Hi, I was interested in this game and thought about buying it, but some of my friends played it when it launched or in open beta and gave me a really negative impression of the game. Their complaints were mainly that the game didn't play very fluid, that there were massive amounts of bots/gold spammers, and that there's a big lack of content. I see many, many similar complaints on the various Aion forums, such as this one. But is it really as bad as everyone says, or is this the classic case of the silent majority playing the game rather than whining on forums, like with AoC/WAR?

My friends play WoW/EvE and WAR by the way, and have gone back to their previous games. Personally I've only played DAoC and WoW, and liked those games when they were new and all

 No its not bad and the servers are full of ppl having fun playing it.

Make your own judgements instead of asking such questions on a forum where you already know what the answers will be.

 Best thing to do is give it a try yourself and don't listen to what others say, personally I didn't like aion and didn't sub even tho I bought the CE.

Apparently If you look around MMORPG.COM's forum, ALL the games are bashed mercilessly. So trust your own judgment/friends

IMO, i'd say the game is not as bad as you think. True there are tonnes of bots but recent patch they've lessen the gold spamming. The game is fluid, it's just as smooth as wow in term of playability.  I'm not sure what you mean by the 'lack of content'. If you're looking for gathering/crafting, PvPvE (Dredgion, both elyos and asmo in the SAME dungeon), Siege battles, instances, open pvp (abyss), pve content (huge grind, extremely huge), Aion has all that. If you see people flaming about the game being the typical korean mmo, they're ONLY talking about the grind. I myself is currently a lv 40 templar, so i can't comment much on the end-game content but from what i've heard from my guildmate (lv 50), they're either grinding for more AP/gear, or just going around bullying lower levels.

Of course, that's because there are only a few lv 50s atm

Aion is a lot of fun, and the pvp is fairly enjoyable if you like large scale 50v50+ fights. However, post 35 it is very very grindy. I.E. quests give about 10-30% of your total level and the rest is you killing mobs to proceed.

If that doesnt bug you, then its a great game, if that does, avoid it.

You really should have used the search feature to locate one of the marriot of threads that already discuss this very topic.  I see this is your first post so I have no idea if your a troll or just didn't put the effort into trying to find something on this already.

To answer your question, Yes it's worth buying if you enjoy a MMO with a steep grinding aspect to level, as well as rewarding PVP and a time consuming craft system where you feel like a million bucks when you craft a epic item.  It makes for a very rewarding but challenging MMO style game.

 i bought it and i did enjoy it though ended up getting bored with it but the amount of gold/seller spammers and botters were HUGE and to make mattters worse the gm's did nothing or just did massive ip bans that ended up banning alot of actually players  and only one or two of the actual spammers. If you dont mind the spam or putting 50 people on ignore list every time you log in  and have the risk of getting your ip unbanned when you discover you cant log in suddenly then go for it. and as far as the fluid playability there will be some lag  at least on ariel the server i was in at certain ties of the day (i hardly ever lag in any other mmo other than lineage 2) and if grinding isnt your thing then this isnt for you as later on you will need to do alot of grinding. Leveling is slower then average but imo thats a good thing after all whats the use of playing a game when you only rush to the end game as if the end is the only fun time when you should be able to actually have fun working your way to the end game. i cannot speak on how much end game content there is but i dont suspect taht there would be all that much mainly due to the newness of the game. I say hold off for a few months.

Save your money.   Give the game time to grow.    Maybe in 6 months it will be worth the cost and the monthly fee, right now in my opinion it is not.

If you go into Aion expecting to be led around by the nose going from quest hub to quest hub, chances are you will be disappointed. WoW made it extremely easy for everyone to get to max level very quickly and offers numerous routes to get there. Aion takes longer to level and obviously does not have the amount of PvE content that a 5 year old game has. It is still a fun, game that runs smoother than WoW at launch, without the lag that WAR still has. Could it be better? Of course, but it will take the devs time to get more content. Remember when WoW launched, it had no BGs or PvP content, everything was basically FFA PvP or nothing at all. When WAR launched it had very little and poorly designed PvE.

