MMORPG.com`s Community Manager Richard Cox writes thsi article on his hands-on experience with NCsoft`s highly anticipated MMORPG, Aion.

When I was getting ready for PAX I was told one of the primary reasons for going would be to check out Aion. PAX would be the first time the general public in North America would be getting their hands on the game. Much like most people out there, I really didn’t know a lot about the game. In fact I was going in with a lot of preconceived notions and assumptions. It is a Korean made game after all, so as such it comes with certain stereotypes. I’ve played more than my share of Korean MMOs and I have to say for the most part the majority of those stereotypes exist for a reason. While at PAX I spent probably an hour chatting with various members of the development team and probably between two and three total hours playing the game.

Read the report here.

"MMORPG.com`s Community Manager Richard Cox writes thsi article on his hands-on experience with NCsoft`s highly anticipated MMORPG, Aion."

Also I assume it takes awhile for the link to come through?

Houston we got no link ^^

what is this? is that the whole article? ......

That was a really good hands-on report, which will surely shed some light on this game for many MMO gamers out there.

The article can be found here http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/253/feature/2212

Knowing how impatiant i am i prob. missed it, but is there a release date on Aion?

www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/253/feature/2212

Here's the full article.

nm I didn't see it there two posts up...

What is refreshing, and we keep seeing this from NCSoft about Aion.

They are not out to change the wheel...especially if it is not broken.

They just want to take what they like about our old games and fix it up. I prefer this attitude if you know your game is a clone (*looks at WAR and the fanbois who say it is new...yea right)

The game at least looks good and has some fun and unique attributes. I am ok with that.

I am looking forward to giving this game a try.  The flight aspect is intriguing and the avatars and the war remind me of angels and the struggle of good verses evil, or in this case light versus dark.  The backstory is one that I might actually get into more than some of the other mmo's.

Can't wait.....

Can't wait....... bleh...

I cant wait for this game to be out. The classes look interesting, and the customization looks deep. Seeing as NC has had a very loose NDA and the amount of positive feedback from the beta testers, most of us can assume that the game is very polished and ready for release in Q1 of 09.

Originally posted by openedge1

They just want to take what they like about our old games and fix it up. I prefer this attitude if you know your game is a clone (*looks at WAR and the fanbois who say it is new...yea right

Huh no, they are looking forwards to it because it's Warhammer, not because it's new, a WoW clone or anything else, because it is Warhammer Online, the end. That said I've no interest in that game, so anyway....

Very good Aion review! And this is why we Aion fan peoples have been crazy anbout this game for a while now, it's what we want in an MMO in a pretty package. It's not out to change the face of the MMO world, but it is out to make things fun in an entirely new world with some high fantasy elements but with enough of a twist that it feels very fresh, or that you are on a new planet/dimension or whatever. ;)

After the reading the decent article,i am still VERY skeptical of a korean game.

Crafting,my fave ,really wasn't discussed much so i can't comment.Usually these games rely ONLY on imbuing weapons/gear,end up being some version +1 +2 whatever.

It sounds like the Abyss fighting is TIME=REWARD a big failure IMO,especially since it sounds like the best gear will most likely come from the abyss.

Auction house is a good idea,they get credit for making that obvious move ,those stalls they like to use were a joke.

I don't like that niche idea of flight one bit.I guarantee you 99% of the players will ALL be flying making the rest of the game design a failure.It reminds me of going through HORIZONS and every player was a darn dragon or when froglok was released in EQ2 and a million of them were running around.IMO flight should be earned,by say once you hit level 50,you can forfeit 20 levels and start over at level 30 with flight.Some idea along that lines,rather than allowing the whole server to fly around the air.

Do not like potions,that is so old school it's not funny.There idea of instant delivery is also a nice way to give the RMT an easier way to make residence in there game.

The combat system.I would expect the usual 500 mph poor animations ,korean games all have.I would also expect battles to be over very fast,witch will make there combo system a waste of time.Not only will it be a waste,but with fast paced fights they will ALL want to be using attack dmg combos rather than some useless buff that won't matter since the fight will be over too fast to gain anything from it.

i do agree and sort of like there portal idea,at least as the way i am understanding it?This means you can ONLY hit the other sides realm through a portal and can't just run over there at will?It should go one step further and make you earn your way in via a PVE battle of some sort in that 5 minute time span.

