when you ask about aion a) never take the opinion of someone lower than 35. b) if you already thought it was grindy at beta, where the cap was level 30 than I wouldn't suggest this game. 

Aion hasn't changed at all since release 3-4 months ago, other than a few kinks and bugs to be worked out. Other than that there has been no real change to the game, but they have "visions" for the game that may or may not come into play. If you didn't like the game at beta its the exact same game you played. I'd wait to see what they do down the road. 

Originally posted by DiSpLiFF

 when you ask about aion a) never take the opinion of someone lower than 35. b) if you already thought it was grindy at beta, where the cap was level 30 than I wouldn't suggest this game. 

Aion hasn't changed at all since release 3-4 months ago, other than a few kinks and bugs to be worked out. Other than that there has been no real change to the game, but they have "visions" for the game that may or may not come into play. If you didn't like the game at beta its the exact same game you played. I'd wait to see what they do down the road. 

This is something we finally agree on....

If you find the game grindy by level 30 - Aion certainly is not for you... On top of that - if you played Beta and didn't like it - you really won't get anything "new" or "extra" from this round. Nothing has REALLY changed except the Bots/RMT is completely under control now. Seriously - I'm even shocked myself... I logged in a solid 10-15 times since Friday and I have not seen even ONE RMT trader the entire time.... not one. Usually there's a horde outside of Panda/the Broker.... and I'm really impressed how well NCSoft has handled it. Even bots now are few and far between.

Apart from that - if you didn't like it then, you won't really like it now..... one thing I will mention the double XP weekend is just awesome. I went from 11-23 on my alt and loved it. Honestly think they should rework the curve slightly (maybe not double but at least address it) because I feel many more people would be more open to give Aion a try. I never minded the grind - even after 35+ but I would be lying if I say I didn't enjoy the weekend lvling curve.

Originally posted by LemurKing

I'm still enjoying the game at level 48 (Spiritmaster).  There are some annoyances as there are in any MMO that I've played over the years, but the game keeps me interested.

On the PRO side, I like how the abilities and choices of the character class changes, not only in context, but during progression.  It's not just more or higher powers of the same thing I did when I was level 24.  There are abilities and choices that have come to the class and the level that have changed the role of the class for various contexts, whether solo PvE, or instance group PvE, or fort siege PvP, or rift/abyss small group PvP.  The stigma system has worked well to offer several different options over the levels and as you reach higher levels, it becomes more and more easy to fool around with them. 

I do tend to play at least one pet class character and the Spiritmaster is one of the best.  I've played Necros and Druids in EQ, Warlocks in WoW, Werefoxes in Perfect World, Necros in AoC, Necros in SoV, Squig Herder in WAR, the maligned Captain in LotRO, the creature handlers in SWG, etc., and the Aion Spiritmaster offers some excellent quality of gameplay to compare to any of those.  The differences in the pets matter.  The handling of the pet controls is easy and fun (pets can fly).  It may not have the beserk chaos of the 21 pets I had out as a Necro in AoC, but there are other frantic and important situations to contend with in Aion's pet class.

The PvP is very good in the game.  I tend not to be a PvP player, but the Aion model is very good and fun, whether you're doing PvP by yourself, with a group, with a raid or the entirety of your side in some massive fort battle.  In many cases, I find myself PvPing because it's fun and I'm not really getting anything other than fun out of it (low abyss points, not loot, just vengeance :) ), and the fact that they can bring that to the game to a person who doesn't normally care about PvP is saying something.  Compared to other games: I wanted WAR to have as good a PvP system (I enjoyed DaoC back in the day), but there were definite issues with both the scenario and siege systems.  I thought PvP in WoW or FFXI were fairly lackluster in terms of mechanics.  SWG was fun, but could be critically one-sided depending on the lack of ability of the Rebels.

On the CON side, the game does have some grinding involved, especially for solo-oriented players.  It's not as bad as some MMOs for sure (especially F2P ones - 600 chokti eyes in Silkroad???? blech), but it is definitely present.   My quest log is full, but the majority of the quests are group-oriented.  They very much could benefit from having more simple quests scattered around the world.  It's interesting because I think there's more of a bad grind in the high 30s and low 40s than at the top of the game.  There are some silly quests like 70 drops from elite mobs for a necklace in the water palace that just make no sense and so no one does them.   A couple levels later, however, there are a variety of good soloable quests.   It'd be interesting to see how the quest creation tasks were divided up among the game's designers because there are definitely some levels which are much better than others.

The crafting system is somewhat PRO and CON.  It's very effective and easy to progress up to but not into the Mastery level.  You can make money with crafting and you definitely can make some great consumable items (food & pots) as well as armor and weapons that match or better anything a quest can give you.  The mastery quests, however, are pretty much awful.  Probably the worst grind in the game and the economy of the fluxes makes it worse.   Sad, because crafting is very effective for most of the levels of the game.

 

Anyhow, I'll be playing the game for a while still.  I'll probably toy around with others that come out, but I feel it's better than many of the other games that fit in the classic fantasy MMO genre currently available. 

 

Thanks for this. A refreshing perspective, and for once an informative post about Aion. I might check it out some day, but right now Im enjoying AoC. Have you played FFXI? Hows the grind compared to that?

I would say give it a shot to 40, if your not having fun by the time you reach 40 just quit

Originally posted by xersent

The one thing i dont understand tho is , wouldnt u rather join a group and grind as a group for xp and at the same time have a chat with your fellow party members , its alot of fun , and befor u know it your up by a few lvls , or u can do quests , yes mindless quests , go here get that , get this do this , plz fetch this , walk 10 miles and get this , make me dinner , wash my clothes... etc... you see its mindless , so u wouldnt rather just join a xp grind group??

I don't want to sound like  an ass or a flamer, but do you actually play aion, because then you would know why what you just said is impossible, unless before you know it is 3 days strait because they cut the exp u get from beasties while in a party horrifically.

Oh, and to answer the OP's question, I've noticed a lot of people have left the game, I had a friends list of around 40 and there used to always be like 20 on, now ill be lucky to see 1 or 2 on...and their the guys I barely know, aslo a jew guilds that I've been in have died off, and been canceled, or whatever its called when u destroy your guild, including one that used to be in the top 50 for weeks strait. People will probably start coming back though, now that NCsoft is starting to get their shit together and the double exp on weekends for all lvls, which sorta helps with the grind.  Hope this helped answer your question. :D