Before you jump into this game be aware of two things.  I can only speak to what I am seeing on my server.  A lot of the upper level players have gotten there by botting.  At first NCSoft banned a bunch of these (the first big ban) which decimated one of our major Legions (which is no more).  Now I think they are afraid to do it again because of the consequences (other players quitting, losing subs).  Gold buying is part of the game....a lot of players do it so they can have the best equipment.   So if your don't mind playing a game that is corrupt then go for it.  I DO mind and have cancelled my sub. 

Luckily, I cancelled my preorder before the game released. I played Closed Beta Events and it wasn't all that great.

More people buy gold in WoW and its the most popular game out there, your logic stinks. RMT is here to stay you will never get rid of it completely. As long as there's a market for it, there will always be a gold farmers.

Then you mention NCsoft banning people for botting, and this is bad, how so?

I did fine without buying any gold. And I find numbers of opponents in a fight are more important than equipment worn.

Still, I find the complaints similar to issues with WoW. I dont think anyone who truely looked at Aion with a small amount of effort could miss the fact that Aion would have many of the same issues WoW had/has.

Originally posted by avalon1000

Before you jump into this game be aware of two things.  I can only speak to what I am seeing on my server.  A lot of the upper level players have gotten there by botting.  At first NCSoft banned a bunch of these (the first big ban) which decimated one of our major Legions (which is no more).  Now I think they are afraid to do it again because of the consequences (other players quitting, losing subs).  Gold buying is part of the game....a lot of players do it so they can have the best equipment.   So if your don't mind playing a game that is corrupt then go for it.  I DO mind and have cancelled my sub. 

o/ ohai bitterness...

But seriously, you do have a point. I do like Aion, it was a good launch, queues the first weeks which got sorted quick (probably could have been quicker), but this bot and gold buying/farming got a tad (aloooooooooooooooootttttt) out of hand.

I did have some legion members quit over it, some endure like me (well being the LM I would have to pass on the schtick to someone else or disband), and some are playing their moneys worth until it is over.

I do understand the lack of comunication over at NC so "they don't give too much info to gold sellers reading", but it is appaling that nothing has been done so far to put a break on this matter :( a person can only hang on for a certain amount of time, and believe me I am patient, I lasted almost a year in AoC waiting for it to be "fixed"....

It is pretty sad that the ammount of money they have made from selling Aion that they cannot hire GM's and more CSR's and then just fluff us with some veteran prizes to shut us up.

I for one am sticking with Aion...for now...in hopes that it gets sorted

Aeo

<< And I find numbers of opponents in a fight are more important than equipment worn. >>

Uh, yeah... that's not really relevant though.  I'm not interested in 20vs4 or 6vs3 fights but I will admit that those 100vs1 battles are cool if you're in the 100-person team.  But if someone with unlimited gold and botting is going to beat me easily 1vs1 most of the time despite my playing hard legally and assuming we are otherwise close to equal in terms of classes, character level and player skill, then I would consider the game broken by botting.

Having a lot of gold in WoW makes things more convenient but in the end, it won't make any difference.  You can't buy most of the best gear.

And while a lot of people do underrate WoW's leveling speed from 1-80, it isn't really a big deal if you find a way to skip much of it.

If Aion is the same as WoW in those two respects then that's fine with me.  If not then I'm going to stay away.

Another "i quit thread here's why" stating bots, gold sellers. Move along or bring something new to the table. Plenty of games to play for you my friend, if you don't enjoy it, go play something else and be done with it.

You can't buy the best gears in Aion.  You can buy farely decent gears with Kinah...

Abyss Gears, and Tahabata series, or many of the instance dungeon gears are all non tradeables. 

Open World Raid Boss gears are however tradeable...yet you better be prepared to spend about 500+ dollars for a single Menotios Dagger. 

Otherthan this...Bots will probably be always rampant in Aion.  Maybe NCWest might axe couple dozens of thousands similar to what they did in Korea.  They had massive the massive ban hammer go around twice, banning 70+ thousand the first time, and 50+ the other.

Originally posted by supbro

More people buy gold in WoW and its the most popular game out there, your logic stinks. RMT is here to stay you will never get rid of it completely. As long as there's a market for it, there will always be a gold farmers.

Then you mention NCsoft banning people for botting, and this is bad, how so?

 

man you really can't even compare the WoW economy to aion. Aion like lineage 2 will have a rediculous amount of "kinah" buyers its just how the game is setup, and why so many gold spammers/bots are in the game. Granted i think aion did a bit better of a job putting in abyss point gear, its a HUGE grind to get one piece of level 50 gear.  A lot of people that want to be extremely competitive in this game will resort to exploits/bots/gold buying. I think these things come hand in hand with any asian game. 

ps i really don't see legitimate reason to buy gold in WoW other then someone wanting to buy an epic flyer. On the flipside i could name a TON of reasons to buy kinah in aion, but that might be just because the game is relatively new. 

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

Originally posted by supbro

More people buy gold in WoW and its the most popular game out there, your logic stinks. RMT is here to stay you will never get rid of it completely. As long as there's a market for it, there will always be a gold farmers.