The final thing is the talk of grind.I have a good idea that they may remove the killing grind,but i guarantee they will add in the move from point a to pint B grind ,witch is even worse.By this i mean,you will get  quests that will send you all over hell acres just for the sake of creating a time sink.So ya you may not need 500 kills to get from level 20-21,but you will most likely end up with the same time frames to achieve the higher levels.

The other thing i noticed is that the author has done EXACTLY what i have done on MANY occasions.Hit some game for 2-3 hours and think this is cool.Games ONLY get worse over time as the new game and new looks get old real fast.They always end up the same old same old,it takes a good amount of work to make the game good.I have yet to see one korean game EVER that shows a lot of work was put into it.They are always about glowing swords,shiny armour and you killing mobs or other players,the rest of the game world is always static and very boring with no interactivity.

I will reserve giving this game too much credit,until i finally get to see the finished product,it's already got one bad mark against it being a PVP game.

pity that they didn't show you guys the abyss :P

uk.youtube.com/watch

Originally posted by Ephimero

pity that they didn't show you guys the abyss :P

 

uk.youtube.com/watch

LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said  MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.

Aion, the future hit :)

Originally posted by Wizardry

After the reading the decent article,i am still VERY skeptical of a korean game.

Crafting,my fave ,really wasn't discussed much so i can't comment.Usually these games rely ONLY on imbuing weapons/gear,end up being some version +1 +2 whatever.

Crafting can be only done in the crafting machines, you get the materials, the recipes, and craft, the gathering goes from skinning animals to recollecting flowers or gems, there are 6 kinds of crafting professions in closed beta, and you earn experience as you craft/gather.

It sounds like the Abyss fighting is TIME=REWARD a big failure IMO,especially since it sounds like the best gear will most likely come from the abyss.

Time=reward is in every MMORPG out there, the ones spending more time are the ones who become more rewarded. That being said, there's Abyss points loss on PvP, so you don't have to be online more than the next guy, you have to advoid dying also.

Auction house is a good idea,they get credit for making that obvious move ,those stalls they like to use were a joke.

I don't like that niche idea of flight one bit.I guarantee you 99% of the players will ALL be flying making the rest of the game design a failure.

No, you can't fly everywhere, and you can fly only for a minute, would you waste that minute of flight in approaching a mob? Or would you use it when a mob is about to kill you?

Flying the whole time might be a bad idea, since there are skills that can reduce your flight time and you might take a good ammount of damage after falling if your wings fail.

Do not like potions,that is so old school it's not funny.There idea of instant delivery is also a nice way to give the RMT an easier way to make residence in there game.

You're being so picky, RMT never had a problem without instant delivery. Players will take profit from this also and you don't talk about that.

The combat system.I would expect the usual 500 mph poor animations ,korean games all have.I would also expect battles to be over very fast,witch will make there combo system a waste of time.Not only will it be a waste,but with fast paced fights they will ALL want to be using attack dmg combos rather than some useless buff that won't matter since the fight will be over too fast to gain anything from it.

Then you're up for a surprise. The battles last a lot. Check this video from CBT3 (Templar)

i do agree and sort of like there portal idea,at least as the way i am understanding it?This means you can ONLY hit the other sides realm through a portal and can't just run over there at will?It should go one step further and make you earn your way in via a PVE battle of some sort in that 5 minute time span.

Yes, it's the only known way to reach the other side of the world, however, at level 25 you should go to the abyss if you want to experience what the game is about. Portals are there for casual PvP or to hit the enemy hard on their basements. Many quests are involved with the portals concept also, and you can kill your enemy's NPCs thanks to those.

The final thing is the talk of grind.I have a good idea that they may remove the killing grind,but i guarantee they will add in the move from point a to pint B grind ,witch is even worse.By this i mean,you will get  quests that will send you all over hell acres just for the sake of creating a time sink.So ya you may not need 500 kills to get from level 20-21,but you will most likely end up with the same time frames to achieve the higher levels.

