Originally posted by comerb

there are a lot of better game for cheaper price

its a fair game but its too expensive for what you get 

lot of f2p game are at least = to aion 

free realm as already 5 million player it summer lol wow is still a the best 

rom is very good etc

aion in my view is like this

TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

your better off playing ddo when it gets f2p

 

Another f2p warrior eh?  You guys are dragging down the entirety of the MMO genre.

 

Anyway, the PvP is realm vs realm.  From 1-20 there is basically no PvP outside of duels.  At 20 you start heading into zones where "rifts" open.  Rifts basically are gateways that allow players from the opposing faction to raid your faction's "PvE" areas.  There is almost always a rift open somewhere, although the presence of a rift is easily identifiable. This, in my opinion, solidifies this as a PvP game.  After level 20 you really are never truly safe from the PvP aspect of the game if you want to continue leveling up.

 

At 25 you have access to a huge area called "The Abyss".  It's a huge, open world PvPvE zone that both faction have access to.  This basically means that the combat is between two players faction, the Elyos and the Asmodians... as well as an NPC faction that adds a random element to the gameplay (and acts as a balancing factor).  The Abyss mobs/quests grant more experience and are generally weaker than like level mobs in "PvE" zones.  The idea being to reward players w/ participating in an open PvP zone.  Also, both PvP and PvE inside the Abyss grant Abyss points(AP)... which are used to buy the best PvP gear and items in the game.  The more AP you have, the higher your rank.  The higher your rank, the more AP points your worth to your enemy.  When you die, you lose AP points(the higher your rank the more you lose).  This creates a sort of player skill cap where a person balances out (your earning/losing).  Some of the best Abyss items require lots of AP, so only good/smart players who can obtain higher amounts of AP will be able to afford them.  

In the Abyss there are also Fortresses and Relics each side fights for control over.  

Relics have unique powers that, when used, affect all players of the controlling sides faction.  These powers are impressive/useful enough that they can really play a factor in the outcome of battles, so its in the interest of both factions to control as many relics as possible.  

Fortresses have time-span's where they are seizable.  You do this by laying siege to the fortress, breaching the outer door, and then killing a raid type boss that lies within the fortresses interior.    There are also forcefield type generators in fortresses that prevent air raids, these are important to defenders because it creates a choke-point of defense.  By taking out the shield generator the fortress can be breached from the air as well, which causes it to be intensely difficult to defend.  Successful fortress sieges award medals, which are used to buy some of the best PvP Abyss gear.  Owning a fortress grants the capturing Legion(guild) a large monetary value which basically simulates "taxes", as well as provides your faction with a local trading/crafting(? i think) hub deep inside the Abyss.  This is important because the game's fast travel system can be a real drain on your bank account.  The reward system is good enough to drive the siege system continuously, which is a great thing.

 As for the level grind, its not too bad.  Worse than some games, better than others.  There are enough quests in the newer versions to take you to cap w/ a minimal amount of grinding.  The Abyss + Rifts break up the grind pretty well by adding a nice random PvP encounters to the game.  I'm not terribly big on the PvE leveling grind "fun factor", as I've never played an MMO where I actually found that particularly interesting... but its not horrible.  Individual fights move a little slower than I'd like (ie the time it takes to take down a single mob, not the speed of gameplay).  I find levels 1-25 to be pretty painful, not because they take a long time, but because its all PvE and your characters skill-sets aren't fleshed out enough to really "enjoy" them yet.  That's just my opinion though.

The real grind is going to be from getting AP and siege medals to buy Abyss gear, or collecting enough materials to make the best crafted armor(which is really good).  Also the money/item grind to enchant all your stuff to +10 and properly socket it with the appropriate gems is going to take forever as well.  However, if you -enjoy- the PvP, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal.  It will definitely keep PvPers busy for along time.

