so you only go through if you think you have a big enough zerg to have odds on your side.

The zones are full of narrow choke points, so invaders can shut down mobility.

A level 40 Zerg can quickly reach the level 20ish areas of a zone, where they can then mow down everyone in sight.

There are two narrow exits from the main towns into the zone, which for a strategically minded invasion zerg makes gaining and holding those two spots the key to the entire zone.

Control of the zone will then come down to the clash of the Zergs. Rift based PvP is not 1on1, 6on6, 12on12; it's entirely the zerg. It's even useful for zergs to mix lower level alliances in with higher level alliances. Since you can't tell an opponent's level, when you are looking at a three alliance zerg, you're not going to know if only 25% are from the higher level ranges or all of them.

This also means if you see a zerg, you run, even if you are a small group of level 40s in a level 20-40 zone.

The Zerg is Rift PvP.

you are not using the term zerg correctly

zerging is running into a pvp fight with no thought and no remorse for dying...hence respawning and running right back for the same thing...over and over.."zerging"

just bc in aion you need larger groups to be successful does not mean it is a zerg minded game...why do you think most of the top rated pvpers from other games are going to aion? bc it is a zerg fest? no...WAR is the ultimate zerg fest..and i really did like the game but omg the zerging killed it for me...

a ton of players mindlessly fighting and rushing back to their deaths over and over...no ty

Ironically, in Aion, the PvE zones are where you will find Zergs as 95% of the PvP that goes on, where as The Abyss, which contains the PvP zones, is where you will find the highest percentage of small PvP skirmishes, aside from the focal points around fortresses.

Originally posted by fiontar

Ironically, in Aion, the PvE zones are where you will find Zergs as 95% of the PvP that goes on, where as The Abyss, which contains the PvP zones, is where you will find the highest percentage of small PvP skirmishes, aside from the focal points around fortresses.

this is a thread about being excited for aion's release

if you would like to start your own "informative" thread on everything it is you know about the game that is great, but please don't turn this thread into a ton of your statements you obviously feel are the way everyone will see aion...ty

Originally posted by boomerangx

Originally posted by fiontar

Originally posted by mutombo55

Originally posted by boomerangx

....The whole system veers players away from a zerg playstyle.....

Can you explain with some details?

And don't BOLD your entire post "bro"

 

The Aion design is completely designed with Zergs in mind, it doesn't discourage them, it forces them.

Defenders will rift camp, so it's often suicidal to go through a rift with out a zerg.

You lose Abyss points for dying in PvP, so you only go through if you think you have a big enough zerg to have odds on your side.

The zones are full of narrow choke points, so invaders can shut down mobility.

A level 40 Zerg can quickly reach the level 20ish areas of a zone, where they can then mow down everyone in sight.

There are two narrow exits from the main towns into the zone, which for a strategically minded invasion zerg makes gaining and holding those two spots the key to the entire zone.

Control of the zone will then come down to the clash of the Zergs. Rift based PvP is not 1on1, 6on6, 12on12; it's entirely the zerg. It's even useful for zergs to mix lower level alliances in with higher level alliances. Since you can't tell an opponent's level, when you are looking at a three alliance zerg, you're not going to know if only 25% are from the higher level ranges or all of them.

This also means if you see a zerg, you run, even if you are a small group of level 40s in a level 20-40 zone.

The Zerg is Rift PvP.

you are not using the term zerg correctly

zerging is running into a pvp fight with no thought and no remorse for dying...hence respawning and running right back for the same thing...over and over.."zerging"

 

just bc in aion you need larger groups to be successful does not mean it is a zerg minded game...why do you think most of the top rated pvpers from other games are going to aion? bc it is a zerg fest? no...WAR is the ultimate zerg fest..and i really did like the game but omg the zerging killed it for me...

 

a ton of players mindlessly fighting and rushing back to their deaths over and over...no ty

No. A zerg is all about numbers. BTW, you don't think when an zerg Alliance descends like locust on upon the unwary denizens that call the zone home that it's going to be anything but mindlessly running in and attacking people?

I remember PvE zergs from SWG. A lot of running in and mindlessly killing, not a lot of mindlessly running in and dying.