Then you mention NCsoft banning people for botting, and this is bad, how so?

 

man you really can't even compare the WoW economy to aion. Aion like lineage 2 will have a rediculous amount of "kinah" buyers its just how the game is setup, and why so many gold spammers/bots are in the game. Granted i think aion did a bit better of a job putting in abyss point gear, its a HUGE grind to get one piece of level 50 gear.  A lot of people that want to be extremely competitive in this game will resort to exploits/bots/gold buying. I think these things come hand in hand with any asian game. 

 

ps i really don't see legitimate reason to buy gold in WoW other then someone wanting to buy an epic flyer. On the flipside i could name a TON of reasons to buy kinah in aion, but that might be just because the game is relatively new. 

Are you being serious?

For starters, there are PLENTY of gold sellers in WoW - have you not went outside the bank in Orgimar seeing spam after spam of gold sellers?

Not to mention, you don't think people use money the same way in WoW? Epic flyers are only the tip of the iceberg. What about crafting, buying items from the AH, vanity pets, etc? There's so much money being spent in WoW and yes - there's a lot of people who buy/sell gold there too. Every server - no exceptions.

No matter what game it is, bots and gold sellers just ruin games. The devs don't mind because the bots and gold sellers make them money because they also pay the subscription fee to farm gold.

Originally posted by SaintViktor

No matter what game it is, bots and gold sellers just ruin games. The devs don't mind because the bots and gold sellers make them money because they also pay the subscription fee to farm gold.

Not really. Most of these companies steal credit card info/accounts from others... so they don't actually GAIN money from them. Not to mention - most people HATE Bots and spam so they use that as a reason to quit the game...

Not even sure why I bother posting as Ill only be called a blind fanboi as "obviously" NCSoft is funding these companies to get more money from the rest of the community /rolleyes...

 NCsoft has always had a problem with bots, just look at lineage 2. They never stopped them in lineage and i don't see why aion would be any different to be honest. At least in lineage you could kill/grief the bots, i always liked healing the mob the bot was fighting until they died and dropped loot. 

There are bots and gold sellers in EVERY SINGLE MMO. All mmo are totally useless regarding this, it's like SPAM your receive by email and fraud. IT WILL NEVER STOP. BTW, you should stop using the internet because you receive SPAM everyday and also stop using the currency system since fraud is also happening in the world...

Aion needs to be FFA and characters lose equipment and kinah on death. If NCSoft can't clean up the mess, maybe the players can.

Originally posted by Arezon

Luckily, I cancelled my preorder before the game released. I played Closed Beta Events and it wasn't all that great.

Agreement.  I was wholly underwhelmed.

I suppose the fact that the players are leaving in droves speaks for itself.

I still think something good can come out of the game. The developers still have time to make the necessary changes - they just need to hurry up and get the game fixed while there's still anyone left to play it.

Originally posted by RendRegen

I suppose the fact that the players are leaving in droves speaks for itself.

According to your graph, XFire users that play Aion went from 40k at the end of the first motnh to 30k. Or are you trying to indicate it went from 60k to 30k? Since that is the normal pattern for a healthy MMO, your data contradicts what you are trying to use it for.

that is not a horrible drop off rate,  average retention rates for MMO after the first month i think is normally 40%

Originally posted by gotha

that is not a horrible drop off rate,  average retention rates for MMO after the first month i think is normally 40%

You're right. Since WoW new MMOs haven't really had high retention rates. It doesn't necessarily mean the game is "dying" or anything. AoC had a similar retention rate and is still around after two years. FunCom even earned enough to start working on The Secret World MMO.

Originally posted by trepo

Another "i quit thread here's why" stating bots, gold sellers. Move along or bring something new to the table. Plenty of games to play for you my friend, if you don't enjoy it, go play something else and be done with it.

Maybe just maybe if NCSoft did something about it, the threads would stop. Its kinda sad people keep leaving for the same reason and the hardcore fanboys want to act like there is not a problem, or just don't want to hear it. Just remember, forum users are the small vocal prt of the community, so fot every 1 who left for this reason, so did many more who  just don't use forums.

 The threads will NEVER stop. People will always find stuff to complain about. It's human nature.

It's hard for me to Stomach the botting because OMFG theres so much of it. Much like the hacks in Darkfall at launch it is a game ruiner for me. Open world PvP ftw though... Bots only work in carebear environments like AION where you have "Safe" zones. Before anyone goes on a "Theres Rifts!"... OMFG!!! REALLY! Once every 2 hours someone may or may not kill a few of the bots before they get zerged.

Originally posted by trepo

Another "i quit thread here's why" stating bots, gold sellers. Move along or bring something new to the table. Plenty of games to play for you my friend, if you don't enjoy it, go play something else and be done with it.

Another "go play something else" post. Thanks for that contribution.

I think every player who quits a game should post the reasons why they are doing so. It warns potential customers, and might enlighten someone at the company responsible (hey, it could happen).

I don't care about people buying gold, so much as how people are allowed to advertise gold for sale, all over the place. As for bots, I have to admit, its crazy. In some places, it looks like there are more bots than real players.

Best PvP I've seen since DAOC, though.