Or you might reach high level fastly like the beta testers of the game and then raid bosses and fight for fortresses.

The other thing i noticed is that the author has done EXACTLY what i have done on MANY occasions.Hit some game for 2-3 hours and think this is cool.Games ONLY get worse over time as the new game and new looks get old real fast.They always end up the same old same old,it takes a good amount of work to make the game good.I have yet to see one korean game EVER that shows a lot of work was put into it.They are always about glowing swords,shiny armour and you killing mobs or other players,the rest of the game world is always static and very boring with no interactivity.

lol really, the author felt that what he tested was cool, and he reported so. Not everyone has a crystall ball telling them how the game will be.

I will reserve giving this game too much credit,until i finally get to see the finished product,it's already got one bad mark against it being a PVP game.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Originally posted by Ephimero

pity that they didn't show you guys the abyss :P

 

uk.youtube.com/watch

 

LMAO that looks like MU online,all you can really enjoy from something like that is looking at 500 names scrolled across the screen.I know i know the usual you tube doesn't do a game justice, i surely hope not from that video,it makes AION, like i said  MU online and going back 15 years in gaming.

If you enjoy instanced battlegrounds and limits telling you that you can't fight cause there are way too many people on that spot, Aion isn't for you.

---

Ever been in a game and found an extremely cool looking set of armor, but the stats/bonuses on it weren’t as nice as the crappy looking stuff you’re wearing? Well, consider that problem solved in Aion. It seems you will have the ability to ‘combine’ two different sets of armor, making the one you want to wear for its bonuses look like the one you want to wear for its appearance. And forget a simple dye system; in Aion you’ll be able to add particle effects to your gear.

---

Sold.
-adding Aion to my list of stuff to get.
Plus, I like the ability to add skills from other classes to my toons.

Originally posted by Wizardry
long post from above, no sense in quoting the whole thing.

Well First off before I begin let me say that from all the previews I've seen and all the videos I've seen, this definitely is not your run of the mill Korean MMO. Further solidifying the fact is that NCSoft is working on this game, not random korean company #1938232. Yes NCSoft also gave us Lineage 2 which was one of the worst grind games in MMORPG history, but they're also known for publishing innovative titles, so obviously they're not afraid to do something different.

Crafting is like a traditional western MMO crafting from the little bit I read on it. Can't go into details as I don't know much about it, but I know there are different crafting professions out there.

PvP is going to play a huge role in this game in the endgame, for them not to reward players for their abyss fighting would be downright silly. Why would you complain about something offering players that spend time more reards in an MMO? That's the whole damn point of most MMOs, those who spend the most time come out on top.

Flying has been designed so that it's short bursts of combat, not overdrawn fights where no one fights on land. Like Richard mentioned in his preview, flying is not meant for going from town to town, it's meant for some bursts of action that can have some very rewarding and sometimes very negative effects. Everyone can fly, so it's not like only certain people can do it. IMO the way they designed it was perfect, I don't like the idea of only flying combat, but I do like the idea of it being a significant part of the game.

We've had a lot of translated reports from Koreans about the grind, it has not been difficult to level at all. Yes they could very well change it a bit from release, but like the Associate Producer said in the preview, it was their goal to make the leveling closer to WoW. I don't think it'll be significantly changing.

Lastly about the 2-3 hour comment, this article is simply a preview, how can you knock the author for writing a preview, which the whole purpose of a preview is to write your impressions of the game based on a limited and small test. I can't really think of a preview that was ever negative, the whole point of them is to show the person playing it the finer points to the game so that there is little room to write about the negative sides. You can't blame the author for that.

Honestly I don't even think playing the game will convince you otherwise that this game has the potential to be good, you are turned off by PvP games apparently, so why do you even bother trying to be convinced it will be good? Some people don't like PvP games, and that's fine. No need to knock a game just because it's not your taste. I don't like EVE because of the pure sci-fi setting and the fact that it revolves around space ship battles. Does that make it a bad game? No, it's just not my thing.