In Aion rift PvP, the Zerg is king. Numbers rule. When you are in such a Zerg, tactics don't matter, unless you encounter another zerg. No one is taking up their role, like they would in an Alliance PvE raid in other games. Even the healers will be running into get a few hits in as the zerg mows down everyone in sight.

Who ever assembles and manages the biggest zerg wins.  This isn't highly organized and controlled combat actions, it's the power of the mob, which is The Zerg.

Sooooo anyway........

anyone else getting pumped up for sunday? i am going to try and do all my errands and such tmrw so i can just sit in front of my comp all day on sunday

I am cautiously optimistic about Aion.

I had high hopes for Warhammer as well, but grew tired of it after only a few months. I am hoping that Aion can be what WAR was not.

To those who say the world size wil be a problem, I'm not Dora the Explorer. I want to find people to fight and fight them. I played WoW on PvP servers and while you would occasionally find other players to fight, for the most part, you could go about your business of questing and leveling unharassed. Boring. I played Warhammer Online on a PvP server also. Too bad the maps were designed for anti-World PvP. Mythic made getting to the zones of the other faction as difficult as possible. And once you got there, all you could find was 55 Champions guarding the towns. Boring.

I do think that Aion has limited playability at this point. I'm not expecting to have years or a decade of fun in Aion, but you never know. Even if it doesn't give me ten years of fun, I'll be happy if I get a year of fun out of it.

quick explanation of the term zerging

to zerg something is to swarm it with a large number of anything (could be like 200 low dmg classes or a mix of high and low or all high dmg doesnt matter) and overwhelming your enemy with sheer numbers in a way that there is no chance the enemy can win the term zerging was derived from the game starcraft where one race the zerg had a base unit called the zergling people would quickly and cheaply make as many as possible and swarm or "zerg" their opponants be it in game story or online vs players even though the enemy would have multiple powerfull units the amount of zerglings would easily overwhelm the enemy units

now that i got that over with i am waiting for the open beta too i cant wait to see what the 1.5 patch will be like i am gonna roll a ranger this time round and go with elyos so as not to burn out on the asmodians :)

hope to see you there

I've been looking for a DAOC replacement.   Maybe this is finally it.

Originally posted by fiontar

Please remember, a lot of people were very excited about WAR and AoC prior to release, or even for some time after release. Liking what you see so far tells you nothing about the long term appeal of the title.

Many people will find Aion fun short term. Long term? The game shares many of the flaws that plague WAR and AoC. In some areas, it more closely parallels AoC.

I'm maintaining my Aion pre-order and hope to get two or three months out of it. However, I'm actually much less hopeful for long term appeal from Aion than I was for WAR when it launched. The game world is tiny when compared to WAR, with very few zones. I can see it getting very restrictive and very "old" fairly quickly for me. Yes, I play a lot and level pretty quickly, so I'll "use up" the content more quickly than casual players, but a lot of casuals will hit a wall when faced with Rift enabled PvP.

The two biggest foreseeable road blocks to long term success for this game are the small world size and it's PvP gamer's niche focus.

No offense man, but I really don't think there is any comparison between WAR and AoC's release and Aion's release.

We all wanted those games to succeed so badly that it clouded our judgment.  I've just recently played AoC and it doesn't totally suck with its latest updates and the graphics are great.  I would feel totally differently if I had bought it at release.

WAR on the other hand, I bought.  I admit to some bitter feelings.  The game totally sucked.  I mean, if I made a list of everything that made a game suck, then WarhallmerOnline would embody the entire list.  I still can't understand why any MMO would think I wanted to look like a hobo in feathers.

So I pre-ordered Aion against my better judgment expecting to be disappointed again.  As a matter of fact, I was sort of looking forward to being let down so I could bitch about it endlessly on these boards.

I was disappointed.  Too bad, too, cause I love being an evil jerk and running games down that fall below my imaginary 'bar of acceptance'. 

Aion has potential.  It's practically bug-free and even though I'm a carebear, I like the idea of my world being a bit more dangerous than I'm used to.  I think Aion might have achieved a nice balance between pvp and pve.

Anyway, I could be wrong, but my point still stands.  There is no comparison between this game's launch and AoC or WAR.  The beta testers of both those games were waving red flags.  The only people waving red flags about this game are hired hands and people who have unnatural dedications to other MMO's. 

