Originally posted by BigMango

Originally posted by Czzarre

 

Goodness sucks!
Like DAOC and WAR, Aion will be very population dependent. The fairness and enjoyment will matter less on class balance and more on population balance. From observations in closed beta, open beta and countless polls, it seems pretty obvious that Asmodian will outnumber Elyos when the game is released. My guess is Asmodian will be up 3:2 in player population ..perhaps even 2:1. This will be disastrous on servers where this occurs.

 

 

Nice review. Just 1 point: Aion auto balances the faction population. Once too many are enrolled on 1 side you can't create a new character on that side until both sides are correctly balanced again.

Just try to create an asmodean on some of the high pop servers in the beta, you will often get the message that you can't roll on that side.

 

As for the lag, I don't get any lag in the open beta, didn't get any lag in the closed beta (playing on the US servers from Europe) and didn't get any lag during the several months I was playing on the Chinese servers (from Europe) -> considering the distance I think this is quite impressive.

So to me, people having lag problems are more subject to their internet route latency problems than the servers. -> people going through the same bottlenecks on the net (depending on their location, ISP backbones used) will obviously get the same lag while some other players don't get the lag....

 

 

 

Thanks guys. indeed I well know about the Auto server lockouts for population. The problem is...It just never seemed to work in numerous MMOs where they did similar things. No matter the enticements, players moved to servers where they found themselves at an advantage. If asmodian is locked out on one server, players go to others where Asmodian isnt locked out. Also, if there is  a sense that one side is under populated, players tend to leave to servers where they are in the majority.

I hope I'm wrong. If NCSoft works diligently to balance populations ...this game will fly and fly high for PvP players.

Originally posted by Czzarre

The problem is...It just never seemed to work in numerous MMOs where they did similar things. No matter the enticements, players moved to servers where they found themselves at an advantage. If asmodian is locked out on one server, players go to others where Asmodian isnt locked out. Also, if there is  a sense that one side is under populated, players tend to leave to servers where they are in the majority.

I hope I'm wrong. If NCSoft works diligently to balance populations ...this game will fly and fly high for PvP players.

Yes I see where you are coming form.

But don't forget the 3rd AI race, the Balaur (check above post). I think the auto lock out + the 3rd race balances it out pretty nicely.

That said, I have seen 1 problem on the Asian severs: If the other guilds and faction fail to organize themselves properly 1 guild can grow so big and strong that it can rule the whole server and take control of the Abyss.

I don't know if NCsoft was able to find a workaround for this as I am not playing there anymore; we'll see how this pans out.

Good Points.

I doubt the NPC race will ever truly achieve the same complexity and challenge as facing off against other players. Right now they are powerful but the game is young. As for mega guilds, I kind of expect them on every game I play. As with servers, many players tend to migrate toward power.

Originally posted by Czzarre

Good Points.

I doubt the NPC race will ever truly achieve the same complexity and challenge as facing off against other players. Right now they are powerful but the game is young. As for mega guilds, I kind of expect them on every game I play. As with servers, many players tend to migrate toward power.

Mega guilds are a really big problem for me -- I don't know if you've played EVE Online, but after downtime was when new things spawned.  Mega guilds had people in place ready to farm the best spots with their best ships right off the bat.  Smaller corporations/alliances didn't stand a chance.  We could get there first, but we'd never get to the end first.  You can't compete against something that has so many people playing, has so many timezones covered and has so much money in the game that they can't be touched.

In the end Mega guilds really are just large farming operations.  The gold eventually gets sold one way or another.  I know many of the large Alliance's in EVE were funded by purchasing toons with ISK (Eve money) -- which was traded for game-time cards (costing money irl) and reselling them at a higher price (this was allowable through character sales on the EVE forums).  Basically the alliances could give their members free game-time cards with the isk they made purchasing characters with game-time cards and selling them for more game-time cards than they originally did -- and having extra money in the end.

I guess.. just hope there isn't a Mega guild on your server?

Originally posted by BigMango

Originally posted by vive

So.. Unbalanced server population = one side leaves = the other side leaves = servers combine... but the disease is still there and ultimately the game flops.
 

I really hope it doesn't come to that in Aion. 

 

Aion has ingame balancing mechanics.

The 3rd "AI" race, the Balaur, will come out by themselves. Sometimes they come to attack you and/or your fortress, sometimes to help the opposing race attack you or take over your fortress, and sometimes to help you attack them.

I think this is the best balancing system you can have in a faction based game.

If you look at it overall (at least after playing the Asian retail game), often the game will make it so that the attacking faction wins (this is probably done so that fortresses change hands more often). In anyway, it seems much easier to attack than to defend, even if your faction seems more populated.

And then, as said above, the game also automatically limits the number of new players who can enroll on each side, depending on population.

 

This.

I wish people would find out a bit more about the game before talking balance issues and the game will fail because of it.  The Balaur take care of any imbalance in the abyss, along with NCSoft monitoring faction numbers.

Originally posted by Czzarre

Hey all, its been several days now and some players are still having a tough time getting into the game. As such, I thought I would put down a comprehensive review of Aion while NCsoft figures out their server issues.

Although I write this Aion is technically ‘in beta’ ..the real fact is the game is out and available to the public to purchase and play. Open Beta has become as much of a marketing ploy as it is a stress test. As such, players are trying to make a decision as to whether or not this game is right for them (and spending ~$50). It is my hope that this review will help you with this decision. I will update and revise the review constantly through open beta as I expect many things will change. Make no doubt, I spend as much time revising my reviews and keeping them up to date as i did writing them to begin with.
 