PvP combat is fast and interesting, but not so fast that the game is frustrating.  Movement and kiting are encouraged and rewarded, so its not the slug it out non-movement type of PvP that a lot of asian game's are.  Arial combat adds another level of strategy to the game, although melee is somewhat at a disadvantage in this aspect. Heavy consumable usage rewards the prepared, which may or may not be a good thing depending on the type of gamer you are.  The combo system requires the player to make unique choices based on the situation that can largely effect the outcome.  Class balance is pretty solid, better than most games.  And the game touches a nice balance between actual player skill and gear affecting the outcome.

I don't have much opinion about the PvE raids or dungeons.  I think they are a weaker part of the game on the whole, but NCSoft seems to be pushing more PvE content into the game.  Some of them combine PvP elements into them, and some of them combine performance based rewards that seem pretty interesting (ie the faster you clear the dungeon the better loot).  But I haven't actually got to play w/ any of that stuff so I can't tell you how well its really done.

As for the preorder, I'd recommend it.  You can try out the game in the beta tests and see if you like it.  if you don't, just cancel your preorder.  You also get a 3-day headstart on leveling (being ahead of the leveling pack will be a boon in an open PvP environment like the Abyss), and if you preorder the collectors addition you get a couple nice items... most noticably a unique set of level 30 wings that will end up saving you a bunch of gold as you won't have to spend a ton on the level 30 ones you buy in-game(kinda like getting a free epic mount in wow).

excellent and well thought out post. Learned more from reading this than have since playing in Beta. Thank you!
 

Originally posted by Zeblade

ok 1st.. Free Realms does not have even CLOSE to 5mil.. They have ME as a reg player and I have never played the game nor been on SOE in years.

2nd its 1.02. They told you time after time what VER we were using

The reason so many think Aion for $50 is a ripoff is.. FREE2PLAY games. So many have the same icons on the BAR alone. I mean have ANY of you played ANY other real MMO's? The 1st thing people cry about is if there is only ONE starting area. Yet for Aion its ok?

Your just paying for a nice painted over free2play. When most hit 25+ then you will see the REAL game. The grind kicks in, you will HAVE to group for quests.. you WILL PVP or stand and just die. And the combat is.. just easy.  And if you like more than one char.. it gets VERY VERY boring. 

Loot, its like FREE2PLAY. You wont get tons of different armor, weapons for each level. Yes you can craft them and even that you dont have to worry because you DONT need other players to get crafting done.. EASY. There will be different armor types but if you have played FREE2PLAY they will see that added more but just a tiny bit.

By the time its launched here it will have been out about 1year. Now you played 1.0 now 1.0- 1.5. It took them ONE YEAR just to make those changes. So remember they are NOTHING like Blizzard and ANY changes you cry or want to see are going to take many many months.

1) Who cares if there is only one starting zone.... its a starting zone.  You spend like 3-4 hours there at most.

2) The grind is pretty average for a MMO. You only have to group for... ya know...group quests.  PvP is a good thing, its a PvP game.  The only mainstream fantasy MMO I can think of w/ a more complicated combat system is Age of Conan's melee system(which is pretty sweet), the rest are pretty much carbon copies w/ small differences.

3) AoC and Warhammer have been out a year.  Neither of them approaches Aion's polish or content.  AoC is just finally becoming a game that I would consider ready for release.  Warhammer needs its game engine to be rebuilt.

4) Aion's has a built in armor customization option.  You can dye armor and transfer item appearance between any two like items. So where in WoW every level 80 Rogue w/ T8 gear looks exactly the same, in Aion two level 50 Assassin in identical endgame gear may have vastly different appearances.  That's not even touching upon character customization options, where Aion basically destroys most other games with the exception of CoX.

5) WoW was not as polished, nor did it contain as much content as Aion does at its 1 year mark.  WoW even launched with absolutely no PvP system in place, and zero raid dungeons.  For the first several months the endgame of WoW consisted of 15 man BRS runs, and a single set of tier .5 armor per class.... yeah, that compares well to what Aion launched with <rolls eyes>

Originally posted by Zsavooz
excellent and well thought out post. Learned more from reading this than have since playing in Beta. Thank you!

The funny part is, he only covered a portion of the game with that long reply.

