I leveled 2 toons, both mages up to 32 and 43 respectively. I never ran out of quests and I did zero grinding. I just did quests and I also did no PVP on the 43 level toon. Plenty of quests. This by the way is with the 1.0 Chinese version. The 1.2 Korean version supposedly adds a bunch more quests.

By the way the 32 level toon I did a alot of PVP with and I also did a lot of collecting. I even managed to level 2 levels just by collecting things just to do it (I actually did about 2 and a half levels collecting but I ended up killing a few mobs I aggroed so I had to subtract out their XP. I also did a bunch of repeatable quests with the level 32 toon.

ok hardcore fanboys... just so we're clear... i wasnt flaming the game. i wasnt saying it's bad. i was giving an unbiased review on my experiences and others i have played with experiences in the game... one again being neglected was the question i have already asked twice

so here it is again

On the chinese server you play on. Did you play as Elyos or Asmodian.

after the discussion last night, i decided to go and make an Elyos toon... and for all those people playing chinese server Elyos has a more structed quest pattern then Asmodian i have found.

and if the korean 1.2 patch adds more quests, thats great, hopefully they're too Asmodian to balance out the amount of quests a little

Originally posted by mbrodie9

On the chinese server you play on. Did you play as Elyos or Asmodian.

Elyos

I would never play Asmodian. Asmodian's mothers are hampsters and their fathers smell like elderberries.

well there you go, our experience has been from an asmodian perspective.. and comparing it to WoW where alliance is quicker to level then horde, i dare say that is where the "inconsistencies" arise :)

The two sides both have equal experience from quests. They each have a counterpart of the same quest so no side is easier to level then the other.  

i'm sure they say that about WoW aswell, but alliance is significantly quicker to level

i've played both sides now and knowing nothing about the elyos areas, i managed to get to level 13 quicker then i did with my asmodian... you can say what you want.. but plain and simple, thats been mine and friends experience in the game.

No, I have never played Chinese Aion, haven't ever even considered getting it..... what use could I possilby have when i have Korean Aion?

I too played Asmodian.  I havent gotten any characters above 22 yet since I want to save all those expieriences for English version.  HOWEVER, from leveling a Gladiator, a Spiritmaster and a Ranger, i have found there to be little grind.  In fact, the only grind I had was as a scout, i found that the abilities I had made it difficult to solo level 6-9 quests and I spent the majority of those levels grinding mobs because i couldnt kill the more powerful ones for the quests and I dont speak Korean so i couldnt group. 
I suppose your wondering "Well if you can't speak Korean, how the hell do you do ANY quests whatsoever?!"  The answer is simple.  Aion has an amazingly streamlined and easy to use quest system. In addition to organizing your quest list in an accessable and simple format, it also allows you to pinpoint areas on the map for your specific quest utilizing button links-IE... If your quest is to gather baskets of fruit, click the word for 'baskets of fruit" in the quest description and it will give you a pinpoint location to where you can find said baskets, not only that but you can also use the same system to locate the original quest giver.  I was able to complete 90% of the quests without understanding a word of Korean. 

Now, one thing that may skew my view on the grind, is that I found the combat to be so entertaining that I would literally kill mobs just for fun as I moved on to quest objectives.

It's very exciting to get to your skill level and play around with your exciting new abilities.  I'm really looking forward to english to see what a rank 2 fire elemental is like.

As for endgame, i never got to it, but it looks very promising.  Take a look at this

www.aionsource.com/forum/news-announcements/16696-content-update-1-3-semi-official-content-news.html

PvP Dungeons?  WTF SICK PWNAGE BUTTRAPE SPAGGHETTI!!

More quests? As if there weren't enough already.... lol.

NCsoft has already released two MASSIVE patches for the game(1.1 and 1.2), each with new features including dungeons, more armor, customization options and new zones.   I would also like to note, that there is a new patch(smaller one, usually with balancing issues or bug fixes) almost every week .  Gotta hand it to NCsoft for trying. 

There are several higher level dungeons in place already, including the Fire Temple and Secret Laboratory, asside from which i know there are more, but Pez doesnt care so much for PvE so he hasnt paid them much attention.

I think that if any game has the potential to be a WoW killer, it is Aion.  People here might say the art style is too asian, or anime.  Truth is, that Anime is more popular in the west then you may realize, people have loved and still do love games like Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem or even Dynasty Warriors.  Kids in this generation in particular, with shows like Bakugan or Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh or Digimon.  I grew up with Ranma 1/2 and Pokemon as an everyday thing, and i loved them (still love Ranma).  

If anything else, that style will make it MORE popular.  I've actually shown it to some of my younger cousins already.   After letting them play on my account for several hours their parents had to literally pry them out of my chair.

It's certainly not a game for everyone, no game can be.  However, the kind of game it is, will appeal to both casual players, to hardcore PvPers and even raiders.  It's wonderful graphics which although styalized are nonetheless stunning accompanied with incredible scaling means that even mediocre computers can play Aion with max graphics.  Lag issues have been minimal for me even living in the US, in fact, I notice a framerate drop of maybe 2-3 when i enter Pandaemonium(capital city of the asmodians), and from what i've read and seen(youtube videos) the massive siege battles are also very doable in terms of both lag and computer reqs.

Originally posted by joufes

Originally posted by stayontarget

Originally posted by joufes

i have my doubts about aion NA/EU hitting the 3.5 mil subs in a year  even. my reason? population. China blows the US and EU population. And then you have the RMT's to count several thousand accounts there, and then you have the people in NA contributing to the china SUB list. I have already seen RMT sites advertising Aion gold. So to sum it all up, i dont believe the 3.5 mil subs number.

Well somehow NC is making a boat load of cash off of aion. : www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2319016/

Believe what you like but China has close to 200 servers by now and I'm not sure how many Korea has.