Originally posted by RendRegen

Hi, I was interested in this game and thought about buying it, but some of my friends played it when it launched or in open beta and gave me a really negative impression of the game. Their complaints were mainly that the game didn't play very fluid,

The fluidity of the game is one of the highlights for me? /shrug.  It just doesn't play anything like WoW or WAR.

that there were massive amounts of bots/gold spammers,

Bots/spammers is a genuine concern at this moment (has been since launch) but NCwest have promised to keep on top of the situtaion (for one, they recently just implemented a new spam filter which got rid of 90% gold spam in public channels)

and that there's a big lack of content.

Lvl 32 and haven't noticed any lack of content. I'd say its more a case of actually liking the current content (which I do) rather than being too little. I think many people were expecting to quest to lvl cap, but that just isn't the case in Aion - there will be a certain/significant amount of exp grinding involved.

I see many, many similar complaints on the various Aion forums, such as this one. But is it really as bad as everyone says, or is this the classic case of the silent majority playing the game rather than whining on forums,

I'd genuinely say this is the case. However, whether those playing will stay subbed once they hit lvl 40+ (where the real exp grind begins) remains to be seen. There are, at least, no complaints about the game from other players when I'm logged on. Many people (included myself) are still disgruntled about the spammers/bots.

like with AoC/WAR?

MUCH better game than either of those, IMO. Not even close.

My friends play WoW/EvE and WAR by the way, and have gone back to their previous games. Personally I've only played DAoC and WoW, and liked those games when they were new and all

Pre - lvl 25 more like WoW, post 25 more like DAOC. (with the early days DAOC exp grind, to boot)

Originally posted by Teala

Save your money.   Give the game time to grow.    Maybe in 6 months it will be worth the cost and the monthly fee, right now in my opinion it is not.

or you could grind the hell out to 50 either by botting or whatnot for the first month , since they're pretty lax atm and wait for 6 months until it is worth the cost. You gotta have to grind to 50 sooner or later, might aswell do it sooner :P

Originally posted by RendRegen

Hi, I was interested in this game and thought about buying it, but some of my friends played it when it launched or in open beta and gave me a really negative impression of the game. Their complaints were mainly that the game didn't play very fluid, that there were massive amounts of bots/gold spammers, and that there's a big lack of content. I see many, many similar complaints on the various Aion forums, such as this one. But is it really as bad as everyone says, or is this the classic case of the silent majority playing the game rather than whining on forums, like with AoC/WAR?

My friends play WoW/EvE and WAR by the way, and have gone back to their previous games. Personally I've only played DAoC and WoW, and liked those games when they were new and all

No is not as bad as people think, but worth the money?
NO

It is better than AoC and Warhammer, in the sense that it is very polished, but it definetly lacks PVE content and it feels really grindy.
Not worth the money IMO, but if you want to give it a try you might like it.

Is it that bad?  No.

Unfortunately, it's not that good, either.  If you want to spend $50 on a 'meh' product, go ahead.  There's definitely worse stuff you could blow cash on.  Just don't expect to be amazed, or probably even playing it 8-12 months from now. 

Game seems pretty darn fluid to me, not sure what they are talking about.

Worst thing about the game in my opinion are the bots, there are some places that are cleaned out of mobs by the bots. NCSoft has a history of not dealing with bots so that remains to be seen if they can get the problem under control.

Thanks for the comments, maybe I'll wait 3-6 months to see if the game picks up and then maybe get it.

Bots and spam were a retardly huge problem before the last patch.

Play wise the game reminds me a lot of Guild Wars... with jump :O  Seriously though, its pretty forgiving but does have a little nostalgia grind like games prior to WoW.  I have not run into a need to MOB grind but I have been told to expect it.  Now do the people who cry about the grind run instances and abys runs?  Not sure.

Graphically its quite nice with bloom T3 and performance is much better in retail than in CB/OB.  But if GW wasn't your bag of tea, being on rails and all, then Aion won't work for you.  Its not a wide open world.

NOTE: Giving it a year is a little silly since it's already a year old and has an expansion.  The NA/EU team is purely localization, ie translation, not content or engine work.