The Aion Review: "A highly Polished game for the little Korean in all of us"

I worked hard to make it unbiased, fairly comprehensive and fun to read. Focusing on being straightforward as possible.

However I would really like your input. Aspects I overlooked (and I know there are some), things you liked or didn't like, spelling mistakes, or any errors Ive made. I don't mind if you post how much you hate the review, just be constructive as to how I can improve. I actually encourage people to point out what they didn't like or don't agree with and why. Sometimes the harshest of critiques are the most useful.

Thanks all!

Im not even going to read your review after seeing that text in yellow.

Originally posted by Machieltje

How do you combine "unbiased"and "Little Korean" in a single review?

Just like finished and product or good government in the same sentence.

Originally posted by maddbomber83

Originally posted by Hepisodic

Originally posted by Czzarre

Lag is obviously a problem for the first days of open beta, it was also an issue in the latter closed betas #5 and #6. As I mention in the review, if they dont fix this the game may go down in flames (forum flames).

If you are having lag issues, R click the AION button in the NCsoft Log screen and select repair.

That seems to have rectified the problem on my system. The lag is not a game guard issue.

 

Thats really a key point. Many think it is.

 

First, just as a minor addition.  You can PvP in the Arena starting level 10.  I spent an hour in there the other day doing just that (there is a level 10 quest that has you enter the arena and not really know what it is).  Usually you get a gank in on some level 10 guy because he doesn't know better.  Well, 2 min after killing him he is back looking for revenge and the real fun begins.

Second, GameGuard is the issue.  The repair option simple redownloads the GameGuard items and maybe some Aion stuff.  I fixed the bulk of my lag by removing the GameGuard folder in the Aion directory.

Another way to reduce the lag is to disable the general chat channels by customizing your chat tab.  The GameGuard fix dropped me from 1000ms+ spikes to about 400ms with some spikes.  The chat fix dropped me down to 150-250ms with 350ms spikes.

Chat channels are handled on a different server (notice when your toon laggs but chat does not) correct me if i'm wrong.

you are correct StayonTarget

As someone not 100% familiar with Aion before the Open Beta (my personal policy is to not hype myself up for a game too far before release), I actually -- and this is rare for this site's forums -- found your review both unbiased and informative.

Someone pinch me.

I have made numerous changes through the open beta process and The Review is not completed.

Thanks for all the input and suggestions.

Looks like a good in-depth review.. problem is these days I realy don't have time to read in-depth reviews :) skipped to your summary which seems fairly accurate.

Have played AION since CB5 and very much enjoying it.

Is it a wow killer? honestly, who cares? 11.5 million players of wow in a world where there are billions of potential players, makes you wonder why people think WoW has such a prominent position. The truth is there are more people playing mario kart on wii than play wow - sobering thought no?

The MMO market is hugly untapped, and AION captures a very nice niche between east and west. And given that there is a huge online player base in the far east, means that AION has a very rich and diverse player base in existance even before it released in the west - I am just thankful that NCsoft allowed AION to be translated. Its a great little game, and combines the story telling and lovely gfx of Guild wars, with the ease of play of WoW/Everquest - all good stuff as far as I can see.

I oft hear about gamegard issues, and that it is inevitable that the game will be hacked and bots will rule the roost. This may be the case, and if so may indeed kill the game long term. But I am certain that AION will be on my hard drive for the next 6-12 months - and furthermore the gold farmers/bots in wow didn't kill it, so I don't see why the same would be true for AION.

Only challenge I can forsee for AION, is the same challenge for all pay-by-month business models currently face. The rise, and rise of Free-2-Play models.

Guild Wars2 looms and if it follows the same model as its predecessor but maintains a persistant and exporable world, then the whole scence could see a major shift in that direction - lets face it with the economic downturn still very much with it, the apeal of playing online for no fee, is pretty damned tempting.

Like it or not, the pay-by-month model is looking increasingly as dated as buying games on DVDs has become, and there is no doubt that the real bleeding edge for the internet distributed free-2-play models are companies such as NCSoft.

Time will tell how it all pans out, but until we know how the story ends, Ateria looks like a good place to hang out, fly around and smackdown some heads.

- o/

Originally posted by osawtell

Guild Wars2 looms and if it follows the same model as its predecessor but maintains a persistant and exporable world, then the whole scence could see a major shift in that direction - lets face it with the economic downturn still very much with it, the apeal of playing online for no fee, is pretty damned tempting.

Like it or not, the pay-by-month model is looking increasingly as dated as buying games on DVDs has become, and there is no doubt that the real bleeding edge for the internet distributed free-2-play models are companies such as NCSoft.

Time will tell how it all pans out, but until we know how the story ends, Ateria looks like a good place to hang out, fly around and smackdown some heads.

- o/

 

Maybe, don't forget though people were saying the same thing was going to happen when Guild Wars came out.  I distinctly remember people saying Guild Wars was going to obliterate WoW on the WoW forums when GW's launch loomed because it was going to be f2p, offer better PvP (at the time WoW PvP wasn't nearly as "involved" as it is now), and a lot were still bitter about how the WoW launch went.  GW was a great game and had a large following but it certainly didn't really effect the mmorpg market as a whole.  So while anything is possible I wouldn't necessarily say that f2p is the future.

Actually, I have a bad feeling that at least in the near future anyways there is going to be a real push by companies to combine p2p and rmt features in game.  Which I'm not enthused about at all unless those games offer content and updates out the wazoo but we'll see.

Out of the two options I certainly hope you're right.  Just doesn't seem the route games are going in general from everything I've seen.  Only time will tell though.