Originally posted by SaintViktor

If any of you guys who are playing can answer some questions...

1. How challenging is the game. is there an easy win button ? is his a gear based game ?

2. Class balance, anyone overpowered ?

3. What would be your guess on how long it was take the average gamer to max level.

4. Endgame content for max level players. is it just pvp or raiding at endgame ?

Those screens are really nice. I'm seriously considering playing now. before I was hung up on how many were saying this game is just your basic mmo but really things do not need to be majorly complex in order for them to be good. Right now I am playing AOC  but when this hits the hsleves I thin I'll be giving this a go.

 

1) Easy mode it is not.  Straight forward, yes.  I can't even begin to tell you how many near death experiences I had during my mid teens and early teens.  Two or three mobs at same time isn't healthy for most classes. lol

2) This is just my opinion on it.  But Aion feels like the love child of L2 and WoW.  What do I mean by that? I mean I feel like they took the WoW approach to class balance, by using a small, albeit well designed set of classes.  They (imho again) took all the classes of L2 and just compressed them into 2 Fighter types, 2 Mage types, 2 Priest types, and 2 Rogue types.  I think it worked out pretty well.  I loved L2 and most of the classes it had, but balance was and always will be an issue.  When you have a game with multiple classes and multiple races.  Aion just trims alot of the fat.  Both sides have the same classes, so no more crying about I got beat by such and such class of such and such race.

3) Game is a little slower pace then WoW, if I had to guess I would say it's slightly above EQ2 in pace though.  As currently there are only 50 levels from my understanding.  Lets see if I can't paint you a picture though.  People in the OB for most part were restricted to 5 hours a day of play time.  The beta started on the 8th, and there are screen shots of people (as of 04/11/09 from Aionsource english community) as high as 22 to 28.  I think the cap for OB might have been 30. I saw quite a few chinese players at 30, when I was in Pandamonium during peak hours.

4) No idea on this one so not even going to take a shot at it, sorry.

I'm playing the Chinese OB and I have to say, this game is well done.

There is nothing really revolutionary about Aion, but it is a well polished theme park fantasy MMO. While that may sound bad, I'm thinking it could actually be good. WoW players will feel comfortable in Aion, and I'm sure WoW has players that are looking for a new home. In my opinion, this may be the first game to take a decent % of WoW's subs, not kill it, of course, but I think WoW may come down a bit.

Originally posted by stringboi

I'm only level 8 right now...I am loving it, even got my friend playing with me.  Game is gorgeous.....seems very promising....was a breeze to get set up too.  Much easier than Korean version!  Everyone should give it a go...can even install and english patch....theres no reason NOT to try it....unless you just dont care to. 

Downloading the client now. Where do I get English Patch?

i agree with the op, im lvl 8 atm

its good but somehow i expected it to be better, i dont know why

i played 5 years of lineage and aion doesnt strike me as next gen so much.
i especially expected more action orientated combat (like conan or chronicles of spellborne maybe)

also the graphics are real nice but also seem a few steps behind beeing called next generation if you compare them for example with terra

anyway ill probably buy it and play it till the bots take over

on another node i wonder if the game is as buff dependant as l2

Originally posted by juncaoy

Why  u not try this  awfully amazing game?

Although it lacks creation, i cant deny that Aion is still a feast in mmorpg world

I already said it, because to me is not that awfully amazing game ;)

If you are currently playing a P2P mmorpg or even a F2P spending money, then you should try Aion, since seems like it can be a good game. (to me it's like a mix of WoW and L2, 70% WoW and 30% L2)

But if you are waiting for something "new" and different to WoW, EQ2, L2, AoC and these current mmorpgs, Aion for sure won't be for you, since it's the same as those mentioned mmorpgs but with "wings".

Graphics are good, but not impressive, AoC has way better graphics imo, so i was expecting it to be way better, however thanks to these graphics the game is well optimized and servers support a lot of people without lagging. (there are like 70 chinese servers, all of them with over 10k players on each server and 1-2k+ waiting to enter on each server, which is more than an hour to enter)

Originally posted by stayontarget

Originally posted by duri13

Bad:

No keyboard target function (I'm using keyboard, the num-pad, and mouse),

Trying to enter a server, 5min wait to delete a character, XP restriction based on play time (China only I'm betting),

 

Press Tab for Keyboard targeting, or go into options and set the keys up how you like them.

If you have XP restriction after 3 hours of play then you have a chinese account that is under the age of 18, make an adult account to remove this.

For your first solution, there was no key that I could set for this. This was the first place I looked for how to change it because I always use custom keys (should have seen that with my use of num-pad)

Wow, get an adult account. Nice suggestion, if only I was chinese and had a registration number to say I was adult >_<.    Anyways, I know there is probably some sight out there whre I could get one, I just didn't want to.  Its actually a pretty good implementation I think, but would turn off alot of US younger players thats why I put it in Bad.

Edit: Also looks like I'm not going to be able to play open beta anymore due to some family issues and going out of state.  For all those still in I look forward to your reports when I get back, and to those who haven't played look forward to the NA open beta if they have one, or get into this one for a short time.