Main reason I avoid explaining about Aion in detail as a whole is that it will take several pages to cover all the details about everything in game, and I am only talking about version 1.0

The truth is, I rather Aion be unpopular, less people means less lag.

Originally posted by Zeblade

ok 1st.. Free Realms does not have even CLOSE to 5mil.. They have ME as a reg player and I have never played the game nor been on SOE in years.

2nd its 1.02. They told you time after time what VER we were using

The reason so many think Aion for $50 is a ripoff is.. FREE2PLAY games. So many have the same icons on the BAR alone. I mean have ANY of you played ANY other real MMO's? The 1st thing people cry about is if there is only ONE starting area. Yet for Aion its ok?

Your just paying for a nice painted over free2play. When most hit 25+ then you will see the REAL game. The grind kicks in, you will HAVE to group for quests.. you WILL PVP or stand and just die. And the combat is.. just easy.  And if you like more than one char.. it gets VERY VERY boring. 

Loot, its like FREE2PLAY. You wont get tons of different armor, weapons for each level. Yes you can craft them and even that you dont have to worry because you DONT need other players to get crafting done.. EASY. There will be different armor types but if you have played FREE2PLAY they will see that added more but just a tiny bit.

By the time its launched here it will have been out about 1year. Now you played 1.0 now 1.0- 1.5. It took them ONE YEAR just to make those changes. So remember they are NOTHING like Blizzard and ANY changes you cry or want to see are going to take many many months.

I'm sorry but I disagree. this is as much like a free to play game as Lineage 2 is.

As far as lots of gear, I don't really believe I've ever played a game with lots of gear. EQ 2 doesn't have lots of gear. LOTRO doesn't really have lots of different gear though the outfit system helps a bit.

Free to play games are junky. They look junky and they play junky.

If people want to complain about pvp or having one starter area then sure, I can see where that stuff would bother people.

But if you are going to say this is like a free to play game then you are going to have to start giving examples and I'd be happy to download them and see for myself.

I've tried perfect world and shaiya and this game feels a lot more polished and "put together" than those games. Same with Archlord.

But I'll bite. Please give me a game that is as polished and thought out. Not just a "show up to a field and grind until you got to another field and grind".

I'd also be curious as to the game you are playing now to see what point of view you are coming from.

I think comerb (above poster) has it right. Warhammer has only one starter area per side as well. Conan has one starter area. And you know, if this really was like a free to play game I'd be playing one. and yet, I can't get into any of the free to play games that I've tried.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Zeblade

ok 1st.. Free Realms does not have even CLOSE to 5mil.. They have ME as a reg player and I have never played the game nor been on SOE in years.

2nd its 1.02. They told you time after time what VER we were using

The reason so many think Aion for $50 is a ripoff is.. FREE2PLAY games. So many have the same icons on the BAR alone. I mean have ANY of you played ANY other real MMO's? The 1st thing people cry about is if there is only ONE starting area. Yet for Aion its ok?

Your just paying for a nice painted over free2play. When most hit 25+ then you will see the REAL game. The grind kicks in, you will HAVE to group for quests.. you WILL PVP or stand and just die. And the combat is.. just easy.  And if you like more than one char.. it gets VERY VERY boring. 

Loot, its like FREE2PLAY. You wont get tons of different armor, weapons for each level. Yes you can craft them and even that you dont have to worry because you DONT need other players to get crafting done.. EASY. There will be different armor types but if you have played FREE2PLAY they will see that added more but just a tiny bit.

By the time its launched here it will have been out about 1year. Now you played 1.0 now 1.0- 1.5. It took them ONE YEAR just to make those changes. So remember they are NOTHING like Blizzard and ANY changes you cry or want to see are going to take many many months.

 

I think comerb (above poster) has it right. Warhammer has only one starter area per side as well. Conan has one starter area. And you know, if this really was like a free to play game I'd be playing one. and yet, I can't get into any of the free to play games that I've tried.

Have you even played Warhammer? There is a starter zone for almost every race. There are 2 races that start in the same zone on Destruction side, same with Order side.