We'll all find out soon enough.

edit: for some extremely stupid grammar, and thanks a lot wicked for documenting my idiocy.

Originally posted by scodavis

Anyway, I could be wrong, but my point still stands.  There is no comparison between this game's launch and AoC or WAR.  The beta testers of both those games were waving red flags.  The only people waving red flags about this game or hired hands and people who have unnatural dedications to other MMO's. 

We'll all find out soon enough.

Yeah, I think his last 2 points are right that they could affect the appeal of the game for some players but I agree with you that there really isn't a direct comparison here.  A lot of the issues those two games had this one isn't going to.

That's not to say that it's a definite winner because as I said before the last two point fion makes are going to be an issue for some and there's always other things that could crop up.

I  hate that Warhammer and AoC get mentioned so much in the same context when talking about launches though.  Warhammer did have it's issues at launch that's for sure but it didn't seem to be near the complete mess AoC turned into once you got out of Tortage.  Not to mention the core mechanics of the game were flawed to shit but from my understanding they have revamped that completely.  Too bad none of that was done before the game launched.  Warhammer was a rather dissappointing launch as well but AoC was an absolute disaster in my opinion.

...and to think those asshats had the audacity to say their launch was going superb since they only had the severs crap out one day.  Like that's the only measuring stick a company should use to judge how their launch is doing.

/pees on Funcom sign

I hated WAR, but I actually liked AOC.  I think once they ironed out the gamebreaking bugs and performance issues, it was one of the best MMOs out there.  I just wish it were a more social, and less about forcing players to group just to get the coolest lewts.  Still, I plan on going back to it for a month, when the expansion comes out.

So I just hope Aion is at least as good as AoC.  That would work for me.  If it's even better, great.  As long as its not awful like WAR or Champions.

Originally posted by Wickedjelly

Originally posted by scodavis

Anyway, I could be wrong, but my point still stands.  There is no comparison between this game's launch and AoC or WAR.  The beta testers of both those games were waving red flags.  The only people waving red flags about this game or hired hands and people who have unnatural dedications to other MMO's. 

We'll all find out soon enough.

 

Yeah, I think his last 2 points are right that they could affect the appeal of the game for some players but I agree with you that there really isn't a direct comparison here.  A lot of the issues those two games had this one isn't going to.

That's not to say that it's a definite winner because as I said before the last two point fion makes are going to be an issue for some and there's always other things that could crop up.

I  hate that Warhammer and AoC get mentioned so much in the same context when talking about launches though.  Warhammer did have it's issues at launch that's for sure but it didn't seem to be near the complete mess AoC turned into once you got out of Tortage.  Not to mention the core mechanics of the game were flawed to shit but from my understanding they have revamped that completely.  Too bad none of that was done before the game launched.  Warhammer was a rather dissappointing launch as well but AoC was an absolute disaster in my opinion.

...and to think those asshats had the audacity to say their launch was going superb since they only had the severs crap out one day.  Like that's the only measuring stick a company should use to judge how their launch is doing.

/pees on Funcom sign

People on these boards often wonder why some of us are so bitter about some games.  It's because we feel like we were suckered. 

Wicked got suckered by AoC so he hates Funcom.  I got suckered into WAR so I hate Mythic.  I also hate Blizzard for TBC.

To address the OP:  Yes, I am very excited.  I'm excited because I don't have unrealistic expectations for this game.  I see it as an evolutionary rather than revolutionary game.

Obviously it will suck the life out of AoC and WAR at launch.  Those games suck.  Hopefully it will draw the Vanilla WoW crowd that were betrayed by Blizzard when they released TBC. 

The important thing is, I am excited about Aion's potential.  I have no idea how things will play out, but I am willing to give it a shot.  I also think I have a rational basis to be excited by this game. 

Lord help NcSoft if they fail me now!

edit: for Vhaln, I have been playing AoC for the last month to tide me over and don't officially think that AoC sucks.  it's just going to be a casualty of this competition because it isn't polished enough after too much time.

I can't wait to start playing.  I haven't actually played it yet, but everything I read about it just makes me want to hack my way onto the server and start playing now.