Originally posted by SaintViktor  

If any of you guys who are playing can answer some questions...

2. Class balance, anyone overpowered ?

Only can answer this one for pVe. Priest.  For reason why, see post on page 4.

Originally posted by Korvenus

Originally posted by stringboi

I'm only level 8 right now...I am loving it, even got my friend playing with me.  Game is gorgeous.....seems very promising....was a breeze to get set up too.  Much easier than Korean version!  Everyone should give it a go...can even install and english patch....theres no reason NOT to try it....unless you just dont care to. 

 

Downloading the client now. Where do I get English Patch?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5L101ZF0
http://www.speedshare.org/download.php?id=1545C4053
or
http://rapidshare.com/files/218882500/ENU.pak

Ok, I got the English Pak downloaded. How do I install it?

It's true, Aion is not groundbreaking, it doesn't mix genres or revolutionize MMOs.  What myself and many others here enjoy about Aion is the impressive level of polish in their interpretation of the old trends.

I would love to have a new MMO with such revolutionary design that it blows every other game away, most players would.  However don't let that criteria be the sole reason you dismiss even trying a game.  Imagine if you were shopping for a new car, and you refuse to test drive anything regardless of how well they are built, because none of them can hover yet.

I understand the urge for something new, but don't let that be the only deciding factor.

just open the L10N folder and drop it in.

Originally posted by craynlon

i agree with the op, im lvl 8 atm

its good but somehow i expected it to be better, i dont know why

i played 5 years of lineage and aion doesnt strike me as next gen so much.
i especially expected more action orientated combat (like conan or chronicles of spellborne maybe)

also the graphics are real nice but also seem a few steps behind beeing called next generation if you compare them for example with terra

anyway ill probably buy it and play it till the bots take over

on another node i wonder if the game is as buff dependant as l2

Try to get a little higher than lvl8, All mmo's are boring at the noob lvls.

Originally posted by Korvenus

Ok, I got the English Pak downloaded. How do I install it?

You don't install it.  Just put the .pak file into the folder labled L10N, which is located wherever you installed the game folder to. There should be 1 folder inside of it and a chinese .pak file in there, leave them both in it.

 Cant put my finger on why but i am enjoying it i have played a cleric, ranger and a lvl 8 fighter.

Originally posted by duri13

Originally posted by Korvenus

Ok, I got the English Pak downloaded. How do I install it?

 

You don't install it.  Just put the .pak file into the folder labled L10N, which is located wherever you installed the game folder to. There should be 1 folder inside of it and a chinese .pak file in there, leave them both in it.

Yea, I figured it out earlier but I got one problem. Everything is in english other than that chat from other people. If I say something it comes out as english but nonthing else is.

Are you talking about NPCs chatting or other PC's chatting.  If you mean other PC's its because they have different keyboards over in China than we do and that will not be autotranslated.  The only thing the patch does is translate the gameplay, not the user generated talk.

i doubt if it will be bot infested, seeing as to how you can train mobs down on other players. Mobs dont run back to their respawn points if there is another player in the area, they just come back and attack that player

Originally posted by stayontarget

Originally posted by craynlon

i agree with the op, im lvl 8 atm

its good but somehow i expected it to be better, i dont know why

i played 5 years of lineage and aion doesnt strike me as next gen so much.
i especially expected more action orientated combat (like conan or chronicles of spellborne maybe)

also the graphics are real nice but also seem a few steps behind beeing called next generation if you compare them for example with terra

anyway ill probably buy it and play it till the bots take over

on another node i wonder if the game is as buff dependant as l2

Try to get a little higher than lvl8, All mmo's are boring at the noob lvls.

actually both conan and chronicles of spellborn (and even war) werent boring at low lvl for me
and i wouldnt even say aion is boring, its just not as exiting as i tought it would

im even scared that the low level impression i get is to positive.

if you look at lineage2 for example, in low levels (up to 40-50) some classes (prophet i.e.) even play and feel completely different then in higher level and usually it doesnt turn to the better (pvp wise i.e.)

but i dont want to bring aion down, im just sying closer to launch i will have to look for and study korean reviews about class balance and pvp at end-level because the stuff that would have exited me at low level like action orientated combat, a story that draws me in... isnt there for me yet.

Graphics, sound, and music are all great in this game.  Especially the music, props to the composer for this game.

Fortunately most of my exp so far have come from quests but don't expect anything revolutionary from the quests.  It is your standard point A to B deliver quests and kill X number of monsters for an item or so.  However this I do not mind one bit.

I am playing this game for the RvR and PvP, and from what I hear, Abyss action starts at either lvl 20 or 25.

I plan on playing Aion after OB and purchasing time cards from a 3rd party site if possible.  It sounds desperate but the current batch of MMORPGs out right now doesn't appeal to me and I could use the extra experience learning how to play my class.

P.S. The majority of the Aion Source (popular Aion fansite) players play on the Azariel server in Region 2 North China.  If you want to play with other English players, this server is your best bet.