Originally posted by Prophecies

Originally posted by Sovrath

I think comerb (above poster) has it right. Warhammer has only one starter area per side as well. Conan has one starter area. And you know, if this really was like a free to play game I'd be playing one. and yet, I can't get into any of the free to play games that I've tried.

 

Have you even played Warhammer? There is a starter zone for almost every race. There are 2 races that start in the same zone on Destruction side, same with Order side.

Yea I was going to say there are 3 starting areas in Warhammer based of race, but each side starts in a different part of the zone per racial pairing, like Greenskins vs Dwarves.

Originally posted by drbaltazar

Originally posted by jonezi92

Hi peeps, i was just wondering how Aion was doing since Alot more people are getting into the Beta now with pre-orders right?

 

Ok, "How is Aion Doing" Probobly isnt that specific,

so if you could in your own way, please quickly tell me your experiance in the Beta atm?

Bits you like, Bits you dont like, PvP, PvE, is it heavily instanced, Is it open world PvP 100% or does it have its safe zones blah blah, you get what im talking about right?

 

I know your probobly going to say "wtf just go google it, or read other posts here"

truth is i already have, and still cant quite grasp HOW the game is doing now in the views of the beta testers, and how they feel like the game is doing, its pro's and cons sort of speak.

Im not trying to hate on the game (if i did hate the game i wouldnt be posting this), or be its No.1 fanboy, its just hard to Filter through all the positive and negative with such byist opinions on the game itself or the developers.

So im asking you Beta Testers who truly have a sense about games, wether it is a grindfest / solo play, or group kind of game yano? Im asking someone with a sense about games someone in the Gray zone of this game could give me their opinions would be great!

This is probobly a pointless thread, but hopefully from you guys actually playing the game will help me determine if i pre-order the game or not, or just wait untill public release in sept is it?

 

Thanks !

 

there are a lot of better game for cheaper price

its a fair game but its too expensive for what you get 

lot of f2p game are at least = to aion 

free realm as already 5 million player it summer lol wow is still a the best 

rom is very good etc

aion in my view is like this

TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

your better off playing ddo when it gets f2p

It's not perfect, but it's compelling on a number of fronts. The fact that I find Aion superior to all the alternatives you list by name just proves how subjective these things are.

My impression of the beta test community, bolstered by a few polls, (including one that was up on the beta boards before the end of the last Closed Beta), is that over 90% of those testing it still plan to play it at launch, 7% are a bit iffy and 3% have canceled their pre-orders.

Sometimes a game can have a positive beta and falter at higher levels, (AoC is a good example). However, most duds see tester polls that show over 50% saying they won't play if the game launches as is. (I remember one beta were the polls were like 80% against launching as is).

So, to the point, my impression is that the general mood of testers towards the game remains very positive.

 Huh? AoC beta was horrible, anyone who played the beta for a reasonable amount of time could've told you that. It just never became widespread as say, Vanguard, because of Funcom's deceptive marketing, the hordes of fanbois and the people hoping for a miracle patch at launch.

Originally posted by Zeblade

ok 1st.. Free Realms does not have even CLOSE to 5mil.. They have ME as a reg player and I have never played the game nor been on SOE in years.

2nd its 1.02. They told you time after time what VER we were using (the NA/EU beta is at v.1.0)

The reason so many think Aion for $50 is a ripoff is.. FREE2PLAY games. So many have the same icons on the BAR alone. I mean have ANY of you played ANY other real MMO's? The 1st thing people cry about is if there is only ONE starting area. Yet for Aion its ok? (One starting area for each race... pretty standard for todays MMOs)

Your just paying for a nice painted over free2play. When most hit 25+ then you will see the REAL game. The grind kicks in, you will HAVE to group for quests (I guess that makes FFXI a Free2play game? And I dont see how grouping is bad..in an MMO!).. you WILL PVP or stand and just die (Well that makes me happy since AION is a PvPvE game and not a PvE game alone.Unless you mean that PvP is part of f2p games only). And the combat is.. just easy (thats just a lie. Mobs can and will kill you if you are careless. Now WoW is an easy game..does this make it f2p?) .  And if you like more than one char.. it gets VERY VERY boring (I already leveled two priests to lvl 10+ doing the quests in the same starting area and its not boring for me. But thats just personal preference). 