Depends on who opinion you listen to.

is it good looking - yes

Is it the usual mix of find 10 of these type quests - yes

Does it suffer in comparison to game with a deep lore - yes

Is it basically a grind - of course, show me a game that is not

Is it full of spammers - a lot less now thanks to recent patch and no worse than others at launch

Is it a good game - to be honest its a great game but does not bring anything new to the party. If you want innovation, dont come here. If you want a good looking game that sticks to a well worn formula - come and have a go

I think NCsoft made a polished game but actually forgot to add the fun aspect to it.

Its not the greatest game, nor is it anything revolutionary. But I think the main reason people like it is because (like WoW) they took a little bit of everything and fit it all together into a playable game.

I myself found the game to be 'meh', but thats mainly due to the fact that I am sick to death of the whole mythical fantasy thing and never really like L2. The game is beautiful though and plays like butter. The grind is being made easier in a few weeks, and even now the grind isnt as bad as old school EQ was.

Most of the people I know who played the game have since stopped mainly due to the exploits and bots that run rampant through the game. A few got tired of the endless spam (which apparently has been squelched - for now- and may try again later.

Aion is a game that I see doing really well the first 2-3 months, but then fading into the background noise of the genre, the same as L2 did years back.

Thing is, If you have the money (and dont mind possibly wasting it) and like some of the ideas of the game, then give it a shot.

If you are still very unsure of the game (or dont want to waste the cash) wait for a trial or find a friend in real life who plays and watch him, and maybe see if they will let you roll a character on their account.

Why on earth do people keep insisting this is a new game, with the exception of the language changes it has been available in exactly the same form for over a year in the Far East, and the west’s version is only a little behind in terms of the content coming its way. Nor are NCsoft responsible for writing it, only translating, publishing and hosting in the west.

Gm's have not been banning IP blocks, they have been actively banning anyone spamming chat (gold sellers and idiots), the halfwits who believe they can get away with botting, and players griefing by deliberate kill stealing. There may have been one or two mistakes but I believe most bans have been warranted.

It is certainly not for everyone, while grinding does not bother me, it’s very linear nature bored me silly, in some areas it really is a case of grind one level on spot a, then spot b and so on. Do not expect to find too many dungeons and group instances, they are available, but thin on the ground.

PVP too, has been designed with group focus in mind, leading to one or two classes who really dominate the others; having ranged attacks combined with snares and other CC has never worked in pvp. Many pve'rs are also disillusioned as they did not realise the endgame focus is primarily PVP in the abyss, and regardless of where they choose to play, post level 20ish, pvp is never too far away and cannot be completely avoided.

The best advice is suck it and see, while it is very polished it’s not every ones cup of tea.
 

I'm enjoying the game so far, but I'm only level 18 and going very slowly, so take my opinoin for what its based on.

Originally posted by Kyleran

I'm enjoying the game so far, but I'm only level 18 and going very slowly, so take my opinoin for what its based on.

Come back when you get between lvl 20-25.......if you are going slow now, by then you will go in reverse :)

Originally posted by Hexcaliber

PVP too, has been designed with group focus in mind, leading to one or two classes who really dominate the others; having ranged attacks combined with snares and other CC has never worked in pvp. Many pve'rs are also disillusioned as they did not realise the endgame focus is primarily PVP in the abyss, and regardless of where they choose to play, post level 20ish, pvp is never too far away and cannot be completely avoided.
 

I agreed with much of your post but I strongly disagree with the quoted segment here. This couldn't be further from the truth! Ranged fighters are actually weak in endgame Aion pvp. In Korea it's the melee classes that are strong and the ranged classes are strong right now because they have an easier learning curve.

Originally posted by Kyleran

I'm enjoying the game so far, but I'm only level 18 and going very slowly, so take my opinoin for what its based on.

Game changes at level 20 as rifting starts to come into play. And it changes again at 25 when you are able to go to the Abyss. At about level 30 you start to feel the grind, or at least I have.

Originally posted by Cadexn

Apparently If you look around MMORPG.COM's forum, ALL the games are bashed mercilessly.