 

i dont doubt they are making alot of money.  i only doubt the number of real subscribers.

Real subscribers is of little relevance if you compare with other mmo's , we are talking about active and payed for accounts, thats what they are, and wether it are RMT'ers, farmers your brother or my grandma, does not matter.

WoW also has bots, farmers, multiple accounts for 1 person, etc.

Perhaps we should be more clear when we talk about these numbers, subscriptions do not equal subscribers, and these numbers are indeed subscriptions, not subscribers.

Fact is that Aion has 3,5 million Asian subscriptions vs WoW 6,5 million, it is the 1st real threat towards WoW in Asia, and now that WoW is down for more than a month, Aion might cash in their momentum.

It may not be a WoW killer, but it is the 1st serious contender. ( Subscription wise ). I am eagerly awaiting next quarterly results from NCSoft and also the new numbers from WoW after the downtime.

Aion seems a solid game with a good subscription base in Asia, so it just might become popular in the West, if they get a steady 400k you can already speak of a success.

Interesting times await :p

Originally posted by Korvenus

Originally posted by SaintViktor

What I find amazing is that the game isn't even out a year I believe and it has more subs than probably LOTRO, AOC and Warhammer combined and Aion still has to release in Taiwan,NA/EU and Australia I believe.

 

 

This is exactly what I am saying. I think you can combine the subs of every western mmo other than WoW and still wont come up with 3.5 Million.

Thats a bit over the top, but I get your point :p

Originally posted by CyberWiz

Originally posted by Korvenus

Originally posted by SaintViktor

What I find amazing is that the game isn't even out a year I believe and it has more subs than probably LOTRO, AOC and Warhammer combined and Aion still has to release in Taiwan,NA/EU and Australia I believe.

 

 

This is exactly what I am saying. I think you can combine the subs of every western mmo other than WoW and still wont come up with 3.5 Million.

 

Thats a bit over the top, but I get your point :p

A bit over the top, but probably accurate. Kinda sad when you think about it really.

Originally posted by MyDcmbr81

Originally posted by CyberWiz

Originally posted by Korvenus

Originally posted by SaintViktor

What I find amazing is that the game isn't even out a year I believe and it has more subs than probably LOTRO, AOC and Warhammer combined and Aion still has to release in Taiwan,NA/EU and Australia I believe.

 

 

This is exactly what I am saying. I think you can combine the subs of every western mmo other than WoW and still wont come up with 3.5 Million.

 

Thats a bit over the top, but I get your point :p

 

A bit over the top, but probably accurate. Kinda sad when you think about it really.

Not too accurate, may I seduce you into checking out my website :

www.mmodata.net

Now if I roughly add up the western developped mmo's that I got charted ( there are many still to be added )  then I come at around 5.000.000, so yah, Aion is getting close, but not there yet :p

An interesting chart to put things into perspective is this one :

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/MarketShareMMOG.png

What do you think it will happen when the game starts with so much people wanting to jump in? I hope the servers can handle it.

---

Originally posted by Psatiyah

---

Originally posted by Hammertime1

I just don't see it.
The majority of subs are going to stay in Asia, this game won't hold 250k subs in the US.

---

 
That absolutely did not contribute at all to the discussion
 
Although, I have to say I agree - Aion is a bit too 'grindy' for Western gamers, so will hit max 2 mil amongst EU/USA combined

---

I'm curious why you think it's grindy. I've played in the beta and the leveling pace is on par with WoW/Lotro/EQ2 and was ALL quest based. Unless you consider WoW grindy in which case I really have to disagree with you.

Some saying Aion is a gring is just way off base. Aion is right on par as stated above with the rest of the Western marketed mmos. Some of you didn't complain when you had to level grind to 60 in WOW or max level in Lotro but yet they will fill the forums complaining about Aion. Some just need to get over it and just realize Aion is the next big mmo and people are having a great time playing it.

Originally posted by Hammertime1

I just don't see it.

The majority of subs are going to stay in Asia, this game won't hold 250k subs in the US.

if wow can be a success then Aion has every chance.

Thanks for taking a cheap shot at WoW. Its still an amazing game. Aion will do fine but no where near the asian numbers. The reason for it is because its not a western style mmo. Its still a grinder to a certain extent which is one of the big turnoffs.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Numbers is Asia will be huge but probbaly wont be as big in NA/EU, i think around 500k+ subs for NA/EU. which is good compared to the crap we got in 2008. 
 

3.5 million subs in Asia? 

So it's not even as popular as WOW with it's 5-6 million in Asia?

I agree SgtFrog, 500k or so maximum in NA/EU. Which is good, but that will be "peak" subscriptions.

Originally posted by Zerocyde

I was just agreeing with the "less subs in the US" idea and backing it up with my uninformed estimation of the gameplay of the game. No need to brandish me a snarling rage-filled hatemonger just because I'm not madly in love with your favorite mmo.

uninformed, estimations..whatever will you guess about next.

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Thanks for taking a cheap shot at WoW. Its still an amazing game. Aion will do fine but no where near the asian numbers. The reason for it is because its not a western style mmo. Its still a grinder to a certain extent which is one of the big turnoffs.

Aion is not a grinder, have you even played passed level 30 ?

Well finally a game that can take over my WoW addiction, since I played it too much and puke on it atm. I am atleast going for one max level char then I can speak if its grind or not. And if youre saying Aion is a grinder it means there are NO MMO AT ALL that isnt a grinder... they all are. If you stay on a certain spot for like 8 hours staight killing same mob that is "grinding"  killing 20 mobs just dont cut it mate. Play LINEAGE 2  til youre level 80 and then come back and tell me what a GRINDER MMO is please...

Over and Out!

i hope aion kills wow, wow fanbois are worst type.