Loot, its like FREE2PLAY. You wont get tons of different armor, weapons for each level (and that makes wow with WOTLK a f2p mmo eh? Since Northrend gear is basically 2 models for each armor type. And hell even in 3.2 tier9 armors are similar between types, so all plate will share the same model and so on...) . Yes you can craft them and even that you dont have to worry because you DONT need other players to get crafting done.. EASY (you CAN have all trade skills yes...but its almost IMPOSSIBLE to level them all....unless if you ebay gold all the time wich Im sure you are doing for f2p MMOs using their official item malls). There will be different armor types but if you have played FREE2PLAY they will see that added more but just a tiny bit.

By the time its launched here it will have been out about 1year. Now you played 1.0 now 1.0- 1.5. It took them ONE YEAR just to make those changes. So remember they are NOTHING like Blizzard and ANY changes you cry or want to see are going to take many many months. (And the additions are impressive. More PvE dungeons both while leveling and end-game, new items and features, new areas and lots of new quests to reduce grinding to minimun)

Comments in orange.

Originally posted by Krytycal

 Huh? AoC beta was horrible, anyone who played the beta for a reasonable amount of time could've told you that. It just never became widespread as say, Vanguard, because of Funcom's deceptive marketing, the hordes of fanbois and the people hoping for a miracle patch at launch.

I'm guessing he's talking about the "open beta", which Funcom kept limited to Tortage. To those of us who were in the closed beta of the game, the horror of a game *not working at all* with a release date looming just a few weeks away is too well known.

Honestly, I've never seen a game client perform more poorly at the very last stages of closed beta than AOC's. For many, it didn't work at all. For a lot, well it worked if you could call running at a *crawl* working. That's why Funcom said they released a "miracle patch" just before launch, because now at least a fair amount of players could actually *play* the darned thing - never mind that there wasn't sufficient content...

As for Aion, I've seen it in beta in several stages of its life now, both Asian and Western, and it's always been quite polished for a beta. I also expect it'll keep a good bit of its beta testers.

Originally posted by Prophecies

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Zeblade

ok 1st.. Free Realms does not have even CLOSE to 5mil.. They have ME as a reg player and I have never played the game nor been on SOE in years.

2nd its 1.02. They told you time after time what VER we were using

The reason so many think Aion for $50 is a ripoff is.. FREE2PLAY games. So many have the same icons on the BAR alone. I mean have ANY of you played ANY other real MMO's? The 1st thing people cry about is if there is only ONE starting area. Yet for Aion its ok?

Your just paying for a nice painted over free2play. When most hit 25+ then you will see the REAL game. The grind kicks in, you will HAVE to group for quests.. you WILL PVP or stand and just die. And the combat is.. just easy.  And if you like more than one char.. it gets VERY VERY boring. 

Loot, its like FREE2PLAY. You wont get tons of different armor, weapons for each level. Yes you can craft them and even that you dont have to worry because you DONT need other players to get crafting done.. EASY. There will be different armor types but if you have played FREE2PLAY they will see that added more but just a tiny bit.

By the time its launched here it will have been out about 1year. Now you played 1.0 now 1.0- 1.5. It took them ONE YEAR just to make those changes. So remember they are NOTHING like Blizzard and ANY changes you cry or want to see are going to take many many months.

 

I think comerb (above poster) has it right. Warhammer has only one starter area per side as well. Conan has one starter area. And you know, if this really was like a free to play game I'd be playing one. and yet, I can't get into any of the free to play games that I've tried.

 

Have you even played Warhammer? There is a starter zone for almost every race. There are 2 races that start in the same zone on Destruction side, same with Order side.

you know you are right. I always played elves so forgot about that.

so cheerfully withdrawn!