Three articles about crafting/Gathering in Aion:

www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/2671-translation-crafting.html

aionhun.hu/jameinkaiser/crafting3.htm

www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/4591-translation-gathering-resources.html

Those are from CBT2 (April? 2008) and CBT1 (January? 2008). Changes and improvements were announced for Open beta.

 Does the mini map have proper quest markers like Warhammer online and Age of Conan? Or are you left searching all over the place, or Alt-Tabbing to a website to find out where to go for a quest?

Also...I think that flying should be constant and enabled for the entire world. One of the things I hate absolutely is the downtime due to Travel in MMORPGs. I timed a session in Lord of the Rings Online, and in a 1 hour session I spent 30 minutes walking. That is utterly ridiculous, and is one of the reasons I stopped playing LOTRO. 

With a proper flight mechanic, the Developers had a chance to do something truly unique, and to develop a combat system that would work both in the Air and on the land. They could also have developed quests etc. that take advantage of this vertical motion.  

I think they have not taken this mechanic far enough, which is a shame.

Also, why do people keep using YouTube for game videos? You can never make out a darn thing. Vimeo is so much better for game video. http://www.vimeo.com/956073 This shows the game off much, much better. It is pretty...a different artistic style than I tend to see in 'Western' MMORPGs to be sure.

The fighting looks absolutely frenetic and reminds me of watching a Street Fighter battle. FAST! :-)

Which could be both good and bad.

My comments about liking the game after only 2-3 hours was based mostly on the fact that I went in with pretty low expectations and a lot of assumptions/expectations because it was another Korean MMO. I was pleasantly surprised and really liked what I saw so far. Does that mean I'll like the final product? Beats me, I wish I was that psychic, I'd win a couple lottos over the next couple weeks. Don't try to read too much into it, I liked what I saw, I enjoyed what I got to play, nothing more, nothing less, I'm not declaring it the end-all be-all of MMOs or anything, just my opinion of what was presented to me at PAX.

Originally posted by Gel214th

 Does the mini map have proper quest markers like Warhammer online and Age of Conan? Or are you left searching all over the place, or Alt-Tabbing to a website to find out where to go for a quest?

Also...I think that flying should be constant and enabled for the entire world. One of the things I hate absolutely is the downtime due to Travel in MMORPGs. I timed a session in Lord of the Rings Online, and in a 1 hour session I spent 30 minutes walking. That is utterly ridiculous, and is one of the reasons I stopped playing LOTRO. 

With a proper flight mechanic, the Developers had a chance to do something truly unique, and to develop a combat system that would work both in the Air and on the land. They could also have developed quests etc. that take advantage of this vertical motion.  

I think they have not taken this mechanic far enough, which is a shame.

Also, why do people keep using YouTube for game videos? You can never make out a darn thing. Vimeo is so much better for game video. http://www.vimeo.com/956073 This shows the game off much, much better. It is pretty...a different artistic style than I tend to see in 'Western' MMORPGs to be sure.

The fighting looks absolutely frenetic and reminds me of watching a Street Fighter battle. FAST! :-)

Which could be both good and bad.

Quests have a kind of "wiki" attached which based on hyperlinks, opens a new window which let's you know further about what you're reading, and there's a "locate" button to find out where the stuff is.

There are teleport systems to fly between cities, it's a scripted bird which takes you to the next city/basement for a small fee. Also, there are certain speed up tunnels which you have to go through while flying in order to get faster to the places.

They've developed quests, gathering, and many features around flight, in one of those you have to race against a watch to reach point B from point A as part of the flight training. There are even flying raids, and many strategical points in fortresses which can be only reached through flight.

People uses youtube to upload aion CBT videos cause the korean famous sites use something similar in terms of resolution, to find high res videos you would need to know korean and browse smaller forums.

i may have missed something (other than the brief mention in the combat paragraph) but.....

how was this hands on?

hands on the devs?

what i read was the devs say it will be this way - the devs say you can do this or that

what did you do exactly?